What's For Dinner {Catch Up 2020}

There's a meme going around the social media world that cracks me up.  It says, "Who knew the hardest part of being an adult is figuring out what to cook every night for the rest of your life until you die."  Let's all just stop right here and laugh out loud right where you are.  Now let's breathe and soak in the sometimes overwhelming reality of how true that statement is! 

It has been awhile, but every month or so I try to do a post where I highlight some of the delicious recipes that I tried out over the course of the previous month.  I love trying new recipes and I am so thankful for Pinterest and all the delicious recipes that catch my eye as well as food bloggers and instagram.  I am constantly looking for new inspiration and trying out new recipes.  It makes cooking fun and not a redundant chore and sometimes I get to try something new!  The best part is that my kids are starting to really love food and trying new things.  One is not picky about anything and one is slowly growing out of his pickiness. 

So here is where I share some sweet yumminess with you. 

Thai Chicken Peanut Ramen

This winter I just craved ramen, but not that gross stuff you can get for crazy cheap at the store.  I wanted some good, wholesome, flavorful noodle soup.  I also love thai peanut noodles so when this recipe combined the two of them I couldn't resist.  I've made this twice over the last 2 months and I hope to make it again sometime soon.  It really is amazing.  This also was a recipe I was able to substitute soy sauce for coconut aminos and it became Weston friendly.  I used some ramen noodles from Sprouts made of millet and wonderful! 

Here's the link to the recipe.

Pumpkin Chili
I may have mentioned that I was really into soups this winter.  There was just something warm and cozy about it.  When Bri McKoy posted on instagram her pumpkin chili I could not wait!  I immediately added it to our menu and we just happened to have all the ingredients (I may be the kind of person who keeps canned pumpkin stocked in my pantry year round.  It was really good! 

You can find the recipe and her super fun post about it here.

Honey Sriracha Glazed Meatballs

One thing that we started doing this year was meal prepping lunch options for Jon and I.  More so for Jon, but as it turns out, I love having the option of a quick healthy meal that isn't necessarily a salad.  A few weeks ago, our local grocery store was having a really good sale on ground turkey so I grabbed two and doubled this recipe for the meatballs and froze half of them for a future week.  I cooked up some cauliflower rice and some roasted broccoli and this recipe was amazing.  The perfect lunch for a busy day!  Plus, none of us felt the urge to go and get take out! 

You can find the recipe here.

Bang Bang Shrimp

One of my favorite newly found recipes has been something I've been eating at lunch quite often.  It's easy enough to do on a slow day and so delicious and filling!  I keep frozen, uncooked shrimp in the freezer (I find that Costco has the best price) and cook this up along with some cauliflower rice.  If the sauce didn't have mayo in it, I might have been able to get my husband to try it out. . . except he doesn't care for shrimp all that much.  So for now, it's just something I eat at lunch.

You can find the recipe here.

We also cooked up some Simple Sesame noodles by Pioneer Woman. . . we sub the soy sauce for coconut aminos and Weston loves them!  It's one of my favorite easy dinners that everyone eats up very quickly! 


And that's some of my favorite things we have eaten so far in 2020.  What are you eating? 

Valentines Day Wrap Up {Free Printables}

I just love holidays.  I love any excuse to celebrate and have fun and I'll be honest: Valentine's Day is one of my favorites!  It's a wonderful day to celebrate friendship and shower our friends and family with love.  And best of all, this year it was on a Friday . . . a day that I'm pretty sure every teacher was doing a happy dance that it landed on a Friday. . . because while the day is fun, it's exhausting for a teacher.

I spent the morning  hanging out with my husband (who just happened to have the day off!) and delivering cookies to one classroom and than hanging out with third graders and throwing a fun party.  We did some coding and ate food complete with a special Valentine's Day punch (raspberry sherbet and 7 up).  Then went and caught the tail end of my Ethan's basketball game, came home and got ready to take our kids to see Toby Mac in concert.  We were pooped.  The day was such a fun day that we all needed the weekend to catch up. 

This post may seem a little bit late because. . . well, things have been a little insane around here.  Let's just say that this mom does NOT have it all together (a post that I will hopefully write next week) and I am just now sitting here at a Starbucks while one kid climbs mountains and the other does homework and sips his Butterscotch Frappuccino next to me.  So, while Target is ready to move onto Easter and Lent starts next week (Are you going to do the She Reads Truth study?), I am going to talk about Valentine's Day.  I know.  Weird.  But, go ahead and pin these images for next year.  You'll be ahead of the game! 

