[WIAW] Carrot Cake Protein Bars

It's Wednesday! And that means What I Ate Wednesday :) If you don't know what I'm talking about, head over to {this blog} and see what it's all about!





Instead of documenting just one day, I thought I'd just show some of my recent eats and share a recipe with you guys :) So get ready for a lot of pictures! Ready?

Apple Pie Shake made with Choboni Cinnamon Apple Yogurt

Lots of watermelon

Delicious breakfasts!

Subway :)

Protein parmesan sauce pasta with split chicken breast

Mushroom spinach mozzarella chicken

Banana, peanut butter, and dark chocolate chips

And last but not least, Carrot Cake Protein Bars! (excuse the Subway napkin. lol)

I used this recipe, but had to make them in the crock pot because the oven wasn't working in my apartment! haha they came out great though :) The only thing I would suggest is to cut down the amount of sweetener used. They are just kind of too sweet for my taste.

These are the ingredients I used.

And a little of the process ;) haha

All in all, I'd say I've been eating pretty good lately! Lots of new yummy things and recipes. Let me know if you have any tasty, healthy recipes you want me to try out!

So tell me, what delicious foods have you been eating lately?

Chik'n Fajitas.

I can't remember if I shared this on here yet, but YES! We I have started Meatless Mondays around here! lol Brent isn't so excited about coming home to all this healthy eating stuff in a few months. lol But I'm hoping he'll realize it's not so bad ;)


If you don't know what meatless Monday is, you can check them out on their website. 

Basically, they promote giving up meat once a week. From their website: "Our goal is to help you reduce your meat consumption by 15% in order to improve your personal health and the health of the planet." After looking in to the program and giving it a lot of thought, as well as doing my own research, I pledged to go meatless every Monday! I don't think it's any secret to my friends that I would really love to go vegetarian. But I think the leap and making it "official" is intimidating. I already strive to eat primarily meatless, and only incorporate lean, farm-raised meat. And I haven't had any red meat in nearly 2 months. I'm really not a "animal cruelty activist" or whatever.  It's definitely sad how animals are treated to provide meat, but that's not what sparked my interest in eating meatless. I am really more interested in the health benefits for ME! As selfish as that sounds.. I just know that months ago when we ate primarily greasy beef.. I felt awful all of the time. My body felt like giving up, and I'm only 20 years old! I'm not ready for digestive problems this early on. So do your own research and think about it, but I really encourage people to join the Meatless Monday campaign! 

Anyway, so Meatless Monday can sound intimidating if you've never given the idea much thought. But for newbies like me, there are so many alternatives that resemble meat enough to ease you in to it. Not all vegetarians eat tofu! One of my favorite meat alternative products are Quorn brand Chik'n Tenders!

I'm not going to lie and say they taste just like chicken. Cause they don't! But they taste really good regardless. They have a taste similar to chicken, but you're probably not going to fool many people. But if you're looking for something to try and ease you in to meatless meals, I definitely recommend these. 

Last night I used Quorn chik'n tenders to make chik'n fajitas! It was a quick, simple meal that left me feeling VERY satisfied!

I started out by cutting strips of onion and green bell pepper. If I had other colors on hand, I would have used those as well, but I stuck with green since that's what I had. I tossed these in a little bit of olive oil and cooked them until they were just starting to turn soft.

Then I pulled out the chik'n and these plain wraps I got. I would normally use tortillas, but they were frozen. lol (yes, I freeze my tortillas.) So I forgot to take a picture of the chik'n cooking, but use your imagination here that I'm cooking the chik'n with the peppers. Most people take the peppers out with cooking the meat for their fajitas, but since these aren't meat, I just tossed them in :) The peppers continued to get soft and the chik'n warmed up and browned a bit. I didn't have fajita seasoning, so I just grabbed some of my mexican seasonings and tossed them in with the chik'n with a bit of water.

When the chik'n was done, I opened a can of black beans, rinsed them really well (always make sure to rinse canned black beans) and warmed them up just a few seconds in the microwave. the peppers and chik'n were hot enough that I probably didn't have to warm up the beans, but I decided to anyway. Then I put together my fajita! Black beans, peppers and onions, chik'n a bit of cheese, and then salsa and a dollop of greek yogurt post picture.

And I just have to say, this fajita DID NOT disappoint! It was so good and very filling. I think this is something Brent would be okay eating on a Meatless Monday :)

So this is just the beginning of my yummy meatless meals. I have many more ideas in store. Also, some new recipes coming your way (like carrot cake protein bars! you'll see that tomorrow) as well as my recent eats. :) I am very excited to be sharing this experience with you.

