Influenster Uni Vox Box

I got a new Vox Box!!! (Complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes) 

Lots of goodies came in this one...

Broadway Nails Impress Manicure

These are great for a quick manicure when you don't have time to wait for polish to dry. They look good, go on easy, last a long time but are quick and easy to remove. Only two cons to these; they are a little short and they leave a gap at the tip of your nail. 

Playtex Sport Fresh Balance

I have yet to test these ones but I have used Playtex Sport tampons in the past. They are pretty good and you can still hit them gym that week with no... issues. 

NYC New York Color Expert Last Lipstick

So I'm not much of a lipstick wearer... Blistex is my go to but this stuff is pretty good. It goes on nicely and doesn't feel heavy like most lipsticks. As for being long lasting, I'm really not sure because I never payed attention. It usually went on at the beginning of the night then I forgot about it after that. 

Red Rose Real Tea Premium Water Enhancer (Black Tea flavor)

This stuff is great! I'm from the Norther so unsweetened tea is more my thing but this isn't too bad. It's lightly sweetened so it isn't overpowering. I love that I can just add a couple squirts to a bottle of water and it only adds 5 calories! 

Rimmel London Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation

Once again, this isn't something I wear a lot. I tend to prefer BB creams but this foundation is lightweight enough that you don't look or feel "cake-y". Just be careful because you can put too much on real easily, which I made the mistake of doing since I'm a foundation rookie. Just go light with it and blend it in. 

Pilot Acroball Pure White

Since I work in a PT office, I spend all day writing and finding good pens around the office isn't easy. I don't let this one out of my sight. It writes smoothly and has a really fine tip so I can write nice and small on charts. The little grip on it is pretty nice too!

Superbowl XLVIII

Today is not really a day I care about. Sorry. I do get excited about the Puppy Bowl but football isn't my favorite sport (I'm a baseball girl). But I did make up some treats for my mom and myself to enjoy today. We don't throw a big party or go anywhere to watch the game, we prefer the comfort of our own home. 

So for an appetizer I had to make queso dip, that's almost a requirement. Then I made jalapeno popper pretzel bombs... holy cow were those good!

These were a little tedious but worth the while. I made a homemade dough with Blue Moon beer. I think that's what made them so good. Then they were stuffed with a cream cheese, cheddar cheese, bacon and jalapeno mixture, dipped in water and baking soda, then given an egg wash and sprinkle of salt. We couldn't get enough of these. 

Since the popper bombs were so unhealthy and decadent, I decided to make something a little more waistline friendly for dinner. Enter the buffalo chicken sandwiches.

Panko breaded, pan fried, tossed in Frank's Red Hot and served on a whole wheat bun with a carrot, celery and blue cheese slaw. These felt like you were eating something bad but according to the recipe each sandwich weighed in at only 438 calories. I whipped up some sweet potato fries to go with the sandwich and finished off the Blue Moon to wash it all down. 

It was a long day in the kitchen but definitely worth while. 

Last Week's Meals

Here's a little look at what I cooked up for my unprocessed dinners last week.

The top left is a little pasta I thought up on the fly Wednesday night, then made again with leftovers Thursday night. It's whole wheat penne, steamed broccoli and turkey sausage that I mixed up with garlic salt and Italian seasoning. Then I minced up some fresh garlic and sauteed that in olive oil with cayenne pepper then tossed everything into that. It was delicious!

Top right was a recipe I found at cleaneating.com. It is a rosemary chicken and potato salad. Baiscally just chopped up onion, celerey, apple, potatoes, chicken and white beans tossed with lemon juice, olive oil and rosemary. This one was my least favorite so far.

Bottom left was last night's dinner. This was a good one! This one came from allsortsofpretty.com. I did a google search for turkey meatloaf and this was the cleanest and most delicious sounding recipe, also very simple! Just ground turkey, oats, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, egg whites, and shredded zucchini with a little salt and pepper. Then I divided it into a muffin tin and baked for 30 minutes. The topping was just ketchup, sweetener and dried mustard. I put that on top of the cooked meatloaves then cooked for an additional 5 minutes. On the side I had red quinoa and asparagus.

The bottom right was the first dish I made last Sunday, this one lasted me half way through the week. It was orange chicken with a crispy garlic sauce and boy was it good! I'm definitely making it again. Cooked chicken, steamed broccoli sliced orange and chickpeas cooked with some olive oil and cayenne pepper. Then I sliced garlic very thin and sauteed that in olive oil until it was crispy. Rice vinegar was added to that and tossed everything it in then served with brown rice. I think that was another one from cleaneating.com. 

