Protein Balls that taste like a treat!

Im not going to lie, i think my greatest fault is snacking, i will eat the healthiest main meals but throughout the day i find myself snacking on things I'm not supposed to and that is where i think i go wrong. So I have made it my mission to find healthy snack recipes for my to eat throughout the day and not feel so guilty for!

Chocolate has never been something I have ever craved or wanted to eat but recently I have been finding myself snacking on little squares of chocolate - which in moderation is fine but honestly everyday is probably not the best for my waistline!

So while on my search I discovered a number of recipes including dates, which at first did not appeal to me but after a while I thought - Why not give it a go? 

So I decided I would make chocolate date protein balls and i am honestly obsessed with them! 

The recipe is really simple and as you guys can see it doesn't have that many ingredients and they are all natural. You can of course also omit the protein powder if you don't want them to be protein based. I also added dark cocoa powder to make them even more chocolatey.

Basically I crushed about 1/3 cup of cashes cashews and then blended 1/2 cup dates until they were a caramel brown colour! I then mixed as much of the other ingredients as i wanted in with the dates and rolled them into balls and refrigerated them and thats it! 

They are so and healthy and honestly have been snacking on them heaps! 

Let me know if you guys have a healthy snack you enjoy?

LOVE Jess xx

Glowy & Peachy Makeup of the Day

Don't get me wrong - I love makeup and experimenting with it is honestly one of my joys in life, but sometimes I just can't be bothered. When I am just running out to the chemist or the supermarket all I want to do is put on some BB cream (if that) and run out the door. 

Today was not one of those days. Today I had a good ole play with my makeup to create this pretty peachy glowy summer look with orange lips! 

I was filming an outfit video and the intro to a what I ate today video and really wanted to experiment with a summery looking makeup look.

My face: 

- Skin 79 BB cream

- Maybelline Fit me concealer

-Inika mineral foundation - setting powder

- Colorpop highlighter - Steal the show 

-Mac Blush - Warm Soul

-Maybelline sculpting duo - Medium/Dark

My Eyes:

-Mac paint pot - Rubenesque 

-Inglot Eyeshadow - 09

-Jaclyn Hill Morphe palette 

                   -medium brown colour (crease)

                   - orange colour (bottom lash line)

-Covergirl full bloom mascara

-Maybelline brow drama

My Lips:

-Colorpop lipliner & Lippie stick - Clique 

Thankyou so much for reading!

Talk soon 

Jess xx

The Healthy Edit - Mini Quiche & Healthy Pizza

Lately I've been in a bit of a food slump - I honestly feel like I eat the same few dishes ever few weeks and that I am getting a bit bored with myself - its not just me either, my husband has been making comments about trying to incorporate new foods into our diet and honestly i couldn't agree more.

So over the past few weeks I have been slowly experimenting with our meals and adding in new and healthy foods that really are yummy!

These two are honestly favourites by far of the many meal recipes I have been trying (desserts are a whole other post)  and honestly they are probably the easiest. 

Healthy Pizzas

Made up of a whole bunch of ingredients in my fridge and chucked in the oven to fill a pizza craving that we all know isn't good for us? sounds about perfect to me. These Pizzas were so yummy & honestly healthy that I don't know that my husband or I will ever be able to go back to the fast food types. 

Ingredients: Wholemeal mini pita, baby spinach, egg, garlic, tomato paste, light cheese, roasted peppers, cracked pepper, oregano ( you could easily add onion, tomatoes etc), oven baked for 10- 15 mins or until crispy at 180 degrees.

Mini Quiches

Throw a whole bunch of raw ingredients into a muffin pan and bake in the oven for 20 mins and you have a meal? Thats honestly how easy this recipe is! These were a true favourite with my husband and I think they are honestly a breakfast, lunch or dinner food! We served ours with a piece of buttered toast but you can honestly have them on their own and they are truly satisfying. They are also dairy, gluten and sugar free!

Ingredients:baby spinach, bacon, red peppers, garlic, cracked pepper, lightly salted, beaten egg poured into muffin tins and baked at 180 degrees for 20 mins.

I have been really enjoying these recipes and i hope your family loves them just as much as mine!

