I Cook, I Eat

Happy April! Today is Dana and my 6 month wedding anniversary (and that’s no joke). 😉

Here is a very quick recap of my weekend. It looks like all I did was eat seeing as most of the photos are of food, but I promise I did more than just eat. I cooked quite a bit too!

Saturday

Morning run

run march 31

Flopped lunch. It looks pretty but didn’t taste pretty for some reason.

Amazing homemade banana bread courtesy of yours truly.

Dinner from Axel’s Bonfire at my in-law’s who just moved into their new home!

Sunday

Attempt at pumpkin protein waffles.

Part of Sunday’s lunch.

Moose and Dana.

Special 6 month anniversary dinner. 🙂

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I plan to share some of these recipes with you soon so check back!

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A Well-Stocked Fridge

Step right up. Come see the town’s most incredible circus dog! He can leap through hula hoops in a single bound with elegance and grace.

Such simple pleasure we have.

 

I have been feeling pretty good about my reacquaintance with intuitive eating. I have been truly listening to my body’s hunger and satiety cues and have been feeding it with very healthy wholesome foods. I plan on keeping it up!

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My Sunday breakfast was simple oatmeal with peanut butter and fresh blackberries on the side (not pictured). Of course, breakfast was accompanied by my beloved cup of coffee and coupon cutting.

We stocked up on the produce while out running errands today and our fridge is full of grape tomatoes, celery, carrots, sugar snap peas, kale, zucchini, apples and more. I have a couple of dinners all planned out in my head for the week ahead, and you can check out more information about the same. I love when the fridge is stocked full of healthy foods. I have a bunch healthy, easy to grab foods at eye level: grape tomatoes on the right, broccoli and celery sticks on the left. In the red bowl on the top shelf is leftover cowboy caviar from a barbecue we went to at a friend’s place last night. I have plans to use that tonight with dinner.

Let’s see how long it takes us to go through all of this food. It is amazing how much we can eat.

Lunch came together in a pinch. Sugar snap peas, grape tomatoes, celery, and cottage cheese (with a little low fat ranch on the side). Not pictured were a handful of Emerald’s Mixed Nuts and a juicy apple.

Our Sunday has been pretty busy and very productive. Our bathroom remodel downstairs is really coming together fast. We have been painting today and just made our 100th trip this weekend to Menards for the baseboards. I can’t wait to show the before and after photos once it is finished!

Next on the agenda is picking up Mooser from the groomer. He had an appointment for a shampoo and conditioner treatment as well as a much needed brush-out. He has been shedding like crazy so this should help a little. I can’t wait to see him, he is going to look so handsome.

After that it will be the fun usual Sunday business of laundry, cleaning up the house, and getting ready for the week ahead taking place at our household. I am hoping for a little R and R later this evening.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful and productive Sunday!

 

Continue Reading A Well-Stocked Fridge

Home Improvement and Hula Hoops

This past Monday, we began construction on our bathroom downstairs. Well, we hired someone to do it because it was more than just a little remodeling job. It needed to be completely finished including drainage in the shower and other bits that I can’t quite comprehend. Anyway, there has been much progress and it is really shaping up fast, which means we continue to have to make lots of Menards runs and Home Depot runs, and make a lot of decisions.

After work yesterday, we headed to Menards for a laundry list of items needed including: Sink faucet, shower head, tile, etc. Also, it is coming up close to time to start painting the bathroom –click to find out more, which means I have a major decision to make. Although Dana can provide great input, the final decision comes down to my preference for paint color because I am more of the “interior decorator” of the two of us. He would admit this too. Although my skills seriously lack, but I do try and be creative.

We have beige tiles and slightly darker tan tiles to cover the shower walls, shower floor, shower ceiling, and bathroom floor provided by Maverick Windows and we will have white baseboards. Since the bathroom is in the basement with no outdoor window, I didn’t want to choose a color that was too dark. I am leaning towards the gray-tan family. I grabbed a bunch of samples and plan to take them downstairs once our worker bee is done for the day and make a final decision.

