Random Things I Love.

Soy lattes.

Getting paid through food.

Saturday morning long runs.

Watching The Bachelor on demand at the end of a long work week (although I can’t handle Courtney for much longer…)

Great Harvest bread–I don’t know if I can ever go back to the other stuff.

Getting magazines in the mail.

Fresh fruit bowls (reminds me of summer!!)

Going to the movies and hot yoga on Sunday afternoon.

President’s Day weekend!! (i.e. Vacation)

 

9 miles tomorrow–>wish me luck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sweet potato fries.

I LOVE them! Can’t even remember the last time I actually cut them into fry shapes but it makes a huge difference because they get crispier.  And yes, potatoes will take forever to cook UNLESS you microwave them for 5ish minutes and then finish them off under the broiler.  I coated these with olive oil, salt, and cayenne pepper and them turned out great!  With a sunshine burger and some kiwis on the side.

This morning’s breakfast was light and substantial because I know I’ll be feasting on chips and dip throughout the day…

And I just now finished off a smoothie as well.  The sun is shining again and the snow is starting to melt, wah hoo!

I made artichoke dip and I cannot wait to taste it!!

Do what feels right

Just when I thought winter in Colorado was a dud this year… I found out that this is what the next two days looks like:

(from weather.com)

Keeping my fingers crossed for a two-hour delay at work tomorrow!

My food has been fairly standard the last few days–mostly leftovers and snacks. More lasagna, more enchiladas, more yogurt and granola… you get the idea!

Since I start food service next week, I will getting free meals through the hospital I intern for (woo hoo!).  I’m excited to not pack a lunch for five whole weeks.  Hopefully they have some healthy choices that I’ll be able to show off on the blog.  From what I have seen, hospitals are drastically improving their cafeteria food to cater to patient and employee needs.  I should get some lovely meals!  Oh, and rumor has it that free coffee is also part of the deal… love.  I can’t wait to find out what my theme meal project is.  Because I’m a total geek like that.

My Internship Director made my afternoon with Dove dark chocolate today and I have to say, the message was very uplifting!

A tropical vacation feels very right… along with the following:

• Fitness clothing shopping spree
• Spa-day
• Fancy Valentine’s Day dinner with the boyfriend
• A day of skiing in the mountains
• A really good haircut.

Alas, these things will have to wait until next year.  I’m almost there!!!!

 

 

 

Picture=1000 words

Happy Monday!

Enchiladas make a fabulous leftovers …

And check out this BEAUTIFUL blood orange.  My first one ever, and totally delicious.

AM snack=blackberry scone, PM snack=apple + PB

Dinner was this scrambled egg, spinach and cheese sandwich on toasted ezekial cinnamon raisin bread.  Jam + egg sandwich = fabulous.

It’s been a LONG day.

Bring on Tuesday!

Another beautiful day in Colorado

Yesterday it was all about the blueberries; today is all about the BLACKberries!

I have seriously been craving a scone for weeks and I was just about to go to Starbucks to get my fix when Jenna from Eat, Live, Run posted the recipe for Blackberry and Cream Scones.

The best part about them?  They take 30 minutes from start to finish, and the only ingredient I actually needed to go out and buy was the blackberries.I have to admit, my batter was really wet and sticky to the point I thought these would be going in the trash (not sure where I made a mistake).  But I added some more flour and did the best that I could to form triangles–they taste great! That’s all that really matters, right?

I felt so sophisticated eating a scone for breakfast. I would highly recommend these–especially if you are a novice baker like me!

After training a couple of clients and working out myself (trying to work on strengthening my knees for running), I came home and heated up some leftovers from last night.

The Runner’s World lasagna reheats wonderfully! This may be my new go-to recipe.  I feel like I’m getting a ton of veggies in with each piece too and not going overboard on cheese.  Just to clarify, I made some subs to the original recipe including:

• Cut down the 12 oz cream cheese to an 8 oz container of garden vegetable flavor (reduced-fat was all I could find, but I can’t even tell!)
• Cut the amount of mozzarella in half.  I just grabbed a small container from the deli instead of buying bags of it.  Cheaper, and I don’t miss it.
• Cut out a layer of noodles.  Instead of 15, I used 12.
• Added sliced olives and jarred artichokes in between layers
• Added pesto in between layers (whatever I had left of a jar) because I had some on hand.

Another beautiful day in Colorado today!  I think I’m going to see a movie before yoga–have I mentioned how much I look forward to Sunday yoga?

 

 

Adventures in the kitchen

Blueberry pancakes, I love you.

