Workouts Archives - Page 12 of 20 -

September Push-Up Challenge

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

Happy Labor Day! How was everyone’s weekend? Mine flew by as it always does but it was so relaxing which was just what I needed. This post is slightly random, but let’s get’er started.

In preparation for some fun colon excitement to come, I needed to be on a low-fiber diet starting Saturday afternoon, and all day Sunday.

So, here is my low fiber day yesterday…

Breakfast: gluten-free almond bread with smooth creamy peanut butter and honey, a bite of banana, and a cup of coffee. I ate breakfast while looking through the Sunday paper of course. Bummer, no coupons yesterday, but a nummy breakfast at least.

Lunch: chicken breast with hummus and feta cheese, avocado, and canned green beans. It doesn’t look very appetizing, but it actually was pretty good. I finished lunch off with a little bite of peanut butter.

Dinner: grilled turkey burgers with cheese, avocado, mustard and ketchup, and a side of green beans.

For dessert, Dana and I whipped up a batch of chocolate fudge Jello (sugar-free) that we made with almond milk and we also ate some of our first candy corn of the season!

Now Back Track

Back track to just after lunch; Dana and I geared up for a hike. There is a trail alongside a major highway about ten minutes from our house that we have been wanting to explore for the longest time, so we decided that yesterday was the day to do it.

I grabbed the fuel belt and loaded it up with water, Dana grabbed the waist leash for Moose, and Moose grabbed his portable foldable water bowl, and we hit the trails.

It was pretty warm out yesterday so we called it quits after about 2.6 miles. I was really impressed with the area though. It was gorgeous. I can’t believe I’ve never been there before. Dana and I decided that it would be a perfect place for a morning run. We will be going back for sure.

***********

Sangria Deliciousness

On Friday night before we left for Adam and Allison’s wedding, I invited Dana to join me in a happy hour in our kitchen so that we could try out a bottle of sangria I had been given to sample. I am a HUGE sangria fan, so I was pretty darn excited about this one.

The product is called Eppa Superfruit Sangria.

Eppa’s sangria is certified organic and is made up of antioxidant rich fruits including pomegranate, blueberry, blood orange, and acai. One glass of their wine has twice the amount of antioxidants than a standard glass of wine.

The taste test verdict? Loved it. It is smooth, fruity, and refreshing. The perfect happy hour beverage, out on the boat beverage, or just “in need of a glass of wine after a stressful day” perfect beverage.

Eppa is starting to become available in stores (some Whole Foods carry it), but you can also order their product from their website. Of course you must be 21 years or older to order. Smile

Great organic product. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

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

September Push-Up Challenge

On with my day….I have a few things to do around the house, some errands to run, and possibly a workout on the agenda.

Which reminds me, I almost forgot to mention that for the month of September, I have made the commitment to doing at least 10 push ups everyday. If I’m feeling more ambitious certain days, I will do more but every day I will complete at least 10. My push-ups are knee style, but I am hoping to build strength again to do normal ones again. Baby steps.

Would you care to join me?! If you are on twitter, follow me @NuttyMelanie and use the hash tag #dropandgimme10 otherwise feel free to leave comments on my blog so that we can motivate and support each other to stay on track!

Have a great day!

Gluten Free Cereal Bowl

Post author:Melanie
Post published:August 31, 2012
Post category:Breakfast / Friends / Giveaway / Lunch / Workouts
Post comments:1 Comment

I owe my wonderful breakfast yesterday to my new and dear, fellow blogger, fellow Paleo’er friend, Shannon. While in Boston we swapped recipe ideas, and she shared a breakfast one with me that I knew I had to try.

You ready for this?

In the bowl: blueberries (I actually used frozen then thawed because that is what I had on hand), a heaping handful of fresh Driscoll’s raspberries, a handful of chopped walnuts, chia seeds, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and a drizzle of honey.

Oh my gosh. I loved this. It’s just like Shannon said, “it’s like eating a bowl of cereal, except Paleo style.” Coming from a gal who loves a heaping bowl of cereal with milk, I was happy to find an alternative that was more healthful and fit my lifestyle right now.

