French toast, eggs, and bacon is a classic breakfast combination. Who doesn’t love the combination of savory and sweet first thing in the morning for breakfast or brunch? French toast is always a favorite in our household. This is one of the recipes I make knowing my four year old will eat every single drop. But the real french toast lover in the house is my husband.Read More
Halloween Kiddie Cocktail
Happy evening before Halloween everyone! If you look forward to the holiday season as much as I do then you know how much fun it is to create holiday themed dishes. Especially for the kids such as kiddie cocktails. There is so much room for creativity and fun during these exciting months.Read More
“Coco” Painted Pumpkins
Making painted pumpkins for Halloween has become a yearly tradition for me. Each year I try to find a theme with three to four printable characters for my pumpkins. In past years I’ve done Nightmare Before Christmas, Ninja Turtles, classic monsters etc.
This year I turned to my Facebook family and friends for ideas on pumpkins this year. A few people mentioned the movie “Coco” and I realized as much as I love the movie this would be the perfect craft. I also knew it would be a challenge for freehand drawing to make the characters look like exact like movie.Read More
Honey Lemon Green Beans
Riley loves fruits and vegetables. If you’re wondering “who is Riley?” the answer to your question is, my unborn very picky child. I am currently eight months pregnant and have plenty of vegetable cravings. Especially this delicious honey lemon green beans recipe I created on Valentine’s Day. I made a surf n’ turf type Valentine’s Day meal that called for a vegetable side dish of some sort. I bought green beans at the store earlier that day so I decided to “wing it” and throw some flavors together that complimented the dish. It was delicious and I’ve made this recipe multiple times since then simply because of how much I loved it.Read More
Roasted Red Potatoes
Winter time means comfy warm foods. This means a lot of crock pot recipes, oven baked recipes, and soups/stews. One of my favorite year round foods is potatoes. Idaho potatoes, red potatoes, Yukon potatoes, etc. they’re all my favorite. My usual go to comfort potato food is the universally loved mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are not only delicious, they are extremely easy to make. However, as much as I love mashed potatoes, I need to switch it up every once in a while. I’ve always loved roasted potatoes, but I’ve recently discovered how much my toddler loves them too. My husband loves potatoes as much as I do so I wasn’t worried about him loving this recipe too. Ha!
Despite the fact that this recipe is absolutely delicious, it’s an extremely easy and quick side dish for multiple recipes. Whether you’re making baked chicken, searing some salmon, or going strictly veggie, this side dish fits perfectly. Did I mention this dish is cost friendly too? A 5 lbs bag of red potatoes will last for a few different meals, and if you love an assortment of seasonings like myself, then you don’t have to buy any other ingredients for this dish. Who doesn’t love having all of the necessary ingredients for a recipe in the kitchen already?
Before getting started, remember for recipes such as this, you can be as generous with your seasonings (except for the salt) as you would like. You can also add any of your additional favorite seasonings you think will add more flavor to your potatoes. There really is no wrong answer when it comes to seasoning your potatoes. Let’s go ahead and get started!

Easy Roasted Red Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 lbs Red Potatoes
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Grapeseed Oil for coating the pan
- 1 tsp Sea Salt or seasoned salt (Lawry's)
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Dried Parsley or 2 tsp fresh parsley
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
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Wash your red potatoes well and cut into 2 inch pieces. Pat the potato pieces dry.
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Using a medium sized bowl with a lid (or a gallon ziploc bag), put your diced red potatoes into the container, drizzle your olive oil in, cover and shake to coat the potatoes in the oil.
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Add your sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika to the container, cover and shake again until the potato pieces are evenly coated in the seasonings.
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Take your teaspoon of grapeseed oil to lightly coat a 9x9 baking dish. (We use grapeseed oil because it cooks better in high heat)
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Pour your seasoned potatoes into the greased baking dish and place in the oven (uncovered) for 30 minutes or until tender.
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Once your potatoes have baked to your desired crisp or softness, garnish with your parsley and serve!
Chicken Teriyaki Pineapple Bowl

Chicken Teriyaki Pineapple Bowls
About a year ago I saved a recipe video on Facebook for chicken teriyaki pineapple bowls. The recipe gave three ingredients to use but no details on measurements. I decided to wing it and see how it would taste. Although it tasted good I knew the dish could taste much better. Over the last few months I have tried many food combinations and different ingredients to achieve this final winning recipe. This is one of my family and friend favorites in our household.
