Morning! We just finished night 6 of sleep training and besides a few hiccups, we’re doing very well over here. I plan on writing about it at the end of the week after we’ve had a couple of more nights of it.

I’ve been doing some meal planning work, which is always fun for me. I love helping people eat healthy, delicious meals. So often people think that they need to eat boring, bland meals in order to be healthy or lose weight…and that’s so not the case.

I came across one of my favorite quinoa recipes. I haven’t made this in a long time. It’s so delicious, I need to make this a lunch staple again.

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By the way….where is the spring weather? 

Also: want to try Blissful Eats granola? We’re so excited for May to come we made a coupon for it! Enter code “MAYFLOWERS” at checkout for 15% off!

We’re still looking for someone to work the Islip Farmers market on Saturdays this summer. It’s a really FUN (paid!) job! Contact us if you’re interested!

Have a great day!

Up before Olivia today…I can’t decide if that means I’m rested…or just delirious. A little sleep update: She’s been sleeping MUCH better, however, she’s boycotting her crib. She would much rather sleep in her rock n’play. We’ve been starting her out in her crib and then by 12:30-1, she’s totally had enough of it and will NOT stay asleep. I’m NOT giving up on her crib..obviously and soon I’m taking the rock n’play out of her room so it’s not an option. She slept through the night for the first time Sunday night from about 11-5:30.

This weekend I spent time doing some cooking and baking. My sister and cousin came over and hung out with Liv, while Danny and I made a bunch of food and snacks. I will ALWAYS find something to eat because I’m at home…but if Danny doesn’t have snacks then he’ll just go all day without eating (besides lunch).

I made a twist on these granola crusted nuts from Smitten Kitchen. Maybe I’ll share my recipe one day. Thanks to Kristan for sharing that recipe with me!

Then there was these doughnuts…(OMG SO GOOD). My aunt made these for Thanksgiving and they were amazing. I didn’t put any glaze on top though.  They are GF and grain free, but I really just made them for the delicious factor.

I made the following adjustments:

• I doubled the recipe. (Yielded 8 mini muffin loaves)
• Substituted 1/3 cup turbinado sugar for stevia.
• Added 1/3 cup almond meal.
• Used a mini muffin loaf pan because I didn’t have a doughnut pan.
• Added mini chocolate chips (just sprinkled some on top before they went in the oven)
• Baked for 22 minutes.

Next on the agenda was whole wheat naan.  I haven’t made this in FOREVER. It was worth the work. We kneaded it by hand (well Danny did). They came out perfect and paired so well with our soup and salad for dinner….and lots of butter.

I also made (again) Jessica’s warm winter chickpeas salad. (It’s the top of the plate!) I adjusted the recipe mainly because I made it from memory because I was too lazy to look it up.

I made the following changes:

• Used shaved brussel sprouts from Trader Joe’s
• 2 cans chickpeas (15 oz.)
• Used turkey bacon
• omitted the mushrooms
• omitted the pecans
• 1 tbsp butter instead of 2 tbsp

I WISH I didn’t forget the mushrooms, but it was still delicious.

Also on the menu was this Italian Wedding Soup. I used a little less than 2 cups (frozen) kale instead of spinach this time. I made a lot of this and it fed 5 people with leftovers enough for 3 dinners. LOVE leftovers even more these days.

So that’s a wrap for what I made on Sunday. I used to be a big food prepper on the weekends and I’ve fell off the bus a bit because I eat lunch and snacks at home. It felt good to get back in the kitchen and make food I can just grab during the week AND so Danny could have snacks too. I hope at least one of these recipes inspires you to do a little weekend prep to make the week healthier AND easier!

What’s your favorite meal or snack to prep on the weekends?

Another weekend, another set of home projects near completion. I’m sure you’ll all be super glad when we’re done with this bathroom so I can STOP talking about this. We’re about 2 weeks from completion, I think and then maybe 3 weeks from final, final touches.

We did a lot around the house this weekend, including almost finishing the front landscaping of our house. I’ll have to post some pictures, but it really does look like night and day. It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint on the door, a new mailbox, some plants and mulch will do to make a house look so much better. My mom is really the designer out there, so has a vision and I basically just sit and watch. MAJOR thanks to her!

Danny and I also tended to our garden in the back. Hopefully it will start producing some veggies soon!

Over the weekend I got in a 4.5 mile run very early Saturday to beat the heat. During the day, while running errands, the heat really got the best of me and I tried to lay down as much as I could. I felt good enough to head to a small BBQ to celebrate the engagement of my friends Meg & Tim.

For the BBQ I made a Southwestern harvest grains salad and a blueberry, walnut & goat cheese salad. Both delicious and super, super easy.

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There ya have it, 2 super easy salads to bring to a BBQ this summer!

Have a great day!

Just to keep you updated: Integrative Nutrition is offering $1000 off tuition to those who enroll between today and Wednesday, July 4th! If you’re interested in helping people get healthy and become a health counselor then email me! 

Wednesday, Wednesday. How are all your weeks going? I’m sitting here in my usual routine of coffee, fireplace, twitter, blog reading, computer work and blogging. I’m so focused at this time of morning! Anyone else?

Top Things that makes me happy at 5:30 am:

• The morning & my morning coffee.
• Warming up by the fireplace.
• Quiet
• NBC news
• the fact it’s getting lighter earlier

What else makes me happy? Making new, healthy recipes. A lot of people post WIAW (what I ate Wednesday) today, so I thought going with the theme, I’d post my favorite recipe of the past week…kind of the same thing right?

I made this recipe for Super Bowl Sunday and I plan on making it again…real soon. Perfect for any party…or dinner. Or snack. I would say you should figure 2-4 potato skins per person, which is 1/2 – 1 potato per person.

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Another win of this recipe is that I had mashed sweet potato for another meal! 

This recipe makes me want to jump up and down it’s so awesome.

What’s your favorite healthified recipe? 

Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel to see more healthy recipes!

Off to get my workout on! You working out today? Get to it!