Workouts Archives - Page 11 of 20 -

Petite Squash Puffs with Bacon Saute

Post author:Melanie
Post published:September 25, 2012
Post category:Dinners / Recipes / Workouts
Post comments:4 Comments

Well hi there. How is everyone doing this week? You survived Monday I see so that is a good thing.

I want to get to that top-secret squash recipe I mentioned yesterday, but first a little run down from Monday’s festivities.

In the morning I headed downstairs for an easy 35 minute treadmill walk before heading out to Mall of America in search of a dress for an upcoming wedding. After walking the mall for a good hour, I think I decided that I would just wear a dress I owned already that has actually never been worn. It’s not as pretty as the orange little number I showed you but it’s still very pretty. I just need to work on that whole accessorizing part.

Darting around the mall definitely made me work up an appetite. As soon as I got home I headed to the kitchen and whipped up a salad.

In the mix: mixed greens, celery, strawberries, grapes, sunflower seeds, and a drizzle of homemade honey mustard (just honey, Dijon, and a splash of red wine vinegar).

I got to working on updating the blog and figured out how to add a print recipe gadget so that you will no longer have to print the entire page of my post if you want to print one of my recipes. However, it will be from this point on with new recipes unless I have the chance to go back and update all of my old ones (which I do hope to do someday). That was pretty exciting.

In the afternoon I headed to the gym and pounded out 20 minutes on the elliptical followed by a monumental moment for Melanie…

I REACHED MY SEPTEMBER PUSH-UP CHALLENGE!

I headed over to the nasty mats at the gym after getting nice and warmed up on the elliptical. Onto hands and toes push-up position I went, and I got to work. The first 7 were fine, but the last 3 were very challenging. It doesn’t matter though, because I reached my 10 push-up goal! I won’t be stopping there because I want to continue to build on this strength. I know this may seem like not a big deal to some but I don’t know the last time I was able to do 10 real manly push-ups like this!

It’s incredible to see what changes can happen in just one month’s time. Our bodies are capable of so much more than we give them credit for. I just proved that to myself this month. Now, to get back into the running and the yoga…that may be my next goal.

Dinner

On the menu was a simple yet satisfying salad in the form of Chicken Fajita.

I mixed up my own fajita seasonings (cumin, chili powder, cayenne, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, I think that was it). Then, sautéed onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms. I added the already cooked chicken into the pan lastly just to warm it through. Then I added the seasonings, a splash of water, and boom. Placed the goodness on top of a bed of greens, a sprinkle of cheese, and a drizzle of salsa, and called it dinner.

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

So back to this squash recipe.

On Sunday evening I had plans to work with a nice acorn squash I had bought from the farmer’s market on Saturday. I originally had planned to make squash gnocchi out of it, but my plans derailed slightly and I ended up doing my own thing and what turned out to be mini squash pillows.

After baking the squash, scooping out the seeds, and spooning out the good stuff, I placed the squash into a bowl. I sprinkled in a small amount of salt, an egg, and about a heaping cup of almond flour. I mixed this together.

I then took pieces of the dough into my hands and began rolling.

Then I placed the dough onto a floured surface.

I got to gently rolling the dough out to long breadstick like shapes. I ended up adding quite a bit of flour in this process.

I used a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 1-inch pieces.

These cooked on the stove top for about 5 minutes on each side.

While the squash puffs were cooking, I sautéed onion and garlic in olive oil while cooking three slices of turkey bacon. Then I mixed them all together.

To plate this dish simply pile on the squash puffs, drizzle with the bacon and olive oil mixture, and top with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Dana and I both LOVED this dish. It was so different and the flavors were incredible. Next time instead of rolling them out into long strips like I did, I would probably just break them off into little bits and place them right into the pan. They would be more rustic looking but that would be completely fine with me!

I hope you all have a tasteful Tuesday! Catch up with you soon.

**This recipe is written after adapting what worked/what didn’t work with my attempts.**

Petite Squash Puffs with Bacon Saute

SCD-Friendly Acorn Squash Dinner

Ingredients

1 acorn squash, prepared, and pureed
1 egg
1½ cups almond flour
¼ tsp. salt
1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 pieces of turkey bacon
½ cup onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Combine squash puree, egg, flour, and salt. Mix thoroughly.
Use fingers to shape mixture into 1-inch puffs; use flour on hands if necessary.
Place puffs onto a lightly greased pan on the stove top and cook 5 minutes per side.
In separate pan, saute onions and garlic in olive oil. On the other side of the pan cook bacon.
Once bacon is crispy, remove and cut into small pieces. Add back to onions.
Plate the puffs, drizzle with bacon mixture, and finish with a sprinkle of Parmesan.
Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread to Warm the Soul

Post author:Melanie
Post published:September 24, 2012
Post category:Breakfast / Home Life / Recipes / Workouts
Post comments:5 Comments

How was everyone’s weekend? Mine was pretty darn nice and I have to admit, I didn’t take too many photos. Here’ the weekend recap!

