Peace, Love, Guacamole

QUARTZ SINGING BOWL SOUND BATH TOMORROW!

My Enchanted Garlic is growing! I counted 26 green arms reaching out of the depths and into the sky. 26 out of 40 rising again so far. Two more months from now and they'll (hopefully) all be reaching out and within 4 months it will be time to harvest scapes! Six months from now is early harvest, seven is harvest and dry and in just 9 months the next generation will return to the earth. I love the cycle of garlic life.

Broccoli & Rice Pizza Bites! The perfect way to satisfy a pizza craving with a delicious bread-free solution!

Crust: 1 bag of frozen broccoli cooked in a small amount of margarine until soft enough to blend in Kitchen Ninja. 2 cups brown rice cooked with turmeric, garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, and a hint of adobo and cayenne blended in Ninja. 5 leftover nacho taco shells ground down in Ninja. Roughly 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella and bit of cheddar jack. All mixed together with 2 eggs. This mixture was then scooped out generously with an ice cream scoop and flattened slightly on a flour-coated baking sheet before baking at 425°F for 12-15 minutes. (Until edges brown and top becomes somewhat firm).

Toppings: 3 cloves of garlic minced and distributed evenly across all mini crusts mixed into 1 spoonful of tomato sauce on each. A generous pinch of mozzarella on each pizza bite with rosemary, thyme, and black pepper distributed evenly across each pizza and baked for 10-12 minutes at 425°F. Cheese should be melted and edges of the bites will brown.

This recipe makes approximately 24 pizza bites. I will be definitely making versions of this again.

Want a Happy Thought for your day?

Starting at NOON I will be running a VERY MERRY FLASH SALE through my website! Just follow this link to my "HERE IN A FLASH PARTY!" https://scentcheffing.Scentsy.us?partyId=317995541 and get up to 80% off on Select Scentsy products plus BOGO on select buddies PLUS a FREE scented snowflake porcelain ornament with every order!

Help yourself get into the gift giving holiday mood with great discounts on phenomenal products! Sale runs today only and only while supplies last, so don't hesitate to shop!

This year for Halloween I dressed as the Butterfly from The Last Unicorn. I received a pretty significant range of reactions to this costume which I assembled myself and thought was cute, clever, and bookish while also maintaining the essence of who I am.

If you haven't read the book or seen the film (btw, you should) the Butterfly is dressed as an aviator and he comes zipping in spouting sing song nonsense to the "last unicorn" before telling her of what has happened to the others and sparking her quest to find them. The Butterfly also knows her true name.

I wore a butterfly dress, scarf, aviator hat, goggles with antennae, a vest and wings to my job at the bookstore and around town afterward. Those catching the reference were few but enthusiastic in their support. Others avoided me, gave side glances, laughed awkwardly, asked what I was, or why I was in a wig or called me "a bug" and many were dismissive and did not have the patience for even a simple explanation. A few ladies just said "you look cute" which is fine, although my costume meant so much more. It was strange... to be 30 years young and joyfully celebrating a holiday while these others made me question if it was indeed Halloween. I am, however happy that my coworkers appreciated me flying around the bookstore and that they were also in costume. I rarely can express myself like this away from a burn or party surrounded by The Others I've sought, but that is probably why there's so much magic in those long costumed weekends of connection and celebration of creative life.

Hello friends and followers! Did you know that I am a Scentsy Independent Consultant? I just started a LAUNCH PARTY and placed my FIRST ORDER for two beautiful warmers and 6 bars to get the party started! Join me in the celebration by choosing a warmer that best suits your personality and your home (or one for each room!) and your favorite scents to fill your home with memories. You can visit http://scentcheffing.scentsy.us to see all that Scentsy has to offer and remember to place your order under "JENNY'S LAUNCH PARTY!" so you can join in on the fun! I joined Scentsy as a way to surround myself with happy thoughts and to help me save up for Yoga School, so please help me out on that journey if you can

I'm so excited! I started a Launch Party and placed my first order!

A few weeks ago, I got a sneak peek at Scentsy's Fall/Winter catalog and have been absolutely smitten with these two warmers... and they are FINALLY available to order!!! Even better yet, I was able to get $95 in product for $80 by using the "Combine & Save" option which also helped me save on shipping. I feel absolutely victorious!

The scents I chose were: Paradise Punch, Sedona Sunset (smells like a gemstone shop), Blackberry Meringue, Shaka (aka "moderate pretension and literature"), Strawberry Swirl, and Rum Raisin Cookie (because I heard someone raving about how it smells like baking a batch of oatmeal cookies, yum!). The warmers are called Acorn and English Breakfast, naturally.

