I love love love Ms. Katie’s Healthy Diva Eats blog. It so cute, peppy, informative, and just wonderful. Well therefore, it really does suit her to have a Marvelous In My Monday link up. I decided to join in the fun today as my weekend wonderfuls made for a marvelous Monday today :)
Marvelous Morning OMMMM….
I am truly in love with my Stroga these days. Truly in love. Truly marvelous!
And better yet, I found a yogi buddy. Ms. Amy and I will be OMMMing together twice a week and I cannot wait :)
Marvelous man-puppies
Umm what? Yes - that is my handsome son, Marley.
He completes me in every way. Even when he is half asleep, sitting up like he owns the couch, wedged between two pillows.
Doesn’t get much more marvelous that that!
Marvelous MILE high pancakes
I brought back my brown-rice, gluten free, amazballs pancakes. MMMM so marvelously good!
I always find myself searching for new, exciting pancake recipes for the weekends. I have a few requirements, but the main one begin - DO THEY STACK A MILE HIGH??
Yes - I want 5 pancakes - not 2. You better believe I eat for quantity, but these don’t slouch on the quality either. Perfection. Better yet, I had some more this Marvelous Monday because my recipe calls for two servings. Oh the tragedy!
Marvelous mouthwatering fall staples
Squash, brussel sprouts, and more brussel sprouts.
I think I am making up for my lack of oven for the past 2 weeks by roasting a surplus of baby brussels. I even added them to my salad beast. Why not?
And it is time for the spaghetti squash. MMMMM roasted with cinnamon and nutmeg. I can’t wait to add the turkey crockpot meatballs Mitch and I made this weekend mmmm.
An all around Marvelous MANFRIEND weekend
With a small dose of football.
How did you weekend make for a marvelous Monday?
CommentsCrunch time.
Those last few weeks before bikini season? Those few days before you birthday? That cute body con dress you so want to wear but feel bloated?
Story of my life.
I am guilty of constantly trying to look perfect for events or occasions in my life. So sue me.
But what I am realizing more and more, is that when I shoot to tighten up for an occasion, I lose sight of my long term goals - to be a super fit healthy balanced bittay!
Well, it’s Mitch’s sisters wedding this weekend. And guess what I have been stressing out about? What can I do to make sure I look that much better on that one night?!
Bad idea.
Bad behavior.
Let’s think about what happens after that event hits. Boom. CHEATING. And by cheating I mean OVER indulging on TOO many bad things :) I am not saying a piece of cake or a couple handful of chips, I am talking binge type behavior!
So, Instead of trying to prep for an event, I have decided to start prepping for life.
Instead of being super tight on my diet and putting in extra hours at the gym, I fixed my macros a bit and just decided to eat super clean. Mind you, I eat clean 85-90% of the time. But this week, its 100% on like donkey kong. And its not for this event. It’s for life. Instead of doing it for that little dress I want to wear, I am going to do it to for the rest of the year!
Some ideas?
I have upped my healthy fats a bit and lowered my carbs. I noticed how carbs were making me super puffy and bloated. It is all about learning how your body reacts, and let’s say I have felt a huge different. Now, I am at a 40% protein, 30% fat, and 30% carb macro profile.
That means yummy “treats” like this for dinner -
Big honking salad with avocado, olive oil, and grilled chicken. Yum.
And yummy homemade protein bars like this - SUPER clean
Pumpkin sweet potato protein bread anything? Hello all my favorite things in one sentence. Check out the recipe here! I tweaked it a bit - replacing the greek yogurt with more applesauce and adding a scoop of Sunwarrior Protein Powder.
And lots of fresh veggies -
Sunday night traditional dinner for me. Tofu “french toast” and roasted brussel sprouts. Probably my favorite food ever.
Moral of the story. Don’t keep restricting/pinching/stressing to look amazballs for one day. Enjoy eating, nourishing, strengthening, and loving your body for life. Believe me, It’s taken me some time to think this way - and I will admit, I am not there yet. But who says we can’t start now!?