I originally wanted to paint the bathroom red but considering we won’t be living in this home forever, my realtor/amazing dad suggested that we don’t paint it red because it is hard to paint over red. What if someone doesn’t like red? They would have a heck of a time getting rid of it! So, I decided I could do red accents instead. However, now that I am glancing around my home, I notice that a lot of my home, the living room, kitchen, and family room, all already have red accents. Maybe I should expand my color horizons. I had to read here on how I could get accents that’d match the appliances and cabinetry in the kitchen, and it has done me well.

K, this ended up being a longer tangent than I was expecting so I apologize to anyone who fell asleep while reading that.

It’s funny what else happened to hop into our cart at Menards. Who snagged the kid’s toy? It wasn’t Dana, so I will give you one more guess as to who thought it would be a good idea to buy a hula hoop. Seriously though, how much fun are these things? They are a great workout too! I just need to keep Moose away while I do it because he inevitably sticks his face right into the hoop as I’m twirling.

When I was at my internship in LaCrosse, WI, I helped teach a health course through the hospital which was geared towards patients with metabolic syndrome, which  means that they have three or more of the following symptoms: high blood pressure, high fasting blood glucose, large waist circumference, and high triglycerides (there are guidelines for each of these symptoms). These symptoms are risk factors for heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. The course was designed to teach heart healthy living.

Part of the class was nutrition education, which I helped with, the other half focused on physical activity, and an exercise physiologist led that portion. We would go for a walk with the participants or head to the exercise room which was full of treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, weights, and my favorite was the weighted hula hoop. I don’t remember how much weight was on it but it was just a heavy hula hoop and it REALLY worked the core when in motion! I debated buying one but never did. I may have to rethink that idea.

That was tangent #2 for the day.

After running to Menards we got home and I cooked up a couple of Morningstar Garden Veggie Patties for a quick dinner. While I waited for the patties to cook, I snacked on some broccoli and homemade hummus.

Once my patty was nice and crispy, I served it alongside a nice green salad complete with tomatoes, more broccoli, and a couple of baby pickles. Not pictured below was one Laughing Cow Light Swiss Wedge.

After dinner we hit the road again. Back to Menards again because while we were finishing eating our bathroom guy told us we had to get the unsanded grout, not sanded. We had debated calling him when we were at Menards because we weren’t 100% sure but nah we’ll just get this sanded kind. Wrong. Who would have thought buying grout would be so difficult. Oh also, there are TONS of colors to choose from. Why can’t they make it easy for people like me who can’t make decisions easily and just have two colors. Seriously.

So, back we went to Menards to get the right grout. Then, we needed to go to Home Depot to buy some end tiles for the shower. Oh, what’s that? They only have 11 tiles in stock and we need 19? Perfect. Well, let’s go to another Home Depot. We got back in the car and headed to another Home Depot and got the remaining 8 tiles. When we got in the car to go home it was already 8:15 and I was exhausted.

Dana and I spent a lot of quality “windshield time” together last night, as he likes to call it. I snacked on some blackberries when we got home as well as some Multi Grain Cheerios Peanut Butter.

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Now it is Friday morning. I am sitting here on the couch trying to muster up energy to go run. I ate my pre-run breakfast, had a cup of coffee, and now need to go get into my workout gear so that I am more encouraged to go.

Happy Friday!

Continue Reading Home Improvement and Hula Hoops

Turkey Lettuce Wraps

Earlier this month, Dana and I went over to mom and dad’s for dinner and they made us some very delicious lettuce wraps. A friend of mine asked me for the recipe, so I thought I would share it with all ya’ll just in case anyone else wanted it.

