This or That

Don't you love when money is THROWN at you? I sure do!

My bi-weekly taste-test email went out to my co-workers yesterday. 

Next week: Healthier Christmas Cookies

(I do 2 healthy taste testings a month at my clinic -- every other Wednesday -- providing a sample and a copy of the recipe to try at home)

I was interrupted not once...not twice...but THREE times during an appointment this morning to be handed $1 (the cost to participate in the taste test). Guess they're looking forward to the cookies!

...for which no one provided me with their favorite, healthy cookie recipe! 

coughcoughnudgenudge

And after my homemade Green Monster disaster, I've been on the prowl for liquid greens that I enjoy. Naked gets my vote -- this Green Machine Naked juice was gooood! Still getting used to the green, but super delicious!

I got an email yesterday from a reader asking where I keep my wine. Husband and I have a LOT of wonderful wine brought over from Italy (as well as local US wineries!). I took a picture of the Whirlpool wine fridge we recently purchased (and love). While it doesn't hold all of our wine, we can house the really good stuff.

Wine should be stored at 55 F with no more than 1 degree Fahrenheit fluctuation.

And after snapping that picture, I decided it could be a wine night. Chianti = <3

This morning I got a little (more) creative with breakfast and made some delicious granola sprinkled with low-fat coconut flakes, Golden Flax Seen Flax Sprinkles from Stober Farms (yum!) and topped with skim milk.

Nom nom nom

 

The wonderful people of FlaxUSA sent me these Flax Sprinkles which contain 2,800 milligrams of Omega-3 per serving!! Along with 3 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber. Holla! Flax = thumbs WAY up!

And for fun, you foodies...

This -or- That 

Copy and Paste into a comment and reveal your selections!

chocolate ice cream or vanilla ice cream

iced coffee or hot coffee

mayonnaise or Miracle Whip

sweet or salty

fruit or veggies

organic or save the money

honey or agave

granola or oats

cow’s milk or soy milk

tacos or pizza

green monster or spinach salad

Splenda or Stevia

hummus or guacamole

chicken or tofu

eat-in or dine-out

Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods

old-fashioned or steel-cut

Zevia or Kombucha

And if you're a Southaven Farms fan...

10% off Southaven Farms – coupon code TENPERCENT129

Have a wonderful day before Friday, everyone!

Sunday Fun Day!

Despite Sunday's ending the week...meaning another work week ahead, I love the freedom of Sunday's (especially if you play hookie from church as much as Mark and I...oops!). Typically, I always go grocery shopping on Sundays and typically, I play hockey on Sunday's. What more could a girl ask for? Cooking! I also (almost) ALWAYS cook...plenty...on Sunday's. Today was NO exception.

After our trip for groceries, I got lunches lined up for the week. I've been wanting to try this Tuna Edamame Salad for MONTHS now, and I finally grabbed the magazine rip out from my desk on Friday before dashing out for the weekend. I believe I found it in Today's Dietitian (great read, btw!). 

Tuna Edamame Salad

Prep time: 5 minutes (pretty accurate, too!)

Cook time: NONE :O )

Ingredients:

1 cup edamame, cooked by package instructions (i.e. the microwave)

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup carrots, shredded

6 ounces tuna, packed in water, drained

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/4 cup red onion, diced (I used more like 1/2 cup - yum!)

1/4 cup reduced-fat Italian dressing

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and toss with dressing. Serve with pita bread or whole wheat crackers, if desired.

Nutrition Information (per 1 cup serving): 

210 calories, 16 gm protein, 27 gm carbohydrates, 4 gm fiber, 3 gm fat, 0 gm saturated fat, 0 gm trans fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 350 mg sodium

 

Edamame (also known as soy beans) -- high in protein, LOW in calories! 

Oh, and REALLY delicious!

 

 Tuna Edamame Salad dished up and ready for lunches to-go!

I also got some on-the-go breakfasts ready for the week: Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes made with Southaven Farms Chocolate Mix. Definitely a fun breakfast for the week ahead! 

See? Healthy. Look at all that zucchini! Mmm!

Southaven Farms Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes - YUM!

Each Chocolate Zucchini Cupcake contains 95 calories, 2 gm fat, 3 gm fiber, and 17 gm carbohydrates. Even 2 delicious cupcakes is not only low in calories, but low in fat and high in fiber! Oh, and chocolate...chocolate, too!!!

Last night we got majorly spoiled at our friend's house. While I was unable to thoroughly partake in the wonderful wine selections, check out this cheese platter....

Firstly, the platter is a portion of a wine barrel (NEATO!!!!!!). There is Gouda, Parmesano Ramano, prosciutto crudo (took me back to Italy days!), sheep (?) cheddar, and a sheep milk cheese.

