Happy Wednesday. We’re rolling right along in this week aren’t we?

I’ve had SO many things I’ve wanted to blog about lately, but I usually wait until late in the day to set up my posts and by that time, I’m too busy. So this week I’ve been spending a little time blogging BEFORE I start my homework. At first I thought it wouldn’t work, but it seems I was wrong, wasn’t I? Hopefully I can keep this up!

So, multiple people have asked me to post a “Day in the Life” blog about what my typical day has looked like. I’m not much of a daily life sharer here, but it’s something I always work on doing more because those are some of my favorite posts to read on other people’s blogs.

(source)

But the problem for me is I don’t have a typical day. Every day of every week is different in my life right now. I’ve always struggled with how I would write a post like this due to this fact.

Last week I decided, whatever! I’ll post whatever day I want and I’ll just take pictures with my cell phone.

And thus, I present to you – a day in my life. This Friday from last week. Fridays are usually “my” day now. I don’t have school, don’t volunteer and have the day completely to myself. I thought this would be the perfect day to show you (and the most interesting for y’all to read probably).

My day started around 8-8:30 am. I’ve been sleeping really late lately on my days off because I don’t get much sleep during the week. I’m currently trying to wake up earlier and go to bed earlier every night, so let’s hope I can make the switch!

I actually woke up a little earlier and took my thyroid medicine, then went back to sleep. I have to take this 1 hour before eating, so it’s better to do it this way.

Once getting up and getting out of bed, I fed the dogs:

I also took my morning supplements (probiotic and an evening primrose oil) and made some breakfast – an english muffin with a tablespoon of peanut butter.

I changed into gym clothes, grabbed my gym bag and went straight to an hour long body works class. This was a new instructor for me and I LOVED her. Can’t wait to go back to her class this week!

After the class ended, my hip felt awesome – so I chowed this fruit leather down and then hopped on the elliptical for 30 minutes. I wanted to do more, but I didn’t have anymore food and didn’t want to push my hip too much.

After stretching I left the gym and ran a few quick errands on the way home. Petsmart for dog treats and Starbucks for a green tea. I also stopped by Petco because I have a coupon and I thought our dog food is on sale, but I was wrong.

As soon as I got home – I was in food making mode. I cut up everything for my lunch and got it one skillet. I also cooked some caramelized onions, chicken sausage and green bell peppers for our dinner.

For the last step of dinner prep, I got a 1/2 batch of whole wheat pizza dough started in my bread machine for dinner.

While lunch and dinner were cooking, I started some laundry and unloaded the dishwasher.

Finally, lunch was ready so I sat down and enjoyed an episode of 30 Minute Meals while eating and icing my hip. I also had to push this puppy away from my food constantly!

I enjoyed my most favorite recipe ever right now – a potato hash with potatoes, onion, bell pepper and garlic with an over hard egg on the side topped with mustard.

After lunch, I went back to laundry duty – folding and flipping loads. I think I did four loads all day?

After laundry, I returned to the kitchen – got everything put away for dinner (except my bread dough) and cleaned the kitchen – finishing the dishes, cleaning the counter and getting a new load of dishes started.

Finally I was able to strip out of my workout clothes (gross, I know) and take a shower. After my shower I worked on training the dogs for about 20 minutes – spending 10 minutes with each of them.

By this time, I was a little hungry so I made a smoothie – 1/2 cup vanilla greek yogurt, 1/2 cup skim milk, 1/2 T peanut butter, 1 cup frozen fruit and 2 huge handfuls of spinach.

This smoothie was enjoyed upstairs while I watched some TV (Say Yes to the Dress and The Doctors) while I worked on my computer. I did some blog stuff, looked up school stuff and just messed around for a little while.

After a little while I did some pushups and crunches for my February Fitness Challenge, ran downstairs a few times to flip more laundry and put my dough in the fridge when it was done. I also made some plain popcorn (from the bulk bin kernels) in the microwave and put nutritional yeast on it. I had a pear sauce on the side (from Trader Joes). I’m sorry but this pear sauce was NASTY y’all. It was like straight up syrup. Way too sweet for me.

Finally, I started some homework – studying for my Medical Terminology quiz that I have today. While I was working on this, Matt came home!

