november highlights.

If November wasn't crazy... December sure will be! I can't believe 2014 will soon be coming to an end. The saying is so true, "The older you get, the faster time flies." November was filled with so much good food, friends and family.

Here are a few highlights from the eleventh month of the year (in no particular order):

• Stephen's mom and step-dad spent a weekend with us! Sightseeing included: Dallas Galleria, Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine, a yummy Italian dinner, Sunday morning church, and the Christmas Tree Lighting at the Shops at Legacy.
• When we walked into Belk at the Galleria, there was a long line.. I thought everyone was real excited about seeing Santa Claus. Turns out it was JESSICA SIMPSON. My twelve year old hopes and dreams of being her best friend came rushing back in an instant!!! I used to adore her when I was little. I never missed an episode of The Newlyweds and saved every magazine she was on the cover of. Seriously, the best moment and surprise of my life.
• Stephen and I put up my Christmas decorations at my house and drank hot chocolate under the tree.
• I purchased new stockings from Heart & Home! They are perfect. Stephen claimed the red one with the snowman.
• Earlier this month Stephen played in the Turkey Bowl at church aka a flag football tournament. His team ended up placing third and he could barely walk for days! It was fun to cheer and watch.
• I baked the most delicious pumpkin pie cake from M Loves M for Thanksgiving dessert. Instead of 3/4 cup of almond flour I only used 1/2 cup and added an extra 1/4 cup of all purpose flour. I also did candied pecans instead of pumpkin seeds! I know everyone likes a good pecan. IT IS AMAZING.
• Some of my students wrote me "thankful" letters for their ASL class. The one above is from one of my students from last year. I had no idea I had impacted her life that way! Makes the job worth it.
• Hannah and I practiced yoga over Thanksgiving break. My standing splits is making lots of progress! #yogawillchangeyourlife
• Last, but not least, Stephen's mom took the picture of Stephen and I in front of the big tree in the Galleria. I love my country boy.

what's cookin'.

One of my New Year's intentions was to grow and practice in my cooking skillz. I must say I really have stuck to it and have tried a lot of new recipes.

Here are a few recipes I've recently tried, actually succeeded in and liked:

• Cheesy Sweet Potato Chili
• I actually omitted the "cheese" part of this and it was still divine.
•  Pork Loin with Balsamic/Dijon Spread
• This was the easiest and quickest one of all!
• Tex Mex Meatballs with Cauliflower Mash
• You might think the Cauli Mash is weird with a mexican style meatball, but my favorite thing to do is to dip my meat in my "potatoes" so it worked!
• Homemade Paleo Mayo
• This is the one I'm most proud of! For a few reasons...
• It took 4 tries to get it right (it was a real science experiment!)
• It's amazingly delicious
• Now I can eat my chicken salad heart out
• Advice if you're considering making your own: 1. Watch at least 3 youtube videos before attempting. 2. Use all room tempature ingredients. 3. Pour the Light Olive Oil slowly - it should take you at least 10-15 minutes. 4. Do not use an immersion blender.
• The recipe above doesn't explain the process enough so make sure you read other articles. I did follow the ingredients here though.
• Why take the time to make your own mayo? Because every single jar sold on the shelf is loaded with unhealthy oils and chemicals. It's worth the time to make your own!
• Paleo Tortillas (pancake style)
• This recipe was faster and easier than actually having to roll out your dough etc.
• Next time I attempt these I will use less coconut flour. 1/4 C of it makes them a little too sweet, but they still worked for a chicken salad wrap!
• Sweet Potato Mash
• These. Are. Awesome.

Now I realize I have no pictures... click on those lovely links above - all of the foodie bloggers have great pics for ya! :)

strawberry banana muffins.

My number one summer goal (okay, maybe not number one) is to find 5 paleo dinner & dessert recipes that Stephen actually likes.

Welp, I already found the first one. Stephen thought these were awesome. Yay! So that means that if you have a beloved family member that hates healthy food they will probably like these! My friend from work shared a similar recipe, but I made it my own by making it paleo-friendly.

Strawberry Banana Muffins:
*Grain free, gluten free, no artificial sweetener*

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (if using salted, omit salt)
• 1/2-3/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped
• 2 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Mix all dry ingredients together.
2. Mix all wet ingredients together, including bananas.
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Fold in strawberries.
4. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
5. Enjoy! (I promise they taste better than they look!! I still have things I need to work on >> appearance!)

