Pretty Healthy

Quinoa Bake for Breakfast

One of my favorite events of the morning is breakfast. I like to get up, exercise, take a shower, and settle in for a nice healthy meal. Sometimes I'll include a juice drink, but on this occasion I wanted to focus on the meal itself. Instead of reaching for a sugary cereal, try to start off the day the healthy way! This bake, which becomes like a cereal, is packed with good for your body ingredients including quinoa, honey, coconut, cinnamon, berries, and lastly milk. This breakfast is even great for you glam gals who are always in a rush to get out the door since it only takes about 15 minutes to make. Starting the morning off with breakfast gets your body in gear for the busy ahead by getting the metabolism process moving and hopefully leading to fewer cravings throughout the rest of the day.

The main star here is none other than the whole grain quinoa. Protein packed, this little guy brings tons of fiber, lysine, magnesium, riboflavin, and manganese to the table. Quinoa contains all nine essential amino acids and with all of that fiber, it makes you feel fuller longer while also decreasing your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. It's lysine content helps rebuild tissue growth and repair meaning it does wondrous things for the skin! The iron helps keeps muscles full of oxygen and the riboflavin helps keep energy levels high. What a great little grain quinoa turned out to be!

To make the baked cereal, simply combine all of the ingredients together and lay out onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Once done, take out of the oven and combine back into a bowl. Top off with milk, berries and enjoy! You'll be on your way to a healthier you in no time.

Sweet Treats

Bird's Nest Macaroons

A spring time holiday, Easter brings with it delightful visions of blossoming color and life renewed. This simple dessert not only incorporates the pretty pop of color, but also the idea of new life. Like Christmas, Easter has many sweet treats associated with it. While I try to stay away from sugar, sometimes a girl cannot resist the temptation, especially while I'm in the mood for whipping up desserts. The recipe is easy to follow and only takes a few ingredients  to make these delicious bird's nest macaroons.

Ingreidents:

• ½ cup butter
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 6 cups shredded coconut
• ¼ cup nutella
• Mini chocolate Easter eggs

(A small note to make: I used truvia baking blend to cut down on the calories and sugar intake. If using truvia, the amount of sugar decreases to 1/4 cup and 2 table spoons)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Then, using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and salt.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, until mixed thoroughly. Mix in coconut.
3. Drop your batter onto a cookie sheet by using 1-2 tablespoon amounts. Roll into balls, then make an indent with fingers to resemble a bird’s nest. You can make them however large or small you want. This will affect how many eggs can fit into the little nest. I found that 1 tablespoon scoop leaves enough for one egg, while 2 tablespoons leaves enough for 3.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom and browned in spots on top.
5. Once completely cooled, spoon a little Nutella into each “nest”. Heat the Nutella for 15 seconds to make it spread easier. Finish by topping with 1-3 chocolate eggs.

Heart of Health

Juice Boost

One of the best things a person can do for themselves comes in the form of juicing. Especially drinking the juice on an empty stomach which allows all of the vitamins and minerals to absorb quickly into the system. Wait about twenty minutes to a half hour before eating anything else to give the digestive tract a chance to process the nutrients. Also, juices should be considered more like a snack than a whole meal. The body receives a good amount of the daily requirement for fruits and vegetables through juicing, but lacks in the fiber and protein needed to keep the digestive system happy.

 The great thing about juicing is how customizable it is. One can literally experiment with so many different fruit and veggie combinations. I want to share a new favorite of mine that combines kale, beets, lemons, oranges, and apples. All are extremely good for overall health and provide a big boost in vitamins and minerals. This specific combo balances each other out nicely with the fruit cancelling out the bitterness of the kale and beets. In the juicer, combine, 1 bunch of kale, 1 apple, 1 beet, 1 orange, and 1/2 of a lemon.

