A Rainy Run and Spring Cleaning

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

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

smoothie

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

quinoa and cheese and peas

Dinner: My favorite salmon!

salmon

 

 

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

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

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

Can you spot the cardinal?!

cardinal and backyard

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

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

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

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

moose

 

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC Saturday! xoxo

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Go Green Tropical Smoothie

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

melanie

 

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.

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.

egg over a salad

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.

veggies and turkey burger

veggies and turkey burger

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?

Continue Reading Go Green Tropical Smoothie

A Hungry Morning

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

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

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

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

cereal and fruit

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

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

walnuts

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

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

sauteed vergis

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

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

Moose

More snacks happened in the afternoon.

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

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

salad

 

The rest of the evening was pretty quiet and relaxing!

Question of the day: What is your favorite cereal?

Have a great day!!

 

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I Made Almond Milk and an Antioxidant Smoothie!

Oh the goodness of Pinterest. So many pins, so little time.

One of my friends had pinned a link for homemade almond milk and I was beyond intrigued. I knew I could in fact make almond milk, but I had never really given it a thought because it sounded super tedious and it’s way more convenient to go to the store and buy a carton off the shelf.

But I was intrigued, so I clicked on the link which led me to LaurenConrad.com (yes, LC from Laguna Beach). I wanted to see what the process looked like. I was pleasantly surprised when I read through the directions…it didn’t look too bad at all! Plus, there are only FOUR ingredients in this milk. As you all know, I am all about keeping my food clean and simple the majority of the time, so this recipe screamed “MAKE ME!” So I did.

1. In a food processor or on a cutting board, chop one cup of almonds into big chunks and place into a heavy-duty food storage bag or into a glass container. Pour five cups of water over the almonds. Seal the bag or cover the container and place in the fridge to let soak overnight.

almond milk

almond milk

2. In the morning, strain off the liquid into a medium pot on the stove top and save the almonds in the bag.

almond milk almond milk

3. In a food processor, blend up the almonds until they become a paste; grind them up as far as your processor will allow. Add the almond mash back into the water.

almond milk

4. Add 1/2 tablespoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon of honey (optional) and stir. Heat mixture over medium heat for about seven minutes, stirring occasionally.

almond milk

5. Prepare a sturdy heat-proof container by placing a cheesecloth or a linen kitchen towel over the mouth of the container and fasten with a rubberband.

Notes: I started off using cheesecloth but then found that a towel worked better because it was more sturdy. Also, if you have a container with a larger opening, I would recommend using that as it will make the process go a lot faster.

Slowly pour liquid through the cloth. The towel will gather the almond pieces and the liquid will drain through. Use a spoon to assist the liquid through.

almond milk almond milk

6. And voila you have almond milk! It will last up to a week, covered in the fridge. Enjoy!!

almond milk

To view originally recipe, check out Lauren’s website.

I used the milk on some gluten-free cereal with fruit this morning and it was WONDERFUL! Seriously, I really enjoyed it. Plus, I know every.single.ingredient. in that milk which makes it even more enjoyable. I had all of the ingredients right in my pantry.  I think everyone should make this milk at least once in their lifetime!

Moving on. Yesterday morning was another NutriBullet smoothie morning. I stepped outside of my comfort zone with this smoothie which I have named “The Antioxidant Smoothie” because of all of antioxidant-rich ingredients involved. I tried to mentally track the amounts of each ingredient so that I could share the recipe with you, but my mind fails me sometimes, so we’ll see how well I can do here.

The Antioxidant Smoothie

  • 1/2 cup blueberries
  • 3/4 cup strawberries
  • 1/2 cup raspberries
  • 1 cup kale
  • 2 Tablespoons beets
  • 1 Tablespoon chia seeds
  • water (add as much as you like to reach desired consistency)
  • aloe vera juice (optional)
  • a touch of honey (optional)

antioxidant smoothie in nutribullet antioxidant smoothie in nutribullet antioxidant smoothie in nutribullet

 

In case you were wondering, beets fall outside of my comfort zone. I don’t like beets but they are a food I wish I DID like because they are so pretty and vibrant, rich in B vitamins and other vitamins and minerals, and you could guess by their beautiful red color, that they are in fact an antioxidant food. This is why I included them in the smoothie; so I could get the benefits from the veggie, but not the full taste. I could only very subtly taste the beets in this smoothie, so it was all good.

I don’t like radishes either and I wish I did because they are so pretty! Maybe if I keep introducing myself to these two veggies they will grow on me, just like the salmon has grown on me!

Alright folks, that is all for today. Go make yourself some almond milk! Get crazy and add a little cocoa or cinnamon to the finished product. Mmm..

Question of the day: What kinds of milk have you tried? What’s your favorite?

Continue Reading I Made Almond Milk and an Antioxidant Smoothie!

