This edition of Friday Favorites is inspired by one of my husband's co-workers, who was a freshman when we were seniors and he looks like he could be my second little brother. So, he's practically family. Anyways, he's always making comments to Danny about the food we eat and that it looks good! Even when we are whole30ing. Yesterday he sent me a text asking details on the food.. where do I buy our healthy food, where to do I get recipes, etc. The semi-local supermarket and "Pinterest, duh" was my second answer. I also told him my other recipe source. Instagram. He then asked "do you just search #healthyfood?" While he's got the right idea, that hashtag will get you TONS of useless results I'm guessing. I'm sure I'm not the only sarcastic Instagram user out there. I'd put that hashtag on a piece of cheesecake if it had fruit on it. I actually think I've done that.
Our household is doing a hybrid Paleo/Whole30/a few exceptions eating plan. Whole30 is the base plan, but we allow for forbidden things like compliant but against the rules pancakes and Danny drinks a protein shake before he works out. We're both traveling a lot for work right now (him to class, me to meet with clients in small towns) so we're doing the best we can. Tucker eats what we eat when he's with us.
So, here we go with the faves sources...
1. Pinterest. I considered giving up Pinterest for Lent but then I immediately asked myself "how will I feed my family" It sounds silly I know, but I'm not super creative or reliable on food choices yet. I turn to Pinterest for when I'm looking for a specific type of food. Yesterday my sweet tooth was getting the better of me, so I found some cookies and a mug cake. I have a Paleo/Whole30 board. I don't add to it all that often because I've found some great recipes that keep making appearances.
Paleo Breakfast Casserole - I used regular ground sausage and this is easily our favorite paleo meal. I made it for dinner last night and there aren't any leftovers. Danny said its the one meal that makes him feel like he isn't "missing out" on anything.
Spiced Butternut Squash soup - I'm the only one that likes this and that's okay. Its the perfect food to pair with other things like chicken salad or chicken wings. Speaking of chicken wings...
Glazed Chicken Wings - These were great! I prepped them at lunch to marinade during the afternoon and popped them in the oven that evening. They were great the next day. I'm going to try the marinade on boneless chicken thighs soon since Danny is anti-bone in chicken.
2. Instagram. I go here when I need inspiration. The Instagram community is a creative bunch. I follow a few Whole30 faithfuls, but a good old fashioned search does wonders. I search #whole30 the most, but also search #paleo some too. When I'm meal planning and I'm having trouble filling a meal, I'll search for that meal, so #whole30lunch (lunch is the worst). Everyone complains about how Instagram is just a bunch of people posting what they ate. Well you know what? I'M GLAD!
3. Blogs. Now that I've done Whole30 off and on for the better part of the last year, I turn to my own posts some. Posting my meals the very first Whole30 was a good move on my part. I can look back to see what we actually ate, what we liked, and what we didn't like. I also like the whole smiths. She made a Pineapple Fried "Rice" that was so great, fresh and as leftovers. The entire time I was cooking it, I was getting all Mix and Match Mama thinking of ways to change it into a Mexican dish versus a Chinese dish.
And that's how I do it. Nothing spectacular and nothing out of the ordinary.
Feb 12, 2016
Feb 8, 2016
Weekend Recap
Monday is here already. For once I am just kind of indifferent about it. Tucker was the portrait of a two year old yesterday, but we also had some fun the last couple of days as well.
Friday I got a call from my mother-in-law that Tuck went home with my brother-in-law and nieces. When I left work to go pick him up, he stuck that lip out and said he wanted to stay. Aunt Dee couldn't tell him no, so he stayed for tacos and I got a couple of free hours to myself. I walked on the treadmill, ate dinner and read my book. It was pretty awesome. When he got home he pretty much went right to bed. Even more impressive it was the first time I said anything about it. After he went to bed I folded some laundry, painted my nails and watched a couple of episodes of Chicago Fire.
Saturday was our fun day! My Christmas present from Tucker was a date of my choice. One of the options was a trip to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis. I picked that one but chose to go to the one in Muncie since it was closer and cheaper, making it a better option for a test run. We loved it! I mean, Tucker didn't play with anything longer than 5 minutes and made 2 laps around the first floor to play with everything, but it was great!
He found the train table... no surprise here.
For $6 a pop, we'll definitely be going back! And Tuck will probably have this reaction every single time it's time to leave and go home.
After the museum it was time for lunch. Lunch was supposed to be Chik-Fil-A, per the date options, but I decided to help him (and his bank account, aka Daddy) and go with Steak n Shake since Danny's grandpa recently gave us a gift card and coupons. Tuck pretty much took ownership of "our" shake.
