Weekly Balance, week 6...

Hey, everyone!  I know I'm a day late & a dollar short on my weekly wrap-up, but I'm trying to get back on track after a couple weeks of 'inspiration roadblock.'  I have plenty of things I WANT to write about, but haven't been able to get my thoughts together enough to write a 'deep thoughts' post and really don't want to half-ass it!  But I should have a couple posts this week to get back in the swing.

And in getting back in the swing....weekly wrap-up post comin at ya NOW!

Monday:  Taco dip with tortilla chips, apples & guacamole

This recipe needs to be the poster child of how I LOVE to cook, but trulyreally at the end of the day CAN NOT.  I mean, honestly!  I swear I just fake it on a wing and a prayer most daysJ  

Example #905048:  This recipe called for rice and we were out of white rice and I just wasn't feelin the brown rice that day (although, honestly, you probably wouldn't have even noticed the chewy texture around everything else going on in the 'dip').  So what do I do???  Add what we had laying around the kitchen,  Which was...wait for it....BLACK RICE.  And guess what BLACK RICE does to a pot of tomato-based red chili??  So yes, that is how we came to eat black/purple taco dip to kick off the week.

*shakes head in exasperation*

At least it tasted good....and even the purple-hued leftovers were really good, but...

*still shaking head in exasperation*

MOVING ALONG!

Tuesday:  Sundried tomato chicken + lightly glazed rainbow carrots

From black rice to rainbow carrots & I SWEAR they are SUPPOSED to be that color!  I'm currently LIVING for those purple/yellow/orange carrot bouquets.  Not to mention this entire dish is 'last meal on earth' contender worthy.  I actually told Scott if we had this same meal for an entire week, I'd be fine with that.  AKA- TRY NOW!

Wednesday:  Chicken puffed tacos 

I tried the Pioneer Woman version this week where you stuffed the chicken in the taco BEFORE taking them for a dip in the hot oil...but then you could barely pry them open enough to top them with all the good stuff...hence that pile of lettuce sitting on TOP of the taco in the frontJ  (oh yes, that IS a taco.  I know...J)  So I nixed that plan for our other 'cos in favor of giving us plenty of room to add ALLTHECHEESEANDGUACAMOLEANDLETTUCE.  I truly love the LETTUCE.

Again, I know....

Thursday:  Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce 

This meal came about because the day COMPLETELY got away from me (although with what?  At this moment I have ZERO CLUE.  #momlife)  But after flipping through my Pioneer Woman cookbook for those above tacos, I found this recipe and realized we had all the ingredients and that this meal was going to come together in .4 seconds.  I countered that cream in the recipe with replacing 3/4 of the spaghetti with zucchini noodles.  They all played nicely together in the pool of creamy, dreamy sauce.  

Hashtag Balance.

Friday:  Lunch/dinner at Palace of Asia

2 yoga classes and a terribly rainy & blustery day to end a week of terribly rainy/blustery days led to a craving for Indian food could NOT be ignored for one more moment.  The BEST part of Palace of Asia (besides it being a GORGEOUS restaurant) is their weekday lunch buffet, where you can try ALLTHETHINGS.  And for someone who does not know too much about Indian cuisine, this is a great introduction.  And even after going more times than I can count, I STILL have no clue what my veryfavoritedishes are from there, but I'm always willing to go back as much as possible to try to figure it outJ

Saturday:  Take-out baked ziti + cheesey garlic bread + salad

NEEDED.  At least Scott & I shared the entree with leftovers still lingering in our kitchen.  A great way to portion & 'keep it all in check.'

 Sunday:  Homemade Ravioli + meatballs + salad

I'm not sure anyone enjoyed our Mother's Day feast as much as LilyJ  This coming off the fact that I swear she ate a quarter pound of that ziti on Saturday nightJ

Splurges:

Vanilla Joe-Joe's:

Katie's "If you're good, I'll get you these" bribe impulse purchase of the week.  I had 2 of these a couple nights last week.

Wednesday Lunch:

I wouldn't even call this a 'splurge' as much as I would call it a 'better way to eat not-so-good-for-you' food.  My friend had told me about these and I was SO glad I had picked em up when a RANDOM craving for a hot dog took over.  And rather than another trip to Stewart's, I tossed one of these in the toaster.  And for 150 calories & 4.5 grams of fat, ya really can't do much better on the 'dog front.  

