This might be one of my favorite recipes I’ve ever made! I can’t take all the credit – one of my friends shared the technique on our mom’s group Facebook page. I knew upon her description that I had to take my own stab at it!

The best part about this “casserole” layered with beans, veggies and chicken is its versatility. You can put any vegetable or bean under the chicken and it will turn out delicious every time. As the chicken cooks it drips flavor and seasons everything down under. Moreover, you can assemble this in the morning and bake it off when the baby is crawling underfoot and you just want dinner to be ready already!

Start by choosing the beans you’d like to use. I used navy and garbanzo, but you could try black beans, great northerns, pintos, giant beans, lima beans – anything. You can use canned or about 3 cups of freshly cooked too.

Herb options are also completely up to you. I chose oregano and basil from our garden, but rosemary would have been nice too!

Mix beans, herbs and spices together in the casserole dish

Plus green beans. I had frozen on hand, but you can also use fresh – or any other veggies you like.

Add your chicken on top. We had boneless/skinless, but bone-in and skin-on will work – as will breasts. (Check doneness with a meat thermometer if you use thicker pieces like bone-in breasts)

Season with more salt and pepper

And rub with olive oil. I added some optional Garlic Gold nuggets on top too.

Ready to go in!

45 minutes later Matt and I couldn’t wait to dig in

We served this with Spinach Feta rolls on the side.

I can’t wait to make another twist on this soon: Sun-dried tomatoes? Olives? Peas? Kale? Dill and lemon? Endless options for customization!

I’m really not sure when these meals begin or end! I try to contain them all in one week, but my Lately folder is piling up with all kinds of meals from before and after the beach : ) So let’s see what’s been eatin’ on:

Breakfasts

Cheerios with yogurt over a pile of berries. It was strawberry crazy over here! Wild Friends chocolate coconut on top. Looks like a little granola crumble too!

One morning I had the top of a Dakota bun slathered in sunbutter with an egg and tons of local fresh strawberries. I want to eat this again!

Here was a delicious slice of Cville Crunch French toast topped with banana, berries and chia seeds. A bit of peanut butter on the side.

Dough boy smoothies are back. This one was a raspberry blast! It was the same recipe as the strawberry banana but with raspberries instead. Kamut puffs, extra rasp. and Wild Friends on top.

Lastly, a bowl of yogurt with Kamut puffs (which Mazen eats) with lots of berries and more Wild Friends. You can tell I ate a lot of the same things this week : ) Also that most of the days were rainy!

Lunches

So many salads from our garden, which is abundantly producing greens at the moment.

Egg-celent salad of greens from our garden, bleu cheese, salt, olive oil, honey, 2 eggs, avocado and cherries. Fabulous!

Here’s a No Bull Burger over lettuce with local sheep’s milk cheese, hummus, radish…

And a bowl full of cherries

More of the same! Love having bleu cheese in the house again.

This salad was topped with avocado, Caromont Farm goat feta (!), leftover tofu and sweet potatoes and a Spinach Feta roll

With a peach on the side

Tofu Pesto salad from Great Harvest! I’m obsessed with our house balsamic dressing!

Dinners

For some reason I only have one dinner to share. Probably because I put some them into the weekend post!

Here’s tofu, sweet potatoes and asparagus, all roasted in the oven.

Sweet potato toppings bar

And to end on a fun note…Mazen’s favorite meal this week was salmon, avocado and broccoli bits

And his favorite activity is pulling up on the windowsill in his room. We look at the garden morning, noon and night. I went outside to surprise him before bed!

Have a great weekend!

Last month I had the opportunity to travel to Minneapolis to tour the General Mills headquarters. I didn’t think twice when I accepted the trip – I am passionate about learning about all things related to the food industry – from farms like Polyface and Twin Oaks to large and historic brands like Quaker and now General Mills. I wanted to see what the company had to offer, from both a food and corporate perspective.

Thus, I joined Emilie from Baby Loving Mama, Jenn of Fit Bottomed Girls and my BFF Caitlin (and Henry and Kristien!) for a 24-hour speed visit of General Mills.

Not long after Mazen started eating Cheerios I got an email from Erin at General Mills: “Would you like to come up to Minneapolis for a visit?” I responded that I was breastfeeding so traveling alone wasn’t really an option right now, and she asked if I wanted to bring Mazen and Matt along too. This was the first sign that General Mills would be one of the most hospitable companies I’ve worked with. They made absolutely everything about traveling and working with a baby in tow as easy as possible – from the entire room they stocked with diapers, toys, cribs and baby food to the complete flexibility I had to nurse at any time during our visit.

It was so nice to finally meet Henry and get to hang with Caitlin in person. We do far too much digital talking to go this long without spending time together in person! Henry is the cutest! He waves

This post doesn’t go into detail about all the company is doing for public health, its efforts to increase whole grains and decrease sugar in all of its kids cereals or the work put into making the entire Chex line gluten-free. You can read more about those here. Having talked to many of the team members in charge, General Mills is very modest about all of the improvements it has made with the main goal to “do the right thing.” As with any company, large or small, I’m sure some of you could find issues with General Mills. Whether or not you want to eat General Mills’ cereal is up to you. We in our family eat the cereals with the lowest sugar and simplest ingredient lists. Not all of the General Mills brands are ones I would choose to buy, but I love Cascadian Farm, Food Should Taste Good chips, Larabar and several other of the “crunchy” ones.

So instead of sharing facts, I’m going to go back to KERF’s old style and share the three delicious meals we enjoyed during our stay – cereal included!

Dinner

After a long morning of traveling, we headed to the Mill Museum to learn about the cereal making process and grain industry, taste-testing included. Mazen loved that part : )

For dinner, we headed to Spoonriver, a farm-to-table restaurant next door, and were greeted by the owner herself – award winning chef and restaurateur Brenda Langton. Brenda greeted us warmly and left us to taste away.

Mazen and Henry were good sports entertained by the menu and Cheerios

I sipped on a malbec with my meal – juicy!

We were served an incredible loaf of warm bread. I think Matt and I were must enthusiastic.

Our group shared one of each of the appetizers…

…everything from an Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon salad to a Savory Wild Mushroom and Pistachio Terrine {like a mushroom loaf} to a Soba Noodle Salad. Everything was great – surprise garnishes included.

Matt chose a Minnesota grass-fed flank steak for dinner, and the presentation and flavor combination was outstanding. I loved all the little complements to the steak – micro greens, roasted roots, asparagus, broccoli, parmesan.

But my Arctic Char stole the show. It was perrrrfectly cooked and served with a peach and blackberry salsa {on the side}, micro greens, asparagus and lentil pilaf. I loved every single bite! The portion was perfect too.

Sadly we had to miss the dessert course because the babies were tired, but I hear it was wonderful. Our stay in Minneapolis was way too short – I would have loved to taste around more!

Breakfast

After a surprisingly good night’s rest in our cozy downtown hotel, we traveled outside of the city to the General Mills headquarters where breakfast was waiting in the famous Betty Crocker room. Cereal anyone!?

In addition, we were served a foodie’s dream of yogurt, berries, toppings, muffins, chia seed pudding (!) and more.

I had Cheerios and Kix with a few Lucky Charms for old time’s sake. Plus berries, pudding, a muffin made with Fiber One and lots of coffee!

Mazen loved the baby pouches ready for him, with a big serving of Cheerios, of course, and fresh fruit

Our daytime was spent touring the facilities and chatting about blogging, food, trends and more with the head honchos.

Caitlin wrote a great post on women’s issues and talked about the on-site daycare, nursing rooms, and maternity/paternity leave. We both agreed that should we ever want to go back to working full time, this company would be the place to do it. The campus was gorgeous – it included a salon, bank, doctor’s office and more – and I imagine the quality of work-life is high. I’m not sure how well I’d do in Minneapolis winters though…

The gorgeous Betty Crocker test kitchens. There was a huge retractable shade that came down for beautiful diffused natural light. I would love to spend a day cooking in there!