Saturday

Dana, Moose, and I hit up the neighborhood for a 3 mile run. The temperature was low to mid 50’s so I dressed in capris and a long sleeve wicking top. It was a bit cool run at first, but I warmed up quickly and it eventually felt perfect. The run felt great too and I can confidently say I can comfortably run 3 miles again. Now, it’s time to progress on the mileage!

After our run we made our way to the local farmer’s market to pick up some veggies I needed for an appetizer I was making for a get-together that evening.

I made a white bean dip served with crudités (fancy word for an appetizer with veggie sticks right?). I cannot believe I did not take one photo of this dish, but at the same time I’m not surprised since I was kind of running around like a crazy person trying to get ready.

To make the bean dip I added all ingredients into the food processor (unsure of exact amounts):

1 minced shallot and 1 minced garlic clove sautéed in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 1/2 cups white beans (I used northern)
lemon juice from half a lemon
Olive oil
1/4 cup cilantro
salt and pepper
garlic and onion powder

I whirled this up and it turned out to be a nummy and creamy white bean dip. I served it with a tray of veggie sticks: carrots, zucchini, celery, and red bell peppers.

Here is a small plate of it:

The big dish of it was WAY prettier.

We met up with three of my college friends (one being my bridesmaid Haley), their husbands and two babies. We had a blast hanging out, eating amazing food, playing with the babes, going nuts with Catch Phrase, and seeing Grace’s beautiful home.

I loved every second of it. She lives about an hour and a half from us so we called it a night at around 8:30 so we could make it home in good time. You all know I need my sleep, plus the pup still needed to eat dinner.

Sunday

We ran our standard Sunday morning errands after eating breakfast, reading the paper, and drinking our coffees.

I was thrilled to have had very few plans for Sunday. I need these days to just “be.” I’m struggling with this whole relaxation business however. I find that when I do have time to just relax that I can’t because I feel too guilty about relaxing. It’s a vicious cycle.

I feel like I should be folding the laundry or doing food prep or cleaning or running errands. I am working on getting this idea out of my head because relaxation and doing nothing is important for all of us.

You know what I like to do to relax? Bake.

I actually made this loaf up on Friday when I had about an hour time frame to bake the bread, shower and get ready to go meet up with my mom so that experience wasn’t as much for relaxation as it was I felt I needed to make the bread RIGHT THEN AND THERE! I get so stubborn sometimes. Where are your time management skills, Melanie?! But really, I do enjoy baking.

Either way, I whirled up a batch of grain-free SCD-friendly pumpkin bread. It turned out magnificent if I do say so myself. Once again I forgot to snap a photo of the entire loaf, but here is a shot of about half the loaf. I’ve been eating it for breakfast everyday. I told you I love this stuff….

**Recipe at bottom of post and is now in a printable version!**

Slather the bread with apple butter, nut butter, honey, a light coat of butter, or eat plain. Any way you have it you’re sure to enjoy! Remember that most SCD breads do not rise well due to some limiting factors in ingredients, so you usually render a more flat, dense loaf. Yes you can be on the SCD and still eat bread! Wooo!

Let’s see, the rest of the day was spent with some odds and ends around the house and then a bomb dinner. I won’t be sharing it with you until tomorrow but let me tell you it is one you won’t want to miss. My hint is that it involves acorn squash.

Also, I forgot to mention that one of my wonderful readers commented on my post about the cinnamon apple sauce I made the other day and said that she makes apple butter in the crock pot! I just had to try this so on Friday afternoon I started up a batch in the crockpot.

Come this afternoon, it should be done! I’ll let you know how it turns out. Thank you, Amanda! I even bought the cans to store the apple butter and everything!

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

I am off to get a workout in, and then I’ll be out on the prowl in search of a dress for that wedding I mentioned. Thank you for your comments about that orange dress I found but unfortunately they don’t have the dress in my size which of course means I won’t be ordering it. It wasn’t meant to be apparently. Cross your fingers for me that I find one today. I absolutely despise trying clothes on in the fitting rooms. I get so hot and worked up.

One more thing…I bought this amazing coffee yesterday at my favorite store in the whole world, Target.