There was also cake on Mother's Day...and in true "I can't cook" fashion (see above), I managed to make the thinnest cake with the gooey-iest frosting the world has ever known.  I can't explain myself.  

Exercise:

Monday:  Vinyasa Hatha yoga

Tuesday:  Taught vinyasa yoga + tap class

Wednesday:  Power yoga + Body Pump  (THAT was all fun & games till it wasn't...hahahaJ)

Thursday:  Taught 2 gentle yoga classes

Friday:  Gentle + power yoga

Onward to a new week!

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A peek at balance...

Hey guys, welcome to a new week.  So while I wanted to focus more on posts tackeling the mental struggles in weight loss, I still wanted to include food and fun in the mix and thought this feature would be a good way to restart.  How does a Monday overview of a peek at how I try to balance all my weekly meals sound?  Same premise as the old blog, but now with a weekly glimpse instead of a daily one.  Also, I think I want to stick to just dinners, splurges & workouts right now.  To be quite honest, my breakfast, lunches & snacks have been pretty repetitive lately.  A fact that sprang up once I realized MOST of the time, I didn't really care what I had, just that I needed to eat SOMETHING.  (I know, how novelJ)  Honestly I've been having a lot of smoothies lately.  They've just seemed very "calming" to me at the moment, for whatever reason.  So, unless I have something majorly exciting in those 3 departments, I'll stick to the dinners, splurges & exercise because:

• Dinner is where I pretty much always try to make something different & keep it interesting....(ummm, except last weekJ  You'll seeJ)  And if you've read this blog for awhile, you'll remember that it was kinda the original style.
• Splurges are really the most fun to talk about and enjoy AMIRIGHT??
• And exercise melds them all together = keeps ya on the healthy track, while giving you a little bit of wiggle room for that piece of chocolate.

I hope this gives you guys some insight into how to balance all the healthy with all the 'good' stuff (and portion control it all, via the pictures) and maybe give you some meal ideas if you're stuck in a rut (one of the main reasons I started this blog to begin with).  As always, I like to show that you don't need to eat sad salads and steamed vegetables every night to loose weight and/or to be healthy.  And that, while at times I do have moments of cutting back on carbs and such, I DO NOT like to cut anything permanently out of life.  What's life without pasta and ice cream??  A life I don't want to live, I know that muchJ 

OK, so here ya go...a peek at my week:

Monday:  And it's starting off boring because we were all sick from before Easter and still feeling under the weather, so I think my dinner was leftover Chinese takeout lemon chicken & rice this night.  I mean, awesome first post about healthy balance, right?J

Tuesday:  The ONLY thing that sounded good:  Takeout baked ziti with sausage + a salad (still wasn't feeling great)

Wednesday:  The only thing that STILL sounded good: Baked ziti with sausage (served on a salad-sized plate for portion control) + salad + a slice of bread & butter

Thursday:  1 dish Lightened Pad Thai  (made with cabbage instead of noodles.  Healthy + delicious!)

Friday:  Polenta Caprese Bites + salad

Saturday:  No dinner since we were still satisfied from a good brunch at Tortilla Press.  Complete with a few cinnamon pita chips...

...a few bites of 'breakfast nachos'...

 ...and 1/2 a chorizo + raja quesadilla

Sunday:  French Onion Soup Dippers + broccoli

I don't want to live a life without grilled cheese either.  There, I said itJ

And the splurges!

Tuesday:  Chocolate Coconut egg.  Because EasterJ

Thursday:  A small scoop of THIS ice cream...

Friday lunch:  Aka-the ONLY thing that I wanted on the planet:  Stewart's Root Beer + a cheese dog (and a couple fries stolen from KatieJ)  Here's what was leftJ 

Sunday morning breakfast: 1 orange chocolate chip muffin

Sunday afternoon:  Good old stovetop popcorn with butter + salt

It was a family treat all aroundJ

And finally- Exercise:

Pretty quiet week since we were getting back up to speed after being under the weather.

Thursday:  Teaching a private gentle yoga session

Friday:  Power yoga...taught by ME at my 1st ever full, public class!  Yeeeeeeeeee!  (does shaking with terrified nerves burn calories??)

Saturday:  2 mile walk around the park

Sunday:  Restorative yoga

So, there ya go!  A week in review.  Let me know what you think about this new Monday recap feature if you have a minute.

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As always...thanks for reading!

On the run...

Tuesday Recap:

Workout:  2 rounds of arms & squats

Breakfast:  2 slices whole wheat toast with avocado, honey & sea salt

Not shocking that I was VERY excited when this popped up on the Bikini Series breakfast list this week.  

Snack:  Coconut Chia Breakfast Pudding 

This kept me SUPER full and it's a good thing since I didn't get a chance to eat until late and on the run, shuttling Katie & I off to visit friendsJ

Lunch-on-the-go:  Peanut Butter & Strawberry KIND bar

+ Peach

Car lunch = totally worth it for good company & 2 cuties in polka dot bikinis...J

Snack:  The last of my LaraBar stash...sigh

Dinner:  2 Tacos with collard greens 

Tacos have become our go-to, super easy meal when we're running late & last minute for dinner.  They are SUPER quick, healthy, easy & delicious.

(Serves 2)

• 1/2 pound ground turkey
• Taco spices
• Beans  (used cannelloni beans last night since that was all we had)
• 1 diced red pepper
• 1 diced onion
• 1/2 diced avocado
• Skinnygirl sour cream

The collard greens are much more sturdy than romaine leaves, but I must say the romaine leaves are my fav cause their flavor is more muted and I love that crisp flavor.  Just a little lettuce wrap FYIJ

Have a great Wednesday!

The "angel" side...

Morning, everyone!  So if yesterday's recap was the 'devil' on my shoulder, today's post is definitely the angel.  And before I go any further, I have to give all the credit in the world for the Edofood pics to my friend & fellow yogi classmate, Chris!  I was wayyyy to hungry/exhausted and/or both at any given meal time to grab my camera, so I repeatedly told her I was stealing all of her picturesJ  Thankfully, she's a doll & sent them all to me yesterday to share with you guys.  Thanks a zillion CHRIS!!!!!!!

And of course, all of the credit for the goodies goes to Ricky & Jen from EdoFoods for keeping us SO WELL FED this entire weekend.  Starting with the green juice snack on Saturday morning...

I have been wanting to try green juice for ages (but how bout the prices on those things, huh??) and I'll admit, I was a bit timid seeing the ingredients list:

But oh man...with a nod to Cinco de Mayo, Ricky & Jen made an entire weekend menu of fiesta eats, kicking off with this Mojito version of green juice.  Sweet, tangy and just oh-so-refreshing, all the green veggies are masked by the sweet, mint, lemon & lime flavor.  A refreshing way to kick off the day...or to end it with donuts.  

I digressJ

Next up for lunch was a salad with black beans, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, chayote in a creamy vegan chipotle dressing...

And THE cutest & most unexpected side:  Mexican street corn complete with vegan cheese, lime & cayenne...YUM!

And, OK, this was SUPPOSED to be our afternoon snack....but I have to admit I had this devoured to mere crumbs by 10am.  Jen whipped us up a "Horchita," a muffin combo of Horchata flavors with CHIA = Horchita.  How cute & clever is she??

This dense, sweet, coconut-y muffin was SOGOOD, I went back and had another on Sunday cause I couldn't stop thinking about how perfect these little nuggets were.  ALL THE YUM.  (ps-still owe you guys $2 for the extra muffinJ)

And Sunday was another display of fresh & delicious, with a mango snack dusted with lime & chipotle... 

And a FILLING and delicious 'burrito bowl' for lunch on Sunday with black beans, brown rice, peppers & onions, spinach, pico de gallo, vegan sour cream and chicken (for us meat-eaters) or plantains (for the veggie headsJ)  I had the chicken but I heard the plantains were crazy good.  Either way, so delicious and fresh all around. 

