Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail

It has been a productive weekend. On top of the fact I got within hours of finishing up all my work for this semester (trumpets playing in my head), which ment spending over 5 hours in Barnes and Noble on that beautiful Saturday we had, I finally got on the ball with my food prepping, putting together a clean eating recipe book, and making some homemade protein bars. Best of all I got everything accomplished with my lovely missfit Haley. I will say having her as a partner in this new lifestyle has probably been crucial to my success. She keeps me motivated and lifts me up when I'm down.

First off we started putting together a clean cookbook with recipes from some of our favorite fitness/nutrition blogs.

Super Sisters

Muffin Topless

Spoonful Of Fit

Reverent Lion

We used a 3 ring binder and plastic sleeves so we can keep adding to the cookbook as we discover new recipes. All and all it was a very inexpensive project and provides me with a whole new source to find dinner/breakfast/snack/dessert ideas. Which is important when feeding a man who loves yummy food like Chase does.

Sunday we spent the day shopping and cooking. We loaded up on all our favorite forms of proteins and veggies at the store and got to cookin'. We made some homemade protein bars, a recipe from one of the best blogs out there, the Super Sisters. Their stories are so touching and inspiring and on top of that their recipes are yummy and good for you, yes that does exist! We didn't have apple sauce so we subbed out pumpkin and it was perfect. (they did come out a little dry compared to the super sisters picture, but still very yummy) Top these off with some yogurt or lite cool whip. Oh. My. Goodness.

Peanut Butter Blondie Bars

Makes 6 bars

• 3 egg whites
• 1 cup peanut flour (or PB2)
• 1/3 cup baking stevia
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (or pumpkin in our case)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• optional: 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 11 x 7 baking pan (you can try another size or muffin pan – but this is what we used) well with non-stick spray. Pour almond milk into a large measuring cup or small bowl, add your vinegar and stir well. In a small bowl, mix all dry ingredients well and set aside. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites well by hand for 30 seconds. Add your almond milk mixture, applesauce and vanilla and mix well. Slowly add your dry ingredients and whisk until well combined. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Store in refrigerator. Enjoy!

                                          

Servings: 6

Calories: 85

Fat: 3 g

Carbs: 5 g

Protein: 13 g

Along with that, I finally accomplished my first Sunday food prep. Starting this clean eating while working full time, working out 5 days a week, going to school, and taking care of a home has made my life much busier (which I didn't think was possible at the beginning). Therefore the idea of making most of my meals for the week on Sunday is a welcomed idea. It helps to stay on track and sleep a few extra minutes, which is lovely since I wake up at 5:20am these days. This is my first stab at this so I'm sure in months to come my process and recipes will improve greatly! As for now I did what I know, and that is chicken, veggies, and rice. Basically the idea is that you make a large portion of the meals and than measure and separate them out and have ready to "grab and eat" meals just waiting on you in the fridge.

I cooked chicken breast, mushrooms, mini sweet peppers, broccoli and brown rice. In each bowl I put 3oz of chicken, little less than half a cup of veggies and half and cup of brown rice. Measuring is key if your counting calories. I've started to realize a lot of fitness people (for lack of a better term haha) don't count calories and just keep the food their eating healthy and focus more on the protein, fats, carbs, and sugars. I'm slowly starting to count less, but for now measuring everything out lets me know where I'm at. I also didn't add any seasoning, because I'm kinda addicted to Cholula hot sauce, and will probably use that as my seasoning.

So all the facts for this meal consit of:

Calories: 300

Fat: 5 g

Carbs: 42 g

Protein: 26 g

  

Now don't get me wrong, food preping makes for a long Sunday afternoon, lots of dishes (no dishwasher in this old house), and a big kitchen mess...but its worth it to me. I made enough meals for Chase and I, which he is very happy about. It feels good to be productive on Sunday, espically knowing it sets me up for a easier week ahead when time is more limited. After all the cooking and cleaning I made Chase and me some strawberry smoothies--strawberries, ice, carbmaster vanilla yogurt, and topped it al off with frozen lite cool whip-- and was in bed by 9:30, old woman status maybe, but 5:20am comes early on a Monday morning, and Monday morning of Exam weeks at that. :)

"That's what I love about Sundays"