Five on Friday: Some Yummies

 

Hello Friends and happy TGIF to you 💗

I hope that this week has been good to you and that you get to now put up your feet and enjoy a lovely weekend ahead. I'm late to posting again as I was doing hospice work today. But still wanted to do a post before the weekend and share a bit of life lately.

We got another lovely storm system the other day and it dumped more snow on us. So we still have the remnants of that hanging around. However, we are supposed to get some lovely mild weather over the weekend that should melt it all away again! Here's hoping. 💛☀️

In the meantime, still delving into the cozy. Reading, devotional & reflection, journaling, crafting, sipping hot tea. So excited Spring is around the corner...but loving these quiet moments too. 

But today I thought I'd share a 5 on Friday post about some yummy things around here lately. I'm sharing with My Creative Life and you can find her blog here.

ONE

First up is this recipe for a healthier berry cobbler. You make it with only 3 ingredients. Cake mix, mineral water, and berries. I did add some cinnamon and a little sprinkle from my cinnamon/sugar shaker on top before baking. But overall far less calories because you omit the eggs, oil etc. And it was still very cobbler like and tasty. We had it with a little 15 calorie squirt of whipped topping. You put your berries in the bottom of your cooking sprayed pan. Sprinkle half a cake mix on top. Pour a cup of mineral water over all - mix and bake. That's it! I used fresh berries and you can frozen too - it just might be more muddled in color, but taste just as good. 😋

TWO

Next up is more of our health journey. 

A few weeks ago we went through all of the cabinets and both fridges and got rid of a lot of the "junk" we still had around. We did a fresh shopping trip not too long after and refilled the house with lots of fresh healthy goodies. I cleaned out our middle "drawer" compartment of our refrigerator in the kitchen, and filled it with lots of fruit & veggies. I prepped them and got them cleaned, cut up, & ready to go. And the meats and cheeses are in there too. I think being prepped and ready helps stay on track. We have been logging on our apps together and keep track of everything: our calories, protein, carbs, exercise, water etc. It's so nice doing it with my partner in life and makes it much easier. We meal plan together and I have been making sure we have healthy snacks and treats at the ready. We have both been losing weight already and feel so much better. 

Also, side note: these Built puff protein bars are amaze balls! Like a marshmallow candy bar in lots of great flavors. I'm not a spokesperson or anything - I am just usually grossed out by most protein bars and these ones are SO GOOD! And an easy way to get a boost of protein for a quick snack or even meal replacement on the go.

THREE

I love my ipad mini....but I've got to say that sometimes just holding and smelling and reading in a tangible book is wonderful. Not really food related but in its own way books are "a yummy goodie" to me. Lol They feed the mind and soul. ✨

FOUR

We both absolutely LOVE this as a healthy snack. I've talked about them before - but sharing again because they are so good. Take a bunch of grapes off the stems and put into a bowl. Clean them up and dab dry but leave a little damp. Take sugar free jell-o (whatever flavor you want but we love peach or orange the best so far) and sprinkle the powder over the grapes and shake and coat. Then place in the freezer for 20 mins. Don't leave in there too much longer than that. Then gobble them down like candy. They totally hit the sweet tooth craving if you need that. This is an especially delish treat in the summer. 

FIVE

Also, if you need a low cal and sugar BBQ sauce for any recipes - this one is the best! We still love our chicken crust protein pizza and made a BBQ chicken one the other night and used this as the sauce, as well as a little drizzle on top. Saves lots of calories when you're logging them. 😉 

And it tastes so good that I'd use it even if I wasn't counting calories!

Because I love to look at recipes and cook and bake anyways - I find it a fun challenge to figure out how to make a meal or snack healthier. Things like adding more protein, less carbs, more veggies, & less sugar. The key to me is that I don't want to feel denied anything and it still needs to be satisfying. There are so many tips and tricks out there if you start looking. It's becoming my new fun hobby! And to lose some weight and feel better as a side perk is a win-win in my book. 

Are there things you like to do to be healthier? 

Blessings. 

xoxo

Five on Friday: Loving...

Hello Friends!

