Coconut oil hair treatment

We decided to not have any plans this weekend, and since he was busy with his own thing, I decided to pamper myself a little. I saw on the Rachael Ray show how they did a homemade hair treatment, so I looked online to get more information, and then found out you can put melted coconut oil into your hair, put a shower cap on, or saran wrap, and sleep with it to really get it working into your hair and scalp, so that's what I did on Friday night. I did a double boiler (pot of boiling water with a large bowl sitting on top of the pot, add in 4 tbsp of coconut oil, less if your hair is short, and let it melt). Once melted, they say you can use a basting brush, but I just used my hands, I dunked my hand in there then rubbed my hands together and then put it in my hair and kept working it in. I massaged my scalp, and then since my hair is so long it was harder to the the cap on my head but finally managed. They showed to clip your hair but I didn't want a clip in my hair to sleep with. I put a towel on my pillow in case, and went to bed. The next day, my hair was nice and greasy looking and jumped into the shower and washed it out. I had to shampoo my hair twice to really get the oil out. I straightened my hair and this is the end result

Might not see much of a difference but my hair feels so soft!!  I would for sure do this again. They say you can also just have it in your hair for a half hour or longer as well, but the best results is having it in over night. I also read how you can add in some honey with the coconut oil, and on the show I watched, they did coconut oil, honey and an egg. Not sure if I'll try with the egg, but I think I will try coconut oil and honey for about an hour and wash out to see. My hair has been feeling pretty dry and frizzy, probably because I straighten it quite often in the winter, but with this treatment I think it will really help, and it's not expensive or hard to do. I also tend to use hair spray, and thanks to a friend of mine, I got a homemade recipe with water, sugar and vodka. I read online that you don't need the vodka, just 1 cup water and 4 tsp of sugar. Bring water to a boil, add in the sugar and stir to let it dissolve, then let it cool down and add to a spray bottle. I just made some, so it's cooling down now, and will give it a try, and with no vodka in there, it won't dry out my hair. This is so much healthier and cheaper then buying hair spray.

I also of course got into the kitchen, and made a beef stew for supper last night. What I love about stews is that you can add so many vegetables. Here's my combination

I have onion, celery, carrots, turnips, sweet potatoes and garlic. I coated my beef chunks with spelt flour, salt and pepper and some oregano and basil. I browned all the meat in batches, and then removed it from the pot, then created a rue of grape seed oil and some spelt flour with the spices, and then added in a good tbsp of tomato paste, and whisked that, then added in beef stock, then my vegetables and added the meat back in and let it cook for about 2.5 hours. I cooked it in my cast iron pot, and it turned out delicious!

I also did some baking

I made very healthy peanut butter cookies, then I also made some not so healthy chocolate chip cookies.

Today I plan to try out this oatmeal and blueberry bake for a nice healthy breakfast during the week, and I also want to try a fish cake found in the 100 days of real food cookbook. This morning I watched Jamie Oliver's show called Jamie's super food that plays today at noon on the food network. I didn't get the chance to watch last week's show so I watched it this morning and he made this amazing looking breakfast that I would love to try out. You can find the recipe here.

I love his twist on making french toast, instead of eggs and milk, he did eggs and banana, and the bread pocket of fruit, yum!  Well it's time for some lunch, I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Organization and in the kitchen

So on my last post I talked about how I would be organizing, well that got done. I made some room on my book case and put my new books that I got. Then I got busy with the two cabinets I have in my kitchen. I got a cookie jar set along with other dishes that goes with this set that my mom made and made room to display them nicely, along with placing my cookbooks upright instead of laying down so it's easier to take them out when needed and here's the end result.

I may have a lot of cookbooks, which a few of them are on my bookcase, but I love cookbooks to get ideas and to try new recipes. I've also been watching cooking shows, I'm really loving Saturday and Sunday mornings. I find for a while the food network was becoming more about competitions and games, not so much about cooking shows, which is what I really love to watch, and now they have a really great line up of shows on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Over the holidays they also had other amazing holiday shows and one of them that I watched was Jamie's Festive feast and he cooked up something that looked delicious, so I had to try it!

Doesn't look like his, but it was delicious!!  So much flavor!!  It's called Keralan Fish Curry. I didn't follow the recipe exactly though, I forgot to buy some red chilies so I used chili flakes, and I didn't have fresh coriander leaves, so I used dry, and I didn't add in fenugreek, I didn't have any on hand and same with curry leaves, so I used powder, but it still turned out really good! A perfect recipe for an endometriosis diet, and a must try!

Yesterday I stopped in at Chapters, I didn't buy anything but it was nice to check out books and just walk around for a while. I did find a cookbook to use up your spirilizer, I did scan it for my wish list using my app, but I didn't buy it just yet, I'll have a closer look at it to be sure before I do buy it. I then did groceries, and when I got home I made a quinoa, lentil and vegetable salad.

I cooked up 1/4 cup of quinoa with a nice big handful of red lentils in a pot with some vegetable stock, while that cooked I chopped up a lot of vegetables. I added in a diced zucchini and cucumber, thinly sliced red onion and red cabbage, then chopped up broccoli and yellow pepper. For my dressing, in a bowl I mashed up half an avocado, juice of 1/4 lemon, some red wine vinegar (2 tbsp), honey (1 tbsp) and some olive oil (4 tbsp), then some salt, pepper and some dill. Mixed everything together and put it in the fridge to let the flavors combine. So with left overs of the fish curry and the salad, I will have amazing lunches this week. For a snack, I decided to make the Chocolate Banana bread muffins again from Tone it up website.

I did end up with 12 muffins, not just 3 =)  I ate one, and the rest will be for snacks during the week. I also want to share what I made for breakfast yesterday morning. I unfortunately didn't take a picture of it, but it was easy and delicious. I toasted up some healthy bread, spread some avocado on each, then I made a sandwich by adding a cooked egg and slices of tomatoes, and of course adding a bit of salt and some pepper. A girl I work with got me hooked on toast with avocado, salt and pepper, it's so creamy and delicious!  It would also be good with just adding sliced tomatoes or cucumbers.
 
I've had a really great weekend, and for the rest of my day, I'll probably relax with my book, I still have a few cooking shows to watch, and a few magazines to read. Knowing me I can't sit still for to long, so I'll probably do a few things in between. I have a steak marinating right now for a our supper, I will enjoy some with a wonderful salad, and for my hubby I'll also add some roasted potatoes for him. I am of course not eating as much meat, but I will have some from time to time because I do enjoy it. I also do love potatoes, but I'm trying to keep things more light, so since I'm having steak, I'll just have a healthy salad with it. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!