Some Leftover Goodies

Hi there! Happy Wednesday! So as I was scrolling through some photos from the past week I realized I have some odds and ends, and leftover photos to share still so guess what? That’s what I’m going to do! I can’t leave out these goodies.

Oh goodness it’s a random one today. I hope you’re prepared.

To start, last week I received a package from a company called Jay Robb who specializes in protein powder. I was particularly interested in their egg white protein powder because I am searching for a protein powder that I can add into my smoothies that doesn’t give me tummy issues like whey protein tends to do, and I wanted to try flavored ones.

They graciously sent me a handful of samples including vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry egg white protein powder packs along with a tote and a mixer bottle.

I use half of one package for each smoothie and I really like how it makes my smoothie more—-I can’t think of the right descriptive words, but more frothy and full. So far I have only used the vanilla protein in a strawberry, pineapple and banana smoothie. At first I wasn’t sure if I liked it because I could taste a hint of the powder, but then it grew on me. Also, maybe vanilla wasn’t the most perfect flavor to have added to that particular concoction. I should have tried the strawberry flavor! The more I use the protein, the more I enjoy it.

I am excited to try the chocolate, maybe with a banana and almond milk smoothie?

As far as my tummy handling it…I had no troubles whatsoever which is awesome. I will more than likely be buying this product to have in the house. It’s perfect for men and women, it’s a great option for people who can not tolerate whey protein (even if you can it’s a great option!), and it tastes great.

(Disclaimer: Jay Robb sent me these samples free of charge. All opinions expressed in this post are solely mine)

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Next random bits

My birthday celebration began when I was out in Colombia. The last day I was there Jeff and Ana gave me early birthday presents. That was November 6th I believe. Since then my friends and family have been showering me with cards and gifts, I celebrated my actual birthday in Georgia which was fabulous, I got presents from Dana, and I will be celebrating it with my family tomorrow. Talk about a birthday month! I feel so lucky and so loved.

Dana loaded me up on more workout gear (it’s crazy how quickly I wear through this stuff). I really like this top!

And he got me some more of my T-shirts, you can find my review here. Honestly I live in these things. I have ten of them in different colors. They are so comfortable and pretty darn cute if you ask me.

It has been an amazing 27th birthday and it’s STILL not over yet. Geez louise. Who’s the princess here?

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Tuesday Dinner

For dinner last night I made myself a southwest salad with mixed greens tomato, black beans, corn, avocado, and shredded cheese. I topped it off with a drizzle of light ranch dressing. It hit the spot!

I baked up the corn bread for my Thanksgiving day stuffing last night. I made it completely gluten-free and will be sharing the recipe with you post-Thanksgiving only if it turns out nummy. I tested a corner of the bread to make sure it tasted okay and was super pleased with the result.

Off to work for a bit then coming home to get my 20 lb turkey in some brine. I bought a huge turkey with the intention of lots of leftovers, not because I thought 8 of us would polish off a 20 pounder. But hey, you never know! 😉

I’ll also be preparing the cranberries today so that they are ready to go tomorrow and will most likely prep more for the stuffing too. Whatever I can do today to make tomorrow a breeze! I delegated family members to additional sides so everyone is bringing something tomorrow. It makes hosting a lot less intimidating and they were all more than willing to help.

Tomorrow morning I will be running a 5K which I am stoked about. The last race I ran in was back at the end of August at the State Fair. It’s been far too long. I haven’t been running much recently due to some back pain, but I think it will feel real good to get out there tomorrow. After the race I will boogy back home to get the bird in the oven! My first ever experience cooking a turkey. Cross your fingers for me.

I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving tomorrow and can celebrate with the ones you love.

I am thankful for all of you!

 

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Birthday in Atlanta

I had the most amazing weekend in Atlanta celebrating my 27th birthday with great friends. I have lots of photos to share so I am going to get right to it.

Friday

I made it a priority to go to Caribou Coffee and get my free birthday coffee. I chose a light salted caramel mocha and HOLY COW, it was sooo good. It was like taking a bite of dessert each time I took a sip.

We took our coffees to Piedmont Park which is like walking in a dream for me. The park is huge, the leaves are all turning colors, it is very fitness friendly with fitness stations set up throughout the park, I have a free coffee in hand and am walking with Dana and my girls. Dream. Love.

Kate, Me, and Heidi at Piedmont Park

Three little monkeys sittin’ in a tree…

The views were gorgeous everywhere you looked. Combine that with friends who humor me by posing for photos throughout the weekend and you have yourself some great pics. 😉 They love it.

Later in the afternoon we went to Olympic Park which held the 1996 Summer Olympics—woop woop Kerri Strug and Dominique Moceanu. The park was decorated for the holidays so we took full advantage of the photo opps.

