Product Rave Deodorant

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Georgina

Product Rave- Deodorant

Wooooaahhhh. You guys. It’s been so long since I’ve posted! And there have been 1000 reasons and excuses, none of which anyone really cares about but to sum it up: 50 days from today I get married!!! Crazy.

I even planned ahead for this crunch time and drafted extra posts for the blog, and still failed! Sheesh.

But I fell in love with a product and I couldn’t go one more week without sharing it with all of you- seriously, in love.

As a lot of you know I try really hard to use “clean products” for my beauty and personal care routine. What does that even mean? Basically I look for products that are nontoxic and don’t have chemicals or known harmful ingredients.

Many people spend a lot of time and money and effort to monitor what they put IN their bodies without giving much thought to what they put ON their bodies. The skin is the largest organ in our body and it only takes something like 26 seconds for what you put ON your skin to be absorbed and can be detected in your blood stream. And I’ve also read that absorption rates on our faces and scalps are 5-10 times higher than on other parts of our body. Scary stuff!

Anyway, one of the products that I’ve been leery of for quite some time (but up until recently couldn’t find a healthy alternative) was deodorant/antiperspirant. It’s a pretty common fact now that traditional deodorants, and specifically antiperspirants containing aluminum, are bad for you and have been linked to a number of nasty illnesses and side effects (cancer, enlarged lymph nodes, list goes on….)

I had decided last year to ditch the antiperspirant deodorants and go a more natural route. This included trying the “crystal”, trying baking soda/enzyme sticks from those ‘natural stores’ and other nontoxic options. Nothing really worked. I mean sure it worked but I’d still sweat a lot and it would smell somewhat bad under there pretty quick, almost mildewy (gross I know- sorry) and also it was really hard to get over the “wet” feeling you’d get upon application.

ME- with all other natural deodorants 😉

Sidetrack: one of the resources I use to help me shop around for products is an app called Think Dirty. You can check it out here. Basically it lets you scan the barcode on any product you have at home or see in the store and it will give you a rating from their database on “cleanliness” ie if the ingredients are toxic, if any have been linked to cancer etc…. so I use it frequently and I love it. I’ll note that they are adding new products all the time. I can’t imagine the time and organization it must take to have each and every item in the world there, but not everything I try to scan shows up- be patient.

Anyway, one of the features is that if a product you scan is “dirty” it will offer you cleaner alternatives. I scanned my current deodorant at the time (just curious) and it popped up a yellow (not great, but not aweful) and it showed me some suggestions. One of them was my new love, Schmidt’s Natural Deodorant. I checked it out and read all the reviews with a little skepticism- I mean everyone was literally singing their praises for this stuff from the rooftops and from what I knew about natural deodorants, how could it possibly be that great? By some grace of god I talked myself into giving it a try, maybe I’m a shopping addict? Maybe I was desperate? Maybe both? I don’t know, but I’m glad I did. I couldn’t make up my mind on what scent to order; there are five options. So I found a travel size 5 pack on Etsy and thought that was a great (and cost effective!) option to try them out before I fully commited.

I used it the first day I got the stuff and haven’t turned back since. You guyyyysssssssssssss all the reviews were right. This stuff is a miracle in a jar.

*It feels dry to the touch right away.

*Keeps you dry.

*Keeps you smelling nice.

*Lasts through workouts.

*Lasts through HOT MUGGY weather.

*Smells awesome.

Me so happy that my deodorant works 🙂 haha

I’ll warn you right now, it might take you a little while to get over the application. You basically use a little scooper to get a little pea sized amount out of the jar, and then apply it to your pits with your fingers. Personally, that didn’t bother me at all, but Jake still gives me weird looks when he sees me doing it. My favorite scent is a tie between lavender + sage and bergamot + lime. But I love them all and actually just rotate through the scents occasionally. I gave the unscented one to my mom since she likes unscented and I don’t, and now she is hooked too! She’s a really un-sweaty person (why wasn’t that gene passed on to me????) and says she can wear it for two days at a time without smelling.

