Levi's Room

Well five weeks after my little bundle of joy has entered this world and I have finally completed his nursery. And what a fun project it has been! I have known what I wanted to do for months... but much of it could not be carried out without Levi's adorable little face. After all... the room is not really practical right now since he still sleeps in my room. At this point the room is just a tribute to his cuteness.

I didn't have a specific theme, just a color scheme. And I wanted to integrate scripture. After all, I am going to continually be speaking life into this little man and I want him to grow up surrounded by the word of God - starting with a big decal on the wall proclaiming God's promises for Levi, the tribe of Levi as well as my little Levi. We speak life and peace, reverence for God, and a destiny to turn many from sin over him all the time.

I wanted to post pictures so that everyone who gave me pieces of my nursery set could see how charming they look all put together. And they wouldn't look nearly as cute without his little face poking in here and there. He has not yet learned to smile on cue... but I love every sweet little expression.

8 Reasons Why This Rocks My Kitchen

I am almost ashamed to admit what my first reaction was when I opened my birthday gift and discovered that my husband got me a Vitamix. I thought, “oh my, our marriage has already reached the point where appliances are acceptable gifts.”

What a naïve girl I was.

I very quickly discovered that my Vitamix is much more than an "appliance." It rocks. It rocks every appliance in my kitchen. It rocks most gifts anyone will get or give. A friend of mine at church laughed when I got a little mouthy after she referred to it as merely “a blender.” Oh. no. it. is. not.

I do not mean to incite envy in those who do not own a Vitamix. It just required a little intro before I go into the top reasons why I am loving my Vitamix these days.

This is just a short list of my favorite things. I will usually do at least two or three of these every day.

I am going to have to start with a string of awesome milk substitutes. I always have at least one of these in my fridge (usually all three) and if not, I have the ingredients in my cupboard and can whip it up in less than three minutes.

1. Fresh coconut milk. No preservatives or additives. Just coconut (straight out of the shell) and water. HEAVENLY. And so good for you.

2. Fresh almond milk. Pretty much the same deal as the coconut but with raw almonds. Delicious and packed with protein.

3. Fresh rice milk. Throw some cooked brown rice and water and there you have it. And an abundance of healthy options for milk substitutes.

4. Hummus. Cory is really into hummus and vegetables. Our farmers market has some amazing humus, but it goes for five dollars for a tiny container. I decided that I can make some that is just as amazing. And it is so easy!

5. Freshly ground wheat. This is just my favorite. My mom always had a wheat grinder when I was growing up. My Vitamix does the same thing. It will grind the whole wheat as fine as I want. I have been able to make all sorts of delicious homemade bread that never rose well with whole wheat flour.

6. Those who have never seen a Vitamix will be astounded by this one. TEN minute HOT soup!! Plus, the nutrients stay within all of your ingredients since you are not cooking them through, just heating them up. Broccoli cheddar, tomato bisque. Tasty and most of all, quick!

7.  Now, as for using this merely as a blender… I do this every day and I am so thankful for it! I didn’t realize how accustomed I was to having this awesome machine blend up my protein shake every morning in a minute until I was away from home. While staying at one of our resorts a few weeks ago I used their blender to make my usual protein shake. It was such a bad experience it literally almost put me in a bad mood! It took ten minutes and I was still chewing large clumps of banana and honey while drinking my smoothie. Not a pleasant experience. God bless the Vitamix.

8.  One of the reasons why this is truly the most convenient tool is because it is so insanely easy to clean. It doesn’t matter what was in there, stick some hot water and some soap and it becomes its own dishwasher.

So there is a little Vitamix love for you. I could go on about all of the wonderful things that it is useful for, such as pureeing and chopping, or perhaps some of my homemade Vitamix recipes, but I will stop here for now. The moral  to the story is, my husband knew better than I did. I love this thing. 

Delicious and Nutritious – Healthy Habits

Today I am going to start a little series about healthy habits. (Note that they will be in no particular order, and they may or may not be consecutive… basically just whenever I want to share about health, fitness, or nutrition.) So having said that, here is a delicious recipe for fresh juice that is just packed with vitamins.

We have been doing this every day pretty consistently for over a year now. About two weeks after we started juicing every day I noticed that I was not really getting headaches anymore. Seriously…. I used to get headaches fairly regularly. Now, I don’t even remember the last time I took something for a headache. 

 

Anyway, here are the portions that I use to juice for two people:

- About 4-5 pretty big carrots

- A big chunk of beat (this is hard to describe because the sizes vary so much) and you can juice the stems too!

- 1 lemon (if I am using organic lemons I just cut it half and juice the whole thing, skin and all)

- 1 Apple

- 2 big leaves of Kale

- Fresh ginger (I do a lot of ginger because I love it, but I started with about a chunk the size of the tip of your thumb. I have since progressed to the size of about two full pinkies)

These are my staple ingredients that I always have in the house. Sometimes I will add spinach, cabbage, or celery if I have any.

I am by no means a nutritionist. However, I do know that vegetables are good for me and I happen to be pretty handy on google. So here are a few health benefits of the aforementioned ingredients. This list is by no means exhaustive; there are many more wonderful virtues to be found in these items.

Carrots possess vitamins A, B, C, and K, potassium, Fiber, beta-carotene, and good carbohydrates to fuel your body. Also an amazing cancer fighter!

