Eggs Archives -

Eat Eggs & Recharging My Battery

Post author:Melanie
Post published:February 25, 2014
Post category:Dinners / Health / Misc.
Post comments:7 Comments

Hello, hello my friends! How’s your week treating you so far?

I have a few odds and ends to catch up on today, mostly involving food (go figure) so let’s get you caught up!

Organic cage-free eggs (and if you can find it, free-range). They are worth the extra pennies. They taste awesome and your body appreciates the effort as well. They are so good for us but have gotten such a bad rap in the past.

One egg contains approximately 70 calories, 7 grams of protein, 5 grams of fat, and contains essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamin D, A, B12, phosphorus, folate, choline, etc.

Eat eggs!

I have been loving eggs in scrambles, hard-boiled, over-easy, you name it.

This particular combo was amazing: eggs, red bell pepper, onion, cheese, avocado, cilantro, and salsa. This was nearly the extent of my cooking over the past week or so.

This past weekend I enjoyed a chicken bowl from Chipotle and managed to make my leftovers last for two more meals! I just fried up an egg to go on top and called it a perfect lunch.

This next one doesn’t involve eggs, but it involves chicken, and it was really good. On Friday, I cooked up a batch of chicken, shredded it, added buffalo sauce, placed it on top of a cucumber with some feta cheese and enjoyed the simple yet delicious bites. They’re kind of cute but definitely messy. If you could eat these bites in one full swoop you would be fine but I can’t so I ended up with a mess and a fork. But they were worth it.

Of course buffalo chicken can be enjoyed many other ways: in a wrap, on a salad (we were out of lettuce or I would have done this), on whole grain bread, or in lettuce cups.

Okay so I lied…this was about the extent of my cooking for the week!

There you have it. My loose-ends are almost all tied up. That didn’t take too long.

Lastly, I’m going to say “catch you later” because I will be unplugging for a while. I will be limiting my computer and phone time, therefore may not respond to emails, texts/calls or comments for a while. I just wanted to let you know ahead of time so you don’t think I am being rude for not responding, it just means I need my brain to take a breather from the electronics for a bit and I will get back to you soon. 🙂

It’s time to recharge MY battery.

So, I am challenging you to UNPLUG!

Unplug and….

read a book
play a game
go for a walk
organize a closet or a drawer
write a letter
meet a friend for coffee or dinner
make cookies
go to a museum
do yoga

Even if you can only unplug for an hour, your mind and body will thank you!

I have some great guest posts as well as other fun posts all ready for your enjoyment for the upcoming week or so, so ENJOY!

Talk with you all later!

xoxo

Friday Favorites: Run, Eat, Live

Post author:Melanie
Post published:February 7, 2014
Post category:Events / Fitness / Gluten-Free / Sweet Treats
Post comments:18 Comments

Happy Friday! Today’s date is kind of neat: 2/7/14 because 2 x 7 = 14. #nerd

I’m linking up with my darling Katie for another episode of Friday Favorites! Heeeeeere we go.

1. Eggs. I go through ups and downs with eggs but always remember the considerable nutritional value of the golden beauts SO, I am bringing them back baby.

2. Van’s Cinnamon Heaven gluten-free cereal. I was looking for a gluten-free cereal that actually had some fiber, and this is my answer. Five grams of fiber per serving. It’s not an every night snack (the box was nearly $5), but it’s a treat from time to time.

3. Moose. Moose earns a spot on Friday favorites because poor dog, he is just cooped up inside so often and he must be going crazy. Sure he drives me loco sometimes when he whines, but I know he’s bored so it’s okay. Dana takes him on some runs during the week but ideally he should be getting out every day of course.

4. I registered for a 7k next month. I haven’t really been running due to some health stuff these past few months, and the last actual race I was a part of was on Thanksgiving, so running and getting back into some shorter races will feel GREAT!

Let’s hope the weather will be like how it was two years ago: in the 60’s! I ran in a tank top!

5. Cupcakes at Cupcake in Eagan. We were celebrating a retirement party for a co-worker of mine and she so graciously bought a bunch of the cupcakes for all of us.My table decided to split them all so I got to try a ton of different flavors.

