We all know that the holidays are fast approaching! Every store we go into is blasting festive, cheery music, lights are twinkling, and for some, everything is blanketed in that white stuff that’s wonderful to look at but not so fun to drive in. While we’re scrambling to get every last task accomplished, all the gifts wrapped, the house cleaned, cookies baked for the cookie exchange, and still find the energy to make it to the gym or train, the last thing on our minds is our own sanity and health! (more…)
December 10, 2010
June 14, 2010
simple sunday supper
After the culmination of the weekend was coming to a close, Chris and I decided to do something not so conventional for us on a Sunday evening . . . we cracked open a bottle of wine and rented a movie!! Usually we spend Sunday night getting things situated for the week and try to get to bed somewhat early so we’re not walking zombies on Monday. Because our weekend was pretty packed with bike rides, swim lessons, visiting with in-laws and friends, homework, and business brainstorming, I felt like taking it easy. (more…)
January 26, 2010
multitasking
Thank you for all your kind words on the site! I’m super excited and happy you guys enjoy it. If you haven’t yet, be sure to enter my giveaway for some Mighty Leaf tea and an Anthro mug here. I first thought I gave the wrong feed address, but it seems that both of the ones below will work when added to your feed. Please let me know if it’s not updating in your reader so I can remedy. I’m a computer retard!
http://eatingrd.com/?feed=rss2
http://feeds.feedburner.com/eatingrd
I am having the darndest time getting up in the morning lately! ugh, 5am is just too darn early and when the alarm goes off I moan and groan wishing I could just stop time for a few more hours. I’ve always had this fascination with wanting to be able to stop time. Wouldn’t that be awesome? ha, in the mean time I’ll keep wishing for that day and get my butt out of bed! I think it does have a lot to do with not getting to bed till close to 11pm, which I need to fix.
I’ve been trying to get (more…)
January 11, 2010
January 6, 2010
a stuffy start to the week
Ever since we got back home my sinuses have been in some kind of a funk and yesterday they decided to wreak havoc on me something fierce. I didn’t know if I had contracted something from all the hacking people on the plane ride home, or if I seemed to have formed some kind of allergy to coming back to daily grind, ha! Either way, I was in a bit of a stuffy fog all day where everything was muffled and hazy. By the afternoon a nice headache greeted me, and by the time I got home I was about ready to burst from the built up sinus pressure.
Dinner was tasty though. We made falafel pitas the night before and had some leftovers . . . mmm So far so good with the Eat In Month Challenge!
Usually for our weekly dinners I’ll plan for 3 larger meals and go grocery shopping the Friday before. Then on the other days we have leftovers & adapt them to our liking. It also makes it easy when you prep for the week in advance.
I think the hardest part of this challenge (more…)
December 27, 2009
it’s a beautiful day
I can’t believe I am actually making a single meal post and not a long recap after a few days. It’s so nice to be able to have that little extra time and enjoy the little things that make me happy girl 🙂
This morning was a lazy one! After my mom left for work, and while my step dad and Chris were still sleeping, I got caught up on my blog addiction and made a lovely bowl of oats . . .
This bowl contained:
- 1/2 cup 1% milk, 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup TJ’s quick cook steel cut oats
- 1/3 cup cooked sweet potato
- 1/4 mashed naner
- cinnamon and nutmeg
- Toppings included Nature’s Path pumpkin granola, a few cinnamon Puffins and 1/2 sliced banana plus more cinnamon for sprinkling
Yum!! It was my kind of morning.
Now we are getting ready to leave and see the race shop where my step dad works as a tire specialist for a Nascar race team. Many of the Nascar race shops are located in NC.
Next on our stop will hopefully include a tasty lunch at a cute place called the Soda Shop (love their sweet tater fries!) and some walking around at a place called Birkdale which has lots of shopping and condos above. I love going there and walking around!
Hope you all are having a nice break too! I have to say I’m beginning to feel a bit guilty about not hitting the gym as hard as I usually do and I can definitely feel it. And that time of the month saying hello isn’t helping either : / I don’t have access to a gym or equipment and it’s been chilly here, which is no excuse. I know that I can get back at it when we return next week, so I am telling myself to just enjoy the break and family time and watch portions 🙂 I may need to buy some kind of workout video.