I was literally starving all day (not a big enough lunch I guess), so in addition to the other snacks – I also had a few of these crackers. I hate that when I’m hungry like this, because it doesn’t dawn on me until my hands are in the snacky carb box that it’s because I haven’t had enough protein (that’s usually when I turn for the carbs). So I promptly put these up and went downstairs to assemble dinner.

I’ve been struggling a lot since I bumped up my exercise to figure out the right balance of eating throughout the day. Days like today are a great reminder I didn’t eat enough earlier in the day and thus was starving all afternoon.

Anyway – moving on to dinner. Since I prepped everything earlier in the day, I just had to roll out my pizza dough and fill our calzones with our toppings.

Mine had 2 oz chicken sausage, 1 oz cheese, tomato sauce, green peppers and caramelized onions. I also had my evening supplements with dinner – two fish oil, another evening primrose oil and my calcium disk (after dinner).

The rest of the evening, Matt and I caught up on our DVR (Daily Show, anyone?) and then watched the Pilot episode of the A-Team. I bought him the first season for Valentines Day!

I did homework the entire time, but I did get through the first studying step of my Medical Terminology unit, which definitely took some excess work off my shoulders for yesterday when I finished studying everything.

(Knife not necessary for studying. haha)

We debated going out for a drink, but both had big plans on Saturday – so decided to stay in. I was asleep and in bed by about 11:30-11:45 pm. Early for me!!!

So there you go y’all – a day in my life. Now you know my dirty secrets like I don’t always change immediately out of my workout clothes, I’m a sleep monster and I’ve been studying in front of the TV too much lately.

Anyone else who doesn’t blog about their daily life normally have a Day in the Life post I can read? I’d love to check it out!

Happy Tuesday!

My super busy week is half over! I still have a case study, med terminology quiz and a test tomorrow. Once that’s over, I’ll start (and finish!) everything due for next week. I swear, the majority of my major group projects are all due in the next three weeks.

Anyway, I thought I’d share a short list of things I’m loving right now. I used to post these lists all the time, but it’s gotten away from me lately.

I love this series because it allows me to focus on a few of the positive things in my every day life, that are often not being discussed on the blog.

These four things are keeping me grounded and adding a little happiness to my days!

1. Contigo travel mug: Okay – before you laugh, this is the GREATEST travel mug I’ve ever seen in my life.

First, it will keep hot beverages super hot for at least 4 hours, probably closer to 6. I pour boiling water into it every morning with a tea bag, let it steep about 5 minutes, then seal the lid. Roughly 2 hours later, it’s just cooled down enough for me to drink! And supposedly, it can be used for cold liquids too.

Second, I’m sure this thing would not leak no matter where you put it. You could probably throw it in your purse and it wouldn’t leak anything. If it tips over while sitting on my passenger seat, I don’t even worry about it and have never had a problem. And based on everyone’s reviews on Amazon – I can’t see it leaking at all!

Only downside? The bottom half isn’t dishwasher safe. No matter how much I scrub it, I can’t get my tea stains out. I’ve made a vinegar and salt scrub to remove stains before, so I’ll have to do it soon!

2. Daily Challenge. Kelly and Heather both invited me to this almost 2 weeks ago. This is a FREE website that gives you a daily challenge every morning that is focused on your overall health. You get points for connecting with your friends, commenting on statuses, encouraging others to finish their challenge, etc. The points can be used to unlock special challenge tracks that last 28 days.

I unlocked a Strengthening Self Esteem track and so every morning, I get a challenge that helps me build self esteem. Kristina is doing an active lifestyle track right now that gives her a short exercise to do every day!

I’m OBSESSED. Seriously. Give me points for doing simple things and I’m all over it. This is why Spark People worked for me for so long.

If any of you join or want me to invite you, just let me know and we’ll connect!

3. Seltzer, Cranberry juice and lime. Growing up, I spent all my summers in Boston. My aunts would always order drinks when we went out, and they would order me virgin mocktails. When I was younger, I’d order virgin pina coladas. As a teenager, I started ordering seltzer water with a splash of cranberry juice and a lime.