So funny tidbit, there are several Registered Dietitians working at the home office for my Dietetic Internship.  Around Christmas-time when everyone starts bringing in treats to work, the RDs get really creative with gifts instead of passing out the typical cookies.  My Internship Director actually gave me homemade multi-grain pancake mix, pure maple syrup and green tea!  On days like these, I know I made the right career choice.

Anyways, I finally decided to use the mix in today’s breakfast and they turned out great! Nice and thin, just how I like ‘em.  I added blueberries and topped with the syrup and a smear of peanut butter.  A great pre-run meal.

For some odd reason I was up way too early this morning and ended up grocery shopping before 9am.  It was nice to get a start on my cooking projects though! Check out the Elvis Granola:

Turned out even better than last time I think. I probably had at least a cup of this throughout the day via handful, spoonful and bowl.  It’s just too good to resist!

Lunch was rushed since I had to get to work [not long] after my run/stretch/ice/shower routine.  Enter the smoothie!

This one had 1% milk, frozen banana chunks, frozen blueberries and spinach.  Just enough to hold me over for a couple hours until I could get back home and eat this lovely egg sandwich:

LOVE the yolk of an egg. I also had some raw veggies + hummus for my cooking snack while I worked on dinner (seems like I was in the kitchen all day today!  Not that there’s anything wrong with that…).

Dinner was hands-down the best meal I have eaten in a long time.  I got this Creamy Spinach-Mushroom Lasagna from Runner’s World and it was fantastic!

I used garden vegetable cream cheese for more flavor, and I also added some sliced black olives and artichokes in just because.  Make this now!

My year in review.

So I’ll just start by saying I can’t believe how fast time flies…

It’s been almost ONE YEAR since I have blogged!  It’s not that I didn’t miss it, because I most surely did.  The combination of it being my senior year of school, more responsibility at work, and my baby (aka my beloved blue canon point and shoot) suffering a devastating fall, taking pictures of all things food just wasn’t happening for awhile as I struggled through a period of depression (kidding of course).

BUT… I want to come back!  I miss the creative outlet for all of my recipe ideas and restaurant endeavors.  Cooking and eating are still two of my favorite things in the world, so don’t think for a minute I have lost interest.  It is so nice to know that whatever gets posted will be enjoyed by someone, somewhere.

Just to catch you up with what I have been up to for the last year… I’ll start from right where we left off.

Summer 2010

We had a FULL HOUSE when Jessica’s brother and his friend Kevin lived with us while they were job-searching for nearly two weeks! The two eventually surrendered and moved back to Michigan, but for the short time they were here, we did everything from white water rafting to sun bathing.

(rough life, huh?)

In addition to those two, we also had our buddy Eric and BFF Nichole hanging out as well.  Nichole ended up staying the entire summer and let’s just say it was a BLAST!

I worked at a Starbucks in addition to my job at the Rec Center for the summer to make some extra spending money… which, of course, I needed to go to Rockies games…

Run epic races…

And go to concerts with friends (O.A.R. @ Red Rocks if you’re wondering!)

Oh yeah… and my brother got married in November!

I traveled back to Wisconsin for a long weekend of celebration!  Eric and Julie had a perfectly planned ceremony and reception which included a fantastic meal, great music, and a photo booth where shenanigans ensued.

HOBO salute!

Doesn’t Mom look beautiful?

What a great time…I really enjoyed spending time with friends and family during such a memorable few days.  Oh, and being a bridesmaid rules.

November 2010

BOSTON!

I had the privilege of attending the American Dietetic Association’s Annual Food and Nutrition Exposition (aka FNCE).  If you remember waaaaay back when I first moved to Colorado, I attended the 2009 FNCE in Denver and was absolutely in love with the event!

I rarely pass up chances to see a new city… so to the east coast we went! Jess  came along for the ride too. Why not, right?

December/January

I decided to go home for most of winter break this year so I could hang out with the family for a bit longer.  Jacob even made a long journey to the U.P. to spend NYE with us!  Remember him?

Yes I realize it looks like the Arctic.  Rest assured, we visited Lake Superior.  Ironically just two weeks before we took this photo, we were visiting with his family in Colorado and stomped around the Garden of the Gods in 60 degree temps…

Love Colorado.

March 2011

Spring break was spent visiting the boy in his new neck of woods in the great state of Kentucky!  What a fabulous week of fun including a Lady GaGa concert in Louisville, BBQ‘ing (is that a verb?), watching movies, cooking each other dinner and St. Pattie’s Day in Nashville!

Which takes us to NOW!

What’s coming up?

