Last week I really struggled with healthy eating. The cold weather is partly to blame – I’m really missing my daily walks outside and it’s putting me in a grumpy mood. Maybe my vitamin D is low? After a few weeks of not caring much about desserts, I went through a whirlwind of sugar cravings. And come 5 o’clock everyday I was ready for a glass of wine. Someone stop me the next time a box of Chardonnay ends up in my grocery cart. Nothing good comes out of having free-flowing wine in the house!
I have a feeling that something physiological was going on considering all of these healthy habits went out the window the same week. Hoping I can shake out of it in the days ahead!
Overnight oat eater –>
Here’s the mom version. In one of Ella’s bowls with some Love Grown granola on top.
MY OTHER RECIPES
Hot day to cold day meant cold oats to hot oats! Whipped banana with chia seeds, sunbutter and granola.
I took leftover hot oats and mixed them with yogurt the next morning for quasi overnight oats. Some fresh berries, granola and Mocha Almond Butter rounded out the bowl.
Can’t have a week without eggs these days (although I have realized how much cheaper oatmeal is than eggs as a daily breakfast).
Fried egg. Cinnamon swirl toast. Orange. Banana. Almond butter. Decaf.
And finally, French toast with that cinnamon swirl bread and pear + banana on the side.
M: I stayed home in the morning with Mazen to catch up on snuggles after my weekend away. We headed to the gym in the afternoon in time for a 4:30 athletic conditioning class. The class was good, but I just wasn’t feelin’ it. Afternoon workouts just suck out my energy.
T: When I go to the gym in the afternoon one day and the morning the next day I always feel like I’m doing back to back workouts. Thankfully I wasn’t too tired or sore from AC so I did my own cardio circuit on the stairmaster and treadmill. I finished with some lower body weight lifting based on my workouts from Erin. I didn’t bring any notes and despite having 4 solid lower body workouts in my brain, I couldn’t remember one thing to do! Next time I’ll be bringing notes along.
W: Athletic conditioning class #2. Wednesday’s class is always full of cardio and it was one of the best we’ve done! Lots of stair running and plyometrics.
TH: I walked to and from the gym, but once there I kind of flaked out and didn’t do much other than 26 minutes of cardio. Blah. My friends are too fun and I because of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) I never want to miss them chatting in the café! My workouts have suffered a bit from this, so I need to keep doing classes to keep me going strong.
F: Training with Erin {upper body} plus 30 minutes on the elliptical. The combo of the two was a great workout! Later in the day my friend Sarah and I went to a vinyasa yoga class at Opal. This was our early workout for Saturday since we were taking off for the baby shower!
S: Took off because I hosted the baby shower at my house. I could have done something in the afternoon but we just went to the park and back – nothing super athletic. I wanted to save up my energy for…
S: First soccer game of the spring!!! Played about 70 of the 90 minutes and was sore head to toe for 3 days after. Best and most fun workout of the week!
Quesadilla plus a salad with egg on top. No eggs for breakfast = eggs for lunch! I love eggs. And cheese.
Sarah and I went out for an early lunch after the gym to Bluegrass Grill – yum! This omelet was incredible – full of veggies, cheese and herby cream cheese. I ate about 85%. I didn’t each much of the grits, but I devoured that biscuit!
Leftover veggie burger (which I had froze) with cheese and grapefruit. An interesting combo!
Leftover coconut shrimp + soup! See the dinners section for the deets.
And a lemony dill salmon salad salad with blue cheese crumbles. This was a nice change!
Menu
S: Roast Chicken with sautéed mushrooms and zucchini and jalapeno corn bread roll!
M: Cook Smarts Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore. Delish!
T: Blackened Catfish with broccoli, corn and quinoa sauté
Fish eater, broccoli lover, milk drinker.
W: Baked Coconut Shrimp with a coconut carrot and ginger soup. This meal ROCKED! Loved how easy these shrimp were and so crunchy good! Look how our ceiling fan made a design on the spoon – looks like a starfish!
Maze was wild about the soup but he doesn’t seem to care for shrimp
TH: Pasta Puttanesca with chickpea salad. This dish was great with the cauliflower and olives.
F: No one was hungry from late snacks, so we simmered down a leftover head of cabbage into dinner. This tasted better than it looks!
Happy Week!
Haha…I feel like “Someone stop me the next time a box of Chardonnay ends up in my grocery cart” should be on a bumper sticker or something. 😉
I feel ya– we had a pretty unhealthy week last week too. Maybe the last minute cold snap? I keep hoping that the spring weather will kick in– that always seems to bring lighter meals and more exercise for me.
I love Ella’s bowl and the green one in your 3rd photograph! Where is the green one from? Also – do you have a website for Ella’s pottery?
Thanks!
The green one was a gift from a market in South Carolina and here’s Ella’s site: http://www.soapcreekpottery.com/
Thanks Kath!
I so much prefer leftover cooked oatmeal as the oats for overnights oats! My favorite meal all-time and the only thing I want after a long run.
I’m really interested in trying out Cook Smarts, but my problem is that I cook for one and their recipes all seem to be for a family of four… Do the recipes seem to be easy to cut in half?
