It’s a balancing act!

I’m not a fan of depriving myself of things (especially food)… I once tried to go Vegan for a week and gave up with only 6 hours left (lame), when I opted to swear off sweets for Lent I inhaled a dessert that night, and the worst is when I go into a birthday party with the mindset that I will not have a piece of cake with ice cream to always end up going back for seconds!

Recently I’ve learned that telling myself NO to a certain food is just not going to work in my daily balance routine. I don’t follow rules, I’m such a rebel! 😉 I workout 5-6 times a week and eat clean foods 90% of the time so why shouldn’t I be able to treat myself every once in a while day? For me this is what works… For you? Maybe not. You have to find your own balance.

However, there are a few foods I CANNOT buy Sam’s Club sized because I know I will be testing my will power to not polish them off in one day/sitting. (No judging 🙂 ) These are my Trigger Foods in no particular order

1. Lucky Charms – When I buy these now I go for the 1 serving size. I love cereal and have/could eat an endless amount.

2. Ice Cream – Thank goodness for single serving cups of these. I’ve been known to take down a pint or two of Ben and Jerry’s when having a rough day!

3. Utz Sour Cream & Onion Rippled Chips – When I was in High School I ate an entire bag (we’re talking family sized) of these DAILY. They are just SO good.

4. Peanut Butter M&M’s – Peanut Butter + Chocolate… If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know this is my ultimate weakness

5. Iced Animal Crackers – I think it’s the sprinkles that really win my heart over

Though I’m not perfect…and never will be I’ve learned that it’s OK to have that cookie when a craving strikes. Now, instead of calling my entire day a failure after enjoying a cookie and continue to eat bad just because I’ve already “ruined my healthy eating” I stop and realize – those cookies will be there tomorrow when another craving hits.

Julia Child said it best “Everything in moderation…including moderation!”

I have two recipes for you today. One healthy dinner and of course, a dessert. Duh, Moderation 🙂

Cara from Chic Meets Healthy recently posted a Turkey Meatloaf in a Pepper recipe that I’ve been wanting to try. I finally had time to make my version last night and they were TO DIE for. I’ve already polished off the leftovers for lunch!

Stuffed Turkey Meatloaf in Sliced Peppers (adapted from Chic Meets Healthy)

Ingredients

• 2 green peppers
• 1 pound 99% fat-free ground turkey
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp Organic Marinara Sauce (I used trader joe’s)
• 1 Tbsp Worcester sauce
• 1/2 cup whole wheat panko
• 2 egg whites
• Olive Oil Cooking Spray
• 2/3 cup of chopped onion
• Worcester Pepper

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
• Slice your peppers into thirds so they resemble rings. Use the bottom and/or tops of your peppers to chop up for your meatloaf mixture.

 

biggest pepper ever

 

• Combine all ingredients for your meatloaf in a bowl and incorporate together.
• Stuff your pepper rings.

• Brown each side of the meatloaf peppers in a pan with cooking spray for 3 minutes on each side.

• Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes

I ate two of these slices! Cara said she could only finish one – I must’ve been hungry!

Now, onto the dessert…My favorite part of the day!

We decided to make two different types of cookies today – We’re crazy like that. We used the same base for both.

My grandma’s sugar cookies (the recipe is here)

For the first ones you can just roll out the dough (from recipe above) and cut your favorite designs. We did an Easter theme – butterflies, eggs, flowers & bunnies!

For the second round we have

Peach Thumb Print Cookies drizzled with Milk Chocolate.

Ingredients:

• Sugar Cookie Dough (from above)
• Peach Jam
• Milk Chocolate (melted) – I used Ghiradelli
• Sanding Sugar

Directions:

• Roll your dough into 3/4 inch balls.
• Then press your thumb into each cookie.
• Fill each center with 1/4 tsp of Peach Jam and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
• Remove from oven.
• Cool for 10 minutes.
• Drizzle milk chocolate and sprinkle sanding sugar over top of cookies.

The second ones were my favorite! That actually surprises me because I am a HUGE icing fan. Do I dare say these might be my new favorite cookies!? I think my taste buds are changing…

I’m off to watch Bethenny and most likely spit out my dinner from laughing so hard. What? Not what you wanted to picture?

Enjoy your Tuesday night! I’m thinking of doing a What I ate Wednesday post tomorrow if I have time?!

QUESTIONS: What are some of your trigger foods? Have you found your balance?

I feel pretty and witty and bright

I cannot believe how fast this year is flying by! February is National Heart month and Valentines Day so it’s only right that we brand it “Love Month”. Since we only have 1 week left in February I wanted to touch on a topic I’ve been reading a lot about, “Self-Love”.