• Baseball season which started TODAY!
• New Orleans!!!!!! for the 2011 National Intramural-Recreation Sports Conference.
• Boulder Bolder 10k on Memorial Day
• Weddings galore!
• A visit from Eric and Julie
• And oh yes, internship notification day is this Sunday–probably the most stressful thing I have ever experienced.

Regardless of the outcome, I’ll probably need one of these…

Food posts coming your way soon…

 

 

 

 

 

Tristan’s first birthday

My nephew/Godson Tristan turned 1 year old on May 13th! Since my brother and his wife had a party for him on Saturday, my Step-dad John had the fabulous idea to fly me home and surprise my entire family for the occasion.  I couldn’t have been happier to partake… we had been planning this for about a month!

Friday-Sunday was a quick, but incredible weekend.  There was lot’s of wedding talk (Eric and Julie will be getting married in October!), birthday celebrating, and tons of laughing involved.  Of course, good food was consumed.  Here’s a brief overview:

Heirloom tomato and asparagus salad

Cajun crab cakes + baby red potatoes

Fresh lemon poppyseed muffin

Party plate of cookout goodies

A very good beer.

Veggie Omelet, raisin toast

I didn’t have much control over the food I ate because as you can see pretty much everything was eaten outside of the house.  It was all delicious though!  For the most part, fairly healthy minus the alcohol-induced tortilla chips and salsa on Saturday night…whoops!

I was so happy to be able to go home and see everyone! What a fabulous and jam-packed couple of days.  When I landed in Denver on Sunday, I was sad to leave but excited to come home because I had visitors waiting for me! Yes, we are currently sleeping 6 in our 2-bedroom apartment.  But it’s pretty fun to always have someone around and we’ve been doing lot’s of fun things in our quest to show them around the state.

Friday I may be going White-water rafting!!!! Never done this before, but I have always wanted to.  What a great way to spend an afternoon.

Anyone have awesome summer plans? I’m looking forward to camping, hiking, baseball games, races and concerts.  Lot’s of special things planned!

Another semester down.

I can’t believe I’m 5 YEARS into my college career! It seems like only yesterday I was in high school…

I remember homecoming so well.  Such fun times!  High school was full of some of my favorite memories, mostly sports-related.  Then came college at NMU with a new group of close friends… most of these memories are slightly fuzzy, but fun nonetheless!

Apparently one degree just wasn’t enough for me so in August of last year (2 days after my brother got married), I moved to the beautiful state of Colorado to pursue my R.D. in hopes of a career in nutrition. In case you couldn’t tell, I have a pretty strong interest in food.

I can definitely proclaim that this move was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. In terms of schooling, the adventures of living with my best friend, meeting an awesome group of people, and taking advantage of all that this place has to offer, I am extremely content.

I love skiing…

I love hanging out with my crazy friends…

I love going to sporting events…

and concerts…

and I discovered my new favorite restaurant and beer. Love love LOVE this place!

He’s alright too.

It’s been such a great year and I have plenty to look forward to in the days ahead!

Regular food blogging resumes now.

Some fun FITNESS things coming up:

• NEW Boot Camp class starts on May 24th
• Boulder Boulder 10k on May 31st
• Les Mills Quarterly on June 5th

And also… I may or may not have made the best salad ever for lunch today.  I know I say this quite a bit, but seriously…best ever.

I was on my own at the grocery store this week and let’s just say it was a successful shop.  We finally have food again!

Hope you all have better weather than we have here… It’s a little cold for my liking today.  I’m headed to the city tonight for dinner so I hope to have some nice pictures for my morning post.  Location is a surprise so I don’t know details.  Is the suspense killing you as much as it is me?

I’m off to read non-school book.  Wow I love summer. Bye for now!

How-to not eat tuna helper

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese.  When I was in middle school I was seriously obsessed with those boxed tuna helper meals.  The one where all you have to do is boil the noodles, add the sauce and 1 can of tuna fish and you’re left with creamy carb goodness.

Although I’m sure they’re still good once in a great while, I just don’t really do the whole meal-in-a-box thing anymore.  Not only are they loaded with funky additives and salt, I always have the opinion that you can recreate the meal with wholesome ingredients and make it taste just as good (if not better) than the processed version.

How to make tuna-noodle casserole:

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Voila! I know most of you reading this probably don’t have a problem with tuna helper or boxed meals in general, but I feel like this is a great swap for kids who are hooked on the saltiness of pre-packaged food.  I realize that Annie’s mac is still not exactly a “whole” food, but it’s a heck of a lot better than the alternative.

Have a wonderful day! Just 2 more short days of class and I’m a FREE BIRD for the summer!!!!!!