Here’s a little Friday beauty tip, that is even good for your wallet as well as for your skin, thumbs up!

Some people swear by high-end skin care lines, while others feel drugstore beauty brands are just as good and then again others go for the organic and the perfume-free range.

I am one of those who spent searching for the best skin care line for me and my skin – I have very dry and sensitive scandinavian skin. The older I get the more I try to use only perfume and parebene-free skin care products.

Over the past years have I, more less, tried all skin care line brands, and now today, after trying everything from Chanel, Clinique, Nuxe, different Organic brands, Vichy, Weleda, Neutral, Origins and many more…..  I found a winner that seems to satisfy all my requirements for a good skin care, La Roche-Posay!!!!

After a few months using the products (mentioned below) from La Roche-Posay my skin feels and looks much more hydrated and relaxed and all in all my facial skin feels more perfect and fresh (…if you can say so)!??

It´s important to remember that you only get one skin… Therefore we have to take care of it as good as possible, but I see no reason to pay a million for something full of perfume and parabenes in a smart design that dosn´t do any thing good for your skin or for that matter for the environment or for your economy.

These products below you will find in my bathroom….. (and more products from La Roche-Posay is about to enter…)!

Micellar Physiological Solution gently removes make-up from sensitive skin. Non-comedogenic. Physiological Formulation Charter: – cleansing agents selected for optimal tolerance, high make-up removing power, with La Roche Posay thermal spring water, – physiological pH, soap-free, alcohol-free, colorant-free, paraben-free. – My skin is very nordic and sensitive to the dry side and this cleansing water is perfect for my daily face-cleaning rituals. – And it is risky to say, but I think it is better than the famous Bioderma cleanser!?

Nutritic Intense Moisturising Cream, a daily solution for dry and sensitive skin.

For dry and sensitive skin prone to tightness. – Nourishing care to help reinforce the skin’s barrier function layer by layer. – Innovation: our new generation of lipids to stimulate moisturising factors, lipids and proteins. This facial cream helps to improve my facial skin comfort and it’s so hydrating, I use it morning and night and it keeps my face hydratet through the whole day and night, -I love it.

Redermic C UV.  Anti-Wrinkle Firming Care with SPF.

This eye cream is a daily care product to help reduce the appearance of deep wrinkles and restore firmness and it hydrates the eye area as well.

– Patented Mexoryl XL Filter System provides SPF 15 and UVA Protection
– Contains the active ingredients Madecassoside, 5% Vitamin C and Neurosensine
– La Roche-Posay Thermal Spring Water to smoothe, soften and comfort sensitive skin.

Thermal Spring Water by La Roche-Posay Soothing, Softening Thermal Spring Water. Thermal Spring Water is ideal for daily use and can be used to soothen and soften sensitive skin, comfort and refresh the skin after cleansing and hydrate and refresh skin in warmer weather, I used this so much in Sydney. I also use it to help set my make-up!

Hydreane BB Cream. Unifying, moisturising care with soothing and softening Thermal Spring Water.

Hydreane BB Cream moisturises and protects the skin with a smooth and non-greasy skin perfecting texture. Leaves skin feeling soft and supple, while creating an even, fresh faced complexion.

– The first BB Cream with soothing and softening La Roche-Posay Thermal Spring Water.
– The BB mineral pigments melt on the skin for an immediately unified complexion.
– Contains SPF 20 and UVA protection to help minimise the harmful effects of UV rays.

I’ve tried many BB creams and this one is so far the best, it covers little red spots and it looks and feels so natural !!

After regular use of  these products above, from La Roche-Posay, – I can feel and see that my skin is so much more hydrated and relaxed and that all the tightness and the little winter dry red spots on my skin have disappeared totally.

These very affordable products from La Roche-Posay has come to stay with me.

Psst right now there is 15% Sale of all products from La Roche-Posay here in Barcelona/Esp.

Here’s to a good day, and an even better weekend! Love / A.

Why not cook this easy low in fat, slow cooked gluten free Turkey Osso Bucco tonight? This dish took me no time to prepare and it practically cooks on its self. You just need to clean and cut veggies and then put it all in a heavy-based saucepan, boil rice and mix 3 ingredients for your Gremolata, and that’s it.

Recipe
Ingredients for 4 servings

• 4 turkey osso bucco (or you can use thighs or legs if you can’t find osso bucco turkey meat)
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 1 big onion, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 small can peeled whole tomatoes
• 1 tomato (fresh), chopped (optional)
• 2 cups of turkey or chicken stock
• 3 cups dry white wine
• 1/2 cup of corn flour (100%), for thickening the sauce
• Butter or oil to fry the meat
• sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
• Wild rice mixture

Gremolata (garnish)

• 1/2 cup of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• zest of 1 lemon

Preparation

1. Fry the osso bucco meat in the butter or a mix of butter and oil ind a deep heavy-based saucepan.

2. When the meat is fried, set a side.

3. Place the onion and garlic in the pan and cook until brown, then add the rest of the veggies (except the fresh chopped tomato), and fry for 5 min. Reduce the heat to medium.

4. Cook until vegetables are soft and golden brown, about 7 minutes. Add bay leaf and tomato paste and cook for about 30 seconds, to bring out the aromas. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock and wine and bring to a boil.

5. Place the turkey back into pan and make sure they are submerged at least halfway (if not, add more stock), add the fresh chopped tomato. Reduce to low heat and put the lid on, cook the osso bucco on your stove on low heat for about 1,5 – 2 hours until meat is nearly falling off the bone, stir occasionally in the pan so nothing burns.

