WIAW: Sweet Potato Nachos & Five a Day

Tomorrow is THANKSGIVING (to those of you who are unaware) and I am just a tad excited!!!!! Tomorrow I will be walking and possibly jogging in the best ever 5K and then I will be going to mom and dad’s for family time and crazy good food!

I am bringing two pies: one homemade pumpkin and one homemade caramel apple. I’m also bringing green bean casserole. I happen to be a huge green bean casserole fan. I know it can be pretty hit or miss for most. I’m trying a new recipe too.

Enough about tomorrow, let’s talk about yesterday. I actually took off my lazy pants and made myself some pretty awesome meals. I’m going to join in on the What I Ate Wednesday fun!

To start the day, a cup of decaf vanilla bean creme brulee coffee with coconut creamer and stevia in my adorable owl cup that makes me very happy. coffee mug

For breakfast, a fruit and yogurt bowl: FAGE Greek yogurt, agave, raspberries, blueberries, banana, raisins, cacao nibs, and pecan pieces.

yogurt bowl

A walk/jog on the treadmill happened mid-morning while watching Gossip Girl! I am getting back into running and I’m hoping to write about this soon. 🙂 Lunch: one of my favorite ol’ salads. In the mix is romaine lettuce (we ran out of dark greens), peas, avocado, red bell pepper, olives, broccoli, sunflower seeds, cottage cheese, and honey mustard dressing.

salad

Dessert: dates with peanut butter!

peanut butter and dates

Afternoon snack: crunchy juicy grapes, a handful of Crunchmaster’s Multi-Seed gluten-free crackers and a cup of tea.

Dinner: sweet potato nachos. Crispy sweet potato “chips” with cheddar cheese, black beans, corn, tomato, avocado, and salsa. So satisfying!

sweet potato nachos

I rounded out the day with some Fiber One 80 calorie chocolate squares. Those babies are dangerous! They taste like candy but they are loaded with fiber so you need to be careful with your intake or you could face some major bloating and other issues.

The remainder of the night was spent on the couch hanging with my boys in my warm home and of course, in my sweatpants.

moose

I’d say it was a pretty healthy day! I’m working towards redeeming my 5-9 daily servings of fruits and veggies. I used to be so good about it but lately have been sliding. I feel so much better when I reach the 5-9 mark and it’s something I am continuing to be mindful of and you should too!

As always, thank you Jenn for hosting the WIAW!

WIAWbutton

Are you celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow? Are you cooking up anything tasty? How do you make sure to get your five servings of fruits and veggies daily?

Continue Reading WIAW: Sweet Potato Nachos & Five a Day

Five Things Friday

Happy Friday!! I don’t know about you, but this week totally flew by for me. Another gloriously relaxing weekend is upon us, or at least for me!

Let’s kick this weekend off with a five random things Friday.

1. I actually cooked up a nice vegetarian meal last night! Hint: it involved spaghetti squash. The recipe will be up on the blog next week!

spaghetti squash

 

2. I thoroughly enjoyed our little early November snowfall we had this week. It was so light that most of it melted quickly and it didn’t mess up the roads and make for crazy traffic. It was just pretty and really got me into the holiday spirit!

first snow of the season

 

3. As much as I love my smoothies, now that the weather is permanently chilly, I am no longer wanting my cold smoothies in the morning as often. I’ve been into the two ingredient pancakes and hot oatmeal this week!

smoothie

 

oatmeal

 

4. On Tuesday I got together with my girlfriend Courtney at People’s Organic in Edina for a hot beverage and some major catch-up time. I got the morning elixir which was hot water, lots of fresh lemon juice, agave nectar, and sea salt. It made my mouth pucker the slightest but it was so enjoyable! I want to try to recreate it at home. As always, it was so great to be with Courtney. She is a ray of sunshine and such a good friend.

people's organic

5. I am completely in love with scarves. This is not a new thing. When fall rolls around I am thrilled to reach for my fun scarves and use them as accessories to my wardrobe. They are so cozy yet don’t make me feel claustrophobic like a turtle neck does. I might have to add some new scarves to my birthday list! 🙂

caroline melanie dana and melanie

 

Have an amazing weekend my friends! xoxo

Questions of the day:

1. What is your main squeeze breakfast these days?

2. What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

Continue Reading Five Things Friday

Weekend Favorites

So it’s for real Monday already? This weekend flew by! Mine was incredibly relaxing which I couldn’t have been more excited about. I was thinking, instead of doing a full recap of my weekend, how about I just breakdown some of my favorite moments from the weekend? Yea, I like that idea.

