Thai Chicken Wrap and Adorable Clothes

Happy Friday! Yayyy!

It’s a Friday Favorites kind of day so I’m linkin’ up with my girl Katie!

Here are some of my favs from the week…

1. Lunch with my darling friend Courtney at Good Earth. I ordered the Thai chicken peanut wrap and really enjoyed it! Most of all though, I loved catching up with my Court. 🙂

good earth thai chicken wrap

2. Leftover French onion soup from the freezer. It’s one thing to enjoy a bowl of my favorite soup, but the ease of only have to take it out of the freezer and thaw in the microwave makes it that much more delightful.

french onion soup

3. These tacos.

baked beef tacos

4. This dress from Filly Flair.

filly flair dress

fillyflair.com

5. And this top from Filly Flair.

filly flair top 2

fillyflair.com

I ordered both of them online and really hope they fit. I should be getting them within the next few days. They have seriously so many adorable things and I wanted everything! Everything is so reasonably priced too!

6. Seeing the progress on our basement. We are in the process of finishing the basement and it is SO incredibly exciting! This is a project we have been wanting to take on since we moved in 3.5 years ago. Dana is a champ.

7. My family. There has been so much change and excitement going on in our family and I am so thrilled, proud and happy for everyone.

What are some of your favorites from this week?

Continue Reading Thai Chicken Wrap and Adorable Clothes

Baked Beef Tacos

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Give me tacos and I will be one happy girl. Last night was taco night.

baked beef tacos.jpg

To make things more exciting (as if tacos need more excitement), I baked the tacos so that the cheese melted into the beans, beef, and onions before adding the cool toppings.

baked beef tacos  baked beef tacos

I then added toppings: lettuce, olives, tomatoes, and salsa. I totally forgot to make guacamole but it really didn’t even matter. So much flavor and goodness in these crunchy gems.

baked beef tacos baked beef tacos baked beef tacos

Baked Beef Tacos

(Make as many as you wish with as many toppings as you wish—this is why specific measurements are not given. These are supposed to be super easy!).

What you will need:

  • hard corn tortilla shells (heads up: look for ones without hydrogenated oils—I made that mistake and am kicking myself about it)
  • refried beans
  • cooked ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning*
  • white onion, diced
  • shredded cheddar cheese
  • tomato, diced
  • lettuce, chopped
  • green or black olives, chopped
  • salsa
  • guacamole (optional)

*I use Rachael Ray’s homemade taco seasoning recipe which is one part each of chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder and a quarter of the amount of crushed red pepper (although I used cayenne instead of crushed red pepper).

To make:

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Find a oven-safe dish that will fit your taco shells so that they can stand up (you can make as many tacos as you wish).
  2. Use a spoon to spread refried beans along the bottom of the shell and on one or two sides.
  3. Next, layer on the ground beef, onions, and cheese.
  4. Make sure all shells are standing up (preferably) in your dish.
  5. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.
  6. Top with remaining topping ingredients. ENJOY!

Dana and I both were crazy about these babies! Baking the tacos was a fun little change-up to standard tacos. I lovvvvvvveee melty cheese! Love love love.

Once again, taco night never fails.

What did YOU have for dinner last night?

Continue Reading Baked Beef Tacos

An Incredible Easter Weekend

This weekend flew by way too fast. No, wayyyyyyyy too fast.

We had two Easter celebrations: Saturday with Dana’s family and Sunday with my family. We ate very well all weekend enjoyed so much great company and lots of laughs.

Saturday

I brought this fabulous pear salad that turned out just as good this time as it did last time I made it.

pear salad

We had ham, cheesy vegetables, roasted potatoes…

Easter ham and cheesy vegetables

IMG_0966

 

And refreshing key lime pie. Everything was excellent!

 

key lime pie

 

Then we cozied ourselves on the couch and all hung out together as it rained outside.

moose

Easter celebration #1 = success.