Carrot Pizza Crust (Grain-Free)

Once again, where did the weekend go?!

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

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

smoothie nutribullet

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

Aloe Vera Juice

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

carrot pizza

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

carrot pizza

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

carrot pizza carrot pizza carrot pizza

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

Carrot Pizza Crust (Grain-Free)
3.0 from 1 reviews
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Ingredients
  • 6 medium carrots, roughly chopped
  • ⅓ cup water
  • ¼ cup and ½ cup cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
  • 1 egg
  • 1 garlic clove, grated or minced
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • ½ cup marinara sauce (no-sugar added)
  • 1 Tbsp parmesan cheese
  • toppings of choice
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place parchment paper on cookie sheet. Set aside.
  2. Place carrots in a medium microwave safe bowl and add ⅓ cup of water. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 7-9 minutes, or until carrots are fork tender. Remove from microwave and let cool slightly.
  3. Once cooled, place carrots in food processor and pulse until pureed.
  4. Scrape carrot puree onto cheesecloth or thin kitchen towel. Gather all corners and wring out excess water from the carrots into the sink.
  5. Add carrots back to the bowl, add ¼ cup cheese, egg, and grated garlic clove. Mix well.
  6. On prepared baking pan, spread carrot mixture to a ¼ inch thickness. Spray with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  7. Bake for 27-29 minutes or until outer crust begins to turn golden, and middle of pizza is firm.
  8. Remove from oven and add sauce, ½ cup cheddar cheese, parmesan, and toppings. Bake for 5 more minutes.
  9. Turn oven to broil and broil for 3-4 minutes.
  10. Remove from oven, slice, and enjoy warm!

Have a great day my friends!

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

Continue Reading Carrot Pizza Crust (Grain-Free)

Easter Celebration #1

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

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

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

veggie app

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

chicken shrimp artichoke chicken shrimp artichoke easter 2013

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

birthday cake

 

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

 

dana and sue birthday

It was very refreshing and light tasting.

birthday cake

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

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

 

Continue Reading Easter Celebration #1

Fajita Salad and a Fun Surprise at Mall of America

There’s nothing like starting your day off with a veggie and fruit packed smoothie. Yesterday I whipped together a smoothie made with frozen banana, kale, kefir, aloe vera juice, peanut butter, and chocolate egg white protein powder and it was delicious.

smoothie

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

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

betsy and melanie

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

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

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

gloriana moa

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

baja sol baja sol baja sol

 

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

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

Continue Reading Fajita Salad and a Fun Surprise at Mall of America

A Minor Food Slump

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…

turkey meatloaf energy bite mah ball apple peanut butter

…and dinners have been more leftover meatloaf! Lame!

meatloaf

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.

eggs

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.

sweatpink

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?  

 

Continue Reading A Minor Food Slump

Snowshoeing & Celestial Seasonings Tour

I didn’t get to wish you all this yesterday so, HAPPY SPRING! One would never guess it’s spring around here however. The snow and freezing temperatures really don’t go along with what I picture to be spring.

How about a little humor to kick off this chilly Thursday? It’s 7°F here right now as I type. Woof!

Question: What do you call a nosey pepper?

Answer: Jalapeño business!

I just realized I added another pun into the mix….this “chilly” (aka chili) Thursday! Peppers are in chili….get it?

Well anyway, I have a long overdue post for you all today. So, after our incredible trip to Turks and Caicos, we headed back to the states, but not home to Minnesota, instead we headed to Colorado to celebrate Dana’s uncle’s birthday.

We stayed with his aunt (my “aunt-in-law”) in their quaint neighborhood right outside of Boulder. I feel so at home when I am in Colorado and I’ve only been there twice.

I love everything about Colorado: the view, the people, the health enthusiasts, the fitness opportunities, and all of the great food companies! LARABAR, Justin’s Nut Butter, Celestial Seasonings Tea, Food Should Taste Good, just to name a few, are produced in Colorado. Those are some of my favorite companies!

If I weren’t such a homebody, I would think about moving out there, picking up skiing, and enjoying a “greener” life out there, but I am a total homebody. I love that my parents live just 15 minutes away and couldn’t imagine being away. So, I will stick to lots of traveling instead.

When we first got to Colorado, I struggled a bit with adapting to the altitude change, and had an upset stomach and a headache. Not to mention, I didn’t get much sleep that night because our flight got in pretty late. We all laid low on the first morning but once the afternoon rolled around I was aching to get out and get moving. I still wasn’t feel the greatest, but Dana and I drove out to Eldora Ski Area anyway do some snowshoeing.

colorado 2013

The last time I went snowshoeing was in my senior year of high school for a class called Lifetime Activities. I remember enjoying it but I’m pretty sure the routes we took back in Southern Minnesota didn’t stand a chance to the Colorado Rockies. Actually, if I recall correctly, I’m pretty sure we just did the snowshoeing outside on the school lot.

