RDTOD September Favorites

Welcome to RDtipoftheday's favorites September edition. This is my blog series that highlights some of the best things I've been watching, reading, listening to, cooking, and eating. These are a few of my favorite things this month.

Eating & Cooking

I found an herby pesto-like sauce that I'm loving. It's a combination of herbs, garlic, and olive oil. I plan to post a recipe soon. I love this green, delicious sauce so much that I bought the herbs to grow into my own little planter garden. I don't have a green thumb or a large garden, so this planter box is perfect. It's a great starter garden on garden for the city. Do you have a garden? Any tips for growing herbs?

I like taking cooking classes. Recently, I've completed a cake decorating class and practiced decorating cookies and cakes at home. When you decorate cakes, you usually use buttercream or fondant. When you decorate cookies, it is common to use royal icing. So, I researched what is the difference between buttercream and royal icing?

The picture above is of some moist chocolate cupcakes I made. You need to bake cupcakes to be able to practice frosting. P.s. Don't worry I shared the cupcakes with friends and family.

I have not experimented with coloring or decorating with fondant myself. So, here's a video about fondant basics.

image from grayduckbakeshop

I love pineapples and watermelon. I just started learning about cake decorating. So, this cake is my inspiration to keep practicing. #CakeGoals

Watching

How are you enjoying your Fall semester? I always loved back to school. New clothes/uniforms, school supplies, and making new friends. If back to school has you down, this video should cheer you up; it's lunchtime. 

Reading
I'm enjoying Shauna Neiquist's new book Present Over Perfect. It's a super challenging and encouraging at the same time. This is one of my favorite quotes: it reads: "And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good." by John Steinbeck. 

One of my friends is hosting a brunch and books get together. A group of us are reading Present Over Perfect. I'm excited! I love eating especially brunch, talking, and reading. So, I'm super excited to hang out with the girls and do some of my most favorite things!

Encouraging
Working in nutrition, I hear a lot of people wanting to be perfect - perfect diet, perfect look, perfect this, and perfect that. I don't think perfection is achievable. My goal for myself and my clients is to live a healthy, balanced life and do your best - not a life seeking an illusion of perfection. I think there is a balance of making healthy choices and living a balanced, healthy life. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you live a healthy, balanced life. Feel free to comment below.

I hope you enjoyed these tips, recipes, and all of my favorites from this month. Let me know if this is a feature that you would like me to continue by commenting below. And, let me know if you have something you want to be featured. Thanks! Have a great weekend!

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy:

RD's Top 5 Tips for Healthy Eating

RDtipoftheday Favorites August

Reader Favorites August

State of My Goals Address: July Edition

As promised, I am sharing updates on my goals and 2016 resolutions in the state of my goals address. You can take a look at my 2016 goals and my thoughts on goals and resolutions. Sharing these goals is a way to keep me accountable and help me to improve, grow, and learn. People who share their goals tend to be more successful. So, I'm sharing the goals here to encourage you and to keep me accountable. You're welcome to comment with your goals and share your progress as well. Feel free to tag your goals with #RDTODgoals or #healthyRD on social media.

2016 Goals

Try 30 new recipes. 

In July, I tried a few new recipes including:

• Sprinkle Cake with browned butter 
• It was fun to practice some of the leveling and icing skills that I learned at my first cake decorating class. The sprinkle cake was more crumbly than the cake we used in class, but it was delicious!

• Sugar cookies

• Scallops with a lemon orange gastric 

• Royal Icing

• Cake balls 
• This was my first attempt at cake balls. They are a bit messy; I learned a lot. They are far from perfect, but they were delicious!

For those keeping track, this makes my new recipe count 26 out of 30.

Build endurance and strength.
I'm still loving my weight lifting class. I also restarted Zumba. I danced in high school and love to dance. I found an instructor that I like taking class from, so yay for cardio!

image from amazon.com

Read more.
I read Playing with Fire by Bianca Olthoff. You can read my review of Playing with Fire from my July favorites. The book is available for pre-order. Please note that I was able to get an early copy of the book, since I was a part of the book launch team.

For those keeping track, my book count is 5 in 2016.

Learn something new.
I took a break from cooking classes this month. Instead, I took a cookie decorating class. My first attempt at icing cookies with royal icing did not go smoothly. So, I was excited to learn some tips and tricks for cookie decorating and working with royal icing. Stay tuned for my class review.

I practiced making pasta with my pasta KitchenAid attachment. My husband surprised me with the pasta roller as a half birthday present; so nice! I've practiced making pasta with friends. It's so nice to have friends help you make pasta. It's great to have two or more pairs of hands. And, it's nice to have people to visit when you make tortellini because it takes time to make homemade pasta.

Travel.

There was no big travel this month. But, we have some travel plans later this year. So, stay tuned!

These are my broad goals for 2016. What goals are you working on in 2016?
Comment below. I would love to hear your goals and progress.

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

If you liked this post, you might enjoy:

July Favorites

Let's Celebrate July

Thyme Blueberry Crisp

Goals: June