If you have been struggling with your natural deodorant options or have been considering making the change to a natural alternative- YOU NEED TO CHOOSE THIS ONE! You seriously will not be disappointed- I promise.

Hope you are all doing well and staying happy and healthy and enjoying life! I’m so sorry again for leaving you all hanging for > a month!! I’d say it won’t happen again but fo’ realzzzzz this wedding biz is a lot to handle!!! I hope I’ll be keeping you updated as things start to really come together!

xoxo

Potato Leek Soup

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Georgina

Potato Leek Soup

{HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY}

I am Irish- like super Irish. My paternal grandma was actually born and raised in Ireland and my maternal side is just as equally sprinkled with Irishness. I love it and am proud of my heritage.

Last year for the beloved Saint Patricks Day, I had THE worst head cold of my life. seriously. the worst. I didn’t cook a thing. I was couch ridden for like 2 days…. BUT this year I was debating between all the classics, such as my beloved late grandmothers authentic Irish Stew, or corned beef, or soda bread, or cabbage or potatoes, the list goes on and on! But since the temperature took a dip this week here in Wisco, I opted for made this do.die.for. potato leek soup.

My mom used to make this for us when I was going up, and for some reason I didn’t really like it much until a little later on in my life. This was a little varied from the potato leek soup I grew up on, but equally delicious. Here is my recipe for a small little tribute to my wonderful, wonderful heritage. Slainte!

Ingredients:

8 potatoes (5 roughly chopped and 3 chopped into bite site pieces)
2 medium leeks
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
3 stalks of celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
Thyme (fresh or dried)
½ – 1 cup of water
3 tbsp. of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Half the leeks lengthwise and rinse, then thinly slice. Reserve about ¼ of the leek for later. Chop your onion and potatoes and mince the garlic. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large pot. Once heated sauté the onion, leek, and garlic until softened. Add the potatoes and 4 cups of vegetable broth. Bring to a boil and let cook until the potatoes are soft (about 15 minutes).

Meanwhile, chop the rest of your potatoes and the celery and carrots. Sauté those in a separate pan with a the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil and some fresh(or dried) thyme.

Once the potatoes in the broth are cooked through and are soft, use an immersion blender (immersion is the way to go for this in my opinion) and puree/blend the broth mixture. However if need be, you could transfer the pot contents to a blender and do it that way, but be careful!). Blend until all chunks are gone and everything is blended thoroughly. This should create a creamy texture.

Now throw in your additional potato pieces, reserved sliced leeks, the sautéed vegetables, and the additional water to the pot. I found I needed about ¾ of a cup of water, but really the water is just to get the soup to a consistency you are happy with, so this amount can vary. Just add water until it looks good 🙂

Bring it all to a boil and reduce heat. Cook for about 20-30 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally! Season with salt and pepper and ENJOY!!

Yummmmmmm.

This soup is very low fat and chocked full of nutrients. I’m not sure if this would work, but I got the idea to do a sweet potato version of this. Not Irish at all but also maybe put a little mexican flare like adding corn, black beans, cilantro….? Sounds good to me! I’ll let you know if I get around to it 🙂

As always, thanks for stopping by! And I hope you all had a great St. Paddy’s Day!

xoxo

Chicken Broccoli Quinoa Casserole

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Georgina

Chicken Broccoli Quinoa Casserole

HEYOOOO!

It’s Friday again! I love posting on Friday. They are such a happy day and everyone is in a great mood!

Sooooo this recipe is a total copy cat of my major girl crush, Lindsay over at Pinch of Yum. If you are on Pinterest at all, I 100% guarantee you have one of her posts pinned to your recipe board. She is a source of never ending amazing, well, everything! Food, Recipes, pictures, helpful blogging tips and tricks, laughs, inspiration….ok, like I said, girl crush.

