Archives for May 2017

C’s picks – week of May 14th

May 14, 2017 / By Courtney / Leave a Comment

Oh my yes, it’s Sunday, it’s Mother’s Day, and it’s BEAUTIFUL out! I hope you are all enjoying a lovely day in the sunshine with family and friends. I’m taking a quick moment here to sit down and plan out the week because, well, it just makes Monday’s that much better. Who is with me? Let’s do this!

Today is Mother’s Day and I have zero plans for cooking. What does that mean? Well, I’m sure take out somewhere will be in order. Hey, I don’t have to clean the kitchen!

Monday is looking to be a beautiful night to grill. Let’s get this grilled chicken caprese (YUM) going along with some grilled asparagus. Perfect!

We have games Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, so, let’s get some lighter slow cooker recipes going to help mom out. It’s easy to associate slow cooker with more heavy, winter type dishes, but there are actually a lot of fresh and light ‘summery’ options! To start, let’s get these cilantro lime tacos going for taco Tuesday!

My boys looooooove ribs. I can’t wait to test out these slow cooked ones Wednesday. Perfect for post baseball game.

Thursday I’m going to get this spring pasta and grilled chicken made during the day. Come later at night when we are finally home all I will have to do is plate up!

And, fingers crossed baseball schedule wise, it looks like we may have a night out Friday. Can’t wait.

Happy cooking!
C

Mother’s Day Check In.

May 12, 2017 / By Courtney / 1 Comment

I love Mother’s Day, so much. Aside from the delicious brunch and yes of course, a baseball game, I always take this time of year to reflect on how it’s all going as a mother to my own two boys. So much changes year to year as the boys grow and as I grow as their mom. I feel it’s important to not only recognize those changes to see how far we’ve come together, but, also to see where we are going.

I’ve definitely graduated into the ‘bigger kid’ stage of mothering. I’m not changing diapers or washing pacifiers or (mostly) dealing with temper tantrums anymore. I’m in the whole make school lunches do homework shuffle kids here and there and everywhere with the appropriate items stage of life. And I’m thriving. I’m right in that sweet spot. Still totally involved, my kids still want and need me, but not in an order to survive type of way that comes along with those younger years. Friends, ages ten and four absolutely rock. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: I absolutely 100% would press pause right now if I could.

Speaking of ten, since when do I live with a legitimate pre teen? Logan is so big. He is a giant kid. He’s always been years ahead size wise, but now that is mixed with age ten approaching eleven and him being bigger is turning into having actual real shoulders and being pounds and inches away from mama. What? How when WHY? I can’t. But then he plops down on top of me like he’s still fifty pounds and wants to sleep with me every single night when Dad travels and still brings his blankie downstairs in the morning and has a phone but rarely uses it ever and all is A OK in the world. And none of that better change. Ever. Amen.

Then there is B, oh B! My how we have grown together. He was that toddler that would scream when the grandparents would come over simply because he thought that meant mama was leaving. How lovely. From about nine months until closer to three he spent the majority of his days attempting to re enter my womb. Attached would not even begin to describe what we went through together. He was his happiest on my hip and I, for the most part, was happy with him there. (Hey, he was heavy!). Yet now he’s the big FOUR and thriving at school and thriving in the yard and running here and there and everywhere with buddies and grandparents and family friends. It’s great to see how develop his little sense of self aside from me, and I can’t wait to see what he does in kindergarten this fall!

This biggest shift that has come along this past year would be the whole ‘put mom first thing’ once in awhile. I’m sleeping and actually taking care of myself better than I have in years but of course that came with growth of my children. B is at longer days at preschool which means I have the space to do more things on my own. Long walks, grocery shopping in peace, and of course, blog blog blog. The break each day is beyond lovely, and I am recharged more than ever when the school bell rings for each of them and I am fully engaged and on duty until they are tucked away asleep at night. Self care is so ‘in’ right now but it’s much easier said than done when you have very little ones in tow. The thought of sleeping well and eating well and exercising well is all so lovely, but, in those earlier years it’s a very serious challenge. Don’t beat yourself up. You’ll get there. And you are doing the best you can – we all are, right?

And that’s just the thing. We are all doing the best we can. I will have days where I have my mom fails. The time I completely forgot to show up as ‘mystery reader’ in L’s classroom or the time I forgot to send pasta to B’s classroom for cooking day or the time I forgot to send L to baseball with a cup and he had to do pushups. I have to remind myself it’s OK. I can’t do everything absolutely perfect as their mom 365 days a year. I am going to mess up. And hopefully it’s all little stuff and nothing to send them into therapy over. And hey, if it is, I promise I’m trying here. Really really hard. Nothing matters more than those two goofballs above.

So Happy Mother’s Day to you. To my wonderful mom. To my mother in laws. To your mom. To mom’s of 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or more. To women who want to be a mom. I’m on your side. And you are doing a wonderful job.
C

Mother’s Day Gift Guide

May 9, 2017 / By Courtney / 1 Comment

Oh I get so excited for Mother’s Day. Brunch, the boys actually all dressed up, picking out a fun card and gift for my own mother, and obviously….no Mother’s Day would be complete without a baseball game. Ha. Fine with me, very little makes me happier than B in his element. If you’re on the hunt for a special gift for your own mom, I’ve put together a few ideas for you. And hint hint, it doesn’t hurt to forward this on to the husband…

These tropical pineapple toucan pajamas are EVERYTHING. Completely on my list.
Have you seen these necklaces? So so in right now. The cryptic messages vary but the one pictured above reads ‘Mom.’
This is, hands down, one of the best things I have smelled. Ever. Such a luxurious treat!
A reminder for any mom of any age.
Ha. Amen.
For the mom that is always working out…or not.
With hints of coconut and pineapple, this scent screams summer.
What’s better than homemade breakfast in bread? Homemade breakfast in bread that is served with this ‘I love you‘ vase and a fresh flower.

