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A Pilates Holiday, Healthy Travel Hacks, and Roasted Red Pepper and Pesto Frittata Muffins
One of my absolute favorite things about living in Europe has been the ability to travel so conveniently and frequently! We have been taking advantage of every opportunity possible to go new places while we live in Ireland – visiting many of the big bucket list cities like Paris, London, Rome, Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, and Madrid as well as many other amazing, but slightly less obvious excursions such as Edinburgh, Bavaria, Ephesus/Kudasi, Belfast and more. And I travel not only for fun, but also for business once or twice a month to meet with clients all around Europe. And this weekend, I am beyond excited to be headed to London…
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Simplicity, Minimalism and Cashew Dijon Salmon
Simplicity. Albert Einstein is credited with once saying that “everything should be made as simple as possible, but no more simpler.” Or perhaps a more direct, and certainly a more commonly known, principle is – “KISS: keep it simple, stupid,” as articulated by the U.S. Navy. The concept highlights the fact that most procedures and systems are best executed if they are simple as opposed to unnecessarily complex. Although the immediate thought is usually DUH, this can be a bit more elusive that it seems that it should be. It does appear that some people are very good at keeping things simple in terms of the clarity in their thoughts…
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A Summer Snack – Lemon Pie Bliss Balls
It is funny how a little perspective can change things oh-so-much. All my life I have lived in places which experience all four seasons. We always had abysmal winters with blizzards, snow (in one year – over 116 inches, an all time record in Boston), and ice. As someone who does not enjoy the cold or any cold weather activities, this was something that I could have definitely just gone without. But on either side of winter were spring and fall, both considerably better than what was sandwiched between. Spring had its fair share of rainy days, but at the end of you could count on some sunshine and beautiful…
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Whole30 Spaghetti Squash & Meatballs with Spicy Cashew Cream
Living abroad for the past year and a half has had some pretty substantial ups and downs. Ultimately, it has been a fantastic adventure and one that I never expected to have as an adult with a “big girl job” and a serious relationship. While living here, we have had the opportunity to visit 13 different countries (for fun!) thus far, some multiple times. I have had the opportunity to gain international business experience working with some notable clients and live out my dream of becoming a barre instructor in the best little studio ever. I have had the opportunity to meet some pretty awesome people, hear some crazy accents…
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A Savory Breakfast to Satisfy All Tastebuds: Blackberry Sage Turkey Sausages
Families are fascinating. I love seeing and hearing about all the ways that people who share not only blood, but also a roof over their heads (for a great proportion of their lives at least), the same parents, and even often the same educational system and community affiliations can be SO INCREDIBLY DIFFERENT from one another. It is clear why the either/or question of nature versus nurture is less than comprehensive and why the complex relationship between the two is one not easily understood. Although often you can see distinctive patterns or similarities, nearly every family I know of seems to be comprised of very unique members; each serving his…
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Reconciling “Health Halos” with Whole30 Granola and Coconut Yogurt
One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how just how powerful positioning can be to shape our views, perspectives and understanding of something. Most, if not all, people are aware of the fact that the media and advertisers usually take a distinctive slant to satisfy their own agenda, for better or worse. However, if you really stop to think about why we think the way we think about nearly everything, you will find a myriad of messages that we have heard or seen throughout our various experiences and interactions which influence us, our beliefs, and our decisions more than one might initially assume. When I was an undergrad,…
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Chicken and Waffles Are SO Fetch!
Yes. I do realize that I missed the height of the chicken and waffles trend by a few years with this one, buuuuut this version is so tasty that I think it is worth revisiting. It’s savory, it’s easy (but interesting enough to impress dinner guests), and it’s totally Paleo and Whole30 friendly – essentially it’s comfort food at its finest. Besides, who doesn’t know that what quite often what’s old is new again. And it’s true that everything does come back into style eventually. That’s the funny thing about trends. Nearly everything I thought was new or cool growing up was something that my mom had already “been there…
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A Classic Revamped :: Paleo Mashed Potatoes
When my husband and I started dating, we were a few months into our relationship around Thanksgiving. I had already met his mother, but aside from that, Turkey Day was to be the first time to meet the rest of his family – which.is.EXTENSIVE. His mother is one of 7, who have all married and have children and now many of the children have grown up to be married and have children of their own. Altogether this event would include 2 grandparents, Jon’s mother, father, brother, 4 aunts, 4 uncles, 16 cousins, 7 second cousins, 2 close family friends, and a partridge in a pear tree (please note – there were…
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Chocolate Hemp Protein Bars Worthy of the “Superfood” Title
I have always loved words. Vocabulary and semantics have intrigued me for as long as I can remember. As a little girl, I was a voracious reader and spend a lot of my free time journaling or writing stories. I was someone who never dreaded a research or writing assignment in school and approached nearly every such project with absolute fervor (I unfortunately cannot say the same was true for pre-calculus which was nearly the death of both me and my poor mother who had to resurrect the what-I-would-consider-useless information from the cobwebs of her high school days to help me barely survive the semester). Fast forward to today, while…
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The Perfect Party Dish… Squeaky Clean Spinach and Artichoke Dip!
It seems to be me that almost everyone has that one party trick that they can pull out to impress, or at least amuse, a crowd, if and when necessary. Some people can balance a coin on a dollar bill or solve a Rubik’s cube in two moves or walk on their hands for nearly 30 minutes continuously. Alas, I do not believe I have been blessed with any such dazzling skills. Similarly it seems that almost everyone has that one recipe that they can count on when a “bring a dish to share” occasion arises. And this one I do have covered. Historically, this was always my spinach and artichoke dip.…