I make it last a long time but only adding in one scoop of it to regular coffee. It is so smooth and buttery and I LOVE it. It was a good buy.

Again, this post became rather tangenty. I apologize for that and for the lack of photos. I promise there will be more tomorrow. Have a magical Monday. Catch up with you soon.

Pumpkin Bread to Warm the Soul

Author: Beautifully Nutty

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 60 mins

Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

(Grain-free, Gluten-free, SCD-friendly) Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients

3 c. almond flour
1½ Tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. all spice
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 c. pumpkin puree
1 ripe banana
3 eggs
⅓ c. egg white (or 2-3 large egg whites)
1 tsp. vanilla
⅓ c. honey

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease 2 standard size bread loaf pans; set aside.
In medium bowl combine dry ingredients; set aside.
In large mixing bowl blend together wet ingredients.
Slowly add dry ingredients to wet. Mix until just combined.
Pour batter into loaf pans.
Bake for 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean.

Bing Bang Boom BL(ea)T Salad

Post author:Melanie
Post published:September 20, 2012
Post category:Dinners / Home Life / Recipes / Snacks / Workouts
Post comments:5 Comments

For some reason, I have been exhausted this week. I guess there could be a number of factors influencing this but I don’t know. I continue to try and listen to my body and allow it some time to rest and recuperate since it seems like that’s what it is asking for.

Weekly Activity (so far):

Mon: elliptical; push-ups
Tues: walk; push-ups
Wed: rest; push-ups

As you can see, simple, non-obtrusive, low-impact workouts. I am still getting my push-ups in every day for the September #dropandgimme10 challenge. I was actually lying in bed the other night about to fall asleep and remembered I hadn’t done my push-ups yet so I forced myself out and did ten. That is ~~a weirdo~~ dedication right there!

I track my workouts right on B.N. to keep me in check, and you can find them under the fitness tab on the top of my homepage, under Weekly Workout Log. I went through a month or so spurt where I forgot to record, but I am back in action and want to keep up with it.

I enjoy looking back and seeing what I have done in the past, especially at times when I was training for a race. This can also help me to see what worked and didn’t work in terms of training for a race, or if any tweaks could be made to help improve my experiences in the future (not that I’m one to truly “race” at a race, but it’s still nice to improve on time).

Speaking of races, Dana and I are looking into registering for one for the upcoming month or so. We are thinking around a 10k distance, but haven’t decided for sure. Any local readers have any recommendations?

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

B.L.E.A.T. Salad

It’s time to talk food, and we’re going to skip right to dinner.

We all have those days where we get home from work and the LAST thing we want to think about is what to make for dinner. You know those nights where you are so hungry, but can’t decide what sounds good, and you have no energy to waddle to the kitchen and make yourself something?

Last night I had to call on the troops to get me through dinner prep, aka my husband. He is always more than willing to help, but knows how much I enjoy my kitchen time so he usually lets me do my thing, but when I ask for help he is there in a heartbeat.

Together we threw together a B.L.E.A.T.: Bacon, lettuce, egg, avocado, and tomato salad.

I grabbed four slices of turkey bacon from the freezer, and got those cooking on the stove top. Dana got to work on cooking two eggs over-easy, and I got to chopping up the veggies for the salad. Once everything was ready, we piled it on a plate with a dash of salt and pepper and bing, bang, boom it was done.

I can’t believe how much I’m starting to enjoy bacon. What is happening to me? Although, I do prefer the turkey bacon sort, but this is still a big change for me. My brother Scotty would be proud.

I finished dinner off with a nice big peach that I had actually packed as an afternoon snack at work but never got around to eating.

So there’s your proof in the pudding that you CAN put together a nice meal even when you feel like all you want to do is pick up the phone and order take-out. Put the phone down! Go to the kitchen.

**********

It turns random…

I was clearing out my cupboards last week and stumbled upon a box of Kix Cereal that had been opened a while ago but was still about 3/4 full of cereal. Since neither Dana or I are eating any grains (I am following the SCD), these weren’t going to get eaten. I am not one to throw away food without a fight. I had my taste-tester make sure they hadn’t gone bad, and then got to thinking.

Growing up, mom always kept cereal stocked in the house, and being that there were three teenage boys in the house, you better believe we had many-a-boxes of cereal at any given time. She was finding that when she went to clean out the cupboard, a good chunk of the cereal boxes only had a tiny bit of cereal left in the bottom, not enough for one bowl. She was also not one to let food go to waste, so she got creative.

