Nature Box + Other Healthy Food

Last year around this time I lost around 15-20 lbs. I dont consider myself fat or anything but it would be nice to tone back up. Since I moved back in August, it has been hard for me to find some kind of balance. I went from living with my mom and boyfriend to living with my dad and paying all the utilities. Since then, besides my job, my life has been different. I even started doing YouTube videos over blogging. Observing all of the conscious and sub-conscience changes is weird, actually. All of that aside, I am really trying lose weight again and tone back up!

I am a sucker for monthly subscription boxes. When I found out I could the Nature Box for $10 the first month as opposed to the normal $20, I decided to give it a shot! In the video I talk about my thoughts on it and taste all of the food.

Nature Box is kind of like Birch Box or the Glam Bag except in healthy food form. The thing that separates them {besides the fact you get food} is that you can actually pick out your snacks every month. It is nice to get some healthy snacks delivered to me. The more healthy snacks, the better in my opinion. I give the jest of it in the video, but I have a link for you guys to use in case you wanna try out the Nature Box for $10 the first month too!  Remember that you can cancel after the first month, which what I think I am going to do. It isnt because the snacks weren't tasty or unhealthy or anything like that. It's just that I have been dying to try Tera's Whey Protein Powder for over a year now and it is $20. That's where my "healthy food not from the grocery store fund" is going for April.

 

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Try out the Nature Box yourself for $10 the first month here.

Since I have had this blog for over 3 years {it sounds crazy}, I figure I could feature some of my favorite healthy blog post's here to go with the video

Breakfast Smoothies and Meal Prepping {feat the Green Banana Split Smoothie}


Love Pink Skinny Cheesecake Bites 

Skinny Fun-Fetti Cheesecake Dip


Blueberry Cheesecake Pudding Pops
 

Anti-Aging Weight Loss Beverage


I just realized that the majority of my healthy food blog post's have to do with cheesecake. I love cheesecake.

Have you guys tried the Nature Box?

Are any of you health food enthusiasts?

What is your favorite subscription box to get every month?


thanx for reading!
<3
Erica

High Five For Friday = #H54F

I have seen this link up so many times and I have always wanted to join in. I always was too late by the time I got it together. It is 4:15 eastern time on Friday evening and I am going for it!

Photos 1-7: The day before Memorial Day, me and Philly went to Cedar Point. Even though it wasn't warm enough for the water park {at least not for us} we had a ton of fun! I obviously could not choose just 1 picture, so I opted for seven of them. I got some good ones, if I do say so myself. Well, with a little help from a few Instagram filters. There's more on Instagram!

Photo 8: In case you haven't heard for the 8th time, I got my necklace from Shop Lately - I love that thing.I have also been obsessing over Pink Pop from the Maybelline Vivids line. So pretty. They look nice together (:

Photo 9: Dark Chocolate Covered Strawberries. Who doesn't love that combination? I have been snacking on those all week.

Photo 10: NOTW: Sally Hansen Pacific Blue with OPI When Monkey's Fly and Wet n Wild Party of 5 Glitters. Another great combo.

Photo 11: Went shopping at Target. I got some organizational stuff. I can't resist a $1 Mon-Fri tablet. I am a crazy list maker. I also bought a couple small gifts.

Photo 12: Another gift. The Fake Bake Sunless Tanning Lotion. I hope she likes it!

Photo 13: OOTD. Also seen here.

Photo 14: I am lightening my hair even more. I will do a full blog post/video about it once I am done.

Photo 15: I really wanted to get some good pictures of the flowers while still on the tree with my Canon camera, but I wasn't fast enough. All of the flower petal ended up on the ground. Still makes for a gorgeous  photo, anyways.

