Peanut Butter All Day

Yesterday I decided to take a break from the smoothies. I don’t know if my body was reacting poorly to the weekend of fun and not eating normally, or if it was reacting because I had two smoothies on Sunday. One way or the other, it wasn’t very happy. Since I had to be at work yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to stick with the basics.

Delicious basics. Cream of Wheat with cinnamon, banana, and stevia in an almost empty peanut butter jar. The hot cereal makes the peanut butter melt off the sides. It is so so good. I scraped this bad boy clean.

The protein, fat, and carb combo did a great job of holding me over until lunch time. At lunch I came home and made myself a PB2 banana sandwich and served it on possibly the cutest plate I have ever laid my eyes on. Target boutique really knows how to make me happy. 😉 This plate was $1.79 I think; well worth it. I have another one to show you soon too!

I also ate some pretzels and cheesy crackers with hummus and a piece of dark chocolate. Then back to work. After work I headed straight to the gym even though all I wanted to do was lay outside on the deck under the beautiful sun. I brought an issue of Fitness magazine and read it from front to back while movin’ it on the elliptical. It felt great to move yet I kept it a fairly relaxing workout. I was still sweating through it! I think I have decided that Fitness magazine is currently my favorite magazine. I love reading all of their recipe ideas, workouts, and tips on healthy living.

Anyway, I headed home to hang out with the boyeeze. On the menu for dinner: lettuce wraps with pulled chicken, apple, avocado, and Newman’s Own Lite Honey Mustard.

I loved all of the different textures and the sweetness from the apple and honey mustard with the slightly salty chicken. After the lettuce wraps I got into the peanut butter again. Yup, you read it right, peanut butter for the third time, this time with pretzels (Hales I thought of you while snacking on this one). I just couldn’t keep my paws off the peanut butter yesterday. And since I’m being totally honest, I’ll go ahead and tell you I also had a few bites of rainbow sherbet and a lemon cookie.

After dinner I still had quite a bit of energy to burn, so made my way down to the treadmill and walked my way through the Bachelorette. Well, part of it at least. I am such a huge Sean fan still. I am really hoping that Emily falls for him and they can live happily ever after.

Once again I got roped into watching this season. They always get me somehow.

I am off to tackle some To-Do’s. Catch up with all ya’ll later! Have a great day.

Do you have a guilty pleasure show? What is it?

Besides The Bachelorette, I find myself getting sucked into Keeping Up with the Kardashians every once and a while if it’s on. Those are my guilty pleasure shows, and now you all know!

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Saturday with the Family

Wow, Saturday was a great day. It started off with a pretty amazing 3-mile run. It felt SO good to be running again. When I got home I made myself another green smoothie. This one was similar to yesterday’s but I also added in frozen peaches, a tiny splash of vanilla, and omitted the lime juice and splash of V8 fusion. I was happy to get some greens in first off in the morning. 🙂

In the morning we hung out with my brother and Nicole before we headed out to meet Dana’s parents for a belated Father’s Day celebration. We decided to go to lunch at  Captain Jack’s in Prior Lake. We’ve all been wanting to check this place out for a while and thought this would be the perfect opportunity. It is a casual restaurant with indoor seating, outdoor patio seating right on the lake and fun swings at the bar.

Dana’s mom, Sue, and I split the Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich: teriyaki grilled chicken breast, pineapple, provolone cheese, lettuce, and tomato with a side of sweet potato fries.

We all split a brownie sundae for a sweet bite to end lunch.

The food was pretty good but the best part was definitely being able to sit outside right by the lake and of course catch up with my in-law’s. The weather held up just long enough while we were there because as we were leaving it began to sprinkle. Talk about good timing!

After lunch Dana and I tag-teamed the garden and weeded the heck out of it. The weeds had invaded our vegetable garden and I was not having it, so we slipped on our gardening gloves and got rid of those buggers. My biggest challenge was deciphering weed versus actual plant with the plants that hadn’t gotten too big yet like the peppers.

For dinner we headed over to mom and dad’s for a BBQ. We hung out on the deck and enjoyed the perfect summer weather. Eventually we fired up the grill and got to cooking up some mean burgers. We wanted to keep the meal very simple and planned on a “picnic” type of dinner. I plated myself up an awesome super lean hamburger, some chili cheese dip with pretzels (plus probably five more servings  of pretzels), mushrooms, and watermelon.

I had made a big batch of guacamole but completely forgot to put it out for dinner. Whoops! I realize my plate looks a little lame-o but I did my best to stay low-fiber and this is what I came up with. It sure was tasty.

Plus, I had to save room for dessert…

Rainbow sherbet with whipped cream and a lemon butter cookie. Num. When we got home we hung out with this booger and then called it an early night.

 

I had such a great Saturday with both sides of the family yesterday. I hope you did too. Now on to another day of fun. I’ll fill you in later!

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Pasta Bolognese Per Request

Hi friends! I hope everyone is having a good Monday so far…

It’s time to recap a super awesome Sunday that was spent with my husband and the dog. It started with BOGO coffees at Caribou. I stuck with a decaf coffee with sugar-free hazelnut (num) and Dana went for the Milk Chocolate Mocha with a shot or two of espresso.

Let the Father’s Day fun begin! Today was all about the hubby. Moose even made sure to get his dad a sweet card for Father’s Day. How thoughtful, right?

For breakfast I made myself a pb banana sandwich (I ate half of it before remembering to snap a photo). I ate my banana ‘wich and sipped on my coffee while we cut coupons.

Once again, the coupons were completely lame this week. We cut two measly coupons. TWO. And they were for household type things so they weren’t even exciting.

Next, we hit the Sunday usuals: Target and Costco. We stocked up on some good eats and even bought Mooser a new chicken. His last one had to be tossed due to a terrible stench that really raunched up his breath each time he played with it. Gross.

We got a few things done around the house, I completed a relaxing yoga session, and then I made Dana a special Father’s Day sandwich.

This beautiful creation is made up of:

  • Two pieces of whole wheat bread
  • 1 slice of lower-sodium turkey breast
  • 1 slice cheddar cheese
  • Sliced tomato sprinkled with onion powder and pepper
  • Mustard
  • 1 drippy egg.

All grilled to perfection with love.

I LOVE making special meals for the ones I love.

In the afternoon, we had to run a few more errands which included plans to take the pooch out for a walk around the lake. Our plans were hindered when the clouds opened up and mother nature watered our grass from 1:00-5:00 pm. I wasn’t sure if it was going to let up, so I decided to head down to our treadmill to get a little walk in just in case. I walked for 35 minutes while watching The Blind Side. Such a great movie.

Towards the end of my workout, the skies had cleared up and Moose really wanted to take his dad out for a Father’s Day walk :wink:, so we headed out. It had cooled off quite a bit after the rain and the sun was even peeking through. It was a perfect evening walk with my guys.

Since today was all about the dads, I told Dana he could have whatever he wanted for dinner. His decision: Pasta Bolognese. My version of course.

I started by sautéing 1 cup diced yellow onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, and 1 cup of chopped mushrooms in a light amount of garlic infused olive oil. After about 3 minutes, I added a jar of No-Added Sugar Ragu, added a shake of garlic powder, basil, and oregano. I gave this a stir, covered, and let simmer while I prepared the rest of the meal.

In a separate pan, I started browning up a package of lean ground chicken and began boiling my water for the pasta. Once the meat was browned, I sprinkled it with oregano and garlic powder. I like to flavor each part of the dish when I can. I added the meat to the sauce, then finished the sauce by adding about 3/4 cup of chopped green olives.

Once the pasta was finished cooking to al dente, I drained it and served up two heaping plates full of pasta and Bolognese sauce and topped with parmesan cheese.

Great decision, honey.

After dinner, we just had to have dessert because it was Father’s Day after all. So what did we decide to do? Head to the Frozen Yogurt shop down the road of course. Jeez louise this is the third Sunday in a row now that we have done this. We are getting a lot better at controlling our frozen yogurt pour and limiting the toppings at least. Last night we spent $7.00 between the two of us which was our cheapest fro-yo purchase yet.

Last night I chose non-dairy, non-fat Valencia Orange Sorbet mixed with the tiniest bit of sugar-free vanilla fro-yo (to get the orange creamsicle effect). I topped it with gummies and was extremely happy with this combo. You are probably aware by now that I usually opt for the chocolately, rich toppings when it comes to my fro-yo and ice cream, but I am trying to cool it on the dairy, and since the only sorbet flavor option they had last night was orange, I didn’t think topping it with cookie dough and brownie pieces sounded very appetizing. The gummies were just perfect.

Any time I eat gummies I am reminded of my childhood, and my college years. Growing up we had gummies as a special treat, and through my college years, my girlies and I would buy a huge bag of mixed gummies from the grocery store when we were having a girl’s night in. Sweet memories.

What a great Father’s Day weekend with my papa on Saturday, and Dana on Sunday. We will be celebrating Father’s Day with Dana’s parents next weekend. Let the fun continue.

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I keep forgetting to tell you all, that last week I DID reach my June Yoga Challenge weekly goal. When I posted on Friday I had only completed two yoga sessions and my goal is three per week. Well, you better believe that after I posted on Friday I hit up the yoga. I am really loving it and am feeling pretty sore from it as well. Work it baby!

I still need to share that awesome Lemon Blueberry Bar recipe with you all that I made on Saturday. I didn’t forget! It’s still comin. Have a great Monday.

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Crock Pot Sweet Potatoes

There is only one word I need to say to describe how I am feeling: Friday.

I am so happy it’s Friday as I always am. This week was absolutely exhausting and I’m thrilled it’s the weekend. We have some very fun plans for this weekend with friends and family.

But before I jump  ahead, I will back track to yesterday. I am getting so completely bored with the low-fiber foods I have needed to be eating as of lately…Cream of Wheat, bananas, sweet potato, chicken, rice. It’s becoming very boring boring boring. This can’t last too much longer because I am going nutso. I am trying to continue to be creative with my options, but it is very challenging.

I thought I could at least make the monotonous breakfast look pretty by putting them into collage form. Cream of Wheat. Oooo Ahhh. And yes, this is what I had yesterday morning if you couldn’t guess.

A tried and true lunch of mine, banana and peanut butter has continuously been making its way into my diet. This is one combination I don’t think I will ever get tired of. At least I hope not. It’s a beautiful thing. It’s like they were made for eachother.

During lunch break, I decided to conduct an experiment. I wanted to know if whole sweet potatoes would cook properly, and stay moist, if cooked in the crock pot. I am getting tired of eating baked potatoes and sweet potato fries, and was in need of something new; a new way to prepare the sweet potato. I hypothesized that they would cook perfectly in the slow cooker just as everything else does. I swear that machine is magic sometimes.

I scrubbed up two sweet potatoes and placed them into my mini crock pot. I added two cups of water, covered, and set on low for the afternoon.

About 6 hours later, I removed the sweet potatoes from the crock pot. They were very tender and I was able to peel the skin right off. Now, just a reminder for you all, that normally I would eat the skins, but considering I have to be on the low-fiber kick for now, and the skins hold the majority of the fiber, I had to removed them.

I placed these beautifully orange potatoes into a bowl and whipped them into a puree with the hand mixer.

I plated up a heaping spoonful, sprinkled with cinnamon, a touch of ginger, and salt. Alongside the whipped potatoes I got my protein fix with leftover crock pot chicken with BBQ sauce.

My experiment was a success. I wasn’t sure how the potatoes would turn out being that I just plopped them into the crock pot and let them rip, but they were very sweet and tender and moist and very tasty. Talk about easy peasy right? I would do this again in a heart beat. You could do it with any type of potato. Oh, how I love my crock pot. It makes life so much easier.

Yesterday’s day of eats pretty much sums up my current diet. I miss my greens SO much and cannot wait for the day when I can pile my plate high with dark green leafy lettuce and spinach, add a ton of broccoli, beans, and every thing else that I’m not able to eat right now, and just scarf it down.

But, if I want to get to that point, I have to stick to the easy to digest stuff for now. I am trying to keep it tasty, but I am losing my gusto for creativity with  my options! I did find a recipe for sweet potato gnocchi which intrigued me. I may have to give that a whirl.

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Since today is Friday, that means it is time to check in on the June Yoga Challenge.

I challenged myself to work three yoga sessions into my weekly routine. I didn’t begin the challenge until Tuesday however, and was only able got in two sessions this week (Tuesday and Wednesday). I know that had I had a full week to complete my challenge, I would have met it in a second. Although, I am still contemplating getting one in today. Then I would reach my goal!

So, how do I feel after my week one Yoga Challenge? Pretty good. It’s too early to really feel any  major differences, but I do notice when I am at work that I am starting to gain better control of my stress when certain chaotic situations arise.  I still have a lot of work to do, but I will get there.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday!

Question of the Day: Anyone have any fun recipe ideas for me that are low-fiber?!

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My Day of Small Meals

I have officially taken on the June Yoga Challenge along with Courtney at SweetToothSweetLife and other lovely readers and bloggers.

(You can click on the above photo if you want to check out Courtney’s page)

Basically, the challenge is to incorporate more yoga into your life. You set your own goal as to how you wish to do so. Courtney’s challenge was to incorporate three yoga sessions into her weekly routine. It doesn’t matter how long the session, or at what difficulty, just as long as you do it keeping your own personal goal in mind. Or, you can create a different type of yoga-related challenge, such as mastering a new pose or trying out a new yoga studio for the first time. It’s up to you.

On Fridays, we all check in with our weekly yoga status updates and motivate eachother through those weekly updates as well as through twitter. It’s always more encouraging and motivating working out with others, and this is a fun and different way to do it!

At first I was thinking my goal would be to incorporate one yoga session into my weekly routine, but considering I have already tackled two yoga workouts in the past two days, I figured I could create a heftier goal. I am going to also have a goal of completing three yoga sessions through the week. I am finding I am enjoying this workout first thing in the morning; it is very relaxing and allows me to mentally and physically relax as I begin my day.

The other part of my challenge is working around this big dude who likes to sit directly next to me on the carpet during yoga time.

And inevitably he just HAS to go outside during this time.

He keeps me smiling at least. 🙂

My brain and body could really use the stress relief from yoga. Thank you Courtney for creating this and motivating me to get yoga’ing! It’s always a good idea to set fitness goals for yourself, and I look forward to continuing this challenge.

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Food Recap from Yesterday

I had a day full of small meals and snacks versus three bigger meals and small snacks in between. I prefer to eat this way, but my work situation doesn’t really allow for this type of structure. Well, our schedule was a little different yesterday and it just so happened that it did work out for me. So, here it goes.

Breakfast: Cream of Wheat with cinnamon, brown sugar, and bananas with a cup o’ decaf coffee with cream and stevia on the side.

Snack: the rest of the banana from breakfast with PB2

Snack #2: Unphotographed tuna noodle salad at work

Lunch: Lower-sodium turkey breast, hummus, and avocado wrap

A spoonful (or two) of peanut butter…

Pomegranate no-added sugar applesauce…

Snack: Unphotographed peanut butter M & M’s at work

Dinner: Cooked spinach, pureed black beans, cheddar cheese, and avocado with salt and onion powder

Lastly, pretzels with honey mustard dipping sauce, and then I made myself I small batch of PB2 with honey to finish’er off!

I love these kinds of days! I get to eat all day long. I was extra hungry yesterday too so this worked out perfectly.

I slept much better last night by the way and am very thankful. I had a rough night of sleep the following night and was hoping it wasn’t going to be a reoccurring theme.

Alright, I’m off. Happy Thursday everyone.

Question of the Day: Which do you prefer? Small meals and snacks throughout the day/grazing or 3 larger meals?

I prefer grazing throughout the day but like I mentioned, work doesn’t always make that possible. I feel like my energy level is so much greater when I am eating smaller meals throughout the day and I am able to regulate my blood sugars more evenly versus many highs and lows which makes for a happier me overall.

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Unattractive Food Photos

Happy Tuesday friends.

I’m going to start off by saying that yesterday’s day of eats was flat-out U.G.L.Y. I ain’t got no alibi, it’s ugly, yea yea it’s ugly.

To begin with the series of unattractive food photos, we’ll begin at breakfast. I decided to try something new for breakfast: sweet potato with peanut butter. I have been loving this combo for lunch so I figure hey why not try it in the morning? As much as I enjoy my boring old bowl of Cream of Wheat each morning, I thought it would be fun for all of us if I jazzed it up a bit. Enter: the ugliest food photo I think I have ever taken.

The verdict?  I don’t know if it was just the particular day that I wasn’t feeling this combo for breakfast, or if the texture was too much for me to handle in the morning, or what it was; all I know is that I wasn’t havin it. Not one bit. I ate a few bites before pitching it. That was me trying to eat outside the box in the morning. Outside the cereal box that is.

Speaking of cereal box, on to breakfast #2. After my first failed breakfast attempt, I wasn’t feeling very motivated to get creative, plus I was running out of time before work, so I poured myself a bowl of Rice Chex with almond milk and a little sugar. Very boring but simple and tasty, and just what I wanted.

I’m not giving up on the whole sweet potato in the morning bit just yet, but I will go another route next time; maybe puree them and add them into pancakes? We’ll see.

I met up with my mama and miss Abbie for lunch yesterday for a picnic during my break. I packed a Greek inspired low-fiber dish consisting of white rice, chicken, hummus, feta, and avocado. I sprinkled the whole thing with lemon juice and a touch of salt.

Absolutely delicious. I also ate a banana and some nummy Aussie licorice bites mom brought for dessert. I loved spending my lunch break with mom. We ate outside at a nearby park and enjoyed the sun and a cool breeze. I wish we could do that more often!

I mentioned yesterday that I was wanting and needing to get back on the workout wagon. It’s been a little difficult for me lately since I haven’t been feeling very well due to the colitis, and I am finding that lower impact exercises like yoga, walking, and the elliptical are agreeing with me better than higher impact activities like long runs. If I do want to run, it has to be right away in the morning when I don’t have much food in my system yet, and this just hasn’t been happening lately. My body has been favoring sleep and I have really been trying to listen to my body. If that is what it needs right now to heal me faster, that is what it is going to get. I do want to keep moving and I will keep moving, I will just be switching up my activities a bit for now.

With that being said, I headed to the gym after work. I started off with 20 minutes on the elliptical, followed by 10 minutes on the stair stepper, and finish off with 10 minutes walking at an incline on the treadmill. I didn’t have any new magazines to read so instead I watched The Real Housewives of Orange County. Some chick was getting married and it kept me entertained for the duration of the workouts. I finished off with my favorite core move on the bosou ball. I really need to get back on my game in the strength training department too. I so easily fall off the wagon on this one.

I headed home to the boys and began contemplating dinner.  While I pondered, I snacked on Special K Sea Salt Cracker Chips with hummus.

When planning meals, I often try and decide on the protein source first, and then build off of that. Last night our main protein source was going to be eggs.

In a pan on the stove top, I sautéed diced mushrooms, added cooked spinach,  and low-sodium deli turkey. In a separate bowl I whisked together two eggs and about 1/2 cup egg whites for Dana and I. Once the mix-ins were finished sautéeing, I poured the eggs onto the pan and began the scramble. During the last minute of cooking I sprinkled in about 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese until it was gooey and melted into the eggs.

I plated them up and sprinkled the dish with salt and pepper and a little squirt of ketchup and enjoyed a proton packed dinner that came together in just minutes.

I told ya it was an ugly day of eats. I guess this one isn’t too bad. Besides my first shot at breakfast, the meals were all very tasty which goes to show that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. I especially enjoyed our scrambled egg dinner.

The rest of the evening was spent watching the drama unfold on the bachelorette.

I loved that Emily told one of the guys off after finding out he was referring to her daughter as baggage and saying some other cruel things about her. What a jerk! He was a nasty one. I’m glad he’s gone. My favorite is still Sean; has been since the beginning. He is sweet, smart, kind, and very handsome. If it were up to me, Emily would choose him. Why do I get sucked in to watching this show every season? Why?

 Later I needed a little snack so I made myself a small bowl of Fage Non-fat Greek yogurt with frozen blueberries and honey.

I also stumbled upon two Milano cookie melts that I saved from an airplane snack during one of our last vacations. For being a packaged cookie, they were pretty darn good. I still prefer homemade of course.

Off to get ready for the day! Peace and love.

Question for you: Have you ever made a dish that turned out completely unappealing to the eye, but tasted awesome? Tell me about it!  I would love to hear from you!

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FroYo Sunday and Frittata Recipe

It’s Monday, my most favorite day of the week. You all know I’m kidding, but I will do my best to stay positive if you promise to try and do the same. I am meeting my mom and possibly dad for lunch during my break from work, so that is something fun I get to look forward to!

Yesterday…

Dana and I carried out our normal Sunday morning routine which consisted of coupon cutting while eating breakfast, and then going grocery shopping. We already had quite a few groceries but still needed a few things like PEANUT BUTTER!

We then got busy on tackling two of the worst house cleaning jobs: bathroom and kitchen. We decided we’d spruce up and de-clutter both of these rooms. And much to my relief, I came across unclutterer, and got some ideas on how to begin. We divided and conquered with Dana taking the bathroom (bless is heart) and I took the kitchen. We have stainless steel appliances in the kitchen and although they are beautiful to look at, they are a pain in the neck to keep clean. But nevertheless, they are clean right now, so we will enjoy it for a short while. It feels real good to have both of those rooms cleaned.

Mid-morning, I snacked on a bunch of Special K Sea Salt Cracker Chips and then I made myself a PB2 and jelly open face sandwich on spelt bread.

Then we were out the door to visit with mom and dad. I also snacked on some chips there, but that time it was Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips. After mom and dad’s we headed to Dana’s parent’s place to visit over there for a while, and then we made our way home.

I was starving when we got home so I made myself a light (early) dinner at 4:50. Lower sodium turkey deli meat wrapped around mozzarella string cheese.

Plus some more Special K chips (I am LOVING chips today apparently) and hummus.

I ended with a bowl of cooked carrots with a little sugar.

At least I thought that was the end, but no. Dana and I made our way to a local frozen yogurt shop for a special Sunday treat. Come to think of it, we had frozen yogurt last Sunday too. This could be a nice little tradition we have started. 🙂 FroYo Sunday.

I chose cookie monster frozen yogurt with brownie pieces, cookie dough, snickers, sprinkles, and whipped cream. What a great way to end the weekend.

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I had a few requests for the frittata recipe that I had made the other day with my first frittata ever. I thought I would share it with everybody in case anyone else was interested. I used this recipe as a guide since it was my first time. I wanted to make sure I got the proportions and baking time right and such. I did make some adjustments to the recipe and put my own spin on it. I can now consider it my frittata recipe.

Melanie’s First Frittata: Serves 2-4 people

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
  • 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
  • 1-10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed and drained well
  • 2 large eggs
  • 4 large egg whites
  • 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Cilantro or other fresh herbs (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°
  2. In an oven-safe skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat on the stove top
  3. Add onion; allow to cook down for 2 minutes
  4. Add mushrooms; allow to cook for 1 minute; lastly add spinach
  5. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, egg whites, nutritional yeast, and salt and pepper; mix well
  6. Remove skillet from heat and add spinach mixture into egg bowl
  7. Pour entire mixture back into skillet, sprinkle with cheese, and place in oven; bake for 25 minutes*
  8. Remove frittata from pan carefully and cut into 4 triangles. Garnish with fresh herbs and salsa or your favorite egg accompaniment (I love ketchup) and enjoy

*Baking time may vary. Keep an eye on the skillet and watch for melty cheese and a firm egg bake.

Dana and I finished this off ourselves for dinner, but it could be split between four people and served with a big fruit salad and some fresh-baked whole grain rolls for a more well-rounded meal. I enjoyed making my first ever frittata. It was actually extremely easy and turned out great.

Have a happy day! I am getting back on the workout wagon this week….I have fallen off slightly. Yikes!

P.S. Are you following me on twitter yet? NuttyMelanie could use some friends.

Continue Reading FroYo Sunday and Frittata Recipe

A Quiet Date Night

Happy weekend!

Recap from yesterday…

My day started off with a follow up appointment with the gastroenterologist regarding my current colitis flare. To give you a quick update, I’m still not feeling very well. The doc is going to amp up the dosage of my medication and has recommended I stick to a low-fiber diet as best as I can, reminding me that some small salads here and there will probably be fine, just don’t go crazy. I told her I had tried to stick to a very low-fiber, low-residue diet, but couldn’t stick with it very long because my body was craving greens so bad, and I wasn’t feeling well because of it. I am going to continue to experiment with my diet, but have decided to only allow myself to experiment at night or dinner time, so that if I do have a negative reaction, I won’t be stuck at work with it.

Anyway, I am continuing my research on different allowable foods and plan to get creative. I got busy in the kitchen later and whipped up (literally) a batch of roasted butternut squash soup for my lunches or dinners next week. People with U.C. can often tolerate cooked veggies; squash, carrots, sweet potato, but are continued to be advised to stay away from cruciferous types of vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, because they often cause GI distress. I will be posting this recipe soon! It turned out fantastic.