(source)

To this day, these are my favorite non-alcoholic drinks to order. Lately I’ve just been ordering a club soda with lime, but I forgot how much I love these drinks. I bought the ingredients for the Super bowl, because I knew I’d be doing homework the entire time and wanted to “treat myself”. I still have cranberry juice left over, so I’ve been making myself one of these drinks every now and then when I’m loaded with homework and wanting to lift my spirits a little.

It’s super easy to make! Fill a glass 3/4 the way with club soda or seltzer water. Pour a few splashes of 100% cranberry juice and then top with more soda/seltzer and add a fresh lime. It’s delicioussss!

4. Cary’s training classes. Cary and I have been going to her training classes for two weeks now and it’s going SO well! I can proudly say she’s the best dog in our class!

She’s learned “sit” and is doing so now with just the hand motion and we’re working on adding the voice command. We’re working on “down” right now, which isn’t going as well as I want it to – but it hasn’t even been a week. She’s also learned “leave it” and while she doesn’t like it, she does it for me.

Lexi has been learning at home! I teach her everything Cary learns in class the second I get home form PetCo. I’m fairly confident Lexi was trained before, because after working with her for a day, she got it all down right away – even with just the words. I can tell her to “sit” and she sits right away, doesn’t even need the hand signal or treat. She’s also an ace with “leave it” and I can set 3 treats down and she’ll leave all of them.

She’s doing much better than Cary at “down”, but it’s still taking a little time. I’m super excited for them to learn these basic commands so I can start getting a little more control over them when they go outside and eat.

I thought training was going to be super hard and stressful, but it hasn’t been at all! I work with them both for at least 15 minutes a day, generally broken up in two sessions. I thought it was going to take so much time and it was going to be so frustrating – but it hasn’t been. And it gives us all a little more structure to our day!

So those are the little things I’ve been loving lately. What about y’all, what have you been loving?

Happy Monday!

Sorry I didn’t post my meal plan last week. I took pictures of everything, but it was just one of those Sundays when the last thing I had time to do was blog.

Last week we spent a lot of money, and I’m still not sure why. It was one of those times where we had some items on the list that are expensive, but not things we buy often. Plus we did costco last week, and that always racks up some money.

Some of the costco buys from last week.

We had a few items left over from last week that I’m using this week. We also were sent a huge cooler of elk and buffalo meat from one of Matt’s clients in Montana. It arrived last week and it’s all in our freezer, so we’ve he’s been trying to cook that as much as possible.

So here’s the meal plan and our groceries:

Meal Plan 2/19/2012

This week was all about using what we had in the house, plus a few new recipes to try. I’m still majorly craving beef and potatoes, and for the most part tired of eating chicken. Matt’s going to help me out this week by cooking Tuesday and we’ll be eating separately Thursday and Friday.

Breakfasts/Lunches

Last week I bought whole wheat english muffins (finally!) and was eating them with peanut butter for breakfasts. I’ll continue this throughout this week, plus cereal.

Last week for lunches I made sesame cold noodles and they were great – full of protein and fat! This week I didn’t want to make them again, so I’m making a tortellini pasta salad with pesto, tomatoes, bell pepper and broccoli. This will be perfect for eating more fat + protein and hopefully snacking less.

I also have stuff for smoothies and a big container of vanilla greek yogurt for snacks, in addition to trail mix and other staples in my pantry.

Sunday:

Matt’s made Elk Chili yesterday, while I made a potato, pepper and onion hash (which I’m currently OBSESSED with). I also made a head of roasted cauliflower that I had leftover from last week for us to share.

Monday:

A recipe from my new Weight Watchers One Pot cookbook. This is chicken sausage (recipe calls for Turkey, but I improvised) with sun dried tomato couscous. I’m also going to roast some of those brussel sprouts from our Costco trip last week on the side.

Tuesday:

I have a lot of schoolwork due on Wednesday, so Matt’s going to make buffalo burgers and we’ll have frozen Alexa fries (obsessed!).

Wednesday:

Another recipe from the Weight Watchers cookbook. Last week we bought saffron because Matt saw it in the spice isle and has loved it since he went to Turkey last year.

I saw this recipe and thought, why not! Chicken with Saffron rice and more brussel sprouts or broccoli on the side. The recipe calls for drumsticks, so that should be interesting and different.

