Happy Valentine's Day

As I have said before, Valentine's Day is about more than being in a relationship. It is about showing all of your loved ones how much they mean to you!

However, today marks 1 month until mine and Dave's wedding. Whoa! So to make today special I am going crazy with hearts and anything red and pink! To top it off, I have tried to keep it as healthy as possible (with a few splurges). Afterall, I have a tight dress and a honeymoon bikini to rock in 1 month!

This morning I surprised D with breakfast in bed. Which means I get to eat in bed too...score! I used this Perfect Fit recipe from the makers of Tone It Up for the cinnamon rolls. I had never made them before but I can say they are delicious. I promise you won't miss the sugar high from a traditional cinnamon roll :) To make the heart shape simple roll each end of your cinnamon roll "strips" toward each other to meet in the middle. I topped ours with a little vanilla greek yogurt and served with a side of homemade chocolate covered strawberries. There were mimosas too off course (do you know me?!).

For lunch we are having Michael Symon's Beet and Goat Cheese Raviolis. Hello, they are PINK! Perfect for Valentine's Day!! I loved that he used wonton wrappers for these so I didn't have to make homemade pasta dough. Don't get me wrong, I am the kind of crazy to make my own, but I just wasn't feeling it. Since I was using more indulgent ingredients I try to make the best of them so I am using locally sourced goat cheese and butter. I will be serving these with extra goat cheese drizzled with local honey and chives and with some baguette slices. Bread is not evil if it is a treat :) This lunch is more of a splurge meal, but it is all in moderation. You can have treats if you are eating well the other 95% of the time! It is all about balance, people!

I hope you are feeling the love today whether you are showing yourself some love or receiving it from someone else. You are loved by me!

xoxo,

Brittany

Pancakes

Who doesn't love these fluffy discs of love? I followed this recipe basic pancake recipe from Martha Stewart, but I used whole wheat flour and added a touch of almond extract. I LOVE almond and think it adds a nice finish. Serve with butter, organic maple syrup, fruit and any other favorite toppings!

Snow Days and Homemade Marshmallows

It is pretty rare that our school district will close school based on the weather, but when they do our office takes their lead and closes as well. Although I am home today and working I couldn't help indulging in some hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows.  That is what snow days are for, right?!

For a skinny hot chocolate:

             1 1/3 cup almond milk

             2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder

             1 TBS chocolate protein powder

             2-3 tsp coconut sugar

Heat almond milk in saucepan over medium heat. Whisk cocoa powder and protein and sugar. When warm, pour into your favorite mug!

If you are craving a more decadent hot chocolate, go with this recipe.

hint: I wouldn't judge you if you added a little Rum Chata or Bailey's to your mug as well ;)

Stay warm!

xoxo,

Brittany

Life via the Camera Roll--plus a recipe!

Ah, life gets a bit busy sometimes, huh? I promise I am not ignoring any lovely readers out there! I am still trying to learn the ropes and get my feet wet. Isn't that what new journeys are about?! Comment and let me know what you guys would like to hear about :)

Here are a few things that sum up my past week!

I decorated for Valentine's Day! I love this lighthearted holiday full of red, pink, and hearts. It isn't 100% finished and I have some crafts up my sleeve to share!

Who doesn't enjoy a glass of wine with your besties? #winenot?

This is one of my little snuggle-muffins, Shorty. He's adorable and not the only time he will make an appearance on Bright Eyed and Bushy Kaled! Doesn't he look so peaceful? :)

We booked our honeymoon and got our passports! We are thrilled to head to Couples Resort: Swept Away in Negril. Dreaming about it already!

Now that we have booked the honeymoon it is SERIOUS tone up/slim down time! Above is a portobello fajita served with some black beans. Delish and fiance approved. Recipe below!

Portobello Fajitas with Mango Salsa

Makes 4 servings

Gather up:

      4 portobello caps

      1 red bell pepper, sliced in long, thin strips

      1/2 onion, sliced in thin strips

      1 TBS coconut oil

      8 large lettuce leaves

      1 avocado, sliced

Marinade:

     1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

     2 Tablespoons olive or grapeseed oil

     1 lemon squeezed

     1 lime squeezed

     pinch of sea salt

Mango Salsa

      1 mango, peeled and diced

      1 tomato, diced

      1/2 onion, finely chopped

      1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

      1 Jalapeno (optional...take out seeds to make it let spicy)

      Cilantro, chopped

     1 tsp cayenne pepper

     1 tsp black pepper

     1 lime squeezed

Step 1: Wash your mushrooms and remove the stems. Place these in a 9 X13 or similar size baking dish

Step 2: Mix all marinade ingredients together in a small bowl and then brush marinade liberally on both sides of the mushrooms. Put extra on the underside of the mushroom cap--that is where they absorb the most flavor! Save any extra marinade for later.  Put the lid on your baking dish or wrap in plastic wrap and allow the mushrooms to marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour (I did mine overnight since I prepped these during my Sunday meal prep!)

