DIY Reusable "Paper" Towels

In general, we try to be diligent about minimizing our impact on the environment - reduce, reuse, recycle, and all that good stuff. But I have a confession to make - I'm a horrible paper towel waster (although I do buy recycled paper towels, at least!). They're just so easy. But I keep seeing these reusable towel rolls and figured they shouldn't be toooo much more of a pain than regular towels, so I decided to finally suck it up and make a set of my own.

I'm Bringing Healthy Back! {and a Green Smoothie Recipe}

At the beginning of the year, I was super motivated to lose some weight before we went on Bryan's company trip to Jamaica. I did great - I met my goal and got back to my 'normal-heavy' weight and out of the 'oh crap, it is not normal for me to be this heavy!' range. But on the trip, I ate and drank all I wanted. Then the week after the trip is dubbed 'feast week' - as in, the annual beach trip is over, now we can eat lots of junk. And since then (for the last month now!), I keep saying to myself that next week I'll start being healthy again. Well I finally stepped on the scale again, and that was plenty of motivation to make me quit procrastinating (eek!!). So this week, finally, I'm bringing healthy back - for good this time!

For one thing, we've jumped on the green smoothie bandwagon. Gotta admit - I am totally shocked Bryan likes these too! I'd expect the color alone to frighten him away from trying a sip, but he reluctantly gave it a try, and he's hooked. If you're still skeptical that they actually taste good, let my vegetable-hating husband be a testament to how delicious they are!

{Recipe} Chocolate Peanut Butter Angel Food Cake

Angel food cake is one of our go-to desserts when we're trying to be somewhat healthy - light & fluffy & fat free - what could be better than that? ...Chocolate, duh. And peanut butter. I was all set to make a pink angel food cake for Valentine's Day, then Bryan suggested making it chocolatey. Which then led me to realize we should make it peanut buttery too. The result was a chocolate peanut butter angel food cake that is still {almost} fat-free.

{Recipe} Maryland Crab & Shrimp Cakes

Although I've since crossed the Potomac, I'm a born & raised Maryland girl, and true to my heritage, I love me some crabs. I also love me some Ravens and wanted to do a Maryland-inspired post when they won the Super Bowl. It took me a few weeks, and the Super Bowl probably isn't on most of your minds anymore, but this is my 'Hooray, Ravens!' celebration post. Even if you're a 49ers fan and are hating the Ravens at the moment, I'd still recommend giving this recipe a try. I made this for Valentine's Day, and Bryan dubbed it his favorite meal I ever cooked him.

FMS Photo-A-Day January Wrap-up

I've been participating in Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge for a few months, although I got kind of flaky with it at the end of 2012. With the new year starting, I decided that I really wanted to keep up with it throughout all of 2013 and get a full 365 photo challenge in! 

If you're not familiar with it, there's a new list of daily photo prompts each month. Each day, you take a photo inspired by the day's theme, then tag your photo with #FMSphotoaday on Instagram (or elsewhere, but IG is my method). There are no real rules; it's just meant to be a fun way to inject a little extra creativity into your day. You can read more about how to play here. And if you'd like to hop in on February, here's the list for this month.

Here (a little delayed) is my January wrap-up...

{Recipe} Grilled Pear, Prosciutto, and Goat Cheese Panini

I had lunch recently at Le Pain Quotidien and ordered a pear and prosciutto tartine. It was such a simple and tasty meal that I had to recreate something similar. And (shh, don't tell) but I like my version even better!