VoxBox

So a few moths ago I saw someone post their VoxBox picture on Instagram…it was a whole box of goodies. Full sized products for her to test out and like any woman I was stinking jealous. So I signed up…

Reviews coming soon!

The Country Wife

Lightened Up Apple Crisp

Those of you that are my friends with me on Facebook may remember a few weeks back when I posted that K won Best Dessert at my families Christmas cook off this year…he did not make this recipe! His recipe has a lot more sugar and butter; probably why it won! Well Friday night we were both craving something sweet and had a lot of extra apples from the local FFA fruit sale. He suggested I make his apple crisp recipe, but being a competitor in my work’s Biggest Loser competition, I knew I needed to make a healthier version. I browsed the internet for a recipe that seemed better and here’s what I came up with. Its pretty close to the recipe I found except that I made mine in individual ramekins (a present from a white elephant gift exchange).

Lightened Up Apple Crisp

4 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter

Mix apples, cornstarch, cinnamon, and 2 Tbsp of brown sugar in a bowl. Once coated, place apple mixture equally into to large ramekins or 4 small ramekins. Next mix oats, flour, remaining brown sugar and butter until crumbly. Spoon mixture on top of the apples. Bake at 375 for 20-25 or until apples are fork tender. Enjoy!

Fresh from the oven!

We served ours with a little bit of ice cream (would have done frozen yogurt, but we didn’t have any). These are not my any means a fat free dessert! But compared to drenching the apples in a sugar syrup, this is much healthier. This was a special treat and definitely satisfied my sweet tooth…at least for a few days. In the next couple days I will share K’s original recipe for Apple Crisp!

The Country Wife

*Here is the link to the original recipe: http://foodfitnessfreshair.com/2013/09/30/prevention-rds-lightened-up-apple-crisp/

 

Monday Moments – The First of 2014

I really planned to post this last night but then fell asleep watching the national championship game. Then I was going to post this at lunch today, but ended up skipping lunch because I was swamped at work. Now I’m working from home, but decided to take a few minutes to post this!

today: had a crazy day at work! I really just want to spend the rest of the night under a warm blanket doing nothing….but that won’t happen.

want to be: feeling better! ready for whatever 2014 throws our way.

blessings: making it to and from work safely. The roads are not the worst I’ve ever seen but definitely always happy when I make it to my destination safely.

thinking: seems like lately I’m always thinking of the 1,000,000 +1 things I have to do…

planning: my workouts for the week. excited to have a workout buddy for tomorrow after work!

writing: this post. nothing much else…thinking about getting a head start on my bucket list and sending some cards to friends just to say hi.

loving: the cold weather (kinda)! I always wanted to know what it would be like to live in alaska!

Monday Moments: End of 2013

This post is supposed to be done on Sundays as a way to stop and reflect of the past week. Like usual I never remember to do this until Monday. This week I’d like to think that because I was sick I forgot to do it…either way here is my Sunday Stills/Monday Moments.

today: slept a lot. took down the Christmas tree ( not because I’m a scrooge…we have a small living room! I wanted some space back! )

want to be: feeling better! ready for whatever 2014 throws our way.

blessings: family time. a wonderful christmas season.

thinking: all the things to come in 2014; the things we know are coming and the unknown.

planning: my nutrition and workouts for 2014. goals for 2014.

writing: my 2014 bucket list.

loving: my husband. long story short: I was sick yesterday and wasn’t sure if I would make it to the big Wensink Christmas, but my husband offered to drive 2 hours to take our presents and food. In the end I went, but just that offer made me love him even more! Not many guys are willing to drive 2 hours to spend the afternoon with his wifes family!!!

grateful: for a roof over our heads, a warm house and plenty of stuff…this time of year always make you think a little of the less fortunate.

picture:

Kyles trophy for winning best dessert at Wensink Christmas!

The Country Wife

A Peaceful Place

This is a short and sweet midnight post…I was editing pictures tonight and decided to look at a few from Christmas eve at church. There are certain things in life that just bring a sense of calm into your heart and being at this church on Christmas Eve does just that! I’m certain that one day I will find a church in our area that brings this sense of peace to me, but for now I’m perfectly content with driving 2 hours to be here! Enjoy a few pictures of the church I went to growing up…

The Country Wife

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

So after a few days of family time, presents and Christmas blessings I can’t believe that 2013 is coming to a close soon! With the new year comes new goals and New Years Resolutions….Did you know that on average only 8% of people actually keep and reach their resolutions each year?! That’s crazy to think about, but I am not shocked. Each year I make goals for the new year but its not often that I actually stick to them each year.