CommentsI apologize. I have been a bit MIA. Lots of stuff going on - but boy did I miss blogging. I have so much to catch you guys up on :)
**As promised, I will be posting a review of P28 Protein Bread this week. I’m trying to eat it in a many concoctions as possible first ;) **
Anyways, I must say, I have been loving DC recently. I set a goal when I turned 24 that I would go out and try more things in the city. There is so much here - sometimes a bit intimidating with so many choices - but I dove right in the past 2 weeks!
Last weekend, I met a good friend of mine Shira for an afternoon bike ride and a stop at Union Market. What is that you say?
Union Market is the newest market here in DC but its not like any other market in the city! A mix of a farmers market goods, chic restaurant booths, local fresh retailers, and other foodie ventures in the city, it is a mecca for a foodie’s taste buds! It is located close to Gallaudet University (1309 5th Street NE) in a beautiful, open, modern building that screams curiosity.
They had an oyster bar, a sausage station, fresh pickles, flowers, a soda fountain, different meats, and so much more to come!
Shira and I walked around, tried a million things, and settled on a delicious juice bar.
Ive never had juice from a real juicer before. I have made my own green smoothies, but nothing like this. It is pulp free, pure healthy juice. We tried a million flavors. Shira settled on watermelon and I chose cucumber. Then we were geniuses and swapped a bit of each juice so we could mix. Best idea ever. MMM I want more now.
And that cute glass jar? You betcha I have been using that for all things liquid the past week (my iced coffee, water, my aminos etc). So cute!
Must go back here! Check it out here for updates and events!
Another new obsession I have in the great district has obsession defined as an understatement.
Stroga.
When I went to McGill, my senior year was filled with lots of Moksha Yoga - a hot flow class. I was in love. I did it 4-5 times a week. My body was the so flexible and I felt “long” and lengthened.
When I moved to DC, I tried to find something comparable. I tried Bikram - but I didn’t like the lack of flow and it was just a tad too hot! I tried some other studios and just didn’t fall in love. I am a “i need to sweat when I workout” type of girl, but I couldn’t find a normal studio that had this umph!
I bought a Groupon ages ago for Stroga - an adorable studio on 18th and Columbia. With the goal of trying their strength classes (not the Str- in Stroga), I didn’t even go once. Fail.
Since I have been weightlifting so much, I really craved a more low intensity, lengthening, and relaxing workout! I decided to try Stroga one time - give it a chance. I signed up for 1 hour 15 minutes of Vinyasa Flow with Greg. Even though my Groupon expired, the amazing people at the front desk gave me my 10 classes anyways (who does that in this city!?) and so I had to give it a try, right?
Wow. I walked out a different person. I was dripping in sweat (no, people, it wasn’t a hot yoga studio). I felt refreshed, at peace, relaxed, and strong. I could tell I was so much stronger from my other workouts, holding positions and trying new things, even more so than when I was doing it every other day! It reassured me that mixing up my workouts was actually more beneficial than I thought. Aside for challenging your body, the strength you gain in one type of workout can truly benefit you in another. The strength I have gained in my arms and core significantly increased my yogi abilities!
I now go to Vinyasa Flow or Power Flow (shorter but more intense class) 2-3 times a week. I usually go on my rest days to keep my body active, but also have snuck it in on other days too (because I love it so much!)
Seriously. Try it. I know you’re saying its not a workout (it is - I sweat like woah) and its a waste of time (sorry wrong again, you’ll feel and see a difference I promise). Just give it a try. It’s a little piece of heaven. Just look at this place?
Its beautiful. Crown molding, baby blue walls. I would decorate my own home just like this one day.
If anyone wants a yogi buddy, I will be there in a heart beat!
Comments
September.
What defines September?
Is it that pumpkin spiced latte at Starbucks that the blogging world is raving about?
Is it that fall wool cape you’ve been dying to bring out of the closet (ding ding ding ding)?
I don’t think I consciously realized it was September until I started putting pumpkin in everything that crawled into my mouth.
My breakfast was no excepted. I am definitely on some type of oat bran kick (fall flavor anyone?). I must admit, I was getting kinda bored of oatmeal everything, and oat bran is a great substitute! I have been making oat bran egg white oats that have turned out super creamy, but I always fall back on my favorite breakfast item - pancakes. There is something so devious about pancakes.
