Mineral Makeup Photos

I am working to get the mineral makeup photos up on the website. The first few colour blocks of eye shadows are up along with a description of each colour. I am hoping by the end of the weekend or mid week next week to have pretty much all of the makeup photos done with descriptions. Don't forget, if you live locally, you can come and shop at my house or email me your order, I'll get it ready and we can figure out a good time for pick up and payment. Easy peasy!

Don't forget about hosting makeup and body care parties. What a great way to restock for spring, try before you buy, get the ladies together and have a good time! The hostess will get perks :). Also, my body care line is great for guys too!! Toners double as aftershaves, face scrubs reduce or eliminate ingrown facial hairs, body butter are great for rough, calloused hands and EVERYONE loves the whipped soaps!

Check out the pics so far: http://www.divineearthbodycare.com/mineral-makeup.html

Do You Like Salad Rolls?

I LOVE salad rolls. Mmmm, do I ever. Nutritionally, they're kind of void of anything really. White rice paper, white rice vermicelli, a couple of small pieces of cilantro or thai basil leaves, usually a bit of carrot and iceberg lettuce/napa cabbage and a couple of prawns and/or pork. And then there's the peanut dipping sauce. I do love the sauce. I don't love that it's peanut though. Last night, I threw a few simple ingredients together to make a quick salad dressing and the stuff made my nutritionally dense salad taste like a salad roll sans the wrap and noodles (and the meat products and the peanuts). I wasn't intentionally trying to do this. I just threw some random things together, drizzled it on my salad and voila, a vegan, peanut free salad roll salad. It honestly did taste just like a salad roll. It was really good. I didn't use any rice vermicelli, but you absolutely could to make it even more salad roll-y (like lazy salad rolls ;)). Just cook and cool your noodles, stir in some dressing, top with your salad and drizzle a little more dressing onto your greens and then gently combine the two.

 Here are the ingredients. I didn't measure anything so just make it to suit your taste and the amount you require. You won't be disappointed!

*Roasted Almond Butter (enough for as much dressing as you'll need, this makes up the dressing base)
*Nutritional Yeast (to taste)
*Unrefined Sea or Himalayan Pink Salt (to taste) - I actually found it didn't NEED the salt, but definitely taste it for yourself and see.
*Chopped cilantro (I used a lot in my salad, so you can either add a fair amount to your salad, or add it to the dressing, or both, it's up to you)

That's it!! Drizzle on your salad and enjoy! You could get really creative and sprinkle some roasted almond pieces on top for garnish, and yumminess, of course.

New Gorgeous Eyeshadows

I had a chance last night to really check out the 5 new eyeshadow shades that are now in stock. They are gorgeous colour shifters. Really great colours! 2 new green shades; Spring Mist (pale, misty, shimmery green with silver undertones and flashes of purple, WOW) and Deep Sea Green (description to come later, this little guy has been help up a day or so, but I promise you, it's gorgeous), Purple Gold (Light to medium shimmery purple with beautiful gold flashes), Plum Honey (A mid tone shimmering plum with flashes of honey gold) and last but certainly not least, Honey Gold (gorgeous shimmering honey colour with golden flashes, great as a highlight but enough tone to use alone as a shadow. Really rich colour, not yellow-y at all). I'm definitely snagging one of each for myself. My eyeshadow collection is starting to get out of control, perhaps this is yet another obsession of mine ;). As usual, the foundations are fantastic and I got a couple of smaller cream foundation/concealer to try in the most popular foundation colours. We'll see how those go. I'm typically skeptical of cream concealers, but I am currently using one in a concealer format, not a cream foundation format, and it works great! I do LOVE the powder ones though. They are awesome and the blend wonderfully. Don't forget, all of the makeup is PURE mineral makeup, no additives, no chemicals, no animal products (it's ALL vegan) and the makeup is actually GOOD for your skin. What more could you want! :)

Restocks!! Some New Goodies!!

The foundations have been restocked and there are also a few new eyeshadow colours! So gorgeous!

