Summer Food: Healthy vs NOT!

Summer is by far my favorite season.  I love everything about it, even the scorching heat.  One of the fabulous things that comes with summer is the seasonal food items.  I do a garden every year and look forward to all the fresh veggies. But all those beautiful fresh items always have some unhealthy competition that just taunt me!

So the goal for the summer is to make more healthy choices than unhealthy.  I introduced Miss Valie to the wonderful world of smoothie joints.  I absolutely love that they now have 100% fruit smoothies as well as “green” smoothies on the menu.  My favorite is the Lean Green from Roxberry, only 170 calories in the giant 32 oz, LOVE.

Now that it’s getting warmer I’m sticking to mostly salads in my meal prepping.  Quick, easy, and no cooking.  I’m not going to lie though, Valerie’s pb&j and pasta based lunches are tempting the carboholic in me.

 

My families favorite warm weather treat has to be shaved ice.  We have been going to these little shacks since before Val could walk.  I try to get the stevia sweetened ones most of the time, but this girl has a hard time resisting the cream topping.  Oh and a little coconut on top too:)

Of course the fam doesn’t do sugar free.  OMG I tasted theirs after eating mine…shame!  Real sugar is my drug of choice!  My sugar free version was great before I tasted the good stuff.  Note to self: quit tasting everything!

I have found some good substitutes for my usually sugary fare.  My new favorite yogurt is the Light and Fit Greek.  Only 80 calories, SCORE!  I top them with fruit and it almost beats my ice cream cravings…almost.

UGH, the struggle of having my cutie home for the summer!!  “Mommy let’s play Goofy’s Candy Company!”  Who says no to that?  Apparently not me.  Do you see these insane chocolate covered rice crispy treats and the crazy amount of candy covering them??!  Yeah, these are going in the freezer and will have to be consumed by my family when I am not in the house.

As I write this little post about my inner summer food struggle I am eating fat free cottage cheese and an apple.  But I am dreaming about this amazing place that just moved to Northern Utah called Swig.  Um yeah, you must go, you just must.  They have all kinds of tasty beverages, but I went for the shaved ice of course.  Oh, and a sugar cookie:).  Sometimes, it’s just worth it.

Alrighty, now that we have hashed that out.

What are your strategies for staying on the healthy train this summer??

Please share, I am need suggestions! 🙂

 

 

Diet Friendly Disney Land + A Little More Fun

Good Monday Everyone!  I had plans to do one more Disney post last week and well…I didn’t.  So here it is now!

Have you ever gone on vacation and really wanted to stick to your diet?  I had never made a good effort at this until now.  Let me just tell you, it was crazy hard!  Especially when your family is ordering things like this…

Yeah.

Sometimes things don’t really come out like they are described on the menu.  This salad was basically a giant pile of dried cherries and candied pecans.  Not exactly what I was thinking, when I ordered it :(.  So I had to be creative with my choices.  When I got this salad I omitted the cheese, got dressing on the side, took off most of the nuts and fruit, and ordered a side of veggies to toss in it.  Oh yeah, and I didn’t eat that delicious looking white biscuit thingy.

Despite some places lacking in healthy menu choices, most places can accommodate a gal trying to stay healthy.  The Pacific Warf in California Adventure is great for salads.

Of course you do have to put your blinders on when the person sitting next to you is eating this!!  And you might want to move away from the smell of sourdough bread being baked fresh right there.

Also, don’t forget that right outside those Disney gates is a Subway!  Their subs are generally portion and calorie controlled, but if you’re watching carbs, the salads are perfect.  I must have extra peppers!

And what do you do when you can no longer stand the sight of salad??  Why split a 1/2 meal with someone.  No rolls of course, take off the skin, pass the potatoes to your honey, and order extra veggies.

Then of course more salad…

I’m surprised I didn’t turn into a salad! Man, this whole low carb thing was tough on vacation!  I never really wanted to order a sandwich without a bun, or eat a giant turkey leg for a meal.  I always felt like I needed color.  Hence all the rabbit food.  But it really did pay off in the end.  I actually came back from Disney smaller than when I left.  Now will I be doing that again…probably not.  But I have a big vacation coming up that is all tropical and fabulous, and I want to be all Summer ready!!