Mom’s Turkey Lettuce Wraps Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

 

Ingredients
  • 16 butter lettuce leaves
  • 1 lb ground turkey
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons Thai Sweet Chili Pepper Sauce
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
  • 1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
  • 1 bunch green onions, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • Peanut sauce (optional): To be perfectly honest, I was the one in charge of making the peanut sauce and I didn’t measure any of the ingredients. In the mix was peanut butter, hot water, lime juice, garlic powder, pepper, and sometimes I will add a splash of hot sauce. Next time I will be sure to measure and write it down! Sorry about that.

Directions

  1. Rinse whole lettuce leaves, pat dry. Set aside.
  2. On stove top, brown the ground turkey. Rinse, drain, pour into separate dish, and set aside.
  3. Return pan to stove top, add onions and cook for 2-3 minutes until they begin to cook down.
  4. Add remaining ingredients to pan including browned ground turkey; mix well.
  5. Place heaping spoonful of mixture into lettuce cup, top with peanut sauce and enjoy.
Mom paired our wraps with brown rice and mandarin oranges and it was the perfect well-rounded meal.
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Tempeh Talk

Happy Thursday everyone! Is it really March? Can you believe it?

I got my morning run in today! Thursdays have been pretty good for me for getting in the morning workout. My motto for this morning’s run:

I kept repeating over and over in my head, “You don’t have to run fast, just run.” It got me through 3 miles!

So, remember a couple of days ago when I briefly  mentioned I had experimented with Tempeh for the first time and flashed you this picture?

Well, it’s time to talk about it! It’s tempeh talk time! Organic tempeh was another one of the purchases I made at Whole Foods a couple of weeks back. The brand I bought is called Lightlife. As mentioned previously, I have never eaten tempeh but have been very curious about it.

So, what is Tempeh?

Tempeh, pronounced “temp-pay,”  is a product of soybeans. The ingredients are: cultured organic soybeans, water, lactic acids (from plant sources), and organic brown rice.

Nutritional Value

What stood out to me the most when viewing the nutrition label was the insane amount of protein. In each serving (a half of a package with this particular brand), it packs 22 grams of protein which is incredible! Also, it is fiber-filled with 12 grams per serving. Here is how the rest of it stacked up. These nutrition facts are straight from Lightlife’s website.

Nutrition: Amount per Serving Percentage Daily Value
Calories 230
Calories from Fat 70
Fat, g 8 12%
Saturated Fat, g 1.5 8%
Trans Fatty Acids, g 0
Cholesterol, mg 0
Sodium, mg 10
Potassium, mg* 380 11%
Carbohydrate, g 16 5%
Fiber, g 12 48%
Sugars, g <1
Protein, g 22 44%
Vitamin A, % 0%
Vitamin C, % 0%
Calcium, % 15%
Iron, % 20%

How do you use it?

Considering this was my first time ever cooking with tempeh, I am by no means an expert with this stuff. I used it in a marinara sauce and it really tasted a lot like having ground turkey in the sauce. All I did to prepare it was brown it in a pan as you would ground turkey or ground beef, making sure to break it up into small pieces. Cook it long enough to see it start to brown slightly. I then added diced onions and sautéed until tender, next sliced mushrooms, garlic powder, some italian seasonings, and lastly a jar of Prego Veggie Smart Marinara Sauce. Stir, cover and simmer until headed through. Voila, awesome vegetarian pasta sauce with LOTS of protein! I added the sauce to some vegetable noodles, and topped it with some grated parmesan cheese. I also added two chopped up green olives on top which I REALLY enjoy! I really like olives though.

There are millions of other ways to use it. Use it in soups, chili, tacos, salads, sloppy joes….I am learning so many new ways to use it by browsing Lightlife’s website and good ol’ Google.

My Review

I really enjoyed this product! I was afraid the tempeh would give a weird flavor to the sauce, but it didn’t at all. It really took on the flavor of the sauce and had a nice texture somewhat similar to a cooked lentil. If you feel like trying something new, I would highly recommend this. I would recommend it over tofu in fact. I like that it is more firm than tofu (even the extra firm tofu). I love trying new things!

