Recipe Recap – Simplest Beet Salad Ever

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A few weeks ago I ordered Gwyneth Paltrow’s cookbook It’s All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great.  One night this past week I went through it and flagged the recipes I wanted to try in the next few weeks (ok months, let’s be real).  When I got up that night from flagging, Dan said ‘Wow that’s a lot of post its.’  To which I replied, “you like veggies right?” But truth has it, he doesn’t love veggies :)   so I decided to try out one of the recipes I knew he wouldn’t like this week since he is gone.

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I don’t know that it is totally a recipe, but it was entitled Simplest Beet Salad Ever.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 pound Roasted Beets (1 lb serves 4 people)

2 Tablespoons Pumpkin seed oil (you could use olive oil too)

1 Tablespoon Sherry vinegar

Coarse sea salt, fresh ground pepper (to taste)

For the salad – drizzle the oil and vinegar over the beets and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

You may ask how do you get the roasted beets…because let’s face it that is the only work involved here.  Well during BeachBody’s Ultimate Reset, I discovered I love roasted beets!  Simple yes, messy can be!  You want to start with your fresh beets, then scrub them to remove the debris and get htem good and clean.  As you clean them pre heat your oven to anywhere from 325-375 (I used 375).  Once you clean them, then I cut the greens off (I use them too!), you’ll also want to trim off any little tip that’s grown off the bulb of the beet.  CAUTION WHEN YOU CUT THESE DON’T HAVE ANY GOOD CLOTHES ON.  Beets will stain, I repeat BEETS WILL STAIN!!!  Anything and everything they touch…just a warning!

Beets after soaking and scrubbing!

Beets after soaking and scrubbing!

I then just put them on a foil lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and bake for 30 minutes.  Time can really vary depending on the temperature you use and the size of your beet.  You can test them by seeing if you can put a knife into one of them with little effort, then they are done!  Once done, wait for them to cool a bit and remove the skin (it really isn’t a big deal if you don’t do this in my opinion!).  I chopped mine into chunky pieces for this recipe! To make my salad a main dish I added in organic meat and tossed!  All set!

Have you ever tried beets?  Ever stained your kitchen with beets? :)

Marvelous in My Monday

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So I follow many blogs :)  but one of my favorites is Healthy Diva Eats. This Diva is terrific and from IN at one time!  I love her posts and her attitude towards life.  Each Monday she hosts Marvelous in My Monday so I decided to join in on the fun this week!

 

Marvelous is how much I love this sunny weather and enjoying my flowers!

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Marvelous is my new July 1st FREE challenge with squats (if you want in YOU MUST COMMENT BELOW)

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Marvelous is the fact that in less than one month I will be celebrating my 1 year anniversary with Dan in St. Louis!

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And on hot days like today the most marvelous thing I love having myself and sharing with others is a big glass of Shakeology! I’m also sending out samples this week!  Let me know if you want one!

SHAKE

 

Go check out Healthy Diva Eats!  Let me know…what is marvelous in your Monday?

 

 

 

Saturday Snapshots June 15, 2013

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I started my day with a great interval workout on the treadmill and then used all of these puppies in a make shift strength training routine I put together myself….keeping to my promise and only working out 60 minutes a day max.

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Then I enjoyed an awesome breakfast with a new find…Quinoa Flakes are AWESOME as a hot cereal…I read about them in my new cookbook by Gwyneth Paltrow.  You should try them!  I put in some slivered almonds, stevia, and cinnamon!

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Dan and I then went to volunteer with some of his coworkers at Gleaner’s Food Bank!  Wow do they have many interesting donations to sort through -we some really cool (and yes some not so cool things!).

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It was so nice outside yesterday and I refused to clean inside (something I tend to do on Saturdays!)…so I cleaned outside.  No exciting pictures here, but I started the process of cleaning all the screens and windows on the outside – GREAT way to get some good sun! No picture here, but trust me it wasn’t pretty – me, dirt, on a ladder, soapy water…but GREAT sun and GREAT looking windows. But I will share a pic of a gorgeous flower in one of my gardens!

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Then we got all cleaned up to celebrate a friend’s dad’s 60th birthday! (sorry grammar folks, I am picky about my grammar but that has a lot of apostrophes and might not be 110% correct :) ).  Dan lived with the couple for a few months before we got engaged, we love visiting with them!  And each time we do, we admire this beautiful rock fountain (kind of hard to see but water gently comes out the top and also has back lighting for when the sunsets!).  They put in a magnificent patio and entertaining area all by themselves…peaceful right?!?!

rockDid you find it hard to come inside yesterday?  Can’t stand to stay inside when it is nice out!

 

Friday Fun Facts

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1.  I love fresh strawberries!  My terrific neighbor took her kids to a patch to pick fresh berries and shared some with me…I’d post a picture, but I ate half and the other half are in the freezer.  I remember picking berries with my mom, and I sure hope to fit it in this spring/summer!

2.  Saw my first lightning bug last night!  Did you catch them growing up?  I can’t help but want to go grab a peanut butter jar and catch them!  AHHH summer!

3.  I really want a Vitamix…ok, I know so does everybody else, but for some reason this week as I’ve been reading a new cookbook of mine, the urge is REALLY there!  Not in the budget, ain’t happening for a long time, but wanted to share, because yes it is on my mind!