Beets are loaded with: Potassium, magnesium, fiber, phosphorus, iron; vitamins A, B & C; beta-carotene, beta-cyanine; folic acid. Purifies the blood and prevents cancer.

Kale is high in fiber, iron, vitamin K, antioxidants, vitamin A, it is an anti-inflammatory, and it can help lower cholesterol.

Ginger is an amazing root which contains magnesium and zinc, it is good for inflammation and your digestion, strengthens immunity, and is an excellent remedy for motion sickness.

Lemons are also amazing cancer fighters. They alkalize your body, are rich in vitamin C, and possess many antibacterial properties. That is only a brief beginning to how good they are for you. Plus they make the juice so yummy!

Apples possess nutrients and antioxidants that reduce the risk of developing hypertension, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

A lot of these are common knowledge but these are only a few of the amazing benefits that eating (and drinking) what God made can do for you.

Test it for a week. The nutrients that you get from this combination will likely give you more energy and make you feel better!

A few of the articles I quickly pulled from if you care to study a little more for yourself :)

livestrong.com

foodmatters.com

medicalnewstoday.com

Cheap and Easy Complete Bathroom Makeover

I realized today that I have been doing a lot of deep life and relationship posts. Not that those aren't cool... but I thought maybe I would lighten it up a bit today with another fun topic: a DIY project.

So once upon a time I decided I wanted to do something with my bathroom. It was boring and white and…well ugly. This is how I have been with every room in my house at some point. But the issue is…. We rent this house. I don’t want to drop a bunch of money on a house that we might move out of next month or year, or whatever.

But I didn't want to live in a house with an ugly bathroom! So clearly the answer was to do something cute without spending a bunch of money.

I happened upon this girl’s blog who made shower curtains for her bathroom that went all the way from the ceiling to the floor. She said it was super easy and it looked great! I was like, “yeah, I can totally do that! I have never sewn in my life, I get impatient and therefore do a bunk job at measuring and cutting and such, but I can totally do it!!!”

Yeah, so that lasted for about one trip to Joann’s Fabric in which the colors, the sizes, the options, the spools and spools of fabric were just overwhelming. I am a fairly crafty person… but that store is intense, I am just saying. (I see that my little blog about how I made my bathroom look cute has definitely become more like story telling hour. Oh well).

Despite the whole, “make your own shower curtain thing” I still wanted my curtain to go all the way to the floor. It just gave such a pretty, classy look to the bathroom. And so I had another idea, I would just buy some regular curtains and keep the water-proof shower curtain inside. Brilliant!

And that is what I did.

Because the rest of my house is all earth tones, I wanted to go a little crazy in the bathroom. So I picked this beautiful dark teal blue that was so much fun. I happen to love teal blue and orange together (in fact I realize I am on a weird kick with these colors and my clothes too) and so I accessorized with my burnt orange towels as opposed to my brown ones.

So, in addition to this issue of white and boring, my bathroom is tiny with limited counter and storage space. I found this little rack in front of someone's house that they were throwing away. It was really ugly and the bars were loose. I bought some metallic spray paint, tightened the screws and voila, extra storage space. I bought a couple little baskets to organize my various bathroom products.

So not only is my bathroom way cuter, it is way more functional. I still want to find something cute with orange accents to hang on the wall, but I have found nothing that I love yet. Any ideas or creative suggestions are more than welcome :)

The cost to completely change the face of my bathroom?

½ gallon paint - $15.00

Curtains (Marshalls) - $25.00

Metal shelf thing – FREE!

Metallic paint - $6.00

2 storage bins (Michaels) - $12.00

Decorative shower curtain rod (Marshalls) - $13.00

Add a little time and sweat and the total cost was a mere: $71.00!

A Little Home Cooking

Today’s blogathon prompt is a super easy (and very useful) one. Share one of your favorite recipes.

I find a lot of great recipes on Martha Stewart's website. Now my favorite recipes are those that are in the crock pot, simply because I can prepare in the morning and dinner is ready whenever. However, this recipe that I am going to share is not a crock pot recipe. But it is a great one to have in your cookbook. It is simply my favorite because:

1.      Both my husband and I love it.

2.      It is a very tasty and healthy option. 

3.      It only takes as long as the rice takes to cook, with about twenty minutes of hands on prep time. 

4.      I usually keep these ingredients on hand. So it is a great back up meal if you hubby is over spaghetti :) 

5.      It is packed full of fresh garlic and ginger. Who doesn’t love that?

 

• 1 1/4 cups long-grain brown rice
• 1/4 cup cornstarch (or some other thickener)
• 1 pound snow peas, trimmed and halved crosswise
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated and peeled
• 3 tablespoons light-brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
• 1 Large egg
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons oil

1.     Cook rice. Meanwhile, stir together 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1/2 cup cold water until smooth. Add snow peas, garlic, ginger, sugar, soy sauce, and red-pepper flakes; toss to combine, and set aside.

2.     In another bowl, whisk together egg, remaining 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add chicken, and toss to coat.

3.     In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Lift half the chicken from egg mixture (shaking off excess), and add to skillet. Cook, turning occasionally, until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining oil and chicken, and set aside (reserve skillet).

4.     Add snow-pea mixture to skillet. Cover; cook until snow peas are tender and sauce has thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Return chicken to skillet (with any juices); toss to coat. Serve with rice.

What is your favorite go-to meal? I always love finding new recipes. Link Below!