And, hahahahahaha, I guess we were ALL too beat to take a picture of our final treat on Sunday afternoon:  AVOCADO FUDGE.  A picture wouldn't have done it's rich & decadent self justice anyway.  It was just the perfect little bite to wrap up a VERYYYYYY long & exhausting, but wonderful weekend.  This one just also happened to involve our 'practice teach' on Saturday and after climbing into bed on Saturday night did I realize we all had taken 4-5 HOURS worth of yoga classes in one day.  PHEW!  Let's just say the avocado fudge was very welcome after ALLTHEYOGA.  THANKS AGAIN TO EDOFOODS for a spectacular spread for our exhausted soulsJ

And that brings us to Monday and back to the Bikini Series.  I obviously didn't have too much time to food prep over the weekend, but thankfully we had enough 'good stuff' hangin around to keep it together for a 'Tone it up approved day'...

Monday Recap:

Breakfast:  Pina Colada Smoothie

EXACTLY what I was wishing for on the HOT morning that was yesterday  (Hey Spring, where'd ya go???)

Snack:  1/2 whole wheat pita with hummus & spinach

Lunch:  Coconut Almond milk yogurt + 1 diced peach + 2 tablespoons toasted walnuts + cinnamon & unsweetened coconut 

Snack:  2 carrot cake protein bites 

Yum!

Dinner:  Santorini Salad

Kristin's recipe for this shrimp, crispy chickpea, feta salad coated with a cucumber/basil/Greek yogurt dressing looked soooo cool & refreshing, I actually COULD. NOT. WAIT to have this salad for dinner.  My only problem??  I halved the recipe for all the ingredients...except the garlic in the dressing.  And as much as I love garlic, a FULL CLOVE of RAW in salad dressing may have been a bit ambitious and it kinda muted all the rest of the flavors since it was SOOOOOOOO POTENT.  Oh well, the salad was so yummy & cool, I'll definitely be making it again:  Proper garlic amounts on order!J

And, yep, I actually GOT DRESSED to go to the gym...got to the car and realized it was slightly painful even to GET IN THE CAR (ummm...did I mention 5+ hours of yoga over the weekend??), that I turned right around and headed back in the house.  And even when I went to get up & get in my quick arms & squats workout, I just felt TOOOOOO WORN OUT to get to it.  No regrets!  The ole' bod needed rest yesterday and that's just what it gotJ

But I can already vouch I was back at it this morning and ready to start another healthy day.  Hope you enjoyed the healthier recap & have a great Tuesday, everyone!J

FINALLY taking a moment to stop & think...

Tuesday Recap:

Workout:  2 sets of arms & squats with 8 pounds

Breakfast:  TIU Pina Colada Smoothie

Mmmmmmmmmm....coconut, coconut water, frozen pineapple, protein powder, lime juice FABULOUSNESS!

Snack:  1/2 wheat pita with hummus + spinach

Lunch- Flax/Almond meal pancake with peanut butter & syrup + 1 orange 

Yeah, not exactly your typical lunch, but one I was DYING for!  So much so in fact, that we didn't have pre-made almond meal, so I just tossed a couple handfuls of almonds in the coffee grinder and whipped some up myselfJ  That cake turned out so huge, I couldn't even finish it!  Totally satisfying.

Snack- Coconut Chocolate Chip Larabar

Perfect afternoon sweet tooth fix!

Dinner:  Chicken fajitas + toasted corn guacamole + baked corn tortilla chips 

After being COMPETELY inundated all the live-long-day of ALL sorts of Cinco de Mayo treats, honestly we were almost one foot out the door for some gooey nachos & fried ice cream last night.  But I just KNEW neither of them were going to make me feel good...not to mention, I knew our dinner was gonna be a quick-cooking WINNER and I was rightJ

Sauteed cumin/garlic/chili chicken & peppers and onions... 

...sided up with some guacamole mixed with some toasted corn (just tossed a drained can of corn in a dry skillet and let the flames work their magic)  with a few homemade oven-toasted corn chips...

Let's be honest...this was DEF our favorite partJ  I'll probably be making this meal again this week, so be warnedJ

Dessert:  Mexican-spiced mini pudding pies 

I won't lie:  I whipped these up with some instant chocolate pudding (it WAS a Tuesday night, afterallJ), mixed in a bit of chili powder, Cayenne and lots of cinnamon and called it the perfectly lighter way to enjoy a Cinco treatJ  No fried ice cream involvedJ.

