Day 1: Clean Eating - Penne Pasta with Chicken, Broccoli, & Tomato

My first day of clean eating was a huge success! Here's a quick rundown of the day:

Breakfast: Protein Shake

Lunch: Protein Shake

Snack:  Handful of Almonds & Dried Berries

Dinner: Penne Pasta with Chicken, Broccoli, & Tomato.

Dinner was by far the highlight of my day. I wanted to start my clean eating with a recipe that had ingredients I knew I would like, so this was a great fit. I feel like it is important to mention I had no idea what a food processor was, until today. The recipe mentioned using a food processor to puree some of the ingredients, so I went to the store and bought one on my way home from work.

I literally do not know how I have lived without one of these amazing machines! They can chop, dice, slice, puree, and basically anything else your can think of! The recipe said it takes 20 minutes, however, it took me a little over an hour (mostly spent putting the food processor together). Here is a quick rundown on the recipe contents:

• 1 1/2 Cup: Red Bell Pepper
• 1 Cup: Fresh Basil 
• 1/2 Cup: Fresh Cilantro
• 1 Garlic Clove
• 3 Chicken Breasts
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 Package Whole Wheat Pasta
• 1 Zucchini
• 12 Cherry Tomatoes

I started by boiling a pot of water and added the package of whole wheat pasta. I then added the fresh basil, cilantro, garlic clove, red bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini to the food processor and pureed them all together. It made a really nice sauce like texture. I then moved to the chicken breasts. I cut the chicken into small chunks and cooked them in a skillet on medium heat. I drained the pasta, and then added all the ingredients into the skillet together. I let all the ingredients marinate for a few minutes and then VOILA!! I made a plate for both myself and my hubby and put a little bit of mozzarella cheese on top.

The fresh spices and herbs were amazing and so vibrant in this recipe. I absolutely loved every bite. I will say that I did get full about half-way through my plate, so I saved a little bit for later. Also, the recipe makes 4 servings, which is nice because my hubby like leftovers. I am so glad today went so well, it made me really excited for cooking tomorrow!

This recipe is definitely one to try!

My Clean Eating Journey Begins!

Have you ever been told your a picky eater? Well, I am probably the pickiest eater you will ever meet. I basically have the food pallet of a 7 year-old, which means I have been missing out on ALOT of delicious foods. It also means that my go-to-foods are not always the healthiest. So, in an effort to expand my food pallet and develop healthier eating habits, I decided to look into "clean eating."

What does "clean eating" mean? Well in a nutshell it means incorporating a well balanced diet of fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts & legumes, and protein. Now, let me tell you what it means to me. No chocolate, candy, chips, chicken strips, bad-carbs, soda, alcohol, basically all my favorite foods! I could go on-and-on but I think you catch my drift. It turns out those prepackaged and easily accessible processed foods are really bad for you. So instead of going on yet another diet, I am starting my journey to discovering healthier ways of eating and ultimately to change the way I think about food.

I want to touch on that last part for just a minute. A friend of mine recently told me to change the way I think about food. Over the past few days I have spent some time really pondering over what she meant by that and here is what I came up with. 

1. Don't Eat When Your Emotional: Listen when your life at work or home gets a little stressful, there is nothing wrong with turning to a little bit of chocolate to help you get through right? WRONG! I recently started noticing that I turn to comfort foods in certain situations. Which means, regardless of if I am actually hungry I am eating to help suppress an emotion. Here is what I have found:
• Emotional eating throws off your biological hungry signals. Now I don't know if I am eating because I am actually hungry and need food or if I am just eating to suppress an emotion. For me these emotions range from boredom, sadness, stress, and excitement. I think emotional eating is by far the most difficult issue I have with food, but it is also the one I want to change the most. 
• I am not living my life in the moment. In general life experiences help shape you and make a you a better person, however, by turning to food during these experiences (even the difficult ones) I am missing out on all the personal growth. 
2. Eat to Fuel Your Body: I want to learn how eat foods that will help fuel me through life. Have you ever heard of athletes eating a ton of carbs before a marathon because they need a lot of energy for the big race? Well, that is what I want to do, but for my life.  I want to eat foods to help me perform at my best in whatever I am doing. That could mean eating foods that help promote brain power to help me concentrate at work, or foods that promote skin health for when I go for a swim, or foods that help muscles recover after a hard workout. 
3. Stop Obsessing: I don't know if this is a girl thing, a fat person thing, or maybe just a me thing but I am always obsessing about food. Is food "good" or "bad", is it to much, should I not eat this, I should eat more of that. Basically I think about food quite a bit. I keep thinking of all the time I spend obsessing about food and all the things I am missing out on because of it. So its time to start thinking about something else for a change.

