FAMILY/ Kids/Family/ Marriage/ Sponsored

Reclaiming Date Night

Todd and I have had date nights as long as we have been married, which is going on almost 20 years! We were super faithful with date nights before the kids were born, going out once a week and having at least one elaborate date once a month. We lived in the Chicago during our first 2 years of marriage, so there were plenty of places to go to & choose from for date night. Once we started having kids, we moved back to Nebraska and date night turned into every other week, as paying babysitters got expensive. Grandparents were awesome with helping watch the kids, so some months we got to go every week. Whether it was every week or every other week, it was a priority for us.

The past year or so we have found it more of a struggle to get out on a date night on a regular basis. Having teenagers keep us very busy on the weekends, and my health issues this past year really kept us from going out much.

Now that I am feeling more like myself, we have started going out on date nights on a more regular basis. It is still hard with teenagers, but keeping our dates short so we can run them around town is better than no date at all!

We keep our date nights pretty simple. We both are foodies so we always go out to eat.

Here are reasons date night is important to us:

~It allows us to really ‘see’ each other. There is something quite romantic about sitting across from my man and seeing the one I committed to spending my whole life with. Life can pass so quickly, so slowing down to really look my Todd in the eyes, connect with him, and listen to him with no distractions is important and time very well spent.

~It causes us to pause and ‘be’ instead of ‘do.’ We are together every day doing all that life brings our way. It is so important to just be together and slow the hustle that life brings.

~It is fun. Life can bring some pretty heavy things along the way, so taking the time to have some fun is important to us. Fun for us means connecting emotionally & of course, eating great food!

We love LOVE food. My Todd especially loves sea food, so recently I initiated a date night and took my man out to Red Lobster for their Endless Shrimp. He is usually the one who initiates and takes me out, so this was quite fun to change things up a bit and take him out. We had the BEST time.

The evening really was perfect. The weather was in the upper 70’s and the sun was just starting to set as we drove to dinner. I wore some new booties that I just got and threw on some jewelry to add a little sparkle to my casual outfit. Gotta look good for my man!

We were surprised at how busy Red Lobster was, and worried that the wait would be long, but despite all of the people who were there excited to eat some sea food, we were seated within minutes.

Red Lobster is the world’s largest seafood restaurant company, headquartered in Orlando Florida, with over 700 restaurants in the United States and Canada. Red Lobster is focused on delivering freshly prepared seafood at reasonable prices. It was obvious on this night that Red Lobster is where their guests come to satisfy their craving for great seafood!

Our waitress was super sweet and immediately took our drink orders. We ordered two of their new beer-based cocktails, that are available exclusively during Endless Shrimp & paired perfectly with our Endless Shrimp dishes. One was called the Seaside Shandy and the other was the Angry Lobster. Hands down my favorite was the Angry Lobster. Bold and spicy, the Angry Lobster features Anger Orchard Crisp Apple Cider, tropical fruit juices and a kick of Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey. I had no idea I was about to taste a drink that was so good that I would be thinking about it a week later. It was so good I had to text my sister to tell her to go to Red Lobster and order one ASAP. It was like tasting fall in a drink — the cinnamon apple flavor was so delicious! To. Die. For.

Both cocktails are served in a beer can-shaped commemorative glass with the Red Lobster logo & are sold with the purchase of a cocktail.

When it was time to take our order, the waitress was really great at her job and answered my questions before I even asked them! We knew we were going to order their Endless Shrimp, which is going on now and for a limited time at Red Lobster. This year, you can choose two out of 5 shrimp preparations for your initial order, and then you can enjoy as much shrimp as you would like, any way you want it, and can mix-and match different preparations.

These are the dishes that are only available during Endless Shrimp:

~NEW! Pineapple Habanero Coconut Bites — coconut shrimp bites tossed in pineapple habanero sauce

~Teriyaki Grilled Shrimp — classic guest favorite and back by popular demand, grilled shrimp brushed with soy-ginger glaze

~Hand-Breaded Shrimp– Hand-breaded shrimp friend to a golden brown.

