Home Made Brown Sugar Body Scrub

"Home Made Brown Sugar Body Scrub"

Hi friends, here is a great Beauty gift you can make for a friend or yourself :) 
I just love to start making this when FALL comes around.  Its great for dry skin and a wonderful gift for anyone this Holiday Season!  
Here is What you will need to make the Scrub!
1) Brown Sugar Raw - it's a little rough so it's good for the scrub
2) Extra or Regular olive Oil
3) Optional - Pure Vanilla, or some sort of essential oil for the smell

Ok, lets GO..... this is Fast and Easy!
Put 1 cup of your Brown Sugar into a bowl, ADD 1 cup of the Olive Oil, ADD 1 teaspoon of vanilla if you wish, or just a few drops of your essential oil (be very careful, essential oils can be very strong, so I would say 2 drops is enough) and MIX!  To this batch I also added 1 tablespoon of Avocado Oil. Mix until all the sugar and oil are blended together well. Next put it into a container, I use plastic because I keep mine in the shower and if it were glass and I broke it in the shower, that would be very bad. So my recommendation is a plastic jar :) 

Last, I wrap mine with some garland and add a spoon for scooping it out!  Its a great gift and I hope you try it. 

What I Wore Sunday

What I Wore Sunday!
So let me just start by saying that one of my favorite things to do is go through my Blogger Reading List of all the Blogs I follow and look at their "What I Wore" Posts.  I love to see how other girls get dressed up and what inspires them to buy certain clothes :)  My absolute favorite posts!
So I thought I would do 2 things with my Post today...show you what I wore to church today and tell you where I got my pieces, then later in the week try to re-make my skirt with my sewing machine...hahah again I said "TRY"  :)  

Top: $15 Found in a small shop in Corona Del Mar, CA Skirt: H&M $24 Shoes: TJMax  $34 Earrings: A gift from my sister-in-law Cathy :) Necklace & Bracelet: Brighton....not sure the price but both were on sale :) 
Oh, man looking at this picture I think...wow I need a tan, and my roots need a touch up...but this is me :)  Have a Blessed week!

Friday's FAMOUS 5 Ingredient Fix

5 Ingredient Fix With Cat Cora's Salsa Hi friends, here is another dinner for you and your family to enjoy....my family loves it!!  This meal is Tacos, or Burritos which ever you prefer all topped with Famous Chef Cat Cora's Pineapple Salsa that I love.  I got this recipe about 2 years ago when my friend invited my hubby and I to Chef night at the MACY'S Home store in their beautiful kitchen section.  Only a few tickets were given out and we were so grateful that my friend chose us to spend the evening with them.  That night not only did we get to sit up close and watch Cat Cora talk to us and Cook for us, but we got to eat everything she was cooking.  It was an appetizer, meal (She did a Flank Steak topped with her Pineapple Salsa) and desert...oh yeah and Wine.  It was so amazing that I have added her Salsa to my list of favorites to make so I thought I would now pass it on to you :)  I hope you enjoy! P.S. Cat Cora also signed my friends Cook book by Cat Cora...I was so bummed I did not have one, maybe next time...if that ever happens again :)  All it takes is: 5 ingredients to make the tacos 5 sides to put on your tacos 5 ingredients to make the Famous Pineapple Salsa TACOS 1) Turkey Meat or Ground Beef 2) MISSION Taco Kit, that comes with the seasoning, taco shells and Red Sauce 3) Onions 4) MISSION Tortillas 5) Beans - I like to make the beans an option instead of the meat  or a side dish To Make the Tacos, Brown your meat in a pan, ADD your Onions diced up, ADD 2/3 cup water with the packet of Taco seasoning from the kit.  Stir until the meat is cooked all the way through and you are done.  The taco meat is ready.  Put on simmer to keep warm.  Slightly cook the taco shells in the oven at 325 degrees for about 5 minutes, and warm up  your tortillas and beans.  We are almost ready to eat.

SIDES 1) Lettuce 2) Avocado 3) Tomato 4) Lemon 5) Lime **You Can do any sides you like, Cheese, sour cream, etc.....just cut them up and put out for your guests to apply to their tacos or burritos as they like.

CAT CORA'S PINEAPPLE SALSA 1) Pineapple (Can or Fresh) 2) Rice Vinegar 3) Extra Virgin Olive Oil 4) Red Onion 5) Lime *She also adds Salt and Cilantro....I am not a fan of either so I put a few shakes of salt but NO cilantro. To Make the Salsa, you are going to cut up your pineapple rings, or your fresh pineapple so there is NO skin left on it.  Dice the Pineapple up so it's in small pieces.  I used about 5 rings from my canned pineapple.  Put that into a bowl then ADD 1 TBSP Rice Vinegar, 2 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1/2 the Red Onion diced up, then squeeze the juice from 1 whole lime.  I also added a little bit of the pineapple juice from the can.  Mix it all together and you are ready to serve over your tacos. *Cat adds 3 TBSP on fresh Cilantro and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. 

And now Here is your MEAL!!!!

I hope you try it!  

Fall FOOTBALL Tea Time

FALL TEA TIME What does Fall mean to you?  That is what the theme was at the Woman's Tea/Brunch Kick-Off at my church, Newport Mesa Church.  So my dearest friend Sara and I threw around a bunch of theme ideas and what did we come up with this year....."FOOTBALL" of course.  :)  After all, for this football girl, FALL always means, Sundays full of Football, and Monday Nights big game every week.  My favorite time of the year! Go Chargers!  So, I thought I would share with you a few pictures of our table since we were the hostesses and then show you a few of the other table themes.  For all crafters seeing what everyone else does is so fun.  Football Table - Robin and Sara Gift - Our gift for each lady was 2 packs of popcorn that Sara wrapped super cute. (sorry for the shadows, we had umbrellas everywhere to help shade the patio)

We had a full table, and great conversation!

Here are some of the other tables...from left to right we have a lemon and lime sunflower table, next we have a candle wreath table, next a Sea Horse Beach style table, and last a warm Fall color themed table with gorgeous towels that were embroidered for each guest.  But altogether I believe we had probably 15 tables...it was a great Brunch!

Last, The guest speaker was a woman I have come to know and admire dearly Johanna Townsend.  She was the guest speaker and although she might joke that she went over her allotted time, I could have sat there for another hour listening to her.  Her speech was about "Life's Interrupts" and she shared great interrupts and then some not so great ones from her life.  But most of all she shared her struggle right now with Breast Cancer and closed her speech by saying "that each journey is all our own, and that she will continue to praise our Almighty GOD until her last breath"... it was such a wonderful speech and I was honored to be there to hear her...Johanna You are SOOOO LOVED :) 

Friday's 5 Ingredient Fix

Fridays 5 Ingredient Fix Hi friends I hope you all had a great week and are adjusting to the new school year that we are all about to start into.  For us, it's preschool time and that means we have a new season of change.  As I am very excited for this new school year for our oldest son "Kai" (almost 4 yrs old) I find that my days are going to look very different than they have in the past 4 years.   How will I still get all of my daily chores done?  That I am still trying to figure out but I do know how I can make it much easier when it comes to a fast, easy and healthy dinner meal.  So I thought I would share one of the favorites in our house with you.  
"It's my Chicken and Rice Meal" But really let me be soooooo clear when I say, I am not a good cook and I will not claim to be.  But I do love to try and I tend to find something I love and make that a LOT.  So much that the hubby and kids are asking for something else.   And since I have not made this one in a while I thought I would share :) I hope you enjoy and try it! SUPER EASY - HERE WE GO! All you need to buy are 5 ingredients: 1) Chicken - I get the boneless, skinless thighs 2) Onion - I like to use the White and since I love onions I use 2 large ones 3) Mushrooms - I prefer the bulb ones 4)Rice - I use white rice, but you can use brown too  5) THE DRESSING - this is the KEY ingredient - if you use something else it will not taste the same :) 

Here is a better picture of the Dressing.  It is called GIRARD'S Light Champagne, and it is actually found in the salad dressing section of the grocery store, but I use it as the marinade.  Make sure to buy the "Light".  If you buy the regular one, I find that it has a thick oil base to it and it does not taste quite the same :) 

The Next steps are super easy, cut up your chicken and put them in a glass dish, then cut up your onions and mushrooms and put on top of chicken.  Last shake your dressing and pour over all the ingredients in the dish.  I like to use 2 bottles of the dressing.  It makes so much extra that we have plenty for lunches and dinner throughout the week. 

Now Cook in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.  Cook until your chicken is moist and cooked all the way through.  While my chicken is cooking I put the rice in the rice cooker and there you have it.  Once the chicken is done, my rice is keeping warm in the rice cooker and we are ready to eat.  Oh, the house smells so good at this point too :) 

Here is your meal.  Put your rice on a plate or in a bowl, then scoop out your chicken marinade and pour over the top.  You can also add any side dish you like.  I added peaches to this meal since I already had a great mix of proteins and carbs. 

Like I said Super EASYYYYYY!!!  I hope you love it.  Let me know if you do :) I would love to hear from you!