A peek at balance, week 2...

Here's week 1 if you are interested...

Monday:  Stuffed Pepper Soup with cornbread toppers 

Served in mason jars.  

Because it's 2016 and everything is over-the-top obnoxiousJ

Tuesday:  2 Thai Chicken tacos with peanut sauce

(photo source)

Cookingclassy's dish is the best thing that's come out of my kitchen in awhile!  So fresh, healthy & outstandingly delicious.  Clean out the fridge and make these tonight!

Wednesday:  2 slices avocado toast 

We had a bigger lunch, so this made for a quick dinner.

Thursday:  1 1/2 chicken fingers & crab fries from Chickie & Pete's

The chicken fingers were easy to put the breaks on since, when I tuned in and  payed attention to what I was eating, I realized I couldn't taste them after that 1 & 1/2.  But the fries??  Oh man, EVERY. SINGLE. ONE of those tasted lovely.  It took a LOT of effort to not inhale the entire shared basket.

Friday:  Chicken wings, fries & mozzarella sticks from Wings to Go

My sister-in-laws pick for her birthday dinner and this place is just WAY too good.  Kept a handle on most, sticking to one of each of the wings 'flavors' (garlic parmesan is, not surprising, the family fav), and a few fries...but maybe definitely one too many mozzarella sticks.  Haven't had ones that good in ages...but still, probably one too manyJ

Saturday:  Easiest Pork & Cabbage Eggrolls + roasted sesame broccoli

Make this recipe NOW!  So quick & delicious.  (and the broccoli I just mixed with sesame oil & tossed with sesame seeds for a bit of an Asian flair)

Saturday:  5-spice burger with slaw + chips + salad

(made the slaw with shredded cabbage mixed with 1/2 tablespoon mayo + 2 teaspoons of garlic green onion stir fry sauce + a few diced green onions to combine all of the Asian flavors with the awesome, flavorful burgers.  Plus any chance to use my many-years-old jar of 5-spice, I'm happy)  

Ummm...yum.

Splurges:  

...ya know, besides the chicken fingers, fries, mozzerella sticks and those chipsJ

Wednesday night:  Small scoop of this...

Friday:  My SIL's cake & ice cream...I wasn't messin around on the vanilla bean frontJ  Both were sublime.   

 (more on Jeni's Splendid ice cream here & here) 

Sunday Breakfast:  Nutella, bacon & banana sandwich

Other yummy recipes of the week:

Avocado & shortcut beet hummus toast...pretty much my newestfavoritethingEVER.

Perfect Breakfast Quinoa...back in rotation this week!  Weeeee!

Greek Yogurt Pancakes & Baked Banana Bread Doughnuts from my new favorite & fabulous cookbook "Eating in the Middle."  (Check out my instagram for a shot of Lily chowin down on those doughnutsJ)

Exercise:

Monday:  Hatha Vinyasa yoga class

Tuesday:  Tap class  (aka-I'm convinced this is my version of a mid-life crisisJ)

Wednesday:  Power Yoga class

Saturday:  20 minutes pilates

Sunday:  2 mile "Walk away the pounds"  

Hope you enjoyed a peek at my week and gave you some inspiration heading into a new one!

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As always...thanks for reading!

I even brought the yogis down...

Morning, everyone!  Sorry for the mini-hiatus!  After my wild weekend last week, I did indeed get that salad for lunch on Tuesday afternoon....but then my week spiraled into the ANTI-Bikini Series.  Think pizza, strawberry milkshakes (although I learned one fast food chain's version tasted like a cup of cleaning products, thankfully ending that phase quickly!) and lots of comfort food.  Basically anything I could think of that sounded even remotely appealing.  It was fun....for about 5 minutes, until I started to feel gross & lazy, but I just COULD NOT get my footing back.  Oh well....it happens, especially at 36 weeks pregnant and after 6 weeks of following a pretty solid routineJ  