Have you been able to keep up your exercise routine?
November 12, 2009
seeing green
Well, I really wish I could tell you it’s lots of money, but alas it’s PISTACHIOS, lots and lots of pistachios! If you follow me on twitter, I won a contest from @thegreennut for a years worth of pistachios plus a subscription to Prevention magazine. I was so excited because I rarely win anything! I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was thinking that maybe I would get a bag every month, or little bags so I could do a giveaway. I was so shocked when I opened the door to find a giant box full of pistachios! Thank you!
I guess this would be a years worth! wow, I couldn’t get over it and I don’t think I’ve seen that many nuts in my entire life. Right now I have 3 gallon bags in the freezer, 2 bags in the fridge, 1 in the pantry and 5 sandwich bags full of them.
Do you have any good pistachio recipes?? One that I have to try to make is baklava. Anyone ever try to make pistachio butter? hmmm so many possibilities!
Here are some cool facts on pistachios:
- One serving of pistachios is 49 nuts (160 kcals), more than any other tree nut
- Pistachios are high in phytosterols which may lower cholesterol levels and decrease the risk of heart disease. In animal studies phytosterols have been shown to potentially have anti-cancer properties
- One serving of pistachios has as much potassium (300mg, 8%) as an orange (250mg, 7%)
- Just a single serving of pistachios provides you with the same amount of protein in a one-ounce serving of soybeans and can serve as a protein alternative to meat, poultry or beans according to the USDA Food Guide Pyramid
- Forty-nine pistachios serve up to 20 percent of your Daily Value of B6, about the same as half an avocado
Check out their website, they have lots of yummy looking recipes that I want to try too.
Since I had the day off today (glorious!), I got caught up on some school work. I finished a lit review and presentation for sports nutrition, although I didn’t make too much progress on my proposal and presentation for research methods 🙁 the day just flew by too darn fast!
I also treated myself to a little house cleaning since it was in desperate need, and did a little baking 🙂 Could this have been the reason my day flashed before my eyes?? . . . nah I blame it on taking Chris out to lunch at BJ’s since he had to work 🙂
Morning eats started with pistachio date oats. I can’t get over dates in oatmeal! It makes it taste like caramel-y heaven, and the pistachios give a nice contrasting crunch.
For a snack I had 1/2 of the Clif Spiced Pumpkin Pie Bar. I didn’t really like this flavor, and I will not be getting this one again. It didn’t have any cinnamon in it and had a strange ‘fish-like’ taste to me? Weird. I would much prefer making these bars from Dan which are soo much better.
I tried a new spice today called cardamom in Cardamom Banana Bread with Pistachios from CookingLight. It’s a very interesting spice, aromatic and warm, but with a licorice type flavor. I can’t quite put my finger on the taste? I guess I just have to keep tasting!
I used 1/2 whole wheat & 1/2 AP flour. I reduced the butter by 1 tbsp, doubled the cardamom and added a bit of cinnamon and some dates. It turned out nice and Chris is very fond of the quick breads.
Dinner consisted of a bunch of leftover items in the fridge that I needed to use or risk wastage. I enjoy trying to make things from random ingredients because I hate wasting.
I made a mix of roasted goodness (sweet potato, apple, brussels sprouts, and apple chicken sausage) with a maple glaze . . .
And a little lasagna with some leftover homemade pasta sauce, and some sweet potatoes, oyster mushrooms and thai basil I got from the farmer’s market. It actually worked and tasted pretty darn good!
Hope you are having a fantastic week so far! I am so looking forward to the holidays and a little break, just have to get through. I also want to say Happy Veteran’s Day, so thankful for those who dedicate their lives for our protection.
What’s your favorite way to use pistachios?
August 13, 2009
happy camper
First off I just want to say thank you to all of your insightful comments to my last post. You guys are truly amazing! I loved hearing all your input and different insights to the topic. I felt it was really important for me to get that out and I honestly couldn’t believe their explanation after the fact. I really appreciate all your kind words from the bottom of my heart 🙂
On to something fun . . . a little vacation!
