When in doubt, veg it out.

It’s no secret I love my veggies. I have been really getting after it lately with taking more food photos again so I thought I would share, and maybe inspire you to get your veg on too.

Pictured: a bed of baby spinach (I went raw, but could have been deliciously wilted), roasted sweet potatoes, sautéed onions, two over-easy eggs, avocado and everything but the bagel seasoning! I had prepped the sweet potato ahead of time so this lunch only took about 6-7 minutes to whip up when hunger struck. That’s manageable in my opinion!

Pictured below: a revised version of these baked pretzel chicken fingers. I used almond flour instead of regular flour, omitted the chili powder and added mustard powder. I want to make this again so I can share the exact recipe with you all because it was a HIT. I served it on top of a mix of spinach and romaine, avocado, mandarin oranges (kids are obsessed with those!), grapes, feta cheese, sliced almonds and a drizzle of strawberry vinaigrette. This was indeed restaurant quality. I served it with a whole grain baguette and BUTTAh.

PERFECTO MUNDO.

This last photo isn’t as pretty as the others (taken on my old phone) but it was equally as delicious and worth sharing. This is from a “vegged up” taco night I had with some of my girlfriends. I piled spinach on my plate and topped it with tomatoes, black olives, corn, black beans, guacamole, sautéed bell peppers and onions, taco chicken, cilantro, crushed corn tortilla chips, salsa, and a dollop of Greek yogurt.

Ok, right? Yea I know.

Tell me about your latest and greatest veggie-lovin’ meals! Inspire me!

Continue Reading When in doubt, veg it out.

Weekly Eats: Fruit and Veggie Love

Happy Hump Day!

I’m getting in on the WIAW action today and am linking up with Jenn! As always, I am recapping some of my eats from the whole week and looking back, I packed in lotsa fruits and veggies. Love it!

This colorful salad: mixed dark greens, broccoli, zucchini, pinto beans, shredded cheddar, red bell pepper, sliced almonds, and cottage cheese. SO GOOD! One of the best salads I’ve made in a while.

salad

Red, yellow, and orange bell peppers have been my go-to veggie this week. They are so crunchy and sweet and amazing.

Banana and peanut butter wrap in a brown rice tortilla with a sprinkle of cinnamon and drizzle of honey. Always a winner.

peanut butter banana wrap

Organic cottage cheese with blackberries and sliced almonds.  cottage cheese

Lots of smoothies as always.

smoothies

Gluten-free sweet potato pizza crust!

sweet potato pizza crust

Asian chicken slaw!

asian chicken slaw

My go-to fruit this week: Driscoll’s raspberries.

raspberries

My contribution to a work potluck: turkey bacon wrapped pineapple with a sprinkle of brown sugar on top!

bacon-wrapped pineapple

My potluck plate: roasted red pepper soup, pb and j, tuna noodle salad, red velvet cookie, and strawberries. We had a Valentine’s red and pink themed potluck! So many delicious treats. We don’t mess around with food at our work meetings.

work potluck

The sugar intake has gotten out of hand once again so I am planning to stay clear of refined sugar for two weeks starting now!

Have a happy day!

wiawloveyourveggiesmonthbutton2

Continue Reading Weekly Eats: Fruit and Veggie Love

Warm and Comforting Meals

Hey there!

Remember my New Year’s “resolution”? I am happy to say that over a week into the year, I am still on a roll with getting more creative with my meals, or more so being more motivated to make meals. I did get some help this week from family and friends but I did a bunch on my own too! I’m taking a few extra minutes on the weekends to semi-plan some meals for the week, so that I can get everything I need on our weekly grocery trip.

I missed the WIAW link-up yesterday, but want to share some of my veggie-packed eats as of lately. So here I go again with my version of WIAW: What I’ve Been Eating Lately: Warm and Comforting Meals!