Pumpkin oat bran pancakes anyone? And topped with creamy, nutty, freshly ground almond butter. Holy schmoly. Seriously. These guys taste like corn muffins or corn bread. I just love the grainy, crispy texture of oat bran and these pancakes I whipped up took the cake.
It’s super easy too!
1/3 cup oat bran
1/3 cup egg whites
1 tbsp pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling!!)
1/2 tsp xanthan gum (I did this because the batter needed thickening)
1/4 tsp baking powder
Mix and fry these babies up! I then topped with 1 tbsp of almond butter.
So good. I want more. Now. These may actually fall into a snack category later this week :)
For my mid morning snack, can I say fall again?
Homemade brown rice pudding. Although the photo doesn’t do it justice, this was incredible. I loved rice pudding as a kid. I love the texture of it, along with tapioca pudding eeee (note my chia fix), and decided why not? Plus, the bake option on my oven has been broken for the past week so baking my homemade protein bars for snacks was out of the question.
I adapted this from Brittany’s blog, adding some more egg whites to make it protein filled and delicious, and cut out the maple syrup which although I would love, too much sugar for me!
Brown Rice Protein Pudding
What you’ll need:
1 cup cooked brown rice
2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
6 tbsp egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp stevia
3 tsp cinnamon
In a small pot, simmer on low your brown rice and almond milk for about 20 minutes, stirring every so often so that it doesn’t stick. Then, add the rest of the ingredients. Cook for about 5-10 minutes and then take off the heat and let it sit/steam.
So. Good.
Now, don’t go eating the whole think! I halved it and it came out to 175 calories, 4.3 g of fat, 24.9 carbs, NO sugar, and 8.3 g of protein. Perfect morning snack to fuel you through the day!
For lunch, I had a delicious cold salad made with wheat berries, chicken, sauteed spinach, grape tomatoes, cucumber, and onions. Topped with a splash of rice vinegar!
On the side (yes, another salad on the side hehe) I had a fresh salad of some local and colorful farmers market tomatoes. I got 3 cartons for 10$. You should see the big bowl of these babies in my fridge! I eat them like chips :)
For a mid-afternoon snack, my go to is Simply Bar’s amazing protein bars (note again that my oven is NOT working for homemade goodies!) But these are just are great! This cinnamon pecan has to be my new favorite. I can just image this as a cereal too. Maybe next time crumbled in some almond milk will be the way to go. MMMMM.
For some post-workout amazingness, I read about this new protein powder that I just had to try. Its a tri-part protein (ie soy, pea, and rice) so no whey (which tends to bloat my tum tum sometimes!). And just look at that flavor? Music to my ears. And with Spirulina - a natural energy source - you cannot go wrong. I mixed a scoop of this (which rings in at 99 calories!!) with unsweetened almond milk and 1/2 frozen banana. Perfect post-workout snack!
For dinner, I served up a clean and carb free spaghetti.
Some roasted broccoli, half a bag of miracle noodles, 4 oz of lean ground turkey, and some homemade pasta sauce (made with salt free canned tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and lots of oregano, basil, and nutritional yeast to give it a cheesy flavor). Love it!
What a great day of eats!
And just look what showed up on my doorstep last week?
P28 Protein bread! The great people at P28 were nice enough to send me some to try out! Yes, they sent me protein bagels and bread. Come back tomorrow for a review!! You don’t want to miss out on this stuff :)
What makes you excited about September?
What is your fall food favorite?
CommentsTwo of my favorite things.
(long pause)
Kidding. Okay, well partially. I will get to this in a bit…
Today’s eats all packed to go. I am telling ya. Fail to plan, plan to FAIL. I hate to say it, but diet is seriously everything. I am learning more and more from my current program that you can’t outwork an unhealthy diet.
Here I have meals 2-4 and my pre-workout BALLS.
For my mid morning snack, I had my Fage 0% with 1 tbsp freshly ground peanut butter (not pictured) and some new granola I decided to try. I have decided to try and cut out as much gluten in my diet as possible and see how it affects my sore, bloaty tummy. So far so good. There are a lot of great products out there!