Next we made a spontaneous decision to visit the Georgia Aquarium which is the world’s largest aquarium. We went an hour before they were going to close and only had to pay half price for tickets. SCORE! This place was incredible. I especially loved the whale shark and dolphins. The aquarium had the best filters for betta fish, and so, surprisingly, the fish were in the same tank as the sharks.

 

For dinner Friday night we went to JCT Kitchen and Bar. We sat on the “rooftop” patio outside under heat lamps. The evenings cooled down to about 50° F, but sitting under the heat lamps kept us nice and warm. I enjoyed being outside while we ate. They had live music too!

I order the “Day Boat Fish of the Moment” with creamy cauliflower, brussels sprouts, toasted hazelnuts, and lemon vinaigrette. I couldn’t tell you for a million dollars what the name of the fish was that I ate. It was very tasty though; mild and not fishy tasting. Right up my alley.

Dessert=amazing. Chocolate stuffed pastries of some sort with ice cream and a birthday message written on the plate?! Yes please.

The red lights from the heat lamp made for some snazzy glamour shots.

After dinner we walked over to a bar across the street that had ski-ball, bocci ball and a fun laid-back atmosphere. We spent a couple of hours competing in ski-ball (Heids was the champ) and Dana and Heidi dominated in a game of bocce against a couple of Atlantans (is that a word?).

Saturday

We finally got ready and out of the house by noon the next day. It wasn’t that we weren’t up until then because we definitely were, we were just all feeling a little too lazy to get moving very quickly.

The girls parked over at Piedmont Park to go for a little walk before meeting the guys for lunch at the Park Tavern. We sat outside while we ate and enjoyed the sun and people watching in the park.

Dana and I split an order of edamame and a crab cake salad with avocado dressing. It wasn’t until we were all done eating our seafood lunches that someone made the comment about how it is ironic that we ate fish last night and today after visiting the aquarium yesterday. Womp wompppp.

It was once again a beautiful day. I was happy to be back at Piedmont Park again. I could spend hours there. We were going to go check out another park in the area but decided against it since we were all feeling extraordinarily lethargic. We went home instead to rest up instead so we could enjoy our last night together.

For dinner on our last night we went to a restaurant called Seasons 52 Fresh Grill aka one of my new favorite restaurants. Their menu is full of seasonally inspired dishes and nothing on their menu is over 475 calories!

We ordered the ceviche appetizer to split. In it was cooked shrimp and scallops (again with the seafood), pineapple, cilantro, lime, and a bit of pico de gallo type mix. Oh my goodness this stuff rocked my socks off.

For dinner I chose the Autumn Vegetarian Tasting which included “grains of life” (a quinoa salad), a soft taco with black beans, chili relleno, brussels sprouts, cedar roasted tofu with  mango chutney, and butternut squash with a sweet maple glaze.

I really enjoyed this sample platter. My favorite was the taco and the salad. Nummy!

And as if the meal couldn’t get any better, our waiter brings us out a complimentary dessert shooter mix. BTW if you go to Seasons 52 our waiter was Kason and he was awesome. There were nine different shooters each filled with a different dessert: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, s’more, peanut butter chocolate, berry something, raspberry cheesecake, key lime pie, and two more that I can’t remember. It doesn’t matter because all you need to know is that they were all fabulous. We all shared the desserts and polished them off in no time.

We called it an early night knowing we would be getting up early the next day to catch a flight back to Minnie.

What an incredible way to celebrate my birthday. A girl could get use to that. I had such a blast in Atlanta, and again thank you to our sweet hosts Kate and Luke for letting us stay with them. Can’t wait to see you again soon!

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I am happy to be back home and I am getting ready to host my first ever Thanksgiving meal on Thursday. Yikes! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are having a good start to your week. Catch up with you soon.

 

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Mmm mmm Turkey Chili

Happy mid-way through the work week day aka Hump Day! 🙂

I worked late yesterday therefore don’t really have any catching up to do from yesterday, BUT I do want to catch you up from Monday. I keep getting so behind on my posts but you don’t mind that I have to rewind a day or two do you?!

Monday

I’ve really been loving this combo lately: one banana topped with Parkers Farm creamy peanut butter and Peanut Butter & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams. Mmm mmm that’s the stuff.

I had a bucket load of things to do including doctor visits, a haircut, Target run, and most importantly, using some of my birthday money (which I got early) to go shopping for a few new items.

I can proudly say that I bought four items at TJMaxx: three were clearance items and this sweater below was regular price.