Stay tuned for more healthy recipes!

Thankyou for reading

Jess xx

Have you checked out my youtube channel?

So I realised I have never fully introduced my youtube channel on my blog- which is bad blogger etiquette to be honest. 

I started my youtube channel about 11 months ago now, although my first videos are SO embarrassing! But since then I have been trying to upload regularly and I am pretty proud of how far I have come! I now upload twice a week now and I am really trying to improve my content.

So if you haven't checked out my youtube, you should check it out and subscribehttp://www.youtube.com/subscription_c... ! 

I make videos on healthy foods, weightless and fitness, beauty and fashion! So if you have an interest in any of those you might love my channel! 

My recent video was my healthy pancake recipe video!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOlXn2KTflY

Thankyou so much for supporting me! 

Jess xox

Feeling Sick & Spendy Haul

This past weekend I was hit with the motherload of all colds - 4 of the 8 people in my office came down with the flu and all came into work coughing and spluttering and sharing their germs, and low and behold by the time I went to bed on Friday night I was sick as a dog. So of course, the best way to feel better is to do some retail therapy!

I went into a few stores: Priceline, H&M and Chemist warehouse, while also receiving some AMAZING gifts from my friend Maddy aswell by way of Sephora and Morphe!

The place that started it all was of course Priceline - for those of you who aren't Australian, Priceline is a drugstore which stocks mostly beauty products. While in the store, we found they were having a massive sale on perfume, and proceeded to pick up a Juicy Couture perfume for myself (because i look like crap but I can smell beautiful right?)  & a Guess perfume for my husband- whose birthday is coming up in July.

Covergirl was also having a sale $10 for all eye and lip products (and who can say no to a sale like that!) I had heard Rachel from Rachhloves talk about these eyeshadow quads and i thought, if Rachel raves about them- i will give them a go...and proceeded to pick up not 1...but 2 quads! Oh and I didn't stop there, I also picked up a mascara- because why not right?

Finally in priceline I went past the maybelline stand and saw the fit me concealer in shade 15, which is of course my shade and is of course ALWAYS sold out, so i quickly snatched it off the shelves at a speed that would probably rival the flash and in doing so saw the brow drama eyebrow gel on sale and just had to see what the fuss was about with coloured brow gels as I myself have always been a pencil or powder girl.

Next I stumbled into H&M - by accident of course...and was looking for a hat- which unfortunately I wasn't able to find one that suited my head shape, but while i was in there i picked up 2 knitted headbands which have now become quite an obsession, and a 2 pack of gloves to keep my fingers warm in this freezing weather.

 & my final destination, which in turn ended my shopping spree, was actually chemist warehouse, who was having 50% off all cosmetics- which in my opinion was too good of a deal to say no to. I picked up the maybelline fit me stick foundation, which has intrigued me for awhile and at $7, why not give it a go, i also found 2 of the rimmel apocalips matte lips sticks (not pictured) and snatched those up aswell & my last purchase was the Johnsons baby shampoo- for my makeup brushes to be baby soft!

& While those were all my purchases, as i said i was also gifted some wonderful makeup from my friend Maddy. She had a friend who visited a sephora in the US who managed to get me the 24 hour liquid eyeliner in the most beautiful baby blue colour, aswell as one of the cluster matte lipsticks in magenta luster. I was also lucky enough to receive not 1 but 2 of the morphe eyeshadow palettes, including the Jaclyn Hill palette, and 3 eye brushes, which was so amazing and such a surprise and I couldn't (and can't) thank her enough! I will be doing a full post on these soon, so stay tuned for some beautiful pictures!

&Thats the end of my haul! Have you guys ever felt sick so you spend money to feel better?

What have you bought lately?

Thankyou for reading

Jess xo

5 Ingredient Healthy Pancakes

So I have never been a fan of pancakes, it has never been something I have ever cooked or sought after- I’m more of a waffles girl myself, but over the past few months I have really been craving pancakes- weird?!

