peanut butter phase

for the past couple of weeks i've been in a huge peanut butter phase! do yall ever have those times where nothing seems better to you than a pb&j sandwich?

i like peanut butter but i never can decide which version to get. reduced fat versions taste good and make me feel like i'm saving some calories, but they're also loaded with sugar most of the time. "natural" peanut butter tastes like cardboard to me so that's out. luckily one of my bosses was looking for fresh-ground peanut butter the other day so i offered to go by our local earthfare and see if they had any. sure enough, they have the fun little grinding station where you can grind your own peanuts into butter. YUM.

it's still a little hard for me to get used to the full-on peanut flavor without any sweetener, so i use honey when i need to to balance it out some.

my 2 favorite peanut butter "recipes":

• pb&b: peanut butter & banana sandwich. it doesn't get any better than that. we had this for dinner one night last week and i think we'll be having it again soon! we felt like kids and it was awesome.
• smoothie: i make green smoothies fairly often for breakfast, but that gets old sometimes. i was in a cereal rut for a week or 2 and decided to use the leftover peanut butter from our sandwiches in breakfast smoothies. so good!
  
  -2 scoops peanut butter
  -2 bananas
  -1 tsp honey
  -1/2 cup greek yogurt
  -milk to reach desired consistency

chicken & artichoke pasta

another recipe for ya!

this one was surprisingly good i thought...the ingredients are few and simple, but i really love how it turned out. it also only took me about 20 minutes total to make! i didn't take any pictures because i really didn't think it would be anything special...proved me wrong. so wrong that michael already asked me to make it again!

here's food & wine's example picture and original recipe:

• chicken breasts (i used 3, all pounded to the same thickness for even grilling
• spiral pasta (i used whole wheat rotini...about 3/4 of a lb)
• 14-oz can of artichoke hearts, rinsed and drained well, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (recipe calls for red wine vinegar but i didn't have any on hand. the cider vinegar turned out really well!)
• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• parmesan cheese

1. season chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper.

2. cook until done, then slice. i cooked my chicken on my small griddler for about 5-6 minutes per side.

3. cook pasta according to package directions. after draining, toss with 1 tbsp olive oil.

4. add chicken, artichoke hearts, 5 tbsp olive oil, and vinegar. season with salt and pepper and top with parsley and parmesan cheese.

simple and delicious!

veggie burgers

another non-meat burger recipe success!

i found a veggie burger recipe on countryliving.com that i tried out last night. i had a list of 3 meals for michael to choose from and i was shocked that he chose the veggie burger, but i'm glad he did!

i modified the recipe a little to fit what i had on hand. here's what i used:

• 2 cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained (recipe called for pintos but shockingly enough my grocery store didnt have any in stock)
• 1.5 cups panko
• half of a white onion, diced
• 8 oz mushrooms, chopped
• 1 egg white
• 2 carrots, grated
• salt, pepper, and cumin

1. first you need to mash your beans in a bowl. i took a picture of this step solely because they look really gross.

oh yeah

2. add in the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined (in my opinion mixing by hand is the only way to go when making meatballs, burgers, etc.)

3. form into patties and cook in a couple teaspoons of olive oil over medium heat.

this recipe made 10 burgers! i didn't read that part before i started but now michael and i both have huge lunches to enjoy. :)

a few changes i might make next time: 

1. make this an asian-style burger and flavor it with soy sauce, garlic and ginger. it could use a little more kick.

2. use 2 egg whites instead of 1. some of the patties were falling apart because they didn't have enough egg to bind them together.

so good, easy, and healthy...my favorite kind of meal! 

the honest company

happy monday people!

we had a great weekend and i'm sad to be at work today, but at least vacation is only in 3 short weeks! we went to a drive-in movie and had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants (chima, a brazilian steakhouse) this weekend and it was wonderful! we also got to see my best friend courtney who is in town for work which was icing on the cake!

on to today's topic...

a few months ago i signed up for monthly essentials bundles with the honest company. i'd heard a little about the company before that because i read celebrity news like a crazy person and jessica alba is one of the founders.

