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Irish Stew

March 14, 2016 • 18 Comments

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, this classic Irish Stew is healthy, hearty and brimming with tender meat and vegetables.

This weekend I had the opportunity to visit our former hometown, Minneapolis, for a food blogger’s brunch at the new Pinch of Yum studio (pictured below). The Twin Cities are wonderful for many reasons — one of them being that it’s a mecca for talented chefs, bakers, recipe developers and food bloggers. Never in my life have I seen so many people who are passionate about food, community, sustainability and health all living in one metro area. It amazes and inspires me, and I’m so thankful to know and be able to learn from them all.

After a packed weekend of seeing old friends and neighbors, and visiting some of our favorite spots in Minneapolis, I was happy to be back home in Des Moines Sunday night. And I was even more happy when I realized I had leftovers of this Irish Stew to enjoy for dinner. Leftovers are seriously my saving grace. I don’t know what I would do without them!

What’s great about stew is that the longer it sits, the better it tastes. I originally made this Irish Stew in the middle of last week, but by the time Sunday rolled around the flavor had become even more delicate and rich. If you’re looking for something to make for St. Patrick’s Day, this is your recipe! Read More

Romesco Sauce

March 7, 2016 • 29 Comments

As a nut and red pepper-based sauce that originated from Northeastern Spain, Romesco Sauce is excellent with just about anything — pasta, seafood, steak, chicken, pork, sandwiches, on its own, or as a dipping sauce!

Since we’re all friends here, I hope you’ll understand why today’s post is super short. I’m still experiencing sickness from a new health problem, and so I apologize if I come across a bit incoherent today. 😛 How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? Even though I was couch-ridden most of the weekend, I was able to do something I barely have time to do — read and color in my coloring book for hours.

Can I just say that I was using coloring books as an adult before it was a trend? I vividly remember during my freshman year of college, my roommate Kasia and I actually made a special trip to Walmart (we didn’t have cars so we had to use Muncie, Ind.’s lovely public transportation system) so we could buy Hello Kitty coloring books. At the time Barnes & Noble, Target and other retail stores didn’t carry the fancy coloring books you see flying off the shelves today, so Hello Kitty was about all we had to work with.

We didn’t care. We were just happy to have something to distract ourselves from homework and studying every now and then.

A note about this wonderfully versatile Romesco Sauce — I might even like this better than pesto. I know, totally bold statement there, but I think once you try it for yourself you’ll see why I’m favoring it over it’s green counterpart. What I love most about this Romesco Sauce recipe is its texture, which is made thick with the addition of toasted bread. Bread + red wine vinegar + almonds + smoked paprika + tomato + roasted pepper goodness all in one sauce? Hold me.Read More

Roasted Root Vegetable Chickpea Buddha Bowl with Maple Tahini Sauce

February 29, 2016 • 51 Comments

This Roasted Root Vegetable Chickpea Buddha Bowl with Maple Tahini Sauce is hearty, filling and packed with nutritional powerhouses like sweet potatoes, chickpeas, avocado and quinoa. You’ll be glowing from the inside out after eating it!

I first discovered Buddha Bowls from the lovely Dana of the Minimalist Baker blog. And in her words I’m going to describe what a buddha bowl is, because it’s the best explanation I’ve seen thus far:

“One might assume by calling this a ‘Buddha Bowl’ I’m making some kind of political or religious statement, when in fact, I am not. I just like giant bowls of food. A buddha bowl, as defined by Urban Dictionary, is ‘a bowl which is packed so full that is has a rounded belly appearance on the top much like the belly of a buddha.'” Right there with ya, Dana! I mean c’mon, who doesn’t like bowls overflowing with food? Especially when that food also happens to be really good for you, too?

So friends, get ready to experience one of the most delicious and nutritious meals you could ever make!

How to Make Homemade Energy Bars

February 22, 2016 • 37 Comments

Homemade Energy Bars require only a few simple, wholesome ingredients! They are easy to make, good for your body, and cheaper and healthier than store-bought bars. Learn how to make your own today.

My husband gave me a puzzled look as I placed box after box of Blueberry Muffin Lärabars into our cart. “What? They are on sale and I need to stock up,” I said.

“You do realize you could probably make those at home at a cheaper rate and have them taste just as delicious, right? I mean, you develop recipes for a living,” he replied.

For a second, I doubted myself. If you’ve ever tasted Lärabars, you’ll understand why I was stocking up. Even though they are a bit on the pricey side they are stinking delicious! (And good for you too with ususally less than five ingredients!) But then I thought about it and my husband was right. To keep my hangry side at bay, I eat about 1-1.5 of these energy bars a day … so it made sense for me to start making them fresh at home.

