Dinners Archives - Page 12 of 36 -

A Weekend Full of Great Company

Post author:Melanie
Post published:April 8, 2013
Post category:Blog / Dinners / Family / Friends / Moose / Sweet Treats / Workouts
Post comments:12 Comments

Well, hello hello! It’s Monday and it’s gloomy BUT I am going to stay positive for all of us and say it is going to be a GREAT day.

I “disconnected” myself yesterday from the phone and blog. I say that in “quotations” because I still had my phone on me at all times and browsed Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., but I gave the photo snapping a rest for the most part. By the way are you following me on:

Twitter @NuttyMelanie
Instagram at BeautifullyNutty
Facebook at http://facebook.com/beautifullynutty

I would love if you did!

Anyway, I do have some catching up to do from Saturday! It was a super fun day!

Saturday Morning

The rain held off and Dana, Moose, and I were able to hit the pavement for our Saturday run. We mapped out five miles around the neighborhood and they were five hilly miles. We live in a very hilly neighborhood which is both a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s great for training but sometimes you just want an easy flat run, and we can’t get that around here.

Moose’s paws held up just fine this time around. Last week they got a little scraped up and were bleeding. He is toughening up quickly again now that spring is here. Yay!

Saturday Afternoon

In the afternoon I headed out to Minneapolis to meet up with a handful of other Minnesota bloggers for our first ever MN blogger meet up. Katie from Running4Cupcakes and Becky from Olives’n’Wine (remember that awesome cupcake guest post she wrote for me in March?!) organized this get together and I am SO happy they did.

Here was our crew:

From left to right:

Katie from Running4cupcakes

Diana from DianaPantz

Beth from The Awkward Dancer

Melanie from Beautifully Nutty (me, duh)

Becky from Olives ‘n’ Wine

Kendra from Kenny Gump

We met at Sebastian Joe’s (the one off of Franklin) which I must say has some spectacular sorbet. As you know I adore ice cream but I had plans to go out to dinner that evening so I didn’t want to risk an upset stomach, which is why I stuck with the dairy-free sorbet. Any other day, you know I would choose ice cream, let’s be real.

I went with the Strawberry-Basil Sorbet and it did not fail. It was incredible; so fresh, with huge hunks of strawberries, and a hint of basil. It was very refreshing.

Your mouth watered didn’t it?

I surprisingly wasn’t too nervous to meet up with these girls. In the blog world you kind of feel like you know each other from reading each other’s blogs and commenting back and forth.

We all said it was kind of weird at first only because we already “knew” the little tidbits about each other that most people would use to start-up conversation, so our conversations hedged a little further right away.

We chatted about our lives, blogging, social media, etc. We all got along very well and the hour and a half we were there seriously flew by so fast. The conversation was great! We are planning another meet up in the next month or two so if there are any other MN bloggers out there who are interested in meeting up, throw an email my way! We are hoping to make the next meet-up a bit more active—like a walk around the lakes or something.

Such a great group of ladies! I’m so happy I had the chance to meet you all! Thanks again Katie and Becky for organizing this, you rockstars.

Saturday Evening

In the evening we had a dinner date with my parents and Dana’s parents. We met at Axel’s Bonfire which is a cozy and warm restaurant that specializes in wood fire cooking.

I ordered the Barbacoa Tacos which had seasoned beef with pineapple relish and chipotle cream. I asked if they could prepare them in lettuce cups instead of flour tortillas and they said of course. Never hesitate to ask for modifications to your meal. Remember you are paying for it, you may as well get it how you want it and 9 times out of 10 they will be able to make the modification for you.

Check out these beauts! I had to pick off some of the peppers on there because they were making my mouth feel like fire, but this dish was very tasty.

It came with beans and rice so I ended up scooping the beans onto my taco as well as the pico de gallo on top of the rice.

Besides the food being great, the company was even better. I adore my families and always enjoy spending time with them!

Talk about a fun day, right?

Sunday

Sunday was our usual gig; breakfast, paper, coupons, hanging out with the pup, grocery shopping, lunch.

In the afternoon we headed over to my mom and dad’s house because my brother Scotty and his girlfriend Nicole were in town!

We spent the afternoon and evening hanging out, eating a totally nummy dinner (rotisserie pork loin, brussels sprouts, broccoli, salad, and potatoes), and catching up on life. I was so happy to be with my family again! Ahhh I just love them so much.

