Firmoo Glasses!

I was contacted by Firmoo.com recently, and was excited to learn more about the company when I heard they sold glasses and sunglasses. Here in sunny California I can't go a day without sunglasses, but I never spend the money to get good quality glasses. Firmoo offers your first pair free, you just pay for shipping. If you don't like the glasses you can exchange them, or get a refund. 

My new glasses arrived at the perfect time, because my super cheap new pair had just broke. It wasn't an issue of the lens popping out, the side of my sunglasses actually broke off. It was tragic. When my sunglasses from Firmoo arrived I was happy with the packaging. I received a hard case, a soft pouch, and an eyeglass repair kit. The hard case is nice because when my sunglasses get put in my handbag they get smashed and tossed around. I'm hoping the hard case will help prevent future scratching, and smashing. The hard case is also super lightweight which I appreciate since my purse already weighs about 5000 lbs.

I have to say that the glasses I chose are totally not something I would go for normally. I always reach for aviators, but I thought these glasses looked sort of vintage. Plus I think they're on trend so maybe I look cool wearing them? Overall I love the glasses, mainly because they stay on my face without falling down. I really don't have a particularly small face or nose, but glasses always without fail fall, not slide, off of my face. I'm convinced my husband wears them when I'm not looking and stretches them out. I got these glasses with the darkest brown tint, since I don't actually need prescription lenses. They work great as sunglasses because the tint is dark enough to shield my light eyes from the sun, but I still feel like I can see clearly. They don't darken everything while I'm driving, I just feel like my eyes are protected and I don't have to squint. 

The customer service was great, and shipping was fast. I received these glasses in a week, which was great timing, I was due for a new pair of sunglasses. I chose this style frame, with the C3 coloring. I love the coloring because it's a hint of the tortoise shell but the top and sides of the frame are just plain brown. 

I'm definitely happy with my new glasses, head on over to Firmoo's website if you're looking for nice and affordable glasses!

Low Carb Gluten Free Pizza

  Apologies for my absence. I was hit with a cold, then worked a week, then got the flu, then was in Vegas the next week. It's been an exhausting month! I've been attempting to meal plan lately, so two big dinners twice a week and we're pretty much set. This pizza dough is one of my favorite recipes. It's easy, cheap, fast, gluten free, and tastes great. It most certainly is not low calorie or "light," but I prefer to stick to a low carbohydrate diet, even if that means going over my calories on days where I want pizza.

Spicy Peanut Chicken and Noodles

  If you love noodles but hate the carbs that come with them, this recipe is for you. I try to keep it low carb most days. Eating high carb meals gives me stomach aches and makes me feel tired and sluggish. The problem is, I love carbs! It's a struggle, but meals like this give me my carb fix with doing damage. This noodle dish is creamy, spicy, sweet, crunchy, and satisfying. 

Low Calorie Black Bean & Quinoa Crunchy Tacos

  Okay, confession time. This is a big one, so brace yourselves. My favorite fast food item? Beef crunchy tacos from a certain well known chain restaurant, that not a soul living in CA would dare call Mexican food. I wish I was kidding. The soft warm meat-like filling, crunchy shell, and shredded cheese make my heart skip a a beat and make my stomach cry out with gratitude. The only downside? They're 170 calories each, with 10 grams of fat. I could easily polish off one of those variety boxes of 12, without help. Alright that might be a slight exaggeration, but I really do love them.

Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto

Stay Up to Date Via Email!

I have recently changed my domain to www.healthyandhomemade.info

I purchased this domain in 2009, but I've always used a Blogspot redirect address. I honestly didn't know before what to do with my original domain without using a website with a built in template, and Blogger was super easy to use. Since changing my domain certain things are a little off, such as the feedburner. Hopefully you are still able to receive emails with my latest recipes, but if not I've added a tool on the sidebar that says "Get New Recipes in Your Inbox!" All you have to do is type in your email address and every time I post a new recipe you'll get an email. It's a little confusing because I technically have two separate feedburners for my website, I'm currently working on merging those? If you know how or have any experience with this comments are more than welcome.

I think it's simple, but I can also see how it would be overkill. So do what works best for you. I've been using Bloglovin' a lot lately as a way to keep up with my favorite blogs. I used Google Reader for years but always found the the layout and amount of unread posts to be overwhelming. I suggest that site over Google Reader if you get overwhelmed easily, I know I do. I'm very visual, and having to click from blog to blog and see things in bold all lined up makes me anxious. Anyway, I'm glad to be back to blogging and keeping up with some of your amazing blogs! 

Feel free to comment with your blog address and let me know if I'm not following you back. It's always fun to find new blogs. Hope you're all well! Thank you for your continued support, I am working on some fun new recipes I hope to share soon.

Pasta & Italian Meatballs

*This is a reposting of a previous recipe from 2011, I lightened it up a bit and calculated the calories*

There's absolutely no way you could see these pictures without a little drool dribbling down your chin. Or is that just me? I'll own it, because this dish is divine. I highly recommend not using Bucatini noodles, and instead using spaghetti or angel hair pasta. In fact, given the fact that I am gluten free most days I would substitute quinoa spaghetti pasta for the noodles and call it a day. I would also, sadly, pass on the white bread. Anyway the Bucatini noodles look great and I remember thinking they would absorb the sauce well, but they were chewy and disappointing. Since these pictures I have made the dish using spaghetti or angel hair pasta and we have enjoyed it more that way.

Like Me on Facebook!

After three years of writing this blog, I have finally become more involved on the web. I created a Facebook page where you can like and follow me, get sneak peeks of recipes, and even make recipe requests or suggestions! Please take a moment to go over there and like Healthy and Homemade if you have a Facebook account (don't we all, really?) I will probably offer a better glimpse into my personal life over there, so go check if out even if it's just to snoop. I don't mind.

Crock Pot Beef & Veggies

Oh my yum. I love this recipe, I've used a similar method in the past with seasoning packets. This time I mixed it up a bit by throwing the veggies right into the crock to save some time. What I learned? Use less onion, otherwise your eyes will burn when you enter your home for about a day. This is a simple and healthy meal, great served over rice, mashed potatoes, or steamed veggies. Hearty and healthy, perfect for those cold rainy days.

Beef Pho for Under 200 Calories!

Well hello, we meet again. It has been quite some time since I've published a blog post. My absence is due to many reasons, one of the main ones being that I recently published a book! That's right, I wrote a book using iBooksAuthor and my book is now published to the iTunes store. If you have an iPad you can download it for $1.99, it's called "Healthy and Homemade Recipes" ^_^