Hi guys! Long time no talk! I thought I’d pop in to give you a quick little update on what’s going on in my world.
First, I have decided to do a Whole30 challenge (again). Back in November 2014, I failed miserably at it. But, I don’t want that looming over me this time. I’m more prepared, more aware of what is going to happen to my body, and even more disgusted with how I’ve been feeling. I might write more posts on my journey with this – I’m undecided at this time.
Second, we just finished our home study to be foster parents! So. Exciting. Anyway, I haven’t decided if I wanna do a series on foster care or not. We’ll see.
Third, my domain name lease is up next month. I don’t think I’m going to renew it. As I’m sure you’re aware, this blog has been lacking A LOT in the last year. I’m not feeling very determined to post or anything. It feels more like a hassle to me than something I enjoy.
With that, I’ve been thinking a lot about rebranding and changing up what content my blog houses. This blog was intended to share recipes and foodie-things. The busier our household gets, the less time I have to write recipes/test/actually cook. My meal plans and meals have gotten simpler. My interests are changing.
And I have been feeling crappy about that. I don’t want to just abandon ship. I think a little thinking, rebranding, and reshaping is what I need. But it’ll be a slow process.
So look out for that in the coming months. And be aware that the (dot)com will be leaving my URL next month 😦
Happy short week! 🙂 Thank goodness for a three day week this week. I don’t think I’d survive a full week. I am so exhausted.
This week’s meal plan is simple, simple, simple. Lately, they’ve all been really simple. But this is about as simple as it can get. Three crockpot meals, thanksgiving, then lots of leftovers.
Sunday- Steak and black bean salad Monday- French onion chicken over pasta and black bean salad Tuesday- Meatballs and pasta Wednesday- BBQ ranch chicken Thursday- Thanksgiving Friday- Leftovers (probably open faced turkey sandwiches 🙂 ) Saturday- Mac & cheese with chicken and broccoli
Yesterday, I took the steak out of the freezer and it looked a little funny to me. It was a little brown. I brushed it off as being freezer burn (even though it was vacuum sealed and only in the freezer for a week).
When we went to make dinner, we opened the package and it smelled bad. Ugh. I feel like we are the worst steak handlers. This has happened to us before and I don’t really know why. Has this happened to anyone else? How do you store your steak so it doesn’t go bad?
I ended up running to the store to grab more steak, completely the opposite of what I wanted to be doing. Oh well, that’s life I guess.
Currently, I’m trying to use up some overripe bananas by making this banana oat muffin recipe. We’ll see how it comes out. The recipe calls for whole wheat flour but all I have is all-purpose.
I’m rambling now. I hope to get better at these meal plan posts. Let me know if you’d like to see a post on how I meal plan!
Happy Sunday! We’re one day closer to Thanksgiving! 🙂 (I’m suuuuuuuper excited for it.. Kait, not so much.)
We’re hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year. Since I was little, it has always been my dream to be able to cook the Thanksgiving meal. Dreams do come true, kids!
I thought I’d share with you my meal plan for the upcoming week. Since we only really grocery shop once a month, I typically meal plan a month in advance.
Most of the weeknight meals are crockpot meals. With it getting darker earlier, I find myself not wanting to cook when I get home from work. I’ve taken to my crockpot to do the work for me in these cases.
Sunday- Chicken parm with asparagus and stuffing
Monday- Turkey chili with rice
Tuesday- Leftover chili with rice
Wednesday- BBQ chicken sandwiches
Thursday- Italian marinated chicken breast
Friday- Sweet & sour chicken with pineapple
Saturday- Eating out
Wednesday’s and Thursday’s dinners are the only crockpot dinners this week. And as you can see, we eat a lottttttt of chicken. It’s simple and cheap!
I try to schedule in days that we will go out to eat so that we’re less likely to deviate from the meal plan. And it gives us something to look forward to! It doesn’t always work out though. Oh well.
Also, the meal plan is not set in stone. I think that’s gotta be Kait’s mantra. Sometimes I get so stuck on “ugh we’re having this or that tonight and I don’t feel like it.” It’s really just a guideline to stay on track with meals.
Along with our dinner meal plan, I like to have a rough idea of some breakfast and lunches we’ll have during the week. I take Sunday nights (right before dinner) to prep these for the week.
This week, breakfasts will be yogurt and granola or overnight oats. Lunches are ham sandwiches, potato salad, energy bites, and a piece of fruit or crackers.
