Keep It Fun And Healthy

Well it’s that time of year again. Last year I decided to do a month long detox starting January 1st. I felt great afterwards and after how I’ve been eating recently I’ve decided to make it a tradition to do it every year. I feel it just puts me on the right track to start out the year. I know when some of you hear the word “detox” you think water and pepper for 5 days straight (or something crazy like that). This is nothing like that. I actually follow a plan that I think is very healthy. Every year Whole Living puts out a new plan. It has changed a little since last year. I think it’s a little easier to follow this year. They provide all the recipes and instructions you need to follow the plan. Check out week 1 of the plan here . Week 1 I will be eating fruits, vegetables, and plant-based fats, including nuts, seeds, and oils. Week 2 I will be adding back in seafood, beans and lentils, and organic soy. And week 3 I will be adding back in gluten-free grains and eggs. I will be chang...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I wanted to share with you what I did for Christmas gifts this year. I made homemade vanilla! I had so much fun making it. Did you know it only takes 2 ingredients to make vanilla? Yes, it’s THAT easy. Vanilla and Vodka are the only 2 ingredients. Let me show you what I did… I ordered a bunch of vanilla beans from Beanilla . I highly recommend ordering your beans online. I tried buying some at Whole foods and they were $6 a bean! I got them for $1.50 a bean by ordering them online and you get to choose what type a vanilla you want, I used Madagascar vanilla beans.  I cut the beans in half so they would fit in the bottle. You will then slice the bean starting from the top and go down to the bottom until you can see the “meat” of the bean. This exposes the beans to make the vanilla. I bought these bottles from The Container Store . And found the stickers here . I used cheap vodka because everywhere I read it said it didn’t matter about...

I wanted to share with you a little bit about how I’m celebrating the season. As I’ve told you before, I love this time of year! It just seems that everyone comes together around this time by giving to others with a cheerful heart. That’s what it’s all about! I even heard on the radio that some people have been going in to stores and paying for random layaway items that others have put on layaway. How special is that? Our church is doing something really special for Little Rock that they started last year. We have something called the AR Dream Center that helps out Arkansas families in need. This weekend they will be doing something called the Christmas Mall . Members of the church and people from all around have given donations or even shopped online to buy Christmas presents. This Saturday they will be touching the lives of thousands of families around here with the much needed holiday experience they can enjoy. Check out the details here and come help us out Saturday if you want ...

I hope you are are enjoying this holiday season! December is a busy month for me. Holiday parties, Kyle’s birthday, and Christmas! I love every bit of it! Today is Kyle’s 32nd birthday. Happy birthday, Kyle! He wanted to celebrate tonight with a steak dinner. We will be celebrating with friends on Saturday night. Kyle cooked the steak since I’m inexperienced with red meat. Kyle is going to share with you the process of making it. It was probably the best steak I’ve ever had. Moist,  juicy, and flavorful! I don’t eat a whole lot of steak but this was soo good. Since I live in a little ole apartment I don’t have a grill. I thought that was the only way to cook steak, I was wrong. I will let Kyle tell you here in a little bit. Other items on the menu: Fiesta Ranch potatoes, Salad, and sautéed mushrooms and onions. I’m good at making salads so I got to chopping. For the potatoes I chopped them into quarters and coated with olive oil. I then coated the potatoes with a fiesta ra...

Tonight I decided to make something new. I was a little iffy about the combination but I gotta tell ya, it turned out the be a winner. I wanted to make something nice and healthy because Kyle and I went to Memphis this weekend and I was not very good on my food choices! We ate at this fried chicken place called, Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken . It was so good! I don’t have much to compare it to because I can’t remember the last time I had fried chicken. I never had it growing up unless mom picked up some KFC one night for dinner. The only thing they had on the menu was fried chicken so there was no going healthy at this place. That’s okay, I will make it up with my Shred it by Jillian Michaels workout video this week! I started by chopping up half of an onion and red bell pepper Then sauté in olive oil until tender Mix all ingredients together and pour into your pie pan. Sprinkle with grated parmesan. This recipe is so easy to make! The hardest part is waiting for it to cook in t...

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I thought I would share with you a few pictures from my weekend. It was filled with lots of food. Moderation sure was hard but I preached it all week at work so I tried my hardest to practice it. Thursday I went to my Dads and spent the day with him. I made a pumpkin pie to take! I found the idea to do the braded crust off of Pinterest . I’m addicted! Friday my sister and her husband CJ came over to my mom’s to watch the Razorback game. Mom made chicken and dumplings!   What a game. Moses even dressed up for the game. Saturday we went over to my Grandmothers house for Thanksgiving with my mom’s side. We always have a good time at Grandmothers. She always goes over the top with her tab top decorations Aren't they perfect?! I was so excited that Ashley and William joined us as well. We also celebrated Grandmothers birthday. My sister, Jamie made her cake. My Grandmother is the cutest Grandmother ever! We then celebrated our...