What's Good This Week

1. Paul was travelling for work this week, so I took Niko out for what's probably our last Niko / Mom dinner date while he's still an only child. He really likes going to restaurants, and although there's nothing relaxing about it, I love treating him to the experience. Paul isn't really a big restaurant goer if he can help it, so I like that we have this as our special thing, and I hope that over the coming months Niko and I can sneak out for some one-on-one time together.

2. If anyone is thinking of getting me a present, can it please be a Roomba? Not that I'm expecting any presents, but just in case anyone was thinking about it I thought I'd Secret the situation and put it out into the universe that I'm obsessed with getting a Roomba.

Obsessed to the point that I'm losing valuable work time because I keep getting sucked into internet rabbit holes comparing the various models on the market. I mean, how important is it that you can actually talk to your vacuum? These are the things I need to know. Any Roomba users out there that can weigh in on the issue?

Please note that the issue isn't that I'm sick of vacuuming. Au contraire, I'm not vacuuming at all these days. Paul is doing all of the vacuuming because I am busy doing all of the gestating and I think that's still only like a 5 - 95% effort trade, ya know? The ladies know. But if I had a Roomba I wouldn't have to hear about his clean floors all the dang time.

And also, I can picture future me keeping half an eye on my Roomba while it deals with the g-damn daycare sand that gets tracked in every day (why don't they tell you there's going to be So. Much. Sand?!) while I put my feet up and binge-watch some Netflix series with my newborn snuggled up on my chest. It's a visual I find very, very appealing.

3. Which leads me to.... please hit me with your recommendations for good series! Nothing too violent / gory / intense, please. I mean, I can handle Handmaid's Tale level of intense and violent, but not like The Walking Dead. I'd like to sleep at night, thanks.

4. To the person who reached my site by googling "Beautiful Vegan Lady,"  thank you. I'm not vegan, but I hope you found what you were looking for.

5. So, maybe you've noticed that there are suddenly ads on the site. I've been working my butt off over the past few months with the aim of qualifying for a premium ad network before the baby arrives and I freaking did it! 

Please understand that it costs money to run this site. Between web hosting, tech support, premium plugins that allow me to make the site functional with printable recipe cards and the like, it costs me about $350 each month to keep the site going, and that's before the cost of the food required to test, re-test, and photograph the recipes.

I had ads on the site once before but it was with a terrible ad network and the ads weren't very good and slowed the site down annoyingly, so I pulled them off and decided to hold out for a really good network that cares about the publishers they work with and the quality of the ads they serve.

I know that ads can be annoying, and right now while they do some testing on the site, it may seem like there are A LOT, especially since we just went from no ads to many ads. This will be worked out over the coming weeks and months until we get them to a level that I feel is suitable.

If you find the level of ads to be untenable or are seeing things you find inappropriate, please let me know so I can follow up with the ad network!

6. I just put a container of cream cheese back in the fridge with a literal teaspoon of cream cheese left in it, and I'm not sorry. Just so you know what kind of a person you're dealing with here. But, somebody BUY ME A ROOMBA!!!

ON HEY NUTRITION LADY THIS WEEK

It was a quiet-ish week this week due to some next level tiredness, but we still managed to crank out these Cinnamon Roasted Apples, and folks, they are mega delicious.

I really, really hope you made the roasted apples, because we called them into action in this Whole Wheat Muffin recipe with Cinnamon Roasted Apples. And you know what makes the muffins so dang tender (other than my sweet, sweet love, that is)? Ricotta! Don't knock it till you've tried it, these beauties are delicious.

WHAT’S TRENDING ON HNL

These are the five most popular posts on Hey Nutrition Lady over the last week!

1. Mung Bean and Coconut Curry. You guys, I re-tested this recipe this week in the Instant Pot and took new photos of it, and I'm super excited to get the post spruced up for you. Such a good recipe!

2. Curried Cauliflower Chickpea Wraps. This post is also getting a facelift soon, once I sift through approx 5000 photos. Beige wraps are not the most photogenic thing, but I think we did ok.

3. Black Bean and Quinoa Freezer Burritos. I really need to make another batch of these before the baby arrives!

4. Peanut Butter Oat Bars. Hell to the yes. These are super good!

5. Chocolate Black Bean Brownie Smoothie. Mmmhmm. Always a good one.

WHAT’S GOOD AROUND THE WEB

1. Most of us misunderstand metabolism. Here are 9 facts to clear that up.

2. Please, please, please, everyone read this one ---> Everything you know about obesity is wrong.

3. These muffins. Ugh. So good.

4. Screw the teenagers, I wanna sleep in too!

5. Could eating carbs actually extend your lifespan? Hmmm.