Kristen's favorite guilt-free snack, entrée and dessert

Hi readers of the cutest “Blog Around the Corner!” I’m Kristen. I met Laura the summer before our freshman year at JMU. Laura friended me on Facebook because she noticed we were going to be living in the same dorm. I’ve lived with Laura, introduced her to her stud-of-a-husband, and have grown a lot as a person due to my friendship with this stellar lady. Sidenote: I’m also the aunt to that cutie pie named Gideon that Laura has let you all meet through pictures.

To tell you a little about myself, I am passionate about my faith, my friends and family, and my health. That last one is a fairly recent one for me. I had been living overseas for a little over a year and had seen myself yo-yo back and forth with my weight. I finally decided in March of 2011 to make a real effort to have a healthy lifestyle instead of the constant cycle of diet/exercise/binge /gain weight I had gotten myself into. Since then, I’ve run two half marathons [third coming up in November!] and a “mud run," joined a gym that offers a variety of fun fitness classes like Zumba and Body Pump, and have been purchasing and preparing more healthful snacks, meals, and desserts for myself. A lot of my inspiration for this lifestyle change actually came from reading other blogs! 

mud run completed!

Laura asked me to share some of my favorite recipes with you all. I have to be honest and tell you that I am totally a wannabe chef. I wish I were more daring and creative in the kitchen, but I’m not, so I explore blogs looking for recipes that sound appealing to me while being healthy at the same time.

The first recipe I want to share is from fANNEtastic food. Anne P, the blogger behind the site, is finishing up grad school to become a registered dietician. I would label this recipe as a snack, but I’ve been known to grab one of these bars for an on-the-go breakfast.

Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Granola Bars (makes 8 bars) 

For this recipe, I use whole wheat pastry flour, chocolate instead of dried fruit (though I’m sure that’d be tasty, too), and almond milk. I omit the walnuts - I just don’t care for them.

I do want to warn you and say that they don’t turn out like hard granola bars like you may be thinking. They’re more chewy and moist (I hate that word). Nonetheless, they are delicious and a great snack to grab and go. They store well individually wrapped in foil in the fridge. You can also freeze them.  Anne P has lots of other great recipes, so you should check out her blog!

The next recipe I want to share is from the EatSmart blog. I somehow managed to win a free scale from them in a contest and have been reading their blog since then. They offer lots of great recipes, most from guest bloggers.

When I started eating healthier, I knew I should be eating more vegetables. Incorporating veggies into my snacks, instead of Wheat Thins, Cheez-Its, and Goldfish was the first step. Two new snacks I started eating were sliced veggies and hummus and fruit smoothies where I would sneak in spinach (surprisingly, you don’t taste the spinach). As far as meals, I was always pretty good about adding vegetables as a side, but making a vegetarian entrée was foreign to me. I am a carnivore, but I do enjoy a vegetarian dish here and there.

This lasagna is a little more involved as you make your own sauce. Remedy this easily by just buying your own favorite sauce if you don’t have the time. The only time sucker is chopping all your veggies, though this may only apply to me since I’m newer to cooking.

Vegetarian Lasagna

The liberty I took with this recipe was adding even more vegetables. I followed the recipe perfectly the first time and realized I only had enough vegetables to make one layer of the lasagna vegetable filled. Maybe I put too much in one layer? Regardless, I think it’s better with more vegetables.

I used 3 zucchini, 3 squash, 1 red bell pepper, ½ onion [I don’t really care for red onion], and some minced garlic for the vegetable layer – all diced of course.

The sauce is fantastic and I do recommend trying to make the sauce if you have the time. I followed the sauce recipe verbatim except for using a regular onion in lieu of red onion.

I made this one time and took it to a co-ed Bible study. Even the hardcore carnivore men liked it! One guy didn’t realize until he was eating it that there wasn’t any meat in it, but complimented the dish anyway saying, “Thanks for making me-eating-vegetables taste good!”