Kitchen Gadgets

I think I may be obsessed with kitchen gadgets. I currently have, as permanent fixtures on my counter, a Vitamix Blender, Commercial Cuisinart Food Processor, Excalibur Dehydrator, a kettle, of course, and quite often my Cuisinart mini processor/wand mixer multi tool dooey is out too. This doesn't even cover the stuff in the pantry! To be fair, I think the only gadget that has gone unmentioned and is in the pantry due to infrequent use is my hand mixer. Believe it or not, the stuff that ends up staying on my counter gets used, and used a lot. My dehydrator has been getting quite the workout lately making me a seemingly never ending supply of delicious raw kale chips. YUM. These things are the best and I love that I can eat them on the days I just don't feel like salad (this is a rare occurrence, but has been known to happen.) AND the days I want a chip-like snack, I can eat the WHOLE bag and not feel guilty! They're really an awesome snack. I'm not sure I could actually pick a favourite kitchen gadget, since my favourites are always in use, and there's not just one! Do you have a favourite kitchen appliance? What do you prepare most often using it?

Recipe Rant

I follow a few blogs myself, as I'm sure many of you here do as well. I mostly follow food blogs, because, well, I love food. I tend to follow food blogs because along with loving food, I also love to cook. I'm a total fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants cook who always has a note pad and pen in the kitchen with me so I can record my delicious creations ('alway's' may be a slight exaggeration, and 'slight' is a little closer to 'colossal') but I DO try my best to record what I did, usually after the meal has been eaten and enjoyed. Heck, if it wasn't enjoyed, why would I write it down? I have a few 'signature' dishes that I had zero help from the internet in creating that are really popular with friends and family, and as time goes on, you'll see them posted here. That being said, when you snoop through enough blogs, recipes and the like and you're bound to find something at the very least similar, and a lot of times, pretty much the same. That's the nature of cooking and creating. What drives me totally insane is when some commenter accuses the blogger of stealing the recipe (I just saw this on a much loved blog that I follow and it really ticked me off). Are you serious? And really, why do you care? If I EVER post a recipe that I didn't create on my own, I either ask permission to post it on my site and give credit where it is due or I'll just link the recipe and you can get it off the other blogger's site. I've seen a TON of "my" recipes all over the net and I know full well they weren't stolen from me because I've never posted them, and I know full well I didn't steal them from someone else either. This happens with anything and everything, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Heck, I've seen recipes that I've come up with out of the blue almost word for word (or ingredient for ingredient) in a cookbook that I've purchased. It happens, and you know what, it's no big deal. The recipes are posted on blogs for everyone to enjoy, so why can't we all just do that? Make delicious food, share (or not, especially if it's chocolate, hehehe) and enjoy! Rant over. More recipes to come soon! If there are any particular recipes you are interested in, let me know! :)

So Delicious Cultured Coconut Milk Yogurt UPDATE :)

Do you recall how I said I wasn't sure just how MUCH I liked this stuff? Well, given that I've been trying it with all sorts of added delights the past couple of days, I feel the need to clarify just how much I actually LOVE this. I've swirled vanilla extract and a touch of honey in it and topped it off with cocoa nibs, hemp hearts and banana, YUM. I've swirled molasses into it (I love molasses) and again, YUM. Tomorrow I think I'll stir in pineapple and kiwi. So those of you who are vegan, lactose intolerant or just want to try something new, don't hesitate. The price tag is a bit daunting, but check for sales. I know I will! I can't vouch for any of the flavours outside of the plain, but a little birdie told me that the vanilla is really good as is the blueberry :). I'm sure they're all definitely worth trying.

Vegan Coconut Based Yogurt Review - So Delicious Brand

So I recently tried the So Delicious Vegan Coconut (soy and GMO free) cultured yogurt. It's different. Not really similar to typical yogurt, but I do like it. I bought the plain one (to avoid excess sugars). A friend of mine bought the Vanilla one. He liked it, a lot. He had the same opinion though, definitely different than yogurt, but still yummy. I'm not sure I'd buy it often though. For one, it's quite expensive, and second, as I said, I do like it, I'm just not sure how MUCH I like it. It's really hard to describe the flavour. You can taste coconut, it's smooth and creamy and VERY thick with a slightly sour aftertaste (though this may be due to the fact I got an unflavoured one). What I DO like about it is that it's cultured, which means it has LIVE probiotics in it, and who couldn't use more probiotics? I'm going to see what other uses it may have outside of just being a yogurt. I think you could use it to make a "cream" sauce, add it to smoothies, make pudding type dishes out of it, possibly add some vanilla and honey and use it as a whipped topping, add it to oats....I can see MANY uses for this stuff :). If you decide to try it, let me know what you think. If I get creative and use it in some recipes or for other things and it turns out well, I'll post about it :).

Vegan Recipes to Share?

If anyone out there has some great vegan recipes that you'd like to share, please do!! People think that being vegan leaves very little to eat. That opinion couldn't be further from the truth. My diet has expanded and includes so many more foods cooked or prepared in so many vastly different ways, I don't think my diet has EVER been so wonderfully diverse, and tasty. Diversity means more nutrients, more enzymes, a more balanced diet and better health. It's totally up to you as to what your food choices are. People are also under the misconception that you can't be vegan without eating a ton of soy. This is so untrue. I do not eat soy or tofu, PERIOD. It's far from healthy. If going vegan is something you've been thinking about and have questions or concerns, please, feel free to ask them, I am more than happy to answer. Vegans are vegan for a plethora of reasons. Some for health reasons alone, some for moral issues, some for a bit of both and some just because they want to.  I am BY NO MEANS preaching that everyone should eat a plant based diet. That is your choice and you have every right to eat the way you want and the things you want, without judgement. I don't believe in giving people a hard time for their diets, no matter what they consist of, unless of course you come in to see me and have a myriad of health concerns/problems. In that case, it's my JOB to analyze, pick apart and explain to you WHY your diet is making you sick and what you need to change in order to regain your health. That's what you're paying me for ;).

Vegan diets also vary to crazy degrees. I know over weight, unhealthy vegans (these ones typically stick to processed crap 'foods' and empty calorie junk - just goes to show, no matter which lifestyle choice you decide to make, there is always room to do it in a very unhealthy manner) and I know vegans who look and feel at least 10 years younger than they are. They are at their optimal weight, some are body builders, they rarely, if ever get sick and they eat nothing but whole, clean foods.

So however you eat, HAPPY EATING! And most importantly, enjoy and savour your food!

I will continue to post some of my best recipes and feel free to try them out!

The Best Asparagus. Ever.

Ok, this turned out soooo well I can't believe I hadn't tried doing it before. It'll require soaking a cedar plank and firing up the BBQ. All you need to do is wash your asparagus, salt and pepper them, place them on your prepared cedar plank, stick it on the BBQ and let the plank do it's magic for about 5 minutes. Asparagus cooks pretty quickly (especially on the BBQ) and they can go from underdone to overdone at an alarmingly fast pace, so keep an eye on your veggies. These tasted so good. Smokey, crisp and absolutely delicious. This is my new favourite way to cook asparagus. I suspect any veggie would be amazing done this way. I'm going to try peppers and squash next. If you are cooking something on the BBQ using a cedar plank, you can just place your veggies on the grill on the upper rack (unless your BBQ is on low) and they'll still get the same amazing flavour.

Roasted Butternut Squash

I love butternut squash. I actually like most squash, but butternut is definitely one of my favourites. The other night I decided i wanted to cook it a little differently than normal. I usually just bake it with some kind of filling, or bake it and top it with some kind of sauce but I've been on a roasted veggie kick lately and wanted to try that out. What I did was skin and cut my raw butternut squash into chunks (similar to preparing potatoes for roasted potatoes), put them into a bowl and tossed them with fresh crushed garlic, sea salt and black pepper. You can add a touch of oil (grapeseed or whatever you like), but I don't think it's necessary. I lined a cookie sheet with tin foil, spread out the squash and popped them into a 425 degree oven for approx. 20 minutes. Time will depend on the size of your chunks and how well you want them cooked. They turned out wonderfully. If you let them cool a little on the tin foil, they're very easy to remove.

