Red Light Special!

So there is some big news in the Hart house! Oh and no we aren't pregnant!! We actually found a table that fits our entire family and MORE! I have been searching for a cheap table and chairs for forever that would accommodate all five of us and then some. Finally this week I was able to make that happen thanks to Craigslist. I love that little piece of heaven! I would have to say that half of the furniture in our house is from there.

SO back to my table! I love this thing! I found this table and bench last week for under $50 and I immediately called the lady and told her that I wanted it. The next day we went and picked it up! The only bad thing was - it didn't come with chairs. Not a problem! I searched for kitchen chairs the following day and found four chairs for under $40. So for everything, we spent less than $85!! Here is a picture of the kids enjoying the new table.

Here are the chairs I scored off of Craigslist. The second one from the left bit the dust once I examined each one. The wood was split in several areas. I am not sure why I didn't notice it when I picked them up, but oh well! It was still a good deal!

 I used Krylon Dual spray paint for the chairs. I decided not to sand them down and I just sprayed right over the finish. My kids seem to ruin almost every kitchen table and chairs set, so I wasn't going to put too much time into these chairs. So I bought the dual paint with primer and it worked perfectly!

Here are the three finished chairs! I love love them!!!

So there they are! I love love love them! And it just so happens that the chair we had is red. Coincidence? I think not!

I kinda like the mix match feel! I am eventually gonna paint the table legs. I am not feeling the natural wood look. Not sure where I will go with those but I will keep y'all updated!!

Time To Get Real!!

So I have put some thought into this whole Insanity thing and I have decided to document it on the blog! I know not everyone is going to want to hear about this workout journey, but it will be nice to be able to look back at where I started. I did take a before pic of me but I am still debating putting up here. It may take some convincing for me to do that!

But today was my day 2 of the workout and I seriously wanted to give up. I was crying about half way through and ended up screaming because my entire body was on fire!! I have never and I mean never, had a workout that pushed me that much. No elliptical or treadmill has or will ever make me workout that hard. Not only is it a cardio workout but it is strength training as well, just with using your own body. Other accessories are not required!

Here is a beautiful picture of me after the workout! My headband was drenched and the sweat was still coming through onto my face. It was intense!!!

That is my mean face, haha! Aren't you scared? I wouldn't be!

I am mentally prepared for this journey - maybe not physically, but I will get there.

I was hanging out with one of the best today, Katy, and she told me a way she got pumped up before a workout. If she didn't have the motivation or drive she would head over to YouTube and search "Insanity results." She would sit there and watch people transform from this workout. So I am going to show you guys one of my favorites that I have seen so far. It makes you want to turn on the TV and pop the DVD in!





I am telling you! This thing works and I cant wait to see how my body changes. I am going to take measurements tonight so that I know where I was and where I will be in 65 days.

I am so excited!

Confetti Fun!

So as I was browsing Pinterest last night I came across some clean eating confetti cupcakes that looked delish! Of course, as everyone would do - I clicked it!  I had to see what these cupcakes were made of and to see if I could create them for my family.

Once I clicked it I was taken to the website known as Dashing Dish. Can I tell you that I fell in love with this website! You have to sign up for a membership to view the recipes and everything else on the website so I decided to do some searching on the web to get a few reviews and it seems that I am not the only one who loves it. The membership is based on whatever you want to give. So you get to decide how much this website is worth to you!

Here are the cupcakes!

Picture from Dashingdish.com

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup - old fashioned oats or 1 1/4 cup oat flour
1/2 cup - plain or vanilla protein powder or an additional 1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup - baking Stevia or 1 cup of sweetener of your choice
2 tsp - baking powder
1/2 tsp - baking soda
1/2 - salt
1 tsp - almond extract
1 tsp - butter extract or vanilla extract
1/2 cup - applesauce
1/2 cup - plain non-fat Greek yogurt
3 -  large white eggs
1/4 cup - unsweetened almond milk
2 tbs - rainbow sprinkles (optional)
1 (8oz) container light whipped topping (optional)

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 375 and line muffin pan with liners and spray
- Blend everything (except sprinkles and whipped topping) in a blender or food processor until batter is smooth. Stir in sprinkles if desired.
- Pour into liners and bake for 18-20 minutes. Let them cool completely and then top with whipped topping and remaining sprinkles. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Recipe from Dashingdish.com

My goal is to make these for this coming weekend!!! I will let you know how they turn out. But honestly if you are looking for a website that has some amazing recipes as well as "clean" recipes, this is the place to go! Donating some $$ once a month is worth getting some amazing ideas! I hope that you check it out. Go to www.dashingdish.com

A Side Of Honey Please

So last nights dinner was wicked awesome! I mean I hate to toot my own horn, TOOT TOOT!

Doesn't that look amazing??? Here is the recipe for you guys.

Honey Bourbon Chicken:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 cup gluten free soy sauce
• 1/4 cup gluten free ketchup
• 1 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 tablespoon red pepper flakes

Directions:

Put all ingredients into slow cooker and mix. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove chicken from slow cooker and cut into strips. In a bowl, combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water and add to crock pot with the chicken.  Stir. Cook on high for 10 to 20 minutes. 

Recipe courtesy of onceamonthmom.com

I added some green beans to a wok and sautéed them with some honey, soy sauce and sesame seed oil. They turned out awesome!  

The Green Monster!

I cannot begin to describe my excitement that I have for my garden!! This thing is seriously out of control. We thought we would start out with a small simple one, but this thing has a mind of its own. I posted a few weeks ago about our garden progress and since then it has turned into a monster! So here are a few pictures from about a month ago...