I get so many recipe inspirations from her! Her and her hubby, Bjork, started Pinch of Yum a few years ago as a side fun thing and it morphed into their full time job and all their dreams come true! They are like a blogging, social media, power couple- and I want them to adopt me. ~~kidding.~~

So I saw this recipe in my inbox one day and it struck a chord. Jake is always saying how now that I focus on healthier food for us, he misses the cheesy casseroles and pasta and this and that. Well this looked like the perfect solution, keeps me happy with veggies and quinoa and only a little cheese and keeps him happy because it tastes amazeballs and he’ll think it’s loaded with cheese.

WIN.WIN.

It was really good! I had a little trouble getting all the water to absorb into the quinoa, but I just left it in the oven for a little longer until it looked the consistency I wanted. Of course I can never follow a recipe word for word so I made this my “own” in a few ways…. made this gluten free and used almond milk since my stomach can’t really do dairy milk. Also spiced it up a little by using red pepper flakes. I loved the way mine tasted but here’s the original Lindsay version.

But here is my version. Deeeelicious. You have to try it for yourself.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond)
1 teaspoon chicken or vegetable bouillon powder
½ cup flour (I used GF all purpose)
2 cups water, divided
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
¼ cup already cooked and then crumbled bacon (optional but not really 🙂 )
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 teaspoons seasoning (I love Penzeys Mural of Flavor but any basic blend you like will work)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ cup shredded Gruyere cheese (although you can use whatever you would like)
3 cups fresh broccoli florets

INSTRUCTIONS
Sauce: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and generously grease a 9×13 baking dish (not kiddint- be generous, it really sticks to the sides). Bring the chicken broth and ½ cup milk to a low boil in a saucepan. Whisk the other ½ cup milk with the bouillon seasoning and flour; add the mixture to the boiling liquid and whisk until a smooth creamy sauce forms.
Put it all together: In a large bowl, mix the sauce from step one, one cup of water, the quinoa, and bacon and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Slice the chicken breasts into thin strips and lay the chicken breasts strips over the top of the quinoa mixture. Sprinkle with your seasoning of choice. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
Broccoli: While the casserole is in the oven, place the broccoli in boiling water for 1 minute until it turns bright green and then run under cold water. Set aside.
Bake: Remove the casserole from the oven, check the mixture by stirring it around in the pan, and if needed, bake for an additional 10-15 minutes to get the right consistency. When the quinoa and chicken are cooked and the sauce is thickened, add the broccoli and a little bit of water (like 1/2 cup) until the consistency is creamy and smooth and you can stir it up easily in the pan. Top with the cheese and bake for 5 minutes, or just long enough to melt the cheese. You can hit it with the broiler to get a pretty golden color if you want too. TADA

And then eat it up! Sooooo tasty. And pretty relatively guilt free!

So you have two take aways from today:

1) Make this recipe and come back and tell me how you liked it.

2) Go check out Lindsay and Bjorks site Pinch of Yum, if you haven’t already that is 🙂

OH and one last thing:

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! ❤ ❤ ❤ I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. As always thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

*This post contains no sponsored or affiliate links.

Breakfast Pizza

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Georgina

Breakfast Pizza

Woot Woooooot it’s friday! Let me tell you- the first full week back at work after all the holiday shenanigans is H.A.R.D.

fo realz- I barely made it through. Especially since my teacher hubby-to-be had a snow/cold day off of school on Wednesday and it was sooo hard to wake up and go out in the -30 degree temperatures and drag my butt to work that day.

Jake and I have been KICKING BUTT on the wedding checklist this week! For those of you who may not know, I’m getting married this up coming June and I’m reaching the point I can no longer push things off until later and need to get them done now! Tuesday we shopped around for the guys suits and think we found what we are going to do, just need to try on a size (which they had to send to a location near us) on Monday and then most likely order those. Wednesday we shopped around for wedding bands and 90% sure we found what we like and will buy. We also created and added (some not all) items to our gift registry and I almost, almost booked a hair/makeup person for myself and my ladies for the big day of the wedding but even though I’d reached out to the person over a month ago (and she only got back to me a week ago) and we’d been talking all week, she wrote to me (5 hours after I told her I wanted to book her) that she’d just booked someone else for that day. Talk about frustrating!!! Seriously?!? how about a courtesy call or text saying “hey someone else is interested in your day and I just want to know your answer before I talk to this person. You know, since we’ve been talking for over a week”…….

