Pine Nutty Pasta
Ingredients:
16 oz Penne pasta
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground cilantro
1×14oz can chickpeas
8 oz cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup dried currants
1/3 cup olive oil (extra)
cup fresh basil leaves, shredded
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
Method:
Cook the penne pasta according to packet instructions in a large pot of boiling water. Drain and set aside.
In a pan, heat the olive oil and cook the garlic and onions until soft. Add the spices and stir for a minute. Then add cherry tomatoes, currants, extra oil and chickpeas, stir everything gently and cook until just heated through.
Add the pasta to the chickpea mixture, stir gently and serve immediately in deep bowls sprinkled with basil leaves and pine nuts.
Enjoy with a generous helping of Parmesan shavings!
Beauty Budgeting During Tough Times
It’s more difficult than ever these days for many of us who are struggling to juggle work, children, social life, and certainly the big “B” word. Bills! Yikes, the sound of that word in my head is just frightening. Money never seems to run out when things are going good and our 401k’s are still worth something. That cushion is always nice to look at and know that at the end of the rainbow, there is a little pot of gold. Nowadays, the thought of that day makes me cringe. So, what do you do in a time like this when money is tighter than jeans in the 70’s? Well, you cut out expenses when you have to. This article talks about how to trim up some beauty expenses while maintaining good looks and healthy living.
The first expense I normally trim out of my “unnecessary” expenses is flavored waters and expensive coffee. Yes, I like a good Vitamin water and Starbucks just like the next person, but these types of things just add up. If you get one of each on a daily basis, that adds up to roughly $40 per week, more or less. That’s $160 a month, which is right in the wheelhouse of most people’s auto insurance or phone bill each month. Tap water does just fine. If you worry about it’s contamination, take the time to boil it and store it in pitchers for later use. As far as coffee, buy it in bulk and make it at home. Buy a to go cup if you like to drink it on the job or somewhere else. You can get a nice thermos for pretty cheap and you can wash it daily in order to stay healthy.
If you are into working out, think about your gym membership. Do you really use it? Does it cost an arm and a leg? Sure, you want to look your best, but if you do cardiovascular training there, can you do it in the neighborhood? Think of the money in gas you will save alone, and the time it takes to commute to the gym. Sometimes, gyms are an unnecessary expense.
If you are one of those people who are really into anti aging creams and cosmetics, there is a gob of money you can be saving if you really are able to give up some of those luxuries. Of course, there are other ways to treat wrinkles and prevent deficiencies in the skin. You don’t need to use the best anti aging wrinkle cream if you are taking eating properly, consuming antioxidant-rich foods, and using a solid moisturizer. You can reduce the appearance of under-eye wrinkles by using home remedies such as egg whites that were in the freezer for thirty minutes if you want a cooling sensation that will actually tighten the under-eye area. You can also get more information on other home remedies on anti aging blogs online. There is a wealth of information out there on the topic, and certainly there are some great methods to help your skin, such as the famous guacamole mask.
You can also cut out a wrinkle cream, and focus on your most important part of your face in your anti aging regimen, your under eye area. The best eye creams are formulated with powerful ingredients such as haloxyl, which can successfully reduce the appearance of dark circles under the eyes and help reduced eye wrinkles. Having a healthy under-eye area can help you keep a youthful look.
You can cut down on your spending and still look great. Follow these tips should you feel like you need to trim down the budget for any length of time.
Stress Effects Our Skin
Believe it or not, your skin can tell a story of what is going on in your life. Maybe it’s not fair, maybe it’s a bit complex, but it’s the truth.
Your skin can tell many things to people who you encounter in life. Dark circles under the eyes give people the impression that there wasn’t enough time to sleep the prior night. Some people understand that this can be a sign of aging and that dark circles can occur under the eyes due to something simple such as diet or a medication recently consumed. Others are quick to pidgeon-hole you as a party animal for having dark circles under the eyes and just assume you were out slamming jagr-bombs until the wee hours of the morning.
Mental health is among the most important factors in how our skin shows off where we are at in life and what we may be going through. All the beauty products in the world are entirely useless if you are going through emotional stress or are disturbed by something going on in life. Stress can build up as time passes and this stress is passed onto others by the way our skin looks.
Just as dark circles form under our eyes, stress can lead to acne. Since this website is themed for busy moms, I’m sure everyone can remember a point during pregnancy when acne just seemed to be a constant. Acne is often times something that comes to us due to stress. When we have a type of mental disturbance, it slows down the regrowth of cells. This can lead to oily skin and even dehydration in the skin cells. For this reason, it’s safe to say that taking care of your mental health will ensure you have your skin under control.
I’m not quick to judge people, but knowing this has it’s benefits. Sometimes I see my sisters and see bad skin, which isn’t a common trait among them. As I pretty much preach about skin to them to the point where they have to tell me to shut up sometimes, you can imagine they are well-versed in skin care and have a plethora of product knowledge which they use to keep their skin healthy and strong. Keeping that in mind, when I see them and their skin is anything less than great, I feel I have to make a comment or inquire as to what possibly is going wrong in their life.
Upon reading some mail I received from a reader of one of my anti aging blogs, I found that many women are more prone to buy a wrinkle cream due to stress or another issue in life. Much like some people reach for a pack of cigarettes or a cocktail when they get stressed, many people are reaching for a skin care product, such as a wrinkle cream or eye cream, to give them quick feeling of goodness. It’s certainly a relief to apply something to the skin that will have a positive affect in the future, and right now many people are deciding that an anti aging cream is one of those things people are buying to make themselves feel better.
The main message I am trying to convey today is that stress has a big impact on our skin. If we can control our emotions and keep stress to a minimum, our skin will genuinely reflect that.
