What I Ate Wednesday: Lettuce Wraps for Weight Loss

Lately my dinner BFF is lettuce wraps.  They are healthy, light, and totally adaptable to whatever you want them to be!  They can be gluten free, paleo, vegan, vegetarian, no carb, etc!  You can't get a better dinner than that!  Honestly I make them a lot because my hubby and kids are eating homemade tacos and in me trying to be good, I try to do without the nachos and tortillas!  Even though I am missing out a little, in the moment I am completely fine with it because these are so delicious.

The lettuce wraps shown above are my version of buffalo tacos from dinner one night.
Ingredients:
Romaine Lettuce
Buffalo Chicken (shredded chicken/hot sauce)
Jalapenos
Bleu Cheese Crumbles
Shredded Carrots
Blackbeans
Red Onions
Homemade Guacamole (not shown)

Just last week we had tacos again and I used all the ingredients to make my lettuce wraps.  Again they were so good and filling and I didn't feel like I was missing out.
Ingredients:
Butter Lettuce
Cherry Tomatoes
Red Onions
Green Onions
Corn
Seasoned Ground Turkey
Shredded Carrots
Salsa
Lime Wedges
Homemade Guacamole

So am I the only Mom that gets super excited when her kids are excited about eating veggies?  This past Saturday my kids went to a free cooking class for kids at Williams-Sonoma (check your local store for details).  I was very pleased that the recipe was to make lettuce wraps.  The kids enjoyed learning how to make the wraps and even requested to make them at home.  Little Georgee (six years old) even had seconds and he acts like he is allergic to vegetables!  He asked for me to make him some in his lunchbox one day!  I was definitely over joyed! Triple fists pumps to Williams-Sonoma!

All in all lettuce wraps are great for the whole family.  You can easily adapt (tacos, burgers/sliders, buffalo chicken, tofu, etc.) them to whatever you have in mind to eat.  They are great to aide in weight loss because they are no carbs!  All you are eating is protein and lots of veggies, and those are some of the keys to weight loss!  Fill up on lots of lean protein and vegetables!

Tasty Tuesday: Family Snack Basket

It's time for a Tasty Tuesday Snack Attack!!!!!!!

Is it just my house where the question of the day is always, "Can we have a snack"?  My kids seem to only function on snacks all day.  I mean 2 seconds after they have completed a meal they are asking for a snack!  Now that they are in school all day, as soon as they come home they run to get a snack...as if they haven't just had one before they left school.

Knowing that snacks will always be the topic of conversation, I try to have healthy options readily available.  Now not all of our snacks are 100% healthy, but they are better options than what they could be having.  We also keep cut up fruits and veggies in the fridge, along with greek yogurt for them to chose from.

I have found it easiest to keep all the pantry snacks in a cute basket.  Yes I needed an excuse to buy another cute basket...shhhhh don't tell my husband!  I keep the basket at their level on a lower shelf in the pantry.  It's packed with Mom approved snacks, so I don't mind what they get out of it.

Ross is of course my favorite store on earth! I mean what don't they have!  I purchased this basket from Ross for the price above.  I purchased this basket like over a year ago, so please tell me why I still have the price tag on it?  For this blog post of course!

The cool thing about this snack basket is that it's not just for the kids, there are goodies in it for Mom and Dad as well!  My husband is always reaching in there to grab things to take to work.  Sometimes the kids get mad that he has taken some of their favorites.  He and my daughter fight over the almonds!  I don't buy all of these at once but just keep replacing favorites whenever I grocery shop.

Nuts are great for protein!  Now of course the health nuts out there will say make sure they are plain and raw! Yes we have those too for Mommy in a bigger container, but we have a motto in our house that everything is fine in moderation.

These fruit snacks and raisins are a few of the house faves.  I portion out the yogurt raisins in little ziploc bags ready to be grabbed.

These are a few more faves!  All of these can easily be thrown into the kids' lunchboxes for their school lunches as well!  I'm all about organized, quick and easy.


#mommytips #snackbasket #kidssnacks #snacks #lunchboxideas #Ross

Makeover Monday: My Favorite Lippie!

If you have been following me for awhile then you know that I am no make up artist! I don't know much about make up at all! I am still a work in progress.  I do have some favorites that I have been trying out.

I am all about the natural neutral face! Probably because it's the easiest for me to do.  I don't play with too many colors.  I often feel that with my lack of experience I will end up looking like a clown!  I have been looking for a nude lippie for the longest, but didn't have much luck.  I hit the jackpot when I found this Revlon Pink Cognito 820 at a drug store for less than $7 I'm sure (I'm cheap).

