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I Made Almond Milk and an Antioxidant Smoothie!

Post author:Melanie
Post published:March 26, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Gluten-Free / Health / Home Life / Recipes / SCD
Post comments:6 Comments

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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)

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?

Fajita Salad and a Fun Surprise at Mall of America

Post author:Melanie
Post published:March 23, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Family / Friends / Restaurants
Post comments:2 Comments

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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?

A Successful 7k

Post author:Melanie
Post published:March 16, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Workouts
Post comments:7 Comments

I am in such a wonderful mood this afternoon after finishing the Get Lucky 7k this morning. I was a little nervous about the actual run because I haven’t been running lately, but as it turned out, it was a GREAT run. I felt like I could keep going and going and going, and that was on NO caffeine.

I ate my usual pre-run breakfast of banana with peanut butter and cinnamon…

Dana and I did our best to get “dressed up” for the occasion. I wore a t-shirt from senior year of high school that says “Senior Stars, You Wish.” I knew I kept that shirt around for a reason!

Then we dug these hats out of the basement storage from our friends’ St. Patty’s party last year, and I felt a lot more festive!

This year’s outfits were a big step up from our last year’s Get Lucky outfits…

The temperature at last year’s run was in the 60’s, and this year it was in the 20’s. Quite the difference!

The course was very icy but I didn’t witness any falls fortunately. It was a cold first few miles, but I still felt fantastic.

At around mile two there was a celtic band playing which gave me a boost of energy, and people lined the course cheering us on the whole way. I loved every second of this race.

I completed the 4.4 miles in 40:31, so 9:13 minute/mile. I was VERY happy with that stat considering my lack of running lately. Now, I am super motivated to get out and start running more. I am still hoping for that warm weather soon, though.

Post-run lunch was a green salad (for St. Pat’s weekend of course :wink:). In this grand mix was mixed greens, zucchini, olives, peas, avocado, sunflower seeds, chicken, parmesan cheese, lemon juice, and olive oil. It was a WINNER.

I am in such an incredible mood today. We have fun plans to celebrate Dana’s birthday tonight with my family, and I am going to go relax a bit before I have to get ready.

Real quick though, here was my pre-race dinner from last night: Tilapia with rutabaga fries and broccoli. Very nummy.

I hope you all have a super Saturday. Catch up with you soon. XOxo

Lots of Food Prep

Post author:Melanie
Post published:March 15, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Gluten-Free / Health / Home Life / Recipes / SCD / Snacks / Workouts
Post comments:2 Comments

Happy Friday!

I had a bit of a goofy tummy yesterday so my day of eats was very sporadic. I started the day off with a smoothie.

Strawberry Banana Cocoa Smoothie:

Strawberries
Banana
Kefir
Kale
Aloe Vera Juice
Cocoa powder

I really had to force that bad boy down; I just wasn’t feeling hungry. I drank about half of it and put the rest in the fridge.

I also sipped on a warm cup of Celestial Seasonings Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea. When I was in Colorado last weekend, I got to sample this stuff and really liked it so bought a box to bring home. I still need to tell you about my Colorado weekend!

Lunch was more of a snacky deal all day than an actual “lunch”. One of my snacks was ants on a log, aka celery with peanut butter and raisins…

This definitely brought me back to childhood. My mom would make us these for a snack or sometimes she would do banana with peanut butter and raisins. I really enjoy the crunch of the celery and the smooth peanut butter combined with the chewy raisins. So many textures and a nice sweet flavor!

Yesterday I received a book I ordered called “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon. It is a book my chiropractor recommended to me and one that he and his family use all of the time. I am just getting into the book but what I know so far is that this book brings us back to our roots, or really, our ancestors roots in regards to food intake. It is about eating whole foods, eating fermented foods to help with intestinal health, eliminating sugars as much as possible, etc.

I am pretty pumped about it and will keep you posted when I learn more. Right now I have a pot of bone broth simmering on the stove with 2 Tablespoons of vinegar (this helps leach calcium and minerals out of the bone and into the broth; it will simmer for 24 hours). Bone broth is something mentioned in the book quite a bit.

I also made my first batch of homemade fermented sauerkraut. It’s been a while since I have tried sauerkraut, but last time I did I wasn’t a fan at all. We will see how I feel about my own batch.

The directions said to combine one shredded medium head of cabbage, one tablespoon of caraway seeds, and two tablespoons of sea salt (it called for whey but said if you don’t have whey you can use an extra tablespoon of salt so that’s what I did) in a bowl.

Next, it said to take a meat tenderizer mallet and pound down the cabbage for ten minutes, to release the natural juices from the cabbage.

