Hey chickadees! How was your weekend? As I mentioned earlier, my “weekend” actually occurred Monday- Wednesday of last week, which is when I had off work. The actual weekend was quite uneventful and I mostly just worked and kicked the procrastinatin’ habit. To be honest, I’ve hit a bit of a wall balancing my work, social and personal life, and the whole eating/exercise schedule has gone a bit haywire. More on that in a bit, but first here are a few snippets of true food life from the past three days.
Truth #1: It is very hard to resist eating banana soft serve at night in order to make an OSG-inspired oatmeal parfait in the morning. But it was worth it.
Layers of:
- steel cut oats made with chia seeds, vanilla, flax and protein powder
- banana soft serve
- boysenberry jam
- PB2 mixed with water and warmed (trying to find a way to use this up, and it tasted pretty good like this)
Truth #2: Roasted broccoli tastes just as good when it starts out frozen as it does when it starts fresh.
Lazy Girl’s Roasted Broccoli
- 2 cups frozen broccoli florets
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp agave nectar
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1/8 tsp salt
Pre-heat oven to 350 and coat an oven-safe dish with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients together until broccoli is coated evenly. Pour into dish and cook for 20 minutes. Toss broccoli with spatula and cook for another 20 minutes or until it is roasted to your liking.
Truth #3: Green eggs aren’t just for children! The pesto, egg + cheese combination make for a pretty classy (and inexpensive) sandwich.
Truth #4: Hummus and nut butter make delicious sweet potato toppers. I’m so partial to my favorite butter/cinnamon/brown sugar (/honey/agave) and the occasional black bean + yogurt that I’ve been reluctant to stray, but I’m so glad I did! It made for the “perfect pre-work snack” (i.e. walk-running, sweet potato halves in each hand, alternating bites with frantic time checks). This guy had spinach artichoke hummus on one half, and flaxy peanut butter on the other.
Truth #5: After nights out with the coworkers- because all work and no play makes us all very, very dull- quick (and quiet) meals often look like this:
Kale “steamed” in the microwave for one minute with a little water, defrosted beans topped with melted Babybel, avocado, and hot sauce. Not exactly gourmet, but it was healthful, tasty, and did the trick.
Truth #6: I’m going to have to reevaluate my traditional workouts and figure out how to fit them in efficiently with my work schedule. As it is right now, I get home after 10 and am too tired to go the gym or take a run in the morning. I often also work what I call a “limbo” shift, from 12-9ish, which leaves little “me” time in the morning or the evening, and I don’t want to spend that time trying to force myself to exercise. It’s a vicious cycle right now, partly, I admit, because I’m in a bit of a rut and need to get back into the groove of things. I’m sure I’ll figure it out soon, but until then, things just feel a bit off. I’m also going to do a bit more meal planning and food prep so I don’t have to worry about making a big meal when I get home from work.
How do you adapt your workouts to a busy schedule? What kinds of exercises are the most important for you to get in (cardio, strength, yoga, etc.)?
this was such a cool an unique post!! STRENGTH is most important to me- bc at work i feel like im doing cardio by walking around! and strength is what keeps the metabolism RUNNING like fire!!!!!! and makes you feel good and strong
So the sweet tater+hummus combo was money? I havent tried that yet. i LOVE the cinna+sugar+butter+PB combo, obviously.. but never tried my tater that way!
I totally want that breakfast- what a mix! And I love nut butter with sweet potato- just tried it recently. Fitting workouts in is always a challenge. For me, I need a good mix of cardio, weights & stretching. If I’m short on time- I usually try to go boot camp style with a mix up of cardio and strength. If I have a little more dedicated- I do classes and alternate my strength/cardio
I find that going for a run or to the gym in the morning is the best. Especially in the heat, because the morning is always the coolest and the most beautiful part of the day. The feeling of accomplishment carries me through the day, and I’m much less tired than after a day of work.
I love sweet potatoes with hummus or nut butter. So good. I’m sure you’ll work something out in your schedule, I only work as a waitress part time, I’m sure it’s hard to work full time as it throws off your schedule so much. Cardio is the most important for me, because right now I’m training for a marathon and I have to get in those miles the best I can.
I’ve been trying to explore new sweet potato options too. Some of my recent favorites, nut butter encrusted sweet potato fries and sweet potato mash in a PB jar! (Like Oats in a Jar) It’s incredible! Hummus, I’ve yet to try though.
Good luck readjusting your workout schedule. I know how hard it can be at first, but once you find a way that you and your body is good with, it’s all easy from there!
I use DVD workouts at home so that I can fit in workouts before work on some mornings, I like DVD’s that have a mix of cardio and strength work like the 30 day shred then I feel like I’m getting the best of both worlds! Your breakfast parfait looks delicious!
Those sweet potato toppings are so inventive! I always just put butter on mine, ha.
I need to try roasting frozen broccoli. It just doesn’t sound like it will work, but I’ve seen tons of reviews on blogs that it does! I never remember
And I agree – hummus on sweet potatoes is amazing.
Wow – the hummus+sweet potato combo looks brilliant!
Thanks for sharing, Katie!
Wish you a great week
ugh i understand! it’s so hard to fit everything we WANT to do in with everything we HAVE to do! whenever i try and squeeze a workout in i usually go for cardio just because i don’t sweat as much with weights and cardio gives me the endorphs i’m looking for!
in essence those aren’t lazy girl meals at all! most people couldn’t even do that when they have the time so i think you’re doing a stellar job of getting in good food
I find it tricky to balance exercise with a tricky schedule, and know how you feel, having waited tables for strange stretches of time. I usually scale down my runs or workouts by going for a shorter amount of time, but try to squeeze in something a few days a week. Maybe you could workout right before you eat lunch and head to work…
I love nut butter on sweet potatoes, but I haven’t tried hummus yet! That’s next on my list.
dvds are the way to go. 30 day shred takes 20 minutes! a lot of dvds have more than one routine on them, so you can choose one that fits your time allowance or desired workout, or you can just skip to the parts that you feel are most useful for your time. i know you’ve done abs and yoga online–maybe you can see if there’s something you can try before you buy?
i joined a gym for the summer, but on days i know i am not going to have time to go, i pop a dvd in when i wake up, and it makes me feel accomplished all day long, and gets the workout out of the way!
(how was that for a lengthy message after being MIA for so long?)