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Breakfast on leap day morning started out with an oldie but goodie. PB banana “sandwich”, served with a side of Special K with Strawberries (I went back for more cereal, twice).

For lunch I whipped together a very delicious salad with mixed greens, banana pepper, mushrooms, tomato, avocado, peas, and feta cheese. I topped it with my favorite Honey Mustard. This photo below was actually from dinner the night before because I forgot to take one from lunch. It was very similar though but you will notice a few differences. Whoopsie!

I also had some green grapes, a little bit of kettle corn, and a piece of whole grain bread with peanut butter. I definitely ate too much for lunch. I was FULL.

For dinner I met up with the fam bam and had my mama’s famous chili. It tasted extremely delicious. You know how some times certain foods taste better than other times? Well, it was one of those times where it tasted absolutely AMAZING. Mmmm…so comforting especially since it was kind of messy outside. Tuesday night we got hit with a bunch of rain, which eventually turned into snow, and then turned into rain again. Luckily, the temperatures have mostly remained above freezing so we haven’t been stuck with an ice rink outside. I snapped a couple of pictures from the rain on Tuesday that was starting to freeze a little on the trees. I thought it was pretty.

Oh, the simple pleasures, right?

I am starting to get back on track with workouts, however, I am slacking on the strength training part! There are no excuses, I need to get back into it. I was doing so well for almost a month and starting to notice a difference in my strength. I need to make time. You guys are my witnesses, I said it. Hold me accountable! 😉

Alright, I’m off to work. Have a great day everybody!

Continue Reading Tempeh Talk

Big Dog, Little Dog

Good morning! My day started off with a trip to the gym where I polished off 4.25 miles on the treadmill and then the same leg workout from last saturday. On the way to the gym I scarfed down a half of a banana with a schmear or peanut butter. This is a typical pre-run snack for me. It has a little bit of carbs and a little protein to tide me through my workout, yet it’s not so much food that it makes my stomach upset. It does the trick perfectly for me.

Once I got home I blended up a protein smoothie made with 1 cup almond milk, 3/4 scoop chocolate protein powder, and a the other half of my banana. Now I’m off to run some errands!

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After work yesterday I stopped over at mom and dad’s for a bit. There is something about going home that is so comforting and I always look forward to going to their house. The first thing I do is give hugs and kisses to mom, dad, and Abbie, and then I usually head to the pantry because they have THE BEST snacks. While I was there I snacked on some cinnamon sugar pita chips and dark chocolate raisinettes. There are also ways to train your dog click here now and find out how.

Mom and dad are heading up north to see my brother this weekend. It’s cooler up north than it is here, and since they are planning on going for a hike while they are up there, and bringing Abbie, I asked mom if she was bringing a sweater for Abs. Oh you bet she is, and she put it on her so that Abbie could model for us. Photo shoot time! On the catwalk, yeah.

When I got back home Moose sniffed me out and then accused me of cheating on him with another dog. It is always so funny to see Moose after seeing Abbie because he is SO much bigger! Abbie is 11 lbs and Moose is 92 lbs. See and compare.

Big dog, hear me roar…
It’s dinner time…my favorite time of day. Besides breakfast.
Don’t even think about stealing my food. I’m not kidding.
No pictures while I’m eating please. Do I take pictures of you while you eat?

Moose is hysterical when it comes to his food. Whenever Dana feeds him, Moose goes and finds me wherever I am in the house. I have decided this is either to let me know he is excited about his meal, or he is keeping tabs on me to make sure I don’t come and eat his food. I think it is the latter of the two. If only he knew how much I loved dog food, then he would really be worried. Kidding obviously. K, so once he has told me it is time for him to eat, he then goes and sits by his food. He waits and waits until either Dana or I says “good boy.” I find when it’s me feeding him, I have to be extra exuberant when I say the two magic words or he won’t budge. It’s like he doesn’t want to get in trouble for eating. Also, he is EXTREMELY protective over his food. If you come near it while he is eating, he growls. This is something we are working on with him. Hey, he’s not perfect.

