Pesto Grilled Chicken Pita

Pesto Grilled Chicken Pita

4.25.2016

Every. Single. Sunday. About an hour or so before we head out to the market, in complete confusion I ask "Wait... what the heck am I going to eat for lunch this week?". Every time. It's like clock work. Derek laughs at the sheer redundancy of it, and my head starts scratching at the walls for an answer. I'm one of those people who cannot eat the same thing every week. I'm always looking for a new lunch idea... every week. It's a bit much. But hey, keeps it interesting right?



We took a trip to our favorite natural food store here in town, Common Crow (hey nice name!), to browse or as D calls it - have a "museum tour". This place is vegan/dairy-free heaven. If you live in the Cape Ann area and have a dairy allergy or a vegan preference it's so worth checking out. We literally enjoy visiting just for the sake of perusing since it is a little local market instead of a big box store such as Whole Foods. I always end up buying something because finding dairy free items that are usually off limits is like finding gooooooold, I tell you. Gold.

The prize this time was vegan pesto. In an effort to prepare a healthy, quick and satisfying lunch I decided to put my beloved vegan pesto to use in these pesto grilled chicken pitas! (Let's all say "pesto" one more time, shall we?) So, if you're also on the hunt for a nifty little lunch idea then this is a good one. The recipe is very simple, here is what you'll need:

Pesto grilled chicken pitas

Ingredients

arugula
tomatoes, sliced
pesto
chicken tenders
spices
pita bread

Directions

Start by seasoning the chicken tenders with the all purpose spice of your choice (I used Riley's All Purpose). Once seasoned, grill the chicken on medium heat until they're crispy, cooked through and have those beautiful grill lines across them. I tend to cook the entire package of chicken the first time I prepare this and refrigerate the rest so that I can quickly assemble my lunch in the morning the rest of the week. Chop the chicken into bite size pieces. Next, slice the pitas in half to create two pockets. Spread about a tablespoon of pesto in each pocket. Fill the pita with a handful of arugula, sliced tomatoes and the chopped chicken. Serve warm immediately or cold throughout the week - either way, it's delicious. And that simple.

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What are you favorite lunch recipes? Please share them in the comments below!
I'm in need of ideas. Always.

4 Resources for Navigating Our Engagement

4 Resources for Navigating Our Engagement

4.18.2016

1. Beating50Percent

Pre-marital counseling is something that Derek and I have found a lot of value and joy in pursuing together. For the time being we are conducting a self-guided practice in which we set aside time each Sunday to read articles, discuss what's on our heart and ask each other a consistent set of questions to keep our communication open, serving one another and loving. Jeremy and Audrey Roloff's site, Beating50Percent, has been a main source of counsel when it comes to focussing on preparing for our marriage. Their mission alone is inspiring enough to hold ourselves to a standard of a successful marriage. We find continual encouragement and fulfillment in the articles they post and example they set for pursuing a covenant marriage that is beating 50 percent.

2. The Bare Bride

The Bare Bride keeps it real. That's the beginning and the end of it. As any bride-to-be, or even groom-to-be, knows... planning a wedding and being engaged is much more than just picking out flowers and tasting cake. I've found myself nodding my head so often when reading The Bare Bride posts when it comes to finding encouragement in topics such as taking time for yourself, not trying to fit a mold and celebrating the real root of the reason you're planning a wedding in the first place: your marriage.

3. All the Essentials Wedding Planner

A few days after Derek proposed, I booked it (no pun intended) to Barnes & Noble to purchase a wedding planner. This one in particular came highly reccommended from one of my bridesmaids, and she definitely did not steer me wrong. This planner literally walks you through every part of the wedding planning process step by step. Alison Hotchkiss, the author, has thought of e v e r y t h i n g so that you don't have to. It's the best. A life saver. And my go to throughout all of this to make sure I'm not missing anything along the way.

4. Our wedding party and family!

We've found on more than one occasion that it is wildly helpful to reach out to the members of our wedding party and family for help when it comes to planning the details of our wedding. Being the bride and the groom, we're essentially the center of the entire event when it comes to managing the decisions and details. At times, this can lead to total overwhelm. It's been beneficial to get an unclouded and focused opinion or suggestion from those who are by our side.

She is Light

She is Light

4.12.2016

I am incredibly thrilled to have Elise of She is Light here for a beautiful guest post about the importance of showing yourself grace, which I totally believe is something we're all deserving of in this life! Read on for some lovely words of wisdom and be sure to hop over to her site to read my guest post about the beauty in savoring the little things in life.

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I don’t know about you, but I feel like I'm forever chasing my 'life admin' to-do list. I seem to be constantly adding task after task, while hardly ticking any off!

Why is it that I can complete everything that I need to in my full-time day job, yet I avoid the tasks around home like they’re the plague! There’s the tax return that’s got to be lodged, personal emails that need to be attended to, bills that are long overdue, dirty clothes all over the floor in need of a good scrub, clean dishes that need to be stacked away in the cupboard, an entire wardrobe that needs a good refresh… OK, I think you get the point – you sure won’t be finding my house featured in a home magazine, ha! You see, while these tasks are quite simple, they’re a bit tedious – and quite frankly, I don’t want to do them. So in sets procrastination mode, and procrastination’s friend – frustration, plus the feeling that something is constantly hanging over my head. And so I beat myself up over not completing these simple, yet mundane tasks.