Arm workout, done. Next, you spoon the cabbage mixture into canning jars, smash it down with a utensil that fits in there (I just used a spoon) until water gathers at the top of the cabbage. You want to leave one inch of space between the top of the cabbage/water and the lid.

Cover the cabbage and let it sit in room temperature for three days, then place in the fridge and eat whenever! Like I said, we will see if I like it but it’s worth a shot at least!

I also made some homemade fauxtmeal raisin cookie bites made from dates, raisins, cinnamon, and almonds. These were also part of my snacky lunch.

In the later afternoon I took Moose for a walk outside and it was unbelievably gorgeous! In Minnesota at this time of year that means it was 40 degrees, but it sure felt warm! Moose was having a hay day with all of the smells everywhere in the snow.

For dinner, we made my favorite grilled salmon recipe with grilled parmesan garlic broccoli.

And an evening snack of FAGE Greek yogurt with honey and strawberries.

We spent the rest of the evening catching up on DVR’ed Whitney and Modern Family episodes that we missed while we were away.

It was a good day full of lots of food prep!

I hope you all had a great Thursday and have an even better Friday!

Do Something for You.

Post author:Melanie
Post published:March 14, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Health / Sweet Treats / Workouts
Post comments:1 Comment

Happy Thursday! It’s time to for some normal posts again.

Yesterday morning I had tentative plans to get a run in on the treadmill, but when I started my walk warmup, my hip was hurting and I decided not to press my luck with the race coming up on Saturday. So, I hopped off the treadmill and headed upstairs to my yoga mat. I haven’t done yoga in a very long time and I know I say this every time but whenever I get a yoga session in again, I always remember how much I love it.

I chose a yoga/pilates OnDemand. It was about a half hour and was pretty fast-moving. Afterwards I felt so refreshed, energized, and stretched out. My body must have been telling me I needed that yoga. Now, don’t forget that feeeling! 🙂

For breakfast I pulled out a gluten-free pumpkin waffle from the freezer. I made a big batch of these last month and froze a few of them for a later time and I’m so glad I did!

I microwaved the waffle to thaw it, and then topped it with some peanut butter and a teeny drizzle of honey. I could swear it tasted better this time around! Probably because I didn’t have to do any cooking this time? FYI I took a couple of bites before I took the photo…I just couldn’t wait!

For lunch I had an apple and leftover salad which was made of mixed greens, artichoke hearts, olives, tomatoes, zucchini, parmesan cheese, and olive oil dressing.

The second part of lunch was a banana with peanut butter. Go figure.

Before I went back to work I snapped this photo of Moose because he looked so darn precious. This is his favorite spot to sit and look out the window and snarl at anything that walks by or anything he thinks he sees go by. He’s my watch dog.

I have gotten myself back on this no extra sugars bit now that I am back home and back to reality.

I resisted the Easter jelly beans at work yesterday which was a proud moment for me. There’s something about jelly beans that I really enjoy. It’s not the taste because they don’t taste ALL that great to me, unless they are jolly rancher or starburst jelly beans, but I think it’s the texture. The hard candy coating and the chewy sugary center. It really does something for me. Anyway, I resisted this time.

On vacation I packed one dark chocolate candy bar for Dana and I. Each night we would each have one square for our dessert. Well then things escalated from there. We went to dinner at the Silver Palms and had the most delicious and decadent chocolate cake with coconut ice cream. Then on the plane we got cookies. Then in Colorado we celebrated Dana’s uncles birthday so we had ice cream cake. Not to mention I also nibbled on girl scout cookies, jelly beans, and chocolate.

No one was forcing me to eat any of these things, but I had decided that since it was vacation that I was going to go all out. Well, my gut reminded me why I had decided to get rid of the sugars in the first place. I set myself back a couple of days, but it didn’t take long for me to get back on track and I am feeling much better now. Although, I must confess that I had a few chocolate chips last night out of a trail mix bag last night. But all in all, I am doing a VERY good job of staying away from the sweets for now, until I get back on track with all of my health shenanigans.

For dinner I had a bowl of the veggie soup I made on Monday. I sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top just to give it that somethin’ somethin’.

For dessert I had a few too many dates with peanut butter, and then those chocolate chips. I watched Glee and opened the insane amount of mail we had accumulated from being away; 90% of it was junk of course. No, I do not want another credit card. Thanks.

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

Have you ever read a book that inspired you to be a better person? While I was on vacation I read the book, The Happiness Project, By Gretchen Rubin.

Gretchen writes about finding true happiness in everyday life. She admits that she is indeed a happy person and happy with her life, but she wonders if she could be “happier.” She spends a year working through happiness resolutions, each month focusing on a new project. Some projects bring her happiness, others leave her feeling the same, but all of them make her think about her life and simple changes that can be made to make her be a better person and make her happier.

