Hi Friends! It’s been over a week since I last posted, so I thought I’d make it up to you by showing you this refreshing (and pretty) salad.

I also wanted to let you know that Weekly Bite is still here and not going anywhere . I’ve been busy doing (and loving) the mommy thing.

My life has been busy, hectic, crazy, full, and I love it… but, I also love this little space I have on the internet, and I am so happy & grateful that you’ve stuck around . I miss you guys and I hope to fall into a more regular posting schedule soon.

So, in the meantime, I have this lovely salad that is perfect for warm weather.

It has watermelon, honeydew melon, lime juice, & honey. It’s perfect for those summer cookouts!

Enjoy

Honey-Lime Melon Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cubed watermelon
• 1 cup cubed honeydew melon
• 1 tsp l ime zest
• juice of half a lime
• 1-2 teaspoons honey for taste

Mix all together and enjoy 

This is what typically goes on during mealtime. M {hopefully} eats about half her meal & veggies, and LK eats & plays & eats & plays, & plays, & plays… leaving more food on the floor than I’m sure actually entered her mouth.

To make life a little easier we have Turkey Tacos every Monday or Tuesday, then we have leftovers one or two days per week. Knowing that I can pull a meal together in ten minutes gives me a little relief in my already chaotic life.

My Turkey Taco recipe is easy.

Here’s what you need:

• 1 pound lean ground turkey
• olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1.5 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1.5 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 cup water

Bring a large pan to medium heat. Drizzle a little olive oil and cook the turkey until browned. While the turkey is cooking, combine the flour, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt, & pepper in a bowl. Whisk together, then add your water and whisk until smooth. Once the turkey is completely cooked through, pour in your seasoning mix and stir for about 5-7 minutes until the meat absorbs the liquid.

Now you can make your tacos anyway you like We eat ours with whole-wheat tortillas, beans, shredded cheese, lettuce, & tomatoes.

Here’s how I make M’s kiddie tacos:

It’s a super easy meal {which she loves}, and is perfect for both lunch & dinner leftovers!

Oh how I love this salad. I’ve posted this recipe in the past but I’ve been making it so often I just had to repost it.

We had friends over for dinner and when I asked what type of food they wanted the only request was “something healthy”. I knew exactly what to make. What I love is how easy this recipe comes together.

The first step is to make the recipe for Becky’s Dressing. I like to to make it about an hour before dinner so the flavors have time to blend.

Lucky for me I had a very eager kitchen helper. M told me it was her job to make the dressing perfect

While M stirred her little heart out, I placed the salmon under the broiler, boiled the orzo, and chopped up the onion, peppers, artichokes, & olives.

While the salmon was cooling I drained the orzo and poured 1/4 cup of dressing over it. I added the onion, feta, olives, artichoke, & peppers and mixed it all together. Next I gently mixed in a combo of baby spinach & arugula.

The last step was to top it with the shredded salmon.

I served it with the leftover dressing on the side and sliced French Bread.

I highly recommend making this for dinner. It’s delicious

Mediterranean Salmon Salad

Ingredients:

Becky’s Dressing:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1-1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1-1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1-1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Whisk all ingredients together and mix into salad just before serving.

• 3/4 lb salmon filet
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1 cup orzo
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives
• 1/2 cup red bell peppers (chopped)
• 1/4 chopped red onions
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta
• 1 14oz can artichoke hearts (quartered)
• 2 cups arugula
• Becky’s dressing (see above)

Directions:

1) Make recipe for Becky’s dressing, set aside.

2) Preheat broiler

3) Sprinkle salmon with salt, pepper, & oregano.  Place under broiler for 10-15 minutes, or until center is cooked.

4) Cook pasta according to package directions.

5) Drain pasta and place in a deep casserole dish.  Pour 1/4 cup of dressing over pasta and gently toss.

6) Once salmon is cooked, flake salmon using two forks.

7) Too the orzo, add olives, red bell peppers, red onions, feta, artichoke hearts, & arugula.  Use a forked spoon to gently combine all ingredients.

Top with flaked salmon & serve with dressing on the side.

We went a little crazy with Easter egg coloring this year. It was our first time dying eggs with M and I’m pretty sure I boiled close to 36 eggs…. oops. We might eat a few hard boiled eggs if they’re made, but I feel like we have eggs coming out of our ears.

Overflow of Easter eggs = Egg Salad!

