Good morning and happy Wednesday! I really appreciate the likes, shares and comments on yesterday’s “Women Supporting Women” post. Y’all are awesome and I’m looking forward to moving forward with this initiative.
Okay, there is so much going on this week so let’s take a breather from serious stuff and do a look at food and fitness.
Breakfast
Monday morning was peanut butter toast with honey and bananas. This is always a good way to start the week!
My green smoothie breakfast on Tuesday was noteworthy because I forgot to pack milk for my smoothie so I left it out and used more yogurt and ice. The results were a milkshake like consistency and a really concentrated and delicious flavor! I would definitely make it like this again.
And this morning I met two girlfriends at Starbucks to help them brainstorm around a new fitness venture they are starting. Soy latte to drink and pumpkin overnight oats packed from home to eat.
Lunch
Doesn’t this look so pretty? Too bad it tasted terrible! I can usually count on my random bowl creations turning out pretty awesome but this one was a complete fail. Spaghetti squash, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, artichokes and goat cheese with canned Alaskan salmon and pita chips. I went wrong with the addition of salmon. Bad, bad decision.
Tuesday’s lunch was a huge improvement. I had a cup of coconut curry lentil soup and a salad with greens, artichokes, beets, feta, cucumbers and pecans.
Dinner
Guess who finally went to the grocery and did shopping for an entire week of meals!? I have said about a million times on this blog that cooking dinner and a hot shower are my favorite ways to transition from work to relaxing at home and it’s 10x more enjoyable when I have a meal plan and don’t have to wander aimlessly around the store figuring out what I’m in the mood for. (It’s also much more budget friendly!)
And, you get to see meals like this! How’s this for a Monday night dinner? I made shrimp and goat cheese grits with roasted asparagus. No recipe…just winged it but it turned out better than I could have hoped! I cooked stone ground grits with water and chicken broth and then added a bit of butter and a bunch of goat cheese before serving. For the shrimp I sauteed baby portobello mushrooms, diced fresh tomato and garlic and then added spinach and shrimp to the pan along with some chicken stock and a big squeeze of lemon juice. I would have loved to have had white wine for the pan instead of chicken stock but I made do with what I had and ended up not missing it at all.
I <3 GRITS! 😛 Who’s with me!?
I went meat-free for Tuesday’s dinner and cooked tofu for the first time in ages. I heated the oven to 400, drained and pressed the tofu, seasoned it generously and then placed it on a baking sheet that was sprayed with coconut oil. In a separate baking sheet I spread out the broccoli and seasoned it with olive oil, salt and lemon pepper. I put everything in the oven and cooked it for about 25 minutes, stirring the broccoli and flipping the tofu halfway through cooking. I cooked up a brown rice and quinoa mix on the stovetop and then served everything together with a big dollop of hummus. So good.
Workouts
I was exhausted on Monday so I took a rest day. I usually start the week ready to GO but I was not feeling it at all. This is a heavy teaching week for me and while I love teaching more than anything in the world it can be draining if you don’t take care of yourself. I have taught 6 yoga classes and 2 CrossFit classes since Sunday so I know I’ll need a little more rest and recharge.
I took 45 minutes of a fellow teachers class after teaching my own class on Tuesday and it was nice to move and stretch. I have been in a groove lately where I’ve been yogaing every other day and that’s been feeling really good.
(source)
We had Diane programmed for the CrossFit workout on Tuesday. Since I had just done heavy deadlifts on Saturday I decided to do back squats instead. I loaded my bar to 105 and used one ab mat under my head for the HSPU. I finished in a little over 9 minutes. The soreness is already starting to settle into my legs from those squats!
Many, many things to cross off the to-do list today. Here we go!
rest days are good for ya 🙂 take care!
amen! 🙂
Glad you listened to your body and took a rest day! I am not always good at that either! Enjoy your Tuesday! 🙂
those shrimp & grits look so amazing. I need them in my life asap!!!! and good for you for recognizing you need a rest even when it’s not normally when you need one…that is tough to do sometimes! PS your arms look great as per usual 🙂
I like how you subbed out the deadlifts for squats in “Diane!” Do you see other people doing that sort of thing at your box often? I’m interested in crossfit but one of my main criticisms is that the WODs seem randomly chosen (so that you might do back-to-back days of lifts that tax the same muscle). To me, that’s illogical and goes against what I know about muscle growth. But if people are welcome to sub out movements, I’d be much more interested! Thoughts?
hey meg – the deadlift workout that i did on saturday was totally on my own and not programmed by our gym. our programming is not random but written weekly with a holistic view. we try to balance workout time domains, muscle groups, bodyweight v. external loads, workout structures, etc. i think you would need to check out several gyms and ask them about their programming methodology to find one that you fit with. there is some great programming out there and some pretty terrible programming!
That makes a lot of sense! Thanks for the reply.
Love grits! Add goat cheese and shrimp and I’m over the moon…… I like the idea of having a transition of moving from work mode into relaxation mode. Gread idea, and one I will try!
Yoga makes my body feel amazing. After two ACL surgeries, the weeks when I don’t get enough yoga in , belive me I feel it in my knees!
WAHOO I love grits and haven’t had them in so long…I am definitely making overnight oats this evening. I love preparing them the night before, so it is no brainer when I am making coffee and heading to work. Ah I took a yoga class this AM. Hips feel so much better, although now my core is burning…in a good way of course. 😉
Peanutbutter and banana toast is my favorite!! And I’m with you on the grits. I just love them! I also love the pink Starbucks cup for the La Boulange bakery. Our Starbucks in Athens doesn’t have the pink yet, they said they are waiting until January! I don’t think I can wait that long to have pink starbucks sleeves 🙂
I like making my meals look pretty that way if they end up tasting terrible, at least they photographed well hah! I have been making my smoothies with no milk lately, just adding extra frozen banana and a little coconut water and have loved the consistency.
Shrimp and grits is one of my favorite dishes – looks delicious!
I’ve never had grits but they look delicious!! I really think I need to get into yoga… the classes I have done though I just can’t turn my mind off and feel like I’m not relaxing and really getting everything out of it that I should.
I’m having a hard time finding balance with my teaching schedule. This week I subbed 2 classes, and have taught total body strength 6 days in a row. So hard!
I feel so guilty not subbing if my schedule allows it though!
I have a hard time finding a “balance” with rest days – I tend to just love working out too much and my body is pretty used to that. But it’s definitely necessary to listen to your body!