Let's Talk Detox Baths

Every Tuesday and Thursday I take a weight lifting class. Specifically, I take a Les Mills Body Pump class and it's something I look forward to. I like to challenge my body and today I decided to up my weight for every track. Who knew that 5 extra pounds could hurt so much?! And I don't just mean in class. I huffed and I puffed and I made it through the work for each set of muscles. But now, 10 hours later my body is screaming at me. I've experienced this before, and I know that tomorrow even the thought of having to hike up and down the stairs of my 2 story house is going to make me want to curl up in a ball and admit defeat. (You're not allowed to laugh at my dramatics unless you have also done squats for 5 minutes straight with 40 lbs - or 1/3 of your body weight - on your back.) So, what's a girl to do? A detox bath, of course! Detox baths aren't just relaxing, they are also great for gently removing toxins from the body, alleviating muscle soreness and improving tissue health.


Simple Detox Bath:

1c Epsom Salt

1/4c Baking Soda
5-10 drops Essential Oil

*1/2c Sea Salt (optional)

This is important: Do not just dump everything in the bath and hop in. If you dump everything in at once the oils will sit at the top, potentially causing skin irritation and discomfort. Instead, measure out your Epsom salt into a glass bowl, drop the essential oils into the Epsom salt and let them sit for several minutes. Add the baking soda and stir. Now dump the mixture into the bath.

In the picture above, you might have noticed my super classy wine bottle with screw top. (I obviously have great taste in wine.) I like to mix up a big batch of the detox bath mix and store it in wine bottles for easy use. My current bottle has Young Living Rosemary and Lavender essential oils in it. Rosemary is good for muscle aches and Lavender is a relaxant. Using essential oils to mix and match, the possibilities are endless. Aside from my current mixture, I have also used:

Panaway (for aches and pains)
Stress Away (This is one of my favorite smells - it has lime, lavender and vanilla. Yum!)
Peace & Calming
Lavender (alone or with Peppermint)
Eucalyptus Blue (goes well with Rosemary and Lavender for muscle aches)

Personally, I think the best part of a detox bath is that when you break down the cost of ingredients per bath, it is really a cost effective luxury. So cost effective, in fact, that I can afford a nice detox bath and my $6 screw on top bottle of wine - both of which are calling my name. :)

2 for 1 Recipe: Korean Beef w/Vegetables & Thai Lettuce Wraps

It's impossible for me to follow a recipe as written. I blame my mom. She had stacks of cookbooks and a box full of hand written recipes yet we rarely (if ever) ate the exact same thing twice. Mom was a big fan of improvising with food. She rarely used measuring cups and taught me to use a recipe as a base to add on to or take away from as the fancy struck me. With that in mind, it's really not a surprise that while I started off with this recipe for Korean Beef I ended up with Korean Beef w/ Vegetables and Thai Lettuce Wraps. That's right, I somehow ended up with two different dishes. One for dinner, one for lunch the next day - both cost effective, quick and delicious!

Korean Beef w/Vegetables

1 lb organic ground beef (option: Sub ground chicken or turkey)
1/4c packed brown sugar
1/3c soy sauce
1-2 tbs sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced (I'll be honest, I just squeezed a blob out from my bottle of pre-minced garlic.)
1/2 tsp fresh finely grated ginger
1/2 head of broccoli, cut into florets
1/2c chopped mushrooms
1-2 carrots, grated
1/2-1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
salt and pepper to taste (I didn't feel the need to use either one)
1 bunch green onions, diced to use as garnish

Brown ground beef in a large skillet. Drain the fat. Return skillet to the stove and on medium heat add sesame oil, garlic, chopped mushrooms and broccoli florets. Saute for 2-3 minutes. Add browned ground beef and grated carrot. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Reduce heat to low before adding brown sugar, soy sauce, and grated ginger. Add crushed red pepper, salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer on low for a few minutes so they flavors can meld. Reserve half of the mixture for the Thai Lettuce Wraps recipe below. Serve the remaining beef and vegetable mixture over rice and topped with diced green onions. Recipe serves 2-4 depending on your portion size.

*Note: I totally left out the mushrooms because they do not make my mouth happy. Feel free to adjust the recipe to your specific tastes.*

Thai Lettuce Wraps
1/2 meat mixture from the Korean Beef w/Vegetables recipe
1/2 -1 tbs natural peanut butter
Iceberg or romaine lettuce to use as "cups"

Remove several leafs from the lettuce of your choice. Combine the leftover meat and veggies with the peanut butter and heat until warm. Spoon into the lettuce "cups" or "wraps." Immediately devour while still standing at the counter. Oh, that's just me? I guess you could sit down at the table if you really want to. ;)