Lunch was eaten at work but it still deserved a photo because it was truly delicious. In the to-go Gladware container: mixed greens, mini bell peppers, olives, tomato, black beans, avocado, and Newman’s Own Lite Honey Mustard. Man, I’m good. Winking smile

After work I headed over to hang out with my babes, Bets and Emmy (my cousins who I love to pieces). They were making cake balls for a family birthday party and were pretty hilarious in the process.

Em, don’t quit your day job to start making cake balls.

I am so proud of both of them; they are both going through major career endeavors and have worked so hard to get where they are. Open-mouthed smile

Dinner last night was embarrassing being that it was completely unstructured.

When I got home I snacked on a handful of grape tomatoes from the garden which by the way have become completely out of hand. The branches are so long that they are falling into the next plant and pushing them over. We have A LOT of tomatoes. I’m not complaining though!

After the tomatoes, I moved on to a few large handfuls of trail mix. After the trail mix, I needed something salty of course, so I dug into the pickle jar. After that, I was full.

Not a very balanced meal at all. Well, wait a minute…grape tomatoes, nuts, raisins, pickles….yes there were chocolates in the trail mix, but overall, it could have been a lot worse.

I needed to get the body moving, body movin’ get your body movin’, so I harnessed on Moose’s new leash and went for a stroll through the neighborhood.

When I say harnessed on his leash, I mean I harnessed it on myself. We bought a new leash for Moose that attaches to his collar like normal, and the other end of it attaches to a band that goes around the owner’s waist. It is hand’s free and has a bungee cord which allows enough give that I’m not being ripped out of my shoes if he sees a squirrel, but not so much give that he is ever too far away. I’ll try to remember to take a picture next time.

This was my first time using it on a walk with just Moose and me, without Dana, who he listens to a lot better than me. It went pretty well though I must say. I will definitely be doing it again. I would love to make that an evening routine. It was gorgeous out with the sun setting and the temperature cooling down.

It was the perfect way to end the night.

Now, I am off to tackle my Friday to-do list, and then we have a wedding to attend tonight, oh and did I mention my brother and his girlfriend are coming into town from up north? It is going to be a great weekend.

Have a beautiful day!

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

It’s time for the Sneaky Pete’s Giveaway winner to be announced!

Random.org picked comment #2.

Congratulations Jamie A.! Jamie if you could email me at beautifullynutty@gmail.com with your full name and address I will have your beverages shipped right to your door!

Thank you everyone for participating!

Birthdays, 5k, State Fair

Post author:Melanie
Post published:August 27, 2012
Post category:Dinners / Family / Friends / Moose / Sweet Treats / Workouts
Post comments:9 Comments

Yes, it was a jam-packed full of fun weekend.

It began Saturday morning. Dana and I hit the gym together (the what?!) and we worked through a back and bicep strength training routine. I left feeling very disappointed because I have noticed how weak I have become lately due to the U.C. and the limited energy I have had.

“But you gotta keep your head up….” and then laugh a little. I was pretty mopey after the gym but Dana cheered me up with this:

My mood improved after that. I know I need to get through this, and will get through this, and I will slowly begin to rebuild my strength. After my little moment, I cheered up thinking about the fun day ahead.

Dana and I headed to my grandpa’s house to visit with him, my mom and dad, and many of other family members who were in from out of town. We were only able to stay for a short while, but I absolutely loved seeing each and every one of them. I miss them all so much.

While we were there I felt the need to explain to them why we were looking all gnarly that day in our 80’s outfits. We were heading to an 80’s themed birthday party…

For our dear friend, Stacy.

The day was full of lots of laughs, big hair, neon, Glen Gulia, creepers (Nate and Nate) and great “rad” friends. We had a blast celebrating Stacy’s big day with her. Today is her ACTUAL birthday so…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STACY!!! Love ya!

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

Sunday

On Saturday morning Dana and I participated in our 3rd annual Minnesota State Fair Milk run. It is a 5k race which takes place just outside of the state fair grounds and starts at 7:45 am.

The weather was perfect. It was overcast, cool, and humid so I felt like my legs warmed up really fast but the cool temperature kept me cool. Duh?

