lovin' right now

1) i truly love a book that tells a good story, paints a beautiful picture and gives me lines 

that I stop and write down.  haven't finished this book yet but i am enjoying it!

2) i have been using avocado oil in place of face lotion... sorry oil of olay!  

AO has lots of skin benefits.  wish i had tried it before the wrinkles started 

appearing some years ago.  check out some benefits of avocados here  

3) i'm hooked on almond butter since peanut butter kicked me out of it's club! dang allergies

4)  the movie was different.  the soundtrack i love!  

i dig spanish guitar!  can i get that on a bumper sticker?

5) my All About Health doc.. Dr Clifford has me using this Meant to Bee healing slime on 

one leg and not the other to see the difference in my psoriasis clearing.  

the other leg is getting very jealous. 

 i really like the stuff so far.  Meant to Bee organics. (local!)

6) i truly never dreamed having fresh bread at our table for two could be so easy and 

delicious.  the dough keeps in the fridge for 14 days and you can cut off and use however

much you need during that time.  i even made pizza crust from it (while listening the #4 soundtrack) 

and was in awe of my work so much that i teared up when our beautiful pizzas were done. 

 energy in the kitchen that night!

Mint Chocolate Pudding Cake

Ah yes... another green recipe for the month of March.  This one is of the sweeter variety and is one of my very favorites!  It is a mint chocolate pudding cake and the result of this cake is definitely green and so tasty!  I used to make it to take to work with me on St. Patrick's Day and I have also made it for a wedding and the bbq place I used to bake for.  It is a very pretty cake and perfect for that lover of chocolate and mint together!  It even had peppermint paddies on top!

I know I have more pictures of this beautiful cake.  I just can't seem to locate them as quickly as I want.  So you are just going to have to make it yourself to see how pretty and delightful it truly is!  These pictures are from a few years ago.

Looks like I used a white cake mix this time.


The green batter... yum!


This is my old kitchen from my house on Haven Street.  Ah what messes I made in that kitchen!

This particular time that I made this recipe it was for a wedding cake in which she had several different kinds.  I topped it with a chocolate butter cream icing and had the mint candies in the middle of the two layers.  I prefer the 9x13 version.  This is the only completed cake picture I could find.

Find my other "green recipes" for the month of March HERE and HERE.

Need some baking tips in the kitchen?  I have a good one HERE.

And just in case you missed my Aunt Sabine's Graham Struesel Cake recipe.

Eating Journal

Ever tried to figure out what foods or drinks are triggering an allergic reaction?  I have spent the past several years of my life trying to figure the cause of my skin condition.  This year I decided to look to the inside for clues.  I have seen a nutritionist GP that got me started and have read and read and even had some food allergy testing done of which I showed allergies to so many things.  It is hard to change my way of eating and take out certain elements that I have been used to my whole life.

When I was in my twenties I kept getting mouths sores inside my mouth like ulcers.  They hurt and bothered me whenever I ate anything.  I decided I needed to cut some things out to figure out what was causing them.  I changed my toothpaste, stopped drinking coffee and orange juice, cut out berries and all sorts of things.  I decided to cut out all soft drinks completely and to my surprise my sores went away.  I gradually added the other things back over a few weeks and didn't get another sore.  One day I drank a Coke... nothing.  I started feeling silly until another day I had a Pepsi to drink.  Within just a few minutes I could feel a tingling in my mouth and knew that a sore was coming on.  I haven't drank a Pepsi since and luckily haven't had a mouth ulcer since either.  Something in the chemical make up of that soft drink triggered the allergic reaction.

So why not my skin?  Something is bound to be causing my breakouts.  And I know they say that psoriasis is an auto immune disorder and people who suffer from it know it will never go away.  But!  Since my diet changes and herbal detox from my doctor, I do feel better.  My skin isn't as aggravated and mean feeling as it has been and patches on my arms and torso have gone away, just leaving white "scars".  My main problem is patience and sticking with my diet changes.  I assume it is like any diet you go on.  But my cravings are still there for junk food.  Junk food meaning simply things that are or contain items that I have "cut out" and showed allergies to.

I made myself a little journal the other day, tailored to my needs, thinking that if I made myself write down it might be easier to stick to.  Also, I have an area where I log how my skin looked and felt that day and how I felt that day.  This part stemmed from making a casserole Sunday night that included beef and lots of dairy and my skin feeling like it was on fire the next day.  I'm just a few days in and already I feel better and a little proud of myself for taking action and forcing discipline on myself which isn't easy to do.  I am the first one to say "awe... that delicious casserole isn't going to hurt you that bad!" but it did.

It's a work in progress.  My skin problems didn't come up over night therefore will not go away over night!

Seriously... if you like the way my journal looks and thought to yourself "now that's what I need"... message me and we will create one for you.  It's simple really and I was able to print four days on one sheet of paper and simply fold and string them together with a piece of card stock as the cover.  Mine has enough room for 28 days.

I modeled my journal pages after the one I found HERE.

If you really want to read more about my skin you may do so HERE , and a little bit on my diet changes HERE.

bee ready for allergy season

I am happy to report, as if you didn't know, that spring is on it's way!  The official first day of spring is March 20th and after the long cold winter we've had I think a party is in order!  On a different note, allergy season is also coming!  Spring... YAY... allergies... BOO.  I have already begun gearing up my system so I can be ready when the pollen starts a floatin'!  For a week now I have eaten a teaspoon of local wildflower honey a day and have even been adding straight local bee pollen to my smoothies.  I was so happy last year when I resorted to using local honey instead of Claritin D and other allergy medicines and actually haven't bought or touched any of them since!  And it makes me feel so much better than taking the over the counter stuff that left me sleepy or cranky or still stopped up  and sneezing.  I am lucky to have a bee lady right next door but local honey around here is not hard to find.  The best, in my opinion, is from Ed Johnson in Goodlettsville.  You can find it in lots of health food stores in our area from Nashville to White House.  I found both honey and bee pollen in the health food store by the post office just last week.  If you live more to the north of here, there is some out of Crossplains that I have seen too.  They say that if your honey comes from a source within a thirty mile range from your house then you are good because the bees have pollinated from the same types of plants and trees in your area.  Also until summer comes, it is best to use wildflower honey instead of clover honey then move into the clover once it starts blooming later on.  Wildflower honey is a mix of it all.

I use local honey in my hot tea, my granola, cinnamon toast, by the teaspoon-full and many other recipes.  I plan on "bee-ing" ready for allergy season this year!  

By the way, if you have honey in a glass jar that isn't so runny anymore or has turned a bit to sugar, remove the lid and stick it in the microwave for thirty seconds at a time until it is stir-able again.  Be careful ... the jar will get hot.  I haven't tried it in the plastic jars... they may melt in the micro.

Have you ever tried honey for seasonal allergies?  

Here's my post from last year when I started using honey to combat allergy symptoms.

Here's my homemade granola recipe and another for Jiffy granola bars.

And here's a post to some good teas to use honey in.

Oh and also tips on how to make your bedroom an allergy-free zone.

Honey bee picture c/o www.thegraphicsfairy.com