What to eat @ On the Border

Eating low carb while out at restaurants isn't always easy.  I'm starting to learn what my new favorite dishes are at my old favorite restaurants.  It makes life so much easier when the restaurants publish nutritional information for their menus!  As I find them I will share.

A really tough one for me seems to be Mexican restaurants.  It feels like those sneaky carbs take over every, single, meal!

On the Border is close to our house and quick AND they have nutritional information published here.  BUT when looking at their nutritional menu I was overwhelmed by such high carb counts.

Until I ran across the Monterey Ranch Chicken Fajitas.  They are delish!

When I order them I lose the tortillas because let's face it I've already eaten my carbs in chips while waiting on dinner to arrive :)  I order them with a side salad, re-fried beans, and guacamole.  The side salad can pack a bunch of hidden carbs before you even add dressing, 20 grams to be exact.  So...I'd rather eat big full chips with salsa and maybe queso than tiny chopped up tortilla strips on my salad, lose the tortillas strips.  They also add corn and black beans to the pico on their salads, so I try to eat around the corn and black beans or ask to have them left off.  I promise you though you will not leave hungry with the amount of chicken, cheese, ranch, and bacon (and onions if you like them) that comes with the fajita platter.  Plus a nice side of pico, with no beans or corn, and sour cream. 

What are your favorite, go to, staples at restaurants while eating low carb?  I'm always looking to add more places to our standard go to restaurant list.

As I come across more nutritional menus and delicious meals I'll keep you all up to date.

Quick update

New items will hit the shop soon. Can't wait?  Place your custom order now to reserve your farm fresh fabric set!

Hump Day Highlights ~ 3.25.15

Each week The Bird's Nest hosts a Hump Day Highlights for all to share what they love this week.  Here are a few things I am loving this week.  Be sure to link your own Hump Day Highlights to the link up party at The Bird's Nest blog!

Alex + Ani MLB Bangles.  I love my KC Royals bangle. 
I wear it with everything from yoga pants to dresses at work.

Too Faced Natural Face Contour Palette.  This comes with (3) different guides to help use the palette that I couldn't live without.

P28 Bagels  Being recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes I've scoured the grocery store for food that tastes good but has an acceptable amount of carbs and fiber.  An ENTIRE bagel has 25 carbs, that's it!  I eat these toasted with peanut butter for breakfast, or made into a mini pizza in the microwave oven, or as bread for sandwiches. 

Again in my quest for all things tasty but carb sensible, I found these Quest protein bars.  I am obsessed with the S'mores flavor.  You can find them with the protein powders in the health/pharmacy section of Hy-Vee or you can order online.

This week included National Dog/Puppy Day.  Here is my favorite pooch Tuni the Dog!

Today is Manatee Appreciation Day.  I fell in love with the manatees on Captiva Island, FL at Jensen's Twin Palm Resort & Marina when we visited last summer.  I made my husband go look at the "sea cows" with me every day.  Here's a pic of me with the manatee statue at Jensen's.  If you are in the area I highly suggest stopping by Jensen's for manatee watching and fishing needs and then slipping over to the Bubble Room for their AMAZING desserts.

Lastly, I'm loving the latest mix & match set for a customer.  Does it get better than gray minky with dual gray chevron flannel and a bulldog to top it off?  Check out our other sets at our Etsy shop.

Plan a Party - Precious Cargo

I absolutely love planning parties.

If I could quit my day job and become an event coordinator with an infinite budget to plan parties all day...I WOULD LOVE IT.

I do have family members that will come to me and ask me to help come up with themes, decorations, party favors, etc for their children's parties.  So I try to keep some party themes pinned on Pinterest for such occasions.  I'll pick a theme to share each week with all of you.

I'll start this weekly blog with a shower I threw for one of my closest friends this last summer.

Type: Baby Shower

Theme:  Precious Cargo

Pinterest Inspiration: 
 For more from this Pinterest board click here.

 

Tips:

• Old airmail envelopes with their red and blue stripped edges were perfect
• My friend's father built the model airplane we used as the center piece for the shower
• Hanging all those paper globes is MUCH harder than I thought it would be
• Old model airplanes hung from the island lighting and adorned both the waffle bar and cookie table
• Blue and red napkins, tissue paper balls, straws and a banner I cut out with my Cricut machine bring it all together quite
• P.S. I may or may not have even purchased a new rug and couch pillows to finalize the look ;)  Don't tell my hubby.

Tasties:

• Waffle & Yogurt Bar -
•  I cheated and ordered a bunch of Belgium waffles from a cafe down the street and kept them warm in a chaffing dish
• Okay, okay, so I cheated TWICE - I also ordered bacon from the cafe down the street (I HATE the smell of bacon after it has been cooked, it sticks around for days)  
• Syrups and spreads -  from original and blueberry syrup to peanut butter and nutella
• Toppings - chocolate chips, granola, whipped cream, powdered sugar, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, and raspberries (bonus the berries fit with the blue and red theme)
• A big bowl of vanilla yogurt - bonus: the toppings doubled for both waffles and yogurt
• I also heated up some premade quiche I picked up from Costco.  They were quick easy and bite sized.
• Cookies & Milk
• Macaroons in a variety of flavors
• Coffee flavored meringue cookes
• Donut holes  
• Flavored milk from Shatto Farms served in mason jars
• Red & Blue gumballs and M&Ms for more color 

Actual Photos

 Model airplane centerpiece and red & blue tissue pom poms.

