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If you love hot wings this is the recipe for you! It brings that fun wing house flavor to plain old boring chicken! I struggle to get enough protein everyday because I am not much of a carnivore, so finding new ways to enjoy it is key for me! Tonight I used chicken thighs because that's what I had on hand but I have used this marinade for chicken breasts, legs, and wings as well. For the marinade you will need: 1 Tablespoon of tomato paste 1 Tablespoon of honey 2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce 1 Tablespoon of melted butter 2 cloves of garlic minced 1/3 cup of hot sauce Mix it up well and marinate 1 lb of your chicken of choice for at least 20 minutes but up to 24 hours before preparing. Cooking times will baby depending on what you use but I baked the chicken thighs at 425 degrees for 20 minutes since I was roasting the potatoes at the same time. For the potatoes, I simply diced red potatoes and drizzled them with olive oil and some Himalayan pink salt and roasted them at 425 for 30 minutes. Simple, easy, and tasty! 
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One Valentines Day when my sister was in high school, one of her talented and creative friends gave her a homemade Valentine that read, " Who needs a boyfriend? We have chocolate cake!" It was a huge hit at our house and it was on the refrigerator for years! It became a family quip as well when anyone was depressed about their relationship status. My family is good at supporting each other and reminding each other of the truth and so today, on a day you might be struggling, I want to share some Jarvis wisdom with you!
1. You are not worth less because you are single, divorced, or widowed. It can feel that way at times when there are holidays celebrating relationships and people at weddings try to comfort you in your single state. I was single until I was almost 30 so I hightailed it out of my fair share of weddings. So many in fact, that I refused to make single ladies fight for my bouquet and instead gave it away to someone that I thought should be honored. It's not fun to be single sometimes, but it's also not fun to be in a relationship sometimes either. We like to focus on all the beautiful emotions we have being in love but being in love can also be intensely painful and what's truly beautiful about romantic love is honoring the commitment you make to show love in action when the romantic feelings are dim or even nonexistent. If you are single today, that means you are available for the right person and being with the right person is what matters. Relationships are hard work and you want to be with someone that makes all that work a joy. My mom was single for 12 years and she honestly didn't believe that she would ever meet anyone in her fifities or find someone that would love her 7 children as much as she did and then one November, a man who met every requirement she had appeared in her life through a friend. They got engaged on their first date and were married the following August. They say they are still on their honeymoon 3 years later! So, celebrate your singleness today because if a relationship is what you desire, it means that your story is still being written! And the beginning of the story is an exciting part to live! 2. You are not single because of your physical characteristics and/or personality quirks. Women especially over think things. We want there to be a reason we are single so we can do something about it and we go to great lengths to change things that in the end really don't affect your relationship status. We like to believe things like we are too fat, too thin, our boobs aren't big enough, our skin isn't clear enough, our eyes aren't the right color, we're too tall, we're too short, we're too loud, we're too quiet, we're too smart, we're not smart enough and on and on. We get our eyes set on a particular person and we will go out of our way to try and get their attention being someone we are not or degrading ourselves for not living up to what we think that person wants. It's a bunch of lies, people! I know tons of couples that are complete opposites to the point I can't wrap my mind around it! You will go crazy trying to make someone attracted to you and even if all your acting is successful, the truth is you'll never be happy with a person that doesn't want you for YOU and all your crazy, I grew up in a very conservative environment and I am independent, ambitious, outspoken, and intense ( not things most of the guys in my circle valued). I hate mingling and parties and chit chat. If you want to talk to me, I want to really know what's going on with you and I freak people out! I tried, unsuccesssfully, to put a lid on my crazy for a long time, and you know what, I married someone who likes me for those things. ( well mostly ;) Today, if you are looking in the mirror and criticizing yourself for your appearance or your quirks, STOP! You are beautiful! You are unique! And there is someone ( more than likely MANY someones) that will love all those things that you or others have criticized. The absolute BEST thing you can do for you is to continue exploring the things that bring you joy and fully focusing on being fully you. Let your personality attract people that are like you! Wouldn't you rather be with someone that not only accepts who you are but shares your passions? I promise you, it's worth being vulnerable to find that connection. Side note: If there are things you believe you legitimately need to work on like your weight or not gossiping ect, work on it! But do it for the right reasons and not because you're trying to impress someone else. 3. Take your eyes off yourself and look to serve others. One of the reasons we feel so depressed on days like this is because our eyes are on ourselves. I heard some say recently, " What you focus on expands." Meaning that if you are focusing on what you don't have or how lonely or sad you feel it begins to take over your thoughts and emotions, if you focus on the things that you are grateful for and how you can bless others, your gratitude and joy increase. As a single person, I often babysat for couples on Valentine's Day. I know that seems depressing but it isn't. When you are friends with couples that have kids you quickly see how beautiful your season of singleness is! These poor people don't get to sleep, their emotions are on edge, they don't get much time alone, and all those mushy feelings that made you want to gag when they were dating are dim. They NEED time alone to survive and it feels good to serve them. Or when my