Tea Tree Oil

Apothecary Extracts 100% Pure Australian Tea Tree Oil

What is tea tree oil?

Guys. I love tea tree oil. It's an essential oil that serves as an antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiseptic, antiviral, fungicide, insecticide, and stimulant. Among many other things. It's an oil that is extracted from the stems and leaves of the tea tree that is native to Australia. They've been using it forever, and now it's spread to the rest of the world!

Basically, as an antibacterial, tea tree oil is absolutely wonderful as part of your skin care regimen. It's also wonderful for your hair! If you massage it into your scalp, in diluted amounts, it helps keep your hair moisturized, reduces that amount of dandruff, and reduces the chance of premature hair loss. Who can beat that from an all natural product? If you do a simple google search, you will see the massive amounts of benefits you can get from this product.

So what's better about this one versus the plethora of others on the market? For me personally, the label. I just love the label. It's cute. But on a serious note, this bottle makes it really easy to add just the right amount of drops into the recipe of your choosing. Speaking of recipes, it comes with an ebook that features 50+ recipes for the use of tea tree oil in various situations. Hair, skin, household cleaning. Everything. As for me, I love putting this in a toner, and they have a great recipe for that! The product is high quality, and that's what you need with something you're going to be putting on your face and hair. 

Interested now?

Check it out on Amazon!
Or hit up their website:

http://www.apothecaryextracts.com/

Have you tried tea tree oil?! What's your favorite use of this essential oil!?

This post is sponsored by Brandbacker, but I wouldn't give false good reviews to my lovely readers. 

Friday Favorites

1. Date Night

We're going to see Dracula Untold. I'm so excited!

 2. Routine

I'm finally able to get back in the gym after being sick for-ev-er. 

3. Rainbow!

There was a super bright double rainbow after an intense workout. It made me happy. (: You can juuust hardly see the second one.

Have a good weekend everyone! <3>

What's Cookin' Wednesday

 Smokey Cauliflower, Chickpea, & Dumpling Soup

As stated, the boyfriend and I love soups. Love, love, love. I'm always looking for new, interesting soups. The smokiness of this one definitely drew me towards it. I've recently acquired an abnormal amount of paprika, and I've never used that before. So, I've been trying a ton of recipes with paprika. This soup was just so smokey and warm that it was perfect for a fall night. It has veggies and proteins and carbs. It's perfect and hearty.
We're actually eating this again tonight, since I froze half of it. I'm quite excited about it.

Ingredients:

Soup

1 medium head of cauliflower, cut into florets

1 can chick peas

6 Tbsp. olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

5 large cloves of garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. sweet paprika

1/4 tsp. hot curry powder

6 cups vegetable broth

1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste

1 tsp. soy sauce or tamari

Salt & pepper to taste

Dumplings

1 1/2 c. flour (I used whole wheat)

1/2 tsp baking powder

3 scallions, green and white parts, sliced thinly

1/2 - 3/4 c. water

How To:

Preheat the oven to 400. Toss the cauliflower florets in 3 tablespoons of oil and some salt. Spread the florets out evenly across a baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. While those are baking, heat the remaining oil in a large stock pan. Add in the onion and garlic and saute until translucent. Once translucent, add in the bay leaves, spices, broth, paste, and soy sauce/tamari. Stir to combine the ingredients well! Turn the heat up and bring it to a simmer, then reduce the heat. Let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes. After ten minutes, add the cauliflower and chickpeas.

While that is simmering, begin your dumplings. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and scallions. Slowly add in the water, until you get a thick, sticky dough. Drop tablespoon-sized globs into the soup and continue to simmer. Make sure the dumplings are completely submerged in the soup. After about 15-20 minutes, check a dumpling with a toothpick. You want the toothpick to come up clean.

Let the soup cool for about 5 minutes, then laddle into bowls and marvel in the smokey goodness.

This was probably one of the most wonderful soups I've ever made. It was smokey and hearty and just warm. It may be absolutely perfect for fall. Plus, it just looks pretty.