So tell me, do you or anyone you know participate in Meatless Mondays? Would you consider it?

Motivational Monday!

Hey everyone! How are ya'll this Monday? I woke up this morning feeling recharged, refreshed and ready to tackle the day! As I type this, I am about to continue cleaning, and then bake up a batch of Carrot Cake protein bars (more on this later). I just wanted to share a little motivation. I try to stay on point every day and find motivation everywhere. But there's just something about Mondays, isn't there? I often find myself fighting with the snooze button and dreading Monday. So let's make this an opportunity! Let's start off our week right with some motivation to power us through the week! Here are some pictures I found on Pinterest, as well as some songs that pump me up! Enjoy :)

^ Mmmm. I'll be right there, Ryan. ^

Hubba Hubba.

If you don't know about Kelsey and her story, you can read more about it here!

She's all about clean eating. What an inspiration!

And then here's a picture for the not so faint of heart:

oops ;)

And here's some music to pump ya up!

Snap Back Swag Remix by Crizzly!

Rock N Roll (Will Take You To The Mountain) by Skrillex

Drive By by Train

Blister in the Sun by Violent Femmes

Shave It by Zedd

Those are the songs and pictures that get me pumped and ready to tackle a new day! I know, quite a mix. lol

So tell me, what songs make you wanna move?

Recovering.

Let me set a scene for you. Imagine a sixth-grade P.E. class. This Friday they're using roller skates on the gym floor as some sort of special exercise program. It's supposed to be a treat. Imagine a twelve-year-old brunette with hazel eyes who is scared to death of roller skates because she's only ever used roller blades. She has no coordination at all when it comes to maneuvering with the four wheels spread out. How does a person even use these things? Taking it slow, she makes her way around the gym once. Hey! This isn't so bad! She is starting to feel a bit more confident when a group of rowdy sixth-grade boys, skating the opposite way of the crowd, rushes her way. In a panic, she tries to get out of they're way.  But it's too late. One particularly large sixth grader collides with the girl, knocking her right smack dab on her tailbone. Suddenly all she can see is the fluorescent lights of the elementary school gym. She can't breathe. OH MY GOSH it hurts so bad.. In shock, she can't move. And there's the boy -- getting up and continuing his skate around the gym. "HEY! Ya big jerk! The least you owe me is an apology!" .. the words don't make it out of her mouth. All that escapes is a scream. Followed by several "ow ow ow"s. With the help of friends, she hobbles, in excruciating pain, to the nurse's office and waits for her dad to arrive and take her to the doctor. Several hours and lots of tears later, she finds out it's a tail-bone fracture and a shock to the spine. "I fractured my butt?!" You've gotta be kidding...

Fast-forward 8 years later. The same girl is sitting here with back problems she shouldn't have at only 20 years old. And they all stem from that stupid day in P.E. class. The big jerk didn't ever apologize, by the way. The shock to my spine left me out of alignment. Something I'm sure is fixable.. Its just never been addressed by a doctor, no matter how many times I tell them I have a lot of back pain. Because I'm out of line, I pinch nerves in my back ALL THE TIME. It literally happens at least once every two months. When I'm more active, working out, and stretching more often, it happens more often. When I pinch a nerve, the pain lasts several days and leaves me couch bound. This would all be fine and dandy if I wasn't trying to lose weight. This past Monday, I hit the gym. And it felt great! Got a great burn, felt all hot and sweaty, left with a big smile on my face. Tuesday I was ready to do Week 1, Day 3 of Couch to 5k! I'll just bend down and grab my headphones.. and bam. Pinched a nerve. Fell to my knees. Couldn't breathe. NOOOOOOOO! I laid on the floor a good 10 minutes before I crawled my way onto the couch. Worst timing ever. It really put a damper on my week and the things I was trying to accomplish! The pain made the thought of standing in the kitchen to make a meal sound like the most unappealing thing in this world. So I read a lot. Didn't eat enough. Obviously wasn't able to work out. Didn't drink enough water because that required walking. I felt like giving up, honestly. It would have been easier to order pizza and not worry about making my own meals. It would have been easy to get sucked back in to the TV. It would have been easy to just say F it. But I didn't! Luckily I've found some great support and they keep me going. Yeah, I was scolded for not eating enough.. but I think that's better than eating a large pizza. lol

So now I'm feeling better, recovered for now.. but I'm trying to take it easy and be cautious of the strain I put on myself. I don't want to be couch bound again for a looooong time. So today is day 2 of no back pain! Yesterday I did some of the Week 1, Day 3 C25K. But when I felt myself maybe pushing it too much, i went ahead and just walked the rest. I didn't mark that day as complete because I know it wasn't 100%. But at least I did something. Today I'm doing some light weight training (and by light, i mean like 5 pounds. lol) on my arms. Still taking it slow and easy. I'll probably go for a walk as well. But I'm really hitting the diet hard. My problem is getting enough calories! I managed to choke down a 400 calorie breakfast (PB and dark chocolate oatmeal) and a Luna bar so far. I'll talk more about these delicious discoveries later. :) Also upping my water intake since I used an ItWorks wrap last night! Maybe I'll actually see a bit of results since I'm actually drinking the correct amount of water! haha

Anyway, just wanted to update on how the weight loss/fitness stuff is going. So far, okay. lol I owe a lot of my motivation to friends I've made on MyFitnessPal.com as well as the Battle the Pooch facebook group I'm a part of. Lots of motivation coming from different directions. If you're on MyFitnessPal, add me - quinntendo :) Thanks guys! You're all awesome.

Tell me, have you ever fractured/broken a bone? What was it?

[Sweat it out Saturday] without the gym!

Hey everyone! I know it's been like a month since my last post, life has just been crazy busy. Finally, things are settling down and I'm able to get back to taking care of myself and putting me before everything else. So here's just a quick recap of what's been going on, and then we'll get to the point of this post:

Alright, we moved to Virginia, spent 2 weeks in a hotel, 1 week at Brent's ssgt's house while he was away, spent another week at a friend's house, and then FINALLY got in to an apartment! I never thought we'd have a house again, and now I know, no matter what anyone says-- go with your gut. If we had listened to ourselves and got a base house from the beginning, this wouldn't have been such a hassle. Oh well, live and learn. :) Soon after we got into our new place, Brent deployed! So I had the pleasure of receiving our HHG and unpacking by myself. I am NO WHERE near finished unpacking, but it's hard to find motivation when you're the only one here and everything you NEED is already unpacked. lol But it's slowly happening. So far, I like Virginia. I can't really complain much :) It's a bummer not having friends around, but if that's my only complaint, then I guess I have it pretty good. lol

However, through all the moving and being without a home, I gained all the weight I lost PLUS some back.. So that was a huge disappointment.. and in an effort to do this the healthy way, I'm making changes and documenting them as best I can. I'm hoping that staying accountable will keep me from going on a binge or something. lol So part of my documentation is participating in Sweat it out Saturdays (recently renamed Sweat it out with Stefanie.. but seeing as how my name isn't Stefanie, I'll stick with Saturday :p lol). SioS is a celebration of all things sweaty! Posts will be about workouts I've found, quotes, songs that keep me pumped up, and ways I make myself sweat.

visit Stefanie's blog here.

Today, I'm gonna share my most recent form of workout. Since moving, I haven't really had motivation to leave the house much because I don't want to get lost! lol So most of my workouts have come from the computer and are performed in my living room. My favorite right now, is Zumba. And while I have the Zumba DVDs, I really prefer the YouTube method.



That link takes you to my YouTube Zumba playlist! All I do is hit Play All and follow the choreography on the screen. Take the time and make your own, follow mine, or search for others! There are several Zumba playlists and until recently, I just skipped around and followed random videos. Just keep in mind that it takes about 15-16 videos to make up an hour of Zumba. :) Don't make your playlist too short, or too long. I do this playlist at least every other day, but sometimes I can't wait and do it on my "rest" day. Another important thing to remember is to cool down after Zumba and STRETCH! I have a cool down/stretch song at the end of my playlist, but if you don't find any you like, just put on relaxing music and make your own stretch choreo. As long as you're staying active, working those muscles, and then properly caring for them after, you're golden.

Something else I like to do is TV workouts like this one!

This workout came from Tarlynn at this blog, but I know you can find these kinds of workouts everywhere! They're always on my Tumblr feed and all over Pinterest. Just look for a show you like, and I'm sure someone somewhere has a workout for it! And if not, make your own! :) These can be fun and not make you feel so bad about watching TV all evening on Tuesdays! 

Although I'm not super motivated by quotes, songs really do get me up and moving! Sometimes I just can't help but to start moving when certain songs come on! Some of my favorites include this one and this one. And I REALLY like this one! I have a playlist on my itunes that has all of these songs and when I'm feeling blah and don't want to move, I turn this playlist on. Sometimes it's for the gym, sometimes it's for "lifting weights" (which, don't get the wrong idea, I'm weak. I'm not benching 220 or anything. lol), but mostly its for calisthenics. :) 

So basically, my philosophy for working out is

-get a Tumblr

-get a Pinterest

-get a YouTube account

-and make good use of your itunes.

We don't ALWAYS have to hit the gym to get sweaty! It's all up to you! :) 

So tell me, how do you get sweaty outside of the gym?

Learning the hard way

You know those times when people try giving you advice, and you ignore it because you think you have everything under control? Then you find yourself in a really messed up situation and you wished you had listened all along?

That's me right now.

I read up on how to go through a PCS. I listened to TMO when they briefed us on how it would go. I had a plan. But, as I'm sure I've mentioned before, The Universe really hates us and likes to screw up our plans. We needed a trailer hitch for the truck. Easy enough, right? We'll find one used. Nope. FINALLY found one brand new. $250. Went to install the hitch, Brent couldn't find the bolts. Called all around, and finally found some that fit the next day. Went to pick them up, and ended up finding the original bolts. Got the hitch on, and went to pick up our uhaul trailer. The electrical harness wasn't compatible. We'll just get one from Auto Zone. Nope. Wrong year. We call all over the place. Find one the next morning (the morning we were leaving Texas), get it. $50. FINALLY we're on our way.

We get to Virginia. WOO HOO! But now, we have been in Virginia 16 days, and still don't have a place to live. I didn't listen when people told me I shouldn't wait until our move to find an apartment. I was like "Eh. Apartments are easy to come by. We'll find something." Wrong. SO WRONG. I guess I didn't realize how spread out things are here, how many people there are, how busy apartment leasing offices are this time of year...

We had an apartment all lined up. All we were waiting on was a little extra money from our move to come in, and we would be moving on in. Well ya know what? They gave away that apartment RIGHT out from under us. So we were homeless, and back to square one. We managed to find a place that we both liked, was close to work, pet friendly, and most importantly, in our price range! But they wouldn't be available for a couple weeks. Now we are going to be staying with a friend of Brent's until the 12th, which is when we can move in to our new apartment! Ughh. It was like everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

The one thing I have learned, that no matter what life throws at us, Brent and I are strong! It makes me feel good that through this all, we're becoming stronger. We're relying on each other. Easing the stress for each other. I can't imagine enduring all this BS with anyone but my wonderful husband. We're living and learning. and doing it together. I am so very thankful to have him by my side through thick and thin. My best friend for life. <3

April Foodie Pen Pals

I know, this is late! I'm sorry! haha between packing and cleaning, this is the first moment i've found to just sit down and write out this post. (I'll tell you more about the packing/cleaning/MOVING stuff later!)

For now, it's time to talk about my new favorite part of the month. and that would be the monthly foodie penpal program! If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a little visit to THIS BLOG and learn more about foodie pen pals, what its all about, and how to join! This month, I got my box of yummy treats from Jane over at The Healthy Beehive! And let me tell you, I am in love with everything in this box!!

I got a sweet card and HOME MADE chapstick! It's wonderful and lovely and every other pleasant word you can think of. I love that chapstick.

I have a new obsession with granola, and I am not ashamed of that. the ginger taste in this granola is a bit much as first. but soon.. it's addicting. And the Oatmeal is awesome! Seriously the coolest "instant" oatmeal i've ever seen! Maybe i'm just behind the times, but this oatmeal package can hold water and has a measure line so you don't even need a measuring cup. it's awesome. and I haven't tried the chia cereal yet, but I am very excited! lol

Okay, the Goodness Knows granola bite/bar things. AMAZING! Seriously in love. they were both gone the day my box arrived. haha my husband and I ate those quick! Also, behind the times, I had never heard of honey sticks before! Those are seriously too cool! I'm saving the Bee Bars for our trip across the country this month. So I can't give you an opinion on those yet, but if they're anything like the rest of this box, I'm sure they'll be awesome!

Thank you Jane, for the amazing box of goodies!

If you would like to become a foodie pen pal and get the incredible chance to connect with other bloggers through mail and food, be sure to click the button above! I promise you won't regret it!

Well that's all for now. I have a growing to-do list and want to get as much done today as I can! I will be back soon to tell you all about our upcoming events and why I've been absent! Thanks for reading :)

With love,