Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all those who have lost their lives defending this country. Matt and I originally planned to spend it at the lake house, but the weather made us decide to postpone. I’m glad we did because Mason hasn’t been feeling well. Please send all your good vibes that he’s 100% better soon!

Friday began with one each sweet and savory waffle. Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter, Van’s Honey Nut Crunch, Fage on a Van’s GF apple cinnamon waffle / cheddar, avocado, egg, everything but the bagel seasoning on a Kashi GF waffle.

I decided to treat myself to an herbal tea latte and these adorable pb&j’s from K brew for lunch. I ate one with carrots and felt satisfied, so I saved the second. They leave off the jam and allow you to choose one of three flavors. 🙂

For dinner, I made us each a big salad dressed with Caesar.

I then sautéed butternut squash “noodles” and topped our servings with the remaining meat spaghetti and parmesan.

Jackson practicing yoga! We each had our after-dinner snack/dessert, watched an episode of Gotham, and we got some sleep.

I made another Hello Fresh meal for our brunch. Polenta with blistered tomatoes, Italian sausage, and basil. I kept half the tomatoes and sausage to be used in a scrambler tomorrow morning.

Kroger’s Free Friday product was International Delight One Touch Latte. It is actually quite enjoyable!

While I completed my stretches and exercises, Rachel kept me company.

I had the second pb&j sandwich with carrots before showering.

Crappy lighting throughout this post due to the overcast weather (sorry!), but I had to wear a little red/white/blue.

I took our sweet boy to the vets, and they noted he did have a slight temperature, was a little dehydrated, and he definitely has been fighting something. They gave him fluids, a one-time dose of antibiotics, and pain pills. They went ahead and gave him one while we were there. Once home, I made a snack plate/second lunch.

Mason perked up and actually ate! Unfortunately, when Matt got up to feed them Sunday morning, he found where Mason had gotten sick. 😦

Our friends Rippy and Van came over Saturday evening, and we watched Gold together. It was a pretty good movie!

On Sunday, I made morning-overnight oats. 😉 I pulsed old fashioned oats and mixed them with half a bottle of Chobani smoothie. Topped with peanut butter, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and banana.

I went on a lovely walk, and these roses caught my eye. So vibrant and pretty.

Weekends seem to be for small lunches/snack plates.

Fage Crossover Blueberry Acai, complete with poor lighting.

After Matt and I gave him another pain pill, he started to once again perk up and want to snuggle and eat.

I decided to get us a puzzle to work on, and while the selection was limited, this reminded me of my grandmother because of the hummingbirds.

❤ ❤

Another delicious salad to start dinner.

Quinoa, sautéed sweet potato “noodles” with roasted pepper spread, roasted seasoned broccoli/onion/garlic, sautéed shrimp, reduced white wine. I love how Jax is looking up to Matt!

We enjoyed our late dessert while working on the puzzle. Sit around during the day, stay up working on a puzzle. Typical. Haha

So snuggly.

Sadly, Matt and I woke up around 3:45 this morning to Mason getting sick again. I will be taking him to the vets after work to get his blood drawn and tested. I hate when one of our babies feels bad!

I actually made overnight oats with the remainder of the Chobani smoothie.

Grainy Memorial Day outfit.

Fingers crossed for Mason!! Hope everyone has a great day.

A few weeks ago, Drew gave Kaci a coupon to use Hello Fresh. She in turn gave me a coupon. We received three meals, and I made our first yesterday evening. Kaci did give us one of hers last week because she had just cooked salmon and received a salmon meal. It was tasty, but I over-seasoned the fish. Cook’s error. 😉

I chose to make the pork, eggplant, and yellow squash stir-fry. Here were the ingredients individually bagged for this dish. One plus over Blue Apron is that they note gluten free on their recipes, although they do not specifically cater to certain dietary needs. Even with this being listed as such, I did not use the soy sauce provided because no where did it state it was wheat free. So I used our tamari.

