Isaiah 41:10
“Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
Dark Lemonade!
Tis the season for refreshing icy cold beverages! A favorite of mine is classic lemonade. Over the past couple of days i’ve been playing around with some different variations to jazz it up a bit. Over the next couple of months I am going to post several different lemonade recipes.
This first recipe is what I call “Dark Lemonade.” I use orange blossom water and coconut sugar to sweeten. The cool thing about this lemonade is that it ended up tasting close to an arnold palmer without the caffeine from the sweet tea (not to mention all of the “bad” sugar). Try it and let me know what you think!
Ingredients
6 Organic Lemons
1 tsp of Orange Blossom Water
1tsp of Essence or Pure Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup of Organic Coconut Sugar ( if you love sweet lemonade do 1/4 cup cane sugar and 1/4 cup coconut sugar)
1/2 cup hot water ( to ensure sugar is completely dissolved)
4 Cups cold (preferably filtered) water
Optional; Fresh Mint!
Directions
Freshly half and squeeze your lemons into a pitcher. Add in sugar, orange blossom water and vanilla. Then, add in the hot water and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Next add in your cold water (and mint if you choose). You can then refrigerate or serve immediately over ice. I wouldn’t recommend drinking this warm folks! Hope you enjoy it!
Avocado Toast!
I recently picked up a copy of Gwyneth Paltrow’s new book “It’s All Good”. It features awesome healthy recipes and little tips to help you organize your pantry and refrigerator. I fell in love with the “recipe” for avocado toast. It’s super easy, super healthy and super delicious. WIN WIN WIN!!!
I just had to share it with you guys! Try it and let me know what you think. Enjoy!
Ingredients
A slice of your favorite bread
half of an organic ripe avocado
1 tbs Vegenaise (vegetarian mayonaise alternative. it’s just better for you overall)
sprinkle of Vege-Sal (see photos)
sprinkle of pepper
Directions
Toast your bread. Spread the Vegenaise on the bread and place your sliced avocado on top. Sprinkle with the Vege-sal and black pepper. Devour the deliciousness that you just created.
It sounds so simple and boring, but it is truly satisfying and yummy. I hope you like it!
Weekend Roundup
Our weekend was fantastic! It started out with a nice mother-daughter lunch in the square. Riley became a big girl right before my eyes and decided she was more than happy to sit in her high chair with me for an hour and enjoy her food as well. It’s amazing that she’s growing up but so bittersweet and I tend to feel a great deal of sadness about it. Any other mommies out there feel the same?
Our neighborhood had an awesome sailboat event going on so we were able to check that out for a little while after our lunch. We had a great family breakfast the next day, complete with an impromptu early morning at the park and some smoothies! Your day is always better when it starts out at an empty park, as a family. Riley loved it and I think my husband loved it even more (see photos below). Stephen had practice on Sunday so we weren’t able to make it to service, but we did manage to blast our favorite gospel songs through the house and bask in the presence of the Lord as we got ready for our day. I met up with my good friend Sabina (my gorgeous Polish bombshell) for brunch and we had the most delicious citrus beignets and french press. I also had the best scrambled eggs to date. I’m definitely going to play around and see if I can make them myself, but I can’t quite put my finger on what made them so yummy.
Our Sunday continued after “dada” got out of practice. We took a trip to Babies R Us to pick up a baby gate. It’s our ritual to let Riley pick out a toy when we go there and naturally she picked out the scariest most life like toy in the building. She loves the big monkey whom we’ve respectively named Roscoe, but he scares me every time I walk into the room!
The night ended with a little home cleaning session, homemade bread, lasagna and red velvet cupcakes! I’ve included a link to a vine video I made of Riley at the park. 
Happy Monday! Enjoy!
Another Target Post
Hey guys!
The weather has been fantastic here in the bay lately, so I decided to pick up some fun spring outfits for Riley! Naturally, I went to Target! They currently have the most adorable mix and match pieces. I got a couple of colored lace shorts and cute tanks for her at $8 and $12 a piece. Not bad right?
Just wanted to share with you guys in case you were on the hunt for some cute spring baby apparel! Have a great weekend. Enjoy!
Riley and Mommy Take Stanford (well… for a couple of hours)
I had the wonderful opportunity to sit in on my new friend Jennifer Aaker’s class at Stanford GSB. She teaches “Designing For Happiness” at Stanford as the Professor of Marketing. I was so excited and of course jumped at the opportunity. Naturally, Riley was with me as I take her everywhere. Jennifer did help with a great babysitter to fill in during the 2 hour class. She was wonderful with Riley and they played in the grass with her toys right outside of the building. I cheated a little and had her send me text updates and photos throughout the class ( I’ll get there fully one day).
