Rose Infused Body Scrub

It's half way through the work week, and it's the perfect day to treat yourself to a nice hot bath, a glass of wine and an easy to make rose infused body scrub.  If you catch this post before you head home, all you will need is a stop at the grocery store for your ingredients.

You will need coconut oil, regular Epsom salt, dried roses or rose oil, and some Himalayan sea salt to add a little extra pink to the mix.  Combine and mix all the ingredients together in a jar and enjoy.  You won't need a top to the jar because I don't want you save it for another date-use it tonight.  

I hope you all have a relaxing evening and take a few moments to unwind and love yourself.  

Rose Infused Body Scrub:

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup Epsom salt
1/4 cup dried roses or rose oil
2 tbsp of Himalayan sea salt (for the added pink color and texture)

~Mix all together in a jar or bowl and bring to your bath tub or shower.  Enjoy for your whole body and face.  

Xo,
Laura

Breakfast in Bed

It's officially February and the month of Valentine's Day.  I have always found this holiday to be a good time to spread the love, no matter who you are with at the moment.  

It should be a month to love your family, your girlfriends, your four-legged friends, and anyone else who holds their owns special place in your heart...and that should include you!

Valentine's Day is the perfect day to treat someone you love {Valentine's goodies to come next week} and give them a big card with a bear holding a heart, but the time leading up to the day and even after, should be about loving yourself.  Sometimes it's so easy to get caught up trying to please everyone else and take care of them all before yourself.  And most of the time that is the way it should be.  Giving is better than receiving, definitely.  But we all need to remember to give some love to ourselves every once in a while.  

Even if it's having your breakfast in bed, taking a hot bubble bath with a glass of wine, or making yourself a healthy treat, you deserve it.  Giving yourself love will only fill you with happiness and peace.  And with this, you can spread the love to all of the others in your life.  

"I have decided to stick with love.  Hate is too great a burden to bear."  MLK Jr. 

So this week I will help you with taking a little time and effort to love yourself.  So when your husband is wondering where his dinner is, you can blame it on me that you are upstairs taking a bath and reading a book and forgot to cook-I swear that doesn't happen that often. ;)

Xo,

Laura

Breakfast in Bed Essentials:

Tray:  In hopes someone else will serve your food to you 

Plates: I believe in using our china for every day occasions, why not? 

Cup: A perfect Tjmaxx find 

French Press: Nothing like a hot cup of coffee

Vase: A beautiful present from my mom

Silverware: Because it's French (and the knives are the sharpest I've ever used!)

Juice Glass: Old purchase, but similar style here

Super Bowl Sunday

This Sunday is the perfect excuse to get together with your friends and family and over indulge in plenty of snacks, drinks and too much television. 

I am not always the biggest sports fan, but I love any excuse to embrace a theme and make an evening out of it.  (Football is always more fun to watch when you have popcorn and cupcakes near by in football themed bowls, right?) 

All you need is a quick trip to Walmart for a few festive cups and bowls, your favorite candies and snacks, and to add a little variety to the snack selection, I embellished the pretzels with some different flavors: honey mustard, ranch, and buffalo wing sauce.  

Make these pretzels earlier in the day so when game time comes, all you have to do is grab a bowl and focus, on the food and the game.  

Xo,

Laura

Fruit Skewers: For the Patriots fans, alternate strawberries, bananas, and blueberries and for Seahawks fans alternate between green grapes (or kiwi slices) and blueberries

Dessert:  Most grocery stores have already baked treats to support your team.  Add some football toothpicks or football sugar toppings to make them a little more festive (Check out Party City)

Pretzels

Honey Mustard Bites:

• 12 oz. sourdough pretzel bites
• 2/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp. honey
• 2 tbsp. honey mustard
• 1 tsp. onion powder

~Preheat the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit and coat a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray

~Mix all ingredients together (except the pretzels) in a bowl 

~Add the pretzels to the bowl and mix until well coated with mixture

~Pour the pretzels onto the baking sheet and spread out in a single layer

~Bake for 30 minutes, mixing half way through

~Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before serving or storing until ready to serve

Ranch Dips:

• 12 oz. mini pretzels
• 6 oz. canola or vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp dill weed
• 1 tbsp garlic salt or powder
• 1 packet ranch salad dressing mix

~Preheat the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit and coat a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray

~Mix all ingredients together (except the pretzels) in a bowl

~Add the pretzels to the bowl and mix until well coated with mixture

~Pour the pretzels onto the baking sheet and spread out in a single layer

~Bake for 30 minutes, mixing every 10 minutes

~Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before serving or storing until ready to serve

Buffalo Wing Pretzel Bites:

• 12 oz. thin pretzel sticks
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce of your choice 
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

~Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and coat a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray

~Mix all ingredients together (except the pretzels) in a bowl

~Add the pretzels to the bowl and mix until well coated with mixture

~Pour the pretzels onto the baking sheet and spread out in a single layer

~Bake for 30 minutes, mixing every 10 minutes (pretzels do become soggy-ish, but they will harden back up when the cool down after baking)

~Allow to cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before serving or storing until ready to serve

More Spaghetti (squash) Please!

Spaghetti squash has become one of my favorite substitutions for a comfort food meal.  I love pasta and spaghetti (who doesn't?), but I usually feel overstuffed and guilty after eating it.  

