Five on Friday!

Lots to cover today, folks. Let’s get down to it…

one. For lunches this week I’ve been making Avocado Chicken Salad and am SO hooked. My sister has been nagging me to try this and I finally did and regretted not making it sooner!

Easy & Healthy Avocado Chicken Salad

Ingredients
1 large chicken breast
1 ripe avocado
1 apple
1/2 cup celery
1/4 cup red onion
2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro 
2 teaspoons lime juice 
salt and pepper
olive oil

Directions 

1. Butterfly your chicken by laying the cutlet flat and slicing it parallel with a knife. Season with salt and pepper. Place the chicken breastsinto a lightly oiled skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until brown and opaque throughout, 2-4 minutes each side. Remove from heat and set aside for a few minutes. Finely dice the chicken breast and toss into a large bowl. 

2. Dice your veggies. Wash, dry, peel and finely dice your red onion, apple, celery and avocado. Toss into bowl with chicken. Gently mash the avocado until all of the ingredients are mixed well.

3. Sprinkle in cilantro. Add in lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. 

4. Serve as a sandwich or on a bed of greens with a little drizzle of olive oil!

Feel free to get creative too. I threw halved grapes into my salad one day and it was super tasty!

*For lunch, I seal my salad in a Tupperware container and eat the next day for lunch.  

Print recipe for Easy & Healthy Avocado Chicken Salad. 

two: Mario Badescu Facial Spray. I started working out at the gym last week during my lunch break. I’ve only gone twice so far but that is two more times than I’ve gone in the past year soooooo we’re off to a good start. To cool down after a workout I’ve been using a really, really amazing Mario Badescu Facial Spray with aloe, herbs and rose water! I also keep one in my pool bag to refresh my face after being in the sun! Oh, and one in my makeup drawer to use a setting spray! The facial spray is only $7 so  I immediately primed a bottle (and then several more) to my house at Lindsey’s recommendation and am loving it!

three. As you may have noticed from our first pool day with two minis post we were clearly unprepared for the splash pad last weekend. We arrived at the worst time, forgot towels for me and Matt, lost a contact, didn’t have a puddle jumper for Caroline and more. In fact, we lathered them in sunscreen, forced a hat and a onesie on Thomas and packed some snacks. We thought we had covered the essentials but once we realized our pool bag was about to get a bit heavier…

Anyway, so now we’ve been prepping all week by stocking up on essentials recommended by my mama friends for this weekend’s pool trip re-do. Here’s what I’ve packed in the kiddo bag so far but I could REALLY use some help from the mamas who have tricks, snacks or products for summertime at the pool! HELP!

The Staples: Hooded towels x2, Blue Lizard Sunscreen, Sun Hat, Sippy Cup, Stainless Steel Water Bottle, extra swim diapers, change of clothes and snacks.

Puddle Jumper: I didn’t anticipate leaving the splash pad but sure enough the second Caroline saw the kiddie pool she wanted in. That night I primed a Puddle Jumper to ease Matt’s kiddie pool anxiety.

Water Shoes & Swim Shirt: Caroline wore her Natives and we just let Thomas crawl around barefoot in a onesie. Well, once we got home we realized the tops of poor Thomas’ feet were scraped up from crawling around the splash pad. One of my girlfriends recommended these swim shoes which I purchased in lime green for our little man along with two cute swim shirts!

Babiator Swim Goggles! So I almost just wrote my entire #3 on these goggles but then got carried away with the rest of our pool items. Anyway, I asked the mamas in my infant cataract facebook group how in the world they protect contacts at the pool. These goggles were recommended by several aphakic kid mamas. But I had to share them for anyone with little ones too because 1. they are ridiculously BABIATOR GOGGLES 2. the reviews are incredible and 3. the company promises to replace up to one LOST pair within the first year!!!!! Is that not amazing? They were definitely more expensive than I had anticipated and Thomas definitely is not a fan of anything additional over his eyes but he looks like a stud in them and they will absolutely provide him with the protection he needs!

four. We released our butterflies last weekend!!!! Over the past few weeks we’ve been having so much fun watching our caterpillars morph into butterflies. On Sunday we let all five butterflies fly away after feeding them their last meal! And yes, Caroline wanted to name every one “two” and was very excited yet sad letting them go.

five. We are going on 6+ months of HelloFresh and are still loving it! No meal has taken me more than 30 minutes to make and I love that Matt and I sit down together to enjoy these dinners. On the nights we don’t cook HelloFresh we’re usually grabbing take-out, heating up a lean cuisine or leftovers, or eating a bowl of cereal – ha! Not even kidding, HelloFresh has made us sit down to eat together more than ever! Below are the highlights of our favorite meals the past month. 

Want to try HelloFresh? Use promo code MG8GKD for $40 off your first box! That means you can try out HelloFresh for $29 and then cancel after your box arrives or keep on going.

Also, I received another promo code to give my friends a FREE box of HelloFresh meals! I’d be happy to send the first FOUR people to leave their email address in the comments a free week of HelloFresh to try!

 

Happy weekend friends!

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Wanna join April, Natasha and I on the Friday fun? You can link-up on any of our four blogs every Friday! All you have to do is…

1.) Write your post about five things you’re lovin’ this week (or any five things you want to share!).

2.) Share the logo on your blog and link back. 

3.) Link-up at the bottom of the post so some new readers can check out your five things and say hello!