Anyway, it felt like a great run. I am really curious to see our times which haven’t been posted yet. I felt like we were running at a pretty good pace but I’ve been wrong before so we’ll see.

After the race we headed to the great Minnesota get-together, aka The Minnesota State Fair. Those of you who aren’t from MN, the state fair is a BIG deal around here. I frankly don’t think it deserves all of the hype, but I do enjoy going every year.

It’s mostly a food fest, but there are other activities such as carnival rides, farm animals, sky rides, an agriculture building, a health building, etc. I do enjoy checking out a lot of those things, but I can’t handle crowds very well, so the visits are usually short lived.

Dana’s one item that he gets every year is the Pronto-Pup, or a corn dog if you will. I pass on the wiener on a stick.

Since I know we never stay long at the fair, and I have a limited stomach capacity, I try to choose my foods wisely. My first choice was falafel on a stick which I shared with hubs.

Next, was our free malts that we got from the Milk Run.

Mashed potatoes on a stick. These were actually very good. I was craving salty and this was definitely that. It was mashed potatoes, cheese, and bacon, all deep fried. Again, “says the dietitian.” We split these as well.

The last item we wanted to try was the bacon ice cream. The ice cream had a maple flavor and the bacon added a touch of salty bite to the combo. Meh, it was okay. We both agreed we wouldn’t get it again, but were glad we tried it.

Food fest 2012. I’m not proud of what I ate, but it only happens once a year so I know I shouldn’t feel too bad about it.

Sunday afternoon led us to celebrate yet another birthday, this one for my amazing brother Kevin. His birthday was last week but it worked out best to celebrate last night.

We had a very relaxing evening outside where we chatted, gave Kevi his birthday presents…

Ate delicious turkey sliders with chili cheese dip courtesy a la madre…

And birthday cake courtesy a la Melanie.

Kevin loves chocolate and peanut butter just as much as I do, so I decided to make him a chocolate peanut butter cake (inspired by Courtney).

I cheated and used a boxed gluten-free devil’s food cake mix. I baked two round cakes, and made a homemade peanut butter frosting to glue the layers together (don’t think I didn’t taste test the frosting as I was making the cake). It was peanut butter, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla all whipped together.

I then topped the cake with store-bought sugar-free chocolate frosting and finished it off with chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups.

I completely forgot to snap a photo of the inside of the cake! It was beautiful too. Oh well. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. I can’t believe I was able to scarf down a piece of cake after all of the sugar I had already consumed that day. Blah. Dana and I both left feeling Thanksgiving stuffed, but it was well worth it. I loved celebrating with you Kevi! Love you all so much.

What an amazing weekend. Now, it’s time to detoxify my body from all of this extra sugar it’s not used to, and try to give it the rest it needs.

Have a great day everyone.

Decisions, Decisions: HLS Day 3

Post author:Melanie
Post published:August 22, 2012
Post category:Blog / Breakfast / Friends / Sweet Treats / Vacations / Workouts
Post comments:5 Comments

It’s time for the final recap of The Healthy Living Summit. Presenting you with day 3 (Sunday)…More photos, less talky.

HLS 5k

(photo courtesy of Courtney)

Healthy Breakfast and Good-Bye’s

(photo courtesy of Jamie)

Harvard Square

Both Shannon and I had later flights on Sunday, so we took advantage of our extra time by walking to Harvard and admiring their beautiful campus and the surrounding area.

It looks a little different from good old Minnesota State University, Mankato! It is a breathtaking campus.

We oogled the fresh goods at a local farmer’s market and bought flavored nuts from Q’s Nuts, a local company, and I bought a sweet apple for the airport.

A cupcake truck to tempt us on our walk home…we denied it after much contemplation.

Back at the hotel, we had 45 minutes to shower, pack, and be down in the lobby to catch a cab back to the airport. In case you’re wondering, yes I did have to sit on my suitcase in order to close it, thanks to all of the great swag! My bag weighed in at 48.5 lbs on the way home.

At the airport I polished off a small sample of Q’s nuts, my large farmer’s market apple, and then decided I needed some greenery, so wandered around until I found myself a nice little side salad. My first flight was from Boston to Chicago.

