OK, so I have a sweet tooth, it is true. I love a little something sweet each day and today I am in love with the Peach Creme with Gingersnap Crust from one of my favorite blogs Sprouted Kitchen. It is a fab blog created by a lovely gal named Sara who cooks the most amazing recipes using only local and organic foods. Her love, Hugh does all of the fab photography. I will be featuring some of my favorite recipes from Sprouted Kitchen on Sweet Greens for you to enjoy. Please visit Sprouted Kitchen for more amazing recipes and photography.
Ingredients:
The science of this pie is that the lemon reacts with the milk products to help the filling firm up. Be sure to give it ample time to do its thing before serving.
What you will need:
* The Crust
10 oz. Gingersnap Cookies 3 Tbsp. Butter
* The Filling
1 14 oz. Can Organic Sweetened Condensed Milk {low fat optional} ½ Cup Crème Fraiche ¼ Cup Fresh Lemon Juice 1 tbsp. Cinnamon 1 ¼ Cup Ripe Peaches, Peeled and Diced
Directions:
1. In a food processor, grind the gingersnap cookies. Add the butter and pulse to combine. 2. Press the cookie mixture evenly into the sides and bottom of a 9’’ glass pie pan. Pop this in the freezer while preparing the filling. 3. In a bowl, whisk the condensed milk, crème fraiche, lemon juice, and cinnamon together. Give the peach pieces a good squeeze in your fist to crush them up a bit, and add to the cream mixture. Whisk together. Add the filling to the chilled cookie crust. 4. Let the pie firm up in the fridge for at LEAST 4 hours. We put ours in the freezer, and then let it sit for a bit before serving.
Feeling stressed out? Feel like you need a break, but can’t find the time to take one? Here are some simple green tips to help you let go of the stress you are feeling, relax, and say awwww. I do at least one of these things every day, usually more and it really helps to keep my stress level down and positive energy up.
* Grab a steaming cup of coffee, tea, chai, or cocoa and find somewhere cozy and quiet to enjoy just one cup. I start my day with a nice cup of decaf coffee and then have a cup of tea at the end of my workday and it always relaxes me.
* Spend 30 minutes doing an outside activity that you love. Some of our favorites {Jayson and I}are stopping at the driving range to hit a bucket of balls, going for a bike ride, gardening, or taking a walk by the stream. We try to do at least one of these things every night after dinner.
* Spend at least 20 minutes a day getting some type of exercise. My favorites are aerobics, yoga, cycling, and swimming. I exercise every day because I have found it to be the one thing that has the largest impact on my mental and physical well being.
* Take a soothing bath with a relaxing essential oil such as lavender. I don’t do this nearly as often as I would like, maybe once a month because I worry about wasting so much water, therefore it isn’t relaxing for me.
* Curl up in a nice cozy spot with a good book, journal, or your iPod and unwind. Jayson and I read every night and it is much more relaxing than watching TV.
* Enjoy a nice glass of biodynamic or Organic wine on your patio or outside space. My favorites wines are Jayson’s Homemade Wine, Parducci’s, and Quivira Vineyards.
* Snuggle up with your favorite furry friend or loved one. Olive our French Bulldog is excellent for this, bulldogs think they are lap dogs and love to cuddle, Jayson is pretty good at this as well.Â
* Spend 15 minutes meditating. Find somewhere quiet, sit, breath slowing (in and out through your nose) and clear your mind of all of the stresses of the current day, this is excellent for relaxation.
How do you relax and free yourself from stress? What have you found to be the most relaxing activity that you do?
Sometimes, maintaining healthy skin can seem impossible. If you have acne, that bacteria-fighting scrub from the drugstore might dry out your skin, causing itchy and painful redness. If your skin is too dry, a store-bought moisturizer might make your skin appear greasy. Finding the perfect product may never happen.
Luckily, there are natural ways to boost your skin’s appearance. Below, we’ve listed some great at-home remedies that can combat common skin blemishes without hurting your skin’s health. As a bonus, these natural methods can be cheaper than serums and soaps produced commercially, so you won’t waste big bucks if they don’t work for your unique skin.
Here are just a few fuss-free natural remedies for common skin ailments and blemishes:
Fighting Acne Naturally
Acne is incredibly common. In fact, 85% of people have experienced acne in some form throughout their life. However, just because acne is common doesn’t mean you want to have it. Pimples are painful, and deep forms like cystic acne can leave scars.
There are many types of acne that all have different causes and symptoms. However, natural skin hygiene habits can combat most forms of this condition. Try this homemade honey-based face wash from Dr. Axe to combat acne-forming bacteria:
Ingredients
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
20 small droplets of melaleuca essential oil
2 capsules of live probiotics
Leave this mixture on affected areas for two minutes, then wash away with water. Repeat once daily to kill bacteria and reduced inflammation associated with acne!
Reducing the Appearance of Scars at Home
Like acne, scars come in all shapes, sizes, and forms. Though we commonly think of scars as long-healed cuts, scars can also come from burns, surgeries, or tissue that was completely removed.
Scars on the face can be particularly troublesome. Even though in 2016 91% of children were vaccinated against measles, mumps, and rubella, many older adults have facial scars left from these types of childhood illnesses. Scars anywhere on the body can appear darker or lighter than the surrounding skin, and keloid scars form bumps.
