OIAJ- Oats in a Jar!

Guess what I had in my fridge?!

Yep! You got that right! An almost (!!) empty sunflower butter jar. You all know what that calls for!

Or do you? Check out what Oats in a Jar is here! It’s a HIT among many food bloggers!

I learned about OIAJ from Eating Bird Food’s blog! In fact, I learned that food blogs existed from her blog!

My OIAJ had:

• 1/3 cup coaches oats
• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1tbsp. peanut butter (there wasn’t very much nut butter left)

• Toppings
  • 1 tbsp. White Chocolate Chips
  • 1 tbsp. Soy Nut Blend

You can make your Oats in a Jar cooked, or overnight (no cooking involved)!

If you would like to do Overnight Oats in a Jar, look at this post.

I will do this soon and let you all know how it works too. My followers who have been with me since the very beginning know that I used to be obsessed with Overnight Oats!

Look who I got to babysit tonight! Hello Sean! 🙂

He is the absolutely cutest little boy! Ohhh my goodness! It seems like he is just content all the time.

His parents say he is “nosy” because he watches everything you do! It’s sooo cute! I took this picture because as I was sitting in front of him eating my Oats, he just peacefully starred at me. Gah! Such a cutie!

And just for fun, here are some pictures from earlier in the night of him & his Sissy

Look at that… So precious!

Pop ALL of your popcorn kernels! No kernels left behind ;)

Okay, so I was making the kids popcorn tonight, and I just had to do a post for popping all the popcorn!

The first bag, we pushed ‘popcorn’ on the microwave.

BURNT TO A CRISP! (Why does this button exist on EVERY microwave? What if you don’t like popcorn? Haha)

This next bag, we popped it for 2.5 minutes.

HALF DONE!

So, we put the popped popcorn in the bowl, and stuck the other kernels back in the microwave, with the bag folded in half

After 1.5 minutes, all the kernels were perfectly popped!

Why didn’t I ever think of this before?!

Brady was super stoked on the idea, too 😉

This was my bowl of popcorn.

And, of course… I had another… popcorn is too good to just have one small bowl! Especially when there is a huge serving bowl of it sitting right in front of you!!!

And look who I found craddled in her stool! Hi Mer! Haha, you have to see what this looked like without the camera zoomed

This is what she looked like from where I was standing! Soooo cute & little! Ahhh! 🙂

Happy Sunday! I got to spend it with the sweetest little one ever!

Hi loves! Hope you are all having a fabulous day 🙂

Happy Sunday!

This morning, Kayla and I woke up and had Steel Cut Oats, which she made up last night (they take a while to cook)

They were so nums! We had her homemade granola on top. Look at that color!

Goodness, she gets craftier with her cooking every time I see her. Can I be jealous of my best friend? Because I am! Good thing she’s a sharer with her ideas 😉

Here we are! I have honestly never had such a wonderful friend. I am truly blessed with this one, and I just feel like it should be said. I feel so lucky, to have someone who I can actually count on. I could literally go to her for anything, and when something is up, she’s always the first one to make sure I’m doing okay. I’ve literally never met a stronger woman in my life. That’s why I say she is my inspiration. So, thank you Kayla, I know you’re reading this 🙂

On my way home, I had one of her homemade quinoa bars. Of course! Something else homemade! Haha, she does it all!

Arriving home in Ventura, I picked up little Chloe and we went to meet my family at Snapper Jacks for my cousins Birthday.

Happy Birthday Holly! 🙂

Birthday girl is in the middle!

I didn’t get anything at Snapper Jacks because I was too excited to eat the leftovers that were waiting in my lunch pail 🙂

Here they are! The rest of my Spanakopita, with some rice with Corn & Chile Salsa mixed in from Trader Joe’s.

This salsa is so yummy! Oh, and before I went to pick up Chloe, I had half a banana with a tbsp. of Peanut Butter (didn’t have a camera on me)

Mmm…mmm…mmm! Here is the inside! Spinach, feta, and ricotta cheese. So warm and melty. Perfect!

I went to Trader Joes today, and bought the little Spanakopita’s that they had in the frozen section. I’ll have to letcha all know how they are!

After lunch, I took Chloe back to her house to put her down for a nap. While she napped, I planned a little bit of my week and wrote to all of you 🙂

When she woke up, she came and hungout with me 🙂

She was SO good today (not like she is EVER bad…) She is literally an Angel, I can’t express it enough!

She came up to me, totally out of the blue, gave me a hug, and said “I am so proud of you, Paige.” It was the sweetest thing ever!

Easy way to make Indian food from Trader Joes!

Good evening everyone 🙂 I hope you have all had a good day! Today has been really good. Even though I am pretty tired from three babysitting jobs from 9:30-6:30, my heart is full!

