What's Good This Week

There *might* be a tiny glimmer of hope about our bathroom project. Might. Maybe. *Tiny* And I don't want to jinx anything, so that's all I'm going to say about it.

You know what I'm the most looking forward to when we get our bathroom back? Beyond regular showers, showers where you don't have to push a button every 20 seconds to get the water to turn back on, not showering in a manky gym shower with aggressive workout music blasting through the speakers at all hours of the day and night? Beyond in-suite laundry and a place to deal with the every-three-day diaper blow-outs my baby treats me to?

Going to town on my heels with of of those foot sander things. Four months of no bathroom and my feet are a freaking disaster. God willing we'll have a bathroom again by the time leg-shaving season* arrives.

*Leg shaving season is May - September.

I've been thinking a lot this week about interrogation techniques. Let me ask you this: is torture really necessary? Has anyone considered just using three-year-olds? Or do Jason Bourne-like government agents train with three-year-olds so they know they won't crack?

Clearly I need Jason Bourne to be my manny. That would really help me out, so if anyone has contact with Jase just have him send me his CV. Actually, scratch that, I don't even need to check references. He is hired.

Our big boy has been testing boundaries like it's his job. Last week he was out on our balcony playing with some pieces of wood, and when we told him he couldn't bring them inside he stood in the doorway with one foot inside and one foot outside and held the wood out in front of himself *exactly* in the middle of the door, while never breaking eye contact. I don't even think he blinked.

He has clearly inherited what I refer to as the "loophole gene." It comes from his father and it drives me nuts. It's the gene responsible for things like saying "ploose" instead of "please" or calling me "dunda mamma" instead of "dumma mamma," which is an insult in Swedish. When I say, "if you call me dumma mamma again you're not going to get any iPad today" he pulls out the loophole and explains that due to the slight difference in his pronunciation he is, in fact, still eligible for iPad time.

He's also started pulling out "but" all the time.

"Please don't hang on the door handles." "But this is my climbing gym!"

"Please put the broom away." "But this is my sword!"

"Please put that stool back where it belongs." "But this is my taxi!"

So I still mostly haven't yelled, but I *may* have thrown a stool. Please see above.

I had a traffic goal for March and it looks like I'm going to be juuuuuust under it. So everyone please go click on 10 different pages right now. Go! I'll wait here! Just kidding... (kinda).

If you're a long time reader you may have noticed I've been hustling super hard over the past 10-ish months. There is a goldmine of old content in the archives that I've been working to update with better photos, process shots, updated instructions, and posts that are written in a way that search engines can actually find them.

And it's paying off! My traffic in March 2019 is up 140% from March 2018! This means I'm making tens of dollars in ad revenue each day now. Tens! So this website is "profitable" in that I make a bit beyond breaking even each month, but there is still a loooooong way to go.

How can you help your favourite bloggers (that's me, right?!) to make ends meet? Share. Our. Content. And I don't mean print out copies of our recipes to hand out at your dinner party - rad as that is. Pin our recipes! Share them on Facebook. And most importantly, leave comments and ratings on the recipes. This tells Google that the content is quality and reliable, which helps us to rank, and when we're competing with giants like All Recipes and The Food Network for a tiny little shred of internet real estate, every little bit counts.

The hustle though, it's exhausting. I've taken an unintentional break from social media, which I'm kind of ok with. My Instagram account is sadly neglected, but I must say it's been liberating to not be checking my phone 80 million times a day to deal with it. I could hire someone to help me run it, but I've had bad experiences with VA's in the past, and it feels super inauthentic to not be there myself. So I'll be there when I can, cool?

Currently

Sipping on an Iced Matcha Latte. It's gooooood. Made this Roasted Romanesco for dinner last night. Gosh I love roasted veggies.

My book reading goal for 2019 is kind of off track, but I did just finish reading Becoming which I loved. I'm allllllmost finished the last book in the Neapolitan series as well, and I'm very excited to start watching the HBO series when I'm finally done.

I'm still breastfeeding, but taking it one day at a time. My jerk baby definitely prefers the bottle at times, but he won't (yet) take a bottle when we're not at home, so that complicates things a bit.

Paul is going out of town for a race next weekend, and although I'm kinda dreading the solo parenting without daycare in the mix, I am looking forward to making my favourite quick and easy single lady supper, and eating some Lentil Shepherd's Pie from the freezer.

ON HEY NUTRITION LADY THIS WEEK

Spring produce has started popping up in the stores, and after what has felt like a particularly long winter, I’m loving all of the fresh new flavours – so let’s celebrate them with these 6 Spring Vegetarian Recipes to welcome the season! {Pin this}

If you haven't tried this Chocolate Black Bean Smoothie before, stop what you're doing and throw some beans into your blender. Seriously! It’s like a chocolate protein shake but made without any weird ingredients. Naturally sweetened with just banana and dates, this bean smoothie is totally vegan and dairy-free, and I promise it’s delicious! {Pin this}

TEMPEH TAAAAAACOOOOOOOOSSSSS!!! These vegetarian tempeh tacos are made with an easy vegan taco filling made from tempeh. They’re super fast to make, healthy, and delicious, and the vegan taco meat is full of plant-based protein. {Pin this}

WHAT’S TRENDING ON HNL

If you’ve been here for a while you’ve probably noticed that the top five posts are pretty much always the same. We all know that Mung Bean and Coconut Curry basically always has the top spot, and that everyone loves Black Bean and Quinoa Freezer Burritos (they’re so loveable though!) So let’s switch things up!

Instead of the top five posts each week, I’ll be pulling from the top 10-15 and showcasing recipes and posts that are doing well, but might need a little nudge. Cool?

Here’s what’s trending this week:

1. Chia Fresca. People are thirsty! {Pin this}

2. No Sugar Banana Bran Muffins. Yassss! Welcome to the top 5! {Pin this}

3. Vegetarian Freezer Meals For New Moms. Or just for busy people! {Pin this}

4. Carrot Apple Ginger Smoothie. So refreshing and good! {Pin this}

5. Cheesy Baked Spaghetti Squash Noodles. Mmmmmm cheesy goodness. {Pin this}

WHAT’S GOOD AROUND THE WEB

1. How Bob's Red Mill Became a Gluten-Free Giant Ahead of It's Time.

2. Here's what the government's dietary guidelines should really say.

3. Standardized date label legislation is a crucial step in addressing food waste.

4. In 7-Eleven's Health Food Experiment, Wellness is Poised to Ruin a Perfectly Good Thing. (I completely disagree, by the way)

5. Yassss ????What does a scientist look like? Children are drawing more women than ever.

 

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