Chris and I wanted to do a little something together before the school year starts up again and we didn’t really have many funds to do something too crazy, so we decided on camping!! You can’t beat $12/night and the great outdoors, right?! We also decided to treat ourselves with one night at a B & B called The Anniversary House. We went there a little while ago and absolutely fell in love with it. It was really a treat after camping!
Originally we were going to go camping this weekend coming up, but we kept seeing the weather report that didn’t look to promising. Camping in the rain is no fun. We didn’t want to risk it, so on Friday afternoon we decided to leave last minute on Saturday! You all know that I like to plan things, so I was a little freaked out by the fact that we didn’t have anything ready. And camping’s not the kind of thing you don’t plan for! (of course this is what my head was telling me) So I ran to the store after work and got together some recipes that we were thinking of making when we went up there with the dutch oven. We also had to run a few errands Saturday morning to get everything, and get Buster off to the vet. We finally hit the road by noon, and it’s only about a 3 hour drive which is not bad at all to get away.
Because we decided to go camping so last minute, we also didn’t have a reserved spot and had to cancel our other one. Yet another voice in my head was saying, what?! no reservation, how are we going to find a spot in the afternoon on a Saturday when everyone’s probably got the good spots already? We decided to stick with the same campground and see what we could find for walk-ups. And what do you know . . . we got the last one! It was right by the toilets and trash bin, but we didn’t care. It still had some pretty good shade, and it’s camping, so we’re supposed to be roughing it.
Here are some shots of the camp site:
Oh my gosh! I can’t tell you how great it was just to get away, just the two of us. I mean everything was smoky from the campfire, we had to sleep on the hard ground, it was 29 degrees F at night, but you know what, I haven’t seen Chris that happy in a long time with all this icky economy work stuff. It was just really neat and made me happy too.
We got in Saturday afternoon and immediately started setting up camp, and of course I wanted try out that dutch oven! We didn’t have any wood and the camp host said they were out, so Chris had to go searching, but finally found some thank goodness!
Dutch ovens are amazing, it’s like a one-pot wonder that you can practically make anything in!
We decided to make Cornbread Topped Chicken Pot Pie. I’ve made this recipe before, but forgot to account for the altitude change. The cornbread went crazy! But it was still oh so good and comforting once that sun went down and the temperature dropped drastically. Yum!
We didn’t mind the charred bits from the fire haha It was sooo smoky. We had to dodge the smoke or it burned our eyes like crazy!
And of course we had to have s’mores, lots of s’mores! This is my ultimate favorite thing about camping. I love how the marshmallows plump up nice and big like the perfect pillow and vehicle for chocolate!
The next morning Chris got that fire going, while I huddled under the sleeping bag trying to maintain warmth without my human heater. It’s funny because once that sun came up it was actually pretty hot!
Breakfast was Fresh Fig Oats! I saw these fresh figs at TJ’s and I had to do something with them. Fresh figs are just special and yummy!
I mixed and mooshed about 3 fresh figs in with 1/2 a banana and added that to the oats as they cooked. Then I topped it with some more fresh fig, banana and TJ’s snack granola. Of course we had to have a scoop of peanut butter with it too. I just love oats because they’re so easy and filling.
After breakfast we packed up our gear and headed to Bryce Canyon for some hiking. Boy was it beautiful! I can’t even explain it, and my pictures don’t even begin to do it justice. It was so surreal and peaceful there. It really takes one back to the essence of life and marveling in the wonder of it all.
This is a place called Wall Street and it was so neat to see. There are two giant rock walls on both sides as you zig zag your way up the mountain. Every step there was another great picture to be taken. I had to be careful I didn’t fall down the mountain while I was gawking in amazement!
Of course I brought lots of snacks! You never want to go unprepared! Here I am enjoying a Luna Bar after our 2.5 mile hike. I think the toasted nuts and cranberry is my fav flavor. 180 kcals and 9 grams protein, yes!
This is one of my favorites of Chris . . . very peaceful scenery. 
Happy Campers!
Because I don’t want to drag this post on forever into that mountain far in the distance, I will end it here on the first day. But stay tuned for day 2 of our camping and dutch oven adventures, and our stay at the B & B!
Do you like to go camping, or do you prefer a nice B & B and a hot shower instead?
August 6, 2009
all fired up
ok I just have to do a little rant, so please forgive me. . .