~Garlic Shrimp Scampi — Oven-broiled shrimp in garlic, white wine and butter

~Shrimp Linguini Alfredo— tender shrimp in a garlic Parmesan cream sauce on a bed of linguine

I started out with the Pineapple Habanero Coconut Bites, and the Teriyaki Grilled Shrimp. I loved the sound of the Pineapple Habanero Coconut Bites, but was worried it would be too spicy for my wimpy palate. Our waitress told me they could put the sauce on the side, but that it was not overly spicy. It ended up being my favorite of all, and it did have a bite, but boy, was it good with the sweetness of the coconut shrimp. I also loved the Teriyaki Grilled Shrimp. My first 2 choices ended up being my favorite.

Todd started with Shrimp Linguini Alfredo and the Hand-Breaded Shrimp. He got a refill of the Pineapple Habanero Coconut Bites, and I got a refill of Hand-Breaded Shrimp, but I was getting super full by this time. We had already enjoyed the Cheddar Bay Biscuits that Red Lobster is known for. I also had a salad which was really fresh and green, topped with their Blueberry Balsamic dressing–yes, it was as good as it sounds.

Todd and I were enjoying conversation when a couple of familiar faces walked up and greeted us. My Todd is Programs Director at a non-profit organization called City Impact. He works with young people and 2 of the students we have worked with were there working the room as host and hostess. They were so professional–they were dressed sharply in all black and were communicating discretely with other team members through their headsets. They were busy with things like setting up tables, seating people in a timely manner, & bringing a high chair to a family with little ones. Todd and I were so happy that they stopped by to say hi and we beamed with pride at the way they owned the room and made service flow so wonderfully. That was a fun surprise.

We did save room for dessert and ordered the Chocolate Chip Lava Cookie as suggested by one of Todd’s students. It was really yummy. I can’t ever have dessert with out a cup of coffee, so I ordered a cup of decaf and it was delicious paired with our dessert.

It was so nice to just sit and enjoy great food with my husband. We had great conversation, just catching up on life and even setting a few goals for our family in the future. We ended up super satisfied and headed home to snuggle up and watch some of our favorite television that we had recorded earlier in the week. I love finishing date night curled up together in our cozy home!

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What about you?

Have you ever eaten at Red Lobster during Endless Shrimp? If you do go during Endless Shrimp, use the hashtag #EndlessReasonsContest on social media to share your reasons for loving Endless Shrimp and be entered to win daily prizes throughout the event.

What about date night? Do you need to reclaim date night? How often do you and your significant other go out on a date? What do you like to do on dates?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Brunch/ Healthy Eating/ RECIPES

Hashbrowns, Spinach & Tomato Pie

Call this Hashbrowns, Spinach & Tomato a pie, a quiche, or omelette–whatever you call it, call it good!

I love taking traditional meals like this one and figuring out how to make them smarter, with the right ingredients at the right price!

DO IT SMARTER

There are several things I do that makes shopping, menu planning and dinner -making smarter.

First, I look for recipes that I can revamp with ingredients that are better for my family. I use organic whenever possible, especially when it comes to dairy, and look for ways to swap ingredients for smarter ingredients.

For example, in this Hashbrowns, Spinach & Tomato Pie recipe, I use shredded potatoes instead of pie crust, vegetables instead of bacon or ham, and olive oil instead of vegetable oil.

Another thing I like to do is use ingredients that I know will last throughout the week. Organic eggs are a great thing to buy and use all throughout the week. I buy 2 cartons and hard boil one whole carton for snacks and to top salads.

I also buy a large bag of Hashbrown potatoes most weeks, as they are great in breakfast recipes and also as a quick side dish to many other non-breakfast recipes. I make sure the brand I buy is just plain old shredded potatoes, with no additives or extra oils or salt added.

A bag of shredded cheese is another ingredient I buy at the beginning of the week and make sure it stretches all week. If we have tacos, we do not load on the cheese like we used to…just a sprinkling will do. If I make a casserole, most call for 2-3 cups of cheese which is usually not necessary. I use half that amount and it rarely makes a difference except for fewer calories & more my pocket-book! I will say, it the cheese is organic like the Horizon Organic Shredded Mozzarella cheese that I used in this recipe, I am more likely to pile it on!

The last thing I do that is pretty smart is make one day a week a ‘breakfast for dinner” day. Breakfast food is so easy to make, and recipes like this one that has eggs and organic dairy & veggies can be a healthy & hearty meal.

