Bomb Dot Com Deviled Sriracha Eggs

Earlier this week, I brought you a guest post from Billy Daniels.  Today's guest post is from his wife (and my sister in law) Andrea Daniels.  I'm sure you recognize their names from previous posts...we hang out with them a lot!!  And they are super fun!

Anyway, a little background on Andrea.  She has a wheat allergy, so she follows a gluten free diet.  She also focuses on creating a healthy balance of clean eating without restricting her diet.  You know-Balanced Living...what we all strive to achieve!!!  Fitness has always played a huge role in her life.  Andrea played sports through high school and coached basketball at a smaller Christian college.  As an adult, she focuses more on HIIT workouts, lifting, and various cardio workouts too. 

Today she is sharing her recipe for the Bomb Dot Com Deviled Sriracha Eggs.  (Yes she really named them that!)
  
Ingredients:

6 eggs hard boiled

1 tbsp miracle whip

1 tbsp mustard

½ Splenda packet

Dash of salt and pepper

2 tbsp Otts French dressing

3 tbsp Sriracha

 Steps:

1. Place eggs in pan with cold water covering them.

2. Bring to a boil and cover for 5 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and let set for another 10 minutes in the hot water. 
4. Peel the shell off of the eggs. 
5. Cut each egg in half and scoop out the inside into a small mixing bowl.  
6. Add miracle whip, mustard, Splenda, salt, pepper, French dressing and Sriracha.  Blend with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy.
7. Add additional Sriracha to taste.
8. You can spoon the mixture into the egg white or place mixture into a ziplock bag and cut the corner to fill the egg and create a pattern. This ups the presentation level and is super easy!  
9. Top with a dollop of Sriracha to give the spicy food impaired deviled egg lovers a heads up as to what they are getting into!

~if you are in a time crunch or don’t like the smell of hard-boiling eggs in your house, Eggland’s Best has packaged hard boiled eggs that I have used many times and they are just as good as the real thing! 

~I make a batch and keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator, they hold up for about 4 days.  I love to add them here and there for snacks throughout the day.

~Gluten Free

~each half egg = 60 calories, 5 grams fat, 1 carbohydrate, and 3 grams protein.

 

Be on the lookout for more posts from Andrea!  She will share workouts, recipes, and other fun things with us each month!

Reaching Your Targeted Audience

I asked several people to do guest posts while I am out on my honeymoon.  I will be popping in randomly, but some guest posts sounded like a fun experience for you guys!!  Billy Daniels is the Marketing Manager for Title Boxing LLC in Kansas City.  I asked him to share his professional wisdom with me (and all of you guys too!!!) and here is what he had to say...

In this day in age, understanding your customers and their needs can be the difference between great success or great failure.

Through my retail and marketing career, I found it best to relate customer data to running a small retail shop. Imagine for a second you are the store manager at a small fitness apparel business. How do you know what to stock for your customers?  Of course, you want your store to be unique and have its own identity. At first you're going to build your inventory on a broad spectrum. Soon after opening, you will begin to notice the types of customers entering your store. You begin to make mental notes of clothing being worn, customer age, transaction amounts, transaction times, etc. These are all data points you add into your business plan, it changes your buying plan, inventory levels, hours of operations, price points, merchandise strategy, etc.

In the instant gratification world we live in today, customer experience is the focal point for most, if not all, eCommerce based retail companies. How do these companies become successful?  Data collection!  They can't see their customers, but they can develop customer personas based on the data collected through their marketing channels, purchase history, website viewing history, email interaction, and social media behavior. Tying all these marketing channels together can lead to better conversions through targeted marketing campaigns, powerful segmentation, re-marketing or product shopping ads. Customers are connected to the web more than ever, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The eCommerce world is hard to visualize, and many companies slough off how their customers experience and engage with their brand.  Mobile users have surpassed desktop users in the last couple months, and now more than ever, successful companies are finding ways to make customer engagement (buying their products) easier. 

ECommerce based retail companies need and should be investing in data collection software to see past successes continue and grow into the near future.

For those of you without an official eCommerce business, your customer is your reader and your business is your blog.  Knowing your reader and potential brand partners and knowing their expectations helps you to connect on a deeper level.  If you do not already use Google Analytics, it is a must in tracking your stats.  It helps you to track what your readers are experiencing.

Please feel free to ask Billy any questions in the comments section!!!

Friday Favorites-10/24

Happy Friday!!  I'm getting MARRIED TOMORROW!!!  I'm beyond excited!!  That is my Friday Favorite for today. :)  I'm linking up with the Heather, Katie, and Clare for Five Things Friday! Check out their great blogs for the fun linkups!!  As always, thank you ladies for hosting!  

I just wanted to check in to say hi and to tell all of you to have a great weekend!  The next time you hear from me, I will be a Mrs. :)

Bonus fave-some pics from my Girls on the Run practice this week...aren't they AWESOME?!?!

5 Ways to Fail at Half Marathon-ing

Race Recap time!!  I completed the Kansas City Half Marathon in 2:00:35.  As I mentioned on Monday, this was not my most successful race.  I will share with you guys all of the ways that I failed, so that you do not make the same mistakes! :)

How NOT to train and complete a half marathon...

Step 1-Do not train properly.  Ideally train just enough so that you won't back out of the race, but not enough to actually be prepared.  I did this by "training" for 5 weeks...long runs=6 miles, 6 miles, 7 miles, 8 miles, 10 miles.  Prior to that I was running 3-5 miles a few times a week.  Not exactly the best base to only train for 5 weeks.

Step 2-Drink too much the night before.  Bobby and I were celebrating our last date night before we get married.  Yes, I know that is not a thing!  Anywho, craft beer +  half of a bottle of wine at dinner + craft beer + cocktail = not a good way to hydrate for a race THE NEXT DAY!

Step 3-Because of Step 2-Forget to charge your phone (aka-what I use for music and Charity Miles and RunKeeper).  It was at 1% in the morning when I woke up to get ready to head to the race.  Whoopsy!!  I grabbed my iPod and it was dead, so I charged it for 20 minutes before heading out the door.  Thank goodness that my Garmin was charged.

Step 4-Forget money for parking, so have to park far away...making you almost late.  I left the house in plenty of time to arrive at the race on time, get to my pace group, and settle in before the race...if I could have parked in the parking garage that is close to the start of the race.  Unfortunately, I was so distracted by the phone situation that I didn't grab cash to pay the $5 to park.  The free garages were packed and had super long lines to park, so I headed to a parking lot quite a ways from the start. 

Step 5-Start waaayyy behind your pace group.  By the time I made it to the starting coral, it was almost time to go.  I made my way through the crowd from the very back to the 14 minute mile pace group.  There is nothing wrong with that pace, but I am normally between 8 and 9 minute pace (depending on the day).

Despite all of the failing, the race ended up being fun.  I started off slow and worked my way through the crowd.  I knew this wouldn't be a PR, so I didn't feel the pressure to weave and dart like a mad woman.  The first 4 miles of the Kansas City Half Marathon are the hardest.  There are several challenging hills to tackle, so the relaxed and slow pace was a blessing.  I decided to save my music until the marathon and half marathon split around mile 8.  I knew the lack of training would make the last miles more challenging and music would be a nice distraction.  Plus, 20 minutes of charging doesn't make for a long lasting iPod! 

I turned on my music and almost immediately heard someone yell my name.  It was my friend from volleyball.  She and another girl were also running.  Their pace was a little slower than what I normally run, but I was struggling.  I decided to stick with them for the rest of the race.  I am so thankful that they found me!!  Not only did it make the rest of the race fly by, but it made it fun! 







Some days it is not about how fast you run, it is about enjoying the race.  I definitely enjoyed the race thanks to those girls!!

Treat Yourself Tuesday #34

Wedding Week Treats! Hey guys. Just popping by for a quick Treat Yourself Tuesday! Sorry for the phone blogging, but I'm in Puerto Rico!! As always, I'm linking up with Becky (OlivesNWine.com)....  

Let's get to some wedding week treats!!

Cupcakes with my Girls on the Run

Lots of Champagne

Mani/Pedi-my first pedicure ever! I hate people touching my feet...so I didn't love it, but I love the result!

Tanning-I know it is bad, but I have to fix the runner tanlines!!

Hair and Makeup-and a wedding day sneak peek. ;)

Happy Tuesday! I hope you treated yourself this week too!!

Nature Box Favorites

Since it is What I Ate Wednesday, I am linking up with Jenn at Peas and Crayons.  I don't usually do WIAW posts, but I wanted to share some of my favorite Nature Box (referral link) snacks with you guys.  What better day than Wednesday?!?!?!  I found this badge from June 2012 and it seemed fitting. :)  Thank you Jenn for hosting!!

What is NatureBox?  NatureBox delivers a world of carefully sourced and nutritionist-approved foods right to your door. Each snack contains wholesome ingredients - with no artificial sweeteners, flavors or colors. Snacking has never been so deliciously fun and naturally easy. -from NatureBox themselves.  It is a monthly subscription service that delivers snacks to your door.  Each box contains 5 bags of snacks and each bag contains 3-4 servings and the snacks are delicious!!  You can choose your snacks or be surprised.  For every box they deliver, NatureBox donates one meal through Feeding America® to help the millions of Americans who go hungry.  Pretty cool, right? 

Here are my top 5 favorite NatureBox snacks.  (Note-all pictures are from NatureBox.com.)

#1-Sriracha Roasted Cashews-These spicy treats are so good and a great snack!!  I could eat an entire bag by myself in about 3 seconds flat, but I try to resist!

#2-Banana Bread Granola-This takes delicious banana flavored granola and mixes in raisins and dried banana.  I love to add this to yogurt for breakfast or just eat it by the handful!

#3-Pistachio Power Clusters-Almonds, cashews, pistachios, oh my!  These clusters are a great post workout snack! 

#4-Black and White Granola-The NatureBox description of this one is the best!!  Rolled oats are flavored with sweet cocoa, light vanilla and floral spice from a pinch of cardamom.  Who doesn't like chocolate and vanilla??!?!

#5-Maple Habanero Pretzel Pops-These sweet and spicy pretzel bites are a fun treat!  These are great as an afternoon snack when 3pm hunger strikes!!

I was not compensated in anyway-all opinions are my own.  I purchased my subscription...I just love the products!!!  Happy Snacking!!

Blog Well Summit Review (TYT #33)

As I mentioned yesterday, I attended (virtually) the Blog Well Summit this weekend.  I actually missed all of the Saturday sessions because I was out and about, but I managed to listen in to quite a few on Friday and Sunday.  I wanted to share some of the highlights with you guys.  I can't share everything, but if you are interested in owning all of the sessions...the cost is $145 and you can purchase it from the Blog Well Summit website. 

I consider the knowledge that I gained FOR FREE a huge treat, so I am linking up with Becky for Treat Yourself Tuesday. 

 

Friday:

Interview with Carla Birnberg-The interview with Carla was really awesome because she is a really cool and down to earth person who is "unapologetically [her]self".  She started out as MizFit and decided to do a rebrand.  Her interview was all about that process.  The main thing that stuck out to me was this quote: "People come for your voice, people come for your message."  This takes the fear out of changing your blog name, re-branding, or even just changing your tagline.  If you are confident and consistent in your message, then your readers/brand partners/etc will trust you.

Education Session-Planning Your Design-This was a great education session.  It was about defining your brand.  It even included a workbook to help.  The main thing that I took away from this session is that you have to have clarity on who you are, who your audience is, and how you can connect with them.  

