Thursday, March 28, 2013

Lemon Loaf with Lemon Glaze {Grain Free}



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I've been healing over ISU's heartbreaking loss Sunday to Ohio State. Some commentators said we should've won the game with a foul not called with just a few minutes left in the game that would've turned things around. I was stunned the game ended the way it did (by a last minute second 3-point shot made (get this - it was his first 3 point of the game)) to break the tie and let Ohio State take the win. If you're an ISU fan, I'm sure you're with me. It was a tough loss, but it's still awesome we made it to the "big dance" two years in a row :)   

Overall, I appreciate ISU's coaches and the things they've done for our teams and for our guys. With Coaches Hoiberg and Rhoads (just to name a few), we have a lot to be proud of and a bright future to look forward to. Moving onto a tasty treat that helped mend my wounds;) this week.

Delicious Lemon Loaf with a Lemon Glaze
Recipe from Primally Inspired

The ingredients in this lemon loaf are great and many on her site compare this to Starbuck's lemon loaf - and this is MUCH healthier. I was really impressed by how moist this is. It's almost like jello cake it's so moist. If you like this type of thing, you have to try this recipe. 
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Makes 1 loaf

Loaf Ingredients:

6 eggs

¼ cup coconut oil or butter, melted

Zest from 2 lemons (I just bought 1 lemon and used the juice from the little lemon juice containers)

juice from 2 lemons plus enough milk of choice (coconut milk from can or box, dairy milk, almond milk, etc.) to equal 1 cup*

1/3 cup honey

2/3 cup coconut flour (do NOT substitute another flour – it will not work. I used Bob's Red Mill coconut flower)

1 heaping teaspoon baking soda

¼ tsp salt

This grater was my "zester" as I don't have one:) 
Lemon Glaze:

2 T butter or coconut oil

2 T honey

2 T milk of choice

zest and juice from 1 lemon (since I didn't have any more zest for this step, I used some of the fresh lemon pulp I had)

½ tsp pure vanilla extract


DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine all the lemon bread ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Pour into a greased bread pan and bake for 32-45 minutes (mine was perfect at the 35 minute mark, but it may take up to 45 minutes) or until golden on top and middle is cooked through. If the top starts to get too brown towards the end of the cooking time, put some foil over the top. Let cool.

To make the lemon glaze:

While the lemon loaf is cooking, mix all glaze ingredients together in a small pot over low heat until it starts to simmer (I like easy, so I did this in the microwave and it worked just fine!). Remove from heat and let sit to cool until the lemon loaf is finished cooking and cooling. Pour the glaze all over the top of the loaf. Refrigerate the loaf at least 30 minutes – 1 hour until both the glaze and the loaf firms up a bit. Enjoy! Store leftovers refrigerator.

If you do not feel like making the glaze, you can skip this step (although, I highly recommend taking the few extra minutes and making it – that glaze is so good!). You just need to add the following glaze ingredients directly to the lemon bread mix: honey, lemon zest and juice, and vanilla.

*Juice your 2 lemons and pour the lemon juice in a 1 cup measuring cup. Add enough milk to the lemon juice until you reach 1 cup.




Her lemon loaf is clearly more photogenic than mine ;) but it was delicious and I'll definitely be making this tasty treat again! 


If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that my week didn't start off very well. I woke up with a stiff, very achy neck and a doozy headache on Monday. I couldn't get rid of the neck pain all day and the headache went up and down in intensity throughout the day. Thankfully (and amazingly), I woke up feeling much better Tuesday morning. 



Tuesday, I had physical therapy which is going well. I continue to learn new things and learned a "belly finger stretch" sounds great, eh? Haha, my stomach area is always so tight, so she digs into my mid section to basically stretch it out as she thinks it could basically be pulling everything down. 

That could cause my poor upper posture, headaches, neck-aches, etc. This is her theory, so we're testing it out and getting that area stretched out. She thinks IBS is the cause of that tightness. We'll see, but I'm always in learning mode when I go there, they see things so differently from my previous PTs. 

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Raise your hands if you're ready for spring. I am! This picture inspired me this week. It looks so warm, cozy, and just dreamy. 