HASHBROWN, SPINACH & TOMATO PIE RECIPE

Let’s talk about this recipe. It was a snap to throw together and was super flavorful. The colors in it are so pretty & the browning of the hash brown crust just adds to the beauty of the dish. Organic Horizon Whole Milk adds extra creaminess to the egg filling. It is really a great dish with lots of texture.

We had this for dinner last night and I really enjoyed it. It will be a recipe I make often, in fact, I am making a version of it as I type for my girls for breakfast, with no garlic or veggies. They just wanted plain for breakfast, just plain hash browns, cheese and eggs. It smells great as it is baking right now and is making me hungry!

Feel free to use whatever veggies you want. I think sliced zucchini squash or roasted asparagus would be great!

Hashbrowns, Spinach & Tomato Pie

2 cups shredded hash brown potatoes (I used frozen, straight from the bag)

1 cup Horizon Organic Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 cups packed fresh spinach

1 garlic clove

1 cup grape tomatoes

4 eggs

1/4 cup Horizon Organic Whole Milk

pinch of nutmeg

Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Spray or grease a 9 inch pie plate; put the shredded hash brown potatoes into the pie plate. Drizzle with 1 Tablespoon olive oil. Toss to coat. Press down into pie plate and push them up the sides of the plate a bit.
Bake for 8 minutes; remove from oven & top with 1/2 cup Horizon Organic Mozzarella Cheese & set aside.
Heat olive oil in a skillet
Add spinach and tomatoes; cook for 3 minute sort until spinach is wilted, stirring frequently.
Add garlic & continue to cook for 1 minute.
Remove from heat and spread over potatoes.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, Horizon Organic Whole Milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper until thoroughly combined.
Pour over spinach & tomatoes.
Sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese over the pie
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until top is golden brown.
Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting.
Cut & Serve.

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Would you like to know more about Horizon Organic products? You can follow them at these places:

Twitter//Facebook//Instagram//Pinterest

This conversation is sponsored by Horizon. The opinions and text are all mine.

Brunch/ RECIPES/ Sides/ Sponsored/ Sweets

Vegan Pumpkin Bread With Brown Sugar Streusel Crust

We have been enjoying Meatless Mondays around here for quite a while now. It has been much fun creating or finding meatless & dairy free meals and desserts. It causes us to eat more plant-based & gives me excuse to mix up my recipes & pour over my Vegan board on Pinterest. I found a couple of recipes for Pumpkin bread and remixed them to come up with this better-for-you Vegan Pumpkin Bread with Brown Sugar Streusel Crust recipe. It is now a favorite! It is so very good that I won’t ever go back to my usual non-vegan, double-the-sugar pumpkin bread recipe.

It is also Monday night football season, so I’ve had extra fun finding meatless meals and desserts that we can enjoy as a family while having the game on. Notice I say “having the game on” instead of “watching the game.” That is because my husband is really the only one who watches Monday night football. He is in a house of girls who are not too interested, but I must say, I love the fun fall atmosphere that a football game brings to the house. It causes me to light fall candles, plug-in my fun lighty- up pumpkin & even use it as an excuse call up my friends and have them over during the week if I’m feeling social. If not, I just cozy up in the corner of the couch with my fuzzy blanket and fuzzy socks & listen to my husband cheer on his team. He is an extremely quiet guy until it comes to sports…then he gets quite animated and I find myself chuckling at him. It can be very entertaining. Oh how I love my man!

This Vegan Pumpkin Bread recipe is anther something that I just love. It pleases both the girls & guys, and is the thing to make when having people over. It is nice and girly & tastes great with a cup of coffee or tea, but also is sweet & special enough to pass as a dessert with the guys, enjoyed with a pumpkin ale.

The bread is soft and moist, you won’t miss the whole milk, butter or eggs one bit! Creamy Silk Almondmilk, thick pumpkin, and vegan butter alternative is what this bread so moist. The streusel top is a buttery brown sugar concoction that is nice and hearty, not dry & crumbly like most streusels. It seeps into the bread a bit while it bakes and the result is just—MMM.

This recipe mixes up in a snap. All ingredients except the flour and baking powder are combined together in one bowl. You then simply wisk in the dry ingredients, pour in a pan, and top with streusel.

