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Minimalism and Christmas?

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How do these two things coincide?

I wouldn’t call myself a minimalist, but I have been following several minimalist moms on Instagram as an inspiration. After being a domestic engineer for 3+ years, I am so tired of feeling like I am constantly cleaning. One insta-mom said that if it takes you more than 20 minutes to tidy a room you have too many things. And I believe it!

From clothes, toys, and other randoms, we had too much stuff. I went through our family’s clothes and filled 4 trash bags full, and recently another one full of shoes. If I haven’t seen Chris or myself wear said shoes in the last 5 years they need to go, with the exception of a pair of black dress shoes for both of us. We also donated a box of other random things like toys, purses, an air purifier, and a wifi extender. I went through the house and thinned out my plant collection and now have at least 15 sitting on my kitchen table to be given away in the next few days. I am selling the items that I think I can get more than $20 for.

About a year or more ago I was really into watching Marie Kondo when I needed cleaning inspo, after watching and listening over and over I’ve slowly been letting things go. Last year I got rid of almost every book I own besides 3 to 5 I hadn’t read yet. I haven’t missed a single one of them since (nor have I read the books that I kept, whoops). This doesn’t mean I want to get rid of everything though. We thought we were going to move in May and so I started packing a lot of decorations or other things we don’t use. There was a change of plan and said items were in the box for a couple months. I unpacked them in August and the decorations brought me such joy putting them back around the house, so like I said, I don’t think I will be a minimalist, but having less is the new thing I am striving for every day.

This puts me in a pickle for Christmas. Of course I want to give my daughter something but I don’t want more items in my house. The insta-moms I mentioned earlier suggest consumables and experience gifts. I also like the idea of “Something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read” and doing 4 gifts. I thought maybe I would get her a stuffed tiger and zoo tickets, but I don’t want more stuffed animals in my house. Perhaps a butterfly craft and butterfly pavilion tickets? I’d love to get her snowboarding stuff for Christmas, but she’ll need it all in 2ish weeks, so that won’t work. I can’t wait until she likes sitting through manis and pedis – because that will be a no-brainer treat for both of us haha. Until then, I will continue this debate with myself on what the heck to get my darling daughter and husband. Do you have any suggestions? Leave them in the comments!

Hibernation Unit

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September 14th Malia and I met some friends down at Roxborough State Park to hike Fountain Valley Trail. The amount of bear poop on the trail was astonishing, I had never seen so much poop. I mean, it made sense, if I was eating 20,000 calories a day, well you know.

It wasn’t far down the trail that we ended up seeing two bears in a tree! It was a really neat experience, we were able to snap some pictures and videos and keep hiking. The bears were much more concerned about their snacks than us. This inspired our hibernation unit.

I put together 3 part Montessori Cards of the animals that hibernate in Colorado and I would love to share them with you!

Click here for Hibernation 3 part cards.

No plans November

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Anyone else feel burnt out from all the activities over summer? I am. Some people are planners, but I am not one of them. I prefer to go with the flow and decide what to do day of. For the sake of my toddler getting some socialization we have been busy doing playdates multiple times a week since Spring. I am burnt out. I need a break from making plans. How do you tell your friends you don’t want to hang out, without hurting their feelings?

I am not sure either. So here we are, almost halfway through November and I have done fantastic with my No plan- plan, I guess I got lucky with colds and a Montessori conference, but I think I am to the point I will just have to say something and hope my dear friends do not take it personal. We have gone out to eat once with another family – but that was planned and arranged by my husband, so still on track with my weird goal.

Today’s world has me feeling like I must be depressed if I don’t want to hang out with people, but I don’t feel that way. I really enjoy alone time and embracing a season of rest, decluttering, cleansing, and reset. We aren’t being completely antisocial either. We have been to the playground several times and Malia always manages to make a friend and I end up talking to said friend’s mom. Perhaps in these conversation, the inner questions will unfold and be answered.

I feel like my soul is calling out to slow down, sit alone with my thoughts, conserve energy, and deal with one thing at a time, as I follow the prompts from within. Planning doesn’t allow me to be as present. Most of the summer felt like a race of cleaning, teaching, hiking, and errands. Winter is a wonderful time to slow down and breath. When you hike down a snow covered trail, the peaceful-serene feeling is inexplicable. I can’t clear my head on a hike if someone else is walking beside me talking, which is why I prefer to go alone. It’s my therapy. Anybody else need alone time to reset?

