The Nelson Tales: Our January - A Review with Pictures

Can you believe it's already February? Where did January go--it flew right by us! We will play catch up with you and let you know what we have been up to.

What We've Been Celebrating -
On January 7th Ryan turned 22, he was lucky enough to have the day off so we celebrated all day! We slept in, had lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant and daytime margaritas, went shoe shopping (for him, though I eyed some at Nordy's), and finished the night out watching Alabama womp Notre Dame at a restaurant called Slater's 50/50 where Ryan enjoyed a beer called "Dog Ate My Homework"...no seriously. And of course we had cake, but not before I tried to make some "healthy" brownies, pictured below, that weren't worthy of birthday cake taste so I bought him Nothing Bundt Cakes to make things right in the world! And then he also had a bacon brownie sundae after dinner-- it was disgusting! Happy Birthday Ryan, your month long celebration is almost over!

What We've Been Cooking
Like most Americans we made a resolution to be healthier this year so January has been full of healthier eats--here are our favorites thus far! I'd recommend you try these all, all are vegan, more to come on that--but seriously the maple glazed walnuts are to die for and so easy to make! Click on the link below each picture for the recipes.

Black Bean Soup
(I added corn and then cilantro at the end, garnish with blue corn tortilla chips!)

Sweet Potato, Kale, and Red Pepper Quesadilla on Homemade Whole Wheat Tortilla
(No recipe for quesadilla, I just threw it together but the link will take you to the tortilla recipe!)

Homemade Italian Minestrone Soup

Green Salad with Maple Glazed Walnuts

Roasted Chickpea Tacos

Banana Bread

What We've Been Reading
Did you know that Ryan is an avid reader--he reads every. single. night. before bed on his Nook--he's been reading this. And though I am not as good of a reader as Ryan, I have just recently started this book and am loving it-- after all it was a part of Oprah's Book Club.

What We've Been Watching
Too much T.V. is the correct answer! But in particular we've most recently been hooked on New Girl, a comedy airing on Fox on Tuesday's. Ryan bought me the first season for Christmas and we watched the entire season in a week and then got caught up on the second season, which the show is currently in. It's a wannabe Friends but we still love it!