i started looking into it because i'm trying to switch things in our house to natural alternatives as much as possible (within reason) and the honest company offers a ton of personal care and cleaning products that you can "bundle" each month and pay a monthly fee. it's great because they warn you via email when your bundle is about to be assembled so you have a chance to mix and match which 5 products you want to receive that month. that way you don't end up with 8 bottles of shampoo that you don't need.

i decided to give it a try and i have to say i love it! i think it's actually a very good deal financially, and i really like the products themselves a lot. here's a rundown of the some of the ones i've tried:

bug spray: smells way better than normal bug spray and isn't greasy or sticky at all!

dish soap: i really like this product but it doesn't foam up as much as regular dish soap due to lower levels of chemical surfactants. it is a little hard to get used to since we tend to associate bubbles with cleanliness, but we're getting there!

dish towels: made from organic cotton, love the blue and white!

dryer sheets: i've only used these once or twice so i'm still forming my opinion...but they seem to work well! i dont typically use dryer sheets at all, which is another reason why i like the monthly bundle. it makes me choose things i normally wouldn't buy!

fruit & veggie wash: i keep this on my kitchen sink beside the dish soap to wash fruits and veggies. since we get most of our produce delivered now directly from farms (see that post here), it tends to be dirtier than grocery store varieties. this wash has been really helpful for an extra layer of clean!

hand soap: fairly standard, but i like it

laundry pods: my favorite product so far. i really like laundry pods because i feel like liquid detergents always make a mess and can stain clothes if they don't distribute well enough. laundry pods in the store are so expensive though! i was so happy to see honest offered these. they're smaller and clearly simpler than the crazy-colored ones you can find elsewhere, but they work just as well. very happy with these!

lip balm: i've only tried the sweet orange vanilla one and i love it! it smells and tastes great

shampoo + body wash: this combination shampoo & body wash is all i've been using for the past few months. like the dish soap, it doesn't lather up as much as my other shampoos, but i'm getting used to it! the smell is great and i like that i only need one bottle instead of 2 in the shower.

multi-surface cleaner: this stuff is really handy. it can clean pretty much any surface so i'm always picking it up to clean up random spills. i also use it to clean the counters in my kitchen and bathroom on a weekly basis. i have to say, sometimes i miss the strong lemony smell of cleaners like lysol but i think in the end it's better for my countertops (and probably my lungs) to use this instead!

i highly recommend every honest product i've tried and i'm excited to keep trying new ones each month! check it out :)

july birchbox

another birchbox arrived a couple of weeks ago!

i have to be honest, i don't understand the birchbox themes most of the time. this month it was "power play...dedicated to helping you take control of any situation and to make the most of every minute." i mean, that's nice, but it could apply to any box. i still get the same kinds of things so i'm not sure what's supposed to be changing. oh well!

[birchbox people: if you're reading this, i could suggest some great themes. for example, i would love a "smells like food" theme. call me!]

the theme aside, this box was pretty good. here's the breakdown:

• gena pedi cure foot treatment creme: haven't tried yet
• modelco party proof lipstick: my favorite of the box! i'm trying to be brave and wear brighter lipstick every once in awhile and this is the perfect color. turns out that pretty much everything from modelco is a favorite of mine!
• dr. jart ceramidin cream: i wanted to love this one because it claims to contain ceramides, which from my job i know are very active and very expensive. the cream itself is just too thick for my face though. i could try it elsewhere but there's so little i feel like i'd be wasting it.
• i.c.o.n. india oil: i love having natural oils around to put on the ends of my hair so this is a keeper!
• birchbox exclusive bobby pins: these are so cute! i love the pattern. they're reallllllly heavy duty and thick though, so they pulled my hair a lot when i tried them out. i'll probably wear them but i'll be more careful!

tried and true desserts

although i don't eat much dessert in general, when i'm in the mood for something sweet there's nothing better than one of these desserts. they're my all-time favorites!

1. my mom's old english crunch cake: i don't have a link to this recipe because it's probably not on the internet. it's old and wonderful and makes for the best breakfast you will ever have with a glass of milk. YUM.
   
   
2. carrot cake: i use paula deen's recipe and, while paula herself has been a little controversial lately, there is no doubt that this is the best carrot cake recipe i've ever made. the only thing i don't make from scratch is the cream cheese icing. for some reason my homemade icing never turns out right. i love the stuff from the can anyway so i stick with that!
   
