Lindsey Archives - MomStart

The Long Drive Through Texas Snacking with NatureBox

August 13, 2014 by Momstart Leave a Comment

By Lindsey

Being a large state, Texas is no stranger to a host of road trips. One of the most frequent ones I take is a four hour drive or more due north drive to visit my family in North Texas. Recently my husband and I went up there to celebrate my cousins wedding, and added bonus we welcomed a new member of our dog family in with an Australian shepherd puppy named Merida. I have several preferred places to stop along the drive, but none of them are particularly healthy.

In trying out some online grocery options I came across Naturebox™. They deliver nutritionist-approved snacks direct to your door with no artificial sweeteners, flavors or colors. I am a grazer by nature so munching on little bits of things all day is totally the way to go for me. They send you five different bagged snacks each month on a subscription service, you can choose your own or let them surprise you. Their list of snacks is epic, and you can even set some filters at the top of their website for your dietary needs- gluten/soy/nut free, vegan, low carb ect.

All this is fine well and good however sometimes these ‘super healthy’ snacks taste a lot like the hay pellets I feed my rabbit. I let the Naturebox™ geniuses decide and my box arrived with big island pineapple, peppery pistachios, blueberry almond bites, baked sweet potato fries, and coconut date bites. Good heavens all my snacks were delicious…every…single…one. First off, I would like to take a second to discuss the bid island pineapple:

Hands down the BEST dried pineapple I have EVER had. Like EVER. And I live next to some of the major organic type grocers. It wasn’t coated in that sugary powder stuff, you opened the bag and it smelled like you just cut open a fresh pineapple. It was very difficult to resist eating all of it instantly; in fact maybe my next box should be all pineapple…

All of the snacks were over the top yummy, and you felt good eating them too. Naturebox™ went up with us to North Texas making our only stops for coffee and potty breaks. We arrived alert and not at all sluggish from eating fast food nonsense. Naturebox™ is an awesome grab on the go, much at home, post gym, or midnight snack. Naturebox™ for the win!

Solving a Flower Addiction: The Bouqs Company

August 8, 2014 by Momstart Leave a Comment

By Lindsey

If there was a 12 step program for flower addiction would have already been through it…twice… and scheduled to go again this fall. I have loved flowers since I could walk, which was about when I started picking them. I had no scruples about it either; I picked flowers from back alleys or sweet little old ladies well-tended gardens. My addiction was so frequent that when I came in from playing and had brought my mom flowers her first question was “where did you get those?”, and I often had to return the picked flowers and apologize to those same sweet little old ladies. Flowers and I didn’t stop there, as fate would have it I actually dated a florist for a few years, which took me from flower addicted to well-educated flower snob. Emma Goldman gets it:

Being a full tilt diva flower snob makes it difficult to order flowers online or send flowers to others. I’m not a fan of all those cookie cutter online arrangements that come with a silly balloon in a teddy bear shaped vase. Not only is the flower quality usually lower, but I think it is the beautiful flowers themselves that should send the message of love and joy to our loved ones… not the teddy bear vase. Secondly, you can pay quite a pretty penny for like 6 sad roses and a bunch of greenery, not the message I am looking to send.

It is a bit of an understatement to say that the bar was pretty high when I heard of this new online flower company The Bouqs Co. I had heard that their flowers were grown on an active volcano in South America, and come directly to them, cutting out the big flower industry middle man. All their flowers are from eco-friendly, sustainable farms .Now you are talking my language. I popped over to their website www.thebouqs.com to give it a go. Let’s just say their website rocks, their approach is warm and inviting not “add a box of 6 cheap chocolates for $.99!”. Once over to the flowers themselves I was pleasantly surprised-not a teddy bear vase in sight! All the flowers are pictured in wrapped in parchment paper all Miss America style, showcasing the flowers themselves, as it should be. All the bouquets had fun names like “Awesomeness” and “Marshmallow”, and all for great prices. The best part for me was the lack of dumb green flower filler-none of them were 6 blooms and a small bush, these bouquets were all flower, just the way I like them! I decided to go with the Rise N’ Shine Bouq, not just because I liked the contrast but also because I was really wanting to test them out with both rose quality and their beautify calla lilies. The flower snob in me couldn’t resist. I even upgraded my order so I could get more flowers.

They came packaged up with a lovely note and flower care instructions- not just the put in water kind, the real ones about trimming the stems, removing leaves and showing your blooms love. I love the ‘choose your own adventure’ approach to the arrangement of your flowers. The roses still had their outer petals on them, not over plucked to trick you into thinking you have fresh buds when in fact your flowers are already half dead.

Here is my Bouq as shown on the website, and then the flowers I received after I arranged them:

How great is it to order flowers and receive them exactly as shown! I mean you can’t even do that at restaurants.

So if you are looking for quality flowers at a great price without all the filler, flower industry nonsense, and silly animal shaped vases and gimmicks The Bouqs Co is for you. Honest, beautiful, no nonsense flowers.

Staying Cool in Texas: SwimWays Spring Float

July 11, 2014 by Momstart Leave a Comment

By Lindsey:

It is no secret that Texas is hot. Texas has 4 seasons- almost summer, summer, still summer, and Christmas. Because of this, like our sunny neighbors California and Florida, we happen to have an abundance of pools. As a child I remember counting the days till school was out, dreaming of the perfect swim suit, and all the different ways we could have summer fun in the water.

Along with pools usually come some sort of pool floats, and nowadays they come in a ton of different varieties since the old days of the standard blow up plastic float. I personally seek out a float that allows me to be slightly in the water, so I am not just frying on top of something that happens to be in water. In my mind there are three varieties, plastic, foam, and now the new SwimWays Spring Float. I have never been a fan of the plastic ones, they do not last long, the plastic edges are sometimes sharp, plastic smells terrible and they will usually have a hole within 3 uses. The foam ones are much better, but they have their downsides too-very pricey, the coating gets too hot and feels like it melts to your skin, and after some use they start to crack as well. Neither one of these floats really allows you to be somewhat in the water, I find myself having to periodically splash myself as I float along, which totally destroys the relaxation aspect.

The third and newest variety is the SwimWays Spring float. This thing is brilliant. It is like a hammock for the pool. The edges are inflated, similar to the plastic ones, but the float is covered in fabric to add some comfort and durability. No more plastic float cuts. The interior has a mesh inner spring that allows you to actually hang out in the water, while floating above it and getting an even tan. These floats inflate pretty quickly without an air pump and when you are done you twist the wires on the edge of the float to fold up and are good to go, about the size of a dinner plate. Best of all, starting at $22.99, they are totally affordable. This float delivers all the relaxation without plastic cuts, weird plastic melting or stickiness feelings or heat stroke!

The Spring Float Papasan is especially convenient as it folds into the included carry case, making it easy to take along on the next family adventure or store at home. Spring Float models are also available for children (ages 9 months and up), allowing for easy relaxation for the whole family!

Tyson® Grilled & Ready® Products “Just Add This” Program: Grilled Chicken Flatbread Pizza Recipe

January 21, 2014 by Momstart Leave a Comment

I was compensated by Tyson Foods to produce this post.

By Lindsey

My husband Mack has 3 main food groups: tacos, hamburgers, and most importantly pizza. A picky eater to say the least and one of the only veggies he acknowledges are potatoes. With the new year like most Americans we once again strive to eat better, especially since I ‘let myself go’ after my November wedding into what I ended up referring to as ‘no carb left behind’ December. This year Tyson Foods is helping out too with their “Just Add This” program of clever swaps and tips to help turn your temporary diet into a new healthy lifestyle. Their goal is to just add a better-for-you ingredient, like Tyson® Grilled & Ready® chicken to a favorite salad, or just add a ten minute power walk to your daily routine and be on the way to a better lifestyle. My husband and I have developed some bad habits of going to the grocery store with good healthy intensions, purchasing great fresh products, and after a long day of work and no desire to cook ending up with a delivery pizza and wasted health food. Tyson Foods has solved both of these issues with their Tyson® Grilled & Ready® chicken, and not just for me and my fresh salads with Tyson® Grilled & Ready® chicken breast strips, but now also for Mack with this great recipe Tyson Foods has shared with us for Grilled Chicken Flatbread Pizza.

This isn’t ‘chicken fragments’ like you get with most ready to eat brands-these were nice size chunks of roasted chicken as if you had done all the hard work yourself. As an added bonus, Tyson® Grilled & Ready® products are in space saving bags for the freezer so your freezer isn’t storing more plastic bag than tasty chicken. The bag fit really well in my small veggie section on the side of Mack’s pizza storage area. The recipe came out perfectly and even earned a Mack rating of 4 out of 5 doughnuts on his doughnut tasty scale.

Tyson® Grilled & Ready® Products

“Just Add This” Program: Grilled Chicken Flatbread Pizza Recipe

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Total Time: 25 min

Serving: 8

Ingredients

· 22 ounces Grilled & Ready^® Fully Cooked Frozen Oven Roasted Diced Chicken Breast

· 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

· 1 sweet onion, thinly sliced

· 4 Naan-style flatbread

· 8 ounces tomato pesto

· 3/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, shaved

· 1 package fresh basil, chopped

· sea salt, to taste

· black pepper, to taste

Cooking Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add vegetable oil and onions. Cook for 6-7 minutes, or until onions turn golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Place flatbreads on a baking sheet. Layer each flatbread with tomato pesto, onions, Grilled & Ready Oven Roasted Diced Chicken Breast and shaved cheese. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until cheese has become slightly melted.

4. Remove pizza from oven and sprinkle with fresh basil, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.
Nutrition Facts

Calories 360 Total Fat 16 g Protein 28 g Carbohydrate 27 g Cholesterol 75 mg Sodium 800 mg

It’s also now available in a space saving bag for your freezer. Same about with the same great grilled taste!

Now through March, you can join the “Just Add This” program at http://Facebook.com/GrilledAndReady by clicking on the Just Add This tab where you can find motivational tips to help you along your journey, along with a new Grilled & Ready® recipe – most under 500 calories – and good-for-you prizes, like a Lululemon® gift card and more!