4.  Can’t wait for tonight – Dan’s been gone and he’s coming home :)  and we are grilling out!

5.  I am working on a fun idea for the blog and can’t wait to get your feedback, but want to know (PLEASE COMMENT :) ) if you’d like to join me in a penpal/letter sending type group?  No $ needed other than cost of stamp, envelope, card/letter…details coming, but want to get a feel for who would be up for it?  Who is in?

Sunbutter yum yum!

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You may remember my love for peanut butter and PB2/Just Great Stuff…well I am taking an adventure and trying new foods lately.  Over the years when my eating disorder was at its worst, I might have had 3-5 foods that I would somehow see as being safe, I’d eat them and only them…anything unsafe no way.  It has DEFINITELY expanded since then, but I still have foods that I would say I’m a bit more ‘reserved’ around.  SO  I’m pushing myself to try new and different clean foods…foods that I know are healthy and organic.

Sometimes these foods may seem high in calorie, but I know that a clean, nutrient dense diet is the best diet.  More of nature less of process!  And I’m loving the new foods I’m discovering.

Do you like sunflower seeds?  Think mashed up sunflower seeds with a bit of salt and sugar….you’ve got Sunbutter.  I LOVE IT!!!  I love sunflower seeds…I also like a creamy, doughy texture for my treats, I think of it like dough.  Sunbutter captures that all!  Smooth and creamy (that’s the kind I chose to buy) plus full of natural freshness.  It only has 3 main ingredients – sunflower seeds, salt, sugar (two other ingredients that are both natural to prevent separation).  I’m in love!!!  I’m also trying out Maranatha’s brand soon too!

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Next to Krema natural nut butters this might be a new favorite.  I love Krema crunchy flavors for that texture mix up too!  But Sunbutter will most likely become a staple in the pantry even after the d.tox program.

What other new foods have you tried that you love?

Friends across continents!

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During ELF (European Leadership Forum) in Poland, we were quite busy helping to run the Forum.  One of the AMAZING tasks I got to complete was hosting audio interviews.  Many of the Europeans who attend are sponsored by people back in the United States.  You see the people attending come from countries where (not all but this is the case for many) cannot speak the word of God or Christianity for fear of punishment.  So raising money in their own country is next to impossible!

Every participant that attends on ‘scholarship’ must complete an audio interview. As a volunteer I was asked to facilitate some of the interviews.  The organizers provide some basic questions to prompt the participants, but the good stuff comes when the tape recorder is off and you can relax a bit with them.  I was ever so lucky to meet Zuzana.  Zuzana is from Slovakia.  When interviewing her, I immediately picked up on her passion for life and God.  For some reason, I thought hey I’m going to give her a card about my blog with my email.   Within hours she had made contact with me, and the next day we did a dinner date!  Now we are emailing pretty regularly!

Zuzana is truly an inspiring woman who energized me to re evaluate my outlook on life in many ways!

Zuzana is truly an inspiring woman who energized me to re evaluate my outlook on life in many ways!

Zuzana inspired me to truly look at my life.  Is my life so complicated here?  Are my problems really that big of a deal? I love to share other blogs I find that I think are inspiring or interesting…what is more interesting than following someone my own age as she blogs all the way in Slovakia?  Amazing right!  So go check it out http://www.nelinkaen.blogspot.com/ – she has some great insight!

Poland challenge and another GOODBYE!

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Before we left for Poland I wrote about how it would be a challenge…no normal workout routine, no comfort in knowing what food I would be eating, no calorie counting, etc…it was a challenge!  But overall it was freeing…I told myself before leaving I without one second of hesitation was to ENJOY this.  Case in point this AMAZING nontraditional Tiramisu.

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Was it easy?  No….did I start to beat myself up mentally a few days but just when I did I made myself remember this was VACATION a trip to enjoy and take in the culture.  And I think overall I did a good job – at times Dan could tell when I beat myself up and he’d say “He don’t beat yourself up, it’s 2 weeks.”  And that was all it took along with a stroll in downtown Krakow to remind me that he was right, this is my life I can’t live it thinking about a workout or calorie every moment of the day.  But I realized maybe I was (ok still am) slightly addicted to intense work outs.

This week I’ve challenged myself to limit my workouts more.  On a normal day I’d do cardio, then a bit of strength, usually walk the dog, then sometimes also cut the grass – now for me that was/is normal…but I also (thanks to input from some pretty expert fitness friends!) know this isn’t healthy.  So as I vowed to make a change with my nutrition, I need to vow to make a change to my workouts.  I didn’t set specific time limits, more type of minimal workout goals for myself.  Time to cut back the EXTREME cardio and running (it’s not in line with my body’s needs right now!) and focus on strength and MENTAL fitness.  I don’t want to look back 10 years from now and realize I spent my days only running or only counting each and every calorie I put in me…I’ll do my best and forget the rest (Thanks Tony Horton!).  And my best right now is to focus on ME and my MENTAL me.

So right now!  I’m saying goodbye to my crazy workouts….overall wellness can’t go with just nutrition or just working out…so I said goodbye to my crazy food habits and now I’m saying goodbye to my crazy workouts….and HELLO TO FOCUSING ON ME!

What are you ‘addicted’ to that holds you back from creating your best today and your better tomorrow?  Have you ever found yourself working out too much or too hard?