Ok, enough healthy food!  BOWS!!  I just love this adorable one!  I for real might steal it and wear it on our next Disney trip.

Oh I almost forgot to post my favorite picture of the trip!!  AHHHH! That is Thor!  Yes I am totally nerdy:)

 

Alrighty kids time for me to go be a productive human being!

Oh wait, you want to know where I’m heading on vaca??

I’m going this Saturday!

To HAWAII!!

That’s right, you heard me, HAWAII!

All those salads are gonna be worth it 🙂

Have a great day everyone!! XOXOXOXOX

 

Fun Active Weekend!

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a fab weekend! I know I did.  My girly has been out of school all week for Spring Break and I have completely enjoyed spending lots of time with her.  The weather has been totally sad though, so we were stuck doing inside activities more than I would have liked.  But on Saturday we decided that despite the wintery conditions we were going to go out and have a blast at the Olympic Park!

Last fall we went and it was so much fun.  You can check out a thorough review of the place and the activities HERE.

Here we are getting all of our gear for the zip line, drop tower, and ropes course!

There goes my chickie!  This does not look like an April background.

The park got a new drop rope on the tower.  It lets you free fall for an extra 10 feet compared to the old rope.  Yeah, I was scared.  Can’t you tell?  Look at my face!  I hesitated before walking off the ledge.  My heart was pounding!

Miss Val on the other hand, no hesitation, she just goes.

Off to the ropes course!

We started off with the lower course.

I thought the course was much more challenging in the winter like conditions!

It snowed while we were on the lower course and made the wires, ropes, and everything a bit slick.

I love the snow falling in the pics though.

Right after we did the lower course, the weather cleared up with in just a few minutes.  Crazy Utah.  The sun came out and the sky was blue!

This obstacle is the hardest for me.  You have to hold on to the ropes and swing like a monkey to get to the next rope.  Being a shorty does not help either!

Look how high it is!  It takes me a while to get used to the height.  My heart rate was definitely accelerated even when I was standing still 🙂

Ok Ok, that’s enough adrenaline for now :).  Moving on to some exercise that doesn’t give me anxiety.  We spent a night at my hubby’s family cabin and it is the perfect place to train Spartan style!  We ran from the cabin to the main gate and then back.  It is about a 5 mile run roundtrip.  You can kind of see how steep the hills are in this pic.  I could barely run for 20 seconds before having to walk.  But I was way faster this time compared to the past times I’ve done this run, so woohoo!

And look at the deer!

Yeah, my husband is smiling here, but I really think he was plotting revenge against me for this workout :).  After we finished the hills, we also did a Spartan email workout.  Ugh, I was beat.

The rest of the day I spent lounging.  And on a side note… I know what my life would be like if I ever had another baby :).  Isn’t this the cutest?!!  Freddie really liked snuggling under the blanket with my new niece Cate.

 

Well that is my weekend recap.

Did you get active this weekend??

Is it Spring yet in your neck of the woods??

Monday Meal Prep!

Hello Hello!  I have another Meal Prep for ya!  Yesterday I did a bunch of cooking and assembling to get ready for the week.  It’s my girly’s Spring break and I’d like to spend more time playing and less time in the kitchen.

I’m still on a bit of a salad kick.  This week I did grilled chicken, peppers, and avocado.

I’m doing an experiment.  I tossed the avocados in dressing and then put them into little individual containers.  I’m hoping it keeps them from turning brown a little better.  I’ll let you know if it works!

I also did some chicken and veggies.  The broccoli I roasted with a little olive oil and parmesan.  The carrots I roasted with just olive oil and seasoning.  I love to use a gadget called a Misto.  Love that thing!  You just fill it with whatever oil you want and spray away.  It uses much less oil than if you were just to pour.

Since it was snowing here yesterday, boo, I had to make a soup as well.  I almost always have the ingredients for taco soup, so that’s what I made.  I used ground chicken breast instead of ground beef, rinsed all my canned items to decrease the sodium, and added lots and lots of veggies.

Finished!  There are a couple of items I didn’t take pics of, the chicken curry and the sesame veggie chicken.  Those are for my family and I’m totally jealous I don’t get to eat those this week, so I didn’t photograph them :).

Whew! Glad that’s done for the week.  Time to play!

 

Hope you all have an excellent Monday and a great start to your week!