If you’ve stuck with me this far, you’re in for a treat. It’s dessert time, folks. I could only think of one blogger to share with you for this part of my guest blog post: Chocolate Covered Katie. This lady takes our most favorite sinful, sugary, unhealthy recipes and makes them healthy, while striving to make them taste exactly the same as their unhealthy counterparts. You love her already, don’t you? Me too.

I’ve made this recipe a couple of times for group events, because I love to see the look on people’s faces after I’ve told them the base to this recipe is chickpeas. CHICKPEAS?! In a dessert? What. The. Heck.

Please be bold enough to try this and trust me when I say that you cannot taste the chickpeas. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pizookie (Pizookie = Pizza Cookie)

The only changes I made to the recipe were using old fashioned oats instead of quick oats and using only 1 cup of brown sugar instead of 1 ½ cups. You truly don’t need all that sugar. In my opinion it's way too rich if you use the 1 ½ cups. You may even want to use a little less than 1 cup, but that worked for me and for those with whom I was sharing the dessert.

This is definitely one of my favorite desserts of Katie’s, but she has so many fun dessert recipes on her blog from milkshakes, to dessert dips, frostings, ice cream, and of course cookies, cakes and pies.

Well that’s all I have for you. Please feel free to comment with some of your favorite healthy recipes! I love playing in the kitchen with new recipes. What’s your go-to healthy snack, dinner, dessert?

Thanks for having me, Lou! 

thank YOU, blossom! I'm drooling over that pizookie and also wondering how long it will take for me to start calling everyone in my life "pizookie." I'm going to be bold and try the chickpeas (don't tell Andy). Miss you tons and tons!

Amber's guide to Hampton Roads

Today's post is brought to you by the newly(ish) domesticated Amber. I posted some travel tips on Amber's blog while she was in Ireland, and now she's returning the favor! Amber was writing features for the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg when I was an intern there during my sophomore year. We still keep in touch through Facebook and the blogosphere. I was thrilled when she agreed to write a guide to Hampton Roads. It's an area I know very little about and I bet you'll be like me and want to make an immediate trip down to check out all the spots she mentions!

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Amber and her husband Sean - aren't they the cutest?

I've either lived or spent significant time in almost every part of Virginia. I grew up in Appalachia, lived in the Shenandoah Valley for three years, married a boy from the DC metro area and now we live in Hampton Roads. Hampton Roads is known for a few things: traffic, ocean, Busch Gardens, Colonial Williamsburg and the military. But I promise, it offers something to see for absolutely everyone. 

It's a region comprised of seven main cities, each with their own character. The cities are separated by large rivers, so that means lots of bridge-and-tunnel traveling. If you're traveling east on Interstate-64 toward Hampton Roads, you'll come first to the Peninsula, which includes Williamsburg, Yorktown, Newport News and Hampton. Cross over the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel (HRBT to locals), and you'll end up in charming Norfolk and can continue past to Virginia Beach. If you cross the James River Bridge from Newport News, you can venture over to "Peanut country" in Suffolk and Surry, where there is plenty of farmland to admire and the best fish tacos at Captain Chuck-a-Mucks. From Suffolk or Norfolk, you can travel to Portsmouth, where Victorian rowhouses are the norm and you can sample international beers at the Biergarden.

Laura asked me to give a guide to some of the best things to do, places to visit and good eats. Here are some of my favorite spots in the seven cities.

For Beach Bums and Seafoodies

If you don't mind traffic and tourists, Virginia Beach is a great day trip. We like to go once a year, just to be as touristy as possible. You can rent tandem bikes on the boardwalk for about $20, which we did for our engagement photo shoot.

The boardwalk also has an amusement park and all the typical beach stores. If you want to have a drink with the beach in sight, you can't beat the fire pits at Catch 31, the restaurant at the bottom of the Hilton. At the top is an exclusive club called Skybar, where you can look out over the entire beachfront. For a less flashy but just-as-delicious seafood meal, hop across Pacific Avenue to Rudee's on the Inlet.