Next was my brother's birthday celebration. For his dinner he chose... Golden Corral. I think he chose this for the simple fact that my mom, his fiancé and me don't like buffets. Well, I like The Journey since it was fantastic and not your typical buffet, but that's it. After dinner we went back to their house for cake and to play with their puppy. Tucker loves Max and his Aunt Megan!
Sunday was the "Toddler Day" of the weekend. The constantly talking loudly during church, super independent and lots of not listening. When Danny asked if I wanted to go to the grocery store alone, he barely got the word "alone" out before I said yes. I said "pick up your Legos" no less than 55 times yesterday. Despite the toddler-ness of Tucker, we still took him to visit some friend of ours and their baby goats. It took him a while to wake up from his very much needed 15 minutes nap on the way, but once he did he LOVED them. I see some goats at our house in the next couple of years! I honestly wouldn't mind. They sure were sweet!
We got home late so it was a pizza kind of night. After Whole30ing for the majority of the last 2 weeks, a weekend of pizza, milkshakes and buffet food sure is weighing me down today. My body, and sanity, is very happy its Monday!
Friday I got a call from my mother-in-law that Tuck went home with my brother-in-law and nieces. When I left work to go pick him up, he stuck that lip out and said he wanted to stay. Aunt Dee couldn't tell him no, so he stayed for tacos and I got a couple of free hours to myself. I walked on the treadmill, ate dinner and read my book. It was pretty awesome. When he got home he pretty much went right to bed. Even more impressive it was the first time I said anything about it. After he went to bed I folded some laundry, painted my nails and watched a couple of episodes of Chicago Fire.
Saturday was our fun day! My Christmas present from Tucker was a date of my choice. One of the options was a trip to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis. I picked that one but chose to go to the one in Muncie since it was closer and cheaper, making it a better option for a test run. We loved it! I mean, Tucker didn't play with anything longer than 5 minutes and made 2 laps around the first floor to play with everything, but it was great!
He found the train table... no surprise here.
For $6 a pop, we'll definitely be going back! And Tuck will probably have this reaction every single time it's time to leave and go home.
After the museum it was time for lunch. Lunch was supposed to be Chik-Fil-A, per the date options, but I decided to help him (and his bank account, aka Daddy) and go with Steak n Shake since Danny's grandpa recently gave us a gift card and coupons. Tuck pretty much took ownership of "our" shake.
Next was my brother's birthday celebration. For his dinner he chose... Golden Corral. I think he chose this for the simple fact that my mom, his fiancé and me don't like buffets. Well, I like The Journey since it was fantastic and not your typical buffet, but that's it. After dinner we went back to their house for cake and to play with their puppy. Tucker loves Max and his Aunt Megan!
Sunday was the "Toddler Day" of the weekend. The constantly talking loudly during church, super independent and lots of not listening. When Danny asked if I wanted to go to the grocery store alone, he barely got the word "alone" out before I said yes. I said "pick up your Legos" no less than 55 times yesterday. Despite the toddler-ness of Tucker, we still took him to visit some friend of ours and their baby goats. It took him a while to wake up from his very much needed 15 minutes nap on the way, but once he did he LOVED them. I see some goats at our house in the next couple of years! I honestly wouldn't mind. They sure were sweet!
We got home late so it was a pizza kind of night. After Whole30ing for the majority of the last 2 weeks, a weekend of pizza, milkshakes and buffet food sure is weighing me down today. My body, and sanity, is very happy its Monday!
Feb 2, 2016
Show & Tell Tuesday: How to Win My Heart
Its safe to say that the only time I will be blogging between now and March 15th is when there is a link up. I've got non-link up topics floating in my head, but no memory to help me jot them down. It'll happen someday :)
Today's link up is part of the year long party with Andrea @ Momfessionals, Show & Tell Tuesday. Today we're telling the world how to Win our Hearts in honor of Valentine's Day. Speaking of, I need to find a gift or two for my Valentine's!
Since my heart is no longer good for the taking, I'm going to share how my husband won my heart. These are memories from our pre-marriage days that stand out.
- Danny and I's relationship, or the months leading up to our relationship, started by driving around listening to music, so its no surprise that some of my favorite memories have to do with him singing to me. The biggest: A few days before we started for real dating we went to dinner and on the way home he sang "She's Everything" by Brad Paisley. Another time he sang to me was at a Rascal Flatts concert in 2009. They were singing "I Melt" which was one of the songs that we listened too a couple times when we were driving around that first night and he just grabbed me and started dancing with me as he sang.
- He is there for me no matter what time or what I need him to do. He once dropped everything to go pick a friend and I up from the airport with about 45 minutes notice. And there he stood, flowers in hand.
