Prep

Practical tips and strategies for preparing real food meals.

Real Food LunchBox Inspiration

Real Food LunchBox Inspiration: What My Kids Ate

by Kristin Marr

Real Food Hack: How to Organize Your Fridge

Real Food Hack: How to Organize Your Fridge

by Kristin Marr

Prep Day: How to Keep Cut Carrots and Celery Fresh and Crisp

Prep Day: How to Keep Cut Carrots and Celery Fresh and Crisp

by Kristin Marr

20 Plus (Real Food) Make-Ahead School Lunch Ideas (with Freezer-Friendly Options)

20 Plus (Real Food) Make-Ahead School Lunch Ideas (with Freezer-Friendly Options)

by Kristin Marr

15 (Real Food) Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas For School Mornings

15 (Real Food) Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas For School Mornings (with Freezer-Friendly Options)

by Kristin Marr

4 Hacks that Simplify School Breakfast and Lunch

4 Hacks that Simplify School Breakfast and Lunch

by Kristin Marr

Real Food Snack Ideas When You're Traveling or On-the-Go

Real Food Snack Ideas When You’re Traveling or On-the-Go

by Kristin Marr

How to Naturally Clean Your Fridge

How to Naturally Clean Your Fridge + Keep Odors Away

by Kristin Marr

Portable Breakfast Ideas to Help You Get Out the Door

9 Portable (Real Food) Breakfast Ideas to Help You Get Out the Door

by Kristin Marr

10 Easy and Healthy On-the-Go Summer Snacks

10 Easy and Healthy On-the-Go Summer Snacks

by Kristin Marr

Prepping Real Food: A real life look at a prep time

Weekly Food Prep: A Real Life Video Guide

by Kristin Marr

Prep Day: How to Make Homemade Pizza in Advance

Prep Day: How to Make Homemade Pizza in Advance (Homemade Frozen Pizza)

by Kristin Marr

livesimplymom

Instagram post 2156054552046932910_30915106

This basically sums up our entire trip to Italy, lol, or just life in general. ❤️🍎🍉🍌🥖🥞🧀🥚🍳🥙🍯🍻

Instagram post 2155905802675045112_30915106

ITALY 🇮🇹 PART 3. Finally, we stopped off in Rome for a few days, where we would also catch a flight ✈️ and make our way home. Rome is fascinating and so rich in history (unlike anything I’ve seen before in one city). The history of this city can be seen around every turn. As our guides told us, Rome is built like a lasagna—which was clearly evident as we explored—the old Ancient Rome and new Rome built right on top of each other. While in Rome, we took a 3 hour street food tour which combined street food sampling and history in one—my kind of learning 🍕🍷🧀! We spent a day walking and touring by ourselves (30,000 steps later). Rome is super manageable for walking and sightseeing. And then toured the Vatican 🇻🇦 and Colosseum another day. Both places were a must for advance tickets if you don’t want to spend all day in line. Here are a few highlights from Rome —>📸 #livesimplyblog #rome #romeitaly🇮🇹 #vaticancity #italyfood #italyvacation #italyphotography #livesimplyblogtravels

Instagram post 2155188213151637563_30915106

ITALY 🇮🇹 PART 2: After the Chianti region, we spent time in Florence, San Gimignano, and Siena. Florence was our main hub. I couldn’t help but stand in awe of the joy people find in food and their traditions around how and what they eat. This is something I find so beautiful about traveling outside the states. I truly believe that the reason we are so easily swayed by diet trends, government pyramids, marketing messages, and online diet influencers is because we’ve lost our roots in food. We’ve lost the word tradition. There seems to be an increasing fear and stress surrounding food in the States versus joy and respect. Italy abounds with wine, sourdough pizza, breads, pasta, truffles, local veg and fruits, cured meats (a lovely way to preserve meat—remember refrigeration and freezers haven’t always been around), organ meats and a way of cooking that respects the land and animals (as well as the body). This was seen the more we ventured out of Rome and into the smaller towns and cities. We have so many photos (thanks to @dmarr ), I have to break them up in multiple carousels. Here are some highlights from this region. #livesimplyblog #florenceitaly #siena #italyfood #florencefood #italyvacation #italyphotography #livesimplyblogtravels

Instagram post 2154629066796757148_30915106

Oh Italy 🇮🇹, breathtaking and incredible at every turn! I’ll write up a post with what we did, where we stayed, and the tours we took (which were amazing). For now, here’s a highlight. Let’s start with photos of Chianti, the wine and olive oil region in Tuscany. I’ll have to post a few different carousels of photos because we have so many! #italy🇮🇹 #livesimplyblogtravels #livesimplyblog #florenceitaly #chianti #chiantilovers #walkabouttoursflorence #florencefood #italyvacation #italyphotography #madewelltote

Instagram post 2151011171447449967_30915106

Bucket list destination! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Where is that for you? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
For me, that's going to New Zealand or Thailand!

Instagram post 2148807803851446813_30915106

When it comes to dinner, I find the easiest way to simplify this area of life, particularly during the school year, is to use themes. For each weekday, we have a different theme for dinner. Here are our current themes:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
-Chicken ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
-Soup ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
-Stir-fry or fried rice
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
-Taco-style ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
-Instant Pot meal
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Themes provide a ton of structure to my weekly meal planning. When I sit down to plan out a week of meals, I’m not sitting in front of a blank calendar, scratching my head, trying to figure out what we should we eat that week. I have a list of our favorite recipes next to me and our current themes listed on paper. This means creating a plan for the week takes just minutes. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
#livesimplyblog #realfood #naturalliving #homemade #foodprep #mealprep #foodprepideas #mealprepideas #foodstorage #farmersmarket #freshingredients #organicfamily #naturalfamily #lunchboxideas #mealplan #mealplanner #simplifiedlife #simplifyyourlife #nontoxicliving #instantpot

Load More... Follow on Instagram