Last night I was going through Twitter like I usually do just to catch up on all the fun tweets in the world, well as many as I can lol and I came across a comment that got me, well, all fired up, and it went something like this:
Seriously, are there really people who buy steak at Walmart?
What?! You know I don’t really eat much steak, but I do shop at Walmart for things I can’t find at Trader Joe’s because it is cheaper. I’m not going to lie. Hey I would love to shop at Whole Foods, practically walking around that store gets me all giddy, but it’s pretty expensive for me if I shop there exclusively. Working with lower income individuals, steak from Walmart let alone anywhere would be special to them. You know we can get so focused on culinary creations (myself included), when there are people out there who don’t even know what they are eating tomorrow, or if they can feed their families. This comment just really offended me.
Remember my previous post about the hunger-obesity paradox? I really enjoyed seeing all your insightful comments. You guys are truly special. Thank you!
Michelle @ Find Your Balance has left a new comment on your post “hunger-obesity paradox and beer can chicken“:
As for obesity, I wonder how many cases can be traced to a food-related or starved experience vs. an issue with using food to fill an emotional void. In my experience working with clients I’m finding that often, food is a ‘good’ substitute for love, comfort and interest in one’s life.
Nicole M., MS, RD, LD has left a new comment on your post “hunger-obesity paradox and beer can chicken“:
Great entry! A lot of my current patient population are food-insecure and it takes a lot of being creative. Some of my patients…if it doesn’t come from WIC or the Dollar General, they can’t get it. It really can make things challenging, but I’ve certainly learned a lot, especially to count my blessings.
It’s just so hard because many of the foods that appear to be cheaper and convenient are those that aren’t as nutritionally dense or ethically sound. When someone that doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from and they have 3 children to feed, they don’t give a crap if their food comes from Walmart. If it’s cheaper that’s all that matters. Especially in these economic times, it’s been really hard. My step dad was out of work for 20 months, my dad also got laid off with 3 young kids, and currently my fiancée is out of work and searching. It’s tough and I myself am worried right now. Economic hardship and hunger don’t discriminate, and I’m sure we’ve all seen our fair share in these times.
And I think that’s where we come in because it’s really about education. We know that it is possible to eat wholesomely on staples that are cheaper, but people have to understand how to prepare and where to acquire them. Rhetorical question: Why is it when given the choice between a box of pop-tarts and a large canister of oatmeal that will provide many meals, most will chose the pop-tarts? We are really a select few in the blog world. Yes, there are tons of food bloggers out there, but if you think about it, relative to the entire population, we are unique. While we project great nutritional information on our blogs, are we really reaching the people who need it most when most of them don’t even have access to the internet? If we keep preaching to the choir, how will we reach the entire congregation? How can we reach those that need it the most? I believe that anyone can shop at Walmart and buy steak at Walmart and still prepare healthy meals that satisfy nutritional needs and fulfill our strong connection with food culturally, spiritually and emotionally.
Yes, Walmart has not been the most ethically sound company as many extremely biased websites make clear (there are so many biased websites it’s not even funny). Using un-reliable, biased sites renders one incapable of making a sound argument. Many people can’t really shop anywhere else! Instead of alienating this population with ignorant comments, why not try to spread the word of simple nutrition and better options? And really that’s what it comes down to, foods that nourish our bodies and keep us alive, but it can also be a very strong emotional issue as well.
Walmart is what they are. It’s a company that reduces costs and has helped a lot of people make it in this recession. Their primary means of reducing cost is their inventory system, which is the most efficient in the world. They are also supporting legislation that will require employers to provide health insurance, and are looking at ways to make the products offered more environmentally sustainable. If you don’t like Walmart that’s perfectly justifiable, but you know some ‘people’ have to shop there.
So what can we really do? We really have to be creative like Nicole said above. I’m hoping that you guys can give some great insights too, because I can’t even touch the surface of this.
- Try going to your local food bank and donate some wholesome non-perishable foods or foods that they accept and you yourself would eat.
- I’m also going to get together several boxes of healthier snacks so when I see someone on the street that needs food I can give it to them and not just avoid eye contact because I have nothing to give. I don’t think they’ll mind one bit if any of it came from Walmart.
