Tag Archives: healthy

I Love My Microwave Omelet Maker + WIAW #4

How often do you use the microwave? I use it daily and it almost always involves my Microwave Omelet Maker. Not for omelets, but to make bread. Say what?!

I know, it sounds weird to me just reading it out loud, but it works so well! It’s similar to the fairly popular “Microwave Mug Cakes” that started popping up a few years ago, just cooked in an omelet maker. Here’s mine..

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This handy little kitchen tool is in the top 5 things I use every day. Right up there with the knife and my titanium spork! The breads I make vary depending on what’s left of my overnight oats mixture from the day before.

You see, I can inhale a container of plain Greek yogurt in 2 days, no problem. Once it’s almost empty, I use it to make different variations of overnight oats using oats (duh), peanut flour, plant protein powder, shredded coconut, chia seeds, greens powder, and stevia.

Instead of breakfast, I have these concoctions as treats/2nd dinner at night and maybe some after lunch, which is typically my first meal of the day. When the mixture is low, I then use it as my base to make a bread.

Confused? Let me run you through a typical cycle, starting with my almost empty container of Greek yogurt.

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From there, I fill it back up with all kinds of goodness. This one got mashed ripe banana….

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….oats….

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…..peanut flour, stevia, and chia seeds….

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…..along with a mix of water and almond milk to bring it all together.

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Basically, peanut butter banana overnight oats, and they’re awesome! What’s not awesome is when everything goes back down and I’m almost out of the peanut buttery goodness. But, no worries, this is when I make bread!

Since chocolate pairs perfectly with peanut butter and banana, I add unsweetened raw cocao powder to the dwindling oat mixture.

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I also add more peanut flour, sometimes coconut flour, and sometimes oat flour along with baking powder, more stevia, and egg whites to bring it all together.

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I find a butter knife to work best for my stirring needs and use it every time. It’s even handy for scraping every last bit of the delicious batter into my greased omelet cooker.

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I never have an exact microwave time, but have been doing anywhere from 6:30 to 7:15 depending on how full each side is. And then viola!!

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I have two half-moons of peanut butter banana chocolate bread. And it’s healthy at that! Plus, Avery, my our 16 month old, loves everything I make. I just cut it up into bites for her…

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….and she snatches them out of my hand as if I might take it back if she’s not quick enough.

One for me, none for you, dad.
One for me, none for you, dad.

And that’s that. I’ll have another full container of yogurt that will go down fast and I’ll repeat the process. Maybe with pumpkin puree, applesauce, or just extra oats and chia seeds.

If you haven’t used one, I say give it a try. It’s also great at making omelets if you’re wondering. Like this sweet potato and spinach NuttZo omelet.

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With that, lets move on to WIAW. Thanks to Jenn, for hosting this fun link-up for foodies everywhere!

*Update*: this week’s WIAW is actually being hosted by Meg over on her cool blog, Clean Eats, Fast Feets. Head on over and see what all the other foodies have on their plates for the week!

what I ate wednesday, WIAW

Mornings are pretty minimal with food intake for me, but Avery is always ready to go right when she wakes up. I try to wake up before her to at least have a batch of my microwave bread made and ready for her, but sometimes she has to wait. I’ll have a quick shot of matcha green tea powder followed by a giant cup of coffee while Avery downs some of mommy’s milk.

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I finally have the bread ready for Avery. Today it’s a protein pumpkin bread that she happily gobbles up.

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I just ordered these organic chestnuts from Amazon (a freaking case of 24 packs!) on a whim and have been snacking on them during the day. Avery even enjoys them, although it takes her a while to chew one.

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This is my first time to have chestnuts, and luckily I enjoy them. They’re great roasted (yes, on an open fire), as is, or mixed into salads. I like them with tuna or chicken salad for a cool new texture.

Lunch is a big bowl of steamed veggies with black beans and green onions on top. Oh yeah, and always plenty of cayenne; I like to sweat!

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Since I was still hungry, I snacked on a few different pieces of microwave bread, some brazil nuts, and raw celery and carrots.