And again, not that there's not a time & place for nachos & fried ice cream...but I'm not sure if it's been because I've been eating MUCH healthier lately OR the extremes that pregnancy tends to bring, but eating healthy has become SUCHHHHHHHHH a relief/treat lately, while eating 'bad' has become not really even worth it because I end up feeling soooooooooooooooooo G-ROSS afterwards.  We didn't even over-indulge over the weekend, but I kinda felt the lowsy effects of it for a couple days.  It's wild.  I've never really been one to stop & think of how I'd feel AFTER I ate something more indulgent (more like a 'dive right in there and worry about it later' kinda personJ), but the extreme of how bad I feel has really helped put on the breaks of late.  Here's to hoping it continues cause it's MUCHHHHHHHHH easier to curb those cravings when you take that second to realize that one 'extra spoonful of ice cream/slice of pizza/night of unplanned indulgence when you know you have a satisfying healthy swap on tap' (see that above dinner againJ) is gonna put you over the edge.  Actually puts this little quote I saw on FB last night even more in perspective...

Just food for thought.  Pun intended.

Have a great Wednesday, everyone!J

From side dish to main star....

Wednesday Recap

Breakfast:  Almond Meal/Flax pancake with peanut butter

My goal of late has been to add enough egg whites to make the batter JUST thin enough to be able to spread it around with a spatula as soon as it hits the pan to make as BIG of a 'cake as I canJ  Yesterdays was a beautJ

Workout:  Power Yoga class

Had a few breathless moments, but knew when to 'reign it in a bit' and made it through just fine.  Probably didn't help that the teacher didn't throw any stomach/back work (like bow or locust) which give me automatic breaksJ

Lunch:  Berry green smoothie

I was building this in my head mid-triangle pose in yogaJ

• 1 1/2 cups water
• Splash of pineapple juice
• 3 pineapple slices
• Frozen cherries
• Frozen mango
• Frozen Spinach
• 1 large scoop protein powder

Snack:  Easter Sweet Bread 

Katie & my Mom frosted and decorated the bread yesterday morning and I could not WAIT to get over there and sample a piece (or 3J)

Dinner:  Parmesan-Cilantro corn burrito bowls

I had this Parmesan-cilantro corn recipe on deck as a side dish for the day, but after tossing around main dish pairing ideas and all of them seem TOO much, I thought "why not make the corn the main star in a burrito bowl"???

It took up a lot of burners on my stove, but honestly the only thing any of those pans really needed was a quick stir once in a while...

In the mix:

• Brown rice, cooked & mixed with 1/2 cup of diced cilantro, juice from 1/2 a lime, a pat of butter and salt.
• Frozen (or fresh) diced peppers
• Black beans, drained & rinsed and heated with 1/4 cup water, and shakes of oregano, onion powder, garlic powder & cumin
• Parmesan-cilantro corn

All piled into a bowl and topped with a dollop of guacamole, this made for a QUICK, HEALTHY and VEGETARIAN variation of the popular bowls...sans tofu.  (even though those sofritas ARE VERY good!) 

Surprisingly filling being 75% veggies and all of the flavors combined together really well (I WAS a little worried how the Parmesan would play along with the groupJ) But I'm definitely keeping that corn recipe in my pocket as a side dish for SUMMER.   The Trader Joe's roasted corn was good, but I bet it would taste even BETTER with JERSEY SUMMER CORN.  That and the fact that it came together in a heartbeat are all PLUSES I can get behindJ

Dessert:  Almond Joy pudding

Found this little number on the shelf of my local grocery store and was oh-so-excited.  Even more exciting is that it has specks of coconut and diced almonds swirled throughout.  Swoon....TEXTURE!  I feel like I've been eating throughout the day pretty well, but after dinner, my mind is SWIRLING with what to have for dessert.  That damn sweet tooth this week!!  Hopefully that moves along soon, but until then, this pudding was a somewhat LESS-guilty means of satisfying it's dastardly whims.  

So, um, HUMIDITY is in the forecast for today??  How much craziness is that??  That along with near-70 degrees and LOTS O' RAIN.  Guess it's not too bad of a day to have MORE Easter sweet bread making on the schedule for the day.  I'm surprised it's near 8am and Katie hasn't asked to go to Nona's yet since she's VERY excited about getting to "HELP!" (aka-her favorite activity these last few months.  Scott & I can't do too much without hearing "I WANNA HELP!"J)

Hope you guys have a good Thursday!  (SO CLOSE TO FRIDAY!)