PB & Banana Rolled Oat Cookies

Anyone else have a major sweet tooth?  Good news is, you can have ONE of these AND these are kid approved!  I’m currently on day 9 of my AdvoCare cleanse and I’ve reallllly been craving something sweet! Up to this point, it’s been pretty easy peasy, but tonight I decided to try out this simple recipe.

•2 bananas
•3-4 cups rolled oats
•2 tbs peanut butter
•Cinnamon to taste

Mix all together, make them into cookies and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Yummmmmy!  

**After making these, I recommend doing 3 cups of rolled oats and maybe adding a little more banana and PB!

Baby MacKay is 24 weeks!

Our little girl is 25 weeks tomorrow. Holy moly, it’s just flying by! 15 weeks left, say whhhat!

Baby Growth: Our little girl is about as big as a cantaloupe (give or take!). According to this week and http://www.thebump.com, her-see through skin is gradually becoming more opaque and its got a new pink glow thanks to small capillaries that have recently formed. So neat to see how she’s growing and developing week to week. So many changes!!

My Symptoms: Gosh, I’m so thankful that I’ve been feeling great. Although, last week I was having some pretty bad stomach cramps/sharp pains and I got acid reflex for the first time. Yippee! I noticed it happens after I eat greasy food. Got to watch that because I DO NOT like the feeling of acid reflex (who does? haha) — holy cow, it’s horrible. 2 weeks ago when Justin and I were at Lowes looking for paint, I felt like I was going to pass out. This girl has to drink A LOT more water. No bueno, no bueno.

Weight/Belly: At my last appointment on Wednesday, we are up 13-14ish pounds! Grow baby grow!

Maternity Clothes: Justin took me to get a new pair of pants and a comfy t-shirt yesterday because I guess wearing the same pair of pants everyday isn’t cutting it? haha 🙂 (and yes I am wearing this outfit currently haha) There were NO pants that were longs, so these floods will just have to be rolled up when I wear them. So comfy!

Gender: Sweet baby girl! We are 100% sure on her name, but still figuring out how to spell it. 🙂

Movement: We’ve got the next karate kid. SUPER active.

Sleep: Still tossing and turning a bit, but last night I slept like a rock! Justin has the luxury of taking SleepWorks, but it’s okay, I’ve been managing without it. 🙂

Cravings: I’ve been wanting everything when I see it. This is a conversation with Justin when we are planning on going out to eat, “Let’s get Pluckers. No, how about Fat Cow? Want to go to Whole Foods – Pho sounds REALLY good! Or would you rather do Rama House? I think I’ll just have a cupcake.” So, so random. I’m very indecisive as you can tell. haha

Work Outs: Welllllllllll, this area of my life has been pretty non-existent for about 3 weeks. I do plan on getting a membership to the Y because it’s been either SO hot or rainy to be able to work out outside. When I do work out outside, I usually come back to work pretty drained, so working out in the AC will be very, very nice. I feel so much better when I do a little work out. I sleep better, I have more energy, and I eat better as well.

Best Pregnancy Moment This Week: So much! Painting the baby’s room!!! LOVE how the color turned out – light mint! Justin LOVES to talk to our baby girl and I swear every time he does, she’s always moving and kicking for him. It’s so sweet! We had an awesome check-up appointment on Wednesday. We found out a number of things that we are so relieved about since we’ve been praying specifically about these things. I don’t have to get the RhoGAM shot at our next appointment (my blood work came back RH- and we had to get Justin’s blood work done to see if we are compatible and he actually came back RH- as well, so no shot for me!!). Praise the Lord! Also, our midwife approved me of just getting my blood work done instead of doing the glucose test. I’ll just have to come in 2-3 times to check my blood sugar levels to make sure they are within good range. Also, Justin made me breakfast in bed for Mother’s Day. It’s still crazy to me that I’m going to be a mom!

Goals for this week: Again, drink. more. water. Justin has been eyeing my water to make sure that I’m never with an empty water bottle. Pretty thankful for that because I can go awhile without taking a sip. Get a gym membership. Get some little things done around the house – continue to spring clean the closets (I think I’m a hoarder. Or a sentimental hoarder at least. So. much. stuff). Have some fun with my parents because they are visiting us this Wednesday-Sunday!!! SO excited to see them and hug them!

Thoughts: I CANNOT wait to hold, squeeze, hug and kiss this little girl!! She is SO loved by so many people already. So thankful to have such supportive and positive people in our lives. Can’t wait to welcome her into this world!!

Baby MacKay is 20 weeks!

It’s so crazy to me that we are halfway through pregnancy already (21 weeks tomorrow)! So far, I feel like it’s flown by , but I’m sure towards the end I’ll be ready for our little babe to come out and see the world.

Baby Growth:

Our little muffin is about the length of a banana and weighing in around a pound the doctor said. At our appointment on 4/8 we got to see the baby again! Whenever we get to see/feel our baby it just reminds me of the Lord’s blessings. The technician and doctor said that everything looks good! Little MacKay was SO active though and kept moving around like crazy, so it was hard for them to get good pictures of him/her. We do have to go back for a follow-up ultrasound because they weren’t able to see the spine because we have a wild child on our hands. Heartbeat was 146 this time! That’s the lowest we’ve had so far (151, 156, 146). 

My Symptoms: For the most part, I’ve been feeling pretty good! I’ve been getting some cramps/shooting pains in my lower back, lower stomach and hips/thighs, but it usually doesn’t last long. My face is also still pretty crazy. Sometimes I don’t even want to go out in public because I feel so gross. I don’t think it’s really something other people are staring at, but I’ve just become self conscious of it. Any suggestions on how to naturally clear up acne? I also noticed that I’m getting a few stretch marks on my upper left thigh. I’ve been trying to make a better effort of applying coconut oil daily to moisturize my skin, so hopefully that will help a bit!

Weight/Belly: My belly is finally starting to look full!! Justin LOVES it. My weight fluctuates a few pounds so easily. Some days I’ll be up 5-7 pounds and then other days (like our appointment yesterday), I was up 9 pounds. All I know is that our baby is looking healthy and growing at a good pace! Happy mama! My belly button is for sure going to pop out. Justin always pokes at it and it drives me bonkers because it feels SO weird, but he just thinks it’s funny. haha 

Hellooo week 20!

Maternity Clothes: Our awesome doula (check her out HERE because she is seriously AMAZING), Katy Soong, gave me a huge bin of her maternity clothes to try on and thankfully we are about the same size so most of the clothes work great for me!! I’ve been wearing her shirts most days. I’m still wearing my normal pants, but I did buy my first pair of maternity pants 2 Sunday’s ago just because I wanted too. Let me tell you, EVERYONE should wear maternity pants! They are amazing and so stretchy. I can eat whatever I want and not feel like my pants are sucking the life out of me. Amazing. 

Gender: We asked the technician not to tell us because we are having a little gender reveal with my family in St. Louis this weekend. We had it set up for the technician to call this bakery in St. Louis and tell them what we are having so the bakery can fill cupcakes with the color of the gender. The technician also gave us an envelope with a picture from the ultrasound saying what the gender is. Come onnn now, that’s torture to me! For the most of this pregnancy, I’ve thought our baby was a girl, but I’ve been having dreams recently that it’s a boy. Ah, we CANNOT wait to find out on Friday! Hurry, hurry! It’s so fun hearing what everyone thinks we are having. We’ll let you know SOON! We also have our names all picked out and I just want to call and pray for this baby by a name already!

**UPDATE: (I originally wrote this post on Wednesday, April 8th, but didn’t get around to posting it.) WE KNOW, WE KNOW, WE KNOW!!!! We are having a sweet little GIRL! Justin and I are both so excited. When I bit into the cupcake, the blue frosting mixed in with the pink filling so I was like wait, what are we having?! Can’t wait to kiss our sweet little girl in August! I loved being able to call her and pray for her by name now! We are about 99% sure what the name will be at this point. My sister threw such a cute reveal for us while we were in St. Louis. Thank you so much, honey!!! Loved being able to see my family! My auntie Debbie and little brother, Anthony, surprised us too! I’ll post more pictures on that later. 🙂

Movement: For the past few weeks, I swore that I felt the baby kick (especially when I ate carrots haha), but after seeing the ultrasound and where the baby was, I think I might have just been feeling gas because the “kicks” that I were feeling were pretty high up. Although with Justin and I being so tall, I don’t doubt that our baby can kick that high. His/her legs were SO long on the ultrasound. Justin loves to put his head on my belly to see if he can feel the baby kicking.  The baby was so active on the ultrasound and I’m like how come I’m not feeling any of this?! Apparently my placenta is sitting pretty high and it might be acting as a cushion to its kicks. 

Sleep: I could definitely be sleeping a lot better. I roll around a ton because I try to stay sleeping on my left side and it is TOUGH. I love sleeping on my belly and back and that’s apparently a no-no while pregnant. 

Cravings: Gosh, I still can’t say that I’ve been craving anything…although when Justin and I went to Austin last week, we stopped at Justin’s newly favorite gas station, Buc-ee’s (about 3 times there and back. This place is HUGE. It’s like a mini Costco.). and I really wanted something sour so we go some strawberry sour strips and they were amazing!!

Work Outs: I’ve been working on being as active as I can be and I think it’s definitely helping my energy levels for the most part. I get out of breath fairly quickly, so I just listen to my body and take rests for however long I need too. Definitely not the time to be pushing myself too hard.  I’ve been working out with my co-worker Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then doing yoga that my work offers on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It’s starting to get reallllly hot outside, so I’m going to get a gym membership soon so I don’t dehydrate myself by working out in the sun during my lunches.

Best Pregnancy Moment This Week: Justin and I went to Austin last weekend and it was SO much fun. We decided to take a little trip for multiple reasons (baby coming in 4 months and a debt freedom celebration!). Austin is one cool city. There’s so much great food and beautiful sights to see. We loved seeing our great friend Mandie while we were there too! We stayed in an air stream because why not?! Justin looked like Elf while he was in the shower. It was pretty awesome.

   

I also loved seeing our little babe yesterday! It truly is amazing what our bodies are capable of.

Big foot like its mama!

Loved that we got to see part of his/her face.

Side face shot…big ol lips it looks like!!

Baby MacKay is smiling for the camera. haha

Goals for next week: Drink more water! Start registering for baby things (I’ll take any advice on this because there are about 20+ options for every baby item – just looking for the necessities!).

Baby MacKay is 15 weeks!!

Baby Growth:

Little Mack is roughly 4 inches long now and weighs about 2 1/2 ounces. He/she about doubled in size the past 2 weeks and is now about the size of a naval orange! There’s so many cool developments happening right now. Even though our baby’s eyelids are still fused shut, he/she can sense light! So if we were to shine a flashlight at my tummy, our baby would most likely move away from the beam. The baby’s taste buds are also forming now!

My Symptoms: I still have been feeling pretty great! Personally, I feel like I’m low on energy, but Justin thinks I have a lot more energy now, which brings me to the conclusion that I must have been pretty boring before. 🙂 haha I’ve been getting a bit of pain at random times in my lower abdomen and it literally feels like my uterus is stretching. I’m thinking baby Mack goes through a growth spurt whenever I feel that!

I also feel pretty thirsty all. the. time. I feel like I’m drinking a TON of water (also going to the bathroom very, very often), but maybe I’m not drinking as much as I think I am. I also still feel kind of moody, but I’m working on not letting it take control. haha I just started putting coconut oil on my belly to keep it moisturized and to prevent any stretch marks. Has anyone else done that? I love the smell and how smooth it is on my skin!