   

   

   www.pauladeen.com

   
   
3. cookie dough truffles: i haven't made these in a couple of months but every time i do i have to hide them from myself so i don't eat the whole batch. the recipe can be found here at eat. drink. smile.
   
   
   

4th of july weekend recap

what a great weekend we had!

it started off even better than i expected because we got out of work on wednesday at 1:00, which was amazing!

wednesday night we went out uptown for a little while. the travesty of the night was some kid stepping on my sandal at the epicentre and breaking the whole strap off. i was not a happy camper but thankfully target still had them online so i put in my replacement order before we even got home!

happy happy happy

thursday we were lucky enough to go out on lake norman with several of our friends where we spent all day in the sun. a storm threatened us a few times but thankfully our men/storm chasers outran it every time. we stopped by my boss's house for a bit which is always fun and entertaining! after stopping for takeout, we were in bed by 10. a successful 4th if i do say so myself.

we <3 bathing suit season

the crew

our festive porch

friday we got a few necessary errands done around town and went to see man of steel. i wasn't too thrilled about the movie in advance for a few reasons. 1-iron man is the best superhero ever and everyone else is boring in comparison and 2-it was really long and i don't do well in long movies. but it was really good! i enjoyed it alot and michael loved it so it was definitely worth the trip! friday night we had dinner with my frand at a mexican restaurant in charlotte which was fun as usual. :)

saturday we played golf! i've never actually tried to play golf before other than putt putt and swinging a club a couple of times in my parents' front yard. it was really fun for the first, oh, 12 holes. after that i couldve used a book. i played the first few holes and surprised myself with the fact that i can hit the ball pretty straight. i wouldn't say distance is my forte.

the highlight of my day was hitting a 4 on a par 3. the highlight of the back 9 was watching the boys i was playing with get more frustrated and start throwing things. :) after my first few holes i stuck to driving the cart and manning the peanut gallery. overall it was really fun, but i think my next outing will need to be 9 holes!

on the loose

the only golf appropriate summer shirt i have

sunday was the usual...we volunteered at church, ate lunch, i took a nap, michael played volleyball, and we saw yet another movie. this time we saw the heat with melissa mccarthy and sandra bullock. it was really funny but also really crude (michael will tell you that's one of my favorite words).

i hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend like we did! next up on the holiday schedule...a babson family beach vacation in august!

happy 4th!

i hope everyone has a fun and relaxing 4th of july tomorrow!

the 4th is my 2nd favorite holiday (only after Christmas of course). even if i don't have any set plans it's nice to have a day (or 2!) off of work to just be lazy in the heat and work on a tan. there's also always a ton of good rednecks around being loud and wearing cut-offs and tank tops.

i'm hoping for some lake time tomorrow assuming this constant rain slacks off by then!

and as corny as it may sound, i consider myself blessed to have been born and raised in this country (especially in the south, clearly). we take so much for granted! the 4th reminds me to be grateful for everything that being an american allows me to do and be in life.

sending you off into the long weekend with a picture from southern living of a 4th of july table setting at my dream lake house. anyone want to come over for lunch in, say, 20 years? :)

weekend recap

happy  monday everyone!

this actually is a happy monday because we only have to work 3 days this week! and by "we" i mean michael and i...sorry for those of you who have to go back in on friday.

i had a nice long weekend starting on thursday when i headed down to charleston for a society of cosmetic chemists meeting with some other people from work.

when we got to our hotel our rooms weren't ready yet so we took our luggage out to the pool, changed into bathing suits in the pool bathroom, then changed into our work clothes in the hotel lobby bathroom. talk about gross.

we had a meeting for a few hours that afternoon, then hit up a charleston riverdogs baseball game, where i proceeded to eat boiled peanuts for dinner. so good!

that night we all went out on the town.

frand!

the next morning we went our separate ways. my car full of people decided to head to folly beach to spend the afternoon in the sun. so glad we did!

not a bad friday

saturday was spent in the sun again, but this time we were pedaling around uptown on a 14 person bike. you know, the usual.

my <3...we love a good tailgate

photo credits: paul fran norris

this crew! love

yesterday was a wonderfully relaxing sunday with friends and food as usual. ready to knock this work "week" out and start another weekend!

hope yours was just as good!