Thank the Lord tomorrow is Friday! Whooo! And it's supposed to be close to 50 degrees tomorrow! I hope it's warm where you are too (Dad, I already know it's warm where you are- he loves to remind me:)).


Today's Spring-Inspired Pinspiration:

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Sunday, March 24, 2013

Summer Dreamin' & Smoothies

I opened the Netflix this week and was excited to see Nick picked The Lucky One for us to watch this weekend! He knows me well and I was excited to see this one since I read the book a few summers back. Not all of Nicholas Sparks' books turned movies get great reviews, but I'm a hopeful romantic and it's fun to see the movie after reading the books.
Watching this movie took me right back to the place I read the book - my mom's sun room the summer after I graduated college. 

Nick was living in Fort Worth with his first "big job" out of college while I was dreaming of the day we could be husband and wife (he proposed the following year;)). I spent that summer reading nearly all of the Nicholas Sparks books and swooning and swaying in love. I would get home from work each warm summer day, and hit the couch in the sun room, excited to see what happened next in my book. 


The Lucky One
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Some weekends, I'd take my book and join my mom fishing and lay in the sun reading my book. 

Summer 2008
This movie took me back to that place and made me realize how many of my dreams have come true since then. Marrying my love, traveling and exploring together, waking up side by side, and learning more about who we were made to be. That summer just about convinced me to be a small town librarian. Haha, so many of his books draw up such sweet pictures of cozy life in a small town, one was about a woman working at the library and the way he wrote it just about led me in a new career direction;) laugh if you must, but I swoon for romance. 

I enjoyed the movie, although I was quick to tell Nick which parts were very different than the book. The music was great, just my style too. 

This cold long winter has me longing for those sunny summer days too. It will come, hopefully sooner than later:)

Here's a song I've loved for a few years that was in the movie. I've been singing it ...a lot... since then:


This morning, we had his and hers smoothies for breakfast (this made two smoothies):

1 frozen Banana
5 ice cubes
Handful gluten free oats
1 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp chia seeds
4 baby carrots
Handful chopped celery
A variety of frozen fruit (strawberries, blueberries, pineapple)
1/4 cup or so prune juice (keepin' things regular;))
1/2 cup or so almond milk

I also got my hair cut yesterday and it feels wonderful.

Now it's back to watching ISU vs. Ohio State in March Madness! Go Cyclones!

Today's Pinspiration:
At the salon yesterday, there was a great Audrey Hepburn table book. This quote is from that book.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Southwestern Chicken & Rice Skillet & Extra Inspiration


If you're a follower of Iowa Girl Eats, you're probably as excited as I am about her baby announcement (see her announcement post from last Friday here)! I excitedly told Nick and he was a bit less impressed with the news than I was;) You know how it is though when you follow a blog for years and feel like you KNOW them, that kind of announcement is big news! Anyway, I was excitedly checking back for the gender reveal and am excited for them to hear they're having a boy! 

Speaking of Iowa Girl Eats, this is a recipe I made from her blog recently. It was easy to whip together and I enjoyed it! I'd definitely make it again.

Southwestern Chicken & Rice Skillet
Recipe adapted from Iowa Girl Eats




Ingredients:
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1lb chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 onion, chopped
2 teaspoons taco seasoning - I made my own using this recipe (add salt if using a salt-free blend) 
1 cup frozen corn kernels, slightly thawed (I had some frozen mixed vegetables so used those)
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup salsa
1 cup long grain white rice (mine was brown rice; Iowa Girl Eats used jasmine)
Directions: 
Heat oil in a very large skillet over high heat. Add chicken and onion then season with taco seasoning and salt, if necessary. Sauté for 2-3 minutes – chicken does not need to be cooked all the way through.
Add corn, beans, salsa, and chicken broth to the skillet then bring to a boil. Stir in rice then place a lid on top, turn heat down to medium-low, and simmer for 15 minutes. Let sit off the heat for 5 minutes before serving.
I love easy meals for weeknights that include "easy" ingredients I usually keep on hand! 

What are your top favorite blogs to keep updated on? 

