Nutty Gluten-Free Bread

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.

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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.

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A smaller bowl but still oh SO tasty.

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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.

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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

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Mix together all ingredients (I use a hand-mixer).
  3. Pour into two lightly greased bread loaf pans.
  4. 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.’

Continue Reading Nutty Gluten-Free Bread

Aw Shucks

Well hi there. Did everyone have a wonderful weekend? I surely did. It was fairly low key which was just what I needed.

In case you missed it, here are the weekend’s posts which include two zucchini recipes!

Friday: Date at Pittsburgh Blue

Saturday: Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Pasta

Sunday: Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna

As you’ve probably noticed, I usually recap the previous day’s endeavors in my posts rather than on the day of. With that being said, I will now be recapping Sunday for you. Here we go!

Breakfast

It was time to experiment with an old favorite, the Greek yogurt fruit bowl. A breakfast that I seriously ate day after day for a good month or two before moving on to my next obsession which I believe was the overnight chia seed bowl.

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In this beautiful bowl: raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, Fage 0% Greek yogurt drizzled with honey. YESsssA!

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The good news, is that this sat perfectly well in my belly.

After breakfast we did our usual Sunday gig with coupons and grocery stores. When we got home at 11:00, I was ready for lunch. I made myself a strawberry salad with avocado, black beans, feta cheese, and honey mustard dressing.

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I loved every bit of it as usual.

As I was making my lunch, Dana was busy experimenting with a SCD tortilla so that he could make himself a burrito. I found a recipe a while ago and have wanted to try it but haven’t gotten around to it. He got to work on making the SCD tortilla which was actually pretty easy. It took a total of about 17 minutes.

The recipe was:

  • 1/3 cup almond flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • 3 Tablespoons water

Basically you just mix all the ingredients together and bake in a well-greased pan for 15 minutes at 300°.

Here was his burrito. Not too shabby!

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In the afternoon we cleaned the house, I did some food prep, and we ran a handful or errands in record time. Then we headed to my in-laws to visit with them for a bit.

Dinner

By the time we got home it was nearly time for dinner, so once again I found myself in the kitchen (I really do enjoy food prep btw so this isn’t a big deal usually; only when I feel like I’m LIVING in the kitchen is when I get bothered by it).

On the menu was a very simple meal of grilled corn on the cob and bison burgers. When we went to the Farmer’s Market a couple of weeks ago we bought a pound of farm fresh ground bison and have had it in the freezer since then. It was time to give it a taste.

I got to shucking the corn. Is that not the best word? Shucking.

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We seasoned the bison burgers simply with Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, salt and pepper.

Dinner was so easy and so delicious. This was my first corn on the cob this summer because it was not allowed on the SCD, but since I have modified the diet, I am allowing myself to enjoy it, and that I did.

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Something happened after dinner…two Dairy Queen blizzards just showed up at our house and it just so happens that we both LOVE DQ. I wasn’t going to let this summery treat go to waste. 😉 I loved every bite of this double fudge cookie dough blizzard.

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I will be cooling it again on the ice cream front, hopefully. It is just so refreshing and lovable in the summer I can’t help myself! 

Did everyone watch the Olympic’s closing ceremony last night? I turned into my 12 year old self as soon as Spice Girls hit the stage. Spice up your life! Loved it.

Now we all know it’s Monday, and in lieu of Monday, I have another terrible joke for you courtesy of this site.

Q: Why did the cowboy adopt a wiener dog?

A: He wanted to get a long little doggy.

Continue Reading Aw Shucks

Unattractive Food Photos

Happy Tuesday friends.

I’m going to start off by saying that yesterday’s day of eats was flat-out U.G.L.Y. I ain’t got no alibi, it’s ugly, yea yea it’s ugly.

To begin with the series of unattractive food photos, we’ll begin at breakfast. I decided to try something new for breakfast: sweet potato with peanut butter. I have been loving this combo for lunch so I figure hey why not try it in the morning? As much as I enjoy my boring old bowl of Cream of Wheat each morning, I thought it would be fun for all of us if I jazzed it up a bit. Enter: the ugliest food photo I think I have ever taken.

The verdict?  I don’t know if it was just the particular day that I wasn’t feeling this combo for breakfast, or if the texture was too much for me to handle in the morning, or what it was; all I know is that I wasn’t havin it. Not one bit. I ate a few bites before pitching it. That was me trying to eat outside the box in the morning. Outside the cereal box that is.

