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Grilled Pizza

I love a good pizza in the summer. There is something fun about it, especially when it is home made and a healthier version. Recently our friends (the Reids) had us over for a BBQ and we grilled pizzas. It was so easy! Nicole made the dough before hand (or you can use store bought dough), slightly cooked it and then we added our favorite toppings (sauce, cheese, pepperoni, peppers, mushrooms ect..) and grilled it! Honestly I was very impressed, and we loved it. You should try it!

One of my best friends, Anna, recently posted a cute website for new recipes. And on there I found a recipe/tutorial for these pizzas. Check it out at ourbestbites.com

Can’t wait to have these again!

love, danielle

what’s for dinner?

I have found  that making a meal plan makes dinner time so much easier. Between the left overs, our once-a-week- desire for freschetta pizza (stocked in out freezer) and the occasional cereal craving for dinner, seven planned dinners will last us two weeks! I am only cooking for two pretty much (the babies eat their own dinner), so if your family is bigger you might have to add in another meal or two. But the jist of this is: PLAN YOUR MEALS! Not only does it save you from the guessing game of What’s For Dinner but it also helps save money. If you already have a meal planned for the evening you will be less tempted to go out to eat which would cost you a whole lot more. Here is my actual menu for this week. I mixed it up, using easy dinners like quesadillas and hobo dinners along with more time consuming ones like chicken ziti and Teriyaki Chicken. And I don’t stick to the meals order, if we feel more like having breakfast for dinner rather than bbq pizza, I’ll just switch it up. It’s such a great method. And I go to the grocery store once every two weeks, buying all the ingredients beforehand! I’ve included links to the recipes that you might not be familiar with because it’s always nice to try a new dish!

Black bean BBQ Pizza – Eating Well

Chicken Ziti –  Tried & Tasty

Teriyaki Chicken & Rice – Eat Better America

It’s fruity

It’s yummy, it’s easy, it’s fast and also healthy!

I made this yumminess yesterday since we were getting together with our friends Stephanie and Kollin for a “Healthy” dinner. Steph made a super delish and healthy pizza (recipe to come) and I was in charge of the salad and dessert! I made these once before for a baby shower and they were a hit so I thought I would give it a go once more. Needless to say, they were gone by the end of the night. 🙂 It was such a fun evening and Oliver would agree. He kept trying to take Stephanie or Kollin to go play with him, he made some new friends. And once we got done talking about music, business, and Kollin’s love for the Bachelor series, 😉 we finally let them leave our house, which was pretty late.

12 servings
24 wonton wrappers
2 tablespoons of margarine or butter, melted
1/3 cup organic strawberry fruit spread
1 1/2 cup yoplait lemon burst yogurt
1 1/4 cup fresh blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Using a 12-cup muffin pan or two 6-cup muffin pans, line each cup with a wonton wrapper. Brush wonton wrappers with a little butter. Place a second wrapper diagonally on top of each of the first ones, making sure that the points of the wrappers make sides to the cup. Brush second wrapper with a little butter. Bake 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool. Remove from pan.

3. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of all-fruit spread into each wonton shell.

4. Place yogurt in a medium bowl. Fold in 1 cup berries. Spoon yogurt mixture evenly into wonton shells. Top with remaining 1/4 cup berries.

recipe from eatbetteramerica.com

The Abs Diet

Brett here. You probably figured Ciara would write a diet post (not that she needs to go on a diet, because she doesn’t), but I decided to try an experiment. My manager at work is a big fitness fanatic. I told him I wanted to try eating super healthy and exercising regularly for 3 months and do a before and after picture to see if there are any visible results. He referred me to the Abs Diet for a good idea about what and what not to eat. I like its philosophy and ease of accomplishing. The plan is even supposed to show results within 6 weeks (we’ll see). In its simplest form, you eat 6 meals a day (3 of which are more like snacks between your bigger meals) and you accompany that with light exercise. The reason it’s supposed to work is because you focus on putting good stuff in your body that cut in to your belly fat and help build muscle. I’m not going to try to explain it, but I’m going to try out the experiment. In 6 weeks I’ll show the before and after pictures and then after another 6 weeks I’ll check in again and see how things went. This is the first time I’ve tried doing something structured like this. I don’t think I’m in horrible shape, but I certainly have NO 6 pack. If all goes according to plan, I just might when this is done. Then you can come visit me when your laundry machine breaks! 

in the garden.

i love our garden. it’s so fun to see your plants grow. every day i go out there and water it or just check on how it’s doing. the only plant we are being able to use right now is our spinach plants. the peas are getting there and our raspberry and blackberry bushes are looking greener than ever. we will be able to harvest out potato plants later on. so excited! on another excited note, something awesome this way comes! 🙂 stay tuned!