A tip if you prep your sandwiches a week in advance: put the condiment between the meat and the cheese so it doesn’t touch the bread. With the condiment never touching my bread, I find that my bread doesn’t get soggy on me. Also, we toast all the bread for our sandwiches because we keep our bread frozen. It helps keep the bread firmer in the fridge as well.
Do you meal plan? What helps you the most when planning your meals for the week?
I’ve got kind of a personal topic to discuss today. Not that I haven’t had some personal conversations before, but this is something I haven’t really talked about with anyone yet.
I’ve been having a really hard time the last couple months and I’m reaching out for some advice/help/words of encouragement.
Let’s start with some background info:
My entire life I have struggled with depression and anxiety. I have had low self esteem as long as I can remember. In school, I hid it by being mean and giving off an arrogant persona. One thing I never struggled with, though, was my weight and body type. Until now.
At my high school graduation
I graduated high school weighing 120 pounds. Some say that was “too skinny” for me, but I was content, eating enough, and my BMI didn’t classify me as underweight. When I started college, I gained about 30 pounds. It was tough but I still didn’t have any body image issues. One hundred fifty pounds still looked good on me.
At that time, I was working in a supermarket. I was on my feet 8+ hours a day, running around, lifting and pushing heavy items, and really didn’t stop moving until the end of my shift. I still ate well, not the “healthiest,” but well. I managed to stay at about 145-150 pounds.
When I moved on from retail and got a desk job, that’s where things went downhill. I gained weight so rapidly. In less than a year, I have gained about 30 pounds. I am at my highest weight ever: 175 pounds. I get mixed comments from people. Some tell me I still look good – I look “healthy.” Others comment on how I’ve got a little more of a tummy than I used to and that I don’t eat healthy enough; that my recipes are all very fattening and it’s showing.
Like I said, I have never struggled with a weight/body image issue before. It is so difficult. I look in the mirror and all I see is the double chin, the “muffin top,” the stretch marks on my ever growing thighs. And I don’t know how to deal with it.
I have days where I wanna eat healthy all the time and exercise and make strides losing weight. I have other days where I crave junk food, eat all the junk food I can get my hands on, and then feel like utter shit about it. Not even that I physically feel crappy but that I emotionally feel like I am letting myself down.
I have gone back and forth so many times about feeling okay with my weight and beating myself to tears about it. I don’t feel like I eat unhealthy. I eat breakfast (usually oatmeal, avo-toast, or hard boiled eggs), lunch (sandwiches, salad, leftovers), and dinner (varies – but you’ve seen what I eat for dinner if you’ve ever taken a look at my Instagram) daily. I don’t skip meals. And I snack often. A lot of times my snacks are the “unhealthy” options (I can’t pass up Doritos for the life of me!).
So, how come it’s so difficult for me to choose “healthy” options? Or to stick by the 80/20 rule? Or do I actually stick by that but am just overly hard on myself? UGH.
The biggest problem (well, okay, there’s two), is a) my self esteem is shit; and b) I’m an all-or-nothing kind of person. Either I eat “healthy” 110% of the time and never slip up and feel totally awesome all the time and workout or I don’t. I don’t know how to give myself the leeway to slip up or have a “junk food” item sometimes.
I can’t calorie count. I tried that. It’s way more emotional stress than I can handle. It makes me anxious and sends me into a self-destructive state of mind.
I used to love grocery shopping. Now, I go into the store and all I see is added sugar everywhere. Do I think Americans have a sugar problem? Absolutely. But I eat half a candy bar and I hate myself. I have a flavored yogurt (which is loooooaded with freaking sugar) and make myself feel like shit. But that doesn’t stop me from continuing to do it. And the cycle continues the more I do it.
I’ve read lots of articles on the Whole30 (my failed attempt can be read about here) and veganism and all those kinds of lifestyles. I’ve toyed with the idea of them. But I can’t. I can’t restrict myself and feel good about it. People talk about how when they cut out this or that or this other thing that they feel the best they have ever felt – emotionally and physically. I long for that. For peace with both aspects of my life. But I don’t know how to get there.
When people say that cutting out sugar or something gives them more energy/healthy feelings/etc, I wonder what they felt like before. I’ve thought that I would feel better if I stopped eating fast food (although that’s true..), stopped eating candy, stopped eating dairy. But with little bouts of trialing these, I don’t feel any different physically. I don’t feel any physical euphoria. I feel overwhelmed with tough, self-destructive feelings.
That’s something I have struggled with the most, I think. I want to feel “better.” I want to feel “healthy.” I want to have more energy. But what if I am currently at my peak for all of these things. How do I know if I’m at my peak? How do I know what I’m eating is the problem? I don’t.