Ethan loves Harry Potter.  Well, he really just loves books, but Harry and his friends are right up there at the top next to Percy Jackson.  Last Fall, when the Harry Potter line came out at Williams-Sonoma, I couldn't not buy the silicon ice cube tray that had each house!  It would make perfect crayons, which Ethan thought would be so cool!  So, after Christmas we went through ALL the old crayons and miraculously had just enough to do for his entire class.  Thankfully, Weston wanted to go a different direction because we just barely made it!

But, we had enough and they came out so perfect!  I used this silicone ice cube tray. We chose two colors for each one matching each house color.  Once they melted they made this beautiful marbled crayon.  They were a big hit with the 5th graders.  You can find a tutorial on how to make the crayons here.

Weston had approached me a awhile back very concerned for his friends that may not be able to eat all the stuff that usually gets sent home (like himself) and wanted to provide a fun treat that was both delicious and allergy friendly.  So, we stocked up on the Mini Made Good bars and I created a fun Valentine based on the colors of the wrapper as well as the tag line. (Side note:  Made Good Bars are great for schools that have allergy restrictions because they are free of almost all major food allergens).  

I had all the printing done at Office Depot because it is so easy and the quality is really good.  Plus, it is cheaper than me using all my ink cartridge (and that is not cheap).  I just ordered it online and picked it up the next day (actually, I had my BFF grab them on her way home from work because she's awesome!).  This is totally not an ad, just a recommendation because I love them so much! 

I printed them on 110lb cardstock and once they are cut they fit perfectly into almost 4 inch wide plastic bags and then taped them shut with washi tape (because it's fun!).  

And that's about it for Valentine's Day.  So feel free to tap the red "Pinterest P" in the top Left hand corner of the image you want and save it to your Valentine's Day board for next year.  

Click here to Get your Granola Bar Valentines

Click here to get your Hogwart's House Valentines.

From Lost to Found {a book review}

It was a beautiful morning.  My surroundings looked like the mountains, but my nose smelled the fresh, salty sea air.  I sat in my cushioned chair, a delicious lavender latte in hand, listening the story of this sweet new friend.  She shared her hurts, her pain, her struggles and although my story wasn't the same, her story resonated deep within. 

Nicole Zasowski is a wife, mom, and marriage and family therapist. I was so lucky to meet Nicole at our Women's retreat last Spring.  She is just the sweetest!  If we didn't live on two sides of the country, I would probably want to sit down and get to know her more over a warm latte at the local coffee shop! This month, her first book made it's debut, and sweet friends. . . It's a good one! her book, From Lost to Found, shares the story of her and her husband's cross country move and her struggles and hurts during that time.  A big part of her story has to do with the heartbreak of multiple miscarriages.  She so beautifully intertwines to gospel and the promises that Christ gives us as pours out her story for us. 

Her story is not one I want to give away, because I really want you to read this book. But, I will share a little glimpse of how her story intertwined with mine. Something I have always struggled with is my calling.  I feel like it changes with each season and those passions and desires that awaken during those seasons. Sometimes, it can be very discouraging when things don't happen in the timely matter I sometimes think they should (I can be very impatient).  This past fall, I was leading a Bible Study that just struggled.  We were trying something new and it seemed like those closest to me were the only ones really excited about my vision for the study.  It struggled so much that sometimes I wondered if this was what God really wanted me to be doing.  It was so easy to look at my accomplishments and measure my worth based on the results or who showed up.  This left me feeling like a failure and start questioning my calling.  Nicole, so wisely states, "the problem with medicating our pain with performance is that we are only as valuable as our last accomplishment." What wise words.  I keep coming back to this chapter because it really challenged me to rethink some of those thoughts that were sabotaging me being used by God in the way that he wanted to use me.

I really encourage you go to out and pick up your own copy and read this book. (or you can be like me and click here and add it to your Amazon cart)  Nicole has a gift of sharing her story in way that brings you in.  You can easily read this book in one sitting, although I encourage you to take your time and let it soak in.  Underline and highlight.  Maybe even take some time to journal.  Let  her story minister to your soul.  You won't regret it! 


You can follow Nicole on instagram here.

You can listen to her on the Jamie Ivey Podcast her