I'm bulletproof...sorta...

Wednesday Update:

*Coconut oil coffee.... So I started the day with this new fab in coffee of 1 cup brewed coffee BLENDED (this is KEY or you'll end up with a cup of coffee with an oil slick floating on top!) with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil.  A lot of recipes add in a tablespoon of organic Kerrygold butter to make the (trademarked) Bulletproof coffee...but I was going baby steps here, peeps.  There are plenty of articles online talking about the pros & cons of this latest fad concoction.  My main reasons for wanting to try it were the prompt of steady energy/less blood sugar spikes (= no hunger spikes), a morning boost to the metabolism and the mind clarity that it suggests.  (and who couldn't use more mind clarity, AMIRIGHT??)

What I ended up getting after 1 day:

A.- The 1 tablespoon of coconut oil made a tasty enough cup of coffee that I didn't end up needed to add anything else.  And as a coffee creamer JUNKIE, this made me VERY happy.  The coconut oil had about 50 calories more than the 2 tablespoons of creamer I TRY to use.  And of course,  significantly more fat...BUT, the healthy fats were now replacing all of the chemicals, bad fat & sugar of the creamer.  So does one outweigh the other??  I would think so, right??  I would think any time you're using natural ingredients to replace beloved crap ones is a good health step.  Not to mention, adding coconut oil to your diet is just an all-around good idea since its benefits are known far & wide.

B.- Ummmm...not much appetite suppressant, though.  The fat & calories of the oil & butter coffee is supposed to be a meal replacement, really, but my 1 tablespoon of oil was doing NONE of that for me.  I was pretty hungry shortly after the cup.  I tried to wait it out over an hour to see if it was just a passing thing, but IT WASN'T.  I was DEFINITELY hungry and NEEDED breakfast AND snack.

C.- Through the rest of the day, though, it seemed my hunger spikes were kept at bay....but they've also been that way since following the 5-meals a day of the Bikini Series.  Sooooo, I can't really say which caused it, but I didn't really have any cravings or irrational food choices for the rest of the day.

Soooooooooo...in conclusion:  Winning?  I guess?  I tried it again this morning and maybe I'll try it for a bit to see if I see any changes and I'll report back my insights here.  As usualJ  

Anyone else try this??  Pros/Cons??

Annnnyyyywwwayyyyyyyyy:

Breakfast:  Superfood Chocolate Breakfast Bowl

Sooooo...I really wasn't sure how I was feeling about this weird-ish concoction of frozen blueberries, banana, cocoa powder and spinach...but it was sooooooooooooooo good!  Especially topped with the added chocolate hit of crushed caco nibs, chia seeds, banana & unsweetened coconut.  Swoooooon.

Snack:  1 cup berries + 1/4 cup peanuts 

Had VERY shortly after that smoothie bowl since, as I mentioned above, I was PRETTTTY hungry yesterday morning.  After this double whammy though, I was pretty satisfied for several hours.

Lunch:  Ummmmmm... 

Yep, I liked that smoothie bowl so much that I had it TWICE in one day.  If that's not enough of an advertisement to try this recipe out ASAPJ

Snack:  Califia Chocolate Almond Milk

I was on a chocolate kick yesterday, huh??  But here's where I definitely think my "rational mind" worked out in my benefit, because I picked up this little bottle while taking a quick spin through Whole Foods (stockin up on my cocoa nibs & chia seeds from their bulk bins) and realized I needed SOMETHING.  And while I passed cases of cupcakes, pastries & gelato, I had no urge for ANY of them and found THIS option to be the most appealing.  Now THAT'S a definitely win.  Not to mention this was really creamy & delicious and SUPER filling from the (plant-based) protein...

 Dinner:  Pizza Kitchen

Now I know this looks like an 'irrational splurge', but I swear this ended up being a dinner more because it was SOOOOOO nice out last night and had more to do with making our annual 'spring' trip to Pizza Kitchen to eat outside under their little patio than it ACTUALLY had to do with the pizza.  Since last week it was already TOO hot and the last couple days were TOO gloomy, it just felt nice to be outside on such a sunny and breezy night.  And of course, the pizza was delicious to bootJ

And I'm glad we enjoyed that pizza since both Scott AND I managed to catch Katie's cold that she developed OUT OF NOWHERE on Monday.  Yippeee.  We both slept terrible last night and woke up feeling SUPER lousy.  Sooooo, you may or may not hear from me tomorrow, depending on how these next 24 hours treat me.  

Until then...have a great Thursday!

Chili & Chilly...

 Tuesday Recap:

Workout:  2 sets arms & squats 

Breakfast:  Oatmeal with strawberry jam + almonds 

Ummmm...technical difficulties that I can't get this picture to flip for the life of me!  Oh well...hopefully one of my 3 leftover bowls of this recipe will photograph uprightJ

Snack:  Apple + 1 tablespoon peanut butter

Lunch:  Banana Smoothie Bowl

Snack:  Luna Coconut bar

Dinner:  Tone it Up Pumpkin Turkey Chili 

When I saw this recipe on the Bikini Series menu for week 8, I scoffed.  Chili?  IN JUNE???  Who wants that??  Especially considering last week I waved the white flag on cooking TWICE cause it was JUST TOO DAMN HOT!  But how bout this week in Jersey is a chilly & overcast mid-60's (which now feel like 40's!), making this dinner COMPLETELY appropriate.  And it's a good thing since the recipe above makes EIGHT servings.  Perfect for a couple quick lunches & dinners this week.  Good thing the rest of the week's forecast is just as chilly as it's been so farJ

Dessert:  Sweet Dream Smoothie

And because it was so darn chilly out, I was craving something warm & cozy once I hit the couch.  I found this warm milk/banana/cinnamon/vanilla/honey drink on my Pinterest board and quickly whipped it up.  It came a little thicker than a drink, but far be it from me to complain about eating anything with a spoon (smoothie bowls, much??)  Nice & cozy.

Have a great Wednesday!

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

Memorial Day Weekend Recap...

Kicking off the summer with...

Strawberry-basil chicken burgers...

For real...

Strawberry pickin'...

Girl's nights/mini-baby showers, which led to Katie's favorite gift:  ALL THE TISSUE PAPER...

(this went on for an hour)

Family weddings...<3 p="">

Parade watching... 

A too-tired to cook Memorial Day trip to The Pour House for good ole short rib cheese fries & pork nachos... 

...and a "Sweet Cheese" burgers (topped with blue cheese, cheddar & maple-mustard) ...

...and of course, ICE CREAM...

...as only the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop (now in Philadelphia) can do, with an "American Gangster" (vanilla cone coated in chocolate covered pretzels & a chocolate dip + dulce de leche)... 

In short:  I'm exhausted & ready for a salad.  Hope you guys had a fabulous long weekend and are set for the week ahead.  Have a good Tuesday!