Speaking of cereal box, on to breakfast #2. After my first failed breakfast attempt, I wasn’t feeling very motivated to get creative, plus I was running out of time before work, so I poured myself a bowl of Rice Chex with almond milk and a little sugar. Very boring but simple and tasty, and just what I wanted.

I’m not giving up on the whole sweet potato in the morning bit just yet, but I will go another route next time; maybe puree them and add them into pancakes? We’ll see.

I met up with my mama and miss Abbie for lunch yesterday for a picnic during my break. I packed a Greek inspired low-fiber dish consisting of white rice, chicken, hummus, feta, and avocado. I sprinkled the whole thing with lemon juice and a touch of salt.

Absolutely delicious. I also ate a banana and some nummy Aussie licorice bites mom brought for dessert. I loved spending my lunch break with mom. We ate outside at a nearby park and enjoyed the sun and a cool breeze. I wish we could do that more often!

I mentioned yesterday that I was wanting and needing to get back on the workout wagon. It’s been a little difficult for me lately since I haven’t been feeling very well due to the colitis, and I am finding that lower impact exercises like yoga, walking, and the elliptical are agreeing with me better than higher impact activities like long runs. If I do want to run, it has to be right away in the morning when I don’t have much food in my system yet, and this just hasn’t been happening lately. My body has been favoring sleep and I have really been trying to listen to my body. If that is what it needs right now to heal me faster, that is what it is going to get. I do want to keep moving and I will keep moving, I will just be switching up my activities a bit for now.

With that being said, I headed to the gym after work. I started off with 20 minutes on the elliptical, followed by 10 minutes on the stair stepper, and finish off with 10 minutes walking at an incline on the treadmill. I didn’t have any new magazines to read so instead I watched The Real Housewives of Orange County. Some chick was getting married and it kept me entertained for the duration of the workouts. I finished off with my favorite core move on the bosou ball. I really need to get back on my game in the strength training department too. I so easily fall off the wagon on this one.

I headed home to the boys and began contemplating dinner.  While I pondered, I snacked on Special K Sea Salt Cracker Chips with hummus.

When planning meals, I often try and decide on the protein source first, and then build off of that. Last night our main protein source was going to be eggs.

In a pan on the stove top, I sautéed diced mushrooms, added cooked spinach,  and low-sodium deli turkey. In a separate bowl I whisked together two eggs and about 1/2 cup egg whites for Dana and I. Once the mix-ins were finished sautéeing, I poured the eggs onto the pan and began the scramble. During the last minute of cooking I sprinkled in about 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese until it was gooey and melted into the eggs.

I plated them up and sprinkled the dish with salt and pepper and a little squirt of ketchup and enjoyed a proton packed dinner that came together in just minutes.

I told ya it was an ugly day of eats. I guess this one isn’t too bad. Besides my first shot at breakfast, the meals were all very tasty which goes to show that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. I especially enjoyed our scrambled egg dinner.

The rest of the evening was spent watching the drama unfold on the bachelorette.

I loved that Emily told one of the guys off after finding out he was referring to her daughter as baggage and saying some other cruel things about her. What a jerk! He was a nasty one. I’m glad he’s gone. My favorite is still Sean; has been since the beginning. He is sweet, smart, kind, and very handsome. If it were up to me, Emily would choose him. Why do I get sucked in to watching this show every season? Why?

 Later I needed a little snack so I made myself a small bowl of Fage Non-fat Greek yogurt with frozen blueberries and honey.

I also stumbled upon two Milano cookie melts that I saved from an airplane snack during one of our last vacations. For being a packaged cookie, they were pretty darn good. I still prefer homemade of course.

Off to get ready for the day! Peace and love.

Question for you: Have you ever made a dish that turned out completely unappealing to the eye, but tasted awesome? Tell me about it!  I would love to hear from you!

Continue Reading Unattractive Food Photos

Veggies with a Runny Egg Are Back

Hello there! Everyone excited it’s Thursday? It’s almost Friday!

Yesterday morning started off with the usual Cream of Wheat, but this time I sweetened it with stevia, added banana slices, and Pb2 with cinnamon. Since I’ve been eating Cream of Wheat pretty much every morning, I’m trying to keep it jazzy and switch it up a bit.

I have been noticing that I have been eating a whole lot of extra sugar (maple syrup, honey, brown sugar, fruit, etc.) lately, and I really am working on trying to cut back on it again. But I LOVE the taste of brown sugar on my Cream of Wheat, so I will be putting a little bit on there every once and a while.

