When I meet new people and they learn about my blog (or at least my love for cooking), the first question is always “What’s your favorite thing to cook?” The answer is – I like cooking everything! Of course the focus is mostly on healthy meals, but I don’t limit myself to any particular ethnic angle. I feel like if I did that, I’d be missing out on so much deliciousness that’s out there. Variety is the spice of life, as they say!

So the second question is 9/10 is this (seriously, almost every time!): “Do you know how to cook Indian food?” And this is where I must confess my limitations. I love love love Indian food, especially the non-traditional dishes the likes of chicken tikka masala (I’m sorry, I know people in India don’t eat it but it still tastes like Indian food to me and that creamy/nutty tomato sauce it comes with just can’t be beat. It’s the best!!). But I haven’t been able to replicate the stuff to save my life. I follow recipes, often highly rated recipes claiming to have restaurant-quality taste, and they still fall flat every.single.time.

The other day, I was browsing through my blog archives and found this old post on pork vindaloo that got rave reviews from me and Adam. I thought, hey – maybe I can cook Indian food after all! This also happened to be a super quick dish so I was excited to give it a go again and hopefully also make it a little more appetizing to look at. The end result was this:

1. It was very easy to make.

2. This dish is hard to photograph but the pictures are definitely an improvement over my previous set.

3. It tasted just ok. I guess my standards have gotten higher. I will not be making this dish again. The search for a great Indian recipe continues!!

The bright spot of dinner were these DAHlicious Lassis sent to me by the company for review. Just in case you are unfamiliar with lassis – they are Indian yogurt based drinks. They are creamy and sweet – sort of like smoothies you enjoy with your dinner. Since a lot of Indian food is quite spicy, they add a nice cooling effect too. I enjoy them on occasion when out (although to be honest, they are typically quite indulgent and sweet and I usually don’t like to drink my calories).

DAHlicious Lassis are made with low fat Indian yogurt, made with milk from grass-fed cows (LOVE), are 100% natural and only lightly sweetened. When reading the labels, I also noticed that the banana flavor doesn’t even have any added sugar. Way to take advantage of banana’s natural sweetness. Very cool!

Here is what these pretties look like in a glass:

Again, love the color! The flavors offered are mango, vanilla, blueberry, strawberry and banana. Adam and I had a little taste test with dinner and honestly enjoyed every one. The creamy, slightly tangy taste of yogurt really comes through in every flavor. My favorites were vanilla (most yogurt-centric in flavor), banana – which had the perfect balance of yogurt and banana flavor (my favorite of the bunch, I think!! Also, this one gets bonus points for not having any added sugar), and blueberry – which has a much more berry forward flavor (most smoothie-like and Adam’s favorite too). The strawberry seemed to be just too mild at first but upon a second taste (since it was one of Adam’s favorites), I sort of enjoyed its subtlety. The mango seemed to the exact opposite – completely overpowering, ranking the least favorite of all.

So there you have it! I think these babies would make for a great on-the-go “snack” too, and they sure are tasty.

Would you like a chance to win some? One lucky Healthy and Sane reader will win 5 coupons for free DAHlicious lassis – so you can taste each flavor too and pick your own favorite (they are sold at Whole Foods and various independent retailers across the country)!

Here are the rules: there are plenty of ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – Tell me anything Indian related. And I will love you forever if you direct me to a great Indian recipe!

2) Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (a link to this post must be included to qualify)

3) Pin this post on Pinterest

4) Subscribe to Healthy and Sane by email

5) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

6) Link to this post on your Facebook page.

7) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

8 ) Link to this post on your blog, if you have one. If you don’t, let someone else know about this giveaway and tell me so in the comments section after they’ve entered the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment on this post for each qualifying entry. This giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry!) and ends at midnight on Wed, February 8. I will randomly choose 1 winner using random.org and announce him/her the following day. Good luck!

I am, however, very much aware of the fact that summer is going to end very soon (partially because I keep seeing everything-fall). I wish it was summer all year long (clearly I should have thought of that before buying a condo in New England!)… but since it won’t be the case, I’m savoring every last moment of it. I try to spend as much time as possible outside when things like rain and/or hurricane don’t get in the way. And I’m eating fresh summer produce like it’s going out of style… err season.

I save hundreds of new recipes every week and it’s always so exciting when I finally make one of them (instead of finding a brand new one right before grocery shopping… I know, that’s just silly yet I do it far too often). This recipe from the July 2009 issue of Cooking Light for berry-peach cobbler with sugared almonds I’ve had saved since… well, July 2009. I’m sorry I’ve waited this long because I’m honestly obsessed. It’s the best summer dessert a girl could ask for. And it’s easy. And light. I don’t even want chocolate after eating it. Yes, that good!

I made this last night, right before getting an email from my girl Kelsey at Stonyfield, reminding me to host a giveaway for you guys since summer is about to end (here we go again…). And what do you know, I just happened to be eating this cobbler with Stonyfield fat free frozen yogurt…

It’s good stuff. Super creamy. Honestly I would have never guessed it was fat free (I actually hesitated before buying it because I saw that it was fat free, but decided to give it a god anyway because I love Stonyfield products). Of course I did have it with this sick cobbler… mmm.