The unknown scares me. I think you might have noticed that by now. But, really, who doesn’t it scare?
I need help. I don’t know what kind of help in particular, just help. I wanna feel good physically and emotionally. I’m not there today. I feel bloated (thanks, PMS) and a little irritable and have a headache. And I’m trying so hard not to blame the piece of cake I ate last night or the chinese food on these things.
The amount I eat out has significantly decreased in the last few months. I meal plan for a month at a time, and have gotten so much better at following it. I have started prepping lunches on Sunday nights again, so there’s no reason to head over to the cafeteria for some chicken nuggets and fries. We have so many veggies in our house that we could eat nothing but veggies for a whole month and be alright. And I have the most supportive girlfriend on the planet.
The saddest part is that that paragraph took me three whole days to write. I had to think hard about what I am doing right in my life. About what food choices I am making that are good. I got so consumed with what choices I am making wrong.
The one thing I have loved about food, though, is it’s ability to comfort me. It makes me happy. Cooking makes me happy. New recipes makes me happy. New combinations make me happy. So why am I letting it make me so sad lately? Why?
I know there are things I need to work on: the emotions that come with eating, exercising a little more. Like I said, I am an all-or-nothing kind of person. I need to feel very content with how I’m eating and need to exercise hard core or I don’t feel good about it. And I know, in the back of my mind, that’s not true. I don’t need to eat 100% all the time. I don’t need to workout everyday. My workouts don’t have to be hardcore cardio and weights and pilates in order for them to be effective. I need to remind myself that.
I can have a piece of cake. I can have a piece two nights in a row. I can eat that serving of doritos. And exercise should be what feels good. Yoga feels good. Stretching feels good. Sometimes running feels good. Sometimes weights feel good.
And self care feels good. Baths feel good. Watching youtube feels good. Making cinnamon buns feels good. Making breakfast on the weekend feels good.
Me, this past week
I need to remind myself these things. I need to give myself a break. I need to find a permanent way to keep these things in mind.
Thank you if you have read all this. It feels good to get it out. And I’m sure someone can relate. I know I’m not alone, although I feel very alone in this.
If you have any negative thoughts on this post, please take them elsewhere. I appreciate the comments I get and how support and understanding my readers are. I have enough negative thoughts and energy on my own, I don’t need it coming from more people than it already does.
Today I want to share with you a trick (secret, if you will) that I do to help myself stay hydrated throughout the day. One of my goals for 2015 was to drink more water. I am notoriously bad at staying hydrated and can probably attribute the days I felt groggy and nauseous to being dehydrated and not even knowing it.
According to the Mayo Clinic, women should drink about 2.2 liters of water a day, whereas men should drink about 3 liters a day. Another way to figure out how much water you should be drinking is to take your weight, divide it in half, then slap “ounces” on the end of that number. So, if someone weighs 150 pounds, half of that is 75 pounds and we’ll replace pounds with ounces. So a 150 pound person should drink about 75 ounces of water daily. That’s roughly five 16oz water bottles a day. Sounds like a lot, I know.
First, I like to keep a large container of water in the fridge. It helps so much when I want a cold glass of water. And it’s so much cheaper then buying bottles of water. To me, cold tap water tastes just as good as bottled water.
But the real secret that has helped me up my water intake are lemon ice cubes. Plain water can be incredibly boring. Water with lemon is a bit more appealing. But for me, keeping fresh lemons on hand all the time without them going bad is a struggle. That, and I usually grab my water bottle as I’m running out the door in the morning. I don’t have time to slice a lemon for my water.
Instead, I have two ice cube trays that are solely for these lemon cubes. I fill the tray up about half way with water. I slice a lemon, squeeze some of the juice into the ice cube slots, then cut the rest of the lemon up and stick it in the slots.
I make sure to have two cubes in my water bottle in the morning. It keeps my water nice and cold, and once the cube melts, it has a nice lemon flavor.
As I’m writing this, I curious how other fruits would be. I know that frozen strawberries in my water is delicious too! (Frozen strawberries and lemon cubes make the water taste like lemonade!)
With just the simple addition of lemon to my water, I find myself drinking about four 32oz bottles of water a day. That’s well over the recommended intake for me.
My Fitbit does a good job of helping me keep track of my water intake too! I love seeing the line light up green when I meet my water goal! (No sponsorship, I just love my Fitbit.)
Hi guys! I know I said that I’d have a recipe up for next week but — surprise!!