She realizes that making herself happy will in turn help to make others happier.

This book struck me big time. All I wanted to do was get home and start making my own resolutions chart and happiness project. So, that’s what I’m going to do. Gretchen provides a free template on her website to help start your own project. I don’t know if I will go as extensively as she did, but I do want to make changes in my everyday life and think that focusing on projects on a month-to-month basis is a good way to stay in check.

Nothing is set in stone yet, but once I do decide on my happiness project, I will probably keep it to myself, at least until after it is complete. There will more than likely be more on this in future posts.

I bring this book to your attention because I feel that all of us deserve to be happy. So often we forget about ourselves and get so wrapped up in our busy lives, that we forget to stop and smell the roses and forget to do something for ourselves purely because we want to. And to do something special for ourselves and NOT feel guilty about it.

This is just something to think about. If you haven’t read her book I highly recommend you do. Who wouldn’t want to be happier?!

Question of the day: When is the last time you did something for YOU?

A Relaxing Sunday & One of My Favorite Soups

Post author:Melanie
Post published:February 25, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Family / SCD
Post comments:4 Comments

This weekend flew by just as fast as last weekend if you ask me. We had a very low-key weekend and I loved every second of it.

Sunday

I was feeling incredibly energetic Sunday morning and just in an overall good mood. That was most likely due to the excitement of our upcoming vacation and a good night’s sleep. I was feeling good.

For some reason my appetite has been a little “off” lately. I’m thinking this may be because of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. I was hungry for breakfast but couldn’t decide on anything that sounded good so I put myself together a combo that I know is easy on my tummy and usually pretty appealing : peanut butter and banana of course.

We went about our standard Sunday errands, came back home and put groceries away, and by 11:00 I was hungry again. I was hungry but again, nothing sounded good to me and my highly energetic self from the morning was starting to take a nose dive.

I pulled out a bowl of homemade turkey veggie soup from the freezer.

It was simple and comforting to my belly. I also had a microwaved apple…

Later in the afternoon I had a banana, a bite of peanut butter, and some pistachios.

I have been in a bit of a workout rut this past week. I just haven’t had the highest amount of energy. I was full of energy yesterday morning but once the afternoon hit I was definitely losing it.

I wanted to at least move a little bit, so I headed down to the treadmill for a half hour walk. I did do a few other strength exercises, but I really wasn’t feeling up to it, so I stopped.

Maybe I just needed it to be a low-key day.

Later in the afternoon I headed over to mom and dad’s for dinner. I got my cuddle time in with the little one which always does a great job of boosting my mood.

Dinner was one of my all-time favs: French Onion Soup.

I went with the SCD version without the bagel chips and cheese and it was STILL outrageously delicious. I had two bowls and asked if I could take one home for leftovers this week! I swear I could try and make this duplicate recipe at home and it wouldn’t taste the same. Mom has to make it. 😉

After dinner we got cozy on the couch and sipped on hot water with ginger and honey while we watched the Oscars, and then later called it a night. I really like the hot water with ginger and honey, like REALLY liked it. Could this be due to the fact that my dad made it for me? It really is true that food tastes better when someone else makes it for you.

It was a very relaxing Sunday and I feel like more Sundays should be like this one.

Now we are onto Monday and I have a list of things to do as tall as the Eiffel tower, SO I better get a move on!

Happy Monday to all!

Question of the day: Do you think food tastes better when someone else makes it for you?!

February Fitness Challenge Review

Post author:Melanie
Post published:February 23, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Health / Home Life / Moose / SCD / Workouts
Post comments:0 Comments

Happy Saturday! Today’s my second favorite day of the week after Friday, so I’m a pretty happy camper today.

Considering I don’t have many food photos to share (the SCD is fairly redundant right now), how about we talk about fitness instead?

At the beginning of February I set a goal for myself to complete three strength training workouts each week. They could involve free weights, machines at the gym, workout videos, whatever, as long as they involved improving my strength. I also challenged myself to complete one plank a day for at least one minute.

I am a cardio junkie and love getting my heart rate ramped from the cardio which is also great for overall health, but all-to-often slack on the strength and I wanted to do something about it. I called this challenge, my February Fitness Challenge.

Although I know there are still five days left in February, I have decided to reflect now.

I am happy to say that even though I was struck with a head cold for a solid week this month, and felt very low energy due to the SCD intro, I still managed to stick to my goal each week. I tried to keep it spicy and exciting so that I wouldn’t get bored with it.

Some of My February Strength Workouts:

Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred: Level 1 and Level 2
This leg workout incorporated with dumbbells
This arm workout plus other arm exercises
Ab workouts (from the January Abs Challenge)
Most of the time I just did my own thing and mixed up different exercises

I have done my plank-a-day every day too!

I have noticed that with the combination of eliminating white sugars from my diet, and increasing my strength activities, that I do feel stronger. I even feel it when I’m doing cardio. When I’m running my core helps carry me and makes me run lighter.

I definitely feel stronger overall, however I have a looooooonngg way to go to get my strength to where I would like it to be. But it takes time. I’m going to continue to work on it.

I already have a March fitness challenge brewin’ in my head! Be on the look out. 😉

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

I can’t leave this post complete photo-free because that’s no fun, so I do have a couple to share.

Yesterday I couldn’t eat meat (Lent), which is a main component of the SCD. I was thrilled about it because I am SO TIRED OF IT and completely tired out of eggs too, so it was time to introduce a new food. Peanut butter. I’m not talking boat loads of pb, but enough to satisfy my hunger and give me some protein.

I introduced baked apples into my diet two days ago and my body responded well. My girlie girl Kalkal said one of her favorite breakfast combos lately is cut up apple, with pb and cinnamon. I usually do that combo with banana, but often forget about the lovely apple. I gave it a whirl, but used a slightly cooked apple instead (to aid in digestion for now).

I honestly think I could slather peanut butter on anything and it would taste good. This was a very nice treat! I would prefer it with a raw apple like Kalley had suggested, but for now this will have to do!

The REALLY good news is that peanut butter is sitting very well with my system. Like I said I have no plans of going crazy with it like I tend to do, but one serving a day and I should feel just fine. I am really missing my legumes and lentils however. Soon enough!

The evening was spent:

getting some more vacation stuff together
doing some food prep for vaca
vacuuming
mopping
planking
core strength
running around the house and up and down the stairs with Moose
and cleaning up broken links on the ol’ blog (this is quite the task)

We also picked this guy up from the groomer after getting a nice intense brush-out. He looks so handsome.

I have plans to get a little run in this morning and then we have some more packing to do!

What’s on your Saturday agenda?!

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (again) & Lobster Madness

Post author:Melanie
Post published:February 18, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Friends / Gluten-Free / Health / SCD
Post comments:2 Comments

Oh boy I have a lot to say today. Grab a seat and let’s get to it!

On Sunday we had a fairly leisurely morning. We woke up, made some scrambled eggs with cheese, looked through the newspaper, cut a couple of coupons, and finally got ready to run to the grocery store.

When we go to Turks and Caicos, we will be staying in a villa and will be cooking the majority of our own meals on our own, so this weekend we spent a lot of time getting food together for our trip. We planned out each meal and snacks, wrote out all of the ingredients that we need for each dish, and then went shopping. I think we now have the majority of our food. Next, I will just need to work on the food prep. I will absolutely be sharing this with all of you once it gets a little bit closer.

Changing gears a bit…

If you have been following me for a while, you know I have been dealing with some ongoing health issues, namely Ulcerative Colitis. I am working towards holistic ways of healing and living, and am SO close to finally being healed. It’s like a loose tooth that’s just about ready to fall out. I feel like I need one last final nudge to really heal my gut.

Therefore, I have decided to follow the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for the next week or so before our trip. I followed the SCD this summer but could only handle it for so long because I drove myself absolutely crazy. I know this will be a more short-lived experiment, and have prepared myself mentally for it.

I will begin with the intro diet for 2-3 days and then after that progress as the plan says. I will limit myself on raw fruits and veggies for the week, and instead eating primarily cooked veggies and fruits. The plan states that you can be stay on the intro diet for up to a week as needed, until symptoms subside, but since I don’t really have many symptoms I have decided to give the intro only 2-3 days.

It will give my colon time to relax, kick up it’s feet and HEAL. I have a really good feeling that this will be what it takes to finally heal.

You can read about my journey through SCD this summer:

You will definitely notice a change in my food intake over the next week.

The SCD involves a lot of food prep, so yesterday afternoon I was in the kitchen efficiently working away.

I made SCD ketchup, hard-boiled eggs, bone broth soup with pureed carrots, cooked carrots, baked chicken, and grape juice gelatin. Farmer’s cheese is also allowed in the intro diet but I was not a fan of it, so I’m leaving it out.

SCD Ketchup Recipe

For the soup: I used homemade bone broth and added a bunch of carrots. I covered the pot and let the soup simmer with the carrots for 20 minutes or so, until I was able to pierce through the carrots with a fork. Then I used an immersion blender to puree it all together.

I munched on some mini meals/snacks while I cooked away…

Let the SCD begin. I’m ready.

When we were out at Target yesterday doing our grocery shopping, I just so happened to walk by a clearance shelf and notice this little gem of a Christmas ornament.

It’s Moose with a scarf on! Of course I had to buy it. Again, he’s totally unimpressed, but at least he humors me for a photo.

Double Date Night

Last night we got all prettied up to get ready for a date night with Betsy and Matt at Stella’s Fish Cafe.

Stella’s is actually the restaurant Dana and I ate at right before he proposed to me! So each time we are there I can’t help but reminisce. I’m thinking an engagement flashback post is in order….but not today!

Bets and Matt were waiting for us in the same cozy booth Dana and I sat in three years ago on engagement night. What are the chances, right? I had to let everyone know how excited I was about that. 😉

We chit chatted away, sipped on some wine, and got ready for our lobster dinner. On Sunday evenings Stella’s has a special where you can get a whole lobster for $19.99. That’s a pretty good deal if you ask me. ALSO, Bets and Matt had a gift card that they wanted to share with us, so we really got dinner for a steal!

This was my first time ever tackling a whole lobster. Dana had told me about his first experience eating one and explained that the inside of the lobster body is this nasty looking green stuff. Supposedly, it is a delicacy to some and the people of Maine told Dana that about half of people eat it, and half leave it alone.

Well, I wasn’t expecting to see what I saw when I opened up the body of that lobster. I definitely eat with my eyes so as soon as I saw the green goop, I knew there was no way I was touching that body. I handed Mr. Lobster’s body over to the garbage pail. I had to get that image out of my mind in order to enjoy the rest of the lobster.

It was a messy double date but SO much fun! I love those two so incredibly much. Thanks for a great night you guys! xoxo

On the way home I got the idea into Dana’s head that we should stop at Cherry Berry for frozen yogurt. Most of our date nights end this way and I am totally okay with that. Considering I knew I would be starting the SCD the next day, I decided it would sort of be like my Fat Tuesday.

I went fairly easy on my serving size along with my toppings (compared to what I usually do). I went with Chilly Nilly and Cookies and Cream and the added just a few brownie pieces, cookie dough, one mini Reese’s peanut butter cup, one Oreo, one frosted animal cracker, two maraschino cherries (yum), and a cherry gummy. Yes, that’s keeping it minimal for me.

As always, Cherry Berry never fails to please me.

What an amazing day!

I have a big day planned today as well. I better get to it. The treadmill is waiting for me. Dun dun dun…

How was YOUR weekend?!

Strawberry Chicken Salad with the Girls

Post author:Melanie
Post published:February 17, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Friends / Gluten-Free / Home Life / Lunch / Moose
Post comments:6 Comments

Happy Sunday!

I have some coupon cutting and horoscopes reading to do, so I’m going to keep this short and sweet.

Saturday Recap

Breakfast: Kefir with chia seeds which I let soak for 10 minutes to soften the chia. I then added agave nectar to sweeten it up (because kefir is pretty tangy) and added a banana on top!

After breakfast I hit the living room for a leg workout and glute which felt GREAT!

For lunch I had a date with one of my girlie girls, Heidi. She was in town so she stopped by for lunch and to catch up. I made us a strawberry chicken salad with blueberries, almonds, avocado, and feta cheese. It was light an perfect.

After we ate lunch we called Kate on FaceTime (Kate is living in Georgia–I went and visited her on my birthday last year). It was like the three of us were truly having a girly chat together right in the same room. It made me miss her even more but I feel so lucky to have the option of calling her and talking to her “face to face.”

In the afternoon Dana and I had a couple of errands to run. We stopped at TJMaxx and I found another new swimsuit (the one on the bottom right is the newest addition)! I usually don’t have good luck at TJMaxx with swimsuits because the tops and bottoms are sold together as a set, so you aren’t able to mix and match sizes, but this one actually fit me like a glove! Plus, it was only $12.99. Bargain!

We will be spending the majority of time in our bathing suits, so I need to be sure and bring enough plus I like to have options. 😉

For dinner I whipped up a random mix of black beans, onion, garlic, salsa, and cabbage with cheese on top. I wasn’t sure how it would all come together, but it was surprisingly good! I think what made it good was the Parkers Farm Roasted Garlic Salsa. It was so flavorful.

We finished off the night watching Glee from last week. Man oh man it was a juicy one. Lots of unexpected events unfolded!

Moose was unimpressed as usual.

I hope you are all having a relaxing weekend. I have a super fun double date tonight that I am so looking forward to!

Catch up with you all later! xoxo

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