All. were. DELICIOUS!!!!

We were then spoiled with the most delicious steak I've ever had (and I'm not a beef person at all!) -- fillets (NO fat on the meat) with Oregon bleu cheese melted on top with sides of grilled asparagus and butternut squash. Heavenly! Divine! Being a slacker blogger, I didn't have my camera with me at dinner...sorry!

Tonight for supper I made a new recipe: Laughing Cow Alfredo with shrimp, asparagus, and broccoli over whole wheat pasta. It turned out REALLY well -- thumbs up from husband!

Laughing Cow Alfredo

6 wedges laughing cow cheese (I used half "light")
1 cup skim milk
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp reduced cal margarine
1 tsp garlic powder
6 oz cooked chicken breast (I substituted shrimp)
2 cups steamed broccoli (I had 3-4 cups broccoli and 4-5 stalks of asparagus)
6 oz of Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta (I used whole-wheat linguine)

Put cheeses, milk, butter and garlic powder in small sauce pan and set on low. Cook for 20 minutes until smooth and creamy, stirring frequently.

Cook pasta according to directions.

Once sauce is done, add broccoli and chicken, stir to combine. Combine with cooked pasta and serve.

 

Serving dish of dinner...mmmm! Leftovers, too : )

...and some Asiago cheese garlic bread...Mmm!!!

Also on the menu for the week:

Crockpot Chicken Mexican Soup

Tuna (whole wheat!) Noodle Casserole

Organic Whole-Wheat Pizza with turkey pepperoni

Stay tuned for those recipes!! Have a wonderful start to your week! Oh, and wish me luck in my BOOT CAMP classes starting tomorrow - AHHHH!

Giving Back Giveaway!

I won my first giveaway last week (the week before?) from the blog Pursuing Balance. So, I want to give back to my readers and do the same! I've put together a Give Back Giveaway containing some of my all-time FAVORITE "health food" products, including:

USDA Organic Zola Acai Berry Juice

VitaTops -- Triple Chocolate Chunk and Fudgy Peanut Butter Cup

Southaven Farms -- Chocolate Baking Mix

Nutridel Oatmeal Cookie

2 PureVia samples

2 Truvia samples

Yogi Energy Green Tea 

 

 

In order to receive ONE entry the giveaway drawing simply post a comment below!

For a SECOND giveaway entry, post a link back to this post in your own blog and leave a second comment making me aware of your post. Plus, I probably want to follow your blog, too!

And for a THIRD entry, Tweet or Facebook post a link back to this blog post and include a comment below so that I'm sure to enter your name again!

The winner of the giveaway will be randomly selected on 

Friday, November 6th at 6pm Central Time. Good luck and thanks for your support!!

No gym, no workout? Psh!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Oklahoma yesterday – 72 and sunny! I was looking for something new to do for exercise to get a break from running…so, I headed to the local high school football stadium. Let’s just say, I kicked my own butt!

I started my workout with stadium stairs…running…up and down, up and down. And let’s just say high school football in the south is a big thing, so this is no small stadium stair feat. I next moved on to suicides. While I’ve done suicides on hockey rinks, the football field is a whole new beast (I later calculated that the football suicide is 0.625 miles!). After my suicide, I moved on to crunches and a pyramid of push-ups (10..rest..9..rest…8…rest…you get it). Water break and repeat.

Today, my calves feel like bricks. Luckily, my home nor work place require me to go down stairs…but I’m sure that would be far from pleasant as walking is painful enough. Let’s just say that 1) working out sans a gym is completely possible, 2) workouts outside a gym can be more difficult than workouts inside the gym, and 3) when you can FEEL lactic acid building in your muscles as you perform your workout, chances are you’re gunna be sore and you’re getting one CHALLENGING workout.

This morning I copied the breakfast of Meredith, writer of Pursuing Balance, and added fresh MANGO (mmm!) to my steel cut oats! I used a packet of PureVia and a sprinkle of cinnamon. 

It was VERY good! Though, I have to say, I’m not convinced that steel cut oats increase satiety. While I did have an early breakfast (6am), I was hungry by 10:30am…at which time I had…

…a Pumpkin Muffin I made last night with Southaven Farms’ Ginger Spice mix. They are sooo good, and SUPER easy! Don’t they look delicious?!

And I had my little helper for dish duty...

And on a random note, the Natural Twist Zevia is officially my favorite flavor. It has a bit of a citrus bitterness to it that I just love. Mmm!

P.S. Vita Top Promo! Get 6 FREE Deep Chocolate Vita Tops with the purchase of a 24-pack of Vitas. Enter coupon code EFBYY7Q9 at checkout to take advantage! Yumm! I LOVE Vita Tops!