It is a great way to keep things simple on a Monday night. Serve with a crockpot of vegan chili & call it good. Your home will smell, taste, look and sound like fall while eating this if you make it on a Meatless Monday Football Night!

Do you have any recipes that can be remixed for #MeatlessMondayNight?

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Silk’s plant-based beverages & yogurt alternatives are super versatile and can be used as substitutes for dairy products. Using them is a great way to make delicious meat & dairy-free versions of your normal go-to Monday Night Football recipes.

Silk’s products are lactose free, cholesterol free, high fructose corn syrup free & no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

Vegan Pumpkin Bread With Brown Sugar Streusel Crust

3/4 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1/2 cup brown sugar (or coconut sugar)

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted (another plant-based oil can be substituted)

1/4 cup Unsweetened Silk AlmondMilk

2 tablespoons molasses

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

pinch of salt

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (can use wheat)

2 teaspoons baking powder

Streusel Crust

1/4 cup of vegan buttery spread or butter if you are non-vegan, softened

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease & flour one 9×5 inch loaf pan. Set aside.
Bread- in a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredient through salt & whisk to combine. If coconut oil re-solidifys, no worries, a few small white clumps are ok.
Stir in the flour and baking powder until just combined, don’t overmix. Batter is quite thick.
Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
Streusel Crust – in a medium bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour & toss with a fork until mixture combines and crumbs and clumps form. This is a moist streusel, but if your seems very moist and is paste-like, add another 1-2 tablespoon flour, as needed to dry it out.
Evenly sprinkle the streusel topping over the top, using your fingers to break up large clumps in necessary.
Bake for about 40-44 minutes, or until center is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter.
Allow bread to cool in pan, on top of a wire rack, for at least 30 minutes before turning out onto the rack to finish cooling completely.
Slice bread with a serrated knife in a sawing motion, going over any stubborn patches of the crust a few times, taking care to be gentle to not compress the loaf. Bread will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week.
To freeze, wrap completely cooled loaf in plastic wrap, then place loaf inside a gallon-sized plastic zipped bag. Bread will keep airtight in the freezer for up to 6 months

Enjoy!

This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

HOME/ Organizing/ Simplifying/ Sponsored

Organize Your Phone In 10 Easy Steps

I get bitten by the organization bug much harder in the fall than in the spring. The cool, crisp fall weather makes me want to just hunker down in a cozy home, and there is no cozy if there is clutter! I love sitting under a warm blanket with a fall scented candle lit, scrolling through my phone and doing all the things our amazing phones do these days! I was doing this just the other day, about to instagram my yummy cup of Pumpkin Spiced Chai Latte, but, then…in the midst of my insta moment…the annoying ‘out of storage’ screen pops up.

How many of you have gone to take a photo with your phone, only to get the dreaded little screen that pops up letting you know that you are out of storage? Ugh, this has happened to me so many times! Well, no more. It is time for some fall organization of my phone, starting with photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive

Phone Organization

Step One:

Get photos off my phone and onto the cloud with Amazon Cloud Drive.

Todd and I have been Amazon Prime members for a few years now, and love it. The free 2-day shipping is great, and we also love Amazon Prime Video. What we didn’t know until recently that if you are a prime member, you already have access to Amazon Cloud Drive with Prime Photos, which provides unlimited, secure photo storage as part of your Prime membership!

I was very excited about the unlimited photo storage, especially when I found out there is a handy Amazon Photo App for my phone. What this means for me is any photo that I take with my iPhone can easily be stored in Amazon Cloud Drive. This can be done by setting it to automatically store every photo you take, or choosing them manually. I no longer have to take up precious space on my phone and see that dreaded warning screen telling me that I have no space left to take another photo!

As a blogger, this is especially exciting. I take most of my blog photos with my phone, and before discovering Amazon Cloud Drive I had over 2,000 photos on my phone! Many of them were photos taken for my blog, some I had already used, and some I had not. They are were all screaming to be organized! I had access to another type cloud storage, but it is also being used by my whole family and all of their devices, and is one that is not unlimited, so it stressed me out to upload all my many blog photos to that specific cloud storage.

I plan on using Amazon Cloud Drive for my own personal iPhone photos, my Kindle photos, and my personal laptop photos, paying specific attention to my blog photos. I can’t believe I will finally have all of my blog photos in one spot, accessible from all devices. Talk about Fall Organization! This is something I have desired for a long time. Once I get all of my personal & blog photos organized, I will then see to the rest of my family’s photos, which will probably end up on Amazon Cloud Drive, too, since it is unlimited!