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Yes, I’m using the lid of a bowl to double as a plate. Hey, it works, right?

Dinner, my biggest meal(s) of the day, started with salmon salad with steamed beets and broccoli, black garlic, celery, and 2 versions of my homemade sauerkraut. One was in a beet juice mixture and the other was infused with dill. I’ll let you guess which was which. 🙂

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Round 2 involved a kale banana smoothie with the leftover slices of pumpkin bread Avery didn’t eat.

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I want my daughter to eat and all, but is it bad when I secretly hope she won’t finish everything just so I can have some too? Hope I’m not alone here!

Hope you have a great rest of the week! Happy Hump Day!

Do you have a special way of using your almost empty containers like yogurt?

Are you a fan of overnight oats?

Have you ever “baked” bread in the microwave?

Aaaannnnnddd, before I go, I have to let you know that if you’re a peanut butter lover, you NEED to try NuttZo if you haven’t already! Plus, if you go to their website and enter code liley15, you can save 15% off your order. 😉

Brilliant blog posts on HonestMum.com

Gaining Strength with My Daughter + Immune Support from Ester-C

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias and its Advertiser. All thoughts and opinions are mine and mine alone and should not be construed as medical advice. #24HourEsterC #CollectiveBias

Ester-C-Immune-Support

Half-way through my college career, I decided to run a marathon. I hardly trained, and the race hurt….a lot, but I pushed and made it across the finish line. Walking up or down stairs the following 2 weeks brought painful tears to my eyes, but I was hooked and wanted to do another, only better. I know, crazy, right?

Armed with a training and nutrition plan, I learned how important both aspects were to attaining any goal. Training, to prepare the body for the stressors of an endurance event, and nutrition for peak performance, recovery, and especially proper immune support.

Fast-forward to current day; I’ve completed over 10 marathons (including Boston), an ultra-marathon, and too many 5k’s and 10k’s to count. I’m extremely proud of these accomplishments as anyone should be, but I found endurance came at the expense of strength after failing miserably at trying to jump in the air. I certainly lost weight and changed my body composition, but my body lacked muscle and I decided it was time to train for strength.

Ester-C-24-Hour-Immune-Support-Kettlebell

Strength training and distance running are on opposite ends of the spectrum, but the need for good nutrition and a supported immune system remain key factors. I get all day immune support from Ester-C to keep me “Going” as a dad (see what I did there?) living a healthy lifestyle!

Ester-C-24-Hour-Immune-Support-Nutrition

Although good nutrition may help support your immune system, I’m not taking any chances of being sidelined from training again. Now I get 24 hour immune support from Ester-C which enables me to consistently train as well as manage my key role as a stay-at-home dad and loving husband.

When I first became an at-home dad, a big fear of mine (besides nap time) was not having a consistent strength training routine since raising a baby was uncharted territory. That was over a year ago, and thankfully, with a little creativity and determination, that fear is a thing of the past.

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When I go into our garage gym complete with a power squat rack, bench, several kettlebells, and Olympic barbell set, Avery comes too. She even has her own toy kettlebell to use when “working out” with Mommy and Daddy. She still needs a little practice on her swings, but she’s already a natural at squatting!

Along with cooking nutritious meals and lots of playtime, working out with Avery is part of the daily routine to keep fit, get stronger, and support our immune system. Thanks to a supported immune system and my motivation providing us to stick to our routine, both Avery and her Daddy (that’s me!) are getting stronger physically and strengthening our daddy-daughter bond.

Ester-C-24-Hour-Immune-Support-Daddy-Daughter-Bond

It’s obvious I’m mindful about what goes into our bodies seeing as to how I cook all of our meals and rarely go out to eat, so why do I make Ester-C my go-to Vitamin C supplement? Among the many benefits 24 Hour Ester-C has to offer, here’s several that make it a no-brainer in our house.

