Recipe: (Non-Alcoholic) Pineapple Mojito Smoothie

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I'll be honest... I've been going a little smoothie crazy lately. I seem to always crave them as soon as the weather warms up a little bit. I plan on experimenting with different, interesting ingredients and sharing all my smoothie-masterpieces with you guys- starting with this one! It's light and refreshing and perfect for the spring and summer. Plus, it not only makes a great quick addition to your breakfast or snack, it can be turned into an awesome cocktail smoothie by adding some rum

Makes 1 serving

Here's what you'll need:

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen pineapple

3/4 cup water (use 1 cup if using frozen pineapple)

4 fresh mint leaves

the juice of 1 lime

Blend all ingredients together for about a minute - or until the mint leaves are distributed evenly throughout the smoothie. Sprinkle with a bit of raw cane sugar if you please! Enjoy :)

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Recipe | Garlic & Herb Spaghetti with Tomatoes and Zucchini

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Makes 3-4 servings

1/2 box whole grain spaghetti
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 zucchini, quartered and then chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced
2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
3 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
3 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Set a large stock pot filled with water over high heat for the spaghetti. Set a large skillet with your olive oil over medium-low heat.

While waiting for you pasta water to boil, add your onions and garlic to your hot olive oil. Saute the onions and garlic until the onions become translucent/slightly browned (about 5-7 minutes) and then add some salt and pepper. Add your zucchini to the onions and garlic and and saute for another 5-7 minutes. Salt and pepper the mixture once again.

At this point, your pasta water should be boiling. Generously salt your water and drop your pasta in. Occasionally stir throughout the cooking process to make sure the spaghetti is not sticking together.

While your pasta is cooking, turn the heat off for your zucchini, onion, and garlic mixture. Add your tomatoes to the pan and stir to combine. The goal is to just heat the tomatoes through and give them a chance to lend their juices to your sauce - you don't want to actually cook the tomatoes and make them mushy.

When your spaghetti is ready to be drained, reserve 1/4 cup of the starchy cooking water and add it to the pan with your veggies. Drain your spaghetti and add it to the pan. Fold the pasta in with the sauce and make sure everything is coated. Add your fresh herbs and some more salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

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Recipe | Morning Glory Green Smoothie

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Hey friends! Long time, no blog. The past couple of months have been rough... emotionally, psychologically, physically... I have been neglecting to do things that I love and make me truly happy for a number of reasons, and maybe I'll elaborate in a future post, but for now let's just get into this awesome smoothie recipe.

I call it a "morning glory" green smoothie because I like to have it in the morning for breakfast and it gives me the boost of energy that I often need to get my day going. Call it whatever you want, just give it a shot. If you're skeptical about green smoothies, this is a perfect one to ease you into this delicious, healthy trend.

What you'll need (this recipe makes 3 smoothies):
3 apples, roughly chopped
2 bananas, peeled and roughly chopped
3 cups of your favorite leafy greens (I used a mixture of baby spinach, chard, and kale)
2 kiwis, peeled and roughly chopped
the juice of 1 lemon
2 cups water
8-10 ice cubes

Throw all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. I left the skins on my apples because I don't mind the texture and the skins add more nutrients to the smoothie. Peel the apples if you're not into the little specks of skin throughout your smoothie. Also, I'll sometimes add a tbsp of chia seeds to the smoothie after blending for some extra nutrients and texture.

Enjoy!

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Recipe | Loaded, One Pan Breakfast Scramble

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What you'll need:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 red potatoes, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tomatoes, diced

4 eggs, whisked

1/4 cup fresh mozzarella, cubed or shredded

1 avocado, diced

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric 

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Set a large, oven-safe skillet to medium-high heat. Start sauteing your potatoes in the olive oil until they start browning - about 10 minutes total, flipping occasionally. Next, add the onions, and once they start becoming translucent (after 5 minutes or so) add the garlic. Add some salt and pepper and stir to combine.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and add your whisked eggs, spices, tomatoes, and more salt and pepper. Scramble the egg mixture until they begin to set up. Add the mozzarella to the top of the mixture, and then transfer the pan to the oven. Bake until the eggs are cooked through and the cheese is melted, about 5-7 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and top with your fresh avocado. 

Enjoy!

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Recipe | Super Grain Veggie Bowl

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What you'll need:

• 1 cup Super Grains mix (mine was from Whole Foods with red & white quinoa, buckwheat, and millet)
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 10-15 grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 carrot, shredded or thinly sliced with a vegetable peeler
• 1 cup frozen edamame
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

*to make this a complete meal, add some sauteed tempeh or seitan

Combine the super grains, vegetable stock, onion, garlic, and some salt and pepper in a pot and set over high heat. Bring the mixture up to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the liquid has been absorbed. With about 5 minutes left of cook time, add the frozen edamame to thaw.

If you're adding tempeh or seitan to the dish, start sauteeing in some olive oil on medium heat while the grain mix is cooking. This should take about 5 minutes on each side.

When the grains are done cooking, add the tomatoes, carrots, crushed red pepper flakes, and some more salt and pepper to taste. Fluff with a fork to combine everything. 

Enjoy!

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Beauty Favorites | August Edition

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I'm BACK! After a very long, unexpected, and unannounced hiatus happened on this blog... sorry about that (I know, it happens a lot. I have trouble staying committed to things, I'm working on it). But that's in the PAST now, and we're going to just go ahead and put those 2 (almost 3) blog post-less months behind us and start FRESH.