My favorite part of our tour was the food photography studio and prop room. General Mills takes all of their photos in house, and the studios and test kitchens were incredibly impressive!

Pick a color!

Lunch

General Mills got word that we loved vegetables and put together a delectable lunch for our final meal.

Kales and greens, roasted vegetables, Brussels sprouts with lemon, gingered-shitake quinoa, roasted Yukon potatoes, chicken salad cups with Chex for crunch and cereal-crusted organic chicken. I loved the Chex-coated chicken! What a clever idea for breading.

Desserts incorporated cereal too – Triple-Berry Cheesecakes with a Cinnamon Chex crust and Cereal + Milk Panna Cotta with Cocoa Puffs and Peanut Butter Cheerios on top.

Mazen had a great time playing with everyone and chowing down

The baby room was equipped with everything we could possibly need. Unfortunately Mazen and Henry napped way too much so they didn’t get as much playing in. They had prepared crafts for the babies – play dough and necklace making and the only person who got to participate was Matt during a naptime.

Lucky Maze, his dad made him a Cheerios necklace while he was sleeping.

Thank you to General Mills for the opportunity to learn!

Disclosure: My trip was paid for by General Mills but I received no monetary compensation for writing this post. Thanks to Paul Market for all of the great photos!

Today I bring you a second post with some window (Windows? Ha!) shopping from Fab. If you’re not familiar with Fab, they are an online design destination that offers thousands of unique and quirky products with changing inventory everyday so you can always find something you want (or need!). The following are my cool picks for a sensationally hot summer. I found so much I liked this time around that I bought the white table for our house!

1. Grow Away Toiletry Bag. This adorable pouch is so bright and fresh for summer travel.

2. Mini Slow Pop Molds. I love the shape of these popsicle molds. Somehow I feel that the smaller, round shape would be easier for a little baby to lick.

3. Star Spangled Spatulas. Perfect for Father’s Day and the 4th of July!

4. Zig Zag Cube. This pouf has a machine washable slipcover for outdoor use that is water-repellent as well as rain, mildew and UV-resistant. Perfect for a certain porch I know : )

5. Mose Hi-Ball Turquoise Glasses. These match my vintage blue Ball jars perfectly and would be great for summer cocktails on the porch.

6. Intaglio II Salad Set. Made from durable melamine, this funky salad set would be perfect for picnics, especially those with kids running around.

7. Bacon Mustards. Maple Bacon? Bacon Blue Cheese? Whipped!? All I have to say is BURGER!

8. Bongo Side Table. On the way to my living room, it is modern and bright and unique! I’ve been looking for the right white end table for a while, and this one fit the bill perfectly. Can’t wait to get it!

9. Seletti Travel Pouches. The organized traveler will love these pouches that keep your underwear, dirty laundry and shoes all neatly separated.

The above links are not affiliate links. I have no incentive for you to purchase from Fab. Thanks for your support!

After a long week of wedding festivities, we were happy to be home again and back to normal life.

Friday night was low key and indoors due to bad weather. Matt and I were glad to resume our Mad Men watching! We’re now on Season 4 and loving it.

Saturday morning we risked getting wet with a run + walk to the market. I try to run a mile or so the long way to the market to break at sweat before the rest of my workout is in the form of walking.

First stop is always to say hi to dada!

Second stop is to Shenandoah Joe’s for coffee. This week I got ICED!

Speaking of ice, check out the latest from Nugget’s Raw Kombucha! It was soooo fresh. Can’t wait to try more flavors and get a kombucha float sometime soon.

For breakfast I had fresh berries

And a local egg fried up by Babes In The Wood served on some Great Harvest bread.

Back home we baby proofed the house a bit for Mr. Crawl (love/hating on the new gate at the top of the stairs)

Motion courtesy of VINE – the latest social media in motion! {Click to play if it doesn’t automatically start}

And to keep some fun in the weekend, we strolled downtown for cocktails

Glass Haus Kitchen has some AMAZING hand-crafted options. I asked the bartender to surprise me with something based on bourbon and this was muddled strawberries, Art of the Age Rhuby (rhubarb, cardamom, vanilla and coriander), Verjus blanc and bourbon.

We came home for dinner (that’s life with a baby) and had an awesome local trout I bought at the market pan-seared with some garlic scape and butter.

Served with kale salad from our garden and corn on the cob

Sunday morning breakfast!! Eggs, fruit extravaganza, toast with Wild Friends PB

Sunday I went to the gym, did lots of laundry, and went to see The Great Gatsby with Karen! Loved it like I loved Moulin Rouge.

Sunday night Shanna and Mike invited us to our house for a BBQ! Man I miss that porch.

We had turkey burgers, kale salad, pasta salad and lots of fruit.

Happy Weekend!

Weight loss can be very dramatic. Someone who drinks 2,000 calories a day can decide to give up Coke and drop lots of pounds fairly quickly. But most of the time, weight loss comes in very small packages. These little tweaks lead to a gradual loss over time (gain also works this way too, unfortunately!) Luckily small tweaks can make weight loss happen almost without noticing. Here are 7 tweaks I have made lately to aim to create some deeper dips in my squiggly line.

1. One change that has made quite a bit of an impact is brushing my teeth after lunch. I can’t tell you how often I just want to eat to have something change the way my mouth tastes. When I worked outside of the home I often brushed after lunch, but at home it’s easier to just pop a piece of chocolate. Instead of looking for something sweet, I’ve been brushing and any nibbling that used to happen from 1-4pm is no more.

2. I don’t have any dessert in my house. I mean ANY!! I used to keep chocolate chips on hand for a batch of cookies, some ice cream in the freezer for a Saturday night, Biscoff cookies and dark chocolate bars for unexpected company or an every-now-and-then craving. For the longest time I could resist them. One of the bags of dark chocolate chunks I ate this spring for dessert I had had since a blog conference years before! Something to do with breastfeeding or my emotions/hormones after having a baby caused all of my self control to go out the window. I didn’t get rid of any of the desserts – I ate them all gradually over time. And then I refused to buy more. I no longer feel deprived because there’s nothing in the house to deprive myself of. I am a very all-or-nothing type and I find it’s easier to not have any available than it is to know it’s there and resist. Willpower is hard, so I try not to even test it.

3. Speaking of not buying more, I’ve been going grocery shopping when I’m satisfied and feeling healthy and motivated. After a workout, perhaps. And usually in the mornings verses the late afternoon. I make better choices while there and then the food in my house is healthier when I get home.

4. My favorite afternoon snack is a bowl of yogurt topped with granola, peanut butter and any other crunchy toppings. It’s really filling, but also can really pack a lot of calories into a few bites. While there’s nothing unhealthy about this combo, I’m sure I don’t need a snack that big to get me to dinner. Instead of a yogurt bowl I’ve been turning to the fruit bowl and I’ve kept the granola out of the house for the short term (along with other foods that are way too easy/fun to overeat). I’ll still add some yogurt or crunch to my fruit in the form of cereal or chia seeds, but I make the fruit the star of the show. This is especially fun now that berry and stone fruit season is here!

5. In the spirit of this post, I’ve been having a salad for lunch everyday. My proteins and toppings change, but the salad is the same. The good news is I love salads, so this is a no brainer for lunch and guarantees I’ll get at least one bowl of greens in everyday.

6. People often comment “If I owned a bakery I’d be out of control!” It is so easy to get out of control when I’m around our sweets. I could ask Matt to bring home a free cookie every single night, but I know better and so does he, so he only brings home our whole grain breads. Every so often he’ll surprise me with a new muffin or sweet to taste test, but for the most part all of our delicious sweets and sweet breads stay at the bakery and not at my house.

7. Also in the spirit of keeping variety to a minimum, I’ve been making an effort to have only one open nut butter at a time. OK, two Because they don’t go bad, it’s easy to get carried away with 5-6 different open kinds – each with their own use – to choose between. And that can lead to a taste-test-a-thon. But sticking to one, especially if it’s a simple peanut, sunflower or almond butter, makes overindulging much less likely.