I’ve had a crazy last couple of weeks. Work has been crazy, I started and finished a book in three days, and the weekends have just been go, go, go for us. I haven’t had much time to sit and think let alone try new recipes. My blog kind of took a back burner, which is a crappy feeling. But, hey, that’s life I guess.
So, I have been pretty darn good about posting a recipe weekly. With things getting crazier and the weather getting nicer, I don’t know if I will continue to post weekly. It might become bi-weekly, but I won’t stop posting! Promise!!
So, here’s a pretty special recipe post for you. It’s kind of a two-in-one. Also, I am eating these as I write this. Anyone up for some flatbread pizzas from scratch? 🙂
So first we gotta make this flatbread. Let me tell you — it’s insanely easy! I take all the ingredients – flour, baking powder, salt, oil, milk, and hot water – and mix them all together. There you have it… flatbread dough! I roll them out on a floured surface so they don’t stick. The size you make them is totally up to you! Sometimes I cut the dough into eighths so I have smaller pizzas and sometimes, like tonight, I cut it into two. Then, you wanna fry the flatbreads in a dry pan. I use a cast iron pan, but a regular nonstick pan will work too. The key is that the pan is dry.
I let one side cook until it starts to bubble. You’ll know what I mean when you make these. Then I flip it over. Normally, I’d let it cook until it’s a little crispy. But for these pizzas, I want the dough to stiffen up but still be underdone since it’ll finish in the oven.
Don’t mind the egg that got everywhere… my apartment is not level at all!!
Now here’s the fun part. Once I’ve got my flatbreads done, I take my preheated pizza stone out of my oven and slap them on there. I preheat my oven to about 475 with the stone inside. Once it is preheated, I let the stone sit in there for about 15-25 minutes to make sure it gets nice and hot.
To my flatbreads I add a little minced garlic and oil. Then the mozzarella. Then the toppings. These toppings can be whatever you want them to be! Personally, I enjoy a good breakfast pizza anytime of the day. We crack a couple eggs onto the cheesed up flatbread and add some bacon or prosciutto and some green onions. (For the other one tonight, we used some sunburst tomatoes, bacon, and green onion.) Seriously, anything will be delicious on these!
After I’ve got them topped, I put them back into my oven for about 5-8 minutes depending on the doneness you desire. Personally, I like to make sure my crust gets nice and crispy. After I take them out, I add a heaping handful of fresh arugula to them. It doesn’t matter what the hell is on that pizza…. it will ALWAYS taste better with arugula.
And voila! Simple, homemade flatbread pizzas. And these are delicious for breakfast as well. We actually started making these as a breakfast food!
Below is the recipe for the flatbread. As for the pizza, it’s not really a recipe as it is a concept and technique. These would be delicious with pizza sauce and pepperoni, or some ham and pineapple. They’re so so customizable!! Please pleaseeeeeee make this recipe your own!
This recipe below is an image, so just right click and save it or print it!
Let me know if you try these! And please comment below if there’s a type of recipe you’d like to see. Also, keep a look out for an awesome spice subscription service that I am going to be reviewing next week!
Hi guys! Sorry for the lack of posting lately. My posting schedule kind of got away from me.
I am still creating plenty of great recipes and even have an awesome spice subscription service to review for you! Regular posting and recipes will continue next week. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks for me!
I read a lot of food blogs. Like, A LOT. And when I’m looking for a recipe for something specific, I tend to go with ones that are posted on blogs rather than the database websites. The thing that bothers me, though, is when the recipe developer/blogger stresses that these recipes shouldn’t be deviated from, no ingredients should be substituted.
In a way, I understand. It takes a lot of effort to write and develop a great recipe. It’s a lot of hard work. And when you write a recipe and are finally happy with the taste and everything, you’re proud of it. I get it.
Buuuuut.. the fun in cooking is experimenting. Very rarely do I ever follow a recipe exactly as it says. A lot of it is because I don’t always have all the ingredients on hand. Another part is that I just don’t like one of the ingredients. So rather than ignore an entire recipe because I don’t like one or two ingredients, I substitute.
Mind you, baked goods recipes are a hell of a lot more difficult to substitute in. But I still do it.
Here on @heart, I want you to substitute! Are the recipes I develop and post delicious exactly as they are? Absolutely! But if you a) don’t have an ingredient I list or b) don’t like an ingredient I list of even c) think the recipe would taste better with the addition of an ingredient, then please do that!! I look at my recipes as a means to learn a technique. The general tsos recipe? Total technique. That recipe would be so so good with so many different sauces. The sausage? Technique. There are so many great ingredients that would make that sausage even better than it already is.
