It must be something in the air, but I got the crazy desire today to cut my hair. And cut I did! I can’t say I thought about it all that much. It was impulsive, to say the least. Ahh! When all was said and done, I think I cut off somewhere around six inches. I can hardly believe it, but I feel even more ready for summer than ever before. Happy weekend, all!Madison

Last week when I posted a picture of the tofu I had in my lunch from dinner the night before, I got a lot of requests for the recipe. Honestly, I haven’t had much success preparing tofu at home in the past. Usually it ends up getting stuck to the skillet or ends up tasting soggy and tasteless. Unless, of course, you cover it in a bunch of browned butter or calorie-dense sauce, but I guess that really negates the … Read More

Today’s No Fat Talk Tuesday post comes to us from Chelsy. She is a longtime Espresso and Cream reader (and recently won the Chobani giveaway), and blogs about food and life over at Mangia. Chelsy brings a unique perspective to the series, having majored in Kinesiology. And in May she will officially be a certified ACE personal trainer. It’s amazing to read her story of how she came to be such a healthy, beautiful and confident woman. Thanks for sharing, … Read More

  Twice a year, I go through my closet and do a little sorting and purging. I get rid of old items I haven’t worn in the past year and bring them to my local consignment shop or Goodwill, depending on the condition they are in. This spring I wanted to do things a little differently. Most of the clothes I was thinking of getting rid of were in great shape, some had hardly been worn more than a few … Read More

When I was home in Idaho a couple weeks ago, my dad asked me (earnestly, not in a sarcastic manner), “What do you eat?” You see, my dad’s a very healthy eater, but the world of vegetarianism is an uncharted world to him. After returning home, his question stuck with me. What do I eat? Normal things, of course! It was so familiar to me, that I hardly knew how to answer the question. So to answer the question, I … Read More

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Nutmeg got a haircut last Friday, so we took a few beauty shots. She was also complaining about not being on the blog much lately, so before I get to talking about food tracking, here are a few snapshots. Lately, I’ve been getting quite a few Tweets and e-mails about protein and nutrition, much of which is directly related to being a vegetarian. Many people wonder if you can get enough protein day-to-day without consuming meat, and … Read More

Last fall when I was in NYC for The Rachael Ray Show, I had the pleasure of finally getting to meet my blog friend, Lauren, in real life. Lauren and I had been commenting on one another’s blogs and talking via Twitter for almost a year, and I was trilled to find out she is just as sweet and wonderful in person as she is on the web. Don’t you love it when that happens? I knew Lauren loved to … Read More

  Last weekend when Joe and I were in Idaho visiting my family, we stopped by Great Harvest to pick up some bread for the weekend. Like Joe and me, my family loves Great Harvest bread because it tastes, well, like bread is supposed to taste. I could go on and on about their bread, but I’ll spare you the details and tell you to get yourself to a location near you.  Up until six months ago, Des Moines had … Read More

Last week Wednesday I hopped on a plane and headed to New York for five days to attend IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals). You might remember last year’s trip to Austin, in which I met the lovely Dorie Greenspan, watched thousands of bats fly at night and ate some of the most amazing tacos of my life. This year’s trip was entirely different but every bit as fun. Most of my time was spent at the conference, but during … Read More

Today’s No Fat Talk Tuesday post is from the lovely Alaina who blogs over at The Jogging Concierge. Although Alaina claims she doesn’t really have a way with words, I would beg to disagree. Her story touched me and motivated me to continue to work towards fighting the good fight against fat talk. Thank you, Alaina, for sharing your story and helping others learn to love their bodies! – Madison I’ve never really been the one who was extremely eloquent … Read More

Hello, all! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I’ve actually been away in NYC for work since Wednesday (more on that later) and am just getting home today so things have been a little slow around these parts. But I know what you really want to know is who won the giveaway, right? It seems like I’m not the only one obsessed with Greek yogurt since over a hundred of you entered to win the free Chobani. So, let’s … Read More

When Joe and I first got married, Joe’s mom, Lisa, gifted me with a recipe book filled with her grandmother’s recipes. This binder, filled with scans of recipes both handwritten and clipped from various sources, is called ‘Grandma Jacobs Recipe Book’, and boy is it a gem. Although I don’t think I’ll be making many of the entrees or ‘salads’ out of this book, the desserts immediately won me over. As someone who develops recipes for a living, I was … Read More