Clearly I am not great at following rules because I did not pick 5. Im 10 over. Let's just pretend. I do feel bad because I don't have one of Stella! Poor girl! If you want to see some of Stella Girl, go to my Instagram and follow me. I have a ton of other pictures too! I am @MeetMissJackson

Yay! Now I can link up!

xoxo

Erica

Favorite Healthy Meal Bars

I love taking Luna Bars to work with me. I have breakfast when I wake up {which is in the form of protein} and meal 2 is always made right when I am running out the door. I bought myself a cute to go tumbler to take it with me to work. By 1pm, I am still at my job. A pizza and wing restaurant. If I don't grab a bar to eat around this hour, I will cave and go for a flat bread or burger. Bars are perfect to throw in my bag and take with me so I don't do that. Here's some I currently have {had} lying around.

Luna Bars:

are anywhere from 200-300 calories.{?} They do fill me up and are equal to a full meal for me. I never really finish a whole bar. Unless I am really hungry.

Caramel Nut Brownie Luna Bar:

This is my favorite Luna bar. It does kinda have that meal bar taste/texture, but it is the closest healthy thing I have had to a brownie. It is so rich and dense, like a brownie would be. There is a layer of caramel on the top of the bar and that part is perfection. It is just caramel perfection.I found this flavor at Wal-Mart for $1 near the vitamins.

White Chocolate Macadamia Luna Bar:

Before I discovered the Caramel Nut Brownie Luna Bar, this one was my favorite. This has white chocolate coating on the bottom, like the bottom was dipped in white chocolate. It is delicious. It reminds me more of a dense granola bar

Peanut Honey Pretzel Luna Bar:

I was expecting to find pieces of pretzel in the bar but I didn't find any. It does mix sweet and salty, however. It has a peanut butter type of coating on the bottom, like the white chocolate in the macadamia bar. The texture is also a type of dense granola bar. This one was pretty good.

Perfectly Simple Bar:

This reminds me of a plain Lara Bar. The texture and mixture is the same. I can't say it tasted like coconut cream or coconut for that matter. It has very few ingredients, all good ones. There was only one ingredient that was different from the Lara Bars. Evaporated Cane Sugar. I personally don't mind a little sugar. These were on sale last week at Target for 80 cents.

Coconut Cream Lara Bar:

This on the other hand was not a plain Lara Bar. It really tasted like coconut cream. Lara Bars are known for their very few ingredients and all this had was dates, almonds, coconut, coconut oil, and maybe I am missing a couple nuts or or something. The texture of these if you didn't know are a little firmer than a no bake cookie.

Other Delicious Bars:

Home Made Fudge Brownie Lara Bar:

If you have never been to Chocolate Covered Katie and you love Lara Bars, you need to check her out. She is where I get all of my Lara Bar recipes/ideas. She calls them Fudge Babies. Damy also has some good Lara Bar recipes too. You can make your own Lara Bars with whole, healthy ingredients. Nuts. Seeds. Spices. Oats. Dates. Raisins. Coconut. Awhile back, I posted a recipe for a Lara Bar called Fudge Brownie Balls.

{the rest of the photos were taken with my iPhone}

 Kind Bars:

These were recent discoveries and can I tell you about the Coconut + Almond one? OMG it was like eating a gooey coconut macaroon! This was my favorite bar I have had. I am serving these next Christmas instead of my coconut macaroons. Nobody would know the difference. The Blueberry + Pecan one was pretty good too. I know the Kind bars are not as filling as a Luna Bar but they do hold me over.

Odwalla Bars:

Another new discovery. I get these at Wal-Mart. These are also pretty filling but nothing is as ever as filling as a Luna Bar. those babies are dense.

White Chocolate Macadamia:

This one just looks so yummy and it was pretty good. This is more of a chewy bar.

Banana Nut:

This was my favorite of the 2 Odwalla bars. It's even chewier than the White Chocolate Macadamia and has little chunks of nuts or oats or something. It was delicious. It will be my new every day bar.

 There will be more to come on my workout routine, diet, meals, grocery lists, organization, and other ways I stay on track soon enough if I thought that's what you wanted. Let me know if any of that intrigues you.

<3

Erica

Instagram 1

 

Guess who finally got instagram? that's right.... me! You can follow me @MeetMissJackson. Let me know if you have Instagram too! I have kind of converted my Instagram into a catch all. People in my real life and people in my blog life are both welcome. Your welcome to my Facebook too but I doubt anything will really interest you there. I just have been posting my Instagram pictures there.

