This week was wedged in-between my visit to Miami and trip to Towson. Knowing I tend to eat more on the weekends, my goal is to keep the weeknights as healthy as can be. It sounds simple until it’s Tuesday night and a glass of wine with dinner sounds like a great way to unwine unwind or a friend pops over with cookies for a play date. Or you throw a mid-week Survivor party! Nevertheless, life is about the squiggly line effect and I feel that I did a great job squiggling this week.
Kicking off breakfast, we had His and Hers strawberry banana smoothies and toast! Mine had drippy sunbutter and blackberry jam on top. Mazen licked his off.
Day two was overnight oats made with banana slices and berries plus raw oats, flax and sunbutter on top. I went through YEARS of having granola in my house at all times and I haven’t had much on hand in a long time. I still love it, but the addiction allure just isn’t as strong as it once was. That’s probably a good thing as I work to lighten up my diet. Raw oats/flax and crunchy things helps me get that crunchy topping feeling.
Here are some cheerful strawberries with scrambled eggs and toast. That’s some of our Gluten X Cinnamon Chip bread – my favorite of the X kinds and best with butter on top!
Next up we have some pretty pancakes. Our Great Harvest mix is oh-so-good, and it’s hard not to eat the whole batch! I try to cook extra so M and I will have leftovers. He loves his “cakes.”
And finally – overnight oats in a jar with Gluten X CC and the basic mix of banana, milk, yogurt, oats and chia on the bottom.
S: Travel back from Miami. I had good intentions to get up and run with Anne and Monica in the morning, but sleep always trumps exercise in my book and I was sleep deprived from staying out too late and not being able to sleep in. Instead I showered, packed up and met Caitlin for breakfast.
M: I spent the morning playing with my cutie pie (we went to the park) and that afternoon we walked to the gym and took an athletic conditioning class. We did lots of stations and over 100 pushups! Needless to say I was pretty sore the next day.
T: Despite my soreness, I had signed up for small group with Erin so I charged onward. After a good 15 minute warm up on the stairmaster, I felt good. We did a circuit of one legged squats, rows, planks, abs, burpee jumps, chariot runs, TRX plank jump squats and more. Always a good time!
W: Took a day for some active recovery – just 30 minutes of slow stairmastering and walked to the gym and back.
TH: Mazen got sick Wednesday night (the first time he threw up!!) so we stayed home on Thursday to keep him away from kids zone. He was feeling fine though, so we went to a park and had a blast together. I ran 1.5 miles there and walked 2 on the long way back.
F: Walked to the gym + had weight training with Erin. We had lower body this week and worked on a bunch of different types of squats and lunges. I was feeling kind of nauseous after my workout and caught the stomach bug myself that afternoon. Boo.
S: I had little energy for anything other than walking, so we cruised to the city market and that was my workout. I had the most delicious popsicle while I was there!
First up was a salad piled high with leftovers from Matt’s weekend – peppers, asparagus, chicken and cheese plus balsamic drizzle over salad. Flower “weeds” from our yard above!
Special treat: Whole Foods hot bar over a salad! Grilled tofu, peppery grits, BBQ chicken and sautéed greens. (Matt’s picks!)
Next up a No Bull Burger on a Honey Whole Wheat roll with greens, Bolthouse yogurt blue cheese dressing and orange slices. Dreary photo, I’ll say.
More No Bull. More salad. More roll! Served with pineapple pieces leftover from dinner. Cheese on top that I should have melted more…
Nothing on Friday because sickness was looming : (
With the chaos of summer and travel around us we’ve been on and off of Cook Smarts for a few weeks. Or we’ve just been doing half of the week. We started this week off with the seared chicken thighs and pineapple salsa. They were great – the salsa especially! The green beans on the side were too. We dined outside at our picnic table. Mazen too!
The next night we had leftovers – this garden salad was topped with leftover pineapple salsa plus chicken thigh (hiding under the lettuce), cheese and a roll on the side.
We paused on Wednesday because I hosted a Survivor finale party!! My friends Hillary and Ellen are fanatics like I am and we couldn’t wait to see who won.
To celebrate, we made an Island-themed dinner of jerk chicken (Hillary’s recipe – so good!) and grilled pineapple plus coconut rice (I put white rice in the rice cooker with coconut milk instead of water and topped it with toasted coconut flakes – yum!) and a strawberry salad that Ellen brought. The sauce at the bottom was Hillary’s marinade simmered down into the spiciest sauce ever!
The finale was great and although I was rooting for Tash the whole season, I was happy with the jury’s choice : ) Oh yeah, and we drank wine!!
Meal 4 was another Cook Smarts dinner – spicy shrimp with snap peas over rice. Loved this with Rocky Mountain Sriracha on top!
‘Nother week goes by…
‘Nother year of marriage to be thankful for!!
HAPPY 7 YEARS KANZ!!! Mazen and I can’t imagine life without your fun-filled spirit.
{Gosh we look young there! I guess we were!}
ANNIVERSARIES PAST
Matt and I are actually wrapping up an anniversary trip today and I can’t wait to tell you about it!
Jackie says
Happy anniversary!!!!
Jeri says
First off Congrats on 7 Happy Years!
My Pilates instructor told me to cut bacon my bread intake since lent is over to make sure I don’t go back to my pb&j and/or BLT everyday. I’ve been doing good, limiting myself to bread until the weekends for burgers. I need to get back to smoothies though. I was adding 3-4 cups of spinach or kale to them to make sure I got greens daily. I am, well my family is, doing good with things like pancakes. I am only eating 1 or 2 and they are no longer the size of IHOPs. No one is complaining. I’m feeling accomplished on this because I grew up, which made me do it for my kids, eating 3 pancakes the size of a salad plate. LOL! Better late than never to learn what a true serving size is.
I also picked up something else from you. Coffee. I am now only drinking coffee out of a regular mason jar. And my Starbucks frap is for Sundays only. And I only order a tall or a short with half the pumps. It’s the little things I pick up from you that seem to make the biggest impact.
KathEats says
Good for you Jeri!!
Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says
Happiest of anniversaries to you and your honey! Lucky 7!
Chelsea @ Designs on Dinner says
Happy Anniversary! Looks like you’ve had seven great years.
Tonya says
So sweet! You guys make a great couple. Congratulations. 🙂
Elizabeth {Positively Healthy} says
Yay to 7 years!! The food looks awesome and I love how you had a party with the themed food for Survivor! 🙂 So fun!
[email protected] says
Happy Anniversary!!!! Can’t wait to hear about your trip! Gorgeous eats as always…especially that Jerk chicken!!!
Livi says
Congratulations on 7 years!
Katie @ Talk Less, Say More says
First of all, Happy 7 years! 🙂
Second, you are look FABULOUS!
Third, we used to do Survivor finale parties growing up. My dad would grill shrimp, my mom would make sticky rice and cut up pineapple. So fun!
Katie @ Peace Love & Oats says
Congrats on seven years! and I love the idea of a finale party, I wonder what food I’d make for the Bachelorette?
KathEats says
Obviously rose water-flavored everything 🙂
Katie @ Peace Love & Oats says
Haha perfect!
Ali says
Congrats on 7 years! That’s awesome.
Alex @ Kenzie Life says
Congratulations on 7 years!
Melissa @ Mango About Town says
Happy Anniversary Kath and congratulations on 7 years!
Hannah @ eat, drink, and save money says
Happy anniversary! Can’t wait to hear about the trip!
Sissy says
Do you melt your nut butters before placing them on the food? please share how you get them to look so smooth.
KathEats says
no I just buy ones that are really drippy to begin with
Leah @ goodnight cheese says
Happy anniversary!
Nancy says
Happy Anniversary! I’ve got an unrelated question…what laundry detergent do you use? I know awhile ago you reviewed shaklee so am wondering if you’re still using that or something else? I’m weighing whether to keep buying Tide or pay the additional shipping costs for a specialty product like shaklee. Thank you!
KathEats says
We use All Free and Clear now. But my favorite are the Tide Pods!
Stephanie @ Whole Health Dork says
Happy anniversary!
Tracy says
Happy Anniversary!! We celebrated our 23rd yesterday <3
Polly @ Tasty Food Project says
Happy 7th anniversary! You looked beautiful in your wedding photos! Can’t wait to hear about your anniversary trip!
Elise says
Hey Kath! Have you thought about skipping a week on your “lately” posts instead of being two weeks behind? It’s a little confusing for me as a reader this way. Just a suggestion!
Kavi says
Happy Anniversary!!
PS – These seed packet plates seem like something you would like (and they’re on clearance too!)
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/sale/new-clearance/set-of-6-seed-packet-plates-with-crate/s665607
Allison K says
Aww, Ellen is one of my best friends. 🙂
Jennifer says
Happy Anniversary to the both of you! Can’t wait to hear about the trip. 🙂
Erin Shmidt says
Those photos are so sweet.
Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves says
Happy anniversary!! 🙂
I’m glad that you and Mazen have both gotten over the stomach bug…those things are so lame.
Amazing looking eats as usual!
Sophie says
Happy anniversary! I hope Matt and yourself had a lovely day!
You are looking so fabulous atm!
Hillary B says
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/08/jerk-chicken.html?ref=search
Jerk chicken recipe!!
Heather J. says
Happy Anniversary!
Jo says
Congrats!! Happy Anniversary!!
Christina W says
I apologize if you have addressed this before – but what cups with straws do you use for Mazen and his smoothies? I want to start making smoothies in the morning for my daughter, but can’t find cups with thick, wide straws. Thanks!
KathEats says
They are the Oxo Tot cups. The straws are easiest to clean but they are not leak proof when spilled
Mary says
Congrats. We share an anniversary day, we celebrated our 30th this year!
KathEats says
Wow congrats to you!!
Theresa says
Happy Anniversary!! I am getting married Sept 12th 🙂 So exciting!
I just clicked through and read back your older anniversary posts, loved the one when you had dinner with Caitlin, Kristien, Emily & Casey! I remember when you used to do the Wednesday night work outs with Emily & post the exercises 🙂 Can’t believe I’ve been reading so many years!
Hope you two have a wonderful night celebrating!
KathEats says
Oh man those were the days!!