SELF - C.A.R.E Sunday 🌷

Hey,

I’m so excited to share all the goodies I’ve been loving with you!

I’ve learned that to feel truly well, you have to craft your lifestyle from a holistic lens. That means incorporating more activities, moments, and habits that bring you joy in every area.

So this one recipe is not going to completely change your health. Finding your life partner is not going to make you happy with yourself. And buying that cute outfit will not make all your friends and family praise you.

But I hope by sharing with you the little things that compound together to create a life that I love and enjoy fully, you can create the same 💖

Let’s get into it:

SELF - C.A.R.E.

Cooking: I can’t stop making this cucumber dip with homemade crackers!

You’ll get to know this from me, but I am 100% the girlie who just throws things together and sees what happens when cooking.

I never follow recipes or measure ingredients out so with all my recipes, the measurements are my best estimate, so always always adjust the amounts to your own flavor preferences! Add whatever you want and get creative, that’s the fun of cooking 👩‍🍳

Cucumber Dip Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Grass-fed plain whole milk Greek yogurt

• 1 organic cucumber

• Juice from half a lemon

• 1 tbsp minced garlic

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp S + P

• HERBS (I add oregano, dill, parsley, and sometimes rosemary. BUT you can add whatever herbs you love! This is where all the yummy flavor & healing properties come from)

Directions: 

1. Grate cucumber with a cheese grater.

2. Squeeze cucumber water out using a cheesecloth…

*Pause for a bonus recipe tangent

🥒😎Cucumber Water Refresher:

Use your cucumber water for a hydrating drink while you make your dip and crackers!

Ingredients:

• Water from 1 cucumber

• Juice from half a lemon

• ½ cup coconut water

• Ice

Directions:

1. Squeeze cucumber water into your drinking cup

2. Squeeze lemon into the cup

3. Pour ½ cup coconut water

4. Drop ice to fill your glass

5. Enjoy!

3. Place cucumber shreds into a medium-sized serving bowl

4. Add Greek yogurt to the bowl

5. Squeeze lemon juice

6. Add garlic, EVOO, S+P, & herbs

7. Mix and Enjoy! Store in the fridge if your crackers aren’t ready.

This is my go-to vessel for this dip: Homemade Sourdough Crackers Recipe

If you don’t have sourdough starter, this brand of crackers has a good ingredient list. I’ve seen them at Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Safeway.

OR I’ve also made this flatbread to go with it and it’s amazing!

I know, so many options! Sorry, you’ll just have to make it multiple times 😉

Art: This watercolor painting workbook is bringing me so much joy.

Last year I started doing paint-by-number as a way to decompress in the evenings and weekend afternoons. It helped me access a flow state which was so wonderful for creativity and mental health.

In March, I bought myself this watercolor workbook for my birthday, thinking my artistic abilities were as good as the paint-by-number made me look 😅 When I realized how challenging and imperfect watercolor painting is, I resisted it. But this week I’m back and learning to enjoy the creative process.

These dainty flowers are such a vibe and working with the water, and mixing colors to make my own shades is a lot of fun!

Reading: I’m reading Molly’s Game. This is the true story of Molly Bloom and how she built the number one poker game in the world.

I’m not into poker at all, but I’ve listened to her story on a few podcasts and it is WILD. So when I saw her book at the library I instantly picked it up. Even though I know how her story ends up, I always prefer the detail and emotional connection that comes from reading.

I’m like ¾ through this book and it truly has it all — the rags to riches roller coaster, celebrities behind closed doors, and losing everything before learning your life’s lesson. (And when I was getting the link to the book for you, I realized, Molly’s Game is also a movie on Netflix. Might have to watch today 🤔)

(Also, if you don’t have a library card, get one now! I was buying so many books until a few months ago and buying made me hesitant to explore books outside my norm. By signing up for a library card you can explore freely and also get audiobooks on two different apps. The Molly’s Game audiobook is on there if you want to listen)

Enthusiasm: I’m obsessing over my herb garden lately. I’ve been trying to grow all my favorite things, but the vegetables and flowers are not nearly as effortless or abundant as herbs. 

I planted dill, basil, mint, chives, lavender, rosemary, oregano, and cilantro from seeds and literally only 2 weeks later they were all popping off.

Now I incorporate fresh herbs in every single meal and make daily herbal teas with them which honestly feels like a spa for my insides. 

I’ve been one of those girlies who spends insane amounts of money on supplements, and now I’ve stopped taking them all because nature’s medicine genuinely makes a difference in the way I feel and the chemical extraction of a random vitamin never really did.

(Except I still do take my propolis spray daily, but that’s the only supplement now! And that little spray does feel as magical as the herbs)

Highly recommend having herbs at home because they grow in almost any environment super easily so there’s no need to pick them out at the store — which always grossed me out 😬 I know I’m a bit dramatic but seeing them sitting on the shelf felt icky and I didn’t want them 🤷

If you can’t wait for your own seeds to pop before soaking in all the herbal benefits, I found this cute shop where the girl handmakes herbal blends from whatever is growing in her personal garden.

What have you been loving this week? Reply and let me know your thoughts on my reflection or share yours!

Talk to you next time <3 Have a great week!

🤍 Jaclyn

P.S. Sunday SELF - C.A.R.E. is bi-weekly, so I won’t be sending the next one until 6/29. BUT my ebook, 6 Pillars of Holistic Well-Being, is dropping next Sunday! 

So you will be getting that from me :)

I’ve been working on this ebook for almost a year now, trying to organize every single thing I did to get out of the grasp of diet culture, low self-esteem, and constant stress.

It’ll be a lot at once so read at your own pace, at a time in your life that feels right 💜

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it all!

To read more like this, head to my blog 🫶