1. Watching an insane amount of New Girl with Dana while cozy in my sweatpants and snacking on some homemade caramel corn. What made it even better was that Dana made it!

homemade caramel corn

 

2. Meeting up with Katie for lunch at Panera! The excitement of getting together with Katie would have been enough but then you add Panera on top of that?! Man alive I was excited. And believe it or not, I actually branched out and instead of the usual French onion soup, I actually got broccoli cheese soup. It totally hit the spot! I was so happy to be with Katie for a while. Such a treat.

katie panera

 

panera broccoli cheese soup

 

3. Making some delicious food. For breakfast one day I made a two-ingredient pancake topped with peanut butter and real organic maple syrup. Not the prettiest photo I realize, but so tasty!

egg banana pancake

I also whipped up a batch of gluten-free pasta salad. I can’t remember if I used quinoa noodles or brown rice noodles (I had gotten them from the bulk bin at the co-op) but I do know it was one of the two. In the mix: peas, olives, celery, onions, chicken, mustard, mayo, salt and pepper, and a splash of lemon juice. This stuff was crazy good! homemade gluten free pasta salad

4. Watching Home Alone while walking on the treadmill in my warm home. Doesn’t that just sound cozy?!

 

home alone

 

5. Sleeping in and waking up with no alarm clock. And sleeping a lot. And getting an extra hour of sleep.

No-Alarm-Clock

 

6. Dinner with my family on Sunday night. I should really say feast and not dinner. My mom and dad went all out with steaks, potatoes, broccoli, salad, and fresh fruit! So good! I think my body was really screaming for some iron from the red meat because it tasted really good to me last night. Our bodies know best after all. It was so nice hanging out with family as always!

 

steak dinner mom and dads

 

As you can see it was an incredibly relaxing weekend. Ahhhhh….

How was your weekend? What were your favorite moments of the weekend?

Continue Reading Weekend Favorites

What I’ve Been Eating Lately: Random and Tasty

It’s been a while since I’ve caught you all up on what I have been eating lately. I will warn you that my eats have been completely random. I have been veering away from the cold salads more often in place of something warm like soup or quesadillas.

Thank you to Jen at Peas and Crayons for hosting the What I Ate Wednesdays!

WIAWbutton

Here it goes!

Gluten-free pasta with mom’s spaghetti sauce. NUM!

gluten free spaghetti

Cheese quesadillas with salsa.

gluten free quesadilla

Organic tomato soup with extra cracked black pepper.

tomato soup

Homemade veggie dip made from cottage cheese, ranch seasoning, and Italian seasoning packets–the Ninja Ultima was perfect for this job!

homemade cottage cheese veggie dip

Veggie plate with veggie dip.

veggie plate

Grass-fed beef burger with Monterey jack cheese.

burger

Acorn squash with turkey bacon.

squash

Oatmeal for National Oatmeal Day!

oatmeal

More quesadillas, this time with black beans and avocados too!

quesadillas

Loads of berries (recycled photo)!!

driscolls berries

Baked strawberry oatmeal bars.

IMG_4310

I told you…completely random, but TASTY!

What have you been eating lately?! 

Continue Reading What I’ve Been Eating Lately: Random and Tasty

My First On Air Experience: Fox 9

Happy National Oatmeal Day!

Make yourself a bowl of oatmeal, or make some oatmeal cookies (monster cookies are my favorite!), or maybe even some oatmeal bars. It is such a versatile food; everyone can find a way to enjoy oats! Whatever you do, be sure to celebrate this heart healthy day!

Oatmeal is such a well-rounded food: it contains fiber, protein, fat, and carbohydrate. It’s truly perfect. It has soluble fiber which can help to lower cholesterol, which can in turn help to lower your risk of developing heart disease which is the number one cause of death in the United States. Learn more about the benefits of oats by watching my video below!

