snacks|Chia Seed Me

Sep 15, 2010 Posted by candice on Sep 15, 2010 in Eat clean, Thailand, lunch, snacks | 5 comments

takin’ me back

Today was another successful day of Operation: Get Clear Skin. Successful being used very loosely of course – meaning I pulled out all the stops by sticking to the list I posted yesterday…but my face is technically still not clear at all. I honestly do think I can see a glimmer of improvement, though, so my hopes are high. Thank you for all the supportive comments and advice. You guys rock!

Actually, the drama with my face brought back a memory of Thailand for me today. It was Valentine’s Day of 2008, and Jonathan had planned a one night getaway for us at a hotel in Chiang Mai. It was really only about 15 minutes away from our apartment, but had air conditioning, a bath tub and was gecko free as far as we could tell:)

this little guy welcomed us to our kitchen the day we moved in – little did we know his entire extended family + all his friends lived in our house as well.

flowers the husband bought me from the market

hotels like this are fairly inexpensive for Americans

I seriously stayed in this tub for hours on end. It was like I was back in America.

The next morning he took me out to breakfast…

and then it was time for the big surprise.

He had booked me a massage and facial (also really cheap in Thailand – I could get a manicure for about three dollars)!

I remember laying on my back, feeling like I had died and gone to heaven as a sweet Thai woman massaged things into my face.

You see where this is going.

The next morning I woke up and throughout the day this rash began to show up on my face. It was like my entire face was completely overtaken by blemishes…seriously beyond anything I’ve ever experienced in my 27 years. I wanted to hide under a rock and never come out. And I kept asking myself “what could have possibly made you think it was a good idea to let someone rub not only their hands, but also various other unknown concoctions all over your face?!”

Needless to say I haven’t had a facial since.

And that’s where memory lane ends.

Back to today. I started off again with a delicious breakfast juice before doing an hour session of yoga in preparation for my class tonight.

The goods. Parsley, escarole (leafy green I picked up at Whole Foods last week!), 1 plum, 1 organic carrot, 1 beet and 1 apple

aren’t beets so pretty?

a spry little sprig of parsley

and the finished product

After yoga and some light house keeping, I was ready for a snack.

apple and almond butter

I haven’t had an apple and almond/peanut butter together in a long time…but I think it is time to bring it back! holla.

I also sipped on a Pom spritzer (a few ounces of Pom juice mixed with seltzer water) on the side. This little drink was so refreshing to me today.

A little while later lunch was a green monster just like yesterday’s, except with almond milk – yay for a stocked fridge!

After meeting with a new student whom I will be tutoring now as well as student I’ve been tutoring for awhile, I came home craving exactly what you see above: homemade salsa (recipe coming soon!), baby carrots, sugar snap peas, spelt pretzels and spicy garlic hummus. This snack plate was so filling and it took me forever to eat it, which is a plus in my book:)

Dinner was a little more carb heavy. I somehow failed to get a picture, but the husband and I made Mexican Fiesta Pasta. It was hot, mexicany, spicy and it really hit the spot!

I must be off to bed now…I’m planning to make it up in the morning in time for a run, but I’m a little worried seeing as how tired I am right now and how late it is. Must. Get. Sleep.

G’night!

let’s clear things up

Hello!

This morning…I juiced.

But before that I went on a 3.5 mile run. It was a decent run – not the best I’ve ever had, but certainly not bad. I love those moments when I hit a high in the middle of my run, whether caused by my current tune, something to do with the scenery or just a good strong and steady stride, it’s just so sweet. We didn’t make great time – I think we finished in about 38 minutes, but I’ve just been less worried about time lately. I would honestly rather just enjoy running than be super worried about how fast I’m going.

Anyway, so I came home and showered and then got to juicing. I know I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had switched cleansers to Burt’s Bees because I wanted to start using all natural skin care. I’ll be doing a full review on it later as I want to give it a little more time before I form a final opinion. One thing I don’t think I mentioned before is that I felt like it was a good time for me to make the switch because I was having some serious breakouts on my face. I haven’t had a problem with breakouts since high school, and I’m not really sure what’s going on. But I figured since my face was already broken out, it would be a good time to change my skin care system, since switching can often trigger a breakout. Might as well get it all over with at once.

Not sure that was the best idea. I’ve been using Burt’s Bees for about 2 weeks now, and my face has progressively gotten worse. I honestly don’t think that BB is specifically the problem. I think there was already a problem, and so far BB just hasn’t miraculously cleared up my skin. It has gotten so bad, though, that I finally called the other day and set up an appointment with the dermatologist. I’m seriously feeling desperate!

Anyway, I woke up this morning and was washing my face when it occurred to me that I should really try every natural remedy I can think of before I end up with a prescription cream of some sort that is full of chemicals and most likely expensive on top of that. After just a little bit of researching I came up with a few ideas that I’m going to begin implementing.

Drink a lot more water – I drink water with most meals, but often forget to drink it in between
Eat more raw foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds (read: lots of juices, green smoothies and salads)
Eliminate (with a few exceptions) refined sugar and coffee
More yoga – yes, I think this matters. It helps relieve stress and tension, which has a positive effect on my skin
Not wearing makeup whenever possible - this is kind of a catch 22 because I want to avoid makeup so my skin can breathe and begin to clear up, but I also have more of a desire to wear it because my face is so broke out. Not sure exactly how to handle this other than I won’t be wearing makeup anytime I’m at home
Continue to wash morning and night with Burt’s Bees
Use tea tree oil on blemishes
Stop touching my face! I have a bad habit of doing this.

I just felt so compelled today to do whatever I can to take care of this problem.

Breakfast. leafy greens + 1 beet + 1 carrot + 3 celery stalks + 1 apple + small piece of garlic = one amazing juice

After my juice, I did an hour yoga session. I’m learning to turn my planning for classes into awesome classes for myself. I pulled out all the stops, even using my lavender scented cloth:) A couple of hours later I had a snack plate.

Newman’s Own spelt pretzels

natural almond butter

homemade salsa

carrots and celery sticks

And for lunch I opted for a green smoothie. This contained 2 handfuls of spinach, 1 container of soy yogurt (we’re out of almond milk), 2 heaping tablespoons Vega Shake and Go Smoothie, half a banana, 1 tbsp chia seeds and ice.

For an afternoon snack I veered from raw and ate up a cinnamon raisin Ezekiel english muffin with 1 tbsp almond butter.

Plus I drank lots and lots of water all day long! Many trips to the bathroom ensued.

