Gnocchi with Swiss Chard & White Beans

One of the first recipes I "pinned" on Pinterest was Skillet Gnocchi with Chard and White Beans from Eating Well.  Since I have been avoiding high-carb foods, the recipe was put in my "someday" pile and forgotten.  Yesterday, however, was cold and rainy, and I found myself craving something hot, gooey, and full of carbs; aka my comfort food.  Instead of declaring it a "cheat day", and ordering out for pizza, I decided to try the Eating Well recipe instead.  Although higher in carbs, it is still packed with vitamins and low calorie. Plus, it's a great way to sneak some swiss chard into your kid's diet! I already had most of the ingredients on hand, and the recipe was a breeze to make.  More importantly, it tasted excellent.  It was hot, cheesy, and carby; everything I had wanted in a meal last night.

Slow Cooker Chicken & Sweet Potato Curry

My husband's fall garden yielded a huge amount of sweet potatoes this year, and I've been trying to come up with recipes that will utilize them.  This is not a difficult task, as our family loves sweet potatoes.  The weather has finally turned chilly, so I decided to make a chicken curry and swap out the regular potatoes for the nutritionally superior sweet potatoes.  I'm glad I did, because it turned out fantastic.  This dish is easy, inexpensive to make, and has the added benefit of being healthy and diet friendly.  Plus, it makes your belly warm and happy on these cold winter evenings.

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

I had been dying to try out another one of Chocolate-Covered Katie's recipes, and Thanksgiving gave me the perfect opportunity to do it.  I decided immediately to make her Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie, as I am a huge Cookie Monster.  I love, love, love cookies; especially chocolate chip cookies.  Fun fact: chocolate chip cookies were the first recipe I ever made by myself.  I used to make them all the time when I was a kid for my family.  Some of my fondest memories are of me sneaking into the kitchen to steal a cookie in the middle of the night, and running into my dad doing the exact same thing.  We wouldn't say a word to each other, we'd just eat our cookies together in happy silence, chase it with some cold milk straight from the carton, and then sneak back to our respective beds.  

Broccoli Blue Cheese Casserole

Broccoli Blue  Cheese Casserole was my contribution to our family's Thanksgiving feast.  I chose it because it is easy to make and it is always gobbled (pardon the pun) up.  Since I'm on a diet, I needed to make something guaranteed to not leave leftovers.  Well, it did its job! 

DIY Nursery Decor

I spent the first half of my pregnancy daydreaming about what the nursery would look like.  When it came time to actually work on the nursery, I was hit by a hard and cold reality. Nurseries are expensive!  Our nursery budget was quickly depleted on the essentials: the crib, a diaper changer, and a glider.  There was hardly anything left for decor.  I did extensive searching at even the most budget-friendly places (Walmart, Amazon, Hobby Lobby), and all I could find was over-priced, ugly decor.  Since I was hormonal, I literally cried over our plain and boring nursery.

Eventually, my pregnancy hormones switched my mood from sad to motivated, and I knew what I had to do:  DIY Nursery Decor!  But there was one problem...I'm not crafty, at all.  I can't sew, I can't paint, heck, I can't even color within the lines.  So I did a lot of brainstorming.  Eventually I came up some DIY ideas so easy that an idiot (aka me) could do it.  And you know what? Everything turned out even better than I anticipated! In fact, it turned out so well, I'm going to share my ideas with you guys.

2 Ingredient Pumpkin Brownies

What if I told you that you could easily make a fudgy, rich brownie packed with vitamin A and fiber in 20 minutes?  And that said brownie is only 124 calories and 2 grams of fat?  Well folks, I'm here to tell you that such a thing is possible. 

Mama's Boy

Mama's Boy, although less than a decade old, has become an Athens institution.  Along with Last Resort, it is the answer to the question, "Where should we take out-of-town-folks that shows off Athens' cuisine?".  The restaurant's slogan is Southern Fun Dining and that couldn't be more true. With items like Chocolate Cake for Breakfast, the food really is both fun and delicious (and Southern!).

Fruit Bites

On Pintrest this week I stumbled upon Homemade Healthy Fruit Snacks, and pinned it immediately.  I'm always on the lookout for an easy snack to give my toddler that isn't just Cheerios.  Lately she has been picky when it comes to fruits and vegetables, so I'm having to be sneakier with them.  This snack provided the perfect solution, and since I already had the ingredients on hand, I decided to give it a try.  

Farm 255

Farm 255 has consistently been one of our favorite Athens restaurants for a few years now.  With its farm-to-table set-up, and its rotating adventurous menu, it is almost always a great eating experience.  So when my husband and I were trying to decide on a restaurant for our first date night in over four months, we felt pretty confident in choosing Farm 255.  After all, our last time eating there was easily one of our Top 10 best meals...ever.  

Posole

Yesterday was Election Day.  This presidential race has been a particularly nasty one; not just among the candidates, but also among my friends and acquaintances.  My Facebook news feed has been jammed with political arguments for months now.  I have heard people say such hateful, awful things in the name of politics. I feel this is the real problem with America right now--people are unwilling to compromise or allow themselves to really hear other people's point of view (and I can be guilty of these things too).  We spend so much time arguing that we are the ones who are right, that we do not take the time to really listen to the other side.  After all, we do not live in a world of black and white, but in a world made up of shades of gray.  Anyways, I knew last night, as the votes were tallied, there would be a frenzy of finger pointing and anger all over the country.  Wanting to avoid all the negativity, I knew of one sure-fire solution:  Posole night!  

Healthy Peanut Butter Pie

As you may have noticed, I have been on a healthy dessert kick lately.  I was never a huge dessert person until I got pregnant.  Now, two years later, it looks like that sweet tooth is here to stay.  Since it's sticking around, I have to make sure it doesn't stick around my thighs, waist, and arms!  It's been tricky finding low calorie desserts that can be considered healthy too.  For instance, my previous Skinny Peanut Butter Pie is certainly diet-friendly, but with a base of whipped cream and cream cheese, I wouldn't say it's super nutritious.  After last week's roaring success making Healthy Fudge Pie, which can definitely be considered healthy, I decided to try to create a healthier--but just as delicious--peanut butter pie.  I'm happy to report that it was a resounding success!  P.S. This recipe is only 150 calories a slice AND vegan! Woot woot!

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Chili

Happy Fall!  Okay, I know, technically the season of fall began two months ago. However, in Georgia, it doesn't actually feel like fall until November.  Today is November 1st, and it is finally cold enough to put a little frost on the grass in the early morning.  In celebration, I made my first pot of hot, comforting stew of the season:  Black Bean & Sweet Potato Chili.  My lovely friend Jessica sent me the recipe a few weeks ago, and I took one look at the recipe, and fell in love.  Sweet Potatoes? Cocoa Powder? Cinnamon?  In a chili?!  I had to make it!