Homemade Protein Bars

Now that we are trying to eat healthier and build leaner bodies, we have increased our protein intake and found ourselves going through protein bars in a jiffy which quickly adds up in cost since quality bars don't come cheap.  I tried out a new recipe this weekend in an attempt to make our own protein bars.  The bars themselves were really easy to make and didn't call for many ingredients.  Warm and stir all ingredients over the stove, flatten in a baking pan, then let cool.  The nutritional facts per piece (I was able to divide into 12 small pieces) of my final product are below.  Taste wise, they taste like any healthy protein bar would taste, so definitely not holy cow delicious, but not patooey disgusting either and were chewy in texture.  Next time I make these, I will increase the protein powder and reduce the peanut butter to up the protein and lower the fat. 

Ingredients
Peanut butter
Whey protein powder
Old fashioned oats
Honey
Soy milk

Baby Sprinkle

This past weekend, I threw a surprise baby sprinkle for one of my girlfriends who is having a baby girl!  The reason why it was a surprise is because this girl would never want to trouble anyone into doing anything for her, so if she knew, she would definitely have discouraged me from it.  She is always thinking of others and putting others before herself that it was great to make her feel as loved as she makes all of us feel.  It was a priceless moment as she walked in and was immediately overwhelmed by all the love surrounding her that it made all of us tear up alongside her!

 Crafts table with "Well wishes for baby" cards and a headband making station

 The theme I was trying to aim for was a girly Anthropologie pink/gold tea party

 I rented vintage tea cups, saucers, plates, kettles and books from an amazing rental place called Etablir. For favors, I bought 2x3 muslin bags and filled them with tea bags with a cute label that read "A Baby Is Brewing..."

 We had a lot of yummy treats from Trader Joe's and homemade chocolate covered strawberries that were delicious!  J helped tremendously with making the sandwiches (PB&J, cucumber, and egg salad).

 Here she is on her way in!

Blue Apron

My friend introduced Blue Apron to me, a company that ships meals to you every week with detailed instructions on how to prepare each dish.  The cost is only $9.99/person per meal and they ship 3 meals per week.  You can also hold the deliveries at any time.  I signed up for a free trial week and have to say, I LOVED the experience!!  The meals were sent with ice packs keeping it fresh and included all ingredients down to the proportion sizes needed to make each dish.  Everything was neatly divided and packaged and came with short descriptions of the origin of each dish.  It was awesome to try new meals that were super easy to prepare and took under an hour each!  I definitely recommend this!

Straightforward instructions!

Creamy Sweet Potato & Kale Casserole

 Seared Hake

Yuzu Kosho - Glazed Chicken Drumsticks

Happy Halloween!

Last year, I combined my Halloween decorations with my fall decorations.  This year, I was able to add to my Halloween collection so I dedicated my decorations to this spooky day alone.  Hopefully as each year passes, I can continue to add more and more to make this day feel as festive as ever!

My DIY wreath made with black feathery boas and sparkly spiders

Echo is all ready to hand out candy!  But, where are the Trick or Treaters?

Family Photos - At Last!

When we took our engagement photos, we were not able to bring Echo due to bad planning and location of our shoot.  And though he was a part of our wedding, we were so busy and overwhelmed that we did not take any pictures with him!  Since then, I have felt a little piece of my heart missing in all of our photos because Echo is such an important part of our lives!!  So this weekend, we all went out to a park nearby and my brother took some photos for us.  We will be using some of these for our holiday cards, but here's a sneak peek!