So quickly about this recipe. I used half the sugar the recipe called for and it was still very sweet (my fruit was incredibly sweet – so that was probably why)… I would even use less sugar next time if my fruit is at its prime again. I also used whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose. I would do this again – the topping was buttery and flawless. Loved the candied almonds too. Seriously, I need to stop talking about this cobbler before I go back to the kitchen for more…

Mmm, I love when the ice cream froyo gets all melty…

I’m drooling over my own pictures right now. Hope you don’t mind

Now on to the giveaway! Stonyfield recently launched their organic frozen yogurt bars – (vanilla or chocolate, covered in chocolate) – just in time for the summer. Unfortunately I was unable to find them near me (supposedly they should be available at Whole Foods now) but I still enjoyed the rest of the loot in my “summer in a box.”

One lucky winner can have a box just like this!

Here is what’s in it:

• Two coupons for Stonyfield Frozen Yogurt Bars in two delicious flavors: Gotta Have Vanilla, and After Dark Chocolate.  These bars, made with organic milk, are dipped in rich dark chocolate, and contain four live and active cultures.
• Badger After-Sun Balm: A certified organic treat for sun-parched skin. Made with moisturizing plant butters and infused with soothing Blue Tansy and Lavender to make your skin feel smooth and leave you feeling calm.
• Dr. Hauschka Melissa Day Cream: This new 100% natural moisturizer is perfect for combination skin.  Formulated with extracts of melissa (lemon balm), it smells like fresh squeezed lemonade.  Additionally, extracts of anthyllis, carrot, witch hazel and English daisy soothe, soften and even the complexion so shine is controlled and skin is moisturized.
• Tom’s of Maine: Simply White, the first and only clinically proven natural whitening toothpaste to earn an ADA seal, helps bring back the natural beauty of your smile.  The Daily Moisture Body Bar has an ultra-rich bar soap formula that contains premium moisturizing olive oil, natural vitamin E and leaves your skin clean and fresh. Beautiful Earth Deodorant works to inhibit the growth of odor-causing bacteria and its natural, refreshing fragrance helps mask odor
• Uncle Matt’s Organic Lemonade and Juices: By buying Uncle Matt’s fresh fruit and juice you’re helping more than 20 small growers that make up their family of farms. That’s one of the reasons they’re proud to be family owned and organically grown. Use this free coupon to pick up your choice of organic juice or lemonade and quench your thirst for summer!

I was waiting to review the products until I found the froyo bars, but since summer is ending – I’m hosting this giveaway now. I’ve only tried the deodorant so far and I LOVE it. It smells incredible; it’s clear and natural. What more can you want? I will be buying it again and again after I run out of this one. Can’t wait to try the rest of the products and of course the froyo bars once I find them.

Ready to win? Here are the rules: there are 7 ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – I would love to hear about way you’re savoring summer or about natural/organic products or foods you’ve been enjoying lately.

2) Follow me on Twitter (please include your twitter handle in the comments section so that I can confirm your entry).

3) For an additional entry, you can also tweet about this giveaway (my twitter handle @elinaholbrook and a link to this post must be included to qualify)

4) Subscribe to Healthy and Sane by email

5) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

6) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

7) Link to this post on your blog, if you have one. If you don’t, let someone else know about this giveaway and tell me so in the comments section after they’ve entered the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment on this post for each entry. This giveaway ends at 8am EST on August 31 (just in a little over 24 hours!). I will randomly choose 1 winner using random.org and announce him/her that morning. Good luck!

I actually had plans to make this curried chickpeas and broccoli dish but when I saw this Seeds of Change tikka masala sauce in my pantry as I reached for the chickpeas, I decided to make dinner even simpler. What could be easier than 3 ingredients with a little premade help?

I browned the chickpeas a bit, then threw broccoli pieces and the sauce into the pan to simmer.

Red quinoa was cooking on the burner next to it and everything was ready in 10 minutes.

[Sorry for the picture, the steam coming off the curry was making everything blurry!]

I loved that someone else took the time to let the flavors develop and all I had to do was dump the sauce over some protein and veggies and 10 minutes later a real meal was ready! Unfortunately this particular sauce had so many onion chunks I was completely appalled – I dug them out like a little kid between bites, which did not make for a pleasurable dinner experience and actually ruined my mood. The search for the perfect tikka masala sauce continues!

Next time I’m in no mood to cook, I would love to turn to some premade “shortcuts” for a semi-homemade dinner. Do you have any favorites? While I always prefer homemade, convenience sometimes wins. I often turn to bottled salad dressings, packaged granola bars, etc.

Oh, and if there is jarred sauce you know of or you have a tikka masala recipe that tastes like the real thing at restaurants, I’d love to hear about it! It’s my favorite!!

For more from me, check out my post on kotleti over at Russian Bites.

The other day I found a chocolate brownie zbar all in the way in the back of my desk drawer. I used to love them but then somehow forgot about their existence. Well, it was a bit stale but I still LOVED it! 

