A nice little day off
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day everyone! I work in a public health agency in the area as a Registered Dietitian and had the day off today for the holiday. I am having a great day so far. I woke up and hit the treadmill for a morning walk while watching some Keeping Up with the Kardashians (guilty pleasure). It kept me walking longer than I was planning because I just had to watch Kim tell Khloe that she wasn’t happy with her relationship with Kris. OMG. I am pathetic I know.
After my walk I made myself a fruit and yogurt parfait, had a couple of cups of joe with cream and stevia, hit the showers, then headed out to take care of some errands.
For lunch I stopped at mom and dad’s. They only live about 15 minutes away and I am very lucky to be able to stop by whenever I please. I always love stopping by their place not only to see them and their adorable Yorkie Poo, Abbie, but also I love raiding their cupboards. They always have so many fun things that I don’t have at my house!
I decided on a piece of whole wheat toast with crunchy pb, banana, carrots, some whole grain chips (bean flavored they are delicious), then finished off with a couple of pieces of chocolate kisses. Mom asked me to make her favorite chocolate drop no bake cookies before I left and I happily obliged. I love baking/cooking because I get to “taste test” the batter which is my favorite!
I will be posting the recipe soon! You won’t want to miss it. I had two of the wonderfully chocolately peanut buttery oatmeal cookies then headed for the home front. Photo shoot time with Mooser:
The rest of the day has been dedicated to getting some things done around the house and hanging out with my boys before the work week begins. Dinner is most likely going to be a whatever kind of night. I’m not sure what I’m in the mood for. We’ll see! Have a great rest of your day!
Bread Machine Pizza Dough
Tonight we made homemade pizza dough in the bread maker for the first time and holy cow it was delicious! I made a whole wheat dough recipe that I adapted from Cooking Light. Instead of going through the processes of covering, rising, kneading, punching which is what this recipe called for, we put the dough in our bread maker and set it to the dough setting. Easy peasy! Once it’s done in the bread machine, I baked it in the oven with all of the toppings I had on hand and waited, waited, waited impatiently.
The crust came out pretty thick which was delicious, but I read the recipe once we were done stuffing our faces and read that it was actually supposed to make two 12 inch pizzas. This would make for a thinner crust which is usually what I prefer! But I am not complaining, because this was one delectable pizza. I enjoyed and savored every single bite. MMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Bread Machine Pizza Dough
Adapted Recipe (Cooking Light) http://search.cookinglight.com/ck-results.html?Ntt=pizza+dough&x=0&y=0:
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- small handful of corn meal
Directions
- In bread machine add water and oil.
- Next add dry ingredients except corn meal
- Set bread machine on dough and let it do its thing
- Once dough is done, set onto pizza stone lightly coated with corn meal*
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
- Knead from the center out to the edges
- Top with whatever toppings you have on hand (I used pasta sauce, onion, zucchini, mushroom, green olives and spinach)
- Bake for 20-22 minutes
* Recipe called for cooking spray but I omitted because honestly I didn’t think you needed to coat a pizza stone. I was wrong. Dough was sticking a little bit once I took it out of the oven but I used a spatula to loosen it right out. Next time I will use cooking spray, then corn meal.
I will definitely be making pizza crusts homemade from now on in the bread maker. Winner winner! The rest of the night will consist of hanging out with my boys and watching a little bit of the Golden Globes. Have a great night everyone!
Dana and Moose
Now that I have given you a brief introduction of who I am, I want to introduce you to two other members of the household.
My husband, Dana. Dana and I got married just a few months ago, Oct. 1st, 2011. He is absolutely the love of my life and is so supportive of me and patient with me. We love being together whether it be cooking something up in the kitchen, hiking, running, grocery shopping, etc. He is willing to try my recipe renovations and continues to stay positive for me even through recipe flops.
Dana went to college with two of my brothers which is how we met. We ran into each other a few times, exchanged numbers, and started dating. We dated for two plus years, he proposed, and then we planned for our wedding which took place in MN. I plan to recap some of our memories from the wedding as well as our honeymoon in Italy! Plan on seeing this face quite a bit throughout the blog journey.
Next up: Moose aka Moosebear, Mooser
This is our 3 1/2 year old German Sheperd. He loves to play with his rope, chicken, chew on his bone, eat, whine, go running with Dad, play with friends at the dog park, and take naps. He keeps us laughing…all 92 lbs of him! Now that Dana and I are married, I am officially his mom. Love that little guy.
That’s our family in a nut shell!
The beginning of Beautifully Nutty…
My very first post!
Welcome to Beautifully Nutty! My name is Melanie and I am a Registered Dietitian (RD) from a southern suburb of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. I have a passion for food and health. I try to live a healthy lifestyle including a well-balanced diet and fitness, but will be perfectly honest when I say I absolutely adore sweets. The good news is, treats and sweets can be part of a healthy diet; all in moderation of course!
The intention of Beautifully Nutty is not to advise on “what to eat” and “what not to eat,” it’s simply a place for me to share my life, recipes, fitness, and to keep me on track toward my health and fitness goals. I don’t believe in diets per say, I believe in learning how to live a healthy lifestyle, which is something you can attain for life, not just for a few weeks.
I look forward to sharing more of my life with you. I am still figuring out the ins and outs of the blog, so try to be patient with me (computers and I don’t always get along) as I continue to learn!
