✨ Connie’s Favorites of 2025: The Favorites of My Favorites (10-Year Reunion Edition!)

Lamb Shoppe, LLC
4 days ago
6 min read

This year was special — our 10-year reunion of Connie’s Favorites! A whole decade of searching, sampling, learning, tossing out the duds, discovering treasures, and asking myself, “Would I actually use this at home?”

So for this milestone year, I pulled together something extra meaningful: the favorites of my favorites — the true standouts from the last decade.

If you missed the class, consider this your personal recap, warm beverage optional but highly recommended.

1. Peppermint Chocolate Fudge

We kicked things off with chocolate because, let’s be honest, everyone listens better when chocolate is involved. This fudge is one of my go-tos during the holidays because it’s festive, clean, and doesn’t leave you feeling like you’ve abandoned all your wellness goals.

It’s rich, minty, and made from simple ingredients you probably already have on hand. If you’re craving a treat without the guilt, this one checks every box.

Peppermint Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:

1.5 cups dark chocolate chips
½ cup coconut milk
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 ¼ tsp peppermint extract
Crushed peppermint candy

Directions: Line an 8×8 pan with parchment. Melt chocolate chips and coconut milk over low heat, then stir in maple syrup and peppermint. Spread into the pan, top with crushed peppermint, and chill for 2 hours until firm. Slice and enjoy!

2. Chaga Face & Body Cream

If you’ve been around me long enough, you already know how I feel about chaga. Years ago, while doing one of my late-night ingredient deep dives (herbalists don’t sleep, we research), I stumbled upon this cream — and it’s been a loyal favorite ever since.

It’s made with wild-harvested, double-extracted chaga and feels like a warm, comforting wrap for your skin. Winter dryness, redness, windburn — this cream manages all of it with soothing nourishment. Every time I put it on, it feels like I’ve snuck off to a wellness spa for a moment.

3. Little Seed Farm Deodorant

Most natural deodorants come with… surprises. Little Seed Farm, however, is the exception — the good kind of exception.

Made on a family farm in Tennessee with organic, gentle ingredients, this deodorant actually keeps you fresh for a full 24 hours. It goes on smoothly, smells wonderful, and doesn’t disappear on you when you’re having one of “those” days.

4. STED Chocolate

STED Chocolate and I have history. They started as Terroir Chocolate back in 2013, one of Minnesota’s first true bean-to-bar makers, and I’ve adored them ever since.

What I appreciate most is how clean and honest their chocolate is — organic cacao, ethical sourcing, no additives, and a flavor that feels indulgent but not heavy. This is the kind of chocolate you tuck into your cupboard and hope your family doesn’t find it because it’s just too good to share.

5. Adaptogenic Herbs

(Featuring Ashwagandha & Holy Basil)

Adaptogens earned their place in my top ten because they truly change the way the body handles stress. They’re the herbal world’s equivalent of someone handing you a warm drink and saying, “Take a breath.”

Top adaptogens include:

Ashwagandha
Holy Basil
Eleuthero
Schisandra
Rhodiola

My two favorites — and the ones we highlighted most this year — are Ashwagandha and Holy Basil.

Ashwagandha brings deep grounding, helping the body lower cortisol, rest more deeply, quiet the busy mind, and rebuild long-term energy. It’s a steady, strengthening herb — perfect for the wired-but-tired crowd.

Holy Basil, on the other hand, lifts the spirit. It brings a clear, calm, focused feeling that gently settles emotional overwhelm. I shared a special tea blend at the class that combined both herbs — a little preview of something new coming soon.

Some of My Favorite Adaptogen Products at the Shoppe

When it comes to adaptogens, herbs are wonderful — but the right formulas can make them even more supportive and easy to use. Over the years, I’ve tested countless blends, tinctures, and teas, and a handful have truly become staples here at the Shoppe.