If someone asked me “Do you love yourself?” I would immediately respond “Of course!” But if I sat down and actually thought about that question I wouldn’t be so sure… I’ve noticed that if I have that cookie I’m craving after dinner I’ll say to myself “Good job on ruining your entire workout”  but if a friend told me that she had a cookie after dinner and was upset about it I would reply “Omg, don’t be so silly it’s just one cookie! Everyone needs to indulge sometimes.” It’s so easy to give advice but following it? Wellllll, not so much. Why couldn’t I be that easy on myself? Why am I beating myself up over 1 cookie? For the most part I am extremely healthy – I eat a well-balanced diet and exercise 5-6 times a week so I should be able to have a cookie without feeling guilt if that’s what my body wants! Everyone knows that love is a good thing. We love to give it and we love to receive it. But how often do we actually take the time to give it to ourselves?

I’m sure I am not the only person who beats themselves up over silly issues like this so we should all make a pact to follow Katelyn’s mission: I feel pretty! Today, I am making a promise to myself to be a little nicer, speak a little sweeter and cut myself some slack from time to time. I deserve it, and so do you 🙂

I feel as if I’m always on the go, go go to do things for others and I want to make sure I give myself the same attention. Each day this week I am going to post something I did for myself as a token of love: To me, Love me.

Here is what I gifted myself today – Relaxation Time –I know this doesn’t sound like much but I couldn’t tell you the last time I laid down with my phone, TV and computer off. It felt so good to sleep for 3 hours and I am feeling very refreshed now!

I think that everyone should join me and do something for themselves in the last week of the month of love – Feel free to share with me your plan and remember this: You are a truly loveable person — and you deserve only kind treatment, especially from yourself. 🙂

On a lighter note! I had a great weekend filled with 3 workouts – Zumba, Bodypump & Spin Class. I took full advantage of the $60 a month I pay to my gym! Nothing better than getting a good sweat in on the weekends. After my workout on Sunday I did my weekly grocery shopping where Whole Foods then took advantage of me. Why is it that I can never leave with just what’s on my list? I also left my brand spankin new iPhone in an aisle I shouldn’t have even been in while browsing labels – Thank goodness someone with a good heart found it and returned it to the lost and found! Whew..

Saturday night I had one of my girlfriends over for some girl time. We made dinner, went out for some Tasti D-lite (i know, again?) and watched hours worth of Bachelor re-runs on my DVR til 1 am. We get crazy and wild sometimes 😉

For dinner we made quesadillas…not just a plain boring quesadilla. But an exciting chicken, peach and pepperjack quesadilla. I’ve made this before and LOVED it but I think the peaches were a little bland this time around… It was still delicious and if you have some fresh peaches I suggest you try this combo out!

Chicken, Peach & Pepperjack Quesadilla

Ingredients

• Rotisserie chicken
• Pepperjack cheese (w/ jalapenos)
• Peaches
• Greek Yogurt
• Agave
• Cilantro
• Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas

Directions

• Shred chicken

• Slice peaches

• Place tortilla on plate and add the chicken, cheese and peach slices to HALF.
• Sprinkle Cilantro on top
• Fold in half and place in an olive oil misted skillet
• Place a cast iron skillet on top so it flattens out the quesadilla and everything cooks evenly.
• Cook for 4 minutes on side – Flip and repeat.
• While quesadillas are cooking Mix together your greek yogurt, agave and lime juice.

• Slice the quesadillas and serve with the dipping sauce

The sweetness of the peaches and the dipping sauce go perfectly together! Sorry the pictures are blurry – I need to stop rushing them but sometimes I’m just so excited to eat 🙂

Our dessert from Tasti D-Lite

My friend had smores with choc chips and crushed graham cracker and I enjoyed bananas foster with the same toppings. I’ve yet to try a flavor that I haven’t loved yet! We may or may not have bought some Oreo & Peanut butter to go… Whoops.

Yesterday I also got my haircut (got some side bangs, wild!), had lunch with my grandma at Nordstrom Cafe and got some goodies in the mail!

Carba nada pasta, PB2, Donut Pan, Pizza Crisper, Gluten Free Pretzels, Banana Supreme Pancake mix and Alternative Bagels! I ordered these from a lo carb site – I’ve read about some of these items on various blogs but couldn’t find them ANYWHERE in stores so I resorted to some online shopping. I’m excited to try these out and hope they live up to the hype!

Tonight I am going to test out my pizza crisper and throw myself a pizza party… I might also get a little crazy and have some more of that Oreo & Peanut butter Ice Cream. I really need to settle down.

Day 23: Favorite Movie

I believe they already asked my favorite movies so I’m going to go ahead and skip this challenge and if you are that interested you can check out Day 7’s post here

Day 24: Something you’ve learned

I think it’s only fair that I say to love myself! Starting with treating myself the same I would to others or as Katelyn would put it a 5-year-old version of myself!

Also, Kate is having another giveaway! Check it out 🙂

I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend and if you have the day off tomorrow (lucky) you enjoy it!!

QUESTIONS: What do you do to show yourself love? Have you ever tried any of the lo-carb items I purchased? What was the craziest thing you did this weekend (get bangs, stay up til 1 am watching the bachelor, eat ice cream?? 😉 )