What scents and warmers would you order?
See the whole list at http://scentcheffing.scentsy.us and order in "Jenny's Launch Party" TODAY! You can follow on Instagram & Facebook for more tips and combinations!

Waking up with Oatmeal in a Cup! This delicious cinnamon mocha coffee breakfast smoothie was inspired by a post on that I adapted without needing to shop.

The experiment: 2 Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal packets made with hot Cafe Majada Oro coffee (instead of water/milk) blended with 1 cup chilled Cafe Majada Oro with Mocha Creamer, 1 sliced frozen banana, 2 frozen strawberries, 2 slices of frozen peach, and a bunch of cinnamon and allowed to set briefly.

It turned out well, although I would rather less sweetness and look forward to trying this again with plain oats and adding in either sunflower seeds, sunbutter, or chia seeds to make it more of a pudding consistency.

What are you creating for breakfast?

I love simple solutions to common problems.

A water bottle filled only half way and placed on its side in the freezer allows for easy pouring of another beverage into the open side. This allows for quick, portable cooling of the second liquid. Often I will fill the opposite side with water, lemon juice, lime juice, and a tiny bit of vanilla extract. The vanilla is beautiful to watch, and before drinking, I shake the bottle to mix. It is a great wake up on hot, muggy, exhausting days.

You could freeze half a bottle of tea, coffee, juice, lemonade, etc. for icy cold beverages.

For those who are fans of Ska Jenny's Original Hippie Juice, we bring you a "Pretty Pirate."

The name is inspired by Once Upon A Time's Captain Hook and Emma Swan and the drink (as usual) is made of cupboard discoveries.

We shared it to INSTAGRAM () with this caption... "Once upon a cocktail, we mixed a shot of Bacardi Torched Cherry with an ounce of Trader Joe's Cranberry Juice and a splash of Malibu and then filled the rest of the glass with Canada Dry Cranberry Ginger Ale...

Does anyone else love eating frozen fruit smoothies with a spoon?

Try it out with my simple smoothie recipe: 1 banana (chopped & frozen), 3 strawberries (frozen), 3 slices of peach (frozen) blended until creamy with 1 cup of orange juice (not frozen). No water. No ice. Just fruit. Super simple.

UPCYCLE YOUR LEFTOVERS! See how we turned a leftover half burrito into a delicious lasagna!

http://peaceloveguacamole.blogspot.com/2016/05/UpcycleBurritoLasagna.html

PEACE, LOVE, GUACAMOLE: NOURISH YOUR VESSEL: UPCYCLE YOUR LEFTOVERS | BURRITO TO LASAGNA

I LOVE spices. My go-to sauce enhancers are fresh garlic, fresh basil, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, and cayenne.

What do you put in your sauce to spice it up?

Have you heard? We offer yoga classes!

They are called Treeflower Yoga & Sound with the intention of building strong foundations from which to grow and blossom. Treeflower Yoga is practiced in the Kripalu tradition of compassion and includes a wide array of poses, breathing techniques, meditative practices, and deepest restful relaxation through restorative yoga postures and quartz crystal singing bowl sound baths.

Props and modifications are provided and all are respected. Our goal is to make yoga accessible to every student in the room with no experience necessary. Class motto is "Yoga for all, we all are one!"

You can join us on Monday nights at our Namaxe Yoga location on the street level floor of the ABCCNJ located at 554 Bloomfield Avenue, Bloomfield, NJ. Doors open at 6:30pm and class begins at 7pm. We end at 8:30pm. Open invitation to build community by meeting at the local diner very often follows class.

Will you join us?

You can also enjoy watching our new website grow and blossom at TreeflowerYoga.com or follow us on Instagram for practices, updates, video, motivational posts, and EO blend suggestions.

! - Wondering what to do with that pint of white rice that comes with your Chinese Food? How about making a tasty stir-fried meal out of it?

If your family is like our family, your heart sinks when you miss the lunch special cutoff time and end up having to order fried rice separately to compliment your delicious dish. This usually means leaving that pint of free white rice to the side until you can dump it into your leftover sauce and *maybe* eat it later if nothing better is in your fridge. No more! We have come up with a better solution!

