Peyton Kathleen

Fall weather still hasn't reached Houston, but my menu has definitely changed seasons! I love fall harvest foods like cinnamon apples, hearty soups and pumpkin flavored anything. Last Friday when my mom was in Houston, we went to Pax Americana and ordered a stuffed acorn squash. It was incredible! I was inspired to try and make one myself, so I googled different recipes and made my own Paleo version. Cut off both ends. Cut in half. Remove seeds with a spoon. I melted a tablespoon of butter, stirred in some garlic salt and ground sage, then brushed it over the squash. I put them in the oven at 400 degrees for one hour. While the acorn squash was in the oven I browned a pound of pork sausage, added peppers, onion, spinach, two apple and an egg together in a large skillet. When the squash was done, I added the stuffing into the squash, then covered them with foil. They went back into the oven for twenty minutes. They were flavorful, fill...

Sunday is the most important day of my week. If I don't get organized and get things done on Sunday, I feel like my whole week is thrown off! Between laundry, mass, lesson planning and sometimes traveling back home, I feel like Sunday is anything but a day of rest. Most importantly, Sunday is my grocery shopping and meal prepping day. Having breakfast, lunch and a couple dinners ready makes Monday through Friday so much easier. I try to plan out a menu, screen shot ingredients from Pinterest and get to work!  This week for my lunches I made pork chops, mashed sweet potatoes, oven baked broccoli and a garden salad.  I'll throw this in my lunch box with a pear or apple and a coconut flavored LaCroix and I'm all set! Teacher life is so different from office life, I'm so envious of Erik's hour long lunch breaks. Most of the time I'm eating while standing up at the copy machine or getting ready for my kids to come back in!  Anything fast, ...

Crock-pots are one of the greatest inventions of all time. They make things so tender and flavorful. I have been experimenting with crock-pot recipes lately; I really enjoy making roasts and soups, but this week I was craving some good ol' fashion Tex-Mex.  I love shredded chicken because it can be used in such a variety of ways and it is a nice lean meat!  Ingredients : 1 lb boneless sk inless chicken breast 1 1/4 cups of chicken broth 1 10 oz can of Rotel 1 packet of taco seasoning (I like Old El Paso) Directions: 1. Lightly spray the bottom of your crock pot with Pam (or use a crockpot liner) and place chicken breast on bottom. 2. In a small bowl mix Rotel, taco seasoning and chicken broth together. Pour on top of chicken. 3. Cover and cook on High for 4 hours or Low for 8 hours. 4. Using two forks, pull apart and shred chicken breast. 5. Put shredded chicken on tacos, a salad, slider rolls or in enchiladas!...

Last week my wonderful  fiancé bought me a round trip from Houston to  Chicago  to see my sister Allison! She has been in Chicago all summer training for her job at JP Morgan. With how crazy summer was, I didn't think I would have an  opportunity  to get up there and see her so when Erik told me I could I was over the moon excited!  Friday night I got to her downtown apartment around 10. We hung out with her group of friends and experienced the incredibly fun Chicago nightlife.  The next day for brunch we met up with our friends Laurie and Dakota and their precious babies! They have been such a huge part of our lives for ages and it was wonderful to see them and catch up. I wish this picture had turned out better! But I'm glad we at least got one of all of us! Baby Bradley!  We walked around Millennium Park for a few hours, we took pictures at the bean, went to Buckingham Fountain and had great views of downtown and Lake...

When I was living in Dallas, my friend Maura and I would attended The Porch at Watermark on Tuesday nights. I loved the fellowship I developed with her, and the knowledge I gained about Christ and His pursuit of my heart. One of the hardest things about moving to Houston was how much I missed this bible study. I attended Catholic church on Sundays but still missed the weeknight time to worship. I did not take ownership of my faith, or even consider myself a Christian, until I was 22 years old. My coming to Jesus story could be another post altogether!  I rarely speak about my faith because I am a fallen person with brokenness  and sin.  I have an imperfect and painful past that the enemy constantly reminds me of. But I firmly believe that brokenness is what makes me so desperately in need of a relationship with Christ.  The lessons I learned at The Porch gave me a sense of God's wonder, brought me peace along with understandin...

"Strength shows not only in the ability to persist, but the ability to start over." After a summer filled with travel, romance, and adventure, I am ready to return to routine and schedule! It's time to get back to showing this strong body of mine how much I love it!  I began Day 1 of the Whole30 yesterday. I have read this book before, but went through it again to remind myself of the truths I already know, but have let slip the past few weeks.  I took a picture of my book and calendar, Instagrammed it and tagged the author, Melissa Hartwig, in my caption. I asked her for a shoutout and she gave me one! She is great about replying on social media. I just adore her. Bottom comment! She knows me now ;) A big rule in Whole30 is you cannot weigh yourself. For someone like me who lives and dies by the number on the scale, this will be a challenge. I'm excited to share "non-scale" victories, meal plans and more over the next month.  ...

Earlier this year, I was overcome with a desire to go backpacking in Colorado. I had been once before when I was 19, but at that time I was out of shape and didn't enjoy the trip as much as I should have. My dad loves hiking so I gave him a call and he was immediately interested! He and my older brother William decided on Mount Elbert in CO. Neither of them had hiked it yet, and because it is the highest point in the Rocky Mountains. We left on Friday, July 31st at 5am. We drove through Texas, New Mexico and into Colorado in about 15 hours. Throughout that whole drive, we never listened to music once! My dad and brother are incredible history buffs and I had the best time listening to them talk about the settlement of Texas, Comanches, other Native American tribes and more. Hard to believe, but the drive really flew by! We got through the mountain passes and drove right up to the trail head and set up camp. I was stunned by how beautiful the aspen trees and scenery were. No...

We were so tired after our Fat Bike Tour, the next morning we slept in until 11:30! Here the sun doesn't set until around 9:45pm which is nice because it extends the amount of time we have to sightsee. What we learned the day before at Versailles was pretty priceless: go into the palace two hours before it closes. Hardly anyone was in there! So we decided to take that approach with the Lourve and not even try to go in until 5:30 or 6. So when we finally got up and moving, we  took a cab to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed all 284 steps of the spiral staircases to the top- totally worth it! Such a beautiful panoramic view of the city.  When we left, we started to stroll down the Champs Élysées, looking at all the designer stores and famous brands. We stopped at Louis Vuitton, Allison bought a gorgeous Longchamp, and of course we got macaroons from Laduree. We walked all the way down to the obelisk and into the  Musée de l'Orangerie. Monet's Water Lillies were not was I expe...