Highlights of 2010

Happy New Year!

Wow, it’s hard to believe 2010 has come to an end.  One thing I really like about having a blog is the ease and entertainment of looking back upon an old year.  This year has had a lot of challenges for us, and definitely was not the easiest.  But it was really good too. We’re so incredibly blessed, and I’m thankful to God for all that we’ve been blessed with!
 
This time of year marks my blog anniversary as well, and I’ve now been  blogging for 2 whole years.

Last year, I wrote about the highlights of 2009, and thought it would be fun to do again.  Without further ado, here’s a few things that stand out from this past year:

Highlights of 2010:

- We got our vending machine business off to a good start.  We continue to add more locations around the Kansas City area, we’ve set up a Facebook page, and an official website is looming.

-Lesley Lifting Life was featured as one of Fitness.com’s “favorite health blogs”.

- I started 2010 thinking I wanted to be in a figure competition, then decided it really wasn’t for me.

- We lost our wonderful dog Rocky, when she got out of the yard and was hit by a car. 
- Erik and I celebrated our 3rd year wedding anniversary.  Go us!  We went to a Mumford & Sons concert, ate a Blue Bird, and stayed the night in Kansas City.
 
- We moved.

- Took a trip to New York.
       -- Part One: Chazy Lake Regatta 
       -- Part Two: Lake  George, Algonquin, new book 
       -- Part Three:  Three Cups of Tea, more bagels 
       -- Part Four: Painters, Bear Mountain Bridge 
       -- Part Five: Comparing pizza plus West Point, Beacon
       -- Part Six: Whole Foods Manhattan style
       -- Part Seven: Empire State of Mind
   
- Saving the best for last … I became an aunt! I love my little nephew, Walker.

2011 is going to start with some big changes in the Lesley Lifting Life household, and I’m very excited for what’s to come!

Hope you all have a wonderful, safe, and blessed New Year’s … here’s to 2011!

Christmastime in NE: meeting my new nephew

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

My blog has gone neglected for a little too long … there’s so much to share!  First up, and most important, I’m an aunt!  Walker Joseph was born on December 13th.  Therefore, I was extra excited to venture to Nebraska for Christmas to meet my little nephew.  He’s a cute one! 

See?Here’s some more pictures along the way:
Food

It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t talk about food at least a little, so here’s a few recent December eats which consisted of warm, delicious soups!Pacific Natural Foods roasted red pepper and tomato soup above … and homemade (by Erik) butternut squash soup.  So good!!More Nebraska adventures to come …

Have a very, merry Christmas, everyone!!

Hello, Jack Frost

Well, hello, Jack Frost, nice of you to stop by.

It’s officially really cold outside, and it officially snowed.  We didn’t get much snow, but enough to cover the ground and notice Jack Frost’s obvious presence, and tonight is supposed to be a whopping 0 degrees.  What’s the weather like in your part of the world??

Well, here’s a few things we’ve been up to…

Friday night, we used the pizza crust I mentioned the other day to make this baby:We blended together cannellini beans, some olive oil, lemon juice, a tomato, and fennel as our “sauce”. 

The toppings were a sautéed mixture of olive oil, chopped onion, minced garlic, and chard, along with a sliced tomato, and cheese.I thought it would be fun to caramelize the onions beforehand, because I LOVE the onions on Amy’s veggie pizza so much.  All in all, we thought it was pretty tasty!Saturday, we spent the morning cleaning the house and rearranging our living room a little bit, running errands, and finally settling into the cozy house where it’s warm! 

The Christmas music we listened to while cleaning, and the freshness of the house put me in the mood for some Christmas decor.  Last year we had a real tree, but in the past year Erik found out he’s very allergic to real trees, among many other things, so bringing one in our house would not be a good idea, ha. 

I ordered a small artificial tree off Amazon yesterday, so while our tree won’t be up too long before Christmas, at least we’ll have one : )  I did, however, put up some lights, and stockings to tide us over.The evening was culminated in watching Miracle on 34th Street by Christmas light.  (We rented it off of iTunes and hooked my laptop to the TV, hence the above pictured giant cord ; )Christmas decor makes me feel all cozy inside! I think it really is the most wonderful time of the year

How has your weekend been??

Coming soon

Though I’ve still never been to one, I’m happy and excited to announce that Kansas City is getting not one, but TWO Trader Joes soon!  I trust all of you out there that love it, and talk about it all the time, and I’m expecting you all to tell me what I cannot live without when it’s finally open.