On top of that, I was cramming for both my FINAL YOGA TEACH (holy shmoly!) & written exam, which I'm AMAZED to say I passed both with flying colors...CRAZY!  Well, at least I'm pretty sure I passed my final teachJ  I don't get officially certified until the graduation ceremony at the end of June, after everyone else completes their final teach.  (bumped mine up since, ummmm, we don't know what the end of June will bringJ  I'll either have a newborn or be 700 months pregnantJ)

ANNNNNNNYYYYYWAYYYYYYYY, so I TRIED to get myself back on track, thanks to my dear Edofoods friends...but even THAT descended into madnessJ  I'll explain in a secJ

*AND THANKS AGAIN MUST GO TO MY DEAR FRIEND CHRIS FOR ALL OF THE EDOPHOTOS!  I was the epitome of LAZY this weekend, and she thankfully picked up my slack!!  Thanks, Chris<3 b="">

Saturday morning brought this beautiful and sweet fruit salad...filled with dragon fruit, lychee (not sure if I've ever had either of those before), cherries, blackberries, papaya stars and THE sweetest mango I've ever tasted....

Lunch brought us an "Asian Peanut Noodle Salad"...complete with zucchini noodles, bean sprouts, carrots, peanuts.  ...which we all shamelessly drowned in EdoFood's peanut sauce.  We LOVEEEEDDD the mix of flavors and crunchy textures in this fresh salad... 

And our sweet treat to finish off our "Asian-inspired" menu on Saturday was a red bean mochi....as demonstrated by the hand model:  MEJ hahahahahhaha 

And Sunday started off well enough, with these DIVINE AND SUPREMELY CRUNCHY spice-roasted chickpeas, which we all loveeeeeeeeeeeeddddddddddddd!!!!!!!!

...but once lunch time rolled around, my need for 'non-healthy' food came on SO Strong, that I even managed to convince a few of my beautiful yogis to join me on a burger/bacon/fries spreeJ  It was seriously one of the HAPPIEST lunches I've EVER hadJ  I'm gonna blame YOGA-GLOW, amazing company & the fact that we were all giddy from being a little 'off the yoga path' at that momentJ  It was a blastJ

So, thanks to my burger lunch, I was pretty full for the rest of the day, so most of my Edo eats are still in my fridge waiting to be devoured over the next few daysJ  I'll definitely be sure to share as I go....thanks again, Jen & Ricky!!!!  We LOVE you both!

And Monday FINALLLLLLLLY brought us back to normal, as I FEVERISHLY made our food menu & grocery shopped to get back on track this week = NO EXCUSES.  Even after 24 hours, I feel better than I did about 95% of last week.  Just goes to show.....

ANYWAYS!

Monday Recap:

Workout:  2 sets arms & squats with 8 pounds

Which was, ummmm, like my first exercise all week as well.  I just felt RIDICULOUS going to yoga class last week (since getting dressed felt like a chore) and I had my 'diva-moments' at yoga school this weekend and barely did anything THERE as well.  I just kinda felt like I reached THE END OF THE EXERCISE LINE at the moment...BUTTTTTTTT I think that was just an excuse since I felt JUST fine picking up the weights again yesterdayJ  We'll play this week's schedule by earJ

Breakfast:  Banana Smoothie Bowl

Snack:  1 cup strawberries (fresh picked from Katie:) + 1/4 cup pistachios

Lunch:  Tone it Up Sweet Potato Sliders + 1/4 avocado

Not pictured because they were burned and in piecesJ, but Tone it Up's recipe for roasted sweet potato/black bean/millet/southwestern spiced 'burgers' made 800 patties.  Scott devoured most of them last week (while I was downing...ummmm, mac & cheese and mashed potatoes for lunch:), so I was bummed that when I finally got around to trying them yesterday:  THEY WERE THE LAST OF THE STASH!  I'll definitely try making this recipe again soon...especially since a little effort covered about 10 meals!

