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Ways to hydrate your body naturally
Although summer is almost over (let’s not talk about it). I still think it’s important to talk about hydration, even leading into the autumn months. Included in the post will be healthy, easy recipes for those to recreate on a hot day (or… a cool day now that we’re heading into fall). But let’s be real, I feel like California is super hot well into September-October.
It’s obvious that drinking water is a great way to re-hydrate your body. But sometimes it’s great to have alternatives. Here are my 10 beneficial ways to achieve your glowing healthy skin, and here’s to a more hydrated body!
Pressed Juicery //
Cold pressed juices can be drank as a meal replacement, a juice cleanse or as a snack. There are tons of varieties of Pressed Juicery juices to choose from. My favourites are the Strawberry + Apple + Lime combo, or Citrus 1! The chocolate almond one is such a nice one to drink too, kind of reminds me of chocolate milk.
Cucumber Radish Salad //Â
This is a light refreshing salad with a bit of kick to it, thanks to the radish. I’ve been making this a few times per week this summer, for lunch, since I don’t want to be cooking too much in the heat.
Ingredients: Cucumber, radish, feta, sprinkle of dill. Optional dressing: lemon juice, oil & vinegar, garlic.Â
Watermelon Salad //Â
There’s nothing easier than a watermelon bowl is there. This one is yellow! I had never seen a yellow watermelon until I spotted it at Trader Joe’s last week! I think it tastes different than regular watermelon. Just eat a whole bowl full, or grab one of Pressed Juicery signature watermelon drinks.
Ingredients: watermelon, feta (or mozza!), olive oil, lime juice, salt & pepper.
Acai bowl //
We have been making acai bowls every single weekend this summer. It’s a healthier alternative to icecream, and is just as satisfying.
Ingredients for acai bowl (for 2): 3 Sambazon frozen packets, 1 banana, ½ cup frozen blueberries, a handful of fresh strawberries, top it off with a splash of milk (skim).
Ingredients for topping (for 2): 1 chopped up banana, chopped up strawberries, granola, and coconut flakes.
Purified water //
You should start with clean water when hydrating. ZeroWater is the only pour through device/pitcher NSF certified to reduce lead and other heavy metals. It also eliminates TDS (total dissolved solids). Although I have no problem drinking refrigerated California tap-water, Scott says he tastes something different in it. So, now we’ve switched to using our ZeroWater filter.
Hydrating face masks //
Although eating and drinking liquids is best, it’s always nice to pamper yourself with hydrating facial masks too. These mini Dior pods I bought from Sephora are great for 2-3 nights in a row. Apply as a mask, or keep on overnight, your face will feel so soft!
What are some of your tips to keep hydrated?Â
Thanks to Pressed Juicery, ZeroWater, and Sambazon for teaming up with me so I could present this post to you.
Let’s dig in! (Weekend meals recap)
I’m not very adventurous in the kitchen. Come supper time I’m ravenous and don’t want to be cooking for any time over 30 minutes. Maybe it’s a good idea I start cooking before I get hungry, hey? :)
I have a handful (yes, only a handful lol) of recipes in rotation, and I keep making those over and over… and over again. That gets old, quickly. Another reason why I love going back home to Newfoundland: a food variety from all sorts of people (ahem…Hi Mom! Hi Bro! Hi Mom-in-law!). Those three people are practically chefs in the kitchen, they come up with recipes off the top of their head, and it always tastes fantastic! Over Christmas, my brother cooked my husband and I a feast of Indian food, and it was flippin’ incredible. How? How does he do that? And why can’t I have that cooking gene? He made us wait hours until it was done to perfection. But none-the-less, I enjoyed it and went back for thirds. Lol.
I’m happy my pal Lauren passed along my information to Sun Basket. They reached out to me while I was in Newfoundland, and I put it on the back burner, until about two weeks ago. I re-followed up with them and mentioned … IT’S TIME. I’ve been in California for over a month now, and I’m getting re-sick of the foods I’m making.
I need something new!
They sent me a weeks worth of choices, and to pick three meals out of the bunch. The first meal I made was on Friday night, and I went for the chicken salmoriglio with charred broccolini. The ingredients were pre-measured and bagged/jarred separately for easy assembly. Perfect!