Sunday

On Sunday we headed to church with my family. I love Easter service. It is so bright and uplifting!

dana and melanie

Then we headed back to mom and dad’s for Easter goodies….

Easter basket

And another absolutely amazing meal: ham, asparagus with cheese, cheesy potatoes, deviled eggs, pickles, olives, and fruit salad.

Easter 2014

And for dessert I made homemade lemon bars with ZERO refined sugar (minus the frozen yogurt alongside the bar).

I made the crust from this recipe:  crust

The gooey lemon bar part from this recipe: bar

lemon bars

 

They turned out so delicious! I didn’t miss the white sugar AT ALL!

We spent quite a bit of time outside yesterday because it was in the 70’s! It felt amazing to have the sun on my skin. Yay for spring!

Easter celebration #2 = success.

It was quite the weekend. I slept for a solid 10 hours last night. All of that eating and sitting around sure does wear a girl out. 😉 I hope you all had a great weekend full of relaxation, celebration, and family and friends.

Happy Easter!

xoxo

Continue Reading An Incredible Easter Weekend

What I’ve Been Noshing On Lately

Instead of my usual “what I’ve been eating lately” title, I thought I’d switch it up a bit. Just like my other WIAW posts, this one highlights some of my eats over the last week or so.

What I’ve Been Noshing On Lately…

I didn’t want an actual Olive Garden entrée, I just wanted the salad that comes with it, so that’s exactly what we ordered for pick up. Have you guys ever had Olive Garden’s house salad? It is seriously so good!

olive garden salad

Fruit and nut “cereal” bowl complete with blueberries, strawberries, banana, sliced almonds, raisins, and almond milk. So pretty!

fruit cereal

Grilled burger loaded with mushrooms and onions with steak fries!

burger

Croque monsieur, croque madames and French onion soup. We had our friends over on Friday who we went to Paris with (I know, I know I still need to do a recap Paris), and we had a reminiscent meal of our trip there complete with baguette, European beer and Perrier. A croque monsieur is basically a grilled ham and cheese  with extra cheese on top, and a croque madame is a grilled ham and cheese with a sunny-side egg on top. These were better than the ones we had in Paris! So was the soup!

croque madam and french onion

Taco salad made with ground turkey. Have I mentioned how completely obsessed I am with tacos?!

taco salad

I’ve been happily snacking on Blue Diamond almonds and crackers thanks to the wonderful folks at Blue Diamond!!

blue diamond almonds

Banana soft-serve (straight, no mix-ins) made by Dana. This stuff is so stinking amazing. Please, please make it if you haven’t. Grab your blender, throw in a bunch of frozen bananas, a splash of almond milk (or whatever kind of milk you have on hand) and let the blender mix it to a soft-serve consistency. You have to stop in the process and scrape the sides, so it takes a little bit of work, but it is completely and totally worth it so do it!

banana softserve

Homemade meatloaf made with grass-fed beef and LOTS of ketchup obviously.

meatloaf

Chicken and steak shish kabobs from the kitchen of Kathy and Tom (mom and dad). Kabobs scream summer to me and although it was only about 40°F when we ate these babies, I still got that summer feeling.

kabobs

Broccoli and cheese soup from Panera annnnnd I had $1 off because I use my Panera points card every time I go which made it taste even better. Um…yes!

panera broccoli cheese soup

Breakfasts are almost always still my go-to smoothie: frozen blueberries, frozen banana, kale, almond milk, peanut butter and raw cacao powder. When your breakfast tastes like a peanut butter chocolate shake, why would you want to break away from it?!

I think my body is trying to fight off a cold so I’m trying to feed it lots of good healthy and nutritious foods. Or maybe it’s just allergies? I’m not sure.

Questions:

What’s the best thing you have eaten lately?

Have you ever had Olive Garden’s salad? Do you love it as much as I do?

Continue Reading What I’ve Been Noshing On Lately

Lemon Butter Chicken with Artichokes and Capers

Hello, hello my friends!