I’m frustrated about it, mainly because a) that’s rude b) I’m super picky about make-up and hair and I’d FINALLLLLLY found someone willing to travel to my wedding place and who I thought was talented. So the search begins again. Buttttt- enough complaining! We got so much done this week and things are really coming together and I’m getting VERY excited for June to be here! Not mention my Italian adventure afterwards 🙂 I plan on sharing more wedding related ideas and details in the coming months buttt….before I do, I have to share this amazingly delicious and fast breakfast (or anytime of the day:) ) pizza with you!

Breakfast Pizza
Ingredients:
– Pizza Crust (Homemade or store bought)
– 1 cup jarred Alfredo Pasta Sauce (I like this one)
– 1 package breakfast sausage
– 6-10 eggs
– 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese
– desired pizza toppings (I like mushrooms, peppers, onions, tomatoes….really anything!)

Instructions:
– Preheat oven to 400 degrees (or whatever your pizza crust directions say)
– Cook breakfast sausage according to package directions until browned and broken into small-ish pieces. Drain fat and set aside.
– Crack eggs into a bowl and whisk to combine. Pour into a nonstick (or greased) frying pan and scramble. Don’t break into tooo small of pieces. Set pan aside.
– Spread the Alfredo sauce over the pizza crust and top with your eggs, sausage and whatever toppings your heart desires and finally sprinkle some cheese on top.
– Bake for about 10-15 minutes (depending on your pizza crust) until golden brown and crispy. Remove and let cool for about 5 minutes before digging in!

Isn’t that so easy? It’s the perfect quick thing to make for guests on the weekend too! Serve with some fruit and you’re like a rock star. My mom usually makes this a couple of times throughout the year on a Sunday morning when all the kids are home and there’s no way waffles or pancakes is happenin’

Also loving how these pictures turned out! Nothing beats bright natural light! Hope you have a fabulous weekend! Stay warm if you’re in the Midwest (brrrrrr so cold right now). Thanks for checking out the blog!

xoxo

2014 In Review

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Georgina

2014 In Review

Holy cats. It’s 2015. The year I get married, the year I travel to Italy, the year I want to start making money on this blog, the year I’ll turn 26. There are so many ‘The Year I’ll….” I always get so excited for new years! So much potential and yet, I get nostalgic for the year that has passed. 2014 was so awesome and there were so many great memories!

Time goes by so quickly! Seriously I can’t believe that 2014 is over! No seriously. How did that happen?

Crazy. This year has been so awesome for me and for Eat Laugh Craft. I thought I would do a little round up of the top 5 posts on the blog this year! Counting down………..

5) Lemon Baked Tilapia with Spinach and Carrot Lentils with 1,401 views in 2014

4) Beef Yakisoba with 1,961 views in 2014

3) Skinny Spaghetti Squash Alfredo with 2,967 views in 2014

2) Black Bean & Corn Salsa with 3,045 views in 2014

aaaaaannnnnnndddddddddd #1

1) Tomato, Potato, Zucchini, Summer Squash Casserole with 53,380 views in 2014. No that’s not a typo. Fifty three THOUSAND views in 2014. This is by far our most popular post on the blog and hopefully we can produce another viral popular post like this in 2015!

There you have it! Eat Laugh Craft’s popular posts of 2014! Thank you so all of you for making this blog what it is today! I’m so glad you love to come back and check out my ramblings on and on and on about food and my life! 🙂

I’m not one for new years resolutions I just don’t get in to them but I’ll leave you with this:

Do what makes you happy and don’t feel ashamed of being YOU. If you want to work out more, do it. If you want to cook more, do it. If you want to improve your patience, do it. Each day is the beginning of the rest of your life. You don’t need a new year on the calendar to start making you feel complete.

Happy 2015! Make it the best year yet 🙂

xoxo