Quick Veggie Packed Meals

Today begins the official start of my Christmas vacation and I’m thrilled of course. How could I not be? I have my whole immediate family coming in to town. That in itself is the best Christmas present on earth. I am so anxious to see everyone and to celebrate this very special holiday with the ones I love so dear.

A look ahead:

  • Tonight: Holiday party with friends
  • Tomorrow: Christmas party with family
  • Monday: Wrapping gifts at a local hospital and then heading to my parent’s house for gifts, dinner, and 10 pm church service.
  • Tuesday: A Christmas run in the morning followed by celebrating Christmas at Dana’s parent’s house

There is so much fun to be had and so much celebrating to be done and I.CAN’T.WAIT.

With all of the celebrating and festivities, I find it challenging (to say the least), to stay on top of my 5-9 servings of fruits and veggies a day. I decided it might be a good idea to put together a little recipe round-up of some quick and veggie-loaded meals to help keep me motivated throughout these next few days.

  1. Pear Salad: mixed dark greens, pears, walnuts, dried cranberries, feta cheese, turkey bacon with poppy-seed dressing

pear salad

2. Sweet and Creamy Salad

sweet and creamy salad

3. Veggie packed scrambled eggs or omelets

eggs with spinach

4. Sautéed onions and bell peppers with corn, black beans, tomato, and an over-easy egg

egg

5. Cook yourself up a Morningstar Veggie Patty and top it on a big ol’ pile of greens.

morningstar

6. Kitchen sink hash

hash

7. BBQ pulled chicken on top of a big salad

pulled chicken

I find it easiest to get a big serving of veggies in when I make a salad which is why most of the meals I just showed you involve just that. Besides getting an incredible amount of the nutritionally dense veggies, salads are just SO quick which is always a plus if you ask me.

Throughout this holiday season I will do my best to hold true to my fruit and veggie intentions: 5-9 servings a day. Who’s with me?

Alright, I’ve had my morning cup of coffee and my pre-run breakfast, now it’s time to gear up for a frigid 6.5 mile run outside with the hubby. The official temperature outside right now is………9ºF. This will be perfect prep for the actual run on January 1st because the weather will most likely be similar to today’s. This will be fun. Unfortunately we will have to leave the pooch at home. He has an ear infection and it was advised he chill out for a few days.

Moose

Off I go! Have an incredible day. Enjoy the season however you chose to celebrate. May your days be merry and bright.

Love,

M

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Veggie On and Sweat Pink

Hi friends!

I have just one little bit to catch you up on from the weekend then I think I will officially be caught up. On Sunday evening, I attempted a cauliflower pizza crust for the second time. I steamed the cauliflower, sent it through the grater on the food processor to give it the “riced” texture, drained it of liquid, mixed it with an egg, some cheese and seasonings, and baked it in a hot oven for goodness knows how long. The guidance/recipe I found had said 12-13 minutes but there was no way the crust was done so ours was going for at least 20 some minutes.

The crust still came out very flimsy and not very crusty. HOWEVER, it was extremely delicious. I mean super tasty.

I just don’t have a recipe for you yet because I have yet to get the cooking times and temps right. Maybe someday.

Monday

We have officially caught up from the weekend! Now, on to Monday. Breakfast was a banana with natural peanut butter. This is a reused photo from a short while back. Yesterday’s pb banana didn’t have quite the hefty amount of pb. Oh, and no honey yesterday either.

Lunch: mixed greens with peas, tomatoes, avocado, green olives, sunflower seeds and Newman’s Own Lite Honey Mustard dressing.

Dessert: homemade dried apples and chocolate chips.

In the afternoon I made my way to the gym and rattled off a sweaty elliptical session. When I got home look what was waiting for me in the mailbox! How fitting, right?! I just got my sweat on…

Now SWEAT PINK! It’s official. My Fit Approach Sweat Pink Ambassador gear has arrived. I continue to live a healthy lifestyle and hope to encourage others to do so as well, one step at a time, one bite at a time. To learn more about what it means to be a Sweat Pink Ambassador, click here.

Later in the afternoon Dana and I headed to pick out our perfect pumpkins. Surprisingly I ended up buying the first one I laid eyes on. It’s short and plump and has a nice round front. Oh the simple joys.

For dinner, kitchen sink hash was on the menu. I always use whatever veggies we have on hand at the moment and through them all into one large saute pan. Last night it was a combo of black beans, kale, green pepper, broccoli, brussels sprouts, onion, and tomato lightly sautéed in coconut oil and seasoned with salt, pepper, a dash of cumin, and a dash of garlic powder. Finish it off with a sprinkle of cheese and an over-easy egg.

Perfecto. The flavor and texture combo is right on. It was a veggie kind of day for me once again.

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing with the boys, and stealing precious moments with the dog.

He actually laid like this for a solid 3 minutes and just kept looking into my eyes. This is a good 2 1/2 minutes longer than he usually puts up with it so I was pretty impressed. It was pretty sweet. I was trying not to laugh the entire time because I didn’t want to ruin the moment.

Have a tasteful Tuesday and we’ll catch you on the flip side!

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