Sautéed mushrooms, onions, black beans, and tomatoes served over crunchy spinach with havarti cheese and an egg. The egg was supposed to be over-easy but I kept cracking the sensitive yolk. I gave up after cracking the yolk on my second attempt. It was still good just not as good.

veggies with egg

Homemade chili from Amanda! I topped the chili with some colby jack cheese we had on hand. Sorry about the lighting; it doesn’t do the soup justice I swear!

chili from amanda

Mom’s homemade meatloaf! This meal was thoroughly enjoyed on an extremely cold winter evening here in Minnesota; one of the coldest we’ve had in a long time. Talk about comfort food. It warms my belly just thinking of it. Mmmm so so good.

meatloaf

Mom’s homemade ham and bean soup. She used the leftover ham from Christmas to make this super comforting soup.

ham and bean soup

I was so excited that I had a few meals made for me this week. It always holds true that when someone else makes food for you, it tastes better. Thanks mom and Amanda!

I definitely preferred warm meals this week due to the weather (besides my smoothies of course), but did manage to make a couple of cold salads. This one is spinach, broccoli, muffuletta mix, havarti cheese, BBQ chicken, and ranch.

bbq chicken spinach salad

Last night I made chicken stuffed zucchini boats. I mixed together diced cooked chicken, diced onion, parmesan cheese, and marinara sauce. I hollowed out a zucchini and filled it with the mixture. I topped the boats with mozzarella cheese and a bit more parmesan, baked them at 375 degrees F for about 15-20 minutes, and finished them off under the broiler.

zucchini boats with chicken marinara zucchini boats with chicken marinara

Not too shabby for an impromptu Wednesday evening meal!

Let’s hope the creativity continues all year!

What have you been cooking up lately?

Continue Reading Warm and Comforting Meals

Wicked and What I’ve Been Eating Lately

Well, hello there! How are you doing my friends? I am just fine over here. I had an incredibly relaxing weekend full of family and friends.

Oh, I suppose I haven’t filled you in on my Thursday evening yet either.

On Thursday, I went to the Orpheum in Minneapolis to see Wicked!! It was Dana and me, mom and dad, and Kevin. Please excuse the blurry photo–it was raining and people were pouring out behind me so I had to take a walking photo.

wcked

 

wicked with family

dana melanie wicked orpheum

 

This was my first time going to see Wicked and holy cow….I get what all of the hype is about! It was funny, the story was great, the music was phenomenal, and the acting was wonderful. It was amazing! So now I can say to you, if you haven’t seen Wicked yet you MUST go see it at some point! You won’t regret it!

Moving on to some food photos. I have a whole slew of random photos of food I have been eating over the last week or so. When I say random, I mean random.

PB and J on regular whole wheat bread (I just had to have it although I’m still trying to mostly stay clear of gluten), carrots, and a pickle.

pb and jelly

Homemade veggie soup. I decided not to share this recipe with you all because the soup is just ok to me. I’m really hoping I get creative in the kitchen this week so I have something nummy to share with you all. I have been slacking!

veggie soup

I’ve really been into the cottage cheese lately. I found that I really like Organic Valley’s 4% cottage cheese. I love it on salads, with veggies, by itself, and with crackers.

cottage cheese

IMG_4251

 

One weeknight I made a big batch of stir-fry veggies over quinoa.

stir fry with quinoa

The next day I used the leftover veggies in a southwestern stye dish with veggies, black beans, avocado, cheddar cheese, and salsa. I really enjoyed this one!

black beans veggies salsa

On Friday night after work, Dana built us a fire in our fireplace. It was a chilly night and it felt so nice and cozy to sit in front of the fire and take care of bills, Halloween costumes, etc. FYI Moose is not a fan of the fires, especially when the logs fall and make crashing noises. He is so ready to bolt in this photo below.

fireplace dana moose

Neither of us really felt like cooking on Friday night, so we cheated and picked up a ready-made meatloaf from Costco. All we had to do was reheat it in the oven. It was good, but not as good as homemade. It was nice to not cook though!

mashed potatoes and meatloaf

 

I’m missing a bunch of food photos. On Sunday our friends had us over for French onion soup (my fav) and chopped salads and they were both SO good. We finished lunch off with homemade apple bars. I felt so spoiled!

Throughout the weekend I think I watched at least 10 episodes of New Girl Season One on Netflix. I can’t believe it took me so long to get into this show. Thanks Luke! 🙂 I also slept a lot and got some walks in on the treadmill (it was a pretty rainy weekend here).

It was perfectly relaxing. I actually feel well-rested after this weekend which feels nice.

How was your weekend? What was your favorite thing you did?

 

Continue Reading Wicked and What I’ve Been Eating Lately

Project Freezer Clean Out

Did this weekend even exist? It went by so fast!

I had a fabulous weekend really, packed with family, beautiful walks, great food, and home projects. Here’s a quick little recap of what was happening around mi casa this weekend.

Friday

I was feeling exhausted after work but brought myself to walk for 35 minutes. Dinner was simple but tasted SO good! It was sautéed broccoli, zucchini, onions, and green beans with diced chicken, apple, and gouda sausage! The dish was very flavorful thanks to the snausage sausage.

chicken sausage veggie saute

Saturday

I met my cousin Betsy out at Target Field in Minneapolis for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Our local news anchor Diana Pierce kicked off the event. Senator Amy Klobuchar also spoke, and I saw local sports reporter Eric Perkins on the walk and said “hi”! To any locals, you might know some of these folks. 🙂

walk for alzheimers walk for alzheimers

The weather was beautiful and the walk was so much fun. We were led through the streets of downtown Minneapolis and into Loring Park (which is where I was last weekend!)

walk for alzheimers

Bets and I made a pit stop at Caribou on the way back of course. Because of this, we didn’t win the race. 😉

There are so many people affected by Alzheimer’s, my grandma being one of them. It is a horrible disease that needs to end! They are researching like crazy to find the cure, and I pray they do. I can’t wait to do the walk again next year to support the research and end Alzheimer’s.

This weekend I solidified my obsession for these Blue Diamond Salt n’ Vinegar Almonds that I got from the Summit last weekend. I’ve looked in CVS and Target so far and I haven’t been able to find this flavor anywhere yet. I should have grabbed ten bags at the Summit. Seriously these things are awesome! They are tangy and salty. MMM…mmmm!

blue diamond salt n vinegar almonds

 

I dragged the Fall decorations up on Saturday. Our house is looking mighty festive!

mantle fall autumn

 

In the evening we had a bunch of family over for dinner at our house. I finally got to wear my ZeeBee Threads t-shirt dress! I paired it with a zebra print scarf, grey leggings, and actually had to wear a long black cardigan too because it was CHILLY! This dress is so incredibly comfortable. I was so happy to be comfy yet still be wearing a cute outfit at the same time. Ya’ll know I’m all about comfort.

zeebee threads dress

I was overly excited for dinner because we were getting pizza. I should really look back on the blog to determine the last time I actually ate real, not gluten-free, not cauliflower pizza crust… just real original legit pizza. My system has been cooling down quite a bit and I wanted to try this one treat to see how I held up.

pizza

The results: I think I felt fine—I didn’t feel any different really! Not that I will make this a common meal but it’s good to know I can handle it every once and a while. It tasted just as good as I remembered too!

Sunday

I am beginning a project freezer clean out and dug this up from the freezer: gluten-free lemon blueberry bread. I topped it with some almond butter and called it breakfast.

blueberry lemon bread

After breakfast we ran our errands and got a few groceries but not too many because we are going on VACATION at the end of the week! I am realizing I haven’t said much about this yet. More to come on the vaca 411.

This week I plan to eat food from the freezer primarily. We have loads of frozen veggies, frozen meats, leftover soups, chili, etc. It will feel good to begin cleaning out the freezer! PROJECT FREEZER (and fridge) CLEAN OUT!