Today I bring you a new type of post that I've been wanting to do for a while after watching countless videos about it on youtube - monthly favorites! Now before you start thinking to yourself, "Sam, you've created themed posts in the past and literally NONE of them lasted. Why should we believe you're going to keep this one going strong?" Well... good point. You shouldn't believe that I will definitely have a favorites blog post every month. However, you should believe that I will TRY MY HARDEST, so long that I have enough products/things that I've been loving for the month. Just give me a chance, alright? Alright.

This post will focus on a few beauty products I've been loving during the entire month of August. 

1. Trader Joe's: 100% Pure Jojoba Oil

First up, a skin care product that has completely changed my view on skin care in general. For so long I have fallen into the abyss of buying bottle after bottle of eye make up remover and pack after pack of make up remover wipes. This resulted in an unnecessarily long skin care process every night, and stripping my skin from scrubbing it with those wipes, and still being left with a gross residue that needed to be washed off regardless. 

I read about how hydrating and nourishing jojoba oil is for not only your skin, but your scalp and hair as well, and even all over your body. I was honestly skeptical about it's ability to break down my make up enough to just be wiped away by a damp cloth, so I would use this in conjunction with my eye make up remover just to ensure that everything was being taken off before washing my face. Fed up with the extra steps involved, I decided to use the jojoba oil to take EVERYTHING off one night, and it did just that. It literally melts your make up off of your face, and then you come in with some warm water on a wash cloth and wipe it all away. It leaves your skin feeling soft, clean, and not at all sticky or gross. Follow it up with a face wash (on days where I don't wear much or any make up, I just use this and go straight to a moisturizer and I'm good to go.)

It's about $8 at Trader Joe's and it lasts a while as you don't need much to take off a full face of make up.

2. First Aid Beauty: Face Cleanser

I've been wanting to try out First Aid Beauty for a while, but it's kind of pricey to just "try out", you know? So I was browsing in Sephora one day when I found a trial package of their Face Cleanser, Ultra Repair Cream, and Facial Radiance Pads. While I'm not completely sold on the Facial Radiance Pads, the cleanser and moisturizer are AMAZING. 

The Face Cleanser is everything I want in a cleanser, simple, gentle, and not stripping at all. I've been using this either after taking off my make up with the jojoba oil or to wash my face in the morning/in the shower and my face is left squeaky clean without feeling tight and dry. Awesome cleanser for sensitive skin that does its job. 

3. First Aid Beauty: Ultra Repair Cream

If you've been reading my blog for a while (thank you!), then you know that my biggest problem areas for dry skin are my face and scalp. This product had 100% solved my dry skin problem on my face. It's a very heavy and rich moisturizer, so I recommend using it at night so it had time to soak into your skin and not be oily underneath your make up. If you do this, you'll wake up in the morning feeling absolutely no need to apply any other type of moisturizer to your face. THAT'S how awesome this stuff is.

Like the jojoba oil, a little bit goes a long way, so even this trial size, I find, is lasting me quite some time. I will absolutely be buying the full size tub once I use this tube up.

The trial package of the cleanser, wipes, and moisturizer was $28 as Sephora. 

4. NYX: Stay Matte But Not Flat Liquid Foundation

I was in dire need of a cheap, but good quality, liquid foundation. My go-to E.L.F foundation was just not cutting it anymore, so I looked to a different brand to try out. NYX blew me away.

I was weary about this foundation at first, as I hadn't read any reviews on it in the past, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. It's awesome to say the least. NYX has a great shade selection, and the product blends flawlessly into your skin. I'll have a full review on this product soon; that's how much I love it!

$7.49 at Ulta. How could you possibly beat that?! Plus, it's not considered a "prestigious" brand at Ulta, so you know those little coupons that you get that usually don't apply to many brands there? Yeah... they apply to NYX products. 

5. NYX: Stay Matte But Not Flat Powder Foundation

To go along with my liquid foundation, I needed a setting powder. Now, this IS a "powder foundation", but it honestly doesn't provide that much coverage, so I just use it as a setting powder for my liquid foundation. It sets my foundation, and also gives just a touch more coverage for a really natural looking base for your make up look.

$9.99 at Ulta

6. NYX: Butter Lipsticks

As for these NYX products, I've heard lots and lots of positive feedback. Naturally, I needed to see what the hype was about. After finding out that Revlon was no longer cruelty free, and therefore I wouldn't by buying their lip butters, I was so excited to find out that there was a similar, slightly cheaper, and cruelty free product on the market.

Again, I plan to have a full product review for these bad boys on the blog soon, but just to sum it up: they're extremely pigmented, moisturizing, and they LAST. They also don't settle into the cracks of your lips if you seem to have that problem with other lip products.

Colors shown:

Big Cherry - it's really a true, very flattering deep red color

Fizzies - a muted berry color that can go with virtually any make up look

Fireball - a coral that's more on the pink side with just a hint of orange

Sold at Ulta and certain Targets and even Wegmans! $5.99 at Target and I think the same goes for Ulta and Wegmans.

7. Bath and Body Works: Blackberry Bramble Tea Candle

Okay, a candle? In a beauty favorites post? What's wrong with you, Sam? I know, it's weird, but I just think it fits. Candles are like beauty products for your home, right? And this one smells so amazing that I just needed to include it. It's sweet, but not too sweet, a little florally, with a very slight musky/spicy scent underneath it all. It's a perfect summer to fall transition candle and I encourage ALL OF YOU to go out and buy it right now!

$22.50 at Bath and Body Works, but I got mine during their 2 for $22 deal. 

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