At the risk of being super annoying…

I wanted to share with you my most recent must-have find. I have shared with you guys my healthy-eating journey and my most recent recipes, which have left my pants a little loose. (I know, bad problem to have and this is what I was talking about when I said “at the risk of being super-annoying.”) I am not really ready to go all out and buy new pants, but I came across an awesome find from my friend Audrey Paige:

Basically, today I had a conundrum. I had a pair of pants I wanted to wear, but they were baggy and dragging the ground. So I wore a belt with them. Only problem was my shirt wasn’t one I would tuck in, resulting in that horrible belt under a tucked out shirt look. Ugh. Enter the invisibelt. It is basically a super thin belt that has no buckle on it, so you can keep your pants up without adding any bulk.

And since I am already in my gym clothes, here are some before and after pics I stole:

I wish I was getting paid for this or got offered a free product. (Invisibelt, if you are reading this, I would be happy to take another one ;) I love it! You can get it in Tulsa at the Glass Slipper or online here. I bought mine for about $20.

In other random news:

1- Further proof that I wasn’t lying about my very active social life (ha!), my friend Daisi posted about the girls’ night dinner she hosted at her house and her AMAZING shrimp and grits she made, so check it out here. She even has a cute recipe card printable.

2- Do you think I am too old to go to this concert?

Because I so want to go.

What I’m Eating this Week

Well, for some reason my blogging motivation is about pretty much nil. What’s wrong with me? Truthfully, my life is so boring (and, strangely, busy) that I have not had it in me to type.

I have actually been social this week and had a great time last night at my friend Megan’s CPA celebration.  (Hoping she posts pics so that my links are not in vain ;). Anyway, I had to laugh at all of the people (two) who came up to me and told me they love my weekly menus, so I decided to post this one a day early. I always do my shopping on Sundays, so maybe that will be helpful to you.

My friend Addie, though, has been astonished at my grocery bill being so low. I will say, that I look at what I have in my fridge/freezer and try to use what I have on hand as I plan. This week I happen to have all of the meats frozen in my freezer, so that should cut down dramatically on my bill.

Sunday:

Basil Pesto Pizza with cherry tomatoes

My friend Becky sells Wildtree products and they are all-organic oils and mixes. I bought the pesto from her at a party a few months ago and I absolutely LOVE it.

First, I love it because it keeps so much longer than packaged pesto and I can just mix it up whenever I need to. It tastes delicious as well and rivals anything store bought that I have ever had. You just mix it with water and grapeseed oil. I use their garlic grapeseed oil, which is also delicious. I use it a lot in my sautéing.

I also recently bought a pizza crust package from her as well, so I am excited to try it tonight.

 

Jane, she also has a selection of gluten free bread, brownie and pizza crust mixes.

Monday:

Mini (Turkey) and Cheese Quinoa Cups I have honestly never tried Quinoa, so I am hoping these taste as good as they look.

Photo and Recipe via Iowa Girl Eats

Tuesday:

Baked chicken fajitas. I think I posted this a few weeks ago, but never actually made them. Here’s to this week!

Photo and recipe via Real Mom Eats

Wednesday:

PF Chang’s Knock-off Lettuce Wraps My only omission in these will be the water chestnuts. Blech.

Photo and recipe via Iowa Girl Eats

Thursday:

Tomato and Sausage Risotto. I have made this before and it was a hit. Tommy even said this is something we should save to serve to guests. Ha! Definitely an A+ meal.

Photo and recipe via Smitten Kitchen

On another note, my sister wanted me to poll you guys to see what you were using for no-tears baby shampoo. She was wanting something organic/natural that wouldn’t sting Finley or Tatum’s eyes.  If you have any recommendations, please let me know. (This is my sister’s version of a tweet. Ha!)

No Sugar Fruit Smoothie

Since this is apparently becoming a food blog, I thought I would share my newest obsession - no sugar fruit smoothies.

Here’s what you need:

Fresh fruit, I used strawberries and bananas (obvs)

Yogurt, I used blueberry Greek yogurt

Honey

Ice (not pictured)

Tommy was going to have a smoothie as well, so I used roughly this many strawberries and then layered it all into my blender.

Since this doesn’t have sugar, I am VERY generous with the honey. There’s probably at least 3 tablespoons.  Then once it was done blending and I tasted it, I added a little more. (Shocking.)

A delicious and healthy snack, if I do say so myself!

Kind of a big deal

So my friend Aja has become quite the big deal this past week. She posted her sweet daughter Evie’s super cute nursery on her blog and it has blown up pinterest, been featured on Apartment Therapy and is now in the running for the best nursery on Project Nursery.

And seeing that I want all of my friends to be winners (which, of course, it is just an honor to be nominated), I wanted to ask my dear readers to vote for Evie’s nursery on Project Nursery:

Since I am slow and it took me FOREVER to figure out how to vote, even though Aja left explicit instructions, all you have to do is hit the FB like button. Click here to be taken to the Project Nursery site to vote. It is that simple.