For lunch I ate a half of a grilled chicken breast with BBQ sauce and a bunch of green beans. I also ate a half of a banana with peanut butter and a no sugar added pomegranate apple sauce. Sorry for this totally unappetizing photo.

After work I headed to the gym, and on the way there I snacked on fresh honeydew melon. On the workout agenda was a 20 minute warm-up on the elliptical while drooling over delicious food photos in Rachael Ray’s magazine, followed by weights where I focused on triceps and chest.

On the drive home I contemplated dinner options, and decided that eggs were sounding pretty good. Should I make a frittata? I’ve never made a frittata but would really like to sometime. Should I make an omelette? Egg-white omelette? Scrambled eggs? A runny egg? Runny egg on top of a small salad?

YES please to the last option.

I plated up a small green leafy salad with cilantro, bacon bits, and Western Dressing. For the egg, I cooked it over-easy and sprinkled one side of the egg with nutritional yeast and freshly cracked black pepper. I gave the egg a gentle flip towards the end of the cooking process and left it on side two for just a short time before plating it up on top of my salad. I don’t want the inside to cook through because I want runny egg.

Oh, how I’ve missed you salads with a runny egg on top. So easy, and so delicious. I’ve still got to cool it on the green stuff but I am still slowly working it back in to my diet. Not yet onto the cabbage and broccoli point though. I am feeling a lot better these days and trying my best to stay positive.

Other variations of my favorite  veggie/egg combo from the past:

Leafy greens, broccoli, banana pepper, tomato, quinoa, and a runny egg.

Southwestern style salad including sautéed onions, black beans, tomato, corn, avocado, cheese, salsa and a runny egg. This one was killer.

Sautéed vegetables including broccoli, kale, mushrooms, onions, black beans, tomato, cheese, and a runny egg. There are so many great ways to eat your veggies with a runny egg (or 2). I am crazy about this combo obviously.

To top off dinner I ate a small bowl of non-fat Greek yogurt mixed with a little maple syrup for sweetness.

After dinner, Mom and Abbie came over last night to hang out with me while Dana was out golfing. We relaxed, chatted for a while, and hung out with the pups. Always love her company.

I made sure to get to bed early last night, because I was really hoping and also planning to get myself out of bed early this morning and get a run in before work. Well guess what? I actually did it! I got up before work and got a run in. Sometimes I think all it takes is me telling myself before I go to bed that I WILL be running in the morning versus saying I might run in the morning. I made sure to have all of my stuff laid out last night so that it would be as easy possible for me in the morning.

I wanted to get this last run in before the race mostly to test out my outfit for the race. I know this may sound silly, but it’s so important. I may have bought a new bright pink shirt to wear for the run and wanted to make sure it wouldn’t rub me the wrong way anywhere. 🙂 Good news, no chafing. It’s a great shirt and it makes me feel good. You will get to see it in a few days.

I completed 3-easy paced miles this morning and obviously feel fantastic for running in the morning before work. I feel energized. This was my last run before the half-marathon on Sunday. It’s time to rest.

I have to get going and charge through my day. I hope you all have a good one!

Continue Reading Veggies with a Runny Egg Are Back

Limiting the Roughage

Hello friends. I hope everyone has recovered from the weekend and is back into the grind of the work week. In case you missed it, here are the highlights of my weekend:

Will Run for Cake and Powerade

A Perfect Mother’s Day Weekend

Breakfast yesterday was an ol’ fav: Blueberry Overnight Chia Seed Yogurt Bowl. I snapped this photo out on our deck and wish I could have enjoyed it out there because it was oh so gorgeous, but unfortunately I had to eat it while doing my makeup. Always a super classy way to eat breakfast. It was super creamy and wonderful as always.

That was as much fiber as I could handle for the day. My body has been going through a bit of distress lately and my stomach has been pretty sour. I have some intestinal issues that I’ve been dealing with since I was young. Over the next few days, I am going to do my best to eat low residue foods, lower fiber foods, and limit the “roughage” types of foods. This means limiting my salads, raw veggies, blackberries, beans, and basically all of the foods I love and eat on a daily basis. But it’s only temporary.

I did a good job at lunch with sticking to the food plan. I forgot to take photos but will use a recycled photo. The only difference is my pb banana was much more rustic today. I did the scoop and spread on the nanner today.

I also ate an apple minus the peel, and some leftover birthday cake. Whoopsie. It is low fiber afterall, so it sat okay in my belly. It just wasn’t the healthiest choice.

