Make Your Own Healthy Pudding with Only Two Ingredients!

 Surprise! These are your two ingredients: Plain yogurt and protein powder. 

(You know how annoying protein powder is to mix with liquid? You either have to use a blender or buy several of those "shake cups" with the lids and a little mixer ball in them. Annoying to clean, you have to buy several to make the experience worth it--unless you want to commit to cleaning your cup/blender out every night--and just generally takes time that I don't feel like spending. Here is a better way to get your protein!)

First, put in the powder with its own scoop. (Important to do this first because protein powder likes to "poof" and get all over the place.)

Then, put in a few spoonfuls of plain yogurt.

It helps if you make sure that the yogurt completely covers the surface of the powder before you start to stir. (Cuts down on the "poof.") Stir for a few seconds and make sure to scrape around the bottom corners because powder likes to hide there. The fact that yogurt is more solid than, say, milk, helps the powder blend more thoroughly and quickly instead of clumping up and making a huge annoying and counterproductive mess.

Once it is mixed, you can eat it. It tastes exactly like regular pudding (depending on your brand of powder). You are getting protein, vitamins, and pro-biotics! Can your regular pudding do that? Methinks not.

Oh, and you can add fruit, if you want.

The End!

Surviving the Daniel Fast: Vegan Chia Seed Tapioca Pudding and Coconut Chocolates

If you are vegan or if you are on the Daniel Fast, here is a great recipe for some desserts. Keep in mind that none of these recipes use animal products nor sugar, so these probably won't be for everyone's taste.

First of all the tapioca pudding. If you know me I love pressure cooking because I'm impatient. I also like to make things in bulk so I don't have to spend my life cooking. However, I have a sweet yet sometimes finicky husband who doesn't like to eat the same thing every day for very long....so stay tuned after the first recipe for some variations on the tapioca theme. In other words, think of this pudding recipe as a base.

(I'm blogging from my phone and Blogger is being stupid, so I might not have pictures....)

You will need:
1. 1 1/2 cup tapioca. (I used Bob's Red Mill small pearl tapioca)
2. 6 cups almond milk
3. 1 can coconut milk (skip this if you have thyroid or triclyceride issues)
4. Shredded unsweetened coconut
5. Vanilla extract
6. Coconut oil
7. Nutmeg
8. 1/4 cup chia seeds (or you could add more if you're a fan)

Directions

1. Add a tablespoon or so of coconut oil to the bottom of your pressure cooker and melt over med high heat. Add the shredded coconut and toast till a nice brown color. (Amounts are to your taste.)

2. Immediately add tapioca and almond milk. Stir. Turn to high heat. Add coconut milk, vanilla (to taste), nutmeg (to taste), and you will probably have to add a few cups of water because it starts thickening like crazy. Keep stirring like a madman so nothing burns on the bottom of your cooker.

3. Once it starts to boil, lock the lid on. When the pressure indicator pops up, turn the heat down (somewhere around 3) and set your timer for 6 minutes. When it's done, let the pressure come off naturally (about ten minutes).

[Skip to chocolates recipe below while the pudding cooks to save time.]

4. Aaaaaand then I forgot I didn't add the chia seeds, so I put them in after pressure came off. It's probably better that way anyway since they don't really have to be cooked.

Notes: Next time I will only cook the tapioca for 5 minutes because I like them rather chewy and they were just a little mushy.

Several recipes for people who get bored easily (these are still vegan and sugar free):

1. Mexican - Using your "base" that you made above, add cinnamon and just a dash of red pepper.

2. Korean - Add mochi (rice) balls, red bean, and cereal powder.

3. Fruity - Uhhhh....add fruit! Obviously!

4. Chocolate - Add cocoa powder.

5. Pumpkin spice - Add canned pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, a tad more nutmeg, and allspice.

6. Hawaiian - Pineapple and mango.

7. Peppermint Mocha - Cocoa powder and just a TAD of peppermint extract.

Some other things you could add: peanut or almond butter (has sugar, so do as the Spirit leads), nuts, dried fruit, and....you know....whatever else you feel like adding!

Okay, while your pudding cooks, you can do this fun and horribly messy project!

You will need:

1. 2 parts coconut oil
2. 1 part cocoa powder
3. 3/4 parts unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)
4. Cashews (or other nuts...or not)
5. Vanilla extract
6. Silicon chocolate mold (or just pour it all into the bottom of a container and break it in pieces when you're done.

Directions:
1. Melt the oil in the microwave.