A layover in Chicago (for 3.5 hours) led me to buy more food. Another salad…

Hmm….what else do I want? So many temptations surrounding me.

After about 45 minutes I decided that a bowl of vanilla Fro Yo was just what I wanted. Those apples look pretty tasty though don’t they? I walk by them every time I am at the Chicago airport and drool by the window.

Fro Yo two days in a row. That needs to stop now. Have you noticed I am quite the indecisive person? It’s not something I’m proud of. Smile with tongue out

Next flight, Chicago to Minneapolis. I munched on a box of Wild Harvest Organic Raisins from the conference and then tried to sleep (with no such luck). I arrived in Minneapolis around 12:30, and crawled into bed around 1 am. It was a LOOONNGG day of traveling and I was so happy to be home.

The main message I took from the conference is, be true to you and remember why you started your blog. I started B.N. to share my love for food and fitness in hope to inspire others (and motivate myself) to live a healthy lifestyle. What you read on my blog is all me. I write how I talk, and am real with you every day. Not every day is a great day, but I do try and find the positives in every situation and keep my blog uplifting and light. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

To the great friends I met over the weekend: you are all such incredible, inspirational people. I learned something from each and every one of you. I look forward to staying in touch over the years and hopefully meeting up with you all again!

I am so glad I made the decision to attend HLS12. I attained so much valuable information and am now finally starting to digest and process it all. I am in the process of putting some of what I learned to work! Expect great changes to Beautifully Nutty in the future.

I will be back to normal posts again. The recipes are piling up and I have some major catching up to do. I hope you’re excited!

Happy Hump Day!

Nutty Gluten-Free Bread

Post author:Melanie
Post published:August 15, 2012
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Recipes / Workouts
Post comments:4 Comments

Happy Wednesday! Are we really already half way through the week? Thank goodness, it has been an exhausting one.

Not that I like to wish time by, but I am seriously so excited because… I leave for the Healthy Living Summit tomorrow! I can’t believe it’s here already. The agenda looks AMAZING and I am so looking forward to meeting everyone and having a fun weekend with a bunch of new friends! I will be snapping mega photos and taking notes so that I can keep you well-informed of my adventure.

Monday

I didn’t get to blog yesterday, and really only have one photo from Monday I want to share. I earned the best wife award for Monday night because I made hubby a beef pot roast in the crock pot.

In the morning I placed 4-5 medium carrots, chopped, into the crock pot, along with 5 mini onions from our garden, beef roast which I believe was a “round” cut but now I don’t remember, a packet of Lipton’s Onion Soup mix, and 3/4 cup water. I set the crock pot on low for 10 hours and it was ready to go at the end of the day!

Being that I’m not much of a meat lover, this actually tasted pretty darn good, and my body could probably use the extra protein and iron these days.

Tuesday

On Tuesday morning, Dana and I set out on a 4-mile run. I haven’t fully run this distance in quite some time due to the UC, and during the run, I remembered why.

My body is working in overdrive right now to fight and heal the inflammation happening inside, therefore I become fatigued fairly easily. I try so hard to push myself because I want to be able to endure activities at the level I was at before when I wasn’t sick, but it’s just not in the cards right now.

With the motivation of Dana at my side, I was able to pull through 4 miles, but I could feel my body grumbling at me as I ran. I am very proud to say that I accomplished that run now.

I have noticed that some days are better than others when it comes to my stamina and activities. Friday for instance, I ran 3 miles and it seemed to be a much more enjoyable run. My body wasn’t fighting back like it was yesterday, but I still felt fatigued though towards the end.

I not only feel this way with running, I feel it with any type of activity: weights, elliptical, and even every day tasks. I find myself becoming very tired quickly. The docs are investigating my situation full force to make sure I am doing alright and doing their best to “fix” me when they can.

I will continue to keep you posted as I learn more. I know my limits and am doing my best to stay within those limits and not push my body further than it can go right now. I have open communication with my body and we keep each other in the loop. 😉 I listen to it when it says cool it, and it listens to me when I say keep it comin’.

Breakfast

For breakfast, I turned to another old favorite, overnight chia seed yogurt bowl! We were running very low on yogurt so I had to use a little more almond milk than usual but it still turned our great, just a smaller bowl of goodness than I would have liked. I added heaps of blueberries and strawberries to add to the volume.

A smaller bowl but still oh SO tasty.

That is the end of my photos for the past couple of days.

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I think this is the perfect opportunity to share with you a gluten-free bread recipe I have been making for Dana and I since we began the SCD/Paleo diets.

I experimented with a few different recipes over time, made my adjustments, and have come up with my favorite version of the bread. It uses Greek yogurt so doesn’t fall perfectly into the SCD or Paleo diets, so I will go ahead and just call it Gluten-Free.

Nutty Gluten-Free Bread (makes 2 loaves)

Ingredients

5 cups almond flour
2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 cups non-fat Greek yogurt
4 eggs
1 egg white

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.
Mix together all ingredients (I use a hand-mixer).
Pour into two lightly greased bread loaf pans.
Bake for 50-55 minutes. Bread is done when toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean.

This bread is dense but not crumbly like some of the other recipes that use SCD homemade yogurt. The Greek yogurt really helps to make it stable. It cuts perfectly, and tastes great toasted with some nut butter! Dana has also used his for turkey deli sandwiches, or as a base for a couple of over-easy eggs.

NUM!

I did post a bread recipe here that fits perfectly into the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Feel free to check it out!

I hope you all have a great day. Catch up with you soon.’

Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Pasta

Post author:Melanie
Post published:August 11, 2012
Post category:Dinners / Recipes / Sweet Treats / Workouts
Post comments:2 Comments

We are having the most incredibly beautiful weather here in Minnesota. The nights are falling to the mid 50’s and daytime in the mid 70’s.

This makes for perfect weather for a morning run. I hit the road for a 3.37 mile run (according to MapMyRun) and the temperature was 56°.

I jammed out to my Jack Johnson radio station on Pandora and ran at a leisurely pace. I find that my running pace often matches my music tempo. I was in the mood for a slower run, so I thought this music selection would be perfect and I was right, it was. My average pace was 9:37 minutes per mile. I think I’ve finally concluded that I’m not a fast runner, and I’m not sure if I ever will be a fast runner and I am okay with that.

I am starting to enjoy running again and am very happy to be able to say that.

My day’s eats went undocumented except for dinner.

Dinner

Zucchini pasta.

Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Pasta

Ingredients

1 large zucchini, peeled
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper
1/4 cup green olives, diced
6 grape tomatoes, quartered
parmesan cheese
1 tsp. fresh basil, chopped

Directions

Place zucchini pasta in strainer in sink, sprinkle with salt, and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
In a large pan, sauté mushrooms, onion, and garlic in olive oil for 4 minutes.
Add zucchini, salt and pepper, green olives, and tomatoes until heated through.
Plate up pasta and top with parmesan and basil. Enjoy!

This was such an easy, fresh, and inexpensive meal. Both Dana and I really liked it!

Dessert

Strawberry banana soft serve!

A friend of mine asked for the recipe for this dessert and although I don’t have any exact measurements, I will do my best to help you out!

Strawberry Banana Soft Serve

Ingredients

2 frozen bananas
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
a splash of almond milk (maybe 2 tablespoons)

Directions

Place ingredients in blender and patiently blend until smooth. You will need to periodically stop the blender and push the frozen fruit around to get things moving. Once a soft serve consistency is reached, it’s ready to eat!

Happy Saturday to everyone. Catch up with ya’ll soon.

Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

Post author:Melanie
Post published:August 7, 2012
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Lunch / Recipes / Workouts
Post comments:2 Comments

Happy Hump Day! Hope everyone is doing well on this mid-week day .

Breakfast

Breakfast yesterday was a smoothie-on-the-go packed with strawberries, blueberries, banana and unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I love how the vanilla almond milk tastes in the smoothie.

Lunch

A seriously rockin’ salad. Mixed greens with mango, blueberries, strawberries, avocado, almonds, feta cheese, and Newman’s Own Lite Raspberry Walnut vinaigrette.

Honestly this salad rocked my socks.