Easy Recipe: Coat a frying pan in Veggie Oil and turn your stovetop burner to low heat. Dump 1 bag of frozen mixed veggies (california blend is my favorite: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots) into the oil and stir until veggies are coated, then cover (we use a glass lid) and stir occasionally until defrosted and beginning to cook. Turn off the heat when veggies become soft and place half your veggies into a Kitchen Ninja or food processor of your choice. Chop for maybe 2-4 seconds or until you have fairly tiny veggie chunks. Repeat with the second half, including any sauce and veggie leftovers from your meal (we include the mushrooms, peas, and celery that no one likes otherwise). Dump the pint of white rice into the frying pan and pour roughly half a jar of Kikkoman Stir Fry Sauce over it. Cook on low heat and stir until all rice is coated, then add the tiny veggies and continue to stir until mixed. You may want to level it all off, let one side cook, then flip it or you may prefer a continuous stir. Either way, cook to your perceived level of perfection.

Yield: 1 Quart

You can split this into two separate bowls (1pt each) and top each with a sunnyside up egg for maximum flavorful enjoyment. (SEE PREVIOUS EGG-CELLENT PHOTO FOR EXAMPLE)

What do you do with your leftover white rice? Tell us in the comments!

Offering up today's Essential Exploration. Keeping spirits high, energy up, and inspiring motivation with this happy blend of essential oils is changing my day and will hopefully positively impact yours as well! It is surprisingly gentle while still being a zesty and fresh.

Diffuser Recipe:
4 drops Gr**efruit EO
3 drops Lemon EO
3 drops Lime EO
100mL of Water

What is your favorite uplifting diffuser blend?

This is huge.

“You shouldn’t teach your kids that love equals abuse. Love equals kindness and respect, and it never, ever means touching someone in a way that will hurt them. When you tell your child that they were harmed because another person likes them, you’re connecting pain with love. That not only normalizes being abused, but also abusing others.”

When girls get teased or bullied by boys, there’s often someone who pulls out this tired phrase: “I bet he likes you!” Joanna Schroeder vividly remembers finally going to a teacher about a boy’s constant harassment at age 11, and how that phrase made her feel: it “filled me with a shame so profound, I never again told an adult about something a boy did to me.” In her recent article, “You Should Never Tell Your Kids He’s Mean Because He Likes You,” Schroder writes, “You’d think blaming bad behavior on a crush would be dead and gone by now, but it’s not.” To encourage parents and other adults to think about what “he must like you” really teaches, she breaks down the four reasons we need to stop associating mistreatment with romantic affection.

Schroeder argues that “I bet he likes you” is a covert way of victim-blaming. “Your child did not ask for this negative attention, regardless of the aggressive kid’s intention. Even if your child was acting flirty or teasing, nobody asks to be hurt.” That victim-blaming “tells [your child] that you are not a source of support for them when they need you most.” Dismissing bad behavior, she says, is also bad for the bully: “Bad behavior is bad behavior, regardless of the reason why. A child — whether it’s a boy or a girl — who is harming another needs intervention so they don’t continue the behavior…. Instead of asking the child who is doing the hurting if they like the other, grownups should ask the child to imagine how their friend felt when he or she was hurt.”

Equally importantly, Schroeder says that “kids’ friendships shouldn’t be romanticized. Kids need the opportunity in childhood to have friendships with boys or girls, regardless of their gender, without grownups introducing the adult notions of romance or attraction. Strong friendships with kids of all genders are important for kids, and parents shouldn’t make their kids feel funny about them.” If bad behavior from a male friend is immediately associated with romantic feelings, kids will begin to believe that friendships between boys and girls are inherently different than same-sex friendships. And even if a crush does develop, she points out, “one child’s crush should never become a burden to another.”

But perhaps most significantly, Schroeder writes, “You shouldn’t teach your kids that love equals abuse. Love equals kindness and respect, and it never, ever means touching someone in a way that will hurt them. When you tell your child that they were harmed because another person likes them, you’re connecting pain with love. That not only normalizes being abused, but also abusing others.” And this, more than anything, is why it’s time to put an end to saying “I bet he likes you,” Schroeder asserts. “As parents, we have the ability to change the world by putting an end to harmful old traditions… I’m not sure how the ‘dipping her pigtails in the inkwell’ trope started, but it’s time it ended.”

To read all of Joanna Schroder’s advice on The Good Men Project, visit bit.ly/1OMJheL

To start teaching children -- girls and boys alike -- from a young age about the need to respect others and their personal boundaries, we recommend "No Means No!: Teaching Children about Personal Boundaries, Respect and Consent" for ages 3 to 6 (http://www.amightygirl.com/no-means-no) and “Your Body Belongs To You” for ages 3 to 7 (http://www.amightygirl.com/your-body-belongs-to-you).