So I instantly went on Amazon and purchased an 18 pack. They came to less than 75 cents each and I’ve been eating one every day for dessert for the past week.

These are chewy, chocolaty (love the chocolate chips – my favorite!), a really good size and only 3 Points Plus. That’s an amazing bargain! They don’t taste exactly like their indulgent counterparts, but they really satisfied my sweet tooth and I truly believe had a lot to do with me being able to stick to my points plus allowance this week (of course having Adam’s support and plenty of exercise helped too)!! [Btw, I lost 2lbs. Wheeeeeee ]

Have you ever tried these? Are there any other commercially available products that you love and think would fit my (sweet tooth’s) bill?

Better Butter was actually started by a friend of mine, Marina, whom I met through blogging last year. She was a big fan of nut butters (who isn’t, right?) but was frustrated with how caloric they were…so she started playing with natural ingredients like pumpkin and mashed banana to make a lighter peanut butter spread. And that’s how Better Butter was born!

[Edited to add: I forgot something really important!! Better Butter is ~45% less calories than peanut butter (around 100 calories for 2 tablespoons), ~50% less fat than peanut butter and ~65% less saturated fat than peanut butter. I love these stats!!]

A few weeks ago Marina sent me a Better Butter variety pack to taste and review on the blog. I was super excited to say the least!!

The 3 flavors currently available are: honey nut banana, maple pumpkin and nutty chocolate chip

These are definitely peanut butter spreads. This may sound funny but I don’t think peanut butter tastes a lot like peanuts – it has a very distinct flavor for me. Better Butter tasted a lot like peanuts… and the flavorings! Each variety had a very different texture as well.

The maple pumpkin was light and fluffy. I loved the spices in it – tasted like a pumpkin pie filling but much less sweet (all Better Butter spreads are sweetened with agave nectar which has a much more subtle sweetness).

The honey nut banana was my least favorite actually. It was a lot more dense and seemed to taste differently on different days. One day it tasted like green bananas, another day it was very peanuty.

Unsurprisingly, the nutty chocolate chip was the one I kept going back for. It was a little grainy but I just loved the deep chocolate flavor and the mini chocolate chips. Yes, everything is better with chocolate chips!

I actually received a whole full-sized jar of the nutty chocolate chip to play around with and challenged myself to the very first Elina original muffin recipe!! I made a cherry chocolate kind on Saturday, took notes on what worked and what didn’t, and went back to the drawing board (and my kitchen) on Sunday. Here are my Healthy and Sane chocolate apricot muffins (makes 6)

Wet ingredients:

• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1 egg
• 1T canola oil
• 2T Better Butter nutty chocolate chip

Dry ingredients:

• 4oz whole wheat pastry flour
• 2.5T cacao powder
• 1t instant coffee
• 1t baking powder
• 1/2t salt
• 4T sugar (these were not too sweet, use more if you prefer sweet muffins)

Mix-ins: dried apricots, chopped (I used 75grams – all I had left). I think chocolate chips would put these over the edge in amazingness

The process in pictures…

Mix wet ingredients:

Mix the dry ingredients:

Combine the 2, add mix-ins. Bake at 350* for 16 minutes.

Enjoy!

These muffins came out super moist with a hint of chocolate and peanut butter flavor (I think the addition of chocolate chips would make these more chocolaty). I loved the addition of dried apricots – they are my latest obsession!

[Each muffin is 5 Points Plus]

As mentioned above, they weren’t too sweet so I thought a shmear of Better Butter over the top was appropriate

Yup, very appropriate. Yum!

This was muffin #2 actually, I took a bite and then remembered dinner was coming, so I “glued” it back together. Sneaky.

Want a chance to win a variety pack of Better Butter and taste all 3 flavors?

Here are the rules: there are 6 ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – Tell me anything peanut butter related – maybe what your favorite brand or flavor is or how you like to enjoy it.

2+3) Follow me on Twitter (please tell me in the comments what your twitter name is so I can confirm). For an additional entry, you can also tweet about this giveaway (my twitter name @elinacooks must be included to qualify)

4) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

5) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

6) Link to this post on your blog, if you have one. If you don’t, let someone else know about this giveaway and tell me so in the comments section after they’ve entered the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. The giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry!) and will end on January 15. I will randomly choose a winner using random.org and announce him/her on the following Monday. Good luck!

With a busy day ahead of me, I was excited to start with a 2 minute breakfast. Enter: Three Sisters instant oatmeal I received from the company to sample.

[My sister had the brown sugar & maple kind for breakfast yesterday and was kind enough to model the packaging for us. ]

I thought the pouch design was genius! Once you pour the oatmeal out of it into your bowl, you can use it to measure the right amount of water to make your oatmeal. Totally brilliant!

She dumped a bunch of frozen fruit into her bowl (together with the oats) so the end result was a bit too watery. Despite this mishap, she did say she enjoyed the flavor (but her breakfast was camera shy ). Since the first batch was an “operator error,” I’ll show you my chocolaty breakfast.