sister was in high school with no boyfriend at the time, I bought roses for her and her single friends to be delivered at school, it made me happy to bless them and put ME in better mood. One Valentines Day the single guys in our church took a group of ladies out to dinner and paid for it all without focusing on someone specific and we all had an amazing time! Another Valentines Day, I had to work by myself in Las Vegas, of all places, with brides and grooms running around all over the place and my girlfriends snuck tons of Valentines Day treats into my luggage. It was a huge blessing to me that others thought of me while I had to eat in a restaurant on Valentines Day ALONE. Take your sadness and use it to remember and bless others that might be feeling that way too! I promise it takes the sting out of Valentines Day! 4. When you are in a relationship, know yourself. My husband and I are not gift givers, in fact that was the very last love language on both our tests. I know that about myself. Our first year together, people always asked me on big holidays or anniversarys what Phillip did for me with looks of anticipation right after they gave these elaborate stories about what their significant other had done. They were awkward conversations for me and I always left feeling less than others until I realized. I don't want what they have. I don't like getting flowers, unless they were picked in a field, I think it's a waste of money. I don't want stuffed animals and giant boxes of chocolates. I didn't want a giant engagement ring or a public proposal. My husband blesses me the way I like to be blessed which is in very practical and probably boring ways. For Mothers Day last year, he bought me a four slice toaster and I cried because I only mentioned it once and passing and he remembered that I said it. For Christmas, he bought me ceramic pans that I had been wanting and wouldn't spen the money on. Today, he brought me a small box of chocolates because he knows I love them but I also don't like to have them in the house because I'm a fitness addict. Buying me a smaller box shows he knows me, he loves me, he's thinking of me and I love that! I don't care if the world says that's not enough or it's not romantic. it's romantic to me and that's all that matters. Being known and appreciated is what I want and he loves me so well. It's so easy to get caught up with what the media says we should want or to compare what our partners are doing based on what our friends are receiving but it's not going to make you content or happy. If you ARE in a relationship today, know yourself and your spouse well enough to appreciate what they do for you. You may need to work on it andcommunicate what it is that would bless you so they can learn. One bad gift doesn't doom a relationship and one great one doesn't mean it's true love. 5. We have chocolate cake! As a fitness coach, I don't condone drowning your sorrows in food but, years later, I come back to this quote because to my family the truth in this statement was, " Laugh through the pain." it's painful not to be picked, even when there is no one YOU would pick, but life is much much bigger than a romantic relationship! You may not have a significant other today, but you have many other important relationships that matter just as much. You have reasons to be joyful, reasons to be grateful. For just a second, I want you to remember how it feels to be interested in someone, how you want to learn everything about them, what they like,what makes them tick, and then I want you to use all that motivation to explore yourself! We start to feel like we know ourselves, but really we are full of untapped potential. You have skills and abilities you don't know you have. You have passions that you have yet to discover. Get to it! In the process of discovering what makes you tick, you may meet that person that you are waiting around for. Don't wait! Live! Life is a great adventure and it's all chocolate cake! In my last post, I talked about I got started couponing because of my need to save money on diapers. I got so many emails asking me to share my tips on the diaper deals so I am doing a quick post to answer all the questions!
The first step is to decide where you want to shop. There are a lot of couponers that will drive all over God's green earth for a deal but that is not me! I also don't like places where I have to deal with store " cash" like CVS. There are some great deals there but you get your savings in the form of Extra Cash Bucks and you have to remember to use them or the deal wasn't that great. Not my cup of tea. My favorite place to buy diapers is Target. My last diaper purchase I bought 950 diapers and it lasted me 9 months until my daughter was potty trained. Target has excellent prices on their UP & Up brand diapers anyway. Right this minute you can get ( size 2 for discussion sake) 172 diapers for $24.99 and when you buy 3 you get a $15 gift card and that's before any coupons, cartwheel, or red card discounts. Then periodically Target offers a $10 off $40 Up& Up purchase which can usually be printed or cut out of their weekly flyer. You can also usually get an extra 5-10% off using the Target cartwheel app on your phone. And then you can ALSO use your red card to save an additional 5%. (3) 172 count Target diapers @ $24.99 = $74.97 +. (1) 460 count Target wipes @ 9.99=. $9.99 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Total $84.96 - (2) $10 off $40 Up & Up coupons. $20.00 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total $64.96 - 10% off Up and Up diapers on cartwheel. $6.49 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total. $58.47 - 5% Redcard discount. $2.92 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total for 516 diapers and 460 wipes = $55.55 Then if the $15 gift card deal was also going you would get that when you purchased as well driving the price down further. The $10 offcoupon is not available currently but it's still a good deal if you need diapers now. The trick is just to really stock up when they are rock bottom prices. Keep in mind when stocking up that your child might need a bigger size sooner than later and throw some larger sizes in the mix if you might need them. If you have any questions feel free to post below! We made the decision when I was pregnant with my first daughter that I would quit my job and stay home with her. It was a painstaking decision. I made more money than my husband at the time and so it cut our income by more than half. The first week after she was born, the price of diapers made me realize that I was going to need to get creative to make it work. My sister-in-law was into couponing so I got some info from her and dove right in! Couponing is a great way to save money on a tight budget. I never paid more than 5 cents a diaper and a lot of times got wipes for free. It definitely helped stretch our budget and I am grateful that I had the info at that time. It was fun for me too! Figuring out how to get things for free or make money off of items to bring my bill down was like a game, but there are some do's and don't that will help you save money AND have a healthy lifestyle. 