Natural Nesters

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Guest Post: Radish Chips

Pin It In my quest for eating more veggies, I have found some ‘new to me’ ways to eat them. For example, remember the radish chips? So when I found out I can make fries out of carrots, I had to try it! These are SUPER easy (a must for me) AND even my hubby (who despises carrots) liked them.

Start out by cutting your carrots into small strips…OR be lazy like me and buy the matchstick bag. lol

Put them in a bowl and toss with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Spread on a baking sheet or jelly roll.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes flipping if necessary.

These taste yummy with a bit of sea salt!

They are amazing good and so easy to make.

Do you like carrots? Do you know of any other great veggie must try recipes?

Happy Eating!

Claire

psst! Wanna know about my TRANSFORM movement??

Click HERE and FOLLOW HERE

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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

GIVEAWAY Gymboss Timer

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First I would like to announce our winner of the Oh so cute shirt from Nutrition Snob!

CONGRATULATIONS TO Shannon Gacke!

Today I am very excited to share with you about the Gymboss Interval Training Timer!

Not only because it is a great fitness accessory, but because my husband is going to be sharing with you the things he has loved and found handy about our Gymboss. I was so excited to get my pink Gymboss Timer in the mail, then when I began using it, I realized I didn't have a ton of use for it, since most of my workouts were runs at the time because I was training for my half marathon.

So I let my husband use it for his strength training workouts, and he has really found it handy. Here are a few of his comments about the Gymboss. Um and yes my husband did carry this pink timer around the weight room :-)

"It is incredible how much time you
can waste in the gym. When I started working out many years ago, I spent up to
2 hours in the gym. With moving weights around, rehydrating, and stretching
between lifts, and occasionally getting sidetracked watching the
Top 10 play on ESPN…haha, it seemed like half my time was spent NOT working
out. The GYMBOSS cut my workout in half and gave me better results. With the
multi-function timer, I am able to move through my workout without distraction
and wasting time. I enjoyed the continuing rounds that it gave me and
the ability to choose the vibrate or bell notification for the next set. The
hardest part in workout accessories is the instruction- there is not
much to the instructions of the GYMBOSS- it took me 2 or 3 workout to really
figure out how to use it. After that, I believe it essential to
anyone's workout especially if you spend half your time catching up
on your ESPN at the gym… the GYMBOSS is your own personal trainer - yelling
at you to keep on pushing through.

The Auto function works great - the
GYMBOSS tells you when to stop and start at every point of the workout. With a
30 sec. activity and 1 minute rest programmed you can do 20 sets in
30 minutes thats 4-6 different exercises in 30 minutes. High Intensity and
High Impact = High Results"

I am so thankful that my husband wanted to share with us, and I am so excited that Gymboss is sharing with one of our readers!! Enter in the rafflecopter below for a chance to win your own Gymboss Interval Timer!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Guest Post: Challenges of Living with your Partner

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We are so excited to have Colleen Guest Posting for us today. She is talking to us about a topic that has not been discussed much on our blog-- but a great reminder that we SHOULD discuss it. Thanks for sharing, Colleen!

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Hello friends of Natural Nesters! My name is Colleen and I write over at The Chocolate Mile, where I ramble about losing weight, running and life. Things I don't write about; crafting, party planning, or cooking- so you may be wondering what I am doing here. Well, like the two lovely ladies of this site, and probably many of you, I live with my soul mate.

But we aren't married.

And it's not a top priority for us.

I know. This is usually where people either, stare blankly, or start asking questions.

3 years ago

Patrick and I have been officially in a relationship for 1,083 days (2 years, 11 months and 18 days). We've lived together for 782 days. So, essentially, we moved in with each other 4 days before our 8 month anniversary.

About.... 1.5 years in we realized that may have been a little fast, but it was too late to change it!

Living with someone is a hard task. Whether you're married or not, you're doing the same thing, except with one you have a piece of paper that says you aren't living in sin.

Oops.

Living together for this amount of time has given us exactly 782 days to learn each others habits, learn how to mesh both of our ideas and morals of life together, and also learn how to not kill each other when the urge strikes.

I always laugh to myself when someone tells me they're moving in with their significant other and that they imagine it is 100% going to be wonderful. I hate to be the bubble buster, but it's not, on the bright side; those times that it's not all sundae-with-a-cherry-on-top special, are the times that are used to learn about each other and learn to love each other more in the end.

Some of the biggest struggles we've overcome in our house are things that sounds super easy, that's because, at least for us, we both have super easy solutions, that don't match what the other person is thinking.

For Instance:

dishes- oh.my.god.
laundry
not leaving socks in the couch
alarm clocks
healthy eating

We both have full time jobs, we both try to live active lives, I go to school, and we both want social lives (with each other and friends).

So, things we've learned:

you can take notes if you want, but, ya know, we aren't pro's.

Listen; even if you don't want to hear it.
Clean, even if it's not your mess, just take 10 minutes to clean it up
Divide chores. He does laundry, I do dishes, the rest is fair game
Talk about food, make a grocery list together, plan meals that you both like
Plan date nights
If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Now, every couple is different, and so every couple is going to have their own problems, their own dilemmas. But I don't have to go into that, right? We're all adults. Weshouldknow that every one has different DNA. Man, I hope so.

Basically, we're lucky, because even with our problems- big and small (I want a new comforter, he is still attached to his bachelor pad bedroom furnishings), we love each other so it all works out. If the small problems didn't end with kisses and love notes we would have a much larger issue.

The other thing that I always like to remember is this:

Source: pinterestgreatdeals.com via Kae on Pinterest

We are still in the beginning of our relationship. That makes sense, right? I know for a lot of people who are dating, 3 years should be middle or close to the end, but since we don't discuss marriage or anything, we're still in the beginning. Our relationship is being built to ideally last until we're 97 years old. It's like we're building a house, we built a foundation, we built a structure, we're weatherizing and doing all that fun stuff- I know nothing about building a house- and then someday we'll get a pool, add an addition and so on.

Colleen is the warm hearted, fun having, sassy writer of The Chocolate Mile. She goes by Colleen, Coll, or Hey Kid. She has a bad addiction to coffee and requires a piece of chocolate every morning. She doesn't believe in dieting, but instead, in lifestyle changes.

Let’s be friends! You can follow me…

On the right hand side of my blog!

Twitter: @RunforDessert

Pinterest: Colleen’s Board

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Thursday, October 18, 2012

Butter Caper Beer Chicken Recipe

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Don't you just LOVE new recipes? We are so glad that Casey decided to share such a fun Chicken Recipe with us... We hope you enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed reading it!! Casye gives us such a fantastic introduction of herself and in that it reminds us that we can start running TODAY and be able to accomplish things we never thought possible. Thanks for Guest Posting for us, Casey

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Butter Caper Beer Chicken Recipe by Casey, ProjectGirlGetFit.com

Hey guys! I'm so excited to be guest posting for the sisters while they get to spend some girl bonding time together with their mom! Before we get to that, how about a little introduction though....

My name is Casey and I blog over at Project Girl Get Fit. I'm a 26 year old Chicago native and am working on my masters degree in social work. I have two younger sisters that I absolutely adore (which is one of the reasons that I love Naturally Fit Sisters' blog so much!) and I love spending time with my massive family.

Part of the family at a birthday party weekend earlier this summer...

I'm a bit of a workout junkie and split my time between working with my personal trainer, going to CrossFit, dancing, and running as many races as possible. Add in trying new activities at every opportunity and it's safe to say that I never need too much persuasion to go get a good workout in! So far this summer, I've run in 7 races this summer and have at least 7 more on the books before the end of the year. The craziest part is that I just started running in February of this year!

Dan and I at the end of the Color Run

Anyway, so I love to eat, but kind of hate to cook. I think I'd like it if I took the time to really learn how, but with school and work and well.... life, I never really have the time. So it ends up being that I cook to feed myself instead of because I truly enjoy it. One of my favorite summer recipes is Chicken Piccata. The lemon caper sauce gets me every time and it is my oh my delicious! But I started experimenting with cooking a little bit this summer and finally landed on a slightly different version that is just as tasty!

What you'll need:

2 Chicken Breasts

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 Tbsp Grapeseed Oil

Butter Caper Beer Sauce:

1 Tbsp Grapeseed Oil

1 Tbsp Shallots, diced

1 cup Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy Beer

1 Tbsp Capers

1 Tbsp Butter

To make the chicken, either throw it on the grill or coat a skillet with 1 Tbsp Grapeseed Oil and sauté the chicken until tender, but fully cooked. Place the chicken on a dinner plate and set to the side. To make the sauce, add 1 Tbsp Grapeseed Oil to the skillet. Add the shallots and sauté for about a minute or so. Remove from the heat and carefully add the beer (be careful not to splash the oil out onto yourself! Oil burns are THE WORST!). Put the skillet back on stove and simmer to reduce the mixture. You want to reduce the liquid by about 75% or so. Add the capers and butter and stir to melt the butter. Making the sauce shouldn't take very long at all, so the chicken will still be hot. Pour the Butter Caper Beer sauce over the chicken and enjoy!

I like pairing it with some kind of pasta, like orzo or angel hair, or some steamed veggies, like asparagus. Yum!

I hope you all enjoy this yummy recipe! I’d love to hear what you think if you decide to try it out, so come let me know either on my blog or on my facebook page!

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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

GIVEAWAY-Nutrition Snob

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So.....

We are back with our Wednesday GIVEAWAYS!

We have a bunch of awesome/fun things lined up for the rest of the year to Giveaway to YOU! and we are SO EXCITED to share today's GIVEAWAY from Nutrition Snob!!

First off, you have got to go visit her Etsy shop! She sells a bunch of cute fitness apparel. From tanks to cute sweatshirts, and they have some great sayings on them!

Here we are in our Nutrition Snob sweatshirts! How cute huh!!

These sweatshirts are so amazing. They are so soft and such a comfortable fit. We bought them in our size and they fit perfectly. If you are wanting big, soft, comfort we recommend going one size up and to have that. We, personally, are happy with the sizes we got because they can be used for comfort or cuteness. Now that Big Sis has a belly starting to poke out with Baby #2, it clings a little more than it did when we first got them!

These sweaters have already been washed and dried several times. I, Big Sis, was a little worried about washing mine because I don't have that perfect body like Lil Sis :) But these sweatshirts bounced back to the same fit from when we first got them! They have not shrunk or changed color. You will love how the shirts are after you wash them.

Sometimes when you wash sweatshirts they seem to "beat up"... these do not do that. The inside of the sweatshirts are a very soft material. This did not change at all with washing either! :)

The other thing we were totally amazed by was the print. When we got them in the mail the print shocked us. The print is imprinted in the shirt. You can't feel it on top of the shirt. It is thin and comfortable. Many times we have seen that the shirts that we have gotten similar to this the printing quality isn't something we are extremely happy about. However, Nutrition Snob has her print shop set up where she has the best quality.

We support Nutrition Snob and her business adventures because we love her product AND she is a fellow USAF sister. (Well we aren't in the military, but Big Sis' husband is)...

Oh and how exciting.. today we just saw one of her newer shirts that Big Sis plans to purchase.. and it is so adorable. It says "Pregnant IS the NEW Skinny!"

And do you notice something different about these photos...?

Can you guess??

That's right, Big Sis & Little Sis are in the same photo!

Big Sis is here this week visiting with our family in Texas, and Little Sis took off work to come to their home town too! We are so happy to be together, and so excited because this Sunday we are doing a half marathon together...Little Sister's first, Big Sister's third!

We look forward to showing you more exciting posts with us together after our vacation. As for now though we are off in our cute sweatshirts to go see some friends and family!

So....how would you like to Win a Free Nutrition Snob Shirt of your choice!?!? Here are a few more with cute sayings!

All you have to do is enter the rafflecopter to win!

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Monday, October 15, 2012

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

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Hi! I'm Sharon and I blog at mrshinesclass.com where we cook, decorate and d.i.y. our way to a better home. I am passionate about homemaking and my house never feels more like a home than when I'm cooking.

cooking, spaghetti sauce, recipe, semi-homemade, kitchen

Spaghetti night is a family favorite in the Hines house. We have been known to use jar sauce, but lately I've gotten back into the habit of making my own sauce. Well, it's more semi-homemade. Does that make me like Sandra Lee?

This recipe has evolved over the years and I finally have "perfected" it to my liking.

source

Here's my recipe for the spaghetti sauce:

1 lb. ground meat

1 small white onion

3 garlic cloves minced

1 small can of tomato paste

1 regular sized can of tomatoe sauce

1 regular sized can of petite diced tomatoes, or dice your own

1/2 - 1 tbsp oregano

1 tbsp parsley

1/2 - 1 tbsp basil

1/2 - 1 tbsp thyme

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

1 tbsp of sugar

salt to taste

pepper to taste

~ All seasoning measurements are estimates. The greater amounts make for a zesty sauce. For a milder flavor, go with lesser amounts.

Directions:

dice onion, mince garlic and set aside. Combine oregano, parsely, basil and thyme is small bowl and blend well.

brown ground meat. once browned, scoot to side of skillet. add onion and saute til translucent. add garlic and saute stirring often..don't want it to burn.

Stir sauted onions and garlic into the meat. Drain fat.

Salt and pepper the meat mixture according to taste. Add tomato sauce, then add paste. Mix well. Add diced tomatoes. Save empty can and fill it half full with water. Gradually stir in water to desired consistency.

Add italian seasoning blend you made and stir in well. Stir in red pepper if desired. Next add a tbsp of sugar to cut the spice. Bring to a full simmer. Reduce heat and put on lid. Let simmer for half an hour.

Serve with a tossed salad or a caprese salad and garlic toast.

Bon appetit!

Until next time,

Sharon

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