For dinner Jon and I grabbed salads from Chipotle on our way to buy groceries. Mine included lettuce, black beans, grilled veggies, 3 kinds of salsa and guacamole of course!

Overall I already feel much better today. Even though I can’t tell a difference on my face yet, it feels good to know that I’m going everything I can. I would love to be able to cancel that dermatologist appointment in a week.

Well, now that I’ve laid out all my problems for the world to see, I must be headed to bed;)

Question: have you ever had problems with your skin, whether acne or something else? Any ideas for natural treatments?

fireworks in September

Last night I met up with my friend Grace to go watch our city’s fireworks show. It was an absolutely beautiful night, almost cool enough for a jacket, and we had a fantastic time.

Surprisingly the fireworks show was one of the best shows I think I’ve seen in a while. They timed it with half time of the high school football game, so it was somewhat short, but what it lacked in length it totally made up in awesomeness:)

Jon left early this morning to go back to work, so I spent most of the day getting the house cleaned up and working on my yoga class. Only four more days until I teach my first official yoga class…I’m a little nervous, but so excited!

Right when I got up this morning, I drank a small green monster to tide me over until I decided what to do for the morning. I sort of wanted to go for a run, but yoga was really calling my name, so I opted out of the run.

A little while later I was starving, but not quite ready for lunch, so I had a little snack.

homemade hummus and Kashi TLC crackers

A couple of hours and a sparkling clean bathroom later I decided to cook up some lunch! This is one of my favorite go-to meals when Jon isn’t home. It’s healthy, easy and he doesn’t like sweet potatoes…so it works out perfectly:)

I mixed 2 tsp of olive oil with a few shakes of garlic powder, ground red pepper and oregano. After slicing the sweet potato and snapping the asparagus, I tossed everything in a gallon ziplock bag together, shaking it until I couldn’t shake anymore. I then dumped the sweet potatoes out on a cookie sheet and placed them in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Ready, set, speed clean the bathroom!

When the buzzer went off, I flipped the potato rounds and added the asparagus to the cookie sheet before throwing it all back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

Last time I made this I cooked the asparagus too long – but this time they were just perfect! They still had a little bit of crunch to them, but were still just the right amount of soft:)

I promised myself that if I got everything cleaned and worked on yoga, that I’d sit back, relax and do something purely for fun later tonight. I think I’m gonna grab some dinner and maybe read a book or magazine for awhile until Jon gets home.

Yay for a three day weekend! Hope yours is going swell:)

Love and chia seeds:) Candice

Edited to add: haha! When I went back to re-read this post, I realized I never explained why our city was shooting off fireworks in September..lol. It rained cats and dogs on the 4th of July this year, so they had to cancel the show. It was rescheduled for last night.

fingers crossed

Happy lunchtime folks!

I started this morning off with an ice cold green monster.

2 big handfuls of spinach, 1/2 frozen banana, 1 tsbp chia seeds, 1/2 scoop Amazing Grass, 1.25 cups almond milk, ice

Have you tried a green smoothie yet? I know some are really intimidated grossed out by the thought of spinach in their smoothie. But you can take my word for it – you cannot taste it! So the questions isn’t “why put spinach in your smoothie?” The question is “why not?!”

A couple hours and pages of writing later, I was ready for a snack!

This yogurt bowl contained 1 container Whole Soy yogurt, a quarter of a banana, and some granola that was on sale at the health food store the other day – Bakery on Main Cranberry Maple Almond Granola.

I guess it was a little much for just a morning snack, because lunchtime has come and gone, and I’m nowhere near hungry. o’well! Guess I’ll fit lunch in later on if I get hungry.

I’ll be spending the rest of the afternoon fighting with iPhoto and Flickr as I try to transfer all my photos over. Does anybody want to volunteer to do this for me? Puh-lease???

One thing I wanted to mention is about a new site that’s totally worth checking out: Healthy Living Blogs.

Healthy Living Blogs is a new resource for the health blogging community. Created by Lindsey of Sounds Eats, HLB is a site designed to enhance the positive community of the healthy living blog world. Bloggers and readers can explore the site and find more blogs to love, bloggers in their area, and forums to deepen healthy discussion and support. So, check it out when you get a chance!

I’ll see you all later. I’m planning on making a new tofu recipe tonight, and I’ve never had much luck in the tofu department, so I’ll be back tonight with either a great new recipe for you…or a catastrophic fail. Cross your fingers:)

gonna be a long night

Breathe Candice. Breathe.

It’s 10:30 pm on Wednesday night. I’ll be leaving tomorrow at about 6pm for HLS. Allow me to show you my to do list.

1. edit a 20 page dissertation for a client
2. write 3 brochures for Outbox
3. make a casserole for Jon to eat this weekend
4. buy snacks!
5. start AND finish my photography homework
6. write a letter to my old principal
8. announce the Operation Beautiful book winner!
7. pack

Right. So, I’m gonna keep this short!

I spent most of today shopping for last minute things for HLS. At about 1pm I was starving, so I broke for Subway.

veggie delight w/ lettuce, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, pickles, banana peppers, olive oil, s&p, oregano

This is my favorite at Subway. And one of the best things about it is that it cost under $4! Granted I kinda wanted another one as soon as I finished it. Next time I’ll have to remember and get a 12 inch if I’m starving (“starving” being used very loosely of course).

After several more hours of running errands, I was famished again! What’s a girl to do?

Froyo of course! This particular shop didn’t have non-dairy, so I settled for the original tart topped with blueberries, strawberries, peaches and cocoa almonds. I loved the addition of the peaches! I practically inhaled this.

I also snacked on a few blue corn tortilla chips later on.

I finally got back home from the city around 4:45 and was able to sneak in a quick 20 minute power nap before heading to yoga. I usually am no good at short power naps, but this one kind of did the trick! Actually, I could really use another one about right now…

After yoga Jon and I were both spent, so we did whatever any self respecting hungry couple would do – heated up leftover enchiladas. Somebody’s gotta eat ‘em, and I’m about to head out of town! I wouldn’t want the husband to have to eat them all by himself:)

Okay, hate to cut this short, but I gotta get crackin’!

Hope you all sleep well, and I’ll see ya in the morning!

*today’s photos courtesy of the iPhone. wahoo!

asian food rocks

for lack of a better title..lol.

Hi!

Thanks for the sweet and encouraging comments on this morning’s post. You guys are so great:)

It’s funny how the blog community works – I am so freaking excited for Caitlin, and I’ve never even actually met her! At least not yet. I’m really looking forward to Healthy Living Summit for that reason…among many others. It has been such a fun day of seeing so much support from everyone and all the Operation Beautiful posts that have gone up. I’m loving it! Don’t forget to tune into the Today Show tomorrow morning at 8:30am to see Caitlin talk about the book!

