This past weekend we decided not to hit the waves, but clean out a lot of forgotten spaces in our house. One space being the pantry. We are good at rotating foods in our pantry, but every once in awhile we find out we have more of one item than we think. This weekend it was peanut butter. Six jars later we realize that we are pretty set on having enough for awhile. I tried to think of ways to use it and there is so many possibilities. After sorting through all of the options, we agreed on making peanut butter cookies and played around with some of the chocolate candies we picked up at the local food co-op here. We love these chocolate candies and they are similar to M&M's, but are made with Fair Trade chocolate and dyed with better ingredients. Since changing our eating habits to better quality, it's amazing how many things that once tasted "good" now taste off. One of the main products I've noticed the change in taste is chocolate and peanut butter. I used to love Hershey's, especially Hershey Kisses, but now, nope. I can't eat them without feeling like I'm eating chocolate-flavored wax. These chocolate rainbow drops can be purchased online here, if you wanted to use them like we did in this recipe. Here's how we made our peanut butter cookies.
Ingredients:
1 cup organic peanut butter, 1 cup organic sugar
1 large organic egg, ½ cup organic flour
Chocolate candies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the peanut butter, sugar, egg in a mixer and add flour on low speed until well combined. Don't over mix, just enough to combine everything and make a wet/oily dough base.
Roll into balls, or create your own pattern of cookie. Pressing a fork into the tops of the cookies creates the lines on the top of the cookies shown here. Add the chocolate candies anywhere on the cookies that you chose. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies start to brown a bit.
These cookies are great when they are still slightly warm.
Over the past weekend, Labor Day weekend we made our first batch of homemade salsa. There are a few things we would change in future batches, but overall it was a great time. We are thinking of making Labor Day salsa making a yearly tradition. I've been looking into simple ways of canning certain foods we enjoy, just so we can have them on hand when we need them. We also hit the beach again this week. Finally able to enjoy all of us having boards to surf on, with Jeff using a bodyboard. His shoulder has been hurting him lately, so the bodyboard was perfect for him on this trip. The amount of people on the beaches here during Labor Day weekend was the most I've seen in a long time on the Oregon coast. We kept our distance from everyone, though, because most people were not wearing masks, or social distancing. The swells were pretty high, almost 10-14 feet at times and hitting every three-four seconds, so it was quite a workout for us all. We were all pretty sore the next day, but it was totally worth it. Overall it was a good Labor Day weekend and a nice week overall. Here are five things this week.
1. These Lights.
Up on top of the highest mountain in our area and this was the view of the city at midnight. Seems a lot bigger than it is.
2. This Salsa.
Our Labor Day salsa was a solid plan this year and will will definitely be continuing it in the future.
3. This Surf.
And, it was perfect!
4. This Package.
Won a Twitter contest this week and received all of this great Forager products from the company. We loved everything, especially the queso cheese and the probiotic drinks. All of the coupons shown there are for free products, too. It was definitely a score!
5. This MightyFix.
Always love everything from Might Nest. You can sign up here to get on the next mailing list for your own Mightyfix.
Did you catch the Andromeda Galaxy visible in the sky this week (4), the Moon above Mercury (7), or the Moon above Venus (10)?
Positive affirmations this week:
Ways to feel good about yourself, and live your best life-give it 21 days:
Last week was my birthday and it was such a great birthday. I turned 44 and had such a wonderful day; well, week actually. I always joke when August hits and say it's my birthday month. Which, I love birthdays, so it's fitting. We went surfing two days in a row and my goal was to get up 44 times and stay up for at least 44 seconds. The ocean was my friend both times and helped me celebrate and reach my personal goal. Skylar and I also have been working on a small hall closet this week to set it up for our podcasting. We are literally recording episodes either on a bed in a bedroom, or at a desk in a bedroom. We would love to have something a lot bigger and more setup for just our podcast, but we are working with what we have at the moment. When we finally get moved we are going to dedicate a room to just our podcasting and recording. It will be a great setup for us and we are anxious to do that. But, for now, we are working on the hall closet and I'll share pictures on my blog once it's done. We are also looking forward to the Labor Day weekend.
