Strawberry Mint Spa Water

Sassy Water caused quite a fuss on this little website.  To date, it is my most trafficked post which Jason and find slightly hilarious.  For all the trouble, planning, and effort I put into most of my recipes, I'm best-known as the girl that put cucumbers, lemons, and mint leaves in a pitcher of water. But, I do love Sassy Water.  I still drink it and can definitely tell a difference in water retention and weight loss on the weeks I'm faithful to whip it up.  Plus, it's all natural and totally safe for me and the baby.

But, what I love most about Sassy Water is how refined it makes me feel.  I'm not just downing a detox tea... It's a pretty, light drink.  Spa water in general makes me feel a little more elegant than normal. There is something delicate and relaxing about drinking a lightly flavored water with pretty pieces of fruit laced throughout it. So when we hosted brunch for Jason's mom last weekend, I wanted to make sure we served it.

I turned to lemons, strawberries, blueberries, and mint for this beverage.   Lemons and mint provided a nice refreshing base flavor. The strawberries added a faint sweetness and a ruddy color.  I really added the blueberries for a pretty color contrast, but you could sort of taste them. It was a lovely, leisurely drink with zero guilt.  In fact, lemon water promotes hydration and detox.  An all around win... Pretty with substance. Enjoy!

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skinny superfood smoothie

So this smoothie is kind of the pregnancy edition of an earlier smoothie I’d posted.  When I met with my midwife for my 8 week appointment, she told me to eliminate A LOT from my diet.  I thought my diet was pretty healthy before, but apparently a lot of the foods I love aren’t great for you when you are pregnant.  Goodbye orange juice and Honey Bunches of Oats. (Heart shatters.)  Orange juice was hard to give up since I craved it pretty much my entire first trimester.  My midwife said my favorite breakfast beverage basically just converts to sugar as soon as it hit my bloodstream.  I felt so betrayed… All this time I thought I was being so healthy and I was just craving sugar?

Needless to say, I really had a hard time drinking my usual smoothie without orange juice.  The flavor was just gone without it.  I tried making homemade oj, but found that I just didn’t have enough time in the mornings before work even with a great juicer.  So, I slowly modified the ingredients until I came up with something that tasted just as good without my beloved oj. The secret?  Pineapple, carrots, and lime juice.  Those three little treasures resurrected my bland little smoothie giving it a sweet, tangy taste without any processed sugar.

I made two other tweaks to the original recipe.  I started subbing unsweetened almond milk for Greek yogurt since one cup has 45% of the calcium I need every day.  Score for me and the baby!  Almond milk also has a good amount of protein, but you are welcome to sub a protein powder or add Greek yogurt to the smoothie instead.  Also, I detracted the banana because this kid has given me a serious banana aversion. The texture, taste, smell… everything just seems awful now.  (And, I seriously loved bananas before… Need proof? Please see these Strawberry-Banana Bites, these Banana Walnut Muffins, and this amazing Banana Coffee Cake.) 

Still packed with greens, carrots, and berries, this smoothie deserves its name.  It’s a little leaner and a little less sugar-y though.  

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weeknight wonder: kitchen sink cobb salad

Why, hello there!  Hope that you had a lovely weekend.  We were insanely productive...  The car got inspected, closets got cleaned out, garage sale finds were washed and placed in the nursery, photo sessions were snapped and edited, recipes were tested, groceries bought, cleaning done... On top of that, Jason worked, Lady got spayed, and we went to a base ball game with friends.  Needless, to say, I'm am exhausted. I need a weekend to recover from the weekend... or at least a second cup of coffee.  Ever feel like that on Mondays?

So tonight, we will probably have something easy like this kitchen sink cobb salad. It's pretty simple.  Bake some bacon, boil an egg or two, and then toss in whatever veggies you have in the fridge. Easy to throw together, but it's a super fresh dinner that is still filling thanks to the eggs and bacon.  The recipe below lists the veggies I used for this exact salad, but usually I don't follow a recipe.  I chop and toss really whatever we have in the produce bin into this sucker.  I do like adding berries cause I like a little something sweet and unexpected.  I used a sprinkle of cole slaw mix to give it some crunch, but you could substitute nuts or croutons. Cracked black pepper gives the meal a finished touch. 

Super simple.  Enjoy and happy Monday!

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