After work I headed to the gym. I’m surprised I remembered where the gym was because it’s been so long since I’ve been there. Actually come to think of it, it hasn’t been that long, but I am noticing it has been less than normal lately because I have been amping up the outdoor running. Yay! I warmed up for 10 minutes on the elliptical before hitting the weights to work on leg strength. I finished up with some core work on the Bosu ball.

I stopped at Target on the way home to pick up a couple of sweet potatoes for dinner, and just so happened to stumble upon the clearance rack in the women’s clothing section, and found this adorable dress for just $7.48! Are you serious? I L.O.V.E. bargain shopping. Now let’s hope it fits. I love bargain shopping, but loathe the fitting room. I would rather bring it home, try it on, and bring it back to the store, than go into the fitting room. It’s one of my weird quirks.

For dinner I made homemade sweet potato fries. I washed the sweet potato, poked it all over with a fork, and cooked it first in the microwave: 5 minutes, then flipped them over and another 5 minutes. I cooked two at a time because I wanted leftovers which made for a longer cooking time. I then cut the sweet potato into fry size and baked in a 350° oven for about 10 minutes, then realizing the fries were already cooked from the microwave, I switched the oven to broil and let them crisp which was my intention of the oven in the first place. They didn’t get super crispy like I like them, but they were still real tasty.

I also made pulled chicken in the slow cooker. Put two and two together, add a squirt of ketchup and a squirt of BBQ sauce, and you have yourself a boring dinner. 🙂

Boring, but tasty.

But I have a confession. This whole staying away from “roughage” type foods is really difficult for me. I’m like a magnet to a fridge when it comes to my greens. So….I got into the leftover veggie salad from our get together with Dana’s family yesterday.

Not a lot, just a couple of bites, and it was good. Oh, so good. I realized I missed a bunch of the ingredients from the salad when I mentioned it the other day. Let’s see if I can get it this time: Mixed greens, edamame (mukimame), celery, bell peppers, water chestnuts, banana, bacon bits, some type of mayo mixture, and shredded cheddar cheese.

I couldn’t resist. My whole fridge is packed with things that I should really avoid right now including a brand new container of Costco-sized mixed greens with spinach, sugar snap peas, broccoli, fresh berries, and more. Let’s hope this is short-lived. I do feel better today. I think my body may have been a little shocked from the activity this past weekend and may just need to recover.

Anyway, I am off for now. I plan to get a little run in today after I make some dollahhhs. Happy day!

Continue Reading Limiting the Roughage

A Perfect Mother’s Day Weekend

Another beautiful day to add to the books. This weekend was perfect. Both Saturday and Sunday were sunny with a little breeze and about mid 70’s. I love it.

This morning I woke up bright and early because I had a date with my mom. But first, a little breakfast. A piece of whole grain toast with PB2, honey, and cinnamon.

Then I was off to meet my mom to take part in the Race for the Cure 5k walk. This was our 5th year doing the walk/run and it is a tradition we hope will continue for a long time.

We got there nice and early so that we could enjoy the excitement and make our way to the front of the crowd at the starting line.

We ended up walking about 2.5 miles just to get to the starting line because of where we parked, so we had a nice little warm up. It gave us plenty of time to chit-chat which we always appreciate.

A couple of local news anchors (Kare11’s Erik Perkins and Julie Nelson for all of you local readers) kicked off the race by leading the group in a pep talk and a countdown. I snapped a photo as we were walking under their platform. I love local celebrities.

Mom and I really booked it through the 5k while thoroughly enjoying each other’s company, and taking in the wonderful moments of the walk. It is such an inspiring walk and it is heart warming to be surrounded by so many breast cancer survivors, those who have supported the survivors through the fight, those people walking to remember love one’s they had lost to breast cancer, and those just walking to support the cause in general. This race has an incredible amount of registrants. This year there were more than 50,000 registrants. We all gathered to show love and support for those we know who have been affected by this disease, and to help fund research to ultimately find a cure. Hence, Race for the Cure. It was a perfect way to spend the morning with my mom on Mother’s Day.

Mom wore a pedometer throughout our morning and we rocked approximately 16,000 steps which works out to about 8 miles. Our legs were starting to feel a little jello-ey towards the end of the walk. Seventeen miles in 2 days is pretty darn good for me.

After we gathered all of our goodies from the post-race kiosks, We made a pit-stop at Caribou Coffee for Mother’s Day BOGO coffee. I got a caramel iced coffee and mom got a Mango Key Lime smoothie. Thanks for a great morning mama!

I headed home to eat some lunch and run some errands with the hubs.

This afternoon we headed to Dana’s parents to celebrate Mother’s Day with them. They made us wonderful surf and turf kabobs on the grill as well as a sweet and crunchy salad inspired by Paula Deen: mixed greens, bell peppers, Craisins, bananas, water chestnuts, shredded cheese, mayo, and I’m not sure what else. All I know is I had three helpings of it because I love it so much. Sue said she cut out half of the mayo from the recipe and you never would have known. Delicious.

After dinner was dessert. We are celebrating after all. We had strawberry pie which was loaded with strawberries, so it was “healthier” pie. He he. It was so good.

The rest of the night was spent relaxing and sleeping. Talk about an amazing weekend. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well!

 

Continue Reading A Perfect Mother’s Day Weekend

My Thrilling Night

Well hello there. I am so happy it is a beautiful day out today because if it had been gloomy I think I may have had to hold my eyes open all day. I have been extremely tired this week and (wahh wahh) I think it’s because my body is readapting to normalcy versus being a lazy bum like I was all last week. I should be back in the swing of things by next week.

There has been a high need for the coffee this week.

Breakfast yesterday was a Melanie staple: Greek yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, and honey. I had a dentist appointment yesterday morning so I omitted the chia seeds because they have a tendency to get stuck in the teeth. You can view more about Eccella Smiles to take care of your teeth.

Dinner was a comfort to me. You have seen this salad before but in the mix is mixed greens, black beans, tomato, avocado, peas, broccoli, cheddar cheese, and my very favorite honey mustard dressing. It was a hit in my belly.

I worked late last night so after dinner it was already almost 8:00. I made a few phone calls then made my way to the couch to hang out with this handsome fellow and watch Modern Family.It was a hilarious episode as always. Mitch and Cam had Lily on a child leash at Disneyland and it was extra funny to me because I witnessed someone at Disneyland with a leashed child last time I was there. It is hilarious to me. I love that show.

After Modern Family we watched a recorded episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, Croatia. Moose really enjoyed it because the episode involved a dog sniffing out truffles. Any time he hears dog noises on the TV his head perks up and he becomes enthralled by the show. Clearly he was captured by this one. I wish we could teach Moose to sniff out truffles in the ground. Are you taking notes, doggy?

I finished the night off with freshly popped popcorn.

And that was my thrilling night. 😉 Can you stand the excitement?

I am happy it’s Thursday because that means tomorrow is Friday. I am hoping to get a run in after work today as I neglected to get up early this morning for a run.

I hope you all have a beautiful day.

Continue Reading My Thrilling Night

Working Out on Vacation

Holy cow. Dinner last night was the bomb. Sautéed onions, black beans, corn, tomato, avocado, salsa, cheese, all topped with an over-easy egg. Oh my goodness. I just can’t explain how much I enjoyed this dinner. It was so easy and so healthy and protein packed.

For dessert I had Fage Non-Fat Greek Yogurt with maple syrup (unphotographed).

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I mentioned a couple of days ago that I managed to get workouts in on vacation one way or the other. Staying active is so important to me for so many reasons. I am a much more pleasant person to be around once I’ve gotten some activity in. Just because I am on vacation doesn’t mean I’m not going to move my body.

Three of our mornings in the Dominican, we laced up the old sneakers for runs along the beach. You cannot beat this view.

It was a good thing we had a beautifully scenic route because running in the sand is slightly torturous if you’re not used to it. Running two miles in the sand felt like running 6 miles on the pavement.  Because of the uneven surfaces of the sand, your body continues to be surprised each time you land, not knowing what it is going to need to adapt to next, which challenges different muscles.

Training on uneven surfaces (beach, trails, etc)  is actually highly recommended for runners because it does challenge your body so much and helps to develop other muscles that aren’t always the main focus in pavement running (not that I’m a running expert!). I was glad we were able to get a few runs in while we were away.

After I posted the above photo, I realized that Dana and I were wearing very similar outfits in a photo from our 15k race last summer.  How about that, right?

After our first sweaty run, we decided that wearing shirts was absolutely not a good idea because of the insane heat especially since we weren’t used to it. The rest of the runs were completed in this attire…

It helped cool me down but only by a little bit.

Two times we headed to the hotel’s gym. I am kicking myself for forgetting to take a photo of the quaint space, but did pull this one from their website to give you some idea of what we were working with. We warmed up with 5 minutes on the stationary bikes before hitting the weights. One day we focused on back, shoulders, and biceps, and the other we focused on chest, triceps (with some core work mixed in). It had what we needed!

