Happy Monday! I know those two words don’t go together.. But I’m trying to be positive people – Plus, Monday is now O.V.E.R. 
I’ve been a baddd blogger – Only posted two times in the past 14 days :/ It’s been rough getting back into my routine since I got back from vacation. But I think today is just what I needed and I am starting to feel back to normal!
Yesterday I ran a 5k for Colon Cancer in Memory of my Uncle Chuck in Washington DC with my entire family. He lost his battle almost 3 years ago and we’ve made an effort to support this cause as much as possible since then. This is probably the only time you wont hear me complain about waking up at 6am on a Sunday Morning to run in 35 degree weather.
I finished the 3.1 miles in 28 minutes! Last year it took me 34 minutes so that is a PR I also stopped to talk to someone so I’m thinking I added an extra minute onto my time. I placed 197th out of 3000 so I’m happy with it. The person who crossed the finish line first finished in 14:43 – insane!
Team Schwink <3 Miss you Uncle Chuck
Friday night was spent with some of my favorite girls – We headed out to Blue Agave for dinner and visited a few bars after. I thought the food was a little overrated but the sangria was delicious! I rarely go out anymore but when i saw that the temperature hit 78 degrees I was ready for a fun night out. Mission accomplished
I’m finally unpacked, eating healthy and back to the gym will return to the gym tomorrow!
I haven’t shown a full days eats in FOREVER so here it goes..
Breakfast: Blue Green Machine
I am officially addicted to adding spinach to my smoothies now! I know I’m a little late to jump on the bandwagon with this but I’m glad I finally did – If you have slacked even longer than I have, don’t wait any longer..
Blue Green Machine
Ingredients
- 1 medium banana, sliced
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 5 ice cubes
- handful of baby spinach
- 1 tbsp flax seeds
- 1 heaping spoonful of brown rice protein powder
- 1/2 tsp nunaturals stevia baking blend with fiber
Directions
- Blend everything together and enjoy in your favorite glass with a straw
I love that you can only taste fruit in this smoothie because let’s be honest…slurping up a leaf doesn’t sound extremely appetizing! This is definitely a breakfast that will wake you up. You can never go wrong with extra energy on a Monday morning
Lunch: Dippy Egg, Muenster Cheese and Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin
Julie turned me on to Cinnamon raisin bagel thins.. But I decided I didn’t like them with just cream cheese so when I mentioned that to her she told me I had to have one with melted cheese… Obviously if cheese is involved I’m in! Julie’s a genius… These are perfect and only about 200 calories
Is it just me or does breakfast food taste 100x better than usual when you have it for lunch or dinner??
I was excited to see that my blog had over 6,000 hits on Saturday – That’s another PR! I think I owe it all to Angela for posting my S’mores Dairy Free Vegan Ice Cream Recipe. Angela always has amazing looking recipes and pictures that make my mouth water. The most recent one I bookmarked was her butternut squash mac n cheeze. I made this tonight and it is to.die.for.
Did I mention it was healthy?
Butternut Squash Mac N Cheeze – 2 ways – Oh she Glows
Ingredients:
- 3.5 cups raw butternut squash, chopped
- 3/4 cup raw cashews
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 6-7 tbsp Nutritional yeast (provides the cheesy consistency)
- 1/2 tsp country dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp or a bit more of dried Italian seasoning
- 1/4-1/2 tsp Tumeric powder, optional (gives the orangey colour)
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/4-1/2 tsp Paprika + more to season
- 4 cups of whole wheat rotini noodles
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet. In a bowl, season chopped squash with 1 tsp oil and couple pinches of sea salt and stir. Add to baking sheet and roast in oven for 40 minutes, flipping once half way through baking.
2. Assemble your cheeze sauce ingredients (cashews, non-dairy milk, garlic, lemon, salt, nutritional yeast, pepper, mustard, seasonings) and add just the cashews to food processor. Process until a fine crumb forms similar to corn meal.
Now add in the rest of the cheese sauce ingredients and process until smooth. Leave the sauce in the processor as you will be adding the squash.
4. Cook your pasta according to package directions. When squash is finished roasting, add it to the food processor and blend it with the cheese sauce until smooth. Adjust to taste. The sauce will thicken up with time. If at any point the sauce becomes too thick, you can add a bit of milk to thin it out.
5. Drain and rinse pasta with cold water.
Now add the pasta back into the same pot and add your desired amount of cheeze sauce on top. Stir well. Add in any desired mix-ins like peas or broccoli.
You can either heat this up in the pot, or pour it into a casserole dish (I used a mini loaf pan), sprinkle on panko + paprika, and bake it at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.
Comfort food at its best… and dairy free for my annoying lactose intolerant allergy (not that it stops me).
Packed with veggies, whole grains and extremely filling. I enjoyed the out of the pot version more than the baked… Plus, waiting 20 extra minutes to eat is not what I want to do and I will quickly give you this face if I’m starving.
So.hardcore.
I came across a new challenge on Morgan’s blog that I am excited to start – 100 pushups! It guarantees that in 6 weeks you will be able to do 100 consecutive push-ups in a row. I have WEAK arms so this will definitely be a challenge for me. Wish me luck – I’m off to start my push-ups… I should be extremely sore tomorrow. If you want to join the challenge check out Morgan’s blog!
I promise to be back on my healthy eating, fitness and blogging routine tomorrow. Have a good night
QUESTIONS: How many push ups can you do in a row? 11! What is your favorite comfort food? ice cream, pizza, and mac & cheese – all things that include dairy which I’m allergic to…awesome.