I worked a half day yesterday, so afterwards I headed to mom and dad’s. I ate dessert when I got there (I always raid the cupboards upon arrival), which was peanut butter and chocolate chips while I said hi to Abbie (mom and dad’s sweet little Yorkie-poo who I adore).

Then I changed into my workout gear, laced up the ol’ sneakers, and hit the pavement. I jogged/walked their neighborhood and covered 4.5 miles. It was mid-80’s and sunny while I was out and I have determined I am a weenie when it comes to running in the heat. I melted and ended up running 70% of the time and walking 30% of the time, and that may be a little generous even on the running side.

After the “wun” (walk/run), I headed to the basement to cool off. I still had some mojo left, so I hopped on their elliptical for 10 minutes while watching Giada at Home. Finally, I finished with the bench press.

I gave Abbie one last kiss and headed out the door back home to my own big puppy and hubby.

Snack

For an afternoon snack I had a bowl of cooked carrots with cinnamon and sugar.

Dinner

Not long after my snack, both Dana and I were getting super hungry, so I figured I may as well start dinner instead of more snacking.

For dinner I made Black Bean Quinoa Burgers.

To the food processor I added 2 cups of cooked black beans, 1/4 cup diced onion, 1 minced garlic glove, 1/2 cup quinoa, 1 tablespoon of cilantro, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/4 cup salsa, 2 tablespoons egg whites, salt and pepper, and a miniature pinch of red pepper flakes.

I pulsed these ingredients until combined, leaving it slightly chunky and making sure not to let it turn into a hummus paste.

I chilled the mixture for about 5 minutes. We got too impatient to wait any longer, plus the mixture was still cold from using cold ingredients so it was easy to handle.

I formed the mixture into 7 patties and placed them on a lightly sprayed piece of aluminum foil. Before they hit the grill I sprinkled them with garlic and onion powder.

We grilled them over medium-low heat for 20 minutes; flipping halfway through.

I topped my burger with salsa and avocado, and served it alongside a simple green salad with cheddar cheese and Western dressing.

Talk about a great meatless meal and perfect for the summer because I didn’t have to use the oven at all. Niiiiiiice.

Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

Ingredients

2 cups black beans, cooked
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 tsp. cumin
salt and pepper
a dash of chili pepper flakes
1/4 cup salsa, heaping
2 Tbsp. egg white

Directions

Preheat grill to medium-low.
In food processor, lightly pulse all ingredients and keep chunky.
Form into patties and place on lightly sprayed aluminum foil. Place on grill.
Grill for 20 minutes; flipping on foil halfway.

Dessert

While watching the Olympics, we whipped up a wonderfully creamy dessert that I have grown to LOVE. Cocoa banana soft serve baby; cocoa powder, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and frozen bananas.

So good.

I’ll leave you with that beautiful sight. Have a great day!

Garden Fresh Veggies

Post author:Melanie
Post published:August 7, 2012
Post category:Dinners / Home Life / Snacks / Workouts
Post comments:0 Comments

Hi there! I’m diving right in…

Lunch

I’m still not quite sure how I felt about yesterday’s lunch. The night before, I sautéed zucchini and mushrooms seasoned with cumin and salt and pepper. I then added cooked carrots and diced turkey. Once the veggies were cooled, I topped them with green olives, feta cheese, and balsamic basil dressing. I packaged the dish up and brought it with me to work.

I ended up eating the carrots solo, not in combination with any of the other items in this dish. They just didn’t belong, poor guys. Would I make this combo again? Probably not, but I didn’t HATE it, it just wasn’t as good as my other Greek-inspired dish from the other day. I prefer the fresh raw veggies versus the cooked any day.

Either way I still enjoyed my lunch outside in the sun and then went for a quick 15 minute walk before heading back to work for the afternoon.

Gym

After work I made my way to the gym after sitting in traffic for what seemed like forever. I wasn’t feeling super energized so I grabbed my newest Rachael Ray magazine and rode the elliptical for 35 minutes. It was pretty darn hot in the gym yesterday and I ended up getting sweatier than I felt worthy of. I wasn’t hitting it too hard but the sweat made me feel like I was!

Dinner

For some strange reason, once normal dinner time rolled around, I was not hungry. I hadn’t eaten copious amounts of food throughout the day or anything, so this was weird for me. This doesn’t happen to me hardly ever.