Kaci came over, and we chatted for so long that I did not have time to make the brown rice that came with the meal as it would’ve taken 35-45 minutes. Whoops. So instead, I used a 90-second pouch of brown rice. Also, I decided to warm an Asian frozen vegetable medley to stretch the meal from two very generous servings to four that suited our hunger levels. This worked for us, but you do whatever works for you!

I apologize for the poorly lit photo, but it was getting fairly late. Matt and I thoroughly enjoyed the meal but added dried pepper spice blend for more heat. I’m going to breakdown our thoughts into a few categories using a ranking system, 1 being poor to 10 being excellent.

Creativity: 5 – While the dish was enjoyable, it was not very creative. It seemed like a standard stir-fry.

Ease of preparation: 10 – Chop, sauté, add flavors, voila.

Quality: 8 – The ingredients looked good, but the eggplant was just a tad tough and wrinkly on one side. Not a big deal, but I just noticed this.

Price: 4 – Considering we used a coupon and added additional vegetables that gave us more servings, this would be ranked higher. But looking at it from the full-price standpoint with no additional ingredients and eaten as a two-person meal, this is way too expensive.

Conclusion: If you’re looking to jazz up your meals at home, get ahold of a coupon and give Hello Fresh a try! If you already cook quite a bit and feel you are managing your food budget, then this may be too costly. But the good news is you can skip however many weeks you want and just order when needed. For instance, you have family or friends coming over, so you could place an order, make a few meals, and everyone could try some of each. Maybe there’s a special event that calls for a nice dish. Hello Fresh could help with this. But on a regular basis, this just doesn’t fit our budget.

I hope this has been somewhat helpful. Please feel free to share your thoughts on any meal service company you have tried! I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts. Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

This weekend turned out to be heavy on self-care, which I greatly appreciated and needed. It actually began on Thursday with a pedicure thanks to one of my clinic managers! She treated all of her staff to one as thanks for Nurse’s Week. Despite not being a nurse, she didn’t leave me or the social worker out of the fun.  🙂

Breakfast was basically overnight oats but assembled in the morning…so morning oats. haha

I wore my new “party pants” that I ordered from Boden. Love them!

After getting a much needed haircut, I made a Target run and found these salads. We each had one for dinner plus an appetizer plate of sorts.

Then we took the babies outside for some fresh air. Jackson is getting so brave!

Dessert that includes chocolate is always the best.

For breakfast on Saturday, I kept it on the lighter side because I was meeting up with Kaci, Drew, and Cindy for International Biscuit Festival downtown!

Biscuit Blvd for the day.

We had to get a photo with Ms. Biscuit. 😉

With your ticket, you received five biscuits of your choice. I tried the West Egg, which was excellent. I loved the cornmeal! Kaci and Drew enjoyed The Tennessean’s ‘Pigs Can Fly’ biscuit.

It was hard to choose a favorite between OliBea’s, which included chorizo gravy, and Tupelo Honey, which had pulled pork and onion marmalade.

An awesome crew! (I kinda made a pun with my shirt and didn’t mean to. lol)

Drew had Swaggerty’s sausage biscuit, one that included beef, and another that had sausage with some type of spread and herbs.

The line forthe chocolate toffee went around the building, so unfortunately I couldn’t try it. But they won the contest!

I loved the Murray’s that had two types of cheese.

After going home to change, I went back downtown for another round of kitten yoga! This time it was held at Barre Belle studio, and Young Williams again brought four sweet kittens up for adoption.

One’s day cannot turn sour after biscuits and kitty cuddles. Once home again, I ate this snack plate that included a Garden Lite vegetable egg muffin.

Baby Girl just loves her man.

For dinner, I made lemon and Indian spiced baked chicken over garlic and olive oil quinoa, steamed green beans, and a salad.

Dessert was part of a large gala apple, yogurt, nuts, cinnamon, and coconut.