1. Pretty Flower Tree in my back yard. My landlord is a landscaper. He does a lot of stuff pertaining to land

2. Vases at Wal-Mart. I hear Pier One has some nice ones on clearance too.

3. Me

4. Philly and Stella at the park.

5. Phils first birthday party we had.

6. OOTD from Wel Seal

7. Same as 6

8. The sky

9. Stella Girl. She thought the phone playing music was her toy.

10. Healthy Meal. Rice Cake, Cinnamon Raisin PB, with a Banana and Coffee.

11. A line of Tanning Lotion inspired from Cereals. I can the Cinnamon Toast Crunch one. It's a tingle.

12. Me.

13. B+BW Candle. Poolside. Smells just like Coppertone or Tanning Lotion. Review coming on a few of those candles soon.

14. Kind Bars. OMG they are so chewy and yummy! The Coconut Almond one was just like a Coconut Macaroon.

15. Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Peanut Butter. Uhm have you had this?! Chunks of Raisin in the PB! So delicious. Mine is almost gone, after 2 weeks of having it.

16. Stell-anburg

17. Stella not wanting to get out of bed. She is in a pillow case covered up.

18. Me and my sunglasses from Tilly's. They don't fit though. I need to take those back.

There my InstaGram pictures. Where are yours?

 I gotta head off to work! Just a quickie.

xoxo

Erica

Love Pink Skinny Cheesecake Bites

Throw everything you know about cheesecakes out the window because I am going to introduce you to the most delicious, healthy cheesecake you have ever had! I of course cannot take credit for this recipe, it got from Damy Health. She has an array of healthy recipes on her site (including a vegan version of this). I have tried a few but this one far exceeded my expectations, + I took some good pictures so I am exited to share it with you.

 

Cheesecake Center

• 1/4 Cup Non-Fat Greek Yogurt
• 1/4 Cup Neufchâtel Cheese (healthier version of cream cheese)
• 2-3 Tbsp Agave or Honey. I used a mix of both. Or you can use Stevia
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1-2 Drops Red Food Coloring 

Chocolate Covered Shell

*** I used 1/4 cup of everything and as you may be able to tell from the picture, the coating is a little thin. Because of this, they were a little bit tougher to get out of the ice cube tray. The original recipe calls for 1 cup of each ingredient, explaining that there will be left over chocolate. I would go with 1/2 cup.

• 1/2 Cup Virgin Coconut Oil
• 1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
• 1/4 Cup Maple Syrup, Honey or Agave. I used a mix of the last 2

The Directions:

1. Set out the Neufchâtel Cheese 15-20 minutes before you start to soften it a little bit
2. Blend Cheesecake ingredients until smooth in a blender. 
3. If you live in a cooler climate, melt your Coconut Oil in a bowl in the microwave before mix it. It needs to be a liquid.
4. In a separate bowl, blend Chocolate Coating ingredients until smooth.
5. Spray a pre-chilled, clean ice cube tray with cooking spray.
6. Using a spoon, pour the Chocolate into each ice cube mold to coat the full bottom.
7. Tipping the Ice Cube Tray from side to side, coat the sides of each ice cube mold. Make sure the molds are completely coated.
8. Add a dollop of Cheesecake filling into each mold
9. Top it off with the rest of your Chocolate
10. Freeze it for a few hours.
11. When your ready to serve/eat it, let it thaw for like 5 minutes
12. Twist the ice cube tray, (like you would to remove ice cubes) to remove each cheesecake bite.
13. If that doesn't work (I needed more man power) set the ice cube tray upside down on the counter, grab a utensil and smack the hell out of the bottom of each mold until it comes out.

These are so delicious! Once it is frozen, it is even better! The chocolate around it just melts in your mouth and makes the cheesecake bites that much better. I promise these do not taste like yogurt. They taste like cheesecake! They don't even taste healthy. The chocolate covered coating is.....to die for! If your not a fan of coconut, don't worry because you can't taste it.  The chocolate covered coating just melts in your mouth (realistically and scientifically) 

thank you to Damy for the original recipe!

try em'!

xoxo

Erica

Sunday Thoughts...

