Kitchen Sink Hash & Exciting News

I have some very colorful food photos to share with you from yesterday, but before I do that I have some exciting news.

I have been selected to be a Sweat Pink Ambassador for the Fit Approach Healthy Community!

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Fit Approach Mission (taken directly from their website):

Mission

“We believe that kicking ass is best done in pretty shoes. We’ve learned that real women sweat, and sweat hard. We know that assertiveness, strength, and ambition are the ultimate feminine qualities. We concede that sometimes it takes hours to get ready, but we’re also no strangers to just rolling out of bed and going. We’re convinced that we run faster in pink shoelaces. We believe in pushing ourselves, and we believe in giving ourselves a break, too. We’re all about the rush of endorphins and the thrill of the challenge. We’re all for looking great and feeling even better. We’re committed to finding our best fit, and making it stick.

How do we get there?
We climb.
We journey.
We balance.
We reward.”

I believe and live by this mission, which is why I wanted to be a part of this great community. As an ambassador, my goal will be to continue to inspire others to live a healthy lifestyle and motivate others (and myself) to be their best self.

Again, so excited to be a part of this team! SWEAT PINK! For more information about the community, click on the Sweat Pink badge.

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On to those pretty food photos…yesterday was a day of real good eats, full of LOTS of veggies.

The morning started off with the 3 mile run mentioned yesterday, before I hunkered down to work on a few things before work and eat my comfort breakfast.

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You’ve seen it a million times and I apologize for the monotony, but this is one of my all-time favorite meals/snacks. Homemade almond bread with natural Parker’s peanut butter and honey.

Then off to work I went…

Lunch

A bed of mixed greens topped with tomatoes, zucchini, peas, avocado, feta cheese crumbles, and Newman’s Own Lite Honey Mustard. I absolutely love putting the feta cheese on this otherwise semi-sweet salad. It adds a nice touch of saltiness and balances it all perfectly.

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Back to work….

Dinner

Before I go into dinner, I have to note that immediately after work, I head to my closet and change into sweatpants. I mean IMMEDIATELY. I adore my sweats and love being in “comfies.” The sweatshirt I am wearing in this photo is from 8th grade. That is the truth. I can’t seem to get rid of it no matter how many new sweatshirts I buy. It’s so versatile. Open-mouthed smile

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Back to the food. This is a dish I have shared before, probably one of my favorite at home dishes to make. It’s basically a kitchen sink hash. Dana and I made this a lot last summer when we were getting ready for the wedding. It is veggie-packed, protein packed, and so unbelievably tasty.

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Keep in mind this can be changed 5 million ways. Just use whatever you have on hand whether it be fresh, canned, frozen, it doesn’t matter. I used a little bit of all of those veggie versions in this dish. Here is what I had going on last night…

Kitchen Sink Hash

Ingredients

  • Kale, chopped
  • Broccoli, chopped
  • Mushroom, diced
  • Onion, diced
  • Bell peppers, diced
  • Corn (I used frozen)
  • Black beans (I used canned that I rinsed and drained)
  • Zucchini, chopped
  • Cheddar cheese, shredded
  • Fresh tomato, diced
  • Fresh cilantro, chopped
  • Avocado, chopped
  • 1 egg

Directions

  1. Lightly coat a large pan with cooking spray or a touch of olive oil. Place pan on stovetop and turn to medium heat.
  2. To the pan add, kale, broccoli, mushroom, onion, peppers, corn, black beans. Heat through for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  3. Next, add zucchini.
  4. In the meantime, prepare an over-easy egg in a separate pan.
  5. Once veggies have cooked for about 10 minutes, plate them, add cheese, tomato, cilantro, avocado, and a runny egg. Sprinkle with salt and pepper if needed.
  6. Crack that yolk open and let it drizzle over your veggies. DEVOUR.

I can’t tell you how much I love this dish. Every time we eat it I inevitably say, “we need to make this more often.” Give it a shot! It’s a great way to use up some veggies and to increase your intake. Double win!

Have a GREAT Thursday and make it veggie-filled.

