A Fresh Green Smoothie

With this cold weather, I just want to stay indoors by the fire and eat carbs all day. Cold weather doesn't exactly scream salads, am I right?
To get more of the green stuff in my diet and to keep my little ones busy, I'm forcing myself to get back on the green smoothie train. My go to recipes for green smoothies can be found here.
Unfortunately, I'm not really clear on whether or not almond milk is safe for baby, so I'm avoiding it to be on the safe side. Lately, we've been making smoothies for the entire family (baby included) and this is our new go to:

Do you have any veggie rich recipes that you crave during the cold months? I'd love to add some tasty veggies to my stack of go-to recipes.
Stay warm y'all! And drink all your veggies :)

Clean Eating | Pizza + Smoothies

Y'all, I have to make a little confession. After last week's clean eating post, I took the weekend to get back on track and was doing pretty well. I say was because I threw everything out the window on Monday night. 

I was all set to cook a healthy meal and then the hubby ask if I wanted to order pizza. Well, you don't have to ask me twice. Pizza was up there as one of my top five foods (along with ice cream, of course). You'll notice I said was again. You see, after a prideful moment of only eating 2 slices for dinner as opposed to my normal half a pizza, Tuesday morning happened. 

All of the junk that I had been eating for the last month + that darn pizza made me feel awful. I woke up on Tuesday with a puffy face, more tired than usual, and pants that felt tight - haven't had that feeling for a few months. Plus, I noticed that my 4 month old's skin was breaking out a little (whatever I'm eating, she will eventually consume through milk). 

I know that all of this wasn't just the pizza, but my body was telling me that all of the salt in that pizza and that greasy cheese was not welcome anymore. I spent most of yesterday drinking large quantities of water and oddly craving green smoothies. I ended up making a green smoothie for breakfast and another one for dinner. 

I've always been a pizza kind of girl, but things have drastically changed over the past few months. . .  and I'm not hating it. 

I promised a smoothie recipe, so here it is. This is the base for most (if not all) of my green breakfast anytime smoothies. 

1-2 big handfuls of spinach (frozen or fresh)

1 frozen banana

1 cup of almond milk (or water)

Directions: Blend until smooth and drink up!

Simply by adding a spoonful of peanut butter, you get one of my favorite morning treats. 

To the basic recipe, you can add all sorts of fun things (berries / kale / soaked chia seeds / coconut oil) to make a completely different smoothie. 

Just use the basic smoothie recipe as a guide and add whatever flavor combinations that you think would work. I usually put half spinach / half kale in my smoothies, but spinach will give beginners a smooth and creamy texture to start. Kale makes the smoothie a bit gritty unless you have a super fancy blender, which I do not. 

I really do crave these smoothies now and they are so easy to make. Also, you can buy spinach in bulk and pop the entire bag in the freezer for smoothies. I easily go through an entire (frozen) bag for smoothies, when I use to toss half of it after letting it go bad in the fridge before I discovered smoothies. Veggies for breakfast. . . definitely not a bad thing. 

Do you have a super delicious + healthy smoothie recipe you'd like to share with me? I'm always looking for a better variety for the hubs - I could stick to the PB smoothies everyday and never tire of it, but I'm a little odd like that. 

Fall Update in Photos

We made a last minute trip to Raleigh for the Bugfest in September.  You heard that right.  It was a festival to celebrate BUGS.

 Local restaurants in Raleigh made gourmet pizza, asian slaw, and even ice cream... all with worms or grasshoppers mixed in somehow.  I did not partake in the tasting of these creations.  I cannot say the same for Ellington.

 She ate every last chocolate covered grasshopper on the plate. YUCK!  It may have had something to do with the fact that the grasshoppers were covered in chocolate or maybe she is already an adventurous eater. :)

By far, her favorite activity was watching the musicians preform.  This little lady loves music!

 After the festival, we went back to Corey's house (my little sister's boyfriend) to hangout and eat dinner.  Of course, Ellington was just thrilled that Aunt CC's dog was there to play with her.  Ellington even had some fun with a stick on mustache that she found inside.  After this picture was taken, she spent several minutes trying to make the poor dogs wear the mustache.  Unfortunately, I did not capture this on camera.

 She had even more fun playing inside a big box tent.  At different point during the afternoon the box was a hiding spot, a tent, a reading nook, a house, a slide, and even a trampoline.  She's got quite the imagination.

 In October, we went to a new Korean restaurant to celebrate our Birmingham condo being SOLD!  Ellington got very messy eating her Korean spaghetti (I'm not sure what it is actually called in Korean).

 Also in October, we went to the Duck Festival.  We went last year and Ellington loved all of the animals they had on display.  This year, she was not the least bit impressed by any of the animals.

