Fighting Boredom with Healthy Food + Creative Living
This savory caramelized onion tart is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, perfect for potlucks and parties. It’s made with a simple flour crust (or use your favorite store-bought gluten-free crust) filled with sweet and caramelized onions. Feel free to add feta cheese for an extra flavor boost,…
The holidays are all about spending time with friends and family and enjoying special treats. One of my most favorite holiday traditions is having a Cookie Exchange Party.
Square Peg Winery – Dry Farmed Pinot Noir from the Russian Valley. Need I say more? This family owned winery is located up in the Russian River area and produces lovely pinot noirs from bright with berries, to earthy and deep. The owner’s wife is also an artist, so when you go to visit, you may enjoy quality wines and be surrounded by gorgeous art! Definitely on my list of stops next time I’m up in the Russian River Valley.
San Luis Obispo had a big showing this year with a large educational tent including foods, wines and spirits from the area. As a Cal Poly SLO Alum, I was so proud to see so many quality offerings come out of this area.
Tablas Creek / Paso Robles – French style whites and rhone blends. The Tablas Espirt Blanc was refreshing, creamy yet light and was a perfect fit for a warm event day.
ReFind / Paso Robles – Brandy from grapes? Yes, please. Re:Find Distillery has the luxury of starting with a premium base fruit, ripe red-wine grapes, which affords us the ability to craft superior spirits.
If you’re planning a trip to the Central Coast, make sure to stop off in Paso Robles to this amazing little distillery located in the stunning Adelaida region.
Harmony Lavender Farm – Not only was great food and wine represented for the San Luis Obispo area, but samples of dried lavender were offered up.
This wonderful lavender farm had a self-fill sachel display showcasing the fragrant lavender flowers that come from the San Luis Obispo area. This farm offers tours and other fun activities throughout the year. Make sure to stop here (great for kids as well) on a trip up through the Central Coast.
Finally, Preston + Parker wines from San Diego (but using Paso Robles area grapes) is one of our local favorites. They just launched ‘Dreamer” a new lovely white wine blend that is perfect for a crispy fall day and paired well with the rich restaurant offerings.
Sarah, one of the owners, also does a fabulous wine pour pose!
Korean BBQ Jackfruit from FireFly at Dana Point
Jackfruit is so in and all I can say is ‘finally!’ This fruit can shapeshift into any meaty lookalike and it’s awesome. Firefly did a great job with their Korean Bulgogi interpretation.
Hamachi bites from Marina Kitchen on a seaweed cracker. Fresh and delicious. Great appetizer bite!
Il Fornaio presented seared tuna on hearty artisan bread with a light Italian olive mixture. The tuna was perfectly cooked and was a delicious and satisfying bite, especially with all of the drink sampling for the day! I could have eaten these all day. Il Fornaio of Coronado never disappoints!
Magic Bullet – Hangover Helper. Geez, where was this BEFORE the start of the event? I was assured it wasn’t too late and I quickly downed a shot glass of this.
Magic Bullet is a tasty, nutritional, healthy beverage that is designed to support and accelerate your body’s own process of eliminating alcohol toxins, helping ensure you are fresh the next morning. Here’s the kicker, you can actually mix it WITH Vodka. Oh, my.
Chosen Foods Avocado Mayonaise – Love mayonaise but hate the bad fats that go with this? This new avocado mayo is a great alternative and creative combo flavors as well!
Chosen Foods avocado oil mayo is made with our pure avocado oil instead of genetically modified, industrial seed oils like soy, corn & canola. They offer great varieties such as Black Garlic and Harrissa.
Another great year in America’s FInest City! Can’t wait to see what 2017 has in order for us all.
Gratuitous Puppy picture from the event. Because, puppy.
This morning I was looking through my emails and saw that many retailers are already having Black Friday sales. What? It’s only November 2nd! With that sentiment however, I was reminded that the Holiday season is almost upon us. With sales and shopping and cooking,…
Thanksgiving is a time for family, friends, and feasting. But hosting this holiday can be a daunting task. Here are some tips to help you navigate the planning, cooking, and entertaining, ensuring a stress-free and enjoyable Thanksgiving:
Make sure your pumpkin surface is clean and dry. Arrange your moss on top of the pumpkin before gluing, so you can have a game plan. After you are satisfied with your moss selection, start hot gluing down little patches.
When the moss base is secure, take little clippings of succulents and start poking them into the moss pad. Use a little hot glue on the side of a succulent clipping to secure if needed.
Arrange the succulents like you would a flower arrangement. Taller succulents often look best in the middle while lanky vine types look better off the sides.
That’s it! Make sure to pour a nice glass of wine while working with your friends! This is a creative, fun project that is relaxing and creative.
Look at what my neighbor did with this cute basket!
Mist succulents with a spray bottle every other day. Make sure the pumpkin doesn’t sit in standing water, or it will start to rot.
Once the pumpkin starts to soften on the bottom, remove the succulents from the top of your pumpkin and replant into your garden or pots. They will replant themselves!
In an ideal world, I’d make everything from scratch or grab a vegan snack from Arden’s Garden – but, ain’t nobody got time for that.
The new TECHEF Indoor Grill Pan is great for cooking meats and seafood inside the house! I simply put the two piece grill pan onto my gas stovetop and started grilling with my burner heat on high. The process for grilling salmon is very easy.…
* Please note: Some of the products below are affilliate links. Please read the disclosure at the bottom of this page.
Yes, we’re headed into the long winter, but we dream of outside entertaining with our unbreakable drinkware! This set of six shatterproof nautical themed stemless wine glasses are perfect for outdoor entertaining. They will surely get a lot of use and love from your wine-loving friends and no more shattered glass on the back patio!
Reusable, BPA free, FDA approved. You may order these from: http://dajosieco.com BONUS: A portion of the profit will benefit Lollipop Kids Foundation (benefits children living with disabilities).
If you have a loved one that is having a hard time sleeping, or wakes up with a stiff neck, consider the Bamboo Memory Form pillow. It contours to the head while resting and it’s naturally cool. This is a smaller size pillow which is great for travel as well.
Still using earbuds with a cord? As if! Bluetooth cordless earbuds are the only way to go, and these Deific sports earbuds are even better as it allows you to be active (run, golf, etc) and not have the buds fly out of your ears! This set comes with adjustible ear bud covers and a USB charger as well. Awesome stocking stuffer!
This Manuka Honey Walnut Natural Face Exfoliator is the perfect stocking stuffer for Mom, daughter or a friend. This natural face and body scrub removes daily build-up so your face can heal and look radiant again. Microdermabrasion at home saves money and helps gently polish away damaged skin, blackheads, stretch marks and a powerful acne scar treatment. It’s also much safer than a chemical peel! Give the gift of fresh vibrant looking skin when dry winter weather takes a toll.
After your skin has been refreshed, cleanse and luxuriate in all natural Lavender & Bergamot Body Wash. This is a nourishing calming body wash that can be used for your daily shower. Great for dry skin.
Beessential’s Beeswax based Lip Balms also make GREAT stocking stuffers! Available on The Beessential Website here.
My Mantra Mat is comfy yoga mat that comes with it’s own carrying case. If you know someone who is just starting out with yoga or pilates, or perhaps needs a push to start, this is the perfect gift. This mat is also extra long! I am 5’10” and had plenty of room to do my thing! Years ago, I had a mat that was too short and I was constantly stepping off of it like a #loser! Pair this sleek long mat with a gift certificate to a local yoga class! Namaste!
If you have a friend or family member who complains about neck pain or poor sleep, consider this Memory Foam Pillow with Cooling Gel I have personally tested this pillow and am enjoying great sleep, and considering I’ve had a lot of neck issues lately, that is really a testament to how well this pillow works. The memory foam pillow maintains its shape yet molds to your head providing cervical support and keeping your neck level all night long.
When you lay on it, the cervical pillow for sleeping properly supports your neck and keeps it in alignment with your spine all the way down your body. With the cervical pillow, you will forget about night neck and shoulder pain and headaches.
If you have a BFF who has sleep issues coming from noise (cough cough..SNORING….cough cough HUSBAND), then consider a White Noise machine. The Lectro White Noise machine generates consistent realistic sound that drowns out annoying noise like snoring, dogs barking, loud neighbors, airplanes, etc.
The Lectro White Noise machine is also great for nervous pets! I personally have seen how the Lectro machine makes my dog relax and drift off to sleep in minutes! It’s crazy how fast it works on her, and a little fun to watch. 😉 The Lectro White Noise Machine is available here. Your BFF will thank you….immensely!
Last night I had a small casual dinner party and can honestly say it was probably the easiest gathering I have ever had! I took the night off from cooking (gasp!) and ordered beautiful appetizers and entrees from renown Supannee House of Thai in San…
I recently received the EurKitchen Whipped Cream dispenser to review and play with and now I’m addicted to this cool tool! This whipped cream dispenser converts fresh whipping cream into beautiful pressurized cool whip, or in my case creamy chocolate mousse. How to Prepare I…
