Have I already mentioned that I love sweet potatoes? No? Well I freakin love me some sweet potatoes! I think my love of sweet potatoes happened accidentally and is a fairly new love for me. Of course it started with sweet potato fries, duh. Who doesn't love those crispy little fries from heaven? Then I started making them on my own, or at least trying. Then, I chopped some up one morning, sautéed them, added eggs on top with a little melted cheese and BAM, sweet potato heaven!

Seriously, though, I love how versatile sweet potatoes are and how much nutrition they pack in. Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of Beta Carotene, vitamin C and potassium and they are high in antioxidants. They also contain vitamins B5, B6, and E as well as manganese and fiber. Yes they contain natural sugars but that's what makes them so yummy =) And, did I mention that they are pretty easy to prepare?

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone. Summer is such a time for BBQs, parties and if you are like us, lots of birthdays! Parties are made for eating, drinking and having a great time! I like to bring 1 or 2 healthy side dishes to the party because I love knowing there is a healthy option available. Today I'm sharing three of my favorite healthy side dishes that are sure to be crowd pleasers!

Chopped Caprese Salad

I just made this salad recently for a friend get-together and it was so, so good. It is light and flavorful with the fresh taste of basil. It would also be great on top of some grilled chicken.

Summer is officially in full swing. Vacations, camps, play dates, birthdays, swimming, baseball and BBQs. Anyone else exhausted and constantly smell like sunscreen? But we are having a great time and making fun memories. We recently went on a trip to Park City, Utah, which was so beautiful! My husband and 8 y/o white water rafted for the 1st time and had so much fun! We visited the Cathedral of Junk when we went to Austin for our niece's graduation. It was an interesting experience for sure.

As much as I dislike the summer heat, there are lots of summer things I am loving right now. Here are some of my current summer favorites:

Summer Fruit

My favorite fruit right now is blueberries and we love to pick them fresh from the blueberry patch! We discovered The Berry Patch last summer and will definitely keep going back. We usually go early in the morning during the week but last week we went around 7:00 in the evening and it was nice and quiet and beautiful out. Follow them on Facebook or check their website before you go for the picking report. The berries are so sweet we usually end up eating most of what we pick. I made a few muffins as well. Click here for a list of u-pick farms in the Kansas City area. I am also loving some cherries and hogged all of them from my niece and nephew on vacation! The sweet cherries are the dark and firm ones.

I have always had a pretty big sweet tooth. Ok, a really big sweet tooth. Regular visits to our great-grandparents usually meant a trip to DQ for my favorite banana milkshake or butterscotch dipped cone. Sugar wafers were a staple in our kitchen as well as Little Debbie snacks, oatmeal cream pies for me, and kool-aid. Let's not forget about corn pops and frosted flakes. I also love to bake and wanted to open my own bakery for a long time.

As I've aged, my sweet tooth has decreased, thank goodness. I am also much more aware of the amount of sugary foods I put in my body. But it's still a struggle! You will notice me reference it in different posts but I did the Whole 30 challenge last October, which is zero added sugars or sweeteners. I am very aware of the foods that contain added sugars or at least that's what I thought. I was amazed, and annoyed, by all of the different foods that have sugar added when I was forced to look at every single label. Chicken broth? Huh, who knew?

So let's talk about what added sugar is, recommended amount of added sugar, and ways to decrease added sugars in your diet. It doesn't mean you have to cut it out completely but most of us can stand to decrease added sugars in our daily diets.

Breakfast is a non-negotiable for me. Well, let's be honest, I don't miss any meals but absolutely never breakfast! I love a really good, healthy and filling breakfast to start my day. No matter what we have going on, we make time to eat breakfast. I'm the weekday breakfast maker while he's getting ready and Dan is the weekend breakfast maker while I'm at my workout class. Teamwork makes the dream work!

I will give you some ideas of make ahead options, fast morning of options as well as some options that take a little more time but still fast and easy. We all know that not every morning looks the same or goes as planned so having different ideas and options can prevent hangry freak-outs.

When we were both working full time and leaving really early in the mornings I was trying to find some make ahead breakfasts that we could reheat quickly to get out the door on time. Here are my favorite make ahead breakfasts: