RECIPES

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TASTE: Roasted Cauliflower & Chickpeas

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Roasted Cauliflower & Chickpeas

I've got another surprisingly delicious and healthy recipe for you! This is straight out of Gwyneth Paltrow's book, It's All Good, and you guys - this is SO good. There was practically no need for any adjustments to this recipe, because it's just so tasty. I never eat cauliflower, but I've been trying to find fun ways to sneak more vegetables into my daily eats. This doesn't even taste vegetable-y, it's just yummy and warm and nutty. It makes a great side dish but it's also a hearty lunch option!

Ingredients:

- 1 head cauliflower, outer leaves & stems removed, chopped into bite-sized pieces

- 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

-  1/4 cup Olive Oil + a bit more

- Salt and Pepper, to taste

- 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

- 1 tbsp. Whole-grain Mustard

- 1 tbsp. Red Wine Vinegar

- 1/4 cup Parsley, chopped

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Toss the chickpeas and cauliflower together, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper. Place on roasting pan.

3. Roast until soft, 30-40 minutes.

4. Whisk together the mustards, vinegar 1/4 cup olive oil and a little more pepper for the dressing.

5. Once removed from the oven, toss the chickpeas and cauliflower with the mustard dressing and sprinkle the parsley on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

6. EAT IT UP. Because yum. Enjoy!

Happening Lately.

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These two. A little reunited party :)

Happening Lately.

Good morning! Happiest of Mondays, to you. My little family just got back in town from what I like to call "the dueling spring breaks" - Stevie was in Istanbul for a wedding this past weekend, so I hopped in the car and headed down to my sister's place in St. Augustine! I am still soooooo jealous that he got to take such an exotic trip without me, but we didn't think it would be a great situation to bring Everett all the way over to Turkey and then not have a babysitter for the wedding. Womp womp. So he spent the weekend batchin' it up and eating Turkish Delights with his buds from business school. I had a blast, playing with my sister and her kids, taking Everett to the pool FOR THE FIRST TIME, and of course enjoying the ocean and the grand town of St. Augustine. We sent each other the silliest photos - me holding Everett in various swim hats, he taking selfies outside of mosques. He's going to share about his whirlwind experience in Istanbul here on the blog later this week, but for now, a few photos of Spring Break with my little man.

Time at my sisters' place includes jogs to the beach, exotic flowers in bloom everywhere, 5 o'clock mojitos, and yes, I'm aware that this isn't real life. But it's real fun.

Top: Everett attacks my sunglasses. Middle: We might have given him his first hair trim. Ah! Bottom: He attacks my sunglasses again. I wizened up and bought a cheapo pair that he can gnaw on to his heart's desire :)

Other Life-ish Things:

*New Site Coming!

I am soooo excited about the work that the lovely Maiedae ladies are doing on my new site. I can't wait to show you! I got a sneak preview of it over the weekend and it's going to be RAD. Much cleaner design, simpler navigation, and more robust user interface. So that YOU can access recipes, travel guides, etc. much easier - woohoo! Yaay for growth! I'll keep you posted on the switchover :)

*Future Travels.

Our fam is gearing up for a handful of travel dates over the next several months. I am most excited about our May trip to Madrid and Rome! If any of you have advice for traveling abroad with a baby, I am all ears! I've been researching and compiling lots of info, and so far this and this have been super helpful. The last time Stevie and I Eurotripped, we did it totally hippie-style, with backpacks as our only luggage and an eternally long list of "must-sees" - I have a feeling this little adventure (with a BABY) will be quite different.

*This Week.

I've got another great "salad"-ish recipe, our experience at The Color Run, and of course, Stevie's Istanbul trip, coming at ya this week. So many fun things to share! Hope your Monday is magnificent!

TBT to That Time We Went to Kenya.

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TBT That Time We Went to Kenya.

My sister-in-law just got back from a trip to Africa. 

Hearing her retell the stories from her adventure brought back so many memories from the trip that I took to Kenya many years ago. I was 18, living in California, attending ministry school, and had the privilege of joining in on a mission trip to Nyahururu, Kenya. Stevie and I were engaged, our wedding was just a few months away. It was part of our school's program to send students on a mission trip, and when we looked at the long list of countries that were options, I only saw "Kenya". I just wanted to go to Kenya. To this day, I don't know why it stood out to me so strongly. I never thought much about traveling, especially to Africa. But when I saw "KENYA" on the list, I knew it was the place I had to go and serve. Little did I know, it would just be the beginning of many, many adventures.

I told Stevie, "Go wherever you want on your trip, but I'm going to Kenya!", to which he responded, "Alright, well I'm going with you."

And we did! We loved our experience there SO much, mostly because the people are the most beautiful kind. The sunshine literally smiles out of their eyes.

We divided our time between the local church, ministry school, orphanage, and community at large. Sharing our faith with people we didn't know. Discussing our differences. Realizing the similarities. Sometimes agreeing to disagree. Sometimes praying together. Sometimes witnessing miracles occur. Sometimes laughing together, eating porridge out of coffee mugs while standing in the burning hot sun. Sometimes weeping together, holding hands and hearing horrendous personal accounts of the Rwandan genocide. Hearing stories like that from people younger than myself, well, that cuts deep enough to make you really think. And really pray.

Our time in Kenya made a long-term impact on Stevie and myself. Though it's been 8 years since we spent time on the ground there, we still feel extremely connected to the vision of the orphanage that we visited. Stevie eventually got a job with the orphanage, properly named Heroes of the Nation, and he worked remotely on projects for the organization from our home in California.

Heroes is a special place. If you're interested in learning more about the largest orphanage in Kenya, boasting the best test scores, a self-sufficient business model and children who believe they will grow up to be leaders in their country, you should check it out and consider a gift.

I purposely didn't post any of our photos from the orphanage, because I don't want to be presumptuous and share photos of the children without each of their permission.

Thompson Falls.

The Masai.

Although we spent the bulk of our time in Kenya in the village of Nyahururu, a gorgeously lush little hamlet tucked up in the mountains of the famed Thompson Falls, we did manage to take a trek down to the Masai Mara. This was where we had the incredible opportunity to visit with some of the Masai tribe. Can I just say that these people are suuuuuuper stylish? They're gorgeously tall, they can jump so high, and they just have so much inherent personal style. That might sounds weird, especially coming from someone like me (I have no authority on fashion), but you could just feel an incredible presence about these people. They stood with proper posture, proud of their heritage, adorned in the brightest colors and chiming jewelry. They were kind enough to show us around their village and share some of their tribe's traditions. Like how they start a fire from scratch and how to build a hut out of cow dung. Think about it - that's pretty impressive. And they jumped. THEY JUMPED SO HIGH.

Perhaps one of my favorite memories from our time with the Masai was at the end of one of the evenings, after dinner. Everyone was relaxed, out of the "put on your gameface, we're in Africa!"-mode. We were just getting ready to go to sleep in our tents, but someone thought it would be a good idea to hook up a laptop to a very sketchy, sparking outlet and watch the movie Nacho Libre. All I can say is, laughing with a few of the Masai while watching Jack Black act like a fool, all in the middle of this rugged, world-renowned National Park... well, that's a memory that no one will ever be able to take away from me. It's emblazoned upon my mind for, pretty much, forever.

They can jump SO HIGH.

See what I mean about style? SO MUCH STYLE.

The Safari.

It was in the Masai Mara that we spent two days on a safari. It was unforgettable. Tearing through the whispy pridelands in an open-topped SUV, feeling the rush of the wind and gawking at the most incredible animals in the world. Truly. IN THE WORLD. I could try (and fail) to describe what it was like to be 2 feet away from a dozen lionesses, but I will just let the pictures do the talking.

I call these sausage trees, but they are actually some kind of fruit tree. Not sausage at all.

Yeah. That's a lion.

A REAL lion. In the wild. In her natural habitat.

I was in complete awe at her beauty. Yes, I was thoroughly afraid for my life. Absolutely.

Now these guys. They are the happiest animal!

It's kinda like me and Everett. Kinda.

Family time!

Stevie took all these photos. I think he should quit his job and JUST TAKE ANIMAL PHOTOS forever. He's the best.

This is the briefest of overviews. There are so many more stories about this particular trip, ranging from hilarious to surprising and everything in between, with about 1000+ more photos, too. There is no way to share it all here. But I wanted to share some of these photos because even though it was several years ago, this trip was stunning and impacting. Life-altering. For me personally and for Stevie and myself together. Just two kiddos, learning about the hugeness of the world and how our dreams and hands can be part of some positive change. Every year we talk about going back. And I know we will!

Thanks for letting me share this throwback trip! Be on the lookout for a few more TBT trip stories in the month of April... cleaning out the hard drive has led me to rediscovering some oldies-but-goodies. Happy TBT, friends!

Easter Recap.

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Easter Sunday.

What a joy it was to celebrate Easter as a family of three. Observing the cornerstone event of my faith, the divine resurrection of Jesus Christ, and sharing that exciting truth with my son, well, that pretty much takes the cake. Stevie and I had so much fun putting together Everett's Easter basket, getting him dressed up for church, and playing with him throughout the day that we completely failed at taking a family photo. Who does that?? Well, us apparently. We just took endless pictures of our little man discovering Easter eggs and, you know, chewing on them. Oh well. I tend to over-photograph our life in general, so while we might not have a ton of family pics from his first Easter, we have plenty of them from the day before and the day after.

This was our first Easter at home with family in many years. The past few years we've been in Boston and New York, so Easter has been an extremely chilly, friend-oriented holiday. We are grateful for so many unique Easter experiences, but this year with Everett was the best yet. It was just so much fun, introducing him to the traditions of the celebration, and even though he's not fully grasping it yet, it's just the beginning!

A Tisket, a Tasket.

I might have overdone it on the Easter basket. Well, it wasn't an Easter basket as much as it was a piece of luggage, his own little luggage bag! We are doing a good bit of traveling over the next few months, and I can't keep stuffing his goods into sticky Trader Joes tote bags. His bounty floweth over. And so of course, the bag just had a few goodies inside, MOSTLY NEEDS, like a bathing suit and sun hat and swim diapers. And a toy. And a book. And maybe some new shoes. I MIGHT BE OUT OF CONTROL.

We had so much fun, worshiping at church and then having lunch with family. And then egg hunting with cousins! And then crying a good bit. It's okay, it's an emotional day for all of us, Everett. 

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter as much as we did!