The lucky winners are Heather, Kate and Tammy

Congrats ladies, one “Hell and Back Again”-DVD will go to each of you in the next few days. Please email dani@camolove.com with your mailing address.

Thank you ALL for playing. We will have more fun giveaways in the future.

Dani

PS. Even if you didn’t win, make sure to pick up a copy of “Hell and Back Again”, it’s a great movie!!

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups of spelt kernels
• 4 cups of water
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 spring onion finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove finely chopped
• fresh parsley chopped
• fresh basil cut into stripes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cups of dried cherries
• 1/2 cup of walnuts coarsely chopped

Method

1. Add water and spelt to a pot and bring to boil. Once it’s reached the boiling point, turn to medium low heat, add the tsp. of salt and let simmer for 40 minutes until the kernels are chewy.

2. In a small pan heat the olive oil, add the onions and heat them until glassy. Add the garlic, salt and pepper to taste and roast for another minute or so. Add red wine vinegar, stir together and set aside.

3. Drain spelt in a sieve and let cool in the bowl you will be making your salad in.

4. Once the kernerls are not nuclear hot anymore add the oil onion dressing and toss.

5. Add cherries, nuts, basil and parsley.

Can be served warm or cold!

The folks over at hellandbackagain.com gifted us 3 of their Academy Award Nominee DVDs and I would like to give them all to you! Here is the synopsis:

From his embed with US Marines Echo Company in Afghanistan, photojournalist and filmmaker Danfung Dennis reveals the devastating impact a Taliban machine-gun bullet has on the life of 25-year-old Sergeant Nathan Harris. The film seamlessly transitions from stunning war reportage to an intimate, visceral portrait of one man’s personal struggle at home in North Carolina, where Harris confronts the physical and emotional difficulties of re-adjusting to civilian life with the love and support of his wife, Ashley. Masterfully contrasting the intensity of the frontline with the unsettling normalcy of home, HELL AND BACK AGAIN lays bare the true cost of war.

And here is how you can win. Leave a comment below stating which on the following you did. If you did multiple, you may enter multiple times by a comment for each of the things you did.

1. Share our Facebook announcement of the giveaway.

2. Follow us on Pinterest pinterest.com/camolove

3. Head on over to facebook.com/HellandBackAgainTheMovie like their page and tell them camolove.com sent you!!!

4. Subscribe to our RSS feed.

We will announce the 3 winners drawn at random on Friday Feb. 3rd 8PM CET. And though you have 4 chances to win, you will only get one DVD!

Happy Giveaway-ing

Last weekend we tried a 3D imprint kit that had us make a mold of baby’s hand or foot first and then you poor in the mass that will actually be the foot. We tried, and we failed, those kits are not made for little kids – have you ever tried holding a bay’s or toddler’s extremity still for more than 5 seconds?

While cleaning up crumbs of my oldest play-doh which get rock hard if you leave them out for let’s say a day, I had an epiphany – play-doh imprint. Playdoh is easy to handle and safe for kids. I bought white playdoh for a whooping 99 cents and this weekend we tried “Operation Footprint” again to capture the moment – and success, we win!

Here is what you will need:

• 140g jar of play-doh
• rolling pin
• a baby foot
• an assisting person

Optional are:

• crafting mat
• rulers for cutting straight lines

1. Take the playdoh out of the can and roll it into an even ball. Make sure your surface and rolling pin are clean and fuzzy free, the fuzzies will show on the white play doh. Place on a straight surface and using a rolling pin roll it out to ca. 1/2 inch thickness (or less).

2. Test if baby’s foot (or hand) will fit the space you rolled out. Don’t worry about the shape, just roll a rough rectangle.

3. Place the play-doh on the mat (or cutting board) on the floor. Have your assistant (aka dad) hold baby while you place and then press down the little foot.

(don’t take pictures while you do that…lol…they will be fuzzy…I know, shocker!)

4. With a long ruler or kitchen knife cut off the edges so your baby’s foot imprint seems to be on a rectangular box.

5. Set away to dry for at least two days. Once it is hard you can place it in a frame.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter at room temerature
• 1 cup unrefined sugar in the raw
• 1/2 cup agave syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 cups oats

1. Beat butter and sugars together, add eggs and vanilla.

2. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and blend in.

3. Add oats and place table soon sized blobs on your parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

4. Place in the 375F/190C oven for 10 minutes, cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

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Thank you!

You can also find this heart of sweets on cute gifts in our store!

Love Cake Pops and Cupcakes Recipe Binder by camolove

Cupcake and Cake Pops Business Card by camolove

Cake Pops and Cupcakes MacBook Sleeve by camolove

Pink I Love Cupcakes and Cakepops Heart by camolove

Over here in the Gudith house, we are also getting ready to eat more healthily. Healthy for us means cutting back on animal based foods and converging to a plant based, whole foods diet. We will not go full veggie, but something close. Some keys to healthy eating that worked for me have been:

• no or little processed foods: (your freezer should be full of frozen vegetables not TV dinners and hot pocket. Twinkies and other foods that would survive a nuclear meltdown, don’t belong in your body.)
• no calorie counting: one calorie is not like the other calorie, there are calories from foods that are high in vitamins, minerals and fibers, those are awesome. Then there are empty calories, those from let’s say a can of coke that just supply energy based on sugar without other nutrients. I also find calorie counting puts me under pressure and makes me think more about food. Also, calories are part of an input output equation. If you are a pro athlete 6000 calories a day might be normal, if you have a desk job and don’t work out 1500 might be sufficient.
• replace eating out with home cooked meals: being part of the food preparation process will change how you engage with food. You will be more aware of what is in your food (because you put it in there). It will also save you money! Taking lunch to work has saved my husband money, compared to eating at the cafeteria. I know you can get a $1 burger, but you are hungry again 20 minutes after you ate it, you don’t really know what’s in it and how it’s made, and I personally feel icky after I had fast food. Be suspicious of cheap ready made food!!!
• don’t prohibit yourself from anything: unless you have an alcohol addiction or other drug addiction, abstinence is really not necessary. The goal is to not WANT TO EAT a certain food. Don’t think of an elephant right now! And what just popped into your head, the image of an elephant…if you prohibit yourself from eating that snickers bar you will just start thinking about it more and more and you will want it more and more. Ask yourself Do I want to eat this now? How will it make me feel AFTER I ate it? Which brings me to the next point.
• If you do eat “unhealthy” foods, make it worth your while: get the best steak from the butcher, that is fresh and organic, go to the bakery that makes the best homemade cupcakes and pick your favorite…
• No no-fat, no sugar products that should have fat and sugar in it: especially sugar substitutes like aspartame are linked to cancer and are highly technically engineered. Always ask yourself What did they need to do to make this product fat free/sugar free and what did they add instead!? So, back to making it worth your while, if you want to have a coke have a coke not a diet coke.
• Small portion sizes: over the last decades the portion sizes in the Western world have grown immensely, yet the physical activity dropped (when was the last time you had to plow a field?! ). Just compare the size of plate of your grandma’s fine china with the size of plate you can get as a “dinner plate” today! Same with glass size! We do not need to super size, ever, we do not need to have a 2l cup of coke with our meal. You can eat what ever you want if you just eat a little of it, simple, right?!

We recently watched the documentary Forks over Knives which presents mind-blowing research on the correlation between animal protein and heart disease, cancer and [place wide spread illness that will kill you early here]. They also point out the link between “growing” animals and the burden on the planet. The grains grown to feed the animals we will eat would feed all 7 billion of us…

One line in particular I kept in mind, when looking at the ingredients! (not the “nutrition chart”, or front side claims) of any product you buy read them and if your grandma wouldn’t understand what’s in it, don’t buy it.

Anyways, since we have been in sort of a funk despite our circumstances being great, we needed to make some changes. Cold turkey (no pun intended) is not the way for us though, we have too many animal based items still in the fridge and freezer that I don’t want to waste. We will have meat once or twice a week at home.

Grocery shopping has changed a lot, I think I managed to get a 80/20 ratio. 80% plant based foods and 20% animal based foods. Not bad. Recipes will follow soon!

Some more details:

• Water resistant, extra durable (machine-washable). – I see a diaper bag in my future
• Large main compartment and 2 front pockets.
• Lightweight and forms to your body.
• Quick-adjust cam shoulder strap.
• Velcro strips accessory system; Holds a 13” laptop w/optional sleeve

Now you know my focus is more on cuteability so here we go:

Cute Owls in Love on Teal Polkas Messenger Bag by camolove

Silver Zigzag Messenger Bag by camolove

Colorful Polka Dots Messenger Bag by camolove

Cute Modern Owls Messenger Bag (blue & chocolate) by camolove

Pink Camo Messenger Bag by camolove

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3. Your facebook profile ID:

4. Share our facebook page with your friends!

Thanks!

Dani!

Enjoy these 0 calorie treats