Hello friends! Sorry for the slight slacking on my posts lately. Things have been busy both at my job and at home, so I've gotten a little behind.
Here in Austin we've recently gotten a BIG cold front come through, and it's been close to freezing temperatures for the last few days. This brings up some interesting thoughts. In the winter, we have the tendency to eat bigger, heavier dishes that leave us feeling warm and satisfied. Salads don't sound quite as delicious as they do in the summer. We want warm food to comfort us, or at least, I do. And guess what - this is ok!!
It all depends on how you do it, though. Warm vegetable soup with brown rice? Heck yes. Cheese enchiladas covered in sour cream sauce? Not so much. Pot roast cooked with olive oil and warm veggies? Always. Cream-filled potato soup and steak? Maybe not.
Find ways to cook warm comfort foods you love in a healthier way. For example, try those enchiladas with chicken, corn tortillas and salsa instead. We're planning to make soup soon (not sure what kind, but still very excited), and homemade soup can be extremely nutrient-dense and delicious. (Store bought soup is good in a pinch, but it's usually packed with preservatives.) Plus, soup definitely satisfies that need for a warm filling food. Maybe we'll put it with some warm veggies instead of something cold like a salad.
Or, if you want to eat salad for lunch, pack your meat in a separate container and heat it up before you place it on your salad. That way you get nutritious, yummy AND warm.
There are ALWAYS healthier options that can be JUST AS GOOD as what you were used to eating. Ryan has said over and over again during this challenge, "I'm so impressed with the food." I think he was really expecting to eat chicken and vegetables for every meal. But I was not about to let that happen. If the recipes I've been posting look delicious to you, it's because THEY ARE. We have not been left wanting. As much as I'm looking forward to having some of my old favorite foods on occasion, I'm really wanting to keep eating this way the majority of the time.
Alright, here's the food log:
Day 18:
7:00am- Wake-up
7:30am - Chocolate Banana Coffee Shake
11:30am - Turkey Wraps (see below for recipe). Orange.
4:30pm - Almonds and Grapes.
8:00pm - Turkey with Black Beans. Mashed Sweet Potatoes with cinnamon, salt and pepper.
10:30pm - Bedtime!
Turkey Wraps - ok, we were SUPER impressed by these things, and they're really simple to make for lunch. Take turkey (no preservatives or sugar! Check your labels!), spread hummus of your choice (again - check your label) on turkey. Place carrot sticks and cucumber sticks in middle. Wrap together. And enjoy! You may also choose to wrap all this in a large piece of lettuce, if you like.
Turkey with Black Beans - Cook 8 oz ground turkey on the stovetop over medium heat with 1 diced shallot. Cook until brown. Add 2 tbsp of tomato paste, 1 clove of garlic, 8 oz. black beans, salt, and pepper to taste. Add coconut flour if necessary to thicken the mix. Enjoy!
Mashed Sweet Potatoes - Technically the turkey was supposed to be stuffed into the sweet potatoes, but the sweet potato skins just about fell off when we took them out of the oven. So we had them all scrambled together instead. Still delicious! Roast at 400 until soft. Add salt and cinnamon if you like.
Day 19:
6:30am - Wake-up
7:30am - Berry Blast Protein Shake
11:30am - Leftover turkey with black beans & mashed sweet potatoes. Water.
4:00pm - Mixed berries. Almonds. Iced tea.
7:00pm - Roasted spaghetti squash. Leftover homemade meatballs and marinara sauce (see below for explanation).
10:30pm - Organic blue corn chips. Salsa.
11:30pm - Bedtime!
Homemade meatballs with marinara sauce - We made the meatballs on day 6 (see post for full recipe - the sauce was store bought), and had a ton of meatballs and sauce leftover. So, we decided to freeze some of it and save it for later. We were in a bit of a time crunch on this day because we were going to a concert that started at 8, so we didn't want to cook anything too elaborate. We cooked the spaghetti squash the night before, and defrosted the sauce & meatballs during the day so all we had to do was heat & eat. Easy!
The meal was very filling, but after standing up for the concert for about 2 hours, I was a little hungry when I got home. Hence the late snack. I will say that I did my best not to overeat before bed. I could usually eat chips & salsa pretty much continuously until I'm ready to explode. So I measured out a reasonable amount of salsa for myself, and stopped when it was gone. This is an excellent point - don't eat things out of the jar or bag - it just allows you to eat more than you think you are. Put your chips/sauce/whatever on a plate so you can see how much you're eating.
That's it for now, friends! Keep working and push to the end! Love health and harmony to you!
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