We made it home just in time before the sun went down to take Moose for a little stroll around the neighborhood. We watched the Academy of Country Music Awards when we got home and then called it a night. This weekend FLEW by. What the heck?! Haha, it always does though.

Okey dokey, I am off to take on the day. Make it a great one and be thankful for the day. Catch up with you soon!

xoxo

Fish Tacos with Fresh Mango Salsa

Post author:Melanie
Post published:April 6, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Recipes / Snacks
Post comments:8 Comments

Oh boy do I have a treat for you. Our fridge is stocked full of fresh produce right now and I had the luxury of throwing together many different fresh ingredients to come up with this incredibly amazing concoction….

Fish Tacos with Fresh Mango Avocado Salsa!

For the salsa: I bought two ripe mangos from Whole Foods the other day and knew I had to use them quickly before they went bad, so I peeled them, and diced them, and used the fruit from one mango in this salsa. I added the mango to a bowl, then added diced avocado, red bell peppers, red onion, cilantro, black beans, lime juice, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper (recipe below). I mixed it up gently and refrigerated it while I got the rest of dinner ready.

In a saute pan lightly coated with olive oil, we cooked two tilapia filets with a multi-spice seasoning blend that gave it just the slightest “kick.”

While the tilapia cooked, I washed one head of red cabbage and did my best to tear off shells to serve as the base of the fish taco.

Once the fish was cooked through and white and flaky, we used a spatula to divide it into big chunk-sized bites. I plated the cabbage, then the fish, and finally, the royal salsa.

Oh my goodness these things were INCREDIBLE! If I had a restaurant I would sell these for sure.

They were definitely messy and you could go ahead and make the cabbage into more of a slaw salad to sit underneath the fish taco and fresh salsa, but I don’t mind a mess and had fun with it this way!

This is such a simple salsa that would be great with most any type of cooked fish, or with grilled chicken, with a whole grain tortilla chip, and fantastic even by itself!

Mango Avocado Salsa

Ingredients

½ cup mango, diced
½ cup avocado, diced
¼ cup red peppers, diced
2 Tbsp red onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
½ of a lime (juice)
sprinkle of cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix gently. Refrigerate and serve cold. This was AMAZING on tilapia but would be great on a salad or with whole grain tortilla chips too!

ENJOY!

Happy Saturday! I have a very fun day ahead of me! Catch up with you later gators!

Chicken Stir-Fry with Coconut Aminos

Post author:Melanie
Post published:April 5, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Gluten-Free / Health / Lunch / Moose / Workouts
Post comments:5 Comments

It’s Friday! Oh yea, baby! Before we get too excited about this glorious day of the week, let’s take a quick look at Thursday, shall we?

I had a really great day. I actually kept thinking yesterday was Friday. I was super messed up on my days.

I had the day off and I started it off by meeting up my high school friend Ted, for coffee at Caribou. Why on earth have we not gotten together sooner, I don’t know. All I can say is it was so nice to catch up with him. He is such a positive person and I love having positive people in my life! There is no room for negativity in my life.

In the afternoon Dana and I took the pup out for a 3-mile loop around our neighborhood. The weather was absolutely perfect for an outdoor run; about 50°F and sunny. I was even able to wear my capris outside for the first time this year!

Moose is still working on his stamina. He was pretty wiped immediately after the run.

Allergy Update

I seem to have worked whatever food or medication allergy I had out of my system, because I have been feeling back to normal. The only thing I can think of that may have triggered it is the abundant amount of strawberries I had eaten those few days, but I’ve never had a problem with them in the past! Again, another reason I would like to have an intolerance test done.

Lunch

For lunch I threw together a ginormous veggie-packed salad. I loved the volume of this salad. In the mix was mixed spring greens, broccoli, carrots, red pepper, celery, a spritz of olive oil, hummus, and sunflower seeds. Wowza it was GOOD.

There were a few snacks eaten throughout the day to tide me over between meals, all of which went unphotographed.

We made a purchase yesterday to add to our “at-home gym”…..

A PULL-UP BAR!

I wasn’t messing around when I said I am going to conquer at least one unassisted chin-up before May. We put this up in the doorway on our main floor so that I will be more likely to use it often. Like I said previously, I still have a LOOONNNG way to go, but I’ll get there!

Stir-Fry Dinner and Coconut Aminos

Mmm mmm, dinner was tasty last night. Stir-fry has got to be one of the easiest meals to make and it always comes out well.

Last night I pulled out the wok and sautéed up onion, garlic, red bell pepper, broccoli, sugar snap peas and carrots in sesame oil. Once the veggies had cooked through, I added about 1/3 of a cup of bone broth along with 5-6 splashes of coconut aminos (more on that in a sec). I also added a few sprinkles of garlic powder, onion powder, ginger, and salt. I then let the liquids cook out, added some leftover cooked chicken, allowed that to heat through and VOILA!

I served the stir-fry over cooked quinoa (I let the quinoa soak for 24 hours before cooking to help with digestibility) and had myself a deliciously gluten-free and soy-free dinner!

So, about those coconut aminos I mentioned….

Yesterday I stopped in at Whole Foods and oogled over all of the great products. I meandered down the Asian-food aisle and my eyes spied this intriguing sauce:

Coconut Secret’s Raw Coconut Aminos

I had to give it a go after what I read on the label. Here is what I have learned about Coconut Aminos (information taken from their website):

Their product is:

100% Organic
Gluten-free
Soy-free
Dairy-free
Vegan
Contains 17 naturally occurring amino acids which are important for muscle tissue repair and rebuilding, enhance nervous system function, and aid in boosting the immune system
It is made from certified organic raw coconut sap and naturally aged and blended with sun-dried, mineral-rich sea salt
It can be used as a substitute for soy sauce!

Source

The flavor is a bit more bland compared to regular soy sauce, and less salty, but it did add a really nice flavor to this stir-fry dish. For those of you out there who are looking for an alternative to soy-sauce, I would definitely recommend giving this a shot. I will be 100% honest with you though, I still prefer soy sauce.

But it’s still pretty neat, right? What will they think of next?!

I had a fun new treat later in the evening including another Whole Foods find:

These are SO good! And the ingredients are so simple: Organic corn meal, organic evaporated cane juice, organic peanut butter, organic soy oil, sea salt, tocopherols (natural vitamin E), organic tapioca starch. I don’t plan on eating these daily, but they are going to be nice to have around if I want a little treat.

Alright, now that we caught up on Thursday we can officially celebrate Friday. I hope you all have a FANTASTIC day! Keep on smilin’ my friends.

Question of the day: Have you ever used liquid aminos before? What are your thoughts?

Mom’s Ham and White Bean Soup

Post author:Melanie
Post published:April 3, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Gluten-Free / Health / Snacks
Post comments:6 Comments

Hello hello and happy Wednesday!

I’ve been dealing with some type of allergic reaction the past few days, so I am keeping a close eye on my food intake to see if it is a certain food that is triggering an allergic response or perhaps it’s from a medication. I’m in touch with my docs too so I am in good hands; no worries! It’s just really weird. I am feeling more and more inclined to have a food intolerance test done to see which foods I should really be staying away from.

I switched up my breakfast a bit from the usual and went with a bowl of mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries) with FAGE Greek yogurt, a touch of honey, and chia seeds. I gave it a good stir and thoroughly enjoyed this sweet breakfast.

I snacked on a huge baggy of carrots to tide me over between breakfast and lunch, and there was a huge bowl of shelled peanuts at work so I snagged a handful of those too.

For lunch, I used celery stalks to scoop up freshly made egg salad. I was so inspired by the deviled eggs from Sunday that I went ahead and made this similar tasting, protein-packed meal right away on Monday.

I attempted a run in the early afternoon but was hindered by some new pain, so I kept it short and made my way home.

I had a few snacks in the afternoon before heading over to mom and dad’s for dinner.

Mom had made ham and white bean soup from the leftover Easter ham, per my request. She’s the best!

I love this soup! It’s so simple yet so flavorful, comforting and belly-warming. It’s such a good way to use up the remainder of the Easter ham too. I would love the recipe for this one but I’m almost positive mom just does her own thing when she makes this soup and goes by taste, adding a pinch of this and that here and there. She adds her motherly TLC in there too so that’s probably why her food always tastes good. 🙂

It was the perfect meal for a very cool evening. It is supposed to be in the 50’s again today so I am super excited about that!

I officially saw my first robin yesterday which means that spring is definitely here. My mom and grandma always used to say that to me when I was younger and I would always look forward to it every spring, and I still do!

Happy Hump Day! I hope it’s a good one!

Question of the day: What are your favorite ways to use holiday feast leftovers?

A Lovely Easter & April Fitness Challenge

Post author:Melanie
Post published:April 1, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Gluten-Free / Health / holidays / Recipes / Sweet Treats / Workouts
Post comments:3 Comments

Is anyone else recovering from a slight sugar shock from yesterday? Yes, I had some sugar yesterday. I don’t regret it and I absolutely enjoyed it, for ONE day. Now that Monday is here, the candy will hide out until next weekend. At least that’s the plan.

I do not believe in depriving yourself of the foods you love, it is all about MODERATION, but since I am in the last stages of my gut healing, I’m trying to stay clear for now.

Our Easter celebration yesterday was absolutely lovely. My parents, my brother Kevin, Dana and I all went to 11:00 church service and I loved everything about the service; the music, the atmosphere of all of the happy people, being there with my family, the message, everything.

After church we headed home. The Easter bunny did a great job of filling Dana and my basket with mostly healthy things since she knows we are watching our sugar intake. 😉

It was 12:30 at this point and we were all pretty ravished, but mom had plantain chips and salsa, sweet potato chips and hummus, and shrimp all ready for us to munch on. I really enjoyed the plantain chips.

Once 2:30 pm rolled around, dinner was served. I brought a fruit salad which I found on Pinterest. I wish I could take credit because this bowl was beautiful. It was simply fresh strawberries, blueberries, and green grapes which I drizzled with a honey and lime homemade mixture. I had two bowls of this sweet goodness!

The rest of the delicious fare….deviled eggs, which I have officially decided I need to eat more than once a year because they are so tasty and I love them so much.

Cheesy potatoes….I actually resisted these this year except for one bite to taste! I could have had some but I’m trying to let my body continue to heal and didn’t want to push it with the richness of this dish.

I loaded up on the asparagus! The ham tasted awfully good too and I’m not always the biggest ham fan. NUM.

After dinner, both mom and I were a little antsy, so we went for a quick walk around the neighborhood. It was windy and a little cold but it sure felt good to get the legs moving.

When we returned, I plated the dessert. I made a gluten-free, no refined sugar, Key Lime Pie. It may not be picture perfect, but it definitely tasted GREAT! I will be posting the recipe this week so stay tuned!

Both Easter #1 and Easter #2 were huge successes. I have so much love for my family and I so enjoy spending time with them! I love the holidays!

So, back to that sugar real quick. Up until this point in the day I hadn’t had any processed refined sugar, but when we got home last night, I really wanted some Easter candy from my basket. I had a few piece of licorice and some dark chocolate M & M’s. They tasted very good. I was very excited to have this special treat, but like I said, now that Easter is over, the candy will go away for the week and I will be back to limiting my sugars throughout the week. Next weekend, I might dabble into a piece or two, but we’ll see. I really savored those sweets last night, though. Mmm mmm. I can’t lie and say I didn’t like them, but again I remind you all of my favorite word: Moderation.

***********************

April Fitness Challenge

I’m hesitant to make this public and hold myself accountable for this, BUT, I have a fitness goal that I have been wanting to attain since I can’t remember when and it’s about time I gave it a go.

This month, I am challenging myself to do at least ONE UNASSISTED CHIN-UP.

There, I said it. It’s out there and it’s published. It’s time to start making these dreams come to life!

Q: Any words of wisdom/tips/advice for me?

A Rainy Run and Spring Cleaning

Post author:Melanie
Post published:March 30, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Gluten-Free / Home Life / Lunch / Moose / Training / Workouts
Post comments:2 Comments

Happppppppy Saturday! I don’t have a ton of fun photos for you today, but I do have a couple of food photos to share from yesterday.

Once again, I used the NutriBullet to whip up a smoothie. I’ve made this one before. In the mix was: banana, kale, almond milk, chocolate egg white protein powder, peanut butter, and aloe vera juice.

Lunch: Quinoa, cheese, and peas. This was actually really good despite it being so simple. Sometimes simple is best. It was cooked quinoa, salt, pepper, shredded cheddar cheese, and peas.

Dinner: My favorite salmon!

*****************

I keep forgetting to mention that Dana and I have registered for a 10K race coming up at the end of April! My runs have become few and far between, and I’m going to blame that mostly on the weather. I know, lame excuse. Every time I am out for a run I feel fantastic, and every time I am done I always say I have GOT to do this more often. I wish I could bottle up these good endorphins and release them under my nose when I’m not feeling up to a run.

Now that I have a race to look forward to, I will be hitting the pavement more often again and am really looking forward to it.

Furthermore, the weather is really turning around here which makes it that much more enticing to run outside. Yesterday it was in the 50’s and today it is in the 40’s. The snow is melting super fast and I am loving it. Spring is officially here.

Can you spot the cardinal?!

Dana, Moose, and I headed out for a rainy run this morning. We tried a new loop in our neighborhood and covered 4.7 miles. Despite it being wet, rainy, and a little chilly, it was still a GREAT run! My endurance and stamina felt wonderful and I am confident I will be just fine for the 10K in April.

Since it is rainy, we have decided that today is SPRING CLEANING DAY! I was reading about these cleaning techniques from Carpet Cleaning Knoxville tn‘s website and I am off to dust, windex, vacuum, and mop! Oh, and for those asking where I got my vacuum from, I’d ask them to visit this page, for this page has some of the best electronics I’ve come across. Fun, fun, fun. Kidding, but it will feel really good to do a deep clean on the house.

My hands are struggling to type right now because they are still pretty chilled but my body is so happy. 🙂

Moose hung on through the whole run but he isn’t quite used to runs longer than 3 miles after the winter months. His back paws got a little scraped up and he was bleeding at the end of the run. It’s time to build up those paws again! We covered his wounds with socks and he is now fast asleep on the carpet. Poor guy!

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC Saturday! xoxo

A Hungry Morning

Post author:Melanie
Post published:March 27, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Gluten-Free / Moose / Snacks / Workouts
Post comments:6 Comments

We are half way through the work week! How about that?! I hope everyone is having a great week.

Yesterday was one of those days where my body just couldn’t get enough to eat. I think I did a pretty good job of listening to what my body was asking for and feeding it lots of healthy foods. The morning was a feeding fiasco. 😉

It started off with a bowl of gluten-free Erewhon Buckwheat and Hemp cereal with homemade almond milk, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and banana. I had to remind myself to slow down as I ate this but it was SO good I couldn’t help myself!

I really want to try other Erewhon cereals. They have strawberry crisp, raisin bran, crispy brown rice, and more. They all sound fantastic! I haven’t had cereal in forever.

For my workout yesterday I turned on Apple TV and found a ZUMBA workout led by a young male Zumba instructor who was a really good dancer. It was fun but not as fun as actually being in a class with other people dancing with me. After Zumba I completed a 15-minute intense ab workout.

Many snacks proceeded the workouts. I ate walnuts, dates and peanut butter, a banana, celery, and an energy bite. I’m probably missing something else in there.

After all of the snacking, it was only about 11:00 am but I figured since I was still hungry I may as well make lunch.

I sautéed onion, green bell pepper, and mushrooms. I then added a splash of bone broth, leftover chicken and black beans. I topped off this concoction with avocado and salsa. NUM!

After “lunch” my belly was finally feeling satisfied. The hunger staved off for a while after that!

Later in the afternoon I took the pooch for a 3-mile walk around the neighborhood. It is extremely messy around here these days. The snow is definitely melting and we are left with very muddy grass, wet sidewalks, and a dirty dog, but I’ll take it because that means spring is really here!

More snacks happened in the afternoon.

Dinner was light because I had done the majority of my eating throughout the day and wasn’t super hungry, but still wanted some nutrition. I threw together a lazy salad with mixed greens, red bell pepper, peas, olives, pickles, avocado, sunflower seeds and a dressing made with Dijon mustard and red wine vinegar. It was simple but tasty.

I am pretty much convinced that I could put avocado on anything and it would taste good. The avocado really stole the show last night.

The rest of the evening was pretty quiet and relaxing!

Question of the day: What is your favorite cereal?

Have a great day!!

Carrot Pizza Crust (Grain-Free)

Post author:Melanie
Post published:March 25, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Gluten-Free / Recipes
Post comments:9 Comments

Once again, where did the weekend go?!

I am pretty pumped about a new gadget that has joined the counter in our kitchen. We have a NutriBullet! It can make smoothies, dips, soups, and even has a milling blade attachment so you can grind your own spices, seeds, etc. Besides the fact that this bullet literally whips up a smoothie in seconds, I also love that it is super easy to clean. The blender works great and all, but it can be a little tedious to clean and it takes longer.

Yesterday, I just had to use it, so I made a smoothie for Dana and myself. I don’t have the exact measurements but I included pineapple, strawberries, banana, kale, flax-seed, aloe vera juice, and water.

It’s maybe not the prettiest smoothie you have ever seen but it was delicious! I am hoping I stay on this smoothie train for a while to get me out of my breakfast rut of peanut butter and banana. The fridge is stocked really well right now so I think I should be able to maintain a creative week of eats as long as I put my mind to it.

Aloe Vera Juice

I realize I have mentioned this aloe vera juice for a couple of weeks now and not really said anything about it. As you may recall, I am tackling a laundry list of natural remedies to try to combat this colitis thing. Along with those, I am always teaching myself to deal better with stress, I am sticking to a gluten-free diet for now, I have eliminated refined sugars (as best as I can), I am beginning to include fermented foods into my diet to help aid in the digestion process, and I am taking my prescribed GI meds.

I continue to do my research and found that aloe vera juice came up in a lot of my findings. There is still more research that needs to be done, but some have found that aloe vera juice can help heal wounds (think about applying aloe vera to sunburn), and it can also reduce inflammation. It can also help boost the immune system. I am only taking a very small amount of it, and the taste is pretty unpalatable, so I have found that putting some into my smoothie masks the taste completely and is easier for me to stomach. (Note: I consulted with a medical professional before beginning aloe vera juice).

So that’s my little bit about aloe vera juice and btw I am feeling SO well. Moving on to dinner…

I was inspired by this recipe to make Carrot Crust Pizza! I have experimented with cauliflower crust pizza and veggie nut pizza crust, but never carrots. I can’t wait for the day when I can get my fingers on a good ol’ fashioned piece of pizza, but until that time comes, I’ll be making substitutes!

I began by washing six medium-sized carrots. I chopped them into big chunks and added them to a microwave safe bowl. I added about 1/3 cup of water, covered the bowl with plastic wrap, and microwaved for about 8 minutes or until I was able to pierce through the carrots with a fork.

Next, I food processed the carrots until almost smooth. I scraped the carrots onto a thin kitchen towel (you could use cheesecloth as well), folded up all four corners, and wrung out the liquid from the carrots into the sink. This was a major arm workout! There is a LOT of water in carrots.

I put the carrot mash back into the bowl and added one egg, 1/4 cup of cheese, and one grated garlic clove. I gave it a good mix.

On a baking pan lined with parchment paper, I spread out the carrots into a 1/4 inch layer. I spritzed the top with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Next it went into a 400°F preheated oven for about 28 minutes.

I removed the pizza from the oven when the outsides were starting to crisp up, and the center of the pizza was firm.

Then I added the goodies! I added marinara sauce, cheese, red bell pepper, onion, olives, and mushrooms. Back into the oven it went for about five minutes. I finished by putting it under the broiler for three minutes.

It was delicious! The crust wasn’t as crispy as I thought it would be, so I’m wondering if it should cook even longer? Either way, I really truly enjoyed this dish!

Carrot Pizza Crust (Grain-Free)

3.0 from 1 reviews

Ingredients

6 medium carrots, roughly chopped
⅓ cup water
¼ cup and ½ cup cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
1 egg
1 garlic clove, grated or minced
olive oil
salt and pepper
½ cup marinara sauce (no-sugar added)
1 Tbsp parmesan cheese
toppings of choice

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place parchment paper on cookie sheet. Set aside.
Place carrots in a medium microwave safe bowl and add ⅓ cup of water. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 7-9 minutes, or until carrots are fork tender. Remove from microwave and let cool slightly.
Once cooled, place carrots in food processor and pulse until pureed.
Scrape carrot puree onto cheesecloth or thin kitchen towel. Gather all corners and wring out excess water from the carrots into the sink.
Add carrots back to the bowl, add ¼ cup cheese, egg, and grated garlic clove. Mix well.
On prepared baking pan, spread carrot mixture to a ¼ inch thickness. Spray with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake for 27-29 minutes or until outer crust begins to turn golden, and middle of pizza is firm.
Remove from oven and add sauce, ½ cup cheddar cheese, parmesan, and toppings. Bake for 5 more minutes.
Turn oven to broil and broil for 3-4 minutes.
Remove from oven, slice, and enjoy warm!

