Monthly Archives

February 2021

Feb 23
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How to Make Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

By Food No Comments

My husband and I love Thai food, especially all things curry. We found this amazing Thai restaurant in Seattle and haven’t been able to go back in over a year. So, I’ve been trying new recipes to bring the style of food we like to our home. This Thai chicken noodle soup sounded so perfect and like a fun variation of this style of food we love. First and foremost, this recipe does not call for a lot of hot spice. So if you enjoy more of a kick, make sure to add hot sauce before you serve it. I tried it both ways and adding the hot sauce enhanced this recipe 10 fold.

This was also my first time using brown rice noodles, and I loved them! Seriously fantastic in taste and could not have been easier to make. The rest of the recipe is not difficult just takes a bit of time to create and prep all the ingredients. If you are looking for soup for a group this is the one, its filling and can feed at least 8 depending on how hungry you are.

Overall Review: 4.7/5

Overall, my review of this Thai Chicken Noodle Soup is positive. The flavors were good, there are lots of adjustments that can be made depending on what you have. I highly recommend that if you have time and can get the ingredients that you try this out! If you do decide to try it, let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

To find the original recipe you can go to Joyful Healthy Eats. For more recipe reviews, head to our recipe reviews page here: Recipe Reviews.

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Recipe From: https://www.joyfulhealthyeats.com/thai-chicken-noodle-soup/
Print Recipe
Servings 8 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 lb Chicken – Shredded and cooked Rotisserie chicken would make this recipe much easier
  • 2 Carrots
  • 2 Garlic Cloves
  • 1 tbsp Ginger
  • 1 cup Chopped Red Onion
  • 1/2 cup Snow Peas (I omitted because I couldn't find them)
  • 6 cups Chicken Broth
  • 14 oz Coconut Milk
  • 3 tbsp Red curry paste
  • 2 tbsp Lime
  • 8 oz Brown rice noodles
  • 1 Red Bell pepper Julienne style
  • 1 tbsp Coconut Oil

Instructions
 

  • Place a large soup pot on medium high heat and cook the chicken if not already cooked. Once cooked, set aside and shred
  • Add the coconut oil and let melt. Add in your chopped red onion and saute until slightly translucent. Add in the garlic and ginger (I used spices from the store because I didn't have fresh on hand.) Saute until fragrant.
  • Add the curry paste and stir until thickened. Only takes about 2 minutes
  • Next is the chicken broth, add in and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer. Once simmered, add shredded chicken and stir.
  • While your soup is simmering, bring another medium pot to boil and cook the rice noodles for 4 minutes. Remove from pot, drain and cool with cold water. Its recommended to stop the cooking process.
  • Once the noodles are cooked and cooled, add noodles, carrots, red pepper and snow peas to the chicken broth.
  • Get a blender out and add one cup of broth along with the can of coconut. Blend until the mixture is creamy and not seperating
  • Pour the blended mixture back to the soup and stir/simmer for 5 minutes.
  • Scoop ito bowl and top with lime juice and cilantro. Now HUGE ADVICE: add hot sauce! This soup is very good but needs the hot sauce kick to it!
Feb 22
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8 Tips to Surviving to 20 Weeks Pregnant – My Perspective

By Lifestyle No Comments

This week I officially hit 20 weeks pregnant! This is the week where it all felt more real to me, mainly because I definitely started to show more these last couple days! What is it with pregnancy and not showing until one day its like, hello baby! Regardless, I wanted to go over my eight tips to surviving to 20 weeks pregnant. These are just tips from my experience, definitely not the same for everyone, but just what I would suggest for those who are newly pregnant.

1.) Give Yourself Grace

Before getting pregnant, I didn’t realize how much grace you would have to give yourself. In the beginning I just didn’t feel like me for weeks, I felt so out of it and exhausted. There was no other way of phrasing it, it was just an odd time where I wasn’t me. All I could do was continue to give myself grace and remind myself this was only temporary. I hope when you start your pregnancy journey that you give yourself grace and remind yourself that your body is going through massive changes. It’s okay to be exhausted, frustrated, tired of being pregnant, whatever the emotion may be. Have grace that this is temporary and it will be over soon and result in a beautiful baby.

2.) Workout, If You Can

If I was to do anything different, I would have tried to workout more before hitting 20 weeks pregnant. I have started implementing more workouts in the last few weeks now that I have felt better. But for the longest time I was just so tired it sounded like the worst idea. I don’t do a ton of workouts now either because I get tired so fast. So, I am just focusing right now on getting small workouts in and gradually getting better. It’s not about being perfect, just not letting myself get too far behind. And honestly the workouts are helping me to sleep better, improving my mood and giving me more energy. They are worth it if you can implement them in your schedule!

