Time for another installment of What I'm Loving Wednesday with http://www.littledaisymay.blogspot.com !

So..what am I loving this Wednesday??

I've been trying to get back on track with working out and eating right...my main problem this past week..grazing and snacking on all the Halloween candy hanging around in the office..everywhere I go there seems to be a snack sized Twix or Reeses Peanut Butter Cup I can't resist. So, it was time to stock up on smart snack choices!

First up...Mini Larabars. I love Larabars. I love their motto...Simple.Pure.Delightful. The bars are made with unsweetened fruits, nuts and spices. Each flavor has no more than nine ingredients. There are tons of flavors to choose from as well. I feel like a granola bars are such an easy fix to throw in your purse or have in your desk drawer or pantry..but some are packed with sugars, high fructose corn syrup etc. So, it's nice to have an option like a Larabar with good simple ingredients. Their mini bars are a staple for me. I like having a bite sized option that I can grab on the go!

Another easy non perishable I can throw anywhere snack...Blue Diamond Almonds. I stay with the plain raw almonds..although they do make these in different flavors..like roasted sea salt etc. I'm a huge nut fan...but when I buy a huge bag of raw almonds from Whole Foods or Trader Joes, I find myself with my hand constantly in that bag. So, I love this option from Blue Diamond...I can grab a bag and not worry about exceeding a portion!

Another nut option...Trader Joe's has some pretty good trail mixes...I'm a label reader and try to go for the trail mixes that are primarily nuts maybe one dried fruit mixed in. Typically when you have a some type of trail mix there's a lot of hidden sugar in there. A lot of the fruits will be artificially sweetened or they'll throw some chocolate bits or candies in there as well. Trader Joe's Go Raw Trek Mix is one I like. I like it even more that they're now making it in little individual packages.

photo from www.comfytummy.com

Keeping up with the healthy kick..I'm also loving this site...www.skinnytaste.com

I've been looking for a couple new recipes to throw in the mix...you know the ones that are easy, healthy and slowly become a goto staple in the recipe box and on the weekly menu. Most of the recipes on this site fall into that category. In the past two weeks I've tried the Lasagna Spinach Roll ups (click HERE for a post about them!), Spinach Meatballs, and Chicken Bruschetta. While they were all good...the Lasagna Roll ups were the favorite!

 

Hope you have a great Wednesday and a fabulous week!

There's no more denying it...

Jessica Simpson looks very pregnant....although the rumors have been circulating for some time...here she is on Sunday at LAX.

Meaningful Beauty

who knew that I would stumble upon a skincare line from an informercial. who knew I would LOVE this stuff and have a big fear that it will disappear from shelves and I won't know what to do with myself. I'm not big on the informercial watching...but this past spring I went through a downright terrible time with my complexion. I'm 33...I honestly thought the days of zit cream and acne were over now that I've moved onto gray hair and wrinkle worries. To my dismay..last winter and spring things got bad...so bad that one day I contemplated calling out sick to work because I was too embarrassed to show my face. It got so bad I called my doctor to see what magic she could suggest.

Then...a little fairy god mother esthetician friend of mine had a suggestion. She had a friend in the field who suggested a product to her...it was this stuff...Meaningful Beauty by Cindy Crawford.

I know you've probably flipped by the informercial with Cindy Crawford and her French dermatologist and his magic melons that he uses in this stuff. It sounds a little phooey. But, on the recommendation of a skin care professional who had first hand knowledge of the woes of my complexion..I figured what do I have to lose? I will admit, I don't love all the products and really hate that it's the tv offer where you have to sign up and they just ship the next month's supply to you. so, there's a way around it. Some Sephora stores are now carrying a little sample size kit for $49 as well as the full sized products that you can buy individually. I have 2 Sephora's near me..a big one inside a big mall, and a little one inside a JC Penney. The little one has this kit which came the cleanser, serum, day cream, and night cream. These "sample" sizes lasted me for over a month.

The only product from the sample kit I could without was the cleanser. It was a nice cleanser but there was nothing special about it. After using this for the past 6 months or so I've noticed a dramatic difference in my skin. Before I was breaking out..and not just blemishes here and there..they were the ones you could feel under your skin for days and days that erupted on your face. My doctor coined this as my "hormonal" acne..thanks doc. Those breakouts have disappeared and the look and feel of my complexion has really turned around. These products have had just a really calming effect on my skin.

My go to products that I purchased at my Sephora inside my local JC Penney (weird that the bigger one isn't carrying this stuff yet..but whatever) are the Antioxidant Day Cream with SPF 20, the Glowing Serum, and the Night Cream. This trifeca of products I, now, cannot live without. There are additional products like eye cream etc that I have yet to try. I have also found some products on amazon and ebay (if you can deal with the auctions etc..I'm too impatient to) and do offer a little bit of a discount. My skin care estetician friend fortunately didn't have the bad complexion woes I did, but instead had rosacea issues which this helped tremendously with as well. I know it's not targeted for acne issues and I think I had a pretty good skin care regimen before with products from Kinerase and Philosophy. I also like that these products handle the anti-aging thing for me to..any anti aging product I bought before..from serums to night creams..really really dried me out.

So..a little review of a product I'm loving. I suggested it to a friend who was having similar issues...she's a month in and liking it to!

It's been one of those weeks...

a lot going on, stuff to deal with...I feel like I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in days which makes the work day a bit tougher and found myself, on more than one occasion, so stressed that all I can do is rub my forehead and try to think of how to get a hold of things going on right now.

sounds like a kind of crappy week, huh? So, today couldn't come fast enough....because at 2pm I'm out of here and off for a weekend of hiking in the White Mountains in New Hampshire with Mr. Allan and some friends. Hopefully they'll be a good, challenging workout tomorrow followed by a hot tub dip and hanging out with some friends all night!

New Hampshire...here we come..please look like this when I get there!

A sign it's Halloween

well at least in our household...besides the mums on our front steps, the largest corn stalks we could find...another sure sign Halloween is around the corner...these snuggly members of our family have whipped out their Halloween wear!

Reese with her Pumpkins

and Annabelle with her ghosts!

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes with Ginger Pumpkin Buttercream

this might not look like much....but this is one of my FAVORITE frosting recipes...the cupcake is pretty good too...but the frosting is hands down amazing!

I can't remember where I got this recipe. It's been hanging around my recipe box for a couple years and I love to use it around this time of year...when it starts to get cold, it's nice to have the oven on and everyone is enjoying everything pumpkin. I believe the original recipe was for a ginger buttercream...I had some leftover pumpkin from making the cupcakes and threw a bit in...and the Ginger Pumpkin Buttercream was born.

Pumpkin Chocolate Cupcakes
makes around 30 cupcakes

2 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cup pumpkin
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cup sugar
5 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together lour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, buttermilk and vanilla and set aside. Beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Alternatively add flour mixture and buttermilk/pumpkin mixtures to mixer until combined.

Line muffin pan and scoop around 1/4 cup of batter into each. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Ginger Pumpkin Buttercream

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp vanilla
2 lbs powdered sugar

beat butter and add spices, vanilla and pumpkin. Slowly add powdered sugar. (I add about 1/4 of the bag at a time and mix it well).

Like I previously mentioned...I LOVE this frosting...the cupcake recipe is pretty good but it has a lot of ingredients to it (and a lot of butter in it!). If you're not feeling the cupcake recipe, you could always grab a box cake mix...maybe add a 1/2 cup of pumpkin, or just do a plain chocolate cupcake as well!

Enjoy!

It's Rainy Days like this...

that the purchase of knee length crocodile Hunter boots is completely justified