One of my favorite parts of this recipe is you can use whatever vegetables you prefer in this dish. I've made chicken teriyaki pineapple bowls with broccoli, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, onions, etc. and they've all been delicious. However, out of all of these combinations, our favorite combination is the broccoli and onion. We especially love the teriyaki sauce. This recipe ensures there is plenty of gravy for your rice and any leftovers for the next day.
If you're lucky, you pick a very sweet pineapple and get to eat the delicious pineapple while you're cooking your meal. I'm currently working on a delicious drink recipe to use the sweet pineapple for so be on the lookout for that! In the mean time, enjoy this delicious, and easy, chicken teriyaki pineapple bowl recipe!
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. skinless chicken thighs
- 2 pineapples 1 pineapple per 2 people
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup mirin (Japanese sweet wine)
- 1/4 cup chicken stock
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2 heads of broccoli
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 cups rice
- 4 cups water measurement for the rice
- red pepper flakes optional
Instructions
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Cut your broccoli florets off of the heads of broccoli into 2 inch sized pieces. Place in a bowl to the side
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Cut your onion into 1-2 inch pieces and add them to the bowl with the broccoli pieces.
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Cut your chicken thighs into 2 inch size pieces and set to the side in it's own bowl.
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Start cooking your rice now so that it will be done at the same time as your chicken teriyaki mixture.
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Heat your olive oil over medium high heat until very hot. Add your chicken thigh pieces to the pan and brown the chicken for 2-3 minutes.
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Now add your soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, and mirin the pot with the chicken. Stir the ingredients together well and let the chicken cook for another 2-3 minutes.
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Add your broccoli and onions to the pot and stir until well coated. Cover and cook your vegetables for 3-7 minutes. *How long you let your veggies cook depends on how crisp or soft you want your vegetables.*
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While the vegetables cook down, cut your pineapple(s) in half, the cut a square around the middle of each half, and using a spoon scoop out the pineapple. Put in a bowl to the side to eat for later or to throw into your chicken teriyaki if you want more sweetness.
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In a small cup mix together your chicken stock and cornstarch until the cornstarch completely mixes into the liquid. Pour the mixture over the chicken teriyaki and vegetables and stir enough to coat the food. Cover the chicken teriyaki again and let cook for a minute or two so the sauce will thicken.
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Place your pineapple bowl halves on individual plates, scoop a cup of rice into each pineapple bowl, and then top with your chicken teriyaki and vegetables.
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Sprinkle with red pepper flakes for a little spice and it's time to eat!
(Meal Prep): Mexican Quinoa

Mexican Quinoa
For those of you searching for delicious clean eating recipes this Mexican Quinoa is the recipe for you!
I've been meal prepping consistently for about a year and a half. Over time I have learned how to create my own clean eating meal prep recipes for taste and variety. This recipe was inspired by having a taste for scrumptious Mexican rice. Since rice isn't the healthiest option these days I decided to try quinoa in place of the rice. This was one of my best ideas yet! Lol.
If I'm being completely honest, it started off being difficult to come up with recipes on my own, because you can easily get discouraged with the amount of terrible ingredients we don't realize are in so many foods we love to eat. Once I got the hang of learning more about food and how my body reacts to certain foods and mixtures, creating delicious and flavorful recipes such as this delicious Mexican Quinoa, are no longer a challenge.
Although this recipe tastes perfect as is, the best part about it is, you can adjust and add your own ingredients to fit your unique Mexican palette taste buds. For example: I'm not a fan of tomatoes, but I'm sure for those of you who like tomatoes, they would be a delicious addition. (Whatever foods you decide to add to this dish, be sure they are healthy options such as fresh fruits and/or vegetables. You don't want to create a non-healthier dish with the addition of unhealthy ingredients.)
Let's go ahead and get started!