I've got a whole new menu to plan this week and I can't wait! Granola is already in the oven right now! Yum! 

Detox and Clean Eating Week 2!

It's been almost a week since I started my venture in clean eating.... and it's been really good so far! I can't get over how good the food I've been cooking is and I'm not missing drive thru, fast food, take out crap at all. Today I made my second clean shopping trip and it went way better then the last. I already had some things leftover from last week so all I needed to pick up was some more produce and other specific odds and ends for recipes I plan to try.

This trip was also about $40 cheaper than the last, so that's always good news! I did buy some frozen veggies for a recipe I'm making, and I know those are processed but I wasn't about to buy corn and peas and shuck them myself! 

This single serve Silk chocolate almond milks have become my new favorite lunch time drink. They are delicious! 

Now I'm off to make some mini turkey meatloaves for tonight's dinner!

Skinny Fox Detox

Tomorrow I begin my experiment in clean eating.
I have become lazy in how I eat. I rarely cook meals anymore. I usually just microwave or bake something from the grocery store freezer aisle. Or if I'm really being lazy I order takeout or run through a fast food drive thru. Thanks to this wonderful habit, my weight has slowly increased over the years. Well, I've finally gotten fed up with it. I'm ready to make a change and do something about it.

It all begins when I wake up tomorrow and begin my detox. The particular detox I'm doing is a 14-day "teatox" called Mini Fox and it is made by Skinny Fox Detox. I actually stumbled across this in Instagram and followed them for a few months until I finally decided to take the dive.

(Yes they are already opened. I was curious)

This specific teatox consists of two teas, one for the morning and one before bedtime. Then they send you some "Tips and Tricks" along with the tea to help boost the results.
Of course the first tip is to exercise daily, minimum of 30 minutes. They even give you a cheat option if you can get in a work out that day, to do a stomach wrap, which are those wonderful wide belt style wraps that make you sweat profusely. And if you don't own one, saran wrap makes a great substitute.
Then there are the food guidelines, and basically it is just a list of everything delicious that they don't want you to eat while detoxing in order to "reboot" your taste buds. So here it is, for two weeks I will be avoiding
dairy/yogurts
sugar/artificial sweeteners
processed foods
dark meats
fried foods
white pasta/breads/rice
alcohol

Doesn't really leave much, does it?

I've been doing some research on clean eating and meal prepping for a few days to prepare myself for this and made a run to the grocery store this morning for this weeks food.

So not everything is unprocessed, but pretty darn close. I'm hoping most of it will get me through the two weeks, but we will see what is left come next Sunday.

I spent 6 hours this afternoon attempting to cook as much as I could to last me the week, but it seems like all I ended up with was breakfast foods. Clearly I'm not good at planning ahead. 

Wish me luck!

If you are interested or curious about the detox in this blog you can visit their site by clicking here.

Jolly Vox Box!!

Influenster was kind enough to send me the Jolly Vox Box in Decemeber to test out some products! It was a great little box. In it I received, a box of Skinny cow peanut butter filled Divine chocolates, a travel pack of Puffs Plus, an adorable roll of Duck Tape Ducklings tape, Rimmel Show Off lip lacquer, and a NYC HD Color Trio eye shadow.

The Puffs tissues got used up right away because I just happened to be sick when I got my Vox Box and I was impressed with how soft the tissues were and they didn't leave my nose sore and dry like some other tissues do.

The Skinny Cow chocolates were pretty good for a low calorie chocolate. The peanut butter tasted kind of funny but overall it's a pretty good little treat! I've have the caramel chocolates in the past and I prefer those over the PB.

The Rimmel lip lacquer is great. It goes on smooth and has a nice light color that doesn't look too crazy. 

I've used the NYC eye shadow trio a few times and it's nice for a very subtle color. The trio that I got is called Long Beach Sands and it doesn't show up very well on me but it's nice for a light, daytime look with a little shimmer. 

I have yet to to do anything with my Ducklings duct tape. It's a cute pattern though, blue with a white floral design. Stay tuned for an update once I find something to decorate with it!

Crest 3D White Whitestrips

I just received my box of Crest 3D White White strips from Influenster today!

I applied my first strips tonight. I only had to leave them on for a half hour and they stayed in place great! I've used other strips in the past that move around and leave a funny taste in your mouth but these didn't do that at all! 

Here is my before photo. In 20 days (There were 20 strips in the box) or so I will post my after!