I'm baa-aackkk....

Hi everyone!  It's me, Donna, back from the great beyond.  

Otherwise known as the crazy ride of new parenthood taking care of this little sweet pea....

Raising a new member of the family has been an adjustment in EVERY possible way.  A new experience to say the very least.  My favorite quote I've read recently is "Having a baby is like going to sleep in your own bed and waking up in Zimbabwe."  No truer words have been spoken.J hahahahahahha  It is QUITE a ride that NOTHING can prepare you for.J

What hasn't changed, however, is our want/need to keep up our healthy eating and exercising habits.  And like everything else, that has ALSO required some adjusting.  I've always made healthy eating a priority in our house and I've resolved that it has to STAY that way even during this adjustment period.  And TRUST ME, that hasn't been easy!!!  But as each week passes, I'm SLOWLY learning how I can realistically work it back into our new schedules.

One thing I'm starting to do is prep meals as CLOSE to completed as I can.  This week, while the baby was napping, I spent an hour rinsing, chopping and prepping about 95% of our dinners for the week.  So hopefully I can bring dinner prep down to about 10 minutes rather than 30 minutes to 1 hour. 

And our first meal of the week was SUPERRRRR easy to prep ahead.  For the main dish, we had Mediterranean Garden Wraps...    

(based on this recipe)   

In advance, I had prepped all the veggies (isn't that plate a beaut?!)...

• 3 shredded carrots (done with a vegetable peeler!)
• 2 diced roasted red peppers
• 1/2 sliced cucumber
• 1/2 sliced red onion
• 1/2 avocado  (the only thing I would wait till the last moment to chop up.  Avocado browns up too quickly)

Another thing that I was able to prep in advance was the herb spread...

• 1 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon diced cilantro
• 2 tablespoons diced chives
• salt & pepper
• 1 clove of garlic, finely minced or microplaned

Mix everything together & refrigerate.  (ps- drain off any excess liquid before using the yogurt spread)

When it was time for dinner, I laid out all of my ingredients...

(Lavash is a Middle Eastern flat bread, but you can use any pita, nann, tortilla or bread that you like.)

Spread the herb/yogurt mixture down the center of the wrap... 

 And then pile on your veggies...

Remember:  The more colorful your meal, the more healthy it is for you! 

 

Roll up your wrap and you are set!  

I loved the crunch of the carrots & cucumbers, the mega flavor from the red peppers & herb spread and the smoooootthhhh avocado.  This was one of those dinners you just FELT GOOD having!  And it was quite delicious to boot.J

And on the side, our VERY FAVORITE side dish:  Southwestern Couscous salad! 

Mix together & refrigerate:

• 1 cup whole wheat couscous cooked in 1 cup water, refrigerate overnight 
• 2 ears of corn, grilled, cooled & 'de-eared' ;)
• 1 diced avocado
• 1 can of black beans, rinsed
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1 red onion, diced, sauteed & cooled
• 1 handful cilantro, chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

This is a dish that tastes better as it sits.  Perfect for "prep ahead!" J

Quite a colorful dinner, wouldn't you say??

Alright, well that about wraps up my first 'official' blog post in just about 2 months!  Hope you guys liked it!  I can't promise I'll be back here every day (or sometimes, not even once a week), but I'll try my best.  Just like all healthy habits, I'll just do what I can.  

Have a good Tuesday, everyone!J