My Nephew Jumps for Nut Butter

For Christmas, I made my sister a big batch of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Almond Butter. I knew she would love it, but I had no idea her whole family would become a fan. While they were visiting me, I gave her kids each a spoonful and they came back for more at least 10 times. Her husband even enjoyed the health(ier) nut butter, so I think the gift was a win-win. 

Yesterday, my brother in law sent me this video of my niece and nephew begging for more nut butter. So. freaking. adorable. My sister says their stash is getting low, so it looks like "Aunt Dee Dee" (that is what they call me) will be whipping up a few more batches here soon. 

 

Dinner Last Night

My cousin is coming to stay with us this weekend, so Mike and I spent last night cleaning up the house while waiting for our dinner to cook. Dinner was amazing. I love roasted vegetables, so I found a new roasted veggie recipe in Tosca Reno's cookbook: The Eat Clean Diet. We are using up our veggies from our produce box and it makes me really happy. I decided to make a few variations to the cookbook's recipe, since I didn't have some of the ingredients, but it still turned out fantastic.  

Oven Roasted Vegetables

adapted from The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno

8 small potatoes cut in quarters (I used *red potatoes and yukon gold potatoes, since that is what I had on hand)

3 *beets, peeled and cut in quarters

4 large *carrots, cut in long chunks, quartered

1/4 of a large *onion

1 bag Brussels Sprouts, stems and outer layer of leaves removed (to reduce bitterness), cut in half

4 tbsp EVOO

Sea Salt and Pepper (to taste)

2 tsp dried rosemary

* denotes items from our GoLocal Produce Box

Preheat oven to 375 F. Toss veggies with EVOO, S&P, and Rosemary and arrange in a baking dish (we used 2). Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 35 minutes, remove foil, stir and then bake for another 20-30 minutes until carrots and potatoes are soft.

We had our veggies with some Trader Joe's Spicy Jalapeno Chicken Sausage and it was a great meal. I just cut up the sausage for myself and ate it with the veggies, while Mike had his on a bun. 

We both love the TJ's Chicken Sausage. I would say that Sweet Apple is my favorite, but the Jalapeno comes in at a close second. For us, they are a good replacement of hot dogs, only 100 calories per link and no nitrates.

I finished my meal off with a chunk of dark chocolate, the perfect sweet treat. :) 

Rest Day

Since we went to the gym every day this past weekend, I took today off to finish cleaning up the house. I am working at the hospital tonight for a few hours, so I won't be able to do anything tonight. I don't even want to take rest days right now, but I know they are needed and helpful when I have other things going on in life. 

I am feeling great about my work outs lately and feel like I am putting in real, quality work each time. Yesterday, I worked my chest and abs, and then did 30 minutes on the treadmill doing interval running. Tomorrow, I think I will do legs, since I haven't done them since last Thursday. Speaking of legs, I did not get nearly as sore last week after doing a good 10 minute stretch after my leg work out. I did a lot of different leg exercises too, so I hope the stretching is making the big difference. It is so much nicer to be able to walk up and down steps after a leg work out.

Hope y'all have a good day! 

Yesterday's Stats:

Calories (+) 73

Sodium (-) 211

Protein (+) 7

Days like yesterday make me realize that I am definitely on the right track. Only over my calories by 73 and then staying below on my sodium and above on my protein! Yeah!