We made a stop at Trader Joe’s to pick up a few things since we were in the area. I L.O.V.E. LOVE Trader Joe’s. We especially love their Three Buck Chuck.

For lunch…I had some snacks and then made myself one of my most favorite lunches of all time. Spelt bread in this case, with peanut butter, honey and bananas. In my younger years, whenever I got sick with flare-ups, my mom would buy me spelt bread and I seemed to tolerate it well. I thought I would give it a go again.

So beautiful. I actually used PB2 on this one today because I am needing to watch my fat intake right now. Since PB2 only has 1.5 grams of fat per serving, it was a good decision today. I could probably eat this lunch every day and never ever get sick of it. Num.

I made my way to the gym but really wasn’t feeling the best so just hit the elliptical for an easy pace and easy resistance for a half hour.

Dinner and quiet date night….

For dinner I pureed a can of rinsed and drained pinto beans with garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and a touch of chicken broth. This was an experimental dinner btw to see if I can handle brown beans in the pureed form. We cooked up some white rice, and chopped up tomato, cilantro, and avocado, and piled it on a plate. We melted cheddar cheese on the deal and called it one quick and easy dinner.

Whoops, forgot the cheese.

There it is. How could I forget the cheese?!

I was hoping that we had mild salsa on hand to top off the dish but we didn’t, so I ended up seasoning my dish with a little dash of salt and a splash of lemon juice. I didn’t miss the salsa at all. I actually think I prefer the lemon taste (would have used lime if we had it and that would have been great too!).

Dana and I had a quiet date night planned for last night. We waited to finalize any date plans until I knew how I was feeling and since I wasn’t feeling great, we decided to make ourselves a healthy dinner, rent a movie, and stay home.

A while back I read ‘The Help’ and have wanted to see the movie ever since. Well, it just so happened redbox had it for us.

We spent the evening cuddled on the couch in our cozies watching ‘The Help.’ That is my idea of a perfect date night.

Now I am off running here and there today. Have a great Saturday everyone!

Continue Reading A Quiet Date Night

Chocolate Banana PB2 Cookies

Good morning/afternoon/evening/night….depending on what time you read this post and what time zone you’re in. 🙂

Yesterday was another good restful day for me. I was feeling extremely sore, particularly in my back, but still managed to get some things done around the house and ran a couple of errands.

For lunch, I continued with my experimental diet, and made a big salad full of mixed greens, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, avocado, almonds, and strawberry basil balsamic vinegar with a spot of olive oil.

The salad was pretty darn good, but how about my stomach? Not too bad, but not too peachy either. I am getting to the point where I don’t even know what I “should or should not eat” anymore with this current flare. When I was following the low-fiber diet, I felt okay, but felt nutritionally deprived. My body craved my usual salads, fresh fruits, beans, etc. So, I slowly began incorporating some salads back into my diet to experiment with and to note how my body reacted.  As of now I am concluding that I can have salads in the evening, but am not ready for them during the day based on how I felt yesterday after eating a salad at lunch time.

Later in the afternoon my beautiful cousin/bestie/maid of honor, Betsy, stopped by to visit. I do not see that girl nearly as much as I wish I could and cherish every second I get with her.

Prior to Betsy coming over, I had begun a cookie experiment. I had a large urge to bake, but really struggled with deciding what to make. I know it’s weird that I hard time making a decision (sense the sarcasm). That never happens. I knew that whatever I was going to make was going to have to come from ingredients we had already on hand, because I wasn’t going to go make a special trip just for this particular urge.

So, I began the cupboard raid. I found PB2, cocoa powder, oatmeal, and other baking necessities. I pulled out my bowls and my hand mixer and started mixing and measuring. I still wasn’t 100% sure what I was making as I was starting the process, but I knew I would pull something together. Here is what I came up with folks.

Chocolate Banana PB2 Cookies

Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp stevia
  • 1/4 cup egg whites
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 cup PB2
  • 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 small ripe banana
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup oats
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp chopped dark chocolate (I used Dove Dark Chocolate)
Directions
  1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugars, egg whites, vanilla, honey, water, PB2, and cocoa powder.
  2. Add banana.
  3. In a separate small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and oats. Mix into wet ingredients.
  4. Stir in chocolate pieces.
  5. Place dough in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes so that dough is easier to work with.
  6. Preheat oven to 350°. Remove dough from fridge and roll into 1 inch balls (or larger if you wish). Place on baking pan sprayed with cooking spray and press down on cookie to flatten slightly keeping about an inch in between each.
  7. Bake for 9-11 minutes.

And there you have it. A healthy version of such an amazingly awesome cookie!

These cookies are so gooey, chocolatey and nummy, and they’re low-fat too! You wouldn’t even know it because there is no sacrifice in flavor. That equals a success. I LOVE creating healthier version of sweet treats. It’s such a passion of mine. Someday, this may be my job. A girl can dream, right?

However, I would need to learn to have better constraint when it comes to the “taste-testing” part of recipe creation. I ate a few too many bites of dough, and a one too many of the cookies, and managed to completely ruin my appetite for dinner. Whoops. I should say I know this skill, I just chose not to use this skill yesterday. I truly enjoyed every bite of these chocolate goodies.

I had planned on making a spinach and mushroom fritatta for dinner last night, but it was going to have to wait for another night. Maybe tonight? I ended up having some snacks a couple of hours later: sugar snap peas and carrots with hummus, a small salad (really craving the greens today), and a rice cake with a light swiss Laughing Cow wedge.

I hope you all have a happy Tuesday. Catch you later!

Continue Reading Chocolate Banana PB2 Cookies

The Day Before The Half Marathon

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I survived my first half marathon today! Unfortunately, it was a pretty painful run for me, but I will be saving these details for tomorrow’s post. All that matters though is that I finished!

Recap from yesterday

I did my best to get a good mix of carbohydrates and protein in my diet yesterday. Friday I stocked up on the carbs as well (that was when I wasn’t feeling well and only bread and fruit tasted good to me). I was building my glycogen stores!

Anyway, I began my day with my standard as of lately: Cream of Wheat sweetened with stevia, a touch of brown sugar, and cinnamon.

After breakfast, we walked a few blocks down the road to cheer on a friend of ours who was running a 5k race in our neighborhood. It was a gorgeous morning and it felt good to stretch the legs on our walk to the race.

We spent a couple of hours out there, cheering (she did awesome btw), supporting, and chatting before heading home.

I was starving by the time we got home so I snacked on a banana some peanut butter.

I made sure to drink A LOT of water throughout the day to hydrate myself well for race day.

We relaxed for a while, gathered some items from Dana’s parents for our upcoming garage sale, and eventually ate lunch. I heated up the last of the grilled chicken breast, sauced it with Kraft’s Asian Dressing. On the side, I had green beans.

In the afternoon, Kevin, Dana, and I headed out to pick up our race bibs, race chips, shirts, etc.

I was EXCITED! Team Ortho did a wonderful job with the production of this Minneapolis Marathon. We have run one other race with them when we ran the Get Lucky 7k in March (which was great too). Everything from registration, to race-info pickup, to the actual day of the half marathon, was very well organized and the volunteers were great too!  I would recommend their races to anyone.

When we got home from picking up our stuff, we fired up the grill. I wanted to make sure we get dinner in at a decent hour so that we had plenty of time to digest it, and sleep it off, so that we wouldn’t feel icky in the morning. I planned a protein and carbohydrate packed dinner. I gotta take care of my boys. On the menu: Super lean turkey burgers and sweet potato fries on the grill, and ketchup obviously.

The rest of the night was spent preparing for the run. I laid out my running gear, pinned my number on, placed my race chip on my shoelaces, packed our bag, charged the iPod, iced, stretched, and did anything else I could think of to make the next morning go as smooth and painless as possible for us. I’m a planner.

We got a good chuckle from the doggie when Dana put a backpack on his back. Moose is all ready for school. He’s always such a good sport, not to mention the cutest thing ever. I wish I knew what he was thinking at that moment. Probably something like, “Really guys? Again? I’m the brunt of your joke…again? You’re going to have to start paying me for this kind of entertainment.” Love you Moosey.

We got to bed around 9:30-10ish, and slept pretty well surprisingly. Excited to fill you in on the race details. Stay tuned!

Continue Reading The Day Before The Half Marathon
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