February 1, 2021

How to Make Your Cauliflower Rice Yummier than the one Shawn Mendes’ is Eating in His Chipotle Bowl

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Cauliflower rice can be a bit bland without some proper seasoning so here’s a little something that can make yours a little yummier! Full disclosure this isn’t the healthiest recipe around as it does contain a good deal of sodium but if you’re ok with that read on.

Chipotle has been advertising the Shawn Mendes Bowl for the last two or three weeks on social media and I just want it to be known that 1. You can’t convince me a Chipotle burrito or bowl is better with cauliflower rice and 2. my cauliflower is better than the one Shawn Mendes is eating in his Chipotle! Maybe, kind of, sort of, not really, I’m just tooting my own horn here.

First off, I’m all about fast! I don’t have enough hours in the day to do everything I wanna do sometimes! As much as I like to make cauliflower rice from scratch sometimes I say screw it and buy a big old bag from Trader Joe’s. I think it’s $2 bucks for a nice decent sized bag and you go from freezer to frying pan with it. I typically saute it with a little olive oil and season it with a variety of different things. Sometimes I do lemon pepper, sometimes garlic, sometimes lime and cilantro because I’m feeling all Shawn Mendes and sometimes I toss one of the yummier season blends I’ve found in it.

That’d be the Tasty Hearty Seasoning Mix. When the pandemic started last year in March getting grocery deliveries at home was challenging! I couldn’t get any Amazon Fresh spots, Instacart was just breaking left and right, and my local fresh market was booked solid. The evil empire came through though! I managed to place an order from Walmart and secured a slot easily enough for home delivery. One thing I ordered at the time was a bunch of these Tasty seasoning packets. They cost me a buck and some change. I didn’t know what to expect from them but being a fan of Tasty I thought why not? Turns out the Hearty Tasty Seasoning Mix is actually really yummy in Stuffed Peppers. I season my plant-based meat and rice with it and stuff my peppers. Delicious! They also have a basil, lemon, and thyme seasoning packet too!

Another thing it’s good for? Sprinkling on Cauliflower Rice as I saute! It’s a mix of garlic, onion, and red pepper. I barely taste the red pepper to be honest but the garlic and onion give a nice bold taste and compliment cauliflower very nicely. Just be careful when using it as it does contain a lot of sodium and it can make food salty. A tiny bit goes a long way! You can always sprinkle a bit in and use more as needed.

How do you flavor your cauliflower rice?

Where to buy

Walmart

2 Comments

February 1, 2021

You Really Don’t Need Valentine’s Day To Make Someone Feel Loved But Romance Is Alive This Month

February is here! A time for love, romance, and for a chonky little groundhog to tell us if we’ll be suffering more Winter or if Spring will arrive soon. I decorated yesterday for Valentine’s Day! I shared some of my decor on Instagram stories if you followed me over there.

Here’s my little V-Day Candy Bar:

I’m actually not a Valentine’s Day kind of person. I don’t get the concept. Why do we need one day of the year to tell people we love and appreciate them? Why do we need flowers, chocolates, and jewelry to do this? Shrug! I know I sound like the Valentine’s Day grinch but I really don’t get the Holiday at all. I hope if you love someone you tell them everyday when you wake up and again when you go to bed at night. I hope you do things that make them happy! Even small things like iron their shirt for them or make their favorite dinner or grab them a towel and lay it on the vanity so it’s there when they get out of the shower. And I hope you bring them flowers, chocolates, or small gifts even on Mondays or Tuesdays, or any old day of the week! You don’t need Valentine’s Day to make your loved one feel special! Make them feel that way everyday!

Just because I don’t like Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean I don’t love romance. Who doesn’t like romance? February always seems the perfect month for love and romance. It’s typically so very cold outside this month and snuggling up inside with wishes for Spring make you feel a bit romantic!

In February we must watch all the romantic movies! Especially the Jane Austen ones! When I grow up I’m going to marry Mr Darcy and we’re going to have 2.5 kids together and live in an English Cottage with a Corgis named Daisy. I’ll carry around dog treats in my purse as he and I roam the English countryside hand in hand and he’ll look down at me every so often to compliment me on my fine brown eyes.

But for now we’ll make due with Colin Firth’s version of Mr Darcy! If you haven’t seen the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice time to pop open Hulu and sit down for a few hours until you get to that classic scene of Mr Darcy all wet in a lake. Sadly, he never removes his shirt. Very proper, very proper indeed! If you need chest though, I totally get it, you might want to check out Aidan Turner in Poldark!

Up next we must embrace the cold and brokenhearted Mr Wentworth! I, for one, have always been out to heal the world and save everyone in it! Mr Wentworth fits right in with my plans! I have to save him and his poor broken heart! But the most important question here is: Ciarán Hinds or Rupert Penry-Jones! You must choose! It’s a hard choice but someone has to make it. Either way both the 1995 version of Persuasion staring Ciarán Hinds and the 2007 Masterpiece Theater version staring Rupert-Penry-Jones are available on Amazon Prime.

If you need a bit more comedy in your romance Lost in Austen brings the romance and the laughs. It stars Jemima Rooper from Hex. Remember Hex? Remember when Fassy was a Nephilim? I do. That fueled my fanfic fantasies for a brief flash of a second. Fassy unfortunately does not make an appearance in Lost in Austen! You’ll have to go all Charlotte Brontë for that as he starred in Jane Eyre back in 2011. Lost in Austen does have cute little plot where our heroine travels back in time and meets Mr Darcy for herself! You can watch it free with ads on Tubi or purchase it on Amazon Prime.

What are some of your favorite romantic movies to watch this month?

No, you can’t say 365 Days! Only because we need an entire other post to discuss Michele Morrone!

