When an American actress actually marries a member of the British Royal Family, needless to say, every American girl watches. Growing up, every girl watched William and Harry and daydreamed about being as elegant as Diana and becoming a princess. Well, on May 19, 2018, for one very special girl, this dream became a reality.

Just as we were excited on April 29, 2011 when William married Kate Middleton, a commoner, today we toast to Harry and Meghan!

I made more of our Royal Scones to celebrate this wedding and added some Fortnum & Mason Royal Blend Tea from London to sip on during the festivities. For more about the food from the Royal Wedding check out this article from Readers Digest.

Instead of getting up at 2:30am MDT, I watched the re-run coverage on BBC America to see all of the festivities. For an American, it really was fascinating to watch the grandeur that the Royal Family shows for a special occasion. From her Givenchy dress, to Oprah, George and Amal Clooney and David and Victoria Beckham watching in the crowd of guest, it really was a spectacular event. Every guest seemed so happy and honored to be a part of this day.

The main highlights for this Royal Wedding for me were seeing Prince Charles step into a very important role of walking Meghan down the aisle. After the tabloids made a mess of the bride’s father not coming to the wedding, it really was heartwarming and tear jerking to see Charles welcome her into the Royal Family from a very fatherly standpoint. This wedding really emphasized the importance of family and love with the beautiful sermon from Bishop Michael Curry to William being his little brother’s best man.

For me, seeing her in the dress was really what everyone was waiting for and while some have said it was “boring”, I can’t disagree more. Knowing the dress is Givenchy, it does bare striking resemblance to the classic gowns the Hubert De Givenchy used to design for his favorite muse, Audrey Hepburn. The classic simplicity was beautiful and understated and let the veil’s intricate design shine though. The cathedral length veil included the flora from every Commonwealth country and a very important California Poppy to reflect where Meghan is from.

(cr:REX/Shutterstock)

What did you think? Did you watch? Do something special to celebrate? Have a favorite part? Anything you would have done differently?

Congratulations to the happy couple!!

Kelly is religious about her green smoothie prep. I like to do something similar, but I haven’t gotten past green in the green drinks. I do however like chocolate and peanut butter in mine!

The tasks are simple and similar to Kelly’s.

I like to line up 5 Rubbermaid containers half cup size (Please comment on what else you can use these for!) along with the blender. This will yield 5 extra meals and one for the moment!

Ingredients:

• 1 scoop Whey protein powder (or plant, meat or egg protein, if you can’t do whey)
• 1 tsp peanut butter
• 1/3-1/2 banana
• 1/4 c. frozen raspberries
• 1 tsp golden flaxseed
• Pinch of cinnamon, ginger, cayenne

Ice

1/2 c. coffee or water

Start with the whey and measure into each container and follow with the first items and finish off with the spices. Freeze the containers. When you are ready to use (and for the blender pak), put ice and coffee or water in the blender and whirr! Start slow, gradually increase the speed. If necessary, add a little more water.

Serve. If you’re on the run use your favorite to go mug. If you like to indulge yourself,, I  as I do, serve in your Fav Costco wine glass. The flax doesn’t stick and it’s easy to clean.

My fitness pal says it is 252 calories. Not bad to start the day! And you won’t have a mid-morning slump! Or enjoy for lunch or snack to add a little fruit and protein to your day.

I don’t know about you, but for us the new year has come in like a wave; it seems like we are busy all the time the last few weeks! That can make a healthy beginning to the year a challenge. BF is on a new meal plan where he has to eat clean but huge volume. The only way I know how to make that happen is to prep ahead.

We got ourselves a food scale and I spend a few hours on Sundays making rice, chicken, veggies and lean meat and measuring for the week. I know I have talked before about our menu planning and our favorite easy lunch food, chicken muffins, as well as my own fitness tracking. We try our best to plan ahead and it is the only thing that keeps me on track in the middle of a busy week! Bonus, planning ahead really helps us to manage our budget as well.

When I know we can use the same ingredients for multiple things, we waste less and really maximize our dollars. In the next few weeks, I will share with you a few of our staple meals and how we handle long work weeks while trying to be healthy.

To kick off the series: Healthy Egg Muffins. I am not a huge egg fan, so I spend a lot of time trying to make eggs that don’t taste like, well, eggs. Subscribe to Jacques Pepin’s scrambled egg method which makes perfect and fluffy eggs every time.