 Paper airplane banner made with my Cricuit machine over the milk & cookie bar.

Milk & Cookie Bar with everything set out the night before except the macaroons and milk.

Waffle and Yogurt bar set out the night before the party so in the morning I just opened up jars and packages and was ready to greet the guests

Model airplanes hung from the light fixture with care.

Water & Juice Bar

Waffle and yogurt bar ready for the guests

Milk & Cookies

French Macaroons from the French Bee Bakery

Close up of the Milk & Cookie Bar

It doesn't get better than Shatto flavored milk!

 

We wrapped up the day with a diaper poker party that my husband hosted for the soon to be dad and his friends.  For as many diapers as each of the guys brought they got extra poker chips.  The guys loved the left over waffles and cookies.  It was a great turnout and the happy parents went home with a lot of diapers. 

Diaper stash!

Action shot of some of the poker players.

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Inspiration Monday + Etsy Code

Join the Monday link party, hosted by I Should Be Mopping the Floor.




Happy Monday!

Everyone needs a little Monday pick-me-up.  So here is a discount code just for our blogger fans.  Enter "BLOGGER10" at check out.

Find our Etsy shop here.

This weekend my husband had a charity poker tournament to play in.  So I packed up my machine and headed to my grandma's house to get in some quality one on one sewing time.

Here's what we worked on.

Hump Day Highlights - Week 2

Check out this link up for Hump Day Highlights hosted by The Joyful Tribe

Our highlights this week are random and have no theme :/

Sloan Pants @ Banana Republic.  These are the most comfortable work pants ever.  I love everything made from the Sloan fabric.  Check it out!

KIND Bars are my go to snack & sweet treat.  They have tons of flavors from sweet to savory.  They even have a blog.  Check this out - KIND Bar Blog

Any week that has a holiday in the middle is my kind of week.  Happy St Paddy's Day from mine to yours.

I am obsessed with Fabric Worm.  This is the first time I've ordered fabric online from anywhere and I'm so excited to see this come in to make a special order for a lake baby!

Lastly, who doesn't love baseball weather!  My hometown KC Royals made it all the way to the World Series last year and we just know it will be a repeat this year.  #CharlieHustle

Breakfast for Dinner

My FAVORITE meal is breakfast.  

It always has been and always will be.  Six months ago I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and I couldn't stand the thought of life without pancakes.  I tried many low carb pancake recipes that were extremely unsatisfying until I found this one.

I found it on Eat Teach Laugh Craft's blog.

Chocolate Protein Pancakes

They are AMAZING!!

If you are new to almond flour and protein powder just start experimenting.  I've found I like Hy-Vee brand almond flour and New Solutions Nutrition chocolate peanut butter protein powder.

Serve this up with some scrambled eggs and bacon and you have a pretty low carb but VERY filling dinner.

One more trick...use all natural peanut butter on your pancakes instead of syrup!

Since one can only eat so many eggs each day I found a new favorite for morning breakfast.

Smoothies!

I prep all a week's worth on Sunday afternoon and waa~laa.

This week's recipe is:

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1 scoop chocolate peanut butter protein powder

1 tablespoon PB2

1/2 container of light greek yogurt 

(this week I've tried banana cream and boston cream pie)

Place all ingredients in individual blender cups and throw in the fridge.

The morning of add a handful of ice and 1/3 cup frozen blueberries and blend.

Enjoy!

Do you have a favorite low carb breakfast and/or smoothie recipe you would like to share?  Or link?  I love suggestions! 

Hump Day Highlights

Check out this link up for Hump Day Highlights hosted by The Birds Nest.

Our highlights this week include anything mint.

I can't wait for spring.  We are having such beautiful weather in the Midwest this week!  Spring flowers are my absolute favorite.

I'm currently planning a bridal shower for a close friend/cousin.  They have two awesome VW buses that we are hoping to incorporate into the shower and wedding.  How cute is this mint bus?



While searching pinterest for some inspiration for the shop I ran across this sweet mint and black zebra print.  It is constantly in the back of my mind while fabric shopping.



I recently made these burp cloths for a close friend utilizing some left over mint fabric and paired it with some gray woodgrain.



I also used mint thread with the woodgrain on a few tea towels for my sister.

Current thoughts: matching fun geometrical patterns in bold colors with a sweet mint accent fabric.

What are you loving this Wednesday?

We are working on a collaboration project with our good friend Megan over at Studio 716.  Keep an eye out for a fresh new photo-shoot!

Threaded Linens also has a giveaway in the works. 

 Keep checking back for updates.

When the thread breaks...

Today in the middle of an order of custom monogrammed koozies my thread broke 5 times on one letter.  Forty five minutes later and the troubleshooting guide has lead me to the realization that a new embroidery foot will need to be purchased.  I must have nicked my current one when a needle broke.   Waaaaaaaa :(

Now I must wait for that lovely brown Amazon box to appear on the door step.

In the meantime here are a few of the koozies I did get monogrammed.  I'll be sewing them together while I wait.

Gender Neutrals

Within an hour of getting back from our weekend lake trip I had to run to the store for bobbin thread.  While there I just couldn't leave behind this darling fabric.  What else is a girl to do but pick up a few accessories that match and come home and begin pondering the next Etsy shop item.

What do you think I should do with it?  Fabric lined burp cloths?  Pair it with minky fabric for Hush! blanket?  Applique some bibs?  Or something completely new and different?