This week I am trying something new for Everyday Adventures. I breaking it down into three subjects. What I am eating and cooking, what I am reading, and what I am loving. I am also sharing a few things from the archives.
What I am Eating and Cooking
Yogurt and homemade granola is one of my favorite quick lunches. I am a terrible breakfast and lunch eater. I always have been and probably always will be. I tend to snack more throughout the day than to eat full meals at breakfast and lunch. I know it isn’t the best, but it is what has always worked for me.
I have been trying to get better though about grabbing healthier, more filling food. Potato chips might be a tasty snack, but they are not healthy or filling. Yogurt and granola have been my go to for a quick meal lately. Sometimes I eat just yogurt. Sometimes I just snack on granola. But I think my favorite way is to combine them together. So easy and so good!
I know this isn’t the best picture, but this meal was too good not to share. French fries covered in bacon and cheese! How can you go wrong with that?
One night last weekend I needed a quick dinner. I would have been fine with a bowl of cereal, but the rest of my family was not excited about that.
I had a bag of frozen french fries in the freezer and some cooked bacon in the fridge. I cooked the french fries for about 15 minutes. I cut up the bacon and sprinkled it on top of the french fries along with some cheese. I cooked the fries for about 10 more minutes. The result was a pan of delicious bacon cheese fries.
I have made chili cheese fries, pizza fries, and BBQ cheese fries, but I think this is the first time I have made bacon cheese fries. I can guarantee it won’t be my last. They were so good.
I made my oven tacos recently and remembered why we love them so much. It has been a few months since I made oven tacos. They have been on the menu plan, but for some reason or another I ended up not making them. I need to make sure these are on the menu plan often because my whole family loves them.
I first shared this recipe way back in 2011. I had no idea how popular this recipe would become. It is one of the most popular recipes on my site. If you haven’t made oven tacos you need to. They are a great way to change up your basic taco night.
What I am Reading
My daughter and I are working on some fun new projects on our book site. If you love to read be sure to sign up for our book newsletter.
I am currently reading the book Dust Bowl Girls and am loving it! I had no idea that a book about a basketball team during the dust bowl could be so interesting.
What I am Loving
Today’s what I am loving is a total random, keeping it real item.
Over the last few years I have had a love hate relationship with my hair. My hair has always been wavy. The only time it has been very straight is when it was very long and that was simply due to the weight of my hair.
After I went gluten free though my hair went from slightly wavy to very wavy/somewhat curly. I shared a little bit about it back in 2010. It has gotten even curlier since then. I have struggled with this change. I actually don’t really like it… You may have noticed that when I share pictures or videos I sometimes wear it straight and sometimes curly. Most days I end up straightening it though because the reality is that I prefer my hair straight.
But straightening your hair everyday is not the best for it. My hair also seems to be getting wavier/curlier. The curlier my hair gets the harder it is to straighten and keep straight, especially on humid days. So I am trying to embrace my curly hair.
I recently bought a Devacurl Devatowel made for drying curly hair and I love it! I had no idea a simple towel could make such a difference. If you have curly hair have you tried it? It really does help keep the frizz down. I really can’t believe it.
I have tried drying my hair with a t-shirt, which is often suggested as the best way to dry curly hair, but have never noticed that it helped much. This towel does though. If you have wavy curly hair you might want to try one. They are not cheap, but it was worth it for me.
For those of you with curly hair I would love tips for learning to care for curly hair and to learn to love it. I really would like to try to stop straightening it and embrace it. If you are familiar with the Devacurl way to take care of hair, I have tried their way of shampooing, or really not shampooing, and it doesn’t work for me. I have tried it multiple times and since I have a very oily scalp, I end up with severe acne on my head, which isn’t fun. I do love their spray gel though. If you are not familiar with Devacurl, the book Curly Girl, explains all about it.
If you have wavy or curly hair I would love suggestions for learning to love it.
Hi Lynn!
Those fries look amazing! I can’t wait to try them.
My hair is fairly curly now as well. Most of my growing up I had a small wave to my hair but it was mostly straight. I used to get perms all the time because I loved having curly hair. After I had my twins in 2003 my hair got much curlier and I love it! I have used a towel that is not the devacurl towel but it’s a similar one. My hands are horribly dry in the winter and I don’t like my skin catching on the towel so lately I’ve been using a t-shirt.