Today has been so crazy! Sadly, Jon and I did not get outside for our run this morning. We stayed up so late working last night and just couldn’t pull ourselves out of bed this morning. It is for that very reason that I must make this quick! So I can actually get some sleep tonight.

Even after we finally got up, I still felt like I was dragging so I whipped up an energizing green monster.

2 handfuls of spinach, 1.25 cups soy milk, 1/2 scoop Amazing Grass, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1/2 banana, ice

After a couple of hours of writing, it was due time for a snack!

Ezekiel bread with homemade Classic Garlic Hummus

Today was my weekly lunch date with my sweet friend, Grace. We met at Qdoba. I ordered the vegetarian salad with black bean and corn salsa, grilled veggies, black beans, pico, verde salsa and guacamole.

I promise there is lettuce under there;)

It was just meh. I have come to like Chipotle so much better than Qdoba. It is good to change it up occasionally, though.

After lunch I worked on some Outbox tasks for awhile, and then it was time to get crackin’ on my photography class. It actually started on Monday, but today was the first time I really studied for it. Every week there is an online lesson and then a homework assignment. My assignment isn’t due until Sunday night, but there is a live chat with the instructors tomorrow, so I wanted to make sure and be prepared for any questions I might come up with while shooting! I’m so excited about this. Today I learned about all the parts/settings of my camera, aperture and shutter speed.

I literally spent about 3 hours studying, taking one short snack break of course:)

recycled photo. You guys know I’m obsessed with this snack. I can’t help myself!

Anyway, I wrapped it up and flew out the door just in time for yoga. It was a great class as always, but also the last chance for me to talk to my instructor before I teach on Friday morning. I’m getting so nervous, y’all! I’m definitely feeling more confident about it than I did this time last week, but it’s still so nerve wracking. I can’t wait to accomplish this, though. I’ve dreamed of being a fitness instructor for so long…and it’s finally happening:)

Dinner tonight was fun and easy! We decided to copy a dish that we used to eat a lot in Thailand – stir fried rice.

Tempeh Stir Fried Rice

Ingredients

1 cup dry brown rice
1.75 cups water
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/2 block tempeh
2 organic, free-range eggs
3 tbsp gluten free organic teriyaki sauce
2 tsp olive oil

Directions

1. Bring water to a boil. Add rice and lower to a simmer for about 10 minutes or until all water is absorbed.
2. Meanwhile, add 2 tsp oil to wok or skillet. Toss in green onion and tempeh and heat through.
3. Add two eggs and continue to stir fry until eggs are cooked.
4. Add rice and 3 tbsp teriyaki sauce and mix everything together well.

I served mine with a side of sauteed brussel sprouts, seasoned with garlic powder and ground red pepper

Delicious! I loved this meal. It really took me back to our days in SE Asia. I’ll definitely be making this again.

Well, folks, I’m off to bed! I’m already getting a late start. Tomorrow is a big day – my last day to prepare for PiYo and my first photo class instructor chat. Yay!

What’s your favorite type of food? It’s no secret that Mexican food = my life. But I do love me some asian food as well!

a crazy week: wrapping it up!

Hey!

I want to start with a shout out to Caitlin from one of my very favorite blogs, Healthy Tipping Point. I’m sure many of you are already avid readers, but if not you must stop by and check it out. Today is a very exciting day in the blog world because Caitlin’s book Operation Beautiful hit bookstores across the country!! Way to go Caitlin! Snag your very own copy at Barnes and Noble, Borders or Amazon.com.

Today has been only semi productive:( Honestly, these last few days have been sort of tough. I’ve just felt a little down in the dumps for no particular reason. And it’s definitely affected my productivity levels. I’m really hoping things start looking up soon!

Jon and I kicked off our morning with a fairly brutal 3 mile run. We got started way too late, and therefore it was way too hot! We actually ended up walking between miles 1.5 and 2. But, fortunately we did finish strong so it wasn’t a complete disappointment. Some days are just like that, ya know?

Stats

Distance - 3.o miles
Avg Pace - 10:48 (walking killed our pace obvs)
Best Pace – 7:59 (told you finished strong)

Splits
Mile 1 – 10:09
Mile 2 - 12:42
Mile 3 -9:34

After our run I was so overheated and dehydrated! I’m certain that my lack of hydration during our runs is responsible for how tough they’ve been. Today my mouth felt like cotton and it was hard to swallow I was so thirsty. It’s quite the conundrum, though, because I really don’t want to carry water for short runs. Camelback or hydration belt – neither is very comfortable, but for long runs I make it work. I guess I really don’t have another option though – I’m just going to have to start carrying water every run…at least until it cools down some. bah.

Needless to say after we got back I couldn’t even stomach the thought of a heavy breakfast, so I made up a little fruit plate

Which of course left me starving about an hour and a half later. Enter mid-morning snack of homemade Classic Garlic hummus, baby carrots and a few Back to Nature crackers.

Tonight Jon and I met up for a late dinner with our friends, Jonathan and Grace. We had such a great time catching up…aren’t friends just the best thing in the world??

We went to McAlister’s, a cute deli that we don’t really hit up that often. I used to think they didn’t have very good vegetarian/vegan options, but I have come to know better! Tonight I went with the veggie pita with honey mustard on the side. And a side of steamed veggies.

delicious!

Okay – now on to finishing up the series of posts about this crazy last week. If you missed it, here is part I, part II and part III.You would think after the chaos that had ensued since arriving at the lake, we would have high tailed it home. But oh no. We Marsh/McCoy/Fryar girls are not to be deterred when it comes to lake fun!

So after lazing around in the water for an hour or so, I decided I’d give wakeboarding a whirl. I have been skiing since I was 6 years old, at which age they had to tie my skiis together because my little legs weren’t strong enough to hold them steady:) I’ve wakeboarded a couple of times, but always struggled with it a lot more.

So, I dive in, get myself all fastened onto the board, wait for the rope to tighten up, and yell “GO!”

I don’t think at that point I really expected to get up. It had been so long since I’d done it, I expected it to take me at least a few tries. But no.

I popped right up on top of the water, wobbling like crazy and trying to maintain my balance while my mind attemtped to register what was happening. Before I had even absorbed that I was in fact on top of the water, the front of the board dipped slightly, getting caught in the wake. My body continued to propel forward, while my feet remained fastened in the boots of the wakeboard, causing me to violently slam into the water face first.

My first thought was that I was either A. going to die, B. have a concussion and/or C. black out.

Thankfully, none of the above happened. But as I floated to the surface, waiting for the boat to return, I seriously could not feel my face. The entire front side of my body felt as if it had been slammed into a concrete wall at a high rate of speed. The wind was knocked out of me and every cavity of my body was filled with water.

All I could do was moan.

After several minutes, I began to regain feeling in my body and my mom and sister hauled me out of the water and into the boat. No more extreme sports (as my husband calls it:) for Candice. We decided to call it a day and head back in.

Fifteen minutes of painful jolting later and we were back at the ramp to load up. Of course only to discover that the boat trailer tire was completely flat. Flat as a pancake.

We proceeded to spend the next hour and a half waiting, while some nice men helped us get it fixed.

I took the opportunity to get in some yoga.

And that was that. After having the tire fixed, we said thank you to the nice men and made our way back to the cabin. I packed up and headed back home, sad to be leaving such great time with my mom and sis, but exhausted after two full days of unexpected glitches. And with a slight headache.

So, you can imagine my distress the next day when Olive ate an entire bar of dark chocolate and had to be rushed to the puppy emergency room. I was this close to deciding to crawl back into bed and try again next week. lol.

I’m off to bed now, so I’ll “see” you all in the morning. Hope you had a great day!

Back to what I mentioned at the beginning -

What do you do for hydration? Do you carry water on every single run? Any brilliant ideas? Heck, any ideas at all??

Oh, yeah – and I did something kind of fun and crazy tonight…but I’ve gotta tell my mom before I spill it on the blog. lol. I’ll tell ya about it soon:)

a crazy week: part I

I love books. Aren’t books just amazing?

This morning I spent over two hours just looking at shelf upon shelf of books. I first went to Hastings to see if by chance the Operation Beautiful book would be there already. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any luck with that, but then I started browsing around and found a load of books I wanted to just sit down and soak up.

So, I booked it (pun intended:) to the public library. Our public library is not super extensive, unfortunately, and I usually leave in disappointment. While they didn’t have the specific reads I was trying to hunt down today, I was able to pick up a few good ones. I came home with

The Positive Power of Negative Thinking by Julie K. Norem
Be Happy Without Being Perfect by Alice D. Domar and Alice Lesch Kelly
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose

I picked up each of these books for a different reason (obvs:) – and I’m looking forward to sharing those reasons and my thoughts on these books as I read them.

Something that really should have been noted on my confessions post last week is that I tend to hoard books. I love to read so I accumulate books like crazy, and then it takes me forever to get through all of them. I guess it’s not necessarily a bad problem to have, but sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming!

This morning started off with a trip to The Daily Grind (our local coffee shop) for an iced soy latte. I failed to get a picture unfortunately, but the bland styrofoam cup wouldn’t have been too exhilarating anyway.

After I got home, I was about to eat my arm, so I fixed a quick mid-morning snack

brown rice cake slathered with natural peanut butter and topped with sliced banana

Today is cross training, so Jon and I opted to sleep in and we’ll be going for a walk later on tonight after it cools off!

I have so much to catch up on since I’ve been at large the last few days. As you guys know, I was at the lake with my mom and sister last Wednesday and Thursday. If you missed my spiralizer review or the most awesome guest post ever make sure and check them out!

It’ll take me a couple of days to catch up on everything, so I may as well get started!

On Wednesday, I got up super early to head to the lake. I had to stop through my hometown to pick up my mom before making the long drive to the lake to meet my sister. We finally arrived around noon and after hanging out at our cabin for awhile, we headed out to spend some time on the water.

For a quick bit of history on my family and the lake – my great-grandparents built our cabin when my mom was 2 years old.

My mom grew up going there every summer, and our family continued the tradition throughout my childhood. There really is a little piece of each of us in that cabin and on the lake. So many memories. When we were little, we used to tell people our grandpa owned Lake Texoma. And to us, he did.

After we spent a couple of hours on the lake, we decided to venture out on the 15 minute boat ride to one of the fancier resorts just to look around. Not even 20 minutes after arriving, we noticed some storm clouds brewing on the horizon.

even little Bentley was getting concerned:)

We’ve had our fair share of close calls with storms on the lake – getting caught out in the middle with waves coming over the front of the boat, being stranded on the beach with the wind whipping the sand, stinging as it collided with our skin. Once my dad got caught out in a storm, and our boat took a nosedive into a huge wave, breaking the windshields off the boat and losing most of his fishing equipment. Needless to say, we don’t mess around anymore.

So, we took off back across the lake, barely beating the storm back to the ramp. It was then that we realized our first real problem…

…to be continued:)

let’s celebrate

All was quiet on CSM last night. I just needed a little bit of time to unwind and disconnect from everything. Jon and I took Olive and went on a walk, which we haven’t done in awhile bc we’ve been so busy. I’ve missed our walks so much!

Yesterday afternoon I took a trip to a new Farmer’s Market on our university’s campus. It was fairly small, but each farmer had a good array of fruits and veggies. I was hoping to pick up some swiss chard, and while they didn’t come through for me on that, I did score all of this

cucumbers, zucchini, bell peppers, tomatoes, canteloupe, squash

I love all the different shapes of produce you find at the Farmer’s Market. When food is grown naturally, you don’t get the perfect, uniform look that you see in the grocery stores. It reminds me of how fresh and natural these veggies are. Beautiful!

It also reminds me of us as humans. We are all so different in shape and size…and that is something to celebrate! It’s our individuality and uniqueness that makes us beautiful. I know I need a frequent reminder of that! All too often I find myself envying someone else – their job, their body, their personality – but I try to redirect my thoughts to focus on what I love about myself!

squash the size of my arm!

This morning I got up and enjoyed a bowl of plain soy yogurt, fresh berries and raw oatmeal before heading off to PiYo class!

A little while after getting back home I snacked on a whole wheat tortilla and some salsa. I usually try to base snacks around fruits/veggies, but when a serious craving strikes…I have no choice but to listen!

I’ll be spending the rest of the day working on Outbox tasks and practicing PiYo. Things are moving along with preparing to teach. Slowly, but surely.

Tonight Jon and I are going to make a run to the city, so I can look for a dress to wear to the Healthy Living Summit cocktail party! Hopefully I’ll be able to find something on sale! Wish me luck:)

What is one thing you can celebrate about yourself? It can be something about your body, personality…whatever! And you can’t avoid commenting on this post because you don’t want to answer the question;) We all have wonderful amazing characteristics, and it’s good for us to remind ourselves of those things.

