on homemade whole wheat flax muffins...

I've been experimenting with muffin recipes lately. I wanted to create a muffin that was low in calories but high in protein and also low in sugar. I know what you're saying to yourself…What kind of muffin is that?! But for me, I wanted to find a perfect muffin that I can grab and go when I start school. I'll be waking up early and so I've been thinking up different breakfast goodies I can make ahead of time. This morning I tried out a recipe that I sort of put together with all the ingredients that I had hoped to be able to use and it worked out! And they are delicious!

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup flax seeds
1 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz apple sauce

Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Prepare a muffin pan with liners, or by lightly greasing each well baking spray. In a large bowl, lightly whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger.

2. Whisk the sour cream, honey, egg, olive oil, and vanilla extract together in a separate small bowl. Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in this liquid mixture. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to gently but firmly fold the ingredients together, folding from the bottom up to make sure all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Stop as soon as the mixture comes together; do not over mix. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until barely golden on top.

3. Enjoy with jam, butter or whipped honey! Yum!! 

xoxo.

on 2/52...

“a portrait of us, once a week, every week, in 2014.”

Sebastian// Smile Sebastian. "Like this mom?" Yes. Yes. That will do. 
Me// Spontaneous shot on the board walk. My favorite of the bunch. Funny how that works.
Bobby// Playing his new ESP, late Christmas gift from me

xoxo.

on white bean & chicken sausage chili...

It feels like forever since I've posted a recipe on here so when I was cooking away in the kitchen yesterday I got a bit excited thinking this would be a nice thing to share!
I made quick and easy White Bean & Chicken Sausage Chili along with Homemade Honey Cornbread! Try it out this weekend for dinner.

White Bean & Chicken Sausage Chili

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 large clove garlic, minced
2 sticks celery, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
1 (15.5 oz) can great northern beans
1 (15.5 oz) can pinto beans
1/2 pound chicken sausage, casing removed
2 (14 oz) cans diced tomato with green pepper & onion
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dry oregano
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a large skillet add olive oil. Remove chicken sausage meat from the casings and add into skillet. Break up meat with potato masher or wooden spoon until meat is in bits.

2. Add onion, garlic and celery. Next, add chili powder, paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano to the meat and stir.  Cook everything together until the meat has browned and the vegetables are tender.

3. Lastly, add canned beans, diced tomatoes and chicken broth. Simmer chili on low for 30 minutes to allow it to thicken up! I used my potato masher before to mash some of the beans up inside the chili to help thicken it a little.

4. Serve with chopped cilantro, shredded cheese of chose and also some sour cream! Oh and don't forget to make cornbread. I can't eat chili without a slice of it!

Honey Cornbread

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup buttermilk (make it like I did!) 
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup honey
1/2 stick butter, melted
2 eggs

Directions:
preheat oven to 375

1. Combine both flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar and salt.

2. In a separate bowl combine buttermilk, honey, melted butter and egg. Whisk ingredients together well.

3. Add wet ingredients into the dry and stir together so that everything is combined but do not over mix. Pour batter into a 8x8 greased pan and bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden and tested with a toothpick. Or use a muffin tin to make little individual cornbreads!

Enjoy!

on a theme word...

I was gifted a really great workbook for Christmas and fell in love with the thoughts that author Leonie Dawson implanted into my brain. It's a fabulous tool to map out goals and dreams for the new year and also takes it a step further and helps to plan things to achieve in your business (if you have one). One of the things she has you think about is a theme word for the year (or a sacred word which is how she describes it!). 

It didn't take long for me to come up with my word. Growth. I knew that this year I want to grow. In so many ways. I hope to grow as a person. I want to grow in taking care of my body. I want to grow in my passions and focus on myself more often. I want to grow as a mother and learn what it means to be a mother and more about what kind of mother I want to be. I yearn to help Sebastian grow. Guide him to be the best, to learn and achieve all the good that he has in him. I want to grow as a wife. I want to be more patient and more open. I want to lift Bobby up and be a cheerleader to all his wants and dreams even if he doesn't think he can make them happen! I want to grow and mold into the person I see when I close my eyes.

I want to grow into my faults, not just know them, but overcome them. We never stop growing but I know now that I want to grow more than ever. I will never be perfect but I want to try to be! Not only do I want to grow but I want to help others grow. I want to see people in my life be the best that they can be. Inspire and encourage them to understand that they don't have to succumb to person they think they need to be. You never have to be that person just because, you chose to be. There's never ever anyone forcing you to be who you are, you can be what you want to be in this life.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I hate seeing people give up and keep living just because they don't seem to want or now how to grow. Doesn't matter who you are, how old you are or what has happened to you in the past. I believe we can all rise up to ourselves and grow to be a better version of ourselves. To be happy and whole and love ourselves and for others to love us in return.

Growth is my theme word and it's not only my theme word for this year but for the rest of my life. I hope to always grow and learn about myself.

What is your theme word for the year? I could pick so many!!

on 1/52...

“a portrait of us, once a week, every week, in 2014.”

Sebastian// a devilish grin showing every ounce of his personality!
Me// sitting in my favorite chair with beautiful natural light while reading a really great book. 
Bobby// getting his snowboard boots ready for a trip to the mountains on Sunday. 

ps: these are from last week due to technical difficulties I post them now! 

xx.

on goals for the new year...

(My father and I our first Christmas in Seattle circa 1989)

Happy New Years Eve! I'm excited for tonight because the fella and I are heading over to bring in the new year with some people we have not yet been able to spend time with since our move. I really can't wait to catch up, stay up and have fun. Around this time it's always good to reflect on the year that's behind us. Think about all the good things, all the things we can work on and all the things to look forward to ahead. I'm a huge goal maker. I love making goals for the New Year. I always tend to set way too many and sometimes they seem like they aren't very feasible but it doesn't really bother me. To me it's about looking forward to something and to work at it. I like challenging myself, it's what makes me keep going.

This past year as been huge for my family and I. We accomplished something that wasn't just a simple task but something that was huge and difficult and exciting. We moved to the West Coast. We are basically starting over, for most people that would be scary but for us it's thrilling! The second accomplishment was a personal one that's silently been a goal for many years now and just this past year I completed it. I worked very hard and lost twenty-five unwanted pounds! I'm back to a weight that I most feel comfortable in and it's been such a rewarding feel to have made it happen! Here are all of small & some big goals for 2014…

★ Read 30 books. It's going to be a busy year but I really wanted to set a reading goal so that I can stay motivated! I love reading but it's hard to balance everything and still make time to read a few books a month. My hardest problem is taking on books that have a million pages that take me a million years to read because I tend to pick them up at the worst times possible. Oh! And even though I have a fantastic Kindle I hope to purchase more "real" books and also blog more about what I've read!

★ Build things (with my dad!) I'll be taking advantage of living with my dad! He has so many tools and gadgets and of course he knows how to do everything. I've had so many projects in mind for our future home! I'm not kidding when I tell you I have a folder right on the desktop of my Mac that has at least a dozen DIY projects that I've been dreaming about building! Now that my dad's literally right here he can teach me and guide me with building. I'm super excited about it. Here's a project I'd like to build and you'll understand why!

★ Learn a song on my banjo. I was gifted a banjo for my birthday and since then I've been practicing chords and conditioning my fingers to move around but haven't really learned a song. So that my friends is something I need to accomplish.

★ 52 weeks of photography. I was inspired by James from Bleubird Vintage Blog with her beautiful 52 project of her children. I would love to take a photo of each of us once a week for a year and then combine all the photos into a coffee table book. This way I can work on my photography and put together something special to remember our first year in Washington!

★ Get my motorcycle license! I learned how to ride a motorcycle in high school and even had a dirt bike up until I moved to Philadelphia. My father recently just purchased a BMW motorcycle and kept his '83 Yamaha Virago 500 to pass down to me! I want to get my license and cruise around with my bike. I would eventually love to take a trip just me and dad on our motorcycles to Yellowstone National Park.

★ Camping. I grew up camping every summer and I want to start to make camping a part of something we do every year. I love roughing it out in the woods, cooking everything over a campfire and shore fishing with worms on the hook. I want to teach Sebastian how to appreciate the outdoors and learn that there's more out there that meets the eye. So many adventure to be had!

★ Rough draft of my novel. For those of you who already know I've been in the process of writing a fantasy novel. I really would love to slowly but surely work on finishing a rough draft by the end of this year. It's been my dream to write a book! Even though I'm not out to become rich and famous it's more something I want to check off my bucket list. Wish me luck!

★ Toni and Guy annual photographic awards. I finally get to start cosmetology school February 4th! Woohoo! Toni and Guy holds a nation wide photographic competition that allows you to face off on a more artistic level with students all around the USA, something I am dying to be a part of! Can't wait to start my hair styling career.

Well, those are my goals. Here's to the New Year!!

xoxo.

on some favorites in 2013...

The year is coming to an end. I always like looking back at all that I've posted within this year and reflect on my favorite things. Here is a round up some of my favorite posts, recipes and memories!

Favorite posts...
on some messy thoughts
on body modification
on a beautiful sunrise
on a girls date

Favorite recipes…
on spinach artichoke melts
on cocoa crusted pork chops
on skillet chicken with honey dill chipotle glaze
on twice baked tex-mex sweet potatoes

Favorite desserts…
on blueberry cornmeal cake
on ultimate french toast
on the best pumpkin bread

Favorite dressings…
on Asian ginger dressing
on cilantro lime dressing 

My two favorite hairstyles in 2013! 

This year has been a very hard trying year. It was very emotional leaving Philadelphia but we are more than happy to be on our new journey here in Poulsbo Washington! Huge thanks to my wonderful husband for working so hard to make all of it possible. For being willing to leave his family behind and come to my home. For my Schuler family for helping us before we moved and opening their home to us. For my father for flying out to west coast and driving across the country with Bobby and also to all who gave encouragement and supported us. We made so many memories this past year that we will be cherishing dearly!