I will post Aja’s acceptance speech soon. ;)

And, yeah, maybe I will be back to blogging on a more regular basis soon. This week has been crazy busy; I was out of town, my sister had a baby, you know - the usual.

Now, I am going to work on my weekly meal plan. Anyone want to do it for me??? I am kind of not kidding.

Meet my new niece!

This morning we welcomed (like I did any work) my fifth niece/nephew into the world!

Meet Tatum Grace

6 pounds, 4 ounces

18.5 inches long

Born around 3:45ish this morning

(This may no longer qualify me for the title of World’s Greatest aunt)

Tatum meeting Aunt KK

She is totally adorable, tiny and pretty much perfect!

Tatum meeting her new big sister! Finley was so sweet with her. She just kind of looked and gave her kisses and then she wanted share her baby doll’s orange juice. I have a feeling the new baby will not be lacking in attention from her big sister.

We are so excited to have this new addition and another nephew due this summer!

Menu Monday

This week I am using a lot of leftover ingredients from last week. My total grocery bill was $40. Pretty good score, IMO.

Monday:

Balsamic Glazed Salmon with Roasted Green Beans and Mushrooms

Well, I will be honest, my green beans at my local store looked pretty ick, so I got Asparagus since it was on sale and looked like a good substitute. This is cooking right now, so I am hoping for a win. Photo via Kalyn’s Kitchen.

Tuesday:

Lasagna and Salad

I am using ground chicken and these organic no-boil lasagna noodles from Target

Wednesday:

Sausage (whole foods spicy sausage that I froze a few weeks ago) and baked cauliflower poppers (I still had cauliflower leftover from my cauliflower pizza last week)

Photo via Delighted Momma

Thursday:

Shrimp and roasted broccoli

Friday:

Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas

Photo via Real Mom Kitchen

Weekly Faves

Hmm…I haven’t done a post of my weekly faves in a while. I apparently have had food on the brain.  Many of you guys make your own granola. Way to go, over-achievers! My goal this weekend is to join your ranks.  I will keep you all posted on my progress. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite things that I have come across over the past two or so weeks.

Loving this matchbook Valentine printable for your instagram photos. Did I mention it’s free?  Download it at My Sister’s Suitcase. For those instagrammers out there, she has some other really cute instagram downloads as well.

I love crab dip and the Hollywood Housewife posted her take on the recipe. It looks delicious. Not sure this falls under my healthy eating lifestyle, but rules were made to be broken, right?

I am in love with this vinyl backsplash from Etsy Shop Landee on Etsy. I think it would also make an awesome focal wall in a room.

I am in love with the gray and yellow color scheme right now. Kind of odd, since I would say yellow is not at the top when I think of my favorite colors.  Cupcake Express is offering these really cute labels for free! 

Speaking of printables, I Heart Naptimes has some really cute printables for Valentines from everything to wrapping paper to cupcake toppers.

My blogging friend Andrea at J&A & Co and is also offering these printables downloads from her site. She is offering these many styles in 5x7. So cute!

I am digging this dessert table from Branco Prata. I love the artistic element and the natural color scheme.

Since I am on a “gift in a jar” kick, these cookies in a jar with a free printable offered by eighteen25 are calling my name. Only maybe I will fill mine with homemade granola! (Ha!!)

Enjoy!

Natural Eating Hits and Misses

With the start of the new year, I embarked on a healthy eating initiative for myself. I said goodbye to cupcakes and hello to cuties. I have found a few things I really love and a few things that I really hate. I thought I would share some of my faves and not so faves with you.

Granola:

OMG. The Whole Foods Blueberry Almond Granola is like THE.BEST.THING next to an oatmeal cookie that I have ever had. And since an oatmeal cookie isn’t really in my new healthy lifestyle, I have to get the next best thing.

You would honestly think I make this myself because I tell EVERYONE I meet about it. It is pricey ($6 for this little tub), but totally worth the cost.  I am seriously in love.

And on the notsomuch side:

Actually, I am sure this granola would be okay if I didn’t already have the Whole Foods brand to compare it to. The only way I can eat it is in yogurt. Meh.

Fruit:

I have apparently been living under a rock because I did not have my first cutie until this year. These things are so amazing. They are easy to peel, seedless and taste as close to candy as I have gotten in the past 29 days.

Let it be said, do not be fooled with an imposter:

Tommy and I were at the grocery store and he talked me into Tangelos because they cost so much less. Um, yeah. There is a reason. Double meh. So meh that these now have a home in a work break room.

I also love dried fruit. This one from Whole Foods is only 29 calories, no added sugar and is sweetened with cinnamon. It has great crunch and is a really good treat.

 

So you know when you eat Special K with Red Berries and you just look forward to the strawberry slices to show up in your spoon? (Is that just me?)

Yeah. Well, there is a reason it also comes with the cereal bits. Take my word for it.

And while I don’t have a corresponding miss for this hit, I do love some Pirate’s Booty!

They taste a lot like cheetos, only they aren’t as bad for you. A girl has to have some fun, right?

Fill me in on your favorite natural foods/snacks! I am so new at this, so I need as much help as I can get!