Chicken salmoriglio with charred broccolini (Paleo)
2 servings & 720 cal/serving
On the recipe sheet it mentions that the prep time is about 10 minutes. Total lie for someone like myself, I was doing everything backwards it seemed, even with the directions literally right in front of me. I suppose it would be accurate if you weren’t me. It ended up taking me longer to prep then cook because my darn chicken didn’t cook fast enough for my liking ;)
Chicken salmoriglio with charred broccolini:
What I loved: We both polished off our plates! The chicken was a fantastic cut of meat without any gooey bits on it. I loved that it incorporated things I’ve obviously heard of, but didn’t know how to integrate it into a meal (parsley, and roasted red pepper for instance). Mmm! Loved the broccolini mix with the crunchy toasted almonds, and the roasted red pepper. All in all, I love chicken. I could, and do, eat it every single day. It’s a different approach to add a parsley/lemon sauce to the top of the chicken, with the skin kept on!
What I would change: I would definitely do a better job next time at finely chopping (or even mincing) the garlic, and definitely getting the chicken started before anything else.
Overall rating:Â It was a two thumbs up from my husband and I. I’m keeping this recipe slip and making it again. Soon!
Saturday night I made pan-seared salmon with fennel, capers, and olives. Have to say, this was the one I was most skeptical about. I wasn’t entirely sure how it would turn out, and if it would be too spicy. But this is the one I was most proud of making. Ha! It turned out really well.
Pan-seared salmon with fennel, capers, and olives (Paleo, Gluten Free)
2 servings & 630 cal/serving
Pan-seared salmon with fennel, capers, and olives:
What I loved:Â This one came together so easily and in no time. I’m definitely keeping the recipe sheet for the sauce (tomatoes, maple syrup and veg stock) but incorporating my own veggies next time. While I was iffy on trying the fennel, capers and olives I’m pleased I did. I enjoyed the fennel, and a few capers but the olives weren’t my favourite. Same goes for the husband.
What I would change: I’m not sure I’d change anything from the recipe at all. I’d actually add to it, like rice, or more veg.
Overall rating: One set of thumbs up, because we are picky eaters, ha!
Last night, I made our third and final meal, the udon noodle salad with roasted butternut squash. I was worried about this one because it was unlike anything I’d ever made. And vegetarian to top it all off. My husband prefers I make meals with meat in them. Ha
Udon noodle salad with roasted butternut squash (Vegetarian)
2 servings & 610 cal/serving
Udon noodle salad with roasted butternut squash:
What I loved:Â So colourful and enjoyable to eat, with all the textures of the crunchy seeds, squash and noodles. Also quite flavourful, more than I was expecting.
What I would change: I would mince the ginger next time. I finely chopped it, but sometimes I bit into a piece and was all “whoa!”. I might even add chicken next time.
Overall rating:Â Well, my husband mentioned there was flavours in there he wasn’t a huge fan of. Â I found it to be tasty, really healthy meal that luckily didn’t take too long to prep and make. So I’d definitely consider making this one again for myself. Again, I guess it’s a one set of thumbs up!
Great things about Sun Basket, came in an insulated box that was completely recyclable. It had a return label inside, which I then entered into USPS, and the mail man came and picked it up, to send back to Sun Basket.
From my front door step!
Guys… that’s a first for me. So cool. To those who do this on a regular basis, I hear you laughing at me :)
Sun Basket has hand-selected, seasonal ingredients from the Pacific Coast’s best farms. Everything is organic, non-GMO produce with recipes ranging from vegetarian options, to paleo, gluten-free or the Chef’s choice. Sun Basket has free delivery to these states: CA, WA, CO, UT, OR, AZ, NV, & ID. Don’t ask this Canadian what all those states are! ;)
Roasted red pepper and grilled chicken panini
I don’t do too many cooking recipes on the blog, primarily because I am so fixed in my ways with the handful I have in rotation and we’re pretty happy with it. As much as I like to be adventurous in the kitchen, it’s not me. I’m still making that lemon pepper chicken stir fry often, along with the good ol’ staples.
Two chefs in the family and one of them isn’t me. I leave it up to my Mom and Brother, who can take out everything in your pantry and fridge, whip something up in no time and have it taste like something from a restaurant. My Dad and I like to cook some boiled eggs and call it a day. My trick is when I taste my family’s home-cooking, I adopt their recipes to bring back to my kitchen and call it a day. Then friends come over thinking I’m the awesome cook. I do let them in on who actually came up with it though.
When Lori was here visiting, she noticed the abundance of sandwiches I consumed. Each time we went to a restaurant, I picked out the sandwich on the menu. I never noticed that I did it, but it all makes sense now — because they are SO good. And I can be really picky about my them too, you know they’re not all made equally.
Paninis are particularly my favourite. So that’s what I’m showing you guys today on my new Cuisinart Griddler that I got off O.co. I mean, you technically don’t need me to tell you how to make a panini since it’s pretty straight forward. That’s the great thing about sandwiches, you can add whatever you want!
After heating up the grill side of the plate, I waited until the grill reached its temperature before putting the chicken on. Always want those grill marks on chicken, perfection. They ended up taking about 13 minutes to cook since they were pretty thick to start with.
Let the chicken cool and turn our attention to the cherry tomatoes (with salt and pepper on top) which I baked at 350º for 15 minutes to really give them some more flavour.
I picked up some freshly baked ciabatta buns from Trader Joes since I spotted them there earlier last week and had it in mind to make this meal for the weekend, because when I went there last time to do my regular grocery shop I noticed they were sold out. So yesterday morning I headed into the store around 9am and they were stocked with plenty. I picked up two not really knowing how big they’d be once I removed them from the bags. Nothing to complain about, I love a nice hearty piece of bread.
Slicing the cibatta buns in half, and add on some chipotle mayo. Oh, and be generous. I can’t stand a dry sandwich. We could get fancy over here and add some pepper jack cheese to give it a nice punch, but I had some colby jack in the fridge. Now don’t skimp on the cheese either, we want it to ooze goodness. Unless of course you’re dairy free. Then I feel really bad for you. I’ll have an extra piece for you.
Go to town with whatever toppings you like on your sandwich. Spose we have to add some greenery to it too, we had spinach. I picked up some dill pickles and roasted red peppers also from Trader Joe’s — I hadn’t tried them before, they sounded like they’d pair well with everything else to go on the panini.
Fold’er up and add a drizzle of olive oil on top and pop it into the medium heated grill. Our old faithful grill/panini press kicked the bucket a while ago, it was a high end brand and I was sad to see it go. But they all get old and need to be replaced eventually. It was my Moms and she handed it down to me, plus the plates weren’t removable and not super easy to clean. The Cuisinart Griddler is a little lower end and the top handle feels a bit flimsier than what I’m used to. However it has many more options since it’s so much newer. You can use it as a grill, panini press, full grill, full griddle or half grill/half griddler. And the best part about the whole thing is that the plates can be removed and put in the dish washer!
My panini skills may need a bit more work. I pressed on it a little too firmly and a bunch of my overstuffed ingredients tried sneaking out. It may not be pretty, but it sure tasted amazing.
I give myself a pat on the back for this creation. If you’re really hungry you can add a side but we thought this was enough for us. I’d either have a sliced up honey crisp apple, a side salad or maybe some sweet potato fries. All the carbs. Don’t judge me. That’s what exercise is for.
The only thing that bothers me about the panini aspect of the cuisinart griddler, is that the top has a fixed angle as you can see from the side view. Where as my other grill/panini had allowed for a flexible top plate and squished it flat rather than angled, making a more even flat panini. I rotated the sandwiches half way through so they wouldn’t be flat on one side and puffy on the other.
Oh and a little sneak of the mess behind the scenes of the blogging world. Keepin’ things real.
What are some of your favourite foods?
Mine are: asparagus, carrots, potatoes, chicken, popcorn, candy, sandwiches and pizza. Ha!!!!
What are some foods you hate?
My husband and I both cannot eat or touch anything with onions on/in it.
What do you like on sandwiches/paninis?
Disclaimer: O.Co aka Overstock kindly sent me the Cuisinart Griddler for review purposes. All opinions are my own.