Weight: At our doctors appointment last week, my weight didn’t change, but I weighed myself at work earlier in the week and I was up 1 pound! I am ready for this belly!! I think I’m getting a very tiny little bump! Others might think differently, but I swear it’s there! Justin LOVES it. He keeps saying I have the pregnancy glow. Crazy kid. 😉

Gender: Justin and I are both thinking it’s a girl right now, but we’ll officially get to find out on April 8th at our 20 week appointment. We CANNOT wait!! We’ll be driving up to St. Louis the next day to spend the weekend with my sister and her husband and my parents will be driving down from Illinois, so we are planning on doing a little gender reveal. So, so excited to all find out at the same time together!

Maternity Clothes: I’m still wearing my normal clothes, but after I eat/drink a lot of water, my pants feel a lot tighter, which is pretty uncomfortable. Since I sit all day at work, I’ll usually have to unbutton my pants just to relieve some of the tightness. haha I think I’m good in the shirt department since I wear mostly baggy tops. Winning!

Cravings: Still pretty much nothing, except my friend Kathleen sent me a link to this AMAZING looking cake and for about a few hours that’s what I wanted. Here is a link to the deliciousness: amazing looking cake. I found out that they ship from New York too and I was allllll about ordering one until I got home and Justin and I watched the video on how to make it and I wasn’t feeling it anymore after I saw what was in it. Maybe I’ll get a cupcake or two this weekend though instead. 🙂

Work Outs: Finally getting my body to move a little!! My co-worker, Holly, and I have started working out 3 days a week during lunch. So far, so good!! We’re hoping the weather can warm up a bit so we can go outside. I’m tellin’ ya, I get out of breath so much quicker!

Best Pregnancy Moment This Week: We got to hear the baby’s heartbeat last week at our appointment!! It was beating at a strong 151! It was so cool getting to hear our little babes heartbeat. Can’t wait for our next appointment on March 25th! Can I just say I LOVE all of the midwives that we’ve met with so far? They are so sweet and so, so helpful. I love that I never feel rushed and they are very thorough during our appointments. I’m excited to meet the midwife at our next appointment because apparently she is always booked and requested to have. It’s nice getting to meet the different midwives just so we can build relationships with all of them in case our midwife isn’t available for delivery.

Goals for this week: Continue to work out at least 3 days a week. I might be getting ahead of myself, but perhaps spring clean the closets? Nail down our little baby moon trip.

Turkey Meatball Subs…delish!!

I’m not going to say this is one of my healthier meals, but my oh my is was delicious. You very well could make it healthy if you omit the cheese and choose a bread that you desire. Last week I was on Pinterest and saw this amazing plate of spaghetti and meatballs and I knew I had to make it ASAP. While I was meal planning over the weekend, I decided that I actually wanted a meatball sub. I LOVE meatball subs and haven’t had one in forever. I think meatball subs were also on my mind because my dad had mentioned that my mom made them recently (one day I will cook as good as her!!). I have never made my own meatballs before and I know my mom has told me how she makes hers about 1,000 times, but I couldn’t remember how she mades them and I kind of wanted something that was on the more healthier side. 🙂

I found this awesome turkey meatball recipe on Pinterest. They are SO good. The original recipe and directions are here. I don’t always follow the measurements of seasonings/onions exact. I just kind of shake on what I think would taste good!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ – ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional – adjust to your preference)
• 16 oz chopped spinach
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• ⅓ cup chicken broth
• 2½ lbs lean ground turkey
• ¾ cup bread crumbs
• 2 large eggs

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a large baking sheet by lining it with a sheet of foil and I drizzled coconut oil on it and spread it across the foil.
2. In a frying pan on medium heat, heat coconut oil until hot. Then add onion, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Sauté until onion is tender (about 5-6 minutes total time).
3. Add spinach to pan and combine with onion mixture. Add Worcestershire sauce and chicken broth and mix well to combine. Cook until most of the liquid has cooked out (evaporated). I don’t have much liquid in my pan after I combine all these. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature (I didn’t really let mine cool too long).
4. In a large bowl, combine the turkey, bread crumbs, and eggs. Add cooled onion/spinach mixture to the meat. I do all of this step with my hands, but you can use a spoon if you prefer.
5. With your hands, create meatballs that are about 1 – 1½ inches in diameter and place them on the baking sheet. Leave a little bit of space between each meatball. When you are done shaping your meatballs, you will probably have about 15-18 meatballs. Don’t need that many? Freeze them after baking or have them for leftovers the next day.
6. Bake until your meatballs are cooked through with an internal temperature of 160 degrees F – which was about 20 minutes for my oven.

And then I made her homemade gravy that she suggests (you could use jarred sauce if you’re in a time crunch/if you prefer that!). I know Justin thinks I’m Martha Stewart, but my mom’s gravy just always tastes better! I guess there’s just something about your own mama’s cooking. 🙂 This pasta gravy is super, super easy too!

2 teaspoons Coconut Oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic (I usually go a little overboard on the garlic because it’s one of my favorites!)
1 can crushed tomatoes (15 ounce)
1 can tomato sauce (8 ounce)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried rosemary (I didn’t have any of this, so I just left it out)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (can be omitted if you prefer)
Salt to taste (Justin and I use Himalayan Pink Salt — More about what Himalayan Pink salt is!)
1/4 teaspoon pepper

After I had my sauce all together in a pan, I moved it over to a pot so that when my meatballs were done, I could let the meatballs sit in the sauce for a little bit. With all of the onions, garlic and spices cooking, our kitchen smelled SO GOOD.

Once the meatballs were done baking (about 20 minutes), I put them into the sauce while I put together my subs. While I was shopping at Trader Joe’s, I was really hoping that they would have gluten free buns of some-sort, but I didn’t see any. I just went with Ciabatta bread, which was perfect for these subs. Our meatballs were pretty large, so we were able to fit just 2 meatballs in each sub.

Optional add ins for your meatball sub: Pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, sprinkle of oregano.

You’ll want to cut your bread almost all the way through and then add your meatballs. If you want to add anything else to your subs, now’s your time! I put a little more sauce over the meatballs and put a little bit of mozzarella cheese on top and sprinkled on some oregano – Justin put pepperoni in his. Before I put them back in the oven to let the mozzarella cheese get melted (400 degrees still), I rubbed coconut oil on the bottom of my baking sheet so the bread wouldn’t stick. Once you see the cheese is melted to your liking, take it out and ENJOY!!! If you want to make this more healthy, you can omit the mozzarella cheese and even choose a different bread-type to your liking.

The finished product of Justin’s pepperoni meatball sub!

These will definitely be made again in the MacKay household. Super easy, inexpensive and delicious!!!

Baby MacKay coming August 2015!!

It still feels so surreal typing out the title of this post. I can’t believe we are expecting to have a little sweet pea around August 27th!! It’s about to be some #MacKayMadness up in here.

Mom? Me? Man oh man, so many emotions filled my heart the night that we found out we were having a little baby. December 22nd was the night that we found out and it will be a night I will always remember. When Justin and I saw those two pink lines, my first thought was, “HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?” My second thought was, “OH MY GOSH.” And my third thought was, “WHAT DO WE DO NOW!?” Not going to lie, we were balls of emotion – scared, terrified, excited…scared. There were lots of tears (happy, sad and holy moly I’m going to be a mom and dad tears), but when I finally let it sink in and got a chance to thank God for choosing us to be parents, that brought so much peace and joy to my heart. The parts of being scared and terrified slowly started to fade away and I began to believe the truth that I am capable and equipped to be a mom. I’m thankful to have the mom that I do because she’s such an amazing mom and role model for me. Thanks mama!!!!