1. This Surf.
Birthday surf trip for the books. I probably had more fun surfing this past weekend than I ever had since we started. Great time with great people and great surf!
2. This Chocolate.
This chocolate mint is one of my favorites now. Since we changed our eating habits to more whole foods and organic, I have been missing my York Peppermint Patties. This Seattle Chocolate Brisk Mountain Mint is a very close match to the minty chocolate taste. But, to really get the York Peppermint Patty vibe that I truly crave, these are what I go for. They are available at Whole Foods, but you can also order them on the Seely's website, or on Amazon. You honestly haven't had a good peppermint patty until you've had one of those.
3. These Items.
The Kiwi Eco Box this month is amazing. I can't wait to try the shampoo bars and the bamboo hairbrush. Also, the Mighty Fix this month was much-needed. The cleaning brushes are always a plus in our house. The bottom two items were an addon to my MightyFix. The lunchbox was a needed item and the reusable garbage bags complete our cans. We use one can for recycle and the other for trash and with the reusable trash bags we don't have to purchase trash bags anymore. It's something we've been working hard on cutting out of our everyday usage. Once these get dirty, you throw them in the wash and let them air dry and you're good to go.
4. These Sponges.
Since the pandemic hit we've been using these BD sponges to clean our hands with. Sometimes we've even used them to clean our bodies when we feel we've been exposed to anyone infected with Coronavirus. We found these online here and have placed a few orders with them. The same company carries masks, alcohol wipes, cleaning liquids and wipes, and gloves, as well. They are the BD sponges with the 3% PCMX soap. The same sponges used by medical doctors before surgery. They have come in quite handy during these uncertain times, but we still wear a mask and distance ourselves from others, too.
5. This Day.
My birthday was August 28 and as always Twitter was on top of it with the balloons. It's one of the highlights of using Twitter and I do enjoy it every year. I also got my birthday tradition of chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting from our local food co-op. I love these cupcakes so much that we literally have to only buy them for special occasions. They are delicious! I also got a great birthday card from IKEA. Although, I get it every year, this year was more special to me. I've been wanting and waiting to go to IKEA to get a few things I've been wanting. When my birthday card came from them, I immediately took advantage of it.
Because everyone deserves something special on their birthday, we've included treats just for you! Your birthday offers are valid from August 1st - 31st, 2021.
$10 off your purchase
Scan this coupon and your IKEA
Family card to get $10 off of
your in-store purchase.
Free Frozen Yogurt
Scan this coupon and your IKEA
Family card to enjoy a free frozen
yogurt from the IKEA Bistro.
Did you catch the bright Aldebaran star near the moon this week (29)?
Positive affirmations this week:
Improving your balance helps with your life in more ways than one. Before we started surfing my balance was off and I honestly didn't trust myself. Since we've been surfing every chance we get, my balance has improved so much and in turn that confidence has improved my mental health a lot. If you don't, or can't surf there are other ways to help improve your balance. Here's an exercise you can do and actually improve upon as you do it.---
Stand with your legs shoulder-length apart and sideways beside a wall about as far as arm's length from the wall. Bending the leg closest to the wall at the knee bring your other leg in and raise your foot up to where your on your toes, but don't put pressure on that foot. All of your weight should be supported by the bend leg closest to the wall. With your other leg lifted and no weight on the leg, hold this position as long as you can. Once you feel like it's been a comfortable amount of time, switch to the other foot and do it again. Try to improve on your time each day and not only will your balance improve, but also your confidence and self esteem. Start small and work your way up. This exercise also improves the muscles in your legs, especially your calves.
Tomorrow is my forty-fourth birthday and my giveaway is still going strong. Be sure to enter it before midnight to get your name on the list. You can enter here, or here. It's a great fire pit mat and I just loved collaborating with Daxlena on this. I am loving my fire pit grill mat and I can't wait to take it with us this autumn camping and also on some of our surfing trips.