I saved some of my biscuits and had them with cheesy fluffy scrambled eggs, wilted spinach, cherries, and coffee on Sunday morning.

I treated myself to a 90-min. massage at Wow! Massage, and it was very enjoyable and helped me to relax. I made yet another Target run then came home to finish some chores and go on a long walk. Magnolias have always been one of my favorites.

I made us spaghetti with Banza chickpea pasta and a nice salad on the side. It hit the spot for both of us!

Last night’s sunset looked like cotton candy. So pretty!

I snagged Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter with a cartwheel coupon, so I had it on one slice of toast with banana / melted provolone with avocado on the other.

Matt went a bit more fancy.

Today I’m sporting my new “Rachel” dress by Boden. Bringing some brightness to an otherwise dreary Monday.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and is off to a great start!

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Friday morning began with an egg, cheese, avocado, and roasted pepper spread sandwich with fresh strawberries.

Earlier in the week I made a batch of spaghetti of sorts. I used Tolerant Foods organic black bean short grain pasta, Hunt’s natural pasta sauce, roasted green beans/onion/’shrooms/garlic, and freshly grated parmesan. I love when I can make a meal that will serve us several lunches and dinners during the week.

After work, I had my shellac polish removed and a manicure. Matt was sweet and made our dinner. He coated thin-cut chicken breasts with mayo, spicy mustard, spices, and GF panko bread crumbs. We enjoyed them with steamed vegetables, Love Beets mild vinegar beets, and roasted yellow squash.

For dessert, I had Fage, frozen grapes, dark chocolate covered almonds, and two salted pecan GF cookies. I snagged another after taking this photo. We have begun watching Gotham on Netflix, and so far it’s pretty good overall.

For breakfast on Saturday, I made Love Grown Super Oats with milk and topped my bowl with strawberries, avocado, roasted salted pumpkin seeds, and roasted pistachios. I loved this combo!

After cleaning, I ate salmon salad on a slice of bread with cheese, cucumber, and carrots plus a banana.

I went out for a nice walk, and it really was the perfect weather for it.

So vibrant and pretty.

I did some shopping at Big Lots and Pet Supplies Plus Saturday afternoon.

One of Kaci’s good friends was unfortunately involved in an accident while leaving work on Friday. She was crossing the street in the crosswalk when a truck turning at the four-way intersection did not see her and struck her in the left shoulder. She’s at home recovering, so I carpooled with Kaci and took a batch of oatmeal plus toppings. Kaci made her pumpkin muffins. We visited for a while, then Matt and I decided Taziki’s sounded good for dinner. Turkey Mediterranean salad for me, and I got Matt their lamb entree.

I had Fage (surprise!), banana chips, dried organic apricots, peanut butter, and Honey Roasted Cheerios for dessert.

This is how I woke up on Sunday. ❤

I made Van’s waffles over wilted spinach and topped with peanut butter, strawberies, banana chips, Fage, and maple syrup.

Before heading out for another walk, I had toast with hummus, cheese, avocado, and sunflower seeds along with Love Beets and baby carrots. This was on National Hummus Day, which I couldn’t miss.

I found some photos of our mom when we were babies. She was such a wonderful person that was sadly taken too soon. But I love the memories I have of her. Look how tiny she was even after having twins!

My sweet Granmommy who I was fortunate to have for 16 years of my life.

My step-mom, who has been there for me for almost 18 years now. I love this photo of her getting ready for my wedding.

Despite my mom not being physically present at our wedding, I loved having this charm around my bouquet. It was like a part of her was with me the whole time.

I’m thankful for these babies who make me their fur-mama!

Whether you are a mother to your own child, a step-child or a fur-mama, I hope all were celebrated. Matt and I met up with his mom and step-dad to have dinner together.

Cheesin’.

My other mother, Diane. I’m fortunate to have many mother-figures in my life.