6. If the sauce is too thin you can thicken it with corn flour, make sure there are no lumps by stirring well into the sauce with a meat fork or something similar. Stir carefully otherwise your meat and the veggies break up into a 1000 pieces.

Taste with sea salt and fresh gounded black pepper.

7. Combine all gremolata ingredients

Serve with a wild rice mixture and sprinkle the gremolata over osso buco before serving. This dish tastes good with a glass of Chardonnay white wine.

Salute and have a great weekend!!!

Fastelavn is the name for Carnival in Denmark, Norway, Iceland and the Faroe islands which is either the Sunday or Monday before Ash Wednesday.

This holiday occurs seven weeks before Easter Sunday and is sometimes described as a Nordic Halloween, with children dressing up in costumes and gathering treats for the Fastelavn feast. The holiday is generally considered to be a time for children’s fun and family games.

The term Fastelavn comes from Old Danish fastelaghen, which was a borrowing of the Middle Low German vastel-avent, meaning “fast-evening”, or the day before Lent.The word has cognates in other Germanic languages, including Limburgish Vastelaovend, Dutch Vastenavond and Scots Fastens-een.

Fastelavns festivities

Some towns in Denmark are renowned for their large Fastelavn festivities and parades. Traditional events include slå katten af tønden (“hit the cat out of the barrel”), which is somewhat similar to using a piñata. The Danes use a wooden barrel, which is full of candy and sometimes oranges and has the image of a cat on it. Historically there was a real black cat in the barrel, and beating the barrel was superstitiously considered a safeguard against evil. After the candy pours out, the game continues until the entire barrel is broken. The one who knocks down the bottom of the barrel (making all the candy spill out) becomes kattedronning (“queen of cats”); the one who knocks down the last piece of the barrel becomes kattekonge (“king of cats”).

In Denmark and Norway a popular baked good associated with the day is “Fastelavnsbolle” (“Fastelavns bun”, also known in English as “shrovetide bun” or “lenten bun”), a round sweet roll usually covered with icing and sometimes filled with whipped cream.

Oh God I get all sentimental now while writing this post. My mom used to sew the finest costumes for me and my two sisters when we were little and I remember us constantly singing this lovely song… tra la la la…

This a popular children’s Fastelavns song in Denmark

The picture above shows a genuine fastelavns barrel (Shrovetide ) and my beautiful lovely little nephew trying on his cool home-made pirate custume before he shall participate in his life first fastelavn (shrovetide) next Monday, he is so cute!!!

This weekend I want to bake gluten free fastelavn buns, I think it is about time that J gets to taste a bit of our wonderful Danish tradition, and of course the fastelavn buns are a gluten free version, so I can enjoy them as well

• Dough:
• 50g of fresh yeast
• 1 cup of milk (250ml)
• 125g of melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 500-600g gluten free flour mixture (Finax)
• Filling:
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of cornflour
• 1 cup of milk ((250ml))
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder

• Icing:
• 100g icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon hot water
• 2 tablespoons of gluten free cocoa powder

Directions

Preparation: 2 hours  ›  Cook: 15min  ›  Ready in: 2hours, 15min

1. Gently warm the milk in a pot (it needs to be lukewarm, if it´s too hot it will kill the yeast). Dissolve the yeast in the milk. Add the melted butter, sugar, salt and eggs to the mixture. Gently work in the gluten free flour until you have a smooth dough, then leave to rise for 30 minutes.
2. While the dough is rising, make the filling. Whisk together the eggs and sugar then whisk in the milk and the cornflour. Cook over a gentle heat until the mixture boils and thickens. Add the vanilla to flavour and leave to cool.
3. Cover 2 large baking trays in baking paper and heat the oven to 225 degrees.
4. Divide the dough into two and roll the first piece into a 30 x 30cm square. Cut this into nine 10 x 10cm squares. Put one teaspoon of the filling in the middle of each square. Fold one corner over the mixture to its opposite corner. Then fold the remaining corners over.
5. Place each bun on the baking tray with the folded side face down. Brush each bun with egg and bake for 15 -20 minutes, (keep an eye on them during baking). Let the buns cool.
6. Mix all the ingredients for the icing together and spread onto each bun.

Healthy tips, you can also choose to make the filling healthy by using a mixture of peanut butter and banana instead of the filling recipe mentioned above.

Use 18 tsp of peanut butter and two bananas (more less)

Inspiration to the healthy filling is found on this amazing food blog: www.twin-food.dk

Thank´s Twin-food:)

Hi Friends,

Hope you are having a great morning, enjoying your morning coffee (I am)!
I want to share one of mine and J´s favourite, simple veggie dish, it takes 10 minutes to make and it’s perfect for busy times in your busy schedule, etc.

Quinoa and Spinach dish

This dish tastes amazing and it will leave you feeling fantastic!

Ingredients:

2 cups of quinoa (wash, cook and set aside)

1 tbsp of oil

2 cloves of garlic (peeled and chopped)

6 big handfuls of fresh spinach (half a bag)

200 gram of mushrooms

1 cup of fresh grated parmesan

1 lemon

salt and pepper

Recipe:

Wash and cook the quinoa and set aside – warm up the oil in a pan – fry the garlic and add mushrooms and fry for 2 min – add the spinach and fry until it´s tender,  then add the quinoa, toss and mix well and taste with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle with parmesan and serve with a lemon slice on the top!

Enjoy!

Here is a few photos from the last days here in Barcelona.

I hope you had a great weekend so far and that you will enjoy your Sunday….

J and I are off for a little picnic to Montjuïc now, – Barcelona’s Montjuïc is a broad shallow hill / mountain, with a relatively flat top overlooking the harbour, to the southwest of the city centre, and it´s so pretty!!

Adiós 🙂