There are many reasons that I want to document my pregnancy. I have so many friends and family all over the country and I want them be in this sweet journey with me. It’s so bittersweet that I’m away from my family and friends, and I feel like this will help them feel connected in a way. Also, I’ve journaled since I was in about 5th grade and I LOVE going back and reading what I wrote. This will help me and my future kiddos know what their mama was like and how I felt with them. My good friend Danielle, who has an AMAZING blog (Butler, Party of 3) documents her pregnancies as well, and it’s so sweet reading up on it and how she’s doing.

I go off of two dates for baby MacKay since the doctors had us a little further along than I had myself, so today baby MacKay is 13 weeks!! It’s so amazing and truly is a miracle the growth of a baby. I love these baby apps that explain things day by day and week by week. What a precious gift kiddos are!!!

Baby Growth:

Baby MacKay is the size of a peach AND as long as a pea pod!!

My Symptoms: I’ve got to say, I’ve been pretty thankful for how I’ve been feeling. I was worried because I had no morning sickness, food aversions, cravings, etc (I felt like it would validate that our baby was actually in my belly and these type of symptoms are what everyone always talks about), but nonetheless, I’m thankful to be feeling like ole Michelle. I feel like I’ve been kind of moody recently. Not all the time, but I get irritated fairly quickly. Sometimes I feel like I want to karate chop people, but I’m going to blame it on the hormones. 🙂

I’m also going to blame my hormones on my face breaking out and looking like a teenager. HOLY MOLY. It’s just crazy. I’ve been feeling pretty self conscious because of how badly my face is breaking out, but I’m hoping it’s just a phase. It hasn’t been this bad since my freshman year of college! haha Oh well, it’s worth going through for baby Mack. I’ve been using this natural remedy of castor oil and olive oil mix that my friend Katy told me about and I really like it. Also, my sweet sister-in-law also sent me a skin care regime from Rodan + Fields that I’ll be giving a try once the doctor gives it a thumbs up! Praying something works! I’m so thankful for sweet friends/family who look out for me.

I’ve also been fighting a head and sinus cold all last week and I just have to say that my husband is THE MAN. He’s been doing everything around the house and I’m so thankful for rest and him wanting to help out so much. Love him!!

Weight: My weight fluctuates a few pounds here and there, so it’s hard to tell if I’ve really gained any weight. We don’t have a scale at our house, so I rarely get to weight myself unless it’s at the doctors office, at a friends, or at work. I’m not too worried about the weight gain – as long as baby Mack and I are healthy that’s all I care about.

Gender: My siblings keep sending us girl vibes. We all want the same boy name, so it’s a little race to have the first boy. 🙂 Although, I think we’d be that family who has multiples of the same name. haha I’m excited to find out either way what we are having! Can I just say that I have a major love/hate relationship with Pinterest because there’s SO many adorable things for little boys and girls. Can’t even handle. We have about 8ish more weeks until we find out the gender (at the 20 week mark!!) and I CANNOT WAIT!!! It’ll be so sweet to finally be able to call this little baby by name!

Sleep: I’m sleeping so-so. I’ve been making the mistake of drinking a lot of water in the evening so I am waking up a TON just to go to the bathroom. Also, there are so many do’s and don’ts out there for sleeping so I roll over a lot and just try to get comfy. Thankfully I can still sleep on my tummy! I’m going to enjoy this one until I start to get a bump/uncomfortable!

Cravings: I wish I could say that I’ve had some!! I think Justin just wants me to crave something so he can go out and get it for me. haha He’s so sweet. I’ve wanted certain foods, but I don’t want them enough to go out and get it. Mustard pretzels would be one that I can think of. They just sounds delish to me!

Work Outs: Ah. I wish I could say I’ve been working out, but right now it’s pretty non-existent. The thought is there, but I’ve made excuses for the most part. I want to get a membership to the Y so I could start swimming, but that’s why I originally joined the Y about a year ago and I went swimming, well, never. So, we’ll see what I end up doing! Sometimes, if I’m feeling energized during lunch I’ll go for walks around the lakes and get some fresh air. I really enjoy doing that. I also do some squats while brushing my teeth, does that count? haha It’s been getting dark outside right after work, so I’m looking forward to it staying light outside longer so Justin and I can work out outside together. I love working out with my hubby!

