Sweet Potato Wedges

When I got home from work, Ryan and I took Sadie on a walk around the neighborhood before heading to the grocery store to pick up some essentials for the week.

While there, we also nabbed a couple of sweet potatoes to incorporate into our dinner this evening.

I started by slicing the sweet potato before tossing the wedges in canola oil and salt.

I then spread them out on a cookie sheet and baked them at 415 degrees for approximately 20 minutes, flipping them halfway through.

We enjoyed the wedges along with muenster cheese and Morningstar Farms veggie bacon sandwiches.

It was a pretty random dinner, but it was also exactly what I was craving!

The rest of the night will be spent curled up on the couch with a movie.

In the DVD player this evening:

Ryan and I wanted to see it when it was in theaters, but never got around to it. We’ve heard great things, so let’s hope it’s a funny one!

Loving Your Unlovable Parts

Everyone has something they do not like about their appearance. Maybe you think your hair is too frizzy. Maybe you believe your nose sticks out a little too much. Maybe you feel like you have a belly pooch or thunder thighs.

Women everywhere are constantly thinking negative thoughts about their appearance, often times about their weight in particular.

After learning about Fat Talk Free Week on Caitlin’s blog, I was instantly interested and ready to participate.

As an American woman, I will openly admit that I engage in “fat talk,” and often wish certain parts of my body were slimmer. It’s so hard not to feel this way when every where you look beautiful, stick-thin supermodels are on the front pages of magazines in skimpy bikinis and lingerie. Curvier women with boo-tays like mine are hard to come by, making it easy to look at my legs and thighs and simply sigh.

This week, however, I am committing to participate in Fat Talk Free Week and love the parts of my body that I often find unlovable.

My friends and Ryan know I struggle with embracing my pear-shaped body. Whenever I start to feel negativity toward my body image, I try to remind myself that my health is the most important thing, not how thin my thighs are.

Thankfully I am engaged to a man who “likes a girl with meat on her bones,” and has seriously expressed sadness at the thought of me ever losing weight and losing my butt. God bless him. Though it’s nice to hear Ryan say he likes my body the way (and weight) it currently is, I know that my personal acceptance and love of my body is what will truly bring me happiness.

In honor of Fat Talk Free Week, this week (and for weeks and weeks to come) I will LOVE my legs. I’ve hated on my poor stems for too long and they deserve a lil’ love! Here are several things I love about my legs:

• My legs get me through my daily workouts.
• My legs have carried me across the finish line in numerous running races, including a half marathon.
• My legs give me the ability to walk or run with my dog every morning.
• My leg hair is thankfully light blonde and doesn’t grow quickly (too much info? 😉 ).
• My legs allow me to jump off our family’s boat and swim in the ocean. 

Question: What part of your body do you often find unlovable and what do you LOVE about it?

Examiner

You can learn more about Fat Talk Free Week and read some pretty interesting statistics about body image in my latest Examiner article: click here.

Dinner

Tonight’s dinner was super-duper simple. Just the way I like it!

This morning Ryan cut up some chicken breasts and let them marinate in a mixture primarily consisting of soy sauce, lime juice and Worcestershire sauce (which should totally be a spelling bee word).

While he headed out back to grill up the chicken, I tossed some chopped root veggies in a mix of olive oil, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Pre-Roasted Root Veggies

I roasted the carrot and sweet potato in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and then flipped the veggies and roasted them for an additional seven minutes.

Roasted Cinnamon-Nutmeg Carrot and Sweet Potato

I filled my plate with Ryan’s grilled chicken and my roasted veggies.

My Plate

What a yummy dinn-ah! The roasting of the vegetables really brought out their natural sweetness and Ryan’s chicken was perfectly moist and slightly burnt (just the way I like it 🙂 ).

Now we’re off to read more of The Lost Symbol… only 30 pages left! I’m excited to finish but don’t want it to end… it’s so darn good!

Redeeming My Chocolate-Covered Popcorn Indulgence

After eating my body weight in chocolate-covered popcorn (and pumpkin pie!) last night, I knew today’s lunch needed to step up the nutrition a notch.

What better way to get a lot of fresh, vitamin-rich veggies in your belly than a big salad?

Last night I prepped for my lunchtime salad by chopping up a sweet potato into little bite-size chunks and microwaving them for five minutes before flipping them and nuking them for another 90 seconds.

Sweet Potato

Not the best way to cook a sweet potato in my opinion, but it works!

Chunk-a-Chunks

The base for my salad was bright green leafy spinach topped with several handfuls of broccoli slaw.

In addition to the sweet potato chunks, I used freshly chopped zucchini and celery to add some crunch to the salad and incorporated steamed broccoli and cauliflower florets for additional color and flavor. Naturally I needed some cheese to make me happy, so I added a handful of feta for a protein kick.

Biiiig Salad

Close Up

I used a light raspberry vinaigrette as my dressing and wolfed the entire salad down in no time at all. I have a gift for fast eating. 😉

One Mo' Time

I’m fulllll.