Time For Some Meal Prep!

 

I kicked up my Beast training a bit the past week and it is resulting in something I call chronic hunger.  I’m trying to keep it “clean” and healthy and eat things to build muscle and lower body fat, but dang, when you are ravenous 7 times a day it’s tough to make the right choice every time!  I mean come on.  Why do they have to make so many delicious high carb, high sugar, fantastically temping snacks!?

So it’s back to the kitchen for some meal prep.

Lots of salads this week!  I also made 3 different batches of protein bars and failed to photograph them, boo.  But they are one of my new favorite things so I’m sure I’ll be making them again in the near future.

I kept on seeing recipes for broccoli salad and it sounded sooooo good.  However, the only thing healthy about broccoli salad is the broccoli.  The dressing is mayo based, it has cheese, bacon, sunflower seeds, etc.  Delicious and super fattening.  So I took a whirl at lightening it up and then adding chicken to make it a complete meal.  Quick recipe description after the jump…

Super Broccoli Salad with Red Onion Dressing

• 1.5 pounds of broccoli florets (blanched)
• 1 pound of beets (peeled, diced, and roasted)
• 1/2 pound shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup of dried cranberries

To roast beets, peel them first, dice, and place on a cookie sheet.  Toss with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Roast at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.

Put all the salad ingredients in a big bowl.

Dressing

• 1/2 of a red onion
• 7 Tbsp Miracle Whip (regular or light)
• 5 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp poppy seeds
• salt and pepper to taste

Place red onion in food processor and pulse until very fine.  Add all other ingredients and pulse to combine.  If it’s too thick add a little bit more vinegar.

Pour dressing over veggies and toss.  It tastes even better if you let it marinate!

Add some chicken and it’s a fantastic healthy meal!

Ok, next up is a simple shredded pork and avocado salad.  I seasoned the pork with salt, pepper, garlic, and onion.  Then placed the pork in a slow cooker with a can of coke and let it cook for 6 hours on low.  When it was done I shredded it and placed 3 oz. on each salad along with half an avocado that I tossed in lime.  When it comes time to eat the salad I put my new fave salsa on top, Archer Farms Corn and Black Bean Salsa!  So good, you must try it.

And lastly we have my favorite go to meal.  Grilled chicken, roasted butternut squash, and broccoli.  I also used some store bought curry sauce to spice things up a bit.

 

Alright hunger monster, let’s see you beat this round of meal prep! 🙂

Meal Prep Madness!

Well it’s a good thing I did all my meal prepping on Monday, because I went down for the count Tuesday.  Which is why this post is late to the ball.  Just when I thought I avoided the plague from all the kiddies in my life. BAM!  Oh well, at least it’s my week off and the pressing chores are done.  So I will be lounging, watching Breaking Bad on Netflix and drinking lots of herbal tea.  But before I continue on with being a bum…

Meal Prep Pics!

Here’s what I did for this week.  I am in a burrito mood lately so I did lots of those.  The individual baggies have chicken & veggies, plus some Valie friendly ones that are chicken, rice, beans, and corn.  It’s so easy to just zap the bag in the microwave for 40 seconds and then put it all in a whole wheat tortilla.  They are pretty much saving my energy and sanity right now:).  I also did chinese chicken salads, cauliflower mac & cheese, and some pasta/meatballs that aren’t pictured because it was late and I was an airhead.

Yummy!  I seasoned 3 batches of chicken with soy/ginger/garlic, taco, and pesto.  I then grilled them all out on the BBQ, chopped and used in all our meals.  My chinese chicken salad has romaine, mandarine oranges, water chestnuts, chicken, and a sesame dressing that I put on when I’m ready to chow down.  I usually do green onions in this salad as well as some kind of crunchy wonton, but onions just weren’t appealing this week and I’m cutting the calories where I can.

Here’s to staying on track for swimsuit season!

Now back to my Breaking Bad marathon 🙂

Healthy Meal Prep Time!

Yesterday I spent the morning prepping lots of meals for the week.  I thawed out all the turkey I cooked on Valentine’s day and decided to use it all up.  I made a huge mess, but it’s worth it because now  I’m done cooking for the week!

First up, I made turkey soup with whole wheat noodles separate.  The noodles get all mushy if you put them in the soup.  Plus I like to control my noodle portion.

