Fresh Mama Finds: All things COCONUT!

Let it be known that I looooooove coconut - sadly though, no one else in my family likes it. I can sneak it into granola, or use coconut milk in curries, but otherwise, they turn up their noses.  Hence, my love of coconut has fallen to the wayside...

Well, recently it has been re-ignited the tastiest of ways - so today I'm sharing a few finds that have brought coconut back into my life without complaints from my crew!

Meal Plan of the Week

Its Monday again - and although I wrote out my meal plan and did my shopping already, I'm just now getting this up on the blog for you guys...Another busy weekend full of hockey, soccer, time on the slopes, and watching a (hugely disappointing) football game with friends..sigh. There's always next year!

Crockpot Spicy Sausage Bean Soup

Yup its cooooooold in New England! Like high of 16 cold, like - jacking the heat up and not giving a crap about the heating bill cold and "please fill my belly with some warm soup" cold! You get the idea - and this spicy soup is exactly what's needed to get through these cold winter days. So simple, but full of flavor. Your family will be begging for second helpings!

Meal Plan of the Week

Another week and I guess we need to feed the troops, right?? Having 2 growing boys - its a never-ending stream of snacks punctuated by 3 square meals a day. The crockpot has been my right-hand woman in the kitchen these days - barely a day goes by without this baby working! Soups, chili, food prep, and more - love my crockpot!

Sunday: Hearty Sausage-Bean Soup (working on the recipe - will share if it is tasty!)
Cheesy Cauliflower Breadsticks

Monday: Crockpot Turkey Dinner with Potatoes and Green Beans (Adapted from This Recipe )

Tuesday: Almond-Crusted Cod, quinoa, broccoli (Adapted from THIS RECIPE )

Wednesday: Pulled Pork Stuffed Sweet Potato,  salad

Thursday: Sweet-chili Glazed Salmon with salsa, brown rice, kale or collards

Friday: Caprese Flatbread, salad

Saturday: Dinner Out!

What's going on your table this week, mamas?! Have a menu to share?? Head on over to my Facebook Page and share it there!

As always - Thank you for popping over! I hope you found some ideas for your family, this week!

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Fresh Mama Finds: Foodstirs and Better than Before

Another week gone by and more fun stuff to share with you guys - having this blog + the past year in my business has been life-changing in so many ways. You may not guess it, but I'm actually a pretty big introvert...Big crowds, parties, new situations - totally freak me out. Truth be told, at the end of the day I'm happiest at home, snuggled up with the hub or my boys on the couch.

One thing that really gets me stressed??? Travel - I worry the weather will be bad, that I will forget my necessary documents, that someone will get sick, the list of reasons why I shouldn't travel grows and grows anytime I anticipate a big trip. Its actually a huge reason we bought a lake house - instead of traveling on vacation each year, I can simply have a vacation that is home. But this time, I'm deciding to step outside my comfort zone and take a leap of faith!

Still smiling after signing up for Punta Cana!

Just getting Started....

Wow - soo much to share with you guys and I haven't had a minute to sit down and just write. If you follow me on Facebook - you may have noticed some pretty exciting things happened with Team CoreBalance... Exactly one week ago - I received a phone call from Beachbody corporate - I knew it was coming, I knew our team had done amazing things in 2015 (a team that only got started this time last year) - but when I got the call making it official that we were a Premiere team (only 100 coaches out of 400,000 achieved this goal in 2015!) - it suddenly all became so REAL and the emotions came tumbling out...

Back-Up Dinner: Crockpot Sausage and Sauce with Pasta

We all have "back-up" dinners right??? Frozen pizza, tuna sandwich, or gasp! the drive-thru? something quick - easy and brainless for those days that just refuse to go according plan.

Well, yesterday - we had one of those days. Poor C woke up with a nasty, red, crusty eye. Ugh - being a nurse, I am not one to head straight to Urgent Care without sufficient cause, but eyes are one thing I do not mess around with...So we were off to Urgent Care as soon as it opened.

Fresh Mama Finds and Free Group Time!

Hey mamas! Nothing like the New Year to implement some change + improvement and today will be the first day of a new type of post you'll find here -"Fresh Mama Finds". 

Basically a weekly round-up of anything that my family is enjoying and might add value to your life. If there's one thing, I always appreciate - its tips from other moms like me! So, why not pay it forward here and talk to you guys about things that have caught my eye???

First up - Tinker Crate - a monthly subscription service for the little scientist in your life. Colin received a 3 month subscription for his birthday and it was perfect. He's curious by nature and this was right up his ally. Definitely plan on adult supervision and assistance - he's 8 and could read/follow the directions - but it would have been overwhelming if attempted on his own. Plus - it was awesome one-on-one time! Check it out!

First Meal Plan of 2016: Hello New Year!

Here we are - 3 days into 2016. I hope 2016 was a good one for you and your family!

Believe me, I know some years just plain suck. That was 2013 for us -- loss, grief, and sadness hit our family hard in 2013. Despite the royal suckiness of that year it reminded us life is short and fueled us forward toward some important changes. We decided it was time to start making our "big-scary" dreams a reality. In fact, it was the year this blog was born:) Sometimes you need the hard times to give you a little perspective and kick in the pants...

Looking back, 2015 has been one of the best years for our family - we had a huge dream come true with the purchase of our lake home and I left my office job to come back home full-time with the boys (while growing my coaching business!). Both of these decisions have brought so much joy to our family on so many levels.

The hub and I have been together for 22 New Years and it was probably around year 6 that we decided that being home, in our pjs, snuggled on the couch is the best way to ring in the New Year...So, we toasted with the boys around 9pm (Presecco + pomegranates for Mike and I, OJ for the boys) with our rarely used crystal. Cheers!

If 2015 wasn't the best year ever for you and your loved ones - start right now, today - and decide how you are going to make 2016 YOUR year!