11 Comments

February 1, 2021

How Covid Upended the Lipstick Index With A Self Care Revolution

The economy is in pretty bad shape which means the lipstick index should be going up but in 2020 COVID upended the Lipstick Index and started a self-care revolution. Makeup sales plunged and what came out of it?

A rally of skincare! Skincare sales were up 24% last year alone and are sure to go up even further as more and more people stay home and ditch their makeup bags. I haven’t quite reached the stage I’m ditching my makeup bag just yet. This morning I woke up, hopped on my treadmill for 45 minutes, hit the shower, and yes, sat down, and put on my makeup even though it’s a massive snow storm out and I’m working from home I still wanted to look pretty. Hopefully I’m helping the lipstick index to inch up a little.

In all seriousness, last year was a discovery of self-care in particular skincare has become an important part of everyone’s routine and I’m here for that as a long time skincare junkie! I love that younger girls are learning how to take care of their skin better! I love they aren’t relying on foundation to hide problems but instead looking to skincare to fix them! The fact of the matter is with so many people staying home makeup has become something we aren’t concerned with at the moment! It’s not like we’re seeing anyone so makeup isn’t necessary! Not to mention when we do see people we have to wear a mask but wearing lipgloss or lipstick under a mask is messy AF! I was convinced we’d see some increase in eyeshadow sales but it never happened in 2020 and I’m not sure it will this year either!

Allegedly sales in makeup were down nearly 40% last year because woman (and men) are wearing less makeup. I think lock down definitely contributed to this but also, the beauty bubble was breaking down already prior to the pandemic and COVID as we slowly realized we don’t have to contour and highlight ourselves to death to look great.

GME stock is rallying like the champion in an epic sci-fi adventure movie but will makeup rally as well? I doubt it. I think the world of makeup climbed too high, too fast and it caused a downfall. The market is saturated to a point we need a purge in order to regain interest and sales. I just worry that purge means more brands will be filing Chapter 11.

Which brands will go and which will stay?

Who has sustainability in this war?

What do you think?

Is makeup over?

15 Comments

February 1, 2021

How Game Changing Will Niacinamide Be In The New Fenty Instant Reset Overnight Gel-Cream

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Fenty Instant Reset Overnight Gel-Cream finally decided to pop up at Sephora. For a while there it was available exclusively on Fenty’s website and although I wanted to try it I was waiting for the Sephora release because I felt the return would be easier if I hated it. But who am I kidding? I always have the best intentions to return things and never do!

Fenty Instant Reset Overnight Gel-Cream is a new overnight moisturizer and sleeping pack of sorts that was specifically created to be used as part of your nightly routine. It’s a lightweight gel moisturizer that has a lush tropical fruit and flower fragrance. I know, I know, the fragrance is killing you! Interestingly enough I don’t see any artificial fragrances in the ingredients list so it might come directly from some of the oils in the formulas. This is actually loaded with some incredible oils and extracts including melon oil which is great for hydrating.

And of course, the superstar ingredients here are Hyaluronic Acid and Niacinamide. I think Niacinamide surpassed Hyaluronic Acid in popularity in 2020 here in the US market. It’s long since been a very popular pick in Korea and Japan but last year in certainly gained traction in the Western market.

If Vitamin C isn’t part of your daily diet you can go ahead and try out Niacinamide which has many of the same benefits. But user beware you don’t want to mix Niacinamide and Vitamin C. Recent studies have shown you can mix the two however, never together in the same routine. As a rule of thumb if I’m using Niacinamide I just avoid Vitamin C products. It really depends on your skin of course. I’m just old school and although my routine includes a ton of different products I am always very safe about what I am cocktailing together. You don’t want to dish out on expensive products that are rendered ineffective by using them together so always do your research prior to mixing skincare.

As for Niacinamide it works a lot like Vitamin C in the fact it can reduce dark spots, even out skin tone, and reveal more luminous and brighter skin! The good news is the fact it is higher on the list of ingredients in the Fenty Instant Reset Overnight Gel-Cream meaning it has an impressive amount of it in this cream!

I’ve been using this for a few weeks now! I’ll report back soon to see how game changing the Niacinamide in the mix is! Will it brighten up my skin? Make me years and years younger? We’ll see 🙂

Anyone try it?

Do share!

Where to buy

Sephora

3 Comments

February 1, 2021

Whatever Happened to Urban Decay: A Case of Formula Changes

Whatever happened to Urban Decay? Their formulas sure has changed over the last decade hasn’t it? This weekend Christine (Temptalia) did a poll on Instagram asking which brands don’t interest you anymore and I didn’t even hesitate with my reply. Right away my fingers few over my Iphone to type out “Urban Decay”. Urban Decay hasn’t rallied since 2012 when it was purchased by L’Oreal for the sum of 300-400 million (the amount was never disclosed). Maybe they should have held out for the big money like Too Faced who got a cool 1.4 billion in 2016 from Estee Lauder.

In 2011, even before their buy out, I noticed that Urban Decay Primer Potion was having problems. That was prior L’Oreal ever entering the picture. But at the time everything was pretty smooth sailing with Urban Decay aside from my primer issues which did break my heart as it was one of my go to eyeshadow primers.

Ironically in Spring 2012, Urban Decay made the really exciting and scary announcement they were revamping their entire eyeshadow line. As much as we love blaming parent companies for the change in our favorite products this predated the buy out as the buy out was signed in Fall 2012.

Change is unavoidable especially when larger parent companies like L’Oreal take over but in this case the parent company was not to blame.

So, why the change? At the time the beauty bubble had not yet broken and the market wasn’t as saturated as it is now. Why the sudden change in a beloved formula? I personally don’t think Urban Decay Eyeshadows have been the same since the formula change and if anything they have gotten worst with each new release.

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