Her rose bush is gorgeous.

She even picked some strawberries for us from their garden!

Of course you know I love this. Owl obesessed.

I didn’t take any photos of our dinner, but I just wanted to be present and enjoy. We had a lovely time and were able to hang out for a few more hours before heading home. We ate a light dessert and watched another episode of Gotham. This silly boy looked so adorable before we crawled into bed.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead!

This weekend was really strange because the weather took a bad turn with cold temperatures and rain. But thankfully, the sun came back out late Saturday and all day Sunday.

To back track to Friday, we had a nice breakfast before Matt left for a race weekend at VIR. I couldn’t go because I was attending Kaci and Drew’s engagement party on Saturday. We forgot to pack so. many. things. Fail, but we’ll get it down eventually!

Jackson exuded all that I felt too!

I’ve been craving a croissant, so I had lunch at Panera Bread. I got a chai latte to go for a sweet-spicy warmth. I’m telling you, the weather sucked.

Dinner was a warmed pork tenderloin sandwich with veg and hummus.

This is what I woke up to (later in the morning after feeding them and going back to sleep). Such sweeties!

On Friday evening I cooked the farro that we received in a Blue Apron order last year. I ate half of it warmed with milk, banana, chia, roasted pumpkin seeds, pb, and dark brown sugar.

I couldn’t help myself and watched some of our wedding video. ❤

Mace snoozed on the couch.

Lunch was a snack plate with this hummus-chicken cup I found at Aldi.

Mango and granola for dessert. I cut into the mango early, so it wasn’t ripe enough. Whoops.

I still wore my spring dress to their engagement party because I’m stubborn. Lolz. I later changed earrings at Kaci’s. She let me borrow a cuter pair. 😉

I had a fruit and yogurt parfait while she finished getting ready.

All the while Matt was busy winning one of his races! The two other drivers in his class didn’t finish the race, so he feels like he only won by default. In order to win, one must finish, and the other two didn’t. I’m still super proud! Look at him being cute and handsome on the podium. 🙂

Love my twinklet! I love that we coordinated outfits too.

The sweet couple.

Kaci’s future SIL, MIL, Kaci, and me trying to look comfortable as we froze. Thanks, Mother Nature. Such a fun group of ladies!

Appetizer that I went back for seconds. It was an asparagus roll of some sort, and it was delicious.

The nice spread.

Pretty China.

My noms.

The dessert tray.

A cute coffee corner!

I had to try one of each…for quality control purposes. 😉

I used the rest of the farro on Sunday to make a savory bowl with spinach, spices, Havarti, and a scrambled egg.

Plus mango with local honey on the side.

Finally it was a pretty day! Still chilly at times, but pretty.

I can’t even handle Axl’s cuteness! That bowtie.

Jax and Axl stand so similarly!

Axl had to wear his bowtie because he, Kaci, and Drew met me at the south location of Honeybee for coffee and brunch. The husband of one of Kaci’s friends is studying in culinary school and is doing this pop-up brunch on Sundays. It was delicious! Fluffy waffles with cayenne-spiced maple syrup and a latte for me.

Kaci got the pork waffles.

Drew got the bananas foster. All were perfect.

I loved this artwork in their bathroom!

Honeybee also makes in-house donuts, one of which is savory. I’ll be trying one soon!

Courtney is between us, and it’s her husband who is studying in culinary school. His pop-up company is called Simpl.

We later went by the dog park. Do you think this guy had fun? He was such a tired pup when we got into the car!

I did a little bit of light reading before eating dinner.

I made a simple salad so my stomach could digest before yoga.

A grainy pre-class bathroom selfie. 😉

The class was an awesome restorative yoga routine that I loved. I had a snack, showered, and waited for Matt to finally get home. I hope you all have had a great Monday and weeks so far!

This past weekend was so amazing! Matt turned 34 on Saturday, and while very hot, the weather was still perfect. I was very thankful he could have such a nice weekend because he more than deserved it.

