Nut Butter Muffins

A week ago our family started the Paleolithic diet. It’s not really a diet, more of a lifestyle change for us. Jeremy and I both have known that we don’t do well of grains and he doesn’t do well on dairy. We don’t drink milk so really the only dairy we have is cheese on occasion and eggs {which you can have on the paleo diet}. We have loved the results! We have both lost some weight and just feel less slugish in general. I’ve been at a loss for breakfast ideas. We both will eat eggs but he normally eats a meat with them and I’m not a huge meat-for-breakfast-kind of person. I made these yesterday and OH.MY.GOSH I felt like I was cheating and eating some yummy pastry. They are amazing anyway but I ate one fresh out of the oven while it was still warm….incredible! The original recipe came from a friend of a friend, but my friend Cindy blogged the recipe here. I took the original recipe and used a over-ripe banana instead of honey {since we aren’t eating any sweetners} and added about a 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips. Those are a gray area on the paleo diet so we {more I} will eat an occasional dark chocolate piece in moderation. They would be good without the chocolate and my friend Cindy said she has added pumpkin puree too. That’s on my list to try next! I also want to try applesauce instead of a banana to sweeten it some and maybe raisins instead of chocolate chips…oh the possibilities are endless!!

Nut Butter Muffins {Grain Free}

1 cup of Nut Butter {I used Almond Butter..we buy it at Costco}

1/4 cup Honey {I used a over ripe banana}

2 Eggs

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice {I used lemon juice}

Chocolate Chips {optional…or anything your heart desires to add}

Combine nut butter, sweetner, eggs and baking soda. Mix well then add vinagar/lemon juice and chocolate chips if desired and mix well. Put into greased muffin tins. I used large muffin tins and mine only made 9 muffins. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or when a insterted toothpick comes out clean. 

Grab a cup of coffee and make these for breakfast {or anytime for that matter} and enjoy! You won’t regret it…in fact you just might get hooked on them like I have!

All Things Hair

I owe you a follow-up to my no-poo journey. Well, it’s over. It was just that, a journey and I ended it. I told myself when I started that I would give it 6 weeks and if I wasn’t sold at that point I would go back to shampoo. 6 weeks came and went and I never got that “magic and amazing” hair that I’ve heard people get at the end of that time. It was extra work for me to prepare everything and well lets be honest, my hair doesn’t get styled and finished everyday at this stage of life. So having greasy hair in a knot on my head wasn’t an attractive look for me. You may have tried it and had a totally different experience. I hope so! I’ve decided that for me, I’m going to spend my time and energy eliminating toxins in other areas of our lives and stick to my toxic-chemical-amazing shampoo. Go ahead crunchy friends and judge away. I found myself using my no-shampoo wash then getting out of the shower and putting chemical ridden mouse, root lifter and then finished with hair spray on my hair. Ha! I made myself laugh at that routine. Kind of counterproductive don’t ya think? 

I’m committing for 30 days to style my hair everyday. Some of those days a style might be a cute ponytail but I’m committing to putting effort into it. I have the time I just choose not to some days. I’m tired of feeling tired and drab looking and styling my hair is one thing I can do to feel fresh on a daily basis. Who wants to join me in this challenge? I know my husband will enjoy this challenge! ;-) I got about a foot of hair cut off this last weekend and am now learning to style a new hairstyle for me. I’m loving that it took me FIVE minutes to blow dry my hair. FIVE minutes people! I could never get it dry in less than 20 minutes before. Here is a corny mirror picture of my freshly styled hair!

 If you plan to join me in this challenge comment and let me know! Some times it just takes 5 minutes of our day to do something that will refresh us and brighten our days!

 

Why We’ve Chosen To Be Weird

We live in a apartment. There you have it. It’s out there now. We have 2 young children and we live in a second story apartment. Not because my husband doesn’t make enough to buy a house or because we can’t qualify for a mortgage. When Jeremy and I got married we decided to rent for our first 3-5 years of marriage and be in a good financial postion before we bought a house. When we got married Jeremy owned a house that was meant to be used as an investment property and ended up just being a financial burden mostly. We didn’t want to do that again. Next house we owned we wanted to be prepared for in the best way we could. In comes our friend Dave Ramsey, you may have heard of him. He is kind of well known in the finacial world. We took a Financial Peace Course and knew right away this was the way we wanted to manage our money. I got a cute red ”Ramsey” wallet and often get comments about my cash system in public. We decided to make some weird decisions and started living on a strict budget and saving everything else. We started our way through the Ramsey baby steps and have since taken the class several times. We’ve paid off some debt we accumulated from the previous house I mentioned and have been able to save for our “one day” house. That “one day” seems to be approaching fast! We are house hunting! It seems sureal to me. We are looking at houses and one will be ours! We are being “weird” in our house hunting too. We have chosen to take out a 15 year mortgage and put down as much as possible on the house. So we aren’t looking at anything fancy. Most likely it will need some updates…did I mention my husband has a background in construction? There isn’t anything the man can’t do! We are giddy excited for this new adventure.

Along the way I’ve struggled with what others may think of us. I’ve gotten those looks that people give you, you know the “I feel sorry for you cause you can’t afford a house” look. I’ve had to put my trust {yet again} in God for this area. I’ve worked to make our apartments home and be grateful for the things we will miss, like 24 maintenace service, low utility bills, no yard care and all the other perks of renting. Yet, at the same time I can’t wait to work in my flower beds, to have space to move my furniture around sometimes and to personalize our space to “us”. Our patio and poor carpet have handled the abuse well. Our patio is forever stained with chalk and paint and our carpet has the proof that we have no backyard to eat messy snacks or drinks in. We’ve built memories that will last forever. I’m so proud of my husband, he has worked hard to support our family and not just stopped at what was required. Don’t get me wrong we aren’t perfect and we’ve been known to blow our budget from time to time but we always get back on track and try to keep the bigger picture in mind. We’ve loved naming our money, we know where it goes every month and there is no guilt in spending cash on a haircut or a new outfit if its in the cash envelope. We have no debt hanging over our heads. If we have a special purchase or splurge we want we have to save for it. We have avoided many purchases that way. It’s amazing how when you have to put the cash aside and you see it being put aside how much less you want that new toy! We feel like we are doing what God has asked of us. No guilt or pressure if this is not your siuation, just be encouraged. The steps are small. Lots of small steps all together will make huge strides.

I’ll keep you posted on our journey. I’d love to hear about your journey? How do you cut costs in everday expenses?

Momma Went To Work

This week one morning Ava got up and I was getting ready for the day and Jeremy had just gotten showered and Ava came in and said “Daddy go to work”, as she asks most mornings. Jeremy said “no, daddy is gonna stay home today!”, Ava got all excited and then asked me if I was going “bye-bye”. I responded that yes, I was, in fact I was “going to work”. I took a doula client that I really clicked with a decided to use it as trial run with having 2 kids. I had done some birth since Ava was born but hadn’t done any since having 2 kids. We got all our arrangements made for the day and I was off, pump in hand and thankfully the hospital was close so Jeremy brought Stella up to nurse a couple of times. It ended up being a long birth and I arrived home 18 hours later.

While I was gone I got texts like this….telling me my sweet baby woke up from a nap.

Or pictures of this..reminding me of the snuggles I was missing.

While I was there I had lots of time to think and miss my babies and husband. I realized how much I LOVE being home with my littles. I realized that I often take for granted that Momma doesn’t have to go to work. I have days where I struggle being the Mom I want to be and the thought does cross my mind that I miss going to work sometimes. Being able to turn work off and on and not have work be your life. Taking a doula client every couple of months is good for me, it reminds me of whats important. I LOVE birth and being able to support families at such an exciting time in their life. I feel so honored to be able to be a part of a miracle occurring. I don’t take lightly that my clients trust and value my opinion and advice. But I can’t describe how excited I am to drive home at 3am, take a shower, scoop my baby up, nurse her and snuggle to sleep with her by my side. It’s all about balance people! Today we have done lots of snuggling and kissing. I just can’t seem to get enough of my babies today and they really seem to feel the same way about there Momma.

I’m going to work harder to be in the moments that life brings. I don’t want to miss anything by wishing I was someplace else or doing something else. I don’t want to survive but strive in this season. I sure love my life! I mean really what job do you get to snuggle babies who are hours hold and then come home and snuggle your own?!?!

My Favorite Things

Today is my incredible Mother’s birthday! It’s not often that you can say your Mother is a hero and a best friend, but she is both of those to me. I’m honored to call her my Mom. My Mom is a beautiful woman inside and out. She is one of the hardest workers I know and such an example to me of a praying mother and wife. She loves me for who I am and encourages all of us kids to find our identity in Christ alone. She loves my Dad and isn’t ashamed to let the world know. My Mom takes care of her self and has taught me so much about health and nutrition. We get asked if we are sister’s more often than not! She loves and adores my children like they are her own. She has been my biggest cheerleader in this journey of parenthood, a shoulder to cry on and says the encouraging words I need to hear. She tells it like it is and doesn’t sugar coat things. She is continually working to help me succeed. She is the most selfless person I know.

Four years ago today, August 4th, Jeremy Tallo flew down from NY to surprise me and ask me to be his wife. My Mom was by biggest support in this crazy roller coaster of a relationship I started 4 years and 9 months ago with the man I now call my husband. She told me at one point if I changed my mind and decided not to marry him she might make me, cause she liked him for me. She was my voice of reason when I was a heap of “in love emotions”. She helped me plan my dream wedding and made sure every detail came off perfectly! I thought I was going to dinner with my Dad, he dropped me off to go “park” and drove away. I went in to find Jeremy waiting for me. He immediately got down on 1 knee and told me how much he loved me then asked me to be his wife. He put a gorgeous ring on my finger and we celebrated the fact that 3 1/2 months later we would be married! A choice I have never once regretted.

I love this day! Thinking about it brings a smile to my face. Here is to my Momma who I adore and hope to like when I “grow up” and to my husband, the man who won my heart and whom I dearly love. You both mean the world to me!

My No-Poo Journey

In a conversation that my husband and I were having I made a comment about not being crazy and his response was “you are crazy…you don’t wash your hair or wear deodorant.” Neither of those are true, just some of the way true! I have given up shampoo though. Here are a couple of reasons why I’ve decided to ditch the poo.

:: I work hard to eliminate chemicals from anything we use in our house and normal shampoo is full of them

:: Yes, there are lots of natural shampoos that have cleaner ingredients but who wants to spend big bucks on something that isn’t a must like that

::While shampoo is good it is a cleaner and will strip your hair of the good and the bad. Stripping your hair that often can leave it dry and /or in a unnatural state.

Before you decide to never come in contact with me or my hair again, I am cleaning it just in a non-conventional way. I did some online research and several big hair people are talking about the benefits of no-pooing. I followed this blog for general instructions and adapted it to work for me. I have a TON of hair and it is thick and a little wavy so I was skeptical that this would work for me. I only wash my hair every 2-3 days anyway because washing it daily dries it out and is just frankly too much work!

Here is what the process look likes for me so far, I “wash” it with a couple of tablespoons of baking soda mixed with about a cup of water. I’m not exact with my measurements just enough to mix well. I put those together in a squirt bottle and soak my scalp then massage the rest of my hair into it. I rinse it like normal. To condition it I use Apple Cidar Vinager. Again I dilute it in a squirt bottle and soak my scalp, massage, leave in a few minutes then rinse. My hair does smell like ACV but it goes away once it dries.

In the next couple weeks I hope to try some deep conditioning treatments and a sugar scrub for my scalp. I’ll keep you posted on those!

Have you ever tried going “no-poo”? What was your experience?

Happy Birthday Ava Caroline!

My sweet Ava turned 2 this week! This little girl lights up a room when she walks in, she doesn’t miss a beat and keeps us all on our toes. She is such a little mommy and is ALWAYS right there to help when little sister makes a noise. I could not imagine loving someone as much as I love my babies and that love just continues to grow! Ava is always a girl on a mission which keeps this momma on her toes. She loves to sing and can carry on a conversation like a pro. Reading books is a favorite pastime of  hers and she is always asking to draw with a pen and notepad. She is a little fashionista and most days designs her own outfits all the way from the bow to the shoes.

Mommy, Daddy and Stella sure love you Ava! I am excited to watch you grow and see all that God has in store for your future. I know its gonna be something big! I’m SO grateful God chose me to be your Mommy!

{If your new to this blog and want to read Ava’s birth story you can check it out here on my old blog.}