Don’t have Amazon Prime? No worries, I will explain at the end of this post some amazing deals offered for you from Amazon Cloud Drive for non-prime members.

Now that photos are off of my phone and I have freed up a ton of storage space, I can organize the rest of my phone.

{my sweet screensaver…can’t believe they are teenagers now!}

Step Two:

Update Apps

I had not been able to update my apps due to lack of…yep…storage space. Now I can! I had 37 updates just waiting there for me, and now my phone will work with efficiency.

Step Three:

Voicemails –Listen to & delete all voicemails. I had listened to all of mine, but had not deleted them. They were starting to pile up! I also went in my settings and set them to automatically delete after a certain period of time.

Step Four:

Messages — Read, respond to, & delete all messages

Step Five:

Voxer –(I’m assuming you all have and love this app as much as I do) I listened to and deleted all old messages (these were taking up a ton of space!) I use this awesome walkie-talkie type message app everyday. It makes driving in the car so much more fun when I am alone. I blab to friends or listen to my messages and just love how it turns car time into connecting time!

Step Six:

Reminders–I took a quick peek at all of my reminders and clicked off items that were finished, and deleted lists that were outdated.

Step Seven:

Frequently Used Apps –I put frequently used apps on front home screen. This is my personal preference, then I use folders on the second home screen. There are several ways to organize apps. Some like to do it according to color, some like to alphabetize them. On my front page I do a combination of color and type.

Step Eight:

App Folders–organize rest of apps in folders on 2nd home screen. I saw a great idea online recently where you organize according to action word:

~look up (yelp, contacts, safari, contacts, weather)

~listen (music, spotify)

~talk (message, FaceTime, ichat)

~shop (amazon, walgreens, iTunes)

~share (snapchat, twitter, vine, periscope)

~photograph (photos, instagram, Amazon Cloud Drive)

~navigate (maps, around me)

~read (amazon reading app, mashable, Bloglovin’)

Step Nine:

Contacts–Go through contacts and update information.

Step Ten:

Notes – clear out notes. Delete unwanted, file the rest into Evernote

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Oh my goodness I can’t tell you how much better using my newly organized phone is!

What made the biggest difference is dealing with my boatload of photos. It took quite awhile to move over 2,000 pictures using the Amazon Cloud App, but that was to be expected with so many photos. Now that the bulk of my photos are moved over, doing just a month at a time is super fast. I find myself keeping about a week’s worth of photos on my phone, as I like to share them on social sites like instagram, so that gives me some time to do just that while still staying organized and on top of my photos.

Want to know more about Amazon Cloud Drive?

Photos and files can be shared via private links from within the Amazon Photo app or by selecting a folder or file to be shared using the web interface on your computer. Love that! This would be super useful for holidays or vacations, to share with your friends and family.

If you are already a prime member, you have access to Amazon Cloud Drive with Prime Photos, which provides unlimited photo storage as part of your Prime membership. In addition, Prime members get 5 GB of additional storage space for videos, movies, music, and files.

If you are not, Amazon recently announced two unlimited storage plans, both start with a free 3-month trial:

Unlimited Everything Plan ($59.99 per year—equivalent of less than $5 per month): Store an infinite number of new and existing photos, videos, files, documents, movies, and music in Cloud Drive.
Unlimited Photos Plan ($11.99 per year—equivalent of less than $1 per month): Similar to the Prime member benefit – non Prime members can also store an infinite number of photos in Cloud Drive without worrying about taking up space on phones, cameras, or other devices. This plan also includes 5 GB of additional storage for videos or other documents and files.

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What about you? Do you store your photos in the cloud? Do you find yourself annoyed when your phone photos take up all your storage space? Do you have any more phone organization tips for me?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Healthy Eating/ HOME/ Homemaking/ How-Tos/ RECIPES

How To Use Pinterest When Making A Menu Plan

Do you find yourself pinning a bunch of great looking recipes on Pinterest, but then never get around to actually making them? Do you want an easy way to streamline menu planning each week? Then this post is for you.

