Pinterest & Greek Yogurt: Good in Any Situation

I'm pretty much obsessed with Pinterest. Google, is usually my go-to when I want to learn something, but when it deals with anything slightly creative, Pinterest it is! I use my Pinterest app all the time when I am trying to find an idea or a recipe quickly.

It reminds me of the magazine collages I used to make when I was younger. I would make collages to put on the cover of my school notebooks, or the journals I had with friends {We used to write notes in the notebooks and then pass them from friend to friend}. I even had an entire binder of outfits I put together by cutting out shoes, bags and clothes from my magazines and catalogs. Pinterest takes a lot less effort, less mess, and doesn't take up any room in the house!

Pinterest lets me express my creativity in all of the areas that interest me. I've actually used some of the home improvement and gift ideas that I've found. However, most of the things I pin are to save for later, or just for fun to look at, but I have definitely been utilizing it for recipes! My recent trend has lended towards anything involving greek yogurt. I previously blogged about how versatile ricotta is, but I think greek yogurt easily kicks that to the curb.

Last night I made Blackened Chicken with Cilantro Lime Quinoa and Avocado Cream Sauce which was healthy and delicious {My picture doesn't look nearly as pretty as the one on Pinterest, but the taste is very easy to replicate, if not the presentation}. I had some avocado cream sauce leftover, so I mixed it in with some more avocado, diced tomatoes and onions and then added some salt, lime juice and a little tabasco sauce for an interesting take on guacamole. It would also be delicious to use up on tacos.

Blackened Chicken with Cilantro Lime Quinoa, Avocado Cream Sauce and Roasted Carrots

I have even used the plain greek yogurt as a substitute for sour cream on my fajitas. I couldn't even tell the difference. I also substituted it for sour cream for my Super Bowl offering. I mixed a small 16 oz. tub with one packet of ranch seasoning to make a healthy veggie dip. There are so many versions of this that you can find on Pinterest that involve other ingredients if you don't have any ranch packets on hand. I'm curious to try it with an onion packet as a chip dip, even though I never have potato chips on hand. Can somebody let me know how it is?

And for those of you that have a sweet tooth it always comes in handy for any type of smoothie. I am also in awe of this Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt recipe. I thought it was a pretty darn good substitute. Last night's dessert was supposed to be Mint Chocolate Chip Frozen Chobani, but we never got around to trying it. It was so easy, and the reviews said it was good so fingers crossed!

A Dreamy Kind of Guy

Last night when I went to sleep the snow was falling, as I wake up early on this Sunday morning the snow is still falling softly outside my window. It's that graceful type of snowfall that's almost dreamlike. Or, maybe I am just on that wavelength as the past week's theme has been dreams... Okay, no I take that back, that's been the theme ever since I met Alex.

When I met Alex in college, there was just something about him that was different than everyone else I had ever met. He was the epitome of dreamy to me. He was so charismatic, expressive, affectionate, fun-loving, yet serious at the same time, family-oriented with strong values, intelligent, and of course good looking. He had this amazing mega-watt smile that made the skin at the corner of his eyes crinkle and his eyes twinkle {No joke}. So I fell head over heels. What's a girl supposed to do when a guy has all of those qualities and he can cook and clean?

So our crazy journey began. There were ups and downs of course, but the overall theme was us supporting one another's dreams. They morphed along the way as our focuses changed and our perspectives grew. Sometimes they were career related, sometimes not. Through it all, Alex was never afraid to share his dreams aloud, even when there were people there that laughed at him and shook them off as a joke. He never took offense, I think it only pushed him harder. So after a few years of casually throwing around the real estate idea and having people laugh it off, Alex, his brother Pat and friend Rob made it happen with a lot of research and planning meetings.

This initial success only opened the door to thinking even bigger. Of course, since it's Alex we are talking about, there were always other dreams swirling around in his head along with real estate. Well, earlier this week Alex had a revelation about his life's purpose that brings a few of them together. That evening we sat down and documented everything that revolved around that moment, and I think I convinced him to finally make an appearance on our blog by writing about it. Coming soon?

This entire past week he has been non-stop energy and so focused. I have absolute faith that Alex can do anything he sets his mind to, but I've had those moments where I've thought he was a little out-of-his-mind too. I've come to realize that maybe I'm a little intimidated and jealous of his fervor and commitment to his dreams. Dreaming usually involves the possibility of failure, which is scary to anyone. {Okay, maybe not to Alex, which is why he has the potential for this type of thing}.

We were out at the bar on Friday evening, and once again some friends chuckled when Alex started telling them about his dream. I fumed about it a little bit, and then brought it up to Alex the next day. He just shook it off and said to me, Lauren, it really doesn't matter what anybody thinks. I believe him too. He's been living that way for as long as I've known him. Maybe one day soon it'll stick for me too. Until then, I'm just going to keep on dreaming with my dreamy husband. His dreams might not be 100% my dreams at this point, but I know deep down that eventually everything will come together.

My ultimate dream is that one day I'll look at everything I'm doing with my life and I'll see how all of my dreams, strengths, and experiences came together to take me there. Many people would probably advise against it, or wouldn't understand the draw, but I know without a doubt that one day I'll work side by side with my husband in every capacity of our lives and I cannot wait.

{Thank you Alex for always pushing me to dream bigger}