I like my egg salad simple with just a few ingredients (including pickles )

Here’s everything you need:

• 4 hardboiled egg (sliced in half)
• 1 tablespoon mince shallots
• 1 tablespoon chopped pickle
• 1 tsp spicy mustard
• 2 heaping tablespoons mayonaise (or nayonaise)
• salt & pepper to taste

Throw all ingredients in a bowl and use your fork to mash and mix. I like my egg salad a little chunky so I mash it just enough to mix everything.

Pile it between two slices of whole-wheat bread and enjoy!

This recipe should make enough for two sandwiches

p.s. I’m guest posting over at Chobani today. Be sure to check out the 9 new kiddie meal ideas all including Chobani Champions

Congratulations Maura!!! You are the winner of the April NatureBox!! We will be in contact to get mailing info

I’m always a bit skeptical of these food delivery services, but I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised when I received our box.

Here’s what our box included.

• Dried Bing Cherries
• Fresh Granola without any processed or added sugar
• Sunshine Chips – a rainbow of vegetable such as sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, taro, & green beans
• Fire Crackers – made from rice and lightly flavored with soy sauce, garlic, and paprika.
• Figgy Bars – made with whole-wheat flour and juicy figs.

As a busy  mom of two, I found it quite handy to have quick, healthy snacks at my fingertips. A bonus is that M loved them! Here’s how I incorporated them in her daily snacks.

Dried Bing Cherries from NatureBox

Granola from NatureBox

Figgy Bar from NatueBox

Sunshine Chip + Fire Crackers from NatureBox

NatureBox is offering one lucky reader a chance to win a box of their delicious snacks!

To enter, leave a comment telling me what your favorite snack food is.

Be sure to check out their Facebook page for the latest!

P.S. NatureBox is offering Weekly Bite readers a 25% discount if you are interested in signing up for a NatureBox subscription. The promo code HEALTHY may be used for 25% off your first month of subscription (please note that the 25% discount is only applicable to the month-to-month subscription. 6 month subscriptions receive 1 month free and 12 month subscriptions receive 3 months free).

Good Luck!!

Shopping List:

• Whole-wheat fig bars (NatureBox)
• dry roasted peanuts (or almonds)
• Veggie Chips (NatureBox or Terra Original)
• Popcorn kernels (I like to air pop and fill a large ziploc bag with popcorn for quick snacks)
• yogurt covered raisins
• slice almonds

Other items I like for on-the-go snacks:

• snap peas
• carrots
• grapes
• blueberries
• dried fruit (cherries, raisins, apricots, apple rings, pineapple rings, mango, etc..)
• nuts (peanuts, almonds – only if not allergic)
• air-popped popcorn
• cheese sticks
• babybel
• granola bars (cascadian farm, health valley, annie’s)
• Late July Organic Peanut Butter or Cheese crackers
• small sandwiches

What I found works best for me is having a variety of foods that can easily be eaten out of the house (that aren’t messy). When grabbing a snack I always try to for a whole-grain, fruit, & or low-fat protein. The items listed above are some of M’s favorites.

What are your favorite on-the-go snacks?

p.s. my apologies for the lack of blog posts last week, was busy catching up with life

p.p.s. stay tuned for a fun giveaway

My name is Jen. I am the mother of two high-energy and frantically loveable preschoolers that regularly keep me tap dancing through my days. In addition to shuttling them around to preschool, playdates and activities, I work from home as a writer and executive recruiter. I love my life. But it takes a lot of work.

It’s the first day of Spring. Well, not really. Technically it has been Spring for weeks now, but with the freakish weather we have been having, there has been more hail than sunshine and temps dipping regularly into the 40s. I might be from Texas, but even I know that hail and Spring are not intended to coexist. Today the sun is bright, the skies are clear and it is a delightful 80 degrees. My children are running in and out of the sprinkler, wearing last year’s swimsuits that are small enough that its almost inappropriate. I have just added “buy new swimsuits” to my always growing, always evolving to-do list.

Today my office is outside. I am able to breath the fresh air, although I am squinting at my computer screen because even a MacBook Pro can’t eliminate all the glare. But to be outside, is truly glorious. I am a full-time mom, but also work from home close to thirty hours a week and finding the balance between outside office hours with the soundtrack of sprinkler revelry in the background and actually feeling like a professional adult can be challenging.