Scars are signs that your body has done the work of healing an earlier injury. As such, scars don’t need treatment themselves for you to be in good health. Scars are also unlikely to disappear completely. However, if you’d like to minimize the appearance of a scar, you can try the following natural method:
Aloe Moisturizing
Try taking a leaf of an aloe plant and peeling away the dark outer skin. Then, scoop out and apply the light green/clear gel directly to the scar area. Let the gel rest for half an hour, then rinse with cool water. Repeat twice daily.
Natural Cellulite Treatments
It’s been estimated that 80% to 98% of women have cellulite somewhere on their body. Even though it is common, many women and men alike would prefer their cellulite was less noticeable. Cellulite is associated with the body’s fat storage processes, so many consider diet and exercise to be the best treatment.
However, even individuals with a healthy weight can have cellulite. No matter your size, there are a variety of methods for reducing cellulite. Try eating more seaweed or soaking with seaweed in your bathwater. Seaweed is known for balancing hormones and drawing toxins out of the body. Additionally, dry brushing with a natural bristle brush can improve circulation and exfoliate old skin cells, which may reduce dimpling and improve skin’s overall appearance.
No matter what your skin looks like, all-natural methods can help you save a little money and support your overall health. Before trying expensive and artificial serums for skin conditions that may never go away (like stretch marks, scars, and wrinkles), give these natural, homemade solutions a try.
When you get dressed in the morning, you can pick and choose your outfit based on your mood or how you would like to come across on that day. Your clothes say so much about you, but then so does your hair. Unfortunately with your hair, you are more limited in what you can do it on a daily basis.
You could curl or straighten your hair. You could dress it up with bows, ribbons, clips, and slides, and you could tie it up in all manner of ways. But there is one thing that you won’t be able to do with your hair very easily, or on a whim, and that is to change its color.
Of course, you can get box dyes in all manner of colors. Some of these will be permanent, some will be semi-permanent, and some will wash out after just a couple of washes. But, if you want a long-lasting color that looks the part, you’ll need to go to the hairstylist and get your hair done professionally. And, when you do this, your hair is destined to stay this color for a long time yet.
With all of this in mind, it is essential that you do some research and really think about which hair color is for you. You may really love the look of a certain color that is in style, but before you rush off to find out how to get mushroom brown hair, you’ll need to know that it is going to look great on you.
In this article, we’ll take a look at how you can pick the right hair color for you. We’ll also be talking about how you can do this in an eco-friendly way.
Use a Virtual “Try On”
Some hair dye websites will let you do a virtual try-on for your hair color. Through the wonder of technology, it is possible to take a photo or video of your face and using augmented reality to show it with your new hair color in place of your existing hair. This is a handy tool that the likes of Loreal, Garnier, and many more hair dye manufacturers have on their websites.
Try On A Wig
If you want to see how you would look with a certain color hair, then you could try on a wig and see how that will make you look. Of course, using a wig will only give you an idea as it can be hard to match the exact shade to how your hair will eventually look.
It is important that you look for an eco-friendly wig. While synthetic hair may be convenient, it is certainly not great for the environment. Synthetic wigs are in no way biodegradable, meaning that when you’re done with them, they’ll stay around landfills forever. Instead of buying synthetic, you could try buying a natural wig.
Don’t Go Too Far Away From Your Natural Color
When it comes to your hair, the more natural it looks the better. As a rule of thumb, they say that you shouldn’t stray too far from your own color hair. Two shades lighter or two shades darker should be where you should be looking to go. If you go too dark for your natural skin color that your skin will look washed out, if you go to pale, it will probably also have a similar effect. If you are in doubt, you could dip dye your tips for a more gradual fade to a different color.
Go For Warm Colors On Warm Skin Tones
One of the most important things that your hair should match is your skin tone. When it comes to picking which hair color is right for you, you should always look at your skin tone. If you have either a pink, red, olive or yellow skin tone, then you will be able to go for warmer skin tones such as luxurious auburn browns or golden blondes.
If You Have A Cooler Skin Tone Go For A Cooler Color
If you have a cooler skin tone with a hint of blue to it, then you should go for a cooler color. There is quite a lot that you can go for here, think about going for red hair with a purple tint to it, or even a blue-tinted ash blond.
Take It Slow
If you are looking for a real departure from your existing color then you should take your time. If you want to go from a darker color to a blonde, then you should try a neutral color first then work up to the lighter shades.
Go To Town On Your Hair
Can’t decide on one colour? Why settle for just one? You could have a rainbow in your hair. Why not mix it up and have multicolored hair? Or, you could have an ombre look or a gradual transition from darker to lighter.
Finding An Eco-Friendly Hair Dye
Before you dye your hair, you should make sure that the dye that you are using is eco-friendly. This means finding a product that is both sustainable and that has not been tested on animals.
Think about using natural hair dyes. Use henna to color your hair. Lush make a great zero waste henna hair dye which is available in four shades- this comes in a bar form meaning there is no packaging either. You may also want to check out Hair Mud which is made from herbs, leaf powers, walnut shells, and petals.