I loathe trying on clothes at the actual store. I prefer to purchase items, take them home and try them on, and return them if necessary. Of course if the store isn’t conveniently located near my home, I go a different route. Anyway, I went home and tried on the four items and it turns out I love them all, however I am going to return an oversized sweater which would be so comfortable if it weren’t so itchy. I can’t handle itchy or uncomfortable anything, so back it goes. I’d say 3 out of 4 isn’t bad though right?!

Lunch

Once lunch time rolled around I pulled together this beautiful thing. We have a mixed green salad with blackberries, chicken, feta cheese, walnuts, and Ken’s Lite Poppy Seed dressing. Oh, and avocado. Goodness, I can’t forget the avocado. This salad was fabulous.

I did end up getting a half hour walk in but the walk was done on the treadmill this time around. On Monday it was a whopping 28°F or so here so I thought I would stay warm and walk inside. I flipped the TV back and forth between Ellen and Paula Deen. I was a happy camper.

Big news! I am hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year! This will be my first time ever hosting as well as my first time ever preparing turkey. I am planning the menu and getting super excited about it! More to come on that.

Check out my new kicks! On Sunday actually, Dana and I headed over to Marathon Sports in Minneapolis because we both needed some new running shoes. We had our other pair since March and we were both starting to feel some discomfort in our feet after runs, so we declared it time for new shoes. You don’t have to twist my arm for new shoes!

I stuck with the Asic Gel Kayano 19. The 19 is a little bit lighter than the 18 yet still provides cushioning, not to mention I LOVE the colors! Score.

On to dinner. We’re talking comfort on what was a pretty cold Minnesota day. What does that call for?

CHILI! I pulled a bag of garden tomatoes from the freezer which I had peeled and froze this summer. I threw a handful ingredients into a pot, let them all simmer together for a couple of hours, and something magical happened. I am excited to share this recipe because it was such a wing-it one for me and turned out just FANTASTIC! Mmm mmm!


Turkey Chili
Print
Ingredients
  • 4½ cups pureed tomatoes
  • ⅓ lb lean ground turkey, browned
  • 1-15 oz. can chili beans
  • 1-15 oz. can red kidney beans
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 Tbsp. chili powder
  • ½ Tbsp. cumin
  • ½ Tbsp. garlic powder
  • ½ Tbsp. salt
  • 1-2 tsp. black pepper
  • Optional toppings:
  • fresh cilantro
  • shredded cheddar cheese
  • avocado
Instructions
  1. Combine all soup ingredients into medium pot; stir to combine.
  2. Cover and let simmer on low for two hours, stirring occasionally.
  3. Ladle into soup bowls and top with avocado, cilantro, and cheese (optional).

One last bit of exciting news…My 27th birthday is this Friday and I am lucky enough to be celebrating it in Georgia this weekend with some amazing friends! We will be staying with these two foxy individuals…

I am SOOO excited! I can’t wait! I miss them so much.

Geez I’ve noticed this post turned a little bit random but that’s okay! Alright, I am off to take on the day. Take care my friends.

 

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Hearty Lentils with Spinach

Hello there! Happy Sunday my friends. What’s everyone have on the agenda? Resting and relaxing or running errands and prepping for the week ahead? Whatever it may be I hope it’s a good one so far!

I still have yet to recap the second part of our Colombia vacation but I was really itching to write a “normal” post plus I have a recipe I want to share with you all, so the second recap will have to wait a little while longer. Here’s the Miami recap, and Colombia Part I recap if you’re interested.

I have a little bit of catching up to do from Friday first so we’re going to be starting off there right at lunch time. To celebrate my birthday (a week early) my co-workers and I went out to Houlihan’s for lunch. I received a free $15 coupon for my birthday to the restaurant so that’s why we decided to go there.

I ordered the french onion soup and a caesar salad with grilled chicken and polenta croutons. I was very happy with both of my selections.

Tasty!

Moving on to dinner…

This is your forewarning that the meal you are about to see is one of the most unappetizing dishes ever to appear on BN. However, I promise you that although unappealing to the eyes, it is very appealing to the palate.

Hearty Lentils with Spinach.

After I plated the lentils over the spinach, I stirred the warm lentils into the spinach and decided that I liked it that way better.

Oh yes I am falling in love with lentils. First the Curry Stew and now this.

Hearty Lentils with Spinach
Print
Ingredients
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 cup carrots, chopped
  • 1½ cups lentils
  • ¾ tsp. garlic powder
  • ½ tsp. ginger powder
  • ¾ tsp. cumin
  • ½ tsp. curry
  • ¼ tsp. paprika
  • 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
  • 3 cups reduced sodium chicken broth*
  • 3 cups spinach
  • *Use vegetable broth if cooking vegetarian
Instructions
  1. In a medium saucepan, saute onions and carrots on stovetop for 3 minutes.
  2. Add in spices and stir.
  3. Add in chicken broth, stir, reduce heat to simmer, cover and let simmer for 2 hours; stirring occasionally.
  4. Before serving, add spinach and stir in until it wilts into lentils.
  5. Serve hot.

It’s such a hearty and healthy dish that I truly enjoyed (and Dana did too).

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Saturday

I enjoyed two cups of Dunkin Donut’s Pumpkin Spice coffee with hazelnut creamer to kickstart my morning.

Have you tried this stuff?! If you haven’t please go buy some. You won’t regret it. NUM.

Next was breakfast. I topped one banana half with Parkers Farm creamy peanut butter and the other half with Peanut Butter & Co’s Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter. Yes it is a dream how good that stuff is. A dangerous dream. Thanks to Peanut Butter & Co. for sending me some coupons for their heavenly product.

I gave breakfast time to settle while watching two episodes of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, Dominican Republic and Maine. Both episodes were great. His humor cracks me up.

Then it was time to lace up and head out the door and face the dreary morning with a run. Moose surely didn’t care that it was drizzly and dreary, he was so ready to go. We trekked through the neighborhood and covered about 4 miles.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning up the house, “helping” Dana dig out the window well to prepare for egress windows so that we can finish our basement at some point, putting the patio furniture away for the season, hanging out with Moose, and baking up a treat for the worker crew.

Recipe to come soon!

I hope you’re having an excellent weekend. Catch up with you all later!

 

Continue Reading Hearty Lentils with Spinach

The Beginning of Our Journey: South Beach Style

Hi to my amazing readers! I’m back!

We made it home safe and sound from our vacation to Bogotá, Colombia. We had deemed this vacation as an extended part of our wedding anniversary celebration. We had a layover in Miami, so we planned a couple of days in South Beach to enjoy the weather and relax before heading to Bogotá. We had the greatest time while we were away.

I am going to start the recap of our trip and do my best to condense our day and a half stay in Miami into one post today. It might be a dooooozy! You have been forewarned.

Miami Recap: Day One

Wednesday morning we flew out of Minneapolis and began the journey to Miami. Coffees in hand were necessary being we were up at 3 am.

Bienvenido a Miami. We stayed at the beautiful Hilton Bentley right on south beach. We were greeted by the friendly staff as well a complimentary bottle of Prosecco. Our room was gorgeous; complete with white robes, a kitchen, living room, and a stunning beach and city view.

      

The weather was perfect the entire time we were there; about 80° F and sunny. I was anxious to get out and enjoy the sun and we were both pretty hungry at this point, so we changed into our swimsuits and shorts, heading down to the walking path by the beach, and walked to a restaurant called The Front Porch. I couldn’t help but keep singing Vanilla Ice’s,  Ice Ice Baby lyrics, “the block was dead yo, so I continued to A1A Beachfront Avenue!”

I ordered the chicken satay omelett which was made up of eggs of course, basil, grilled chicken, mozzarella, spinach, and a satay sacue made from peanuts, red curry paste, coconut milk, cilantro, and lime.

It was such an unusual combination that I never would have imagined but it was AMAZING.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and enjoying the sun. We laid by the pool, went in the hot tub, enjoyed our Prosecco, and later headed out to explore more of Miami.

On our way to dinner, we made a pit stop at Kardashian’s DASH Miami to check it out and who knows, maybe run in to one of the girls?! No such luck with the celebrity spotting but it was neat to go inside. I really liked the clothing but it was slightly out of my price range!

We ate dinner at Larios On the Beach along Ocean Drive. The restaurant is owned by Gloria Estefan and has excellent Cuban food. I ordered Ropa Viejo which is shredded beef with onions and peppers in tomato Cuban criolla sauce, served with plantains, and rice and beans.

I am a huge fan of Cuban food. My goodness that dinner was great! While enjoying dinner we also were highly entertained by passerby’s who were dressed up in their Halloween get-up.

After dinner we headed over to Lincoln Road which is an area lined with shops, bars, and restaurants.This is where the action was. People were packed in the streets and sidewalks, and the majority were dressed in costume. It was insane!

I was completely overwhelmed as I walked through this area, trying to weed through the crowd, yet also notice each and every costume and take it all in. The energy was incredible, but I was definitely happy once we were clear of the chaos. I should have packed my costume! What was I thinking? Oh well!

I think we calculated about 7 miles that we had covered on foot for the day. The combination of that and being sleep deprived put me right into a sleep coma as soon as we made it back to the hotel.

Miami Day Two

I did my best to follow a gluten-free diet while away on vacation. I gave in a couple of times but for the most part did a pretty great job. On day 2, we ate breakfast at the hotel and I managed to keep it very GF friendly (that’s gluten-free not girlfriend btw). 😉

Eggs, bacon, sausage (not a fan), fresh fruit, and coffee of course.

After our protein-packed breakfast, we laced up and headed out for a long walk to scope out more of South Beach. We made our way to the beach, and to a long boardwalk. We then curved around and covered foot on more of the “city” area as well.

Absolutely stunning views.

We rented bikes for the afternoon and drove down towards Lincoln Road again to scope out a place to eat lunch. To give you some idea of how well our breakfasts held us over, we ate breakfast at about 9:30, and we didn’t eat lunch/weren’t hungry for lunch until around 4:00 pm. That’s the power of protein! So really we were out on the prowl for late lunch/early dinner….Linner.

  

I was overwhelmed by the number of dining options, but knew I was in the mood for some veggies. We peaked at the menus and decided on a restaurant called Nexxt. They served just about everything you could ever want.

I must have been in a Thai food mood while in Miami because I ordered the Thai Cilantro Cashew Chicken Salad (the day before I ordered the Thai peanut omelett). But really how can you go wrong with peanut sauce?

 

I took off the fried tortillas and really went to town on this thing. It was monstrous and I was so glad because I was loving every bite of it. I walked away feeling satisfied. We hopped on our bikes and made our way back to the hotel.

One last trip to the hot tub. I felt like it was our own private hot tub because no one was in there either times we went! VIP baby.

Since we ate a late lunch/early dinner, and neither of us our ones to stay up too late, we decided against going to dinner. We headed out though around 8 pm to walk the city one last time, and to grab some frozen yogurt. Our phones guided us to a frozen yogurt shop about 10 blocks up from our hotel only to lead us to what was now a travel agency of some sort. Thanks a lot. Oh well, at least we had a nice walk.

We headed towards the next location on the map. It was closed. I believe there was a third stop in there. It was open but didn’t look too impressive. Maybe we weren’t meant to get frozen yogurt? Okay, let’s try the very last one on the map. Apparently frozen yogurt isn’t too popular in this area yet. The last attempt led us to a gelato shop called 4D. Hey, they were open, and although it wasn’t frozen yogurt, at this point we were more than ready for a cool treat.

The not-so-friendly gal behind the counter served us up a nice two scoop cup of gelato (caramel swirl and chocolate hazelnut for me), and we walked out of there smiling. Mission accomplished!

Nothing beats Italy’s gelato though I tell ya. Nothing. We headed back to our hotel, packed up our room, and called it an early night. Our flight was taking off early the next morning and we wanted to be well-rested for the next leg of our journey.

I would absolutley recommend visiting South Beach. There is so much to see, it is a great area for people watching (Halloween or not), the weather is unbeatable, and the food is incredible.

We so enjoyed our time in Miami and the Hotel Bentley was wonderfully accommodating. So that’s our Miami vaca in a nutshell. Next up, our trip to Bogota to visit my brother Jeffrey. It may take me more than one post to fill you all in on that portion, but it will be coming soon!

It’s bittersweet to be back. Although I was only gone for 6 days, I missed everyone at home, but now it’s back to reality. Time to make more money to fund our next vacation! 😉

I hope you all are having a great week so far. Happy hump day and happy no more Presidential ad campaigns! Wooooo!

 

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Guest Post: Favorite Soup & Chili Recipes

Hello, hello to all of Melanie’s awesome readers!

My name is Courtney and I write the blog Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life. I’m 28, a former elementary school teacher (you can read about that here if you’d like) and currently running my own online personal training business, Courtney’s Total Body Wellness.

I live up in Upstate, NY with my husband Jay and my kitty, Cody. Most of the time, if I’m not working on creating personal training plans, you’ll most likely find me blogging, baking goodies in the kitchen, or spending time with some of my favorite friends and family.

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I was so honored when Melanie asked me to guest post for her while she’s away in Colombia (how fun is THAT?!) that I couldn’t resist.

I know that Melanie tends to stick with mostly gluten-free choices when it comes to food, so I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite soup and chili recipes with you all today. Not only are they perfect for the fall (and quickly approaching, winter) weather, but they’re also gluten free. Win-win, right? Right!

First is my Pumpkin Black Bean Soup. I made this for the first time last year and have made it quite a few times ever since.

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I actually just bought all of the ingredients to make it again…I’m just waiting for the leftovers in my fridge to clear out so I have room. Oy vey.

Another favorite of mine is this Light ‘n Easy Cincinnati Chili. I LOVE this chili because it’s slightly different from most other chili’s I’ve had, thanks to a subtly sweet flavor from the cinnamon in the recipe.

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I serve it on top of spaghetti squash for a lightened up version of the real thing (which is usually served on pasta).

Last up is my Spinach Lentil Soup. It may not photograph well, but I promise you…it’s delicious.

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I actually really enjoy scooping up this soup with some crackers or tortilla chip “scoops” since it’s a little thicker. Either way, it’s awesome, and it makes a huge batch too, so you’ll have plenty of leftovers.

Hopefully you’ve found something that sparked your interest here, so feel free to check out the recipes, and I hope you love them all as much as I do!

Thanks again to the lovely Melanie for allowing me to invade her space today. clip_image005

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I Witch You a Happy Halloween

Light up those pumpkins, get your bowl of candy ready for those trick-or-treaters, the day is finally here. Since we already had our Halloween party last weekend, and since we aren’t going to be home for Halloween, I actually feel like the day has come and gone already. But no no. ‘Tis here.

How about some old snapshots from past Halloweens? Shall we?

Halloween 2008: Sheriff and a convict, college style. I made my costume myself by using black duck tape across old white clothes that I never wear. I went to the dollar store and bought plastic handcuffs too. Sheer genius right? 😉

Halloween 2009: Danny and Sandy from Grease

Halloween 2010: I thought I would throw a nerdy pumpkin picture in this mix…

And we were a birthday party princess and a piñata this year. This was one of my all-time favorites. Dana’s costume was NOT easy to make but so worth it!

Halloween 2011: No dressing up this year because I was in my dear friend Angela’s wedding that weekend.

Halloween 2012: As you’ve seen already, we were Ms. Kourtney Kardashian and Mr. Scott Disick this year.

I love getting creative when it comes to Halloween, but it seems like every year when the time rolls around I am always scrambling until the last minute to pull something together. Why is that? Oh yes, such is life.

Anyway…we are off to Colombia! Wooooo! I won’t be blogging while I am away but I do have a couple of posts lined up for ya including a special guest post. Don’t miss me too much! I can’t wait to fill you in when I get back.

Oh and if you’re anything like me, you’re possibly interested in what I ate yesterday, and since I have some photos lying around, here ya go!

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with spinach, cheese, and ketchup.

Lunch: Carrots and sugar snap peas, an apple, a banana with peanut butter and cinnamon, and a handful of peanut butter M & M’s.

Dinner: hodge-podge salad with mixed greens, tomato, bell peppers, peas, avocado, and turkey bacon. SO GOOD!

There may have been a couple of halloween candies that jumped into my mouth too. Just maybe.

This post is finally ending now. Sorry for all of the exclamation marks!!! I’m excited for vacation! Will miss you all!

 

Continue Reading I Witch You a Happy Halloween

Cowboy Caviar Mini Bell Peppers

What a great weekend that went by all too fast as always. How about catching you up a bit from the last time we touched base which would be Saturday around lunch time.

In my belly…a harvest pear salad with romaine lettuce, pears, walnuts, feta cheese, and poppy-seed dressing. Complete with fall leaves in the background of the photo.

After lunch I got to work preparing an appetizer for a Halloween party we were going to that evening.

Cowboy Caviar Mini Bell Peppers

I combined tomatoes, black beans, corn, avocado, red onion, cilantro, lime juice, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper to make a cowboy caviar. I then halved orange and yellow mini bell peppers, took out the seeds and the stem, and filled each boat with cowboy caviar. Delicious, healthy and beautiful to boot!

To the Halloween part-ay we went. We were greeted by this beautiful witch brewing up a secret potion and making snarky remarks at us.

Before I reveal what Dana and I dressed up as, let’s have a little fun and let me give you some hints and see if you can guess.

  1. I am holding our newest child Penelope.
  2. Our son Mason is at auntie Kimmy’s for the night.

Any Kardashian fans out there? I was Kourtney Kardashian and Dana was her boyfriend Scott Disick. That’s alright if you didn’t get it, most of our friends didn’t know either.

Our lovely hosts for the evening were Freddie Mercury (Adam) and Katniss (Stacy). It made me feel better that I didn’t know who either of them were dressed up as either. It was a general theme for the night—no one knew who anyone was supposed to be.

Except for the egg. I knew that Amanda was an egg. 😉

We had a great time as always being with our friends, munching on some great chow, and  laughing at everyone’s ridiculous costumes. We were home and into bed by midnight and I was wide awake at 8:00 am Sunday morning.

Sunday

I made myself a chopped banana with Parkers Farm peanut butter and cinnamon.

I also drank a cup of coffee while we flipped through the Sunday paper. Next, we hit the road for our grocery shopping extravaganza. We will be leaving for our vacation to Colombia in just a few days, but we needed to stock up the fridge for a very special guest who will be staying at our house with the pup.

We got a late start on running our errands so by the time we got home it was 1:00 pm and we were both very hungry. I notice that’s a common theme around our house. I was excited that I had leftover cowboy caviar from the appetizer on Saturday, so we cooked up a few over easy eggs, topped them on top the leftover cowboy caviar with some cheese, and had a protein packed and super tasty meal within minutes.

In the afternoon I made myself change into workout clothes and took the dog out for 2.6 mile run around the neighborhood. I could tell I was tired and dehydrated because it was a pretty difficult run for me.

A very good friend of mine was in town for the weekend so I got to see him and his beautiful girlfriend for a little while, then mom and dad stopped over too! After that we did a little packing and got ourselves ready for the week ahead.

Oh and we ate dinner too…a turkey burger served on top of a salad with onion, tomato, cheese, and green olives.

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

Yoga Challenge

Since it’s Monday that means it’s time to check in on the last October Yoga Challenge for the month! I can’t believe the month is over in a couple of days. I kind of feel like October didn’t happen it flew by so fast, but IT DID. Don’t let me fool you.

This past week I got in not one, but two yoga sessions. The first one was a full body session and the second was a session geared towards athletes. I completed the whole month’s challenge using OnDemand yoga sessions. Once again, I loved every second of this challenge.

Yoga is about connecting the body and the mind, and it is good for all of us to take the time to practice that. Whether or not you are lying on a yoga mat, or sitting in your office, take 30 seconds periodically to become aware of your mind and body. Focus on your breathing if you are feeling overwhelmed. Remind yourself to live in the moment.

I said this before but I do truly mean it again, I really hope to continue to include yoga in my life even though this challenge comes to an end. I feel better after every session and it reminds me to stay calm and helps me to control stress. Thanks to Courtney for hosting this challenge once again!

Namaste.

*****Thinking of all of my friends and family on the east coast. Stay safe!*****

Continue Reading Cowboy Caviar Mini Bell Peppers

What has gotten into me lately?

Happy Saturday!

I’m backin’ up the train to Thursday night.

After work Dana and I headed out to run a couple of errands. It was a super gloomy cold day, oh and did I mention it snowed on Thursday?! All I really wanted to do was stay snuggled up in our warm house, but life does go on even when the cold weather strikes…so off we went to get a few things done.

By the time we got home we were both extremely hungry but neither of us were any mood to cook, so I cheated. I opened up a can of fat-free refried beans, heated them up and topped them on a romaine salad along with corn, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, cilantro, onions, and salsa.

A burrito salad. So simple. So delicious. The only thing missing was avocado which we HAD but wasn’t quite ripe. Womp womp…Aw well, next time.

Now to Friday (yesterday)…

I had the day off and started the day with a little experiment. I wanted to see how my body would react to Greek yogurt for breakfast. This used to be a breakfast staple for me back in the day but this colitis business has been throwing me off a bit.

I dished up a bowl of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, banana and FAGE Non-Fat Greek Yogurt sweetened with a touch of stevia.

It tasted glorious ANNND my body seemed to accept it just fine. It’s nice to have this as another breakfast option again.

After breakfast and a cup of coffee, I vacuumed the living room to get ready for some yoga. I found yet another OnDemand yoga session that was geared towards athletes. Not to say that I’m an athlete by any means, but I like to be active, so I thought I would give it a go. It turned out to be one of my favorites so far. The instructor explained the moves very well and I really enjoyed how he kept the session flowing with lots of different poses.

After yoga I set out to run a few errands including trying to find the last piece of my Halloween costume for a party we are going to tonight. The store I wanted to go to didn’t open until 10 and I arrived ready to go at 9:40. I’m not one to sit around so I decided to head on over to the local natural food store and see how much money I could spent in 20 minutes. Kidding.

When I walked in the door I was immediately greeted with this sample set up. Angie’s White Chocolatier Peppermint Holidrizzle Kettle Corn. Are you serious?! I sampled two delectable kernels and they rocked my socks off. I have plans to try to recreate this in the future for the holidays, or else just go buy a bag. One or the other.

There were some more errands run…and now we are on to dinner (I skipped ahead a bit).

Earlier in the week I had prepped a spaghetti squash by cooking it, scraping out the spaghetti strands, draining some of the liquids, and freezing it in a Ziploc bag. All I had to do last night was defrost it in the microwave, drain off excess liquid and do whatever I pleased with it.

I sautéed some onion, mushroom, and kale in some olive oil. I seasoned the veggies with oregano and basil. Once the veggies were cooked down, I hollowed out a spot in the pan for the squash. I placed the squash in the center and spread it out like a pancake. I cooked each side for about 1-2 minutes. It “toasts” the spaghetti and I really like it better that way. Plus it helps to rid of any excess liquid.

