What a weekend! This was a crazy fun weekend and I am exhausted but it was worth it!
Let’s begin with Friday…
I really haven’t been into the salads lately. I’m thinking it’s because it’s cold outside and I’m craving more warm foods. However I made myself a nice little salad on Friday for lunch and I actually enjoyed it! In the mix: dark greens, tomato, peas, avocado, olives, sunflower seeds, cottage cheese, and drizzle of olive oil infused with Italian spices.
Friday afternoon we celebrated Ted and Annie’s wedding!
It was so great to see the beautiful couple enjoy their special day and it was a lot of fun to see so many of my high school friends!
On Saturday, I was a lazy bum for the majority of the day. Dana made us a hearty, protein-packed lunch of eggs with chicken-apple-gouda sausage and onions. Seriously delicious and satisfying.
I watched New Girl and eventually whipped up a batch of this awesome and super easy bean dip for a Halloween party we would be attending in the evening.
In the evening we headed out to our friends Adam and Stacy’s house for the annual Halloween party. Every year they impress me more and more with their Halloween decorations. You can only see half of my costume but I was a Food Safety Inspector (you can’t see my badge or meat thermometer and I don’t have my clipboard with me) and Dana was an Italian chef. Unfortunately his restaurant broke too many codes so I had to shut’er down. 🙂
Thanks Adam and Stace for an amazing party once again!
On Sunday, Dana and I had a bunch of errands we had to run in the morning. I spent the rest of my day prepping for my big TV debut (more to come on this) and I also squeezed in a 3-mile walk around the neighborhood. The weather was absolutely perfect and the scenery was beautiful.
For dinner I baked up one acorn squash and served it with organic butter and Applegate Turkey bacon, salt, and pepper.
I wasn’t in the mood for anything sweet but I think maple syrup would have been really good on this too!
So there you have it. My weekend was a blast and went WAY too fast as it always does.
How was your weekend? What’s your favorite squash? How do you use it?
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.
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.
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.**