So there you have it, big dog, little dog. I love them both so much. Dogs are seriously hilarious.

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Dinner last night was a lazy attempt at a meal. Dana and I pulled out some Morningstar Garden Veggie Patties from the freezer and cooked them up on the stovetop. I snacked on some quinoa and soy sauce while they were cooking.

Dana’s creation:

Melanie’s lame creation:

Pretty embarassing. Dana wins by a landslide. He is always trying to out-do me. 🙂 Morningstar veggie patties are my favorite veggie burgers that I have found so far.

Later gators.

Continue Reading Big Dog, Little Dog

Kitchen Staples

It’s Friday!

My day started off with this…

I couldn’t decide if I wanted bananas on my pb toast so I decided just to put them on half! I love variety. It was a good decision. 😉 Banana and peanut butter is such a winning combo. What a great way to start the morning.

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Last night was a “wing-it” night, so I decided to throw together a kitchen sink salad.

Which brings me to the topic of kitchen staples. You will notice that my salads have a lot of the same ingredients almost ALL THE TIME. I apologize if it gets boring but I have found that there are certain foods that we almost have on hand. Items that we always seem to keep stocked because we use them so often, which can easily be made into a meal.

Kitchen staples in our house

  • Huge container of mixed greens lettuce
  • Black beans, usually canned
  • Frozen veggies: peas, corn, broccoli, mukimame (soybeans)
  • Tilapia (frozen)
  • Chicken Breasts (frozen)
  • Oatmeal
  • Peanut Butter
  • Eggs
  • Insane amount of condiments–like I said I LOVE sauce
  • some sort of bread or tortillas
  • We generally have quite a few fresh fruits and veggies on hand as well, but get low toward the end of the week

With these staples on hand, it makes tossing together a quick and healthy meal a pretty easy task.

Options from these staples:

  • Crockpot pulled chicken
  • Salad
  • Tilapia and roasted broccoli
  • Full o’ veggie hash with an egg on top
  • Stir fry
  • Bean burritos
  • Fried egg sandwich
  • Peanut butter wraps
  • Etc., Etc., Etc.

So colorful! I often go straight for the salads because they are fast, they help me increase my veggie intake for the day, they taste great, and I don’t think I have ever regretted eating a big ol’ salad. You can switch them up and make them a million plus different ways which keeps things exciting. Plus, I am a gal who likes volume when it comes to my food. I like snacks like popcorn, dinners like soups and salads, breakfasts like yogurt loaded with fruit. You know, the kinds of meals and snacks where you can get more bang for your buck; a larger quantity of food versus a very calorie dense food like pizza (but I do love pizza), and where you can eat a larger amount of food but not suffer the calorie consequences. This is probably because I truly enjoy eating; but not in an obsessive way. I love exploring foods and trying new recipes, as you have probably noticed by now.

Alright, I am off to finish getting ready for work. Happy Friday!

What are YOUR kitchen staples? Feel free to comment!

Continue Reading Kitchen Staples

Whole Wheat Quinoa Bread

Morning!

Did you know that one month ago from today I published my first post on Beautifully Nutty?! I can’t believe it’s been a month already. BN is still a long way from where I want it to be but it has progressed quite a bit in the last month and I am very proud. Thank you for sticking with me being I am a rookie with this. I promise it’s just going to get better and better with more recipes, motivation, and hopefully inspiration to live a healthy life full of delicious food. Thank you to all of you for supporting me as I get this blog up and running.

What better way to celebrate the day than by having peanut butter not once, but twice today. I thought it was a good idea. Breakfast was cinnamon bread (new recipe to come soon) with PB2 and honey.

