Week One

Here I am, as promised. I've come prepared and have pics of my grocery cart, meal pics and recipe. Of course, to recap my goal for the weekend out on the road and in Beaver, small town USA was to not go overboard. And..well...I didn't go "overboard" but I certainly could have ordered a salad at Wendy's instead of a chicken sandwich. That being said, I also could have ordered a frosty waffle cone, and a burger with a soda. I didn't, I just had some lemonade and no frosty. As for the rest of the meals they weren't so bad. Fruits and veggies were present but I did also eat a small handful of cheetos and a half cookie :S I guess you win some, you lose some. However, I've got the rest of the week all planned out and I am excited to tackle it. Really, I can't wait to get to the end of each day knowing how great I feel about my food choices.

For Breakfast this week I'm sticking to oatmeal and bananas and lemon water. Just a 1/2 cup of rolled oats and half of a banana on top. I can not eat oatmeal straight up, but I actually do like it with some mix-ins. I sadly did not get a photo of my breakfast, but it's pretty easy to picture. However, days when I work out I will come home to a protein shake breakfast instead of oatmeal. My shakes are delicious and consist of 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, protein powder, half banana, water and ice, tsp of cocoa powder and a packet or two of stevia. I really do enjoy them but it took awhile before I was convinced, and lots of testing as well to get the right balance. Now I have it all down and don't even really measure anything out.

Today's lunch included left over homemade pasta salad from the trip. My Mom makes it every year, it's fairly tasty. Healthy? hmm...it has celery, egg, cucumber, shrimp, green onions and...mayo. Yeah. It's probably not that healthy, but there was a lot of it leftover, and all in moderation, right? Plus, it could have been much worse. I balanced it with a good serving of grapes and water. I won't be eating this all week for my lunches as the pasta salad probably won't last the whole week. My plans for the next few days include some tuna and pickle sandwiches, more grapes and carrots.

As far as snacks go, this week I've got some rice cakes that I plan to top with honey and almond butter or some smushed avocado. Pretty tasty. I have lots of possibilities for them in the future and can't wait to try them out (think: rice cake pizzas, cream cheese and strawberries, hummus and cucumbers etc.).

Above you can see my grocery cart and what I created from that cart just above. My grocery list included: orange bell pepper, quinoa, onions (green and yellow), lemons, tomatoes, olive oil, kiwis and arctic zero. 

I made a really delicious quinoa salad for dinner for the next few nights. I work Tuesday and Wednesday nights so I need something ready to take or I will be tempted to make not so good choices. I'll provide the recipe at the end of the post. 

I also picked up some Arctic Zero ice cream-stuff. It's gluten free and the nutrition label is readable (meaning not scary). Plus, the WHOLE pint is 150 calories. Um, yeah you heard right, the whole pint not just one serving. I decided to test out the very top layer after lunch and I was impressed. It's no Ben and Jerry's but it hits the spot. Plus, think how great the vanilla would be with some pb and dark choc. chips (not going overboard of course) or just some fruit.

I stay up pretty late some nights, with school work and boyf. time. And, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays it can be pretty tough. Eating dinner at 5:00 and then staying up till midnight is a pretty long time to go without any food. Lately I've been taking some strawberries to share with him around 10. I know my hours aren't great, and I always hear people saying you shouldn't eat after such and such time but that just doesn't work for me right now, so I've gotta make do and I think this is okay.

Okay, goals for the week:
-Obviously maintain the meal plans.
-Lift heavier. I'm going to try to go up the next weight set with the bench press. I am currently doing 20lbs, so to go up to 24lbs. (don't judge I'm freakin' weak). And not just with the bench press, I want to go heavier with my seated rows, tricep pull downs (whatever they are called) and leg press.
-Not skipping abs. I will admit that I sometimes skip out on the abs. Not good. So, my goal is to make sure I work them out during each workout.

I'll report back and we'll see how this week goes.

Quinoa Vegetable Salad with Lemon-Basil Dressing

1 cup uncooked quinoa
15 oz. can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
3 roma tomatoes
1 orange bell pepper
1 1/2 cups corn 
4 green onions

For the Dressing:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. basil 

Cook quinoa according to label. Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, and basil. Set aside.Slice green onions, dice roma tomatoes and bell pepper.
When quinoa is done cooking, let cool. Then place all salad ingredients in a large bowl.
Pour dressing over top and mix well to combine.
Can eat immediately or chill before serving.

Recipe found here. I really enjoyed the salad, and really there could be so many other add-ins. Chopped carrots? Olives? Celery? I basically feel like quinoa and this dressing has so much potential and I know I will be making it often.