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Clean Eating Food Menu For Camping

Post author:Melanie
Post published:July 4, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Gluten-Free / holidays / Lunch / Travel / Vacations
Post comments:9 Comments

Happy 4th of July to all of my fellow Americans! I hope your day is full of celebrating with loved ones and BBQ! In case you missed it, yesterday I compiled a list of 10 patriotic recipes that would be perfect for a picnic or BBQ today.

Kitchen Mayhem

Over the past few days I have spent many hours preparing food for our camping weekend. Typical camping food for us is usually kabobs, burgers, chex mix, and s’mores, or something close to that, but this time around we will be eating a little differently. With my hopes to keep up with the clean eating while I am away, I planned out a whole clean menu for us. I don’t even want to know how many total hours I truly spent in the kitchen. All I know is it is a lot more time than what I usually spend when preparing food for a camping trip. I knew it would be a lot of work to plan a “clean” menu, but also knew it would be so worth it! I enlisted the help of some clean eating recipes that I found online to help ease the process. In case you are interested, I thought I would share with you my clean eating food menu for camping.

On the menu for the weekend:

Breakfasts:

Cooked buckwheat with cinnamon, a touch of stevia, almond butter and dried fruit. I am incredibly excited for this. I taste tested it after I made it and it’s awesome! To prepare it, I cooked it per directions after letting it soak for 24 hours to aid in digestion. I then added coconut milk, cinnamon, and stevia. I let it cool and then packaged it in a canning jar to bring along with us. We can either eat it cold, or warm it up at the campsite for breakfasts.

Lunches:

Baked Falafel with salad and homemade (dairy-free) ranch dressing. I used my falafel recipe and also added carrots, red onion, and flaxseed. I baked them at home so that they would be all ready to go when needed. I’m excited to see how they turned out! I used Healthy Blender Recipe’s recipe for the ranch dressing. It’s pretty tangy and should be really good on a salad with the falafel.
Lunch out somewhere
Leftovers

Dinners:

Asian turkey meatballs over sesame spaghetti squash. I mixed and formed the meatballs and then froze them raw. We will cook them once we get to our campsite most likely on the first night so that we can have them for leftovers for lunch the next day. I got the meatball recipe from Queen of Quinoa but also added garlic and coconut aminos. I used a recipe from Family Fresh Cooking as my inspiration for the spaghetti squash but made a couple of tweaks to it as well. I used coconut aminos instead of wheat-free tamari paste and red wine vinegar instead of rice vinegar. Trying sandwiches from a very famous joint by Jimmy John Owner is also a good idea.
Black bean quinoa burgers with roasted veggies. I also formed these patties and froze them uncooked. I used a recipe I found online but am not super happy with them. I taste tested one and they tasted okay but they are pretty crumbly. I like my version better but couldn’t make them this time around because they have tomatoes and eggs in the recipe which are not allowed on the clean program. *Remember this is VERY short term!* For the roasted veggies, I roasted them halfway to start the process and will finish toasting them up at the campsite.
Leftovers or out

Spaghetti squash…

Raw turkey meatballs…

Uncooked black bean quinoa burgers…

Halfway roasted veggies (zucchini, onions, garlic, kohlrabi, and turnips)…

Snacks:

Raw veggies: snap peas, carrots
Raw fruit: watermelon, cherries, apples
Dried fruit: no-sugar added dried cranberries, mango, and pineapple
Mixed Nuts
Brown Rice Cakes
Rice Crackers
Homemade sugar-free dark chocolate (lightly sweetened with stevia)

I made insane amounts of the burgers, meatballs, and falafel which is why I am planning on having leftovers for 1-2 meals. As you can see, I was a busy, busy bee. I even have callouses on my hands to show for it. I can’t wait to go relax and enjoy all of this wonderful food now!

I hope you all have a fabulous holiday weekend! Catch up with you later gators!

Weekend Scenes: St. Anthony Falls, Maca, and Fresh Greens

Post author:Melanie
Post published:July 1, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Gluten-Free / Health / Moose / Recipes
Post comments:2 Comments

Happy July! It’s going to take a little while for me to actually believe it’s July but I’ll get there eventually. Once again, the month of June went by in a flash.

Anyway, how was everyone’s weekend? Mine was downright fabulous. It involved a lot of rest and relaxation. This post jumps around a bit so get ready…

Over the weekend I decided that I will not be following out Option 1 of the Clean Program, but I will be following Option 2 and throwing Option 1 in sometimes. So what the heck does that mean anyway? It means that instead of breakfast and dinner being a smoothie/shake/soup, and lunch being a solid meal, I will now have the option of having solid meals at all three meals just as long as they fit into the foods allowed on the Elimination Diet.

However, for a while I plan on continuing having a smoothie in the morning (that’s easy in the summer), but for the rest of the day, I don’t want to be tied down to the idea of having to have a pureed dinner. This doesn’t mean that I won’t throw one in there time and again to give my digestion an extra little rest, because I will, just not every day.