 She spent most of her time at the coloring wall.  It was really hard to get her to leave this wall.

Before she left, she tried to clean up all of the crayons by putting every single one away.  She wasn't satisfied with the crayons dumped into the big box, so she tried to put them each back in the smaller crayon boxes.  Why isn't she this particular with her toys at home?

Fall has had a great start!

Some Great Deals from Some Lovely Ladies

This post was going to be a few pictures of my latest DIY project, but I am a little under the weather today and a nap for me during Ellington's nap time was my first priority.  So instead of a post about me and my stuff, I'll introduce you to some of my favorite bloggers and the great products that they offer!  Full disclosure:  One of the bloggers is my super talented cousin and the other is a long ago co-worker who I just love to pieces.  Even if I had never met either of these women, I would still be big fans of their blogs!

First up is my very creative cousin, Abbey.  She is a genius when it comes to gourmet meals on a tight budget!  She also has two little kids, so I love reading her blog for the healthy kid-friendly recipes.  I am no chef (I love to bake, but somehow I manage to mess things up when I cook meals), but my family has raved over the meals I have made from Abbey's blog.  She makes things so easy!  Anywho, she makes 'Meals in a Basket' and 'Desserts in Bag' for the Davidson / Cornelius / and Huntersville, NC areas.  From now until Easter Sunday, all baskets / bags are 15% off!!  Stop by to purchase a meal (great gifts!) and read her blog while you're there.

via Naptime Diaries etsy shop

Next up is Jessi from Naptime Diaries.  She is a lovely lady with a super generous heart and a friendly personality.  If you ever meet her in person, you will instantly understand why everyone loves her so much.  She has a way of making you feel like you are the most important person at the moment when talking to her - great quality to have!  Reading her blog definitely meets her goal of making it feel like you are at a coffee date with her, instead of reading something off of the internet.  She is also an amazingly creative person.  She has a etsy shop that sells prints & gifts (mostly scripture based, but she also does custom prints).  Today ONLY, she is having an amazing sale - 40% off of your order!!!  Just use coupon code: FORTY. Act now people... this is a great deal!

Happy Friday, y'all!  Support these awesome ladies and gain a lovely meal or gorgeous art while you are at it!

Satisfying an Independent Eater

Ellington is finally eating solid foods!  For a while, I thought she might be eating milk until she went to high school...  why did I think this?  Well, Ellington refused to eat pureed anything!  We tried bananas, sweet potatoes, pears, peas, squash, apple sauce, cereals & nothing was to her liking.  See the evidence below:

She would take a few bites and then lock her mouth shut & throw away the key.  The doctor said that some stubborn more independent babies would not eat purees and, instead, wait to enjoy solid foods when they were able to feed themselves.  Well, she was right!  Unfortunately, Ellington's favorite finger food seems to be teething cookies = $$.

I decided to try out a recipe from Everyday Champagne in an attempt to save a little money, give Elli a healthier version of the store bought teething cookies, & use up some of that baby cereal that I too eagerly stocked up on in the early days of solid food feeding.  It was really easy!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup baby cereal
• 1 cup puree (I used apple sauce)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp allspice

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl
2. Shape mixture into rectangular shaped cookies & place on baking sheet
3. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes
4. Remove cookies, place on oven-safe cooling pack & return to oven
5. Bake an additional 10 minutes
6. Let the cookies cool & enjoy

They will last on the counter for 3 days & in the fridge for 2 weeks, but I don't think that this batch will last more than a few days with our little cookie monster hanging around.

Check out Abbey at Everyday Champagne.  She has tons of tips on how to make these fantastic cookies for your little one.

New Year's Resolutions

Maybe I'm just really late with my new year's resolutions, but let's say I'm just getting a 2 month head start.

The start of fall and the fact that my little one is pretty independent nowadays has made me want to get my butt in gear and start anew.  So, I may need some help / encouragement / a friendly reminder to stick with the following resolutions:

1. Start each Sunday with 'Meal Planning' for the week.  I hope to completely plan out, at least, 4 dinners and possibly cook them ahead of time.  
2. Exercise 2-3 times a week.  I get a lot of exercise chasing the little one around the house, but I need to schedule a few times a week to actually go on a run or hit the gym / workout video.  This seems to be a reoccurring resolution.
3. Thank 5 people in my life each week.  This means actually take the time to write out thank you notes to anyone from the Starbucks barista to a close friend... just because.  More about this resolution on Thursday.
4. Finally, I would love to actually take time each week to learn Korean.  My daughter will eventually learn the language and I don't want to have to rely on her to be my translator with my in-laws or worry that my kids are talking behind my back in Korean.

So there they are.  I wanted to keep the list small, so I wouldn't get overwhelmed.  After I get a few resolutions checked off, I'm sure I will have a few more to add (maybe in time for the real New Year). 

PS.  Don't be afraid to ask me about these every now and again.  I need somebody to hold me accountable. :)  Happy New Year!

What the Fig?!

A few weeks ago my sister gave me some figs from her boyfriend's backyard. Sounds delicious, right? I mean, I love fig newtons... no? That doesn't count? Okay, I had no clue what to do with figs.

With a quick google search, I got tons of recipes. Yay! Then, I realized that I don't have half of the other ingredients I needed to create each dish. Boo! Who has a leg of lamb in their fridge anyway? & what in the heck is creme de cassis? I guess I need to gain some experience in the kitchen. :)

I stumbled upon the website supercook.com and I have fallen in love with it! You add ingredients that you already have in your kitchen and it tells you what recipes you can make. Even if you don't have everything you need, the website lists the ingredients you would need to complete each recipe. Easy to use and super easy to put dinner together with this website.

Anywho, I found a simple recipe for making Lemon Fig Chicken. All I did was add equal parts of water, white vinegar, and brown sugar to lemon slices and figs.

Pop it in the oven with chicken on top & viola!

A wonderful dinner in no time at all. It was eaten by all. I tried to pretend like I made the recipe, but the hubby saw straight through that one.

I am very hopeful that I will eventually be able to do this whole cooking thing on my own. Someday.

Our Adventures in Baby Food

I'd Like a Pizza... Hold the Cheese

A while back I made the 1% change commitment to cut out the processed cheese in my life. Everything has gone pretty smoothly and we even made some delicious pizza WITHOUT cheese. It was absolutely delicious!

Instead of cheese, we filled the pizza up with yummy veggies, deer meat (from a recent trip to PA with a friend), pepperoni, peppers, onions, spinach, and a little marinara sauce. After loading up the dough, I just popped it in the oven. Then, voila! The perfect cheese-less pizza!

4th of July Inspiration

We will not be hosting a 4th of July party this year due to lack of deck decor, but I still have dreams of the perfect 4th of July party planned out in my head. I hope to one day get all of these ideas out of my head. Until then, you'll just have to look at other parties that I use as my inspiration:

Patriotic Cheesecake Shots? Yes, please! Perfect for a grown up or kid friendly gathering.

There is not a thing that I dislike about this spread. Simply change the color scheme to red, white, and blue and you are all set for the 4th of July. The cute / simple cupcake toppers are just perfect and I LOVE the hanging mason jars... maybe label them with I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-C-E for the 4th?

These starbursts are just a fun little project to make the background pop :)

And who can take their eyes off of this gorgeous paper background? Changing out the greys and yellows for red, white, and blue will make all of those folded circles look just like mini fireworks at your party. Love it!

Happy Party Planning!

Reposted from DeclutterizeYourHome.blogspot.com :)

1% Changes - Week Three

Portion Control. I need to learn what a portion is and eat just that (not the entire tub of cookies). Hehe. Yes, I did eat an entire tub of delicious Trader Joe's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and I am not ashamed. I probably should be, but I'm not. Talk about being out of control. As I was eating them I thought about telling John to make me stop, but I didn't because I knew he would take them away from me and I really wanted to finish them off. :) Oh well, they're just calories.

So, this week I am going to focus on learning what one serving size actually looks like and then eating just ONE serving. I can't say that I am too happy about this 1% change. I prefer not to know that my favorite snack will cost me half my calories for the day or that I have actually been eating triple the amount of calories I should consume a day in snack alone. (gasp) This will be a difficult lesson to learn (& follow).

Hopefully, this change will stick & I will not go back to mindlessly eat cookies without at least looking down at the label first.

1% Changes - Week Two

So, the no salt thing worked out great. It was really easy to cut extra salt from my diet, but eating grits or oatmeal without salt is not something I would suggest. This week is another small change... NO CHEESE!

Cheese is not a staple in my diet and I will allow myself to occasionally eat the good stuff. I am basically cutting out all of that processed why-are-all-the-ingredients-chemicals cheese that I love so much. I will learn to like the good stuff eventually. A major challenge will be pizza. I. LOVE. PIZZA. It's one of those foods that I could eat everyday for the rest of my life. Why is all of the good stuff, so bad for you?

I am going to attempt a cheeseless pizza this weekend. Any recipe suggestions?

I am NOT a Cook...

...but I play one on blogland. haha. I crack myself up :) All kidding aside, I really am not a cook. I love baking, but cooking a main course is not my idea of relaxing. Maybe it's because you can lick the mixing bowl after making brownies, but not so much after making a marinade. Or maybe it's because I used to be a vegetarian, hate handling meat, and never really took the time to learn how to properly cook meat (I've always left it up to John to tell me whether or not the meat is fully cooked).

I am trying to conquer my weakness in the kitchen this year and I have been more than encouraged to do so by the hubby, who I think is getting sick of my four go-to recipes (common though, they are quick, easy & only have a few ingredients). That brings me to one of my big obstacles when cooking... I have a fear of too many ingredients. Duh Duh Dun

After many hints dropped by the hubby, I decided to try out a recipe for Chicken Marsala (found on my cousin's blog Everyday Champagne). After seeing all of the ingredients and the fact that you cook on the stove AND in the oven my inner voice was saying, "I can't do this. It's going to be way too hard. I'll mess it up. There are too many ingredients! It's going to cost too much money and waste too much time." I reluctantly decided to attempt the recipe and it turned out GREAT! Success at last! It was easy and I have gotten several requests for repeats. :) Thanks Abbey!

Follow the recipe below or visit Everyday Champagne for more easy recipes.

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Chicken (2 pieces of dark meat or 1 breast / person), skin-on & bone-in preferred

1 Medium Onion, Chopped

Cremini Mushrooms, halved

1 head of Garlic, peeled (I'm lazy, so I just used 5 teaspoons of minced garlic in the jar)

2 Tablespoons of Dried Tarragon leaves, minced (fresh or from a spice jar)

1 Tablespoon of Butter

1 cup Marsala Wine (found in the condiment isle, not with the wines)

Chicken Stock

1 Chicken Bouillon Cube

1/3 cup of cream, half & half, or sour cream

*You'll also need an oven-proof skillet (or a skillet with 2 layers of tinfoil wrapped around the handle to protect it from the oven heat)*

Start Cooking:

1. Preheat Oven to 350

2. Season Chicken with Salt & Pepper

3. Sear Chicken in pan with a little Olive Oil until brown & crispy

4. Remove Chicken from pan & lower heat to medium

5. Add more Olive Oil, Onion, & Mushrooms. Stir and begin to brown.

6. Season with Salt & Pepper

7. Add Garlic & Tarragon (if using fresh, add at the end) & Butter

8. once veggies are browned & bottom of pan is dry, Add Marsala Wine & Stir

9. Bring to Boil, then Add Chicken (skin side up)

10. Add enough Chicken Stock to come up to the halfway point of meat

11. Add 1 Chicken Bouillon Cube & Bring to Boil

12. Place pan in oven, uncovered, for 30-45 minutes

13. Place pan on stove top and Remove Chicken & Mushrooms

14. Bring to Boil & Reduce Liquid by at least Half

15. Add Half & Half (or Sour Cream or Cream) & Tarragon (if using fresh)

Serve with your favorite Veggie & over Rice, Potatoes or something else that soaks up the yummy sauce. Enjoy :)

My New Obsession... COUPONING!

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to couponing. :) I never thought that I would be one of those crazy couponing ladies, but that is slowly becoming my reality. The thrill I get when I walk away from the grocery store with FREE stuff makes me want to run and tell everyone I know how much I saved!

I like to do my shopping at night because there are no crowds and I can take my time. Coupons in hand, I love to roam the isles in search of the best deal of the day. Part of my weekly routine involves checking Souther Savers for the best deals of the week. It's a super easy to understand website that matches up coupons to the deals in each store. (sigh) I'm in love!

John hates to shop with me now because I can take up to 2 hours and I don't let him get anything unless it's on sale. A few weeks ago, I got two jars of salsa for a ridiculously low price. When I got home from shopping, John asked where the chips were to eat with the salsa.... duh! They weren't on sale silly. Fortunately for him, I got the chips for free the next week.

I blame my mom and my grandfather for creating this addiction. My mom because she first introduced me to Southern Savers and my grandfather because he did this for most of his life without the internet (it's a hereditary addiction). He was definitely the crazy coupon man. He always had several shoe boxes filled with coupons and a stockpile of laundry detergent that he had previously gotten on sale. As a poor college student, I lovingly referred to his house as the grocery store. Rumor has it that he hoarded household good deals to lure his grandchildren to the house for free stuff. He knew that we could resist a visit with him with the added bonus of FREE stuff.

Apple Bacon Maple Glazed Doughnuts... Enough Said!

I read about these doughnuts on a friends blog, Naptime Diaries. I have been stewing over this recipe for a couple of months until I woke up Sunday morning and decided to go for it! I have to warn you that it took me 2 hours from start to finish, but the result was well worth the wait. If I ever attempted this high calorie treat again, I would add more bacon. I know it sound crazy and way too fattening. This is definitely not a doughnut for those watching their weight. Try it out. I promise the taste of the sweet apples and the even sweeter maple glaze match perfectly with the salty bacon to create a little piece of heaven. Enjoy!