A Moisturizing SPA for My Hands

Posted on June 10, 2013 by The Giddy Tigress

Being a SAHM means I would be using my hands most of my waking time.  If it’s not for cooking or cleaning, there’s bound to be one kid asking for a snack or wanting some help in the bathroom.  So applying hand cream on my hands during the day is akin to washing the cream down the drain, because I need to constantly wash my hands.

It’s a shame really, because I do know all about how important it is to protect the skin on our hands as well as on our faces.  Signs of aging appear more visibly on hands rather than on the face!  So I recently started on a hand care regime during the night, and I wish I had done so sooner!

I do apply hand cream on my hands at night, and with my history of hand eczema, the skin on my hands are on the thin side and are rather dry.  However, I find that in the morning, the hands would not feel as moisturized as I would have liked them to be.

Enter these SPA Moisture Gloves I just bought from iHerb!  I stumbled on these by chance actually.  I was looking for a pair of powder-free, latex-free gloves and my search led me to these gloves from Ecotools instead.

Ecotools is a company that makes and sells earth-friendly products, ranging from makeup brushes, bath tools and now apparently moisturizing gloves too!

Reviews were relatively good, but most of them stated that the gloves were rather smallish and tended to slip off during the night.  I actually expected them to be plain beige or white gloves, so it was a pleasant surprise when I opened the packaging and discovered the gloves had greenish patterns on them.  All in line with their “green” motto I suppose.

Continue reading →

Posted in The Fairer Sex | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Whole Wheat Bread

Posted on June 7, 2013 by The Giddy Tigress

Since I started baking my own bread, the only type I have made is the milk loaf.  It’s super easy and tastes great.  But I was sure there was more to baking bread than just the milk loaf, so I decided to try something different this week.

So…Whole Wheat Bread..how’s that for a change? 🙂

It’s what we call brown bread, or wholemeal bread, if you may.

I realize that whole wheat bread does not rise as much as regular bread, so I decided to mix the whole wheat flour with bread flour.  It turned out quite all right, though a little dense and heavy, and as expected, because it did not rise quite as much, the loaf turned out pretty square.  Proofing time was also relatively longer.

I’m glad I tried it though, because now I have an alternative kind of bread to bake. 🙂

Here’s my recipe:

Whole Wheat Bread
~Yields 1 loaf~

Ingredients:

  • 1½ cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup unbleached bread flour
  • 1½ tsp active dry yeast
  • 5 fl oz milk
  • 2½ tbsp butter
  • ¹â„³ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 egg

Directions:

  1. Pour milk, butter, sugar and salt in a measuring cup or saucepan.
  2. Heat in microwave or over a small flame till temperature reaches about 110°F.
  3. In a stand mixer, mix whole wheat flour, bread flour and yeast.
  4. Pour in liquid mixture and continue mixing on low speed until sticky consistency is attained.
  5. Add in the egg and mix.
  6. Using a dough hook or using your hands, knead the dough until it feels slightly elastic.  If using a stand mixer, knead until the dough clears the base of the bowl.  You may need to add a little flour at a time to achieve the correct consistency.
  7. Form dough into a ball, place in a large bowl and cover with a tea towel or plastic cling wrap.  Let it rise for about 2 hours until about double in size (whole wheat breads need longer proofing time).
  8. After it has risen, punch out the air and roll the dough out into a rectangle.
  9. Roll it into a loaf swiss-roll style, making sure to tuck in the dough as much as possible to avoid air bubbles in the loaf.
  10. Allow to rise for another hour or so.
  11. Bake for 30 minutes in a 395ºF (200ºC) preheated oven.
  12. Remove from the baking pan and let the loaf cool down before slicing.
Posted in Drooling & Cooking | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Pop’em Healthy Homemade Granola Bites

Posted on June 5, 2013 by The Giddy Tigress

My daughter recently made granola bites in her cooking class in school.  They tasted so delicious, I wanted to make them at home too.  She only brought four granola bites home then, and frankly they weren’t enough for me.  Yeah, I’m greedy like that. 😛

I looked up some recipes and turns out they are really quite easy to make!  I chose one with chocolate chips in it, because that’s what my kids love, and it took me about 20 minutes to prepare it for baking.  My daughter helped me mix the mixture too!

