First there’s NuttZo, the most delicious and healthy organic nut/seed butter EVER, and now I’m proud to announce I’m an ambassador for Soft Star Shoes!
Soft Star Shoes is a company based out of Oregon where they passionately make minimal footwear for the entire family. Handcrafted to order, they offer minimalist Running shoes, Moccasins, Sandals, Padraig Slippers, Sheepskin boots, and other Casual Wear.
I just started using their Running Moccasins they sent me to try and will post a review here in the near future.
Looking forward to logging some miles, HIIT exercises, and weightlifting sessions in these 5oz foot-huggers. The freedom of sprinting practically barefoot is here! But I really can’t wait to get a pair of Kids’ shoes for Avery. They have shoes for babies, toddlers, and youth up to 12 years!
As if handmade in the USA by people (they actually call them elves) actually passionate about what they do isn’t enough, you can go online and design your own shoes for yourself and your little ones. I’m ready to get our whole family “going” minimal in Soft Star Shoes for casual daily use as well as when working out.
I’m no stranger to working out in minimal shoes as that’s all I’ve used for years now, but I’ve never tried anything like Soft Star Shoes….yet. Check out their site and see what you would like for yourself. Have fun with the design-your-own feature to see what you can create for the kiddos. A monogrammed moccasin for your tyke? How could you resist?!
Kids and adults don’t need the excessive padding seen on most running and casual shoes. It’s not natural and only messes with our dynamics. Get yourself and your family closer to the earth and feel the benefits of having “Happy, Healthy Feet”.
Have you heard of the program Amazon Mom? If you’re here in celebration of What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW), chances are you’re a foodie. Annnnnd, I suspect that many of you, foodies, parents, or anyone really, frequently order from Amazon. Am I right?
I realize there are a lot of moms out there that order from Amazon, maybe you’re one of them reading this right now, but there are also plenty of guys, dads, that do the same. I’m one of them.
The name Amazon Mom feels like having dirt kicked in my face as a father, and that I’m worthless. I’m not alone in these feelings. In fact, Oren Miller, the man who recently passed away from cancer and I wrote a tribute post about how he will live forever, put a call to action several years ago for this very thing.
Please, if you can, find the time to read his post about Why You Should Sign the Amazon Mom Petition. Just yesterday, our Dad Bloggers community along with many helping hands (yes, moms too) lit up the social media world requesting Amazon to change their program from Amazon Mom to Amazon Family.
We are pushing for the long overdue change in honor of Oren and for all parents who give a damn out there. As Oren mentions in his post, the same program in the UK already goes by the name Amazon Family, so why not here in the U.S.? Sense made = ZERO!
Simply follow the hashtags #Dads4Oren and #LoveWalkForOren and you’ll see how big of an impact he has had and still is having on our community. I never met him in person, but just seeing how caring and supportive he was as a friend, father, husband, and person, I want to help however I can.
Please, click the link below and help out by signing the petition. All parents should support this simple request which would give us all the dignity we deserve.
On behalf of our Dad Bloggers group as well as parents everywhere, we thank you in advance for any support!
Okay, so now it’s time for my second installment of WIAW. Big thanks to Jenn, recent mom to an adorable “chickpea” and fellow foodie who I hope supports the change on Amazon!
I don’t eat much in the morning as I prefer to workout first and then chow down, so I start my day a cup gallon of coffee. Lately, it’s been via my homemade cold brew French Press method which is so simple and very delicious!
But, I do have an adorable growing toddler to feed, and she’s quite demanding of my microwave breads. I use pureed fruits and veggies along with coconut flour, oats, peanut flour, kamut flour, etc to make sure she’s getting plenty of nutritious and delicious food. So far, she still begs for whatever I create that day, and it’s only better when I smear some NuttZo on top.
I don’t have to hold my hand out long before……
One for me, none for you, dad.
….she takes it and runs!
After my workout, lunch is a hodge podge of steamed veggies, homemade beer bread, and slow-cooker salsa chicken with black beans.
On the side I enjoy having steamed broccoli sprinkled with nutritional yeast. Could eat this all day!
Avery keeps it simple and just has the chicken and black bean mix.
For dinner, I load up with more veggies in a salad topped with goat cheese, raw beets, onions, red peppers, and a can of wild salmon.
Afterward I’ll have several slices of homemade peanut butter banana bread along with more NuttZo. Really love the stuff, and if you order on their website and use code liley15, you can get 15% off. If you ask me, that’s an awesome deal! 🙂
And that’s been a typical day for me this week. Hope you’re having a good one so far, and please, help support all parents and push to have Amazon change their program’s name!
How do you feel about so many businesses still using “Mom” or “Mommy” to describe spending time with kids and promote products?
As a father, this definitely gets to me more than it ever has, but I’m curious how mothers feel about it. Wouldn’t you want your husband/boyfriend/partner/baby’s daddy to be included too? At least most of you should, right?
Before “Going Dad”, I had a healthy food blog called Just Add Cayenne. You can find a link to it at the top with it’s own tab. One of my favorite things to do on the blog was to participate in What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW); a link-up party hosted by Jenn from the blog Peas and Crayons. Note: There is no link party this week, but it will continue next week. Check out Jenn’s post explaining why here.
It’s been a couple years since I joined in, but I’ve missed it and figured I’d try to start back up again. I love food, healthy food, and I enjoy sharing and talking about it with others who have an appreciation for it too. So thank you, Jenn, for still going strong on these link ups, glad to see you’ve kept these going!
The theme for my first WIAW post on Going Dad is something I’ve found myself doing a lot of lately, eating food off the floor. And not just food I dropped, but food my daughter, Avery, drops. Sometimes from her mouth, sometimes just her hands, but I can’t stand to see it go to waste. Hey, if it’s healthy and something you took the time to cook, it’s hard! I know there are other parents out there like this….right?
This is partly my fault for trying to feed her while she’s roaming around my feet in the kitchen (yes, like a cat) and not putting her in the high chair. So I break pieces of my homemade bread like Coconut Carrot Bread and feed it to her. Again, yes, just like a kitty, which I pretend she is as a way to get her to eat.
But sometimes kitties drop their food, and me not wanting to toss it in the trash, I quickly eat it myself before taking time to have a second thought. I have my limits, like if it’s practically fully chewed and regurgitated, but otherwise, I’m a victim of second-hand snacking from my baby.
Now, let’s move on to my eats for the week.
A little pre-workout snack of homemade pumpkin bread with a nice layer of NuttZo in the middle.
I downed a green protein smoothie after the workout and played with Avery while cooking lunch. I made a big bowl of edamame spaghetti with my homemade fermented beets and wild salmon. Avery ate from what I had, and I made sure she was in the high chair for this one!
Not long after, it was naptime, so I brought Avery to her room to sleep. Like usual, she fought it, but finally gave in after kicking the crap out of crib. Crazy kid!! Then I snacked on some chocolate chia oatmeal NuttZo balls while checking e-mail.
As expected, naptime was short, and Avery was up and ready to wreakhavoc play all over the house. When my wife, Going Mom, came home from work, more playing ensued and I prepared dinner. Chicken and black bean stew turned out better than I expected, and Avery and Kelley both enjoyed.
The mushrooms were all for me, Kelley’s not a fan and had tortilla strips instead. Fine with me, I’m not one to share my mushrooms!
After dinner, we went through Avery’s bedtime routine and put her down for the night. For my nightly snack, I enjoyed a steamed kobocha squash with lots of plain Greek yogurt and, you guessed it, a couple spoonfuls of NuttZo.
I may or may not have gone back for seconds. Okay, thirds.
An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.