Almond flour doesn't allow for a beautiful-lookin' muffin. Yep, I'm totally blaming the flour.

power smoothie.

I found this smoothie recipe in the book 10 Day Detox Diet one of my teacher-friends was reading and tweaked it to my likings. Her and I are following Dr. Hyman's 10 day detox plan (because I've been eating like a race horse). Basically, the detox consists of no caffiene, sugar, and grains, exercise daily, and journaling daily about your progress. It's fairly tasty if you're used to the ingredients and eating pretty clean!

Power Smoothie
*Dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free, no added sugar, no sugar substitute*

    Ingredeints:

• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/4 lemon with the rind
• 1 tablespoon of:
•  almond butter
• coconut oil
• chia seeds
• hemp seeds
• flaxseed
• pumpkin seeds
• 2 raw brazil nuts
• 2 raw walnuts
• 1/4 avocado
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 cup water (or 1 cup of almond milk for a thicker smoothie)

   Directions:

1. Pour all ingredients into a blender and mix well. Enjoy!

Tip: I measuread out all of the "tablespoon ingredients" and put them in individual Ziplocs for the entire week. I make this for breakfast and do not have time in the mornings to measure out all of ingredients!

mavs & (lots of) meat.

This past weekend was lots of fun! On Friday night Stephen and I had tickets to a Mavs game in Dallas. Neither of us had ever been to a game so we were pretty excited. Our seats were a little high up (I bought the tickets for him for V-Day), but we could still see the game (thank goodness!). 

Go Mavs!

We left a little early to beat all the traffic and on our way to the car we passed one of the life size B & G letters that are all around Dallas. You are supposed to stand in the middle and be the life size I and then post it to social media (of course) with hashtag BigDallas. Interestingly enough, at this particular location, there was this person dressed up as a bull and a girl handing out fliers. Before we knew it we were posing with the bull in the middle of B & G and the girl was taking our picture. It all happened really fast and I’m still confused as to why there was a bull. Haha. That awkward moment when…

Us & a bull?

Then on Saturday sweet Stephen surprised me with a dinner date to Texas de Brazil. We had previously been talking about the fact that we had never eaten at a Brazilian Steakhouse before so I guess he decided it was time for us to try one!

Really there are no words to describe the amazingness of this restaurant. Once we were seated our waiter explained that we could help ourselves to the salad bar, but this wasn’t just a salad bar. It had sushi, salmon, shrimp, lobster bisque, grilled provolone… who has ever heard of grilled provolone? I could go on and on about the salad bar, but that isn’t even the cool part. At our table, we had these little cards -- on one side it was red and the other green. When you wanted meat you flipped it to green.  Then there were all these waiters that walked all over the restaurant with these huge skewers of meat. Every kind of meat you can imagine. Lamb, beef ribs, pork ribs, sirloin, flank steak, filet mignon, filet mignon wrapped in bacon, and the list goes on. The waiters would just come right up to your table, ask you if you wanted that particular cut of meat, and then cut you a slab! Basically, it was heaven on earth or as Stephen would say “GOAT” (Greatest Of All Time).

Oh yes, of course, there was dessert too! He had the cheesecake and I had the chocolate mousse cake. Needless to say, we rolled out to the car… If you have never eaten at a Brazilian Steakhouse, I would highly recommend Texas de Brazil.

5 stars!

As if that wasn’t enough meat to last us until Christmas, I had Natchitoches Meat Pies on the menu for dinner on Monday! The past two times I’ve cooked for Stephen, it’s been healthy food and he hated it. So I really needed to prove myself in the kitchen. Haha. Luckily, the third time’s a charm! He loved them. I got the recipe from OurBestBites. It was extremely easy to make. No, I did not make the dough from scratch. I bought the box of Pillsbury piecrusts (found at Wal Mart in the canned biscuit section) and they worked perfectly. Also, I'm freezing the leftover pies which makes for an easy future-dinner.

Bon Appetit!

It was the perfect weekend to kick off Spring Break. Excited for some time to relax and catch up on chores!

chili for the chilly.

Y'all. It has been winter for three straight months. I. Am. So. Sick. Of. The. Cold.