That was a lot right?! So what now? 

Getting Started: Over the next few months I will be exploring a variety of clean foods that promote healthy living and change the way I think about food. Stay tuned for some hopefully delicious recipes, lots of laughs, and maybe a few tears as along the way.

Princess For The Day

A few months back, I made a princess dress for my niece's birthday. I had to put it on my blog, because it was the most enjoyable project I have done, and also because it turned out so cute.  I wanted to make my niece feel really special on her birthday, so I made her a princess dress and took her on a princess date the morning of her birthday. Initially I was just going to make her a cute little tutu to wear, but while looking on Pinterest, I saw an entire dress made out of tulle and had to give it a try.

Not going to lie, making the dress was pretty time consuming. You have to cut the tulle into little individual pieces, I found this part to take the most time. Then you tie each piece of tulle onto your waistband. I used the piece of cardboard that my tulle came on as the structure I put the waistband on. If you are making a dress like this, I would definitely recommend using something like the cardboard to put your waistband on. It made the tulle strip tying process very quick and easy. If you are new to tulle dress tying, I would definitely recommend watching "Learn How to make a tutu dress," by clothespindolls. Her videos are very informative and she does a great job explaining each step of the process.

I was so astonished at how amazing the dress turned out, and was so excited to surprise my niece with her princess dress. As part of her birthday surprise, I wanted to take her somewhere fun, just the two of us. So the morning of her birthday, I surprised her with her princess dress and told her we were going to a special princess breakfast. When she first put her dress on, she kept saying, "I look like a real princess" it was so cute! Once my princess was ready we left for our special breakfast.

I took her to Kneaders because they have her favorite french toast. If you live in Utah and have not tried Kneaders french toast, stop what you are doing and go! It is seriously so delicious, it may change your life. Anyways, while waiting for our breakfast at Kneaders, I pulled out our princess activity. Beforehand, I had bought some really cute beads and string, so we could make a princess necklace and bracelet together.




















She did such an awesome job making her necklace and bracelet, and showed off her completed outfit to everyone at Kneaders. We finished eating our delicious french toast and headed back to her house so she could get ready for her birthday party. I really can't express how much I love this little girl, and how much spending time together means to me. I am so happy I could make her feel like a real princess on her special day!

Welcome to The Family - Puppy Party

About a week after I had adopted my little puppy Jax, my sister told me she had a surprise for me. She said that she wanted to throw Jax a "welcome to the family" party! I have to give a little background as to why her gesture meant so much to me. As I mentioned in my "How Our Two Became Two And A Half" post, my family was very diligent in trying to convince me not to adopt a puppy. I will admit, I was a little bummed that they weren't more excited for me, when I told them I had found my puppy.

Me and my sister are very close, and I really value her opinion. I remember us having several conversations where I asked her to just support my decision enough though she wasn't crazy about the idea. I was really excited when she came to PetsMart with me to pick out all of Jax's puppy supplies, but I could tell she still had some reservations.  So when she told me about this party, I knew it was her way of showing her support.

Since, I had never been to a puppy party, I really didn't think the "party" would be more than me bringing my puppy to my sister's house, so they could meet him. When me, my hubby, and Jax showed up to my sister's house, I was completely shocked. She had made the cutest puppy themed treats for us to eat, decorations, and even got my mom and little brothers to come. The treats were definitely my favorite. She made puppy chow with little graham crackers in the shape of dog bones, and all the cookies had a "J" on them. My niece was very proud when she told me she helped her mommy with all of the treats for the party. She was so excited to meet Jax and is so cute with him.

I should have known that this wouldn't be just a family gathering. My sister always throws the cutest parties, she is so crafty! I have the best sister in the world, and am so thankful to have her as a best friend. 

Disney on Ice, Not Just for Kids

Everytime Disney on Ice comes to Salt Lake, I love taking my little nieces. We have gone every year for the past three years, and it is something that we really look forward to doing together. If you read my blog regularly, you know how obsessed I am with my two little nieces. I absolutely love spending time with them, they are such sweet little girls. Before we went to the show, me, my sister, and my oldest niece went to Tucanos for dinner, which is always yummy.

The show was awesome, my favorite part was definitely Cinderela. I love seeing the original Disney princesses, it really takes me back to being a little girl. Growing up, me and my sister were all about the Belle and Cinderella. We loved playing dress up and I always wanted to be Belle because she had brown hair like me. I think that is why I really enjoy going to see Disney on Ice. The show always includes a few of the original Disney stories, with a few of the most recent. At this show, they did Tangeled and it was really cute.