(The signs say “Trader Joes Coming in 2011” ; )And just for added holiday festivities … some of the Plaza Christmas lights from afar:Though it feels way later in the week than it is, I love Tuesday nights.  We have a “tradition” as of the past month or two of making Grown Up Mac N Cheese together and watching No Ordinary Family. 

Erik did most of the work this evening, and I mostly snapped pictures and watched him :D Since I just posted the recipe the other day, I’ll spare you the details and leave it at the random pictures.  It turned out delicious, as always!

Later on this week, this will be featured in a meal:It’s fun to make our own pizza crust and all, but sometimes it’s just nice to have it premade, and ready to go.

With our weekly organic fruits and veggie delivery, you can order other miscellaneous products, and this week we added a Bread of Life pizza crust and some Eden Organic beans:Eden Organic is the only brand that has cans with a BPA free lining, so we always get their canned beans.  Plus, no salt added, which is even better!

And now, it’s bedtime! But first … what movies would you watch if you were having a Christmas movie marathon??

Jonsi’s raw raspberry pie

Happy December!!

The only thing that makes going to work in the dark, and leaving in the dark okay is the Christmas music I listen to during my short commute!  It’s sure starting to feel a lot like winter … scarves, brisk mornings, blowing wind, knee high boots, and hot beverages … ahhh :)

{Awkward transitioning to hair products}

Has anyone ever tried “Yes to Cucumbers” shampoo/conditioner?  I’ve seen these “Yes to … “ products before, and saw they had a color care version and decided to try it out.  We’ll see how it goes!

Now as promised, back to this:

Raw Raspberry Pie

But first, a story behind it …

Erik had been listening to a lot of music by Jonsi, of Sigur Ros, (aka this guy):

And he soon discovered Jonsi & Alex … musician by day, raw foodie by night (or something like that, ha).  Either way, Jonsi & Alex’s raw strawberry pie caught Erik’s eye.

So we went to work!

Their recipe is on their website, where you can download a free mini recipe book called Good Heart Recipe Book, and watch some recipe videos.  But basically, here were the ingredients with one difference of raspberries instead of strawberries:

Crust:
- 1 cup almonds
- 1 cup coconut
- 1 cup dates
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
- Pinch of salt

Filling:
- 2 cups coconut
- 2 cups frozen raspberries (or other fruit)
- 1/2 cup agave nectar
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
- Pinch of salt

Directions:
Simply blend crust ingredients one by one, mix together, and flatten into pie pan.

Add blended filling mixture, refrigerate for two hours (or more), and EAT! 

Thanks, Jonsi & Alex!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! : ]

Cup of joy

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family, and good food!

I’ve been loving this extra time off work, and my relaxing mornings with no alarms, bright sunshine, and warm cups of joy:

Also known as … warm chai tea.

Erik and I spent Thanksgiving at my mother-in-law’s and she was nice enough to make us a non traditional, vegetarian meal of delicious appetizers and lasagna, yum!!  I didn’t miss the turkey, in fact that was never my favorite part about Thanksgiving anyways.  My contribution was peanut butter cookies:

They were decent, but could have been sweeter, and baked a few minutes less!
 
And I’m sure none of us have had enough food lately, so it’s only logical that it’s recipe time!!

Erik and I have made this several times now, I talked about it in my last post, and we love.  So without further ado …

Grown up Mac ‘N Cheese

Ingredients:
- Penne pasta
- Chopped medium onion
- Cheese of choice (we actually used Provolone, and it tastes delish!)
-1 vegetable bouillon cube or about 2 cups broth
- Minced garlic
- Olive oil
- Kale or other greens such as spinach or chard
- Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
- Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
- Boil a pot of water for the Penne, which will need to be cooked al dente.
- Sautee chopped onions and minced garlic in olive oil until tender.
- Pour dried Penne pasta into boiling water.  Cook al dente.
- Add vegetable broth and chopped kale to sauté mixture, and let cook down a little.

- When pasta is complete, pour into baking dish, and add a small layer of cheese.

- Pour in vegetable mixture, and the another layer of cheese. Add salt, pepper, and other seasonings of choice.

- Pop it in the oven for thirty minutes, or until cheese becomes golden brown, and voila!

We’ve been on a huge pasta kick lately, and this fits the bill perfectly.

I got up way too late this morning, because Erik and I stayed up way past our bedtime watching season one of Mercy on Netflix.  Therefore, my goal today is to be productive!

What’s on tap for your weekend??