I was invited to promote National Oatmeal Day on Fox 9 morning news. I also found out it was going to be LIVE (yikes!). But this was obviously an opportunity that I could not pass up so I happily but nervously accepted. I did my homework and my prep work for the show, and then it was finally the big day: show day!

I woke up bright and early and put on a professional, tv-friendly outfit. Surprisingly, I wasn’t that nervous.

fox 9 outfit melanie

I began my drive over to their Eden Prairie office. I was calm as I recited a couple of the key points I wanted to be sure and make throughout the show.

When I got to the studio, I was greeted by the sweetest and friendliest security guard. I got all checked in, grabbed a large cart so that I could roll in my three boxes of stuff, and was greeted by more staff who showed me back to the kitchen.

I felt so comforted by the staff. They all made me feel very welcome and made me feel right at home. They informed me that my first teaser shot would be at 8:10. I had no idea what this meant so I admitted that I was a rookie and asked to explain what that meant. A teaser shot is a quick five second or so clip of me in the kitchen that the viewers who are watching Fox 9 will see before my segment. It shows them what is coming up next on the news.

So, as I was setting up the kitchen with all of my nummies, I was also being videotaped and it was playing live!

There were three teasers throughout the set-up time. In between I would touched up my makeup, continue setting up the set, chat with the crew, and try and stay relaxed.

Here is what the stage looked like when it was all set up by yours truly!

fox 9 set setup

 

Right before my segment was about to air, anchor woman Dawn Stevens came in to meet me. She is a very sweet and beautiful woman! We quickly went over a couple of things and then all of a sudden the videographer or producer or someone was counting down 5–4—3–2–1. I looked over at Dawn when they were at three and I asked if we were really starting right now? She smiled and said “yup!”

And then the show began. I had a few nerves at the very beginning, but then I got into it and really enjoyed myself! The segment was only about four minutes but it seemed like I had about one minute to go through everything!

I am unable to embed the video into this post (it’s more than likely the user than it is the program :smile:), but if you haven’t checked out the video yet, you can see it here…

Video:

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/23805766/baked-strawberry-oatmeal-triple-berry-oatmeal-scones

What an incredible experience this was! I had such a mix of emotions once it was over. I think I was having a hard time believing that I had just shot a live TV segment and that people had already seen my face on TV. I was overwhelmed and so happy and so proud.

I can’t wait to do more! I hope this is just the beginning of my on-screen career! 😉

I want to thank the staff at Fox 9 for making me feel so welcome, so comfortable, and for having me on the show.

I also want to thank Driscoll’s and Sneaky Pete’s for partnering with me. You are so incredible and I am extremely grateful for you.

So how about I share that delicious recipe with you all for Baked Strawberry Oatmeal bars?!

oatmeal day

 

Photo courtesy of Fox 9

This recipe is from Driscoll’s Berries and you can find it on their website: http://www.driscolls.com/recipes/view/7548/Baked-Strawberry-Oatmeal

These bars are so insanely easy and they are so delicious! I was excited to have leftovers from the show. I left some for the staff but the remaining bars I took home and wrapped individually so that I can have the for breakfast or a snack whenever I want!

So go enjoy some oats on this National Oatmeal Day and let me know how you enjoyed oats today in my comments section!

Disclaimer: I was compensated for the show as well as the products needed for the show however all opinions expressed are my own. 

Continue Reading My First On Air Experience: Fox 9

Acorn Squash with Turkey Bacon + Weekend Happenings

What a weekend! This was a crazy fun weekend and I am exhausted but it was worth it!