I mean it looks like a nice, calm little garden but then add another four weeks and BAM!!!!

We planted some carrots last week and they have started sprouting up!

I mean, COME ON! This thing has turned crazy. It may have something to do with the crazy weather we are having. It hasn't been too hot and we have had tons of rain so maybe that it helping the monster!!! The cucumber plants have about 20 flowers which will eventually turn into cucumbers and the squash plant has about 10 flowers! We also have our first green pepper popping up!

Now onto the tomatoes...

Also since a few weeks ago we went from one tomato to nine!!! I am so pumped for this stuff to hurry up and grow! I cant wait to eat the first thing from our own garden.

Burgers And Carrots

So Friday night before the Tropical Storm came roaring through, we made some pretty amazing burgers on the grill. Neither my husband and I are huge fans of blue cheese but we decided that we would try it out. And boy it did not disappoint!!

It was absolutely amazing! Oh and those carrots right there are maple glazed!! Oh. My. Goodness!!!

So now that I showed this yummy deliciousness, here is the recipe for both the burgers and the carrots. 

Blue Cheese Pocket Burgers: Recipes from The Chew

Ingredients:

2 lbs of lean hamburger meat or really any meat of your choice.

1 cup of blue cheese crumbles

1 tbsp of cumin

1 tsp of pepper

1 tsp of salt

Directions:

1. Take the hamburger and pound into 1/4 inch thick patties and season each patty with cumin, pepper, and salt. 

2. Put about a tablespoon of blue cheese on half of the patties and then take the other half of the patties and cover the blue cheese covered patties. Firmly press the edges to make sure the blue cheese doesn't come out from the sides. 

3. Grill and eat!

Maple Glazed Carrots: Whole Food Market Cookbook

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 cinnamon stick or a tbsp (or to taste) of cinnamon

1/4 cup orange juice

2 oranges, peeled, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1 lb carrots cut into 1 inch pieces

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Place the syrup, cinnamon, orange juice, and oranges in a pot and bring to a simmer.

2. Stir together the water and the cornstarch in a bowl, mix until smooth.

3. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the maple glaze and then continue to simmer over low heart for 30 to 45 minutes, until thickened. Cool glaze.

4. Boil carrots until firm-tender.

5. Combine the carrots, maple glaze, salt and pepper. Serve immediately!

I hope that you all enjoy this as much as my family did! It is the simple recipes that we all love the most.  

Get Your Juicing On!

Ok so first I want to apologize for slacking on the blog a bit. We have some house guests this week so things are a little off schedule. 

So over the past couple of weeks my sister has been juicing and she is loving it! I have given it some thought, but debated putting in the money to purchase a juicer and then not like it at all. But I must say that if my "picky eater" sister likes it - then I know I will (love ya sis!). 

I have been searching the web for some great juice recipes and this one website I found is fan-freakin-tastic!!! It is www.juicerecipes.com. They have recipes for weight loss, health benefits, and health conditions. Everything for everyone!!! Just reading the success stories on there made me even more excited!

Here are a few of the recipes that I found on that website! All credit goes to juicerecipes.com

Mean Green:

Ingredients

• Apples (granny smith) - 2 medium (3" dia)

• Celery - 4 stalk, large (11"-12" long)

• Cucumber - 1 cucumber (8-1/4")

• Ginger - 1 thumb (1" dia)

• Kale - 6 leaf (8-12")

• Lemon - 1/2 fruit (2-3/8" dia)

Green Lemonade:

Ingredients

• Apples - 2 medium (3" dia)

• Cucumber - 1 cucumber (8-1/4")

• Kale - 4 leaf (8-12")

• Lemon - 1 fruit (2-1/8" dia)

• Spinach - 2 cup

Green Breakfast:

Ingredients

• Apples (green) - 2 medium (3" dia)

• Carrots - 3 medium

• Cucumber - 1 cucumber (8-1/4")

• Grapes (green) - 15 grape

• Pepper (sweet green) - 1 medium (approx 2-3/4" long, 2-1/2" dia)

• Spinach - 2 cup

• Tomato - 1 medium whole (2-3/5" dia)

I am so excited!!! Oh and on this website they put all the health benefits in with each recipe! It is pretty sweet! 

I have also been researching some books on Amazon to purchase about juicing. I love the Web but there is something about having that recipe book in hand. So here is what I found...'

The reviews on this book were amazing! I mean of course you are going to have the ones that always have something bad to say, but this book pretty much has everything you need to know about juicing and some awesome recipes!

Um so the best thing about this book is...its FREE!!! It is 26 pages long with juice recipes and information. I checked out the reviews and they seem pretty good. I mean what else can I say but free!!! It is a Kindle Edition and they also have linkable videos to watch. That's a win win in my book!

This one is available in the Kindle edition as well as paperback. The Kindle one is only $7.99!! Love it! The reviews on this book again were amazing. It really makes it difficult to pick which one to grab. 

Oh and I must say this life style change is doing the Hart house some good! Our garden is growing out of control and we are still able to keep our budget down!  We have had our slips but we are no where near perfect! 

New!!

Good Monday morning to all! It is a little rainy here today but I am excited to start a new week. I wanted to let you know that I have added some new patterned pillows to my Etsy shop this morning!

I am so excited to expand my inventory in the shop! It feels good to get another pattern in there for everyone to see. For my blog readers I am giving y'all a chance to save a little bit of $$ with a new discount code!

To get...

off, use the coupon code: NEW25

This code is only available until June 15th so don't wait!!