Breakfast on the "go"

Good morning!

Starting today by sharing some recent deliciousness with you!

For starters, the boys and I were sans daddy again last night which meant we could once again indulge my healthy tooth and load up a plateful of healthiness for dinner.

Little Man #1 and I enjoyed broccoli, quinoa with some freshly
picked tomatoes and lemon juice and grilled chicken.

(Later that night we snuck out and got him a small vanilla cone too...
which works well for me as I am the official drip catcher.)

I grilled several breasts to keep on hand in the fridge to eat throughout the weekend with salads too. Keeps me from having the excuse of not eating a great meal when we're crunched for time, as if having two little boys and a full schedule would ever put someone in a time crunch!

Today!
Everyday, seriously- everyday, I eat oatmeal with flaxmeal for breakfast and a banana with peanut butter for my mid-morning snack. It's filling, tasty and gives me some protein.

I used to be a Jif mom but I've moved on to the all-natural peanut butter and am so happy that I did. I'd never go back to the "other" stuff. I prefer the Archer Farms variety of nut butters for the taste, texture and price. It's still more than the highly processed butters, but it's worth it when you read the ingredients. Plus, after you've switched to the natural variety you won't go back- I promise. Eat this for a week or so and then try the old stuff- there's just no comparing- Real vs Not So Real.

Tonight is movie, pizza, popcorn night at our house. I'm planning on picking up ingredients for us all to make our own pizzas tonight. That way I can have my thin crust chicken pizza and the boys can have pepperoni and sausage.

Happy Friday!

Group Fitness

This weekend I am planning on attending my first group fitness class. Well, that's not entirely true, it's not really my first group class- I took a few here and there in college.
The difference this time is that I'm going to be part of a group of women who do fitness competitions and are slightly more "hard core" about the clean eating/working out than I am. Or at least that is what I am envisioning.
The Facebook page for the class I am going to take is filled with beautiful women with tiny tight bodies with abs.
Yikes.
But... my friend Carissa has got me talked into it and I really would like to go. So why is it that every time I start to think about going my stomach starts tying in knots?!
I think a big part of this feeling is actually guilt. I feel guilty that I will be spending a few hours of our precious weekend time for something that is all for me. I know that when I'm driving home, I will be very happy that I did it, it's just the time leading up to doing it that makes me go crazy!

Faux Panera :)

I love Panera. Especially their Strawberry Walnut Poppy seed chicken salad... that is only offered as part of their summer menu... I love it so much that I'm scared the employees at "my" Panera are going to start calling me by name BEFORE I order.
However- I can't justify spending $8+ on a salad several days a week so I've resorted to once a week and have come pretty close to duplicating my own version at home.

My ingredients include:
Spinach
Romaine lettuce
Strawberries
Blueberries
Pecans
Pineapple
Mandarin Oranges
Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing
One boneless, skinless chicken breast

It does the trick and saves me some cash. This winter when I have no choice I will enjoy it more I suppose.

Smooth Moves

Ran my fastest 5k this morning- 24:34! Yahoo! To celebrate I made a new version of my protein shake:
PB Strawberry Smoothie:
1T flax seeds
1/2C water
1/2C ice
1/4C frozen strawberries
1 frozen banana (fresh would do I'm sure)
1T all natural peanut butter
Scoop whey protein

Combine in blender and whirl away!

Eat like an animal

A picture to prove that you can eat clean anywhere- even at the zoo. While the boys were having burgers and hotdogs I enjoyed this southwest salad. Delish.

"You don't need to walk!"

This weekend I ran a 4 mile fun-run with two girlfriends. I didn't know what to expcet but set out with the intention to "just have fun" and not run for time but to just run for the love of it. It was a beautiful day after having experienced temps in the 100's the days prior. We started out with at a decent pace, I could tell however that one of my running mates was getting increasingly faster and faster and rahter quickly. I tried to noticeably slow my pace in hopes that she would too- I knew I could maintain that pace, but could she? By the 1.5 mile mark there were requests to slow and walk for a while...I encouraged that walk request to be more of a let's just slow down a bit. We continued our pace, only slowing a time or two and a quick speed walk for water and finished right about 38 minutes. When we finished I felt so proud of my two friends, which I consciously noticed was a strange emotion considering I wasn't expecting to be proud of my friends for not giving in to the want to walk.
That morning reaffirmed my desired to do more in the field of our/my health. I have always been very interested in our bodies and how to help them perform at their best through the fuel we give them to the ways we use them everyday. We'll see where this goes- I'm taking this a day at a time, opening myself up to the opportunities that present themselves and creating opportunities for myself. I think that if we are "awake" to what the world is saying to us we are more able to see what we are meant to be doing.
Tomorrow- meeting with my friends Carissa to learn more about what her trainer is doing for her cardio/weight routine and to learn more about real clean eating. Exciting stuff!

You scream, I scream, we all scream for...

ICE CREAM!
Ah yes, my weakness is ice cream. And it gets worse, I'll eat nearly any flavor and in nearly any form; on a cone, in a dish, blizzard, sundae, soft or hard serve, fried, dipped in chocolate, butterscotch or cherry. Drumsticks, sandwiches, Klondikes or Dreamsicles, I love it all! Last night I tried Culver's newest Concrete Mixer- The S'More. It's delicious.
Bits of grahm cracker, chocolate chunk and marshmallow cream all harmoniously mixed together in creamy chocolate frozen goodness. With the heat we've been experiencing this week it brought some sweet relief. I will say that I had a few bites and stuck it in the freezer to enjoy a few nights this week, it wasn't a sit and binge on it kind of thing.
I received my Whey protein powder yesterday but have yet to use  it in a recipe. Tomorrow will be the first day as I will have more time to experiement with flavors after my workout. It would be wonderful if I could nail down a go-to recipe to incorporate as my breakfast since I'm always out the door and in the office so early that I don't have time to spend eating something "more complicated" at home. Currently I eat 100 calories of oatmeal and coffee. I am planning on moving my oatmeal to the afternoon and enjoying a cool shake for breakfast instead.
Some fun news! Next week I'm meeting with a friend of mine to talk about clean eating and the plan she's been using. This all came to be after she posted a FABULOUS picture of herself on Facebook and I could hardly recognize her body! She really has transformed it and I want in on what she's been doing.