3.) Eat, Don’t Feel Guilty

I had so many food aversions until about 13-14 weeks pregnant. Now, I am absolutely starving! The hardest part of this is that you want to constantly eat but you don’t want to overeat either. There’s this ever growing back and forth between eating enough to satisfy your hunger and not overeating where you gain too much weight. My philosophy has been trying to find a happy medium these last few weeks of pregnancy. To not feel bad when I want to indulge but also being aware of how many calories I’m consuming. There is no perfect diet during pregnancy, do what you can to be happy but eat enough to feel satisfied as well!

4.) Find an OBGYN you like, don’t feel bad switching!

I had to switch OBGYN’s midway through (right around 12 weeks) and I’m actually glad I did. I liked the new facility/group I went to much more than I did the other. Sometimes you have to be okay with making a change even if its scary. Doctors are human just like me and you, so you will bond better with a certain group over another. They aren’t going to take anything personally and will assist you with the transfer. What’s most important is finding somewhere that makes you feel comfortable and safe.

5.) Have Milestones to Look Forward To

In a pre-covid world I did this all the time with trips. Trips were little milestones that I could look forward to and focus on. Future trips gave me hope and something to strive for on the hardest of days. During covid and the pregnancy; things like the anatomy scan, planning our gender reveal, and getting baby showers planned are things to focus on. They have kept me going through all the crazy pregnancy changes and stresses that seem to keep popping up. Having things to look forward to and to be excited about give me strength on days where I was not feeling it.

6.) Trust Yourself. It’s Your Baby

This is YOUR baby, trust your instincts and trust yourself. The baby you are carrying was given to you to take care of. It’s a blessing entrusted to you mama, and that means you can listen to family, friends or strangers but at the end of the day the decisions are yours alone. Trust your gut, trust your instincts, trust that you know your baby and what it needs. Letting go of needing to listen to everyone’s advice will free you of so much stress. There is no reason you can’t still be friends with everyone, but you do NOT have to implement or trust what they say. Every baby is different and you are this babies mama. You got this girly!

7.) Keep Doing Things You Love

Don’t stop doing the things you love. Don’t stop your hobbies and the things that give you life in this world. These things are you and who you are, if at all possible keep doing them. Keep being you so that when the baby comes it will see you for all that you are. You will be happier and won’t feel like you are spiraling if you can keep some of what makes you YOU. Don’t give up a hobby you love because a baby is coming into the world, instead just rearrange life to fit them both. In the end, that will help keep you grounded.

8.) Enjoy, Don’t Stress

There are literally a million things to stress about: health, finances, weight gain, nausea, labor, registry etc. The list can go on forever and you could stress everyday of your pregnancy. For most of the 20 weeks, I just pushed the stresses aside and tried to keep living life. I definitely had my moments of stress and frustration. But I wanted to just be happy and enjoy and dream about what life would be like when the baby came. Yes, I’m a bit behind on the registry and there are definitely a lot of things in the rental house that need to be done. But I know that they will be and I’d rather enjoy the time we are in now than worry about how I will finish my to do list. The to do list will get done, don’t stress!

What are your tips for those going into their first 20 weeks of pregnancy? What would your biggest suggestions/cautions be? Let me know in the comments below!

Stay healthy and safe! xoxo -Kayla

Feb 08
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How to Make Easy Buffalo Chicken Wraps

By Food No Comments

Super Bowl Sunday was yesterday and that means buffalo themed dinners! If you were watching the game last night you know that the Buccaneers and Tom Brady DOMINATED the game. When that happens food definitely becomes a main focus of the night! These buffalo chicken wraps are so easy to make and are perfect for any family dinner or game time you have coming up. I highly recommend them when you are looking to compliment that buffalo chicken dip you have in the crock-pot!

The recipe I am reviewing today came from Tastes Better From Scratch and the link is below. There are a couple things about these wraps that I changed from the original recipe. For one, I omitted the avocado and cheese because my husband is lactose intolerant and doesn’t like avocado. Even with omitting these items, the wraps were tasty and hit the spot. You could add pickles or other veggies that you love and it will only enhance the wraps. What I loved most about these buffalo chicken wraps is you can prep the chicken the night before and let it marinate in the fridge. If you do it ahead of time, when it comes time to cooking and preparing the wraps you will only need about 10 minutes!