I bought Udi’s bread the other day and decided I should also try their granola, because who doesn’t love granola?
And just look at those ingredients. Well there are three. And I know what they all are. Clean eating right there!
For lunch, I had my BBQ Crock-Pot Chicken heated up with 1 oz almond cheese and over shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and red onion. Clean BBQ chicken salad yumminess.
For mid-day snack, I had a new concoction I have been trying out - sweet potato egg white mash. Trying to kick my protein powder habit a little bit - leaving it only for one meal a day. Whole foods are better for many reasons, but also because your body burns more calories digesting that food versus a protein powder - which is already broken down. I basically sautee 3-4 oz of cooked sweet potato and 1/2 cup egg whites with some cinnamon and sometimes some coconut oil. MMM so good.
Like I said before, my pre-workout FUEL comprised of some nutty balls.
I am serious.
And I have to say - my workout was BOMBTASTIC. It was the perfect combination of carbs and protein.
Peanut Butter Oat Protein Ballz
What you’ll need
1/4 cup peanut flour (I used Protein Plus but PB2 works the same)
1/2 cup and 2 tbsp gluten free rolled oats (or rolled oats of any kind)
2 tbsp gluten free brown rice syrup (or you can use agave - but the brown rice syrup has less sugar, you can find it by the honey and the agave!)
1/2 scoop protein powder of your choice (I used pea protein and a bit of chocolate whey!)
1 tbsp of water
Vanilla or almond extract to taste
Mix together with your hands and form into 6 balls - I used a tbsp to help make the form and that size worked great!
Put them in a fridge for a bit and you’re finished!
Boyfriend approved :)
I had two before my workout today and I felt so great! No bloating, no over-fullness, perfect amount of energy!
Stats per ball: 94 calories, 14 g of carbs, 2 g fat, 7 g protein
Next time, I plan on adding some almonds, maybe some unsweetened cocoa, carob and coconut. So many ideas…
And while on the subject of my favorite food **cough cough** peanut butter..I made the greatest thing ever tonight. I know I say that about basically EVERYTHING but seriously, this is god-sent.
Well actually, its Laura-sent. My favorite blogger over at Sprint2theTable (who I have mentioned a million times) posted this TODAY and when I saw it, I had to try it. TODAY.
Low-Fat Peanut Almond Butter
Usually I would say slab on that full-fat peanut butter. I love healthy fats - we all need them. And I have 20% of my daily calorie intake from healthy fats. But somethings/all the time, I want to eat an ENTIRE jar of peanut or almond butter in one sitting. Many times, I have come close! Its addictive. And that low fat junk you see in stores. I am sorry, but they have so much added sugar and other junk. Stick to the real stuff in moderation. BUT now you can have it all…
What you’ll need (I doubled Laura’s recipe):
1/2 cup almond flour
6 tbsp peanut flour
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (I splashed some chocolate in too!)
12 drops liquid vanilla stevia
Cinnamon to taste
Mix all together and put in the fridge to thicken a bit.
Well, I licked the bowl. And the spoon. AND ITS AMAZING. Make it. You will not regret it. I plan on eating this a lot and its quite okay!
Stats per tbsp: 32 calories, 2.2 g fat, 1.6 cabs, 5 g sodium, .8 g fiber, .3 g fiber, 2.3 g protein
Next time, I may add some other “treats” in the mid. Like some chia seeds or some carob chips. The possibilities are endless!
Laura - you are a genius. All credit goes to her! Check out her blog for many more creative clean eats!
Comments
Wednesday is FINALLY here! Wednesday is my new rest day and boy do I look forward to it. Although I am bit more limited on my eats, I still make it work incredibly well :)
Since this is what I ate yesterday (Tuesday), I left out my pre-and-post workout meals to show exactly what it is that I eat on a rest day!
MMMMM egg white oats :)
I am loving this new combo! I cooked on the stove top:
1/2 Cup Gluten Free Rolled Oats
1 Cup water
Then added 1/2 thinly sliced banana, 1 tbsp flax meal, 1/3 cup egg whites, and 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk. Of course, some ne BUTTER FLAVOR EXTRACT (get on it), vanilla extract, and some cinnamon mmmmm
Top with a dallop of greek yogurt and some blueberries.
