Rocksbox

So I may just be a little obsessed/out of control with these box subscriptions.  I've tried quite of few, but I have been on a hiatus for awhile.  I saw a coupon code to get your first month free with Rocksbox, so I figured why not!  And I think I'm going to be hooked on this one.  I signed up for it last Friday and OMG it's here already!!!

Can I just say the packaging is adorable.

Seriously...adorable.

Each box comes with three pieces.  This is what was in my box.  I was pretty excited to see some Kendra Scott in there!

The Gorjana Mesa Crossover Ring.  Valued at $45.00.

Kendra Scott Alex Earrings in Chalcedony.  Valued at $55.00.

The Loren Hope Palmer Necklace in Drift.  Valued at $118.00

It was tough to see on top of my LOUD shirt.

When you sign up for Rocksbox you take a survey about your style and what you like.  I would venture to say they pretty much nailed it.  I love everything I got.  Now for the "how it works" part...

1. Sign up and take your survey.

2. They send you your first box!

3. Wear what you like, when you like.

4. Return your pieces whenever you are done wearing them, or purchase them if you'd like.

5. Rocksbox sends you three more pieces!

You can keep the jewelry for as long as you want or send it back immediately.  You pay $19/month for the service and can cancel anytime you want.  You get a $10 credit each month to purchase any of the jewelry that you can't live without.  You also get a discount on the jewelry since you're signed up for the service.  For example the Kendra Scott earring are worth $55.  I can purchase them for $44 minus my $10 credit.  $34 for those earring is a steal!

If you are interested in trying this out you can use the code KAITLYNBFF112 to get your whole first month for free!!  That's 9-12 pieces of jewelry depending on how quickly you send back what you get.  

Click HERE to check it out!

First 10

The first 10 days of my 24 day challenge are down and my weight is down too!  I have lost 6.4 pounds since last Monday.  I feel amazing.  That means I have 14 days to lose the remaining 6.6.  I totally got this!

Ground Turkey Chili

I'm not a big ground turkey fan.  I much prefer ground beef, but this recipe looked good so I went for it.  Start off by sauteing one chopped onion and five minced cloves of garlic in 1T of olive oil.

Add 2lbs of ground turkey after about 3-5 minutes of sauteing the onions and garlic.

While you are browning the turkey (Is it called browning?  It's browning with ground meat, but turkey is more of a white color.  Whiting the turkey?) chop a red bell pepper, 2 jalapenos, and a green bell pepper.

The ground turkey should look like this once browned?  Whited?  Geez.

Dump the rest of the ingredients in:

1 (28oz) can crushed tomatoes, no salt added

1 (15oz) can petitie diced tomatoes, no salt added

3T tomato paste

1/2t hot sauce

1 (15oz) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

The bell peppers and jalapenos

Salt

Pepper

3T chili powder

2t oregano

1/8t cayenne pepper

Let simmer for about an hour.

And there you have it!  I topped ours with green onions because green onions make everything better. 236 calories per cup of chili.  It was very hearty and filling!

I'm going to complain...

I'm going to complain for a second.  Stop reading if you don't want to hear me complain.

I know we all know that as a society we love and honor the "skinny girl," and I honestly I have no problem with this.  Models are pretty skinny most of the time.  High fashion goes on skinny people.  Magazine covers are for mostly skinny people.  I'm not talking regular skinny, I'm talking REALLY skinny.  And I'm totally fine with this.  Chances are I will never wear anything "high fashion."  I mean who wants to wear a nude jumpsuit with feathers sticking out the butt anyway?

So...just so we are completely clear here, I have NO problem with this.  We all look different.  I am in no way skinny shaming anyone.  In all actuality, most of the time I am sitting here wishing I looked like them.

Here is where I start to have a small problem with things.  I need a dress for a wedding.  I shop at places like Gap, Banana Republic, and Ann Taylor.  I haven't taken a gander online at their websites in awhile because I haven't been in need of anything.  Yesterday I looked online to see what dresses they had and this is what I found...

Banana Republic

  

I'm pretty sure these models are in sizes xxs or 00 and I'm still not sure that the dresses are small enough for them as they seem to be just about falling off of them.


Gap

 

Do we see how photo shopped this girls arm is??  This already size 00 girl that Gap decided needed SMALLER arms???  I'm pretty sure her thighs are photo shopped as well.

Another weird arm photo shop...


Ann Taylor

I mean this girl is adorable and all, but she is about the size of my 8 year old niece.

