Green Monster Spinach Smoothie

So, ok my friends, I've made a goal for myself this summer. What's the goal? To live a healthier life style, eating healthier and being more active.

I eat pretty healthy as it is, it's the being more active part I really need to work on. Since this is Texas and it's HOT, I've looked for things to do indoors to be active. Enter the Wii and AE Active and Just Dance 3. I've been playing both of these "games" and burning all kinds of calories jumping around the room.

Now from what I've been told after you work out, that's the time to stock up on protein. Looking for a tasty, and healthy way to do this, I found a GREAT smoothie on Pinterest, called the Green Monster Spinach Smoothie. This is great to drink after a workout, for lunch or breakfast!

Here's the recipe:

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 frozen sliced banana

1 Tablespoon peanut butter

1/2 cup 0% Vanilla Chobani Greek yogurt

1 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (or other kind of milk)

4 cups baby spinach (or more, or less) **I used 2 cups since this was my first time**

**I also added a handful of blue berries


Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend on "Hight Blend" to mix it all up

Then use "liquify" to make the smoothie... well... nice and smooth.

***I put mine in the fridge to make it nice and cold before drinking.***

Nutritional stats:

350 calories, 10g fiber, 21g protein


The verdict:

YUM! I loved it. You seriously can not taste the spinach at all (which is what I was nervous about). The sweetness from the vanilla yogurt mixed with the peanut butter is so great! YUM!

StaceyBug Creation Crafty Projects

So I've been busy since school's been out (last day was Friday). I added some goodies to my Facebook shop. I've made some hair ties that I just LOVE. They are the only hair ties I use anymore, because they don't brake my hair and they are SUPER CUTE. They are the hair tie you'll love to not only wear in your hair, but on your wrist as well (which is where I usually wear my hair ties year round...just in case).

Here is a sample of what they look like. If you want to see more check out StaceyBug Creations on Facebook.

I have also started customizing personal items for gifts. I customized this Lego storage box for my little cousin and decided to start selling them as well!

Little Black Bag

So The Little Black Bag is a SUPER FUN subscription service for things other than skin, hair and beauty products. This service includes not only those items, but also home decor, jewelry, handbags, and other accessories.

So, here's how it works.

1. You take a style survey so the website can decipher your style. (after you do the survey and they show you your results, if you don't agree you can go up to the top and click on the ? that say quiz underneath and change your results, and add more brands you love and take out the ones you don't).

2. Next you look at the gallery and choose one item that you FOR SURE want and click add to bag.

3. The website will then add some mystery items to your bag. (you'll have a total of 2-4 items including the one you
picked yourself)

4. Then you check out and pay the $55 (that includes the $5 for shipping... shipping is always a flat $5).
5. After you have paid you can see the mystery items.

6. Now your items (no one knows they are yours) go on the trading gallery along with everyone elses. From there people
can send you trade offers for your items. You can accept or deny them.

7. If you like the items in your bag HOORAY, click on ship my bag and then they'll ship it to you. If you decide that
you don't really like the items in your bag you can trade them with other people. You can look at the trade gallery
and when you see something you like, you can offer, one of your items (or more) for a trade.

8. You have 7 days to trade your goodies and after the 7 days they will automatically send your whatever is in your
bag if you haven't clicked "ship my bag".

When I started this, I got a SUPER CUTE handbag that is $98 retail (I did a google search to make sure that I couldn't get it somewhere cheaper and I couldn't.

Then I got a mascara and a pair of earrings. Well I had JUST bought a new mascara and I didn't care for the earrings. So let the trading begin. The trading was the most fun part of the whole process. I denied trades, and accepted a few, and I ended up with a great trade.

Here are my items. With the grand total of $118 of retail value I paid $55.

Here's the packaging. When you open the box, each item is wrapped in black tissue paper.

Here's the $98 bag.

Inside flap. I love the fabric!

The back zipper.

The price tag... TOTAL SCORE, I love this bag but no way would I ever pay $98 for it normally.

Here's the other little bag I got. I think I'm going to use it for makeup to stick in my handbag.

So, does this sound like this is something you want to try out? Click here and give it a try. I totally recommend it!

Day at the Park with some new pals.

My husband and his group decided to have a get together at the local park today. Everyone brought goodies and I had a nice time meeting everyone. Here's what I brought!

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies and Pie Fries... Here's the recipe for the Pie Fries that I got off of Pinterest
Cut pie crust (or pie crust scraps) into strips with a fluted pastry wheel.
Brush with melted butter.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and suger.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Eat "as is" or dip into jam, pie filling or frosting:)

Now you've heard of Muddy Buddys/Puppy Chow... but have you heard of Muddy Buddy Cookies? Well get ready because I'm about to rock your world. I was going to make these to take today and share with everyone but I ran out of time and only ended up completely 3. Yet another recipe from Pinterest.

Ingredients FOR THE COOKIES:
2-½ cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Nutmeg
2 sticks Butter,
Softened 1 cup SunButter (or Peanut Butter)
1 cup Brown Sugar ¾ cups Granulated Sugar
2 whole Eggs

FOR THE COATING:
1 stick Butter
2 cups Chocolate Chips
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Powdered Sugar, For Rolling

For the cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth, and then add in the SunButter and beat until well-blended. Beat in the sugars and then the eggs, one at a time. Gradually beat in the dry ingredients. Shape into 1-1.5″ balls and place on your cookie sheet. Use a fork to make the crisscross pattern on the cookie. Bake about 12 minutes. Store cookies in an airtight container for at least 5 days. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

For the coating:
while the cookies are cooling, melt the stick of butter and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Stir until smooth, and then stir in the vanilla extract. After the cookies have cooled completely, dunk them in the chocolate. Then roll each of the cookies in the powdered sugar.

Little Black Bag

Ok my fashionista friends, this is totally for you. I just discovered this awesome site called Little Black Bag. It's like one of those sites where to pay a certain amount of money and they send you goodies to try out and keep, like Birchbox (which is $10 a month) and you can either pay the months you want to do it or you can get a clumped subscription. With most of those sites you can try beauty products, however Little Black Bag if for Fashion,jewelry,home decor,accessories etc. It's also more pricey. This one is $50... but wait don't shy away just yet. Let me explain. Ok so you take this little fashion quiz. After that It shows you a HUGE list of items for you to pick from, some worth over $100. You pick the one you FOR SURE want to have and then they pick 2-3 other items for you based on the quiz you took. Those last 2-3 items remain a mystery until you pay for your goodies. After you pay the mystery items are revealed. If you are happy with all of your items AWESOME, you can click on the ship box button. If you aren't happy with one of them, you can then go and look at all of the other people who have boughten boxes (there are always a ton) and offer up a trade. If you see something you REALLY like, you can offer one or all of your items to trade for it.If your trade is accepted and you are happy with your goods, again, click the ship my stuff button. You can trade items as many times as you want for 7 days. After the 7 day period your box will automatically ship. So it's free to try. You can pick your one main item, and everything. You only pay after you have chosen your one main item if you decide you want to give it a go. It's worth the money. As it is right now I've save 75% off what I would have it buying it in a shop somewhere. I'm on day one of my trades. I'm going to check out the trade area often to see if anything pops up that I like better than the items I got. Want to try it out? Ok click here and give it a go! Let me know what you think

Busy, busy, busy! Getting our place all set up is taking longer than I thought. We need to buy furniture, decor, kitchen appliances, etc... one step at a time. We've got to save up for all the things we need. Regular updates to come in the coming weeks. I promise!