Happy shopping!
C

Meal prep Monday: Greek Chicken Bowls

May 8, 2017 / By Courtney / Leave a Comment

Oh I love starting a new series on the blog, something about it feel so fresh and, even though it’s still within my own little established blog, brand new!

Something major dawned on me recently. I always thought meal prepping was for working outside the home people to complete on the weekend in order to bring healthy and satisfying lunches to work during the week.

But that’s not entirely true.

Meal prepping can be for anyone. Stay at home mamas included. Because those mamas often find themselves shuffling between sports in the evening instead of in the kitchen cooking away and enjoying a lovely meal.

Or maybe you are home, but you have a newborn, and the idea of cooking every. single. night. is enough to drive you to the looney bin.

Enter Meal Prep Monday! Suitable for all lifestyles. I’m going to be testing out some fresh, healthy, and satisfying recipes you can make ahead and prep into ‘bowl’ formats and eat whenever you are ready. There is something so comforting in knowing there is a great meal ready when you are, don’t you think? (And hey, you don’t have to prep your meals on Monday. This is just when I will be featuring meals that are suitable for prepping).

First up are these Greek Chicken Bowls.

I die.

So much so, that I ate one for dinner, then one for lunch and dinner the next day. Yep, didn’t get old.

A few things, I halved the recipe since I was on my own this week. If you want 6 bowls though go ahead and make the whole thing. I marinaded the chicken 24 hours in advance and grilled. The cucumbers call to be marinaded, but with so much flavor going on in the chicken and the taziki sauce, I figured leaving them along was fine and they totally were. You can skip that step or go ahead and marinade them too.

I used Trader Joes organic brown microwavable rice which is so super easy. So aside from a bit of chopping and remembering to marinade and grill (or just cook on the stove top) chicken, these came together very easily and BAM – you’ve got yourself three (or six!) meals.

You so rock.

MEAL PREP: GREEK CHICKEN BOWLS (makes 6 individual servings, or bowls)

Greek Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup olive oil
3 Tbs garlic, minced (Note, adjust to preference)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
1 Tbs dried oregano
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cucumber Salad
2 English cucumbers, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
1/2 Tbs minced garlic
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Tzatziki Sauce
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 English cucumber, finely diced
1 Tbs minced garlic
1/2 Tbs dill weed, or 1 Tbs fresh dill, chopped fine
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp chopped fresh mint (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

The Rest
3 cups cooked brown rice
1 1/2 pounds cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup red onion slices

DIRECTIONS:

In a large plastic zip bag, combine olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, oregano, greek yogurts and salt and pepper. Add chicken into the bag. Massage to make sure chicken is full covered and marinate for at least 20 minutes, up to 12 hours.

Drain the chicken from the marinade, discarding the marinade. In a skillet, heat some olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken when it is hot, and cook, flipping part way through. Cook approximately 4-5 minutes per side. (You can also grill over medium high heat, which is what I did).

Once cool, cut into bite sized pieces. Just make sure you let it cool first, or all the juice will run out.

Meanwhile, make cucumber salad by chunking the cucumbers, and tossing in a bowl with the lemon juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, and oregano.

Make tzatziki sauce by combining the Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic, dill weed, lemon juice, lemon zest in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper. And add mint (optional – I totally used and yum!)

Cook brown rice according to package directions. When finished cooking, divide between meal prep containers, 1/2 cup in each container, halve cherry tomatoes, and mix with red onion slices. Divide amongst the bowls. Top with chicken, cucumber salad, and some tzatziki sauce.

Keep for 3- 5 days in airtight container, serve cold!

C’s picks – week of May 7th

May 7, 2017 / By Courtney / 1 Comment

Happy Sunday! Oh it’s nice to see some sunshine, thank goodness. Taking a few moments this beautiful morning to plan out the week ahead. Appointments, to do lists, menu planning. All good stuff. Here is what’s on the agenda for our kitchen this week. Hope it can help you plan something yummy for your own family!

Sunday night we’ll be at a baseball game so I’m going to let my slow cooker do all the work for me. This chicken tikki masala is SO good. I keep it healthy by serving over cauliflower rice and plenty of cilantro. YUM.

We haven’t had our pizza in forever. Time to change that Monday night.

Another baseball game, another slow cooker meal. Testing out this cajun chicken & sausage Tuesday night. How can it be bad?

Wednesday let’s fire up the grill. We can’t get enough of these shrimp tacos with avocado salsa. Heavenly.

Thursday night? Boys you are on our own. Or maybe I’ll be nice and get this going. Who am I kidding. Of course I will.

And that brings us to Friday. Hoping to have a lazy night in with the grill. The best grilled chicken, one pot potatoes, and our go to garlicky green beans.

Happy cooking everyone!
C