For the past few weeks, I’ve been fond of these three in particular:

Goji berries have fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and pretty much everything awesome. Some folks aren’t crazy about the taste, but they remind me of green tea (which just so happens to be my hot beverage of choice).

Raw almonds are full of fiber, protein, and vitamin E! Oh, and bonus: They taste like cherries.

When selecting dark chocolate, I generally shoot for 80% cocoa at least. I’ve been told it’s the healthier option, and (on a good day) I honestly prefer the flavor to super sweet/milky chocolates.

How about you? Are you an avid snacker too?

Image Sources: One, Two, Three.

Still, I thought you guys might wanna hit up the following:

• Use the code REPEAT2012 and get $15 off a full size bottle of perfume from A Perfume Organic. Green sounds like my kind of scent.
• Check out this post on caren’s  blog, which includes helpful tips concerning which ingredients to avoid in your sunscreen and which foods may protect your skin from the sun. Sup, dark chocolate?
• Take it from the queen of crusty elbows: this cornmeal scrub is worth trying.
• Who knew coffee filters could be so useful?

I’m off to study, nap, and then repeat. Wish me luck!

If there’s one thing that I am, then it’s a habitual snacker. So obviously, when I was given the opportunity to review Hail Merry’s blonde and choco macaroons, I took the appropriate steps to make it happen.

The short list of familiar, organic ingredients were an initial reassurance, but they were the furthest thing from my mind once I tasted my first choco macaroon. Delicious might be an understatement, so let’s say it was delicious^3. Chocolate has never tasted so good. And the blonde macaroons were just as tasty! They were buttery and had the nicest vanilla flavor; I might’ve had two in my mouth at one point. I should probably stay away from these bad boys since I could easily eat a whole bag in one sitting, but sometimes a girl’s just gotta get her snack on. Am I right?

Before you judge me, let me share the ingredient lists with you guys. They’re actually pretty impressive!

Choco Macaroons- *shredded coconut, dark cocoa, *cold pressed coconut oil, *maple syrup, Madagascar bourbon vanilla, sea salt. *denotes organic

Blonde Macaroons-*shredded coconut, *maple syrup, *natural raw almond flour, *raw coconut oil, pure Madagascar bourbon vanilla, and sea salt. *denotes organic

See what I mean? Visit Hail Merry’s website to purchase your own.

Hey, you! Have you entered the mocha body butter giveaway yet?

Have a great weekend! We’re going camping. Ya jallus? : )

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Kirby made a whole mess of chipotle chocolate soup while we were visiting our friends in Houma recently. It was spicy and rich and delicious. I ate an obscene amount.

Danielle mentioned wanting to try an oatmeal strawberry smoothie she’d seen online, and I couldn’t get the idea out of my head…so I made my own. I just used a handful of strawberries, a handful of spinach, a frozen banana, and about 1/2 a cup of oatmeal.  It was pretty perfect, albeit a little chalky (because of the oatmeal).

And our garden finally has a little melon! Isn’t it silly looking? I can’t wait to eat it. All by myself.

Before I go, here are a couple of articles to check out!

• 7 Overpriced Foods and 11 worth every penny- This article is truly worth reading. If you’re too busy to conquer 5 pages, then you should still save it for later. Also, if I want to drink raw milk then I should be able to easily buy some. It’s my life.
• 3 Spices to treat Acne- Who knew?

Remember the dark chocolate mascara my mom recently bought me? Well, I love it.

Ingredients (provided at 100percentpure.com)- “Organic Green Tea, Vitamin E (a-tocopherol), Honey Beeswax, Contains All or some of the following Pigments: Blackberry, Blueberry, Black Tea, Grape Skin, Pomegranate, Acai Berry, Boysenberry, Blackcurrant and Raspberry, Oat Protein, Wheat Protein, Provitamin B5, Seaweed Powder, Coconut Stearic acid, Mica (for shimmer in the Blackberry and Blueberry), Cocoa Butter, Pearl Powder, Rice Powder, Cacao Powder and Powdered Coffee Beans, Lavender Honey, Extracts of Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Lavender and Golden Seal.”

This product receives a hazard score of 2 in the Cosmetics Database.

Some great things about this product:

1. It contains organic ingredients.

2.It’s free of parabens, petrochemicals, retinyl palmitate, phthalates, artificial fragrance, artificial colors & chemical preservatives.

3. It’s cruelty-free.

Product Description(provided at 100percentpure.com)- ”100% natural mascara lengthens, separates, thickens and glosses lashes with fruit pigments and Black tea pigments. Lash conditioning ProVitamin B5, Vitamin E, Oat and Wheat protein conditions for healthier lashes. Gentle, all natural, good for you formula is suitable for everyone, even if you wear contacts or have sensitive eyes. Water and smudge resistant.”

Price- around $18 for a 7 g tube and $12 for a 5 g tube.

Performance- Everything positive I had to say about the blackberry mascara also applies to the dark chocolate mascara, which might make the fact that I’m even posting a review seem silly. However, there is one big difference: the shade (obviously). The dark chocolate mascara is much more subtle, and will likely be my go-to daytime mascara. I was worried that it might look out of place with a tiny bit of black eyeliner, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover just the opposite.

Here’s a peek of me wearing it (sporting an unintentional bitch face):

Scent- Unlike the blackberry mascara, this stuff doesn’t smells like berries. It reminds me a of a combination of clay, chocolate, and coffee.

Rating-  9/10. I subtracted one point for the one possible questionable ingredient.

Image Source

Green Curry

Pad Thai

Lake Charles’ lack of a Thai restaurant is a real shame, if you ask me.

Also, I’ve been unofficially searching for the best, most widely available dark chocolate lately, and I think I’ve come pretty close with this guy:

It’s not as bitter as some super dark chocolates tend to be. And Midnight Reverie?! Even the name is appealing.

A few foody articles:

• Eat Right: 18 Tips That Really Matter- This article does a wonderful job of explaining why we should eat less meat.  Also, I like this: “There’s a reason a Twinkie has a shelf life to rival a Nerf basketball.”
• Super Snacks: 5 Best Snacks for Mood- I know I’ve linked to a similar article before, but this one lists slightly different foods. Also, I’ll stand behind most things that further validate my dark chocolate habit.
• Shiny New Food Labels- This article is right. You really can’t judge a cracker by its cover.

Have a special weekend, guys! I’m going to the beach for a week with my family tomorrow, and I think it’s gonna be a lovely and relaxing time. Don’t worry, I have a week’s worth of posts lined up. Even better, they’re all beach vacation themed! Fancy, right?

A few days ago, I  found a recipe for Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread.  Dark chocolate and peanut butter are two of my favorite treats, and the two together seemed like something I needed to experience. I had most of the ingredients, so I decided to give it a go. My first mistake was not waiting for the bananas to ripen a little more. My second through seventh mistakes all occurred when I decided to alter the recipe. We only had three bananas, and they were pretty small. Since the recipe called for three large bananas, I put a few tablespoons of yogurt in the mix to hopefully make up for the lack of banana mush. I used whole wheat flour, but it wasn’t pastry flour as the recipe suggested, and I used whole milk since we didn’t have skim.  The other two alterations I made to the recipe were adding a tablespoon of honey (because I wanted to sweeten the bread a little) and using crunchy peanut butter instead of creamy (I’m totally a creamy peanut butter girl, but we had just run out and happened to have a big jar of crunchy for pad thai). I also made muffins instead of a loaf, but the recipe gave me the go ahead to do this.

Unsurprisingly, these muffins were hardly awesome. The chocolate was too dark (did I mention I used 90% cocoa?), the bread was too dry, and even that huge pat of butter didn’t help. Dousing them in maple syrup seemed to help some, but who can afford such a habit? I guess that’s what I get for messing with what was probably a great recipe.

After waiting a few days and realizing that none of my house mates wanted the muffins either (big surprise), I decided to try and turn them into something tastier. Using this simple bread pudding recipe (and substituting the recipe’s day old bread with my days old muffins), I made a more palatable dish that few loved (it could’ve been slightly sweeter, but again I fear the muffins were to blame) but none hated.  Apparently I didn’t learn my lesson entirely, because I substituted the raisins for dried cranberries. However, I don’t think the dish suffered too much because of this.

I promise it’s tastier than it looks, if only slightly.  I’m not always a failure at baking. I promise.

Have a great weekend and don’t forget to enter the Made From Earth giveaway!

This past Sunday, which happened to be Easter Sunday, my friends Allie and Kelly had a few friends over for a potluck brunch.  Our gracious hostesses had rice wrappers, rice noodles, lettuce, mint, basil, cilantro, a delicious peanut sauce, and several other spring roll fixings. I wasn’t very good at wrapping them (my wrappers kept cracking because I failed to moisten them enough), but eating them came pretty naturally. As silly as it sounds, these delicious spring rolls made me feel better, if only slightly, about all the cream cheese and pineapple sandwiches I put away (and that one donut).

As usual, or what’s becoming it, here are some links to a few food-related articles I found interesting:

• 6 Kitchen Safety Myths That Could Make You Sick- This articles justifies my aversion to dishrags, but it wouldn’t make me feel like less of a jerk for using paper towels.
• 5 Foods That Help You Sleep- Any reason I can find to eat more cherries is a good one. Has there ever been a more perfect fruit?
• 9 Worst Late Night Snacks-I am so guilty of eating dark chocolate before bed.

Have a great weekend, guys! I’m planning on it.

Our friends Jason and Christina came to visit this past weekend, and we decided to make the above deliciousness the night before they left. This might be the most indulgent treat I’ve shared in a Foody Friday post yet, but I see nothing wrong with occasionally living a little.  Using dark chocolate in place of the white could’ve easily made this snack much smarter (and perhaps tastier if you’re a dark chocolate fan like me), but we had an entire box of Baker’s white chocolate left over from the extra fly strawberries Kirby prepared for Valentine’s Day. Why go out and buy something else?  Christina and I made our chocolate covered blueberries by following these three easy steps:

1) First, we melted the chocolate using a double broiler. Kirby came in the kitchen in the midst of this process and made fun of me for having the wrong pot on top. Tomato, tomahto. The chocolate still melted just fine.

2) Next, we dumped the container of chilled blueberries in the melted chocolate.

3) After the blueberries were sufficiently coated in chocolate, we chilled them on a piece of wax paper in the fridge for 30 minutes. And believe it or not, 30 minutes feels like 30 hours when you’re waiting to eat chocolate covered fruit.

To finish off Foody Friday, here are a some pictures from our fun weekend and links to a few interesting, food-related articles (and not in that order):

• 8 Superfoods You Probably Aren’t Eating- Looks like I need to stop scrubbing my face with all of our Adzuki Beans and start eating some!
• 7 Dangerous Food Additives To Avoid- Apparently I have to worry about phthalates being in my health and beauty products and in my food. Sheesh.
• 5 Things to Know About Serving Size- I shouldn’t be eating a skillet full of meat for dinner? Who knew!?

Winston loves Christina.

His face is appropriate.

Cutest couple I know.

This is Hiccup, Jason/Christina's new puppy. He likes having his teeth brushed by yours truly.

Image Courtesy of Intelligentnutrients.com

I received the most delicious, free, organic, dark chocolate bar in the mail today. I already sort of  liked it before I tried it. I’m always up for dark chocolate since it’s loaded with antioxidants, and we all know that antioxidants neutralize free radicals. This chocolate bar has fancy ingredients like organic meals from raspberries and cranberries and organic oils from pumpkin seeds, cranberries, and raspberries. It’s also made with organic blueberries and organic lemon essential oil. You can definitely taste the lemon, but it’s just very subtle and very tasty. I let Kirby and Danielle try it, and they liked it too!

Check out Intelligent Nutrients Innercalm In-fused Chocolate for yourself, and browse the rest of their products while you’re at it. I’ll be trying and reviewing the Harmonic Shampoo and Conditioner and some of their styling products in the near future, which were sent to me with the chocolate bar . Hooray!
Read more about the benefits of dark chocolate, and how much you really need to get an antioxidant boost, in this neat Care2 article.