Snack:  Coconut Luna Bar

Dinner:  Tone it Up Chicken Stir-fry with chopped peanuts 

So that was a day of FINALLY getting back on track.  And hopefully the motivation from this post will keep me going!  

Thanks for reading all of my rambles and have a great Tuesday!!J

Know thyself...

Tuesday Recap:

Workout:  2 sets arms & legs with 8 pound weights

Breakfast:  1 cup cooked Steel cut oats + flax + 1/4 walnuts + 2 tablespoons craisins + cinnamon, vanilla and a little maple syrup

OK, this bowl of oatmeal was seriously HUGE.  So huge that I couldn't even finish it.  The only problem with that was I spent the rest of the day a litttttttle hungry, but never really feeling the desire to go back and finish the oatmeal for some reason.  

I'm realizing more and more that a big breakfast is key for me.  If I have one, I don't really feel too hungry at any point for the rest of the day.  But if I don't have enough?  The rest of the day tends to be a bit cravey and 'looking for the next thing.'  Recognizing and acknowledging your 'food triggers' is SUCH an important part of the weight loss/getting healthy process, and I'm definitly noticing a pattern with this one.  (the exception here is when you are TRULY NOT hungry for breakfast for some reason...like if you overindulged the night before.  Then I don't believe in shoving food down your throat 'just because.'  There is definitly a difference!  Know thyselfJ)

Snack:  1 Berry Bliss Bar

Adding to the 'not enough food in the morning' was, coupled with the smaller oatmeal serving, this snack was the paltriest one of the bunch so far on the Bikini Series.  Again, had I finished the oatmeal (or went back and finished it later) it would have been enough...but the 2 being sorta unsatisfying made for a bit of a 'looking for the next thing' kinda day.

I DID manage to keep it together, however....

Lunch:  Salmon with scallions & dill over spinach + 1 cup of watermelon 

Snack:  1 cup of watermelon + 1/4 cup of cashews 

I also had a couple carrots dipped in hummus in the afternoon.  This was the toughest part of the day to get through, without reaching for more & more snacks to help satisfy me.  I held off, but it was definitely a struggle yesterday.

Dinner:  Tone it Up Chicken Stir-Fry

Thankfully, dinner was super satisfying.  I keep waiting for teeny-tiny dinner servings on this Bikini Series/TIU Nutrition program, but there really haven't been any as of yet.  Most meals aren't really far off from how we normally cook, but following the plan, we've just been more conscious of oils/fats, no heavy carbs with dinner and an over abundance of vegetables to fill in all the gaps (ps-we were making enough for 6 servings, that you'll see later throughout this week, hence the MOUNDS of chicken & veggies!). 

Along with a 'cleaner' stir-fry sauce made with garlic, tamari, ginger. sesame oil & rice vinegar.  Don't get me wrong, Scott & I still love our Garlic/Green Onion stir-fry sauce varieties, but switching it up and making it this way (with LESS sugar/processing/ingredients) isn't a bad way to alternate your meals to being a littttttle bit healthier than normal.

And on the no carbs (past 3pm) thing, not that 1/2 cup of rice (white or brown) with dinner is going to be the difference between healthy and unhealthy, but I honestly didn't even miss it here AT ALL.  So why not give it a try skipping it one time?  You can always have it the next time, but ya might just realize you don't really NEED it, ya know?

And in 'funny Katie food pictures' of the week:  not only did she take it upon herself to take out an entire 1/4 watermelon, unwrap it and have it as breakfast yesterday morning...

...but I used my 'trick' of letting her sneak veggies off the cutting board, where she proceeded to carry around and knawl on this broccoli stem like an ice cream cone for at least a half hour.  Hey, whatever it takes! J

Alright...and after all that:  I'm off to start today with a FILLING breakfastJ  No messin around with 1/2 portions todayJ

Have a great Wednesday!

1993 Reunion...

Thursday Morning:

Breakfast:  Belgian Waffle with butter & flax + protein shake

Since this was Katie's breakfast choice of the day, I thought I'd join in the fun.  These waffles were thick, sweet, savory...and 160 calories for one.  Which isn't BAD, but I knew one (or even 2) of these waffles wasn't going to keep me full for very long.  As much as I love waffles, cereal & English muffins for breakfast, all of them keep me full for about .3 minutes....fail.

So since man can't live on yummy waffles alone, I whipped up this small spinach-cherry protein shake to help 'fill in the gaps'...

• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 scoop protein powder
• handful frozen cherries
• handful frozen spinach

Lunch:  Avocado toast with arugula + apple & peanut butter

And even with the added protein shake, I can't even lie that the lunch time bell rang at 11AM yesterday morning!  One more moment longer and I would have gnawed someones arm offJ

I swear there was a mashed 1/2 avocado under that pile of arugula salad (mixed with lime, olive oil & salt) and topped with a drizzle of...swooooon...honey.   

Even the honey was smiling about thisJ

So I had my toast, tried to take a beat and give myself a chance to feel full.  But to be honest, my non-filling breakfast was still wreaking havoc, as my brain was still swirling with ALLOFTHETHINGS I still wanted to inhale after that toast (aka-whatever crunchy & salty snacks I could get my hands on...followed by a sweet snack...and you know what happens from there).  So I took this as a sign that I was still ACTUALLY hungry and cut the 'over snacking' binge-to-come off at the knees with a sensible snack... 

1 spoonful of peanut butter + a drizzle of honey + a sprinkle of cinnamon = tricking my brain into thinking it was eating 12 snacks, given all of those flavors rolled into one!  And it actually worked!  This kept me satisfied for the rest of the afternoon.  Snack crisis = be on your way...you have no powers here!J

Workout #1:  2 mile Walk away the pounds with 7 pound weights (combo-ed my 4+3 pound weightsJ)

Dinner:  Mandarin Orange Chicken + Chicken Su Mai 

This was NOT my original dinner plan, but on learning it was Chinese New Years yesterday, I knew we had to 'celebrate' with the excuse to have this little number for dinnerJ  (I knew Scott wouldn't let this favorite last TOO long in our freezerJ)

We 'filled out' our stir-fry with:

• broccoli
• peppers & onions
• carrots
• water chestnuts
• green onions 

I don't mind the excuse for getting to have a bigger portion since the portion is rounded out with low-cal veggies (and brown rice)J

And in some last minute weirdness, I remembered I had these little chicken shu mai leftovers in the freezer from God knows when, so I thought they'd be a perfect way to round out the meal.  6 for 160 calories is NONE too shabby in the 'Chinese sides' department.  Plus they go freezer to plate in under 3 minutes.

Workout #2:  Zumba

So how's this for a funny story:  I found out one of my good friends from GRADE SCHOOL had joined my gym recently and has been going to Zumba classes on Thursday nights.  So after not seeing her since our 8th grade graduation in 1993, we are back exercising together and sweatin away in Zumba the last couple weeks!  Isn't that awesome??!  Thought it was such a fun & cute way to reunite for something POSITIVE after over 20 YEARS!  She emailed me yesterday saying she was going and it was JUST the motivation I needed to get up & get out, despite the FREEZING temps last night.  Lucky for us, we warmed up in about .4 seconds thanks to our AWESOME teacher, JennaJ  Thanks, ladies<3 nbsp="">

And the only dessert I had for the night was a bottle of water I GUZZLED as soon as I walked in the house.  OK, that's a lie.  I was actually DYING for pineapple and scoured the cabinets thinking we had some rouge can of slices SOMEWHERE.  Sadly, this was not the case, but once I pounded that water I felt a zillion times better.  (oh yeah...I also REALLY wanted a cherry SLURPEE, but didn't think that really matched well with the outside high of 15 at the timeJ)