Xoxo

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Berry Me, Today & Everyday

Helllllllo friends! I have had a medium Caribou Coffee and am fully charged and I have lots to cover today, so bear with me…

Celebrating Allison and Adam

Last night we celebrated the marriage of one of my friends from high school, Adam, to his new beautiful wife Allison. The ceremony and reception were both held at the Nicollet Island Pavilion which is such a gorgeous venue.

Their ceremony was outside under a tent, overlooking the river. There was a cool breeze off of the water that felt great, and the ceremony itself was beautiful.

After the ceremony, there was the social hour followed by a delicious dinner, speeches, dancing, the whole kit and caboodle.

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Me with my happy husband…

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Me with the happy groom…

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 The lovely table decorations. I can really appreciate all of the decorations at weddings now that I have planned my own. Oh, by the way, today is Dana and my 11 month anniversary! Holy cow, does time fly. 

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Me with the hot ladies: Kristin and Annie.

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I seriously struggled with the lighting in the venue last night and capturing quality food photos just wasn’t happening for me, but I still want to share them with you because the food was excellent!

Side note: while attempting to photograph my food at dinner, I kept hearing Gretchen [who gave a presentation on improving photos at HLS] in my head saying “say no to flash.” I had to use the flash a little because it was so dark and my hand doesn’t stay still enough. I did my best.

Light and sweet balsamic salad: with flash

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Honey Dijon chicken (amazing): no flash.

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Lemon-raspberry cake I think? Whatever it was it was delicious. Flash or no flash, I’m not sure. I could have sworn Dana snapped this one with no flash but it looks like there is a flash on the plate. Doesn’t matter. It was nummy.

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We had such a great time celebrating with the newlyweds last night. You know I was on the dance floor last night awkwardly jumping/dancing like no one was watching. Congrats to Allison and Adam!

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Driscoll’s Berry Me, Today and Every Day

Total change of subject, but you may have noticed that I have been eating berries like CRAZY lately. Besides the fact that they’re still fairly in season and are so easy to find in the stores right now, the generous folks of Driscoll’s Berries gave me a couple of coupons for their berries so that I could go delight my taste buds with nature’s candy, free of cost. Yes, really, it’s amazing.

I’ve been adding Driscoll’s berries to “cereal”….

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To salads…

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Eating them plain Jane, and making new recipes, like this one…

I began by making a SCD friendly, gluten-free tortilla. You can use any tortilla you like though.

Gluten-free Cinnamon Tortilla

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup almond flour
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 egg
  • 2 Tbsp water

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 300°. Use cooking spray to lightly coat a round pie pan.
  2. In a small bowl, mix together flour and cinnamon; set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl beat together egg and water.
  4. Add flour to egg mixture; mix well.
  5. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 10-13 minutes.

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Next, it was to time start assembling. I rinsed my Driscoll’s strawberries…

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And then onto the tortilla went a big smear of natural Parker’s peanut butter, sliced bananas, sliced strawberries, chia seeds, and a drizzle of honey.

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Now wrap it up! It was the perfect breakfast wrap but could also be eaten for lunch, dinner, or even a snack.

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Can I even call this a recipe? It’s just so easy.

Strawberry Nutty ‘Naner Wrap

Ingredients

  • Tortilla (whole grain, gluten-free, SCD, whatever you like)
  • 1-2 Tablespoons natural peanut butter
  • 1/4 banana, sliced
  • 4-5 Driscoll’s strawberries, sliced (depends on the size of the berry!)
  • drizzle of honey
  • sprinkle of chia seeds for good luck

Directions

  1. Place all ingredients on to tortilla. Wrap it up, eat. Love.

I have always been a berry lover. When I was a babe, my family and I traveled up to Gooseberry Falls, MN and did some blueberry picking. I was eating them faster than any body else and I was only 4 years old. I haven’t changed since. This opportunity to experiment with their berries was right up my alley!

Besides strawberries and raspberries, Driscoll’s also farms blackberries and blueberries. For more information about their products, you can check them out here! Delicious.

I am off to try and make something of myself today. I’m feeling a little tired from the festivities last night, but hope to get my butt moving. There will hopefully be a workout involved, and some weed pulling in the back yard! Talk about a crazy Saturday, right?

Alright, you go have yourselves a marvelous day. Peace, love, and berries until next time.

Continue Reading Berry Me, Today & Everyday