We tried these granola bites when they had cooled down and it was a massive hit with the kids!  Even my son, the pickiest eater ever, gave them his thumbs up and downed about five or six at one go!  Yeah, they are THAT good.

For a mixture of crunchy and chewy goodness in a perfect balance, I’d say everybody’s gotta try making these someday.

Homemade Granola Bites (adapted from The Wannabe Chef)
~ makes about 30 granola bites ~

Ingredients: 

  • 1½ cups instant oatmeal
  • ½ cup peanut butter
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup or honey
  • ¼ cup chocolate chips

Directions:

  1. Mix all ingredients together with a spoon.
  2. Using hands or a spoon, form little balls and place into mini cupcake liners.  You can also bake them without the cupcake liners.
  3. Preheat oven to 250°F.
  4. Bake the granola bites for 20 minutes, or until the outsides turn a light brown color.
  5. Remove and let them cool.
  6. Enjoy this delicious snack!! 

Posted in Drooling & Cooking | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Licking Your Lips Does Not Always Make You Sexy

Posted on June 3, 2013 by The Giddy Tigress

Here in the States, where the air is dry, especially in the winter months, I try my best to remember to apply lip balm as frequently as I can.  However, I also have a very bad habit of licking my lips when they are dry.  It is an almost instinctive action whenever I feel my lips getting dry, and potentially, I believe that was what caused my lips to dry out.  Vicious cycle and all.  Evidently, I contracted an awfully painful crack on the left corner of my lips as a result.

Thinking it was just a mild case of chapped lips, I applied more lip balm on the crack but the next day it became worse.  It also formed some sort of a whitish scab which had my itchy fingers fiddling with it, sometimes resulting in bleeding.

I didn’t know what to do then, because I did not know what I was suffering from.

Day in and day out, I suffered.  It was so painful to open my mouth even to eat, so much so that I lost my appetite.

Well, thanks to the wonders of the internet, I discovered what I was suffering from is called Angular Cheilitis (key-lai-tis).  Apparently this condition worsens itself when the said area is licked, or if the sufferer lacked a certain nutrient in the diet (iron, Vitamin B12 or folate). Not surprisingly, I had just about finished my bottle of prenatal vitamins a week before, so that could be the reason for contracting angular cheilitis too.

After upping on my nutrients and not seeing any improvements, I applied a host of products on the inflamed area.  However, I still woke up each morning barely able to brush my teeth properly.  It was excruciatingly painful.

Continue reading →

Posted in The Fairer Sex, Thoughts & Scribblings | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Tempted By The Temptation Of A Clear Zinc Sunscreen

Posted on May 22, 2013 by The Giddy Tigress

About a week ago, I was introduced to the concept of a clear zinc sunscreen.  Well, forgive my ignorance, but it was the first time I had seen a zinc oxide sunscreen that goes on clear on the skin.

Zinc Oxide is a physical barrier ingredient used sunscreens, and it is granted not too popular with adults simply because it tends to leave a whitish cast on the skin when applied.  However, Zinc Oxide is possibly the most effective sunscreen ingredient because it provides complete broad spectrum sunblocking properties, protecting the skin against both UVA and UVB properties.  In a nutshell, this means that Zinc Oxide can exist on its own as an active ingredient in a sunscreen and yet provide that much-needed broad spectrum protection.


Source: Badger Balm

Comparatively, other sunscreen ingredients need to go hand in hand with other ingredients if a complete broad spectrum protection of UVA and UVB is to be attained.

Having said that, we can see now that Zinc Oxide is probably the most effective ingredient in sunscreen.  So when I was told there was a CLEAR Zinc sunscreen, I was tempted … yes.  But I also wondered what the catch was, so I quickly read up on what might have caused it to look clear.

Continue reading →

Posted in The Fairer Sex, Thoughts & Scribblings | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment