Wrapping Up Week 2 in Columbus

We're just finishing up our second week living in Columbus, MS and we are feeling so incredibly blessed.

Side salad with mushrooms, hemp + pumpkin seeds and a dressing of EVOO + balsamic vinegar

Giada's chicken stew with added lentils

Pancakes three ways: blueberry, banana and choco peanut butter

We got connected right away with two other couples our age- one of which arrived in Columbus the same day as us. Thank the Lord for couple friends!

Chocolate vegan shakeology with all the toppings!

 Those girls I met kindly invited me to tag along with them to a wine night of other ladies in the neighborhood- can you say "Welcome to Columbus" any better than with a wine night?!

Thin crust, marinara, spinach, corn, shredded carrot, onion, Italian seasoning and a sprinkle of mozzarella

 One of those same girls (bless her!) also invited me to come to a women's Bible study this week and God really blew me away with that gift. The women in that house were more than welcoming- they treated me like one of their own and made me feel like I'd been a part of their group for months, not just minutes. I left that morning completely jazzed about what the Lord has in store for our time here.

All the fruit we had available + soy milk + chia and other seeds + a sprinkle of oats

 I've stayed busy mostly with decorating/organizing our house. It's coming together nicely, and I would tell everyone I know to come visit so I could show it off, but at the present moment we're still figuring out what there is to do around here, so I'm postponing inviting visitors until I have some concrete ideas for fun "activities" in my back pocket.

Vega One French Vanilla nutritional shake + spinach + almond milk + banana + frozen mango and peaches

 Grocery shopping takes me twice as long these days, as I'm still learning my way around the stores here. Would it make anyone else's dreams come true if every grocery store were laid out the exact same so you could always find what you were looking for?

Toast with guac + hemp seeds and toast with hummus + cucumber + sun dried tomato + nutritional yeast

I've been cooking a good bit. Unfortunately, a lot of our dinner meals lack documentation (no natural light = no good photos) but I've been throwing things together more than I've been using recipes, so there's not a ton to share there. 

Right now, all my spare time is being spent business strategizing and planning for my private practice- so look out for a big announcement related to that sometime (hopefully) soon!

Moving Our Lives (and the meals en route!)

The day finally came.

The packers and movers showed up.

And about 95% of our stuff was loaded (very efficiently and impressively) into a pretty gigantic truck...

and driven away. 

Soy latte on moving day

Being a type-A who hates to relinquish control of anything, I had to step out of the apartment for a hot second on Thursday morning. Plus, what better excuse to grab Jit Joes for the last time (imagine my eyes glistening with the ghost of my past as I write this... HP quote, if you don't get it, forgive me and move on).

Moving day!

I love a good soy latte; I get a nice dose of protein from the soy milk, it's naturally a bit sweet so I don't have to add any sweetener and it's pretty filling, so it dual functions as a warm beverage AND a snack. Bingo. More bang for my buck.

Green juice FTW (for the win)

During this time of transition where we are without all of our kitchen tools and equipment (read: I have paper plates and plastic utensils to work with) some green juices were in order! 

Egg + onion + tomato on spinach and feta bagel from Athens Bagel Company

On Saturday morning before we drove away from Athens forever to officially move to Columbus, Simon went to fly one last time and I had a super nice, quiet morning of reading, praying, reflecting and business brainstorming in downtown. 

I started with coffee at Jittery Joes (so I guess that soy latte on packing day wasn't my last Jit Joes) and read some Psalms, praying over friends and family and our upcoming transition. 

Then I made my way over to Athens Bagel Company for a bagel sandwich as recommended to me by my friend Clara. She has a great blog and an even greater Instagram. Clara went to UGA and told me she really missed this bagel shop after moving away, so I went by (first time in years I'd been there) and I was NOT disappointed. In fact, it made me regret not having frequented it more throughout the last 6 years.

BYOA (Bring Your Own Avocado)

I'm usually a breakfast at home kind of person, but I do love a good brunch or breakfast date (in this case, with myself). I usually would go for something whole grain, but on this particular occasion I was feeling fancy and opted for the spinach and feta bagel. I chose egg (for protein), tomato and onions (for some veggies) and added my own avocado for allllll the healthy fats. 

I sat and did some brainstorming for my business and then brought hubby home an egg+cheese bagel for a post-SOLO flight (this is huge!) brunch.

And then...

we were off!

Burrito bowl at Taco Mama in Tuscaloosa, AL

 After a stop-over in Marietta to say goodbye to my family, we headed out I-20 on what felt like just another road trip, but was in fact our MOVE "out west." We stopped for lunch in Tuscaloosa and after walking the sidewalks downtown for a few minutes, we happened across this joint and were so glad! Super fast service, huge variety of toppings and nice options for different proteins. They offered tacos, burritos, quesadillas, salads and burrito bowls. I got a burrito bowl with grilled flounder, cilantro lime rice, queso fresco, jalapenos, corn, onions, ancho chili slaw and pico de gallo. It was bomb!

Chocolate dipped coconut popsicle from Steel City Pops in Tuscaloosa, AL

After that quick lunch, we walked a few buildings up the street and had these delicious popsicles. We got coconut flavored and were so glad we saw the woman before us ask for hers dipped in chocolate because they didn't advertise it very obviously on their menu but it was a fantastic addition to the 'sicle.

And one last quick pic for old times sake...

King siblings- best bro and sis a girl could ask for

I'm finishing up this post from Columbus- we made it, got into our home on base and have a mountain of unpacking to do! Send all your good organizational vibes our way!

Last Eats At Our First Married Home

 This is it! It's finally moving week! Our moving day is more than just the date we change residential locations. This is the day we've been patiently anxiously awaiting for over a year. The backstory here is that my husband and I got engaged in July of 2014. In January 2015 we finally got word from the Air Force concerning which base would be his first assignment for pilot training. 

Bison burgers + krautsalat + baked sweet potato wedges

Knödel + krautsalat

Finally- we knew something. We'd be heading to Columbus, AFB and it might happen in February of 2016, but neither place nor date was set in stone. I've come to learn that everything in the military is changeable. I have a feeling my focus word for the next few years is going to be "flexibility"...

From that time in January 2015 until a few weeks ago when he finally got official orders, we have been caught in a limbo of having lives in Athens, GA but being uncertain when we would be uprooting. And that day of re-planting is finally upon us.

Smoothie bowl #1

  Vegan tropical strawberry shakeology + almond milk + frozen banana + spoonful peanut butter topped w/ banana chips, goji berries, granola and nuts galore

We have movers coming tomorrow (!!) and then we will pick up and drive away from this apartment in Athens on Saturday. 

Smoothie bowl #2

 Vegan chocolate shakeology + spinach + frozen banana + almond milk topped with more 'nola and goji berries

This apartment was our first home together and it was my husband's apartment when our relationship began. It's housed countless date nights of dinner and movies, lots of cuddling, innumerable hours in the kitchen, a few disagreements, many important conversations and plenty of good ole' "doing nothing but being together" time, all of which has nurtured our relationship and brought us up to this point.

Smoothie bowl #3

 Chocolate shakeology + coffee ice cubes + banana + almond milk + spinach topped with banana chips, granola and almond butter

Today, we've been married exactly nine months. We've traveled across the world, bought furniture, made life decisions, started jobs, ended jobs and by God's good grace, have continued to grow in love, patience, kindness and faithfulness toward each other.

Steak, mashed acorn squash and steamed broccoli

 There's no one I'd rather be starting a life in the world's best Air Force with. No one else whose passion for flying and serving our nation could convince me to transition into a life of moving every few years.

Vegetable ratatouille topped with two poached eggs and roasted potatoes on the side

So here we are. In our story, a new chapter is beginning. It's exciting, and a bit intimidating.

But mostly, exciting.

Veggie platter with hummus and leftover sweet potato "fries"

We're soaking up our last few days in the Classic City, visiting those spots we're going to miss the most, hugging the necks of some incredible friends, me throwing together the most random meals (in an attempt to empty our fridge) and my husband gladly eating anything I prepare. He's a keeper, that one.  

Look for next week's post coming to you straight from Columbus, MS!

Flying with the pilot-to-be + SUGO: a family recipe for Italian meat sauce

Hello friends! I missed my post last week, oops! We had company in town and things were busy and I let that be my excuse. The lesson learned is this: every day is a new day and whatever goals you've set for yourself are never eternally ruined just because you miss a day or overeat at a party or go for a week without exercising. Each morning that you wake up you can decide to get back on your bandwagon and meet your goals. So I'm back, still trying to get up one post per week. I hope you enjoy this one on recent eats and a special family recipe shared by my mother-in-law!

Pumpkin spice oatmeal pancakes from The Real Life RD

Oats in a jar (OIAJ)- the best way to enjoy oatmeal!

Don't throw away those empty nut butter jars. And better yet, make sure you save them when they have just a little bit left in them. Dump your hot oats in the almost-empty jar the next morning, stir all that melty, drippy nut butter into your oats and enjoy heaven in a jar! 

A Christmas gift from my mom- my new favorite brand of almond butter!

Snack at work- smashed avocado on toast

Overnight oats topped with banana and blueberries- breakfast at work

Another snack of smashed avocado on toast, topped with hemp seeds

Hers and his breakfasts- OIAJ for me and smoothie bowl for him

My mother-in-law was in town recently and we had the privilege of going flying with our favorite student pilot.

The skies were blue as blue can be, but the wind made for a tricky ride.

My pilot-to-be did fantastic and we had a very smooth ride. I was especially impressed with his landing. It's not an easy task and he handled it like a pro.

Enjoying my time back in a small plane- riding on the airlines just doesn't compare!

Two very proud ladies and a man who is thrilled to be doing what he loves

Back to the good eats:

Trader Joe's harvest bagels topped with crunchy, natural peanut butter and chia seeds + 1 orange

Now comes the best meal we've had in recent weeks. I got to cook alongside my mother-in-law who is amazing in the kitchen. This dish, my husband and I salivate just by reminiscing over memories of eating it. This is my MIL's sugo, an Italian meat sauce that is beyond delicious no matter what you serve it with. It's great with gnocchi, but this time we served it with Spaetzle.

Nothing beats this meal. The sauce starts with bacon (would be Speck if we were in Italy) cooked down for a few minutes. Then we add plenty of diced onions (and some garlic) and let that cook for a while. Next comes the meat. We splurged on some organic, grass-fed ground beef from Earth Fare. It took awhile for the beef to cook (because we used FIVE POUNDS) but after it was all nicely browned, we added the crushed tomatoes, diced carrots and seasonings. Mama Thaler said we can use pretty much whichever herbs we had on hand. I believe we used some thyme, oregano, rosemary and salt. Our tomatoes had basil in them so we didn't add any of that. Finally, the longer you can let the sauce simmer, the better. My husband recommends 2-3 hours, but we only had about an hour before our guests were coming over, and it was still fantastic. 

Next post, I'll be sharing my take on a fellow blogger's Vegan Chocolate Banana muffin recipe. It works as a healthy dessert after dinner OR breakfast OR snack. So versatile and super easy to make. Check back next week for the link!

Chocolate Chip Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffin Recipe + Recent Eats

As I start my last week of work at my current job, I'm asking God to make me thankful for giving me this job 7 months ago, to make me His servant in these last days here and to prepare my heart for what's to come in our future (read: help me be patient in waiting to hear back from the job I've applied to and make me joyful no matter the outcome). 

I hope your week also starts out with some thankfulness and mindfulness- remembering what's important and letting life's little stressors roll off your shoulders. 

Now, to share a few recent eats:

Balsamic roasted carrots, thyme mashed sweet potatoes and Slow Cooker Mustard and Maple Pork Tenderloin

 This pork recipe is from My Menu Pal; the recipe is only available to members, but they have tons of recipe linked in their blog, and their menu planning services are DEFINITELY worth checking out.

 (Disclaimer: I work for them part-time and receive a complimentary membership to their services.)

Green Curry Soup with Lentils and Freekeh

 This soup was born from a failed slow cooker green curry recipe. The recipe called for two cans of curry paste, which I thought was a lot but went for it anyway, and ended up with curried lentils + vegetables that were almost gritty there was so much curry paste all up in there. I really didn't want to be eating this for days as it was, so the next night I dumped the leftovers into a large stock pot, added chicken broth, water, more veggies (the remainder of the frozen broccoli and cauliflower) and some cooked freekeh and let it simmer away for 20 minutes or so. The result was a less gritty, much more palatable curry soup packed with veggies, protein and whole grains that I'm happy to report the hubby and I have both eaten a few more servings of and I got the official stamp of approval for having turned this recipe "fail" into a recipe WIN!

All The Veggies pizza

We love pizza night, but to rescue pizza from the high fat, low nutrient, albeit delicious, hole that it usually is, we choose a super thin crust, top with TONS (I actually mean tons, this one had corn, spinach, red onion, white onion, green bell pepper, shredded carrots and mushrooms) of vegetables and go easy on the cheese and end up with a meal that packs as much nutrition punch as a salad. Well, almost as much as a salad. 

Carmelized Onion Chicken Meatball, red onion, basil and feta pizza

Aidells has been handing out samples in Publix lately and I finally got roped into trying one, so when I went shopping for pizza night I decided to surprise my husband with the Caramelized Onion Chicken Meatballs to top one of the pizzas with and I got two thumbs WAY way up for that decision.

Homemade "Nutty Granola" over pineapple chunks and plain greek yogurt

 I definitely want to share a granola recipe with you very soon, however this batch didn't turn out quite perfect. I think a little elf must have snuck into my kitchen and dumped some extra salt into my mixing bowl because this granola was beyond a level of salt that could really be suitable for any dish, barring Chinese takeout. 

I'm excited to try again though, because minus the salt, this recipe was a winner. Super low sugar (which is my pet peeve when it comes to granola), plus lots of protein and extra goodness from all the nuts, seeds and whole grains. 

It sure did make for a pretty picture, though!

Pumpkin oatmeal pancakes with patriotic fruit

I used The Real Life RD's recipe for Pumpkin Pancakes for the second time and these were great again! They do not have the fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth texture of the traditional Aunt Jemima's version, but they are a super filling, hearty and healthy breakfast that I enjoy making every once in a while when we have a luxuriously long morning to play around with. I like topping ours with almond butter + a dab of pure maple syrup and lots of fruit, of course! We also had a veggie egg scrambler to complete this macho brunch.

Coach's oats made with a very ripe banana, soy milk, chia, egg white and cinnamon, topped with a berry trio

My go-to snack these days: cinnamon sprinkled on apple slices microwaved for 2-3 minutes on high

Buffalo Cauliflower Poppers with lite ranch to dip

 Made these for my small group's "Cookbook Club" of the month and got great feedback! Even had some people admit they don't like cauliflower but gave these a try and what do you know... they came back for seconds! 

Chocolate Chip Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins

This recipe is adapted from My Menu Pal's Cranberry Muffins. I've made this recipe before exactly as directed and they were awesome that way, too. This time, I chose chocolate chips instead of cranberries and decreased the amount of sugar by subbing 1 mashed, very ripe banana for half of the sugar. I made muffins to take to work and a small loaf to keep at home for our lake trip weekend with friends, and had multiple people ask me for the recipe! Hope you enjoy and let me know how it goes if you decide to make these.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

• 3 cups white whole wheat flour
• 5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup sugar +1/4 cup sugar substitute (I used splenda) OR 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large very ripe banana, mashed
• 1 cup light brown sugar, very loosely packed
• 1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup canola/vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 3/4-1 cup chocolate chips (I used mini)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, greasing muffin tins or loaf pans. Mix all dry ingredients (flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda + salt) together in a large bowl. Beat the sugars, banana, pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce and OJ together in a separate bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir just until moistened. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon into prepared pans. Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes and loaves, 40-60 minutes depending on size of pan, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from pans. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Chipotle Chili recipe review and Oats-3-Ways

For last Monday's National Championship, I made two big pots of this Sweet Potato Chipotle Chili from an Atlanta-based dietitian friend of mine.

She really nailed it with this recipe, and I love that she provides an option for making with or without meat so you can customize to your preferences. I made one pot with ground turkey and one without; it was fabulous both ways. It had a really nice smoky spiciness to it, which is largely due to the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. 

It's a good thing we ran back to the store after I was already halfway into making this recipe to get the can of chipotle peppers I forgot on the first grocery trip....

SO worth it!

 

Another trick I used for this recipe was buying dry beans and cooking them on low in the crockpot all day long. You truly save tons when you buy dry instead of canned! I cooked kidney and black beans together and learned something important: when the website you randomly came across when looking up cooking time for dry beans in the crock pot says to soak your kidney beans first or else they release some type of off-putting compound (that stinks)... you should heed said website's advice! 

 Cost analysis on dry vs canned:

2 bags dried beans: +/- $3

Yield: equivalent of 7-8 cans 

8 cans of beans: $7-8 depending on sales. brand, etc. 

Bottom line is your savings are huge if you can plan ahead and allow yourself the additional time needed to prepare the dry beans.

P.S. There is NO better way to make cornbread than in a cast-iron skillet! Used a recipe out of the Georgia On My Menu cookbook and it turned out wonderfully. 

Mississippi State University campus

This weekend was also our big trip to see our new hometown- Columbus, MS! We were pleasantly surprised with how much development (read: chain restaurants and retail stores) were present. Not that we're all about that city lyfe, but when you're expecting a strip of historic downtown area with a Fred's and a local cafe and a Piggly Wiggly, you get excited when you see TJ Maxx, Walmart, Kroger and Dicks Sporting Goods. 

We also ventured onto the Air Force base and got to see our future house from the outside! It was all very exciting and got us pumped for our upcoming move next month. 

We drove into Starkville to compare this college town to the one in which we currently reside, and while Athens probably takes the cake for food and entertainment culture, MSU's campus was really impressive, with tons of green space and an overall beauty that struck us both.Wish I had snapped a few more pictures, even though the images don't do it justice!

 

The following are shots of three different bowls of morning oatmeal. I hope these capture how even while eating "the same thing" for breakfast every day, it's never truly the same! 

Coach's oats made with half almond and half 1% cows milk, topped with walnuts, blueberries and Engine 2 cereal

Coach's oats made with soy + almond milk, cinnamon, vanilla and chia seeds, topped with sliced banana, raisins, flax seed and a drizzle of almond butter

Overnight strawberry chia cocoa oats, recipe below

Still perfecting this recipe, but here's where I'm at now: 

For 2 servings:

~1 cup old fashioned oats

somewhere around 1.5 cups almond milk and 1/2 cup water

1 cup thawed frozen strawberries

at least 1T chia seeds

1 T cocoa powder

Mix together and leave overnight. In the morning, I warmed mine up in the microwave, then topped with almond butter and a dash of maple syrup. I think some vanilla extract will be going in next time, and a mashed banana would add some sweetness as well. 

I was working out of a just-got-home-from-a-trip-and-the-pantry-is-empty kind of kitchen, so I think it turned out pretty well, considering!