What's for dinner? [Five on Friday]

Lately Matt and I have been on a health kick. It probably has something to do with the fact that we will be on the beaches of Cozumel just one week from today!! After MUCH discussion and literally months of searching for the perfect destination we finally pulled the trigger about 3 weeks ago and now that it is all officially set up I could not be more excited. One of my biggest stipulations for the trip was that it was somewhere our cell phones wouldn't work. I am thinking a week without cell service is going to do us really good. Three weeks isn't ample time to work on our "beach bodies" so we decided to try a paleo diet in addition to our workouts. Last Tuesday we were loaned a copy of Practical Paleo from our Bible study leader and she recommended a few recipes that have been total winners. In addition to the Paleo cook book we have also had some "Pinterest Wins" over the last month. So without further ado, Five on Friday- Food on the Table edition!

 

--One--

I am not a major chicken salad person but man this recipe was DELICIOUS! We have made it several times. I leave out the cranberries (because I am not a huge fan) and I let Matt de-bone the chicken because I find animal bones disturbing- I like to pretend my meat grows on trees. Chicken tree.

--Two--
Zoodles. These have just about been the best discovery ever. I bought my Paderno World Cuisine spiralizer from Amazon almost a year ago and I honestly think I could eat zucchini noodles every day (Matt does not agree). I am a major spaghetti/ pasta lover, so for me, zoodles have been the perfect substitute. Excited to use my spiralizer for some other food projects!




--Three--
Coconut Noodle bowls. Matt and I made these for the first time a little over a month ago and I definitely think they will be making a repeat appearance in the weekly food lineup. I had never used coconut milk in a recipe before and it was kind of strange. The recipe almost seemed to have a cheesiness to it- which is weird because I didn't use any cheese! We sure do love some shrimp. And cheese.

--Four--

Pumpkin Pancakes- above is the book our Bible study leader was so sweet to lend us and also a picture of the pancakes off Pinterest. I am honestly always too hungry to photograph my food before I eat it. I don't know how food photographers do what they do. If food is in front of me, I am going to eat it. Matt and I made "breakfast for dinner" as one of our paleo meals the other night and for a girl who usually isn't a huge fan of breakfast foods (I have been known to order a hamburger at our favorite breakfast spot, The Good Egg) I was a huge fan of that particular meal. Scrambled eggs, jalapeno bacon, and pumpkin pancakes. Nom.

--Five--

The engagement bunny. In a effort to keep it real, I will say paleo week hasn't been without its low moments. The other day I was craving some chocolate and since I had already eaten most every piece in our house we have been pretty good about keeping it out of the house I had to resort to "the engagement bunny". Matt's aunt Patti came to visit during the time Matt and I were engaged. It was actually during a major snowstorm and we had a really fun time "rescuing her" from her hotel and going out to dinner at Outback and making a trip to Walmart so that she could pick up some essentials. While she was here she gave us a card and a large chocolate bunny to congratulate us on our engagement. The bunny, which we probably should have pitched or re-gifted, has been living in the freezer for well over a year and whenever one of us is in desperate need of some chocolate we go chop off another piece of the bunny. The bunny is actually getting pretty small. I think I may be a little sad when it is all gone.

Hope you all had a wonderful week!

Betsy

Five on [this beautiful] Friday

Today has been a good day, and there are lots of reasons why, but I am only going to give you five since it is '5 on Friday', after all :)

One
We started out our day ending a 3 day cleanse (DIY Blueprint Cleanse, I used this guide and this guide) and had amazing omelets at our favorite little breakfast spot. Matt really had wanted to try a "cleanse" and so I apprehensively agreed to do it with him. I was really surprised how well I did. As someone who gets "hangry" on a regular basis, I thought 3 days with no solid food would be torture, but I must be more mentally tough than I thought ;)

Two
We got to watch our sweet niece for my sister today. I love watching Jane on Matt's days off because having two sets of hands around makes hanging with a baby much more fun and enjoyable. Jane looooves being outside and since it was such a beautiful day I took her outside and snapped some cute pics of her in her cheerleading uniform-

 and then her momma came home and she was pretty jazzed :)

her adorable "uniform" brings me to my next point:


Three
My Jayhawks play tonight! I am getting really excited for March Madness and I love that my husband is a complete KU fan convert-- quite the accomplishment since he used to cheer for DUKE growing up. Sooo glad he saw the light and came over to the good side!

Four
Matt and I both grew up playing tennis but somehow in the last 6 years we have been friends/ dating we never played together.

Today was the first time I was able to show off my skills. It was a blast and the best part was seeing the look on Matt's face when he couldn't return some of my shots... he must have had really low expectations for me :)

Five
Tonight we have nothing on our agenda but time together relaxing at home. We are urbanspooning and trying to decide a new place to do dinner. I love a good relaxing Friday night at home with Boo.

