Welcome to Wellness2013 - A whole new year, a whole new outlook and a lot to look forward to. Last year we realized we had outgrown the current space we‘ve been renting since opening our SalonSpa in August 2011 . We learned, to remain an independently owned small business, we’d need to find a suitable space in a different location. We found our {permanent} SalonSpa home at 515 N. 7th Street - it‘s natural and serene yet right in the city of Medford. With one month left of our current lease, we’re getting pretty excited to open the doors to the new BellaZenn SalonSpa! Don’t worry, we’ll still offer all of the Earth friendly, non-toxic choices we do, we’re just expanding our space, our services menu and our professional product lines to better serve YOU, our client friends.
February is the last month to use original Eartha Naturals gift certificates for services with Chelsea, Erin, Jessica or Vanessa. Please call soon to set up an appointment, our appointments fill quickly! We have a temporary number to reach our appointment desk directly, (715) 965-1226. BellaZenn gift certificates WILL be transferable to our new location.
Suffering from the winter blues? We have a refreshing SalonSpa Service to Experience! Come in and let us help you get away for a little while. For the month of February you can receive the Organic Facial and Ritual Element Pedicure, a $95 value, for $80!!
Mark you calendar for February 22-24. Our new SalonSpa will be making its debut as part of the Medford Area Chamber of Commerce’s Destination Medford Women’s Weekend 2013. We might not have all the decorating quite perfected but our doors will be open for tours and friendly faces as we’re a stop on the Wine Walk. We are pleased to announce we have Registered Nurse and Certified Aroma Therapist, Terri Hubbard, joining our team. She’ll be an educator during Women’s Weekend, teaching “The Alternative Medicine Chest”, an introductory class about the beneficial use of essential oils. For more information about Women’s Weekend please visit www.medfordwis.com or call the Chamber at (715) 748-4729. A list of Terri’s services will be available in our updated menus which will be available soon.
And, last but not least, our Good for You Recipe this month is a guilt free version of the Girl Scout cookie classic…The Samoa. We found this recipe on the Real Sustenance Facebook page. For more guilt/gluten/dairy free recipes, here is the website- www.realsustenance.com
Gluten Free Samoa Cookies
Crust: 2 Cups Blanched Almond Flour, 1 T Tapioca, Arrowroot or Potato Starch, 3 T Butter, Ghee, Earth Balance or Coconut Oil, 1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar, 1/8 tsp Salt, 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda, 1 T Vanilla Extract or Water, 1 T Applesauce
Caramel: 3/4 Cup Butter/ Earth Balance/ or Coconut Oil, 1 1/4 Cup ” Brown Sugar” (note: this can be regular brown sugar or Sucanat or Palm Sugar), 1/4 Cup Liquid Sugar (Agave, Coconut Nectar, Brown Rice Syrup, or Corn Syrup), 6 oz (half a can) of heavy Coconut Milk (Mimic Cream or regular heavy cream also work), 1/2 Tsp Salt.
Topping: Chocolate Chips (melted in microwave), Toasted Unsweetened Coconut Flakes. (toast in oven in pan at 350, 5-8 minutes)
Please Note : Due to the fact that this is a shortbread cookie crust- it is on the crumbly side. I found that it was a little bit difficult to cut out each cookie and then also cut out the inner circle. That was- until I tried using my awesome donut cutter! If you don’t want to bother sourcing this tool or something similar- you can just cut the cookies into circles (or another fun shape) They will still turn out really gorgeous!
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Make the shortbread crust. In a food processor (or by hand) combine all of the crust ingredients. The dough should hold together. Roll the dough out between 2 sheets of parchment paper to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into rings or circles (see note above). Cut out the dough soon after you make it, as it sits out it will begin to feel oily and it won’t hold together quite as well. 3. Carefully place the cut-out cookies on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes. Keep a careful watch on them the last few minutes to avoid burning. (note: cookies will come out soft and somewhat chewy- they will gain their shortbread texture as they cool!)Remove from oven. While they are cooling, make the caramel. 4. Combine all of the Caramel ingredients in a heavy bottomed sauce pan and bring to a gentle boil. Using a candy thermometer keep track of the temperature. Remove the caramel from heat once it reaches 248 degrees. 5. Spoon the hot caramel onto the cookies (you will only need about a T or less per cookies) Sprinkle the toasted coconut flakes on top of the hot caramel before it cools. 6. Melt chocolate chips in your microwave (stirring every 30 seconds until smooth). Dip the bottom of each cookie into the melted chocolate. Place the cookies on a sheet of clean parchment paper. Drizzle the tops with some more chocolate to give the Samoa’s their classic look. 7. Set aside and let the chocolate set. (In a hurry to try one? Place them in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes).
Thanks for reading this edition of Welcome to Wellness. This is brought to you by the Beauty and Wellness Professionals of BellaZenn SalonSpa. If you haven’t already, be sure to “like” BellaZenn SalonSpa on Facebook! You can find a link to follow our Wellness blog there. We hope your day is wonderfully well!