My Favorite Meal of the Day!

BREAKFAST 🙂

1. Heat up your waffle iron and spray with non-stick cooking spray (I like to use olive oil or avocado oil spray- I recently found this item at Walmart!).
2. Arrange Potato Puffs on waffle iron, press down and let them cook until crispy (continue applying pressure to flatten)
3. In the meantime, fry an egg over medium.
4. Transfer potato waffle hashbrowns to plate, sprinkle with cheese and top with egg.
5. Serve with freshly squeezed orange juice.

Enjoy!

Cotton Anniversary

We celebrated our anniversary with a weekend away in Santa Monica and a day at Disneyland. For those of you looking for wedding anniversary gift ideas, the traditional 2 year gift is cotton (see my spin adapted from a couple Pinterest ideas I stole). *Warning: Sappy Romance Post*

Aaron’s gift:

Up bright and early and on our way to Disneyland!

Hilarious wall art at Tender Greens Santa Monica

2 Years, 2 Stars

Also in October, Aaron and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary. So, Aaron goes, “Well, I was thinking, since it’s our 2 year anniversary, I think we should go to a 2 star restaurant…” I was like “Okay… {inquisitive/confused/intrigued look on my face}” Aaron: “2 Michelin Stars!!” Me: Jaw dropped, Speechless, Excited! Documented below is a little peak into our weekend away which started at Providence.

Uni egg scrambled egg, sea urchin, nori mini crutons in shell

Scallop, curried cauliflower, butter foam…

Striped bass, mussel, Japanese turnip, pickled radish, hazelnut cream…

Mint granita, strawberry syrup with fresh strawberries, aloe vera cubes…

Two handmade dark chocolate peanut butter cups, pear apple and plum candied jellies, two banana french macaroons with chocolate ganache (tasted like a banana split)…

We were so incredibly full and then they bring out “Breakfast cakes!!” in a beautiful bag for the morning!

The view from our hotel- Loew’s Santa Monica

One of the thirteen courses they offered to pack for us – a very European breakfast on the beach 🙂

Burke Williams Santa Monica

It was an amazing, relaxing weekend!

Happy November!

Well, after a brief hiatus, we’re back up and running. With my “extra hour” of daylight savings I decided I would catch you all up on the month of October and continue the blog this month. It’s been a whirlwind! Let’s start with FNCE! Nashville, TN October 2-6th… BGSU Pen Pal Friends, freshly roasted coffee, amazing BBQ, and so much free stuff from the EXPO I had to buy an extra bag to bring it all back and my snack drawer at work is still stocked 🙂 There was tons of awesome live music as well.

More FNCE favorites:

DATE GOODNESS!

Fall Salad Recipe

5 ingredient Fall Salad Recipe:

• Spinach
• Goat Cheese (crumbled)
• Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds*
• Olive Oil
• Good quality Balsamic Vinegar

*If you have a Trader Joe’s near you, you MUST try these. They are so delicious and I kid you not, I went to TJs after work, bought one bag to try it out, opened it and tasted some as a little snack when I got back to my car, and they were SO good, I WENT BACK IN THE STORE AND BOUGHT 2 MORE BAGS!! I have never done that before. These are delish! Happy Fall everyone. #PumpkinSpiceEverything

IRON

Well, life is getting busy and the blog is suffering but I have a special treat for you all tonight! A little glimpse into date night.

First of all, after learning the adverse effects of iron deficiency we decided you can never be too careful…

Stay tuned for the BEST Fall Salad recipe EVER!! Only 5 ingredients! Check back tomorrow!

Dysphagia

Texture Modification/Sensory Evaluation of Food Assignment…

Ingredients and supplies ready to go + the Vitamix:

Let the taste test and evaluation begin!

Readings Completed:

• The National Dysphagia Diet PowerPoint
• Dysphagia Practice Essentials
• Pediatric Dysphagia Workshop PowerPoint
• Managing Dysphagia in Residents with Dementia
• Elderly Long Term Care Article
• Video: Feeding Assistance
• Sensory Evaluation of Food Assignment

Labor Day Weekend

Shady Study Spot out by the pool…

Study Snack: Plain Greek Yogurt, Walnuts, and Honey 
Rockin’ my BGSU T-shirt!

Checklist for the weekend:

Intro-

• Texture Modification Assignment
• Finish, Edit, and Complete 3 Case Studies from the summer
• Leadership Assignment- Emotional Intelligence

Micro- Iron Readings and Discussion

Advanced- Review Chapter 5 in textbook

Oatmeal Cookie Nut Butter

My favorite recipe with dates!

This homemade nut butter recipe is from one of my go-to recipe websites:

http://thehealthyfoodie.com/non-paleo-recipes/

I seriously eat this by the spoonful as a snack! Another favorite way to eat it is on a cinnamon rice cake with raisins or apple slices and cinnamon. YUM!

OATMEAL COOKIE NUT BUTTER

Yield: Yields about 2 cups

NF based on 1 tbsp

Photo Credit: The Healthy Foodie

INGREDIENTS

Part I

• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup pitted dates
• 1/2 cup walnuts

Part II

• 2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup raw macadamia nuts
• 1/2 cup raw cashew pieces
• 1/2 cup coconut oil

Part III

• 1/2 cup unpasteurized honey
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp himalayan salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Start by adding the raisins, pitted dates and walnuts to the bowl of your food processor
2. Pulse a few times until you get a mixture that has the consistency of small pebbles. Remove and set aside.
3. Add the shredded coconut, cashew pieces, macadamia nuts and coconut oil to the bowl of the food processor. Process until very smooth and creamy, about 8-10 minutes total, scraping the sides from time to time.
4. Add the honey, vanilla, salt, ground cinnamon and nutmeg. Resume processing for just a few seconds, until well combined. Do not over process at this point or your nut butter may want to separate.
5. Add reserved date raisin mixture and pulse a few times, very quickly, just to get everything mixed in, no more.
6. Transfer to a clean glass jar and allow to rest for 24 hours so the nut butter can firm up a bit and flavors have a chance to fully develop.

http://thehealthyfoodie.com/oatmeal-cookie-nut-butter/

Board Room Boards

Our Early Childhood Education department had the opportunity to show case our work on the Board Room Bulletin Boards this month. I designed and posted one board focusing on Nutrition (of course) and one on Education. I definitely underestimated the humongous size of these boards that take up an entire wall so everything should have been about 20 times bigger but I learned for next time! 

Description: Collage posters made by students and families of physical activity, Photos from the parent nutrition cooking class workshops, School gardens, Paper mache beets!!, Graphs and artwork of carrots, Radishes from one school garden, and Pictures from our smoothie day.

My favorite student quote from our Harvest of the Month program: “I like the grapefruit. It doesn’t taste like grape.” – 4 Year Old Student