I first want to say that the class was amazing! From the syllabus, the class develops and rethinks ideas on how to “design products and rethink brands.” One exercise we did was to come up with words that immediately evoke a sense of happiness in ourselves; specifically a word, a company, and a brand. My picks were family, Honest Company, and Little Lights of Mine (is that a brand? It could be…!)
I hope I get a chance to make it back up there and sit in again. I learned so much in that short time. (If you’re reading this, thank you Jennifer!). Second, the campus is BEAUTIFUL. It was my first time getting to explore such a large campus. It was beautifully kept and there were some really cool features at the Graduate School of Business. Until next time!
Here are a couple of photos from the day! Enjoy!
Perfect Pan Steaks !
This is my recipe for what I consider to be the perfect pan steak! It’s quick, easy and doesn’t require a grill. My steaks always come out tender, juicy and cooked to perfection with this recipe. Try it and let me know what you think!
* If you like my recipes be sure to click on the title and repost using the Facebook, twitter, pinterest or tumblr widgets! Thanks!
Ingredients
3 Tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
coarse sea salt and pepper to taste
2 8 oz filets (or any cut of beef you like)
Preheat your oven to 450. In an oven safe skillet/pan heat your butter and olive oil on the stove on a med high heat. Add in the sprigs of rosemary as your pan is heating. Salt and pepper the meat to your liking (I recommend a generous pinch of each, which is a THREE finger pinch ). When the butter has melted and the oil is heated add your steaks into the pan to get a nice golden brown sear on them. This should take about 2 mins on each side. Then place your pan in the oven for about 7-9 mins until the steaks are cooked to your preference ( 8 mins makes a perfect medium, my favorite!). These rosemary infused steaks are nothing short of delicious. Enjoy!
Allow the meat to rest 5 minutes before serving
I served my steaks with quick pan potatoes and a caesar salad!
Note*- Allow 2 mins extra oven time for bone in steaks
FUNdamentals!
Here is a little video I took of Riley playing basketball with her dada after the win last night! You’ve got to start them early people! (Kidding) … My true dream would be for Riley to be an equestrian and take after her grandma and auntie and play volleyball 
… We’ll leave that up to her to decide though. Click the link below. Enjoy!
Walk In LOVE !
We attended a wonderful Easter Sunday church service last week and the message was just what I needed. Simply to walk “in love”. Keep your head held high, and know that you are where you are supposed to be. We are a reflection of God and it is our duty as servants of him to display his love and be a reflection of him. Ultimately letting our “little lights shine”!
No sin is greater than the next. We all have sinned and all have our faults. At the end of the day we should lend our advice in times of need, a shoulder to lean on, and praying hands for one another. We MUST walk in LOVE at all times. Free yourself from the judgement of others and simply pray for them if you feel that their ways are not of the Lord. I feel we are so quickly to judge and talk about other peoples wrong doings (we’ve all been guilty of this i’m sure), but aren’t as quick to pray for them. Lets start praying and loving and stop gossiping and judging. WALK IN LOVE.
Make it a point to display God’s love through both our actions and words. The tongue is a powerful thing. Lets use it for the good of the Lord and not for the negativity of the world.
“Follow God’s example, therefore as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5: 1-2
Weekend Fun!
We had a wonderful time this Easter weekend, attending a great church service and delicious brunch as a family. We were able to Skype with Riley’s godparents, Brittany and Bryant, so that they could read “The Easter Story” to her (she really has awesome godparents). We watched my brother in law Seth play the last college basketball game of his career for Duke University. Such a bittersweet moment but we are all extremely proud of him as he has accomplished so much and proved so many people wrong. Hard work and perseverance can certainly take you far!
I have now designated my sunday afternoons as “baby food sunday”, and prepare all of Riley’s meals for the week on that day! It’s actually very fun for me. I will definitely post my favorite baby food recipes in the near future.
Lastly, I prepared a wonderful Easter meal that consisted of sautéed greens beans, roasted squash, lamb chops with a fig sauce and my 10 minute pasta! You can find the recipe here on my blog for the pasta! Only, this time I added fresh basil, parsley and capers to the pasta (delicious) !
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend with your friends and family! What did you do? Let me know in the comments below.