I waited and waited for the hunger feelings to come around, and they were only starting to barely creep up when I decided I would just make myself a little somethin’-somethin’.

I made a salad with mixed greens, a half of a grilled pork tenderloin marinated in Lawry’s Hawaiian dressing, avocado, mango, and honey mustard dressing.

About 45 minutes after I got done eating the salad, my appetite kicked in. I ate my second dinner which was a few small handfuls of trail mix…

A bunch of these sweet red cherries…

And a piece of almond bread. Dana said this was by far the best batch of almond bread I have made so far, and I would have to agree. I used Greek yogurt instead of homemade SCD yogurt, and cut the eggs down a little bit and incorporated some egg whites. It made for a more bread-like texture with less crumbling and more stability.

I should probably post this recipe soon, huh?

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

As I was out checking out the garden last night, looking around for any fresh veggies to pick, I thought it would be fun to give you guys a glimpse of the jungle our garden has turned out to be.

I snapped this photo below back at the end of May when we planted zucchini, tomato, bell peppers, jalapeño, kale, green beans, and onions.

Now check it out! Mind you there’s an abundance of weeds in there, but you see on the right side in the front? Those are all tomato plants and they are coming in full swing! They are mostly green still but there are LOTS of green ones. I can’t wait to be bombarded with tomatoes. Fresh salsa will be coming out my ears. I am thinking of getting something to help me rid of the pesky weeds in my garden. Luckily sites like https://bestofmachinery.com provide reviews and guides on the best garden tools and products to help me with my purchase.-

The zucchini have had a rough summer. We have gotten a few so far, but not like last year. I think the weather has teased them a bit. I’m still hoping we get more.

Here is our green beans and kale on the left.

We didn’t get any peppers unfortunately which I am pretty bummed about. The onions are probably ready to be plucked from the ground, but I haven’t touched them yet.

I most definitely do not have a green thumb, but we are producing some veggies which makes me oh so happy.

I am off for the day, make it a happy one. Open-mouthed smile

A Joke for Monday

Post author:Melanie
Post published:August 6, 2012
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Family / Friends / Home Life / Moose / Workouts
Post comments:0 Comments

The weekend isn’t really over, is it? I feel like it never happened it flew by so fast. As always.

It was a wonderful weekend. I didn’t do much on the side of cooking and didn’t develop any new exciting recipes over the weekend, but I surely enjoyed relaxing at home and with friends.

Saturday

Breakfast was a cup of coffee with stevia, and a piece of almond bread toast with PB2 and cinnamon.

The fam bam and I headed out for a 3.35 mile run around the neighborhood. The weather was PERFECT. It is finally starting to cool down around here and the temperature was high 60’s with a light sprinkle which felt great.

We switched up our grocery shopping day to Saturday instead of Sunday since we both had fun plans for Sunday and wouldn’t be able to go on our usual day.

When we were at Costco we stumbled upon a super large pet bed for Moose for only $20! Seriously you don’t find that price anywhere on pet beds. His other bed had seen better days and he was definitely ready for a new one; a big boy bed.

I think he likes it. Actually what’s funny is that we had to force him onto the bed for this photo. I think he likes it? Smile with tongue out

Lunch was very random. I had grabbed a sample or two at Costco, and when I got home, I wasn’t sure what I was hungry for so I made it a small snack type of lunch.

I started with cooked carrots with cinnamon.

Then oven roasted turkey breast with cheese.

And then I think I moved on to a couple of bites of peanut butter and then called it a day, but I’m not for sure.

In the afternoon, I relaxed and laid out on the deck. It was wonderful and much needed. I have been exhausted.

Dinner was Roasted Butternut Squash Soup that I made a while ago and stored in the freezer. I love having homemade soups in the freezer for days like Saturday night, where I had no inclination to cook or make anything. All we had to do was grab a couple of bags of soup from the freezer, pop them in a bowl in the microwave, and top them with some chives.

Easy and very tasty once again.

Sunday

On Sunday I headed to Mankato to meet up with a couple of my girlfriends from college. Being that we were all dietetics majors, there is always food involved at our get-togethers.