Everywhere I go I run because that means I'll spend less time in the cold. When my parents came to visit this weekend, I was real kind and turned the heat up from 62 to 67 (saving for Italy 2014!). My poor mother had to watch the Olympics in her ski coat and hood. She felt like she was is Sochi too. Haha.

Sooo.... I decided to cook something this week that would keep me warm! Chili!

{Paleo} Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 3 zucchini
• 3 squash
• 1 bag petite baby carrots
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2-3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil for cooking

Directions:

1. Add oil to a large sauce pan, add ground meat, garlic and onion. Cook until meat is brown --drain fat, if necessary.

2. Remove cooked ground meat. Chop zucchini and squash.

3. Add oil, all seasonings and petite baby carrots to the sauce pan. Cook for about 5 minutes. (You can use any kind of carrot -- I choose these because I don't have to chop them!)

4. Add chopped zucchini and squash to carrots. Cook for about 5-10 minutes.

5. Add cooked meat to vegetables. Cook for about 10 minutes.

6. Lastly, add diced tomatoes and cook for at least 30 minutes. Stir occasionally. Enjoy!

I also LOVE a very similar Butternut Squash Chili recipe! I promise you won't be disappointed in these warm chili recipes. :)

super bowl supper.

This is definitely not your typical Super Bowl Sunday menu. I just happened to pick this recipe and cook it on SBS. I'm really working on my new year's intention "cook more!"

Chicken & Bacon (Paleo) Alfredo

Ingredients:

• 1 large spaghetti squash
• 2 lbs boneless chicken thighs
• 8 slices nitrate free turkey bacon
• 1 can coconut milk
• 3 tsp dried basil
• 3 tsp dried parsley
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 head fresh chopped broccoli
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

Directions:

1. Place squash on a cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour on 375.

2. While squash is cooking, chop chicken, turkey bacon, and broccoli.

3. In a large sauce pan, add olive oil and cook chicken for 10 minutes. Season with oregano, salt and pepper. Remove chicken and place to the side (leave all the yummy juices).

4. Add turkey bacon and cook until crispy. Then add coconut milk and all seasonings. Cook for about 5 minutes.

5. Add cooked chicken and broccoli to the sauce mixture. Cook for about 3-5 minutes.

6. Once squash is finished cooking, cut in half, remove seeds and scrape the spaghetti into a casserole dish. Add the chicken/bacon/broccoli mixture to the squash and mix together.

7. Bake casserole on 375 for about 30 minutes. Top with parmesan cheese, if desired! Enjoy!

*Side Note*
If you or whoever you're cooking this for doesn't normally eat paleo entrees, it might take some getting used to! I loved it because I eat clean, but Stephen, on the other hand, did not. Haha.

january highlights.

January. I was happy that January had a hand-full of warm, sunny days which allowed me to read in the park, run without my fingertips freezing, and sit outside for dinner. It was a laid back, fun first month of the new year!

This month I...

• Got talked into going to the Josh Abbott band concert after church one Saturday night. Really glad Jenny ended up convincing me it was worth it to stay up late -- I had a blast!
• Booked a trip to Italy this summer!!!! Yes, my sister, Katelyn & I are actually going. Cannot wait.
• Ordered my first pair of Warby Parker's. Extremely pleased with their product!
• Had dinner with that beautiful gem above! Celebrated Hannah's birthday over some hummus, pita bread & Yia Yia's chicken at one of my fave Greek restaurants.
• Cooked spaghetti squash spaghetti (see recipe below) for Stephen for dinner one night. He was fascinated that the squash actually looked like spaghetti noodles. I was fascinated the first time too! He insisted upon adding the hat, remote control, and wine bottle to the photo. 

Dallas really feels like home now. Happy heart.

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti:     serves 5 to 6

• Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash, at least 3 lbs
1 lb ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 jar spaghetti sauce
olive oil for cooking
salt, pepper and Tony's to taste

• Directions:

1. Bake spaghetti squash on 350 for 45 minutes (this softens the squash so you can cut it in half).

2. While squash is baking, cover pan with olive oil and brown meat with onion.

3. Take squash out of oven, cut in half, remove seeds. Place back in pan face down, add water in pan to avoid it being too dry and cook for 30 more minutes (or to your satisfaction).

4. Add sauce to meat and stir on low.

5. Remove squash from oven, scrape the "spaghetti" out and add it to meat/sauce mixture. Salt, pepper and Tony's to taste.