So as a girl who strives for a healthy lifestyle, I went out in search for a healthy pancake recipe, and at first came up with didly squat….which was a total suckfest! Then I found blogilates 2 ingredient pancakes (2 eggs and a banana) at which point I thought I had found the solution to my problem – NOPE – To me these just taste like banana omelette, which is fine if you like that sort of thing, but I want pancakes- REAL pancakes…so after plenty of research, and trial and error…I managed to come up with a super simple and healthy pancake recipe- that even got husband approval. So its a winner!

Ingredients:
-1 cup of oat flour (I just put oats into a food processor to make this)
– 1 banana cut into small pieces
-4 egg whites (this is what makes the difference, you ONLY want the egg whites)
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 1 tsp cinnamond
(of course if you want to add dark chocolate chips, I am not against that for some sweetness!)

& thats it! combine together in a blender or with a mixer and pour into the pan and VOILA! healthy pancakes, that TASTE like pancakes!

I always top mine with fruit for some added sweetness, and the hubby likes to add nutella on his (if only we could all have mens metabolisms). This honestly is so quick, easy and super yummy!

Do you guys have any healthy recipes to try out? Let me know in the comments!

& As always thankyou for reading

Jess xo

P.S – If you want to watch this recipe in action, check out my youtube channel    youtube.com/user/Jessiikaa…  as this video will be up shortly!

The Snapshot Wedding Edition

On the 2nd of May I woke up a fiancé, in my childhood room at my parents house, in a house full of girls ( & my poor dad) and excitement – because today I was going to become a wife. 

This day was a day full of so much love and happiness, along with laughter and tears & I can honestly say it was the best day of my life. I don’t have my professional photos yet, only some snapshots from my mother in laws & my husbands godfathers & friends cameras, but I wanted to put them up regardless as i wanted to share this special moment in my life with you all.

I believe that a picture is worth 1000 words, so here are a few that highlight a day that will forever be so special to me 

We couldn’t be more grateful for all my family and friends that made our day so amazing & I hope you enjoyed having a little snapshot into our wedding

Love Jess xoxo

A Promise to Spin

About 3 months ago I went to my first spin class & I think it has changed my life, now i know right now your probably like – Jess, who cares- its an exercise class with bikes that causes large amounts of buttock pain- get over it. But in all honesty, when I left the class that Sunday morning I left an addict with a new frame of mind.

I have always been a bigger fan of cycling then I was of running, I have short legs, never had that much endurance or stamina for running and honestly I liked being able to sit on my backside while still working out, its overall a win/win scenario, so to me it didn’t make sense to go to class when i could just sit on my exercise bike and cycle my way to nice legs, right?

But for whatever reason that Sunday morning, I decided to drag my ass out of bed and go to my first ever spin class – fortunately for me I was able to drag my friend along with me to endure what I thought was going to be a ass numbing (pun intended) class but I had been making an effort to try more classes at the gym – Im paying for em right, so why not?

So we rocked up to a full class, and managed to snag the last two bikes in the corner, the instructor showed us how to measure for our handle bars and seat and off we went – well its a stationary bike we didn’t really go far ;).

As the class warmed up and got into its first few tracks I really started to find a rhythm in the moments, the climb, the speed tracks and the resistance tracks and honestly starting enjoying myself (ignoring my ever growing pain the backside – those seats are not made for comfort by any means) and by the end of the class i found myself disappointed that is was over, and proud that I had made it through without dying!!

From that class forward, every Sunday morning I would drag myself out of bed and too the class, where I would leave sweaty and refaced and always in a good mood, but wanting more! My gym only runs 2 morning spin classes a week and evening just don’t suit me with my work schedule, so I discussed with my fiancé (now husband) the chance of me getting myself a spin bike for home & today that finally happened!

Today I became the lucky owner of the lifespan premium SP-550 spin bike! & honestly I can’t wait to use it! 

Today’s post is a promise that I am making to myself & to all of my readers that I will not only use this bike, but I will use it regularly and religiously! I will dedicate myself to more sweaty and endurance driven rides and to hopefully a new me!

If you guys are interested in purchasing a spin bike then I highly recommend lifespan fitness, they have an online store lifespanfitness.com.au where they sell exercise equipment at wholesale prices!

I hope you guys enjoyed this post, stay tuned for wedding and honeymoon photos!