I don’t know about you, but the weeks that I actually take some time to make a menu plan go so smoothly compared to when I don’t. It is a great feeling to know exactly what foods I plan on making each week, and it saves so much money in the long run, as it keeps me from quick grabbing food on the go or running to the grocery store several times a week. When I know the recipes I am going to make, and make a grocery list to make sure I have the groceries on hand, then making meals actually becomes an enjoyable process!

Pinterest is a GREAT way to not only find great recipes, but to simplify the menu planning process.

Most of the recipes I use are either on my blog or on Pinterest, and I am always wanting to try at least one or two new recipes a week. Using Pinterest for menu planning helps me to easily find and gather recipes from both sources.

I simply made a board titled Recipes To Make This Week. This is where I will gather ONLY the recipes that I plan on making that week. I then go search my own New Nostalgia board and New Nostalgia Food board. This is like my own personal recipe box. My blog is full of recipes that I love and use often, so it makes sense for me to pull from there first. I then go to my Recipes: Menu Plan board. This board is where I pin recipes that I am craving, or recipes I find that look so good that I want to make them ASAP. The last place I search for fun recipes is among all my other Recipe boards, that are sorted alphabetically according to food/cuisine type.

How To Use Pinterest When Making A Menu Plan

Make a board titled Recipes: To Make This Week
Make a board titled Recipes: Menu Plan
Gather pins from New Nostalgia board and New Nostalgia food boards. (a shameless plug!)
Gather pins from your general recipes boards…or come visit mine.
Put ‘must make soon’ type recipes in your Menu Plan board
Put ONLY recipes you are committing to make for the week in your Recipes: To Make This Week board.

Once I have all of my recipes for the week gathered on my Recipes To Make This Week board, I then make a grocery list by clicking on each one and making sure I have all of the ingredients on hand. If I don’t have it, it goes right on my grocery list.

I use the Reminders list app on my iPhone, I type the list, then go check my cupboards, speaking to Siri to add anything I am missing. I also use Siri if I am out and about and remember something I need to add to my list…this is especially helpful when I’m in the car! I simply say “Reminders Grocery List” and she will then ask me what to add to that specific list, I answer, and she adds it for me.

It saves paper and I can access it on my laptop and on my phone. I usually do this while at home on my computer, but the beautiful thing about this is I can do it all on my phone while sitting in my car waiting for my kids! I can access all my Pinterest boards, and gather ingredients I need on my Reminders app. It is such a timesaver.

I do not get so detailed as to assign each day of the week its own meal and recipes. I just gather a few meals, snacks, & breakfasts, enough to get us through the week. My mood can change each day as to what I feel like eating, so I try to just have a handful of recipes that make pretty balanced week. To do this, I am purposeful to keep in mind a variety of meals.

I talk about having general recipe dinner categories during the week (fish, pasta, chicken, breakfast for dinner, meatless, one grass-fed ground beef recipe, etc) in this post if you would like to read more on that subject.

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What about you? Do you use Pinterest to menu plan? Do you have a method that works well for you? Was this post helpful?

Brunch/ Drinks/ GF, Vegan & Raw/ Healthy Eating

Matcha Latte & Matcha Chia & Pear Cereal

{source}

by Teniel Moore–Raw Foods Contributor

Want to try something new to drink thats full of amazing health benefits?
Have you tried a matcha latte? What is matcha?

Matcha is simply stone ground green tea leaves.

This tea is going to provide you with a powerhouse of antioxidants, vitamins & minerals. It is full of vitamin C, selenium, chromium, zinc & magnesium.

It can help calm & relax, burn calories, and is detoxifying. It is also rich in fiber –and that’s just naming a few of its benefits! If you are looking to add more nutrients into your day, ditch the coffee & try matcha. I buy organic matcha powder and a little goes a long way!

Matcha powder can be enjoyed in so many ways. Here are some ideas of how you can enjoy matcha:

• Creamy frothy coconut milk matcha latte (recipe below)
• Matcha milkshake over ice
• Matcha chia cereal (recipe below)
• Added to your green smoothie
• Throw some into your baked goods
If you have never tried this amazing green powder before, why not give it a try?

