Easy, flavorful, filling and gluten free. Right up my alley. These stuffed sweet potatoes are our new go-to dinner around here.

1. Melt the ghee in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the arrowroot powder and cook for 2 minutes.
2. Add the remaining spices stir for 2 minutes, until fragrant.
3. Add the tomato paste and chicken stock, and whisk until smooth. Simmer for 5 minutes to thicken.
4. Use immediately or store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Note: I followed this and went with grassfed beef, you could also sub in shredded chicken or ground turkey.

Oh my goodness, I've been away for a bit. It's been a whirlwind around here lately and we just returned from our California roadtrip. Note to self: Sprout more arms and do some yoga before traveling with a toddler & two dogs.

It was a great trip and lots of fun, I was able to check off seeing the Redwoods from my bucket list as we cruised through the Avenue of the Giants and took the Skytrail gondola ride through the forest. We then headed down to Sonoma Valley wine country for a little tasting excursion and some relaxation. The trip came to a close after a few days in Piedmont-Oakland area visiting my brother-in-law. A night in a cute cabin creek-side in Ashland was the last stop on our way back home. Whew!

First.. traveling with a toddler was a bit of a reality check. We realized that was sleep-trained Aria to sleep in her crib a little too well. There was no sleep to be had by anyone the first two days, but we got into a groove and it got better. Snacks all around and lots of pit-stops for fresh air were the ticket.


Second, I love Airbnb. We used them to book 3 of the houses/cabins to stay in during our trip and each one was fabulous. Highly recommended for your next trip! Here's a link for $25 credit. :)

The first part of the trip was amazing, yes, I was amazed by trees, but really.. they are huge and very humbling. As I mentioned the Skytrail was great, Aria especially loved waving to people in the other gondolas as they passed by. We even picked up a couple tiny Redwood trees to try to not kill here at home.


Part two in Sonoma was super fun. We loved the little town of Forestville where we stayed. It was cute, quiet and friendly. The roads into and out of town were lined by vineyards close to harvest. I'm pretty sure you could live there your whole life and still not visit all the vineyards and wineries. Lots of great wine, way too many to choose from, I may have brought more than a few back home to hoard.

The house we stayed in had a 5 min walk to what they call "Mom's Beach" a open span of soft gravel beach along a slow-moving and shallow portion of the Russian River. A hit with everyone during the hot afternoons.


The third portion of the trip took us down to the Oakland/Piedmont area to see Seth's brother. Aria loves her uncle and had lots of fun, she even learned how to climb stairs. The Bay Area has so so many great places to eat, we were hardly disappointed. And a trip to the park with the pups after my first afternoon Ikea excursion kept us sane.

Our trip home was met with a sigh in which we were bummed to already have to return home to real life, but relief to finally get home too. So many great memories were made. This ended up a long post even with the short and sweet summary. So happy to finally share it with you.

Every once in awhile I start to crave fish, strange.. maybe. But we eat a lot of chicken and beef in this house, so I just have to change it up. I frequent Costco, I love Costco. I purchase majority of our protein there, and last week I scooped up some a couple huge fillets of fresh wild caught sockeye salmon.


This may be my new go-to for salmon, the meat was flaky, moist and flavorful. The salsa added a bright and fresh contrast to the fish. This could go with any number of sides.. I happened to have rice made ahead and steamed the green beans while the salmon was baking.

Sockeye Salmon & Pineapple Citrus Salsa

We had a great week and hope you did too!

It started out busy, prepping for a large vineyard dinner at the winery tomorrow, I'm pretty excited about how some of the loose ends fell into place over the past month. Aria gets to spend a couple days a week at an amazing daycare, it's always a tragedy when she has to leave.

Once I get a few days off, we enjoy it as much as we can. Morning walks, afternoon's in the sun and lazy evenings.


We joined some great friends's of ours at Orange is Art, a local studio for baby art time! All edible, natural ingredients, it started with water play then textured, colorful fun!  Aria was little unsure of how messy the paint was, she would be happy and giggling one moment and then expressing her concern about the green goo on her toes and fingers the next, but in the end she was happy and waving to everyone! We get to pick up her masterpiece next week. :)


We followed the art session with some fun at the water park to clean up and cool off.


Seth and I got away for much needed adult's-only night out. We were invited by our friends to the Brett Eldredge concert at our County Fair. Music was good, awesome company, made some new friends, enjoyed a little beer and prickly pear lemonade (my favorite!) and felt like kids as we rode a couple rides to end the night...

a blurry good time

Actually Taco Bell ended the night.

Short and sweet as we roll into the weekend. Happy Friday! Follow my blog with Bloglovin