I see you Friday and welcome! Even though it's cold and windy today and we may get a little bit of snow...we're ready for the weekend over here. Nothing major on the agenda, and that is truly lovely. Still more winter decorations to take down in the house. We already did all of the outside decorations. But this weekend I'll take down the last winter things and we'll tag team some deep cleaning. Then I'll start getting out Spring stuff. Yippeeee! ☀️💐

But I thought I'd do another Five on Friday this week to share at the blog My Creative Life - and you can find her 5 and her blog if you click here.

For my 5 this week I thought I'd share things in my world I'm currently 

LOVING: 

ONE

My northwoods. Its beautiful sunsets. The way I can see grass now with all the melting snow. Seeing more wildlife since temps are getting more mild. It's such a blessing to live here. 

TWO

A favorite snack or breakfast. Vanilla greek yogurt bowl (Dannon Light & fit - only 80 cals and 12 grams of protein) topped with protein pb fit (powdered protein peanut butter) made into a drizzle, apple chunks, and cinnamon. Sometimes sunflower seeds too. 😋

THREE

This image from pinterest I have as my wallpaper on my iphone currently. It just makes me smile. 

FOUR

Researching healthier, but tasty recipes. 😋

FIVE

And it goes without saying - but I will say it. My sweet Hubby and our furry babies. They bring me such joy EVERY SINGLE DAY. God is good. That is all. ❤️

I hope you're loving and enjoying all the blessings in your world my Friends. Have a wonderful weekend!! 

💗💗💗

 

Five on Friday: Life Lately

 

Happy Friday Friends!

We all made it through another week and now it's time to soak up the weekend. I hope you have some fun planned ahead! 

I'm not sure what we're doing around here yet? Maybe out for dinner one night, and I do know we'll do church time and we have a plan to do dinner & play cards with my Mom and step Dad on Sunday. 💗

I'm doing extra hospice work today so I only have time for a quick post, but I at least wanted to pop in. I have some really yummy recipes to share that I made this week - but I will share them next week since I don't have time. Instead I just took some top pics off of my phone and thought I'd share the goings-on here for Five on Friday, as I haven't done that in a while.  I'll be sharing them with the blog My Creative Life and you can find that blog here.

ONE:

Would I truly be a person of the northwoods if I didn't talk about the weather? It's been SO cold here lately(below zero & single digits), but there is hope! This weekend it warms up to the 20's-30's, and next week a day even in the 40's. Yippeee!  In the meantime this is what I've been doing on repeat...

TWO:

Next, as a furry Mom I must mention that my sweet Ruby got her beauty appointment in this past week. Isn't she beautiful?? And she's forever my favorite car buddy. Love her!! 

THREE:

And I can't talk about Ruby and then not talk about my sweet Bubba bear. A Mom can't have favorites, right? He forever keeps us entertained with his energy and curious mind. He LOVES watching all the critters outside. And I recently got him this little mat that squeaks, laughs and randomly swings around a tail with a feather on it. He is crazy for it and plays it constantly!! Really handy when he's wanting my attention and I'm in the middle of something else - children they are, furry or not. 

FOUR:

I love a good slow cooker. And I had recently gotten this smaller 3 qt size for the super bowl to make the queso dip. But it's size is so hand for just 2 people sized dishes. I often still like my larger one for freezing or sharing meals with my Mom. But I had a leftover pack of just 2 chicken breasts that were thawed and I threw them in the slow cooker with some salsa, lime, honey, tajin & taco seasoning and after 5-6 hrs on low shredded it up and it was delish!! Easy meal to throw in our low carb tortillas with some toppings. So if you want slow cooked meals for 2 just halve the recipe and cook in the smaller cooker. Pretty handy. 

FIVE:

And finally, just thought I'd share this is also on repeat in our healthier world these days. The dates filled with some peanut butter, walnuts or peanuts and some chocolate and sea salt sprinkle on top. Chill and such a yummy treat. Leftover chocolate was used to dip some fruit. 

Also, love these spicy plant based chicken patty's. Tons of flavor and protein. We heat them up and cut them up. Then put them in a brown rice bowl (tip: make the brown rice with chicken broth instead of water - you have a complex carb that actually tastes good!) We drizzle a little sweet chili sauce on top and some crushed peanut and such a yummy healthier high protein lunch. 