I'm sure I'm not the only one in this boat! Maybe you’re not beating yourself up over uncompleted tasks around the home, but maybe you're annoyed at yourself for some other reason. You might be frustrated because you can't seem to keep up with your ideal workout routine to get that perfectly toned bod, or because you said some unkind words to someone in a fit of rage, or because despite all of your hard efforts, you just can't seem to achieve your dream grade.

If your frustration is causing you to beat up on yourself, you’ve got to take close notice of the following three life-changing words.

Show yourself GRACE!

Girl, you’re human, and I am too. As much as we’d love to be perfect in every area of our lives – in our marriages, friendships, home lives, work lives, (the list goes on) – we’re human and that means we’re not perfect. We heap a whole lot of pressure on ourselves by subconsciously setting ridiculously high expectations. And we all fall short of our expectations: the washing isn’t always perfectly folded and hung in colour-coded perfection, the kitchen isn’t always sparkling clean, the bills aren’t always paid on time (oops!) and our diets aren’t always sugar free (pass the chocolate!) – and that’s OK.

Here’s some great perspective that will help you to show yourself grace. God sent his son to die on the cross for you – the most shocking act of love the world has ever seen. And in that moment, God showed you grace. Jesus died for every single one of your shortcomings – past, present and future. So girl, you need to grab a hold of this message and begin to show yourself grace. And remember, as women, we're in this together. We all face the same struggles, and we all need grace.










Elise is the founder of She is Light – a global movement of women who know their worth. When she's not up to her eye balls in everything She is Light, you can find her churning out content for the PR firm she works at full time, spending time with her hilarious, sweet & handsome husband, sipping cups of peppermint tea, or hanging around the closest dog park (longing for a long-haired mini dachshund to call her own!)

Follow She is Light on Instagram: @sheislight
Visit the She is Light blog: sheislight.com

VLOG 02: Date Night & A Casj Sunday

VLOG 02: Date Night & A Casj Sunday

4.06.2016

COMMON DAY | VLOG 02 | DATE NIGHT & A CASJ SUNDAY

Friday night date night, a lazy Sunday morning, lunch date and a little exploring around Gloucester's boat yard and the back shore. Though it may appear by the looks of this vlog that we spent our ENTIRE weekend feasting...well, maybe we did!

Click through the image above to go directly to the Common Day YouTube channel.

SUBSCRIBE WHILE YOU'RE THERE!

4 Tools to Create a Cohesively Designed Room You'll Love

4 Tools to Create a Cohesively Designed Room You'll Love

1. Choose a focus

Choose one main focal point to serve as a base for the design and budget for your room. This will help you start from a place of intention and ensure that the end goal satisfies your needs. Choose something that is either a high priority to replace or a statement piece. You may even base a design off of something you already have and love, requiring the room to go through some refiguring in order for it to shine. Whichever avenue suits your needs best, take it. Just be sure to start simple, with one jumping off point. This will also allow you to get the best bang for your buck where it matters the most. Designating one piece as the focal point will also give you a clear start for the aesthetics of the rest of the room. For us, we needed to replace our couch for sectional to be able to comfortably entertain in our living room. This piece was the main priority for the design and the budget.

2. Set a budget. Stick to it.

Before you begin dreaming up any lofty décor wish lists, get real. Set a budget for how much you would like to realistically spend as a whole and break it down from there by setting a price limit for each item. Start with your focus piece that you’ve chosen to inform your budget and go from there. When it came to replacing our couch, was viewed it as an investment. We wanted to be sure we purchased something of high quality to last us several years and provide a comfortable place to relax. Everything else purchased beyond that had wiggle room when it came to its price. And don’t forget, sticking to the budget will make the room that much more enjoyable rather than a financial burden

3. Shop and compare.

When you’re on a budget, it’s important to make sure that you’re getting the most for your money. Furnishings are not cheap and are best viewed as an investment! Do your homework in the interest of not only getting the best value out of your purchases, but also to fill your home with items that you love and will last more than just a few. A huge mistake that we made when we initially pieced together our living room over the past few years was buying things off the bat without comparing the quality or prices to other retailers. We just bought the first thing we saw and loved, hoping it was the right thing. Don’t do that! Instead allow yourself time to find a few options for each item and compare how they measure up.

4. Create a visual plan

This is by far the most crucial step to ensuring that the end result is cohesive. Designing blindly can lead to purchasing items you ultimately don’t totally love or a mismatched array of items that do not work aesthetically well together. As you select each piece of décor or furnishings, get a visual and put it all together! If you like to work digitally, throw together a mock up in Photoshop. If you’re more of the hands on type, print out images from the retailer’s website or clippings from catalogue and pin them up on a cork board or paste them to a large piece of paper. Approach this however it is most comfortable for you as long as you are able to see everything together – even the pieces you already have – so that you can get a good view of how the design will look as a whole. Don’t forget the basics like the color of the paint on your walls (grab a swatch from the hardware store!), flooring, and furnishings you are not swapping out. The goal here is to make sure that you are creating a balance, and therefor a cohesive room you’ll love!

Here is the working mock I used for visually planning the design of our living room. Perfect? No. Incredibly functional? Oh yeah.