Jess xox

& Tell me

Whats your favourite type of exercise?

Feeling Grateful

Today I woke up and looked out over the beautiful ocean of Fiji, was able to turn and kiss my now husband on the forehead and just said a little thank you to whoever is watching over me- because today I felt truly grateful for everything that I have. 

Not many people can say they married their best friend, in front of everyone they know and love, then get whisked away (in business class i might add) to the beautiful island of Fiji for a week with the love of their life. But I can. And while I sit here writing this looking out over the bay, I can honestly say that I am nothing but grateful for everything that I have in my life that is good to me. 

What are you grateful for today?

P.S Sorry I have been MIA - wedding planning and prep got the best of me and I didn't have anywhere near enough time in the day for work, wedding and blogging- but I should have plenty of time now to update you all on everything! 

Also

I don't even have enough access to internet here to check my emails properly :( so If you have contacted me- IM SORRY i will get back to you as soon as I am home with reliable Wifi!

The Healthy Edit- What I Eat In A Day

Eating healthy while working full time can be a struggle...Particularly when you live with a male whose preferences for food do not lean towards the healthy side...Am I right girls?!?!

So today I thought I would bring you lovely people along with what I eat in a typical work day!

Breakfast:

Usually my work days start out at the gym, so I like quick and easy for on the go! So for breakfast on most days I will have a piece of vegemite or peanut butter toast- but lately I have been loving 2 wheetbix with a little bit of milk and a very tiny amount of raw sugar to sweeten. This is very high in fibre and it just keeps me going for the start of my day!

Morning Tea:

As I normally have breakfast quiet early in the morning and usually do a pretty intense workout- by mid morning I tend to be hungry again and I love to snack on fruit and greek yoghurt with muesli! My favourite fruits for mixing into my yoghurt are strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, while my favourite muesli is table of plenty vanilla almond flavour. I also usually have some grapes on the side.

I tend to be very picky with my greek yoghurt and Tamar valley is actually the best I have ever tried- they come in a range of flavours which are super, they don't have too much sugar and BONUS- they are Australian made, which is awesome!! But honestly - you can use whatever greek yoghurt you like as i know it comes down to personal preference!

Lunch:

For lunch on a normal day- I tend just to have leftovers! When I cook at night I will always make enough to have two extra meals for myself and my fiancé for lunch the next day- this ensures that I'm not wasting food by throwing away leftovers and also we are saving money by not having to buy lunches at work! For today's lunch I had a lamb sausage, half a baked potato and steamed fresh vegetables : peas, corn, carrots, beans, broccoli and cauliflower! which I buy from my local fruit store.

Snacks:

 If I get hungry in the afternoon (which I usually don't as my morning foods tend to keep me full, but if I do) I usually try and snack on nuts- cashews are my favourite but I also love almonds- or I will snack on a protein bar or a healthy muesli bar! This one is from ALDI but Im still trying to find a favourite bar so I tend to switch them out!

Dinner:

For dinner- it obviously changes every night but my goals are to try and get as much nutrition into a simple and quick meal as I can- but still taste yummy!

So for today's dinner I made chicken pesto pasta with vegetables- which is super healthy, a little bit spicy and REALLY yummy (AND Keeps the man happy so BIG THUMBS UP)

If you guys want a recipe for this pasta- leave me a comment and let me know!

And thats what I eat in a day!

As you can see- I am ALL about the easy meals that are healthy! I thought this post would be beneficial/ helpful for all you ladies who have a busy lifestyle to see what I eat in a general working day that keeps me full but is also still healthy! 

Thankyou so much for reading! 

What did you eat today? Do you have a favourite healthy recipe?

xxx Jess xxx

The Beauty Swap

I have a lot of makeup- enough that I find it a struggle to use all my makeup on a regular basis.
Now I have nowhere near as much as other beauty bloggers- but for a person who doesn't wear a lot of makeup on a daily bases, I have a lot of makeup (thats not to say I don't LOVE makeup for my free time and weekends, I just find I prefer to extra sleep and workout on many weekdays).
It wasn't until I was talking to my friend Maddy about the fact we both need to clean out our makeup drawers that the idea for the makeup swap came to me.

