Green Diet Smoothie! So Yummy!

I stumbled upon this great recipe here and decided to give it a try! We're headed to Mexico is a few months so decided to get my butt in shape! This doesn't look appetizing, but I promise you it is! It's packed with spinach, peanut butter, bananas and greek yogurt! It's one of my new favorite snacks!

I promise, you don't taste the spinach at all! Here is the recipe:

1 frozen banana

1 Tablespoon peanut butter

1/2 cup 0% Vanilla Chobani Greek Yogurt

4 cups of baby spinach (more or less)

Directions

Combine all ingredients into a blender into smooth and green.

Nutritional Stats

350 calories, 10g of fiber, 21g of protein

Time to Celebrate!

We had Connor in the studio this morning and he's getting ready to turn the 1 in March! Last time I saw him, it was freezing cold in November and our session only lasted 10-15 minutes! However, this time it was a balmy 68 degrees inside :) Check out his preview below..

AND in other very exciting news, we got engaged a few weeks ago!

Newspaper and Mustaches

I loved this shoot! It was so much fun and laughed the whole time! They all kept each other laughing, so all natural smiles here :) Check out their preview below..

  

It's Valentine's Day Here..

Valentine's Day came a little early! I was able to use my new wood floors this morning and I love them! I can't wait to buy other colors and stains! Little M is always a little ham and today she did not disappoint! I love working with this family and I can't wait to see them again. Check out her preview below..

Happy Snowy Weekend!

Hooray it's Friday! Another late night prepping for this Sunday's Valentine's Day shoot for this little missy..

She's so much fun and our themed shoot will be adorable on Sunday! And just because it's Friday, here's a little video that I think is hysterical! Have a good weekend!

Handmade Headband Giveaway!

I'm feeling quite generous today! I'm giving away a Handmade Dupioni Silk Headband! This headband can be used for newborns, toddlers, teens and adults! Check out her other headbands here!

Here's how to enter:

1.) Become a follower of this blog (upper left-hand corner) and click "follow". Then leave a comment here so I know you joined.

2.) Another way to win is to post a status about this blog on your Facebook page with a link included (you can even simply advertise that I'm hosting this giveaway and give your Facebook friends a chance-which then lowers your chances so we'll see how nice you all are) and then comment here letting me know you did that!

The winner will be chosen HERE Tuesday the 14th (Valentine's Day) at 6pm central time. Be sure to check back then to see if you won!

*Winners will be chosen at random through random.org.*

Best Bread Recipe Ever!

I had the whole day off today so I decided to make some bread! I was starving and we didn't have anything in the fridge so making bread seemed wayyy easier than going to Hy-Vee :) Oddly enough, my sister just posted a recipe tonight as well. Check it out here.


After making bread, my mom, Brian and I went out shopping for our Super Bowl on Sunday! What a process! Next year, I think I'll leave it to mom and Brian! Not my cup of tea! Oh and why we were out, my mom bought me some hardwood floors for the studio for my birthday! That will be a whole other post! I'm sure it'll be quite the site putting that project together!


I have a TON of shoots this month so I'm excited to be posting some fun and crazy sets! Here is the bread recipe along with some pictures of the messy process..


Braided Bread


1/4 cup warm water
2 1/2 tsp yeast (one yeast packet)
1 TBSP sugar
1 cup hot water
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 TBSP butter
2 1/2 cups flour
1 egg
1 3/4-2 cups more flour

In a glass bowl, combine the warm water, yeast and sugar and set aside for 10 minutes.

In your mixer, combine the hot water, salt, sugar and butter and mix. Once the yeast has risen, add 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 egg and the yeast. Mix all together (using your mixing paddle arm.)

Add 1 1/4 cups more flour and mix until a ball forms. If the dough is still too soft, add more flour until the dough feels like squishy play-dough. Take the paddle arm off your mixer and put the hook are on. Turn mixer to the number "2" setting (if you have a Kitchen Aid Mixer) and let machine knead the dough for 7 minutes. OR knead the dough by hand for 5-7 minutes on a hard surface.

Spray a large clean bowl with cooking spray. Put the dough in the bowl and cover with a cloth to keep from drying out. Place the bowl in a warm place (like the oven with just the light turned on). A good trick my mom taught me is to turn on your oven for just 10 seconds to let it warm up. Then turn it off and put your dough in there to rise. Don’t let the oven heat for too long though, or it will bake your dough (rather than rising it). Just a few seconds is all you need to get it warm in there. Let the dough rise for a couple of hours

Using a knife, divide the dough into two parts. Divid those 2 parts until 6 balls and roll out to 10 inch long ropes. Take three ropes and braid them as usual and secure the ends.

Place each braided bread onto a cookie sheet.

My new favorite bread recipe!


Don't foreget! Only 4 more days to grab this deal! I can't wait to meet my new clients :) There is no money up front as you pay when you use the coupon!