In honor of being more present this month, I am sticking to No Plans November. You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, and let go and see what happens. Que Sera, Sera.

Montessori 3 part cards and free materials

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Coming up with learning material for my daughter can take up some time! I sure love it when other mama’s share print outs that they’ve already taken the time to put together. I thought it was my time to return the favor!

Montessori 3 part cards consist of three parts.  There is a control card that includes a picture with a word label, a picture card, and a printed word label.

Lessons begin with the control card, then followed by the matching of the picture cards, and ends with the placement of label cards. There are plenty of other ways to utilize these cards with children, depending on their literacy level.

My daughter is 2.5 years old, at this time we use the control card and picture card. Recently, I made a couple 3 part cards to match a couple of the Safari Toob animal figurines.

Dogs Safari Toob and this Rottweiler figurine inspired my first set. Our sweet Rottweiler wasn’t a dog that was included in the original TOOB so we got her separately.

Nature Safari Toob inspired the second set. We see a lot of these animals in Colorado and we are learning them in our Spanish Lingua music class. So naturally, I made a copy in English and one in Spanish.

These 3 part cards are ready to go on their own without the animal figurines, but the figurines do add that bonus fun and are super worth it in my opinion!

Get your Dog 3 part cards here

Nature Animals 3 part cards in English here

Nature Animals 3 part cards (en Español) here

Meals for 2+

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I don’t know about you, but leftovers are not my favorite to eat. To mitigate having so many, I have started cutting everything in half and it is the perfect amount for our small 3 person family. Sometimes there are even leftovers for me or my daughter to have lunch the next day.

So today I wanted to share our go to meatloaf recipe, a perfect comfort food for those cold day cravings. It’s pretty basic and classic, but it’s how we like it. I also started a food Instagram recently, so if you want more meal ideas then I have time to blog check it out!

—–>> https://www.instagram.com/sahmthingtasty/ <<—–

Ingredients

  • 1 pound of 80/20 ground beef
  • ½ envelope of dried onion soup mix
  • 1 beaten egg
  • 3 ounces water
  • ½ Tbsp. Italian seasoning
  • ¾ cup crushed Ritz crackers
  • ½ onion, diced
  • 2 to 3 garlic cloves
  • Glaze:
  • 1/4 cup ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • Mix, and brush evenly on top of the meatloaf before it goes into the oven.

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
  2. Line a loaf pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper
  3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together onion soup mix, egg, water, and Italian seasoning.
  4. Add the ground beef, breadcrumbs, onions, and garlic, and mix thoroughly until just combined
  5. Place mixture in the loaf pan, pressing down lightly. It is smaller so you will make a “loaf” shape as it won’t fill out the pan. (it might if you double the recipe!)
  6. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 45 minutes or until the middle reaches at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit
  7. Let it stand for 10-15 minutes before removing from the pan and serving

Notes

  • Don’t overmix the meatloaf or try to press down too much when you fill the pan; this will result in an overly-dense, tough meatloaf.
  • I make the glaze twice so I have extra to drizzle on top after we bake it, yum!

Zuchinni All-Star

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You’ll need approximately 4 medium zucchinis for this combo recipe. If you plan on making both, shred all your zuchinni first and take out a heaping cup for the muffins and set aside. My future self will be thanking me for this discovery when my garden is growing wild with produce!

Zuchinni Pizza Casserole and Zuchinni muffins. I purchase a 3 lb. package of ground beef and split it into 5 – 1/2 lbs. I had enough time to do this between the zuchinni de-juicing and the first 10 minutes of it baking. This particular recipe left me with half an onion and half a green pepper which I also sealed up. I already have a tasty plan for those, so stay tuned for a future post!

Make sure to get all the zuchinni juice out!

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

Ingredients

  • 2 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
  • .5 pound ground beef
  • 1/2 chopped onion
  • Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes to taste
  • 1 can (8 ounces) Italian tomato sauce
  • 1/2 medium green or sweet red pepper, chopped
  1. Preheat oven to 400°. Place zucchini in colander; sprinkle with salt. Let stand 10 minutes, then squeeze out moisture.
  2. Combine zucchini with eggs, garlic, parmesan and half the mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. Press into a greased 9×9-in. or 2-qt. baking dish. Bake 20 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink, breaking meat into crumbles; season to taste. Add tomato sauce; spoon over zucchini mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses; add green pepper. Bake until heated through, about 20 minutes longer.

If you’re making muffins, grab that heaping cup of shredded zuchinni you set aside and scroll down.

*Also keep in mind to drop your oven temp to 350°F after you pull the casserole*

leave the zuchinni juice for this tasty morsel

Zuchinni Muffins

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • ½ cup apple sauce
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup shredded zucchini
  • ½ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners.
  2. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Mix egg, apple sauce, oil, milk, lemon juice, and vanilla extract in a bowl; stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Fold in zucchini, chocolate chips, and walnuts. Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full.
  3. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

Enjoy these muffins for dessert or breakfast! They’re absolutely fantastic!

I only put walnuts in a few of our muffins so there were no choking hazards for our 1 year old, consider skipping them if you have a child younger than 4. They can be a choking hazard for young children, largely due to children’s inability to grind food properly.

Chicken Duo Meal

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Chicken Black Bean Sweet Potato Enchilada Skillet and Chicken Quesadillas is how we are going to use a 2 lb. package of chicken.

I’m not sure if we were extra hungry or not, but we finished the whole skillet at one dinner. We made 3 quesadillas and had left over, I’m thinking you could get 6 to 8, depending how you fill them.

you will use the following ingredients in both recipes

  • yellow onion
  • garlic
  • red bell pepper
  • yellow bell pepper
  • chicken
  • corn
  • black beans
  • cheese

Chicken Black Bean Sweet Potato Enchilada Skillet

Ingredients

  • 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon avocado oil or olive oil
  • 1/2 lb. chicken (breast or thigh), shredded
  • 1/2 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1/2” chunks
  • 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup frozen corn
  • 1/2 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup + 1/3 cup freshly grated cheese
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350℉. 
  2. Boil chicken for 15 to 20 minutes until cooked through.
  3. Heat a large cast iron or oven safe skillet to medium-high heat. Add avocado oil or olive oil. Add onion, garlic, and bell pepper and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes or until onions are translucent and peppers are tender. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
  4. Add the chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, the sweet potato, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and chicken broth and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
  5. Add shredded chicken, cook 5 additional minutes
  6. Remove from heat and add corn, black beans, ½ cup grated cheese. Stir to combine.
  7. Top with the remaining 1/3 cup shredded cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until cheese is golden and bubbly and sweet potato is cooked through.
  8. Let sit for a few minutes to cool. Optional to top with Greek yogurt or sour cream, cilantro, scallions, and lime wedges!

Chicken Quesadillas

Ingredients

  • 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon avocado oil or olive oil
  • 1/2 lb. chicken, shredded
  • 1/2 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed 
  • 1/2 cup corn kernels 
  • 1/2 tsp each onion powder, dried oregano, salt
  • 1 tsp each cumin powder, paprika
  • a pinch each black pepper, cayenne pepper (optional)
  • 1 cup grated cheese
  • 3-4 flour tortillas

Instructions

  • Saute all ingredients (except cheese and tortillas) for 5 to 10 minutes until cooked through.
  • Spray tortilla with avocado oil, place tortilla on work surface, and rub around to evenly coat. Sprinkle bottom half of unoiled side with a bit of cheese, filling, more cheese, fold in half.
  • I prefer to use a panini press or George foreman grill, they take about 2 minutes inside.
  • You can also preheat non stick skillet over medium low heat (no oil, if pan is not non-stick use 2 tsp oil).
  • Place quesadilla in skillet, press down lightly, cover with lid. Cook for 3 minutes until underside is super golden brown and crispy.
  • Carefully flip over the folded edge. Press down lightly. Cook for 3 minutes until crispy (no lid).
  • Transfer to cutting board, cut in slices. Serve immediately!
  • Dipping Sauce options: Sour cream, salsa, Avocado Sauce 

Enjoy!

New Idea for 2021!

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Last year I made a new year’s resolution to lose weight by eating healthier, and so inspired one healthy snack a week. Check out my 52 different recipes in previous blog posts!

For 2021, I decided to slowly attack another one of my household problems, leftovers. How many of you save left overs just to toss them in the garbage a few days later? or are just plain sick of that same casserole for the 4th day?