Thursday:

We’re both on our own tonight. I’ve been taking Cary to dog training Thursday nights, so it’s nice to be able to come home and throw something fast together for just myself before taking her. I’ll probably have my potato, pepper and onion hash again – or just whatever sounds good. Matt said he’ll be eating, “from the freezer”, so we’ll see what he comes up with.

Friday:

He’s at school and I have a 5K the next morning (It’s Cowtown weekend!), so I’ll be putting something carb-y together.

Saturday:

Pasta dinner for his half marathon the next day. I have everything in the pantry already, so it didn’t take any special planning.

And groceries. This week I went to Sprouts and Kroger.

Produce #1: Kale, italian parsley, broccoli, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, mini sweet peppers, squash, strawberries, grape tomatoes and baby carrots (for the dogs).

Produce #2: Spotted bananas (straight to the freezer for smoothies), bananas, onions, garlic, avocado, clementines

Chili ingredients: red beans, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, pinto beans, beef stock, dried chilies (x2), jalapenos

Meat/Dairy: skim milk, eggs, habanero cheese, mozzarella cheese, chicken sausages and chicken legs.

Starches: whole wheat hamburger buns, multi-grain tortillas, whole wheat tortellini, whole wheat english muffins, frozen sweet potato and red potatoes.

Pantry items: pesto mix, tortilla chips, whole wheat israeli couscous, diced tomatoes, dill weed, tomato paste and almond granola (from bulk bins).

So about this couscous – I haven’t had it in a long time and the bulk bin only had regular. I saw a container of the whole wheat kind at Sprouts for $4.00 and thought, “well Kroger won’t have it – so whatever.”

Then I get to Kroger, we’re talking down the bean and tomato isle and THE SAME couscous was there on clearance for $1.75.

And I was so pissed, I just bought the one at Kroger too – so now we have two and I better not have to buy it again for a long time.

*frustation*

Anyway, there’s our groceries and meal plan! What are y’all planning to eat this week?

Happy Sunday people!

Last night I crossed another item off my 26 in 26 list. And I also created a page for my 26 in 26 list last week, so we all (myself especially) can keep updated on what I have done and what I have left.

Anyway, last night I crossed off #12 – Go to a Concert.

My friend Sarah and I went to the Lady Antebellum concert, along with Thompson Square and Darius Rucker!

Sarah and I met each other six years ago in an accounting class She’s one of my best friends and I was so happy she decided to join me for the night!

We were sitting up in the VERY top of the American Airlines center, and had quite possibly the worst seats in the entire place.

True story.

During the concert, they kept the entire arena dark and didn’t even have the jumbo screens turned on, so we could basically see nothing. Here was the majority of our view:

Despite the view, it was an amazing concert. You could tell how much Lady A LOVES their fans and the fans were involved in every single part of the show. The best part was when they asked us all to pull out our phones in lieu of a lighter.

My phone would not focus on all the lights, but those are everyone’s cell phones!

It was a great concert, I would love to see Lady A again and definitely Thompson Square again. I wasn’t crazy about Darius, but he put on a good show regardless. I would have loved to have taken more photos (and planned to), but I couldn’t see anything! I did shoot two videos of Darius performing Hootie and the Blowfish songs though.

And prior to the concert, we went out to dinner at El Fenix. I hadn’t been there before and was torn between the fajitas and the Pollo a la Parilla. 

I ended up choosing the Parilla, because it had more vegetables. It was a grilled chicken breast on top of steamed spinach, with refried beans, pico and rice with cheese.

It was filling, but I’ve had better mexican food! So, not my favorite Mexican restaurant – but I’d be willing to go again and try something different on the menu!

And of course we had some delicious chips and I had a vodka soda, rather than buying really expensive drinks at the concert.

All in all, a great night! I’m so happy I went and I am itching to go to another concert now

What did y’all do this weekend? Anything fun?

Happy Thursday!

To be 100% honest, I’m not good at reviewing things. Recap posts, reviews, opinion posts on products – all of these do not appeal to my natural writing abilities. However, people constantly ask me to write posts like these, so I’m trying.