Wanna get a little closer?

The oatmeal was definitely sweeter than my typical morning bowl of oats but it wasn’t so sweet as to qualify for dessert. I liked it paired with some cool plain Greek yogurt. In all honesty, in the future I’d probably leave these for a mid-afternoon snack. Still a bit too much sugar to start off the day with.

Three Sisters makes plain instant oats which I think would be perfect for a rushed morning and can be spiked with your favorite flavors (or protein powder… adding pp to the above flavors produced an overly sweet concoction… yes, I already experimented with it since this morning. All in the name of research.] While I’m sure the plain instant oats are comparable to other brands’ in taste, I really love Three Sisters’ packaging and the Company’s commitment to sustainable practices, so I think for those reason I’d chose them over their competitors next time.

Now, onto the really fun part. Remember the last time I mentioned Three Sisters cereals? I mentioned that the bag of Cinnamon Sweets the Company sent me disappeared before it got a chance to have a date with my camera. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. When I got another free product coupon, I decided to purchase my “old” favorite but this time I wanted to take it one step further and make a fun treat and share it (through the screen) with you!

Not sure how this idea came to me but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it for weeks. I decided to make the traditional Rice Krispie recipe but sub the Rice Krispies for Three Sisters Cinnamon Sweets. Oh yes, this was brilliant!

This is how you do it…

Sweet, sticky, comforting. I cut these into little pieces and included them in our cookie favors. Everyone loved them!

Would you like to win a month’s supply of Three Sisters cereal? That’s FOUR free bags of any cereal. Pretty awesome prize if you ask me.

Here are the rules; there are 6 ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – tell me about your favorite oatmeal or cereal.

2+3) Follow me on Twitter (please tell me in the comments what your twitter name is so I can confirm). For an additional entry, you can also tweet about this giveaway (my twitter name must be included to qualify – that’s @elinacooks fyi)

4) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

5) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

6) Link to this post on your blog, if you have one. If you don’t, let someone else know about this giveaway and tell me so in the comments section after they’ve entered the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. The giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry) and will end on Saturday, December 18. I will randomly choose a winner using random.org and announce him/her in the following post. Good luck!

The book starts with an outline of Dr. Axe’s diet, defining “real food” and “fake food.” I didn’t really care for the tone of it – it seemed a little gimmicky with claims like “refined sugar is lethal when ingested by humans!” (yeah, ok!) which in my opinion actually undermined some of the good messages like avoiding hydrogenated oils and artificial sweeteners and focusing on hormone/antibiotic free, organic meats and eggs vs. their conventional counterparts. Some of the suggestions also lacked sufficient rationale. For example, the diet allows for small portions of grains but they must be unprocessed and glutten-free. I didn’t understand why glutten-free (for people that do not have glutten allergies) was recommended and further why some recipes in the cookbook portion called for glutten-free pancake mix. Is that unprocessed? Again, why is it better than whole wheat flour?

The book and I generally didn’t get off on the right foot but I was mostly interested in the cookbook portion and that’s what I set out to review. Majority of the recipes included nice looking photos, which I always appreciate (although a few of them did not match the description entirely… a bit sloppy). I also liked the little shortcut signs for meals that are quick, pre/post workout, low on energy, kid-friendly, etc.

Most of the recipes appeared pretty simple and straight forward and many of them sounded (and looked) delicious. Perhaps because of the intro section, for the most part I felt like this was a diet book (first) with supplemental recipes (second), rather than a cookbook with certain nutritional guidelines. The one clear miss in the cookbook section was the fact that there were no serving sizes noted. In some cases it’s obvious, but for things like shakes, for example – I had no idea whether I was going to get a whole pitcher or just one glass.

Recipe review time!

Chicken Bryan

This called for 4 tablespoons of oil and 1/2 cup of butter for 2lbs of chicken. I’m all for not being scared of healthy fats but that confused me and I just couldn’t do it. The end result with significantly less fat, was still pretty delicious. I found the bitterness of the lemon rind a bit too strong on day 1, but it actually mellowed out in a few days in the fridge so the leftovers tasted better.

Egg Tahini Salad

A bit of a misnomer because it was actually a salad with eggs… not an egg salad. Am I too anal? Again it was a bit annoying that serving sizes were not included but I made a portion and while I had to thin the dressing out with some water, it was quite flavorful and I enjoyed it (the addition of tomatoes was my own and I thought it was brilliant! )

Next up I made the kale shake which I thought was vile. There is no picture here because after 2 sips (I forced a second one just to make sure I wasn’t crazy), the whole thing went down the drain. I usually force myself to eat whatever I make because I hate wasting food but this one was no go. The ingredients list included kale, cayenne peppers and bananas – this was either going to be genius or well, a disaster. You know what I thought of it by now

I’m happy to say it was smooth sailing from here. The rest of the recipes I tried were super flavorful, easy and very satisfying.

I made the raw marinara sauce with ground grass-fed beef (which I pan fried before mixing with the rest of the sauce) and served it over whole wheat gnocchi. The base of the sauce is sun-dried tomatoes which packed so much flavor. Loved this!!

The rest of the ground beef went into the making of the bison burgers. I know beef isn’t bison but I thought the spices that went into the patties were delicious – I’m sure they’d work great with bison! (Note: the roasted butternut squash and cream cheese additions were my own).

Next up, I made the blueberry bliss snack bars. I don’t know how many the recipes was supposed to make – I shaped them into 2 and had a fun little photo shoot.

These were sweet yet wholesome. I chopped my almonds coarsely and enjoyed their crunch. I also think that making bars into rounds makes them feel like cookies and extra special. I sure felt special eating these

The last recipe I tried was of the avocado mango salsa. It wasn’t much different from other avocado mango salsas I’ve tried but I was happy to have this sweet/sour combo again. It paired beautifully with grilled shrimp with I served over red quinoa.

At the end of it all, I think Dr. Axe got some of my trust back. We had a rocky start (and that kale shake is seriously disgusting!) but all these eats were clean, fresh and delivered strong flavors. I bookmarked a lot of the recipes for a potential review and definitely still plan on trying them out!

Would you like to try the recipes yourself? I have one free copy to giveaway!

Here are the rules; there are 6 ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – tell me what your favorite cookbook is and why.

2+3) Follow me on Twitter (please tell me in the comments what your twitter name is so I can confirm). For an additional entry, you can also tweet about this giveaway (my twitter name must be included to qualify – that’s @elinacooks fyi)

4) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

5) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

6) Link to this post on your blog, if you have one. If you don’t, let someone else know about this giveaway and tell me so in the comments section after they’ve entered the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. The giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry) and will end on December 11. I will randomly choose a winner using random.org and announce him/her on Sunday. Good luck!

**Quick note: this post is long but I learned so much and I really want to share it with you! There may be future giveaways too so I’d love to hear your feedback on what you learn here and what else you’d like to learn about and I should be able to connect with these companies and provide you with answers (and products!) in future posts.**

A quick background on what I’ve been using up until right last week… I’m really into supporting small business owners, and as mentioned, also into cleaning up my beauty routine. I showed you some of my green beauty products before – since then I replaced those individual items with different brands (mostly purchased through etsy, online and some at Whole Foods) but didn’t introduce any new products into my life.

Side note: Beeocology sent me these hair products to review a while back and I haven’t been able to fit them in with past food posts so this is a good chance. All their products are all natural which was the draw for me. I’ve never found my hair to behave very differently based on shampoos or conditioners I use, which was the case here as well, but I guess it’s good to note that my hair didn’t miss any chemicals either.

Changing my make up was the hardest thing for me. I’m a Trish McEvoy junkie because I love the sales girl at the closest department store. She’s really good – I love how she does my face and all the products look good and fit into a cute little case designed specifically for Trish products (yes, I fell for that!). Everything is crazy expensive and I don’t know what’s in the stuff but I know it’s not great. Yet I was scared to change anything.

Fast-forward to the Whole Body event…

MYCHELLE

The first product I learned about was MyChelle. All the products sold at Whole Foods are 100% natural and MyChelle is one of them.  I know some people complain about Whole Foods (mainly because it has a reputation for being really expensive) but say what you will – I love that I don’t really have to worry about quality and crazy artificial ingredients in my food… and my beauty products, if I purchase them there. I don’t want to take over this post about my love for Whole Foods but yeah, I’m a fan. No doubt about that.

From MyChelle’s pamphlet: “Many people feel if something is natural and nontoxic, it’s not strong enough to be effective. Others feel if a product is effective, it can’t possibly be natural. Natural ingredients are not only effective, they are often more effective than chemicals. The reality is that most manufacturers add chemicals to their products because they are cheaper than natural, more effective alternatives.” I think this summarizes so well the feelings that people get. I actually still use prescription acne medication and am really scared to stop because it’s worked for me. I wonder how my skin would react if I use more natural alternatives. It’s definitely something I’d like to eventually migrate to.

MyChelle has 7 different lines with 7 different skin focuses (normal skin, sun-damaged, sensitive, etc.) and there are dozens of products under each line. They have cleansers, toners, serums, sun treatments, etc. as well as cosmetics.

I got to play with a few masks and eye creams (just on my hand ) and they each felt really luxurious and smelled delicious.

The number of products can definitely be overwhelming. I got a tiny container of nearly every product and just going through the chart, trying to figure out what’s going to be good for my skin, took quite a while. The cool thing is that there probably really is something for everyone and you can put together a number of products that will work well together. I’m really looking forward to trying some of the masks I have!

Given the vast amount of products from MyChelle, I asked if they made a moisturizer with spf. I like products that serve double duty but the latest brand I tried (I admit, it was the very cheapest in the store!) I just wasn’t crazy about. The answer was “no” – they don’t make it and here is why: moisturizers should absorb deeply into your skin while spf should stay on its surface. So while it sounds like a good idea to combine the two, it actually doesn’t really make sense if you want them both to work their best. It makes complete sense and I was really happy to learn this! I have a sample of MyChelle’s spf and I need to finally try it (I’m so lazy when it comes to spf unless I’m on the beach!).

LEAP ORGANICS

This is a brand new company founded by Luke right here in Cambridge, Mass. Luke learned about the benefits of organics for our bodies and the environment and found that there weren’t effective organic beauty products in the market. So he began the R&D process and founded LEAP Organics! (Fun fact: Luke went to school with John, one of the b.good founders. I’m a fan of both companies. I think they were drinking some good stuff in grad school )

In contrast to MyChelle, LEAP only has a few products, mostly differing in smells. He got all the basics covered though – soap, facial cleanser, toner, exfoliator and moisturizer).

Products are vegan, 100% plant based, USDA certified organic (except for 3 ingredients, like xanthan gum, which don’t exist in “organic” form)… and I can pronounce every single ingredient. Packaging is also recycled and recyclable + 3% of all sales is donated to non-profits focused on health and conservation of the environment. Good stuff!

Luke believes that there is no need for hundreds of products, that if we just treat our skin right – it will balance itself. I can tell you that LEAP moisturizer (actually, and face wash) is the most amazing smelling beauty product ever! I was given the chance to take whatever I wanted (full sized bottles) and I actually took one of each. I couldn’t wait to get home and start using all of them! The toner is one thing that I never bothered with but Luke insisted that it made a difference so I’m trying to be more diligent. I haven’t had enough time to tell you about how my skin is reacting to the change but I can tell you that I want to drink the stuff every time I open the bottle. All the products are also really affordable!! So far I’m a big fan.

SKIN ORGANICS

I wanted to really try the products I received so I didn’t want to take anything duplicative. Since I already grabbed all the basics from LEAP, I wanted to know what else I was missing – what else Skin Organics could offer that their competition didn’t. What I learned is that the founder Anne had severe cystic acne at a young age so the line offered a lot of products to deal with it. This really spoke to me since as I mentioned, I’m still really tied to my prescription stuff and luckily they worked well, so I think I may no longer need prescription strength things… and maybe it’s time to start exploring other, more natural alternatives. I got a few tiny samples but admittedly haven’t tried them yet. Of course one sample won’t help me decide whether it’s the right product for me. I’m going to bring this up with my dermatologist at my next appt!

I did grab this fun balancing mist. You can spray it over your face to set make up; it also refreshes your face and add vitamins to your skin. The cucumber sage smell is fantastic – really soft. I’ve been really enjoying this product so far!

SO – I was skin-cared out by this point – so I went to the table with FOOD!

NAVITAS NATURALS

Navitas is all about superfoods. Just from my quick visit by their table, I got to taste several foods I’ve heard of but never really tried such as goldenberries (in the trail mix below) and maca powder (made into a chocolaty avocado mousse). Each superfood packs a nutritional punch and all products are minimally processed and mostly organic. I snagged a bag of the trail mix and have been loving the mix of goldenberries, cocoa nibs and cashews (I still think that goji berries taste like paper… sorry).

I also received a fun make-your-own chocolate kit that I can’t wait to try. I think it would be a fun stocking stuffer if it works. I’ll let you know how it goes  Navitas offers so many things, I wouldn’t even know where to start… camu powder? lucuma powder? mequite powder? pomegranate powder? The list goes on. What superfoods have you tried? How was your experience?

MAINE MEDICINALS

This is another company that focuses on the power of antioxidants. They are based in Maine and are the only organic elderberry syrup provider in the country. Anthoimmune is their flagship product which combines organic elderberries, organic elderflowers and organic wild Maine blueberries. They recommend a teaspoon a day every day, unless you are surrounded by sick people in which case a teaspoon 3 times a day is recommended to stay healthy. The stuff is supposed to strengthen your immune system and they say their customers really feel the difference.

For something that sounds very medicinal, the taste isn’t bad at all. It’s kind of a concentrated berry sweetness, and I’m certainly willing to become a little guinea pig and see if it prevents me from getting a cold or flu this winter. I received a complementary bottle and will be happy to report on whether I feel any changes in my body.

They also make this bee pollen which sounds a bit too voodoo for me but basically you’re supposed to eat a few little pollen balls and this should decrease any allergic reactions you may experience in the spring (I tasted it and it kind of tasted like nothing. Not scary but I don’t know if it’s worth investing in either since I don’t really suffer of any allergies).

KIDS KONSERVE

This line carries reusable lunch bags and environmentally friendly containers. The lunch bag even includes reusable sandwich and snack baggies, which are easily dish washable. I LOVE the idea of this. I try to use washable containers for my lunch but still go through quite a few plastic baggies for snacks. I didn’t receive the lunch box at the event but actually ended up purchasing a few last weekend (haven’t used them yet but I’m excited to try them!). I think it’s a great idea to reduce the amount of trash we produce!!

THREADS 4 THOUGHT

I am in love with these t-shirts! Ever since learning more about sustainable clothing through Ecolissa, I have started to think more about where my clothes come from and how they’re made. These t-shirts are organic, super soft and they cost $10 at Whole Foods!!! I think that’s an amazing bargain. The representative went a little crazy and ended up giving me almost one of each color and I can tell you that they fit great and feel amazingly luxurious. I can hear my dad say: “You’re not eating your t-shirts. Stop with the organics!” But the way cotton is grown is impacting the environment and this really is a win-win (I mean, can you even get a t-shirt at the Gap for $10?).  They also donate a portion of their profits to charities. I love how dedicated all of these companies are to the health of our planet but also the people living in it!

Make up time!!

MINERAL FUSION

As the name implies, the company specializes in mineral make-up. I don’t have much to say here except that I’ve been using their mascara for almost a year and absolutely love it. It’s the cheapest mascara Whole Foods carries and I think it’s perfect! If the rest of their products are as good (I received several complementary things that I have yet to try), they may have a very big fan very soon (since I will be switching from Trish!).

GABRIEL COSMETICS

Again, all 100% natural make up. I was talked into getting my makeup done by one of the girls and really loved the results. The color pallet is very similar to the one of Trish (soft colors, smooth finish) and I received the slate eye shadow for free, which I have been using on a daily basis ever since. I love love love it. The stuff is about 20% cheaper than Trish and is all natural so that’s a no brainer. If only their stuff fit into my cute little Trish case…

Last one!!

KISS MY FACE

This was my last stop and we kind of rushed through it but it did sound like another great company.

I received a bottle of their peace soap, which apparently does pretty much everything. You can use it to clean you skin, veggies, countertop, dishes, clothes, etc. While it sounds a bit weird, I also really like the idea of being able to clean my kitchen with products I would be afraid to use on my face (or produce!!) so that speaks loudly of how natural the product really is (and it smells lemony – yum! ). 10% of profits from this product also support the Seeds of Peace foundation.

I grabbed a lip gloss from here too (yeah, this was really fun!!) – it has slight shimmer and is minty fresh. Love

I love that Whole Foods has brought together so many wonderful products that you can purchase while grocery shopping at below-department store prices. This event really reminded me of what a chicken I’ve been with regards to makeup and some specialty treatments. I believe wholeheartedly in natural products and I’m excited about introducing more of them into my life going forward!

Where do you buy your beauty products? What criteria do you have? Do you have any questions about any of the products in this post, or any other general natural beauty questions?

PS – let me know if you’re interested in me doing a follow up post on the changes on my skin after utilizing some of these products and moving towards a more natural beauty routine.

And with that, I’m going to bed! (This monster post took a lot longer to write than it was for you to read it. I promse! lol ]

It was wonderful. I finished 3 books and a magazine and cooked some simple, healthy meals for Adam and me (we also had dinner at Primo‘s bar one night – it was great!). I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating - often when I’m on vacation, really happy and relaxed, I actually eat a lot more intuitively. Stress or anxiety aren’t playing a role in when or what I eat. I eat because I’m hungry or because I’m really enjoying the process of a meal out (or in) with my husband. This weekend was no different.

Adam was making fun of me because I brought so much food with us. We had a giant cooler + 4 grocery bags. I planned every meal + a few baking projects. The stuff adds up when you don’t know what’s available (I brought sugar and flour, for example, something my mother-in-law already had in her pantry but I wasn’t taking risks). We ate well, that’s for sure. And I finally was inspired to take some beautiful pictures of my every-day food

This was breakfast for the past 3 days – maple oat scone + coffee

This is the mix I used for the scones (I bought it on my first trip to Vermont). There is considerable amount of real butter in these and it’s worth every calorie!! Adam rarely eats stuff like that and he was all over these babies as well (and asked that I make them again – I wonder if there is a recipe for them somewhere out there… ).

A typical snack looked something like this: TJ’s organic nonfat greek yogurt, 1/2 pear, Three Sisters Sweet Wheat cereal + raisins

PS – I received the Three Sisters cereal for free from the company. These are 100% natural, sustainable kids cereals… I believe Sweet Wheat is competing with frosted mini wheats (are those whole grain? Kellog’s website was obnoxious so I couldn’t deal with it). It’s slightly sweet and crunchy. I liked it – Adam LOVED it. I guess he grew up with something like that. I also tried Three Sisters Cinnamon Sweets which was the bomb (yes, I just said “the bomb”). I’m not normally a “sweet cereal” kinda girl but man on man. The cinnamon sugar was to-die for. I just ate the cereal as a snack, as is, without milk or yogurt and it was gone way too fast (Adam helped considerably in that dept, it wasn’t just me). So yeah, no picture of the Cinnamon Sweets but you may see it on H&S anyway because I really loved it and may just buy it from Whole Foods at a future date. Ok… moving on to a few other snacks that I received for free to try.

Back to Nature sunflower basil crackers and Cabot serious snacking 50% reduced fat original and 75% reduced fat habanero cheddar

I’m a big fan of both companies and was really excited to try both products. Back to Nature makes some amazing natural classic cookies and their crackers were great too although I didn’t really taste much of the basil. They just tasted like regular butter crackers to me. Delicious? Yes. Unique? Not really. They did go great with these Cabot cheddar snacks. Oh man, those were great. I love how portable and low calorie (yet protein rich) they are. The habanero cheese packs some serious heat. Adam was all about the cheese this weekend

Another delicious snack was part-skim ricotta with a drizzle of lemon juice, raisins and cacao nibs. Pretty savory with a little sweet kick from the raisins. I <3 ricotta (also, doesn’t it look like ice cream? hehe)!