There's great shopping in Town Center, where there's also an ALWAYS PACKED PF Chang's and Cheesecake Factory. My friends like Bevello, a great boutique with trendy sundresses, chic clutches and flashy baubles. We also love the banana pecan gelato at Confetti and the huge drink selection at Yard House. If you plan enough ahead, you can catch a great show at the Sandler Center.

If you love a stretch of sand and swimming, but not paying for parking or battling tourists for umbrella space, there are plenty of great lesser known beaches. Buckroe Beach in Hampton is pretty and not touristy at all. Yorktown Beach has a lovely walkable area called Riverwalk Landing, where we like to get burgers at the Yorktown Pub. Watch out, though; this river can get packed with jellyfish!

Arts & Culture

Folks in the area know that Norfolk is one of the loveliest cities in Virginia, with an artsy culture and nightlife comparable to Asheville, N.C. or Savannah. But I find folks from outside the area don't seem to know what they're missing. It's a walkable city, built with lovely canals modeled after those in Belgium and a new in-town lightrail line called the Tide. Norfolk is home to beautiful museums and a strip of bars and restaurants that make for a great night out on the town.

Norfolk skyline

The neighborhood of Ghent cannot be missed on a visit to Hampton Roads. On the main drag, Colley Avenue, are plenty of great restaurants like Luna Maya for Mexican and Donut Dinette, a beloved brunch restaurant. My wine club had a great night eating grilled sandwiches and drinking wine flights at Press 626  and I love the drink menu at Public House. 

I love to see indie and artsy movies at the Naro theater, an authentic restored movie house with cheap prices and a balcony! During the holidays, they rotate regular showings of "It's a Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Story," and every month they host a Rocky Horror night.

the Kennedy's at the Naro

If you have time to stroll, take a walk along the Hague and finish with a visit to the Chrysler Museum, a world-class art museum with an incredible collection of art glass. In the summertime, I also try to make it to outdoor movies at the Hermitage Art Museum, which is housed in an art deco mansion right on the water. It feels like going to a movie at Gatsby's house. Floral lovers should also make sure to visit the Norfolk Botanical Gardens.

on the Hague

If you love the nightlife, Granby Street is the place to be. It's home to several bars and restaurants, all with the same last call, so it's generally one large pub crawl. My friends love Baxter's, a comfortable, no-fuss sports bar with great drinks and plenty of pool tables. If you're interested in dancing, you can pay the cover to get into Granby Theater. 

I'm a little more chill than that, and my hubby loves nothing more than pizza and beer, so our favorite spot to take visitors is Cogan's Pizza on Colonial Avenue. Great atmosphere, good pizza, extensive beer list and long wait for tables, but worth it.

Downtown Hampton also has a great bar scene that's especially fun in the summertime, when you can play cornhole at Marker 20 and bands set up on the street. The Virginia Air and Space Center is just a couple blocks away, so we like to go see movies on the IMAX screen, then hop over to Taphouse for a pint before heading home.

Newport News and the Historic Triangle

Newport News is a great place to live and go to school, but alas, doesn't get as much tourist traffic as the rest of the region. Its best sights are outdoors: the Newport News Park is the largest municipal park east of the Mississippi and has paddleboating and canoeing. I have never been on a walk in that park and not seen a blue heron. 

If you're interested in boating or maritime history, the Mariners Museum is impressive and is home to the turret of the USS Monitor that was sunk in a famous Civil War battle. But the museum's park is even more impressive, with a lovely five-mile trail that ends at the Lions Bridge, one of my truly favorite places on earth.

Williamsburg is a well-known weekend destination. It's got the beautiful Colonial Williamsburg, super fun Busch Gardens, awesome outlets and my FAVORITE antique-hunting ground, the Williamsburg Antique Mall. Within 20 minutes in either direction on the Colonial Parkway (a beautiful drive, btw) you can visit the Yorktown battlefield where the Revolutionary War was effectively won and Jamestown, where our country began.