I have worked from home since the birth of my daughter almost five years ago and while I have not perfected it (just as an example it took me five minutes to write that one sentence because I had to get up from my chair eight times to threaten my children with turning off the sprinkler if they couldn’t lower the screeching level….), I do have an idea of how to make it work. I have tips tucked away that I sometimes follow, sometimes forget to follow and sometimes follow but still fail at hopelessly.

In the last five years I have transformed from a fairly confident and successful professional to someone who can melt into a total mush of tears when she realizes that its 5:58pm and there is absolutely nothing to prepare for the kids’ dinner other than a bowl of applesauce and some fritos. As time goes by, as the weeks fade into months and ultimately into years and I grow older and wiser, I find that the bad moments are less and the good ones are more frequent. These are the rules I have for myself that seem to keep me steered in the right direction.

1. Keep a calendar. I have an iPhone but don’t trust myself or iCal or google calendar to keep my busy and fluid schedule accurately enough. I use the momAgenda. The pages are big enough that I can write notes to myself in the margin and keep up with all the schedules and timelines I have going at once.
2. Schedule exercise. For the last four months I have been training for a half-marathon and a ten-miler. In order to mentally and physically prepare, it was imperative that I not only write down the workouts and distances that I needed to accomplish each day, but also schedule them into my day. I am not an early riser and could not possibly accomplish long runs in the morning before my husband heads off to work. Instead, on any given day, I might run at 9am, 3:30pm, 1pm or 4:30pm. Two weeks out, I take a look at my schedule and put the runs in. I then build the rest of my day around it. It might sound fanatical, but I know that without exercise, without running, the rest of this circus would just fall to pieces. It is my time.
3. I have a babysitter. I do not work full-time but I work enough that it is important for me to have a sitter who regularly comes to the house, helps with entertaining the kids, and helps with bath time and dinner. She only works about 6 to 8 hours a week, but I have come to depend on her to offer me a bit of respite, some sanity in what could be at any given moment an incredibly overwhelming day. We also use babysitters so that my husband and I can go out to dinner once or twice a month. We find we communicate with one another better and are less frustrated when we treat ourselves to a date night. It helps us reflect on the core of our family, which is our marriage.
4. I embrace my imperfections. It has taken awhile, but I am able to look at the mistakes that I make in my work, the parenting choices that got the better of me, the frustrated annoyances that spew from my mouth and realize that not only am I not perfect, I am 100% human. Thank god for that. And the only reason I am comfortable with that is that I don’t know any perfect mothers. Which brings me happily to my next point.
5. Mommy happy hours are a regular and crucial survival mechanism. Once a week my friends and I get together for two hours of total mayhem; wine and goldfish included. We talk, we complain, we laugh, we comfort, and we sit with the peace that there are other mothers who haven’t gotten it quite right either.
6. I turn off at the end of the day. With the growing trend of telecommuting and nationally distributed staffs, work can easily become a 24-hour a day thing. It is not easy, but I try to shut down the computer and my phone early enough in the evening that I am allowed some fun time with the children before the pre-bed witching hour sets in. And when I can’t shut down, when there is too much to do, I forgive myself for plopping them in front of The Backyardigans. Thank god for Pablo.

It has been a gift being able to work from home, to make my own schedule and to have the flexibility of taking my children to the park on beautiful days. Most days it is a challenging and delicate balance of mommy vs. employee, but I am getting the hang of it. I am grateful for the constant support of my husband and friends and for the joy my children bring me on a regular basis. With that said, I could use a vacation. Like last week. Because just now I realized I double-booked an important phone call with an equally important playdate for my son and I am going to spend the next few minutes working out the merits of both, and unfortunately my little guy will get the short end of the stick and his playdate will have to be rescheduled. But I will make it up to him. With some ice cream after my conference call. For now, I have to go. My daughter just got her hair stuck in the zipper of our trampoline netting.

• Organic Strawberries
• Organic Blueberries
• Cinnamon Alphabet Cookies (Trader Joe’s)
• Dried Bing Cherries
• Organic Yogurt Squishers (either Trader Joe’s or Stonyfield)
• Sourdough Pretzels
• Snap Pea Crisps
• Babybel Cheese

Hello! I have three days of kiddie snacks for you today. It’s been a while since I’ve posted one of these. Sometimes life gets so busy I forget to do something as simple as take a picture. In the last snack, I mixed cookies and berries. Whenever M asked for cookies as a snack I mix it in with some type for fruit. Somedays she’ll eat more berries then cookies, and other day’s she’ll eat only cookies. I feel good knowing I’m providing her with a variety of choices.