What A Nutritionist Eats in Another Day | Melanie Beasley RD, LD

Last summer Melanie, a Nutritional Weight & Wellness nutritionist, shared a full day of meals and snacks with us. We were left inspired to try some of Melanie’s meal planning techniques, cashew coffee cream and more. Today we’re back with another day and another delicious recipe to try for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Without further ado …!

Breakfast

Homemade gluten-free pancake, topped with almond butter and sides of summer sausage and tomatoes.

This is a pancake recipe I frequently make for breakfasts when I don’t feel like a smoothie or eggs. Better yet, you can make these pancakes in advance and freeze them! Simply reheat and you’ve got breakfast ready in a hurry. As you can see in this photo, I just added some local summer sausage I got at the farmer’s market and organic tomato slices for more protein and carbohydrates. The pancakes are great topped with homemade cashew sour cream.

Gluten-Free Pancake Recipe

Makes about eight 4” pancakes. Serving size: two pancakes.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, room temperature
• ¾ cup heavy cream or 1 cup coconut milk (full fat)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1/4 c. coconut flour
• 1/4 c. almond flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Coconut oil or butter, for frying (optional if using non-stick pan or griddle)

Directions

• In a small bowl, whisk eggs until frothy, about two minutes.
• Mix in milk, vanilla, and maple syrup.
• In a medium-sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients (coconut flour, baking soda, salt).
• Stir the wet mixture into the dry; mix until it is smooth. Allow to sit for at least a few minutes while heating your pan.
• Preheat a pan over medium heat with butter or coconut oil. Scoop a dollop of batter onto the griddle, spreading the batter out to 2-3-inches in diameter. Cook for a few minutes until the top starts to dry out and the bottom is lightly brown, then flip the pancakes over and cook until golden brown.
• Serve hot with nut butter and a drizzle of real maple syrup.

Lunch

Leftover chicken, broccoli salad and carrots and avocado.

Let’s call this a leftover lunch, the best kind if you ask me. This chicken was frozen, so I pulled that out along with some broccoli salad I made earlier in the week. I needed  more starchy carbs so that’s where the carrots come in, and another source of fat (we aim for two sources of fat at lunch to keep us fueled!), so that’s the delicious avocado.

Everything ended up getting a little mixed together on this plate, the flavors all worked so well together. Sometimes you’ll be surprised by how delicious a hodgepodge meal can be. Don’t be hesitant about putting foods together that might not seem to be an obvious match.

Snack 

Wild Rice Meatballs with side of cherries.

This is a common snack for me, something I can make in advance, freeze and take out as needed. It’s a variation of our Wild Rice Meatball recipe. I’m very sensitive to starchy carbs, so I have to use 1/3 the amount of wild rice the recipe calls for. To make up for taking something out, I add chopped walnuts in the meatballs for a boost of Omega 3. I added some cherries for a treat.

Dinner

Mango Verde Chicken with side of spaghetti squash topped with butter.

I use my crockpot year round. Summer or winter, I love walking in the door knowing that dinner is ready! This night I actually used two crock pots, one to cook a spaghetti squash and the other to cook the chicken for this Mango Verde Chicken. My daughter made this recipe for me, and it is creamy, easy, and delicious, plus it’s gluten and dairy free. 

And that’s a wrap! It is always fun to see what a nutritionist eats in a realistic day, and hopefully it gives you some inspiration in your own kitchen. For even more ideas, check out the other entries in the series or our catalog of real food recipes.