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups Quinoa
- 5 cups Chicken Stock
- 1 lbs. Ground Turkey 99% fat free
- 15 oz. Black Beans drained & rinsed
- 15 oz. Corn drained
- 1 cup Cilantro
- 2 Jalapenos chopped
- 3 Tbsp. Taco Seasoning 1 Tbsp. separated
- 2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
- 1 Large Onion diced
- 2 tsp. Cumin
- 1/2 Tbsp Grapeseed Oil
- Sea Salt & Coarse Black Pepper to taste
Instructions
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Cook your quinoa by the package instructions. How ever many cups of quinoa, use double the amount of chicken stock, to cook in the quinoa in.
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Heat your grapeseed oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat and sautee your onions and jalapenos until slightly tender.
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Add your ground turkey to the pan and break it up into smaller pieces as it cooks.
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Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of your taco seasoning into the sauteed mixture and stir until well combined.
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Pour your sauteed ground turkey, onion, and jalapeno mixture into the large pot of cooked quinoa.
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On medium low heat, add your drained and rinsed black beans, corn, and the rest of your measured seasonings to the pot. Continually stir to throghly mix the ingredients together prevent the bottom from sticking/burning.
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Add your cup of cilantro (you can chop it into smaller pieces if you wish) to the pot with your desired amount of sea salt and coarse black pepper to taste.
Vacation Checklist for Toddlers
Exactly one week from today we will be landing in sunny California for some much-needed family and friends time. I’ve been counting down this vacation since we booked the tickets a few months ago. We have so many great events planned out and restaurants to try for the first time. I haven’t been to California in a few years so this will be a nice refresher. Especially since I’ll be going to a few places in California for the first time. Example: San Diego.Read More
Tuna Salad Lettuce Wrap

Tuna Salad Lettuce Wraps
For the last few weeks, my go to substitute meal, has been tuna salad lettuce wraps. Once upon a time, when I wasn't trying to lose weight, I would've made a delicious, calorie packed tuna melt. Since I don't have the luxury of eating whatever I want and not gaining weight I decided to get creative and find a way to still eat my delicious salad with a healthier alternative to bread. The first time I used an alternative, I used the Kellogg's Special K Sea Salt Cracker Chips, and used them as scoops for the tuna salad. It was good, but it still wasn't what I was looking for. The following week, I had bought a fresh head of iceberg lettuce from the commissary (grocery store) the day before, and decided to try lettuce wraps in place of the bread and crackers. It was delicious! I immediately knew this would be a future blog post recipe. I specifically wanted to do it for a Spring time recipe because of how fresh and light this meal is. It is also a quick meal which means you have more time to go out and enjoy the outdoors vs. cooking for an hour or two. An added plus, my two-year-old toddler LOVES this meal too. However, like most little ones, she prefers the sea salt cracker chips vs. the fresh lettuce wrap. 🙂
Ingredients
- 4 oz Albacore Tuna (in water) drained
- 2 Tbsp Miracle Whip or mayo
- 1 Tbsp Honey Mustard
- 2 Hard Boiled Eggs
- 1 Tbsp Minced Onion
- 2 Tbsp Diced Red Bell Pepper
- 1/4 tsp Coarse Black Pepper
- 1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
- Pinch of Sea Salt optional
- Chopped Scallion optional for garnish
Instructions
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Place your eggs in a small pot and cover them completely with water. Let them boil for 8 minutes before turning off the stove and allowing them to sit in the hot water for an additional two minutes.
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While your eggs are boiling, chop up your onions, and red bell pepper, place to the side in a small dish.
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Combine your coarse black pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and salt in a separate dish and place to the side.
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Open and drain your can of tuna. Scoop your tuna into a bowl large enough to hold all of your ingredients, and still have room for mixing without making a mess.
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Run cold water over your hard boiled eggs and peel them as the water runs. Cut your eggs into small cubed size pieces and add to the bowl of tuna.
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Add your chopped vegetables and seasonings to your bowl of tuna and eggs. Lastly, add your Miracle Whip and honey mustard to the bowl of ingredients and mix until combined.
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Enjoy your meal!
DIY Flower Hand Print
This past week, it has felt like Spring, here in Montana. The beautiful weather, the leaves growing on the trees, smells of BBQ around the neighborhood, etc. It has completely gotten me in the Spring mood which means it’s time for Spring decor in and around the house. I decided I wanted to add more of my little one’s artwork for decor around the house so we made a Spring craft last night. Read More