What I’ve learned today

What I’ve learned today?

Few key facts about sunscreen that I didn’t know. Before you head off to the store to grab some, please read this, make a note and be much safer this summer (well, and whole year round).

The good:

Things you want in your sunscreen:

ZINC, TITANIUM DIOXIDE, AVOBENZONE OR MEXORYL SX

Types of sunscreen to buy:

CREAM, BETWEEN 30-50 SPF, WATER RESISTANT, MADE FOR POOL AND EXERCISE

The bad:

Things you don‘t want in your sunscreen:

OXYBENZONE, VITAMIN A (retinyl palmitate), ADDED INSECT REPELLENT (buy it separately and apply before the sunscreen)

Types of sunscreen not to buy:

SPRAYS, POWDERS, SPF ABOVE 50

Why Vitamin A? Studies show that even small amounts of it in the sunscreen significantly speed the growth of tumors and lesions in lab animals, something that FDA will not tell you about. The kicker is that over 40% of sunscreens out there have this ingredient and promoting it as a “good thing”. Why oxybenzone? Mostly bad for children, experts say that oxybenzone penetrates the skin and is associated with allergic reactions and potential hormone disruption.

As for the 50 SPF or higher, it doesn’t really give you more protection and people tend to use less when the SPF is 80 or 100 thinking that they are safe. Also we don’t tend to use enough, you should use at least a shot glass and re-apply often…even though it’s pain in the &%s, but sure better than cancer.

So there, that’s what I’ve learned today.

What Most Protein Powders Do To Your Brain!

Very interesting and worth knowing. Please listen to this, it only is 4 min. and it might change the way you think about your diet.

Easy Tomato Basil Lasagna

I made this earlier this week and wanted to share the recipe with you. We didn't have any meat at home and I decided to come up with a vegetarian lasagna (and I wanted to use the wonderful basil that we have growing). It's meatless, healthy and tastes great the next day.

What you need:

1/2 pack of whole wheat lasagna noodles

1 container of grape tomatoes

handful of FRESH basil

1 can of (low sodium) tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic (can do more if you want)

1/2 tbsp. of olive oil

1 tsp. of butter

1 egg

1 container of low-fat ricotta cheese

some part skim mozzarella and any hard cheese you have (Pecorino Romano, Parmesan etc.)

1 tbsp. dry oregano (optional)

salt & pepper

How to:

Soak the pasta in hot water for about 20 minutes (use really hot water not warm!).

Chop the garlic, heat up a pan with the butter and olive oil then add the garlic. Watch out, don't burn it like I did!! Add the tomatoes, sprinkle some salt and pepper, cover and simmer on medium heat for about 15-20 minutes until the tomatoes can be easily crushed with a fork.

In a bowl, mix the ricotta, oregano, some salt, pepper and 1 egg. Set aside.

Chop the basil, you should have at least a cup of it if not more. Don't be stingy here. When you rinse it, I like to throw it in a salad spinner, but you can just simply dry it with a paper towel.

Now, when the tomatoes are cooked, gently (watch out, it might spray) pierce/crush them with a fork, throw in the basil and cook for two minutes. Now, depending on how juicy and big your tomatoes are, if you don't have that much sauce add the can of tomatoes.

Next, assemble. Spray a baking dish (whatever size you have if fine, you will have more or less layers, no biggie) with cooking spray on all sides and bottom. Layer it with the noodles, then the ricotta mix, then sliced/shredded mozzarella and parmesan, then with the tomato basil sauce. And repeat until you are done. Finish with the noodle layer and sprinkle some mozzarella and parmesan on top.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Let it stand for few minutes before cutting. Yum!

Birthday Breakfast

See what's cooking.
Rustic, homemade birthday breakfast that works great for any occasion and doesn't take all day to make.

click here for more.

See what's for dinner

Visit my Royal Perry Girl blog, to get a delicious Coconut Curry Chicken with a Kick recipe. It's whats for dinner and it only takes 25 minutes to make!!!

What's New in the Royal Perry store

Few new things that I was able to add to the Royal Perry store, between finishing custom jewelry pieces, invitations and studying, I sneaked in a couple of necklaces.


What makes them special, are these one of a kind vintage, carved glass pendants. I have them in several colors and slowly working through all of them. Such fun to mix and match stones, pearls and other materials.