I have many (including some personal friends I check regularly), but here are a few public blogs I love!
Kelly's Korner: Her kids are so cute, I admire her love for the Lord, and her sweet southern charm.
In this Wonderful Life: Her twins are absolutely adorable, I like to go there even just to see what outfits they wore most recently:) Too much cuteness there!
Enjoying the Small Things: Kelle is such a talented writer, her writing, photography, and her girls are beautiful.
Iowa Girl Eats (of course): She went to my high school (though I didn't know her), so it's fun to follow her and she also helps keep me in the loop with Des Moines happenings, and they used to live in Minneapolis so we have all kinds of connections!
Young House Love: They're funny, full of DIY ideas, and are good inspiration for home decorating.
O My Family: This young mom is so real and honest about her days, I just love it. She also lives in Minneapolis which is fun! 

I follow some other foodie blogs too, but I need to find some good gluten free/dairy free ones - most of the ones I've loved for so long don't have as many recipes for the foods I eat now. If anyone has wondered where my time goes (...hi honey:)...), there are quite a few other blogs I like to keep up with, but it does get time consuming! I skip over posts from time to time, but really do enjoy them.
Today's Pinspiration:

I have been finding lots of inspiring quotes lately, so I'll share some of them with you. I post many of these through Instagram, but just in case you can use the extra inspiration today. 











Have a great rest of the weekend! 

Saturday, March 9, 2013

My Favorite Things #2

There are many things I've been loving lately, I thought I'd share a few. To see my previous Favorite Things post (or a photo of me wearing my Snuggie - still one of my top favorites!), click here. All of those things are still my favorites by the way! 

Breakfast shakes
Recipes on this recent post.  I eat them every day and am loving it.

Lip tint/shimmers
Paraben free, all from Target. I wear 'em daily!
My purse holder
It's from Pier 1 and folds up nicely to fit in my purse, and unfolds to nicely keep my purse off the floor as we go out. I get so many compliments/comments on it! 


My new makeup regimen (thanks, mom!)

I love these colors and they're all paraben free! They go in sets of 3 by the way, the top three colors are the the natural smoky look, the middle three are nice and a deeper smoky look and the bottom three are more dramatic. They come in sets for your eye color! My mom got it at Ulta. I love it and alternate which sets I use each day.
Here's my current makeup array - it's all paraben free, and everything but the eye liner is Physicians Formula. I order the foundation and powder online.
I had never used liquid eye liner before, but my mom found this brand at Ulta that is paraben free! It's easy to apply and it doesn't leave smudges below my eye that always frustrated me. I thought it was just my eye - it was the crayon type eye liner I had been using! This stuff is great.
Before: I had two colors of paraben free eye shadow for the past year (and really only liked one of the colors, light pink:


After: included my new smoky eye makeup from my mom - I love having so many options now! 

 Close up for ya - it's surprisingly easy to create the smoky eye effect. 

Our fresh springy decor
After finally packing up our Christmas stuff a few weeks ago (I know... at I least I had taken it down, but still needed to get it out of the living room and packed away), I finally got our living room decor back to normal and am loving the freshness of it. 


 Before:

After:


March
I try to soak up each season, but this winter seemed longer and more difficult than most. I welcome Spring! 
An understanding boss on days I don't feel well 
Like yesterday for example, when my migraine was so harsh and sensitive, I wore sunglasses (received many great comments by the way:)) for the half of the day I was at the office (then I went home as it got worse)).

Having the energy to do some baking lately
These are snickerdoodles I made last weekend (recipe here, I made them dairy and gluten free), I've also made ...3... batches of the delicious brownie cups lately - two batches to bring to work and one batch to take to Amber last weekend as we surprised her for her baby shower in Omaha. 


 Attending a baby shower for our nephew, Hank Joshua!
We can officially announce his name and are SO excited to love on this baby boy (due next month!). PS, how cute is Amber's baby bump?! 
Relaxing PJ weekends at home
Nick did our big shopping trip of the month on his own today to let me rest. Seriously, could I have a better hubby? He tops all of my "favorite" lists automatically by the way. 

Today's Pinspiration:
From Instagram, I'm not sure who to give credit for this photo, but is so very true. 

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