So, in order to still satisfy my cravings for something hardy and Italian (meaning a meal with a lot of cheese), I turn to spaghetti squash.  

This meal is easy to make, it just takes a little extra time in order to cook the squash and then allow the bake to cook all the way through.  It's a perfect meal to start making on a snowy afternoon, so by the time the sun sets, the fire is going and it's appropriate to be drinking your second glass of red wine, your dinner will be ready.  

Xo,
Laura

Ingredients:
serves 4

• 2 whole spaghetti squashes 
• 1 jar of pasta sauce
• 2 cups (or 3 if your me) of shredded cheese of your choice-parmesan or mozzarella is the best
• 2 cups of broccoli or other veggies

~Cut each spaghetti squash in half, vertically
~Scoop out the seeds and discard
~Drizzle squash with some olive oil and salt and pepper
~Place down on baking sheet with skin facing out
~Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 45-55 minutes or until squash is soft
~Using a fork, scrape inside of squash into a baking dish (it really does come out like cooked spaghetti)
~Add pasta sauce, cheese, and any other desired veggies to the dish and mix together
~Cook this in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-35 minutes
~Enjoy, with a glass of red wine, of course :)

Merry Christmas

It's been a busy past few weeks.  With life filled with lots of great challenges, road blocks, and a few nights lasting way too late, I've taken some extra time to stay quiet and just be.  As the year comes to an end, I have found myself naturally reflecting back on the year and critically judging myself.  Not celebrating the highs enough and focusing possibly too much on the lows. 

I've been working on accepting that negative energy is part of life, but being able to accept it, push it away, and move forward has become my new project I'm working on this time of year.  It has been necessary for me to literally take a few breaths, count my blessings (no matter how corny that sounds-you need to do it), and smile.  I am a true believer in making yourself happy first and not depending on only others making you happy. It's a recipe for disappointment and sadness and not a fulfilling way to go through this life. 

I may be all over with my thoughts and there is not a real theme for this post other than I am all over the place right now. Holiday activities, present shopping, animals needing to go to the vet, work overload, more animals needing to go to the vet, and trying to enjoy it all sometimes takes an extra cup of coffee and a few Christmas cookies for breakfast. Other days it's necessary to just drop what your doing and spend some time with the ones you love and really be in the moment. 

Right now it's important to enjoy who and what is already in your life and just be.  In just another week it's a new year and time to think of your new goals and who and what you would like to add to your life. For now, I hope everyone has a safe and healthy holiday, and I hope these Christmas picture outtakes make everyone smile a little (making three dogs sit still in a snow storm is harder than I thought!)  Merry Christmas to you all!

Xo,

Laura

Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

With the weather getting colder and more snowy evenings coming this way, I tend to want to stay at home for dinner and a enjoy a comfort food meal with a good glass of red wine.  But if I ate mac n' cheese, vegetable lasagna and pizza every night, I probably wouldn't be able to fit out of my house when it was time for me to leave.  Thus, incorporating a savory, filling meal into the dinner line-up that doesn't make me change too many pant sizes.

I've tried a few different versions of what to mix into quinoa to make it just right, and I (obviously) really enjoy it with the pumpkin seeds, almonds, and pomegranate seeds for the taste and the crunch.  The acorn squash is the treat to this meal and all you need to season it is a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Enjoy!

Xo,
Laura


Ingredients:
Serves 4 (make with just one acorn squash and you will have some quinoa left over for lunch!)

• 2  acorn squash
• 1 pomegranate (1/2 cup pomegranate seeds)
• 1 cup quinoa
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

~Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit 

~Cut acorn squash in half vertically

~Scoop out seeds in the middle to make a space for the quinoa 

~Drizzle squash with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper

~Line a baking sheet with tin foil and lay squash on baking sheet, squash side down, skin facing out

~Bake squash for 35-45 minutes until soft

~While squash is baking, cook quinoa according to package directions (usually 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water and takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes to cook)

~Once quinoa is cooked, mix in pumpkin seeds, almonds, and pomegranate seeds into the quinoa

~Remove squash from oven, allow to cool for five minutes before removing from baking sheet

~Scoop quinoa mixture into acorn squash and serve warm

Gingerbread Cookie Smoothie

I have officially made the switch from my fall obsession and pumpkin everything craze to more peppermint infused cocktails and ginger spiced everything.  However, I am still trying to stay healthy through out the holiday without over indulging every day.  

I love the holiday themed desserts and drinks.  It is very hard for me to say no all the time to freshly baked cookies or hot chocolate as my after dinner treat, again every night.  For me, the holiday is a time to treat yourself a few times to enjoy the deliciousness of all things homemade, but I also like to keep active and healthy all through out the Christmas season.

I decided to try a few extra spices in my smoothie the other morning to try and create the feeling of drinking a liquid gingerbread cookie.  It is still low in calories, keeps you full for a few hours, and really does taste like a healthy, holiday treat.  I added a scoop of protein to make it a full breakfast, but without the protein it tastes just as good.  Pour yourself a glass or two and enjoy feeling full and satisfied with this healthy, holiday smoothie.  Happy December!

Xo,
Laura

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups of vanilla almond milk (coconut milk or regular milk works too)
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 cup of ice cubes (add extra if the banana is not frozen)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Extra: 1 scoop Perfect Fit Protein (my favorite!)

Add all ingredients to blender and mix until smooth.  Add an extra shake or two of cinnamon to the top of the smoothie and enjoy!