1. This Moment.
I enjoyed this day. I sat and watched cartoons, braided my hair, and ate cereal like a little kid. I also enjoyed my new copy of DREW Magazine and took a much needed selfcare day. No regrets, at all!
2. This Test.
We've been using these weekly tests when we start feeling any type of illness coming on that resembles the Coronavirus symptoms. Luckily, even when being around others that have tested positive, we have been doing our part to mask up, sanitize often, and wash our hands frequently, and it's kept us pretty healthy. These tests are rapid tests and can be found at most smaller retailers, or pharmacies. A lot of the stores have them up front at the checkout counters. It's a set of two tests and keeping some on-hand isn't a bad idea. The picture below shows exactly what's in the test kit. Regardless of whether you are vaccinated, or not, having these in your medicine cabinet for each member of your household is a smart idea. These tests are also available online here.
3. This Picture.
This moment with the sun and the water spray was not even planned and as I was attempting to take a picture of the bathroom window, he popped his head out and sprayed the water from his mouth. The timing is amazing and it turned out cool after the fact.
4. This Sample.
It was an interesting week with Influenster. I received a few samples of products to try for free and leave an honest review. This cat litter was one of those samples. I liked the smell of it before it was poured into the litter box. This variety has a nice, subtle lotus blossom scent to it, but once used, especially urine, it didn't hold onto the smell at all. After two days, it was a no-go for us. It does a good job of containing the dust, but the smell-even though it states, "outstanding odor control" it doesn't live up to its claims. We have one cat and it didn't do well at containing her odors even after three days of constant cleaning. There are other scents, one being the lavender scent, that we will be trying, too, to see if those are better for our kitty. There are pros to this litter overall, though. It has no harmful chemicals, no artificial perfumes, and no silica dust. It also is made from natural corn and it better for the environment. You can learn more about the litter here.
5. This Product.
I received this for testing purposes from Influenster this week and although we don't normally eat Kraft products, it was fun to make. The shapes are based off of the movie Space Jam and the box sample sent to me was a family-size. We enjoyed it a lot, because the shapes of the pasta were so cute! But, the taste, because we don't normally eat it, was so salty. It was incredible how much salt was in this product that people normally take for granted. It was a fun product, but not something we would buy again. These samples come from and influencer program and I get them free for testing and to give honest feedback on what I think. You can sign up for this program here and start receiving free products to test, too. It's a great program and companies really appreciate your honest review and feedback on their products and merchandise.
Did you catch the moon above Jupiter and Saturn this week (21), the Full Corn Moon (22), or the Teapot Asterism (26)?
Don't forget to enter my giveaway for the Daxlena
firepit grill mat. You can enter here on the blog,
or over at my Instagram page. Tonight is your last
chance, so get your name entered before you run
out of time! Good luck!
Positive affirmations this week:
Guard yourself against Alzheimer's Disease. You have a greater risk if it runs in your family, but even without it being hereditary, there's still a slight chance it could affect you. Memory loss is a big issue with a lot of people, but keeping the mind sharp, even if you don't develop Alzheimer's Disease. Here are some steps you can take to keep your mind in tip-top shape:
1. Keep your BMI between 18-24, if you're under aged 65. Losing additional weight is your best defense.
2. Quit smoking and don't stay around secondhand smoke for long periods of time.
3. Get the right amount of sleep. Less sleep takes its toll on your mind in more ways than just memory.
4. Eat right to keep your heart healthy and exercise often. Diet and exercise are great at any age.
5. Do weight baring exercises as you age to keep strong and keep from becoming frail.
6. Take vitamins and extra vitamin C. Adding additional vitamins may prove to help with memory loss, and brain health.
Life at a "Swell's" pace is a lifestyle and travel blog chronicling the life and travels while living in Oregon's beautiful Willamette Valley. It is mostly written by Shelly HW. Click the image to learn more»
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