First of all, I must start by showing you what Harper and I built. It was identical to the box! Go us! 😉

After watching little Harper, I went over to Chloes house to watch her for the afternoon. I was super hungry, so I made this Oatmeal. A few seconds after I made it, Chloe asked “Can IIIIIII have some Oatmeal toooo Paige? *makes cute face*” Oh gosh… of course!

Hehe, look at that face! I split my oatmeal with her 🙂 It was sooo good because I put a few white chocolate chips on top, and when they mixed in… you can only imagine.. when it melted, it was amazing!

When I was done with Chloe, I ran home, grabbed a plum, and went over to Griff’s house. I cleaned, organized his backpack, got him ready to go, and all that good stuff. Then I took him to his Dads house. I love that little boy. We have been having so much fun lately- like I said before, he is just full of enthusiasm, and I see so much good in him.

After that, I went to Barnes & Nobles to buy a book for my friend. This book blessed me big time, and I want to share it with others (especially others who are in the same boat as me relating to school!) It’s called “If you have to cry, go outside.” My friend shared it with me, and now I want to share it. It’s crazy inspiring once you get into it. It just makes you want to go out an conquer the world YOUR way!

Then, I went to Trader Joes! Next comes dinner…

While making dinner, it took about 45 minutes, I snacked on a small green apple. I was pretty hungry, and I didn’t want to be TOO hungry when I ate. Having a little something already in my stomach helps me to feel satisfied sooner, rather than being starving right when I sit down, and then wanting more after.

I made dinner for myself and my Daddio. We had indian food! So yummy! Don’t think I made this from scrath… oh no no! Even though I would like to learn..

In the oven, I cooked Garlic Naan Bread and…

Palak Paneer, which is spinach and paneer cheese seasoned with a bit of curry and chili- just like it says on the box. It’s delicious, and my dad and I split it! (My portion is shown in the picture).

I bought a few different precooked things tonight, because I want to try some new stuff, and then later learn how to make these things from scratch. For now, I just want to try as many different flavors as I can 🙂

Mexican food and baby Bella, what could be better?

After hanging out with Kurt, I met up with my parents and we went to dinner. Mexican food tonight! Yes! I was totally craving it. I had a few of these chips with salsa, and then..

A Chile Verde tostada with a side of beans instead of rice. So good! I ate half of my plate, and am saving the rest for tomorrow. Just think, how excited am I going to be tomorrow when I get to eat Mexican food, again?! Haha 🙂

After dinner, we picked up my baby cousin, Bella, because I’m babysitting her tonight! Ah, I love it when she hangs with me. Look how cute she is!

Precious, perfect, amazing, blessing, too many words to describe her! Littlest love of my life!

How I ate healthy while babysitting :)

Good evening everyone! So, this is what my day of babysitting from 1-11pm looks like. I packed lots of healthy foods, and even found 1 treat at the house that was well worth eating!

Lunch

Oatmeal with banana and one pack of omega-3 trek mix from TJ’s… I love my oatmeal 🙂

Snacks, orange and carrots with tomato basil hummus (best hummus!)

Petite Treat tonight was two chocolate truffles while reading about the “Snob Diet.” I instantly deserved them, and they absolutely satisfied my sweet tooth! If any of you have a Glamour Magazine, I’m sure you’ve read all about it! Great concept I think 🙂

-Choose high-quality food

-Enjoy that food

-Don’t deny cravings

-If it’s not truly delicious, don’t eat it

Dinner was delicious! I had gluten-free pasta with chicken, tomato basil marinara, brussel sprouts, and a tiny bit of fresh parmesan cheese

Snack- edamame, then another hour later, apple sauce

By the time I got home at about 11:30 I was super hungry again (fast metabolism?) and I had this LARABAR. I feel really proud of myself for eating healthy while babysitting, because that’s my biggest struggle! For some reason, it’s so much harder when you’re around kids (maybe their cupboards?!)

Lunch time with my little Chloepie

Good afternoon tumblies (for those of you who don’t know- this name has stuck ever since I started my blog. It’s what I call all of my followers). I think it’s cute, and it makes me happy 🙂

Today, I am watching my sweet Chloepie. Everyday spent with this little one is a great day!

I had to show you guys this… don’t kids sit their drinks in the best places? Haha, I laughed right away when I saw this because she could have easily sat it 2 inches over on the table, but instead, she chose my MacBook. Silly girl!

This is Chloe on our walk today! Whenever I babysit and have a chance to take the kids for a walk, I try to take advantage of that. It’s great to get us outside, and I can sneak in some exercise while working! Perfect!

For my lunch today, I ate a LARABAR with Banana. Peanut Butter Cookie of course!

Now, you guys have seen me do this before with an apple, and I love doing that. This on the other hand, was just not my favorite combo. I’ll stick with real PB on the banana. Chloe and I shared this and I just ate the pieces separately. It was much better that way 🙂

And to end the day before she went down for a nap, we played with her Labs, Shelby and Pat. So cute, right? Look at that smile! She’s literally the happiest little girl I know.