We were expecting the mountains to be in the 30’s based on our Weather Channel research, but it turned out to be in the mid-40’s and maybe even 50’s. We went totally decked out in winter coats, long underwear, snow pants, two pairs of socks, snow boots, mittens, and hats….

colorado 2013

We took the two-hour route that wove us through the tranquil mountains.

colorado 2013

We made a couple of stops to admire the views!

colorado 2013

The incline of the hike really had us heatin’ up and we ended up shedding our coat layer, plus our hat and mittens.

colorado 2013 colorado 2013

This definitely got the heart-rate going!

colorado 2013

We followed the orange arrows marked on the trees until we made our way back to the chalet.

I absolutely LOVE snowshoeing! It’s fun, relaxing, and it’s such a great workout too! I want to do more of it. I am so glad we went albeit not feeling 100%.

A good majority of the weekend in Colorado was spent relaxing and hanging out with the family, but on Saturday morning we planned on one excursion:

The Celestial Seasonings Tea Tour!

Celestial Seasonings is located right in Boulder and it was only about five minutes from where we were staying.

colorado 2013

Upon arrival we were handed “teakets,” which was a package of CS Peppermint Tea along with a sample mini mug to bring over to the testing area.

At the test bar, I was able to try ANY and every tea that I wanted.

celestial seasonings

 

I tried the Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride, The Nutcracker Sweet, Sweet Harvest Pumpkin, and a few more. We also tried their energy shots as well as there kombucha drinks. I didn’t know they made either of those! My favorite of the teas was the Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride which I ended up buying and bringing home to enjoy.

cs colorado 2013

After our free tasting and chit-chatting with the “barista,” we headed in to the screening room to watch a 10-minute video about how Celestial Seasonings began, their morals, beliefs. I found it all fascinating.

cs colorado 2013

Then we threw our hairnets on and headed into the production area. Photos were not allowed inside of this area but I can tell you that it was pretty neat inside; kind of magical if you will, like Willy Wonka. Each room you went by had a different scent. My favorite was the peppermint and spearmint room. This one has to have a door closed to block out the smell because it is so intense that it could migrate into other teas. They opened the door to the room, and as soon as you walk in the mint invades your nostrils, makes your eyes water, and is slightly intoxicating, but in a good way! It cleared my senses and made me feel calm. They call it free aromatherapy, and it’s very fitting!

We learned about all of the different kinds of teas like black, white, herbal, caffeinated, decaffeinated, etc. Our tour guide was great. She explained the process very well and added her touches of humor. I felt like I learned so much while I was there and I truly devoured every second of it.

After the tour we were led into their gift shop. This was the place to shop if you were looking for something for someone who has everything. Did that make sense? They had so many fun gifts, beauty products, treats, and of course teas!

cs colorado 2013

This was the perfect way to spend our Saturday morning, plus it was sleeting outside so it  made it even that much more cozy inside.

We had a little time to spare before we needed to head back home for lunch, so we drove to the shopping area to do some window shopping. Again, it was sleeting and pretty darn cold out at this point, so we enjoyed this as much as we could. The mall is set up so that you walk outside in between stores. If it were nice out this would have been fantastic, but since it wasn’t so great, we spent most of our time in the shops.

colorado 2013

 

I loved all of the athletic stores in the area. I refrained from buying anything though! After shopping we headed back home and stayed cozy for the rest of the day.

This Colorado stop was the perfect way to end our glorious vacation. If you’ve never been to Colorado, I recommend you put it on your list of places to visit, because it is truly beautiful.

I hope you had as much fun reading this post as I had reliving it.

Now, back to reality. I hope you all have a fabulous Thursday!

Continue Reading Snowshoeing & Celestial Seasonings Tour

Meatloaf on a Wintry Night

I can still use that post title for another couple of days. Although the last day of winter is technically tomorrow, it’s going to take a while before the snow goes away around here and it actually looks like spring. Oh well! It will get here when it gets here, but I am just a little antsy for that warmer weather and more outdoor running!

I took advantage of the coziness of the cold evening and baked up a comfort meal for Dana and I….

Mini Turkey Meatloaves!

meatloaf

I used a recipe I created back in July for Mini Turkey Meatloaves using ground turkey. The only change I made was I used fresh minced garlic instead of garlic powder.

*Note: These are SCD legal if you use SCD legal ketchup!

I served the meatloaves along side some simple roasted broccoli.

meatloaf

I love how meatloaf makes the house smell.

meatloaf meatloaf

And I love how they taste.  It was the perfect meal for a cold winter night.

I hope you all have a fabulous day! Happy last day of winter!! WHOOOPPPP whooop!

Question: What is your favorite comfort food on a cold evening?

Continue Reading Meatloaf on a Wintry Night