I love that this lippie is a pinkish nude!  It compliments a neutral face so well!  I wear this one on a daily basis and on lunch dates with my Hubby!  My Hubby isn't into a full make up face, so this color works perfectly!  Thanks Revlon for continuing to make great colors!

#lippie #lipstick #Revlon #MOTD #LOTD #neutral face #naturalface

How To Get Your Kids To Eat More Vegetables!

Is it just my kids that act like they are allergic to vegetables or anything remotely healthy?  In my house this is crazy because the only option is healthy foods.  Everyday I have to fight with them about eating healthy.  I am constantly wondering why does it have to be a fight considering this is what and how we eat on a daily basis.  By talking to other Moms I just realize that kids will be kids.  They want to assert their independence and authority, so one of the few things they can do that with is what they are eating.  Let's face it Moms, we can't MAKE our kids eat anything!  We can influence them, provide them with healthy options, and...yes bribe them! I will admit that I have gone to the extreme a few times and said, "Okay if you eat all your string beans I will give you a dollar".  String beans gone in an instant!

In reading lots of Mom blogs and parenting websites, I realized that kids like to have options.  So I decided to do a once a week salad bar for dinner.  It takes the guess work out of what to have for dinner for at least one day during the week, and it's super healthy with no fighting!

Let's start out with lettuce of course!  I think most of us grew up thinking (and still thinking) that if we ate a huge salad with iceberg lettuce, that we were being really healthy.  As I have aged, I have learned that iceberg lettuce does not have much nutritional value.  Now I love it in my salads still, but it's not the main event!  I like to use organic spring mix or a kale and baby spinach mix of lettuce.  The greener the better!  I put the lettuce in it's own big bowl, and surprisingly I rarely have leftovers of it.  I am shocked each time after dinner being slightly upset not to have lettuce for my lunch the next day, but super happy that my kids ate lots of salad without being bribed!

Now for the main purpose of this post, cut up lots of vegetables!  I cut up any and everything in my refrigerator and freezer! I'm all about an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink kind of salad!  I always try to incorporate new fruits and vegetables for them to try in their salads.  Pictured above was peas, carrots, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, apples, cucumbers, mushrooms, and red onions.  The rule is that in addition to the lettuce they have to choose at least two vegetables to go into their salads.  They always choose more because they like trying to make their salads look as creative as possible.

The favorite is of course the meats!  The rule for the meat is that if you want more meat in your salad, you have to add more veggies!  They usually do.  I like to give them a variety to try in their salads.  In the picture above we have boiled eggs, turkey pepperoni, grated cheese, buffalo chicken, and deli turkey.

Once all the ingredients are prepped, I put them on the table so that the kids are free to pick and choose what they want throughout dinner.  I also add bread or a dinner roll with the meal.

Gracee is usually good about eating salads that I make on the regular at dinner.  She is actually excited to eat salad when we do this.  She even skips the salad dressing and only uses red wine vinaigrette.  She is usually the one that wants thirds on salad when we have the salad bar!

It takes a lot to get Georgee to eat his vegetables and even his fruit.  He is always asking for seconds on something and I always have to remind him to eat all his fruit or vegetables first.  When we have the salad bar I don't have to remind him.  He is eager to try new things in his salad, and cool with putting more veggies in because he likes his meats!

I am thankful that my hubby is not allergic to all things healthy because he loves salad bar night as well!  He just needs lots of meat in his to keep him full.

All in all this idea is a win win!  It's kid (and husband) tested, mother approved!  Try it out tonight!

Makeover Monday: Purple Grey Nails

Okay it's not Monday, but I couldn't wait to share!!

So it's been months since I last did my nails.  I usually look forward to a Sunday night nail pampering routine to help me get started for the week.  Every Sunday I would set out my nail kit in hopes of motivating me to get my nail life!  I would even go as far as clipping and filing my nails, but never painting them. I even took the time out to create cute designs on Gracee's nails, but still not painting my own at least one solid color.  I think I get in a rut most of us Moms fall into, and that's constantly neglecting ourselves.  We don't take the time to treat ourselves nice...even with something as simple as painting our nails!

As you can see from the picture...my nails got laid hunty! It took me coming home from an awful travel experience from my Thanksgiving vacation to finally do my nails.  After a week and half vacation of chipped, uneven, ratchet nails and toes...I had to get it right and get it tight!

The first thing I did (was laundry...but besides that) when I was able to sit in my bed was my nails! I told myself it was going to be my first priority...no ifs, ands, or buts about it!  I am happy that I did it because I already feel pretty! Sometimes a Mama just need a little something to make her feel pretty.

I recently purchased this Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear in the color #330 Grey Area.  I love that it's a purple grey. The dark color is stylish and perfect for the cold weather months!

Mommies...I challenge you to do something nice for yourself very very soon!