Yesterday afternoon I received a little surprise gift!

And today, because the day dawned gray, rainy and much colder than my weather app forecast at bedtime last night(!), I decided to break out the new goods.

In general, I can be one of those people who receive nice bath products and then allow them to gather dust in my closet ‘saving’ them for a special occasion.  I am SO SO glad I did not do that with these. Instead,  I spent the whole day enjoying how great I smelled!

The whole regime began with the lemon-sage body scrub.  After reading the directions (yes, I’m one of those people), I spent the specified five minutes scrubbing down prior to jumping in the shower.  I have never done that before ~ and it makes a HUGE difference! I followed up my skin polish with  lemon-sage body wash, and then, the “cherry on the top”, if you will (aaaaand, I will!), the vanilla+bergamot body butter.  Oh. My. Goodness.  You know how sometimes moisturizer, despite all the promises on the label, just fails to impress?  As in, it’s greasy, it doesn’t spread well … it feels heavy and thick on your skin?

Not. This. Stuff.  Seriously.  One of the best moisturizers I have ever used.  And I’m a bit of a product snob, because I’m a little vain about my skin.  AND.  To top it all off?  I smelled like an elegant vanilla sugar cookie.  I can’t even begin to find the words to articulate what a great bath experience.

And on a work day!

It helped keep my spirits up during the incredibly gloomy day.

Even better, Lucy was an absolute peach all day, so there was very little clean up when I got home.  Whoo Hoo!!!!  It made me get a little experimental with dinner.  I’d been craving polenta all day, so I tried to use what we had in the fridge and make a polenta lasagna.

It ended up being a little more like a Polenta Mac & Cheese.  But, it was yummy.

What I Used:

1 pkg organic polenta, sliced thin

2 large portobello caps, sliced

1 pkg Italian grated cheese

1/4c.  Colby Jack grated cheese

1/4c. heavy cream (optional)

1/4c. dry white wine

S & P

Garlic Powder

EVOO

What I did:

Preheat oven to 350.

1.  In a saucepan, combine sliced portobello, a healthy pour of EVOO, salt, pepper and garlic salt to taste.  Cook until mushrooms soften.

2.  In a greased glass casserole dish, line bottom with a layer of polenta.  Sprinkle half the package of Italian cheese.  Layer 3/4 of the mushrooms evenly on top of cheese.

3.  Use remaining polenta to create a second layer on top of the mushrooms.  Sprinkle the remaining half of the cheese, and finish off with the remaining mushrooms, and the 1/4c Colby Jack (I used it because I ran out of Italian cheese, so it’s really all about improvising!)

4.  Whisk together the cream and wine and drizzle evenly across the top (I did this to prevent it from drying up and burning, which happened to a  dish the man & I made a few weeks ago … I didn’t want to waste good mushrooms by allowing them to shrivel up!).

5. Pop in the oven for about 20 minutes (it should be bubbling!) and then allow to cool for at least five.  Enjoy your polenta mac & cheese with a nice glass of vino, and (as I did) some grilled asparagus!

Now, for some HGTV this gloomy Wednesday night.  I just love Property Brothers!