• Kale: This leafy green has become very popular lately and rightfully so! It comes chock full of vitamins and minerals including, vitamins K, A, and C, magnesium, and folate. It has a high fiber content leading to proper digestion and the ability to detox the body keeping the liver in check. It is high in iron, antioxidants, and has anti-inflammatory properties, all great for the skin!
• Beets: I've only recently started to research about beets and their wonderful affect on the body and skin. They are loaded with potassium, magnesium, fiber, phosphorus, iron; vitamins A, B & C; beta-carotene, beta-cyanine, and folic acid. Like the kale, they also have the great ability to detox the digestive system and keep the liver happy. To top it off, beets can also help in keeping the mind and body relaxed. They contain betaine and trytophan, which relaxes the mind and creates a sense of over all calmness. 
• Apples: The old saying goes, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, so there must be a reason for this right? Absolutely! They come packed with vitamins C, A, B1, B2, B6, E, K and flavonoids and with smaller amounts of phosphorus, folate, niacin, magnesium iron and calcium. Apples provide potassium which may promote heart health and are thought to be good at fighting cancer with their high antioxidents, phytochemicals and phytonutrients, which help lower the LDL or bad cholestrol.
• Oranges: A glass of orange juice is known to provide twice the daily amount of vitamin C needed and that means good things for your skin and immune system. Oranges also are bursting with vitamin B6 thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, magnesium,  selenium and copper.
• Lemons: While oranges have the market corned on vitamin C, a little known fact is how packed lemons are with vitamin C as well. Not only that, but they can restore the body's pH levels, cleanse the bowels, stimulate the liver, dissolve kidney stones, contain the  phytonutrient tangeretin, which is effective for brain disorders, and strengthen blood vessels with vitamin P.

Birthday Bliss

Happy 17th Birthday Chelsea!

Taken today on her 17th birthday. Doing what she loves, resting in the sunshine.

It's hard to believe that my baby is seventeen years old today. Where does the time go?!?! I remember the day my family and I received this little bundle of joy. October 17th 1997 became one of the happiest days of my life. The rescue team estimated that she might have been about six months old when we got her. Valley Cat Rescue found her at a home that had caught on fire and been abandoned. Her vocal cords were affected from the smoke and could only produce a squeaky sound, but over the years she has been able to work up to a full meow. 

My how my little kitten has grown up over the years. She truly provides the best companionship I could ever ask for. The apple of my eye and light of my life, Chelsea means the world to me and I am thrilled to celebrate her seventeenth birthday with her. She deserves only the best, perhaps some tuna fish for later after we have some nice cuddle time. Happy birthday to the best little girl in the world!

Mommy and baby on her big day

Blooming Blossoms

The Washington D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival 2014

The arrival of Spring brings a renewed hope in life from the warmer weather, bountiful sunshine, and life "springing" up from all around. The grass and trees start to get greener, the newborn animals play, and the flowers begin to bloom bringing splendid color and fragrances with them.  I look forward to the Cherry Blossom Festival, not only visit one of the greatest cities, but mainly to experience and capture the beauty of the blossoming trees as they bring forth a wondrous feeling of awe.

Weather wise, the sun shined at high capacity and the temperature reached a max of 80 degrees. Absolutely perfect for walking around and taking pictures of the beauteous blossoms. My friend Mike, who lives in Maryland, invited my husband and I down for the weekend so we could all visit D.C. Finding shaded areas with the blossoms proved to provide the best results picture wise. We all had a fabulous time and hope to get there next year! Without further ado, here are some photos from the trip!

Good Reads

Magical Transport

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”

— Stephen King

Some days are just meant to be spent inside curled up under a warm blanket, drinking a cup of hot tea, and being transported into another world. On a day such as this, rainy and cold outside, a book becomes a fantastic device to envision a whole new outlook. Books let the imagination flourish and enhances the ability to create, to learn, and to be mindful of the beauty surrounding life.

I'm never very far from a good book, whether located on my night stand, kindle app, bookshelf, or coffee table, one can always be within my reach. Many of my favorite lean towards the category of biography. John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra to name a few, but I also devour books that can take me to an enchanted world that simply does not exist in the "real" world. Ideas of magical wizards, vampires, Gatsby-esque figures and fairy princess's bring out the dreamer within me. Also, a good mystery novel, such as Sherlock Holmes, always excites my adventurous and inquisitive side. Whatever your preference may be, I find it important to read as much as possible, to not only educate ones self, but to also keep the imagination alive.

Currently reading: Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy

A Moment to Remeber

Never Giver Up

Happy Thursday everyone! This being my first blog post, I felt it would be appropriate to make it an inspirational one. My mother always said to never give up no matter what obstacles come your way. These past few months have been difficult after losing her, but her advice has stuck with me through it all. Life certainly threw my mother some curve balls, but she always took the high road and never let them get her down. She was the definition of strength, beauty, and courage rolled into one.

I find it only fitting that this first post be dedicated to her. She inspires me each day to follow my dreams and she always gave me encouragement to be the best I can be. She lived a good and happy life, and even after her diagnoses, she still continued to stay positive and find the beauty in all life has to give. In part, because of her uplifting words, I decided to create this site and continue to follow my starry eyed dreams. I'm extremely thrilled to be able to do this and share my creativity.