So please, experiment with my recipes. And let me know if you do and it is incredibly delicious! I’d love to try some variations! I’m not saying that you have to substitute, but I also don’t want to condone it. I work really hard to write recipes that are simple and delicious, but I want them to also be fun.
Okay, so, my rant is over now. Thank you for reading my blog. I feel so thankful for all of you who read this and like my posts.
What is better than homemade sausage for breakfast on Sunday morning? The answer is nothing. Nothing is better. Okay, well maybe eggs benedict with that homemade sausage is better… but that’s beside the point.
One morning I was wrestling through our mess of a closet to find the bread machine. We’ve got one of those closets in our spare room that houses all the not-usually-used-but-can’t-get-rid-of items. Like my bread machine, and George Foreman grill, and apparently all my kitchen aid attachments.
I completely forgot that the kitchen aid my grandfather gave me even came with attachments. I just know that it has the most amazing dough hook ever. So I found the box of attachments and yelled to Kait, “hey! did you know we have a grinder?” She was over the moon. Like, I didn’t know this was something she wanted. Her first thought? Homemade sausage. Hell. Yes.
(Here’s the link to the attachment if you have a kitchen aid and you’re interested.)
I had errands to run so she grabbed what she thought would be good in sausage. This is something we had never made before. Never even thought of making, really.
But this is so good. We’ve now made two batches and have started handing them out to friends and family. We don’t have a casing attachment for the kitchen aid, but we found a pretty awesome way to have the sausage keep their link shape without any casing. All the props for this go to Kait. She thought up this awesome combo, and I am just advertising it for her.
Disclaimer: this makes the bestflatbread eggs benedict you will ever taste in your life. THE BEST.
So this recipe pretty much goes like this:
Chop up all ingredients. Let rest in a big bowl in the fridge for an hour. The flavors will combine and seep into the nice juicy pork butt.
Put the ingredients through the grinder.
Roll into link shapes to your desired size. Wrap in plastic wrap and boil for 5 minutes.
Cool and fry up for breakfast.
That’s all there is to it. It’s a little time consuming, but so worth it. I usually boil mine in batches of five. But there’s nothing saying you can’t get a gigantic pot and boil them all at once.
This recipe usually makes about 25 links for us. We make them decently sized as well.
This recipe below is an image, so just right click and save it or print it!
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! Let me know if you want the eggs benedict recipe that goes with this! 🙂 Also, please feel free to change up the ingredients in the sausage as you please. The best part about this is being creative and tailoring it to your taste. Like spicy? Replace the Italian pepper with some jalepeno. This recipe is delicious as is but is also a great base recipe for the technique!
So this recipe is one of those comfort food types. I feel like I say this with every recipe. But the reality is, that’s what I like to eat. I like foods that make me feel good. And I like when those foods are also healthy. Most of the time I get that balance, and sometimes I don’t. But I don’t stress it too much.
This recipe, though, is one that is pretty healthy. It uses fresh ingredients with the exception of canned tomatoes and tomato paste. If you wanted to put in the extra work, you could totally make this with fresh tomatoes!
I know that technically it’s spring, but I live in Western Massachusetts, so spring is a foreign concept. Our seasons are pretty much: summer, pre-winter, winter. There’s nothing other than super hot or super cold.
And this recipe is great on those super cold days, regardless of the season.
I am not a person who usually likes soup. Aside from ramen. I love ramen. Anyway, soup is not my go-to meal when I have no idea what to eat. It isn’t the first thing I want when I’m sick. It probably isn’t on the list of anything I would willingly choose to eat. Except for this soup.
When I figured out how to make my own tomato base for soup, it was over. Everything I thought about soup went out the window. I mean, I’m not totally converted into a soup-fanatic. But I definitely look forward to these leftovers.
Don’t be intimidated by the list of ingredients — they’re pretty much all pantry staples. Also, get your miss en place and it will seem 10x easier! Oh I miss Worst Cooks in America…
The most important part of this recipe is getting the nice caramelization to the tomato paste. It really enhances the flavor in the whole soup. Don’t be afraid to let it cook!
This recipe below is an image, so just right click and save it or print it!
My recommendation is to serve this with some of the freshest, warmest bread you can. We’ve been really into flatbread lately, which pairs so well with this. But dinner rolls or a ciabatta loaf would be delicious as well. Bonus points if it’s homemade bread!
Let me know what you think! What’s something that you’ve never really been a big fan of but just recently came to love (or at least, kind of crave)?
@heart 