30 Day Challenge- Week 1-2 recap

I made myself a 30 day to a healthier me promise, read my promise to myself HERE. 

Sooo...

I meant to recap after week one, but obviously that did not happen. Well better late then never...right?

Week 1- I was really good about my goals this week! I only missed my daily exercise once, I mostly kept up with my GRE practice, I don't think that I missed reading the Bible once, I definitely ate more vegies and did not do well with drinking more water. I am very proud that I did not have even a tough of chocolate!!! I did decide that as my one cheat I would have frozen yogurt, not quite ice cream...which is on my no eat list, but I had to have something sweet lol. 

Week 2- (over on monday)- I have drank more water, exercised almost every day, kept up with the vegies and increased my water intake. I have still not touched chocolate (I have really wanted to) and have avoided the other items on my do not eat list. I have completely forgotten to do my GRE practice questions...something to improve upon. Yet, I have kept up with reading the Word almost every day.

Moral of the story...

I'm not perfect but I am trying to make these improvements. I feel healthier in my mind and my body. My husband has even said I look thinner, which was not really my goal but it is a nice plus!! 

I challenge everyone who reads this to commit to give up something or add something to your daily to-do list to make yourself a healthier person :)

A Taste of Home

This recipe just cannot help but remind me of home. 

Actually every time I see a butternut squash it reminds me of my mom in the kitchen cooking up this delicious dish.

I don't think that my recipe is quite as good as my mom's, but really how could it be? Below you will find the best I could do. I must say we did eat it all, between just my husband and I, so it must be pretty good. 

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Slice your squash in half length wise. 

2. Lightly spread a butter spread (I used promise) over the squash. I would say I used about 1 1/2 Tablespoons over the 2 halves. 

3. Use a shaker of cinnamon and sugar over the entire squash and then put 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar over that. 

4. Bake your squash for about 60-90 minutes of until a fork can be inserted easily. 

5. Let your squash cool for about 20 minutes until you can handle it. After that just peel away the skin and put your squash in a mixer until soft. 

6. ENJOY!!! It is just so yummy with all the great flavors that were cooked together. Yum!

DIY Laundry Detergent

I can hardly believe that we could make detergent for about a year for $20. 

It just blows my mind how expensive detergent is (Tide is easily $15 for 100 loads, which never seems to actually last 100 loads.) 

You can find the recipe here from Being Creative to Keep My Sanity. My only critique is that we used a food processor to make the Fels Naptha soap into a powder form. We have a small processor so I only processed one bar at a time and made sure to break up the soap with a knife before processing it. 

We mixed all of the detergent in a double bagged garbage bag. We put the bag in a small clean bucket to add all the ingredients and then closed the bag and shook up the mix. We then put our containers in the tub and cut off the bottom tip of the bags to funnel the detergent into the containers. 

Oh and I found my glass container at Salvation Army for $5! You can also get them at Target for $8 or $9.

And thats it! Now enjoy the great way this detergent works :) I think it works better then tide!

Delicious Eats!

Delicious.

That is the only way to describe my current cooking style! 

My goal has been to limit the amount of preservatives we eat, and they are just in everything! Salad dressing, frozen food, soup, lunch meat, ugh...the list goes on and on and on. I know in this world and with our busy schedules it will be almost impossible to completely cut them from our diets. But a girl can dream...

The delicious salad above it a combo of my farmers market finds from this week (except the olives). I even made the dressing!! It is so so so so yummy and was adapted from the recipe found Here.

Cilantro-Lime-Ginger Dressing 

4 large (6 small) Cloves of Garlic

2 T. Fresh Ginger (just estimate)

2 Bunches of Cilantro (trim the stocks off)

1/3 Red Onion

 Juice from 3-4 Large Limes

1/2 cup White Wine Vinegar

2 t. Crushed Red Pepper

1 t. Salt

3 T. Honey

1/2-3/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

1/2 cup Canola Oil

1/4-1/2 cup Olive Oil

Put it all in a food processor (or a blender if you don't have a processor). You may need a bit more oil or vinegar if it seems to thick from the cilantro. 

It should keep for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

These delicious pretzel dogs were so fun and delicious! The recipe was from Brown Eyed Baker who is an absolute genius.

My little version of a...

 ...Monte Cristo...

...from let over french toast.

2 slices of French Toast

1 slice of Thick Ham

1 slice of Thick Turkey

1-2 t. of Apricot Jam

1 slice of Provolone Cheese

Make a sandwich out of the above ingredients minus the jam. Wrap your sandwich in paper towel and microwave for 45 seconds. After you take it out of the microwave and put on the jam. 

Eat Up! Yum!

Falling in Love with Autum Dessert!

With all this eating healthy I have been doing I was completely craving a little piece of something sweet. But with cookies, pastries & chocolate off limits I was having a hard time thinking of something that would keep my healthy habits unbroken. 

Luckily, my rules said nothing about adult beverages (which would not be considered healthy at all)...and we have had our martini glasses for months and they had yet to be used. So a martini it was, now I just had to find a fun recipe with the little alcohol we have in our apartment. Actually, we only have Gin. So that would be considered very limited in the martini world. 

This recipe for an Apple Cider & Ginger Martini caught my eye and it was utterly delicious!! Watch out tho, this recipe will sneak up on ya if your not careful.

With that I was thinking that a baked apple would be great. I just love apples in the fall. A crisp apple has to be my favorite all time snack and the fall opens the doors to a fresh crop of apples, yum!

I searched and search the internet and could not find just the right recipe. Nothing felt right with trying to eat a healthy dessert. Well you know what to do then, make one! 

I can up with...

 Spiced Pastry Cream Baked Apples

Guest Bathroom Makeover

Calvin and I just do not do well with white walls, and the walls in our apartment were ever so white when we moved in! 

No amount of colorful wall hangings could help this place. It just felt cold and uninviting.

October Favorites

1. Pumpkin Carving with my Hubby- We had such fun this year with our pumpkins! I think they really brought out our personalities and I just love em'!

2. Coffee Pressed Coffee- I am in absolute love with my coffee press! Now that I have mastered making a good cup o' joe with it I could not be more pleased. Every morning with just a little brown sugar and soy creamer and I am off to take on whatever the day may hold :)

3. Sriracha- I admittedly went through a bottle of this stuff in a month. It is by far the best hot sauce out there and is awesome on everything from eggs to soup! YUM! (PS- it is pretty hot but has a nice flavor)

4. The Hunger Game Trilogy- If you have not yet read them I highly suggest you do. You will not be able to put them down! I just finished "Mockingjay" today in about 48 hours. If you have already seen the movie I still recommend picking up the first book, there is so much more detail in it that I think you will still be on your toes!

5. Vintage Chunky Sweaters and Shorts- With it being about 60-70 degrees here all the time I am just obsessed with shorts and sweaters! Most days you can find me in my new favorite Izod sweater I found at the thrift shop and my favorite Gap shorts (which were also a thrifting find)