Friday Favorites: Quarantine Week 18

Hi friends! How are you doing out there?

It’s been another weird week in the books for me. I cannot believe that I am typing another Friday Favorites post with Quarantine in the title, much less that it’s nearing the end of Week 18. Four months have gone by, and it blows my mind. Holy moly!

There is a lot that is feeling repetitive at this point, and we are doing our best to continue to make the best of this time we have together. I don’t have any specific plans on deck this weekend, but we might get crazy and eat outside at a local restaurant to celebrate an upcoming wedding anniversary. (With masks in tow, of course.)

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait until I can fill these weekly recaps with more than what’s going on in our few mile radius of Brooklyn. It’s such a tease to be living in New York City and not being able to see much of it! But, it is what it is.

On a more amusing note, let’s dive into this week’s faves and chat about what we’ve been loving, shall we? I’d love it if you left one thing that made your week in the comments, too!

LATEST FAVES — QUARANTINE WEEK 18

• ready-to-use minced and peeled garlic

I thought Scott was really onto something years ago when he introduced me to a garlic press tool that made mincing garlic a lot easier. He was, but steps that are even more simple than that do exist!

I found the bags of peeled and ready-to-mince garlic cloves at Trader Joe’s several months ago, and I have been buying them ever since. And then Scott brought this little jar of goodness home one day and blew my mind once again.

I’m probably the last person to realize that these jars exist, but just in case you were totally in the dark about them, like me, here you go. I now keep this jar in our refrigerator on the regular, and it takes approximately two seconds to get the amount of minced garlic that I need while cooking.

Genuis!

• improvising the water table in a city apartment

There are challenges about living in an apartment versus a house, in my opinion, and not having access to a backyard or a garage for storage has to be the biggest ones for me. Now that we have a toddler to entertain, I’m realizing how ideal it would be to our own private outdoor space for him to run, play, and get dirty from time to time.

Skyler has discovered a lot of new things during this period of quarantine, and water tables is one of them. We’ve seen several different groups of kids playing with them on the front of their stoops, and we’ve been tempted to get one … but we really don’t have the place to store it.

He has been all about playing in water this summer, so we do what we can to help him have fun and stay cool. We go to playgrounds with water fountains or splash pads, and we set him up to play in the water at the sink or in the bathtub if it’s a rainy day.

I realized how much he loves playing in the sink when I started having him help me cook and clean the dishes up afterwards, and he would stand just like you see in the picture above for an hour if I let him. It’s so cute to see, and the cheapest indoor entertainment we’ve had yet!

• clean, mineral facial sunscreen

If you haven’t looked at the ingredients on the bottle of sunscreen that you use every day this summer, I strongly urge you to do so. If you can’t pronounce the majority of what you see, then the odds are that it’s loaded with harmful ingredients that you had no idea you were exposing yourself to. *sigh*

Y’all know I love my Beautycounter products, but let’s circle back to the why for a minute. Even more than the amazing, high-performing products, I love that the company continuously advocates to change our clean beauty laws and fights to ban more harmful ingredients that any company is allowed to put out for consumers to buy. (Read more about this on the Clean Beauty page.)

So, I’m a big believer in sunscreen and can’t recommend that you use a mineral sunscreen if you aren’t already enough. The good news is Beautycounter only carries clean and safer-for-you things you need from skincare to makeup to sun protection for your entire family, with one of the newest products being this daily facial sunscreen from the Countersun line.

It’s meant for everyday use and to layer after your moisturizer and before your makeup. It has SPF 25 that provides protection from UVA, UVB, and HEV blue light rays. I really love that it feels lightweight, and it doesn’t leave a layer of white to blend in.

You can shop the full line here, and please reach out if you’re new to Beautycounter (I have a 20% off promo code for you!) or if you need any help with anything at all.

• salsa shredded chicken

If you’ve never tried cooking chicken in the slow cooker, it literally couldn’t be easier to do. My favorite recipe only involves two ingredients, and some salt and pepper if you’re feeling fancy.

Step 1: Put boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the slow cooker.

Step 2: Cover it with 2 cups of your favorite salsa.

Step 3: Cook on HIGH for 4 hours, and your chicken will be easily shredable.

It’s that simple!

My friend introduced me to this technique while on a girls’ trip in the mountains, and I couldn’t believe I had never tried it before. I’ve been doing so ever since, and here’s an actual recipe to follow if you need one.

We use salsa shredded chicken for tacos, taco bowls, salads, and more!

• latest workouts

Well, my workouts were all over the place last week. In fact, I didn’t even get around to doing them Wednesday or Thursday. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but when my intentions are to complete one, I do get disappointed at the end of the day when I haven’t.

I’m taking this as a lesson to squeeze them in earlier in the day!

Anyways, here’s a peek into the workouts I got to …

Friday: LIL At-Home Tabata Strength Workout With Resistance Bands

Saturday: 30-minute Butt and Abs Pilates Workout with Jake Dupree via POPSUGAR Fitness

Sunday: REST, and a long family walk around the neighborhood

Monday: 3.5 mile run around the park

Tuesday: Full Body HIIT Workout With Weights via Heather Robertson, I needed this push for strength and power movements that included some cardio.

Wednesday: REST

Thursday: REST

• favorite LIL posts

» 12 Minute Do-Anywhere Bodyweight Workout

Whether I only have limited time to work out, or I am looking for something to complete my cardio session for the day, I have been turning to these types of workouts more and more. It took me just over ten minutes to complete, so I challenge you to try it in 12 minutes or less!

» WIAW: A Day of Healthy, Effortless Meals

Highlighting a full day of healthy, yet effortless meals that you can throw together in a pinch! (And a throwback to What I Ate Wednesday posts.)

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All right, it’s time for me to wrap things up and get back to my Friday with my little partner in crime. Thank you for checking in today.

Have a wonderful weekend and be well!

*Disclaimer: Friday Favorites posts may contain affiliate links. Also, I am a Beautycounter consultant and love what I do with the company. By using the links provided in this post to order products, you are supporting my business. I always appreciate you!