Today I am giving a major shout-out to my dear dear friend Caroline over at Trendy Trainer. Because of her, I was able to cook up an insanely delicious meal for Dana and myself on Saturday. The best part about the whole thing? It was SO darn easy! Not only that, it is totally clean! Yes yes yes!

So let’s get right to it.

Let me introduce you to Lemon Butter Chicken with Artichokes and Capers.

lemon butter chicken artichoke and caper

Chicken, lemon juice, butter, onions, capers, artichokes, and some seasoning. Simple ingredients making an exceptional dish.

Here is the link to Caroline’s recipe: Lemon and Artichoke Chicken

I used butter (the recipe said either coconut oil or grass-fed butter) and I used onion (other options were shallots or leeks). The only changes I made to the recipe were I seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder before baking it. Other than that, I followed the recipe and couldn’t have been happier with the results!

lemon butter chicken artichoke and caper lemon butter chicken artichoke and caper

 

It’s slightly salty from the capers, the chicken is perfectly tender from the the lemon and butter, and the artichokes, oh the artichokes….need I say more?

Put this on the menu plan for the week. It is so easy and you and your family will love it!

Thanks Caroline for this simple, clean, and healthy dinner! Muah!!

Continue Reading Lemon Butter Chicken with Artichokes and Capers

Some Good Eats: BBQ Beef, Tacos, Tilapia

This post was meant to go up yesterday but sleep trumped the blog, SO here you get it today!

Even though I’m a day late with this, I’m still going to link up with Jenn’s WIAW. This of course is my version of WIAW, called What I’ve Been Eating Lately. This is an overview of some of my eats over the last week or so.

Let’s get started.

We celebrated Dana’s birthday with his parents and had one of my all-time favorite meals. Tacos. Ever since I was a little girl, when my mom would always ask me what I wanted for my birthday meal, I’d say 90% of the time my response would be tacos. Although it wasn’t my birthday this time around, Dana chose very wisely.

Before tacos though we noshed on some appetizers…

veggies and cheese and hummus

And then came the tacos…

tacosx

So good! I was disappointed in myself for loading up on so many crackers and cheese. I wasn’t able to enjoy too much of the tacos before being completely stuffed.

tacos

I prepared a semi-homemade meal made witg Annie’s gluten-free mac n’ cheese, sautéed broccoli, peas, salt and pepper, and one chicken, apple, and gouda sausage.

annie's mac n cheese

Fairlife, a lactose-free, protein-rich milk company, sent me some samples of chocolate milk, 2% milk, and skim milk. They also sent their core power protein drinks which I told them I would give to Dana and my brother to use as post-long run refuel.

I wasn’t actually planning on drinking the milk (I was going to give it all to Dana), but once I tried the chocolate milk, my plans changed. I couldn’t get enough of this stuff! Just like any chocolate milk, you still have to be careful with the sugar content, but I enjoy a half a cup here and there and it’s a great treat!

To read more about Fairlife: www.fairlife.com

fairlife chocolate milk

fairlife

A quick and simple lunch: black bean and cheese quesadilla with salsa and avocado. Is that not a perfect bite taken out of there? Didn’t even try. 😉

quesadilla

Dinner at mom and dads: tilapia, red beans and rice, and asparagus. I always forget how much I enjoy tilapia until my mom makes it for me. Then I remember. Num.

tilapia beans and rise

Eggs with spinach, mushrooms, red bell pepper, cheese, avocado and salsa. On the side, a super old hard (from the freezer) Udi’s gluten-free bun with jam. At least the eggs were good.

eggs

Amy’s organic split-pea soup. I really enjoy split-pea soup but never make it. I should really get on that, right Hannah?

amy's organic soup split pea soup

split pea soup

Goodie plates: hard-boiled egg with mustard, pickle, veggies and cottage cheese.

snack plate veggies egg pickle

And another Pinterest win. BBQ pulled beef with coleslaw courtesy of MyBakingAddiction.com. I followed the beef recipe to a T but not the coleslaw.

bbq beef and coleslaw

There you have it. Another look into some of my eats lately.