OK...so remember how yesterday I said this week was going slow??  Well, I totally set myself up since I DO believe yesterday was one of the ABSOLUTE slowest days on record (prob didn't help that I had breakfast before 8am and lunch + snack before noonJ)  The minutes CRAWLED until Scott got home.  So much so that Katie & I were watching one of her shows and I would have SWORN it had to be an hour-long special since I felt like we were watching it for ages.  I looked up at the clock and, I kid you not, it had been on for 23 MINUTES.  Man, that was painful.  Here's hopin today goes quicker:  Starting with some morning Power Yoga & meeting Scott for lunch at Chipotle for our FIRST EVER Chipotle experienceJ hahahahahhahaha  (and nah-I didn't text my friend last night at 10pm asking her what I should order as to not anger the hungry masses and get thrown to the back of the line, along with my indecision & inexperience in Chipotle knowledge.  Nope-that didn't happen at all!)

ANYWAY...I should have LOTS of good stuff to show you guys on Monday and hope you have a GREAT WEEKEND!J

One of those days...

Morning, all!  So let's be real for the a sec:  Being a working Mom is THE hardest job in the world.  A million things to juggle & not nearly enough time to get it all done.  I salute you all, times a ZILLION.  But being a stay-at-home Mom definitely has it's share of UNIQUE challenges, that's for sure.  And even though 99.9% of the time I feel EXTREMELY lucky that I get to be home with Katie so often (which I wouldn't even have HAD the chance to do if I hadn't been laid off....all things happen for a reason!), but some days it can really just GET to you.  The feelings of loneliness & isolation are very distinct when you're in a house with Mickey Mouse playing in the background ALL. DAY. LONG.  And even with all of your 'extra time,' you STILL feel like you can't get everything done, even when you feel like you SHOULD.  The experience definitely gave me an appreciation for the fact that NO ONE has it easy.

And I say all that to say:  Momma need to GET OUT last nightJ It was one of "them days," for sure!

And the only requirement was that we were OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE last nightJ  And even though I had a Cinco de Mayo type dinner bubbling away all day in the slow cooker yesterday, we totally bucked the system last night and went out for....

...are you ready??

CHINESE FOOD!  Hahahahahahaha...yes.  Me, Miss Loves-a-theme, totally did a most ridiculous 360 last nightJ  The reason being is because we had spied Duck Sauce on our trip around Newton last weekend and noticed their adorable little front porch.

Coupled this with the fact that I have an OBSESSION with enjoying food that you don't NORMALLY eat outside in such a nice space (burgers, hot dogs?  Sure.  Pizza and chinese food?  Not so much!) and we pretty much KNEW we were headed to "Duck Sauce" for the nightJ)

We DID, however, fulfill our "Cinco" quota for the night when we spied ASIAN GUACAMOLE on the menu! 

To be quite honest, we think the only real "Asian" thing about it was the fact that it was served in an "Asian" restaurantJ  Just sorta tasted like regular ole' avocado guacamole to us, not that there's anything wrong with THAT EVERJ  Oh yeah, and we ate it with Chinese crunchy noodles...soooooo...there's thatJ

And for our main dishes, I went for the Dan Dan noodles with bean sprouts, cucumbers & shrimp... 

Which, just like my dinner at Mamitas, kept my portions in check because this was SPIIICYYYY!  Even my request of 'mild' brought one too many chili flakesJ  Still really good though.  Tasted nice and "clean" without a lot of grease, which I love.  

Scott's dish, meanwhile, was a beaut (and one I almost ordered!)  The "Shan Shien" was a dish of sauteed beef, chicken, shrimp & veggies topped with crunchy rice... 

I was obsessed with that little topper of crispy rice (which Scott nicely shared since my mouth was on FI-YA!)  It almost tasted like rice popcorn...but in a good wayJ

There was also ice cream after this, but I couldn't even handle a picture of it since I felt the day was too far gone in the calorie department yesterday anyway....ei yi yi.  So today is 'pull yourself together day' here at the ranch.  All while trying to brush myself off and not be too hard on myself.  We all have 'those days,' as frustrating as they can be.  So pardon me while I go down another bottle of water to 'reset' my weekJ

Have a great Wednesday!J

Sharing is caring...