I’ll get the ball rolling: I love that I have a high sense of compassion for people. My heart breaks so deeply when I see other people hurting.

Ready…GO!!

second time around

Thank you all for the wonderful comments this morning! You guys totally made my day! Well…you and Foodbuzz lol.

I really do appreciate your support tremendously. ChiaSeedMe would not be the same without you.

After yesterday’s 7 hours of driving and 8 hour certification class, I just could not pull myself out of bed on time this morning! I slept in until Jon left for world at 8am, then finally lured myself out of bed by envisioning a refreshing and energizing juice. mmm.

1 beet, 1 apple, 1 pear, 2 carrots

Totally did the trick:)

I also managed to make it to the gym and crank out a 5k on the treadmill. It was a tough run…but I’m really trying to start pushing myself more. Instead of focusing on the discomfort, I want to focus more on the satisfaction of sprinting that last mile….or running it 20 seconds faster. Whatever it may be. It really worked today, and I felt so great!

Lunch was leftovers from the other night.

stir-fry veggies with bulgur, chick peas and chias

I had mentioned before that this stir-fry sauce I made was a total fail…but honestly, it tasted better today than it did the first time. I kinda liked it!

Later on I snacked on a brown rice cake with natural pb, sliced banana a chia seeds – one of my favorite snacks:)

Dinner tonight was leftover enchiladas. muahahaha.

Today when I met with Mohammad for our tutoring session, he had some bad news to tell me – he’s moving! This was totally out of the blue. Basically (we learned that word today:) he just isn’t happy with the classes he’s taking at the institute here, so he’s moving to OKC to attend a different one. Wednesday will be our last meeting together. I’m really going to miss it because I’ve been enjoying tutoring a lot!

So, you guessed it. That leaves me jobless once again. And once again, I’m just trusting that God has something better for me. It’s not easy, but I’m turning away from lies and believing truth. Something that I’m getting to work on a lot lately:)

In other news…

…this little guy left us yesterday. While Olive certainly has a little more peace in her life, Jon and I are kinda missing him.

Well, I’m off to cuddle with the husband. What a great day it’s been; let’s try to top it tomorrow!

And a couple questions for you guys because I love getting to know more about you! What better way to find out more about you guys than hearing about your lovable fur babies? Or lack thereof;)

Are you a dog person or a cat person? Or neither?
What kind of pet(s) do you have and what are their names?

a fun reunion

Hi!

Tonight’s post is going to be a quickie. I have had a lot on my mind lately, resulting in a lack of productivity this evening. O’well.

This morning Jon and I headed out early for a run – we finished about 3 miles (dead Garmin!) despite the heat, so I was perfectly happy with that. We ended up on the college campus mid-run and took advantage of the fountain on library lawn by splashing it down our necks and backs. Even the distance between the fountain’s pool and our bodies proved too far for the water to keep its coolness, but once we were off again, the breeze felt so refreshing on my damp skin. Best part of the run:)

When we got back I sewed a couple of missing buttons onto Jon’s shirt, and he was out the door to work. I made myself a quick green monster, then hit the shower. I won’t bore you with pictures of my gm again. It was delicious as usual, though, and got my morning off to an energetic start.

A few hours later, I fixed a little snack to tide me over until lunch.

Whole wheat pita stuffed with hummus, broccoli slaw and sprouts. I have a serious crush on broccoli slaw right now. lol. It adds a nice crunch to almost anything!

As mentioned this morning, I worked on getting our budget set up on mint.com. I think I’ve got it pretty much figured out, but let’s just say that anything having to do with numbers budgeting eludes me so it’s going to take some practice. Gotta start somewhere, though, eh?

Guys, I had the best time at lunch today. Not only was my meal out of this world, but my company was even better. Let’s start with the food

I ordered the Veggie pita, which was a whole wheat pita, literally stuffed to the gills with grilled red pepper strips, romaine, onions, bell pepper, cucumber and tomato. I asked for honey mustard on the side, which I later drizzled over the veggies. With a side of fruit. It was so much better than I anticipated! I felt so great afterwards, too – don’t you love the feeling of being full on fresh, clean food?

I met Tracy many years ago when we were probably sophomores in college. We were both English Education majors, and we both got placed at a school that was an hour’s drive away for our student teaching. So, naturally we commuted together. She was my saving grace during that time. Those long drives to and from school were filled with venting, encouragment, advice and just good girl talk. After college Jon and I moved away and now that we’re back she has moved. We hadn’t seen each other in ages, and it was so refreshing to catch up. I honestly love this girl, and seeing her made my day so bright. She just got a job teaching English as a second language to sixth and seventh grades, and I know she is going to rock it!

When I got home I was craving a little somethin’ sweet, so I indulged in this piece of dark chocolate I had stashed away in the fridge.

Because Tracy and I couldn’t peel ourselves away from each other for almost three hours, I didn’t do much else before Jon got home from work. We stuck to our favorite for dinner and whipped up some vegetarian burritos.

I started by sauteeing some green pepper strips and onions in some Mexican seasoning for about 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, I heated up some canned refried beans and cooked some brown rice. Once everything was ready I simply spread a spoonful of refried beans around on the (heated) tortilla, sprinkled on some rice, added a layer of veggies and a sprinkling of soy cheese. I then topped it all off with salsa, rolled it up and had a little fiesta in my mouth:) Simply delicious.

Now that it’s after midnight, I’ve got to be off to bed. I’m planning on going to Piyo tomorrow morning and may try to fit in some running on the treadmill as well. We’ll see how it all pans out in the am. Happy Friday!

Btw, I’m currently listening to a new album by Diane Birch, and I’m loving it! If you haven’t checked her out, you definitely should! Let me know what you think if you do;)

make it happen

Happy Thursday:) I honestly can’t believe we’re only a night’s sleep away from Friday. I am SO glad. I’m just counting down the days until school is out – only 6 weeks and 1 day to go.

I received my Women’s Health magazine in the mail today, and it has some great stuff. Women’s Health and Oxygen are my favorite magazines – I feel they are the most down-to-earth and real of all the fitness magazines. This issue has Jillian Michaels on the cover and a great interview with her inside. It’s funny how when you need a certain kind of affirmation about something, it just keeps popping up everywhere. In her interview, Jillian gives some great tips on how to achieve success, so I thought I’d share them with you!