Obviously, I could go on and on and on. Almost every weekend, I turn to my husband and say, "I love it here and I feel so lucky to have all these opportunities." For more Hampton Roads ideas, I have my local adventures all archived on my blog here. 

all pictures provided by Amber

Jackie - on being a mom

Today's post is from Jackie - guest blogger Kristen's sister-in-law, Andy's friend Kevin's wife, MY friend and the mother of Gideon. She has patiently answered all of my baby questions from the day I found out she was preggers, and now she's going to share some of those answers with all of you! Just a lil background for you - Jackie and Kevin moved to Florida from Harrisonburg last July to start a church plant. Back in late 2010 they knew they were making the move, but they had no idea they'd be doing it with Jackie about ready to pop! Baby Gideon was born on September 3, 2011. Andy and I were at Wegman's when we got the news - I'll never forget that!


1. What went through your mind when you realized you were pregnant?
Yikes! ha...well truly that was the initial response. I knew we were moving in 7 months from the time I found out (meaning I'd be 8 months pregnant for an 800+ mile move), which was pretty terrifying. Plus, if I was choosing how life would play out (yes, I've learned my lesson there...), I was thinking we might have kids in around 5 years...maybe 3 if I was feeling brave, but DEFINITELY NOT last year when so much change was already coming.

2. How surprised were you when I guessed that you were pregnant?
Well, I remember Kevin saying that he told Andy he was coming to my doctor's appointment with me and immediately knew that if he mentioned that to you, you would know for sure. I mean, who's husband goes to the doctor with them unless it's for THAT doctor...or some other serious condition. So, to answer the question, not that surprised since Kevin told me he said that to Andy. (He claims Andy would've never figured it out on his own and that women have a 6th sense.)



3. How did you prepare for the baby?
I read a lot of stuff...baby books, magazines from the doctor, website after website (not always a good idea...some information out there is a little terrifying. If you have one symptom, it ends up seeming like you have the plague.) My favorites/most helpful readings were whattoexpect.com (gives week by week details on what's going on inside of you) and the book On Becoming Babywise. Many people are very against this book, but I have found it to be super helpful. I didn't (and still don't) follow everything in the book exactly, but it helped give guidelines to poor clueless me.

My husband Kevin and I took a birthing class as well. We waited to take the class until after we had moved, so that the class would be at the hospital where Gideon was going to be delivered. Because of this, we couldn't take the type that is offered over several weeks. Instead, we took an all day class on a Saturday. It was helpful, but man, it was long and boring. (Information was helpful, just presented in a boring way...especially when sitting ALL day long!)

4. What scared you the most about having a baby?
Umm...everything? Labor/delivery and taking care of a child that is actually mine (parenting is much different from babysitting or nannying...the job is 24/7 for the rest of your life) were the most terrifying.

5. What advice would you give new parents?
Be flexible. Don't get me wrong -- I think schedules are great. I'm a HUGE planner and love for the day to be set. BUT, there needs to be a little wiggle room. I've learned that having a schedule is helpful, but if I get so caught up in making sure I do exactly as was set, then when it falls through, I am extra frustrated. Instead, if I maintain the attitude that the day may not go exactly as planned, it typically goes pretty close to planned AND I don't get worked up over little stupid things. Basically, have an open mind when it comes to parenting.

6. How would you say you've changed since you've become a mom?
Being a mom has caused me to see my selfishness in a whole new way. I always knew I was selfish, but when there's a kid relying on you for EVERYTHING, it becomes even more evident. I've noticed it in little things such as longing to sleep in, wanting to hang out with a friend last minute (and stay up til the wee hours of the night), randomly having a craving for ice cream, but the baby's already down for the night....you get the picture. As a mom/parent, life can't be all about you anymore. Decisions have to be made with the little one's interests in mind too.

On a slightly cheerier note, I feel I have a better understanding of God's love for his children. It's been mind-blowing how naturally I love Gideon. I don't have to decide to love him or not, I just do. It's hard to explain, but incredible to experience.

So neither of those responses answered the question of how I've changed....just more of what I've learned. Whoops. :)

the big boy and his hot mama!