I brought apples, mango, cherries and yogurt dip, Terra sweets and carrots chips (which are amazing btw), and to the left unpictured is a giant bag of trail mix which I dominated.

We also had pretzel chips and hummus, carrots, and lettuce wraps. Pretty healthy, right?!

I loved loved catching up with the girls. They both have beautiful little baby girls so I got lots of quality baby time. I love baby time, and girl time, so it was a great Sunday.

When I got home, Dana, Moose, and I went for a leisurely walk around the neighborhood, then I got ready for the week ahead.

Monday Joke

So, I was thinking…since I tend to have a hard time dealing with Mondays, with going back into work week and all, how about I try to throw you all a joke on Mondays when I remember? I know I am not the only one out there who struggles with this day, so we can all benefit from it. I’m not guaranteeing any quality jokes, but if they can at least make you smile, or give you the slightest chuckle, I will feel like I’ve done my job.

Q: How do you turn a soup into gold?

A: Add twenty four carrots!

Ba-da-boom-ching. Happy Monday friends.

Got any good ones? Please share and make us all smile.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Paleo Style

Post author:Melanie
Post published:August 4, 2012
Post category:Breakfast / Dinners / Sweet Treats / Workouts
Post comments:4 Comments

Good day to you all! I hope everyone’s weekend is off to a great start. I’m pretty sure I have deemed Friday as my favorite day of the week. At the end of the work day it’s so nice knowing that I have the whole weekend ahead of me to do as I please.

My Friday

I started my day with a banana pancake topped with honey and PB2. I made it the night before so that all I had to do in the morning was pop it in the microwave and add some toppings. I’m all about anything that make early mornings easier for me.

I am attempting to wean back on the nut butter a bit because I was seriously getting out of hand and eating it by the spoonfuls. I think it was a combination of factors: I may have felt slightly deprived from the diet, I don’t love meat, and I felt like it was something that actually satisfied my belly. Now that I am starting to incorporate more of my favorite proteins again, quinoa, beans, and eggs, I am able to cut back on the nut butter. I will not be cutting it out however! There are so many options to learn paleo cooking these days.

For lunch I ate the same awesome Greek-inspired salad as yesterday.

After work, I headed straight to the gym yet again. I hit the elliptical for 20 minutes, then moved to the treadmill for a mile run all while watching the Olympic women’s 10,000 meter race. Holy cow those ladies are speedy! It was great motivation to keep me moving. After cardio, I moved to the free weights to pound out a chest and tricep workout. I finished with some core work. Strength training two days in a row! It has been a while since that has happened.

For dinner I made a taco salad.

In the mix:

mixed greens
cilantro
black beans
cheddar cheese
tomatoes
onions
and ranch dressing

I debated whether or not to top the salad with salsa, but have found in the past that I am usually disappointed if I use salsa as my dressing, so I opted for one I knew I would like.

After dinner I wanted dessert. I found a Paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe from Delighted Momma and decided to give it a whirl. But I was kinda looking for cookies that are keto, for my weight wasn’t going unnoticed.

I made a few changes though of course as I always do. Instead of the coconut oil, I used organic applesauce and instead of using 4 whole eggs, I used 3 eggs plus 1 egg white. For the chocolate chip part, I bought carob chips from the natural food store in town. I have never used them before but know they can be substituted for chocolate chips and are a healthier option. The ones I bought were dairy free.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Paleo Style

Ingredients

1/2 cup organic applesauce
3 Tbsp. honey
3 eggs
1 egg white
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. sea salt
1 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut
3/4 cup carob chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°.
In mixing bowl beat together applesauce, honey, eggs, egg white, vanilla, and salt until well combined.
Next, stir in coconut flour, coconut, and carob chips.
Roll into balls and flatten slightly*; place on parchment paper or non-stick baking mat.
Bake for 15 minutes.

*The cookies do not change their shape from pre-cooked to post-cooking so flattening them makes them more cookie like.

Thank you Delighted Mama for the inspiration! I loved these cookies. They have a coconutty chocolatey flavor, a soft texture, and are slightly addicting.

I hope you all enjoy! I am off to soak up the weekend. Hope you are too.

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