Define your goal and be specific: you have to know exactly what you’re going after before you can go after it.
Believe in your ability: A lot of times people don’t really believe they can accomplish their goals. If you don’t believe in you, then who will? This is the one I have the most trouble with. At times I’ll feel so confident and self assured, like I could become the next Oprah if I wanted…other times I have trouble believing that I can make it through my next workout. This is something I am really working on in my life right now.
Stay positive: the minute you turn around to bash yourself, reverse it and give yourself a compliment.
Imagine your goal: Visualization allows you to get comfortable with the idea of change. I was just thinking about this today. I took a few minutes to visualize my goals. I pictured myself as I would be a year from now if I actually stepped out and tackled my goals. I even envisioned what the blog post would look like when I recap everything I will have accomplished (obvs. I think of everything in terms of blog posts:) This was really motivating for me. I desperately want to live that story!
Get educated: Studying up before pursuing your goal helps you make powerful choices that effect change. Knowledge is power.
Don’t fear failure: It is an integral part of success. I fear failure all the time! I think the big point here could even be – it’s okay to fear failure, as long as you don’t let that fear hold you back. Conquer it!
Get feedback: look for someone who’s educated in the goal you’re trying to achieve and seek out constructive criticism from him/her.

I think I’m going to type these up and post them where I can see them on a daily basis. Keeping things like this in front of me helps me stay motivated and inspired!

Today was honestly pretty stressful. Work was more stressful than usual (I won’t even go into that), and I got a call from my mom this morning, letting me know my grandpa had an accident. He had climbed up on the roof of our lake cabin to clear off some limbs, and when he went to climb back down, one leg of the ladder sunk into the ground, causing him to fall from the roof level. Unfortunately, he cracked three ribs. Fortunately, he didn’t have any other injuries. I am so thankful to still have my two grandparents, and all the time I think about the possibility of something happening to them. I don’t know how I would handle it. Even this got me all worked up, and I just wanted to go visit him, not be at work! I got to talk to him on the phone for awhile after work, though, and he seemed to be in pretty high spirits, considering.

For lunch, the parents at our school put together a luncheon for the teachers. I knew right away (from past experience) that there would be nothing there for me, so I packed this

Overnight oats! 1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup plain soy yogurt, 1/3 cup almond milk, 1 tbsp chia seeds, sprinkle of cinnamon, 1/2 chopped banana. Let sit overnight. Add toppings! Almond butter to be specific. Delish! My coworkers give me the strangest looks sometimes;)

Here’s the rest of the day’s eats

Yes, that would be cheeseless pizza again. Yes, I just had it last Saturday. What can I say? I was having a serious hankering for it, and I was exhausted from the day. What’s a girl to do?

I also am proud to say I worked out today, even though it was all I could do to keep my eyes open during the commute home. I threw on my gym clothes and headed to the gym. I cranked out a quick 2.5 miles on the treadmill, and followed it up with some ab work using the Bosu ball. Yay!

What is your favorite fitness magazine? Or would you rather read online articles/blogs instead?
What strategies do you have to help you stay motivated and inspired?
Chia Seeds Direct is having a sale on white chia seeds. Get 10% off by using the code WCS. Also, U.S. residents get free shipping. What are ya waiting for??

Well, that’s it for today, folks! Hope you all have a great Friday! G’night.

couscous salad and today’s eats

Hey hey everyone! How’s it going? As promised yesterday, I have a newbie and an oldie recipe for you!

First up is Couscous Salad

Ingredients

1.5 cup couscous, uncooked
2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1.5- 15 oz. cans black beans, rinsed
1.5 can low sodium corn
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 – 1 chopped avocado
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
handful of cilantro, chopped
2 tsp chili powder

Directions

Bring vegetable broth to a boil. Add couscous. Remove from heat and cover.
Chop bell pepper, onion and scallions and set aside
Whisk together oil, red wine vinegar, lime juice, and cumin in a large bowl
After couscous has sat for 5-10 minutes, fluff well with a fork and transfer sauce in bowl
Add black beans, corn, bell pepper, chopped onion, scallions, cilantro, chili powder, salt and pepper and mix well
Add chopped avocado just before serving

recipe adapted from here

This salad is great chilled, but can also be served hot. I made this recipe for my family Easter gathering, and I brought home a couple servings worth of leftovers. So, if you’re making it for one, you may want to half this recipe. I love having leftovers on hand, though. I took a bowl of this for lunch today, and it was filling as a meal too!

You guys have got to try this – I absolutely loved it and so did my fam!

Next up is my version of Averie’s Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Bars

This was actually my second time to make these, but I altered a couple of things from the last batch, and I think they turned out even better!

Ingredients

one ripe banana, mashed
1.5 cup oats
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup natural pb
1 scoop of Jay Robb Brown Rice Protein Powder (or protein powder of your choice)
3 tbsp sliced almonds
2 tbsp whole flaxseed
2 tbsp chia seeds
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Mash banana in a large bowl
Combine the rest of the ingredients a few at a time and mix well
Place saran wrap in 8×8 pan (Averie’s idea:)
Press mixture into pan with hands
Cut bars right away – I cut mine into 16 squares
Freeze bars

I think these bars are best served right out of the freezer, but you can eat them any way you like! As you can tell these are quite calorie dense, but they are so sweet and delicious that one small square is satisfying! After freezing mine, I took them out of the dish and wrapped them individually. Instant portion control! I was so happy because these were a total hit with my family. Usually they aren’t too keen on my concoctions, but I think they really loved these. Score!

My eats today were pretty basic. For some reason I wasn’t that hungry today. I sipped on my green smoothie throughout the morning, whereas I usually finish it on my drive to work. I even took the last bit of it to lunch with me. As mentioned earlier I also had leftover couscous salad for lunch.

I also packed all of this!

Kiwi, carrots and almonds…with a side of plastic;)

Whole soy yogurt and sliced almonds/dried cranberries (my favorite!)

Pretty kiwi:)

So, I actually didn’t end up eating the kiwi or the carrots because I just didn’t need it. It’s sitting in my fridge at work, waiting to be eaten tomorrow! I don’t think I’ll be able to resist it tomorrow – I love kiwi!

Dinner tonight was Whichwich. We just didn’t feel like cooking – we both had a lot to do tonight and wanted to just chill out and skip kitchen duty. So, Whichwich it was!

Tomato and avocado on whole wheat with lettuce, pickles, pepperoncini, mushrooms, bell pepper and onion – my fave!

Well, it’s getting pretty late and I still want to go out for a walk with Jon and Olive. Our walks are always the highlight of my day! I think we may have some storms coming in though, so off I go! See you guys tomorrow!

Btw, I do have some potential developments in the works regarding this post. I’ll update as soon as I can! Please keep your fingers crossed for me:)

Mexican Fiesta Pasta

Hi!