Basically what we both decided to do was to clean out our makeup drawers and do a swap! Pretty simple right? But we thought it would give us the chance to try new makeup that the other may not use.

Obviously for sanitary reasons we won't be swapping open mascaras or eyeliners- but otherwise, we are free game as we both have a similar skin tone and both LOVE the same sort of makeup!

I just thought this would be a good post to write to maybe encourage you to have a beauty swap with your girlfriends- recycling the makeup the others may not get around to using!

Thankyou so much for reading!

Check out my youtube channel to see what makeup I am using and loving at the moment!
https://www.youtube.com/user/Jessiikaarr2611895

Summer Outfit Of the Day

Today was a hot day- now I don't mind the heat (or the cold for that matter) so I am not one to complain about it- but today was hot- 38 degrees I believe was the top!

My outfit today was very simple with the aim to keep cool while still looking cute- I had a lunch date with a girlfriend and my fiancé and was just running errands.

This dress was one of two dresses i picked up from an Australian store called Ally- I have memories of walking into the store and walking straight up to the dresses and then being so severely disappoint in the way to high price tag and walked away a little broken hearted- fast forward a few months and i wondered into find them on sale for less than half price! so of course I bought both colours (don't judge me- I know you do it too)!

They are made of a satin like fabric with a tie up neck and a skater style that hits a few inches above the knee- great for keeping cool while also having beautiful summer colours!

I paired them with a high bun, a red lip and a pair of white sandals that are about 2 years old from spend-less shoes.

Im absolutely obsessed with these dresses and i can't wait to try and style them with tights and boots in the winter aswell!

Thankyou so much for Reading!

I hope your having a great day wherever you are in the world and I will see you next time :)

xx Jess xx

Twitter: MsJess Louise
instagram: jminchington
Youtube: Jessiikaarr2611895

The Skincare Edit- What saved my skin

How makeup sits on my skin

So as a teenager I never had an issue with acne ( I know you hate me already!) I always had sensitive skin but it wasn't acne prone, however I was prone to ALOT of redness- like the type of redness where people would ask me if someone slapped me! Thus begun my love of makeup to cover my redness.

However over the past few years I had unfortunately fallen into a bit of a slump with my skin- It has been so irritated and I was breaking out like crazy! I was never big on skincare- in fact my whole skincare routine up until about 4 years ago was just washing my face with water and that was it.

I then discovered youtube and I was told I needed to use skincare and thus begun the worst troubles with my skin- It didn't matter what skincare I tried I found that my skin would get so irritated and breakout- often the product would work for a few weeks or months and then I would start breaking out again!

Rolling on to my current skincare- about a year ago i started experimenting with organic/ natural skincare and that is where I saw the biggest difference in my skin, I found that my skin reacted so well to skincare that didn't have all the nasties!

For face wash:
Morning: I just wash my face with cool water and pat it dry
Nighttime: I have been using the Dr Bronners magic castle soap in Rose for every night use ( I use the tea tree version when my skin is being troublesome)
I have also been loving my clarisonic lately with my face wash in the evening- a full review will be up soon!

For Moisturiser:
Morning and Night: I use an oil - at the moment i have been using my CROP macadamia oil, but I switch this out with jojoba oil swell.

For Face Mask: Manuka Honey is my go to face mask- it makes my skin looks glowing and helps to reduce the redness in my face and in any acne i have.

For Acne treatment: For the few spots I do get I will put Tea tree oil on them as a day time treatment and I go back to manuka honey for overnight use.

For eye cream: I have been loving the Kiehls abyssine eye cream for both day and night- its light but moisturising and it wears well under makeup!

For face serum: On acne scars that just will not fade I will use my Kiehls corrective dark spot solution which just gives my skin the boost in needs.

 For Toner: 2 Tablespoons of raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar in 1 cup of water on a little face pad just helps to keep my skin looking clear and fresh.

A Close up of my skin

My Skin post skincare and face mask

I think I have truly found the skincare routine that works well with my skin and I have no plan to change it!

What are you skincare favs? any recommendations?

Thankyou for reading I hope your having a wonderful day!

Jess xxx