BLT & Cheese Salad

Here's an interesting and delicious recipe for a salad that I found on the back of a crouton bag in my pantry:

• 1 head of iceberg lettuce (or Romain lettuce)
• 4 tbsp. fat free mayonnaise
• 1 tsp. dijon mustard
• 2 tsp. skim milk
• 1tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 2 tomatoes
• 12 strips of bacon, cooked crispy
• drained of fat and chopped into bits
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 cups Meijer Garlic & Cheese Croutons (or your favorite croutons).

Wash, spin dry & tear lettuce into pieces. In a bowl, combine mayonnaise, mustard and milk; whisk until creamy. Add pepper. Coat lettuce and toss well. Add tomatoes, bacon, cheese and croutons. Toss again.

ENJOY!
For other BLT salad recipes visit www.cooks.com

Healthier Nail Polish: Butter London Brand

Butter London is a nail polish brand that started in 2005 by a British entrepreneur named Sasha Muir. She wanted to fill the gap of nail polishes that offered luxury while still being affordable. She set the idea in motion by enlisting Nonie Creme as her creative director, who had the visual of bringing runway fashion trends to nail colors.

This brand comes with a promise: "3 Free". Button London offers nail polishes that are free of three harmful chemicals that most polishes contain including formaldehyde, toluene, and DBP or parabens.
Through this promise, Butter London became the first nail polish brand to sell non-toxic polish in the United States.

Today this brand has more than 100 nail polish colors, with more coming out every season, as well as a loyal following in the UK has well as in the US.

A bottle of this polish will run you $14, but it is worth every penny!

For more information visit www.butterlondon.com

Your Skin, But Better: Philosophy Brand

Try clear skin for the colder weather with the Philosophy Brand. Here's a gift set of some Philosophy's skin products in their "Makeup Optional Skin: basic care for congested skin"

"Philosophy: Does your skin need to be decongested? Cover up is not a solution for clogged pores, mild blemishes, irregular texture of lack of skin radiance. The key is 24/7 exfoliation of your skin and the continuous shedding of your pore walls. Our makeup optional system incorporates a weekly 2-phase microdelivery peel with a daily 4-step skin care regimen. Our program will help decongest clogged pores, smooth irregular texture, even out skin tone and minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, while restoring your radiance so that makeup is truly an option."

This kit comes with 5 different Philosophy products including:

- Purity Made Simple one step facial cleanser 8 fl. oz.

-When Hope Is Not Enough facial firming serum 1 fl oz.

-Hope In a Bottle oil-free moisturizer and acne treatment 2 fl. oz

-Hope In a Tube eye and lip firming cream 0.5 fl. oz.

-The Microdelivery Peel Step 1 & 2. (3 sets)

Each of these products promises to do wonders for your skin:

• Purity Made Simple (Step 1):
• Cleanses, melts away makeup, tones and lightly hydrates. 
• Essential oils and mild cleansing agents make this cleanser ideal for all skin skypes, even those with sensitive skin.
• When Hope Is Not Enough (Step 2):
• Lightweight serum that helps firm, protect, and hydrate while minimizing the appearance of find lines and wrinkles.
•  Synergisitc antioxidants help protect against environmental attack. 
• Pentapeptide-3 helps improve skin's firmness and elasticity.
• Hyaluronic acid helps soften and hydrate.
• Hope In A Bottle (Step 3):
• Salicylic acid helps to shed the pore wall which aids in helping keep skin clear and minimize congestion and breakouts.
• Tocopheryl acetate (vitamin e) soothes and protects the skin against environmental attack.
• Hope In A Tube (Step 4):
• A world-class eye cream that helps moisturize, firm and diminish the appearance of lines around the eye and lip area.
• Dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline helps support natural collagen and skin's elasticity.
• The Microdelivery Peels (Weekly)
• Rapidly exfoliates while replenishing with skin brightening vitamin c and skin firming peptides.
• Use weekly in the p.m. for remarkable results that can be seen and felt immediately. 

Give this product, or some of Philosophy's other skin care products a try.

This kit, other kits like it, and single products can be found at

www.sephora.com

or

www.philosophy.com

Healthy Habit: Green Smoothies

Do you want a quick and healthy smoothie you can make at home in under 5 minutes? I do too! I stumbled across another blogger's website at www.nomeatathlete.com & thought I'd share his delicious spin on my favorite green smoothie. This one is a little different and MUCH more convenient. 

Here’s how: Green Cubes.

PART 1:

What you’ll need:

3 kiwis (peeled)

1 mango (peeled

½ cup pineapple chunks

½ cup sliced peaches

1 teaspoon minced ginger

½ cup spinach

1 or 2 tablespoons of spirulina

Mix all of the ingredients listed into a blender, or food processor. Puree to your liking, and then pour the mixture into any ice cube trays you have in the kitchen. Pop them into the freezer and give them plenty of time to freeze. Once they are frozen, empty the green cubes into a freezer bag.

NOTE: Use them within three months.

PART 2 (The delicious part!)

What you’ll need:
3 Green Cubes
1 cup apple juice
1 ripe banana

Pop the Green Cubes, apple juice and banana into the blender and puree.


PART 3

Drink up!

There are tons of other reciepes for "Green Smoothies", including a few you have probably seen in your local grocery store (Naked Juice "Green Machine"; Bolthouse Farms "Green Goodness". Feel free to make the smoothie your own, but the greener the better!



Other Green Smoothies:

http://www.marthastewart.com/335223/green-machine-smoothie

http://www.nomeatathlete.com/homemade-naked-green-machine/

http://greensmoothierecipes.org/