We started Friyay morning with wilted garlic-seasoned spinach, toasted hash brown patty, cheddar, over easy egg, avocado, marinated artichoke hearts, and a cutie. Matt had double portions. 😉 All three kitties!

The theme of their weekend was cuddles. ❤

I had gone by Old Navy on Thursday and found some cute clothes. Wore my new fun pixie pants and loved the style and fit!

Mason was given the nickname Pookie Bear from Garfield years ago, and it’s been shortened to Pooks. We’ve dubbed his scrunchy nose the ‘Pooks nose’, and when Matt saw this bridal shot of me, that’s what he thought. So I finally did a comparison. Really, who rocked it better? hahaha

I treated myself to a mani and pedi after work, and oh my word it felt awesome.

For dinner, I cooked a free box of Annie’s GF mac ‘n cheese and tossed it with Tandur bbq spiced roasted cauliflower + onion, wilted greens, cannellini beans, and parmesan. It was awesome! It’s now our lunch today.

Dessert was Fage with vanilla, pb, banana, blueberries, salted roasted pumpkin seeds, and pecans.

A little collage of Matt and me over the years to celebrate his birthday. 🙂 We went back and visited the gall, growth on the tree in the top right photo, and there’s a current photo later in this post. 😉

More sunny snuggles.

I made Kylie’s baked carrot oatmeal again, and it was delicious.

Served with blueberries and sunflower seeds.

Rocked my new Old Navy athletic top and linen shorts. The top opens in the back, and I love it.

We had to get our photo together out front!

We had wanted to try Veloce indoor go kart raceway, but it didn’t work out. Fortunately, the weather was so nice that it would’ve been a shame to stay indoors. We went over to the UT Arboretum, and before starting our hike through the trails, we saw this sweet kitty. It was so playful, and then it caught something in the bushes right after I snapped this photo. The little animal did get away, though.

The gall has a lot of vines growing around it, so we couldn’t get closer for the same photo, but here it is! We always have to get a photo – it’s like an ongoing tradition. Lol

This poor butterfly had passed away, but it was still beautiful. They are amazing creatures.

So gorgeous.

We decided to finally try Babalu for lunch, and it did not disappoint! They actually named the restaurant after the fictitious nightclub in ‘I Love Lucy’, and they project the show on the walls inside!

We ordered two tapas to split: the salmon and the redfish. Both were excellent.

Matt ordered their steak and pulled pork tacos.

I chose their duck and vegetarian tacos.

Lastly, we split the shrimp taco. Perfectly filling without being overly rich.

I got a video but not a photo of this lit. Our sweet waitress brought it out for Matt’s birthday! It was a sparkler. She said she had Matt for 22 or 23, not 34. We’ll keep our baby faces for as long as possible!

They had this neat mouthwash station in the restroom – genius!

❤ ❤

Our basil seeds have sprouted! There are actually three this morning!

I opened up this wine from Aldi to make his birthday dinner.

Tandur bbq spiced roasted pork tenderloin topped with a mushroom wine reduction. Roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes and zucchini.

I surprised Matt with a yellow cake topped with Yum Butter espresso cocoa peanut butter + more sparkler candles. The base was from the two-tier appetizer stand one of my best friends gave to us at our wedding. She was amazing and had several delicious cheeses and pretty flowers arranged on it as a surprise to us with a sweet message on the bottom of this base. I used temporary chalk pen to write to Matt that washed off later.

We enjoyed our slices with banana + milk for me. I think Matt was pleasantly surprised. 🙂

For Sunday’s breakfast, Matt made an epic ham, egg, cheese, avocado, greens English muffin.

I had banana whipped oatmeal with cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, blueberries, pumpkin seeds, and pb.

Love them!