Best Pregnancy Moment This Week: Finally telling friends and co-workers about baby MacKay on the way!!! It’s been so hard not to tell people! Another moment that I love is when we told both of our families about baby Mack. We told them all on Christmas Eve (we sent my parents a little package since we were in Tennessee with Justin’s family) and it was such an exciting and nervous feeling having them open a Christmas gift revealing that they were going to be grandparents. It was so fun seeing their reactions. And it was so exciting getting to hear my family over the phone. This is the first grandchild for my parents (and first great grandchild for my Omi!) and this will be the fifth grandchild for my in-laws! Also, I love that my sister loves to talk to baby Mack already. 🙂 Such sweet, sweet moments.

Goals for next week: Start doing some work outs. Drink more water (get a glass water bottle!). Eat more veggies. Don’t be lazy and make some Magic Bullet smoothies that I talk about everyday. Be more intentional with my time. Make a chiropractor appointment.

Thank you for following in this journey with us! We are so, so thankful for friends and family who are so loving and supportive. Baby Mack is one lucky baby and is so loved already!

Stuffed Sloppy Joe Bell Peppers

If you know me, you know I LOVE me some sloppy joes. Manwich, yes please! (with a side of fries/tater tots and beans, of course)!

When my husband and I were dating, we were planning to make dinner together and sloppy joe’s was on my mind so that’s what we planned to make. While at the grocery store, I go down the aisle and get the can of Manwich and bring it back to where my husband was and he could not believe that I eat sloppy joe’s from Manwich. Something I learned about Justin that night was that he can make a great sloppy joe concoction. Thumbs up to a hubby that enjoys cooking!

Well, last week, I was craving sloppy joe’s, but I didn’t know Justin’s recipe off the top of my head so I decided to try my own from different places that I found online. I also wanted to try and make it healthy/with ingredients that I already had at home, so I thought it would be good to make a sloppy joe inside a bell pepper. Delish AND healthy! Needless to say, no more Manwich for me!

Again, I apologize for my horrible food photography, but don’t let that take away from how yummy they really are! 🙂

Here’s the recipe:

2 lb ground turkey (beef would be yummy too!)
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 (6-oz) can tomato paste
½ cup organic chicken broth
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning

• First, cut and empty out your bell peppers (I made 4)
• Put them in the oven at 350 degrees.
• Cook ground beef in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned; drain and set aside.
• Melt oil in skillet; add onion and bell pepper. Cook until onion is tender.
• Stir in tomato paste, chicken broth, vinegar and Cajun seasoning.
• Return beef to skillet, and cook 10 minutes or until sauce thickens.
• I drizzled some mustard on top just because I thought it could be good…and it was!
• Take out the bell peppers once you can tell they are getting soft (this might be around 30 min after you put them in) and stuff them with the sloppy joes! I put a little bit of cheese on 2 of the joes before putting it back in the oven for about 10 minutes!

Take out of the oven, serve, and ENJOY!

Paleo Banana Bread

Don’t you love baking something and the delicious smell just fills your whole kitchen? Even better when it fills your whole house! This one right here is one of my absolute favorites! I LOVE the smell of fresh banana bread. I can’t take credit for this recipe since I found it from Livin Paleo, but man oh man, we sure do love this one! I didn’t have a lot of the ingredients at first, but once I got them, I utilized the ingredients for different recipes and they really have gone a long, long way. I switch this up into making banana bread and banana muffins. We have a hard time making these bad boys last in the MacKay household. It seems as if every time my husband or I would walk into the kitchen we would grab one…or two. 🙂

yum yum yum!