Let’s begin with Friday…

I really haven’t been into the salads lately. I’m thinking it’s because it’s cold outside and I’m craving more warm foods. However I made myself a nice little salad on Friday for lunch and I actually enjoyed it! In the mix: dark greens, tomato, peas, avocado, olives, sunflower seeds, cottage cheese, and drizzle of olive oil infused with Italian spices.

salad

Friday afternoon we celebrated Ted and Annie’s wedding!

dana melanie wedding

It was so great to see the beautiful couple enjoy their special day and it was a lot of fun to see so many of my high school friends!

mel and brandon ted's wedding kal melanie liz

On Saturday, I was a lazy bum for the majority of the day. Dana made us a hearty, protein-packed lunch of eggs with chicken-apple-gouda sausage and onions. Seriously delicious and satisfying.

eggs and chicken sausage

I watched New Girl and eventually whipped up a batch of this awesome and super easy bean dip for a Halloween party we would be attending in the evening.

http://www.thecountrycook.net/2011/01/warm-bean-dip-and-party-food-highlights.htmlbean dip recipe

In the evening we headed out to our friends Adam and Stacy’s house for the annual Halloween party. Every year they impress me more and more with their Halloween decorations. You can only see half of my costume but I was a Food Safety Inspector (you can’t see my badge or meat thermometer and I don’t have my clipboard with me) and Dana was an Italian chef. Unfortunately his restaurant broke too many codes so I had to shut’er down. 🙂

melanie dana halloween 2013

Thanks Adam and Stace for an amazing party once again!

On Sunday, Dana and I had a bunch of errands we had to run in the morning. I spent the rest of my day prepping for my big TV debut (more to come on this) and I also squeezed in a 3-mile walk around the neighborhood. The weather was absolutely perfect and the scenery was beautiful.

fall walk

For dinner I baked up one acorn squash and served it with organic butter and Applegate Turkey bacon, salt, and pepper.

acorn squash with turkey bacon

I wasn’t in the mood for anything sweet but I think maple syrup would have been really good on this too!

So there you have it. My weekend was a blast and went WAY too fast as it always does.

How was your weekend?
What’s your favorite squash?
How do you use it?

Continue Reading Acorn Squash with Turkey Bacon + Weekend Happenings

Weekend Happenings: Soups, Weddings, Family Time

Hello, hello! How was your weekend? Mine was FANTASTIC!

It started on Friday. I made myself a super nummy smoothie in my new Ninja Ultima.

In the smoothie (all frozen fruits and veggies):

  • Kale
  • Blueberries
  • Pineapple
  • Bananas
  • almond milk
  • peanut butter
  • flax-seed
  • cocoa powder

ninja smoothie

 

I gave it a whirl in the Ninja…

ninja

 

So far I have used the Ninja for smoothies and I also used it last night when I made a batch of soup! I love it. It is so efficient! I can’t wait to make nut butters in it. I am hoping the clean up is a lot easier than when I make nut butter in the food processor!

Friday morning I met up with my mom or our annual girl’s day. This year we decided to go to Whole Foods to do some shopping, have lunch at Panera, go for a walk with Abbie around the neighborhood, and just veg out together. It was so nice and so relaxing! I can’t wait for our next one!

Oh, and don’t act surprised when you hear I got the French Onion Soup once again at Panera. It is just my fav! Next time though I might have to try that squash soup, right Katie?

IMG_4199

On Saturday we attended my cousin’s wedding. It was fun getting all dolled up and hanging out with my family for the day.

carolyns wedding collage

On Sunday…more family time! We met up with Dana’s parents in the morning for a while and then went to my parent’s house to hang out with Scott and Nicole before they headed back home. No wonder my weekend was so fabulous, it was full of family time!

In the afternoon I whipped up a batch of veggie soup to eat throughout the week. It’s packed with bone broth, broccoli, green beans, zucchini, onion, carrots, celery and more. I am hoping it turned out well! If so, I will share the recipe!

soup

While the soup cooked, I heated up myself a bowl of four bean quinoa chili from the freezer and added some cheddar cheese to the top. Mmmmm mmmmm! The perfect meal on a cozy Sunday evening.

chili

I have been all about the soups lately. The fall weather has finally nestled in and the forecast is looking like 50’s this week! Bring out the sweaters, slippers, soup, pumpkin scented candles, and let’s get a fire going in the fireplace! Cozy city! LOVE.

What did you do this weekend? Have you been enjoying any soups yet this fall?

