While celebrating Christmas with my mom's extended family, I noticed a neat thing my cousin Amy did. In her kitchen, she displayed a napkin from her and her husband's, Jon, wedding. She displayed it in a cute picture frame that matched the colors of their kitchen. It was actually the perfect place for their napkin based on its surroundings and such. I thought it was such a cute idea, I decided to copy it. Check out my copy below.
My mom and I visited Beaches and Cream for the very first time on our trip in January. Brad and I visited the to-go counter back in December and bought a milkshake and an ice cream cone. Because of this visit in December, I came home and found dinner reservations for mom and me. The food smelled and looked delicious from our brief walk inside. So I really wanted to give this restaurant a try. I planned it on the day we were already visiting Epcot so that we could just walk over. It worked out perfectly because we were able to take a bus from the Beach Club to Disney Springs for some shopping. Check out our pictures and review below:
Previous to Brad's diabetes diagnosis, we made a lot of casseroles. And not that he can't have casseroles, but most were carb heavy. I ran across this dish on Pinterest. The pictures below do not do it justice. This wasn't a one dish meal, however, but it was pretty close to it. I do believe I served this along side some mashed potatoes or another carb. But the chicken portion is very protein heavy with the bacon, cheese, and chicken. And the broccoli added a nice touch of green!
When mom and I went to Disney in January, one of the new places we tried was Yak and Yeti Food Cafe. It is located in Animal Kingdom near Kali River Rapids. We rarely spend a whole lot of time in Animal Kingdom. Because of that, we rarely eat at any quick service or table service restaurants. And if we do, it is usually the same place...Pizzafari. Because we wanted to do Flight of Passage, we went on the time and day I could get a Fastpass for it. So we ended up being at Animal Kingdom at dinner. Yak and Yeti has always been a restaurant I wanted to try, but I wasn't sure we would have time for table service. So we opted for the quick service version. Check out my review below!
Brad and I have been Costco members since we were engaged. We joined to buy some of the things we needed for our wedding. We continued to be members because we purchased most of our meats and bulkier items there. Well recently the yearly membership fee went up, and we started to question whether we should make the move to Sam's Club. I loved Costco so much, but it was becoming more expensive for us. Plus it was located on the far end of town, so we had to make a special effort to go there. Sam's Club is much more centrally located. The nail on the coffin for Costco was a coupon book we purchased from a neighbor's child. It contained a coupon for a Sam's Club membership. For joining, you received a $15 gift card. And membership was already cheaper than Costco. So the combo was too much of a deal to pass up. Our philosophy was that we could re-join Costco next year if we hate Sam's.
In an effort to continue to find low carb food for Brad, I came up with these ham, egg, and cheese cups. I have seen similar recipes before, but I kind of just went out on a whim with this one, ha! These were easy to make on Sunday, and Brad took them to work for breakfast during the week. He would eat 2-3 at a time. He seemed to enjoy them. I am not a huge fan of ham, so these were not for me. Brad however is a huge ham fan!
My mom and I just returned from our annual trip to Disney World to celebrate my birthday. This was the last of my birthday celebrations for the year, so it was a great one to end on! I already wrote all about the planning that was involved, so now I want to fill you in on how the trip actually went! Below is day four - Monday, January 29th!
My mom and I just returned from our annual trip to Disney World to celebrate my birthday. This was the last of my birthday celebrations for the year, so it was a great one to end on! I already wrote all about the planning that was involved, so now I want to fill you in on how the trip actually went! Below is day three - Sunday, January 28th!
Mexican is such an easy type of food for us to quickly throw together for dinner. We tend to eat Mexican at least once, if not twice, a week. Ironically, Brad isn't a huge fan of Mexican food. He definitely tolerates it more when I cook it at home vs. going out, but it is still not his favorite. I wanted to try and and figure out a different take on Mexican, so I came up with chicken taco salad. Nothing too fancy, but it was different enough. It was really good, and I prefer it over beef taco salad.
My mom and I just returned from our annual trip to Disney World to celebrate my birthday. This was the last of my birthday celebrations for the year, so it was a great one to end on! I already wrote all about the planning that was involved, so now I want to fill you in on how the trip actually went! Below is day two - Saturday, January 27th!
My mom and I just returned from our annual trip to Disney World to celebrate my birthday. This was the last of my birthday celebrations for the year, so it was a great one to end on! I already wrote all about the planning that was involved, so now I want to fill you in on how the trip actually went! Below is day one - Friday, January 26th!
Brad loves regular patty melts, so when I ran across this recipe for breakfast patty melts, I knew I had to try them. They are not ideal during the week because they are a little time consuming to make. There is also nothing healthy about these, but they are oh so good!
Brad was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes back in December. He was basically told that he needed to eat more frequently (and better, of course) to better maintain his blood sugar. We were able to adjust to this during December because he was off of work for most of the month. However, when he went back to work, it turned out to be a huge adjustment. We found our method for packing his lunches that we used in the past would not work. It was very last minute and unorganized for the most part. I would pack as many non-perishables as I could in his lunch box, then he would pack all the cold things the next morning. This seems easy enough, but now there was much more he needed to include. Here is what I did:
It is that time of year again when mom and I go on our annual girls' trip. We bought a Disney World Annual Pass last year, so it only made sense to do Disney again. All of the cold weather at home almost makes me wish we did a cruise, but it really didn't make much sense. Plus, I am not sure I can be away from Melody quite that long yet. Below is all of the planning that went into this year's trip!
I sort of came up with this recipe on my own. I wanted some easy cheesecake, so I researched some different quick cheesecake recipes. That is when I ran across cheesecake balls. I couldn't find a recipe I loved, so I combined a few to get what I wanted. Check it out below!
As you have probably read, we went to Disney World back in December. I wanted to do one last post that included all of the things I wrote about in regards to this particular trip. Check them out below.
Packing for Disney can be quite a challenge. The challenge becomes even more difficult when a baby/toddler is involved. I had to make quite a few lists in addition to my usual travel checklist. I wanted to share some of the packing tips/tricks/advice I have. I am certain my advice isn't perfect, but I know every little bit helps!
I was looking for some easy pasta recipes on Food Network, and I ran across this one in my search. It looked really good and fairly easy to make. Luckily it was both of those things.
In preparation for Disney, I made both Melody and Lydia happys. I give Lydia hers at our Disney Party, but I gave Melody hers the day before we left for Disney. It was actually the last thing we did for our Disney countdown.
For our trip to Disney in December, I made all of us different shirts to wear on certain days of our trip. For one day, we each one wanted to do different family shirts. In addition, we made the girls shirts to wear on another day. Check them out below.