I participated in beach aerobics one day. Can you find me? I am the palest gal out there (it was our first day of sun).

Went for walks on the beach every day.

And even got to swim and climb waterfalls on a Safari Tour one day which was extremely difficult and scary too!

Were my workouts on vacation as strenuous as workouts at home? No, definitely not. But seeing as I could have completely neglected workouts all together on this trip as some people chose to do, I feel pretty good about my activity level. Nobody wants crabby Melanie, especially not the husband, so getting physical activity in is a must.

Speaking of workouts, it’s time for one right now. Off I go! Have a wonderful day, and don’t forget to MOVE!

Question of the Day: What are some of your favorite ways to stay active while on vacation?

Continue Reading Working Out on Vacation

Nacho Apple Nachos

Hello, it’s Thursday which means tomorrow is Friday. Not only is Friday my favorite day of the week for obvious reasons, but it is also the day we leave for our trip to paradise. Dana and I will be flying out to the Dominican Republic for some major R and R and we are more than a little excited.

But first things first. I had a rocky day yesterday. Let’s just say my digestive tract was a little “off” throughout the entire day. I brushed it off as a nothing in the morning and hit the treadmill for a 3 mile run. It was rainy and dark outside so I nixed the outside run idea plus, given my stomach issues at that time, inside in the comfort of my own home was probably a better idea on many counts.

After the run, I ate a fairly usual breakfast: an overnight chia seed yogurt bowl with blueberries and banana. It tasted better than normal today.

The stomach issues continued, and then came the body aches, chills, and slight fever. Really? Right now? Right before vacation? It’s inevitable though. I rarely get sick and of course it happened to me right before an amazing vacation. But guess what? I am a fighter. I am kicking back the Emergen-C and zinc, staying hydrated, trying my best to eat a healthy diet although our refrigerator is getting fairly sparse, and getting adequate sleep.

For some reason my body was majorly craving sweet all day. My breakfast was sweet as shown above, lunch was a peanut butter banana wrap without honey, also sweet. And dinner….

Sweet again. Apple nachos. I small apple sliced, drizzled with natural peanut butter, and topped with walnuts and chocolate chips. This is the toned down version of the big plate of Apple Nachos I made for a work meeting in February. This time I made it single serve. Who’s apple nachos are they? Nacho apple nachos.

An hour later, after some more packing, I grabbed a banana to munch on. Then an hour after that, I ate a plain sandwich thin, and then some Greek yogurt. Random and unexciting dinner by far.

I realize 80% of my intake yesterday was from sugar (albeit mostly natural sugars), but I had decided to listen to my body and that is definitely what it was asking for. I aim to please. As much as I would have loved a big bowl of broccoli, my body would not have been okay with that. Sugar and peanut butter only says the dietitian. KIDDING. But I do really believe in listening to your body.

I am out for my last day of work for a bit! Enjoy your Thursday.

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Sweet and Creamy Salad

Happy Hump Day!

After my wonderful run yesterday (note the sarcasm), I made myself a giant bowl of Overnight Chia Seed Yogurt although instead of letting it combine overnight, I let it work for just a half hour. I also added strawberries to the mix.

I added a heavy amount of honey to the top and scraped the bowl clean. This was my brunch. I had a goofy schedule at work today so I made sure to pack a few snacks to tide me over through the afternoon: apple, sugar snap peas, carrots, and a string cheese.

For dinner, I used up ingredients we had on hand to make one of my all-time favorite salads.

Moose watched while I prepared dinner. Sorry Moose, I know this isn’t your most flattering angle. 😉

Here is the beautiful colorful plate of healthiness that I put together.

 

The combination of textures in this salad are so pleasing to me between the creaminess of the avocado, beans, and dressing, the juiciness of the fruit, and the crunch of the onion, it’s just perfect. It’s sweet, it’s creamy, it’s my…

Sweet and Creamy Salad

This salad is sweet and refreshing, and perfect any time of year.

Ingredients

Mixed greens

red onion, diced

fresh strawberries, diced (or frozen if you don’t have fresh on hand)

1 can mandarin oranges, drained

1 ripe avocado, diced

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

Newman’s Own Lite honey mustard dressing (or your favorite honey mustard)

Directions

Place mixed greens on large plate. Top with remaining ingredients. Drizzle with honey mustard. You could bulk up the salad with more protein by adding grilled chicken breast or shrimp.

I am off to work. Have a great day!

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