Samantha K Schmidt

Eating healthy is hard to do when you are constantly on the go. One of the easiest ways to stay healthy is to cook at home, but whether you are a working girl or a busy stay at home mom it's hard to find time to cook nutritious meals. That's why meal planning can be such a life saver. Here are a few ways to minimize your meal stress and stay healthy all week long.

Every now and then I get a serious carnivore craving. Today I was craving buffalo chicken, so I thought I'd try my hand at a vegetarian version. Ingredients: 1/4 cup of Barbecue Sauce 1/2 tablespoon of Hot Sauce 1 tablespoon grape jelly (optional) Chicken Substitute (I used Veggie Patch Nuggets) Directions: ~ Cook chicken substitute according to package directions ~ Meanwhile mix your sauces together in a shallow bowl ~ Toss the "chicken" in the sauce ~ Enjoy! This recipe is great because you can mix it up for different flavor. I prefer my buffalo sauce a little sweeter so I added jelly, you can leave it out for more spice. You can also water down the sauce to make a thinner coat. The choice is up to you.

I hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July weekend. If you read Friday's post you know my weekend consisted of the 48 hour cleanse . I will say that overall the cleanse was successful, but dreadful. Friday we went to Fresh Market and prepared all of the weekend meals. Here is a breakdown of what we ate. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are the same for the 2 days. Breakfast: Quinoa with Prunes *this wasn't as dreadful as it could've been, but by day two I was not having those prunes. Lunch: Blueberry Smoothie *probably the most delicious of the cleanse meals Dinner: Vegetable Broth *plain tasting, but not terrible (except for the cabbage smell seeping through your pores afterward) Snack: Kale Smoothie, Pineapple/Pomegranate Drink, and Vegetables *our ninja didn't cut it for blending the kale it was grainy and gross, pineapple drink was okay, and I couldn't eat enough carrots to get full The cleanse does it's job. It cleanses your liver, kidney, and...

Sometimes I like to imagine myself sitting under the Eiffel Tower sipping a café au lait, a fresh baguette in my bag. There's something about the Parisian lifestyle that calms my soul. Maybe it's the beauty. Maybe it's the amour. Or maybe... it's the food. French food is the ultimate comfort food in my book, and my favorite comfort is macarons. I tried my first macaron a few years back and it was love at first bite. Ever since I've been smitten for these tasty treats. I was looking for a little luxurious comfort yesterday and decided to pick up a box of macarons from one of my favorite places Le Macaron. I love Le Macaron because it's authentic and everything is natural. This time I decided to try out a few different flavors and thought I'd share them with you. If you've never tried a true French Macaron this is a great guide for the beginner. 1. Colombian Coffee  I love coffee flavored anything, so I had to grab 4 of these guys. They have a ri...