Thinking back to last year I’m sure I was like many people and vowed to lose weight and eat healthy. I probably said I was going to blog more too…yea, that was kind of a miss! But I am happy to report that I lost about 40lbs over the course of 2013! Its not much, but was a good start on my road to getting healthier. I can also say that this year will include more fitness and health goals, but instead of making specific resolutions I’m going to make a 2013 Bucket List! Cheesy? Maybe…Unique? Probably Not…What I think will help me have a great 2014?? ABSOLUTELY!

I have 6 days to come up with the start of my bucket list for 2014, but plan to continuously add to it as the year goes on. Right now I know things that will be included are:

1. Lose at least 50lbs
2. Complete 3 5K’s
3. Send more cards/letters to friends through snail mail
4. Try at least 1 new recipe from my collection of cook books each month
5. Plant new plants in the garden
6. Keep my flower beds more weed free!
7. Keep a cleaner house
8. Write at least one blog post a week (52 posts for 2014)

I’m sure I will be adding a lot more items to this, but I think its a great start! I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed the holiday season! I look forward to a great 2014!

The Country Wife

Happy Blog-iversary!

So wordpress tells me that today is indeed my 1 year Blog-Iversary! Hard to believe I’ve been writing as the Country Wife for 1 year…but that means I’ve also been married for over a year! Tonight I spent some time looking back at old posts and old blog pictures. I can tell that over just one year (not constant posting) that I really let myself show my true side by the end of this year. When I first started blogging I don’t think I really knew what kind of voice I was going for; but now I know. My voice is me! Sounds silly right? I follow so many different bloggers and I realized the ones I like best are the ones who are real. They aren’t trying to pretend that they are someone else, or they or living a better life than the rest of us. They show their true lives, and I hope to do the same!
So let me finish this post with a big THANK YOU to all my readers/likers/followers. I know I didn’t post all the time and maybe not about the most interesting things, but I will cherish that I have my first year of marriage chronicled here, and I got to share it will all of you!

My goals for this next blog year are:

1. Be Me 100%
2. Blog More!
3. Enjoy Every Minute! (Blogging is no fun when its a chore…)

Thanks again everyone!

The Country Wife

Summer Has Arrived

So I was just thinking its been a long time since I’ve written a post for everyone, 13 days to be exact! Those past 13 days have been jammed full and I feel like I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off (can I say that? Please don’t be offended (: )! I decided instead of typing out everything I’ve been doing it would be easier to share some pictures. I will tell you though, most of these pictures are of things from the garden, things I’ve canned or am planning to can. Our garden has been blessing us with a ton of wonderful produce and I’m trying to make sure I can prepare as much of it as possible to enjoy this fall/winter and into next spring.

My first jars of pickles!

A bountiful harvest: peppers, pickles, cucumbers, onions and zucchini!

My first batch of bread and butter pickles!

Kyles Favorite: Jalapenos!

1/2 the green beans we picked last night! Headed straight home to can these tonight!

Is anyone else busy preserving their harvest? Whats your favorite thing to can/freeze?

The Country Wife

Monday Moments

Once again I forgot to do my Sunday Stills post! If I didn’t know better I would say I’m losing my mind…but as my mother says, I am just thinking about way too many things.

today: worked (boo). working out. promoting my next BeachBody Challenge. doing day 1 of C25K

want to be: organized, organized, organized

blessings: thankful for the rain and the growing crops

thinking: about my week and making plans

planning: new jewelry designs. BeachBody Cup promotions

writing: schedule for the week and sticking to it

loving: celebrating our engagement anniversary and first date anniversary 🙂

grateful: for my mom who passed down some canning skills and confidence in me to can produce from the garden

 

Making Plans

Where has the week gone! While the days at work seemed to drag on this week my evenings at home were busy. I’m glad its Friday, but I’m not really sure where the rest of the week went. For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, you know that the past three weekends I have traveled north to my parents for showers, weddings, parties, etc… Can I just tell you  how excited I am to get to stay home this weekend! All week I’ve really been looking forward to doing some much needed cleaning (CALL ME CRAZY).

During the week my housework is basically dishes when the sink is overflowing and laundry when I have no clean clothes; other than that I prefer to clean on the weekends. However, since I’ve been gone the past three weekends, not much has gotten done around the house – and it shows!

Tonight, K wants to have a date night so we are going to go out for dinner, probably either Texas Roadhouse or Mi Jalepeno; then its off to the drive-in! I had never experienced a drive-in theater until K and I started dating. They are quite enjoyable and if you’ve never been I highly recommend it! Like the grown adults we are, we will be watching Monsters University. Last time we went to the drive in we saw Despicable Me (another child friendly movie).

Tomorrow though, I will begin a thorough (hopefully) cleaning/laundry day. I also plan to make some pickles. This will be a new adventure for me, but according to the Ball Canning website, it should only take 15 minutes to process the jars, and I probably only have enough pickling cucumbers for two jars. I will post some picture/updates!

Have a wonderful & cool night!

The Country Wife