My favorite was no surprise the peanut butter chocolate, but what did surprise me is I truly enjoyed a lemon cupcake. Lemon is not always on my radar and I definitely wouldn’t have gotten it for myself so I’m glad that Mary did, and I had a chance to try it! Some time I may have to go back and get a caramel cupcake. Those sounded really good, too!

6. This quote: “We may run, walk, stumble, drive, or fly, but let us never lose sight of the reason for the journey, or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way.” -Gloria Gaither

I actually saw a rainbow yesterday morning on the way to meet a girlfriend for coffee. I do believe in symbolism and so seeing the rainbow was an amazing way to start my day.

Have a great weekend my friends!

Thanks again, Katie for hosting!

What I’ve Been Eating Lately: Eggs and Veggies

Post author:Melanie
Post published:December 11, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Lunch
Post comments:9 Comments

I realize I use the WIAW as an opportunity to catch you up on my eats from the past couple of weeks, so instead of calling my posts What I Ate Wednesday, I should really call them What I’ve Been Eating Lately’s (WIBEL), but I like to join in on the WIAW action so you’re just going to have to roll with my WIBEL version of the WIAW instead. Got it?

What I’ve Been Eating Lately…

More salads and a homemade honey mustard chicken Dana made which was awesome!

Leftover veggie beef soup with loads of parmesan cheese…

Brown rice pasta with marinara and parmesan…

Tilapia, sweet potato, brussels sprouts, and avocado. I want this again. This was insanely delicious and probably tasted better because it was cooked for me by someone else.

Loaded salads with whatever I can find in the house: broccoli, mixed greens, sliced almonds, cottage cheese, black beans, etc….

Breakfast out with my dad before some Christmas shopping for my mom! Talk about great shopping fuel.

Southwest salad with leftover avocado ranch…

Eggs and turkey bacon…

How’s that for a quick little WIAW WIBEL?!

Thanks again to Peas and Crayons for hosting the WIAW party!

I hope you all have a nice Wednesday. Catch up with you later.

All About the Food & Yellow Quinoa Recipe

Post author:Melanie
Post published:July 16, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Gluten-Free / Recipes
Post comments:8 Comments

Except for breakfast yesterday, I actually managed to snap photos of a lot of my food so guess what I am going to be sharing with you all today!

My breakfast was my favorite at the moment blueberry smoothie all jam-packed with blueberries, kale, pineapple, and so much more. It tasted awesome per usual.

Lunch was insanely delicious. I pulled together a salad using leftover mixed dark greens with tomatoes and cucumbers from Sunday, leftover yellow quinoa (recipe below!), leftover chicken, zucchini, sunflower seeds, and this homemade Greek dressing. The flavor in this thing was outrageous. I am going to be making this for lunch again today I think.

I spent a little time in the kitchen mixing up some confectionaries (sugar-free). This is a teaser photo. I promise I really am going to share some homemade dark chocolate recipes with you all soon.

I also made dried pineapple in the food dehydrator. These make for the perfect sweet dessert. They taste like gummy candy. So good!

Dinner

I didn’t really have any plans for dinner, but when the time rolled around, I knew I had a fridge packed full of veggies, and they were screaming to be eaten. So I threw together my old go-to dinner: veggie hash with an over-easy egg.

This time I used onions, garlic, mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini, green beans, salt, pepper, and paprika. I was so excited to be able to eat an egg again. I had eliminated them from my diet when I was following the Clean Program and this was my first time eating one in about a month. I missed my eggs!

Mmm seriously such a good dinner. Such a great day of eats in general!

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So remember that yellow quinoa I made for Sunday night’s Mediterranean dinner?

My inspiration for this recipe came from multiple dinners to one of my favorite Mediterranean restaurants where they serve yellow rice underneath mounds of veggies and shawarma. Num. Ca you see it hidden under there? This was a photo of my dinner from the restaurant a while back.

The secret ingredient in my quinoa that makes it yellow is a spice called turmeric. Did you know turmeric has been shown to be a natural anti-inflammatory? I can almost guarantee that nearly every one of us could benefit from a little anti-inflammatory assistance within our bodies. I know I can use the extra help!

Anyway, this quinoa is extremely simple and it was the perfect accompaniment to the Mediterranean inspired meal I made for Sunday night’s dinner which included grilled chicken, kabobs, and a veggie salad.