So obviously all of these women are very beautiful, however I have NO IDEA how these dresses will look on me or really anyone over the size of 00.  I'm not rioting for size 10 or 12 models.  I'm saying, maybe show me a size 4 guys?  I can guess from there.

I just don't understand why we are photo shopping beautiful women to be smaller.  God help the future little girls of America.

Sweet potato nachos

I made sweet potato nachos last week for dinner and they were a HUGE success!!   A super easy and delicious recipe.  I got two sweet potatoes and used a mandolin to slice them to about 1/4 inch thick.  I tossed them with olive oil, paprika, and garlic powder.  Threw them in the oven at 425 for 30 minutes, flipping them halfway.

While the sweet potatoes were baking, I cut up some jalapenos, cilantro, and green onions.  I also made the taco meat using extra lean ground beef and a packet of taco seasoning.  You can use ground turkey if you would like, I just prefer beef.  You can also make your own taco seasoning.

When the sweet potatoes came out they were nice and crispy.

Layer the nachos with whatever your heart desires and enjoy!  For mine I used 4 ounces of taco meat, shredded lettuce, avocado, salsa, cilantro, green onions, and jalapenos.  They were definitely a hit at my house!

Acai Bowls

I have recently become obsessed with trying to figure out what these are, and how people make them.

I kept seeing them on pinterest and google when I typed in, "healthy or clean breakfast."  So I did some sleuthing...

I read an article about acai bowls on the Huffington Post (they called them breakfast porn).  I learned that this specific dish originated in Brazil, but became popular in Hawaii.  Who doesn't want island food for breakfast??  This tasted amazing and I felt like I was on vacation.  I definitely recommend it! 

To start, you need these little frozen packets.  I knew I would have to go to whole foods for this nonsense and that's what took me so long to make one.  These were in the freezer aisle.  They aren't cheap, but I was at whole foods, so I figured as much.

Run the packet under hot water for a few seconds and dump it in your blender along with a half a banana (I will probably use half a frozen banana next time since my bowl was a little more liquidy than I would have liked), 1/4 cup of almond milk, and 1/2 cup of frozen fruit of your choice.  This time I used 1/4 cup of blueberries and 1/4 cup of strawberries.  By the way, Costco has amazing frozen fruit in bulk.  

Next up is toppings!  I topped with the rest of the banana, a few blackberries, some shaved coconut, a teaspoon of chia seeds (you can get these really cheap at the produce stand on the corner of coursey and airline), and 2 tablespoons of this wonderful find.

I LOVE granola.  Love it.  You make think granola is healthy, but it usually is not.  It's almost always loaded with sugar.  It's another whole foods find and it was delicious.  Not as crunchy as granola, but the taste was awesome.

List of ingredients looked good to me.  And look at that....7 grams of fiber and 8 grams of protein per serving!

And voila!  Mine may not look as good as the ones on the internet, but not too shabby for my first try. This was the finished product.  It tasted as good as it looked.  It was about 300 calories and filled me up.  It's definitely a breakfast you can play with and make your own!

Zoodle Spaghetti

It finally happened!  I got a Vegetti.  I've been wanting one for awhile now and I finally got one and was ready to attempt Zoodle (zucchini noodle) Spaghetti!

I started out with these delightful chicken meatballs.  The ingredient list is very short.  Chicken..onions..bell pepper.  That kind of think.  I pre-heated my oven to 375 and stuck those guys in there for 12 minutes.  I got these from Alexanders.  I am pretty sure you can get them in bulk at Costco as well.

I used this marinara from Trader Joe's.  No sugar added.  It's Jon's favorite sauce and it is definitely delicious.  I just dumped it in a pot to heat.  When the meatballs came out I dumped them in there as well.

Now the exciting part!  My vegetti!  You can get your very own vegetti in 2 days from AMAZON.  

After making numerous jokes to myself (Jon wasn't home yet) about putting the large zucchini in my vegetti and wondering if my vegetti was self cleansing or dishwasher safe.  Also, how I was a little nervous to put something in my vegetti for the first time.  Ok, I'm done.  It was actually super easy and made plenty of "pasta" like noodles.  I tasted them raw and they were good, but decided to saute them to soften them a bit.

I heated up a little coconut oil.  If you haven't tried coconut oil I definitely recommend.  It makes everything taste better!

And went to sauteing my zoodles...

The finished product looked something like this and it was delightful!  I am super excited to use my vegetti more.  As you can see the only problem is that the zucchini let out a little water, but it really wasn't that big of a deal and everything still tasted great!  Enjoy!