Healthy Sounding Snacks That Make Me Feel Better About My Food Addiction

Life is really stressful sometimes. I complain about it way too much.

Justin Halpern is one of my favorite authors. If you haven't read Shit My Dad Says or I Suck At Girls, I suggest you do...immediately. So, every time I am having a tough day, I read parts of Shit My Dad Says to make me laugh. An example for you from Halpern's dad about his first day of kindergarten: "You thought it was hard? If kindergarten is busting your ass, I got some bad news for you about the rest of life." Amen to that. If I could go back to earlier days in my life, that I thought was difficult, I'd laugh at myself. I'm one of those people that binge eat when overly stressed. To avoid becoming extremely obese, I've been making small, healthier snacks that essentially make me feel better about myself, while subduing my stress. Two examples, and my favorite, are Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Pineapple Pomegranate Salad.

Cooking Kristen

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

If you've ever made roasted potatoes, its's basically the same thing, except with sweet potatoes.

Ingredients:
4 sweet potatoes
Olive Oil
Seasoning of your choice (I use various kinds. A Sicilian blend is my favorite)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

First, Peel the potatoes. Then, chop them up into medium sized cubes. A little trick that I learned from my mom, is to let the chopped potatoes soak in a bowl full of cold water for about fifteen minutes. It helps remove the starch, so it doesn't stick to the pan as easily.

Place on a non-stick cookie sheet. 

Poor a small amount of olive oil on the potatoes. Just enough so each one is lightly coated.

Sprinkle as much seasoning on it as you want. 

Place in preheated oven for 15 minutes. 

After 15 minutes are up, flip and move the potatoes around on the pan.

Bake for another 15 minutes, or until they are crispy enough for you.

                                                  Finally, enjoy your roasted sweet potatoes.

Pineapple Pomegranate Salad

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped pineapple

1 cup pomegranate seeds

1 tbsp of sugar

1 1/2 tsp of lime juice

Lime zest for garnishing

It's as simple as mixing everything in a bowl. Then, eat the crap out of it because it's that delicious.

Valentine's Day Cards

I finally had enough motivation to update my blog! I've had a very difficult last couple of months. My life changed very drastically and I just couldn't find it in myself to bake, cook or craft. I'm finally starting to find my happiness again and start loving my new life. One of the best things about my life recently is the people that have become a part of it. When I needed people in my life, they were there. I owe all my happiness to the people who helped me through my hard times. I don't even think they know how much I appreciate them.

                  These people are so beyond amazing. They deserve the world. 

My favorite holiday is Valentine's Day. Everyone knows that about me. I couldn't think of any better way to celebrate my favorite day of the year other than making cards for my friends. This is my first craft in a long time and I feel so much better! 

Today was a snow day for me. While being stranded in my house, in the freezing cold, I decided to do my Valentine's Day cards. While wearing leggings, sweats, long sleeve shirt, under armor sweatshirt, Columbia fleece, no makeup, scarf, hat and a blanket, I dragged my art supplies out and got to work.

On a quick side note, each person has a different card and a special message just for them. Nobody has gotten their cards yet.

I got all my crafts at Michael's and Craft Warehouse.

What you will need:
Valentine's Day Stamps
Ink Pads
Lots of heart shaped stickers
Ribbon
Tacky Glue
Envelopes
Glue Stick
Sharpie (I chose silver)
Scissors
Love colored construction paper (All shades of pink and red)


You can make the cards any shape you want. I chose to use one color on the outside and another on the inside. I used the glue stick to make them stick together. Making cards is very simple. It is how you decorate them that makes them unique and creative.
I folded mine in half, cut it, glued it and then folded them in half again.
The picture on the left shows what all my cards looked like before I added things to them.
I made twenty.

Below are some examples of some of the ones I made:

The envelopes: 

I hope everyone has an amazing Valentine's Day. Love is such a strange and awful thing when it ends but when you have it, it's beautiful. I love you all and thank you so much.