These turkey burgers are one of our most made and loved recipes- in other words most of the kids will eat them and they are easy to make. WIN WIN for me!

This is my painted lady. I have admired these silhouettes for a while, and asked my very talented friend Emily, of Dorothy Wade Ink, to paint one for me. I just sent her some examples and she created this beauty! Her website is HERE if you would like to see more of her work! She is one of my dearest friends from college and is quite talented!

About two years ago I started working with a therapist who specializes in trauma therapy. Remember trauma can be a “big T'“ or a “little t”. People usually think of trauma as a major life event, like a car accident or physical abuse etc. But did you know our bodies read big and small trauma the same way? If it felt traumatic to you, then that’s how your body processed it.

You know when you are sick and nothing sounds good but soup?? Well that was me for the last few weeks. I got bronchitis, and it was awful and I would walk into the kitchen, look around, and walk back out. It was almost like when you’re pregnant, and hungry, but nothing sounds good!

I just wanted soup. My sweet neighbor made me bone broth soup but I finished that- and then decided to create a soup that also had lemon, ginger, and turmeric. Those are the TRIFECTA for healing!

I wrote a blog post last year titled “To the Person Supporting Someone Newly Sober.” You can find it here.

I wanted to write a follow up to that post for a few reasons. There just isn’t a lot out there to help and guide the person in a supporting role to sobriety. Al-Anon is amazing and offers some great books and literature. But apart from that, I haven’t found much.

I think it’s needed. I can read a book all day long giving me information, but to hear someone else’s experience/story is just a healing balm.

Here is the PERFECT smoothie recipe for a meal, or post workout. This smoothie is packed with protein, green veggies, and will keep you full and satisfied.

If you don’t have all of these exact ingredients on hand, this recipe works well with substitutions.

To be honest, I didn’t grow up eating Mexican cuisine. I realized in college that this was weird as most people told me about family Mexican night. Or their favorite neighborhood Mexican place. And I learned to love it at Auburn because we went all the time…because it’s cheap! But our kids aren’t really into Mexican food either, which is horrible because “Taco Night” is the universal language of American dinner. And it’s easy. And it feeds a crowd. And it’s just normal. But, Daniel, Phoenix, and I love these quesadillas. And all those other kids at our house are missing out.

I love soup in the Winter! Especially soup you can make in the BLENDER! The chopping takes a little time, but just turn on some fun music, pour a glass of red, and chop away! Then it’s literally just roasting the veggies, and pouring it all in the blender and done!

Well it’s fall. And I had an extra can of pumpkin. And I love having protein balls in my fridge for an easy balanced snack! So here we go! I made these this morning and they are a delicious taste of fall with pumpkin, and cinnamon and chocolate and all the yummy things about FALL!

It’s Fall! Time for all the soup recipes to come out of hiding!

This one is SO easy to make and is easy to double or triple for a football watching party or fall get together!

The leftovers are even better the next day!

“Fear is the energy that activates my character defects.”

read that one again

“Fear is the energy that activates my character defects, Sometimes my shortcomings lie dormant like a bumper-car ride with the electricity off, and I don’t even notice them. When I’m afraid, however, my fear acts like a charge that causes the cars (my defects) to start moving. I spend my mental and physical energy running in circles, trying not to get bumped or run over.”

-Courage to Change

This recipe is reminiscent of the always popular Lettuce Wraps at PF Changs. If you didn’t grow up with the memory of waiting on those plastic feeling benches with the buzzer in your hand for your table at PF Chang’s for a special occasion or after church with friends…. then I’m so sorry you missed out. I’m sure there is still time if you live anywhere near a mall…there is usually a PF Chang’s nearby. I can almost guarantee, without googling the recipe, that these have MUCH less calories and sodium! And they are equally delicious!

I love using Bison!I also LOVE bowls of goodness! It’s just so easy to throw everything together. I buy most of my meat from Costco and they have a great two pack of Bison. But why Bison instead of Beef?

You have so.many.questions…. I know. But you don’t feel you have the right to ask them yet. This just has to last.

The biggest one, the one that flashes through your mind a hundred times a day is “Will this last? And what if I do something that makes them drink again?”

You want to just keep things calm don’t you. You want to just make it all ok. This. Sobriety. This is what you’ve prayed for. This is what you put all your hope in.

WHY does it still feel scary? And Goodness there is pain down there that is begging to be heard- but lets just keep things calm.

I discovered this artist/author recently and I just love his work. His name is Charlie Mackesy. He never went to art school, and started as a cartoonist. His work with the boy, the mole, the horse, and the fox is enchanting, and wise, and beautiful. Elizabeth Gilbert put it this way…

“The world that I am required to inhabit is this one. But the world that I long to inhabit is the one that Charlie Mackesy has created.’ Elizabeth Gilbert

He wrote a book full of his beautiful art and these characters and it was a surprise success. It was hard to even find a copy after it’s release. His art and words are so simple, but powerful. I’ll add the amazon link to the book here.

A few things prompted the creation of this recipe. We challenged our kids to go Mon-Fri without dessert. It’s hard to say “no sugar”, because sadly everything has sugar these days. I could feel the summer getting out of hand with desserts and sweets around every turn!

So I wanted to create a little treat for them just using natural ingredients that are sweet already.

Also, my instacart shopper brought me 20 bananas. I’m sure this was ordering error on my part- but I was determined to use them ( I did freeze some as well! I love to have frozen ripe bananas for smoothes- or you can pop them in the microwave and use them for baking!).

So I started looking up recipes for banana/egg/oat cookies and made this one up!

This is my easiest recipe yet!

I’m new to cooking pork tenderloin- but also sad i’ve missed out all this time!

It’s such a nice change when you’re tired of chicken! And this recipe is SO easy!

40. I really can not believe i’m 40. Most days I feel 20, then I look around and see the 4 children that live at my house and think, no, I can’t be 20.

I had lots of friends tell me that they breezed through 40. That it’s just a number. That they LOVE their 40’s. That they were excited to be 40. That it was no big deal.

I am not one of those people. I’ve dreaded this birthday since I turned 35. I’ve tried not to think about it and pretend it wasn’t coming. But here it is.

I love sweet potatoes! This recipe can be made with white potatoes as well, but sweet potatoes have my heart! These skillet potatoes are a perfect side with with grilled chicken or burgers or toss them in a salad!

And here are some of the health benefits of sweet potatoes!

It’s Mental Health Awareness Month. I love that this is a thing. It’s something that is just recently normalized and talked about! Therapy and counseling and mental health used to be something “we just don’t talk about”.

The words Mental Health cover so many things. But for me personally, I’ve experienced anxiety and depression related to trauma. Trauma doesn’t have to be something crazy like most of us think. Our bodies can process something as traumatic that others might not consider trauma, so remember it’s just specific to your life and your experience.

Chicken salad is the way to my heart! I love it so much. I love all kinds, plain, chunky, fruit in it, give it all to me! This is perfect for a Mother’s Day Brunch!

This is a little lighter version. And I added some extra veggie love! I’m always trying to get more veggies in, so I threw in some chopped zucchini- mostly because no one notices a little zucchini!

I also use a rotisserie chicken for this because it saves so much time! But feel free to cook and chop chicken to start!