Happy weekend!
Bets

Five on Friday

One
Have you heard of the app for your iPhone called Argus? It is a fitness app that does all kinds of stuff including counting your steps, keeping track of your water/ food intake, and even measuring your blood pressure. I have become obsessed with getting in my "steps" everyday and you can find me pacing the living room most nights before bed trying to reach my goal of 10,000.

Two
Last month Matt and I both caught the flu bug. I haven't been that sick in a while and it wasn't pretty. What was especially rough was that Matt got it the day before he was set to preach at the church. Praise the Lord- he made it through the worst of it before Sunday, and did an excellent job. Here is the link to his sermon if you are interested.

Three
This past Sunday my sister came to town so we could attend the baby shower of an old friend. Before we went she snapped some photos of me, Matt, and Boo dog. I also took some pics of her and Jane baby a.k.a. "cutest niece in the whole world". You can see more at Char's blog, but here are a few of my favorites-

Four
Now that our winter retreat for the high school students is behind us we can start looking forward the next big thing which is the mission trip Matt is leading to Nicaragua. I am going along as a chaperone and am so excited to be going on my first missions trip outside the U.S.! This will also be the first time Matt and I have traveled outside the country together. Seems like it should be a bucket list item for our marriage. We will be spending our time there at Villa Esperanza in Managua, a home for abused and at-risk girls who had previously been living in the dump community.We will be serving alongside a local church and helping with all sorts of projects as well as hanging out with the girls living at the Villa. Matt and I both feel blessed for the opportunity to do this together and alongside some of our really awesome high school students!

 Five
In January Matt and I decided to challenge ourselves to eat at home for every meal. While there were a few exceptions, (meals out with family, etc.) I can say that we were pretty successful. Our month of eating at home inspired me to try to "cook my way through Pinterest" in 2014. While my ever growing food board would be hard to complete in a year, I think trying 100  new recipes is a realistic goal. I was off to a great start in January and when the flu made its way through our house last month cooking (and eating, in general) really lost its appeal. Hoping to get back on track this month.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Bets

One Little Word... 2014

The other night Matt and I were out to dinner with a friend and she was telling us how she had a theme word for this upcoming year and she wanted it to be something that would encourage her to make the most of each day. Her word was enjoy. She wanted to enjoy life more in 2014 than ever before. She wanted to make it a point to enjoy her family, her husband, and God intentionally every day. Apparently this idea of picking a theme word is actually a part of a movement called One Little Word.

After watching my little brother play basketball last Saturday night we were out to dinner with Mike and Kelsey and started recapping the conversation. We had told our friend that if we had to pick a theme word ours would probably have to be celebrate. Late last spring Mike started the search for his first post-grad job. He ended up interviewing at Eastminster and it seems that ever since that happened whenever Mike and Kels have ventured over to Wichita we have found some reason or another to celebrate together. Whether it was an anniversary, an interview that had gone particularly well, or something as big as purchasing a home to something as miniscule as buying a juicer- we sure do love to celebrate. Our celebrations were mostly excuses for us to justify a nice meal out or staying up too late, but whatever the reason or result it has certainly made the past several months so much fun.

Therefore, I dub 2014 the year of celebrations. Some of the fun things that we can already foresee happening include:

• Christmas with Matt's family this weekend. Our crazy schedules made it so that it was easiest to do Christmas two weeks into January... but you better believe I have loooved the excuse it has given me to keep all my Christmas decor up!
• Matt and I will be officially entering our "late twenties" this year.... I suppose it is better to choose to celebrate these events rather than to mourn, ha.
• Me and my Mr. will celebrate a year of marriage in May.
• Both Matt and I will have little brothers participating in the graduation festivities at Sterling College this spring. Looking forward to celebrating that huge accomplishment with those two. 
• At the end of May we will get to celebrate the marriage of one of my best friends from college! So, so looking forward to that wedding.
• We will celebrate the 1st birthday of our sweet little niece, Jane. That precious nugget always knows how to make us smile and I can't wait for all of her milestones that we will get to celebrate along with my sis and Rob over this next year!
• Together Matt and I have been working really hard on saving money and paying off debt and this year (if all goes according to plan) we should be able to knock out 2 of Matt's student loans! This may be my most anticipated celebration of the year!

So there are a few of the fun events that we know will be headed our way this year. I look forward to seeing what other things pop up that will be worthy of celebration!

This morning I surprised Matt with breakfast in bed because I skipped my Body Blitz class realized that it was our 8 month anniversary. When I walked into our room with the tray and said "happy anniversary!!" his face turned to panic mode and I got a good chuckle out of seeing him trying to remember if today was actually our anniversary. 

We usually don't celebrate the monthly anniversary, but every once in a while when we remember it is the 8th we like to use it as an excuse to "celebrate"- surely that doesn't surprise anyone after reading this post :)

Wishing a happy new year to all my readers! AKA my mom, dad, sister, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law!

Betsy