Blueberry Walnut Spinach Salad

I want to share a new salad I had for dinner the other night. I was inspired by my friend Amber, she was telling me how she's been eating more and more salads lately, all with great ingredients.

I bought some walnuts with this salad in mind, wanted something sweet and spicy to go on top of the salad.

So I made healthy version of candied walnuts. I did about 2-3 Tbs. walnuts in a dry skillet with a big drizzle of honey, dashes of Cinnamon and red pepper flakes. Shake or stir until the nuts smell fragrant, careful so the sugar in the honey doesn't burn. I used half on this salad and will eat the rest soon!

Then I combined what I had on hand to make a filling and tasty dinner!

I started with 2 big handfuls of spinach, chopped up some carrots and celery, added a handful of blueberries and some cooked chicken that was leftover from making white chicken chili the day before.  I added the spiced nuts and 1Tbs. of balsamic dressing (Newman's Own!)  If I had some feta or brie, I think that would of been a good addition too.

mmm..Enjoy!

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Steel Cut Oats

Well Howdy!

I want to share a recipe I tried this weekend.  I've had a bag of steel cut oats in my pantry for a while now, though I was going to make something and I never did..oh well!  I eat quick cooking almost every morning and wanted to try something different, and I thought I'd save some time in the morning by having a big batch all ready for me.  I read some recipes here and there and learned that steel cut oats are more nutritious than instant oats with more fiber and  complex carbs, but also take longer to cook.

I adapted the recipe seen here on Nutritious Eats to fit my taste and things I had in my fridge.  If you make this, feel free to mix it up!

Into your crock-pot add:

1 cup uncooked steel cut oats, also called Irish oats-do not substitute quick or instant oats!
3 1/3 cups water
1 cup soy milk (or regular or almond milk would be nice)
1/3 cup half n half (I used light coconut milk I had left over from a curry chicken recipe)

Basically any combination of liquid that you like to get you to 4 and 2/3 cups.

Add a dash of salt and 1/3 cup golden raisins and 1/3 cup dried cranberries, or any other dried fruit that you like.

Stir all together and place on WARM setting of crock-pot, and cook 6-10 hours. LOW setting is too hot, make sure to put on WARM setting!! I lifted the lid a couple times and think that is why mine took almost 10 hours, but if you're patient and depending on how mushy or soupy you like your oats, time can vary.  Also, if you like your oats dry, just add 1/2 cup less water/milk in the beginning.

When done, stir in 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.  Top with optional brown sugar or maple syrup if you like things sweeter.  I found this sweet enough with no added sugar, or I add some chopped fresh apples or banana.

I loved eating this when it was done, the fruit is very plump and the texture was chewy and delicious!  I've had it as leftovers and reheated in the microwave and also very good.

Here's to a warm and filling breakfast! Pin It Now!

Happy Holidays...To You

Wanted to share some videos of the house and pup.  Hard to believe this holiday season has come and is almost over.  Can't wait to see everyone soon!

The Pup

House Part I

House Part II

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Oh...Well Hello!

Yeah, it's been a while.  Somehow living life, and not blogging about it, got in the way.  I even had to read my last entry to see what I was up to.

I have been taking pictures of most of our projects, I hope to dedicate an entire post to each of them when we are done.  Things we've been working on: back-splash in the kitchen, working on The Chair (about 50% done!), cooking new recipes, running..
Not to mention trying to relax on the weekends...

We did go camping over Labor Day weekend and had fun with friends and the pup.  She learned to swim real fast when she fell out of the canoe!  I also got poison ivy...for the SECOND time this summer...blah.  The sweet lady who gave me a pedicure said putting top coat clear nail polish on it helps the spreading and ooozing, and she was right.  It helps it dry out and keeps me from itching..

On to more pleasant things..
I made this sweet potato and black bean enchilada that I am over the moon for! It's creamy, healthy and filling, and was quick to put together! ahh! I'll share the recipe next post.

I've fallen in love with another hobby..pinning stuff on pinterest.  If you join, which you should totally do, look me up! I love having a place to dog-ear all my favorite posts and ideas.  Then when its time to decorate for [fill in the blank] I have my inspiration ready!

On a side note, this Sydney girl hates when I blog! Every time I put my hands on the keyboard she wants loving..I guess that's what we all want :)

Another side note...I'm looking for a new headboard for the guest room or our bedroom.  Can't find one I want to spend a ton of money on [read: Restoration Hardware...gorgeous, but whew that's a lot of cash], and don't really need another project..what's a girl to do? Any suggestions? Pin It Now!