This topic has so many heated aspects that I cannot even begin to touch or explain and it is just so close to my heart, and the fact that anyone thinks less of another because they shop at Walmart, IS offensive to me.
—- awkward break here —-
On a lighter note, Chris and I are going camping next weekend! Since Chris is about done with summer school, we thought we’d catch one little vacation for the summer, and you can’t beat $12 /night! Here’s the campground. It looks beautiful and we are looking forward to doing some hiking and dutch oven cookin’ (you can make practically anything in these things!) We may try to rent mountain bikes too.
We’ve never actually been camping together before, but both of us practically grew up roughing it in the mountains with our dads lol We are really excited and I have of course started making the list of things to bring, but I’m sure I’ll forget something! There’s just so many things to think of. Chris’ dad and my dad have a lot of camping gear that they are going to let us borrow too so that is great. On the last night we also decided to stay at a cute B & B in Cedar City called Anniversary House. We stayed here a little while ago and just loved it and thought it would be a nice treat on the last day.
In spirit of camping, I decided to make campfire oats for breakfast with chocolate chips, marshmallows, crumbled graham cracker strawberries, and dollop of peanut butter yum! It felt like we were right by the campfire lol I’ve never tried chocolate on oats before, but seeing Angie’s awesome powerfood oats, I wanted to give it a try! pb and chocolate is my fav combo! It was really good, but very rich!
What are your thoughts on this topic? I can’t get too caught up in the internet bickerfest though because it really doesn’t go anywhere. Or if you care not to comment on this topic, any fun weekend plans??
April 14, 2009
busy times and mang-oats
Either I’m super busy running around like a chicken with its head cut off, or else there is not much going on. Does that happen to you? Sometimes it seems that everything all of a sudden culminates around a certain time . . . and this time it’s NOW! The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy and I apologize for the lack of posts. I would so much rather blog and read blogs all day!
In House News . . .
We are hoping to sign papers on Wednesday to get the keys on Friday. On Thursday we want to get all our paint supplies rounded up. Friday is time to prep everything for painting (I’m not looking forward to this because taping off is half the battle!) Saturday and Sunday we are going to be PAINTING like crazy people and hope it doesn’t look icky with uneven lines (fingers crossed). The next weekend will be for touch up and a family birthday party, and have we even started packing yet?? The weekend after that will be dedicated to carpet/couch cleaning and the big MOVE! But that’s not all . . . finals are the next week, along with Chris’ graduation and his grad/my b-day party! Whew, there is a lot going on! We also ordered the laminate flooring, but that won’t get here till after graduation, so that will be our next week’s project. I think Home Depot has become our second home!
This weeks grocery shopping was very frugal ($35 for two!) because, not only am I trying to save as much as I can, we have a lot of leftovers in the freezer that need to be used up. One of them being Lamb Daube Provencal. I thought I would serve it with some nice corn bread for dipping tonight.
I wanted to highlight my oats this morning, I call them Mang-oats, featuring the tropical love of my life . . . MANGO!
These guys are not only taste like the tropics they are great for you too. In 1-cup sliced, there’s nearly most your Vitamin C needs and 3 g of fiber, super filling!
Here’s how I like to slice mine: First cut off both ends to see how the direction of the pit in the middle is going. Take your knife and cut along the pit in a oval shape. Once you get the fleshy sides, I cube them with the skin still on. Then you just have to cut the cubes off into the bowl. Yum!
Mang-Oats
Serving for Two:
- 1 3/4 cup non-fat milk
- 2 tbsp raisins
- hefty sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon
- 1 cup quick oats
- 1/2 mashed banana, the other half sliced on top
- splash of vanilla extract, or any other tropical extract
- 1 mango, cubed (see above)
- Favorite toppings: I topped mine this morning with ‘mix my granola’, scoop of TJ’s peanut butter, a scoop of cottage cheese and mango. Some shredded coconut would be great too!
Boil the milk, raisins, spices together in a large pot. Add the oats and mashed banana; stir. Cook until desired consistency, about 5-7 minutes. Turn off the heat, add extract and all your favorite toppings!
Here’s a picture with all the paint swatches and project plans in the background . . . wish us luck!
Do you have any good tips for painting textured walls and keeping lines straight?