One of my 26 in 26 goals is to try a recipe from each cookbook I own. I can guarantee I won’t be able to keep track of this goal on my own. Thus, I’m going to review each cookbook and 1 recipe I’ve tried from it as a way to:

A) Share with y’all what cookbooks I own
B) Post a review of each cookbook
C) Mention new recipes I’m trying

Exciting stuff right?

One of my most favorite blogs is Brownies and Zucchini because Kelly is SO fabulous at writing reviews. She reviews things like restaurants, products and recipes (!). So I’ve definitely devised this plan based on inspiration from her blog. I’ve made my own criteria so I’m not just copying what Kelly does.

The cookbook:

Weight Watchers Power Foods, given to me by Kristina for Christmas.

The recipe:

Quinoa Maple Almond muffins

Why this recipe:

I’ve been looking for grab ‘n’ go breakfast recipes that are higher in protein and fiber. And this recipe has definitely has fit that bill.

Substitutions I made:

I’ve made this recipe twice now. The second time I added slivered almonds straight into the dry batter and this helped so much with the texture! I just prefer crunchy things. The next time I think I’ll add some flax meal as well.

Ease to make:

Yes, this is a really simple recipe to make. Even for me, a non-baker, these muffins are hard to mess up! You do have to cook quinoa before mixing everything together, which could be hard for some people. I make my quinoa in the rice cooker, so it’s super easy.

Ease of ingredients:

None of the ingredients in this recipe were hard for me to find, but they might be harder for other people that don’t shop at a healthy foods market. The recipe calls for Quinoa flour, which is expensive – but works if you plan to make this recipe several times.

Ease of leftovers:

This recipe makes 12 muffins, and both times I’ve made it – I’ve frozen half the muffins in a freezer zip lock bag. Then I defrost them the next week in my fridge so I can eat them for breakfast the next day. It’s AWESOME!

Taste:

Delicious! These are sweet, have a slight hint of a quinoa taste but also have a great almond taste too. I am not the world’s greatest fan of quinoa, so I was happy these muffins didn’t have an overly powerful quinoa taste.

How I serve:

I crumble up a muffin, put 1 T of crunchy peanut butter on top and microwave for 30 seconds. Then I stir it together and eat it in my car on the way to school. It keeps me full for several hours!

Other recipes from this book:

I’ve tried quite a few and liked all of them for the most part. As someone who follows weight watchers, I LOVE having the points right there for me when I’m browsing through the book. There are definitely some good recipes in here!

My rating of the recipe:

Overall, I’d give this recipe a 4 out of 5. Because I’ve made a few changes to the recipe on my own, I’d say it’s not perfect. But it’s really good!

My rating of the cookbook:

Overall, I’d give this cookbook a 3 out of 5. From a few of the other recipes I’ve made, it isn’t always clear on what specific ingredient to add. For example, one recipe called for “chili sauce” but didn’t say what kind of chili sauce to use.

Also, some of the recipes have foods I don’t like – so it’s probably not a cookbook that I would try every recipe.

Since this is my first review post – let me know what else y’all want to see in these types of posts. For right now, I’ll probably only be posting one recipe from each cookbook – since I have SO many to go through this year.

What do you take for grab ‘n’ go breakfasts?

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Is anyone celebrating today? I have to admit, I never was a big Valentines Day fan until I met Matt. He seems to be all about Valentines Day and thus we exchange gifts every year! This year I actually looked forward to the day, so I guess he’s starting to rub off on me!

He made us surprise dinner reservations tonight, so we’ll be going out to dinner to celebrate too mmmmm

Can you believe this is the first picture we ever took together? This was back in July 2008.

Anyway – I wanted to stop in and give an update on my progress with my February Back to Fit Challenge. I’ve officially been in this challenge 2 weeks and I can’t believe how much progress I’ve made with my fitness in that short time.

Whereas last month, I struggled a lot with running and vigorous exercise – I feel like most of that is gone! My hip is holding up SUPER well in my workouts and I seem to only be having issues with it in the Body Works classes.

Clearly starting my own c25K, which I have dubbed Injury 2 5K, was genius and has completely changed my running!

So here’s where I’m at with everything and what I have to finish in the next 2 weeks.

