Recipes and Healthy Living RSS



The Best Pouch

The Best Pouch: Healthy and Inexpensive I absolutely love pouches - they are so convenient and less messy than a bowl of applesauce with a spoon. They are also the very best way I can get my daughter to eat vegetables. When I buy store bought pouches I always try to get the kind that says "with veggies".  One day I was reading the back of the veggie pouch I had for Nellie, when I noticed that it said one spinach leaf one carrot was in it. ONE!!! I couldn't believe that! But then again have you tasted the pouches?? They are INCREDIBLY sweet.  So rather than give my daughter a pouch with only one measly spinach leaf in it,...

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Strawberry Water

AKA "Water Juice" About 8 years ago, I went to my friend's wedding reception and they had a beautiful dispenser filled with strawberry water. It was the first time I had ever tried strawberry water and I was hooked! It's a simple concept - just cut up a few strawberries and add them to your glass of water and yet it made the water taste SO good!!  So now when I jump back on my goal of trying to drink more water, sometimes I go back to that wedding reception and I think about how many times I filled up my teeny tiny plastic cup, and I decide to make my own strawberry water! I grab the Tari Slicer and...

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A Sweet Treat

Valentine's Day Chocolate It's crazy how something as simple as homemade chocolates or flowers can make such a huge impact. I suppose it's because it is so much more about the reason behind the gift that it is means so much. My husband came home with a set of powdered donuts from the gas station for me on Valentine's Day but as silly as it may seem, I knew that it meant he was thinking of me and made an effort to get me something to show me that he loves me.  In Chile, they call Valentine's day the "dia de amor y amistad" which translates to the date of love and friendship. I love that not only romantic relationships are...

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Leaning In To The Authentic Me

Planning Ahead: Lessons Learned from a Cake I have pretty good self confidence, but there have always been things about me that have caused me to feel self conscious - I'm too annoying, I'm too loud, I take too many photos, etc. Lately I have been trying to lean in to who I am. By this I mean be okay and happy with what these so called negative or weird aspects of me are.  I might think I'm annoying by planning a family reunion two years in advance, sending out "save the dates" 18 months in advance, and booking the accommodations 13 months out, but if these things didn't get done, we might miss out on the perfect spot for...

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Superbowl Sunday

Reminiscing on Warmer Days   With Superbowl Sunday just a little over a week away, it had me reminiscing on the time we threw this little tailgate party with my parents when Nellie was much smaller. I grew up in Missouri, but my family never watched football. We didn't pay for cable and I never even learned the rules of football until I went to college in Utah. I didn't even ever watch the superbowl until I met my husband, Bryan.  So since Bryan's family has lived in Massachusetts for over 100 years, I married into a die hard Patriots family and became a Pats fan. We watch every game and I have learned to especially love the Superbowl because it...

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