Step 3: While mushrooms are marinating chop up all salsa ingredients and stir together. Allow these flavors to marry in the fridge as well. 

(TIME SAVING TIP: I used some leftover pico from taco night instead of chopping a tomato, onion, and cilantro! Then added the remaining ingredients) 

Step 4: When you are ready to cook, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Next, heat coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place all 4 mushroom caps on the skillet, cover, and let cook for 5 minutes on each side. After they are finished cooking in the skillet, move the mushrooms back to your baking dish, brush with extra marinade and bake for 5 more minutes.

Step 5: While the mushrooms are baking, sauté your onion and bell pepper in the skillet you just cooked your mushrooms. 

Step 6: Slice mushroom caps and place in a lettuce leaf then top with the mango salsa, avocado, and sautéed onion and bell pepper. Serve with black beans! Enjoy your healthy meal!

XOXO,

Brittany

New Year's Resolution #1: Meal Prep

Who else falls into the "I had a long day, I don't want to cook, lets eat out" cycle? We do! And we usually don't pick healthy options and it also costs us way more money than if we just ate at home. So, to kick of the New Year right I did a healthy grocery haul complete with a meal plan and meal prep!

I have always been pretty good about meal planning. I have followed the Tone It Up  exercise and nutrition plan for a few years now. If you see on my instagram posts tagged like #tiuteam or #tiuapproved that is what I am referring to. There is a HUGE  Tone It Up community of supportive women out there in the social media world. Check out Tone It Up if you have time and I'll do a more extensive post on them in the future. I have a bit of an obsession :)  ANYWAY, I bring them up because most of my recipes from this week are theirs!

So to start off my week I always sit down and meal plan and make my list. I usually use the chart from this post by Eat Yourself Skinny. It allows me to include my workout plan (which Tone It Up posts every Sunday!) to make my "health schedule" visible at a glance.

Then I make my list and head to the grocery store and leave with a cart looking like this:

Love seeing it full of healthy colors!

When I get home I throw on my cute apron. It makes the food taste better. :)

Then I like to gather my ingredients per recipe in little piles. Of course some recipes will share ingredients, but this at least cuts time from constantly going back to the pantry.

Then I dig in! You can either start my chopping up everything you will need all at once and then going back into the recipes or you can work through one by one. I tend to work through each recipe one at a time.

After just a couple hours I had:

Tone It Up Black Bean Soup It is a crockpot recipe so I just went ahead and put it in the crock and into the fridge. Now I just have to pull it out and turn it on!

I also prepared their Hearty Mushroom Soup by chopping all my veggies and placing them in a gallon size freezer bag.

(It's snowing outside and apparently soups sounded delish to me when I planned!)

Here is a Baked Mexican Brown Rice side to go with either some tacos or a chicken breast later this week. I prepped all the way to the baking part. I will do that the night we want to eat it!

Shrimp tacos are so easy by tossing some raw shrimp with chili powder and olive oil in a freezer bag. I'll just throw them in a skillet and cook through. Then the toppings are really no prep if you just pull out some greek yogurt (my sub for sour cream) some lettuce, salsa, and avocado!

I got a whole chicken that will cook in the crockpot. I did all the veggie chopping (carrots, celery, onion) and lemon juicing now and put it in a freezer bag. Now I just dump it all into the crock with some veggie broth and go!

Finally I did some quinoa and veggie enchiladas. So much simpler to pull them out of the fridge and into the oven!

Even though this does take a couple hours in one shot I feel it saves me some stress and money later. Worth it in my opinion. I always like to make meals that make great leftovers too. Another money saver. You can do meal prepping with many recipes you have in your Pinterest boards! I know we all love that site :) Feel free to follow me! The Pinterest button in the side bar will take you straight there.

I hope this simple idea sparked some inspiration! I am sure there are a lot of busy bees out there. Let's try to make at least one part of our week easier on ourselves!  What are some of your favorite recipes??

xoxo,
Brittany