Turkey with Celery Root Mash

This is a nice easy way to toss some odds and ends together into a tasty mash. The turkey is a frozen Butterball 3 lb.er that I defrosted and threw in the crock pot with a sliced stick of butter. It is sitting on top of a few small potatoes, parsnips, carrots, a chopped celery root, and about 1/3 cup of full fat coconut milk (seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, and onion powder). After about 6 hours on low I removed the cooked turkey and mashed together the softened veggies, finishing it with an immersion blender to make it really smooth. I served the mash with some pulled turkey on top, garnished with a little leftover greenery from the celery root. Voila!

Gift Card Bouquet

After seeing an online success story from one of the area foster homes (a young man aging out, getting a good job, and moving into his own place), I asked if I could donate something for the apartment but it turns out everything was already covered and they said gift cards would be helpful. So I decided to jazz them up by making it a candy/gift card bouquet! Dollar store mug with a piece of foam pool noodle inside (fits perfectly!), then skewers stuck in that have the different items hot glued to them, then a little bit of shred to hide the noodle.

Pesto Spaghetti & Meatballs

Zoodles (zucchini noodles) + pesto + meatballs from Whole Foods = easy yummy lunch

Trail Mix Chocolate Bars

Life has been more stressful than I would like and instead of completely diving off the deep end I'm trying to find not so bad ways to indulge. This is melted chocolate (with a tablespoon of coconut oil) mixed with cranberries, pumpkin seeds, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds, and shredded coconut in a plastic mold and frozen. Great when the sweets cravings come!

Chicken and Peppers

I've been working a LOT lately and it's definitely impacted my meal planning and time available for grocery shopping and cooking. So I've had to go simple and accept that pretty good is better than nothing at this point. This is pulled chicken from Jim 'n Nicks with a sauteed CSA bell pepper and the Jim 'n Nicks white sauce (they sell it at the restaurant).

Indiana Conference

Okay, let's just start by saying that Colorado was a tough act to follow. I was home for not quite 24 hours before getting on a plane to Indianapolis to attend a national gymnastics conference. The conference was excellent--great speakers, learned about acro, and met some Olympic athletes! The city however, was just meh. We were there over a long weekend and it was just so...quiet. Not much going on. Clean, safe, just kind of boring. But I got to tick another city off of my travel list and had the opportunity to dive back into the gymnastics world, which was really fun!

Colorado, How I Love Thee

As we've done the last few years, my husband and I decided to book a fairly last minute adventure for my birthday. This time we flew into Denver, then rented a car and drove to Boulder, Rocky Mountain National Park, down to Silverthorne, Vail, and back through the Continental Divide to Denver. We hiked, ziplined, handstanded, and ate a lot of really good food. Perfect weather, amazing views, and I can't wait to go back!