I noticed when I was single, I would eat out more often because it seemed more expensive and wasteful to cook a meal for myself, even being married with a 1 year old we still aren’t finishing a 9 by 13 casserole in a timely fashion.

So 2021 will be about sharing recipes that make enough for 2 meals (maybe 3 depending on your appetite) so you don’t have to worry about eating the same meal for the next week or tossing out any uneaten food at the end of the week.

To reach this goal I usually split my meat purchases in half, in those scenarios (and probably most others) my recipes will come in pairs to utilize all the ingredients we’ve acquired.

Hope you enjoy this year’s idea 💡 what are your nutrition goals for 2021?

Week 52

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Wow. We made it y’all. The last week of 2020! I’m sure no one remembers, but I actually started doing a healthy snack a week as a New Years Resolution in hopes to lose the baby weight I still hadn’t managed to shed.

At the beginning of 2020, I was still 170 lbs, 4 months post-partum. A combination of eating healthier and hiking with my little one enabled me to hit my pre-pregnancy weight of 140 by mid-summer, even getting down to 135, because hiking with a baby is hardwork, haha!

I’m also going to add that this is the first time in my 32 years of living that I have actually kept a new years resolution all the way to the end of the year! And I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to check out my lovely creations each week. If it wasn’t for the random “I love your videos” private messages from a lot of you, I may have given up. So thank you!

I would love to hear what you are writing on your resolutions list for 2021! I think as a whole we will all be looking forward to it for many reasons 🙃

So for week 52, the last and final week of healthy snacks of 2020 I give you Mediterranean Bites and Parfait Bites. I devoured all 15 I made while I was editing the video….They’re even better than I thought they would be!

Mediterranean Bites

  • 30 Athens mini fillo shells 2 boxes, defrosted
  • 3/4 cup + 3 tablespoons hummus
  • 1/2 cup diced English cucumber
  • 1 roasted red pepper 2 halves, diced
  • 1 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
  • 1/4 cup hempseed
  • 2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley

Instructions

  • Fill each mini fillo shell with 1 ½ teaspoon hummus.
  • Divide the cucumber, roasted red pepper, feta cheese, hempseed, and parsley evenly between the fillo shells. Serve.

Parfait Bites

  • 30 Athens mini fillo shells 2 boxes, defrosted
  • 3/4 cup + 3 tablespoons greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup blueberries
  • 1 cup strawberries
  • 1/4 cup hempseed
  • 1/4 cup toasted coconut

Instructions

  • Fill each mini fillo shell with 1 ½ teaspoon greek yogurt.
  • Divide the blueberry, strawberry, hempseed, and toasted coconut evenly between the fillo shells. Serve.

And for those reading this blog, if you want to see any of the food videos they are on my Instagram at @indigocrystal11 🙃 not every week has one, but a majority of them do because they’re fun!

Week 51

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I have officially exhausted my sweet tooth (whoops) before Christmas day. I am so sick of cookies. Lol, so, for week 51 we are going savory and healthy goodness! This week I bring you Savory Energy Balls! If you have been following my snack regime this year you’ll know we have tried a few different kinds of sweet bliss balls, but as I stated earlier, I am so done with sweets. I hope you enjoy these tasty combos like I have been!

For the Pizza Balls:

  • 1/2 cup Almonds
  • 1/2 cup White Beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 tbsp Rice Flour
  • 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
  • 1 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
  • 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
  • Pinch of Salt

For the Curry Balls:

  • 1/2 cup Cashews
  • 1/2 cup White Beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 tbsp Rice Flour
  • 1/2 tsp Curry Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
  • Pinch of Salt

For the Garlic & Herb Balls:

  • 1/2 cup Mixed Nuts
  • 1/2 cup White Beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 tbsp. Rice Flour
  • 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
  • Pinch of Salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Assemble all Bliss Balls as follows:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor or high speed blender and pulse until well-incorporated.
  2. Wet your fingers slightly (this prevents the dough from sticking) and use a 1/2 tbsp measure to scoop out the ball “dough” and roll it into spheres. Each recipe will create between 10 and 12 balls.
  3. Store your Bliss Balls in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week, or in the freezer for up to two months.

White Beans may be substituted with Black Beans or Pinto Beans. I would not recommend using Chickpeas or Garbanzo Beans in this recipe, as they are not as moist.

Rice flour may be substituted with any flour of choice.