- Speaking of flowers, I've received a TON of no reason, just because flowers. I've also received some "I'm sorry for being an asshole" too, so he can admit when he's wrong.
- Another bouquet of flowers was given to me the day he went to school. I moved him in at school with his mom and nephews and when his mom dropped me off at home after midnight that night, a beautiful bouquet of flowers, from Danny, was waiting for me on the kitchen table. He had arranged for it to happen before we left.
- Danny went to school in Wilmington, OH for his first year of college. There were many, many weekends that went until the wee hours of Monday morning just so he could stay with me one more night but still make it back to school in time for class. He sacrificed many hours of sleep for a few more hours with me.
- He endured many sorority formals. The first couple are fun for the non-Greek significant other, but after a few and especially when your sorority girlfriend is sober monitor, they lose their flare.
- He was totally fine spending most weekends hanging out with my parents and their friends.
- One Christmas he made dinner for my mom, dad, brother and me while we opened presents. He had a few gifts from my parents, but he also whipped up a delicious "Chef's Surprise" for us too. This was after he worked Christmas Eve at the fire department too. Christmas Eve's are notoriously busy in that line of work.
- After getting home late from a concert, he agreed to drive an hour and a half away the next morning to watch me coach one single softball game. It was a good thing too, because on the way home is when I got the call about my dad passing away.
- In relation to that event, he arranged to take a week off of work before he even told me he did it. He didn't ask if I wanted him too, he just did it.
- He's a good sport.
- He planned a few birthday parties for me. One actually happened 3 weeks before my birthday since he was supposed to be in football camp at Wilmington and he was going to miss it. He had a friend drive me around, he picked up Chili's take out, and we ate on the deck by candlelight. After dinner, my Grammy and family had cake with us.
- When I went to Florida for spring break our freshman year of college, Danny stuck notes in my luggage before I left. There was one in my suitcase, one in my make up bag, one in my carry-on, and one in my purse. And since this was before smartphones and Facebook being at your fingertips, he wrote me a message every day I was gone so I could read them when I got home.
Today's link up is part of the year long party with Andrea @ Momfessionals, Show & Tell Tuesday. Today we're telling the world how to Win our Hearts in honor of Valentine's Day. Speaking of, I need to find a gift or two for my Valentine's!
Since my heart is no longer good for the taking, I'm going to share how my husband won my heart. These are memories from our pre-marriage days that stand out.
- He is there for me no matter what time or what I need him to do. He once dropped everything to go pick a friend and I up from the airport with about 45 minutes notice. And there he stood, flowers in hand.
- Speaking of flowers, I've received a TON of no reason, just because flowers. I've also received some "I'm sorry for being an asshole" too, so he can admit when he's wrong.
- Another bouquet of flowers was given to me the day he went to school. I moved him in at school with his mom and nephews and when his mom dropped me off at home after midnight that night, a beautiful bouquet of flowers, from Danny, was waiting for me on the kitchen table. He had arranged for it to happen before we left.
- Danny went to school in Wilmington, OH for his first year of college. There were many, many weekends that went until the wee hours of Monday morning just so he could stay with me one more night but still make it back to school in time for class. He sacrificed many hours of sleep for a few more hours with me.
- He endured many sorority formals. The first couple are fun for the non-Greek significant other, but after a few and especially when your sorority girlfriend is sober monitor, they lose their flare.
- He was totally fine spending most weekends hanging out with my parents and their friends.
- One Christmas he made dinner for my mom, dad, brother and me while we opened presents. He had a few gifts from my parents, but he also whipped up a delicious "Chef's Surprise" for us too. This was after he worked Christmas Eve at the fire department too. Christmas Eve's are notoriously busy in that line of work.
- After getting home late from a concert, he agreed to drive an hour and a half away the next morning to watch me coach one single softball game. It was a good thing too, because on the way home is when I got the call about my dad passing away.
- In relation to that event, he arranged to take a week off of work before he even told me he did it. He didn't ask if I wanted him too, he just did it.
- He's a good sport.
- He planned a few birthday parties for me. One actually happened 3 weeks before my birthday since he was supposed to be in football camp at Wilmington and he was going to miss it. He had a friend drive me around, he picked up Chili's take out, and we ate on the deck by candlelight. After dinner, my Grammy and family had cake with us.
- When I went to Florida for spring break our freshman year of college, Danny stuck notes in my luggage before I left. There was one in my suitcase, one in my make up bag, one in my carry-on, and one in my purse. And since this was before smartphones and Facebook being at your fingertips, he wrote me a message every day I was gone so I could read them when I got home.
I'm married to quite the charmer.
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