Restocks and Scent Sneak Peek

Hey! I've been super busy but have been meaning to post a few things over the past few days, which will indeed get posted...Some new delicious recipes being part of the fun! (Or most of it :) ). But first, all of the body care restocks will take place no later than Friday :). Creamy Cleanser, Scrubs and Whipped soaps will all be back in force :). I have a few new scents brewing as well. With the Spring theme in mind, I have a lovey Sweet Spice, which is just that. Spicy and sweet (not holiday sweet, but deliciously bakery sweet yet not sickening. Think sweet vanilla spice cake topped with pear). I've also made a lovely sweet floral scent, Spring Bouquet. This isn't your typical 'gramma' smell at all, there is no rose component (which can kind of drive it to the old lady or soapy perfume realm). It's packed with the sweet scents of Spring, Ylang Ylang, Carnation, Lilac and a hint of Vanilla. This is not a heavy, heady scent and there's a touch of a 'green' scent to it to keep it light. I've added a few deeper scents to the mix to round it out, Frankincense, Black Pepper and Leather. I will write full scent descriptions soon, once they are perfected :).

The Most Delicious Gluten Free, Processed Food Free Vegan Pizza....EVER.

I have been meaning to try this for ages, so tonight was the night as I was really craving pizza. What I wasn't craving was the heavy, glutinous flour crust, the grease and the junk filled cheese, so I made a pizza using Socca as the crust and nutritional yeast as a cheese replacement. Wow. Absolutely delicious, probably one of the best pizzas I've ever had, traditional or not.

This was my pizza: Socca topped with tomato sauce, black olives, red peppers, green onions, tomato and a very generous serving of nutritional yeast (not only does it replace the cheese, it's PACKED full of Vitamin B12). So yummy and it made a great stand in for traditional pizza. It actually tastes better and is so much healthier. I wasn't sure if it would suffice for the craving, but it absolutely did. You can find great Socca recipes on the net, but I'd be happy to post one here if you like. Just let me know! :)

Shipping Button Modification

The shipping options will NOT be at the bottom of each page, they have a page of their own called "shipping options". Simply go there before checking out and choose your shipping option. Any shipping overages will be refunded, for example, if you choose the large bubble pack and I can in fact fit your order into the small one, I will refund the overage to you (the small bubble packs actually fit pretty large orders, so unless you have multiple 8 oz jars in your order, you're probably safe choosing the small option). But, if you choose the small bubble pack and your order will not fit, there will be a delay in shipping as I will have to notify you and the balance owing will need to be paid in full before your order ships out. I'm also looking into FedEx and Purolator for across Canada shipments as Xpresspost seems to get really pricey.

Website Cart/Shipping Issues

I'm working my butt off over here to get the website up and ready for purchases. I'm adding paypal 'add to cart' shipping buttons that you'll need to click - choose the appropriate one for your region - and we'll be good to go. They will be located at the bottom of each page. Please remember to only click this button ONCE per order. I will not have time to sift through orders to refund double shipping charges. Just double check your cart before paying :). I'm hoping to have it ready for tomorrow and no later than Wednesday. I'll post a little note when all is good to go. Thanks so much for your patience everyone!! Until then, feel free to submit  your orders to me directly via my email address - kmacara@hotmail.com. I will then send you a total with the shipping included. I am currently basing shipping on a flat rate using the large bubble pack Xpresspost packs (safer that way). If I can fit your order into the smaller one, I will refund the difference in shipping to you. The small ones fit quite large orders actually, but I don't want to base it on the little ones and have to chase down the difference in cost, I'd rather refund you guys the overage.

ETA of Sold Out Goodies

All of the sold out body care should be back in stock Monday, March 19. There's a good chance the makeup may be available by then too, but I feel better pushing its ETA about a week later. I'll keep everyone updated :). Thanks so much for your patience.

Kale Chips - Part Two

I may have a new kale chip recipe to post. One that's oil free. I'll test it out tomorrow, and if it's good, I'll post the recipe. Although, it will be very similar to the previous recipe just without the oil. I'll let you know if it works out. I do LOVE kale chips and would love to eliminate the oil if possible. YUM!

Happy Saturday! Ooops! Make That Sunday!

Does this ever happen to you? You could swear it was a different day than it is? I've been a day behind for a week now. Why? Why does this happen? I have a fairly set schedule of things that I need to do during the week, which makes me wonder how on earth I get to various appointments, meetings etc. on the appropriate days and I STILL have no idea WHICH day it actually is. Baffled. Totally, utterly baffled. At any rate, it is in fact Sunday and it just doesn't feel like one. I haven't done my usual Sunday routine stuff, and just a short while ago I realized that I missed doing my usual Saturday stuff, which includes grocery shopping. Ugh. My dogs have no food, I have very little, so it looks as though I'll be taking a trip to the grocery store, on a Sunday afternoon. Now, doesn't THAT sound fun? I have a feeling everyone who lives in the Valley and works a set 'during the week' schedule will probably be there too. Wonderful. Barf. But, if I don't go, both dogs and I will go hungry and I can't have that. So off I go to brave the insanity that is the grocery store on a Sunday afternoon. This is what happens when you can't figure out what day of the week it is. O.o

Back to You

Is there anything, such as, products (of any kind really), health questions, diets (since there are probably a bazillion that are 'all the rage' at any given moment), nutrition, supplements, etc. that you would personally like to see discussed on this Blog? Feel free to comment under this post with your ideas and wants. As many of you know, and it's stated in my Profile, I am a certified Holistic Healthcare Practitioner, so the information that you will receive regarding your questions will, in fact, be accurate and coming from someone who is actually educated and didn't just 'surf the net' for an answer. The internet can be a very harmful place when it comes to finding real information. You never know who it's coming from and what the information they are giving is based on, if anything. I'm game to answer any simple questions that you may have. If you have personal health concerns, you may feel free to book an appointment with me, as I do do this to make a living. But simple inquiries? Fire away! Education is key when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle. There are so many 'fads' that follow absolutely no common sense or science and in fact can be very dangerous. If you have personal questions for/about me, feel free to ask. I look forward to hearing your thoughts! :)

Product Updates

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I am out of Creamy Face Cleanser and running very low on a couple other items (whipped soap and face scrub). I am just about out of foundation, but I do have a couple of fair colours left. All the raw materials have been ordered, so with Canada Post being as awesome as it is, it could be anywhere between 10 days and 3 weeks until things are restocked. I will keep you updated here, on my website www.divineearthbodycare.com and on the FB page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Divine-Earth-Body-Care/159000724171429. Sorry for any inconvenience, but the goodies will be back in stock SOON :).

The Versatility of Coconut Oil

Since we're (or more accurately, I'M) on the coconut train, I thought I'd post about just how versatile coconut oil is. Always try to choose organic, extra virgin coconut oil if you plan to eat it (yes, you heard, or rather, read that right, coconut oil can do many things, only one of which is be eaten!). Coconut oil has a very long shelf life and one of the highest heat tolerances of all the oils. Grapeseed oil is another great choice for cooking, among other things, but that's a whole other post entirely. You should never cook with olive oil, it has a very low smoking point and becomes toxic if heated to too high a temperature. Coconut oil has a light coconutty flavour and makes a wonderful oil to use when cooking any kind of food, especially Thai. I use it in place of butter or margarine in baking and it works really well. I like it for everything, in fact, I even use a little in the pan to cook my pancakes. Mmmm. Coconut oil is the only oil that the body utilizes for energy immediately instead of storing it as fat. It's provides a great pre workout boost. It's high in lauric acid which is antiviral, antimicrobial, antiprotozoal and antifungal, and is also antibacterial. Internally it wards off many unwanted guests including candida, influenza, measles and many, many more.

 Now here's the fun part. It's also fantastic for your skin and hair. It makes a great makeup remover, busts wrinkles, acts as mild protection from the sun (about SPF 15), moisturizes and all those things it does internally, it does externally. It's properties make it a great treatment for ringworm, athletes foot, rashes, acne, lesions and many other skin disorders. It's great as a moisturizer for troubled teenage skin AND dry, mature skin. I use a little in my hair when it gets flyaway and static-y. It's really great. I have a tub in both my kitchen for cooking and in my bathroom for body use :). I love my coconuts!!

A Trip to My Favourite Place on Earth...

...THE HEALTH FOOD STORE. Yeah, I know. Probably not what you were expecting, but hey, we all have our weird obsessions. :). I'm seriously like a kid in a candy store there! I get excited on my way there, I look at EVERYTHING and I usually drop and wad of cash. Today's trip was no different. Scored some awesome, awesome deals and it made me think of posting a couple fantastic, easy, coconut based recipes for all of you "I can't tolerate" or "I choose not to eat dairy" people out there (I fall into both categories for the most part). I thought I'd also throw a review of a coconut coffee creamer in here too.

 So Delicious Coconut Creamer

I LOVE coconut. I love young Thai coconut, I love shredded coconut, I love coconut milk, coconut water, coconut based sauces, the works! And I recently discovered THE best cream replacement, So Delicious Coconut Coffee Creamer. So good, SO creamy. I've tried every product on the market and was getting close to just trying to like my coffee black. I just can't do it. Thank goodness for So Delicous! It's soy free, dairy free and pretty much junk free. I personally prefer the unflavoured one, mostly because I don't care for sweet coffee. What I DO love, are the other flavours toned down by mixing them with the unflavoured version (because I do love the other flavours I just personally find them far to sweet for my taste). Sooo, on to the flavours: French Vanilla. YUM. One word describes this baby. YUM. Creamy vanilla yummy-ness. Now, onto the Hazelnut. You can definitely taste the hazelnut goodness. Creamy, delicious hazelnut. Yep, another YUM. So there's no risk in any of them. They are simply awesome and are the one and only cream replacement that can hold it's own, and well. Be warned though, they are sweet, very sweet. So now on to the coconut based recipes :)...

Dairy Free Vegan Coconut Whipped Cream

Buy a high quality full fat can of coconut milk (Organic Thai Kitchen is my personal favourite. This WILL NOT work with low fat coconut milk). Open the can and pour/scrape the contents out into a bowl and let sit overnight in the fridge. The liquid will end up separating out from the solid, and full fat cream portion will get super thick. You'll want to pour off  the liquid portion and save it for something else. Sometimes (rarely) you'll get a bum can. If you open your can and the whole thing is liquidy with no solid portion, just cook with it, it won't thicken or separate so you won't be able to make 'whipped cream'.

In a bowl, combine the coconut cream portion with 1-2 tsp pure vanilla extract (and coconut sugar or sugar of your choice to taste - if you like sweet whipped cream) and whip very well. Voila! Delicious vegan whipped cream. You can top pancakes, waffles, fruit, pie, whatever you like.

Coconut Butter

This is a delicious spread that you can use on toast, pancakes, eat right out of the jar with a spoon, add cocoa and a bit of liquid sweetener (honey etc) and make a yummy chocolate coconut butter, top muffins or cupcakes, whatever you like. It's super versatile, really easy to make and will save you a TON of money (the coconut butter that you buy at the store will require a small loan....).

Take a cup or two of shredded UNSWEETENED coconut (preferably organic) and put it in your food processor or Vitamix. Turn it on and let it run until it forms a creamy, buttery paste. In the food processor it takes about 10 minutes, in the Vitamix, it takes about 2 minutes. It does not need to be refrigerated and has a low melting point so it's easy to spread if kept at room temperature. It's a great alternative to using oils in baking too, just melt it first like you would if you were using coconut oil. Oh, and this is NOT coconut oil, it's coconut butter, the coconut meat blended into a yummy, creamy butter.  Enjoy!