Holly & Heather’s Helpful Hint: Happy Fourth!

This weekend we celebrate the Fourth of July!  With summer in full swing, we take a moment to recall our great country’s history and celebrate our freedoms.  This is more important than ever given the climate of today’s world.  We continue to strive to promote peace and good out to the world through our blog and the way we try to live each day.  If each one of us simply smiles as we journey through our days, what a great effort that would be!  So enjoy your family, friends and neighbors this weekend.  Thank a veteran for fighting to protect our freedoms.  And don’t forget to smile 🙂

Holly and Heather’s Helpful Hint: Celebrate Dad!

Last Sunday was Father’s Day and we thought it’d be nice to give a big high-five to the dad’s in our lives! Both of our husbands are awesome dads, always present and very concerned about raising our kids to be good adults. Our dad is not only very involved in our lives but is a huge part of our kids lives, playing games with them and going to their functions, it is a joy to watch. As a treat we went out to a nice dinner together as we all share a love of great food as well as each other! We hope you got to celebrate the dad or father figure in your life!

Holly and Heather’s Helpful Hint: Handling Changes

This time of year always brings a great deal of change to our lives for a little while. We’ve blogged before about endings and beginnings and it seems it is happening again. While we have children in school, transitioning from academic packed days and a steady routine to lazy summer days can be tricky. Even a change in job schedules is fraught with goodbyes and hellos and a completely different “summertime” vibe. While change is a part of life, we must take time to decompress a little and adjust to the changes.  Give yourself permission to miss the people and places you have spent so much time with and look forward to a fresh new start and a different routine.

Summer goes by so fast, take time to enjoy the sunshine if you can.  Even just dinner outside is a small but welcome breath of fresh air.  Make memories and remember to spread love and kindness throughout your day!

Holly and Heather’s Helpful Hint: Healthy Desserts, Yum!

We are always trying to be healthy, both emotionally (see last weeks blog!) and physically. We love desserts but recognize that we can’t have them every day. Sugar has been proven to be bad for your body and we really believe when you feel better, you do better. To that end we have been creating some healthy desserts in our kitchens. If you take the time to make dessert yourself, it does two good things: first, you can control what goes into it (eliminating a lot of unhealthy ingredients in store bought stuff) and second, you won’t eat it as often because it takes time to prepare. The same can be said for many other unhealthier foods by the way, not just dessert!  Try these recipes, even if the ingredients seem “weird” for a sweet treat, you will be satisfied and satiated!

Heather’s Chocolate Mousse:

2 avocado, 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (cacao), 1/2 cup agave, 1 tsp vanilla extract, pinch of salt

Peel and scoop out flesh of avocado and put in food processor, blend until creamy and no lumps.  Add all other ingredients and pulse until combined and smooth.  Put in 6 individual cups and refrigerate for a few hours to set.

This is a dense mousse, almost a pudding.  It even tastes like you can frost a cake with it.  I’ve substituted the agave (which is sweetest) for maple syrup (I love but not as sweet).

Fro Yo Pops:

Greek vanilla yogurt 32 oz container makes 8 pops, 5 oz dark chocolate chips, 1/3 cup plus a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter (maple syrup peanut butter is the best!)

Put chocolate chips in a sealed baggie and pound with a rolling pin to break up the chips a little.  In a bowl, mix together the yogurt and chips. Then put peanut butter in microwave for about 25 seconds to soften a little and gently fold it in to yogurt and chips to combine, just stirring a couple of times so you still see ribbons of peanut butter.  Pour into ice pop molds and freeze until set.

This recipe is more of a “mash up” of ingredients, of which you can add or substitute many different things.  It definitely still has the greek yogurt flavor but you get a taste of chocolate or peanut butter with every bite and it’s so yummy!

Holly & Heather’s Helpful Hint: Love Yourself

Have you ever criticized yourself for a mistake? It’s natural, we all do. But do you end up rehashing the event over and over in your mind? Do you feel like you beat yourself up over small things? Sometimes, we have a harder time forgiving ourselves than we do others. There’s a distance we can place between ourselves and others that allows for healing. Letting go of our own foibles can be trickier. We try a few of the following to help;

* Push out your negative thoughts with positive ones.
* Do something kind and loving for yourself. Read a good book, have a cup of tea, take five minutes to yourself to do something you enjoy.
* Be gentle with yourself. Don’t push to do “one more thing” when you know you are at a breaking point.
* Write down what’s bothering you and then throw the paper away.
* Go for a cleansing walk.

Taking good care of yourself among all things you have to do every day should be a priority! Don’t neglect your well being while “being”.