Tuesday Recap:

6:45-7:15am:  Dance/jogging/weights mix

9:15:  Breakfast- Yet another multigrain waffle with butter & flaxJ

10:30- Coffee with creamer

If you noticed, I've been 'off' my lemon water this week.  Despite last week's attempt to throw me off course, this week I've had ZERO cravings, so I figured I'd save some lemons until I felt those cravings creeping up on meJ

12:00pm: Lunch- Leftover Spaghetti Squash casserole

I added some black beans to this last portion for some extra protein since I was going to be busy running around in the afternoon.

 And I never mind a recipe that makes dinner for 2 & three days worth of 'lunch leftovers' from one squashJ  Now THERE'S a way to stretch a buckJ

And since Katie was SQUEALING when I brought in my lunch, I ended up sharing some squash with her tooJ 

...to which she paid it forward & let Penny snack on the remaining stragglers on her handsJ 

4:00: Snack- Strawberries   ...which I ALSO had to shareJ

6:00:  Dinner- Pork Stir Fry...

This was one of those 'clean out your fridge' mealsJ  

#1:  Diced pork chops sauteed until crispy & golden...

#2:  Shredded onion, cooked until softened... 

#3:  Leftover bottle of stir fry sauce... 

#4:  Half a head of shredded cabbage... 

#5:  Four shredded carrots, cook until softened & reduced...

#6:  Two cans of sliced water chestnuts, four diced green onions & a handful of toasted black sesame seeds, cooked until heated through.

A quick & great way to use up some leftover vegetables AND very healthy since that's what made up 98% of the dish!  Served with a little brown rice and this made a perfectly nutritious weeknight meal... 

PS- Katie tried only a few bites...but the sound of her little teeth crunching on the water chestnuts was quite amusing, I must sayJ

I digressJ

And from QUICK meal to.....NOT. SO. MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!  Soooo...since I knew we were having company for dessert last night AND that just so happened to coincide with MARDI GRAS, I thought I'd make a big dessert to celebrate.  I was going to ATTEMPT bananas foster, but that required lighting rum on fire and...

...just...

NO.

Soooooo....I went with the next most outlandish (and also Valentines appropriate) thing...

Yes..that may look like a simple cake, but don't let it fool you... 

Some may call it RED VELVET CREPE CAKE...but I call it M*#@$@ F*(#(R cake.  This thing nearly DID. ME. IN!  And despite the fact that I thought I had my crepe skills DOWN, the batter was soooooo delicate that it took an 18 crepe learning curve to finally get it straight.

OH WAIT!  Ya know what???  I DID NOT refrigerate the batter!!  I JUST thought of that RIGHT now!  I wonder if that matters??  If you're going to attempt this one, I'd suggest trying that out just in case!  (And find my other crepe tips HERE)

And I thought you'd be happy to know that this cake did NOT involve BEETSJ  I went the old fashioned route....

Despite the 18 FAILURE crepes, I still had PLENTY!  Add a layer of cream cheese frosting between EVERY crepe and it actually came out to be a decent sized cake.  Albeit, a HEAVY one!  The batter AND frosting are LACED with butter and you could FEEL it once you tried to LIFT the cake.  This one is NOT for the faint of heart...in cooking technique OR watching the waistline.

Hence why we had our pieces...saved 2 more and the rest went RIGHT out the door with our guests.  I did NOT want to have too much of this baby lying around, I don't care HOW hard it was to make!

And, THANK THE LORD, it was good....it was Oh, so very good.  (It better have been or I would have hurled it out on the front lawnJ) hahahahahaha  I told Scott to savor his leftover piece...cause I AIN'T MAKING this one again any time soon!

And can I say this is NOT going to be the last cake talk THIS WEEK???  I'll just leave that as a previewJ

Have a great night, everyone!