1. Do 290 pushups (of any kind): I’ve finished 140 and have 51.7% of this goal left

2. Get 246,500 steps with my fitbit. I’ve covered 101,129 (as of yesterday) steps and I have 58.9% of this goal left

3. Do 2,175 crunches. I’ve done 825 crunches and have 62.07% of this goal left.

4. Finish 8 strength sessions over the month. I’ve done 3 sessions and have 62.5% left.

5. Attend 4 body works classes. I’ve attended 1. I had planned to go to one last week, but it didn’t work out with my schedule so I’ve moved some things around to make sure I go. Plus I really didn’t like that instructor anyway! I have 75% of my goal left.

6. Spend 120 minutes on a spin bike. I’ve spent 37 minutes and have 69.2% left. I think I’m officially done with solo spin workouts. I have no motivation to do them anymore – get me back in a class please!

7. Attend 1 spin class. Planned for the end of the month, so I have 100% left.

8. Spend 165 minutes running. This has been the most surprising. I planned 8 workouts and I’ve done 4, totaling 79 running minutes. I have 52.12% of this goal left. But since my plan calls for longer runs with each workout, this should be done first.

9. Earn 180 minutes of cross training: Slacking here due, completely due to schedule. I’ve done 30 minutes and have 83.33% left. Also since I am working out so much, I usually elliptical the day after I run and the time I did workout, I was super sore! SUPER.

(source)

So things that have really helped:

1. Starting my own Injury 2 5K

2. Making a schedule for all my cardio/class workouts in the beginning of the month.

These two things have absolutely kept me going. But I am having some issues with my schedule and fitting classes in. Matt has also been swamped lately, so we haven’t had much time to go lift together.

We still have 15 days and I’m confident if I keep up my current pace, I’ll be finishing all of these by the end of the month!

Anyone else doing a fitness challenge or want to start one for the last 2 weeks of the month? Feel free to track on our group spreadsheet here: February Challenge Tracker

Happy Friday everyone!

Sorry I’ve been a little absent this week. I’ve been (thankfully) finding time for workouts, which is leaving me less time to blog every night! Also, Cary and I went to her first training class last night – so that took a good chunk of time!

She was surprisingly, the best dog in training. I was shocked! And she picked up “Sit” right away from the trainer, but isn’t doing it for me at home. So I guess we’ll just have to practice, practice, practice.

Anyway – let’s talk a little Feel Good Fashion, shall we?

This week I was in a major funk. And when Wednesday rolled around – the last thing I wanted to do was put a lot of effort into my outfit. So, I took the lazy way out.

I really wish I could figure out how to get that light out of the picture, but if I don’t have it on, you can’t see me.

Anyway – yes I took the lazy way out. This cardigan is my MOST FAVORITE I’ve ever owned, and even though I felt blah when I woke up that morning, by the end of the day I felt awesome. Thank you, wardrobe.

So awesome that I tweeted this:

Because seriously, it’s true. You wake up, you feel gross, you put on a lazy outfit that is super comfortable and then you make it through the day feeling great because your outfit is deceiving the world. Why didn’t someone tell me this earlier in my life?!

Here’s where everything is from:

Hi friends, I have a recipe for y’all today!

While cornbread might be a big deal in the south, it’s really not a huge deal in Texas. This was clearly a concept Michelle didn’t understand while she was here, as she bothered me constantly about me providing her with amazing cornbread.

The truth is, I really like cornbread. But I’ve never found a recipe that was both healthy and delicious. This is a tidbit I shared with Sarah last year, as I complained all the recipes I’ve tried with whole wheat flour haven’t been good. Sarah’s response was that she eats whole grains the majority of the time, so she figures every now and then she can eat regular cornbread, made with all purpose flour.

And it’s true! I’m sort of a whole grain snob sometimes and I avoid cooking with regular white flour – but I shouldn’t! The USDA recommends 50% of our grains should be whole grain, and I’d say on average – I eat probably 80% whole grain at least every day. I have some room for some white flour in my diet!

Anyway, the point of this round-a-bout rant is that I’ve finally found an amazing cornbread recipe! It actually came from my grandma, of all people. She never shared this recipe with me until this past Thanksgiving, but I’m glad she did. This is her go-to cornbread recipe that she uses for her cornbread dressing.