PERFECTION.
I have also been starting my days with a new little “treat”.
Yes. Its a vanilla latte. But a latte that fits in my macros….
I have been biking to work and on my way, I stop by Starbucks. I bring my own mug (yayy environment) with 1/4 scoop vanilla protein powder, stevia, and 1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. And then for $2.15 I get a shot of espresso and ice. Umm hello new favorite thing. Thats one cheap latte ;)
For my mid-morning snack, I had an extraordinary creation….
Yes. That is a chocolate bar. And yes its homemade.
Foodporn at its finest. I am telling ya! I found this creation at Protein POW! which I mentioned the other day. Seriously - there are 1000s of recipes using any type of protein powder you can think of. Its like a protein bible.
I tweaked mine a bit to fit my likes, so here is what I did:
Pumpkin Coconut Dark Chocolate Protein Bar
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons of vanilla whey
1 1/2 tbsp of coconut flour
30 g of 100% dark chocolate (I use 100% cacao baking chocolate and added some liquid stevia to add a tad bit a of sweetness - I am definitely a milk chocolate kinda gal!)
4 tbsp unsweetened coconut (I used a reduced fat version I found at Whole Foods)
Mix together your whey, pumpkin, flour, and 3 tbsp of the coconut. She added a bit of water, but I didn’t need to. You want it to be pretty dry and not too sticky. Form into four rectangles.
Melt your chocolate and then coat your rectangles. This is the tricky part. I will be honest, I really only got one bar to look semi-normal haha (the one you see above). The others didn’t coat properly. She added almonds and more coconut to coat the pumpkin before dipping in chocolate so its less sticky (which was my problem) and I will be doing next time :)
Sprinkle with your last tbsp of coconut flakes and put in the freezer for 15ish minutes.
ENJOY.
I dipped mine in a bit of greek yogurt. SO devilishly good tee hee….
Each bar comes to around 120 calories, 6.2 g of fat, 8.2 carbs, and 11 g of protein. Having a little dark chocolate in your diet is good - its a healthy fat (in moderation of course)
For lunch, I had a favorite of mine. 1 brown rice tortilla with 4 oz chicken and 1 oz of almond cheese to make a quesadilla. I know right. I could eat 10 of these.
Served up with some fresh veggies - cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and rice vinegar. Perfect little summa salad.
Mid-day, I finally go to try these Simply Bar Protein CHIPSSS in the herb flavor.
Umm these are magical. Seriously. Super crispy, light herb flavor, a little kick, a little sweet. And there are so many in a bag I feel like I am cheating on my rice cakes! GET THESE - www.thesimplybar.com. I am telling you, these are just so damn good.
I am dumb and didn’t take a pic of dinna but it was some roasted veggies (Brussels and broccoli) and my Lean Green Turkey Burgers.
And to finish my night is my go to every night. It never gets old. In fact, now Mitch has discovered its amazingness.
1 tbsp almond or peanut butter - freshly ground so no added salt :)
1/2 cup Lactaid Cottage Cheese
As you know by now, pancakes of every size and color define my weekends. I wouldn’t go a day without them. The thought of them gets me up in the mornings :)
Well this weekend as no exception. I even made some extra batter so I could start my Monday with some too.
Brown Rice Flour Pancakes with Cinnamon Vanilla Frosting (same recipe as the brown rice flour waffles here!)
Purple Protein Pancakes with Blueberry Cream Frosting (same recipe as above but with frosting made from frozen blueberries heated up and mixed with 1 tbsp greek yogurt, 1/4 scoop vanilla protein powder, and some vanilla almond milk)
And a new recipe….
Blueberry Coconut Flour Vanilla Pancakes
Tweaked this from a recipe found on this increidddddlbe blog - Protein POW! Seriously - check this place out. I have been trying a lottt of her recipes lately!
You’ll need:
4 egg whites
1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
1/8 cup coconut flour (2 tbsp)
1/4 cup oats
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup frozen bluberries that I used to top mine with !