This fits better with my lifestyle and given that we will be going camping soon, I feel much more comfortable following the elimination diet and Option 2 while we are away versus the two blended meals; that would be extremely difficult. So, I’m still giving my body the detox, just in a more realistic way for me. That’s my plan.

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This weekend I threw together my favorite salmon recipe minus the butter that usually goes with the almonds and capers. To tell you the truth, I didn’t really miss the butter!

This lunch held me over for a loooong time which was a good thing because Dana and I headed to Minneapolis to go for a little walk around the St. Anthony Main area. If ya’ll come to Minnesota you should really put this area on your must-see list. It is incredibly beautiful, and so full of life and fitness. I imagined what it would be like to live over there and have these great paths at my leisure to run/walk/bike and I got a little jealous of some of my friends who lived over there (ONW) :wink:. It would be so motivating to look out the window and see handfuls of people out being active. It would make me want to go lace up the sneaks and get out there too!

I do truly love where I live too. It’s just different! More suburban-y.

I joked that Moose wasn’t a “city” dog because he was sniffing every other inch of the ground while the other dogs walked along very nicely like they’d been there, sniffed that, a dozen times already.

I enjoyed every second of St. Anthony Falls…

Afterwards we drove over to Lake Nokomis to have a picnic. I made a simple lentil dish with onions, garlic, mushrooms, kale, carrots, cumin, turmeric, oregano, salt and pepper. K, it doesn’t sound that simple after typing all of that out, but really, it was simple to make! I crunched up some cashews on top. Delish!

Moose was really enjoying himself while we picnicked–there were lots of young pup chicks to scope out. He was extremely exhausted at this point too.

We learned that he doesn’t enjoy celery…

He really doesn’t like many vegetables we offer (not that we give him people food too often because we really don’t), and that’s probably because of the funny texture. He’s used to his dog food. Mmmm :wink:.

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My newest breakfast smoothie includes a new-to-me ingredient called Maca powder. “Maca is an herbaceous plant native to the high Andean Mountains of Bolivia and Peru.” source

Navitas Naturals Maca Powder

“The maca root was prized throughout the Incan empire for its adaptogenic-like qualities that enable it to nourish and balance the body’s delicate endocrine system, and to help cope with stress. It also energizes naturally, and can aid in helping to balance hormones.” Source

“In the mountainous regions where maca comes from, it is a regular staple in the diet and is often eaten boiled and sliced, similar to potato chips. Other preparations include use as a gruel with milk, and cooked with potatoes, apples, oats, quinoa or fava beans. The roots are also toasted and ground to prepare a maca coffee-like beverage, and fermented cooked and mashed to make a mild homemade beer. Some Peruvians prefer the boiled roots with water, milk, honey and cinnamon. Today, it is possible to find a wide range of products infused with maca, including whiskey, wine, ice cream and cosmetics.

Maca Powder has a pungent and sweet nutty taste with hints of butterscotch flavor. It can be mixed easily into smoothies, shakes and juices for a flavorful and healthy boost, and it can also be added to desserts and baked goods.” Source

I am all about any natural ways I can try to regulate the hormonal system and I’m really enjoying this Maca!

Unfortunately with the Elimination Diet I cannot have bananas because this would be a great addition to a banana smoothie, but since I can’t, I’ve had to come up with other ways to include it in smoothies. Here is my latest concoction:

Superfood Smoothie

kale
frozen blueberries
almond milk
maca powder
100% raw cacao powder
cinnamon
a touch of stevia to taste

I am having so much fun learning about these different superfoods and natural remedies! Come on body, let’s start to normalize!

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On Sunday we headed to a local Farmer’s Market to stock up on fresh herbs that I will be using this week to prepare our camping meals! We are going to be eating like royalty while we camp. I am going to try to include some recipes for you all when I am away. They are all “clean” but anyone can enjoy them!

We bought dill, parsley, cilantro, zucchini, green onion, and asparagus; all Minnesota grown. MMm mmm. So fresh!

I used the asparagus to make an asparagus leek soup for Dana and myself last night (yes, we ate hot soup on an 80 degree day which is why I’m changing my Clean Plan like I told you earlier).

I don’t have the recipe for ya because it isn’t my most favorite soup ever, but the ingredients were: asparagus, leeks, kale, cashews, water, thyme, bay leaves salt, pepper, and coconut milk.

The flavor was actually really good but I just made it too thin.

We took Moose to the dog park and did some yard work and then relaxed for the evening. It was a wonderful weekend. The weather was perfect which made me oh so happy!

I have exciting and fun news to share with you all this week (hopefully tomorrow) about a fitness opportunity to all you local gals! Keep your eyes peeled for it. 😉

How was YOUR weekend?!