I'm Juicing

I’m not on steroids, but recently I am putting lots of healthy juice into my body.  Hubby and I watched a documentary/movie the other weekend on Netflix, “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead” where an Australian man named Joe travels around the US for 60 days while on a juice cleanse.  For two months straight he eats no solid foods, only juice for every meal which he makes from an electric juicer in the back of his car.  The juice cleanse involves eating drinking all your daily calories from green vegetables and some fruits, harnessing the power of micro-nutrients in the juice.  I don’t want to give the whole movie away, because I think it’s is worth watching, but I’ll say that Joe’s story was powerful and he was able to motivate many other people. 

Although I didn’t want to do a strict cleanse or anything, I was reminded of a juicer I recently bought at a garage sale.  I loosely followed one of Joe’s recipes for “Mean Green” Juice.  His recipe includes: green apples, kale, lemon, ginger, cucumbers and celery.  I had no celery, so I added some carrots and collard greens.  I found this is going to be a great way to use up some cucumbers from our garden!  The little ones for pickles, the big ones for juicing.  I made a great big mess, but finally I had some odd colored juice.

It was ok.  Surprisingly it tasted like…..vegetables….not horrible, just not amazingly refreshing.

I had bought some Naked Green juice at a store the other day and noticed that it had blended fruit in it in addition to all the veggies, so I got out the blender and whipped up a banana, nectarine and kiwi because that is what I had.  Mango and pineapple would be really good too.  The fruit was much thicker than the juice, more like a smoothie, but when I mixed equal parts veggies and fruit, it tasted pretty good!  Even hubby liked it, and he doesn’t like raw veggies.  I have read that you shouldn’t mix fruits and vegetables because they need different enzymes to be broken down in the stomach and you could give yourself a stomachache..I’m not a doctor, so I’m going to try to stick to mostly vegetables as I get used to them.  Also, fruit juices are high in sugar (although natural sugar) so I don’t want to overdo it. 

The fun thing now is experimenting with different veggies/fruit.  I know the collard greens are out, they are too bitter and plastic-y, spinach is much better in my opinion.  Anyone out there seen the movie or like to juice? I’d love to hear some good recipes. 

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Summer Love

We've had a busy month, I can't believe July is almost over.  Hubby returned from a cross-country motorcycle trip to Yellowstone and had a great time.  I took a short work trip to the Florida Gulf coast that was productive, bummer that the weather didn't cooperate however. 

Last week we also welcomed a new member to the family, Sydney! 

 We saw some doggies we liked at the SISCA website and went to visit.  SISCA is a great organization for rescuing pound dogs in the Dayton area, we heard great things about them.  We saw Sydney in her cage and got to take her outside and interact with her.  She is a 4 years old Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog mix with an Australian Sheppard.  She is well trained, knows how to sit, lay, shake paw and speak already.  She is learning to love her kennel, and spends most of the day there when we are at work.  She also loves going on a run, watching Netflix and cuddling on the couch :)  Currently she is licking my hand as I try to type this..ah, I just want to squeeeze her!

Anyways...I've been maintaining my clean eating, taking some detours every now and then.  I'm enjoying my oatmeal breakfast each morning, made a new version with a couple banana slices, walnuts and flax seeds and soy milk--taste like fresh baked banana bread!  I am also trying to eat a healthy, satisfying vegetarian meal once a week.  I grilled a big batch of veggies the other night and have enjoyed them on pita as pizza, or in a burrito with fresh mozzarella, basil and balsamic vinegar.  I grilled up slices of eggplant, zucchini, portabella mushrooms and bell peppers, so good!

I'm also looking for any suggestions as to use up cucumbers!  I have three cucumber plants that are producing out the wazooo!  I've been eating slices of cucs for lunch, adding some to water with lemon and lime slices to make spa water.  Also thinking of refrigerator pickling or canning some...

Hope everyone is having a great summer and keeping cool, I know we can't complain too much, but Ohio has had some 90 plus days, and we are glad to see it go!

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Summer Time and the Living is Easy..

Farmer's Market Roses, 2 dozen for $3.50!

 First try at making fro-yo, second batch this week

New haircut! Laura always does such a good job.

Happy 4th of July Friend and Family!



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