Some other meals looked like this:

When Pigs Fly red pepper hummus bread with hummus, cucumber, turkey, havarti cheese and pickles

Mexican salad: baby arugula, fresh corn, black beans, grape tomatoes, grilled chicken and avocado, dressed in 1T Whole Foods balsamic vinaigrette (I may have to take a picture of the bottle some time for you. This dressing is the best!)

Grass fed burger with WW jalapeno pepper wedge (just like Laughing Cow), tomato, pickles and avocado on FFL sesame burger bun – with carrot sticks

Spaghetti squash with mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, garlic, tofu and parmesan cheese

Thank you, Lara, for the microwave instructions for cooking spaghetti squash. Brilliant!

[This meal was SO filling. I finally ate maybe 6 hours later because my mouth was bored and wanted chocolate ]

Speaking of chocolate… my parents in law are back from Italy and so these gems nixed any baking plans I had for the weekend. Who needs to bake when you can just pop a chocolate/hazelnut candy (or 2 – actually I ate them 2 at a time every time) in 2 seconds flat.

Chocolate + hazelnut is my favorite combo of all time. LOVE.

The most exciting discovery of the weekend was these little tomatoes – yes, these are TOMATOES. Does anyone know what this variety is called? Because I’m in love. Seriously, I couldn’t get enough (for Boston readers, I got them at the Copley farmers market on Friday).

Not only are these guys adorable, but they are amazingly sweet and kind of taste like fruit. I got a very strong taste of mango but with the freshness and pop of a grape tomato.

These were a popular snack this weekend. Mmmm, I need to stock up next Friday!

So yeah, this weekend rocked. I feel refreshed from all the relaxing but also super motivated for the week to come (I read some incredibly inspiring books – like The Happiness Project – have you heard of it?)

How was your weekend? What would your ideal weekend getaway be like?

Also, I know I’m such a nag but I really REALLY appreciate your support so far on Project Food Blog. I need your vote for my pelmeni post so I could move on to round 5. Please vote HERE. Thank you!!

These come in 4 (4-oz) packs. The caramel (or chocolate) is on the bottom with thick nonfat Greek yogurt on top. When you mix them together, magic happens. Ok, maybe not magic, but a crazy delicious sweet and tangy treat.

I love love love both flavors. If you forced me to choose between the two, I’d go with chocolate. No surprise here, right? These are not enough to satisfy my (crazy strong) cravings for sweet treats. I need a real baked good of sorts or at least a nice chunk of dark chocolate for that, but they do make for incredibly indulgent tasting snacks. I also discovered that the chocolate oikos over banana chia pudding with raw cocoa nibs and dried cherries makes one crazy amazing breakfast.

[The banana chia pudding was inspired by Gena - mix 2T chia seeds with 1/2 almond milk, refrigerate. It will get super gelatinous overnight. Blend with 1 banana and 1t cocoa powder for a chocolate banana breakfast pudding ]

[Same breakfast but with raspberries]

The chocolate banana pudding was not bad on its own (definitely healthy tasting) but was definitely elevated to exceptional with the addition of chocolate oikos (I know, not raw or even vegan but I’m not). For the most part, the yogurt cups were topped with granola and maybe some chopped fruit… or just eaten “plain.” LOVE.

Want to try some for free? It gets better! Stonyfield will send one lucky reader a whole chocolate indulgence package with the following:

-    1 coupon for a free Green & Black Organic Chocolate Bar
-    1 sample of Numi Organic Chocolate tea
-    1 Dagoba/Eco Lips Organic Chocolate chapstick
-    1 Skinnyskinny real cocoa organic soap bar
-    2 free coupons for Chocolate and Caramel Oikos multipacks
-    Recipe card set featuring Chocolate Cheesecake, as well Oikos spatula

I’m totally jealous, I’m not going to lie. Green & Black is one of my very favorite chocolate brands too

All right, so here are the rules. You probably know the drill by now

1) Leave a comment on this post – tell me something fun – what your favorite healthy sweet treats are, favorite yogurt combo or maybe how you’d pair the caramel or chocolate oikos if you win.

2) If you have a blog, let others know about the giveaway and link back to this post.  If you don’t have a blog, tell someone about this giveaway and let me know that you’ve done so (after they enter the giveaway by commenting). You can also tweet about this giveaway (my twitter name must be included to qualify – that’s @healthyandsane fyi ) *Either one earns you a bonus point*

3) If you have a blog, add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll or follow me on Twitter (if I’m already on your blogroll, let me know – it counts!).  If you don’t, shoot me an email and give me some feedback on my blog. *This also earns you a bonus point*

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. The giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry). I will randomly choose a winner using random.org and announce the winner next Monday, September 20. Good luck!