You could add in onions and green peas to this quinoa recipe to amp up the nutritional value even more. You could also add in veggies AND a lean protein like chicken and you would have yourself a one pot meal.

Yellow Quinoa

This makes one BIG batch of quinoa

Ingredients

2½ cups dry quinoa
5 cups chicken bone broth
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp turmeric
1 heaping tsp cumin
dash of onion powder
salt to taste

Instructions

In a large saucepan or pot, combine quinoa, broth, and garlic and bring to a boil.
Cover pot and reduce to simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes.
At the end of the cooking process, add the remaining seasonings. Season to taste if necessary.
Serve with your favorite kabob combination, on a salad or even on its own!

Happy Day my friends.

Have you ever cooked with turmeric? What are your favorite spices to cook with?

Sweet Potato with Honey Cinnamon Almond Butter & Beautiful Blooms

Post author:Melanie
Post published:June 19, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Gluten-Free / Home Life / Lunch / Moose / Recipes
Post comments:11 Comments

To all you dog-lovers out there. A friend of mine is needing to find a home for Shelby, an intact female 7 1/2-year old AKC German Shepherd Dog.

She has her AKC papers, most recent vet records from early 2013, and microchip information available. She was trained as a puppy by a specialist in military and police dogs 6 years ago. She would NOT be good in a family with kids younger than teens or with cats. Any person with her will need to be comfortable being firm with her – anyone who has had Shepherds understands that that is a breed trait and not necessarily a personality trait. She has been socialized and is generally good with all other dogs – although large dogs are better – as long as introduced properly.

Shelby needs to find a home before June 27th or she will be placed into the humane society. Please email me at beautifullynutty@gmail.com if you are interested!!

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

It’s Wednesday, you know it, it’s Wednesday and I’ll show it! I’m feeling a little cooky this Wednesday. I blame it on the sunshine. 😉 I LOVE it!

I’ve been taking the doctor’s advice and sticking to lower intensity workouts for now, mostly in the form of walks outside with Moose. It has been so beautiful outside lately and I enjoy the fact that when I go outside for a walk with Moose I am benefited in three ways:

I get to move my body and feel great
Moose gets to move his body and feel great
I get to soak in some much-needed Vitamin D.

Triple whammy!

Lunch

Part of my lunch yesterday was baked sweet potato slices with honey cinnamon almond butter.

I baked the sweet potato slices in coconut oil the night before, covered them when they were done baking, and put them in the fridge for later. When I was ready to eat the slices, I stuck them in the microwave for a short time and they were good to go.

For the almond butter, I mixed together almond butter, honey, and cinnamon and then tried adding water to thin it out but it actually made the mixture thicken. My original plan was to make a pretty drizzle over the top of the sweet potatoes, but instead I had to plop it into the center. It was really probably thin enough, I should have just left it. Oh well, next time.

What failed in presentation made up for in taste. This combo was spectacular. I have tried sweet potato and peanut butter but I don’t think I have ever had sweet potato with almond butter. I seriously think I prefer the almond butter on it! Who would have thought.

Changing gears…our yard is in full bloom. We have these beautiful pink peonies that I swear only last for a couple of days, so when they bloom, I make it a must to snap a couple of photos because they are absolutely beautiful.

I called in Moose to model in the yard and add an extra point of interest. He ~~put up with me~~ happily obliged and did an excellent job posing for the photos. 😉

Please excuse my poor photography skills. I couldn’t seem to exclude my shadow from most of the photos.

Moose enjoying the fragrant lilacs…

And the blinding sun…

If dogs could talk I don’t think I would want to know what Moose was saying to me in that last photo.

I am truly enjoying nature’s beauty in our backyard (and so is Moose)!

Random side note: I cannot for the life of me remember how to spell German Shepherd. I don’t know how many times I have probably spelled it wrong on the blog, on twitter, etc. Forgive me Moose if your mom embarrassed you.

Dinner

After one failed attempt at an over-easy egg, my second attempt was a partial fail as well. I could not seem to keep the yolk from breaking last night. I settled with my second attempt and served my “over-easy” egg on top of sautéed red bell peppers, onions, and quinoa.

Then topped it with salsa and cilantro!

It was absolutely delicious and very satisfying.

Happy hump day my friends. Do something that makes you happy today.

Pure Happiness

Post author:Melanie
Post published:May 7, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Recipes / Snacks
Post comments:12 Comments

Happy happy hump day!

Since I decided to post about my new adorable Ellie workout gear yesterday, I failed to update you on my nummy day of eats from Monday. Since I had a major lack of food photos yesterday (zip-zero), I am going to catch you up to speed from Monday.

Breakfast

Breakfast was a piece of toasted almond bread with organic natural peanut butter and raw honey, served with a cup of coffee with my new favorite cream!

This picture makes me so happy. Photographed is one of my favorite foods: peanut butter, my favorite morning drink that comforts my soul: coffee, and gorgeous yellow roses that my mom gave to me: love and friendship. Pure happiness.

Lunch

A bed of mixed spring greens topped with deviled eggs, red bell pepper, celery, olives, peas, avocado, sunflower seeds and Annie’s Green Goddess dressing. Way good!

I ate it outside in the sunshine which probably made it taste even better!

Dessert

Driscoll’s beautiful organic raspberries. Nature’s candy.

There was definitely more snacking that happened in the afternoon. There are no pictures of it but I am guessing I had some mixed nuts, some carrots, and maybe an apple. 🙂

Dinner

For dinner I roasted up brussels sprouts and broccoli with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. To go on top of the veggies I made a marinara sauce using Ragu No-Sugar-Added spaghetti sauce, with one Italian turkey sausage, and sautéed onions, mushrooms, and garlic. I sprinkled in some dried basil and oregano too!

To plate it up I started with a layer of veggies, next I grated some fresh parmesan cheese, and then finished it with a huge serving of the sauce which in my opinion is the best part!

I wasn’t loving the brussels sprouts that night. I had bought them fresh and then froze them, and feel they take on a bit of a different flavor once I use them out of the freezer. Anyone else experience this? Anyway, I still enjoyed the dish and ate all but three bites.

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

Alright, it’s time for me to go pack up my lunch and think about what I want for breakfast! I am so food-minded; always prepared for moments when I may need to eat. 🙂 The hardest part is not knowing what I will be in the mood for come lunch time. I usually pack myself a couple of options so that I can pick and chose what sounds good.

I am super excited that thunderstorms are possibly going to happen this afternoon. I LOVE a good thunderstorm, as long as no one gets hurt and no damage is done of course. They remind me of being young and hanging out with my family in our safe home. As the thunderstorm approached we would watch the news and make sure we didn’t have to go to the basement. Then, as it whooshed over us I would watch safely out the window as the lightning struck and the thunder rolled (Garth Brooks anyone?) and it would make me so thrilled! I still feel that way when a thunderstorm rolls around! My mom also loves watching storms; she must have passed that gene down to me. 😉

Watch, we won’t even get one now that I got all hyped up about it.

Do you enjoy thunderstorms?

Have a great day my friends!

Chicken Curry Salad in Endive Boats

Post author:Melanie
Post published:May 1, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Lunch / Recipes
Post comments:9 Comments

Happy MAY day!

This is obviously not a MN scene but I think this is such a gorgeous photo and it makes me smile looking at this photo and thinking about the day when flowers will be popping up around here. Hopefully soon. For now, we are in a Winter Storm Warning. Yup…but anyway!

Some exciting news! Today is the last day you will see the old butcher block countertops in my photos because today we are getting NEW KITCHEN COUNTERTOPS! You know you are grown up when you get so incredibly excited about home improvements.

The butcher block countertops have been in the house for goodness knows how long, and they are terrible when it comes to stains and I don’t want to even think about any possible bacteria in the crevices.

After much price shopping, stone shopping, and style shopping, we have decided on granite countertops. We went with a gray with specks of gold and red. It will be done by the time I get home this afternoon and I am ecstatic. I can’t wait to show you the refurbished kitchen later this week!

Lunch yesterday was a bunch of small meals throughout the span of 11:00 and 2:00. Here’s one of them…

The afternoon included a lot of food prep time. In the morning I started two large chicken breasts (thawed) in the crock pot, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder, and a cup or so of homemade chicken bone broth. I covered the pot, set it on low and the chicken was done in three hours.

On the dinner menu: Chicken Curry Salad in Endive Boats!

Once the chicken was cooled I pulled it apart and set it aside. I got started on my curry sauce experiment; adding a sprinkle of this, a touch of that, and tasting along the way. This was part of my other small lunch meal. After some time, I came up with what I think is a VERY delicious Chicken Curry Salad recipe!

The chicken and the curry sauce before it was mixed together (not the most appetizing photo). Later I mixed in cilantro, green onions, and raisins too.

The kitchen sure took a beating with all of this food prep!

Note the white backsplash next to the yellow paint–we removed the wooden backsplash to prepare for our new counters and the new backsplash of course. Also, Dana loosened the countertop in preparation of removal so that all we had to do last night was pull it up and out of there. This ended up being a bigger task than we were expecting, but we got it out of there nonetheless.

After the chicken was mixed with the sauce, I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 4-5 hours. This helps the flavors blend together and “get to know each other.”

Once dinner rolled around, I gave the chicken one last stir, added in the celery and almonds at the last minute because I didn’t want to risk them getting soggy, taste tested it one more time, and scooped it on to some beautiful endive leaves. We went super classy with the Dixie paper plates last night because of the kitchen demolition.

You could enjoy this chicken salad on a whole grain wrap, in a lettuce cup, with endive boats, celery, zucchini, or on a lettuce salad. It was a really nice change of pace dinner!

Chicken Curry Salad

Ingredients

3 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded
2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
3 Tbsp. green onions, diced
⅓ cup raisins
juice from ½ a lime
¾ cup Greek yogurt
3 Tbsp. Light Mayo
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. mustard
1½ tsp. honey
1½ Tbsp. curry powder
¼ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. ginger powder
salt and pepper
¼ cup celery, diced
3 Tbsp. almonds, sliced

Instructions

In a large bowl combine chicken, cilantro, onion, and raisins. Set aside
In a small bowl mix together lime juice, yogurt, mayo, vinegar, mustard, honey, curry, garlic powder, ginger, and salt and pepper.
Pour over chicken and stir until chicken is evenly covered in sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3-5 hours.
Remove from fridge, add almonds and celery, stir, and test for seasonings. Adjust if needed.
Serve in endive leaves, in a whole grain or gluten-free wrap, whole grain or gluten-free bread, in lettuce cups, or on top of a lettuce salad.

This was super tasty and what’s great about it is all of the prep can be done ahead of time so that once dinner rolls around, all you need to do is throw it on a wrap and eat it up! Also, research is showing that curry (namely the main ingredient turmeric) may have some health benefits such as aiding in alzheimer’s prevention, reducing inflammation, easing digestion, boosting immunity, and more.

Have a happy Wednesday my friends!

Do you ever cook with curry? How do you usually use it?

Zucchini Carrot Refried Bean Tostadas

Post author:Melanie
Post published:April 11, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Gluten-Free / Recipes
Post comments:12 Comments

Happy Friday Eve! The snow is still drizzling down which makes for a super cozy morning. Yet again, a morning where all you want to do is sleep in and then cozy up on the couch with a good book and a cup of coffee. I am still anxiously awaiting the warm spring air that motivates me to jump out of bed and energizes me for the day. Soon enough….right? 🙂

For breakfast yesterday I had a veggie frittata thanks to some meal preparation on Tuesday evening. I used an old frittata recipe of mine for guidance but then added some different veggies into the mix. This time around I added 3 eggs, egg whites, kale, red pepper, mushroom, onions, and a little bit of cheese.

I took a couple of bites and then realized something was missing…

AVOCADO of course! I also added a little SCD ketchup to my plate. This dish was EGGcellet! I loved that it was ready for me when I woke up. Next time I will add more eggs to make it thicker.

Dinner

My creative foodie brain started wandering during the last 30 minutes of work about what to make for dinner. I mentally ran through everything we had in our fridge and freezer.

Zucchini had been on sale this weekend so I had picked up a couple of those and wanted to use that for sure, and I had a huge batch of super cooked and easily digestible chili beans in the freezer and sort of wanted to use those too. After a while of pondering it dawned on me. I was going to make zucchini and carrot tostadas with refried beans! It sounded strange in my mind so no worries if it sounds strange to you right now too, but I just had to give it a shot.

Into the food processor went one zucchini and one cup of carrots which I shredded. I poured them onto a thin kitchen towel, gathered all corners, twisted the tops together, and rung out as much liquid as possible.

I added the remains of the veggies into a bowl and added an egg, garlic, some almond flour, and seasonings (recipe below for further details). I mixed this together and began forming my tostadas on a baking pan which I had sprayed with olive oil. I used my hands to flatten out the dough into tortilla-like shapes.

Note: You could use cornmeal or gluten-free flour instead of almond flour.

I baked the tortillas at 350°F for 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes on broil, flipping half way during the broil.

When the tortillas were beginning the broiling process, I prepared the beans: In a saucepan on the stove, I sautéed diced onion in olive oil. I then added the beans, broth, and seasonings and gave it a good stir. I let the beans cook in the broth for about 8 minutes.

I chopped the cilantro, tomatoes, bell pepper, and grated the cheese so that it would be ready to top the tostadas.

Once the tortillas were ready, I plated them, added a sprinkle of cheese, a heaping spoonful of beans, followed by tomatoes, red peppers, cilantro and salsa. You could add avocado, black olives, or jalapeno if you would like too!

These are super-duper healthified refried bean tostadas if I’ve ever seen them! Don’t expect a super crunchy tortilla; it turned out pretty soft but found if you let them sit for a few minutes after they come out of the oven, they set a little further.

I had made a double batch, but scaled the recipe back for you all because it made an insane amount of these tortillas. I froze the leftover tortillas and plan on using them for mini pizzas in the future!

They require a little bit of work, but I think they are worth it! They were fun to eat!

Zucchini Carrot Refried Bean Tostadas

Serving Size: 2

Ingredients

Tostadas:
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 cup carrots, grated
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1 egg
¾ cups almond flour
sprinkle of onion powder
salt and pepper
Beans:
¼ cup onions, diced
1½ cups cooked kidney beans (pinto or black beans would be fine)
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper
½ cup chicken bone broth (veggie broth or chicken broth would be fine)
Toppings (optional):
diced tomatoes
diced red bell peppers
grated cheese
cilantro
avocado
black olives
salsa

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat one large cookie pan with olive oil.
In a food processor, shred zucchini and carrots.
Pour onto a kitchen towel. Gather all corners of towel and twist tops together. Ring out excess liquid over the sink.
Pour remaining veggies from towel into a medium bowl.
Add egg, garlic, almond flour, onion powder, salt, pepper and mix well.
Use hands to form large balls of dough and place on pan. Pat down to flatten to a little less than ¼ inch high and form a round "tortilla." Repeat until all dough has been shaped.
Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, turn oven to broil. Broil each side of the tortillas for about 4-5 minutes or until they turn golden and begin to crisp up.
While the tortillas are broiling, saute onion in olive oil in a medium pan on the stove top for about 3 minutes.
Then add beans, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and broth. Stir until beans are cooked through and liquid has cooked out.
Once tortillas are crisp, remove from oven. Place a tortilla on a plate then add the beans and finally your favorite tostada toppings.

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday eve! Catch up with you soon!

Question of the day: Have you made any creative dishes lately? Tell me about them and feel free to add a link to the recipe if you have one!

Go Green Tropical Smoothie

Post author:Melanie
Post published:March 28, 2013
Post category:Beauty/Fashion / Giveaway / Lunch / Misc. / Workouts
Post comments:3 Comments

HAAAPPPY GOOD FRIDAY! This week really flew by for me and I’m not complaining about it one bit.

We are going to have one VERY relaxing Easter weekend! We already celebrated Easter with Dana’s family last weekend, so this weekend we will be celebrating with my family on Sunday. Tonight we have zero plans, and tomorrow we are going to do some spring cleaning! Yes, I’m excited about it. I’m hoping it’ll be nice enough that we can open the windows and let the “winter air” out of the house.

I’ve been loving my new NutriBullet. I whipped up another smoothie and have been having fun mixing in different veggies and finding combinations that keep my taste buds intrigued Yesterday’s was a tropical-ish smoothie.

Go Green Tropical Smoothie

1 cup pineapple
1 small-medium ripe banana
2 small celery sticks
1 big handful of kale
almond milk**—as much or as little as you would like to reach desired consistency
aloe vera juice (optional)

**Coconut milk would be a GREAT substitute.

A little lunch action…mixed greens with tomato, guacamole, and an over-easy egg alongside a leftover almond biscuit and a juicy apple. Perfectly satisfying.