I am wrapping up my Bald Head Island photos with the family fun shots. I had a glorious time last week and took a real vacation from blogging, technology, formal exercise and green vegetables (I missed the greens the most!) It was one of those wonderful weeks where you soak up so much vacation fun that real life is a treat to return to. Can’t wait for next year!

Mazen wasn’t particularly impressed with the chilly ocean or the sand, but he did love playing with my aunt’s guide dog, his aunt and uncles and grandparents, and his new ridey horse, Tahoe.

Our family always has too many cooks in the kitchen. We begin planning our vacation menus the second dates have been reserved for a trip. Ironically, we often have the same meals every year at the beach: pizza, low country boil, tacos, and dozens of sandwiches for lunch. While this beach trip was a bit different than usual with a bachelorette dinner, rehearsal dinner, wedding day lunch, wedding reception and Sunday brunch in the mix, here are a handful of our beach meals.

Breakfasts

Eggs, toast, fruit, coffee (Nectarine season- wahoo!!)

French toast with sunbutter

Eggs, toast, fruit v.2

Coach’s Oats with sunbutter and banana

Lunches

Potato chip, cheese, avocado + pickle sandwich

Roast beef sandwich with salad

Salad with a little of everything

Wedding day lunch spread:

With wedding day beverages!

Dinners

First night: taco salad

Night Two: Bachelorette dinner (more tacos!)

Night Three: Rehearsal dinner Southern specialties – they were all incredible, especially the corn + bleu cheese salad and cornbread!

Night Four: Wedding Reception deliciousness. Everything from smoked shrimp dip to brandy peach pork shoulder to flank steak and shrimp and grits. Larbs and Matt had two kinds of wedding cake: vanilla with raspberry Chambord and carrot cake. Both were incredible, and I had several slices with lots of icing!

Night Five: Matt Pizza Specialty

With Andouille sausage and mushrooms

And salad

Anniversary/wedding celebration cookie cake for dessert!

Night Six: Out to dinner at the new cantina, Delphina’s, for chips, margaritas and more tacos

Shrimp + pork

Night Seven: Low Country Boil

And we ended the week with Larbs’s famous ice cream pie!

Larbs and Matt’s wedding was spectacular! From the bachelorette/bachelor party boat ride along marsh at sunset to the amazing food and company at the rehearsal dinner to the stunning bride and her handsome groom to the ocean backdrop…the amazing weather…the friends and family…the smoky shrimp dip…the chimichurri sauce…THE CAKE (both flavors)…and the romance that is still wafting through the air. I promised myself I’d let the professional photographer capture all the details so I could relax into the day, but somehow my own camera wound up with a number of special moments to share thanks to helping hands.

“Where are the herbs?” you might ask when you see the other garden posts.  Herbs are certainly some of the most commonly grown plants for amateur gardeners, and just like with growing greens they’re very rewarding because you can continually harvest throughout the summer.

After a failed herb garden last year planted in a shady corner of the yard, we are trying round two in containers with more sun. I decided that I want the raised beds to be for rotating seasonal veggies, so this means I have to grow herbs in a separate location.  We chose these great looking pots partly because they liven up the deck.  My only complaint about container gardening is you have to be even more diligent about watering.  It’s so easy for them to dry out!

Mint for juleps:

Mint is worth containing because it can really take over a garden.

Note our forks and spoons are custom made herb markers we bought at our local market!

Oregano and thyme together:

This low growing thyme would be great to fill in space in a yard or between stepping stones, etc.

Lettuce Leaf Basil:

This tastes pretty much like Sweet Basil, though maybe a little milder, but it has huge leaves.  You can use it in place of lettuce on a sandwich for a basily blast, or to add some flavor to a baby spinach salad.

I really like the big whiskey barrel because I feel like all the extra soil holds the water and makes it more resistant to drying out.

There are three more sweet basil plants, some cilantro, and little dill sprouts.  Planting multiple basil plants helps you get over that “well, I really want to use basil, but I don’t want to cut down my entire plant for one meal.” 

The herbs only get about a half-day’s worth of sun so they’re a bit slow growing right now, but in a month or so I expect them to take off!