Her tongue was sticking out! ❤

I had a Clif bar earlier and then a light snack plate before meeting up with Kaci and Drew to help with their engagement shoot! I kept Axl, my pup-nephew calm and out of the frame when it was to just be the two of them. They had their session at Knoxville’s Botanical Garden and Arboretum. It looks like a dream there!

My sister could not be any prettier. I know our mama would be so proud. Her and Drew looked amazing, and we’re all excited to see the photos! Drew was sweet and treated us to dinner from Stock and Barrel. I chose the bison burger. Holy deliciousness.

If only the weekend didn’t have to come to an end. Sigh. I hope everyone has a great week!

 

Before I get into our weekend recap, I wanted share a few of our wedding photos that my amazing and sweet step-mom re-edited for us. We do not like the coloring of our photos, so my step-mom has offered to fix our favorites over time.

My dad was incredible and kept me laughing as we came down the aisle.

Super cheesy laugh!

I absolutely adored our photo booth set-up in our one-room A-frame! That couch ❤

One of my all time favs.

My heart fell in love with my dress as soon as I saw the back.

Dancin’ fools. 😉

Matt’s awesome best friends!

Our videographer shared our wedding video trailer, and I can’t tell you how pleased I am. We’ll be receiving our video tomorrow, and I cannot wait!

Alrighty, on to the weekend. I snapped a photo of my Friday breakfast, but it came out unclear. I think my camera lens was dirty, whoops. I had an open-faced English muffin with cheese, chunky eggplant tomato sauce, and an egg over greens.

I just love my Lucy desk calendar! This is Kaci and me for sure.

For dinner, I made lemon and ‘Everything but the Bagel’ seasoned chicken with Alexia seasoned sweet potato fries and steamed Brussels sprouts.

Dessert included green tea with honey plus Fage topped with dried mulberries, cherries, and dates, drizzled pb, and a salty caramel pecan cookie.

I found these sweet potato Kashi flakes and decided to try them with banana and pb for breakfast on Saturday.

Cereal is never enough to keep me full, so I had an egg over spinach + three kitty photo bombs!

I got myself all ready to attend Tandur Indian Kitchen‘s Earth Day event. It was really fun!

Side note was that I found a bottle of Life Wtr at Big Lots that I had to buy. Their labels are made my artists and are so pretty!

Tandur had samples of their samosas, chicken and vegetable, that were delicious.

I also tried their mango lassi – so refreshing.

I received this free henna tattoo that I really like!

It didn’t stop there. They gave out potted basil seeds and a free jar of a spice blend!

They are promoting better treatment of the environment and have a Seeds of Green Pledge challenge. Each challenge completed awards you points with the person earning the most winning a prize basket. You better believe I’m participating!

I met up with Kaci, and we carpooled over to our friend, Brooke’s adorable house. She hosted a DoTerra essential oils class. It had been far too long since we all saw each other and definitely plan to get together again soon! We’ve been friends for 21 years. Wow!

Kaci and I each one a bottle of orange essential oil!

I snacked on carrots with Caesar, curry roasted fava beans, and smoke gouda Triscuits.

For dinner I made baked salmon seasoned with the Tandur spice blend along with wild rice, Brussels (they were the vegetable of the weekend, apparently), and pickled beets.

I thawed blueberries, mixed them with Fage, and topped it with cranberry orange seed/granola clusters. Matt and I watched Passengers. It was an alright movie, but it honestly doesn’t matter the movie. I just love our movie nights.

This is how Jax was sitting before we crawled into bed. Lol!

Saturday night I made the last of our steel cut oats. On Sunday morning, I portioned it and heated our bowls with cinnamon, milk, vanilla and almond extracts, and dried fruit. We topped them with honey, pb, and sunflower seeds.

Thanks to Kroger’s Free Friday program, I picked up this new Jell-O pudding. Nostalgic! I made it in the morning to chill. Clearly May wanted some too!

I had bought this salad with shrimp from Tandur and split it between us. I added spinach, cuke, and carrots. It was fabulous!

