I vow to help you love life, to always hold you with tenderness and to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed and to share the silence when they are not and to live within the warmth of your heart and always call it home.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Paleo Kale Chips

We've been craving some salt & vinegar chips big time in our household, so we decided to try something new to help the craving. Kale Chips!

Ingredients:
1 x bunch of kale
Sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil
White vinegar (we used apple cider vinegar)

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray baking pan with non-stick spray
3. Tear kale leaves into about 2 inch pieces (they do shrink a bit when they bake). Toss kale pieces in a bowl with olive oil/vinegar. I didn't measure out the amount, sorry! I just ensured the leaves were coated on each side with oil/vinegar. Make sure the oil has coated the leaf or it won't crisp up, it will just steam.
4. Lay the leaves out of the pan in a single layer, sprinkle salt on each leaf and bake for 6 minutes, then turn the leaves over, sprinkle  more salt and bake again for 6 minutes!




They're delicious! For storage we're trying them in a Tupperware box in our cabinet. Not sure if they'll stay crispy or not.

Best things about these little guys is that they beat chips by a long shot!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Paleo Breakfast Muffins

My husband, myself and best friends of ours are finally giving this paleo thing a shot. If you're not familiar with it don't worry, I'm not an expert either. My husband has done some research and it's really about getting back to the basics. You get rid of all the processed foods, additives and basically "eat like a caveman". What does that mean?

Vegetables, fruits, almond milk, meat, nuts, no legumes, no breads, no sugars, no soda and the list goes on...

We're doing some meal prepping for the week and tried these delicious puppies out for breakfast!

Paleo Protein Muffins

Ingredients:
12 eggs
7 strips turkey bacon
1/8 cup green onion
1 cup chopped kale leaves

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk 12 eggs together and distribute into greased muffin pan. Add kales, onions and bacon then stir it up a bit. Pop into oven for 20-25 minutes. Done!



Each muffin for us yielded: 175 calories, 25g fat, 30g protein.

We'll pair this with a piece of fruit and a glass of almond milk! So far paleo isn't looking too bad!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Perfect Day on 30A

This weekend we wanted to spend a day on 30A. 30A is a scenic detour off the main highway 98 with little perfect beach communities every 5 miles or so. These communities have the perfectly designed/painted beach houses, cute shops and restaurants. We started at Rosemary Beach and rented bikes, then rode 8 miles down to Seaside.

Seaside

I snuck us into a private beach access gate! 





I never really rode bikes a lot before I moved to Florida, but since we've been here this is quickly becoming a new favorite past-time of ours. The ride was gorgeous and took about 45 minutes. After that we parked our bikes in Seaside and grabbed lunch, shopped, explored and soaked in some sunshine on the beach.






We found a fresh water pond nearby


Old-fashioned coke break


The colors of the water are amazing here.

The husband has skills!

Water not quite warm enough for bathing suites yet, but we still took advantage and laid out.


Perfect Day.

I know when I'm taking enough pictures because I get this face, "Really Andie!?" 
We ended the day with a happy hour find of local beer and fresh oysters, and then on our 8 mile ride back we caught the sunset.






Our days together on the beach are numbered, so we're blowing off the chores and bumming on the beach as much as we can until then!

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

DIY Raised Garden Bed

I've never been amazing with plants. In fact, the one plant I have that has survived over 5 moves is a plastic ficus I bought at Hobby Lobby. I'm not letting that stop me. Within the 2-3 years, my husband and I have really changed our lifestyle and introduced many more vegetables, fruits and less processed foods into our daily regime. We've always talked about doing our own garden, but just never have been in one place long enough to start one. My mother always tended a small vegetable garden when I was growing up, and I miss the feeling of eating what you've grown. Well with the help of Pinterest, Lowe's and Google we decided to start our own.

Supplies:

(3) 6ft x 1ft boards (cut one in half)
22 cubic feet of gardening soil (about 10 big bags)
cardboard
various seeds/seedlings

My husband nailed the boards together to form the box first.


Then we laid it where we wanted in the backyard and placed a layer of cardboard on the bottom first. The cardboard is biodegradable and keeps the weeds/grass out.


Then the filling and compacting starts.





Next comes the sowing! We had a huge thunderstorm roll in the afternoon we set this up, so we had to plant the seeds/seedlings the following day. This is what we're planting:





When it came to the planting part, we just followed the directions on the back of the seed packets on how deep/far apart to bury them. Green thumbs unite and we have a vegetable garden!


What we really loved about the idea of a raised garden bed is that it isn't dependent on the soil you have where you live. The start-up cost for us was a little over $100. Next year we'll only have to buy the seeds and maybe a little soil so the cost will be minimal. Now let's see if we can grow our own food! Can't get much greener than that.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Florida Caverns State Park

We decided for a day trip north to Florida Caverns State Park. If you're ever in the area, we recommend making a half day of it at least. The main attraction that drew us there were the caverns. This is the only park in Florida that offers cave tours to the public. The whole tour took about a hour, and it cost $5/adult. The guide was so knowledgeable about the history and geology of the site.

http://www.floridastateparks.org/floridacaverns/

Opening to the cave



Here we go!





The ceiling full of stalactites 


Afterwards, we hit some of the trails the park had to offer, and even found a little cave of our own. We also stumbled upon a very cool marsh, different then anything we've seen before. This park had an equestrian campsite, a natural swimming hole, and a river that you could rent canoes/kayaks to use. We may do a lot of outside exploring, but nature never ceases to amaze us or bore us. We always find something new.

The trails were gorgeous

Caught this sweet moment between my boys

Zeus's turn for spelunking 

Family selfie