7. What is Gideon up to these days?
He's learning so quickly at this stage in his life. He just turned 9 months old yet it feels like he was just born yesterday (minus the pains that come with delivery). He loves to dance, drum, walk along the couch, babble, clap, read books, and speed crawl. He's extremely curious and loves to explore anything and everything. He makes a new discovery practically every day. Just recently he discovered how to "make a funny face". He LOVES when people react to anything he does. It's already obvious he will be the class clown.

thanks Jackie! I so appreciate your honesty and I'm glad that I'll have you to call if/when we get blessed by children!

college years - in lyrics

freshman

Since then it's been a book you read in reverse
So you understand less as the pages turn

Don't, don't tell me when it's coming
No don't, don't, I just want to see it for myself

I know our filthy hands can wash one another's
And not one speck will remain

When the stars, and the moon
And the sky, fall through
I'd throw them all away when I'm hollow
Deep as the sea goes, all I know is
I would throw it all away

What are the odds, what are the odds?
This ends and we don't meet again

When your love lets you go you only want love more
Even when love wasn't what you were looking for
Speak slow, tell me love where do we go... ah ah

And you don't mind, you smile
And say the world doesn't fit with you
I don't believe you, you're so serene
Careening through the universe
Your axis on a tilt, you're guiltless and free
I hope you take a piece of me with you

So what if you catch me,
Where would we land?
In somebody's life
For taking his hands

sophomore

Tell myself, on the ride home
Getting tired, hating all I've known
Holding on, like it's all I have
Count me out, when it's clear that I, find it hard to say
And you, find it hard to care

We’ll drive for miles maybe never turn off
We’ll find a cathedral city you can be handsome I’ll be pretty

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man
Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand

Take me back to the other place
Take me back to when I'm alone

I can see all the little things

That once could make me whole

I tripped on my way in
And got kicked outside, everybody saw...

My love, she is the wind blowing
Through my heart in my chest
And she's the sun, the afternoon
I've seen her shining the whole day through

Oh my love, it swims in the deepest oceans of fear
And as soon as you lower your head
I am here

I'm writing the folks back home to tell them

Hey I, hey I'm doing all right

junior

It hasn't felt like this before
It hasn't felt like home
Before you

Is this the part where you let go
And sinking under a shadow
Is this the part where you find out
I'm there for you

Sometimes all I can do is weep, weep, weep
With all this rain fallin' down

I wanna come home to you and only you
Cause making love to just anyone ain't happenin'
I just gotta be with you

I love your cranium, I love your neck,
What the heck, I love your arteries, too.
I love your fibia and your tibia,
I love your bone tissue.

Huggin' and squeezin' and kissin' and pleasin'

Together forever through rain or whatever

Yeah yeah yeah yeah you and me

senior

I want a dream lover
So I don't have to dream alone

If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
And the mountain should crumble to the sea
I won't cry, I won't cry
No I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

Once I get you up there I'll be holding you so near
You might hear angels cheer 'cause we're together

Oh dream maker, you heart breaker
Wherever you're going, I'm going your way

If to distant lands I scatter
If I sail to farthest seas
Would you find and firm and gather 'til I only dwell in Thee?

Well you can't have a dream and cut it to fit

But when I saw you, I knew

We go together

Like a wink and a smile

casual bridesmaid outfit

inexpensive summer bridesmaid by laurarennie 

I spotted this $28 dress at Target and instantly thought it would make a cute bridesmaids dress for a casual wedding. It's a flattering cut and the pattern is subtle enough that it wouldn't distract from a bouquet. It could be paired with colorful shoes, but I chose black wedges because they're easy to walk in, they're cheap ($25 at Payless) and, like the dress, could easily be worn again.

My friend Amy bought each of the girls in her wedding an adorable flower necklace from Etsy (looked just like this one - maybe this was it?) Some brides can get caught up in feeling like they have to gift their bridesmaids with expensive jewelry or spa packages - I say resist the urge! Wouldn't a silver initial necklace be a perfect bridesmaids gift? Plus it would look so great with that dress.