For dinner I made a batch of yellow quinoa and topped it with sautéed broccoli, zucchini, onions, chicken, and fresh tomatoes, olives, and hummus. A Mediterranean-inspired dish! My fav.

 

mediterranean inspired meal

 

It tasted as good as it looked!

We tackled a few projects around the house, relaxed a bit, watched some of the Emmy’s, and called it an early night on Sunday. It was another fabulous weekend for the books!

How was YOUR weekend? What did you do?

Are you in need of a project freezer clean out?

Continue Reading Project Freezer Clean Out

Photo Leftovers

The 2013 Healthy Living Summit is just one day away. Wanna know more about HLS? You can read up on my recaps from last year in Boston.

Destination Boston HLS12
Shake Out the Nerves HLS Day 1
Cheers to New Friends HLS Day 2
Decisions, Decisions HLS Day 3

I am so excited to be reunited with my girls and to meet so many new blends!

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So you’ve seen it before from me, and yet again I have some super delicious food photos and some other random other photos that are piling up and needing to be shared with you all.

It’s an easy one for all of us with virtually no thinking involved—leftover day. Sit back and enjoy.

Strawberry Chicken Poppyseed Salad from Panera. I finally got it even though summer is coming to an end. I was actually nervous when I went there because I was afraid I had missed my opportunity. I LOVE this salad.

panera salad

Dinner made my mamacita: tilapia, roasted veggies, and smoky quinoa. Means always taste better when someone else makes them for you.

tilapia and vegetables

Some new pb spread called Tru-Nut that was sent to me to try on gluten-free brown rice toast.  I’m still deciding how I feel about it.

gluten free toast with tru-nut butter

A delightfully veggie-packed salad: mixed greens, broccoli, tomatoes, peas, turkey, cheese, sunflower seeds, and honey mustard.

salad

My favorite salmon with almond, capers, and sesame oil with grilled veggies.

salmon with veggies

A care package from Wild Harvest—thank you and see you guys soon!

wild harvest package

My new friends I met in New York on the cover of the Variety section this week!

mn girls bethenny in newspaper

IMG_3833

And Moose.

moose

Happy Thursday!

Do you have any leftover goodies hanging out on your phones or camera?!

What are your thoughts on leftover food? Yay or nay?

Continue Reading Photo Leftovers

Basil Mint Mojito and a Simple Dinner Idea

Hello, hello!

Are you looking for a cool and refreshing bubbly drink to help beat the summer heat? I have concocted a healthified version of a Basil Mint Mojito!

I wrote a guest post for Hannah over at Clean Eating Veggie Girl. Head on over there and check it out!

basil mint mojito

 

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I have been seriously slacking on any type of strength workouts over here. I am beginning to feel it too. I am going to slowly incorporate back in some weight-bearing strength exercise:

  • Planks
  • Push-ups
  • Tricep Dips
  • Squats
  • Lunges
  • Yoga

I am going to keep it super low-key and not stress about it, but at the same time want to form a habit of doing it so it becomes just an everyday thing I do like brushing my teeth. So that’s that!

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Dinner last night was incredibly delicious and so simple! I sautéed zucchini, onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms in olive oil and seasoned them with salt, pepper, and oregano. Then I plated them over quinoa and topped them with a spoonful of hummus and chopped green olives.

sauteed veggies quinoa and hummus

 

This whole thing came together in five minutes so there’s no excuse not to make it! You could even throw some cooked chickpeas in there to add more protein. I am in love with this dish and may make it again for dinner tonight!

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How’s that for randomness? I hope you all have a fabulous Tuesday and I’ll catch up with you soon!

xoxo

What’s for dinner tonight?

Continue Reading Basil Mint Mojito and a Simple Dinner Idea

Baked Vegetable Marinara

Well hello again ya’ll! Did everyone have a fantabulous Friday? Mine was pretty great and very productive.

It started out with a couple of errands and appointments. I made myself a green smoothie super loaded with kale, egg white protein powder, almond milk, and a banana to begin fueling the fire (aka breaking the fast, getting the metabolism revved up).

green smoothie

Dana and I made a trip to Starbucks while we were out. I decided on a light roast with a splash of half and half and a shot of hazelnut flavor. This really got me “revved up.”

On the way home from our errands I was starving. I am always prepared with food in my purse and had a delicious apple turnover Uberbar calling out to me, so I dug right in.

uberbar

LARABAR, marry me? I love these things.

Within another couple of hours I was hungry again, but was planning on getting my workout in at that point, so I made myself a small snack plate to tide me over yet not fill me up too much.

Turkey breast with avocado, and sugar snap peas and hummus.

snack plate

Next on the agenda: the treadmill. I did the same combo as the other day alternating between running on the treadmill and the ab challenge circuits. I was feeling very fatigued yesterday so ran at a very easy pace. I was nice and sweaty by the time I was done.

Enter another snack: microwaved apple with cinnamon and coconut oil:

apple

Followed by a spoonful of almond butter. Then it was time to change into my painting clothes and get to work on the laundry room. That is where you found Dana and I for a good 3-4 hours. Jammin’ out to music and painting the laundry room. It is amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do to a room. I am so anxious to see it when it is all finished. Tiling the floor is on the agenda today!

Dinner

I was SO glad I had prepared our meal the day before and had it waiting in the fridge to go into the oven, because by the time dinner rolled around we were both exhausted.

I created a concoction I am going to call Baked Vegetable Marinara. I can’t figure out why I haven’t thought of this creation until now, because it was stellar.

I began by roasting my chopped veggies in the oven for about 20 minutes. I chose to use broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms, onion, and garlic. I spritzed them with olive oil and sprinkled them with a little salt and pepper before they went into the oven.

Roasting the vegetables before baking them in the dish helps to remove some moisture from the vegetables so that you don’t end up with a watery dish.

baked vegetable marinara

While the veggies were roasting, I made the cheesy topping. I combined shredded Monterey jack, parmesan, almond flour, dried oregano, dried basil, garlic powder, salt and pepper and gave it a good stir. 

baked vegetable marinara topping

One the veggies were done roasting, I added two big handfuls of baby kale. Next, I poured the veggies into a bowl and added about 2/3 of a jar of no sugar added Ragu marinara sauce and stirred together.

baked vegetable marinara

I poured the veggies into a lightly sprayed 9 x 9 baking dish.

baked vegetable marinara

And then topped them with the cheesy mixture.

baked vegetable marinara

I baked it in a 400ºF, oven covered with aluminum foil for about 40 minutes (cooking time will vary!). I then removed the foil, and broiled on low until cheese melted and turned slightly golden brown.

baked vegetable marinara baked vegetable marinara baked vegetable marinara

Please, please, do me a favor and make this dish. It is so unbelievable tasty and comforting. Dana and I and our ravenous appetites finished this whole dish except for about four bites. MMMMmmmm.

And more MMmmmmm….I made banana almond bread. Oh yes I did. It was the perfect bedtime snack. I WILL be sharing this recipe with you all soon. I am very excited about it. I had a hard time keeping my animal paws off of it last night.

banana bread

Off I go to another productive day! I hope you all have a beautiful Saturday.

Baked Vegetable Marinara
(these are not “exact” measurements, but they are pretty darn close!)
Ingredients
  • 4-5 cups roasted vegetables–broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, onion, garlic, zucchini
  • 2 cups baby kale or chopped kale
  • 2/3 jar of marinara sauce
  • 1/2 cup grated monterey jack cheese or mozzarella
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 2 TBSP almond flour
  • 1/8 tsp oregano
  • 1/8 tsp basil
  • sprinkle of garlic powder
  • salt and pepper

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat a 9 x 9 baking dish with olive oil.
  2. In a medium bowl combine roasted veggies, kale, and marinara sauce. Pour into prepared dish.
  3. In a small bowl mix together the cheeses, flour, oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Sprinkle cheese mixture over vegetables evenly.
  4. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35-40 minutes.
  5. Uncover and broil on low for 3-5 minutes until cheese is melted and golden brown.
  6. Serve and enjoy!

Question of the day: What are your favorite dishes to make in the winter?

Continue Reading Baked Vegetable Marinara

Catching Up on Weekend Eats

Happy Tuesday!

Since I kind of dove deep yesterday into the topic of curbing my sweet tooth, I didn’t get the chance to share the rest of my kitchen adventures with you from the weekend. Even though it’s already Tuesday, I still want to catch up. There’s no better time than right now!

My Weekend Eats

On Saturday I broke out the food dehydrator. I sliced up fresh bananas which I rolled in melted coconut oil, and frozen strawberries which I thawed in the microwave and sliced thin, and placed them on the dehydrator trays. I let them go for 7 hours.

strawberries in dehydrator

The bananas came out great as they always do, but the strawberries were just kind of ‘meh’ to me. They are good, just not goooooood. I still enjoy them though!

dried strawberries

For dinner Saturday night I had not a clue what I was going to make. After taking inventory in the fridge and freezer, I pulled out a bunch of veggies and got chopping. First I sliced a whole lot of brussels sprouts into shreds. I sprayed them with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted them for about 20 minutes in the oven.

roasted brussel sprouts

In the mean time, I sautéed carrots, onion, mushrooms, and one garlic clove. In a separate  pan, I cooked two strips of turkey bacon.

sauteed veggies

Once the veggies were nearly done on the stove top, I added pre-cooked brown lentils to them, added a pinch of savory seasoning, salt, and pepper, and gave it a good stir.

Once the brussels sprouts were done roasting and the lentils were warmed through, I began plating. First, the lentils and sautéed veggies, next the roasted brussels sprouts, and finally, the icing on the cake, the turkey bacon cut into confetti pieces.

brussels sprouts and lentils brussels sprouts and lentils

This dish was outstanding! There was so much flavor, it was very hearty, and it was full of stick to your ribs soluble fiber. I LOVED it. Dana gave it two thumbs up as well.

Sunday

I already showed you my breakfast in yesterday’s post, so moving on to lunch. After running our normal Target and Costco errands, and grabbing a few nummy samples along the way, I wasn’t that hungry for lunch, but since Dana and I still had more errands to run, I knew I had to eat something to hold me over.

I threw together a salad made of mixed dark greens, blueberries, feta cheese, and almonds.

salad with blueberries

I more than likely ate some dates for dessert. In the afternoon I made homemade cinnamon honey almond butter and you better believe I had to be taste-testing along the way. 😉

Sunday evening dinner was sesame soy salmon. I marinated the salmon in a mixture of low sodium soy sauce, sesame oil, dried ginger, one minced garlic clove, and honey for about one hour. We grilled it on the stove top inside, about 4-5 minutes on each side, until cooked through. I cranked the windows open, turned the vents on high above the stove, and still wound up with a house that smelled like sesame salmon. I’m anxious for the weather to warm up just even slightly so we can grill outside again.

The marinade gave a nice crispy crust to the salmon which was what I was hoping for.  Salmon is one of those foods that I hope grows on me. I’m just not a huge fan…yet. The plan is to eat salmon once a week, in hopes that I will start liking it more and more. It is just so darn healthy and I don’t want to be missing out on that! I didn’t like red wine at first, but I kept trying it and now I love it so I’m hoping for the same effect. We shall see.

DSCN6378

We began a very exciting project around our house on Sunday. We are “remodeling” our laundry room. I use the term loosely because technically in order to remodel something it has to already be modeled, right? Well ours isn’t. Ours wasn’t even fully sheet-rocked yet. It needs a lot of TLC and that is exactly what we’re giving it.

We will be painting the walls, tiling the floor, putting sheet rock up on the necessary walls, and we will be reorganizing. Our basement is completely unfinished except for the bathroom which we completed last year (whoops except I still need to decorate one wall in there).

This is one more step in the right direction in finishing that basement and I am ecstatic about it. Once we have the laundry room completed, I will be sure to show you before and after photos. Mission laundry room!

One last thing. Since it is now the 4th week of January, that means that there is a new workout posted in the 30 Day Abs Challenge. Here it is!

week 4 abs

I can’t believe it is the 4th week in January already. Did this month even happen? I say that every month! I am still keeping up with this challenge and am feeling very good. I will be sure to update you on any progress I made throughout the month once the challenge comes to an end. 🙂

Have a fabulous day!

Questions of the day: What health goals have you made recently? What are your goals for future months?

I am thinking I may need to find another fitness challenge for the month of February. I love how these monthly challenges motivate me and I enjoy the support of other people partaking in the challenge. I like to set goals and reach those goals!

Continue Reading Catching Up on Weekend Eats

Morning Yoga and Food Art

Morning Yoga

Tuesday morning at 5:50 am my alarm went off and I can’t believe I rolled out of bed with the intention of getting a morning workout in before work. I had plans to either run or get my yoga on. I chose the latter mostly due to a cranky neck from sleeping. I figured yoga may help.

I changed into my gear, rolled out the magic purple carpet, and kept the room slightly dark while completing a half hour yoga on demand.

yoga

It has been way too long since I’ve completed a yoga session and oh how I’ve missed it. I love the way it stretches my body, calms my mind, and tests my balance. It makes me feel good and really helped me yesterday morning with the slight neck soreness.

Speaking of soreness, I am incredibly sore from that leg workout on Monday! I surely worked it! I used my foam roller to get things loosened up a bit, but even two days later I’m feelin’ pretty tight.

Breakfast

I finally broke the streak—I had NO peanut butter for breakfast and I can still hardly believe it. On Monday night I put together a bowl of frozen strawberries, FAGE 0% Greek yogurt, honey, a sprinkle of chocolate protein powder, and chia seeds. I gave it a mix and popped it in the fridge overnight. Then in the morning I gave it all a final store and had myself a fruity creamy breakfast bowl.

yogurt with chia and strawberries

It was a nice change of pace although I bet you can guess what I had for lunch?!  It definitely involved peanut butter in the form of pb and banana. Ha ha it’s a lost cause. I love the stuff and the protein does such a good job of filling me up and keeping me satisfied.

I found myself on the treadmill once again in the afternoon reading a book. There is something incredibly peaceful about it and I get so caught up in what I’m reading that I don’t realize how much time has passed until I glance at the clock.

Dinner

I sautéed bell peppers and onion in coconut oil then added black beans until they were heated through. I cooked up one over-easy egg and topped it on the sautéed veggies along with a quarter of an avocado, tomato slices, and a little salsa.

I then managed to take a series of photos that some might call art. I’ll name the piece, “The Yolk Progression.” I was really just trying to capture a good photo and find the right angle but the way these photos lined up worked out perfectly.

First, the dish is plated…

veggies with egg

Then, the yolk is broken…

veggies with egg

The golden yolk makes its way over the veggies and blankets the dish…

veggies with egg

Beautiful food art…

veggies with egg

Total nerd alert I’m fully aware.

I had one of those days yesterday where I was just feeling “off.” I am hoping today feels more “on”. Have a great “ON” day my lovely friends.

Question: Are you a morning exerciser? Evening exerciser? 

I know some people who wake up every morning so darn early to workout and I envy their motivation. It feels incredible to finish a workout before work and energizes me throughout the day, and being able to go directly home after a long day versus the gym puts the icing on the cake. We’ll see if I can continue this streak. 🙂

Continue Reading Morning Yoga and Food Art