Eat. Lift. Play. Repeat.

Eat Clean :: Lift Heavy :: Play Daily :: Repeat

Cinnamon Raisin Toasted Muesli

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Cinnamon Raisin Toasted Muesli

I definitely want to talk about toasted muesli, but first we must discuss homemade ice cream!

A couple weeks ago we had our company BBQ and the last couple years there had been an auction. Our sales manager pairs up one sales person with one non-salesperson and each team has a chance to win “Media Logic Money” based on performance. He also rounds up a bunch of auction items for us to bid on.

One of the items on the auction this year was an ice cream machine, which I “bought” with my Media Logic Money!

My grandparents celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary yesterday, so in honor of their marriage we made homemade ice cream! We stuck with plain vanilla for the first round and it was awesome. [Read more…]

Anything & Everything Friday – August 26th

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Firday Fit-ish

Happy Friday!!! It is time for the weekend and I am ready for a relaxing one, that’s for sure! We don’t have too much going on, which is awesome. We do have a date tomorrow night to go to Old Major, a cool restaurant in Denver. Donny has been, but this will be my first time! I’ll let you know what I think.

Time for Anything & Everything Friday, my weekly post where I share five random topics with you! I try to keep them health related, but sometimes I like talking about other things, like my upcoming vacation to Oregon! Let’s get started right away… here’s Anything & Everything Friday. [Read more…]

Day in the Life: Mel’s Meals [#31]

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Mel's Meals

Donny & I were in Wisconsin for a wedding Friday through Sunday, so I knew there wouldn’t be much time to make it to the grocery store. However, Donny suggested stopping at the King Sooper’s that is fairly close to the airport. Genius! In college I shopped at King Sooper’s, but we don’t have a convenient one anymore. It was fun to go to a new grocery store to see all the different products! They had a huge produce section and we picked out some fun, unusual buys for us.

Other than that, meal prep was pretty much with some of the same foods as usual. If you have questions about how I prepared any of these foods then check out yesterday’s Grocery Shopping & Meal Prep Week 16 post. Otherwise, shoot me an email, Facebook message, text or comment below. [Read more…]

Grocery Shopping & Meal Prep – Week 16

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Grocery Shopping & Meal Prep

Donny & I made a quick trip to Madison, WI this last weekend for a college friend’s wedding! We had a blast, but got home mid-afternoon on Sunday. Luckily I am a HUGE planner, so we had meat prepared already for the week. We stopped by a huge King Sooper’s on the way home from the airport so pick up all the groceries we needed. It was fun to check out a new grocery store! In college I shopped at King Sooper’s, but rarely make it there anymore. It was fun to change it up. We also bought a ton of fun produce that we normally don’t buy.

We bought a ton of produce, but tried to keep meal prepping fairly simple. I didn’t want to spend too much time cooking on Sunday, so made a salad for each day this week and grilled just a few vegetables. We didn’t cook all the vegetables we bought because we knew we’d want to make some for dinners this week. Cooked beets are on the menu for this week! [Read more…]

Almond Sesame Granola Bars

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Almond Sesame Granola Bars

We do not have any small kiddos in the family (on my side), so holidays like Easter, Christmas and Halloween are still adult friendly. Neither my sister nor I have kids yet, so there are no munchkins to spoil.

My mom still gives us Easter baskets and, the last couple years, has even made us hunt for them! We always enjoy it, because they are packed with fun stuff like beer or the ingredients for Moscow Mules. Can’t be mad about that?! She also packs the baskets full of snacks and candy. Some snacks are healthy, while others are not.

Last Easter she gave both Donny & I Honey Sesame Cashews from Walgreens. [Read more…]

Anything & Everything Friday – August 19th

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Pringles Friday

Happy Friday! Is it not alright to bring Pringles to the gym on Friday mornings?! Whoops. Guess I did gym-time wrong this morning.

Are you ready for the weekend?! Donny & I are headed to Madison, WI for a wedding of a friend I went to college with. I have only been to Madison one time (for one day last July) and I loved it! I am excited to go back and excited to be meeting my best friend my college, Kelsey! She is flying in from Florida and we will pick her up in the rental car that we grab. I don’t think I’ve seen Kelsey since Donny & I took that road trip last May. Whew, that seems like FOREVER ago. It has been far to long so it will be great to catch up and chat. A lot has changed since I last saw her. She had a baby. We got a new dog! Hahaha I can’t wait to see her.

Time for Anything & Everything Friday. Each Friday I share five random topics of my choosing with you. I try to keep them health-related, but not always. Today I am talking about meal planning, ab exercises and my new book club book. See what I mean? Reading is good for the mind, right?!?! [Read more…]

Day in the Life: Mel’s Meals [#30]

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Mel's Meals

Here is this week’s Day in the Life: Mel’s Meals, where I document my clean eating meals for an entire day. Clean eating doesn’t have to be difficult or stressful. A little planning mixed with a few convenient foods helps keep meals easy, yet healthy. For example, our dinner below was full of colorful foods that are all clean eating approved and SO delicious! Plus, I had a sweet treat after my after-dinner dessert!

If you have questions about how anything was prepared, then check out yesterday’s Grocery Shopping & Meal Prep Week 15 post. If that doesn’t answer you question then feel free to send me an email, Facebook message or comment below. [Read more…]

Grocery Shopping & Meal Prep – Week 15

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Grocery Shopping & Meal Prep

I am one of those weird people that LOVE to go grocery shopping. On Saturdays I can spend an hour or so wandering up and down store aisles looking at new products and at nutrition labels. Not everyone loves to go grocery shopping, so to make it a little easier I provide a list of the clean-eating-approved foods that I buy each week.

This week I went on a HUGE grocery shopping trip. In order to save space in the photo I only included one of certain items rather than each individual thing. For example, I bought 5 large apples, but only put one in the picture. We were not low on food by any means but I wanted plenty of fruits and vegetables to eat this week, plus I wanted to prepare extra protein.

Donny & I are going to a wedding this weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. We will be back early afternoon on Sunday, but I didn’t want to have to worry about preparing too much food for the next week. I decided to buy extra chicken and pork to cook and then freeze for meal prep next week. I know, I know I am quite the planner. Sometimes that is what needs to happen if you want to come back from a weekend full of indulges and get right back on track. We are going to cheese heaven for goodness sake. I am going to need to eat clean once I get back! [Read more…]

Fiesta Lime Roasted Chickpeas

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Fiesta Lime Roasted Chickpeas

Today’s recipe involves roasted chickpeas, but first let’s talk about sweet corn. It is prime sweet corn time right now in Colorado. My father-in-law spoils us, because he plants 2 acres of sweet corn every year. The only plans he has for that sweet corn patch is to allow his family and friends to pick it! How lucky are we?!

The last couple years we’ve picked a bunch of sweet corn to last us through the year. We don’t freeze the whole cob, just the kernels. First, we shuck the corn, then cut the kernels off the cob, and lastly, portion it in Ziploc bags and store them in the freezer. No cooking. No blanching.

The corn gets bagged raw and is cooked before eating it. We usually microwave the sweet corn in the freezer bag for 2-3 minutes before eating and that is all it needs! Add some salt, pepper and sometimes butter…. oh man, I’m drooling! Sweet corn is SO good! [Read more…]

Anything & Everything Friday – August 12

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FridayIt is Friday…drink a pitcher of margaritas if you want! This week went pretty dang fast, but I am ready for the weekend. Last weekend was not very relaxing so I am hoping to get some quality R&R in the next few days.

Today’s Anything & Everything Friday includes a list of healthy condiments, an article about chocolate’s health benefits and my new bootcamp goals! [Read more…]