Continue Reading Weekend Happenings: Soups, Weddings, Family Time

A Whole Lotta Thank Yous

Hey ya’ll!! I’m baaaaaccckkk! Dana and I got in last night at 10:45 pm from our anniversary vaca adventure. We were in three countries within a week and a half! Before I share any more details, I want to give a huge thanks to my guest posters for taking the time to write for Beautifully Nutty. In case you missed them:

Katie: How to Survive a Hard Run
Rebecca: Simple Meal Planning Tips
Jackie: Spicy Chicken Dip
Hailey: Decide to Be Happy, and Be

Dana and I had a seriously incredible and climate diverse vacation. It felt great to be together and to celebrate our two-year anniversary. Thank you for all of the anniversary wishes as well!

I am wiping my sleepy eyes this morning as I am slightly jet-lag going from west coast time back to central time zone. I know it’s only a difference of two hours but I’m sensitive to my sleep. You all know that by now. But waah wahh, I’m tired because I was on vacation. No one is going to throw a pity party for me that’s for sure!

I’m still working on gathering photos from my phone, Dana’s phone, and the camera, so the recaps are going to have to wait a bit but I thought I could at least share with you where I went.

We started the trip by spending a few days in Ucluelet and Tofino, BC on Vancouver Island, then we drove to Victoria, BC, crossed back on the ferry over to Vancouver, then Seattle, then down to California where we hopped on a three-day cruise to Ensenada, Mexico.

Canada, United States, and Mexico. Not bad, huh?

We spent a lot of time in the car needless to say but we got to enjoy some incredible views along the way.

vancouver island

 

Not to mention some seriously windy roads through the mountains.

I just about lost it on our 2.5 hour car ride out to Ucluelet. It didn’t help I had come off of a day of travel with very little sleep, eaten a less than stellar veggie burger, and the icing on the cake of course is that I get motion sickness fairly easily. Again, waah waaah.

(I tried to capture the zig-zag roads)

vancouver

 

That’s about the extent at which I’m going to get into vaca today. I’m thinking I will spread it out a bit. I think it will take a few posts. Look forward to them!! 😉

It’s always hard to come back after vacation, but at the same time I get very excited to get home and see Moose, and my family and friends again.

I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who took care of our Mooser baby while we were away. I can’t wait to see his huge puppy face!

moose

Dana (my travel agent and husband) did such an amazing job planning this trip for us. If you’re ever needing to book any type of trip, let me know and I can get you his contact information! Thank you, Dana for all of your time spent planning this awesome getaway for us!

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

So guess what came to my door step the day before I left for vacation?

My Cosmedix prize! Remember back in September when I went out to New York for the Bethenny Frankel show and premiere party? I mentioned I had won a basket of $500 worth of Cosmedix swag. I anxiously awaited this basket of goodies and it’s finally here!

cosmedix cosmedix

 

I can’t wait to try it all out! Thank you Cosmedix!

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

I didn’t do a whole lot of food prep for our trip, but one thing I did make was a batch of Katie’s nummy bars! These served as our breakfast for the first few days and were SO good! I looked forward to eating them every morning and will absolutely be making another batch in the near future. I may even try almond butter instead. We will see! Thanks for the tasty recipe, Katie! xoxo

katie's bars

 

I am feeling very out of the loop with what is going on in our world, in the blog world, and with my family and friends. Did I miss anything big? How is everyone doing? I’ve missed you all!

 

Continue Reading A Whole Lotta Thank Yous

Project Freezer Clean Out

Did this weekend even exist? It went by so fast!

I had a fabulous weekend really, packed with family, beautiful walks, great food, and home projects. Here’s a quick little recap of what was happening around mi casa this weekend.

Friday

I was feeling exhausted after work but brought myself to walk for 35 minutes. Dinner was simple but tasted SO good! It was sautéed broccoli, zucchini, onions, and green beans with diced chicken, apple, and gouda sausage! The dish was very flavorful thanks to the snausage sausage.

chicken sausage veggie saute

Saturday

I met my cousin Betsy out at Target Field in Minneapolis for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Our local news anchor Diana Pierce kicked off the event. Senator Amy Klobuchar also spoke, and I saw local sports reporter Eric Perkins on the walk and said “hi”! To any locals, you might know some of these folks. 🙂

walk for alzheimers walk for alzheimers

The weather was beautiful and the walk was so much fun. We were led through the streets of downtown Minneapolis and into Loring Park (which is where I was last weekend!)

walk for alzheimers

Bets and I made a pit stop at Caribou on the way back of course. Because of this, we didn’t win the race. 😉

There are so many people affected by Alzheimer’s, my grandma being one of them. It is a horrible disease that needs to end! They are researching like crazy to find the cure, and I pray they do. I can’t wait to do the walk again next year to support the research and end Alzheimer’s.

This weekend I solidified my obsession for these Blue Diamond Salt n’ Vinegar Almonds that I got from the Summit last weekend. I’ve looked in CVS and Target so far and I haven’t been able to find this flavor anywhere yet. I should have grabbed ten bags at the Summit. Seriously these things are awesome! They are tangy and salty. MMM…mmmm!

blue diamond salt n vinegar almonds

 

I dragged the Fall decorations up on Saturday. Our house is looking mighty festive!

mantle fall autumn

 

In the evening we had a bunch of family over for dinner at our house. I finally got to wear my ZeeBee Threads t-shirt dress! I paired it with a zebra print scarf, grey leggings, and actually had to wear a long black cardigan too because it was CHILLY! This dress is so incredibly comfortable. I was so happy to be comfy yet still be wearing a cute outfit at the same time. Ya’ll know I’m all about comfort.

zeebee threads dress

I was overly excited for dinner because we were getting pizza. I should really look back on the blog to determine the last time I actually ate real, not gluten-free, not cauliflower pizza crust… just real original legit pizza. My system has been cooling down quite a bit and I wanted to try this one treat to see how I held up.

pizza

The results: I think I felt fine—I didn’t feel any different really! Not that I will make this a common meal but it’s good to know I can handle it every once and a while. It tasted just as good as I remembered too!

Sunday

I am beginning a project freezer clean out and dug this up from the freezer: gluten-free lemon blueberry bread. I topped it with some almond butter and called it breakfast.

blueberry lemon bread

After breakfast we ran our errands and got a few groceries but not too many because we are going on VACATION at the end of the week! I am realizing I haven’t said much about this yet. More to come on the vaca 411.

This week I plan to eat food from the freezer primarily. We have loads of frozen veggies, frozen meats, leftover soups, chili, etc. It will feel good to begin cleaning out the freezer! PROJECT FREEZER (and fridge) CLEAN OUT!

For dinner I made a batch of yellow quinoa and topped it with sautéed broccoli, zucchini, onions, chicken, and fresh tomatoes, olives, and hummus. A Mediterranean-inspired dish! My fav.

 

mediterranean inspired meal

 

It tasted as good as it looked!

We tackled a few projects around the house, relaxed a bit, watched some of the Emmy’s, and called it an early night on Sunday. It was another fabulous weekend for the books!

How was YOUR weekend? What did you do?

Are you in need of a project freezer clean out?

Continue Reading Project Freezer Clean Out

WIAW: What I Have Been Eating Lately

Today I’m joining in on the fun with a round of Peas and Crayon’s, “What I Ate Wednesday,” but instead of what I ate Wednesday, I am renaming mine to what I have been eating lately.

WIAWbutton

Loads of fresh and sweet berries thanks to Driscoll’s berries!!

berries

Spinach salads with strawberries, black beans, avocado, chicken, sunflower seeds, and honey mustard dressing.

spinach salad

Fruit and Nut “Cereal”–blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, bananas, sliced almonds, cashew pieces, dried currants, cacao nibs, and almond milk! And I just decided that is what’s for breakfast today! Num!

paleo cereal

Leftover Four Bean Quinoa Chili from the freezer!

leftover chili

Two over-easy eggs with sautéed onions, fresh garden tomatoes, avocado, and salsa!

eggs

Blue Diamond Artisan Nut Thins. These things are crazy good! The box is empty.

blue diamond crackers

 

Dates for a little bit of a sweet treat.

dates and pb

And last but not least, homemade almond butter!

 

 

almond butter

 

I’d say I’ve been eating pretty darn well!

 

What have YOU been eating lately?

Continue Reading WIAW: What I Have Been Eating Lately