Have a great day my friends!

Question of the day: Have you ever had any strange pizza? Have you made any yourself?

Easter Celebration #1

Post author:Melanie
Post published:March 24, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Family / Sweet Treats
Post comments:0 Comments

I am really enjoying myself this relaxing Sunday. I’m going to keep this short and sweet because I want to continue this day of relaxation, but I wanted to give you a quick update from last night.

We had plans over at Dana’s parent’s house to celebrate belated birthdays for both Dana and his mom, Sue, and also to celebrate Easter a little early.

As always, there was LOTS of delicious food! We started with some appetizers: veggies, almond crackers, and an avocado/edamame/pesto dip which was excellent!

For our main course we had a chicken, shrimp, and artichoke sauté alongside tabouli and homemade almond biscuits (I brought the biscuits). Holy moly everything was so good!

Next up, dessert of course. We were celebrating two birthdays AND Easter afterall. Sue picked up a cake from Wuolett’s Bakery in Edina. To those of you who have never experienced this cake, let me tell you, it is fantastic!

The one she bought was called Princess Torte and it was raspberry and Bavarian cream layered with genoise (egg-rich golden cake) and wrapped in pastel almond marzipan.

It was very refreshing and light tasting.

It was such a nice evening and now we can say Dana’s birthday celebrations are officially over and Easter celebration #1 was a success!

I hope you are all enjoying your Sunday. Catch up with you later!

Fajita Salad and a Fun Surprise at Mall of America

Post author:Melanie
Post published:March 23, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Family / Friends / Restaurants
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There’s nothing like starting your day off with a veggie and fruit packed smoothie. Yesterday I whipped together a smoothie made with frozen banana, kale, kefir, aloe vera juice, peanut butter, and chocolate egg white protein powder and it was delicious.

I hit the living room for an arm workout, and then ended with a 30 minute incline walk on the treadmill. I’m slowly but surely getting back into more of a routine with the workouts again.

Then I was off to run a few errands and spend some quality girl time with my Betsy.

We both had the day off of work and we haven’t hung out since our lobster feast a month ago which is WAY too long if you ask me, so we planned a little get together. We were cozy and warm at my aunt and uncle’s house and we chatted away as Despicable Me played on the TV in the background. It was such a relaxing afternoon and I loved every second of it.

In the afternoon Dana and I did some shopping—we are looking for new countertops for our kitchen! Once dinner time rolled around, I was not in any mood to do any cooking and it just so happened that we had a gift card for Baja Sol that we needed to use. You may remember a couple of months ago when we tried to use this gift card but ended up going out for Thai food instead. Yup, it’s that same card, but we actually used it this time!

We went to the Baja Sol located in the food court at Mall of America. We made it up to the third floor and started walking towards the food court. Inevitably we parked on the opposite side of where we needed to be, but I was happy because it felt good to move my legs. Anyway, as we approached the rotunda we started hearing some music playing. When we got close I saw the sign (…and it opened up my eyes…), I got SUPER excited. Gloriana was playing at MOA! Maurices was sponsoring their performance. How cool, right? We didn’t stick around for long because there were so many people and I really couldn’t see them too well, but I was happy to even get the one glimpse that I did.

At Baja Sol I ordered the veggie fajita salad. This monster was piled high with lettuce, sautéed onions and bell peppers, tomatoes, fresh onions, cheese, black beans, and a heaping spoonful of guacamole (I shared some of the gauc with Dana because I am a very sweet wife).

I didn’t touch the shell because I’m still trying to stick to gluten-free and it was a flour tortilla, but I managed to chow down a good majority of the salad! It tasted really good and probably even more so since I didn’t have to put it together myself. It was a perfect Friday night treat.

Now I am off to run with Dana and the pooch around the neighborhood before heading out for a day full of friends and family. It should be a good one! Catch up with you all later gators.

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