OH MY GOODNESS Leo is 18 months old today. I can't believe my little boy is so old. I am constantly reminded how fast he is growing up. Just like last night when HE TOLD ME it was time for night night and milk. Then proceeded to walk upstair into his room while I poured the milk downstairs. I gave him his cup he drank it down,  we brushed his teeth, said our prayers and he blew me kiss and said byeeeeeee Momma! It just seems like yesterday when I counted down the hours till it was his bed time and now the nights totally get away from me cause we are having so much fun and he is asking ME to go to bed.  I love him and his little personality, but there are times I miss my little baby. Anyways..... today I'm going over some of our quick go to foods from the freezer. 

I hope you have all recovered for a wonderful 4th of July! I had a great long weekend and the best part is I was able to sneak in a few quick workouts at home while my child napped. I have been doing little workouts at the neighborhood park when I take my son to play in the morning. What I noticed is I was always using the first stair on the playset for most of my workout moves. So I came home and tried a bunch of different exercises and came up with this workout where all you need is a stair. This can be done at the park, in your backyard, in your house (if you have a stair) or even using a little step stool. Basically this workout can be done ANYWHERE! Which is something that is useful for me. 

So if you followed this blog at all you know I'm crazy about the sun and protecting yourself from it. Well I am even more crazy about protecting my child. At the end of this blog post I will give you some facts that will hopefully make you become crazy about protecting your child from the sun too. But the one that really stuck with me was that someone's risk for melanoma can double if they have had more than 5 sunburns at any age. That is such a scary fact because I know I have had well over 5 sunburns in my life. So I know  Leo won't always be as strict about his sunblock, shade, and sun wear, but while I am in control you better believe he will be covered from head to toe! 

Ok so I'm really into cucumbers lately. Probably because Leo loves them so much so I end up eating them too.  I was just eating cucumbers with red wine vinegar and salt and pepper but that wouldn't hold me over for very long. So I started throwing together different things in my fridge and came up with this little salad. I make it in advance usually on Sunday and I can snack on it on Monday and Tuesday. It is enough for lunch or a side for dinner. 

I REFUSE to make two separate meals at our house. What we eat is what Leo eats or some variation of that. I have talked to many moms who go to great measures to make different meals. That wasn't happening at our house. I made a lot of purees when Leo was little but now that he is a big boy and he can eat what we are eating. So this blog post is laying out a few different meals you can make for your kiddos. When we eat at home the biggest thing I try to do is make sure they aren't processed. I try to give him his food in it's whole state and in return when we eat out Leo then gets to enjoy mac and cheese, grilled cheese, french fries etc. But when we are home we try to keep his meals balanced, healthy, and try to expose him to different types of food. 

I keeping seeing things pop up or people talking about all the health benefits of Tumeric. I decided to dive deeper and see what the rage is all about. After reading all about it (I really liked this article)  I decided I needed to try and incorporate it into my diet. Turmeric is common in South Asian cooking, but hadn't made it's way into my spice cabinet. After doing the research and reading all the amazing benefits of the spice I decided to add it into our diet. You can get it both in raw or powdered form. I was able to find both forms at my local grocery store. Best of all it tastes pretty darn good and is good for you. 

My first blog post of 2017 was all about how I wanted to share a few different ways to make your life easier or better. I've posted about making life simpler by  meal planning, then how to stay healthy during flu season, and then what to do if you get the cold of flu. But today I'm sharing something that will help the relationships in your life. It is something so simple, it's called UNPLUGGING your TV, turning off your phone and computer and simply enjoying family time! 

First off SORRY if you are sick or if your family is sick. We have yet to have to deal with this in our household, knock on wood. So if the cold or flu is sweeping through your household. Here are a few measures you can take to get you feeling better. 

Yesterday's rainy Sunday forced me to stay inside and not get in my daily walk or run.  I instead turned to doing a quick but intense 15 minute workout to get my legs and booty burning. When I only have time to do a 15 minute workout I try to make sure it has enough cardio in it as well, cue the burpees and box jumps. Sorry friends but when you only have 15 minutes to workout it isn't going to be a walk in the park. I put together 3 workouts with different moves I do on a daily basis. You can clearly switch things up but the whole point is to keep moving the entire 15 minutes. No water, breaks it is time to get that heart rate going and get that booty burning.

Sometimes I crave breaded chicken, but since I'm gluten free that isn't an option. So I decided to make fake "breaded" chicken using quinoa instead of bread crumbs. This was my first time making it and I loved how it turned out. The quinoa was crunchy and we still made it a little unhealthy by adding in some cheese. It was one of those "healthy meals" you don't even know is healthy. The best part is my husband enjoyed it and has asked for me to make it again! So that must mean it's a "winner"!