Buffalo chicken wraps are perfect for any hot sauce lover and would be easily complimented with some pasta salad, chips or french fries. Whatever you decide to pair it with I hope you enjoy it and post pictures in the comments below! Also, if you are interested in more recipes and reviews check out our page here: Cultivate Confidence Food Reviews.

xoxo – Kayla

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

Recipe from: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/buffalo-chicken-wrap/
Print Recipe
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 4 Wheat or Flour Tortillas
  • 1 pd Chicken Breasts
  • 1/2 cup Reds Buffalo Sauce
  • 2 tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1/2 tsp Paprika
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
  • Pinch of Salt
  • 1/2 cup Ranch Dressing
  • 2 cups Romaine Lettuce
  • 1/2 cup Carrots shredded
  • 1/2 Avocado Sliced (optional)
  • 1/2 cup Shredded cheddar cheese optional

Instructions
 

  • Slice chicken breast into several long thin strips
  • In a small bowl, whisk olive oil, hot sauce, paprika, garlic powder and salt. Add chicken and marinate for 10 minutes to 24 hours (as much as you can)
  • In a large pan over medium heat add the strips and extra sauce from bowl and cook until no longer pink.
  • On tortillas, spread a layer of ranch, add lettuce, carrots, avocado and cheese.
  • Add chicken strips to center of toritlla, wrap and serve. Personally, I added another line of hot sauce on top of the chicken before serving.
Feb 02
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One Week Easy and Delicious Dinner Schedule

By Food No Comments

I am not going to lie to you, pregnancy has been absolutely kicking my butt when it comes to food. For the first 16 weeks I didn’t eat much and there were a lot of foods that sounded awful. Couple that with the fact that I had absolutely no desire to cook, and you can guess what my diet looked like. HORRIBLE! My poor husband and bank account just rolled with the flow of these pregnancy hormones. But now that my appetite has been coming back and I’m feeling up to cooking again, I wanted to share what my weekly meals look like. Right now it’s been a lot of meals I’ve made before because I’m not quite ready to try new meals after so many food aversions. So, today I am going to walk through a one week dinner schedule that has worked for me in my 2nd trimester.

One Week Dinner Schedule

  • Monday – Zuppa Toscana

Monday’s Zuppa Toscana came from The Chunky Chef and is an easy yet comforting soup to make. It make plenty of soup as its so hearty. Great for leftovers and lunches the next day. This is a copycat of the soup that Olive Garden soup and is my husband and I’s favorites. It’s also one of the things I can stomach at this point in the pregnancy so that always gives it an extra boost in my book!

  • Tuesday – Chicken Piccata

Tuesday’s meal was a combination of foods. Let’s explain the boxed pasta up front. My husband is hilarious in the fact that he loves simple foods. Boxed foods, chips from the grocery store, nothing fancy. So this particular box pasta is one of his favorites and honestly doesn’t bother my stomach right now so it got added to the weeks list as well. Sometimes you just have to be okay with some adjustments in pregnancy, am I right?! For the chicken piccata, I found that it is a lighter but tasty meal. Again, one that tastes good and isn’t difficult to make. You can find my full review here: click here.

  • Wednesday – Spinach, Mushroom and Spicy Sausage Pasta

Wednesday is one of my favorite recipes that I’ve ‘developed’. It’s simple but so good and full of flavor. All it really is is, penne pasta, Alfredo sauce, mushrooms, spicy ground sausage, spinach, salt and pepper. My next blog post will include a full recipe on how to make it so watch out for that!

  • Thursday – Jalapeno Chorizo Queso

Thursday was a spicy meal so if you are prone to heartburn be weary. This is my husbands favorite queso as it has a whopping six jalapenos in it. Jalapeno Chorizo Queso is so easy to make and is a great dinner if you don’t want something super traditional. You can find my full review of this queso here: click here.

  • Friday -Frozen Meal/Pizza Night

Friday’s meal is the epitome of not underestimating pregnancy hormones. I have been scheduling one night a week where there is flexibility. If I am feeling sick or I don’t feel like cooking. This is the day I pull out the frozen meal. I know its not healthy or what is recommended, however some nights it’s just needed. I also think its good to plan for night where you aren’t feeling well or feeling like cooking. It happens in pregnancy so planning for it in your dinner schedule is the best option!

For those who are pregnant or have been pregnant, I’m curious what were your cravings in pregnancy? Anything interesting or out there? Let me know in the comment section below!