• Food

    Overnight Oats – Two Different Ways

    Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and unfortunately a lot of people tend to skip it. I am guilty of it myself. I do notice though that if I don’t eat something in the morning I am less alert for the whole day. This is especially true if I workout in the morning and don’t eat afterwards which is something you shouldn’t do at all. Since I don’t leave a lot of time in the mornings to actually make a breakfast I decided that doing some quick meal prep on the weekend or in the evenings would be beneficial. Overnight oats are such an easy and filling…

  • Food

    Dark Chocolate Dipped Apple Slices

    I’ll be honest with you…I used to detest chocolate. Milk Chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, in a cake, in a chocolate bar, Hershey kisses, ice cream (forgive me!), you name it I refused to eat it. There was always something very organic about the taste and when I say organic I mean at one point I thought it tasted like dirt. Now days I still don’t seek out chocolate as my go to sweet treat of choice but when it comes to fruit dipped in chocolate I can’t seem to say no. And go figure my chocolate of choice when making this delectable treat is dark chocolate!  This recipe is…

  • Food

    Garlic Sauteed Kale & Mushrooms

    There was a time when I couldn’t stand cooked greens. I had this ridiculous aversion spinach, kale, and collard greens cooked in any way. Just watching Popeye swallow an entire can of spinach made me gag a little. Thankfully I came to my senses and now sauteed kale is one of my favorite side dishes for dinner. Not only is it delicious and nutritious, but it is so quick and easy to prepare. Leafy greens are packed with vitamins and minerals and the darker the leaf the more nutrient dense it is. Kale is considered a superfood and contains a phytonutrient called sulforphane which has been shown to have cancer fighting…

  • Food

    Current Tea Favorites

    There is nothing that I like better than waking up on a Sunday morning and coming downstairs to make a cup of tea and cozy up on the couch to binge watch A Chef’s Table on Netflix. What can I say, I’m a simple creature of habit. I have had a lot of different kinds of tea through the years and I can honestly say that I have never met a tea I did not like (I also say that about wine!)! In fact, it is one of my bucket list dreams to have afternoon tea SOMEWHERE in England at least once in my life. I know…big dreams! Currently, I…

  • Food

    Turkey & Spinach Enchiladas

      One of my favorite weeknight meals is homemade enchiladas. They are easy to prepare and don’t need to cook for very long. The thing I love most about Mexican style cuisine is the bold and fresh flavors. I like to combine spinach with ground turkey in order to add some nutrition which may or may not be cancelled out by how much cheese I add to the top but that’s a price I am willing to pay for this delicious dinner entree. I like to top mine with fresh pico de gallo, a dollop of sour cream, and a garnish of cilantro which takes the freshness to a whole…

  • Food

    Fruit & Herb Infused Water – Three Ways

    It is so important to keep your body hydrated. I try to drink half my body weight in ounces of water a day and after a while, plain water leaves something to be desired. Last summer I bought a super cool water bottle off Amazon that comes with little baskets that screw onto the lid that you can put fruit in to infuse your water with natural flavoring! I thought I had died and gone to heaven. This inspired me to go to Pinterest (duh!) to get ideas of fruit pairings that would be yummy to try. Much to my surprise (not really!) there were tons of ideas. And not just ideas…

  • Life,  Style

    My Bath Time Essentials

    Follow my blog with Bloglovin When learning to live a happy and balanced life it is important to take some time out for yourself. One of my favorite ways to have “me” time is to take a relaxing bath. I’m not just talking about some water in a tub, I create a spa like atmosphere that leaves me feeling relaxed and refreshed. I light candles, add bubbles, turn on fairy lights…the whole nine yards! I find that being alone for an hour every now and then allows me to let go of a lot of the pent up anxiety or stress I may be harboring. I can zone out to…

  • Fitness,  Life

    Finding Your Exercise and Sticking to it

      Over the years I have tried a ton of different types of exercise. I have tried everything from swimming, dance aerobics, yoga, Zumba (I have absolutely no rhythm), hiking, at home workout videos, and then there was that time I considered myself to be a runner which was short lived. Something that I have learned along the way is that variety and consistency go hand in hand, at least for me! I know that in order for me to stay consistent with my workouts, I absolutely must have variety. In fact, if I could give one piece of advice to someone who is trying to find an exercise program…

  • Life

    The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

    Usually I don’t consider myself great at reviewing books but there are times when I can’t get a book out of my head and I have to tell people about it and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is one of those books! One of my goals this year is to read a book a month and my pick for February did not disappoint! I also am very aware that I am probably late to this party but it’s better late than never! And since I am not good at giving a synopsis, I borrowed this from the author’s website: EVERY DAY THE SAME Rachel takes the same commuter…

  • Life

    How to Stay Motivated — Finding Inspiration

    There are some days where I find it really hard to get my butt in gear and get a workout in, other days I can’t be bothered to pack my lunch for the next day or any healthy snacks and I end up ordering something to go that is marginally less good for me. Some days I feel like my life is never going to go anywhere (melodramatic much?!). There was a time that I would let these days turn into a week and sometimes…months (eek!). My motivation was extremely lacking and as the days went by I would get more and more hopeless because obviously I was so far gone…