Blue Apron

So I'm not sure if you have heard of something called Blue Apron, but you guys, I think this company is SO great.  What they do is they deliver recipes to your door, with all the fresh ingredients included.  Everything is packaged and labeled perfectly, and it was such a fun way to try some new recipes!  You know how annoying it is to buy that ONE spice that costs $8 for the new Pinterest recipe you are trying?  And you sit there in the grocery store with our toddler spilling goldfish all over the place trying to decide if you really want to spend all that money on a spice you may never use again?  Well, Blue Apron is amazing because they only give you the portions that you need.  And, what is great about it, is Dan's boss gave it to us as a Christmas gift!  I thought it was such a fun and creative gift to receive!  We were able to choose which week we wanted to redeem our gift card for, and they provided menus to help you decide. 

 

I should have taken pictures of Dan and I actually making the meal, but maybe next time :)  I am thinking this will be a really fun thing to do for an anniversary or a special night in.  Dan isn't much of a cooker, but he even had fun making the meals and hanging out with me in the kitchen :)  I would highly recommend checking out if they deliver to your city because it was such a great gift to receive!

 

A Breakfast Recipe

No Bake Peanut Butter Energy Balls from Audrey's Apron

• 1 cup of oats
• 1/2 cup of ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of chocolate chips
• 1/3 a cup of honey
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• (I'll occasionally throw in some coconut because I'm obsessed)

True confessions: A while ago I was incredibly addicted to those chocolate covered Quaker oats granola bars and I would sometimes eat 2 for breakfast a day.  And in my mind that was considered healthy.  After I started paying more attention to the actual type of food that was going into my body instead of just counting calories, it kind of dawned on me that those Quaker oats bars were more like chocolate candy bars.  So I searched the internet for something that 1)  I could make at home 2) still had chocolate in it 3) and was relatively healthy and I came across these on Pinterest.  

And you guys, they are so good.  Not only do I like them but so do Jake and Dan.  And I'll even grab one later in the afternoon if I'm having a sugar craving instead of a cookie.  Jake LOVES to help me make them, really just so he can eat the chocolate chips, but hey, it's become a weekly tradition so I'll take the help!  They are filling, so easy to make, and perfect for grabbing as we're running out the door late to a play date (because let's be real, we're running late 99% of the time lol)  So if you're looking for something healthy to eat for breakfast, give these a try :)

A recipe, a Christmas story, and a Christmas card

So this past weekend Dan and I were brainstorming what to do for his co workers for Christmas.  I honestly think that getting gifts for co workers can be the hardest gifts to think of.  You want to show you care, but when you have 5+ you are buying for you don't want to spend too much money because that adds up quickly.  So obviously I headed to Pinterest and found some awesome Peppermint bark recipes.  Throw it in a mason jar with a bow on top and voila: an easy, not too expensive Christmas gift!  (And we threw in a dunkin donuts gift card for good measure, because people are obsessed with dunkin donuts out here on the East coast :)

And I wanted to share our Christmas card this year :)  Thanks to our photography class I was able to design it on picmonkey and upload it to shutterfly to get it printed!  It was WAY cheaper than using one of their cards.  Yay for saving money around the holidays, right?!

And lastly, this is quite possibly THE cutest video.  It's the Christmas story told by kids and it is so so cute.  If you get a couple minutes you should definitely watch it :)

Recipes and a Food Update

Remember that blog post I wrote {what seems like} forever ago about food and how I felt convicted about my eating?  Well, I've been wanting to update for honestly a while now.  And really, it's so much easier for me to post some pictures I took over the weekend than try to muster up the energy to find all the recipes and articles that I have read about healthy eating over the past couple weeks.  However, it is so helpful for me to put all these recipes in one place so I can go back to them, so let's just say this post is written in part, with some selfish motives :)

As an update, I actually have kept up with most of the changes I said I wanted to make!  I'm not going to lie, it takes work to eat more fruits and vegetables.  But I can already tell it's very much worth it.  It's amazing how our bodies work, after eating one way for so long I didn't realize how much better I would feel having more fruits and vegetables and less processed food.  And, I feel better and more energized when I'm not always drinking pop and eating cookies for lunch (which sadly, happened all too often for me).

One small change that makes a HUGE difference for me is chopping up fruits and vegetables right after I go to the store.  Right now I have mushrooms, onions, peppers, and jalapenos all chopped up so I can make a salad or omelet in less than 10 minutes.  And I LOVE red pepper and hummus as a quick snack, too.  My favorite go to lunch is sauteing up all of the veggies I just mentioned plus some chopped grape tomatoes in a spice called "Slap ya mama." (I know ridiculous name, right?!) and then serve some eggs over top.  Super easy, very healthy, and so good.

Something else I keep on hand as well is trail mix.  Whenever I have a sugar craving, I go for that instead of a cookie (because obviously the trail mix I make has M&M's in it.. it wouldn't be a real trail mix if it didn't :) ) And, since I can get tired of regular water, I buy a lot of sparkling water from Wegmans... it's so good.  I still have my energy balls in the morning like I mentioned in my first blog post, but I'm only having a couple avocados a week now.  Which brings me to the second big thing I've learned on this food journey- you will get sick and tired of eating the same thing.  It really is totally like me to get super excited about three meals and eat them over and over again.  For a while I was eating a lot of avocados on toast, and scrambled egg over kale or spinach.  Both things that I love, but I got to a point where I needed to expand my recipes because I was getting tired of eating the same things every. single. day.  That is why I follow lots of wonderful people on instagram.  A lot of the people I follow on instagram do Whole 30.  I honestly don't know much about Whole 30, and don't really have a strong desire to do it.  I do however, think it's a good thing because it encourages people to eat healthy.  I just know myself and probably can't stick to a plan that doesn't include carbs or the occasional treat.  However, these ladies post some awesome recipes that I use or tweek.  My favs are:

• whole30recipes
• allieeatswhole
• thewhetappetite
• eating_whole

Also, a lot of the recipes in Shauna Niequist's book Bread and Wine are pretty healthy.  I've posted one of my favorite recipes below :)

The last thing I've noticed on this food journey of mine is how much freedom I have experienced through eating healthy.  It totally seems weird- because you would think making yourself eat healthy would seem like being in some sort of "bondage," but it's exactly the opposite.  Take a look at these verses regarding freedom: 

1 Corinthians 6:12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything."

Galatians 5:13 "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."

Can I eat anything I would like to? Sure. I could eat ice cream all day long and give into my "fleshly" desires and cravings for sugar. But is that really beneficial for me? In actuality, it's putting me in another form of bondage- bondage to sugar and to my cravings which actually leads me down a destructive path. Now, listen carefully... what I'm not saying is that you can never give into your desires for chocolate. You can give into your cravings and have a cookie every once in a while. That will not prove to be destructive or put you in bondage to sugar. However, if I make a habit or pattern out of this behavior (which I did) it can be. That's why God tells us that we were called to freedom. We do have a choice, but God is encouraging us to make a wise choice and not always follow our desires. Another side note: I am taking these verses and applying them to freedom in general- but the application of freedom in our walk as Christians can apply to MANY different areas. Food is just one area that God has shown me what freedom can look like. 

So, onto the recipes. These are just a few of the recipes that I have been making and really enjoying (and Dan is, too!)

{Jambalaya}

{Roasted Brussels Sprouts}

{Strawberry Salad}

{Salmon Salad}

{Apple Cookies}

{Chocolate Snack}

{Taco Salad}

{Roasted Mushrooms}

{White Chicken Chili}

{Easy Chipotle bowls}

(I usually put a lot of veggies on top of mine)

 {Coconut Butter Granola}

{Healthy Shrimp Scampi}

{Red Curry Chicken}

{Healthy Fried Rice}

{Anything Sweet Potatoe related}

I put sweet potatoes with everything now- as a side, with my eggs and some sirachi sauce.. so many uses!!

{Plank Workout}

maybe not a recipe.. but have you ever tried these?! They are not easy.

These are some of the recipes I've made :)

{Mango Chicken Curry}

This is from Shauna's book. I don't know anything about copyrights so I don't want to post the recipe, however I would encourage you to buy the book or the kindle edition because there are a lot of great recipes inside (and stories)

My dinner date :)

{Peach and Banana Smoothie}

 {Kale Chips}

 {My "go to" snack}

I hope you try some of these recipes!  They are SO good and easy to make :)

Fashion, decorating, and God

I'm resisting every urge in me this week to complain about the weather.  As most of you Northerners know, this is when it really gets tough.  This is when Dan and I contemplate spending the rest of our life savings on an extravagant trip to Mexico for a month, just to see some sunshine and feel the warmth of it on our faces.  And obviously this winter has been pretty brutal.  At this point 35 and sunny would be a-mazing. 

So no, we're not planning any extravagant trips to warm weather, but we have booked some flights to see friends and family in the next couple months which is really exciting :)  And my mom is coming into town this week which means I can go to Target and Home Goods and actually look at fragile items without worrying if Jake is going to pick it up or knock it over (the frame aisle in Target is dangerous territory for us) - it is SO helpful when she is here!  I'm excited to post pictures of the new additions to the play room I hope to make this week.  Here are some decorating ideas I like and some other fun things I found while browsing my blogs these past couple weeks :)

Chalkboard paint.  To do just part of the wall, or go all out and do the whole thing?

I'm also trying to figure out what kind of photo collage I would like to put up on the one wall.. I like her idea of pictures, artwork, and the song :)

In the spirit of decorating kids spaces, my friend, Becca, sent me this blog post a while ago and it is HILARIOUS.

It's no surprise to anyone who knows me that I love anything with stripes.  So I'm expanding my wardrobe and going to try something called StitchFix!  I'm nervous and super excited all at the same time.  I can't wait to show you what I get :)

I also bought all the ingredients for this and I'm going to make it when my mom is here.  Get excited.

Because I love my God.  A really great post that I read a while ago but encouraged me recently and reminded me to be checking my heart motivation throughout the day. 

And just for kicks, here are some random pictures I took with my phone/ found on my computer these past couple weeks :)

My dad sent me this picture and the one below of Jake from the fall months ago and it's been sitting in my email.  I can't believe how BLONDE his hair was! Our little man is growing up :)

Future Kraft employee ha ;)

wearing our shades :)

Jake was not happy I was infringing on his car seat space to get this selfie.

Play date with a friend from a while ago :)

I had some quality time with this cutie before Jake woke up from his nap :)

These are moments few and far between when I get to rock him to sleep. So naturally I took a picture of it ;)

I took this on a rare 40 degree day a couple weeks ago.  I was ready to jump in a pool even though there was snow on the ground

Jake can correctly identify all 26 letters of the alphabet!  This is his "I did it!" photo.  #proudmom