I was recently asked by Folgers to create a post about coffee and music. And, whoo-eee. That’s an easy one. Because, you already know how entirely I adore Sunday mornings. But what you don’t know is how Steve and I rustle the kids awake every Sunday, then stand in the kitchen and have this conversation, Steve standing counterside with a coffee in his right hand, me standing at the fridge, pulling Paleo eats out for breakfast…

“Okay, what do we feel like today?” (I shuffle around in for some eggs and toss a bit of bacon on the counter.

“How about….umm….Gospel music? Jazz?” (Steve rolls the words around and considers them momentarily.)

“Reggae? What about reggae? Reggae is always so nice for Sunday mornings…” (I close my eyes and sway to the blissful beat in my head, shaking fake dreadlocks smoothly back and forth).

©2012 Cheeky Kitchen

Blah blah blah. There’s a whole story about how this recipe came to be. But I just got my house cleaned (yes I did. I totally paid for someone else to clean it today). I just got caught up on laundry.  There are no dishes in my sink. And I have the slightest kiss of a sunburn on my shoulders. And the air is thick and rich outside–even as the moon melts it’s light across thy sky.

And, I’m like all….blah, blah, blah. Who wants to hear about food when Zen is attainable? Let’s just suspend ourselves in this moment where all is complete for a single second. All is caught up. All feels…almost do-able.

Let’s just sit here, shall we? The cauliflower can wait.

©2012 Cheeky Kitchen

Life is so good. The weather is warm. The weekend felt luxuriously long. Today, a midafternoon rainstorm poured down all tropical like for nearly an hour.  I sat with the window open, that sweet smell of clean water and wet dirt seeping into the windowsills. Lily Allen hummed in the background about all sorts of worthwhile things. The kitchen sink was almost clean. Dinner ideas sat scrawled on scrap paper. Everything just felt suspended in aliveness and I wished I could hold it, but recognized immediately the absurdity of such an idea. For, it’s only in the fleetingness of this perfection that it can be so utterly, and blessedly enjoyed.

©2012 Cheeky Kitchen

It’s 6:22 a.m. and I’ve already been nudged awake three times by four different children. I roll over and ask them for five more minutes–just five–because I’d been up ’til midnight, finalizing assignments and folding neat fresh piles of laundry. And five more minutes of sleep sounds just too, too good to give up. It’s 6:23 a.m. and my tween yells from the bathroom, “m-aaaaaaahhhhhhm! can you come help me curl my hair?” I squeeze my eyes hard, suck in a big breath, then swing my feet over the edge of the bed. Boom. They’ve touched the floor and the day is officially off and running. Forget the extra five minutes for snoozing. People need me, there’re places to go, and we’ve gotta rush from here to there on a wing and a prayer, hoping we’ll accomplish all the day’s duties–from school work to sports. All this awaits. And it’s only 6:24 a.m. Life as a mom is awesome. It’s awesome rewarding. It’s awesome fun. It’s awesome challenging. And, all the time, it’s awesome busy. Rush rush rush, go go go. Someone always needs to be here, or go there, or do this. Carving out time between all of these must-haves to assume a little normalcy isn’t always easy. But, it is possible.

Continue reading: 3 Easy Breakfast Bentos

©2012 Cheeky Kitchen

Guys, guys. I’m so excited. I can FINALLY introduce you to my Real Cheeky vlog, which kicked off last month, and has a slew of fun new episodes arriving this month…that you are gonna LOVES. Check in monthly for all sorts of 3-ingredients approaches to cookin’, decoratin’, and bigass life livin’!

This first 3-Ingredient recipe is divooooon. It’s chicken. With brie melted all up in ‘ere. And spicy berry jam melted on top.

Your mind wilt be blown.

Your heart wilt be happy.

Your mouth wilt be zestified.

Ready? Nab the episode after the jump, and start coookang!!!

©2012 Cheeky Kitchen

There’re all sorts of birthdays happening this week at my house. My two oldest children turn into full-blooded teens this week. My sister just birthed the tiniest little nymph of a baby. I’m currently in North Carolina visiting her and enjoying an absolute lack of springtime snow.

Before I left, we celebrated my oldest son’s 15th birthday. The night before his birthday, we were perambulating through the neighborhood and he said, “Mom, I know exactly what I want for my birthday…Chicken Cordon Bleu and Scalloped Potatoes. Only healthy.” A more exciting sentence has never been spoken. Give me a classic recipe and ask me to healthify it, and I’m in my happy place.

So, we took those two bad boys and turned them into extraordinary recipes this week. Here’s our Primalized-version of Chicken Cordon Bleu. I’ll post the recipe for Creamy Cheddar Scalloped Cauliflower as soon as I snuggle for a few hours longer with the new little bebe.

A girls gotta have her priorities, eh?!

©2012 Cheeky Kitchen

There are a few tried-and-true ingredients, the dependable standy-by’s, in Paleo eating. Eggs. Avocados. Coconut oil. Paleoites love these things, and for good reason. They’re full of protein and healthy fats, and they fill you up in the nicest of ways. Coconut oil, as an inappropriate side, also has the remarkable ability to regulate thy system, if’n you catch my drift.

Dependable stand-by’s are nice. They’re dependable. They’re stand-by’s. But, it’s easy to get a little bored when you have the same list of ingredients to munch on time after time. (Cyndi Lauper shout-out). For instance, there are mornings when I think, ” good gawd, if I have to open my mouth and scoot in another egg, Imma go loony bin on myselfs.” As you can see by my the grammar in that self-discussion, I’m already approaching loony bin on those mornings.

So, I kinda rejoiced today when I decided to combine green eggs and deviled eggs and avocados and coconut oil, and came out with this simple and splendid recipe for Spicy Avocado Deviled Eggs.

©2012 Cheeky Kitchen

I feel like I have to apologize for this recipe. It’s like the embarrassing uncle everyone tries to keep hidden at the Waterpark. The one that walks around, half-balding, hair-chested, eating a churro and sitting tooclose to strangers. Poor dear. This recipe is that uncle.

Utterly unattractive.

But, you’re not all judgey-judgerson like that. You know Uncle Churroblaster is actually a stand-up insurance agent. He keeps people safe. He may not look like much in a bathing suit, but put the man in a cubicle with a click pen, and he’ll work magic.

So, life can’t be all Paleo Cupcakes and Vegan Tapas, guys. Sometimes we just gotta get some greens into our souls, let Wednesday weeknight meal look like a Wednesday, and call it all on account of healthytastygoodness.

Sometimes we just gotta. Stay away from the churros.

©2012 Cheeky Kitchen

It was Blogging Day today. Four recipes prepped, cooked, and photographed for a Good Cook assignment. The kitchen littered with plates full of played-with food. Half-sliced lemons used as props. Basil leaves strewn across the countertops.

Blogging Day means Alyssa apologizes to her fourth-grade friend the moment she walks through the front door for a playdate, “don’t be scared of the kitchen mess. It’s just Blogging Day.”

Blogging Day means Jacob sits at the table afterschool, and eats the remains of a Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake with Pistachio Crust. When I ask him how it is, he shrugs and says, “I just wanted a banana.”

Blogging Day means Rebecca gets to watch a full episode of The Voice without her mother calling out to her from upstairs, “Nooo media! Turn off that TV!”

Blogging Day means Andrew stands forlornly in the kitchen and repeats aloud over and over again, “Okay. It’s okay. It’s just dirty dishes. It’s just dirty dishes. It’s not going to be like this forever.”

Funny, isn’t it? How the very things that make your life tick, have a tendency to make your life a wild mess.

Welcome to Blogging Day. Don’t be scared of the kitchen.

©2012 Cheeky Kitchen