For books about healthy relationships for tweens and teens -- as well as titles on recognizing and ending unhealthy ones -- check out our new blog post, "20 Mighty Girl Books for Tweens & Teens About Healthy Relationships," at http://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11338

You can also find many bullying prevention books and resources for children and teens in our two blog posts: "'The End of Bullying Begins With Me': Bullying Prevention Books for Young Mighty Girls" (http://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=10255) and "Taking a Stand Against Bullying: Bullying Prevention Books for Tweens and Teens" (http://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=10257).

And, for books to help children learn how to be supportive and caring friends, visit our blog post "Making and Keeping Friends: Mighty Girl Books About Friendship" at http://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=10315

Matcha Maker worth the money? FIND OUT HERE:
http://peaceloveguacamole.blogspot.com/2016/02/tea-journal-matcha-maker_24.html

PEACE, LOVE, GUACAMOLE: NOURISH YOUR VESSEL: TEA JOURNAL | MATCHA MAKER

Matcha Maker worth the money? Find out in our next post!

A return to the idea of Being Present vs. Being "Perfect" expressed in a very clear and straightforward way. This isn't saying anything new and original, but it is saying something we all need to hear from time to time.

"And what I think we all need more than anything is this: permission to be wherever the f*ck we are when we're there. You're not a robot. You can't just conjure up motivation when you don't have it. Sometimes you're going through something. Sometimes life has happened. Life! Remember life? Yeah, it teaches you things and sometimes makes you go the long way around for your biggest lessons."

To Anyone Who Thinks They're Falling Behind In Life You don't need more motivation. You don't need to be inspired to action. You don't need to read any more lists and posts about how you're not doing enough. We act as if we can read enough articl...

This is an incredible read, especially if you are paving your own path and starting to (as I call it) "feel wiggly." All of these uncomfortable feelings come with trusting yourself and moving forward, but it's progress toward living your most authentic life.

16 Uncomfortable Feelings That Actually Indicate You’re On The Right Path Feeling “lost,” or directionless.

Living on a budget?

one pint of spaghetti is equal to one full bowl of spaghetti. It is also 1/3 a box.

One box of Ronzoni Veggie Delight Spaghetti is 12 oz. The suggested servings per box: 6. Each pint/bowl is 2 servings.

I am always asked how I manage to budget when money is tight. Well, I bought this on sale for $1 and added 1 jar of Francesco Rinaldi Sweet & Tasty Tomato Sauce ($1.19/jar) so that means I made 6 servings for less than $2.50 with tax which in reality made 3 helpings, so that's only about $0.83 per meal. Even if you top it off with parmesan ($2.50/container) it still comes out to roughly $1 per meal. You're welcome.

Treeflower Yoga & Sound would love to extend our deepest thanks and gratitude to all those who came out to our 7Chakra Singing Bowl Sound Bath Yoga Fundraiser! Your love, support, and contributions truly make a difference. We look forward to introducting Restorative Yoga to our classes and class offerings in 2016! Thank you again!

Sending out an enormous thank you to everyone who came out last week for our 7 Chakra Singing Bowl Soundbath Yoga Fundraiser! Your donations of love and support have been a tremendous help in making it possible to bring Restorative Yoga to our community. Thank you also to those who contributed to the fundraiser although you had other obligations and thank you to everyone who brought snacks to share! Treeflower Yoga & Sound wishes you a bright, positive, blissful new year ahead filled with joy, relaxation, productivity, growth, and love. All the best to you with your New Year's intentions!!!!

See you on the mat after the break to play with our new restorative techniques! Next class is JANUARY 18th. Doors open at 6:30PM, Class begins 6:45PM. Until then: breathe, check in, relax, release, and simply BE PRESENT. Don't forget to practice your yoga off the mat!

It's a fruit smoothie kind of Thursday.

Try a blend of strawberries, raspberries, banana, peach, and OJ with a little ice to start your day!

https://www.instagram.com/p/_HtwT2Dk8a/

Peace Love Guacamole on Instagram: “Strawberry, Raspberry, Banana, Peach Smoothie blended with... “Strawberry, Raspberry, Banana, Peach Smoothie blended with Orange Juice

"Listen because nothing bad can ever come from listening."

Perhaps if we talked about these things honestly and openly and we listened to those speaking out honestly and openly that we could bring about compassionate change and perhaps in some way make the world a safer place.

The Thing All Women Do That You Don't Know About There's this thing that happens whenever I speak about or write about women's issues. Things like dress codes, r**e culture and sexism. I get the comments: Aren't there more important things to wor...

Cooking up a recipe for simple chicken chili tacos! https://instagram.com/p/-Z3DEIDk5N/

Peace Love Guacamole on Instagram: “Cooking up a recipe for Chicken Chili Tacos at... “Cooking up a recipe for Chicken Chili Tacos at PeaceLoveGuacamole.com”