What have YOU been eating lately?

Continue Reading Some Good Eats: BBQ Beef, Tacos, Tilapia

White Bean, Avocado, & Caramelized Onion Quesadilla

I felt like a bit of a genius in the kitchen last night. I pulled together quite the outrageous quesadilla and you’re going to hear about it.

It was a White Bean, Avocado, & Caramelized Onion Quesadilla and it rocked my socks off.

white bean, avocado, and caramelized onion quesadilla.jpg

First, I pureed together one can of white beans (rinsed and drained), one avocado, one chipotle in adobo pepper, a sprinkle of cumin, and a squeeze of lime juice.

Next, I caramelized one small onion.

Then, I spread the prepared bean dip all over a brown rice tortilla (about 3 tablespoons or so). I then topped it with the caramelized onions, cheddar cheese, organic spinach, and banana peppers.

white bean avocado quesadilla

I warmed up the saute pan on the stove, folded over the quesadilla and got to cooking. It probably cooked for 4-5 minutes on each side, just long enough for the toppings to get hot and for the outside of the tortilla to get a little crispy.

Next, remove the quesadilla from the pan and place on plate. Use a pizza cutter or a knife to cut into three triangles.

white bean avocado quesadilla

Take some photos….

white bean avocado quesadilla white bean avocado quesadilla

And my favorite step, devour that bad boy.

white bean avocado quesadilla

So easy, kind of random, and so delicious. A fun meatless Monday meal!

 Side note: Spell check was all over this post. Apparently it doesn’t recognize quesadilla, caramelized, adobo, or pureed. Who knew?!

Continue Reading White Bean, Avocado, & Caramelized Onion Quesadilla

Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

I just have to share a super Pinterest find that I made last night.

Yesterday, I mentioned how I don’t usually get into St. Patty’s Day but how I’d like to get into it more some day. Then I shared a photo of Skinny Girl’s corned beef and cabbage soup and said that I would like to make that soup some day. Well, all of this some day talk turned into yesterday. I was going to make that soup. I hit up the store for the ingredients and got to work in the kitchen.

Check out the recipe: Skinny Girl’s Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

The only changes I made:

  • red bell pepper instead of yellow
  • one leek and one onion versus two leeks
  • I left the skin on the potato versus peeling it
  • I used 3/4 of a head of cabbage versus the whole thing

corned beef and cabbage soup

 

corned beef and cabbage soup

corned beef and cabbage soup corned beef and cabbage soup corned beef and cabbage soup

I love this soup! Such a comforting, delicious and healthy dish! Serve it with some whole grain bread and call it a meal!

Thank you Skinny Girl for yet again creating a delicious and healthy recipe for the world to enjoy.

Have you had any “wins” with Pinterest recipes lately?

Continue Reading Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

How to Steam and Eat Artichokes

Artichokes. The beautiful yet intimidating vegetable. A vegetable Dana and I both thoroughly enjoy but don’t eat too often. Most of the time it’s just because we forget about them, but also because they are some work to prepare and eat.

So let’s talk about the preparation shall we?

how to steam and eat an artichoke

How to Steam an Artichoke

Step 1: Fill large pot with two inches of water. Add lemon juice to flavor the water if you wish. artichoke

Step 2: Place the steaming basket on top of the water.

artichoke

Step 3: Pull off some of the small bottom leaves. Use scissors to to snip off sharp ends of the leaves (optional). Use a knife to cut off the bottom stem leaving just one inch of stem as well as about 3/4 of an inch off of the top of the artichoke. Sorry this is a long step.artichoke

artichoke

Step 4: Rinse the artichokes and place on top of steaming basket in the pot. Cover the pot with a lid and bring to a boil.

artichoke

 Step 5: Reduce to simmer and let simmer for 30-45 minutes (depending on the size of the artichoke). You can test if it is done by pulling off one of the outer leaves. If it is easy to pull off, it is probably done. Remove from pot and get ready to eat!