Second, I did some turkey fajita filling with lots of veggies.  I portioned it out into baggies so I can just heat it and pop it into a tortilla.  Yum, that is totally what I’m having for lunch today:)

Salads of course.  Must have a few salads.  These ones are romaine, turkey, carrots, fat free feta, and cranberries.  Later that day I decide to add beets as well.

I am not the biggest fan of dark meat, but when cooked as BBQ pulled turkey, it’s really delicious.  I make this with turkey thigh and drumstick meat that has been removed from the bone.  You just pop it into the crock pot with your favorite BBQ sauce.  I used one from a local restaurant.  Set it on low and cook for 4-5 hours.  The meat gets perfectly tender and is great on sandwiches.  I’m letting my family eat this dish though and I’m sticking to the white meat/sans sugar dishes.  Gotta start spring cleaning the old diet!

And lastly, whole wheat banana crunch muffins.  These are also for my family.  Not that I’m not going to steal a bit of Val’s every time she eats one :).

Woohoo!  I’m done cooking and it’s onto Spring cleaning the house!  I think I might need medication, I’m not sure why cleaning is so appealing right now.  Probably because it is gorgeous right now in SLC!!  I love it.  But ya know, next week or so when it’s snowing again, you’ll find me rocking in the corner cursing mother nature :).  But until then…HAPPY DAYS!!

Do you meal prep?

Do you like Spring cleaning or hate it with a passion and pretend it doesn’t exist?

Spartan Training Update!

I can not wait for warmer days!!!  Training in the cold, rain, and snow is killing me.  On our last training session it was rain/snowing.  I guess that I should be grateful the snow has melted and that nothing was sticking to the ground.

We took our makeshift sandbags to the track and had at it!  The workout looked like this:

50 jumping jacks

Carry a heavy object .5 miles

10-50 burpees

Carry a heavy object .5 miles

10-50 burpees

Run 1-3 miles

*Repeat 1-3 times!!

Oh my gracious this was hard.  Trying to run with a 20+ pound bag is rough.  My heart was pounding and it was crazy awkward.  I also did the max burpees, 50.  Ugh it was brutal.  The running wasn’t bad.  I did the 3 miles since running is my thang 🙂

My kiddo decided to workout too.  She had a 10 pound weight she carried!  Love that girl.

I was able to complete this workout 2 times through doing the max exercises/miles.  2 miles with the sandbag, 6 miles running, 100 jumping jacks, and 200 burpees!  I was spent.  This kind of training is so much different than training for a distance race.

After being cold and wet and gross, it was sooooo nice to take a hot shower and die on the couch.

I can’t wait for Summer!  Bring on the 100 degree days!

Help! Sore muscles, can’t move!

K, so whoever told me that muscle soreness only last for the first month of training and then it’s minimal is a liar!  Yesterday I was pretty much useless due to very sore hamstrings and booty muscles.  I tried to loosen things up on the treadmill…haha! Ow, ow, ow, I only lasted 4 minutes.  My next approach was then stretching and of course everything in this picture.

Ibuprofen, max freeze, and princess ice packs make everything better.

Today I am on the mend.  Still sore, but I can move.  Let’s just hope that all this pain means progress 🙂

So that is all I have for today since I was so unproductive yesterday!  Gotta go get some work done!  Have a great day everyone!!

Do you have any tips for sore muscles?  

Spartan Training in the Snow

It’s right about now that I hate winter and just want spring to get here already!  How am I supposed to to speed workout with the hubs when the track looks like this??!!

I guess speed will have to wait.  For now we’ll just work on endurance and not falling 🙂

Despite the icy conditions, the edges are starting to thaw and dry out.  Val has a nice little spot to lounge in the sun.  For our outdoor workouts, Cameron and I have been working on burpees, lunges, squats, crunches, a little sprinting on the grass, bear crawls, and jumping jacks for the most part.  I decided that every time we do burpees we should try and do 30 since that it the requirement if you can’t complete an obstacle at the Spartan race.  Holy cow, 30 burpees in a row is tough stuff!!  Hopefully I’ll get quicker because right now it takes me ummmmm FOREVER!

Here’s hoping for an early Spring!!

How are your workouts going??  Anyone out there training for race this year??