Next, I plated up the squash with the veggies, topped it with spaghetti sauce and parmesan cheese.

Dinner was finished in less than 15 minutes. How about that?

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

Now it’s Saturday morning and Dana, Moose and I just got back from a 4-mile run. It felt AMAZING! It was 27 ° F when we headed out this morning so I broke out the long underwear, ear-warmers, and gloves. The sun was out so that helped to keep us warm. I felt like I could keep running and running and running. What has gotten into me lately? I am loving it.

Off to tackle a few projects including appetizer prep for the Halloween party tonight, and finding the last piece of my costume. I always thought I wasn’t a procrastinator, but now I’m starting to wonder. I think I’m just really picky or have something envisioned in my head, so it takes me a long time to find the perfect piece that fits that vision. Yea, we’re going to go with that.

Have a splendid Saturday! Excited to catch up with you all again!

Continue Reading What has gotten into me lately?

Pina Colada for Breakfast

Last night was one of those nights where I was exhausted around 7:30 pm, struggling to keep my eyes open yet made myself stay awake so that I would be able to go to bed at a decent hour. At 9:45 pm, I crawled into bed, tired, read my book for 25 minutes, still tired, turned off the light but couldn’t turn off my brain. I don’t know what the deal was last night but I was thinking of everything under the sun and could not put my mind to rest. Usually I can read my book for 20 minutes and then be out, but last night was a casualty.

The book I’m reading is about healing your body through meditation. I like a lot of it, but I don’t like the idea of having to sit and do nothing accept focus on myself for 45 minutes. They do mention that meditation time can be done during yoga, which makes sense. I like that idea better.

The book talks a lot about focusing on your breathing, not only when you’re in mediation, but throughout the day. It is a reminder to live in the moment and grab a hold of yourself when daily activities become too chaotic. Why am I talking about this book so much? To put it into context, I tried focusing on my breathing last night to get me to fall asleep, and I think that may have been what helped me. I’m not quite sure, though.

But all in all I didn’t get enough sleep for my personal sleep needs last night. I am one of those people who needs a solid 8+ hours for highest functioning ability, and last night I probably only got 6. However looking on the bright side, I am fortunate to have a warm and comfortable bed to sleep in, a roof over my head, and clean water to have at the bedside. I will try and focus on the positives to get through the day!

How about a quick little run down of my eats yesterday? I have a smooth concoction to share with you all…

Anyone care for a Piña Colada for breakfast? Virgin of course.

I did my best to measure it out yesterday when I made it in the morning (the above photo was from my first trial a couple of days ago, it’s actually more voluminous than that), so that I could share it with you all.

Piña Colada Breakfast Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 1 cup frozen pineapple, cubed
  • 1 small banana
  • 1/2 cup coconut almond milk
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/4 cup (or small handful) of crushed ice
Directions
  1. Whirl all ingredients together in blender until smooth, pour into glass, serve with a straw.
I have been whipping this smoothie up before work and enjoying it on the drive.
For Lunch…
A fraternal twinsie from Tuesday’s salad. This one was chicken, grapes, and walnuts mixed with Ken’s Lite Poppy Seed dressing ,served on top a bed of romaine lettuce. The only thing missing this time around was feta cheese. I just wasn’t feeling it and was going for more of a “chicken salad” this time around.

Work was very busy and I came home exhausted. We had intentions of running errands after work but I put a big ol’ red x on that idea.

I knew I should be hungry for dinner but nothing was sounding too appetizing. I also knew I needed to increase my veggie intake for the day (mind you I did have some carrots with my lunch that I didn’t mention), so I threw a hodge-podge salad together.

In the mix: romaine lettuce (leftover lettuce still from last Saturday–we usually buy the dark greens for more vitamins and nutrients), tomato, green olives, muenster cheese, sunflower seeds, lima beans, and Newman’s Own Lite Honey Mustard dressing. Very random but pretty tasty. I always enjoy a sweet and salty salad. Olives always add a nice touch of salt.

After dinner we watched Modern Family which is definitely my favorite show on television right now, and I I stayed hunkered down on the couch until bed time.

I munched on some of these too…

I declared yesterday a rest day from working out. If only I could have actually “slept” on “rest” day. Oh well, I’ll get after it tonight.

********

It is rainy here in Minnesota today and only 40° F as I write this morning. Yikes! That’s the kind of weather that makes you want to stay in and bake cookies. Anyone agree with that?

Have a fabulous day my friends. Let’s focus on the positives today!

Question of the Day: If you could stay home and inside on a rainy cold day, what would YOU want to do?

I would want to sleep in, drink coffee, catch up on blogs, do some yoga, bake cookies, and watch cooking shows all afternoon. 🙂

Continue Reading Pina Colada for Breakfast
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