Healthy Eating (Recipes)

We've been trying to eat healthier for the past couple of years now. As in, I haven't bought pasta, rice, or bread in literally two years. Hello low carb eating. Over the past couple of months, we've been trying out some new recipes to add to our rotation. Kevin found this great app called Mealime that we've been using a lot. It's a meal planning app for healthy eating. We've found some delicious recipes and everything has been easy to make. It gives you all of the ingredients, creates a shopping list for you, and gives you detailed cooking instructions. And no, they aren't paying me to say any of this...Mealime has no idea who I am. We just really like this app.

Along with the Mealime recipes, I love trying recipes I see on blogs or ones I find on Pinterest. Here are some of our favorites:

One Pot Spicy Sausage and Kale Soup (by Eat Yourself Skinny)

This is one is SO GOOD. We make it a lot. And it's super easy. A must try.

Sausage, Bean, & Kale Soup (by Carolina Charm)

We made this one for the first time a couple weeks ago, and it was a winner!

Chili (by Carolina Charm)

This is my favorite. I could make this once a week and not get sick of it. SO GOOD.

Sweet Potato, Kale, and Sausage Bake with White Cheese Sauce (by Pinch of Yum)

In the summer, our favorite thing to do is grill our meals. We grill about 80% of our meals in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. We broke the grill out a couple of weeks and I couldn't be happier!

My biggest downfall when trying to eat healthier is snacking. I snack morning, afternoon, and night. We started using Nature Box over a year ago and we love it. Nature Box sends 4-5 healthy snacks, every month, for $19.95 (including shipping). You can choose your snacks every month, or let Nature Box choose for you. I figured it was better than spending $20/month at the grocery store on chips and other snacks that were far from healthy. They add new snacks all the time, so you don't keep getting the same thing over and over. It's worth trying it for a few months to see if you like it. You can learn more HERE.

We definitely still have our "cheat" days, but we try hard to eat pretty healthy at home, so we can live a little when we go out with friends or to parties. It was super hard at first, but it has become our new normal. What are some of your favorite healthy recipes?? I'd love to try them!

Friday Favorites: Christmas Treats

Happy Friday!!!  After having a few busy weekends in a row, I'm looking forward to a productive and relaxing weekend.  I'm pretty excited that Christmas is coming up, but time is running out for me to get everything ready.  I still have some decorations to put up, shopping to do, and all of the presents to wrap.  I also need to do some baking, so today I'm sharing five yummy treats on my "to make" list this Christmas.

ONE.  How cute are these Candy Cane Hearts from One Little Project At A Time? And they seem pretty easy to make too.

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TWO.  I made these Peppermint Chocolate Cookies from Two Twenty One last year and they are AMAZING!  I'll definitely be making them again this year.

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THREE. I have seen these all over Pinterest, and I think they are super cute and healthy option for Christmas.  I'm thinking about making them to bring as a snack for some holiday parties.

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FOUR. This Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn Munch from Yellow Brick Road looks addictive and delicious.

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FIVE.  I will be consuming lots of hot chocolate this winter and these giant Peppermint Marshmallows from Barns and Noodles will be the perfect addition.  And maybe some kahlua ;)

So this list really shows that I love peppermint, but it's just so good.  My husband doesn't really like peppermint, which means more for me!

What are your favorite treats to make this holiday season?

Linking up with Momfessionals for Friday Favorites!

Quinoa Veggie Salad - Recipe

On Sunday we celebrated my Grandma's 79th birthday with a big family pot luck.  I wanted to make something new and something healthy, so I headed to my Pinterest boards to find some inspiration.  I found this recipe for Quinoa Veggie Salad from Pinch of Yum.  The salad looked delicious and I had most of the ingredients at home already, so I decided to make it.  I changed the recipe a little bit to accommodate things I did/didn't have on hand.  You can find the original version HERE, but here is the way I made it:

Ingredients

For the Dressing:

1/3 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons warm water

3 cloves garlic, chopped

juice of one lemon

salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons of parsley

For the Salad:

1 cup cooked quinoa

12 leaves romaine lettuce

1 large carrot, peeled

1 cup cherry tomaotoes, halved

1 cucumber, chopped in to bit size pieces

Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1.  Cook the quinoa according to package directions.  When finished cooking, chill in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.  The texture of the salad is better when the quinoa is cool and crumbles a little more easily (instead of hot and sticky).

2.  Puree the dressing ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  Store in fridge until ready to use.

3.  Shred/chop the lettuce in to bit size pieces (whatever size you like it). Cut the carrots in to a few big chunks and mince them in the food processor.  Toss the tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers together.  Toss the cooled quinoa with the dressing; then add the carrots, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

4.  When you are ready to serve, toss with the lettuce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

I LOVED the way the salad turned out and would make it again in a heartbeat.  I had enough left to take for lunch the next day, and it was still fresh the next day.  It was super easy and it made a good sized bowl that was perfect to take as my dish to pass.  And it was healthy which made it even better!

Linking up with Katie Did What for Healthy Habits!

Oh Hey Friday!

Linking up today with September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for oh hey Friday!

And Momfessionals for Friday Favorites!

ONE.  Kevin and I play on a co-ed softball team on Tuesday nights, and this week our team won the tournament!  We were ranked #2 in the tournament and we ended up playing a double header.  We won the first game 22-13 and the second game 18-3!

TWO.  I'm a little behind on reading blogs, but I'm hoping to catch up today!  I have the day off from work (but I do have to work tomorrow), and while my goal is to paint this weekend, I might end up sitting out on the deck in the sun reading...I'm ok with that.

THREE.  Every year, Grand Rapids has a sandwich contest called Grandwich.  A bunch of restaurants create a Grandwich and then the public tries them over a period of a couple of weeks and then they vote for their favorites.  The top 10 is then announced, and then eventually the winner.  The other day for lunch, my co-worker and I got two of the Grandwiches and split them.  The first is from a place called San Chez.  It was good, but didn't "wow" me.

Black pepper turkey from Golden Legacy with smoked Wisconsin cheddar, mojo marinated onions, jalapeño slices, roasted garlic, Michigan Bee Co. jalapeño honey, spicy yellow mustard, and an Eggland's Best over-medium egg.

The second was from Peppinos and it was really good!

Frank's Market kielbasa, Stehouwer's shaved ribeye, bacon, ham, carmelized onions, and marinated heirloom tomatoes piled on a fresh Ciabatta then smothered with a rich Founder's Pale Ale Tomato Cream sauce. 

FOUR.  I'm running the Color Run next Sunday with my sister.  It's a fun run, so I'm not too worried about my training being less than great, but I need to find another race to run soon.  When I sign up for races it keeps me more motivated to keep running.  Anyone else feel the same way? 

FIVE.  I saw these monogrammed chucks on Pinterest Told Me To, but they are actually a photo from Our Fifth House.  I think I need the blue ones.  You can see all of the different options HERE.  The $98 price tag is a little much for me, but I think these will be on my Christmas wish list :)

Have a great weekend!!