I think the best moment of the night was at the end of the show. All of the Disney princesses came out to say goodbye to the audience. My nieces favorite princess is Ariel from the Little Mermaid, and when she saw her come out she got so excited. When the princesses started waving goodbye, my niece kept saying that Ariel was waiving just to her. If you have kids or just love Disney movies, this is a must see show. It is definitely something the entire family will enjoy.

Everyone Needs a Little Cupcake Surprise

One of my employees recently got engaged, and is leaving the office for a few months to prepare for her wedding. I absolutely adore this person, and wanted to make a cute treat for her and the rest of my employees, as a going away surprise. I am not one to spend a bunch of time in the kitchen, so I knew whatever I chose would need to be pretty quick and easy. I did quite a bit of searching on Pinterest to get some inspiration and decided to go with wedding color cupcakes.

Her wedding colors are Yellow and Black (so cute), so those were obviously the colors I went with. I went to Walmart to get my cupcake essentials: cake mix, frosting, sprinkles, Rolos and decorating frosting. Are you wondering what are the Rolos are for? No they weren't a snack for me while I made the cupcakes. Although, I did contemplate that idea several times while making the cupcakes. I saw on Pinterest that you can put Rolos into your cupcakes before baking, to add an extra little surprise. 

I found that the cake portion of this process to be very easy, it wasn't until it came to the frosting part that I started second guessing my decision to make these cupcakes. I know it seems really easy, and it probably is for most, but I am not one of those fortunate people. Just then one of my friends came to the rescue. She brought over some of the most amazing cake decorating tools I have ever seen. I didn't even know that these tools existed outside of the Food Networks: Cupcake Wars. The next thing I know, I was piping frosting like Betty Crocker (well kinda).

My friend tells me she took a cake decorating class through Hobby Lobby, and that all of these awesome supplies were included. I never imagined that Hobby Lobby could be more amazing, but I was wrong. I of course have to take this course now. Turns out there is a class starting April 1st, so hopefully I can get in to it, because I have a feeling with a little training, I could become the Picasso of cake decorating. 

Now back to my cupcakes. Once I finished piping my yellow frosting I moved onto the final decorations. I originally wanted to do some type of wedding design, but since those all seemed really difficult, I reverted to a design that I have been drawing since kindergarten, flowers. Once the flowers and sprinkles were added my masterpiece was complete. My employee was really surprised and she loved her special treat. The rest of my team thought the cupcakes were pretty good too. So, to summarize my many thoughts above: make cupcakes for a fun treat, love Hobby Lobby even more, and look for me on Cupcake Wars 2014 (just kidding on that last one). 

How Our Two Became Two And A Half

About three months ago, I started looking into adopting a puppy. When I first told my husband about this he was very opposed to getting a pet. I will admit, I do not have the best track record with pets. Don't ask me how, but I even managed to lose my pet turtle when he ran away. I know what you are thinking, a turtle running away? But yes, it really happened to me. Anyways, because of this my friends and family were very diligent in trying to convince me not to adopt a puppy.

Usually I would have given up on an idea if my husband really thought is was not the best choice for us, but I couldn't get it out of my mind. We have been holding off on having kids until my husband finishes grad school, which won't be for a few more years, but my maternal time clock had started and I was longing for someone or something to take care of.  Some nights I would leave my IPhone on his side of the bed with a picture of an adorable puppy, just so he could see I was still looking at adopting. Finally, after much negotiating, and well just plain begging, my husband said agreed to let me adopt a puppy. 

Now came the more difficult part, where do you find puppies to adopt? I of course turned to my trusty friend Google and started looking at dog breeders in my area. When I found out how much it would cost for a puppy the size of a large steak, my heart dropped. All the breeds I was interested in, were over a $1,000 to adopt. I am not in anyway saying they are not worth that kind of money, I just know my husband would NEVER agree to spending that much. So, I turned to KSL and Craigslit to continue my dog search. I won't lie, I have never used KSL for anything other than apartment hunting, but I was hoping I could find an amazing puppy that I could afford. After falling for what seemed like a hundred scams on KSL, I finally found an ad for a male Chihuahua mix puppy that was in our price range and where the owner was only about 30 minutes from where I live. 

I don't think my husband was really excited about the adoption until we picked our sweet puppy up from the previous owner. When they brought him out, I saw my husbands eyes light up, and I knew he was hooked. Our new puppy, whom we named "Jax" was 8 weeks old and 3 pounds 2 ounces when we adopted him. I am not going to lie, it is a lot of work to take a care of this little guy, but when he lets me cuddle him, or gives me kisses I know it is totally worth it. I am so happy that Jax is a part of our little family, and cannot wait to watch him grow.