grain salad bowl leftovers butternut rice pork
December 7, 2018 (Updated March 8, 2023)

Friday Faves/Randomness

by Anne Mauney, MPH, RD

15 comments

Hi guys! Popping in with some faves to close out your weeks. In case you missed it, be sure to check out the gift guide I posted yesterday – there are gift ideas for your favorite runner, fitness fan, foodie, new/expectant parent, baby, and 1-ish year old! And now, on to the randomness.

1) We leave for Florida on Sunday!! Matt and I decided it was time to get brave and actually go on a trip with Riese that involved flying vs. just driving. Our nanny needs next week off so we decided it was the perfect opportunity for a little family vacay! Bring on the sunshine. You can see what we are up to on Instagram, and I have a bunch of blog posts scheduled to go live next week while we’re gone, too, so please keep checking back as usual. 🙂 If you have any tips for air travel with 1 year old, I’d love to hear them!

2) I’m loving everything but the kitchen sink grain salad bowls lately – this one had leftover roasted butternut squash, brown rice, arugula, feta, apple and cabbage slaw, pulled pork, and radishes. Told you it was everything but the kitchen sink. 😉 Super random but satisfying combo! I put a lemon/olive oil/apple cider vinegar vinaigrette on top.

grain salad bowl leftovers butternut rice pork

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3) I’m honored to be on the IFIC podcast talking about intuitive eating for kids, and how you can help teach your child to have a healthy relationship with food. Check it out here.

4) This is my new favorite breakfast. 

5) I’m obsessed with baby holiday and winter clothes. The tiny sweater dresses! The fuzzy boots (which she pulls off immediately, of course)! The adorable hats and coats! I can’t take the cuteness.

6) Speaking of the little one, this is how we spend all day everyday. My little velcro babe! Note to self: don’t wear loose pants. 😉

7) This TED Talk is worth a listen. 

8) If you want a fun idea for decorating pies this holiday season, make paper snowflakes, place them on the top of the (baked/cooled/set) pie, and shake some confectioners sugar on top!

Remove the paper et voila – fun snowflake shapes on your pie. 🙂 Sarah and I used a bit too much sugar because we were busy photographing, but it still came out cute! It didn’t work as well on the pie on the left because that one was still pretty moist – it absorbed everything! So try this on more dry/fully set pies.

how to make snowflake decorations on top of pie

Sidenote – who else is obsessed with the Great British Baking Show?!

I love it – so entertaining and it’s amazing how creative they get – it’s really inspiring me! I love how positive and supportive they are with each other, too… I don’t like normal reality TV much because it’s always so negative/catty, so this has been a breath of fresh air. 🙂 I just watched the “vegan week” episode in season 6, so it’s appropriate to share that I’ve got a vegan no bake (but bake-friendly) pie crust recipe coming at you on Monday – stay tuned, and have a great weekend!

- anne

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15 comments
  • Laura Swanson
    We love watching the Great British Baking Show. We always ohhh and ahhh over the creations and wish we could sample it! Where in Florida are you going?
    Reply
    • Anne
      Near West Palm Beach!
      Reply
  • Laura
    Hi Anne! I am in Florida (Tampa); not sure where you are headed but it's going to be "cold" here next week. Hahaha. It should be gorgeous. We have flown with my daughter kind of a lot (to go to cold places, ha). Flying with the baby is okay, especially after you go through security. No matter what plans I made, security was always annoying. I would say the worst of it was that the scan all the baby food and touch it all with their dirty gloves, and that they never know what an ice pack looks like through the X-ray. However, both the baby carrier and the stroller worked well in the airport, especially when we started gate checking the stroller, so I didn't have to carry her the entire time. The only other hard lesson we've learned is that taking the car seat on the plate is totally not worth it. It's so big and clunky and doesn't fit through the aisle well, and then she didn't want to be strapped into it anyway and cried. Overall it is fine, we just walk around and look at everything in the airport to keep her occupied while we can. Now that's she's older we can throw the tablet at her on the flight, because this is real life. I hope you have a great trip!
    Reply
  • Angie
    Hi, Love your blog. I too am a dietitian and mother. :). I can tell you flying will be fine. We did it with our baby with no problems, but now we have 4 under 5 and I doubt will be going anywhere soon. Honestly, the baby will probably just sleep the whole way. Good luck! I’m jealous you have a nanny. My husband and I have to take on the childcare ourselves and we both work! It’s rough!
    Reply
    • Anne
      4 under 5 - wow! You guys have your hands full! Thanks for reading :)
      Reply
  • Stephanie
    When my daughter was Riese’s age she used to cling to my legs in the kitchen. My husband got a picture of me making dinner with my (pajama) pants around my ankles and my daughter clinging to my bare legs because she kept yanking them down ?
    Reply
    • Anne
      OMG that's amazing
      Reply
  • Roadrunner
    That is a truly random, fun post, thanks! And best of luck with the plane flights and the week in the sun!
    Reply
  • Emily P
    My kids (4 and 7) and I love to watch the Great British Baking Show! They keep asking me when I'll make some of those creations (ha!) We just started season 6 on Netflix but watched all of the prior seasons on PBS.
    Reply
  • Jaclyn
    We flew to Colorado with my son when he was eight months old. My best tip is: feed the baby during takeoff and landing. I nursed but a bottle would work as well if it’s not one of her nursing times. If they’re eating, then they’re swallowing and popping their ears. Crying on the plane is often due to discomfort with the pressure building in their little ears, and feeding during those times of altitude change is the easiest way to get them to swallow and relieve the pressure without them realizing what is going on! I made sure to nurse my son whether he was hungry or not during every takeoff and landing, and he didn’t cry once on the flights. Have a great trip!
    Reply
    • Anne
      This was a good tip, thank you!
      Reply
  • Eva
    Great British baking show is our weekend brunch time tradition! We save it for weekend brunches when we’re at home and can just relax for a few hours watching — love it so much :) we love how the judges sometimes say the BEST insults yet they’re so polite and direct about it it comes out like nothing at all— gotta love the Brits!
    Reply
    • Anne
      Haha I know, they are so polite! I love how nice the contestants are to each other too. No drama!
      Reply
  • Angie
    I found one year to 2 the hardest to fly with because their mobile but they can’t focus on an activity for too long, but we did it anyway. Our kids flew 8 times last year and it does get easier every time. Just tons of snacks and new toys (or ones they haven’t seen in awhile). Also, I got bags for their car seats and you can throw extra diapers, crib sheets, blankets, and stuff for the hotel and not use up suitcase space. Good luck! It’s not as fun traveling with younger kids but now that mine are 6 and 2.5 I’m glad we didn’t just stay home and exposed them to so much.
    Reply