Whew! Today has been kind of crazy. Do you ever have those days where it seems that everything seems to go wrong? Well, that was today all the way up until 5pm when I arrived home from work. Enough about it, though, no need to carry it on!

I just have to say, first of all, thanks so much to all of you who have been stopping by and checking out CSM. Next to seeing my sweet husband, blogging is one of the highlights of my day. So, when I see that people are swinging by it thrills me to no end! I would love to hear from each of you in the comments, so that I can know who all is out there! Please drop me a line if you get a chance! Don’t be shy:)

And thanks so much to those of you who have been dropping me a line – you totally make my day!

Sorry guys, but lunch today was kind of a repeat. I love taking leftover for lunch, so when I have a large batch of something, such as Veggie-tel, I kill it! I did swap out the apple for a pear – just to add a little excitement. Oh, and threw in some chopped avocado as well. Somehow I forgot it yesterday. Doh!

I snacked on some baby carrots and sliced cucumber right after school today. I had to hold one little hoodlum after in detention. I threatened him with his life had a good little chat with him, so I’m hoping tomorrow is the last day we’ll spend time together after school. Somebody’s gotta keep these kids in line! These veggies held me over until my real snack on the commute home – a banana and a brown rice cake slathered with cashew butter. My cashew butter is almost out, which is not good considering the new budget implementations. Good ole’ PB will have to come to my rescue. It’s never a bad thing to get back to the basics I suppose.

Speaking of budget implementations, yesterday I promised a budget friendly delicious meal, and I definitely can’t go back on a promise. So, without further ado…

Mexican Fiesta Pasta

Ingredients

2 cans rotel (generic works great!)
1/2 chopped onion
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can chili beans, rinsed
1 can kidney beans, rinsed
1 can of corn, no salt added
1 12 oz. pkg whole wheat pasta
2 tbsp ground red pepper (or to taste) – I douse it!
1 tbsp cumin

Directions

Cook pasta
While pasta is cooking, dump everything else in a large pot (yes, everything else!)
Let mixture cook through while pasta is boiling
Drain pasta and add to mixture

That’s it! That’s one of the many joys of this meal. It takes all of about 15 minutes to make. It’s clean. It’s delicious. It’s cheap. Doesn’t get much better.

One thing I’d like to mention, considering this recipe has a lot of canned goods that go into it, is to be very careful when picking out your canned items. When I first started eating clean, I realized how many random things like sugar, salt, high fructose corn syrup etc. can come in things as simple as a can of corn or beans. There are definitely versions that are clean, you just have to look for them. I often buy Great Value because most of their canned beans, such as black, are pure and simple…they way we like it!

Well, that’s all for tonight! I’m off to respond to a couple of emails and then hit the sack! Hope you all had a fantastic day:)

eatin’ cheap

Happy (end of) Monday everyone! While Monday’s aren’t my favorite, it feels nice to have one day down and only four to go. I’m not going to lie – work today was a bit on the stressful side. It’s just hard getting back into the groove of things after sleeping in and doing only things I love for an entire week. It’ll get easier, though, at least it better!!

I started off this morning with a green monster per the usual. I am seriously addicted to my morning GM. Unfortunately, I am almost out of Amazing Grass. Jon and I are trying to really buckle down with our budget for the rest of the month, so I may have to go without my grass for awhile (gasp!).

These pics are actually from yesterday. I only wish I left for work late enough to take pictures in the natural light. Yea for Sundays! Besides, I wore the same outfit, so it’s basically like I took it today:)

Lunch today was leftover Veggie-tel and an apple.

Later I munched on some baby carrots for a snack and then followed that up with Whole soy yogurt and a mix of sliced almonds and Back to Nature granola for toppings on my commute home. This granola will definitely be up for a review soon because it’s really one of my faves.

I planned on making it to the gym today, but work got in the way. The teacher I plan with called while I was driving, and we proceeded to try and work out some school stuff for the next hour. I was sad to miss my workout, but Jon and I made up for it by taking a nice nap when we got home! Hey, the first day back is hard, ya know?

Tonight we took a trip to the grocery store to get a few things that will last us the next week and a half. I planned out four meals that are pretty economical, and they don’t taste too bad either! I’ll be sharing them throughout the week. I’m not always the best at economical grocery shopping (i.e. nut butters), but we are really trying to make some changes around here, so I’m going to be focusing a bit more on how to eat cheap and healthy!

First up for tomorrow will be a recipe I call Mexican Fiesta Pasta. If you like Mexican food, you’ll love this! It’s cheap, it’s easy, but it’s clean! Here’s a teaser;)

Have a great night everyone – on to Tuesday!

“You may be only one brave decision away from the most important turn in your life.” – Beth Moore

home sweet home

Hi lovely blogging friends! Today has been quite a lazy day for me, but I did get to spend some fun time reading blogs that I don’t always get to read because of lack of time. We had a big ice storm here today, and it’s supposed to last until tomorrow. I’m off work tomorrow as well so I’m looking forward to a four day weekend! Of course I’ll have to put in some hours working on planning, but that is SO much better than having to commute and be at school all day. Yea! There is something about being “snowed in” that I like – at least for a period of time. Especially if it’s with my favorite person. We aren’t absolutely sure that he’ll be off tomorrow, but we’re thinking he probably will. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, so being home today was especially nice on the food front because I didn’t have to eat transportable things. Yea! Unfortunately Jon took the camera to his office today, so my pictures from early in the day were taken with my iPhone.

I was up, showered, made up and about to walk out the door this morning before we found out that school was closed. And, Jon had already made my green monster. Usually if I’m home for breakfast I like to eat something “chewable,” if you will. Don’t get me wrong, I love my gm’s. But, since I have them every weekeday, I just like to mix it up if I’m home. Since he had already it, though, I went ahead and had it for breakfast as soon as we got back from the gym. It was nice to go to the gym in the morning. I’m really a morning workout person, but our gym opens at the same time that I have to leave for work, so I usually have to go in the afternoon. It was a really refreshing way to start the day!

By a couple of hours after my monster, I was already ready for a snack! I think my body isn’t used to burning so much fuel first thing in the morning, and it wanted food ALL day, which was fine by me:) My snack was a brown rice cake with a smear of AB and half a sliced banana. This is one of my absolute favorite snack…I love the crunchiness of the rice cake combined with the irresistible mix of nut butter and banana. Oh yeah. With a side of Mandarin Orange Spice tea made in the Keurig.