If you’re looking to explore adaptogens more deeply, here are some of my favorite products we carry:

Tulsi Tea: A calming, uplifting Holy Basil tea that’s perfect for stress, emotional heaviness, or “too many tabs open in my brain” days. Gentle, delicious, grounding.
Adaptive Cacao (Roots Apothecary): A rich cacao blend infused with adaptogens — comforting, balancing, and wonderful as an evening ritual or morning warm-up. Think of it as hot chocolate with a purpose.
Emphasis Tincture (Roots Apothecary): Great for enhancing focus, clarity, and resilience on busy days. A solid choice for anyone needing mental stamina without overstimulation.
Anxiety Tincture (Roots Apothecary): A soothing herbal formula that calms the nervous system and supports emotional steadiness. One of my long-time favorites for overwhelm or tension.
Adrenotone (Designs for Health): A powerful blend of adaptogenic herbs and nutrients that helps strengthen the adrenals, support energy, and stabilize stress hormones.
CatecholaCalm (Designs for Health): Perfect for those who feel “on edge” or have difficulty winding down. It helps balance stress-related neurotransmitters and encourages a more settled, grounded feeling.
5-Ginseng (Global Healing): A robust tonic blend featuring five varieties of ginseng — wonderful for endurance, vitality, stamina, and overall resilience. It’s like a deep recharge button for the body.

Each of these products works a little differently, but all of them support what adaptogens do best: help the body handle stress more gracefully and recover more efficiently.

6. Wild Harvest Seasoning (Lamb Shoppe Exclusive!)

This one makes me extra excited because it’s ours — created in-house with wild goodness from right here in Minnesota. Our Wild Harvest Seasoning blends nettle, wild bergamot, chickweed, mugwort, and dandelion leaf with garlic, onion, and pink salt. It’s earthy, savory, mineral-rich, and instantly transforms a meal.

Sprinkle it on eggs, meat, veggies, soups, or that dinner you threw together at 5:55 pm — it makes everything taste intentional.

Wild Harvest Seasoning

$7.99

Buy Now

7. Everyday Dose

This is my morning sanity-saver. Everyday Dose gives a smooth, steady lift without the jittery edge of regular coffee. It’s made with low-caffeine coffee extract, mushrooms, L-theanine, and collagen — a combination that supports energy, clarity, mood, and digestion all at once.

I often describe it as “coffee’s emotionally stable cousin.” You get the focus but not the frazzle.

8. CBD Deep Tissue Salve

For anyone who has that one tight spot — the shoulder knot, the tech-neck tension, the low-back ache, the “I did absolutely nothing but somehow hurt myself” moments — this salve is a lifesaver.

It’s clean, small batch, and formulated with 1000 mg of CBD that absorbs quickly and gets to work fast. I’ve recommended it to countless people, and it’s one of those products that keeps earning its praise.

9. Pranarom Favorites

Pranarom remains my aromatherapy go-to because their quality is unmatched. Everything is certified organic, chemotyped, and crafted with clinical precision — which means the formulas actually work.

This year’s selections included their Essential Syrup, Throat Spray, Lemongrass, Ravintsara, and Memory & Focus Capsules. Together, they create an incredible seasonal wellness toolkit for immune support, respiratory health, digestion, and mental clarity.

10. Whole Body Collagen

Collagen may not be flashy, but it’s reliable — and sometimes reliability is exactly what your body needs. This one supports skin, joints, hair, nails, gut health, and recovery. It mixes effortlessly into coffee, tea, or smoothies and disappears like it was never there.

It’s one of those daily habits that pays off in quiet, powerful ways. You can find it in Shoppe or online.

Celebrating 10 Years of Favorites

Thank you for being part of our community — whether you joined the class in person or are catching up here. Sharing these favorites each year has become something I look forward to, and this 10-year reunion collection felt especially meaningful.

Here’s to a year of nourishment, joy, herbal wisdom, and a few delicious treats along the way.

If you try any of these, I’d love to hear how they support your wellness journey.

We truly appreciate all your support this year. We truly feel blessed to have such a wonderful supportive community.

When you shop small, you will find unique gifts, attention to detail, support for the local economy, great customer service, and you help make our dreams come true! Continue to shop small this holiday season!