In the afternoon I snacked on some walnuts and raisins to give me a quick energy boost.

Afternoon Workout

I pulled up YouTube on our Apple TV and flipped through some workouts and found the ToneItUp girls arm workout. I completed their arm workout and then went right into Insanity’s cardio abs routine. After that I headed down to the treadmill and cranked out a half hour walk. I felt a little guilty that I didn’t take the pup out for a walk outside, but it is SO muddy and I just didn’t feel like dealing with that yesterday. Sorry Mooser. Maybe next time.

Dinner

I roasted a large handful of Brussels Sprouts in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper. While those roasted, I cooked a couple of mini turkey patties on the stove, along with sauteed onions and mushrooms. Once everything was done cooking, I plated up the sprouts, then the turkey patties, onions, and mushrooms, and I finished the dish off with some shredded cheddar and monterey jack cheese.

I ate a couple spoonfuls of cooked quinoa while I waited for this to come together.

Talk about taking a trip to flavor town! The only seasonings I used in this whole dish were salt, pepper, and olive oil, but the foods all took on their natural flavors and it tasted absolutely delicious.

I spent the evening ~~sobbing over~~ watching Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I read these books a long long time ago, and watched the movies, but it has been so long. Oh how I love a good chick flick! For an evening snack I had a handful of dates with pb; definitely my biggest weakness lately.

Okey dokey, I’m off for the day! I hope you all have a fantastic Good Friday!

Do you celebrate Easter? Do you have any fun plans this weekend?

A Minor Food Slump

Post author:Melanie
Post published:March 22, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Gluten-Free / Health / Home Life / Workouts
Post comments:7 Comments

Haaaaaaaappppy Friday!

You may have noticed that there weren’t too many food photos this past week. That’s because I went on a lazy hiatus this week with my meals.

Breakfasts have been my typical banana and peanut butter, lunches have been leftover meatloaf or whatever I can throw down during my lunch break…

…and dinners have been more leftover meatloaf! Lame!

However, yesterday morning I did attempt to be more creative and I made myself what turned out to be an egg pancake made with one egg and 1-2 egg whites. I cooked the eggs over too high of heat on the stove and they quickly turned from an omelet into a pancake. In the pancake was sautéed onions, green peppers, and kale, topped with avocado and Parkers Farm salsa.

It wasn’t my proudest breakfast moment, but it did taste alright and kept my tummy satisfied well until lunch.

Once lunch rolled around, I ate my usual breakfast of pb and banana (haha I just couldn’t go a DAY without it) and had a bunch of other random bites. I have got to turn this food slump around, because it is NOT exciting.

To tell you the truth, this entire week has been one of those weeks where everything seemed to take twice the effort; preparing meals, workouts, work, daily chores…everything. I really think that it has to do with the cold weather around here that keeps droning on and on. I am so ready for warm weather. I feel like I did pretty well this winter without feeling any symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, but now that it’s technically spring, I am realizing I have had enough of the cold and I know I’m not alone on this one.

Out with the cold and in with the warm please!

I did try to get snazzy with my workout yesterday afternoon. I was feeling sluggish and slightly under the weather after work, so decided that a calm 30-minute yoga session might be nice.

I rolled out the yoga mat and started flipping through the selections OnDemand looking for some yoga, but ended up scrolling across a 45-minute session called Grace and Gusto which combines Pilates and ballet. Being that I used to dance and miss it dearly, I decided to give it a whirl.

The verdict: It was fun and different and was the perfect pace for my mood (not super fast). It didn’t include a lot of jumping around, which was what I was looking for, and the instructor did a great job of combining both ballet and Pilate moves into the session. I was glad I did it and it reminded me that I need to step outside of my comfort zone more often and try new workouts.

As for today’s workout, my tentative plan is to go for a run. We will see what kind of mood I am in though! I seem to be kind of a rollercoaster lady lately.

My goals for the upcoming week are to jazz up my meals and to reenergize my motivation for more intense workouts. Who knows, maybe my body was telling me to lay low this week, but I’m ready for amp it up again!

Question of the day: Have you tried any new recipes lately? Any new workouts?

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