I couldn’t for the life of me get a good picture of breakfast this morning. Lunch is all packed up and ready for me at noon. It includes an ol’ favorite…peanut butter banana wrap but with a twist! I may or may not have added some turkey bacon to it, which was leftover from dinner last night! Isn’t that what Elvis used to do? Or did I just make that up. It sounds really weird but it seemed like a good idea to me last night when I was packing lunch. I’ll let you know how it tastes. I also packed a huge bunch of veggies and a nice big juicy apple.

Speaking of dinner last night. This one was thought up by Dana. We had all of the ingredients for a B.L.A.T.  Bacon (turkey), lettuce, avocado, and tomato on homemade whole grain bread, toasted, with a  little sprinkle of onion powder over the tomato. Okay, I’ll have that please. If you’re wondering, yes, I did put mayo on my bread. This doesn’t happen very often, you may want to mark it on your calendars. 🙂 It was a delicious sandwich which I enjoyed while watching the Grammy’s. Jennifer Hudson did a knock-out job on her tribute to Whitney Houston btw.

Now let’s get down to some recipe business. As you all know I have been on a bit of a quinoa kick. I thought I would try throwing some into a whole grain bread recipe, set it in the bread machine, and see what happened.

The result was a very hearty, nutty, delicious and healthy bread! Perfect for savory or sweet sandwiches. I have to share the recipe with you.

Whole Wheat Quinoa Bread (Bread Machine)

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups water
  • 2 Tablespoons non-fat greek yogurt, plain
  • 1/2 Tablespoon molasses
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup bread flour
  • 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
  • 1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Directions

Add all ingredients into bread-maker. Set it and forget it.

Off to work I go. I hope everyone has a tolerable Monday! Womp wompppp. I love Mondays.

 

Continue Reading Whole Wheat Quinoa Bread

Great Friends & Homemade Sushi

Man, yesterday was a great day!

When I left you yesterday, I immediately went and made myself some lunch. Homemade bread (recipe coming soon), with cinnamon pB2, bananas, and chia seeds, with a clementine on the side.

After lunch we went and picked up Moose from the groomer…

He was brushed and looks so handsome!

Then, Dana and I registered for our very FIRST HALF MARATHON! June 3rd, 2012. I was so nervous to hit submit in the registration because that means I have actually committed. It’s official, submitted, fees paid, and there’s no turning back. I am so pumped! Bring it on!

Dana’s parents came over shortly after and visited for a couple hours. It was nice to catch up with them as always.

Next, I got ready for our sushi night with friends. I prepped some of the veggies for the sushi and also made some chocolate dipped pretzels to have out for dessert. I had to decorate them with Christmas sprinkles because I didn’t have valentine sprinkles on hand, but they were still pretty and tasty! I snacked on a bunch of pretzels while I made those sweet treats.

The night was full of Asian-inspired snacks: Baked sugar snap peas (crunchy and salty, so good), edamame, and we even tried seaweed snacks. I wasn’t a fan of the seaweed at all. I know they are supposed to be extremely good for you, but I just don’t love the taste of sea and plants combined very much. At least I tried.

We ate lots of homemade sushi which turned out awesome! We stuck to California Rolls with carrots, cucumber, avocado, and crab.

It was a great, relaxing night with friends including getting my tush whooped in Scattegories (and Dana didn’t even cheat)!

Can we please, please do this more often? Love you guys.

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This morning began with a fruit and yogurt bowl and coffee (“the best part of waking up, is Folger’s in your cup!”).

Coupon clipping, grocery shopping, and Byerly’s salad bar for lunch while we were out and about. My salad was loaded with: edamame, peas, zucchini, beets, mushrooms, carrots, jicama, pumpkin seeds, sprouts, cheese, sunflower seeds, tofu, ground flaxseed, and light ranch dressing. Holy cow I guess I got my veggies in!

After lunch, we scoped out Byerly’s fresh fish selection for our Valentine’s Dinner. I think we are going to go with the swordfish. Swordfish and roasted artichoke hearts and fennel. Dessert is to be decided still but we are leaning towards warm brownie with vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.