Making homemade energy bars is a lot easier than you think. Seriously, prepare to be amazed by how simple the process is. There is no cooking involved, very few ingredients and hardly any prep time. Plus they are hard to mess up. Raise your hand if that’s a recipe that sounds good to you!

The best thing about homemade energy bars is that you can personalize them based on what kind of flavors you like. All you need is a few ingredients — dates, some kind of roasted nut and some kind of dried fruit — and you can totally customize the bars to create any combination you’d like. Today’s recipe is for Blueberry Cashew Energy Bars, but here are a few other recipe combination ideas (Note: something optional for all of these combinations is 1 teaspoon honey. I like the extra sweetness, but if you want to keep even natural sugar out you can omit that):

Cherry Almond
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup pitted, dried dates
1 cup almondsRead More

When Words Cut Deep: Remembering Who You Belong To and What Matters Most

February 17, 2016 • 34 Comments

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever been called?

god looks at the heart

Worthless? Ugly? Annoying? Fat? A loudmouth? Dork? Idiot? Loser? Can you remember a time when someone’s words cut deep into your heart and hurt you a little bit? I can. The year was 2007 and I was a flat-chested middle schooler with braces, wavy hair and glasses. Even though I was one of the top swimmers on our club team (which made me semi-cool), I also played the oboe in band, which made me somewhat of a geek. Having good grades and winning the school spelling bee didn’t help my social status much either.

I was — and still am thanks to my dad’s genetics — a tiny little thing. Never mind the fact I pounded down almost as much pizza, hamburgers, fries and ice cream as the boys at lunch … Kids didn’t pay attention to that. On top of being called a “dork,” “geek,” and “smarty pants,” I was called other things things like “anorexic,” “bulimic,” “twig girl,” etc.

At the time my classmates’ words didn’t bother me much, but I felt their impact two years later when as a freshman, I grew a little bit, started wearing contacts and got my braces removed. Almost instantly people treated me differently … and for a brief period of time I was relieved. But then to my surprise, something strange happened. Even though my classmates stopped teasing me, I was the names I had been called in middle school crept up on my conscience, and I was overtaken with insecurity. Even with a more shapely body and no braces I felt like I had to from that moment on, prove that I wasn’t that dorky, twig girl people thought I was in middle school. So I started straightening my hair, putting more makeup on, and wearing the brands of clothes that the popular kids wore. I was still the same old Lauren inside, but new and improved on the outside.

Words cut deep

We can shake them off or pretend like they don’t matter, but words still impact us. The impact could take place immediately or several years down the road, but words have a way of getting under our skin and effecting our sense of belonging and identity. Unless we put up a fight.

I’m not going to lie, there’s still a small part of me that occasionally feels like it has something to prove — like I need to be put together on the outside every minute of every day. But on the other hand, the older I get the more I’m learning to care less about what others think and more about what God thinks.

We should care less about what others think and more about what God thinks of us.

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God Looks at the Heart

So what does God care about? Does He care if we wear designer jeans or fit into a size 2? Certainly not. God cares more about the condition of our heart. We see this in 1 Samuel 16:7, when the LORD tells Samuel: “The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (NLT).

As sons and daughters of God, when words cut deep we need to remember 1) who we belong to and 2) what really matters. People can call us whatever nasty names they want, but the truth is we are beloved, forgiven and free in the eyes of our Father, and that changes everything.

You have nothing to prove to this world — other than your testimony as a follower of Jesus Christ. You don’t have to prove you are beautiful, because God already says you are (Psalm 139:14). You don’t have to prove you are treasured, because the Bible proclaims it to be true (1 Peter 2:9).Read More

Skillet Eggplant Lasagna

February 15, 2016 • 50 Comments

This Skillet Eggplant Lasagna has all the flavor you’d expect from traditional lasagna, without the arduous amount of prep time! All you need is 25 minutes to make this dinner for two.

Hi friends! Happy Monday! Did you all have a fantastic weekend? Maybe even a romantic Valentine’s getaway? Or a fun Galentine’s celebration? I’d love to hear about what you did in the comments. Mr. Making Life Sweet and I had a lovely dinner at a French restaurant called Django in downtown Des Moines. Over the course of two hours, we sat and slowly enjoyed wine, cheese, fig jam, steak frites and more French cuisine. In between bites we talked about life, how we feel where we are today, and our hopes and dreams for the future. It was everything a night out on the town should be and I savored every minute of our time together.

But enough about Valentine’s Day. It’s time to get to today’s post: This beautiful and flavorful Skillet Eggplant Lasagna!

I love all kinds of lasagna. Butternut squash lasagna, mushroom ragu lasagna, Italian sausage lasagna. I could go on and on! There’s only one problem with my love for lasagna: I rarely have time to make it the traditional way. As a result, lasagna usually falls into my “special occasion only” meal bucket. Or at least that was the case until I discovered the wonderful method of making skillet lasagna.