My MIL made this beanie, and with our drop in temperature plus tons of rain, I figured I might as well wear it to the store. I love it and already received a compliment!

That no-shower no make-up look. 😉 Rocked my Vans that I’ve had 11 years now.

My Mac charge cord refuses to work, so I had to tape it so that my laptop would continue to charge. When push comes to shove…

I snacked on pudding with Hippie Foods granola. Delicious! Does the pudding have the best ingredients? No, but small treats like this will not harm your health, trust me.

Matt is a genius and suggested I use the leftover liquid from our pickled beets when cooking a grain. I cooked plan quinoa in it and added marinated artichoke hearts – gorgeous! Served with some of the leftover chicken and Brussels.

I hope everyone is off to a fabulous start! I’m really looking forward to this week and weekend because Saturday is Matt’s birthday! This weekend thankfully recharged me for the work week ahead.

Even though it’s always harder to accept it’s Monday when the weekend was so amazing, I’m always thankful for weekends that recharge me! Friday started with Glutino corn English muffin with egg, cheddar, spinach, and pomegranate jam + fresh mango on the side.

Fri-yay morning ‘do.

I stopped by Kroger and grabbed a Clif bar for a snack. I thought the carrot cake was really appropriate to kick off Easter weekend. 🙂

Dinner was really simple: tuna salad, crackers, pickles, and sauteed green beans. Matt got together with a friend who came into town, so I dined solo. For dessert, I made myself a smoothie, which hit the spot.

I got up before Matt on Saturday and had Fage with thawed berries, Honeynut Cheerios, and peanut butter. I ended up laying back down with Matt for a while then made coffee with him while he made his breakfast.

I captured all three babies in this photo!

Then I went to Bullman’s Kickboxing and Yoga studio for…KITTEN YOGA. It’s really a thing. Young Williams Animal Center joined with the studio to help these sweeties find their forever homes. Some of the class cost went to the shelter.

This was absolutely purrfect!

I decided to treat myself to a late lunch at The Plaid Apron. They recently opened back up after renovating, and it’s gorgeous!

I chose their market salad with a biscuit. So many flavors, textures, and colors!

I then spent the afternoon preparing our Easter dishes. Pickled Beet Deviled Eggs, which I found the recipe shared by TheFeedFeed on Instagram. The eggs had beet rings. So cool!

Dinner was brown rice, seasoned simmered kidney beans, sauteed beet greens, asparagus, goat cheese, and some of the pickled beets.

They turned out so well, and I was really proud! My hairdresser surprised us with this pretty tray from Asheville for our wedding. It made the perfect platter for our eggs!

Easter Sunday couldn’t have been more perfect.

Matt had a wonderful idea to use the pineapple juice, from making the carrot raisin salad, to make chia pudding. We enjoyed that as an appetizer while our baked carrot oatmeal did time in the oven.

I used banana and pineapple, so it actually tasted a little like our wedding hummingbird cake. ❤ I combined Fage plain Greek yogurt with local honey for the frosting.

It was delicious!

After getting ready, Matt and I made a Mexi-Italian lunch of sorts. We used herbed mozzarella and sauteed beet greens warmed between corn tortillas and then topped with Fage and tomatillo salsa. It was so so good. Look at that bubbly cheese peaking out on the side. Mmm

Jax is such a bully. 😉

We had to take our shots out front. Love him!

We got stuck in traffic, so SnapChat entertainment to the rescue!

When we got to his mom and step-dad’s, we ate some appetizers.

Then the task of taking a photo. The wind had other ideas for my dress. Bahahah

Matt and his sweet momma!

Matt’s carrot raisin salad was so good! Everyone loved it and went back for seconds, including myself.

We went on a post-dinner walk, which I just love doing with him.