So, I have been meaning to do a 5 For Friday blog where you show 5 things or talk about 5 things on Friday. 2 Friday's have came and went and I didn't get it done! Instead of calling this Five For Sunday {it doesn't have a nice ring to it} Im going with Sunday Thoughts {clearly}. Plus, I have way more than 5 things here. Think of this as a haul. Or review. As always I have went overboard for Mind Body Beauty. It's turned into some weird obsession. Every single thing I buy or make, I feel like I need to take a picture of it before I use it. Then I get too exited and use half of it. My mom knows that basket of new things is off limits until photos are taken. Alex and Phil are used to seeing red and pink streaks down my arm. They know those are swatches and I am not suicidal. Those are my confessions. Let's move on. Although I would be open to do a Behind the Scene's type of blog post for those of you who are wanting some tips, or are just curious. I know I always am.

Anyhow...

 I bought the Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips from 5 and Below for $4. I was going to do a review but I didn't like these. At all. They just didn't work out for me. They did not look smooth or like nail polish. They just looked like a sticker. And they peeled and chipped off within an hour. On the other hand, my bfff Alex loves them. She says she doesn't have to worry about her nails chipping or anything for 2 weeks. So, they may work for you! But not for me.

I have been love Its a Trap-Eze! from China Glaze. It's a really pretty glitter polish with a white milky base. If you apply one coat, that white color turns clear and you have the glitter. More than 2 coats, the white shows up. I have been liking to put it over top Sally Hansen's X-Treme Wear nail polish in White On

I have been also loving this nail combo. China Glaze's It's a Trapeze! and Re-fresh Mint

I bought my mom a just because present. My resolutions had to do with making my world a better place and I am a firm believer that the blessings you give will come back on you ten fold. It says it in the Bible. Even if you don't believe in the Bible, try it anyways. You will feel good about it. Doing things for other people have been making me happy. That's not the only reason I bought my mom an oatmeal colored button-less cardigan. She has been wanting a reverse mullet style throw over for a while {I just made that style name up. You may use it at your own risk. People might think your weird..} I found it at Burlington for like $7! Here's everything else I found at Burlington.

Phil bought me a kitchen play set made out of chocolate for Valentine's day. How adorable and funny is that? You really can't play with it because it will melt. So I did the obvious thing and ate it. I didn't even share. So much for making the world a better place with my whole blessings thing.

Since I have been on a kick with my smoothies, I needed a portable tumbler {I almost spelled tumblr} to take with me to work every morning. They have a whole isle dedicated to to-go tumblers at Big Lots. I found this one for $3. It's been doing the job in style ;)

Omg these mixer melts, scent shots, tarts, whatever you want to call them are so awesome! Scentsational is a brand that you can find at Walmart and they are only a buck or 2. But when you melt them, they will fill up the whole room. Especially this one. It smells like clean laundry and soap. And it is so strong. Like good strong. I melted it in my room and as soon as you hit the steps in my 2 bedroom home, you could smell it. I have went through 7 tea lights and finally it lost it's scent. That's pretty good. I also mixed it with my last piece of Limelight from Tyler Candle Company Mixer Melt. I have been saving Limelight for years because it smells so good. I also love TwentyFourSevenGlam and French Market from Tyler. Lipstick sounds like a fun one too. I found the Tyler Mixer Melts at Hallmark a couple years ago. I should go back and buy more. They are my favorite. 

 Ever since I found out that these type of hair tie's will not leave your hair with a dent in it, I needed to try it. I am a server at a restaurant and it requires me to have my hair up for the day. Although these hair ties did a better job at not leaving a dent in my hair, I wasn't all that impressed with them. At least they are bright colors and just something different than your run-of-the-mill hair tie. Makes life a little bit more exiting.

Those are my thoughts!

Happy Sunday,

xoxo

Erica