2. Add the cocoa powder, vanilla, and shredded coconut. Stir

3. (I prepped my molds with one cashew each during step one, but you don't have to if you don't want nuts.) Pour the mixture into the mold.

4. Refrigerate.

5. Eat. Keep uneaten ones refrigerated.

The End!!

Fix Your Broken Makeup

I have this bold red blush. I love it, but one day, for no reason, it decided to break into about eight pieces. I posted a picture of it on facebook, and a very kind lady on there told me a way to fix it. It's really easy to fix, so before you throw your broken pressed powder, blush, or bronzer away: Read this.

1. Add several drops of rubbing alcohol into it--enough to saturate the broken powder without overflowing the container.

2. Stir it around just a little with your finger to make sure the mixture is homogenous.

3. Let it dry overnight. The alcohol will evaporate and your makeup will once again be in one piece. (It's not super pretty or anything, but at least it's not a broken mess anymore.)

The End!!!!

Make Your Own Eye Shadow

There are probably other ways to make your own eye shadow, but I wanted something that was not just pretty but good for my skin. All I do is break open vitamin/herb supplements and add pearl powder! Really easy!

The ones I use are Gingko Biloba and Acai. I have the Gingko on-hand because I take it daily to help with circulation. I also have the Acai on-hand because I used to take it thinking it would make me look like the girl in the magazine who took it, but. . .it didn't do a thing! You can use whatever natural powder you want. Experiment! My friend, Bethany, told me that a woman on "The Doctors" TV show had used green tea powder. I really want to try that one!

Gingko happens to be a nice tannish color, and acai is purple. Either would look great on its own, but I mixed them together and created a sort of pinkish, smoky color. I also added pearl powder for shimmer. (How to make pearl powder: Buy a bag of it on eBay. . .or smash one!)

Fun Facts and Tips:

1. It lasts for several hours, even through a day of work and a work out later. There is some noticeable creasing, but that's normal. I just spread it out with my finger when that happens.

2. I like knowing that my eye shadow is good for my skin and not just something clogging my pores for no reason.

3. When I wash it off, I get a little exfoliation action.

4. Apply it with a clean brush and not your fingers.

5. Make it using only one or two supplements at a time. That should last you for up to a few months.

For a complete list of make up DIY, go here.

Make Your Own Anti-Aging Shimmery Face Powder

I thought making face powder would be something esoteric and mysterious, but as it turns out, you only need two ingredients: corn starch and cocoa powder. If you are light skinned, start with corn starch and add cocoa till you get your color. If you are dark skinned, start with cocoa and add corn starch.

The End.

However, if you want the advantage of anti-aging and shimmer, add these ingredients: cinnamon, gingko biloba (all you do is open a supplement pill and dump it in), and pearl powder. You can actually use any spice/plant powder that is tannish/brownish/shiny and is skin-beneficial, but I used these three because of their cell-renewal and antioxidant properties, and because I already had them at my house. It's like giving yourself a non-pore-clogging, sun-protecting, day-long facial!



You can buy pearl powder from eBay. It's under $10 for 100g (which is going to last you several years), or you can do what I did: Wrap a pearl in tin foil. . .and HIT IT WITH A HAMMER!

I put some of the pearl powder in my face powder, some in my eye shadow, and some in my blush. I got the idea for pearl powder because some of my BB cream from South Korea has pearl powder in it, and I love it. Pearls are organic, right? It makes your skin really shimmery.

Fun Facts and Tips:

1. Pearl powder has long been heralded in Eastern medicine as an anti-aging, sun-blocking protectant to skin. Some people even take it internally as a supplement.

2. As I said in the makeup homepage, make sure to make only a small amount at a time and clean your brushes very regularly. You can prolong the life of your powder by adding baking soda, but that can be harsh if you have sensitive skin. It's up to you! I made the small jar in the first picture with no baking soda, and that lasted a month with no problems.

3. Corn starch is a super strong oil absorber (the main ingredient in "CornSilk" powder, in fact) and cocoa is a great antioxidant and natural sun protectant. Using these two ingredients alone sets my makeup all day without constant dabbing--even better than my store-bought mineral powder!

4. You can make a small jar for about a penny, and you can be sure it fits your skin tone!

5. Here's the one drawback: If your face gets wet or sweaty, the cocoa in the powder will turn brown. Therefore, if you want to make a cheaper version of powder that you can work-out in, I suggest buying some regular powder or bronzer makeup a few shades darker than your skin tone and adding corn starch to it to stretch the formula out. It's not all-natural, but it is a far cheaper method of doing makeup.

For a complete list of make up DIY, go here.