My Almond Flour Cake with Lemon, thanks to Erin of Wellplated, was in-credible! I felt so legit when I used electric beaters for the first time in ages. Next up is a lemon meringue pie in my grandfather’s honor. Diane made a fruit salad that paired beautifully along with a dollop of Fage. It was in basically every dish. 😉 I forgot to add our chocolate covered almonds until after I snapped this photo. Whoops!

The sunset was really pretty, but sadly, this photo doesn’t do it justice.

I think we rather age like a really fine wine or sharp cheddar. 😉

I was proud that we were able to prep our lunches right after we got home, and thanks to Diane, we had these containers.

She gave us some yarn toys that she’d made, and we gently put one around Mason’s neck. Bahahaha! Doesn’t he look dapper?

As always, I was so sad to see the weekend end! We do not get up to see his parents enough, but we always have the best time. I loved yesterday and believe it was our best Easter yet! I hope everyone had afabulous holiday as well!

 

Cakes being of the pancake and salmon cake variety. 😉

On Thursday evening, I made us a double-batch of Love Grown Super Oats Pancakes that turned out really well! We each had two and split one topped with Fage, blueberries, and maple syrup.

I received a voucher from one of our local Chick-fil-a locations for a free item for each month of April, May, and June. This month was good for their original chicken sandwich. Typically, I would order the grilled, but it wasn’t an option. So I got this to have with the salad I’d made for lunch, and you know what? It was really tasty and nostalgic!

I did some grocery shopping at Kroger (and saved ~$30, woot!), and I finally got to try this Cinnamon Roll Larabar. It’s awesome!

I don’t know how I ever forgot about my BUBumper sticker, but I found it in my glovebox. I put it on my driver’s side back passenger window, and she’s so cute!

I made Kylie’s crispy salmon cakes for dinner. They were amazing! But I did a bad job of cutting up the asparagus, so the pieces were too big and prevented many of the cakes from staying together. Oh well. Matt was still really appreciative. 🙂

Dessert included a banana with drippy peanut butter and some of our chocolate coconut Qi’a cereal.

On Saturday, we each made banana, peanut butter, and Fage stacks with the remainder of our Love grown pancakes plus maple syrup drizzled over top. Matt included ham in his and gave me a bite. Love sweet-salty combos!

Rachel was being so goofy and adorable as I got cleaned up for the day! She loves our tub and gets more use out of it than we do.

 

I took a Barre3 class on late Saturday morning, and it was incredible! I love being challenged. I popped over to First Watch and got an English muffin with smoked salmon along with their Morning Meditation juice. Fueled me as I ran some errands out west.

Finally took my car through the car wash, and she looks so much better!

I made Brittany’s apple cider vinegar chicken, which we both loved.

I ate on a snack plate of carrots, radishes, edam cheese, avocado, and new-to-me chips.

I cooked down the marinade and spooned it over the chicken served on a bed of greens. We enjoyed wild rice with an eggplant spread and sugar snap peas sautéed in peanut oil.

I had Fage, frozen berries, nuts, and orange almond dark chocolate for dessert. We watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I loved it!

We woke up with all three babies with us. Never. Gets. Old.

I got up and did some cleaning and had a small mug of Love Grown Super Oats oatmeal.

Once Matt was up, I made us fluffy scrambled eggs with asparagus and goat cheese over wilted greens with an orange on the side. Matt had a hash brown patty with ketchup as well. So filling and delicious! We love eggs, that’s for sure.

I got ready and came down to K brew to enjoy their newest craft drink: The Dogwood. It includes house-made strawberry-lemon syrup, K Brew espresso, fresh basil, and candied lemon peel, mixed on ice and chilled tonic water. Holy moly. So different and so amazing!

Happy National Siblings Day to my sweet, wonderful twinklet!

I love this photo of us (!), but I’m not a fan of the edit or sun streak. So just ignore those, but I wouldn’t have chosen anyone else to be by my side as my Maid of Honor on the best day of my life.

Have a great day!