Healthy Recipes For the New Year

After the gluttony of the holidays, here are some healthy recipes to get back on track. Since our family doesn’t eat wheat, all of these recipes are also gluten-free.

Favorites in our house:
Edamame Salad – a fast, healthy side dish and one of my favorite things to bring to a potluck:

Swiss Chard With Chickpeas and Pine Nuts served over your grain of choice — quick and unbelievably delicious:

Simple Walnut and Grapefruit Salad — a winter favorite that also tastes great with our favorite go-to dressing, a Maple-Mustard Vinaigrette:

Kale Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing that I keep raving about:
Making Kale Salad

Here are some more tasty recipes that I’m excited to try from Pinterest:

Featured above:
1. Quinoa with corn, kale, tofu, and pesto (pin)
2. Lemony Leeks with Chickpeas and Feta (pin)
3. Delicata Squash Salad with Feta and Cranberries (pin)
4. Quinoa Taco Salad (pin)
5. Cucumber Salad with Creamy Mint Dressing (pin)

And in case you’re craving something that seems indulgent but isn’t really, check out these breakfast cookies (pin) containing no sugar, no butter, no eggs, no flour (just rolled oats, coconut, spices, almond meal, mixed nuts, dried fruit, mashed bananas, oil and vanilla):

I can’t wait to try them!

Don’t forget about our post from last month featuring Almost Healthy Decadent Desserts for more no-guilt treat ideas!

View these and many more delicious, healthy recipes on my Recipes To Try Pinterest board.
(images obtained via Pinterest)

A Walk Among the Redwoods

My sister visited us this past week. What better way to introduce a city girl to the country than to take her on a walk among 1,000 year old redwoods?!

A walk among the redwoods in Armstrong Woods

Those trees stand tall:

A walk among the redwoods in Armstrong Woods

I love this photo of my sister laughing:

A walk among the redwoods in Armstrong Woods

We learned that the above hilarity ensures when you ask a little girl, who is walking directly in front of you, to give you a little space, she may bring your scarf with her when she steps forward!

Inventing a game for playing in the forest:

A walk among the redwoods in Armstrong Woods

Wishing there were water under the bridge to play Pooh-sticks:

A walk among the redwoods in Armstrong Woods

Who’s that wild animal on our path?!

A walk among the redwoods in Armstrong Woods

Super Leyba standing in a fire-ravaged trunk:

A walk among the redwoods in Armstrong Woods

Teenagers spotted; those big kids can be so fascinating, even when they’re just sitting on a log:

A walk among the redwoods in Armstrong Woods

Dancing it up in the forest because you can make your own music anywhere you go:

A walk among the redwoods in Armstrong Woods

After a long walk, we hit nearest winery where the grown-up ladies tasted champagne and the youngling chugged some Izzi while we had a snack before heading home. Walking can be just so exhausting. ;)

A walk among the redwoods in Armstrong Woods

We love you, Laura!

Happy New Year

2012 is here. Out with the old, in with the new…

Taking down the Christmas tree

January has arrived… and so we took down our beautiful Christmas tree,

Putting away ornaments

packed away our handmade ornaments,

Ornament storage

and said goodbye to 2011.

Taking down the Christmas tree
Taking down the Christmas tree

(Oh, how glad I was to reclaim those 25 square feet of the living room that the tree had occupied. Don’t Christmas trees always look so much smaller outside than they turn out to be once they enter your house?!)

Taking down the Christmas tree
Ornament storage

May you and your family have a wonderful 2012! We’re so glad you’re here, following along with our blog, and joining us for the ride!