  • Ester-C is a special form of Vitamin C designed to stay in your white blood cells for up to 24-hours, providing you with around-the-clock immune system support.*
  • It is carefully manufactured to contain the same compounds your body produces when it metabolizes vitamin C.
  • Its unique, water-based manufacturing process combines Vitamin C with Calcium using no chemical solvents. The manufacturing process also neutralizes pH, making it non-acidic and gentle on the stomach
  • Comes in 1000mg or 500mg Vegetarian Coated Tablets that are Non-GMO and Free of Sugar, Soy, Gluten, Wheat, and Artificial Flavors & Colors.

Ester-C-Wal-Mart-Aisle-Immune-Support

Ester-C is easily found at your local Wal-Mart in the Vitamin and Supplement aisle and it’s currently on rollback! I take the 500mg tablets to split my doses since I prefer to take one in the morning and another at night. Keep up to date on the latest immune supporting products and great info on the Ester-C Facebook page and on Twitter too!

Why not let Ester-C help support your health so you can help support what matters most, our children?

Have you dealt with setbacks in training before?

Share how you’re currently training for a certain goal, how are you working to reach it?

Disclosure

How to Hide in the Kitchen + WIAW #3

Welcome to my third post of What I Ate Wednesday, and to the mid-week / Hump Day mark! The weekend will be here before we know it, right….RIGHT?!

I certainly hope so, because we still haven’t watched The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 1 after I posted this on Instagram…

Yeah, never happened. Going Mom took advantage of Avery accepting sleep and fell asleep with her in the nursery. Just watching a movie is hard when you have a little one, huh? But it’s hard to argue with that, it’s not like we’ll always be able to enjoy those moments with our little ones.

I’m actually envious since nap time has been a struggle lately and Avery never just gives in anymore. Instead, I get what I can only assume are death threats to our mat when I mention the word “sleep”.

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Scary, huh?

When she’s not threatening the ultimate destruction of our kitchen mat, Avery has figured out how to fit herself into a slim cabinet in the kitchen. It’s one where I keep baking sheets and other things “safe” for kids to grab at, and also the only one we don’t have child-proofed.

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I’m sure most of us have one, or at least had if your kid took over too. Avery has been hanging out at “The Cabinet” (sounds cooler when in quotes, huh?) for months now, but only recently started climbing all the way inside. Here, she’d like to run you through a quick demo.

Oh, hi there. Welcome to my cabinet.

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Now you see me….

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….now you don’t. Oops!!!

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Okay, NOW you don’t.

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Boo! And now I’m back!

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Yep, that’s been going on a lot over here lately. She might prove useful when I’m looking for that hard-to-reach pan some day. Until then, if it keeps her entertained, we’re happy! And it’s quite entertaining to watch! Here she is climbing in..

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Then she tries to keep from being seen.

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Rinse and repeat. Fun times as an at-home parent. I actually mean that too.

And now it’s time for another round of WIAW. Thanks to Jenn, for hosting this fun link-up for foodies everywhere!

what I ate wednesday, WIAW

We’ve been starting the day out with a new recipe I made using NuttZo. See the recipe here and let me know if you make it.

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That’s my wonderful work of microwaving in a bowl. Beautiful, huh? Oh yeah, and I always have coffee on hand. Today was the extra free refill of black Pike Place I got at Starbucks. Love the gold card!

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My lunch is a combo of all things I cooked recently or have in the fridge that need to be eaten.

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Here I had steamed beets, cauliflower and broccoli, slow-cooker salsa chicken, sweet potato with black garlic, and homemade sauerkraut. Lots of randomness, but also lots of goodness!

For dinner, I made a sweet potato and spinach frittata with NuttZo and it was deeeee-licious!

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Yes, another one of my fabulous ways to make something in the microwave. I tell ya, it’s a useful kitchen tool and I’d be lost without it. The final product…

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We’ll be having this again for sure. Maybe even extra NuttZo next time.  And, as if it’s hard to believe, after dinner snack time was some of my homemade chocolate bread with, yep, NuttZo!

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Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out other tasty eats from foodies that linked up on Jenn’s WIAW party!

Do your kids have a special hiding place in the kitchen? Somewhere else in the house?

Have you tried NuttZo? Seriously, it’s awesome! If you go to their website and enter code liley15, you can save 15% off your order. 😉

Brilliant blog posts on HonestMum.com