A few hours later Jon got home and we threw together some lunch. I had this tasty pita filled with all kinds of goodness:)

Joseph’s protein and flax pita
1/4 avocado
light spread of roasted garlic hummus
onions
mushrooms
leftover black bean burger from the other night
hot sauce!

After lunch, I seriously laid down and took a two hour nap. I usually have a hard time taking naps because I just can’t relax, but we just got a new comforter and between that and the sound of the rain and ice outside, I was lulled to sleep quite easily. It felt so good to just rest.

As soon as I woke up, my body was telling me it was time to eat…again! So, I had some O’soy vanilla yogurt with a sprinkle of Kashi U walnut and black currant cereal. I love the combination of yogurt and cereal…you just can’t beat it. This Kashi U is awesome tasting, and the ingredients aren’t too bad either. There are few cereals that I really feel good about eating, and this is definitely one of them. It even comes packaged in a recycled box;)

The following is from the Kashi website:

The tasty combination of toasted Seven Whole Grain flakes, tangy black currants, crunchy walnuts, and acai oat clusters is packed full of nutrition:

Cardio Nourishment – 350mg ALA omega 3 from walnuts and 100% of vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid
Immunity Boost – 50% of your daily value for vitamins A, C and E as well as zinc and antioxidant super fruits black currant and acai
Strengthen Support – More calcium & vitamin D than half a glass of milk* plus zinc to support bone health
Thrive Inside – 7g of fiber and prebiotics to help the good bacteria grow
Mental Sustenance – Over half of the daily recommended amount of whole grains

And now for din din. I decided to try something new that I’d seen other people do before – a portabello mushroom burger. So, I threw a giant portabello mushroom cap in some evoo and grilled it with some garlic powder, red pepper and balsamic vinegar. I also tossed in some brussels and steamed some green beans in the microwave for a side.

I also added:

hummus (round two!)
pickes
onion
tomato
spring mix

If you haven’t tried this before, you must! The balsamic and seasonings soaked into the mushroom and made it so juicy and flavorful! Interesting fact about me: until about a couple of months ago, you couldn’t pay me to touch any kind of mushroom. Then, suddenly I just started craving them. Random, I know. I’ve been eating them on everything, though!

A couple of hours later, I topped off dinner with a small piece of Averie’s vegan peanut buttter chocolate chip protein bars that I made a few nights ago. These bars are seriously to die for. They are the best vegan dessert I’ve ever made by far! I just have trouble stopping at just one;)

So, that’s a wrap on my day. I think we may watch this week’s precursor for Lost season 6 that we DVR’d the other night. We cannot wait until next Tuesday! Any other Lost lovers out there?

Have a fantastic night everyone!

i love being off work so that I can work!

Hello! Happy Martin Luther King Day! I was thankful to have a day off work today because I needed to get a lot of school stuff done. Since this is my first year teaching, I have to put a TON of time into planning. So, having an 8 hour day at home with no hoodlums really can’t be beat. I may or may not have been known to take a sick day from work so that I could stay home and work. Am I the only one who has done this? I definitely took advantage of today. I literally worked from about 9 am ’till 5:30 with about a 15 minute break for lunch. I did snack along the way of course, though.

As soon as I get my food philosophy page ready, I’ll be able to share more about my food lifestyle. I try to get in about 5 small meals a day, but it’s hard on workdays because I just don’t have time for a mid-morning snack. So, I eat breakfast (green monster) around 6am and then lunch at about 11. Not ideal, but it works out alright. It was kind of fun today, though, to get in 5 small meals. And here they are in all their glory:

Breakfast was a greem monster right after I got home from lifting at the gym. It was my usual concoction of a little more than one cup almond breeze, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 2 big handfuls of spinach, 1 scoop Amazing Grass, 1 tbsp almond butter and ice. Like heaven in a glass:)

At about 10am, I was ready for a snack, so I had leftover soy yogurt (about 2/3 cup) and a sprinkle of this awesome granola I picked up at our local grocery store. It’s called blueberry almond granola and is stock full of awesome stuff! Organic rolled oats, organic evaporated cane juice, organic pressed canola oil (obvs. could do without this), organic raisins, organic apples, organic almonds, organic oat bran, organic blueberries, and organic sunflower seeds. It’s SunRidge Farms brand, and you can check out their website at sunridgefarms.com. Unfortunately, in my work frenzy I failed to snap a shot of it, but I’ll get it next time;)

Lunch was very basic. I wanted to have something that I wouldn’t normally take to work, so I toasted two slices of Ezekiel bread, smeared it with almond butter and added a sliced banana. It was rather tasty, but about two bites in I decided to forego the second piece of toast. It was masking the flavor of the almond butter and banana just a tad, and we can’t have that!!

With a side of stapler and a macbook;) bad joke, but I couldn’t resist.

A few hours later, I snacked on one of my Joseph’s protein and flax pitas with some Sabra roasted garlic hummus on the side (unpictured). I usually like to base my snacks on fruits or vegetables, but this little combo is to die for! So, I sneak it in here and there:) If you haven’t had this particular hummus, you have got to try it. I’ve tried every brand I can find at the store, and nothing compares!

We decided to splurge a bit for dinner and go to Panera. I always opt for either their black bean soup or their garden vegetable with a whole grain baguette. But tonight they had a little surprise in store for me. They changed up their garden vegetable soup! Personally, I loved it just the way it was. This new version has a couple of different vegetables and big dollop of pesto right in the middle! I am a huge sucker for pesto, so I really enjoyed that part, but honestly by about halfway through, the pesto wasn’t even noticeable anymore. It was really good, though, and a nice break from cooking and cleaning up!

Well, that’s about it for my eats today. I sauntered over to ohsheglows today and really enjoyed the discussion going on in the comments of this post. I just stopped counting calories a matter of months ago, and I feel more free than ever before in my life. I do, however, still weigh once a week. I’m not sure if I feel like I even need to ditch the scale. I don’t really feel like the scale has a negative impact on me because even when I weigh I know in my head that fitness and health are all that really matter. As I was telling myself this, however, I was left with the following question: if weighing doesn’t negatively affect me because I am confident that the number is not what’s most important, then why do I still weigh? Props to anyone who would like to be speak some truth as to your opinion on that. I can totally take honesty;)

I’d love to discuss this more at length at some point, but I’d say this post is long enough for tonight;) Back with more tomorrow. Have a great night!

Btw, sorry for the lack of pictures! I’ve been a bad blogger today. To make up for it, though, I’ll leave you with a picture of our baby. It’s about time she got some face time on the blog.

Meet Olive.

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