The single biggest purchase we have made to help us in healthy eating quest is our VitaMix. WE LOVE IT…seriously, we use it at least once a day. (More on that to come.) It is such a quick easy way to make a quick green smoothie, or soup for dinner (it comes out steaming hot!), or mix some eggs for scrambles. We use it for so many things! In this case, I have been making egg muffins to have for an easy protein-filled breakfast during the week. It is an easy and healthy thing to grab and go.

Healthy Egg Muffins

12 eggs

3 egg whites

½ bell pepper chopped

2 cups spinach chopped

4 T finely chopped leeks

1 T your favorite seasoning (I mix it up between Adobo or fresh herbs, whatever is on hand)

Salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly grease a muffin tin and place on top of a cookie sheet to prevent spills. Crack 12 eggs into blender. Add egg whites, milk and seasonings to taste and blend until combined.

In each muffin cup, add chopped veggies.

Pour eggs into each cup until completely divided. Bake for 30-40 minutes until cooked through and puffy. Allow to cool and place in an airtight container in the fridge and use as needed.

You can certainly put whatever fillings you like into these and it is a great way to clean out the fridge! I do highly recommend a good nonstick or silicone muffin pan for this, they pop right out of mine, but I can see it being a big mess in the wrong pan! You can also use a small cast iron pan for a two serving version.

When it comes to breakfast, I am usually really boring. By boring I mean I eat the same thing pretty much every day. (I usually stick with an apple with peanut butter if you were wondering.) It does get mundane, but it is kind of nice not to have to think too hard early in the morning. This weekend I was feeling a bit inspired and decided to throw together some granola for the week.

Mary has made granola for years and this lower fat version is perfect to throw on top of yogurt or even just to snack on in a pinch. I love the touch of sweetness added by the orange juice and honey.

Granola can be a calorie bomb if you don’t watch out, but this is pretty conservative and if you watch how much you are eating, it can be a great choice. We usually end up using whatever is in the pantry, which is a great way to clear things out and switch things up at the same time. We sometimes add crystallized ginger or coconut to the recipe listed below. (I have also seen a recipe with Grape Nuts, though I am probably the only person who really likes that idea.)

Really, anything you like goes. I am looking forward to starting off my week with this!

Kelly

Homemade Granola

1 ¼ c Orange Juice

¼ c Olive Oil

¼ c Honey or Maple Syrup

2 t Vanilla Extract

1 c Bran (or similar) Cereal

5 c Oats

½ c Coarsely Chopped Nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts…)

¼ t Nutmeg

3 t Cinnamon

1 t Kosher Salt

1-2 Handfuls Dried Cranberries

2 T Brown Sugar

Preheat Oven to 300° F. In a large bowl, combine oats, nuts (if raw), salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

Combine the orange juice, oil and honey and heat in the microwave about 30 seconds to dissolve the honey.

Thoroughly toss the dry ingredients with the liquid. Spread granola on lined baking sheets and place in the oven for about an hour making sure to stir a couple times.

You want the granola to be dry but not over done. When toasted, toss in the fruit, cereal, any pre-roasted nuts and brown sugar. Let cool before moving to an air tight container.

Enjoy!

I was sitting in the house this morning, hungry for a smoothie. Found no frozen fruits and no FRUITS at all! So instead I took this weeks CSA food and BLENDED it into my morning drink! YUM!

I took:

4 full carrots, 4 small radishes and 1 beet and finely chopped them.

What PRETTY colors!

I added Coconut Milk and some Orange Juice to get the goods to blend. I also added a scoop of Vega Sport Recovery Accelerator for an added boost.

Tossed everything in the Magic Bullet (*As Seen on TV) since I still don’t have the JACK LALANNE POWER JUICER and the juicing began!

This turned into a beautiful orange smoothie juice drink with lots of nutritional value! I don’t think I added quite enough liquid, but I like the thicker consistency of this drink. Plus its a vegetarian delight!

Now I am enjoying my juice and listening to Jimmy Buffet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0—Q97pG4

What a good morning/afternoon!

*no animal biproduct was hurt during the making of this drink.

**inspired by Juicing Vegetables http://www.juiceupyourlife.tv/ 

UPDATE:

This is SO much better when you use an actual juicer. While this was “drinkable” since getting a juicer as a wedding gift in 2016, juicing has been a breeze! I also keep the pulp to add to our homemade dog food!

~ALI