This recipe makes a ton, but you can freeze it! Freeze half of it and save it for a lazy, cold day!



I'd love to hear what your favorite soup is! Let me know in the comments below!

Pure Raspberry Ketones Review

Raspberry Ketones!

What are Raspberry Ketones?

Raspberry ketones are a natural compound found in raspberries, cranberries, blackberries, and others. Basically, it's what gives them their scent. I read once (not that I can find it again) that a capsule is equal to eating a large number of pounds of raspberries. I want to say it said 90 pounds, but that seems excessive. Recently, they've been hugely promoted as a weight loss supplement. 

What I want you all to know, is that it has never been tested on humans. But, what do we actually test on humans? Almost nothing. In mice, it has been shown to reduce weight gain in the liver and belly area. In another study in mice, showed that it increased the breakdown of lipids (fat molecules). These studies were published in magazines like Life Sciences.

The certain ketones I received were wonderful. The claim on the bottle was that it helped with appetite suppressing. Now, it may have been a placebo effect, since I was expecting that to happen, but it seemed to work. Have I noticed weight loss? No. But I haven't been to the gym recently, and we all know that's the most effective weight burner. (;

If you're interested in trying these out, I would definitely recommend these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BUTIELM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Have you guys tried these? What was your experience?!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Motivation Monday

New Month, New Goals!

Today is the day! It's been 2 weeks since I stepped foot in the gym, and I am so antsy to get back. I've been recovering from whatever virus has been ravaging my immune system. It's been awful, but I totally believe in letting your body heal itself. There is no "sweat the sickness out". Absolutely not. Your body needs time to heal. (:

With that being said, a new month calls for a fresh start. It takes 21 days to kick a habit, and that's what I intend to do. Who's with me? I'm going to spend the next 21 days kicking sweets. Sweets are my downfall when it comes to my diet. I could probably do really well, but like, cake. 

I've also given myself a wonderful little incentive of 4 days a week for 10 weeks equals a new tattoo!

Who's with me!? As always, you can feel free to friend me on myfitnesspal! toriiix30

Friday Favorites

1. Fall Scents

I'm so excited for the fall line at B&BW. They're my favorite.

2. Soup

Spoiler Alert! This shit is amazing. Look for it soon. (;

3. DIYs

Have I mentioned fall is my favorite time? These are my favorites. You'll finally get some DIYs!

What's Cookin' Wednesday!

Tater Tot Casserole

Alright guys. It's been over a week, but I'm slowly getting better! I've been a super slacker blogging, but I was more worried about getting healthy again! Sorry! (:

It's come to my attention that many people have no idea what tater tot casserole is. This is heartbreaking to me. It's something my mom used to make quite a bit, and I love it. It also only requires 3 main ingredients. You can't beat that... While I was sick, boyfriend was the one cooking and taking care of me. It was a wonderful change. (; Even though I was sick. So, this was a super easy recipe that I could give him directions to make while I died on the couch. I still got up to take the pictures, but he did all the grunt work. While he was making it, he said it smelled like beef stroganoff. If that tickles your fancy, then go for it!

Ingredients:

1 bag Morningstar crumbles

(or 1 lb ground beef)

1 can cream of mushroom

1 tsp oregano

2 tsp garlic salt

Pepper to taste

1 c. shredded cheese (I used colby jack)

Bag o' tots

That's more ingredients, but you can leave out the spices and cheese. My mom used to... I just wanted to add some stuff.

How To:

Preheat oven to 400. In a large pan, start heating up the crumbles. If you're using ground beef, brown completely and drain. Add in the cream of mushroom and spices. Stir this until combined well. Spread evenly over a greased pan. I believe mine was an 8x11 pan. It's an odd size. On top of the meat mixture, sprinkle half of the cheese. Line the tots up on the cheese, and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cook according to tot package. I think mine said 20-25 minutes.

Serve immediately!

This is just an old recipe that my mom used to make for me. Tommy had never heard of it, and I was just so confused. Then I realized that not many people had heard of it... O.O

Have you had tater tot casserole? What's a family recipe you love? (: