breakfast Archives - Page 7 of 36 - My Healthy, Happier Life

After a weekend of indulgent, delicious dinners and more than one cupcake taste, it felt wonderful to enjoy some whole, natural foods today. I packed my breakfast and lunch today which meant I was able to enjoy healthy food without much thought or temptation at the office.

Breakfast was a bowl of banana oats topped with chia seeds.

Lunch was a homemade spinach salad and a bowl of soup. While my mom and I made last night’s salad I grabbed a Tupperware and made my lunch salad at the same time with the leftover ingredients. Today’s salad contained baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, walnuts, 1/4 cup blue cheese, and Whole Food’s all natural honey mustard dressing. I loved the fresh addition of walnuts and baby spinach.

The soup was definitely not a winner. This very photogenic soup was my last can of Healthy Choice vegetable soup I bought on sale a few weeks ago. Luckily, I ordered a case of Progresso Light soups from Amazon tonight. I realized a few weeks ago that my soup habit, while healthy and filling, cost at least $4 per day and didn’t allow me to control the sodium content. Therefore, ordering a case of soup from Amazon is far less expensive and healthier!

My afternoon snack was a yogurt bowl, which has quickly become a daily staple. Over 20 grams of protein, a serving of fruit, and lots of crunch keep me full for at least 3 hours.

Dinner on the other hand was a bit more random due to this evening’s Junior League meeting. I didn’t eat the yogurt bowl until 4:30 which meant that at 7:30 I still wasn’t very hungry. I had a dish of crunchy vegetables, hummus, and some cheese cubes while we discussed the month’s agenda.

During my cab ride home tonight, while brainstorming my post, I came up with some Monday Musings.

After reading Theodora’s post about her session with a stylist, I realized that I couldn’t stand the shirt I wore to work today. Therefore, it immediately went in my donate pile this evening.

In case you’ve never taken advantage of Origin’s free mini facials, they are the perfect treat for you and a friend, or parent! Last night my mom, dad, and I stopped by the Flatiron Origins and enjoyed being pampered by Augustine. While we both left with new skin care regimens, no purchase is necessary to enjoy this relaxing treat.

This product works better than you’d ever imagine! For $11.00 everyone deserves one of these for their desk drawer or bedside table.
Each week, I’ve tried to cleanse and purge a different part of my life. Last week my focus was my daily food through a one day cleanse and cleaner eating. This week, my goal is to clean under my bed and get rid of anything I don’t need or use. I tend to get lots of beauty samples through my job but never use everything. It’s time to get rid of clutter and excess products.
This weekend’s weather reminded me how much I love my Hunter Boots. While the $125 price point is hard to stomach, they’ve shown up on RueLala and Gilt before. If you already have a pair of Hunter Boots, or something similar, upgrade them for winter $30 with a fun bright liner sock!
One of my favorite Valentine’s Day traditions is buying a 6 or 8 pack of Hallmark cards and sending a random note to my college girlfriends. While we don’t talk weekly or even monthly at this point, it’s still a nice way to remind them how important they are. In addition, a random note brightens anyone’s day!

Do you send Valentine’s Day cards?

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Editor’s Note: If you participated in the Home for the Holidays Virtual 10K don’t forget to submit your times here and email me your pictures as we will be choosing winners by December 31st! Also, check out the photo album here!

Yesterday was a wonderful recovery day in every sense of the word. We slept in until our bodies woke us up, we were in no hurry, and spent the day enjoying a lazy morning, long walk on the beach, a movie, and finally a homemade dinner!

Breakfast

I wanted something healthy and filling to start the day and there is nothing more simple than fruit and oats! My mom and I had to buy these fresh strawberries as soon as we saw them at Publix! They were on sale and delicious! I miss produce like this when I’m in New York!

Lunch

After helping Bo set up my dad’s new computer and sorting through our scuba gear, I was ready for lunch!

My mom and I used what she had in the fridge to make a Greek salad and enjoyed a new favorite crackers, Wheat Thin Garden Veggie.

After lunch I headed to the beach with my parents for a long walk. The weather was beautiful, around 60 degrees, and the sun was shining! We didn’t expect to have 20 mph winds blowing against us but luckily we all bundled up enough so that we weren’t miserable. This was the furthest my dad had “power walked” and I’m so proud of him! He kept up with us the entire time and even ran a few minutes with me towards the end!

It wouldn’t be an outing with my parents without some hilarious photo shoot fun.

After our walk we saw Mission Impossible with Bo. The movie was better than I expected and the best of the Mission Impossible movies that I’ve seen but I still really want to see Girl with A Dragon Tattoo and New Year’s Eve!

Dinner

Last night, we prepared pork tenderloin two ways: simply spiced and brined and bacon wrapped brined.

We brined both the tenderloins in a salt water/vinegar mixture with some Williams and Sonoma Argentinean spice rub for four hours before grilling them. Our sides were orzo, apple sauce, and roasted root vegetables.

Wow, I forgot how much I love grilled meat! Unfortunately, we can’t have a grill in our New York City apartment and therefore are limited to cast iron cooking which isn’t quite as easy as a gas grill.

Question: If you’ve been to New York City, what was your favorite sight, restaurant, or bar? My parents are coming in January for the fifth time and it’s hard to think of new things to see and do.

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I have lots of things to share with you all today including last night’s Cajun holiday party, today’s food, and finally a great program that Jack Rabbit Sports is hosting in January!

Last night, we went to our first party north of Central Park! Theodora, Bo, and I easily made our way up to Washington Heights via the A train, which runs express from Columbus Circle to 125th street!

Don’t worry, Theodora wasn’t drunk in this picture, I promise. In fact, we’d already run a breezy 3.25 miles together along the East River, showered, and were ready for an adventure.

Our friend Camille, last night’s hostess, epitomizes a Southern lady. She welcomed us into her home with a warm “hey y’all”, had a delicious spread set out for her guests, a signature drink ready to serve, and lots of friendly faces with whom to celebrate! In fact, people can’t help but flock to her smiling face!

Her apartment is adorable and each room is painted in a different color, but it’s no surprise that her entry way is a bold LSU purple. In true New Orleans fashion, she served all the drinks in Styrofoam “go cups” last night as they don’t “sweat” like solo cups when holding Milk Punch, her signature drink! How adorable are these cups, straight from the bayou?

The main course, gumbo and rice, were brewing on the stove when we arrived but smelled amazing!

The trick to delicious gumbo is a good roux as Camille taught us last night, requiring hours of patience and stirring.

It was a wonderful Washington Heights evening, complete with new and old friends and delicious food!

Today, after too little sleep, Bo and I made our way to the gym for a much needed rise and shine workout. On days when I’m dragging, nothing wakes me up like a workout. Due to some heel pain on my left foot, I clipped into the bike for a 40 minute workout, complete with a computerized plan that synched to my music! I really liked it and did 12.6 miles during the 40 minutes while also conquering some hills and sprints.

I focused on including healthy fats in each meal again today and making sure that I had healthy snacks around me at all times.

Breakfast: Oatmeal, banana, chia seeds, and 1 tsp peanut butter.

Lunch: Large chopped spinach salad from Pax with beets, red onions, grilled chicken, walnuts, mushrooms, tomato, balsamic, and a splash of olive oil. I also enjoyed a small vegetable soup on the side.

Afternoon snack: Strawberry 0% Chobani with Fiber One flakes sprinkled on top and a Clementine on the side.

Dinner: An easy dinner thanks to Pret takeout! We split two soups (Goulash and Butternut Squash) and each enjoyed one of their Cobb salads. I only ate half the avocado and half the walnuts but really loved the flavors in this salad.

Last but not least, I want to let you all know about a great program Jack Rabbit Sports is hosting in January called Resolve 2012. I signed up earlier today and it appears that it’s free and that more information such as the schedule of events will be emailed soon. Based on my research, it appears that Mizzfit, who is well known around the blogging and health world, is partnering with Jack Rabbit to bring locals this great program and series of events. Everyone who participates, receives a free Jack Rabbit technical tee and has the chance to win a personal shopping experience for a Winter running outfit!