Pumpkin Pie

If you have kids or any relationship with a small person, you know that they never forget a promise.

They will ask you over and over. Is it time yet? How about now? Is it tomorrow yet?

Bee is one of those.

As we were grocery shopping together the other day after our date, she found one of those graham cracker pie tins and she held onto that throughout the entire store! She kept asking me if we could make a pie.

So we took it home and then after she begged and begged for the pie crust.

Yea. she actually did just want to eat the crust! I have to admit, I would actually prefer to eat the crust too. It is the best part!

Brent talked her into making a pumpkin pie “tomorrow.”

Well, she woke up at 6 am on Sunday. Lucky, Brent.

She could hardly wait till we got home from church to eat it! hence the finger marks in it.

Little dipper!

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 (9 inch) graham pie crust

• 1/2 cup white sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

• 2 eggs

• 1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin

• 1 100 calorie Vanilla Chobani yogurt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in yogurt. Pour into pie shell.
3. Bake for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Let cool for 2 hours. Serve or refrigerate.

You all should make this pie.

5 Tips to Avoid Weight Gain During the Holidays

The Holidays are well under way and with Thanksgiving coming up next week and if your family is just as dysfunctional as mine you probably have more than one Thanksgiving meal planned.

I love this time of year and I think it should be 100% enjoyed! Too many women make up “rules” for themselves during the holidays to keep them in check. I have to say I used to be the one to make up some strict, ridiculous expectations of my holiday meals/parties.

This year I refuse to have any rules. BUT I will be keeping in check! Here are my favorite tips to avoid weight gain through this time of year!

1. Don’t “SAVE” your calories. BALANCE THEM!

Calories are made up of macronutrients.

Proteins

Carbohydrates

Fats.

I recommend to you to find a balance of macronutrients that works for you! If you need help feel free to email me and I can help you out. Not everyone has the same macro count. It is completely individual! Apps such as My Fitness Pal or Lose it are great tools for keeping track throughout the day!

By keeping your macros in check daily, you may actually LOSE weight!

2. TRACK your SHIZ.

Part of balancing your Macros is keeping track of everything you eat. You cant eyeball it! You HAVE to measure it! Here is the scale that I have and love, to help with that. I know it sounds tedious and annoying but IT WORKS and is worth it! Especially through the holidays.

3. ENJOY your parties and your time with loved ones.

Family parties are NOT the time to keep track of your macros and quiz your grandmother on every ingredient in her apple crumble. 

In a week you eat up to 30+ times whether it be a meal or a snack throughout the day. Not tracking ONE or TWO meals will not derail your progress and I actually recommend having at least big meal 800+ calories.

There are several benefits to having that cheat meal. Weight loss being the main benefit! NO lie! HERE is a great article to catch up on and get a little educated on. So enjoy the time you have with family and friends. Its not worth the stress of eating “too much”. That is your time to RELAX, so do just that!

4. MACRO PREP!

 

Holidays are busy no doubt about that!! Finding time to meal prep can be hard and a tedious 2-3 hour job. But Macro Prep is a little different. You just cook a few things in BULK and BAM you have the main ingredients for your meals throughout the day!

My favorites:

• In a crockpot put 6 chicken breast on low over night. In the morning shred it and save it!
• Sunday afternoon bake 6  sweet potatoes/red potatoes/ steam rice and store it in the fridge.

Quick easy sources are minute rice, tuna fish, canned salmon, avocado and hummus packs from Costco, boiled eggs, fruit/veggies that are easy on the go. Protein bars are awesome to have on hand too!

5. Stay Consistent

Workouts at the gym may not be able to happen but you can always get a quick workout at home. Even if its 10-20 minutes make it intense and be consistent!

Here is one of my favorites from GPP fitness:

 

You got this!

xoxo

- Candice

3 Tips To Keep Your Kids Active and Have FUN Doing It!

 

Roen was a little past nap time here.. obviously. I promise he loved playing in the leaves!

Keeping my kids active is very important to me. I have discovered, if I give them time to move and play and discover different activities, my kids are happier and more cooperative with me through the day!

Here are some tips to keep those busy little bees active and happy!!

1. Get them OUTSIDE!!

My kids THRIVE outdoors. As a matter of fact we are probably outside more then we are inside these days! Whether we are at a park, taking Bridger for a walk around the block or searching for adventure in the mountains!

I know it is easier to maybe just stay home and watch a show but it almost always will equal onrey kids by the end of the night! I’m guilty of just staying home sometimes and relaxing but it almost always came down to when when I would ask them to get up and do something for me, all they do is whine and cry about it. Pick something up, coming to eat dinner, getting ready for bed etc.

So, get them out! Too a park, play in the snow, go to the beach, just play in the backyard.. anything outside the walls of your home. 

I also recommend playing with your kids, you can take them to the park and just sit and watch them on a bench or you can get up and PLAY with them! Tanner especially loves when I chase him around the playground and Bee loves when I swing with her. Bonus, you get a workout too!

2. JUST DANCE- Turn on some music and just DANCE! If the weather isn’t cooperating (I usually care more then the kids..haha!) I will turn on the music and just start shaking it! Even Roen is starting to dance with us and it’s the absolute cutest thing!

3. Extracurricular activities-

 

My kids are busy and I know it isn’t always in everyone’s price range because some activities are a little pricey. There are so many options out there, rec center, clubs, even free events. You just have to keep your eye open. Most High Schools have a basketball camp or dance performance fundraiser so you could call your local schools and get the skinny on all that. Tanner is in baseball in the spring and fall and also does gymnastics year around and Bee is in gymnastics and dance. It does cost us quite a bit, but it is important to us that our kids expand on the talents they are passionate about, so I really try to make our budget work for it.

Bee recently danced at half time of a high school foot ball team with her cousin!

With winter coming it will be a little more limited with time outside but try to get out on the days that are at least a little tolerable! I can’t wait to take my kids sledding!

Question of the Day!

How do you keep your kids active?