I love the look of a perfectly manicured nail. The ironic thing is that in the past I have rarely take the time to do my nails. It is a horrible habit and one that I am embarrassed to admit. Between doing extremely mundane household chores, washing my hands constantly and the fact that I just tend to be very hard on my nails I have found that the only thing worse than unpainted nails is chipping nail polish.
I have made a resolution to either have a manicure more frequently or to take the time to give my own nails a mini manicure of their own. With the whole nail polish chipping problem I do have one work around that seems to work for me. Enter the nude, baby pink nail polish. I love the subtle, girliness that these colors provide as well as a less noticeable look when my nails actually do begin to chip.
My oldest son loves to cook and I love his love of cooking. Between football and lacrosse, he is very busy, but always finds time to watch one of the many cooking shows that is regularly on in the background.
One weekend morning we were watching “The Kitchen” and the Sandwich King, Jeff Mauro made Fried Ravioli. My son was intrigued and became insistent that he make a batch. Since we have recently gone gluten free I purchased a package of Three Bridges 3 Cheese Ravioli, with hopes that the ravioli would be tasty. Normally fried ravioli consists of flour and breadcrumbs, however I decided to use rice flour in place of the flour and toasted breadcrumbs from several slices of Udi’s bread and we were good to go. Aside from helping out with the ingredients my son made these all on his own. I am so proud of him in general, but this is just another example of his creative and fun personality that is always up to try something new.
I have been gluten free for about a month now and I can’t begin to tell you the difference I am feeling. “Things” are moving much more smoothly in the stomach region (if you know what I am saying) and emotionally I feel world of difference. I am less irritable, snappy, I feel less anxious and just overall more peaceful. The only major change I have made is eliminating gluten so I am attributing these changes to my new way of eating.
I have to also add that prior to this I ate a LOT of gluten. All-purpose white flour, pasta, cookies, muffins and I were BFF’s. However, since breaking up with these former loves I have found different ways of taming these cravings with other options. One of my favorite recipes is those for Banana Muffins. You can find the original recipe here, which I still make for my boys, however for a gluten free and lower fat version I created this recipe. Now, they are not exactly as light and fluffy as the original version – I can’t tell you that, however they are delicious. I used gluten-free oat flour in place of the all-purpose flour which gives these a chewy texture that I love. My favorite way to pair these is with my homemade raspberry coulis and a light smear of butter.
If you are gluten-free or are considering adopting a gluten-free lifestyle I would recommend giving these a try. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on how these turned out for you.
Gluten Free Banana Muffins
Ingredients
1/4 c. canola oil
1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
3 very ripe bananas, medium size
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 1/2 c. gluten-free oat flour
1/2 c. coconut flour
1/2 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a food processor bowl add the oil, applesauce, sugar, vanilla and bananas. Pulse until smooth. Next add the baking soda and salt. Pulse 2-3 times. Add the flours and pulse 2-3 times, just until combined and then add the chocolate, if using. Again, pulse just 1-2 times to distribute them evenly.
Scoop the batter into muffin tins and bake for about 20-25 minutes depending on your oven.
![FullSizeRender[3]](https://i1.wp.com/www.lipstickblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/FullSizeRender3-768x1024.jpg?resize=640%2C853)
I have a confession…I am not good at doing eye makeup. As a makeup junkie it is a bit sad to admit, but it is the truth. My look is generally a swipe of eyeshadow primer to give my eye a tiny hint of color, a swipe of liquid eyeliner on the top of my lid and mascara. For years I have been plagued with raccoon eyes mid-day if I every took the chance and added a touch of mascara to my lower lashes. So for the most part, I would skip this – until now…
Enter Clinique’s Bottom Lash Mascara, $10 at Sephora. I freaking love this stuff! It is not often that I buy 2 tubes of an item to make sure that if they do discontinue this item, I have backups – however I did just that with this product. A couple of things to note – this is a tiny tube. However, I do think this is well worth it to not look like I am completely unkempt and have been out all night. Also, the brush is teeny, tiny, itty bitty. It is great to work those lower lashes, but it is so tiny I was surprised when I saw it so I thought I would mention that as well.
Here are before and after photos of this magical item:
Now keeping with my mascara post, I would be remiss not to mention probably one of my favorite articles from the past year. I stumbled on this article while I was perusing Pinterest and is from the Cosmopolitan UK website. Is an image showing 100 different mascaras on the same eye. Can you believe how genius this is??? The actual article can be found here, but see below for the image as well as the mascara used for each eye.
I can’t wait to try some of these mascaras based on my personal lash preference, which is for them to be long and extremely dramatic (note price is shown in pounds since this article is from Cosmopolitan UK):
1. NYX Cosmetics Doll Eye Mascara, £9 2. Lord & Berry Scuba Extreme Waterproof Mascara, £10 3. Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara, £12 4. Accessorize Fibre Lash Lengthening Mascara, £5.95
5. Benefit, Bad Gal Lash Mascara, £17.50 6. Bourjois Volume Clubbing Ultra Black Mascara, £7.99 7. Origins GinZing Mascara, £17.50 8. Clinique High Impact Waterproof Mascara, £16.50
9. MAC Extended Play Lash Mascara, £14 10. Rimmel Max Volume Flash Mascara, £6.69 11. NYC Big Bold Curl Mascara, £1.99 12. PUR Big Blink with Argan Oil Mascara, £15
13. Barry M Lash Vegas Mascara, £6.49 14. Chantecaille Faux Clis Mascara, £35 15. Benefit They’re Real Mascara, £19.50 16. AVON Supershock Max Mascara, £10
17. Bobbi Brown Everything Mascara, £19 18. Rimmel Scandal Eyes Flex Mascara, £6.99 19. Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Colour Lash Enhancing Mascara, £21 20. BareMinerals Flawless Definition Mascara, £16
21. Seventeen Va Va Voom Mascara, £6.29 22. Liz Earle Lash Definition Smudgeproof Mascara, £14.50 23. Guerlain Maxi Lash Mascara, £23 24. The Body Shop Super Volume Mascara, £10
25. Maybelline The Falsies Flared Mascara, £7.99 26. Bourjois Fantastic Volume Mascara, £9.99 27. Shavata Extreme Volumising Mascara, £15 28. Seventeen Doll’d Up Mascara, £6.29
29. Dior Diorshow Mascara Volume Lash-extension Effect Mascara, 30. Gosh Boombastic XXL Volume Mascara, £8.49 31. Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara, £18 32. Clinique High Impact Extreme Volume Mascara, £17
33. Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes Mascara, £22.50 34. Make Up Store Rotating Mascara, 35. Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Mascara, £25.50 36. Givenchy Noir Couture Waterproof Mascara, £23.50
37. Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara, £10.99 38. YSL Mascara Volume Effet Faux Cils Babydoll 1 Mascara, £24.50 39. Maybelline Great Lash Blackest Black Mascara, £4.99 40. Tom Ford Extreme Mascara, £34
41. MAC False Lashes Extreme Black Mascara, £18 42. Shu Uemura Precise Volume Waterproof Mascara, 43. Bobbi Brown Perfectly Defined Mascara, 44. Dior Diorshow Iconic Extreme Mascara, £23
45. L’Oreal Paris Volume Million Lashes Mascara, £10.99 46. Wild About Beauty Nourishing Mascara, £18 47. Miss Sporty 24h Pump Up Booster Mascara, £3.99 48. Urban Decay Big Fatty Mascara, £15
49. Daniel Sandler Jumbo Jet Mascara, £14.75 50. Art Deco Art Couture Lash Volumizer Mascara, £14.50 51. MAC Extended Play Gigablack Lash Mascara, £14 52. The Body Shop Big And Curvy Mascara, £10
53. Dr. Hauschka Volume Mascara, £18.25 54. Eyeko Lengthening Skinny Brush Mascara, £15 55. MAC Studio Fix Lash Mascara, £14 56. AVON Supershock Mascara, £8.50
57. Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara, £22.50 58. Bobbi Brown Lash Glamour Extreme Lengthening Mascara, £19 59. Shiseido Perfect Mascara Full Definition, £23.50 60. Rimmel Lash Accelerator Endless Mascara, £7.99
61. MAC Opulash Mascara, £14 62. Max Factor Lash Extension Effect Extreme Lengthening Mascara, £10.99 63. NYC Show Time Volumising Waterproof Mascara, £1.99 64. Bourjois Ultra Black Volumizer Mascara, £10.99
65. MUA Mascara, £1 66. Bourjois Volume Glamour Max Definition Mascara,£9.99 67. Collection 2000 Mascara, 68. Kiko Luxurious Lashes Mascara, £7.20
69. Eyeko Fat Brush Mascara, £15 70. YSL Shocking Mascara Volume Effet Faux Cils Mascara, £23 71. Soap and Glory Thick and Fast Mascara, £10 72. Rimmel Scandal Eyes Show Off Mascara, £6.99
73. Seventeen Falsifeye False Lash Effect Mascara, £6.49 74. 2True Wow! Volume Mascara, £1.50 75. Eyeko Black Magic Drama & Curl Mascara, £18 76. MAC Studio Fix Boldblack Lash, £14
77. Revlon Lash Potion by Grow Luscious Mascara, £9.99 78. Topshop Volume Lash Mascara, 79. Nars Larger Than Life Volumizing Mascara, £19 80. Bobbi Brown No Smudge Mascara, £17.10
81. Max Factor Wild Mega Volume Volumising Mascara, £6.99 82. Bourjois Volume Glamour Max Mascara, £9.99 83. Gosh Growth Mascara, £8.49 84. Art Deco Amazing Effect Mascara, £11.50
85. Sensai 38°C Mascara, £20 86. Eyeko Curvy Brush Mascara, £15 87. Diego Dalla Palma Graduated Volume Mascara, £17 88. Cargo Triple Action Mascara, £14
89. Maybelline The Rocket Volum’ Express Waterproof Mascara, £7.99 90. RMK Separate Curl Mascara, £22 91. d.j.v Beautenizer Fiberwig LX Mascara, £18 92. Essential Care Organic Mascara, £17.50
93. Sheer Cover Extra Length Mascara, £17.95 94. Vivo Volume + Length Mascara, £3.49 95. MUA Mega Volume Mascara, £3 96. Bobbi Brown Intensifying Long Wear Mascara, £17.10
97. L’Oreal Paris False Lash Telescopic Mascara , £10.99 98. L’Oreal Paris False Lash Flutter Mascara, £10.99 99. 2True Wow! Volume Waterproof Mascara, £1.50 100. B. A11 Lengthening, defining and Volumising Waterproof Mascara, £9.99
Do you have a favorite mascara? I would love to hear about it!
I recently began reading the book Grain Brain by David Perlmutter and was astounded at the scientific findings that have to do with having gluten in your diet. I absolutely adore bread, cookies, cakes, cupcakes, biscuits, muffins…you get the idea. If there is all-purpose white flour in it chances are I will want to get me a piece of it.
So when I started reading this book I knew that I had to make some changes to my diet. Now, I am not going completely gluten free, I am realistic and know that long term this will not be an option that will work for me or for my family. I am however looking for delicious options that will satisfy my need for sweets but hopefully begin to curb my addiction (and yes, I would qualify my love of this as an addiction) to these harmful carbs.
I found a recipe for Paleo two ingredient pancakes and although I was skeptical I went ahead and made them. Surprisingly, they were really tasty. So good in fact that I plan on making some for my boys as I think that they may like them as well – they are that good. The main trick to this recipe is to use bananas that have plenty of brown spots as they will give the pancakes that extra sweetness that they need. I personally like to add berries and a little maple syrup but they are plenty delicious on their own.
I highly recommend giving these a try. The other ingredient in these – eggs is an ingredient I am particularly fond of on their own and I couldn’t even really tell there were eggs in them. Give them a try…I hope you like them as much as I do.
Two Ingredient Paleo Pancakes
(makes 1-2 servings, depending on how hungry you are)
Ingredients
1 banana, ripe with brown spots
2 eggs
Optional Ingredients: Berries, butter, maple syrup
Directions
Place banana and eggs in a blender and mix for about 30 seconds until frothy.
Heat a non-stick skillet to medium heat and spray with cooking spray (I like Trader Joe’s Coconut Oil Spray but use whatever you have on hand) and pour the mixture just like you would regular pancakes. Once they start to bubble just flip them over and you are done.
These are great alone and even better with some berries and if you are feeling a bit decadent – add a touch of butter and maple syrup.
