Happy Friday!

 

Happy Friday friends! I'm finally back in action, though still nursing a cough and a clogged ear. I know that some weekend time in the sun will do me well and we have lots of in-sun activities planned for the long weekend ahead. I hope that you all have the most wonderful weekend! See you Tuesday...

Meanwhile, here are some links to read on your travels!

why we should embrace mondays

i love this idea of a snack platter for kids...and adults!

love these tips on how to raise brave girls

will you be watching american crime story?

some tell-tale signs of the modern day yuppie

interesting: how much you eat could be linked to how you store food

love this mediterranean bite platter

as we kick off summer, here are some rose wines to try

new obsession for moms + kids: salt water sandals

Home Sick + Some Remedies

I don't have a Baby Talk Tuesday for you today. I'm home sick and working from my bed. I'm suffering from what I believe is a sinus infection (to be confirmed this afternoon) and really terrible laryngitis. In fact I have no voice whatsoever. This has really posed a challenge in communicating with Penelope, though now she seems to think we are all supposed to just speak in a whisper. Not the worst I suppose, though if the universe wanted me to teach her to speak more softly, there could have been an easier way...just sayin'. Oh and one of my ears is clogged so I can barely hear out of it. It all started slowly over the weekend and then the plane ride home from Dallas on Sunday did not do me any favors. And so alas, here I am. 

Though I have an appointment with my doctor for a proper diagnosis, here's what I've been doing to help my symptoms:

Drinking hot water with lemon + honey to soothe the throat. Although I'm on my last 1/2 lemon, so I guess I'd better send for help.

Drinking all the hot beverages. When I'm sick with any sort of cold or sinus situation, the only relief I find is with a hot beverage, and I don't mean coffee. Tea is where it's at.

Popping Advil Cold + Sinus. I will take Mucinex if I'm really desperate, but I don't love the way that makes me feel. Advil helps de-clog without making me feel like my heart may or may not burst out of my chest. 

Spraying some Simply Saline. I just tried this for the first time last night and I'm digging it! It helped unclog my ear last night so that I could get some sleep. 

Resting....hard. Yesterday I pushed through and went to work, but today I knew I just needed to be home to rest. I'm finding it quite easy to be productive in a quiet apartment and a day to myself. I may also take a nap later which I think will be much-needed.

So that's what's happening around here. I just hope no one else around me gets this terribleness!

What are your at-home remedies for colds and/or sinus infections? 

Taco Pizza

 

How was your weekend? I spent the weekend in Dallas celebrating the wedding of one of my oldest friends. It was such a wonderful weekend and I'll have a recap soon, but today I want to talk about pizza. As in PIZZA!

We eat a lot of pizza around here. We have a great spot down the block from us who we order from more often than I'd like to admit. I also make my own pizza a lot, and typically have a store-bought dough in my fridge at any given time for a quick and absolutely delicious Friday night dinner. I've been making a lot of cauliflower pizza recently which feels oh-so-decadent while on Dukan. So many options, but lately I've been wanting to change it up a bit. Enter the taco pizza. 

Secret Recipe Club came at a great time because I was on the hunt to change up our repetoire, and low and behold, I stumbled on Heather's recipe for taco pizza. Heather blogs about all kinds of amazing recipes that her kids love and say they are 'yummy to my tummy' --->so adorable! Featured on her blog, It's Yummy to my Tummy, Heather made a pizza crust from scratch for this and though I've been wanting to try that (I even bought active dry yeast, but am too scared to use it), I decided to make the taco pizza on a cauliflower crust in the interest of keeping it Dukan-friendly.

The result was nothing short of AWESOME. Even Shaun really enjoyed it and I know he kindly goes along with my cauliflower pizza though he would never choose that over the real deal if I wasn't pushing it on him. I think we both agreed that this guiltlessly elevated our weekday pizza night and this will now be a staple in our repetoire!

Taco Pizza

*Adapted from It's Yummy to My Tummy

1 pizza crust, of your choice

1 C tomato sauce

1 pkg taco seasoning

3/4 C water

1 lb. lean ground beef or turkey

1 C cheddar or Mexican blend cheese, shredded

Shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes & plain Greek yogurt for topping

Have your pizza crust cooked and prepared on a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a skillet, brown the beef or turkey and then mix in the taco seasoning and water. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until much of the liquid has burned off.

Meanwhile, pour sauce all over your prepared crust. Top with 2/3 taco meat, spreading it all over the top of the sauce. Sprinkle cheese on top. Place in oven until the cheese is melted, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and top with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and Greek yogurt, if desired. Using a pizza cutter, cut into squares or slices and serve immediately!

Thanks to Heather for this super delicious and very filling dinner! We also had leftovers, which almost never happens with cauliflower pizza since it's so thin. By tacoifying the pizza, we made it stretch a lot farther!

An InLinkz Link-up