What great friends they are… this is going to be the doggy that she remembers when she is 20 (woah, weird to think about!) that she had the best memories with.. So precious

Babysitting Munchies- what to do!

Good morning loves! This morning for breakfast I had 1 egg, 1 white, and half a gluten-free Udi’s bagel with just a little bit of butter. This breakfast was perfect, lite, and satisfying. I saved the other half of my bagel for later because I knew I would want it for a snack 🙂

I am babysitting this morning, and the kiddo’s are playing with plado, watching yo-gaba-gaba, and we are going to play a game right after this post (after yo-gaba-gaba) hehe.

The little guy made me a cookie! He said I should pretend eat it. It was really yummy 😉

As a snack a little later, I cut up an apple. Oh, I had an apple last night after dinner too! My friends Angela and Avia came over and we had tea and talked all about Ang’s new job 🙂

Here are the kido’s again!

For another snack, shortly after my apple, I toasted the other half of my bagel, put a little bit of peanut butter on top, and one small sliced banana.

I realized some time ago that whenever I babysit, I always get super snacky. If I don’t bring my own food, I will end up eating too many random snacks that I find around the house. Now, I bring my own healthy snacks so that I don’t feel deprived, and I don’t feel yucky after I leave. The funny thing is, just knowing that I have snacks with me usually makes me eat less. I don’t ever finish my own.

Today I packed: 2 eggs, a bagel (breakfast/snack), an apple (snack), soup (maybe lunch), and a LARABAR & some nuts that will probably still be in my lunchpail when I leave. Also, I packed one decaf Starbucks VIA Coffee that I am having right now, black. Very yummy! Keep in mind, I am babysitting from 9am-3pm today, that’s why I packed so much. If it were only a couple hours I would have just packed a LARABAR and an apple or something like that 🙂

Do you guys feel me on the getting snacky while babysitting issue?

The meal that helped me drop that first 11 lbs!

Look at my pretty, pretty candle! Kurts Mom, Jackie, bought this for me for helping to take care of him right after his surgery. How nice is that? It’s perfect, because I love candles! They’re soo nice to light early in the morning, or late at night when you just want to be chozied up & warm! I think I know what my morning is lookin’ like tomorrow 😉

Before dinner-yes, before- I had my Petite Treat. This little tiny gluten free snickerdoodle. So much of the Gluten-free food is miniature- so cute!

For dinner, I ate something that I used to eat all the time while I was first loosing weight. It’s funny, because so many girls are “anti-potato,” but really, this is one of the foods that seriously contributed to my weight loss! I always ate it pre-workout, and it gave me TONS of energy for the gym.

The first month I lost weight, I ate this every single day. I didn’t know much about eating healthy, so I hate about a handful of things that I would just repeatedly make. Breakfast: Balance shake; Lunch: Balance Bar; After School: baked potato with tomato or brocolli and cheese; then Gym; then Dinner: Salad with some kind of lean meat chopped up on top. I lost 11 lbs this first month from eating like this, and having Friday as a cheat day (although I was usually still pretty good).

This baked potato has 1 tomato, zero butter, sprinkled 3-cheese blend on top, and a dallop of daisy plain greek yogurt! So yummy! I like eating cheese with this one because it just seems to hold me over even longer.

After dinner, I wanted something warm, again! I am realizing how much Coffee I drink from these pictures today… sheesh lady! At least this one was decaf- almost!

This mix has a little bit of instant coffee in it, but it’s absolutely delicious! I just use a small spoonful of the mix, some almond milk, and decaf coffee. Yum! 

My next event of the night was watching my sweet Chloepie! She was riding her horse around all night.

Whenever she fell, she would said “Oops, the horse fell down! I’m okay!” Haha, it was too cute!

To end my night, I snacked on a banana as I’m digging through my books doing homework. This is the LAST WEEK of Anatomy and Physiology! I cannot believe how fast that flew by! It’s nuts!

My two boys :)

Good evening friends! Hope you have all had a great day, and have been blessed with tons of smiles 🙂

Today for lunch, I had gluten-free toast with peanut butter & banana (like the peek-a-boo boy in the background?)

Yep, that’s Griffin for ya! 😉

I also had fresh berries & a few frozen mangos on the side. So good!

Everyone, meet Kurt! The secret guy that I have been referring to. He is pretty darn great 🙂 Griffin sure loves him, too! They get along great!

After Griff saw me eating my sandwich, he wanted one, so I made it for him 🙂

At first, I didn’t put a top piece of bread, until I realized that most people eat the top piece… When I asked him he was shocked that I didn’t eat two pieces… so I went ahead and gave his sandwich a “lid” 😉

After we finished homework, we went out for frozen yogurt. Me, Kurt, Angela, and Griffin

Here is Griff & I!

And here we are again, enjoying our fro-yo!

I just got a small amount tonight, because I was going to be eating again soon. I got peanut butter fro-yo, with just a little spoonful of granola/peanuts. Perfect 🙂