About Me

Hi there! I’m Andrea. I’m a Charlotte-based, 40-something mom of 2 beautiful, active (ADHD) girls (Jordan, 12 and Brecken, 10 – when did that happen??) I’ve been married to my best friend, Mike for more than 15 years. He takes care of me. He makes me laugh. He feeds my soul. He makes me a better me. Without his love and support, I could never be the kind of woman/mom that I want to be. #godsend

I quit my corporate job in 2009 to stay home with my girls and I never looked back. Though I never imagined I’d be a stay-at-home mom, it’s been the most amazing and fulfilling journey of my life! #blessed

We are originally from Pennsylvania and spent many years living in and loving Pittsburgh! You’ll often see us sporting our hometown colors even here in the Carolinas. #pittsburghproud

I’ve been concerned with health and wellness for as long as I can remember. That definition has changed quite a bit for me over the years (Low-Fat, Weight Watchers, Clean Eating, Paleo, Gluten Free, Dairy Free). In late 2013 I really started to take notice of the way our food is processed, where it comes from and the effects it has on our health and our bodies over the long term. In January 2014 I found the blog, 100 Days of Real Food which suggested reading Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food. My food philosophy was forever changed. The Clean Food definition we followed back then, and are trying to get back to now is:

Minimally processed, whole foods
Lots of fruits and veggies
Dairy (organic, unsweetened and pasture-raised) **We eat minimal dairy now because of our daughter’s dairy allergy
Whole-wheat & whole-grain products
Seafood – wild caught – not farm-raised
Local meats (preferably raised without antibiotics or hormones)
Natural sweeteners (honey and pure maple syrup) in moderation – no processed white cane sugar
Dried fruit, nuts, seeds & popcorn
Water, Organic Milk, Coffee & Tea
For our purposes, we allowed wine, beer and other adult beverages, in moderation

My pantry received a major overhaul and we all starting eating better!

However, in late 2015, when dealing with some health issues, I came across the Paleo diet. This plan isn’t terribly different than the clean eating we were doing before, but it was gluten/grain/legume free. I still ate some dairy, but I was immediately amazed at how great I felt! I followed the Paleo diet for about a year (eating gluten free when dining out). In the Summer of 2016, after some adverse reactions to ADHD medication for our oldest daughter, we decided to put our girls on a (highly-recommended) Gluten Free diet to help some of their symptoms. Success! Life was good! The girls’ grades improved and everyone was happy at home! Until we weren’t.

In the Fall of 2016 we discovered our younger daughter had a dairy allergy. Something we sort of always suspected, but was never confirmed. Even though her testing with the allergist came back negative (no Epi-pen, thank you God!), she experiences, painful, eczema outbreaks from even the smallest exposure of dairy. No milk. No cheese. No baked goods baked with butter. No chocolate!!

As the demands of cooking/baking gluten free/dairy free increased, I found myself falling back on many processed convenience foods I’d banished from my kitchen long ago. Suddenly, I was ok with my daughters having freezer waffles for breakfast, as long as they were gluten free. Um, weren’t Eggo’s banned in my house YEARS ago? The processed foods and sugar crept into our house and grew and grew to the point where I didn’t even recognize myself! What happened to all my values? So there we were in the Fall of 2017 with 1) an excess of processed food in our house 2) a crazy-high grocery budget and 3) almost ZERO benefit for the girls’ ADHD symptoms. *sigh* #parentingishard

As of January 2018, we made the tough decision to put our oldest daughter (with a genius IQ) back on ADHD medication. We also took a big step back and decided to start working back towards the food philosophy we so deeply believed in years ago – clean, wholesome, real food. As a former blogger (check out my old blog, Butter is Better) I thought getting back online and sharing my journey back to Real Food with you would help keep me on track and hopefully you too! It’s ok to take a step back and make a different choice! #doover

While I want to share healthy recipes with you, I also want to share some of the other ways I maintain a healthy home:

I’m passionate about natural living and Young Living Essential Oils and will show you how I use them in my house (DIY Hand Soap anyone?)
My activity level has dropped a lot over the past 5 years, but I still love long walks and know how important it is to move your body!
I’m an organization freak. Type A to the max! I’d love to share some of my tips for keeping your home organized and streamlined.
I LOVE planning! Menu Planning, Travel Planning, Honey-Do-List Planning. #ilikelists
Budgeting. I’ve been a Stay-at-Home Mom for almost 9 years. That has involved a LOT of budgeting over the years to be able to stay home.
And travel. Oh, how I love to travel! We mostly travel on the East Coast, but we have dreams of taking our girls out west and to Europe sometime soon. I’d love to share some travel tips with you! #roadtripeats

Also, to keep things fun and, well, REAL, I’ll be sure to include to occasional indulgences and special treats! #moderation

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking a few minutes to get to know me! Drop a quick ‘hello’ below and introduce yourself!

Andrea

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