She threw every last bit of cereal from the remnants left in the boxes into a big bowl, and then melted marshmallows, a tiny bit of butter, and peanut butter on the stove top. She mixed the peanut butter love into the cereal, and made what I always remembered to be the most delicious cereal bars. How could they not be? Cereal…amazing. Peanut butter…amazing. Marshmallows….um yah! Put these components all into one bar and you have a match made in heaven. It was a great way to use up those last bits of cereal.

With these memories, I got to work and made a batch of peanut butter Kix bars to bring in to a work meeting.

The verdict: my co-workers went crazy over them.

They were snatched left and right and gone before I could say General Mills and just like that I didn’t have to feel guilty about wasting food. Even though I’m not eating cereal myself, it doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy every second of watching my co-workers enjoy them.

There a million different ways to make this bar. You could add nuts, extra marshmallows, chocolate, omit the peanut butter (What??! No.), toss in some dried fruit, add sprinkles…go ahead and get creative. You’ll feel like a kid again!

That is all for today. Sorry this post is completely every where, but that’s kind of where my head is at this week. I hope you all have a tremendous Thursday. Always excited to catch up with you again!

Love and Kix,

Zucchini Bread & Adjustments for Health

Post author:Melanie
Post published:September 17, 2012
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Health / Home Life / Lunch / Recipes / Workouts
Post comments:7 Comments

Goood morning to you all. Hope everyone’s week is off to a great start.

I have some news to share. After my colon “procedure” vaguely mentioned a couple of weeks ago here, I have not been feeling well on the U.C. front. My body is having a hard time recovering from the invasiveness of the procedure and I feel like my progress in feeling better was set back about a month. Besides that, I have deviated further than had planned from the SCD and/or Paleo diet, specifically on the added sugar part.

After Friday’s absolutely amazing date night, I woke up Saturday morning feeling pretty darn sick. I felt awful all day. My body was not happy with me.

It’s time for change folks. I am regaining control and made a decision Saturday morning that I was going back to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. I am not starting at day 1 and beginning the whole thing from scratch, I will beginning somewhere around 1 month in. My body is used to the significant amounts of fruits and veggies. The biggest part I will be focusing on is watching the added sugars and starchy ingredients on food labels.

For any new readers, I tried giving the SCD a try a couple of months ago. You can read about some of it here and here. I did my very best to stick with it, but then decided to go the gluten-free route instead because I felt like I wasn’t seeing the progress I had hoped for especially given all of the effort I was putting into it.

This diet involves A LOT of food prep, and I think with all the activities of summer, wanting to be outside all of the time (versus in the kitchen), and the immediate stress of beginning the diet, I just couldn’t keep up with it.

I am going into it this time with a different mindset. I already know what I “can and cannot eat,” I am aware that more time will be spent in the kitchen, I learned last time that I need to make large batches of foods and freeze them to cut down on future kitchen time, and mostly, I need to remember WHY I’m doing this. I want to be healthy again. This flare has lasted way too long.

This time around I will not be so hard on myself if I slip once and a while. I’m not perfect and it’s bound to happen. I also am going to be aware that this diet may not work for me, and if it doesn’t, then that’s okay, I will continue to adjust my diet so that I figure it out one day. I sure hope it works though!

Prior to the colon procedure a couple of weeks ago, I was feeling so much better. At that time I was following a mostly SCD and slightly Paleo diet, the only thing I was slipping up on was the chocolate. I was eating it daily. It’s one of my favorite treats and I’m hoping in the future I will be able to incorporate it into my diet again.

So that’s what’s happening over in my Beautifully Nutty home. Basically I spent a lot of time in the kitchen Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday

On Saturday Dana and I went grocery shopping, went to the Farmer’s Market, got the car washed, did laundry, and cleaned all of the windows in our house inside and out. It was a busy active “rest” day. I also made some “fauxmeal” raisin cookie bites. Num.

Breakfast: 1 egg and egg white omelette with sautéed bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms, topped with avocado, cilantro, and salsa.

Lunch: Sugar snap peas, an apple, and homemade zucchini bread (SCD) with homemade cashew butter and honey…recipe at bottom of post!

Dinner: almond crackers that I burnt to a crisp(!) and tomato and olive bruschetta topping that we bought from Target a while back. All ingredients on the label are SCD friendly.

Such an ugly photo! Bleh! But it tasted great!

Sunday

Breakfast on Sunday looked like Saturday’s with another piece of zucchini bread with cashew butter and honey.

I made my way to the gym (haven’t been there much lately) and jogged for 35 minutes on the elliptical then hit the weights for a back and bicep workout. I managed 6 hands and toes push ups yesterday! Just 4 more to go to reach my goal of 10 normal (non-knee) push ups before the end of the month!

Lunch: Apple carrot salad with a homemade rosemary honey mustard vinaigrette. Then a large spoonful of cashew butter.

While I ate my salad I got to working on making some homemade apple sauce. This was so incredibly easy and I will share the recipe with you soon.

In the afternoon I brought up the fall stuff from the basement and realized I have about 5 fall items to decorate my house with. Lame. I just may need to hit up the craft store with my coupons and get some more??!

I took the pup for a 3 mile walk around our neighborhood in the afternoon.

Dinner:

For dinner I headed over to mom and dad’s which is always such a nice treat. Mom and dad made pork chops, asparagus, and summer squash. I made myself a honey mustard topping for my pork chop.

It was a really amazing weekend once again. I have the day off work today and plan to do some more food prep, hopefully relax a bit so I can HEAL, and run a couple of errands. I had planned on running today but am going to keep that tentative and see how I feel. I need to learn how to RELAX.

Here is the SCD Zucchini Bread Recipe!!

Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread (SCD Legal): Makes 2 Loaves

Ingredients

3 cups almond flour
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. all spice
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs
2 egg whites
2 cups zucchini, shredded and drained of liquid
2 over ripe bananas
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease two standard bread loaf pans; set aside.
In medium bowl combine dry ingredients.
In large bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Add remaining wet ingredients; mix until well combined.
Gradually add dry ingredients into wet ingredients.
Divide batter into each prepared pan.
Bake for 55-60 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean and top of bread begins to brown.

The bread tastes great toasted, plain, with cashew butter, peanut butter, butter, apple butter…get creative!

Have a happy, healthy day.

Taco Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing

Post author:Melanie
Post published:September 14, 2012
Post category:Blog / Dinners / Recipes / Workouts
Post comments:7 Comments

Happy Friday!

So, last night I was all ready to make a couple of loaves of nutty gluten-free bread. I brought my laptop into the kitchen and pulled up the recipe from my site. Much to my dismay I learned that the link was no longer active from my recipe page. I investigated further and realized that NONE of my recipe links had transferred over from my old site.

So last night, I had to go through them all and relink them to their appropriate posts. There is probably a much faster way to do this, but since I haven’t quite figured out this whole CSS new self-hosting business, I went the slow route. It was easy, just super tedious.

Needless to say I didn’t end up making the bread, but all of the links on the recipe pages should be fixed! Links from old posts though may still be missing, but I will have to figure that one out another day.

Anyway! How about a quick lil’ recap from yesterday?

I’ll spare you the breakfast photo because you’ve seen it a million and one times: nutty bread with peanut butter and honey. LOOVE.

Lunch

Driscoll’s raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and frozen blueberries (thawed of course) topped with Fage Total 0% Fat plain yogurt, and a healthy drizzle of honey.

I finished lunch off with a handful of almonds and two hershey’s kisses, one milk chocolate and one dark chocolate. I am usually a huge dark chocolate fan, but when it comes to Hershey’s, the milk chocolate still takes the cake. Any other chocolate though, give me dark. Meh, who am I kidding? I’ll take chocolate in any way, shape, or form.

Dinner

An amazingly delicious taco salad creation with creamy avocado dressing.

So let’s talk about this because it was seriously awesome.

I had some browned lean beef in the freezer, so I pulled that out and began defrosting. I then heated it up on the stove top with a small amount of taco seasoning, a dash of water, and let it heat through. I added extra cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder as well.

I got to work chopping up a tomato, mini bell peppers, shredding some cheddar cheese, defrosting some corn, and concocting my dressing which can hardly be considered a recipe it was so easy…

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.

Last step, plating. I started with a nice big bed of mixed greens, next layered on tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, black beans, shredded cheese, ground beef, and lastly topped it with a large dollop of avocado dressing.

The only words spoken by me while devouring this meal were “omg, this is so good.” I encourage you to make it this weekend!

Taco Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing (for 2)

Ingredients

2 large handfuls of mixed greens
1 medium tomato, diced
4 baby bell peppers, diced
1/3 cup corn
1/2 cup black beans
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 lb ground beef, browned*
1/4 packet taco seasoning or homemade taco seasoning
Avocado dressing (recipe above)

*Other proteins may be used: ground turkey, ground chicken, tofu, tempeh, pinto beans, black beans, etc.

Directions

Plate all ingredients, top with dressing. Seriously enjoy.

After dinner I headed out for a 3.5 mile walk on the most perfect fall evening.

*********

I am so cold this morning. When I woke up it was only 50° outside, now a couple of hours later it has crept up to 54 whoppin’ degrees. This weather makes me want to bake and drink coffee! I just might, but first I want to make sure and get a workout in, I’m meeting mom for a picnic lunch, and Dana and I have a very fun date planned for tonight!

My baking/cooking bucket list for the upcoming fall months:

More nutty gluten-free bread
Pumpkin chocolate chip gluten-free bread
Some sort of apple dessert (crisp, baked apples…)
Chili
Some sort of legume recipe

Okay, we’ll start with that. I am off to tackle the day. Have a happy day!

What recipe is on your fall bucket list?!

Health Update & Goals

Post author:Melanie
Post published:September 12, 2012
Post category:Health / Workouts
Post comments:5 Comments

Happy Wednesday to you all! The weather is a little gloomy here this morning which makes me want to do this all day…

But no such luck. This girls gotta make money money, make money money money. So off to work for Melanie. A girl can dream though, right?

Health Update

It’s been a little while since I have updated you all on the gastrointestinal status. For those of you who are new to Beautifully Nutty, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis at the age of twelve, and dealing with “flares” and vascular problems. I am in a current “flare” state and have been since the beginning of May or so. You can read more about it here as well.

I have been receiving medical help since the moment I knew I was starting to flare back in May. I have tried various medications, I have made changes to my diet, but I am still sick. In the past it was normal for me to be sick for this longer period of time, but I feel like now that I have better control over my diet, activity, and try to decrease stressors in my life, that I should be able to regain control faster, but no such luck so far, check this out and find the changes I made and their explanation.

This past month, my doc (who I really do like and respect) has been doing some further investigation in the forms of lab tests and procedures, frequent follow-ups, etc. He has casually concluded that I have “indeterminate colitis” meaning my signs and symptoms appear to look like ulcerative colitis as well as Crohn’s. Since he can’t exactly distinguish between the two in my case, because they are so much alike, it’s called indeterminate and he can hardly say it is a definite diagnosis. The good news is my small intestine is healthy and unaffected otherwise my treatment options would have changed dramatically. With the consensus of my doctor and I, we have decided to continue me on my current treatment. Prior to the “intrusions” last week in my colon, I was starting to feel a lot better on that treatment, and I think it will work again. The colon was just reirritated after all of the investigating happening.

The good news: My energy level has improved greatly. A month ago, I wanted to rest my head on my desk at work around 2 pm, now I am completely fine until the end of the day, and even at night-time, I’m not crashing as hard as I was. The other good news is I am continuing to follow a gluten-free diet which I REALLY feel is helping me to feel better. I plan to continue on it for a while. Who knows, maybe I’ll follow it forever. I honestly don’t find it challenging at all. I am okay with skipping on breads and crackers, that means more fruits and veggies for me!

We continue to experiment with my what works and what doesn’t which sounds kind of scary when put into those words, but I do appreciate my doctor’s approach. He is all about preventative care, which being a Registered Dietitian, I am too, and I like having that common ground. He presents his knowledge to me and offers options for the next steps. Together, we decide on the next plan of action, and he would never say, “this is what we’re doing and you don’t have a say in it.” It is my body after all.

My last rant…

Over the past couple of months, I have decreased the intensity of my workouts. I didn’t have the energy to lift weights, to run often, etc. I had enough stamina for low-impact activities like walking and light calisthenics but not a whole lot of energy for much else. Now that I am starting to feel better again, I am beginning to increase intensity in my workouts but only slightly. I am noticing how much strength and stamina I have lost. I know I will get it back.

I began the September push-up challenge to encourage myself to do at least 10 push-ups a day. I have done 10 or more every day except for one, when I had an intensive doctor appointment. This is one way I am rebuilding my strength.

I went for a 3 mile run this morning. It was not easy, but I pushed through. I realize it will take me time to rebuild, and I by no means want to push myself so hard that I get sick. One thing I have learned about myself through this current flare, is that I now know how to listen to my body, or at least have gotten a lot better at it. If I’m not feeling up to a run, then I will walk. If I don’t have the energy to do strength training, then I will do yoga.

Goals for the future:

Get healthy and into remission. Ideally off of the meds, and continue to treat myself through natural remedies.
Increase my running stamina and participate in a 10k.
Continue my daily push ups and soon switch to normal hands and toes push ups versus knees.

How about I start at that?

I am sorry for the long and somewhat scatter-brained post. I just wanted to give you all a heads up on my health and putting it all out there again makes me feel oh so good.

I am a woman on a mission. Mission get healthy(er).

Have a great day and give it your all!

A Nutty Makeover

Post author:Melanie
Post published:September 11, 2012
Post category:Blog / Breakfast / Dinners / Fav Products / Workouts
Post comments:5 Comments

Hi there my friends!

Notice any changes to the blog? I have been working with the wonderful Maren at Maren’s Blog Designs on developing a brand new header for Beautifully Nutty. I can’t say enough great things about Maren. I am one of the most indecisive people on this planet, but she worked with me to help dig and find what I truly wanted and what was appealing to my eye. She was incredibly patient. I HIGHLY recommend her work.

Besides the new banner, I have also switched from a blog hosted by WordPress.com to a self-hosted site through WordPress.org. I had been pre-warned that this process can be quite grueling, and the warning was found to be true. This has been quite the process. I am just beginning to learn all of the ins-and-outs of being self-hosted, but I promise you all, it will be worth it.

When making this switch, I lost all of my followers. This includes all of my friends that had signed up to receive emails when a new post is up. Could you all do me a favor? Could you re-subscribe to my emails? I don’t want to lose you! Just go into the right side bar and re-enter your email and it should set up just like that. I’m so sorry about that.

Like I said, I am learning a whole lot about this self-hosting bit. If there are details about my blog that you miss from the old site or that are driving you nuts about the new site, please let me know. There will be a lot of changes being made still. Thank you for your patience!

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Monday Breakfast

I have a treat to share with you all. While at the Healthy Living Summit, I received some wonderful coupons for Blue Diamond’s Almond Breeze product. I have bought their products in the past and love them, and was super stoked to be able to go try out some new stuff using their coupons.

I was at the store and stumbled upon this gem of an almond milk: Almond Milk and Coconut Blend. I HAD to try it! I poured the unsweetened milk over fresh raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and chopped almonds. I then drizzled a bit of honey over this masterpiece.

Oh my goodness, my belly was so happy. It doesn’t taste super coconutty which is good for me, but it does have a subtle coconut flavor. If you see this at your local grocery store, I suggest you give it a try.

After breakfast I took Moose out for a 3 mile walk through the neighborhood. Then I got to hang out with my beautiful cousin Betsy for a few hours.

Lunch

Lunch was light. I ate a banana with peanut butter and an apple. Then I headed to the gym to crank out 20 minutes on the elliptical followed by push-ups and core work.

The rest of the day was pretty much spent working on the ol’ blog. There were some errands sprinkled in the mix as well as some relaxation with the hubby.

Dinner

Dinner was so simple but it tasted extra good to me for some reason. We grilled up corn on the cob, garden green beans with teriyaki sauce, and a Morningstar Garden Veggie Burger.

Quick, easy, and super tasty!

Alright, I am off for the day. Enjoy your Tuesday friends. Muah!

Give Her Healthy Nachos, Make Her Happy

Post author:Melanie
Post published:September 7, 2012
Post category:Dinners / Misc. / Recipes / Workouts
Post comments:24 Comments

It’s my favorite day of the week! Have I mentioned that before? Winking smile

Yesterday after work, I took Moose on a 4 mile walk around the neighborhood. The weather was cool and it was sprinkling which made me want to keep walking on and on forever. Moose hung in there pretty well, too. We are working on building up his stamina after he had a couple of set backs this summer (a bacterial infection of some sort as well as tearing off a dew claw).

When we got home I started getting creative with dinner. For the longest time I have wanted to try to make black bean chips. I honestly couldn’t find any recipes out there that I liked, so I decided to go ahead and give it a whirl myself.

Black Bean Chips

I began by lightly pulsing a can of black beans until they reached a somewhat smooth, yet slightly chunky consistency. I added them to a medium bowl.

To the bowl I then added corn meal, garlic powder, cumin, nutritional yeast, egg, and salt and pepper, and mixed well.

I placed the bean mixture onto a non-slip baking mat (below) and placed a piece of parchment paper on top. I used a rolling-pin to flatten the bean dough into a thin layer. Then, I removed the parchment paper, used a pizza cutter to cut square chips, and baked in a 350° oven for about 25-28 minutes. I ended the baking process by switching the oven to broil to crisp up the top of the chips for a couple of minutes.

The thinner you roll the chips, the more “chip-like” they will be. Since some of mine were kind of thick, mine were like a crunchy cracker. Pretty tasty, though and gluten-free too!

While the chips were baking, I prepared some salsa. I chopped 4 Roma tomatoes from our garden(!), 3 mini bell peppers, 1 small onion. I added in about a cup of prepared salsa, added a touch of garlic powder, salt and pepper, and it was ready to go. I was really wishing we had fresh cilantro on hand, but no such luck.

Next, I melted cheddar cheese on the chips in the microwave, topped them with some fresh avocado and semi-homemade salsa, and called it a meal!

Black Bean Corn Chips

Ingredients

1-15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. cumin
1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast (optional)
1 egg
salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.
In food processor, or with fork, mash beans leaving them slightly chunky.
Add remaining ingredients; mix well.
On a non-slip baking mat or parchment paper, place bean mixture. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the mixture. Use rolling-pin to roll mixture into a thin layer. Remove top parchment paper.
Use pizza cutter to cut chips into bite sized pieces. Sprinkle with salt.
Bake for 25-28 minutes then broil on high for 2-3 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

Anytime I can eat nachos I am a happy girl, and healthy nachos make me even happier.

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Full of Tomatoes

I am so happy to say that our garden is flourishing with red tomatoes. We are eating them as fast as possible, giving them away to family and friends, but we still have an abundance. I am by no means complaining about this, I LOVE IT! I’ve simply been freezing the tomatoes so that I can use them at a later time. Here is how I do it…

1. Place tomatoes in a pot of water and bring to a low boil (this takes about 8 minutes). You will see the skins start to crack on the tomatoes.

2. Remove tomatoes from water.

3. The skin peels right off.

4. Place into a freezer bag, seal closed, and pop them in your freezer for later. I like to smash mine in the bag but you don’t need to. It’s kind of a stress reliever to me.

This is my second bag of tomatoes I have frozen. I can’t wait for the cooler weather to roll around so I can make up a batch of chili or tomato basil soup. Yup, I’d say I’m ready for fall.

I’m off to take on the day. Have a Fabulous Friday!

Question: What are your favorite tomato recipes?

Steak Face

Post author:Melanie
Post published:September 6, 2012
Post category:Dinners / Family / Workouts
Post comments:0 Comments

After work yesterday, I headed to mom and dad’s and was greeted by this white little furball named Abbie.

The greeting begins with running over to me with a major tail wag. Then she gets down on her belly so that you can give her a back rub.

And a head rub…pure bliss on her face.

Puppy love.

And then she ends the greeting with asking for a belly rub.

Oh Abbie May. Talk about making a gal feel welcome. I love how dogs are SO excited to see you whether you’ve been gone for days, or a couple of hours. They are so full of love. Or maybe she just loves a good belly rub?

Speaking of full of love…

I had so much fun hanging out with mom and dad last night. I felt very relaxed as I sat back and watched as they prepared dinner. As much as I enjoy cooking, it’s nice to have someone else cook for you every once and a while.

Of course, when I asked for a photo of them preparing dinner, this is what I got: Steak face. And then there’s mom by his side holding up her cute little portobello mushroom.

That photo makes me chuckle every time. You may remember the last time I had steaks over there, I got this photo…

What can I say, he always makes me laugh.

Then I got a sweet one. Are they not the cutest? Seriously.

We snacked on juicy watermelon as our appetizer.

Once the steaks were done, we made our way to the deck for dinner.

If you are a long time reader of my blog, you know by now that I’m not a huge red meat eater, however I do enjoy it every once and a while. Last night, my steak (it was either Porterhouse or T-Bone not sure) was fabulous. It was tender and so flavorful. Mom made sauteed mushrooms and onions to go on top. On the side I ate a simple green salad and green beans.

I cleaned my plate.

After dinner, mom and I took Abbie out for a walk around the neighborhood. The nights have been cooling off so beautifully around here lately and the temperature was mid-70’s on our walk. It felt great. What a perfect way to spend the evening.

Tonight is a normal evening on the home front, and I just may be cooking something for the first time all week. I would like to get creative. We’ll see what my brain comes up with throughout the day. I do have A LOT of tomatoes and zucchini…

What are YOU making for dinner tonight?

Motivate Me

Post author:Melanie
Post published:September 4, 2012
Post category:Health / Workouts
Post comments:3 Comments

Hi there to my wonderful readers!

I’ve had a few set-backs on the workout front lately. This is mainly attributed to the U.C. and associated appointments, but it also the summer coming to an end which has played a roll in my lack of exercise lately. Social gatherings have taken precedence over the gym, and for the time being, considering my health situation, I was okay with that.

Now that I am starting to feel better, and major doc appointments are out of the way, it’s time to get back on track. I know I feel better when I am active, not only physically, but mentally as well.

I have been feeling weak, and I am ready to rebuild my strength.

I thought I would look into Pinterest to get a motivational post up for myself, and maybe for some of you who may be in the same “rut.”

Pinterest, motivate me.