And now I am home, and can’t keep my paws off of chocolate. That’s all I want to do the rest of the day…veg out and eat chocolate. I’ll probably do some laundry too, and also I plan to post that bread recipe for you all too, and maybe go to the gym or for a walk on the treadmill.  We’ll see what happens! Okay, that’s it for now. Enjoy a relaxing Sunday!

Continue Reading Great Friends & Homemade Sushi

This is My Confession

G’ Morning! It was so nice to sleep in this morning and not have to be woken up by an alarm clock! I’m up, had some breakfast and a cup of coffee, and now gearing up for a little run. To be perfectly honest though I don’t have much drive to go run right now. I’m going to do it, I just don’t wannaaaa.

Breakfast: Banana and Peanut butter with cinnamon and my morning mo jo lovingly placed on a perfectly pink valentine tableclotch.

I’m on my second cup of coffee now. I decided I want to enjoy my Saturday morning leisurely before I tackle the day.

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Last night, I was dead on in saying I ruined my appetite with all of those almonds. We got home at about 7 pm after running our errands and I wasn’t very hungry yet. Eventually I came around though and put together a summery salad (in the dead of winter).

Mixed greens topped with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and feta cheese. In the mini food processor I made a homemade viniagrette by adding 5 frozen (thawed) strawberries and 1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. I whirled it together and made a refreshing salad topper. This is one of my absolute favorite salads in the summer and it was nice to be reminded of the sunny season through this dish.

For dessert an hour later I ate a single serving box of Fruit Loops, only 100 calories but 12 g of sugar! Yikes! They are made with whole grain now so at least they have something good (and 3 g of fiber). Anyway, I also had a nice little glass of Tazo Chai tea with a splash of creamer.

We actually did not end up playing games last night. Dana was a little too  intimidated I think. Kidding. We decided to start talking about our plans for an upcoming vacation we have planned at the end of February to……beautiful Southern California! We are going to be visiting three of our friends that live out there and I am ecstatic. More to come on this later. 🙂

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Peanut butter confession time.

Okay, so you all know that I have a slight obsession love for peanut butter. Well, about 4 years ago, a great friend of mine from college, who also happens to love pb as much as I do, told me about this product she found called PB2. She said she found it online, and that it is a powdered peanut butter. They remove most of the fat so that there’s only 1.5 grams of fat and 45 calories per 2 Tablespoon.

Initial thoughts were gross, powdered peanut butter? That can’t be good. Only 45 calories though and 1.5 grams of fat? I don’t know. Completely skeptical. We decided to give it a go together.

We followed the directions and mixed 2 Tablespoons of the powdered PB to 1 Tablespoon of water, and we tasted. Initial thoughts were that it was way different than full fat delicious peanut butter. The texture was lighter, not as sticky, and it had a more subtle flavor. But hmmm….I kind of like. It grew on me.

The only ingredients are roasted peanuts, sugar and salt (1 grams of sugar and 94 mg of sodium per 2 Tablespoons which is not bad). It has 5 grams of protein per serving and regular peanut butter has 7 grams, so a little bit less, but still, it’s good.

I’m not saying I don’t eat regular peanut butter anymore because I do. I switch it up though. Pb2 is a little spendy, almost $5 per jar, but it’s kind of like a treat to me. When I feel like my peanut butter intake is getting a little out of hand, I order some of this stuff and it helps slow me down a bit. I can’t just open up the top and dig in. If I want it I actually have to make it. We do always have the natural peanut butter around the house as well because I’m not going to give that stuff up but I do really enjoy the taste of PB2 as well.

I really like the PB2 because I can add spices to it such as cinnamon, and make a cinnamon peanut butter which is delicious on bananas. Also, you can change the consistency of the pb by adding more or less water to your liking.

PB2 is not in many grocery stores in my area, so I end up ordering it online. You can check it out for yourself at http://www.bellplantation.com/. They have recipes on their website too which are fun.

And that’s my confession. Don’t judge.

Off to run!

Continue Reading This is My Confession
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