What I Ate Wednesday #29 – Back in the Swing of Things

You know how every year the holidays sneak up on you and you say “I’m going to be good. I’m not going to overindulge!”? And you know how every year you overindulge? Yea.

Alright, so I didn’t go crazy this year, but I’ve definitely stepped up my game since New Years! More specifically, since Monday. Last week was pretty much a wash with NYE on Monday and New Years day Tuesday. That only left 3 days to get back into my routine and then the weekend hit.

Monday started Tina‘s Best Body Bootcamp; that along with Tone It Up‘s new Love Your Body challenge (you can still sign up!) has really gotten back into the swing of things! Especially since TIU is giving away prizes for checking in! If you follow me on Instagram, you may be getting tired of all of my meals and workouts, but I’m in it to win it, baby!

[Pre-Breakfast / Post-Workout]
Fitmixer Amino. This was part of my Fitbloggin’ swag that I just recently started taking advantage of after my morning workouts. I have to admit, I don’t love the fruit punch, but it’s not bad. And it certainly helps me get 2 extra glasses of water down a day!

[Breakfast]
I whipped up a lightened version of my favorite sweet breakfast scramble. Check it out..

– 1 egg
– 2 egg whites
– 1/2 banana, mashed
– 1/4 cup squash [I’ve been using pumpkin]
– 1 tbsp ground flax seed
– Cinnamon
– Ginger
– Nutmeg

I just recently started adding the ginger and nutmeg.. it makes it taste like gingerbread!

Scramble it up like eggs and top it with your favorite oatmeal toppings! Aka lots and lots of peanut butter 😉

[Lunch]
Getting back on my salad kick, I topped a bunch of spinach with tons of veggies, chicken, and some healthy spinach basil walnut pesto aioli for my dressing! This dressing was a bit of an accident, but it came out so well!

[Dinner]
Warm kale salad. Sounds a little weird, right? But it’s not. It’s amazing! And it’s an idea I stole from Kasey.

I absolutely love roasted veggies, so while roasting sweet potato, parsnip, tomato, and broccoli, I chopped up some kale, tossed it in a big bowl and threw it in the microwave for about a minute. This softens it and also makes it a little less bitter. For my dressing, I made a tahini nooch sauce, similar to Brittany’s dressing here [I love the little bit of sweetness from the maple syrup!] Then I toss half of the dressing into the kale and massage it in, again, making it a little less bitter. Finally, I throw all of my roasted goodies on top, the rest of the dressing, and some crunchy bits, like sunflower seeds.

Have I convinced you to try it? Because you really should!

[Snacks]
Coffee with unsweetened vanilla almond coconut milk <– a new favorite find!
1/2 grapefruit with stevia.
Madagascar vanilla almond KIND bar.
Apple with peanut fluff.. the only picture I missed!

It definitely feels good to clean up my eating again and get rid of the extra sugar I was eating. And it definitely helps to be getting my butt kicked by TIU and Tina (more details on Tina’s butt-kickings later)!

Food for Thought

Did you overindulge over the holidays? How have you cleaned up your eating recently?

What I Ate Wednesday #28 – A Jewish Christmas

I can’t believe it’s the last WIAW of the year! 2012 has flown by faster than I ever thought possible and I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season. I have absolutely loved seeing all of the posts and pictures with all of your holiday traditions. It definitely made me wish I was celebrating Christmas this year! But since we don’t, yesterday was a pretty normal day for us.. besides sleeping in on a Tuesday 😉

[Breakfast]
I reached the end of a jar of JIF Natural, so naturally my sweet breakfast scramble was dumped right in there! And of course, it was topped with a little extra PB and some homemade almond butter (I started with Chelsey’s recipe as a guide). A side of freshly brewed cinnamon coffee was more than welcome.

[Lunch]
I didn’t snap a shot, but we went to my parent’s house for “brunch”.. aka bagels, lox, whitefish, etc. Imagine it looked something like this..

Except I had a salad with chicken on top and some lox and whitefish on the side. My mom makes all of the fish herself, so I can never pass it up!

I also brought over a blueberry crisp that made almost exactly like my apple crisp. This time, knowing that it would be going into the oven the next day to warm it up, I decided to bring the blueberries to a boil on the stove with lemon juice, lemon zest, xylitol, and cornstarch to thicken it up. Then I refrigerated it overnight, topped it with granola right before going in the oven, and baked for about 20 minutes. It was heavenly!

And since I didn’t get to snap a picture of my lunch, I decided to share with you my gangster look. What can I say, it got warm in the car!

[Snack]
Homemade almond butter mixed with Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butter on celery sticks. Try this.. you won’t be disappointed!

[Dinner]
Leftovers galore! I mixed the last of my roasted squash and turkey stew with some Asian style tofu macadamia nut stuffing, quinoa, roasted broccoli, pecans, and a little chili sauce. It was delicious!

[Dessert]
Sliced apple with peanut fluff and 1/2 crumbled white chocolate cherry macadamia nut cookie.

I certainly didn’t have the typical Christmas day meals but they definitely hit the spot!

Food for Thought

What was your favorite dish this holiday season?

What I Ate Wednesday #27 – A Day of Rest

I’m extending my Just My Imagination giveaway! You now have until Thursday, 12/20 at 11:59 PM EST to enter! Get your entries in 🙂

Who’da thunk running around non-stop for 2 weeks would completely wear you out? It just doesn’t make sense, right?!

Sunday was the first time we actually had a chance to rest and even though we planned on going to the outlets (the week before Christmas, no less) we never made it out of our PJs. I have no idea the last time this happened but there were no complaints! And I’m not sure I even realized that we literally did nothing all day until I went to lock the door before bed and it was still locked from the night before.

I happily laid around on Sunday and made some delicious meals. But before sharing them with you, I have to congratulate Jenn for celebrating her 100th WIAW “birthday!” And thanks for including everyone in your fun parties 🙂

[Breakfast]
I just can’t stop! The Sweet Breakfast Scramble is a habit hard to break.

[Lunch]
Kale & quinoa salad with a baked omelette on top! For whatever reason, I was in an egg kinda mood, so I decided to try and recreate a baked HUMONGOUS omelette I had in Florida. Unfortunately, it was not even close to as fluffy and large as the one I had before, but it was still delicious.. filled to the brim with sauteed broccoli and feta cheese. Yum!

[Dinner]
Another kale salad! This time topped with roasted delicata squash and a lightened up version of chicken cacciatore. I started with a Martha Stewart recipe and added tons of extra red bell pepper, red onion, and a splash of white wine. It was full of flavor and so easy.. definitely recommend trying this recipe!

[Snacks]
Clementines, celery, peanut butter, dried figs, and dried apricots were consumed over the course of the day. I could eat those things all day long!

As this week continues, I find myself hoping for another Sunday in my PJs. Oh how I love the holiday season 😉

Food for Thought

Have you been running around like crazy lately or have you found yourself with time to relax?