artichoke

How to Eat an Artichoke

Step 1: Pull off a leaf…

artichoke

Step 2: Dip the whitish looking end in melted butter, salt or mayo (I prefer straight up salt).

artichoke

Step 3: Use top or bottom teeth to pull the artichoke meat off of the leaf. Dana prefers to use his bottom teeth, I prefer my top. Probably because I have a permanent retainer in the bottom of my mouth (fun fact :smile:). Throw away the petal when done.

artichoke

artichoke

Step 4: Repeat steps 1-3 until you get down to the core. Don’t eat the spiky things.

artichoke

artichoke

artichoke

 

Step 5: Use a knife to cut off the spiky part of the artichoke.

artichoke

And you are left with the heart! The best part of the artichoke. I realize this photo below is far from appetizing but I promise you it is delicious. It is buttery and meaty and tender. It’s worth all of the effort of eating through the artichoke leaves! I cut mine into pieces and dip in butter or salt.

artichoke

So yes, they do require a bit of work, but they are worth it. Besides their delicious flavor, they are also a source of folate, fiber, vitamins C and K, and are an incredible antioxidant to boot!

Don’t be shy! The beautiful artichoke is waiting for you!!!

Continue Reading How to Steam and Eat Artichokes

Eat Eggs & Recharging My Battery

Hello, hello my friends! How’s your week treating you so far?

I have a few odds and ends to catch up on today, mostly involving food (go figure) so let’s get you caught up!

Organic cage-free eggs (and if you can find it, free-range). They are worth the extra pennies. They taste awesome and your body appreciates the effort as well. They are so good for us but have gotten such a bad rap in the past.

One egg contains approximately 70 calories, 7 grams of protein, 5 grams of fat, and contains essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamin D, A, B12, phosphorus, folate, choline, etc.

Eat eggs!

I have been loving eggs in scrambles, hard-boiled, over-easy, you name it.

This particular combo was amazing: eggs, red bell pepper, onion, cheese, avocado, cilantro, and salsa. This was nearly the extent of my cooking over the past week or so.

eggs and beans

This past weekend I enjoyed a chicken bowl from Chipotle and managed to make my leftovers last for two more meals! I just fried up an egg to go on top and called it a perfect lunch.

egg and chipotle leftovers egg and chipotle leftovers

This next one doesn’t involve eggs, but it involves chicken, and it was really good. On Friday, I cooked up a batch of chicken, shredded it, added buffalo sauce, placed it on top of a cucumber with some feta cheese and enjoyed the simple yet delicious bites. They’re kind of cute but definitely messy. If you could eat these bites in one full swoop you would be fine but I can’t so I ended up with a mess and a fork. But they were worth it.

buffalo chicken bites

 

Of course buffalo chicken can be enjoyed many other ways: in a wrap, on a salad (we were out of lettuce or I would have done this), on whole grain bread, or in lettuce cups.

Okay so I lied…this was about the extent of my cooking for the week!

There you have it. My loose-ends are almost all tied up. That didn’t take too long.

Lastly, I’m going to say “catch you later” because I will be unplugging for a while. I will be limiting my computer and phone time, therefore may not respond to emails, texts/calls or comments for a while. I just wanted to let you know ahead of time so you don’t think I am being rude for not responding, it just means I need my brain to take a breather from the electronics for a bit and I will get back to you soon. 🙂

It’s time to recharge MY battery.

turn-off-tv

So, I am challenging you to UNPLUG!

Unplug and….

  • read a book
  • play a game
  • go for a walk
  • organize a closet or a drawer
  • write a letter
  • meet a friend for coffee or dinner
  • make cookies
  • go to a museum
  • do yoga

Even if you can only unplug for an hour, your mind and body will thank you!

I have some great guest posts as well as other fun posts all ready for your enjoyment for the upcoming week or so, so ENJOY!

Talk with you all later!

xoxo

Continue Reading Eat Eggs & Recharging My Battery