Blog Review-The summit also took real blogs and did a review of ways to improve.  Rita Berry from BlogGenie (a great blogger resource...you should definitely check it out!!) went through a blog and made some helpful suggestions that really are true for all blogs.  One of the many tips that she offered was this: Go all in on one or two social networks.  Whether it is Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or whatever-really devote time to reaching out to readers on those and putting up quality images/posts/videos.

Sunday:

Design DIY Panel-This panel featured Roni, Jill, and Emily.  They offered tips and tricks for blog design DIY.  I found this to be one of the most helpful sessions because I am a newer blogger-so everything is DIY.  I'm not to the point where I would hire out just yet.  A lot centered around pictures for your blog.  Photoshop is pretty much a requirement and at only $10/month it is totally doable.  Another tip-use a tripod when photographing still things.  This will improve your picture quality on any device (even your phone) and is a really inexpensive option to buying a big DSLR.  They also suggested some apps to download to help with pictures on your smart phone- PicLab, Snap Seed, and Whiteagram were just a few.

There were classes around HTML 101 and CSS 101-you can check out w3schools.com for tutorials and basic info on HTML, Java, and CSS.

Last, but not least-Rita Berry did an info session on Numbers that Matter.  She suggested looking at Pageviews and Comments to determine how your blog is really doing.  Don't get to fixated on day to day-look more at month to month or year to year.  How is my blog doing this February compared to last February. 

I feel like I am still processing all of the knowledge from the Blog Well Summit.  A virtual conference was awesome and something that I hope they continue to do each year.  

What are you biggest blogging tips and tricks?

Have you ever attended a virtual conference?  This was my first and I really enjoyed it! 

Weekend Recap 10/20

It's my wedding week!!  I am only working for 2 days this week and then it is wedding mode all day every day until Saturday.  This is a weekend recap post, so I will get to recapping.  This past weekend was very fun and jam packed. 


I listened in on quite a few sessions of a virtual wellness summit over the weekend called the Blog Well Summit.  There were interviews, education sessions, blog reviews, and more offered throughout the weekend.  The best part was that I could watch the sessions when I had spare time.  The summit was free over the weekend, but you can own all of the sessions for $99 through the end of the conference (October 20 at 9am PT /12pm ET) and then $145 anytime after.  I plan to share some of what I learned at the summit with you guys later this week.  I found the sessions very helpful and informative!

Bobby and I went to dinner at 801 Fish on Friday night.  Not exactly carb loading, but it was a really great date night.  The restaurant specializes in oysters and fish (duh!), so that is what we ate.  And of course there was wine!!  I had grouper with rainbow chard and sweet potato puree.  Delicious!  It is hard to find fresh fish in the midwest, but the fish here is flown in fresh. We will definitely be back!

I ran the Kansas City Half Marathon on Saturday morning-full recap to come...let's just say it is titled "5 Ways to Fail at Half Marathon-ing".  Doesn't Porter look handsome in my medal?  He really wanted to wear it when I got home, so I let him.

 

After the race, I met a couple of friends for brunch.  Bloody Marys and omelets are the perfect post race treat!!

Bobby and I spent the rest of the day running errands for the wedding.  Then we were spoiled with a great dinner at our friend's place.  We planned to go to the apple orchard and corn maze that evening, but we were all too tired to make it out.  Instead we stayed at their house and drank wine and chatted all night.  It was a great way to end such a busy day!

We woke up Sunday morning and headed to church.  Then we spent the day with Bobby's parents.  I whipped up salmon cakes, cheddar and broccoli rice and peas for dinner.  It was a very exciting dinner because we got to use our new dishes.  Thank goodness that the little things make me smile! :)

What is your favorite post race treat?

Bloody Mary's or Mimosas? I really like both!  It just depends on the restaurant...and my mood.