Veggie-Packed Green & Clean Soup

Post author:Melanie
Post published:June 27, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Gluten-Free / Recipes
Post comments:11 Comments

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I made an awesome green, veggie-packed soup that was part of my clean eating program. I was bummed I didn’t write down the recipe because it turned out so great. Well, I went back and looked at the recipe that had originally inspired me, and I was able to pull the recipe together out of memory!

Inspiration from this recipe

So without further ado, I am going to keep this one short and sweet for you. Here is my recipe for Green & Clean Soup!

Green & Clean Soup

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 green zucchini, chopped
2 cups green beans, chopped
2 cups broccoli
¼ cup raw almonds, chopped
3 cups chicken broth*
1 cup water
dash of Thyme
sea salt and black pepper
*I ran out of chicken broth so had to use 1 cup of water. You can use 4 cups of chicken broth, or if you want to keep this meal vegan, use vegetable stock.

Instructions

In a medium soup pot, saute the onion. celery, and garlic in the olive oil for about 3 minutes.
Next add in the zucchini, green beans, and broccoli and let saute together for 3-5 more minutes.
Add in almonds, broth, thyme, and salt and pepper, and bring soup to a boil.
Once boiling, cover pot, and reduce to simmer. Let simmer for 20 minutes.
Use a blender to puree batches of the soup until all of the soup is blended.
Serve warm with a drizzle of olive oil on top.

Clean Eating Program

Post author:Melanie
Post published:June 26, 2013
Post category:Gluten-Free / Health
Post comments:10 Comments

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you may have gotten a glimpse of the book I’m reading and what’s going on in my world right now.

I was on the search for another way to help heal my body, and landed on this book called “Clean” in a google search.

CLEAN: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body’s Natural Ability to Heal Itself. Obviously this caught my attention. I ordered it right away and read through it within a couple of days of arrival.

From the back of the book: “Clean is a 21-day M.D.’s clean program designed to be easily incorporated into our busy schedule while providing all the practical tools necessary to support and rejuvenate our bodies. The effect is transformative: nagging health problems will suddenly disappear, extra weight will drop away, and for the first time in our lives, we will experience what it truly means to feel healthy.” source

Sounds pretty good so far, right? Too good to be true? Maybe.

About the author: “Alejandro Junger, M.D., is board certified in internal medicine and cardiology, having trained and now practicing in New York City. In addition, after completing his medical training, Junger studied Eastern medicine in India. He was the medical director of WE Care Holistic Health Center in Palm Springs, a world-famous center for fasting, cleansing, and detoxification.” source

So how do you follow the Clean Program? There’s a few different approaches to this clean eating program (written by the author Dr. Alejandro Junger for GOOP): source

Option 1:The Clean 21-Day Cleanse

“A 21-day detox program for achieving vibrant health and restoring the body’s own natural ability to heal itself. Specifically designed for the person on the move who wants to remain active and cleanse.

This cleanse consists of a shake/smoothie for breakfast, lunch from a set list of approved foods (called the Elimination Diet) and a shake/soup for dinner. Some of the foods not allowed on the Elimination Diet are wheat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, citrus fruits, caffeine (highly stimulating, highly acidic, and/or highly allergenic foods). Throughout the day you take your recommended supplements and healthy snacks are permitted if necessary.

The cleanse focuses on changing habits and resetting the digestive track so foods that you find yourself craving begin to have very little appeal to you. The cleanse isn’t hard, but it does take focus.” Focus is brought to determining your true hunger cues and managing them accordingly.

“The most frequently reported benefits are mental clarity, improved energy, improved digestion, weight loss, balanced moods, and long-term dietary changes.”

Option 2: Clean 21-Day Elimination Diet

“A 21-day dietary program based on removing foods from our diet that are known to cause food allergies, food sensitivities, and disruptions in the digestive process (wheat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, caffeine, etc). This diet helps your system reset and cleanse in a very gentle way.

For 21 days you eat three square meals a day exclusively from the Elimination Diet. The approved foods will encourage light detoxification. Avoiding the non-approved foods will encourage many things such as improved digestion, improved beneficial bacteria levels, and light weight loss.

This option is perfect for someone who is looking for a stepping stone on their path to optimal health, but might not be ready for a full-blown cleanse.”

Option 3: Clean Mini 3-Day Cleanse

“A 3-Day mini-cleanse designed to give your digestive system a rest and boost your energy levels.

One liquid meal for breakfast and two solid meals from the recipes provided below for lunch and dinner. No supplements are needed for this mini-cleanse.

This mini-cleanse is best for those who only need a slight reset. It’s also used as a maintenance program for those that have first gone through Plan A or Plan B.”

Reasons for Excluding Certain Foods

“CLEAN excludes certain foods from the 21-day program for several reasons. Some of the reasons include these foods may trigger sensitivities and/or allergic reactions, they contain toxic chemicals, they may have an acidifying affect on the body, they are mucus-forming, they are pro-inflammatory or some foods are simply difficult to digest.” source

**The book emphasizes the importance of giving your body 12 hours throughout the night time to digest and detoxify. So, if I were to eat dinner at 7 pm, I wouldn’t be able to eat anything until at least 7 am the next morning.**

To read more about the Clean Program, check out their website: www.cleanprogram.com

(Sorry for the lengthiness and all of the quotations btw).

So, did I decide to go through with it?

Yes.

I feel that my body could use a clean retreat, including getting rid of excess mucus which inhibits my body from functioning properly. I have chosen option 1 for now, where I eat a smoothie or shake for breakfast, a solid meal for lunch from items determined on the Elimination diet list, and a blended soup for dinner. I figure giving my health history, my colon could use a bit of a rest from all of the harsh digestion.

Some people may call this a cleanse, and I suppose I would to, but it’s not to be looked at as a standard cleanse where you think of only liquid meals, limited calories and colon flushes. I don’t believe in those types of cleanses and think they can do more harm than good. This is a 3-week period of feeding your body only nutrient-rich foods and ones that it can most easily digest with limited chances of allergies. It’s about rebuilding the intestinal flora in your gut so that nutrients can be absorbed more easily and readily. It’s about slowly getting rid of toxins from your body. It’s about feeling your absolute healthiest self.

It takes a bit of planning, food preparation, motivation, and dedication, but all-in-all, I don’t find it difficult to eat only clean foods especially when I’m home during the week. Social outings will be a different story, but I will do my best. If I get off track for one meal, I will get right back on track for the next one.

I have gone into this program with the mentality that if I can stick out option 1 for a while that would be great, but if I feel the need to switch to option 2 which is the three solid meals of food from the Elimination Diet, then so be it. I’ll make the switch or do a mixture of 1 and 2. I know I am still feeding my body only nutrient-rich foods either way and doing a great thing for my body. Also, I haven’t decided if I will stick it out for 1,2, or 3 weeks. I’m going to see how I feel week by week.

Here’s a glimpse of what I’ve been eating…

Greek style quinoa salad with zucchini, green olives, dash of olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano (so good!), roasted broccoli, and tilapia. I have since found out that tilapia is on the do not eat list. Whoops!

Homemade butternut squash soup: Butternut squash, onion, celery, garlic, turmeric, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, chickpeas, and water, topped with sunflower seeds and cilantro. Pretty darn good.

The breakfast smoothies have been different everyday. Fruits, veggies, some type of protein (Spirulina, chia seed, almond butter, hemp protein, etc.), homemade almond milk.

Leftover quinoa salad with chickpeas added in for some protein.

Green veggie soup! I wish I would have written this one down because it is absolutely outstanding! The ingredients are: broccoli, onion, garlic, zucchini, green beans, almonds, chicken broth (homemade), water, thyme, salt, and pepper. This stuff rocked my socks!

Snacks have been raw carrots, snap peas, blueberries, apples or a bite of almond butter.

Clearly, I am not eating tasteless food on this Clean program. Everything tastes fantastic. I am eating healthy abundant amounts of fruits and vegetables, fresh herbs, lean protein, and drinking plenty of water. Green tea is permitted too so I have been enjoying one cup in the morning in place of my coffee.

Today is my third day on the program. Already, my digestive system seems to have calmed down. I felt a little bit irritable during the first couple of days, but right now I am feeling very calm. Irritability is a common complaint in the beginning because our bodies are working so hard to clean up excess toxins build up over time. Our bodies are constantly trying to find a state of balance and get rid of toxins but they have a hard time keeping up with this process when we are continually feeding it toxic foods and beverages. That’s why this extra push may be what some of us need to “clean up our act.”

I am feeling really feeling great with the 12-hour nighttime “fast.” I never go to bed uncomfortable from eating too close to bedtime, and in the morning I have no rumbling colon or bloated feelings. Such a simple solution!

This program isn’t for everyone. Before beginning this program PLEASE consult with your doctor.

So there you have it. That is what’s going on in my life right now.This is just another road I am taking in my journey towards wellness. It’s been a long trip, but I will get there eventually!

Sweet Potato with Honey Cinnamon Almond Butter & Beautiful Blooms

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Triple whammy!

Lunch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moose enjoying the fragrant lilacs…

And the blinding sun…

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

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

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

Dinner

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

Then topped it with salsa and cilantro!

It was absolutely delicious and very satisfying.

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

A Symbol of Hope & Weekend Recap

Post author:Melanie
Post published:June 17, 2013
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Gluten-Free / Health / Recipes / Workouts
Post comments:9 Comments

Thank you all for your sweet comments on my last couple of posts. I have been feeling very sentimental lately (more so than usual) and it is so nice to have this blog as an outlet to share my thoughts and feelings. You are all so supportive and it makes the journey so much easier knowing how loved and supported I am. I know I am on the right track.

I have been noticing this cardinal friend of mine hanging out in our backyard quite often. There’s something about cardinals and blue jays that just makes me so happy. They are absolutely beautiful. Plus, the lilac bush to the left of him is in full bloom and is so fragrant and gorgeous! No wonder he likes our backyard.

According to this source, “The male cardinal reminds us passion, warmth and vibrancy is available to us – even in under the cloak of winter’s grey clouds.”

A list of symbolic cardinal meanings:

Hope
Love
Cheer
Pride
Focus
Energy
Renewal

“Those who attract the cardinal as their totem are naturally energetic, love life, and happily help others where/when they can.”

Pretty incredible, right? I’ll take that handsome guy as a positive sign.

This weekend was pretty darn fantastic, albeit it flew by way too fast as they always do.

Lately I have been eating smaller meals frequently throughout the day. I find that this helps my digestive system to feel better because I’m not loading food in all it once and making it overwork sporadically. Eating small meals helps to keep my energy level up too. This works for some people, doesn’t work for others.

I snapped a few food photos throughout the weekend of some of my mini meals. This one couldn’t have been more simple: raw zucchini, red bell peppers, carrots, and quinoa with coconut aminos.

On Friday night, Dana and I had dinner at Whole Foods salad bar. I filled up on tons of veggies, quinoa, chicken, lentils and salads. It was a box full of love if you ask me.

On Saturday, we ran in the Fill Their Plate 10k run. The proceeds go to fight childhood hunger and I was so excited to be participating in a race that had such an incredible cause.

I know I said in Friday’s post that I need to cool it on the intense exercise (no Insanity, and no longer runs), but since I had already registered for this race I had told myself that I was still going to run it, but then after that I would chill out for a while and stick to shorter runs, walks, yoga, swimming, or leisure bike rides.

We are actually getting summer weather here in MN after waiting way too long for it, so our run was actually super sticky and humid, more so than we are used to coming off of our long “Sprinter” (spring/winter). This made the run pretty challenging for us. However, I think I actually may have hit my time goal (an hour or less) that I was hoping for, but definitely not stressing out over. When we ran across the finish line, the timer said 58 minutes and change, but I know we didn’t start right away when the clock started. I’m still waiting for the website to post results, but when they do I will let you know if I reached the time goal!

I was a hot and sweaty and sticky mess after the race. When we got home I made us a pot of coffee and we had a super chill afternoon watching Fools Rush In (first time watching this movie and I really liked it) and sipping on our coffee.

On Saturday evening we celebrated Father’s Day with Dana’s parents. The weather was MN weird…on the drive over it was raining and storming, but then it cleared up and was a perfectly sunny evening. We spent a lot of time sitting outside on the deck soaking up the sun.

We had delicious steak and shrimp kabobs for dinner with a big veggie salad…

And I DID have ice cream cake for dessert. I figure it was just one day. Every other day I am refined white sugar free. I am going to continue to enjoy these moments as they come because such is life and I want to enjoy life (just as long as these moments don’t turn into every day occurrences, then I would have to choose my days wisely). 😉

We are celebrating Father’s Day with my family next weekend. I’m hoping to dig out some throw back dad and daughter photos to share with you then 🙂

Sunday was the usual: coffee, breakfast, and newspaper. I made myself a bowl-o-banana with almond butter, cinnamon and raw organic honey.

One of my afternoon mini meals: an apple with tuna salad. In the tuna salad: white albacore tuna packed in water and drained, celery, dill pickle relish, mustard, and black pepper.

Although this made for a pretty photo, this wasn’t the easiest way to eat the tuna salad. Next time I will slice the apple and serve the tuna alongside the apple so I can just scoop each individual slice. You live you learn.

We enjoyed the company of two of our best friends in the afternoon. I hope we can make an ATL trip happen in the next couple of months!

Dinner was a household fav: grilled salmon.

Dessert: pineapple whip made with frozen pineapple, a little bit of frozen banana, almond milk, and a touch of honey.

We had such a relaxing weekend which was just what the doctor had ordered.

What was the best part(s) of your weekend?!

Gluten-Free Expo Goodies

Post author:Melanie
Post published:June 11, 2013
Post category:Gluten-Free / Health / Sweet Treats
Post comments:6 Comments

On Sunday evening (sorry still catching up from the weekend), Dana and I went to a gluten-free mini expo at a restaurant called Ernie’s. Dana had read it in an email and mentioned it to me, and I thought it would be something fun to do on a Sunday evening. We made “reservations” for 5:30 and headed on over to Ernie’s.

We were greeted by one of the managers of the restaurant who was exuberant about his restaurant—I mean this in a very good way. He was thrilled first of all that we were there, and then continued to explain to us all of the gluten-free menu items available at Ernie’s. He sent us home with a menu and then encouraged us to gander over to the free sample area.

I was hoping that the actual vendors would be present and representing their brands, but it was the Ernie’s staff behind the counters instead. They were all very sweet and were versed in some of the product information, but they couldn’t answer all of my questions or really go in-depth about the products. Still, I was very happy with the Ernie’s team. They did a great job.

We began with GF cornbread and pancakes. Both were made from Bob’s Red Mill mixes. They had used the mix to make up three different flavors of cornbread: plain, chili, and jalapeño cheddar. I snagged a chili one.

The cornbread probably would have been really good if it was warm, but I ate it cold. It tasted okay, but nothing to write home about. The pancakes however were fresh off the griddle. The enthusiastic pancake flipper encouraged me to take as many as I wanted. She said she uses this mix at home and LOVES it. I like it when they can relate and tell me how they use the product. I really liked those pancakes and would maybe even buy the mix to have on hand at home.

On this plate: Bob’s Red Mill pancakes, cornbread, Lundberg Rice Chips, EnerG crackers with salmon dip, and Oikos Greek yogurt.

Mary’s Gone Crackers was also there and I was able to take home three different flavors of their crackers: black pepper, sea salt, and onion. So far I have only tried the black pepper and they are good…and spiiicccaaay (that one for you, ONW). I can handle a little heat. 😉 Mary’s also makes cookies, and I was sent home with a handful of those too.

The Celiac Foundation of Minnesota was there too and I actually knew the wonderful lady volunteering to represent the company! It was nice to catch up with her and she sent me home with a box mix for focaccia bread! Num!

Next stop was the GF beer lady. I was extremely anxious to try this stuff. I am not a huge beer drinker and the reason for that is I get bloated and feel terrible every time I drink it. Since I usually go for the red wine anyway, this isn’t a big loss for me, but there are time when drinking a beer is way easier than drinking a glass of wine.

They had a couple of different beers they were sampling; one was said to be very hoppy, and the other one was very light. I don’t do hoppy beer, so I tried the light one. The brand is called New Planet and they are based out of Boulder, CO. Of course they are! So many awesome companies are based out of Colorado!

I couldn’t find the ingredient label for this particular flavor online (they are temporarily out of stock) but I found the one for blonde ale, which I’m sure is fairly comparable:

Ingredients: Sorghum, corn extract, orange peel, hops, and yeast

I’m still trying to decipher if I have a slight intolerance to the starch from corn, as well as yeast, so I would need to be careful if I decided to buy this beer for myself. I really enjoyed the taste of it; It is extremely light and slightly sweet.

If you are an avid beer drinker, you may not like this beer, at least the Tread Lightly flavor. They do offer hoppier, heavier beers too so they can accomodate all.

I haven’t looked into pricing, but I have a feeling it’s a little steep. The chances of me actually buying this beer are fairly slim, BUT if I were to buy a GF beer, this would be the one I would choose because I got to sample it and I know I like it.

The next table over was the restaurant’s clam chowder. Being I’m not a huge fan of clam chowder to begin with, I wasn’t too crazy about it, but still, I tried it. You never know when the taste buds are going to change on you! I never give up on trying foods. I used to not like cake, now look at me. 😉

Next up was the dessert table full of GF chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and cornbread muffins.

I could have parked myself in front of that table for the remainder of the evening and been a happy girl. After all, we were the last group to go through and there were still mounds of desserts! But, I played it cool and stuck to one plate.

The had made cookies from two different chocolate chip cookie mixes; one was the French Meadow Bakery Mix, and I believe the other one was Bob’s Red Mill mix. One of them had a funky after-taste and because they weren’t labeled, I’m not sure which one it was. Oh well. I really enjoyed the brownies!

The next vendor over was from Daisy Blue which is an all-natural skin care line based out of Albert Lea, MN. They sell, soaps, lip balm, makeup, scented oils, lotions, and more. She sent me home with a lotion and hand soap sample and they both smell great!

The very last stop we made was the GF pasta bar. They had two brown rice pastas they were sampling with their homemade GF alfredo sauce. I used to LOVE alfredo sauce but I have grown out of it for some reason. Again, maybe because my brain connects the memory of my upset tummy from pasta alfredo from the past? Not sure. It tasted okay to me, but nothing I would order off of a restaurant menu.

The very last stop we had planned on making was to taste their GF chicken wings, but by the time we got over there they were all out. Not a huge loss to me because I’m not a huge wings fan (unless my mom makes them), but Dana was a little bummed.

At the end of the night, we were sent home with a bunch of free loot!

It was well worth the $6.00 we spent to get in. I had fun with it!

Although I’m not celiac and and not completely gluten intolerant, I know for certain I am gluten sensitive and finding brands that offer delicious GF products is something I am very excited about. No need to live a painful life when you know how to eliminate the culprits of the discomfort right?

Alright, we are officially caught up from the weekend! Now I can get on with the week. 🙂

HAPPY TUESDAY!

Do you have any favorite gluten-free products?!

Simple & Healthy Salad Dressing Recipes

Post author:Melanie
Post published:June 6, 2013
Post category:Gluten-Free / Recipes
Post comments:9 Comments

Happy Thursday!

I had a request from a friend (hollaaaa KS) to put together a post about creating your own salad dressings at home. When I started the SCD last year, and really began dissecting every piece of the ingredient labels on everything, I was blown away by all of the unnecessary additives that were in some of my favorite salad dressings. At that point I began mixing up my own little concoctions. (Note: I don’t follow the SCD anymore, but now follow a mostly gluten-free and low refined sugar diet).

I don’t really use recipes too often, I mostly just throw some things together and see how they turn out, but I was able to find a few measured recipes from my collection along with other dressings that were just thrown together (no measurements documented) but you can still get the idea. You will start to notice a trend: simplicity.

Now, this isn’t to say that I don’t use store-bought salad dressings from time to time, because I do, but mostly I try and stick to the au natural homemade style.

So, get ready for a Salad Dressing Round-Up!

One of my go-to’s is a mustard dressing which is simply deli style mustard (about 2 tablespoons), apple cider vinegar (about 1 tablespoon), a sprinkle of garlic powder, onion powder, and a little water. I gave it all a good stir and then drizzled it over the salads. Often I will crack some black pepper into the dressing too.

Next up, Peanut Chicken Salad<——click on link for salad and dressing recipe. I don’t make this one too often but when I do I am floored. It’s AMAZING. I can’t take credit for this one though!

Next is an actual recipe-recipe with measurements and all, for Greek dressing. I poured this dressing over a tomato, zucchini, olive, and feta Greek salad and it got rave reviews! For this salad recipe, head on over here: Greek Tomato Salad

Greek Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (heaping)
1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano
1/2 Tbsp. dried basil
1/2 Tbsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 Tbsp. ground mustard
cracked black pepper

Add ingredients to a container, cover with a lid, give it a shake

Next up is a thick and simple avocado dressing that is perfect on top of a taco salad and could be used on many salad creations. For this salad recipe click here: Taco Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing

Creamy Avocado Dressing

Ingredients

1 1/2 ripe avocados
1/4 cup cilantro
1 Tbsp. tomatillo salsa*
salt and pepper

*I wanted to add lime juice to this dressing instead of salsa but didn’t have any on hand so substituted with green tomatillo salsa. It turned out great! Lime juice would definitely work too, though.

Directions

In food processor, blend all ingredients until smooth.

Sometimes I will use cottage cheese as my “dressing”: a bowl of fat-free cottage cheese with peas, tomato, avocado, pepper, and chia seeds and it was VERY good.

Sometimes I will use hummus or a spritz of olive oil to dress my salads… In this salad below was mixed spring greens, broccoli, carrots, red pepper, celery, a spritz of olive oil, hummus, and sunflower seeds. Wowza it was GOOD.

Salsa also makes a perfect dressing and it’s a very healthy choice…

An over-easy egg on top of a big veggie salad packs an extra punch of protein and the yolk serves as a dressing.

Another dressing I will make sometimes is a strawberry puree: I will take about 1/2 cup of frozen strawberries, thaw them in the microwave, and use a food processor or a fork to mash them up into a thick puree, and then that’s it! I pour it over a salad with mixed greens, avocado, berries, black beans, and feta cheese, and call it a perfectly simple meal.

As you can see, I try to keep it simple as much as possible. It is so easy to get creative with salad dressings. You can mix a dash of olive oil with a bit of balsamic vinegar and have a very simple dressing. Another one I like to make is mix honey with dijon mustard and a touch of warm water and mix it up and you have honey mustard in seconds.

If you are going to use store-bought dressings, that is OK, just take a second to peak at the ingredient label and make sure you can recognize the ingredients listed. The best one I’ve found so far is Annie’s Light Goddess dressing. The ingredient label passes my test.

Besides that, I haven’t looked too hard for other substitutes because I don’t mind making my own. I still like to enjoy my Newman’s Own Lite Honey Mustard on occasion though. It is still so tasty!

The possibilities are endless. Don’t be afraid to start mixing your own salad dressings! Chances are good that they will turn out GREAT!

The New Hairdo

Post author:Melanie
Post published:June 4, 2013
Post category:Beauty/Fashion / Breakfast / Friends / Gluten-Free / Restaurants / Sweet Treats / Workouts
Post comments:14 Comments

First of all, I don’t think I ever knew that hairdo was actually a word spelled out just like that. I always thought it was two words, but the dictionary tells me it’s one. Huh, well I learned something today!

I realize it’s Tuesday and a weekend photo recap would have been more appropriate yesterday, but I was really needing to write about running yesterday, and I decided this post could wait. Plus, I wouldn’t have been able to show you my new hairdo yesterday, so it all worked out how it was supposed to.

I actually went out for another run after posting yesterday. It wasn’t as great as my Saturday run, but it still felt good to get out. I definitely notice myself breathing a little heavier than usual, but that will go away shortly.

I’m going to keep it short and sweet for you all today. Here is a recap of my weekend in a nutshell…

Party time on Saturday! I ate way too many treats and my body paid for it the next day. There was about 5x the amount of food in this photo at the party. Lots of nummies. Such a fun time and the weather held up for a few hours before the clouds opened up into a downpour!

Chilaquile brunch on Sunday at Uptown Cafeteria with Dana, Ted, and Annie. Great food, amazing company.

Monday breakfast: the yogurt bowl is back. Greek yogurt with banana, strawberries, and honey. Simple and delicious.

And the big wow moment from yesterday was chopping off a good five inches of my hair.

I still have bittersweet feelings towards my new do. I wasn’t really planning on cutting that much off, but I did pretty much give the stylist the go-ahead to do it. I am just shocked at how much she actually took off. I haven’t had my hair this short in a few years at least. I know it will be perfect for summer and I just need to get used to it still. It’ll grow on me…haha, no pun intended. It does feel good to have it all cleaned up!

That’s all I have for you all today. I hope you have a fantastic Tuesday. Find something to smile about today.

Gluten-Free Hippie Loaf

Post author:Melanie
Post published:May 31, 2013
Post category:Dinners / Family / Gluten-Free / Recipes
Post comments:4 Comments

Happy Friday to you all! This week flew by for me, how about you? Let’s all do a little happy dance…

source

As I mentioned at the beginning of the week, I didn’t really plan on too many meals for the week. It was a busy week and Dana and I were both gone quite a bit so the only meal I really planned was for a recipe I got from a friend called Hippie Loaf. The recipe is from the Happy Herbivore and it is a vegan meatloaf made with loads of veggies obviously, quinoa, and a little ketchup and soy sauce.

I followed her recipe pretty closely except for I forgot the 3 Tablespoons of brown rice flour (I was going to use almond flour because that is what I had on hand) so I completely omitted it. It turned out great without it!

Here is her recipe!

Happy Herbivore’s Hippie Loaf

1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed (I used cooked black beans from dried)
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large carrot, shredded
2 celery stalks, shredded
1 cup mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
salt and pepper (this was not in the recipe)
~~3 Tbsp brown rice flour~~ (I omitted)
2 Tbsp soy sauce (I used low-sodium)
2 Tbsp ketchup (Ya’ll know my love for ketchup—I used about 2 Tbsp in the loaf, and then slathered it on top of the loaf as well. I used homemade ketchup).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a standard 8-inch loaf pan and set aside.
Mash black beans in large bowl and combine all ingredients until evenly combined.
Transfer to prepared pan and pat down firmly using hands.
Bake for 45-60 minutes until firm and brown on the outside.
Allow loaf to cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Source: Happy Herbivore

I really didn’t have any idea what to expect before taking my first bite. The loaf smelled fantastic as it baked in the oven, but that doesn’t always mean it’s going to taste great.

Once I took my first bite though I was very impressed. I believe my first words were, “I could be a vegan” because this loaf was stellar. I don’t necessarily want to be a vegan, but I was just saying it probably wouldn’t be the end of the world for me since I don’t love meats or cheese or milk, however I would miss eggs quite a bit. I respect vegans entirely, it’s just not something I am interested in at this point in my life.

The seasonings and ingredients in this loaf were simple and the dish was so flavorful. That’s what I love: simplicity.

It didn’t hold up quite as well as a standard meatloaf when I went to plating it, and this could have been because 1. I didn’t wait long enough for it to cool before cutting and serving it, or 2. I forgot the flour, or 3. A combination of the two factors. But it didn’t matter! I enjoyed it just as well!

There are a couple of tweaks I would like to make to this loaf recipe to better suit my taste buds and to make it “my own”, but all-in-all I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend this recipe to all. I can’t wait to make my own version of Hippie Loaf!

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

Switching gears…to catch you up quickly on the rest of my week. On Wednesday I stopped over at mom and dad’s for dinner. Mom coaxed me over for her French Onion Soup. Kidding, like it takes any coaxing to get me over there. 🙂

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, her French Onion Soup is my FAVORITE soup! I’ve ordered this soup at many-a-restaurants in my time, and I have never ever found one that compares to hers. And what’s ironic about that is that my mom uses the simplest recipe for this soup. No wonder I like it! I’m a simple gal.

The soup was everything I hoped for and more and even better, I enjoyed it in the company of my wonderful parents.

I am in a GREAT mood today. I am hopeful that the sun is going to shine for a little while today. My plants need some serious sun, and I could really use a touch of Vitamin D myself! I hope you all have a glorious Friday! Keep on smiling my friends!

Question of the day: What made you smile this week?

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