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.
In a medium saucepan, saute onions and carrots on stovetop for 3 minutes.
Add in spices and stir.
Add in chicken broth, stir, reduce heat to simmer, cover and let simmer for 2 hours; stirring occasionally.
Before serving, add spinach and stir in until it wilts into lentils.
Serve hot.
3.1.09
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!
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.
I am holding our newest child Penelope.
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.
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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!*****
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?
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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!
My appetite has been super goofy lately. The last couple of days I haven’t felt very hungry especially for breakfast. I preach the importance of eating breakfast to my clients and even though I haven’t had much of an appetite, I am still making sure to feed my body to kick-start my metabolism within 2 hours of waking up.
For breakfast yesterday, I made myself a bowl of diced banana, peanut butter, and cinnamon.
After a couple cups of coffee, and checking off a few items on the to-do list, I headed out the door with Moose with the intention of going for a quick mile walk around the neighborhood. Well, the beautiful fall weather got the best of me and my walk turned into a 3 mile run. I can’t believe how much I am loving this fall weather lately. It motivates me to run and run and run outside!
Moose wasn’t too phased by the run. He was ready to go for more.
After the run I baked up two loaves of my Nutty Gluten-Free Bread. The house smelled muy deliciouso after those were done baking. The smell of baking bread… yet another comfort.
Lunch time rolled around, and again I wasn’t hungry, but I made myself a great salad anyway. Romaine lettuce with grapes, walnuts, chicken, feta cheese, and Ken’s Lite Poppyseed Dressing.
I made a trip over to mom and dad’s in the afternoon to go for a walk with my mom and Abbie, and give mom a mini tutorial of hernew food processor as well as her new iPad.
We walked around their neighborhood for a good half hour and the weather was still perfect. Walks are so much more fun when you walk with good company versus by yourself. They go so fast too!
Dinner…
Again, not hungry, but I knew better than to not eat. I sautéed some mushrooms, onions, broccoli, lima beans, and chicken, seasoned with garlic powder and ginger powder. I embedded the sautéed mix into two butter lettuce cups, and topped them with a squeeze of lime juice, cilantro, and a drizzle of Pb2.
I always make room for dessert so I finished the night off with a handful of dates with peanut butter. That was peanut butter’s third appearance yesterday. I guess that’s what I feel like eating when I don’t feel like eating? 🙂
I’m hoping my appetite gets back on track. Eating isn’t as enjoyable when you don’t feel hungry. Alrighty, I’m off to change the world…Catch up with you all soon!
Hello there friends! You’re going to have to bear with me on this one, judging by the post title, you can maybe tell this is going to be a jam-packed post.
Last time I checked in with you all, I mentioned that we were going to be hosting a very special birthday celebration for my mom’s 60th on Saturday. I left you all dangling in anticipation about the secret menu I had planned for the party. 😉
You may have figured it out with this sneak peek photo I gave you onSaturday…
That’s right…savory, warm and comforting pot roast; in the slow cooker of course. But I didn’t do just one roast, oh no. I did two. Who doesn’t love leftover pot roast? Also, I’d rather have too much food than not enough food for company any day.
I began by lightly searing all sides of the roast over medium-high heat on the stove top. I then transferred the meat to the slow cookers, added in the rest of the goodies, and set those bad boys on low for 8 hours. Check out the recipe at the bottom of this post!
An hour or so before company arrived, I got to work on the potatoes. I made simple boiled and smashed red potatoes. First I rinsed and scrubbed off any dirt on the potatoes. Don’t you love my apron BTW?! Thanks to Stacy for her creative sewing work. The other side has ladies on it so that if Dana wants to cook in it he can reverse it. How cute, right?!
Next, I halved the potatoes and placed them into a large pot, covered them with water and boiled for 15 minutes or until fork tender. I drained the water, added 1 tablespoon of butter, and some salt and pepper, and got to mashing.
Ta da! I also made a small batch of cheater beef gravy to go on top for those who were interested.
For some green love to go around I made a salad I found on Pinterest fromEspresso and Cream’s website. I gotta give this girl major credit. This salad was amazing. I made just a few minor tweaks. You can check out her recipehere, but below is my modified version.
Pear Poppy Seed Salad Ingredients
8-9 cups chopped romaine lettuce
2 medium pears, diced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 slices turkey bacon, cooked crispy and crumbled
1/3 cup feta cheese crumbles
Ken’s Lite Poppy Seed Dressing
Directions
Add all ingredients into bowl except dressing. Allow guests to dress their own salads.
Once the food was all ready to go, we got a fire going in the fireplace, set the table, and relaxed while waiting for our guests to arrive.
Once my family arrived, we munched on a tasty shrimp appetizer that Kevi brought to share. Then I told everyone to move to the table. It was time for dinner. We gave the birthday girl the head seat at the table, right next to the fire. She’s the freeze baby of the family. Dad, Kevin, and Scott were our other lovely guests.
This photo below is pretty much the best food photo shot I got all night. I must have been so caught up in the excitement of the party and some surprises to come that I wasn’t really into snapping.
For example, these next two photos do not justify the awesomeness of dinner and dessert. The pot roast came out so tender and flavorful. We also had the baby red potatoes, the pear side salad, sunflower whole grain bread, and apple crisp for dessert.
Mom and dad even made me a special gluten-free apple crisp with almond flour. Bless their hearts. It was delicious too! Talk about an all around comforting meal.
After dinner, we moved on to gifts. My brothers and Dana and I bought mom a Cuisinart 7-cup Food Processor. She has been needing a new one for one for quite some time so I thought it would be the perfect birthday gift. I have the same exact food processor at home that ironically enough, my mom and dad gave Dana and I as a shower gift. I really like mine so I decided to get them the same one!
Next came the big surprises. First, dad started off by giving mom a few gifts: a sweater, a shower liner(!), and some golf balls. Mom’s reaction was so genuine after receiving just these few simple gifts being that it was a big birthday for her. She was just happy to have (almost) everyone together—gifts don’t matter to her. But really, a shower liner??
A short while later, dad grabs another gift and gives it to her confessing that he has one more gift for her, and that it’s for their anniversary which is in November. Mom goes right along with it all and opens her gift which is an iPad.
Her laptop has been on the fritz for a very long time, but he has been planning on getting her this iPad for months, so needed to keep making excuses as to why they should wait to buy one. The line that had worked best lately was, “let’s wait until Black Friday, then we’ll go get you a laptop or an iPad.” She was fine with that idea since it at least gave her a time frame and gave her hope. Haha. This all cracks me up.
So, anyway. She doesn’t believe it’s really an iPad, or really her iPad. As she’s still trying to grasp the fact, dad wants to show her something on YouTube. He opens up the application and there is a video clip of one of my mom’s best friends singing a special song she wrote to my mom to the tune of “Give My Regards to Broadway.” In this clip, she divulges to mom that my dad will be taking her to New York for her birthday, and her friend and her husband would be joining them.
At this point mom is completely floored and practically unsure of what to believe. Her reactions to all of these surprises were absolutely priceless and so sincere.
The last surprise that dad pulled out was tickets to see Jersey Boys on Broadway, and that at the latter end of the trip, they are going to travel to New Jersey to visit my mom’s aunt and uncle that live out there.
The whole series of surprises left everyone very emotional. Mom deserves every single bit of every one of these gifts. She is so giving, faithful, compassionate, and a rock for all of us. She always knows what to say to make me feel better and to put things into perspective. I hope someday I will have the wisdom that she has.
It was such a fun birthday celebration. I’ve said it a million times but I’ll say it again, HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY MAMA!You are the most incredible woman and I love you to infinity!
The rest of the evening was spent playing with the iPad and watching these two lovers play. Scotty’s dog Tuner is a husky and black lab mix, and she is beautiful. Mooser and Tuner get a long very well. Moose and Tuner sitting in a tree…
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This post is getting real lengthy, and I apologize but real quickly I just want to check in on theOctober Yoga Challenge.
On Thursday I whipped out an Ab Strengthening Yoga session OnDemand. I thought it was a 20 some minute session, but when I looked back at it, I realized it was a 30 some minute session. Score!
I am still loving every bit of this yoga challenge. I would like to work more of it into my schedule!
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Now, finally here is that Slow Cooker Pot Roast recipe for all ya’ll. Have a great day and thanks for sticking with me through this novel of a post! Muah!
I am pretty pumped about my morning and want to share it with you, but first a quick recap of my evening last night.
After a little bit of cleaning and a couple of errands, I had very little energy left to make dinner so I kept it real simple with Fresco Shrimp Tacos. I cooked the shrimp on the stove top for 3 minutes with some seasoning just to warm them up.
To assemble the tacos: Butter lettuce cup as your shell, then chickpeas (because that is what we had on hand), tomatoes, cilantro, shrimp, and salsa if you feel like it.
We didn’t have any ripe avocados but if we had you better believe there would have been some in the mix. These tacos were simple, fresh, and very tasty.
Later, we got the itch for some Fro Yo and made our way to Cherry Berry. I tried to control myself but ended up getting a little wild. I went with a mix of cake batter and s’more Fro Yo. S’more what? S’more FroYo. On top was a lot of chocolately heaven, a few sprinkles and a gummy cherry on top.
Should I have gotten frozen yogurt…probably not, but I don’t regret it.
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Saturday
So here we are now onto Saturday. I began with a piece of pumpkin bread with Parkers Farm peanut butter and honey…
I also drank 1.5 cups of coffee while getting dinner ready in the crock pot. Tonight my family is coming over to celebrate my mama’s birthday and it is going to be F.U.N. and DELICIOUS!
Any guesses on what’s for dinner? I am making enough food to feed an army even though there will only be 6 of us. I would rather have too much food than not enough!
Run Time
Once those crocks were rolling, it was time for me to get rollin’ outside. I geared up, laced up my pretty pink laces,s grabbed the dog and we headed out for a run.
The weather could not have been more perfect. It was about 50 to mid-50’s and overcast. I didn’t have a mileage goal set as I was leaving out the door, I had just planned on seeing how I felt throughout the run, and going as long as I felt like.
Well…something happened that hasn’t happened in quite some time. Let me premise by saying there is major road work going on in our neighborhood including sidewalk closures, which makes finding a running route slightly challenging. As I made my way through the known neighborhoods I was feeling really good. Like so good I wanted to keep going and going and going, which worked out in my favor because as I was trying to make my way home, I hit about 3 detours which led me back the way I came from. The mileage started piling up and I ran a distance that I haven’t seen in quite some time…
4.6 miles.
I know that to many, 4.6 miles is a walk in the park, but considering I haven’t accomplished this distance in a very long time, it reinstated my confidence in my running capabilities and I owe thanks to the road closures I guess? Nahhh.
The run this morning really motivates me to sign up for a race, and to start running more often. The feeling you get post-run is indescribable and I always wish I could bottle that feeling up and release it during a time where I am feeling highly unmotivated.
After the run I headed to the living room and did 20 minute pilates stretch and breathe video OnDemand. It was just what I needed.
I am in such a great mood today. I’ll be excited to fill you in on the festivities taking place tonight. It’s looking mighty cozy in our humble abode.
Guess what I did again on Wednesday night? I got my dance on at my old dance studio! For anyone who may have missed it, you can catch a little blurb about my dance journey if you click right here. Since I was sick last week I didn’t make it to class, but was able to go this week and it felt GREAT. I am really feeling the aftermath of it. My body is screaming. I love it.
Onto Thursday…
Lately I have been making myself a breakfast smoothie to enjoy on the ride to work. Yesterday I threw together what was sure to be a delicious smoothie. In the mix: cherries, blueberries, banana, coconut almond milk, and hemp protein powder.I gave it the standard whirl in the blender, poured it into my to-go cup, and made my way to work.
I was so looking forward to this smoothie but to my dismay there was some crunchy bits that kept coming through my straw. I thought it was just a fluke and maybe it was a bit of cherry skin that hadn’t quite pureed completely, so I kept sipping. More and more hard little bits. I came to the conclusion that it had to have been a cherry pit that was accidentally missed. So much for my breakfast smoothie.
I made a pit stop at the gas station for an impromptu banana and string cheese. Carbs and protein. I did my best given my time constraint and options available.
Enough of the smoothie rant. Lunch was great. I made myself a bowl of shredded chicken (crock pot style), peas, and avocado. I seasoned it all with salt and pepper and called it a protein packed bowl of goodness. Alongside the chicken I had an apple and carrot sticks and some chocolate chips and peanut butter for dessert.
After work my body was seriously sore. Dance really kicked my rear. I wanted to get some type of physical activity so I opted for yoga. The particular OnDemand yoga session was about 25 minutes long and focused on ab strengthening. It was a doozy and I mean that in a good kind of way. It was a “beginner” level but I would not have categorized it as such. Intermediate would be more appropriate. I’m not that out of shape.
Dinner
We still had a few varieties of squash lying around from our last trip to the farmer’s market. Actually, that’s not true. The squash on the left is now gone. I ate half of it a couple of weeks ago. It was okay but nothing to write home about. 😉 So that means I still had a spaghetti squash and a buttercup squash to work with.
I made a quick scan of the cupboards and then got creative in the crock pot. I threw together brown lentils, chickpeas, cooked and cubed buttercup squash, chicken broth, and other spices (recipe below). I let this simmer on low for 6 hours, covered; stirring occasionally.
After it was done mingling, I ladled it into my pretty blue ceramic bowl from our wedding, and topped the stew with fresh chopped cilantro and chopped unsalted peanuts.
The stew turned out so great! The flavors all worked together so nicely and the dish was hearty, warm, and comforting. I’m pretty sure this was my first time ever cooking with lentils and it was my first time working with buttercup squash. Double score! I have lots of lentils leftover and will definitely be using more of them in my future. I am thinking lentil sloppy joes.
Here is the recipe for ya and my inspiration came from Eating Well.
Cuisine: NOTE: To make SCD legal, remove chickpeas and add in your favorite SCD legal white bean instead
4 servings
Ingredients
2 cups buttercup squash, cooked, and cubed
1 carrot, chopped
1 small onion, diced
¾ cup chickpeas
¾ cup brown lentils
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ cup no added sugar spaghetti sauce*
2 cups chicken broth**
1 tsp. dried ginger
¾ tsp. cumin
½ tsp. curry powder
½ tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup unsalted peanuts, chopped
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
*Tomato paste can be substituted; you would need about 1 Tbsp.
**Vegetable broth can be used if cooking vegetarian.
Instructions
Place all ingredients except peanuts and cilantro into slow cooker.
Cover and set on low for 6 hours; stirring occasionally.
Ladle stew into bowls and top with peanuts and cilantro.
3.2.1230
Exciting News
I mentioned in my last post that I would be traveling out of the country in less than two weeks. It’s reveal time. The destination….
Bogota, Colombia!
Dana and I are going to visit my brother Jeff who lives and works out there. I am so insanely excited and can’t believe it’s so soon! I can’t wait to spend time with him, meet his friends, see where he lives, and learn more about Colombia (and hopefully drink some really great coffee and eat delicious chocolate). That is my fun news! I will be snapping lots of photos to share with you all when I get back.
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Anyone else thrilled that it’s Friday? I can’t hide my enthusiasm. Apparently it’s strong coffee Friday too. Usually it’s me that accidentally makes the coffee a little too strong, but this week the finger points elsewhere. Maybe that’s why I’m extra enthusiastic this morning.
We have plans to celebrate mom’s birthday this weekend. It’s a special year for her. We will be hosting dinner over at our house on Saturday night. I have a great menu planned and am excited to have some of the family over. More on that later gators.
Have a super Friday friends! xoxo. I hope this enthusiasm rides out all day.
I have just one little bit to catch you up on from the weekend then I think I will officially be caught up. On Sunday evening, I attempted a cauliflower pizza crust for the second time. I steamed the cauliflower, sent it through the grater on the food processor to give it the “riced” texture, drained it of liquid, mixed it with an egg, some cheese and seasonings, and baked it in a hot oven for goodness knows how long. The guidance/recipe I found had said 12-13 minutes but there was no way the crust was done so ours was going for at least 20 some minutes.
The crust still came out very flimsy and not very crusty. HOWEVER, it was extremely delicious. I mean super tasty.
I just don’t have a recipe for you yet because I have yet to get the cooking times and temps right. Maybe someday.
Monday
We have officially caught up from the weekend! Now, on to Monday. Breakfast was a banana with natural peanut butter. This is a reused photo from a short while back. Yesterday’s pb banana didn’t have quite the hefty amount of pb. Oh, and no honey yesterday either.
Lunch: mixed greens with peas, tomatoes, avocado, green olives, sunflower seeds and Newman’s Own Lite Honey Mustard dressing.
Dessert: homemade dried apples and chocolate chips.
In the afternoon I made my way to the gym and rattled off a sweaty elliptical session. When I got home look what was waiting for me in the mailbox! How fitting, right?! I just got my sweat on…
Now SWEAT PINK! It’s official. My Fit Approach Sweat Pink Ambassador gear has arrived. I continue to live a healthy lifestyle and hope to encourage others to do so as well, one step at a time, one bite at a time. To learn more about what it means to be a Sweat Pink Ambassador, click here.
Later in the afternoon Dana and I headed to pick out our perfect pumpkins. Surprisingly I ended up buying the first one I laid eyes on. It’s short and plump and has a nice round front. Oh the simple joys.
For dinner, kitchen sink hash was on the menu. I always use whatever veggies we have on hand at the moment and through them all into one large saute pan. Last night it was a combo of black beans, kale, green pepper, broccoli, brussels sprouts, onion, and tomato lightly sautéed in coconut oil and seasoned with salt, pepper, a dash of cumin, and a dash of garlic powder. Finish it off with a sprinkle of cheese and an over-easy egg.
Perfecto. The flavor and texture combo is right on. It was a veggie kind of day for me once again.
The rest of the evening was spent relaxing with the boys, and stealing precious moments with the dog.
He actually laid like this for a solid 3 minutes and just kept looking into my eyes. This is a good 2 1/2 minutes longer than he usually puts up with it so I was pretty impressed. It was pretty sweet. I was trying not to laugh the entire time because I didn’t want to ruin the moment.
Have a tasteful Tuesday and we’ll catch you on the flip side!
I had such a productive weekend I feel like a new woman today. I need to do some catching up from Saturday’s dinner, but I am going to start with Sunday morning first. Excuse me as I jump around throughout the post. Jump, jump everybody jump!
Sunday Morning
It was my last chance for the week to get my yoga on in order to meet my October Yoga Challenge, so first thing in the morning I headed to the living room to set up. The routine before a yoga session is to push all of the furniture aside, get Moose’s toys off of the carpet, and vacuum the area. I love our pup but he sheds like a maniac so vacuuming often is necessary in our house.
I turned the heat up in the house to create a “hot yoga” atmosphere, and got moving to yoga OnDemand. This particular session focused on jump kick-backs aka burpees.
It was a 22-minute session and it really got me sweating! I guess that could have been because I cranked the heat up too. Either way, I was still sweating. I got in my weekly session and it felt SUPER once again.
After yoga, Dana and I took a trip to Caribou Coffee to get our BOGO on. First, yoga, then BOGO. I am still trying to be careful with dairy in my diet so I ordered a french roast with sugar-free hazelnut. I did put a touch of cream in my coffee when I got home. I love the creamy smoothness that cream adds to the coffee. As much as I’ve tried to switch to almond milk, or no milk, or no cream, I just don’t enjoy it as much as I do with the cream. So, I’m sticking with it. It’s my special treat in the morning.
To go along with my coffee I made myself some breakfast: a smoothie with blueberry, strawberry, banana, almond milk, crushed ice, and a tablespoon of hemp protein powder. Fabulous.
Now to recap the weekend’s events…
Saturday was an incredibly productive day. After getting organized at work on Thursday, then seeing a guest on Rachael Ray’s Show demonstrating how to organize your home in no time, I was inspired to tackle my own home.
Throughout the weekend, Dana and I organized: the front closet, the kitchen cabinets, my desk, my closet, the guest room closet, and the dining room cabinets. Not bad right? We also went crazy on the backyard and cut down all of the plants for the winter. Sort of bittersweet.
It’s amazing how good you feel after getting your house reorganized. Now, to keep it that way.
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Now, reverse back to Saturday evening. Let’s talk about dinner. After spending the day cleaning and organizing, I was in the mood for a hearty meal. I took the inspiration from my cute little turkey meatloaves to create this bomb of a dinner, and I mean bomb in a good way.
Turkey Veggie Meatloaf and Sauteed Brussels Sprouts
I included carrots, zucchini, onions, and olives in this meatloaf and it turned out great! Parents, if you have a picky eater and are looking for a way to camouflage some veggies into their diets, this just may be the way to go. The veggies add a bit of a light crunch to the loaf, and all of the flavors from the veggies, seasonings, and meat all meld together to form a perfect combo. Plus there’s ketchup in meatloaf, kids love ketchup. 🙂 As do adults (right, Kev?).
Last weekend, Dana and I stopped at the farmer’s market in our area. We bought a few squash (that I still need to use) and a carton of brussels sprouts. Since I was set back this past week with the stomach bug, we didn’t get around to cooking up those sprouts, so we pulled them out on Saturday.
I washed and trimmed the ends and let them drain. I then sauteéd them in a small amount of coconut oil and simply seasoned with salt and pepper. I only used about half of the brussels sprouts in this side dish, so I froze the unprepared ones for a later time. They freeze perfectly.
Such a cozy comforting meal on a cool fall evening, and so very tasty too. I’m all about that lately. Did you check out my soup from Friday night? NUM!
Hi there! How is everyone’s weekend panning out so far?
Friday was a great day. It began with a perfectly ripe banana with peanut butter that I tossed in the microwave for 20 seconds to make drizzly, and a little bit of honey.
I did a couple of odds and ends around the house while anxiously awaiting Kate’s arrival. Oh yes, my friend who is in town that I mentioned yesterday is the wonderful Kate. She was one of my bridesmaids, we were roommates in college, and our friendship goes back to 8th grade.
She recently moved out of state and I miss her dearly. She’s home for the weekend so we made plans to go for a nice long walk around the neighborhood and enjoy the gorgeous fall weather.
Before we headed out, I snacked on a LARABAR Über Roasted Nut Roll bar. The kind folks of LARABAR sent me these four to sample.
The verdict on the Über? MMMmmm, so good! It tasted like a healthy version of a salted nut roll. Yes, please. I’m excited to try the rest of the flavors! It did a nice job of holding me over for a couple of hours too.
Kate and I were out for over an hour, walking and talking, catching up, and taking in the beautiful sights and smells of fall. It made me so incredibly happy to see her. It was bittersweet saying good bye as always, BUT I will be seeing her again in about one month because I will be journeying out to Georgia to visit her! I can’t wait! I love love love her, my Katie boo boo boo. 🙂
Throughout the afternoon I tackled random projects around the house. I organized the front closet, did some laundry, reorganized our kitchen, and brought up wedding gifts that we still had in the basement that we now have room for upstairs.
Then it was time to get dinner brewing. On the menu: Broccoli White Bean Soup. While I got to concocting the soup, Dana got to work making a fire in the fireplace. Our first one of the season.
So pretty! A short while later, dinner was served and it was enjoyed in front of the fire.
Warm soup in front of the fire in my sweatpants with my hubby and dog. Does it get more comforting than that? The soup turned out fantastic. I am very proud of it and excited to share the recipe with you all.
