This is my first weekly recap. I’ve wanted to try this for a while now, but haven’t gotten around to it. I think it’s the best way to share what’s happening in my kitchen, what and how I’m photographing places and things, and travel updates!
This week was all about food. I had just returned from a one week getaway in NH and thoroughly enjoyed my pre-made paleo meal delivery service each day. I wanted to replicate that while at home in Charlotte.
Every time I checkout at the grocery store, someone comments about the amount of food I’m purchasing. Usually, this comes with questions regarding the number of grocery visits and meal prep and planning. While I minimize my trips to the grocery store by planning out 7 days of meals at a time and only visiting the store once, I haven’t quite mastered the meal prep game.
This week, I really wanted to make some headway with cooking simple, healthy, tasty meals that could be frozen for a later date. I started with two recipes, which I was able to make quickly one afternoon.
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sunday
Sunday was meal planning and grocery shopping day. This was all accomplished by mid-morning. We finished up some leftovers for lunch and rented a movie I have wanted to see for a long time, In The Heart of The Sea. Afterward, we visited Birkdale Village for a little birthday shopping for Nick. He likes Banana Republic and they had sent him birthday bucks. It was their friends and family sale so he found a few things. Afterward, it was dinner at CAVA. They are wonderful for people with food allergies. Almost everything on the menu is gluten free.
monday
It was back to the gym Monday after two weeks off. 30 minutes of fasted cardio and 30 minutes of upper body weight training. We were ready for our organic coffee and breakfast. This week we are drinking Counter Culture’s Big Trouble. Supporting local businesses are a top priority of ours and we love that this organic coffee comes from Durham, North Carolina. If you like a medium roast coffee with a nutty, caramel flavor, try this one!
Monday is also my day in the kitchen. I started out making breakfast items for the week. The first was Sausage Gravy Omelets. I always like to have a side of fruit with breakfast. This week was fresh strawberries.
I also baked a loaf of Paleo Cinnamon Bread. This is made with 6 eggs, gee and flax seed! Lots of fiber, protein and healthy fats to start your day. It’s also fantastic with a little almond butter on top.
For lunch, I cooked up some comfort food: Organic Brown Rice Spaghetti and Meat Sauce. The recipe isn’t up on my blog yet, but I’ll be sure to add it in the near future. After lunch, I started prepping dinner: Homemade TZATZIKI SAUCE, Mediterranean Salad and Baked Chicken Thighs. Also, several recipes that need to make it on my website. ha ha!
I finished up the working day by updating our budget at Mint.com. If you haven’t heard of this free online tool, look into it. We follow Dave Ramsey principles and this app has helped us stick to our savings and investment plans.
In the evening, while binge watching Monk ( I like quirky shows.), I beat Peggle Blast! Totally weird confession. 🙂 Anyone else addicted to that game?
tuesday
Monday night, my shipment from Amazon came in. I was excited to see my meal prep glass food storage containers arrive. To have them ready to use Tuesday, I loaded them up in the dishwasher.
Tuesday morning we visited our chiropractor for our weekly tune up. I don’t know what I would do without him. I have chronic neck troubles and I need an adjustment every week to release the pressure and pain that I feel.
As soon as I arrived home, I started on two meal prep ideas. GROUND TURKEY FAJITA BOWLS and KETO PHILLY CHEESESTEAK STUFFED PEPPERS.
Both were easy to make and visually pleasing. I’m weird like that. The color combination of my food matters. ha ha! After, I got out my camera, tripod and remote and captured photos for this week’s blog post. That’s the fun part. A way to be creative while preparing meals for my family.
After lunch and cleaning up the kitchen from all my cooking, I made a healthy, no-bake dessert for my husband. It’s still hot here in the south and cold treats are a great way to cool off. This VEGAN BERRY CHEESECAKE is our favorite summer dessert.
To finish up the day, I did a bit of online shopping. Both my parents and in-laws have wedding anniversaries in September. I don’t like special dates like that to occur without sending a gift or card. This year, I did my shopping on Etsy and sent custom, personalized gifts. For my in-laws, I ordered this amazing home sweet home farmhouse sign for their 40th wedding anniversary. It’s by Cherie Kay Signs.