Here are 2 simple recipes for you to make using matcha:

Matcha Latte

1 cup of coconut milk (or any nut milk of choice)
1/2 tsp of matcha powder
Small amount of hot water to blend
~Heat your milk on the stove or use your coffee machine

~In a cup or small coffee plunger, add your matcha powder & mix a small amount of boiling water in and give it a good stir to break up all the lumps. (A tiny whisk would be helpful, or for the matcha enthusiasts you can actually buy a bamboo matcha whisk also called a chasen. But that is totally optional. I just use a fork.)

~Once you have whisked the powder well then add your hot nut milk. I like to use a single serve coffee plunger when making matcha. I then use the plunger to plunge up and down fast to create lovely frothy milk. If you do not have a coffee press, simply heat the milk using your coffee machine

~Serve in your favourite cup or bowl. Add sweetener of choice as matcha does have a slightly bitter taste. I use stevia but coconut nectar or raw honey would work great also.

Matcha Chia & Pear Cereal

1-2 Tbs of chia seeds
1/2 tsp of matcha
1 cup of almond milk
liquid Stevia (or sweetener of choice)
cinnamon
1/2 pear thinly sliced
crunchy topping for texture –I like to add dehydrated sprouted buckwheat

~Combine your chia seeds, sweetener & matcha powder with your nut milk in a serving bowl.

~Mix well and wait a few minutes for the chia seeds to swell.

~Thinly slice your pear & add half the pear to the chia mix along with cinnamon.

~Top it off with the rest of the thinly sliced pear and your crunchy topping for texture and another sprinkle of cinnamon.

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Enjoy!

………………..

TENIEL MOORE OF ADDICTED TO RAW

Raw Foods Contributor

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10 Healthy Items I Buy At Sam’s Club Each Week

We have had a membership to Sam’s club for a few month’s now. I enjoy having one, and have found that I stick with just a few main staples when I go. Our Sam’s club is located right by our church, so I stop there on the way home from church each week. I am amazed at how just these few food items really help make healthy eating easy, and get us through the week.

As far as food goes, it is not easy finding healthier options at Sam’s club, but it is possible, and they are adding more and more organic options, which makes me happy.

As far as our eating goes, I am finding we have settled into a ‘perfectly imperfect’ way of eating. It has to be all about balance for us, and as much as I would love to be feeding my family only whole, unprocessed, organic, and all homemade food; it just isn’t doable. It has felt good to let go of perfection and embrace balance, and at times, convenience.

I also have compromised with my 3 daughters as they have gotten older. They have certain requests and I try to hear them and learned I can’t force them to eat exactly what I would like them to. A good example of this is the bread above. I would love them to eat the super grain bread, as it is organic, no preservatives, and has a ton of amazing omega’s and power seeds in it. They will eat this bread as toast or french toast, but for their daily lunchbox sandwiches they prefer the softer, Oatnut bread.

Another place I compromise is with lettuce. They prefer the crunchy iceberg garden mix, but I prefer they eat power greens like spinach and kale. We meet halfway and I mix the two almost every evening as we eat a green salad with almost every meal. It helps that Sam’s sells the iceberg garden mix for only $1.99 a HUGE bag. I use the kale medley in salads, smoothies, and soups. This container is really large and it is always fun to find ways to finish it by the end of the week!

The veggie tray is another area I have chosen convenience over perfect, organic veggies. This tray is loaded with vegetables, has delicious great ranch yogurt dip (which keeps my girls very happy and crunching on their veggies) and is a steal at $9.99. Most grocery stores sell them for $12-15 and only have about half of the veggies in it. I set this tray out after school almost daily, when appetites are most hungry and they are ready to snack. I often will grab it at dinner and chop the veggies up even further to throw on our salad. So easy!

Oh, how I wish those grapes were organic, but they are pretty seasonal so we are enjoying them for this season. They are amazingly sweet and are great for my girls school lunches and snacking.

The Garden Veggie Straws are a hit with my girls in place of greasy potato chips. There is nothing healthy about them, but they satisfy any salty, crunchy cravings and are a step up from chips. The bag is huge and lasts the week, even when using in lunches and for evening snacking.

I often make my own granola bars, but lately have been buying this box of Organic Cascadian Farms Granola bars. The girls like them a lot. I also will buy a box of KIND granola bars from Sam’s, which are my favorite.

……………….

What do you buy from Sam’s club? What foods do you compromise on when it comes to convenience?

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