6. Enjoy!

energy yumminess.

I found a recipe for these "energy bites" from a blog I follow, blondeponytail. I could have just linked the page to here because it is the same recipe, but I wanted to share it too!

Minus the dark chocolate chips these are pretty safe for you paleo people out there! (Don't know what paleo is? check out ThePaleoDiet)

"ENERGY BITES"

>>1 bag of dates
>>1 cup of almonds
>>1/2 cup of dried cranberries
>>1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)
>>1 scoop of Muscle Milk protein--Natural Chocolate (or your preference)

I meant to buy the 50% reduced sugar dried cranberries and will for sure next time!

Instructions:

1. Blend all ingredients (minus the protein) separately in a food processor. I did the almonds first because they were dry.
2. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl (again, minus the protein).
3. Take about a tablespoon size or tablespoon size and a half of mixture and roll into a ball. Continue until all the mixture is rolled into balls.
4. Dust each "energy bite" with the protein. This will help them stick and adds flavor.
5. Refrigerate and enjoy!

dates, cranberries, almonds & choc chips

roll bites in MM protein.

excuse the antique pan.

I made 19 of these on Sunday. It is now Wednesday and I have approximately 2 left (I only gave 1 to a friend). That is how GOOD they are. You will not be disappointed! Let me know what you think!

P.S. When I make these again this weekend I'll probably nix the choc chips because these are plenty sweet.

sweet & salty.

It's been an awesome three-day weekend.

I started it all off with a power-walk down some back, country roads with my dear friend, Courtney. She teaches 5th grade at a four-day week school (lucky duck) and recently got married to good ol' boy, Nehemiah. Her and I decided that we would make Friday afternoons a standing date--for walking and talking. So far we have gone walking the past two Fridays and I have loved every minute of our hangout time. One of the many things we talked about was our love of food. Haha. She brought up the fact that she loves sweet and salty snacks. Which then brought to my own attention that I love sweet and salty snacks too!

It wasn't 24 hours later that I was headed to Wal Mart to buy a few things for my revelation of my love for sweet and salty. I decided that I wanted to make my own trial mix. I did a bit of research and picked one that sounded pretty good and made a few modifications to it:
>>1 cup of almonds
>>1/2 cup of dark chocolate chocolate chips
>>1 cup of 50% less sugar craisins
>>2 cups of pretzels (small)
>>1 cup of honey toasted Heart-to-Heart Kashi cereal

Directions: Measure and pour all ingredients in a large bowl, then mix together! Delicious. Try it!

Another reason my weekend was awesome was that two of my life-long friends, Eleni and Lauren, were in town---without their husbands = girl time! :) YAY.

I got to spend Sunday afternoon sitting in the sunshine catching up with Eleni (drinking coffee) and Monday morning catching up with Lauren (drinking coffee). This was the first time that I spent one-on-one time with both of them as married women.These two girls are so precious to me. Precious in their own unique ways. I thought it would be so weird when they got married, but it actually isn't at all.  Eleni and Lauren both said that it just feels normal, not really too different (except for the fact that they live with a boy!). Jesus really does prepare each one of His children for the different seasons of their lives. Eleni and her husband, Colin, live in north Louisiana where Eleni is currently in PA school. Lauren and her husband, Logan, live in the big D where she is a teacher and he works as an allergist specialist. I am so thankful for the moments we had together this weekend and can't wait until I get to see them again (Mardi Gras!). It was so fun!

I did visit the same new church on Sunday and fell in love with it even more. The people are SO nice and it's all about Jesus! The pastor spoke on how vital prayer is in Jesus' Mission and how we are called to pray for all people. He preached from 1 Timothy 2:1-7. I am thankful for living in a country that I can worship my Savior freely. 

A word from Lord that He gave me Sunday morning, from my devotional God Calling, before heading off to church:

"So you must be careful to think of and desire that which will help, not hinder, your spiritual growth.  Think Love, Love surrounds you, and all whom you think about. Think thoughts of ill-will and ill surrounds you, and all whom you think about. Think health--health comes. The physical reflects the mental and the spiritual."

MK's yummy trial mix.

(Eleni trying on ski pants) Eleni Sallinger: This is what married life does to a woman.

Lauren Chabot. :)