Michelle shows off our pan of cornbread we made during her visit.

I’ve made it a few times and wasn’t impressed, but I finally tweaked it and made it amazing last night! And now I’m here to share that recipe with y’all.

Grandma Betty June’s Southern Cornbread

Serves 12
Print this recipe

This is a really easy southern cornbread that’s almost fool-proof. This cornbread is deliciously sweet and perfect fresh out of the oven with a pat of butter. Serving these in muffin form makes them easy to transport and store, plus instantly portion sized!  Serve these alongside a bowl of beans, chili or with your favorite southern meal.

If you aren’t a fan of sweet cornbread, omit the sugar and honey! Also, feel free to make this in a 8 X 8 pan if you don’t want cornbread muffins.

These are 5 points plus a piece.

Ingredients:

wet in one bowl:

• 1 egg
• 1 cup skim or low-fat milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup honey

dry in another bowl:

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup AP flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Supplies:

• Two bowls
• Fork
• Measuring spoons/cups – dry & wet
• Spoon and knife
• Muffin Tin
• Cooking spray
• Cooling rack

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Mix all wet ingredients into one bowl. It’s easiest to add egg first, then poke the yolk with a fork and lightly scramble. Next measure milk and next oil. Adding the honey after the oil will ensure honey will actually make it out of the measuring cup!

3. Mix all dry ingredients in second bowl. Make sure to level your measuring cups with the back of a butter knife!

4. Pour wet ingredients into dry bowl and mix just until combined. Do not over mix!

5. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Add cornbread mix into each muffin space. Bake in oven for 15 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

6. Allow to cool on the cooling rack. Make sure to enjoy one right out of the oven with some butter!

So good y’all, so good.

What is your favorite cornbread recipe or place to get your cornbread?

Happy Monday!

This has to be super fast because I am SWAMPED today. This entire week is actually just going to be super crazy.

I buckled down this weekend and bribed myself to finish my internship applications. Everything is done, I’m just waiting on two recommendations to come in and I need to read through my personal statements with Matt one last time. We officially have 9 days until the deadline!

I also watched the super bowl last night! We had quite a little a party, but I did homework most of the game :/. I avoided the alcohol and snacked on some really delicious food instead! Who else watched the super bowl?

Anyway, let’s move on to this week’s meal plan. Matt and I used to have nights where we made our own separate meals a few nights a week. We had a conversation last week about how we should bring that back, since both of our schedules are picking up and we aren’t always going to be home at the same time.

So this week, I’m actually only cooking two meals for the two of us. The rest will be made separately!

meal plan 2/6/12

breakfasts/lunches

I made some of the Maple Almond quinoa muffins from the Weight Watchers power foods cookbook yesterday for breakfasts this week. I also have cereal if I get tired of that. I’m almost out of my frozen steel cut oatmeal, so I’m sticking to the muffins instead!

For lunches I have tabouli salads – made with spring mix, roasted chick peas, tomatoes and cucumber. I ate these salads last week and they were excellent! I also am making a pot of black beans tomorrow, so I’ll have those as well!

Matt has his usual, oatmeal for breakfast and leftovers or turkey sandwiches for lunches.

Monday:

This is a separate meal day. I’m making a crockpot of black beans, following Jenna’s basic recipe. For tonight, I’ll make some cornbread on the side and top my beans with avocado. If I need another veggie on the side, I have some brussel sprouts and kale I can cook.

Matt is going to make himself fish (we have a TON in our freezer) and sweet potato fries, or so he told me when we meal planned yesterday.

Tuesday:

Another separate day. I’m having one of my very favorite meals – I cook a hash with red potatoes, green pepper, onions and garlic then season and top with a little bit of bbq sauce. It’s so simple, but SO delicious. On the side, I’ll make a fried egg (over hard) and top with some mustard. Simple, yet amazingly delicious and filling.

Matt has an event he’s going to, so he’s going to take along with him a turkey sandwich, popchips and an apple to eat on the way.