I can’t tell you what I ordered my parents as they might be reading this and find out early! Let’s just say, I’m super pumped to be working with some talented creatives and I’ll share more details with you next month.
wednesday
Well, Wednesday was the day we all dread, house cleaning day. After a great morning workout and a cup of Joe, I was pumped and ready to tackle the chores. I even got in the tub and scrubbed out the sticky residue left by our baths infused with orange essential oils. (I don’t recommend you try that one without an emulsifying agent. It made for a wonderful smelling bath, but left a yellow mess on the surface of the tub.)
After lunch, I made three days worth of GREEN JUICES.
To end the day with a bang, I finally decided on outdoor light fixtures for our home. This has been a decision in the making for the last three years! Currently, two of our lights are broken or not working and most of them are corroded. Also, we have several potential visitors during the next five months and we would like the house to be in tip top shape!
My goal for our decorative light fixtures was to mimic the Southern Charleston style of the house. We have black shutters on the house, so I picked lights that matched. The one factor that made this search difficult was the back plate. Each fixture is currently sitting on a 6.25″ x 6.25″ block. That meant, my new outdoor fixtures had to have a back plate that size or smaller!
Below are just a few of the lights I had on my Amazon Wish List.
OUTDOOR WALL LANTERN WISH LIST
After all that searching, I switched vendors and purchased all my outdoor light fixtures at Wayfair!
The first black, transparent glass flush mount outdoor ceiling light fixture is called GRENADA 2-LIGHT OUTDOOR FLUSH MOUNT. This will be at our entrance and look fabulous with our new front door. It will also be at our second floor balcony and at our back entrance.
The second black, decorative fixture is called CASWELL 2-LIGHT OUTDOOR WALL LANTERN. This lantern will be our prominent fixtures at the front of the house and garage.
The last light is called CASWELL OUTDOOR LANTERN. It’s a smaller version of the 2-light lantern and will be placed at the back of the garage in our backyard.
We start installation Saturday so read on to see how it’s coming along!
thursday
I woke up Thursday with intentions to finish all those extra tasks on the to do list. Friday was going to be a busy day and I wanted to accomplish as much as I could. I started with polishing my stainless steel sink. We installed it this past spring and I like to make it sparkle once per week.
I also called my mom as she and my dad are planning to be in Charlotte for Christmas. We chatted about Christmas at The Biltmore and all the exciting holiday events we could experience.
This fall and winter could be busy for the Adams B&B! I just received word this week that my best friend from New Hampshire might be visiting in October.
Anyhow, I finished up my day by putting in a few hours of blogging and editing photographs.
friday
What a busy day, Friday’s are! My day started with 30 minutes of fasted cardio and 30 minutes of leg weight training. After breakfast, I had massage therapy by Resilience Therapeutic Massage. Mel has been working with me for almost one year now and I’ve seen great results.
Afterward, I ran to Earth Fare to pick up a few meal items for the weekend. I treated myself to a take home pizza from Papa Murphy’s. They have an amazing gluten free pizza crust!
Friday night’s plans were to watch the Norfolk Tides play the Charlotte Knights. However, a terrible storm rolled through and the game was cancelled. 🙁
We met friends at the Haymaker instead! It’s located a block away from the baseball stadium and had a gorgeously decorated interior. I wish I had taken pictures, but I prefer to keep my phone away when I’m spending time with friends. However, I would suggest trying their Cucumber Mule.
saturday
Today was going to be the day we installed all our outdoor light fixtures. However, it was overcast and rainy…not suitable to working with electricity. On a positive note, my husband installed a couple more smart receptacle outlets inside the house.
These smart outlets are fantastic for this time of year as the days are getting shorter. We can schedule when we want them to turn on and off. We can also control them from our smart phones.
sunday
We spent the morning at church, came home for lunch and got to work on our outdoor light fixtures. We were able to finish the garage!
We are hoping to exchange our rain date baseball tickets for Monday’s Bark in the Park night! I hope my weekly recap gave you meal inspiration, ideas for date night in Uptown Charlotte or helped you decorate your home.
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