Summer Veggies: Banana Peppers & Caprice Kabobs

It is summer veggie time and I am always on the lookout on ways to use the delicious fruits and vegetables I get from the Lowes Foods Carolina Crate and from my very own garden (which is doing quite nicely). This week I made some caprice kabobs with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, basil, and mozzarella. My kids seem to really enjoy anything with basil and tomatoes, so these were a good treat for them. And for me. I used bamboo skewers, but I might look into getting some skewers that I can use over & over again. If you have any that you would suggest, please let me know by leaving a comment. I did kick them up a notch by adding some tangerine infused balsamic vinaigrette that I had on hand from The Crushed Olive. Delicious! My next quest was finding something to do with all of my banana peppers...

Sports Nutrition Tips: Eating on the Road

I recall not so long ago when I was at a weightlifting meet with my husband and the hanger had set in. He was coaching a couple of athletes and competing and I wasn’t going to miss any of it because, to be honest, I find the sport to be incredibly exciting and when either him or his athletes are lifting, I like to imagine that I am an amateur sports photographer with my iPhone. At this particular meet, there were no food vendors and really no good time between athletes to head out to find food. The meet sessions started to go long and soon I found myself cranky and eating a bag of Skittles from the lonesome vending machine nearby. I started to wonder how many other people were as ill prepared as I was and even more importantly, how many of those people were the athletes competing in the meet? As a coach, athlete, friend, family member, or fan, the necessity of meal planning on the road is essential to keep everyone happy.  Eating on the road usually ends up in one of the Three H’s:  Happy, Hurting, or Hangry. 

Homemade Protein Bars

Do you ever get to the point to where you have let your pantry dwindle down and you think to yourself "what can I do with these ingredients?". That's how I have been feeling about these oats that have been hanging around in the pantry. Pinterest has inspired me to try the overnight oats and I am a huge fan of oatmeal and no-bake cookies, but I wanted something a little more mobile that I could take with me on the road during my long school and work commutes. I decided to try the homemade protein bars because 1) they are easy to take with me anywhere and 2) I need a dependable snack that would fill me up and tie me over until my next meal time. I was very happy with these! I used peanut butter and vanilla soy protein for mine and they turned out great. Everyone in the family tried these and liked them.

Summertime is here!

SO incredibly excited that I have actually have a little bit of a break this summer before starting the last (fingers crossed!) year of my PhD dissertation work. I have done quite a bit of writing this year, so I will be sharing some information on sports nutrition topics, migraines and nutrition, as well as some good cooking & food recipes.  Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and hoping you like the blogs "face lift". Cheers to a great summer! And chances are if you don't hear from me for a few days, it is because I am in my own personal oasis:

Easy Egg & Spinach Breakfast Bakes

When life starts getting really busy, I find that these egg & spinach bakes are a great way to kick off each morning with a delicious and nutritious boost to help me conquer the day. The GREATEST part about this recipe is that it cooks up in a batch so you can have them readily available to heat up for the rest of the week. And they're inexpensive to make!  Here are the INGREDIENTS:

Budget-Friendly Hamburger Lentil Vegetable Soup

This is a delicious & simple & very inexpensive recipe that you can make as your main dish chocked full of fiber and nutrients!  I'll be surprised if you pay over $10.00 for all of these ingredients. When I was interning at the health department before I became a Registered Dietitian, one of the coolest things I saw was a recipe sheet for people who received WIC benefits but didn't know what to do with the food they were getting.  With this recipe, Mom's were able to put together a nutritious meal using the dried lentils, carrots, and tomato juice they were receiving.  I put this together in a pot for some of the WIC clients to sample and it was a huge hit.  One of my favorite days of my internship.  I still make it often because it FREEZES so well (I always double the recipe because of this) and I vary between adding hamburger and eating it without any meat.

 I hope you enjoy! Makes 6 Servings

Gluten-Free Party Mix with Glutino Salted Caramel Covered Pretzels

This is such a busy time of year for me between school & getting the kids to soccer games that it is always good to have a quick snack on hand that is always tasty.  This is so incredibly easy to make and once you try the Glutino Salted Covered Pretzels, I imagine it will be hard for you to put any other sweet into the mix because it is one of the best GF pretzels and GF sweet snacks I have ever had.
 In fact, the reason why the bag looks a bit wrinkled in the picture is because I couldn't keep my kiddos away from these.  The sweet & salty of the salted caramel with the savory party mix is a wonderful combination.  Put this mix in a couple of snack size ziplock bags and if hanger hits in your family, you'll be well prepared.