Wednesday:

I’m making dinner for us both. I found a recipe for Rosemary pork tenderloin with root vegetables from the Weight Watchers Power Foods cookbook (a gift from Kristina for Christmas!). The root vegetables is a mix of carrots, parsnips and turnips. This will be my first time cooking with turnips, so I’m excited!

On the side, I’ll probably make brussel sprouts for myself and maybe broccoli for Matt (if I can convince him to eat more veggies!)

Thursday:

Another Weight Watchers Power Foods recipe. This one is for Middle Eastern meatballs with tomato sauce. These have bulghur in them and sound delicious! The cookbook absolutely insisted you eat these with pasta, so we’ll have it with whole wheat pasta and broccoli!

Friday:

Matt has school, so I’m on my own. I always make something random from what’s leftover in the fridge by the end of the week.

Saturday:

I think we will probably go out for our date night, or we’ll come up with a nicer meal at home together.

Groceries:

This week was a HUGE grocery bill because we spent so much money on stuff for our Super Bowl party. However, we have a lot left over – so I’ll be incorporating these ingredients into meals soon!

Here’s our super bowl party supplies. I took Matt to Kroger with me and had him pick out what he wanted – since it was all his friends coming over.

We bought: diet “coke”, fanta soda (requested by a pregnant guest), a variety of beer, jalapeno poppers, whole wheat ritz, cheese, summer sausage and two kinds of tortilla chips.

Fruits & Veggies 1: apples, onions, grapefruit, bananas, avocadoes (I made guacamole for our party), garlic, limes, oranges and a jalapeno

Fruits & Veggies 2: turnips, parsnips, carrots, baby carrots (for the dogs), baby carrots for me (the skinny ones), fresh rosemary, grape tomatoes, pears, green bell peppers, spring mix, spinach, cilantro, baby cucumbers, brussel sprouts, broccoli

Dairy/meat/etc: Eggs, 2 fat free yogurts, pork tenderloin, turkey lunch meat, wheat vienna bread, super lean beef and string cheese.

Pantry items: tomato sauce, tortilla chips, cereal (which I got for free with a coupon!), chick peas, chicken broth, V8 light, pink lemonade mix, smoked paprika, rotel, fat free refried beans, mini bags of popcorn, trail mix for me (nuts & raisins), trail mix for Matt (western style), popcorn kernels, clif Z bars

That’s it! I hope y’all have a good week and Lexi says the same!

What’s on your meal plan this week?

Happy Friday!

Just wanted to let you know I posted updated Progress Pictures and inches on my results post yesterday, in case you missed it.

What are y’alls plans this weekend? It’s a major starbucks weekend for me. I have a TON of work due at school next week and I’m hoping to finish all my internship applications this weekend as well (I’m almost done, just a few things left). So y’all enjoy the fun times while I’m inside at my computer.

At least it’s raining today, so that’s good!

I’ve got another outfit today for y’all for Feel Good Fashion.

These were taken at the end of the day, so my hair was pretty flat. But here’s an outfit that made me feel pretty awesome, though I had to keep pulling down the tunic top all day.

Sorry for the cell phone pics and bad lighting, but we work with what we got!

I bought this tunic on Piperlime about a month ago. I had never shopped at Piperlime and they were having a HUGE sale, so I picked up a few items. I have to say, I was impressed with all the clothes I bought! I found the reviews SUPER helpful to know whether to buy a Medium or Large (since I’m wearing both sizes now) and everything fits well. They had some really unique clothes and a great selection! Prices were slashed pretty low too.

Here’s where everything is from:

• Blue and Grey striped Tunic: Piperlime for $22
• Maroon cardigan: Target $20
• Black Jean Leggings: Gap $45
• Boots: Blowfish Jenette in Grey Strike on Zappos $99
• Earrings: Old Navy $7.50

And remember how I wear a Bella Band with these skinny jeans? Well, I think I have officially shrunk out of it because it will not stay in one place anymore. I just ordered a smaller one on Amazon and I can’t wait to try it out next week.

I also found these same black skinny jeans in the next size down a few weeks ago at Gap on sale for $12. SO I’m excited to wear those too pretty soon!

Did anyone else post a Feel Good Fashion outfit today? If so, share the link with us or tell me about an outfit you wore this week that made you feel good!