Blend and FRY UP! So good and super fluffy. The best kind :)
Now, I have to do a special shout-out to my awesome bootcampers from Sunday. This is the third week and its been so much fun! Well, this past weekend it started pouring right at 11:05. But no one quit - no one stopped. We kept going and it was awesome!
Kira, Kaan, Paul, Janine, and Daniel - you guys are rockstars.
On the wonderful What I Ate Wednesday, I usually post what I ate the day before. Well, this time is all about Wednesday! It is Mitch and my 2 year anniversary this week so we went to a beautiful dinner at Oya in Chinatown last night. I wanted to include my delicious meal in my post…
Meal 1: A new favorite of mine - Ezekiel Sprouted Cereal with unsweetened almond milk and some Cookies and Cream whey. So delicious. The “milk” tastes like the milk you get to drink after you’ve eaten all your Lucky Charms. YUM.
Meal 2: I am loving my samples from The Simply Bar. Guys - you have to buy these things. I have never tried the Cinnamon Pecan one - usually go for chocolate or peanut butter - but boy was I missing out. I am telling ya - this was by far my favorite flavor to date. They taste like Cinnamon Toast Crunch in a bar, with some tasty piece of pecans. This actually would taste delicious broken up and put in some almond milk….sounds like I am craving some childhood cereals…Gotta get these bars - www.thesimplybar.com !!
Meal 3: For lunch, BBQ CHICKEN!!! I made this INCREDIBLE Clean BBQ Sauce this weekend and put it in the crockpot with some chicken to make the hands down best shredded BBQ chicken EVER. And it’s CLEAN.
I got the recipe for the BBQ sauce from The Gracious Pantry, but tweaked it a little bit!
Here is what you’ll need:
1 15oz can tomato sauce – no sugar added
1 6oz can tomato paste
1 tsp low sodium soy sauce
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
3 tbsp unsulfered molasses
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Mix all together till smooth. Then I put in the crock pot 4 X 4 oz servings of chicken with 1 cup of the sauce (I do 1/4 cup per chicken serving basically). Then cooked on low for 5 1/2 hours (or did the chicken shreds).
SERIOUSLY TO DIE FOR.
Meal 4: Mid-day snack was at home (since I was preparing for my evening!). I’ve been having this for my pre-workout fuel a lot, but decided to have it as a snack today. French toast! Clean french toast that is. 1 piece of Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin toast cooked up with 1/4 cup egg whites, cinnamon, a splash of vanilla, stevia, and 1/4 cup cottage cheese on the side. Perfect mix of carbs and protein before a workout!
Meal 5: My beautiful dinner at Oya. I got the honey balsamic Salmon with brussel sprouts and a side of bok choy. So so good.
Meal 6ish: And for dessert, you better bet we went to Frozen Yo to get some frozen yogurt. Duh.
And my anniversary gift from the boy? This beautiful dinner, some gorgeous flowers, and a spa day !!! Full on pedi, mani, massage. This girl needs this! Good job, Mitchell :)
CommentsI get these monthly boxes from Conscious Box (posted about it first here) - sometimes they are amazing, sometimes I will admit they kinda suck.
Well this month was dynamite.
Think its because it had so much FOOD??!? #foodieproblems
This will unfortunately be my last month - and it was a great one indeed! If you ever want to get a box of surprises for a few months, DO IT. Its super fun, easy to cancel, and a great way to sample out some treats!
Look at these great bars? I am especially excited to try the go raw Real Live Apricot Bar. I am sure you’ve seen their products in your health food stores, but I must say they never really fit in my macros (although healthy calories and fat, just two much in one bag - which I am likely to devour :p ). I am loving the idea of this snack sized one. Made from a bunch of different seeds, and for only 50 calories. I am in. This is a good afternoon pick me up for sure!
And as you can tell by the torn bag, i already got into these goodies :) No Sugar Added WATERMELON TARTS. Yummy. I never have candy and don’t really crave sweets too much, but these were the perfect little bites. I felt naughty eating them - but they have very little sugar in them - and all naturally derived. I am almost done the bag (insert bashful face).
They also send along some great eco-friendly home products -
Like this laundry soap. Can’t wait to try it. Isn’t the packaging super cute?
If you’re interested in getting a box, check out their website here!
Comments