Yes I think so. I sometimes cut the pricier meat and fish recipes in half with no problem
I’m in the same boat…just cook for myself and I’ve been wondering the same. I’m so tempted to try Cook Smarts after seeing Kath’s meals 🙂
There’s a free trial… you get 3 weeks of meal plans. I’m also single and I really liked it. I’d say about half of the meals you can cut down… I mean I guess all you could but you would end up with random half-cans of stuff. I usually made 3 meals over the course of 5 days and ate the leftovers kind of staggered. I usually subbed in one vegetarian meal and some of the meals made good salad toppers for later days so I didn’t feel like I was always eating the same thing.
It is definitely the weather! Almost everyday this week around 3P my body says FEED ME CHOCOLATE!! Hopefully in a couple of weeks everything will naturally snap back into place… =)
I love these posts and getting inspiration from your meals. You’ll hop back on the bandwagon soon enough- it is really hard for me to eat healthy during the weeks that we have cold spells with snow and early evenings, because I’m in the house and prone to snacking!
The weather most definitely plays a part in what I eat. I live in Vermont and we have had the worst winter for temperatures, single digits and below zero alot. We are in the middle of a storm that has dumped a foot and a half of snow already. I am so over it and can’t wait for spring and walks in the fresh air. I too have been grumpy, maybe time to think about Vit D as well.
Loving all the meal per usual! I am right their with you on the weather, it puts me in such a grumpy mood! It is crazy what some sun and warmth can do to my mood.
Ha ha, that caption and photo of M. looking suspiciously at a shrimp is awesome.
I have been TOTALLY off this week! All healthy eating habits out the window. It seems like with the weather all I want is bread and pizza and cookies. Oh and red wine. My boyfriend thinks I’m crazy.
It’s good to know that it’s not just me!
This was great inspiration to try cooking more during the week. The carrot ginger soup is now on my list of things to cook!
That chicken cacciatore looks awesome!!! I have been all about overnight oats lately…my son loves this variation: http://www.bitesforbabies.com/recipes/maple-pumpkin-pie-overnight-oats/ but he also loves them simple with almond butter and homemade chia jam! http://www.bitesforbabies.com/recipes/homemade-blueberry-chia-jam/
Everyone has off weeks, hope everything turns around! I’m with ya on the sweets!
I really need to try the Love Grown granola! It looks so appetizing!
i’m going through the same thing, kath. too many girl scout cookies and glasses of wine. sigh, time of year i think is the right thing to blame.
http://semiweeklyeats.blogspot.com/2014/03/so-much-to-say-2.html
Changes in weather definitely wreak havoc on my healthy eating habits…. luckily in Southern California, we don’t have to deal with it too often 😉 Your meals look delicious, my mouth is watering!!
I’ve been on a bit of a sugar kick this week too…instant chocolate mug cakes have made quite a few appearances!!!
That coconut shrimp and soup combo sounds amazing! Are there recipes for these on your site? And I have been hitting the chocolate hard lately, even dug up some chocolate coins from Christmas out of my candy jar out of desperation last night…. Hoping Spring will stick around next time and cure these “it’s still winter?!” cravings.
These are from Cook Smarts – the meal planning site I use.
I love the baked coconut shrimp recipe! It’s definitely one of my Cook Smarts favorites. For a change, I made the coconut batter and used it as a topping on baked salmon. It was just as delicious!
Did you make the carrot and ginger soup? It sounds great.
Sorry, just realized you answered that in a different comment.
Darn! We all have off weeks like this! It will pass soon, I’m sure.
Re your Thurs workout and FOMO….you should plan to meet your friends to do cardio together. I always catch up with my friends while on the elliptical or stairs! Makes the workout fly by, too 🙂
We do! But, not to throw them under the bus, they always end early : ) When we meet for classes we get in a full hour, so that’s my favorite
Oooooh that soup/shrimp combo looks awesome! Definitely going to try that out for dinner next week! Maybe trade the shrimp for fish since shrimp is just a little bit pricy here in Ohio!
I think it’s so interesting to see what times of the day people prefer to work out. I am so not a morning exerciser…at all. My best time is around 2 or 3 pm, but I go to a 4:15 Pure Barre class Monday through Thursday, a 5:30 on Friday and either a 9:40 or 12 class on Saturday (weekends are the days I don’t have work or class so I’m more likely to do a morning workout). I just don’t have the stomach for earlier morning workouts 🙂
That bib is absolutely to die for. Do they make one of those for grownups? I could use one!
I love that Mazen eats pretty much what you eat. I never understand when a person is into eating really well, and then feeds their kid such unhealthy food and calls it “kid food.” My mother always fed us all the exact same food, so seeing people do this now that I’m an adult is so weird.
The shrimp look so good, I have been craving them.
I love your honesty about the wine and sugar/desert cravings. I have weeks like that too and I blame stress, hormones, lack of sleep-you name it, it can be anything that deters us from our usual good habits. Just look at each day as a fresh start to do better.
Not a fan of afternoon workouts either for the same reason. I am so inspired to see your son enjoying a variety of healthy foods.
Questions for you: We’re looking into purchasing new cookware. What kind do you use? Is it a set or piece-meal? Do you prefer non-stick or stainless steel? If you already have a post on this, a link would be great. Thanks so much!
I really love the Calphlon stuff from Bed, Bath and Beyond. I have this two piece set and here’s the bigger set.