Get ready to make your belly really happy! 🙂 

Prep 15 min

Cooking 30 min (I check the oven often because I find my oven cooks really quick — original recipe says 50 min)

Servings 1 loaf/12 good sized muffins

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 4 eggs
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp apple butter
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 3 large ripe bananas

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Grease the inside of a loaf pan approx. 9″x5″ then line with parchment paper (or line each muffin spot with a cupcake liner)
3. Place the coconut oil, eggs, honey and apple butter in a bowl and beat with a mixer on high until well combined
4. In a separate bowl stir together the coconut flour, almond flour, baking soda and sea salt, then pour in with the wet ingredients and beat again on high
5. In another bowl mash the bananas together with the coconut milk until a mush is formed, combine with the other ingredients and beat on medium until well combined
6. Pour into your loaf pan or muffin pan
7. Bake for approx. 30 minutes. You can check by inserting a toothpick into the bread. When it comes out clean your good to go!

 

White Chicken Chili – 5 Ingredients

White chicken chili. Who knew this could be good?! I made this last week and it’s such a quick and easy meal to whip together if you don’t have a lot of time. This recipe might be a new staple in the MacKay household. We’ve already made it twice and the hubby had already requested it again. It’s THAT good. AND I love that it’s so healthy!

This meal took about 15-20 minutes total to finish. The baking and shredding of the chicken took the longest part, but after that it was only about 3 minutes for everything else!

I don’t know how to make my food look so pretty like some people’s, so for now, this is the best you’ll get!

*White Chicken Chili*

Ingredients:

6 cups chicken broth (I used Organic from Trader Joe’s)
4 cups cooked shredded chicken (I kinda just put a ton of chicken in!)
2 (15-oz) cans Great Northern beans, drained
2 cups salsa verde (storebought or homemade)
2 tsp. ground cumin

I also put a little bit of cayenne pepper in for a little kick.

Optional toppings that we used were: diced avocado, chopped fresh cilantro, a little bit of shredded cheese, chopped green onions, a little scoop of greek yogurt and some tortilla chips if you prefer.

How to make it:

Add chicken broth, shredded chicken, beans, salsa and cumin to a medium saucepan, and stir to combine. Heat over medium-high heat until boiling, then cover and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for at least 5 minutes. Serve warm with desired toppings.

I also made some yummy burritos with this as well.

Hope you enjoy this as much as my husband and I do!

Baked Chicken Tenders with Creamy Avocado Dipping Sauce

Something that I struggle with is having a plan for dinner. We usually just come up with whatever we want an hour before dinner, which I’ve noticed by doing this, we usually spend more money OR just opt for going out to eat because we don’t want to go to the grocery store. Yesterday, I started to plan out our dinners and buy the groceries all at once (or two trips) in advanced. That way, we’ll have the food ready in our fridge and we won’t have to worry about what’s for din din! The meals might switch on different days, but here’s what we have planned in the MacKay household!

Here’s what I’ve planned for the week:

I’m all about quick, simple, and healthy meals. So when I saw this recipe from Kim’s Healthy Eats I knew I had to make it. This meal was actually planned for Tuesday, but I was so excited I just couldn’t wait til then. 🙂

It was deeeelicious and husband approved! Woohoooo!

Chicken Tender Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless chicken breast, slice into tenders
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used almond flour)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper

Chicken Tender  Directions

1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In three separate bowls add flour, beaten egg, and panko. Add salt and pepper to panko bowl.
3. Dip the chicken tender in the flour until lightly coated. Then dip into egg and then into the panko.
4. Place chicken in a single layer on baking sheet and bake for about 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken.

Creamy Avocado Dipping Sauce Ingredients

• 1 avocado, peeled and pitted
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon Greek yogurt
• 1/3-1/2 cup water

Creamy Avocado Dipping Sauce Directions

1. In a food processor or blender the avocado, lime juice, salt, and Greek yogurt and pulse until smooth.
2. Stream in water until desired consistency reached.

Enjoy, my friends!