1. Don't stock your home with processed food. Most of the coupons that you can use are for processed food.You will find some coupons for veggies and fruits, and, of course, household products that you use but you need to be wary of stocking your house full of boxed and bagged food items. They are chemical laden, nutrient poor and don't fuel your body. The foods that should be consumed in your home are veggies, fruits, healthy carbs ( whole grains no preservatives), proteins, and healthy fats which are mostly found on the perimeter of your store. I spent many years calorie counting and eating whatever I wanted but it wasn't until I was educated about nutrition and started choosing foods that fueled my body that I began to see the outward changes that I was looking for without the constant struggle of cravings and denying myself. If you do buy processed foods because its a money maker item, throw them out! It's not good for you and its not good for others. 2. Do buy fruits and veggies that are in season. I know it seemed like fruits and veggies can be expensive but when you aren't wasting money on all that processed food it does free up money for healthier options. A few of the ways to do this is to buy fruits and veggies that are in season. When they are in season they are their lowest price. You will notice strawberries are $2.99 in the summer and $4.99 in the winter. As you get used to knowing the seasonal veggies you can build meal plans by season that will be tasty and inexpensive. You can also find local farmers markets that have amazing deals on these items and often they are organic and much much less than in store. Check out what farmers markets are available in your area. I also buy eggs from my farmers market! 3. Do buy your proteins from a farm or a company like Zaycon. We buy our proteins in bulk from our farmers market or Zaycon and freeze it until we need it. Its much cheaper than buying it from the store and we know where it came from and how it was fed. Its much healthier and less expensive than buying it from a grocery store. As a side note. we only have the freezer in our refrigerator and it stores the meat just fine. That's all we keep in their since we dont have it full of processed foods or frozen veggies. but we dont need a huge freezer in our garage to make this kind of commitment. There is roughly 40 pounds of various proteins in there at any given time and there is still room to spare! 4. Do coupon for household items and healthy items you can stock. Some of the things that have been super helpful to coupon for us are diapers, wipes, paper towels, toilet paper,paper plates, olive oil, spices, peanut butter, cheeses, bottled water. If you use store bought cleaning products this is also a great way to save on those items. ( I don't but that's for another blog post! ;) I know if you have been couponing for awhile and used to walking out of the store having spent $5 on $75 worth of products that this might stress you out but once you realize that those items you are eating are causing you to feel awful and gain weight, it gets a lot easier to let it go. We spend a lot in this country on beauty supplies trying to make us look and feel better and yet when we eat the food that our bodies need, we don't need all that junk. Our waistlines don't need girdles, our faces are glowing and don't need foundation, our hair and nails are healthy and later on we pour money into doctors because we didn't take care of our bodies. We pour money into trying to look better when really we need to take that money and put it into our health. I love the quote, " Pay the farmer now or the doctor later. So couponers, don't panic! Give it 30 days and you'll see I speak the truth! I have challenge groups running each month, jump and I'll teach you how to make it work for your family. We spend $125 a week for our family of four eating healthy foods and this includes all our paper and personal care items as well as eating out ( which we dont do that often). When looking at your food budget you need to look at how much you are spending eating out and on coffee runs or other "treats". You can free up a lot of funds through choosing a healthy lifestyle! To my noncouponers! You can learn a lot from us crazy coupon ladies and you never even have to clip a coupon. The most important way you can save is to learn the sale cycles. Every 6 to 10 weeks all items are at their lowest price, so you buy enough to last you 6-10 weeks depending on the item. Example! I am a Publix shopper, so when organic olive oil goes buy one get one, I buy 4 bottles at that price and it lasts me 10 weeks until I need them again. ( It's actually more than I need but I make all my own salad dressings so I don't like to run out!) If you only buy one, you will run out before the next sale and pay full price for the next one, so stocking up on your healthy most used items will save you tons of money over time. it takes a slight shift of perspective but once you make it, you'll never go back. The site I use to check the lists is www.southersavers.com. She posts the Publix list on Monday and then on Thursday when the sale starts I go do my shopping. You simply check which items you want to buy and print out your list. Super simple! If want some more info on this, there are videos on how to coupon on her site! If you have questions about couponing, healthy eating, or my challenge groups, please send me a message at [email protected]. I would love to talk more with you and help you navigate how to serve your family's budget and health! To join a challenge group click here  |
Author"And Aubrey was her name. A not so very ordinary girl or name."(Or so says David Gates ;) I'm a wife to Phillip, a mother to Scarlett and Juliet. We live in the beautiful city of Thornton, Co. I'm a recovering red bull addict. I love to read. I hate to cook. I seek to be inspired and also to inspire others. I am a Beachbody Coach on a quest to be truly healthy mind, soul, and body and challenge others to do the same. Archives
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