Thanks for visiting! I treasure that so much. I'm behind on visits but I will catch up in the days ahead. Blessings to you all on your weekend and always. 

xoxo

Five on Friday: Facts You May Not Know About Me

 

Hello Friends! 

Happy weekend to you. ☀️🍁🧡

Thank you so much for your kind words on a recent post where I shared what I did in a day and it included my time I work at the hospice house. I mentioned being a social worker and I realized I probably hadn't mentioned that in the past. So I thought I'd just do a post of fun facts you may not know about me. 

And I hadn't finished this yesterday, so it's getting posted today. So it's 5 on Fri on a Sat. 😉

ONE

I attended a local private Catholic college called the College of St. Scholastica. There are Benedictine nuns still living and working on the campus. That building is one of the main buildings on the campus and it's called Tower Hall. I always loved it looks like a castle. 

The school was known for its medical programs, especially nursing. And that is actually what I initially majored in. I have Aunts that are nurse practitioners and I wanted to be them. :) Plus, I always loved the sciences. I even had anatomy and physiology classes, in college, that included cadaver labs. I did a whole year of studying that and I did very well. But I got into clinicals that included helping living people with colostomy bags and basically interesting smells, blood etc and realized it was not the area for me. Lol 

So I went into medical social work instead and ended up on the 5 year plan at college. But it was the right decision and I loved my social work jobs. 

TWO

I did social work for close to a decade - until Aaron was about 4. I was working part time then because I wanted to be home with Aaron too. My case load kept growing (& stress) and by then the businesses my ex (that I was also a part of behind the scenes at times) were doing well enough that I we could afford me to be a SAHM. So I then changed to full-time Mommy life with both of my kiddos. And it turned out to be a blessing as my MIL developed Alzheimers and I was needed as a caregiver for her.

When my MIL progressed to a point where she had to go into a facility and my kids were getting older, I wanted something spiritually for myself. I had dealt with a lot of grief work and death and dying as a medical social worker in a long-term care setting. So hospice volunteering just felt like a calling to me. As you saw in my "day in the life post" about what I do in hospice: some days I scrapbook obits, or I bake or help in the kitchen, or I visit with dying patients and their families. I do it all in the name of service. 

I have often sat with a dying patient that has no one - putting lotion on their hands. Praying over them. Singing to them. And I feel like a part of my soul knows it's doing what it was meant to be doing on this earth. I get way more out of serving the Lord in this way than I give. I guess that's the definition of a calling. :) 🙏🏻💗

THREE

For how much I loved social work. And I feel so honored and blessed to have been a SAHM. A part of me feels if I could go back in time I would have been a French teacher. I have always loved the language. I had 4 years of it in school. And I would have loved to travel to France every couple of years (& have had summers off!) 

FOUR

And speaking of the French teacher thing brings me a bit to my 4th fun fact. French always came easy to me as a lot of their words have articles before them and they change based on masculine and feminine. And I have always seen letters, words and numbers as such. Masculine or feminine. It's a form of synesthesia. 

Synesthesia is when your brain routes sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, causing you to experience more than one sense simultaneously. Some examples include tasting words or linking colors to numbers and letters.

What can I say - I'm weird. Lol 😁

FIVE

And the last thing I thought I would share is that I know many of you know I love scrapbooking as a hobby. And I have made many little decorated albums as gifts for others through the years. But I have through the years seriously thought about doing an Etsy shop or something related involving scrapbooking. I never took the plunge in the past - though I have come very close. But now I feel almost a calling related to that too. I would want it to involve "legacy" books for others. 

For example:

This is a recipe "cookbook" that I'm working on. This could be a project for someone to add their favorite recipes to for themselves. Or to give as a gift - adding in a legacy of family holiday recipes through the years. 

Aren't these the cutest holiday recipe cards? 

But I would also love to maybe work on completely different kinds of albums... spiritual ones. Where folks could make a legacy album related to their dying loved one. As a legacy to them. Or to continue a mission of theirs or their story. If that makes sense? 

So stay tuned. It may turn into something over time. It's something I work on and pray about where I want to put my focus and energy. No matter what I'll continue my work in hospice too. 

Thanks for going on this little journey with me and some things you may not have known about my background. I just know a FAVORITE FACT is how much I love blogging and sharing with such a fellowship of amazing women!! My love and blessings to you all. 

xoxo