I personally don’t care for the devacurl shampoo and conditioner so I use Renpure Originals coconut cream nourishing shampoo and conditioner. I have the opposite problem of you in that I tend to get really dry skin, maybe it’s the climate that we live in so I use the conditioner 4 days a week and shampoo only once a week. I had been using devacurl Ultra defining gel for years but now I just started using Cantu shea butter for natural hair moisturizing curl activator cream. It is in the ethnic hair section at Walmart. Since I don’t have super super curly hair I can only use a tiny bit like a pea-sized amount otherwise my hair looks really greasy. I also can’t get it to near my scalp or it looks totally greasy as well I just try to do several inches out and just mostly the ends where it gets drier. For the top and to control frizzies I use Cantu coconut oil shine and hold mist. I just use a couple squirts in one hand rub it together and then just Pat it down over the top of my hair.
Sorry I got so long-winded! It has been quite an adventure trying to figure out what works best.
I would love to see what your hair looks like Curly! I bet it’s beautiful!
Blessings!
Christy
I noticed that on the towel this morning. It has been really dry and windy here and my hands are drying out. I can see why it might be a problem with really dry hands. I did not like the Devacurl shampoo or conditioner, my hair felt terrible, but I do like the spray gel and a few of their other products. Another reader emailed and mentioned that she likes the Cantu products too. The trick with curly hair seems to be to moisturize without weighing it down. And you were not long winded! I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. I love sharing everyday stuff like this for that reason. My readers have great tips and ideas. 🙂
Those fries look amazing. My hair was always somewhat wavy. Then I started getting perms. After my second child, I wasn’t liking how the perms were working so I quit getting them…my hair stayed curyly for the most part..well, the the bottom 3/4 of it..the top is not, so if I wear it down I have to curl the top pieces a little. I’m going to look into that towel. I have recently decided to let my hair color go because I’m tired of coloring it all the time. I know it will get coarser than it already is so I’m on the hunt for some good stuff…I think I might look into some of the things Christy mentioned above.
I am thinking of doing the same thing about coloring my hair… mine is getting harder and harder to color. As in the the grayer/whiter my hair gets the less it holds the color. We have tried different things, but the night of my last color I noticed some gray hair still showing. There were pieces that did not take the color at all. If I am going to color it I want it to at least cover it. 🙂 So I have been thinking the same thing. The process of not coloring it will be tough in the short term as it grows out, but will be harder and harder the grayer I get.So I am thinking maybe I should just embrace it now. I just bought this book by the same author as curly girl. I just started reading it, but so far it is inspiring me that maybe I should stop coloring my hair. (The book is Silver Hair: Say Goodbye to the Dye and Let Your Natural Light Shine https://amzn.to/2C5kNsU )
I went all natural color a few years ago after coloring for years. It is so liberating. I love it. I used brown powdered eye shadow in the part where gray met the colored hair to try to conceal the demarcation line. After that got too big, I had the old color stripped out and a toner put on. It did dry my hair out a lot…so that may not be for you. I just let it grow and kept getting old color cut off till it was all gone. My hair is very coarse and curly/wavy. I have gotten to where I wash and roll it on old fashioned Velcro rollers. I’m retired so am home a lot. I just leave it up in rollers all day the days I wash and roll it. It makes for a much smoother head of hair vs when I let it air dry curly. Strait ironing mine would take hours. And it is so damaging. It does great when I roll it and I can go 4-5 days before needing to wash and roll again. Good luck. Hang in there and let us know how you decide to proceed .
Oh and look for gray hair groups on FB. I’m on several of those and they were good inspiration when I was going through the transition. .
I’ve had curly hair all my life. As a young person, I wanted straight hair like all the popular girls. 🙂 As an adult, I’ve grown to love my curls. I think the key is finding a hairdresser who is good with curls. Ask for recommendations from those with curls. Cutting curly hair is different. Once you get a good girl, it’s so much easier to love the curls.
I also went natural with my gray a couple of years ago. It does take some time I went shorter while it was growing out. I also had my hairdresser put it some very pale highlights to help it blend while it grew out. I’m so glad I did it. I love not having to color, and I think my hair is healthier.
I love so many of your recipes, and I’m an avid reader and homeschooler so much of what you share is encouraging to me. Thank you!