Week 4 Meal Prep

Meal prepping takes forever!!! But I know it'll be worth it during my busy week.

On Facebook I follow personal trainer, Chris Powell. His status today mentioned that people usually bail out of their New Year's resolutions by January 17th. I'm happy to say that I am still going strong, and I hope you are too. Here's a motivating photo I found on tumblr to celebrate!

So true, right?

This morning I woke up and wanted banana-egg pancakes. I like to get creative with them, sometimes adding blueberries, raisins, or PB2 peanut butter (I love PB2!). However, my mother was cleaning the stove, so I came up with a brilliant idea to make waffles instead, using our waffle maker. It didn't turn out so brilliant after all... Sad face.

Nonetheless, I still ate it though it came out looking nothing like a waffle. My workout this morning was great, another body-pump day with a little bit of cardio to warm me up. After the gym, I went to buy groceries for the week (not a good idea, since I was starving). Once I came home, I prepped everything I needed for the week. Snacks: bananas, apples, grapes, celery (to eat with PB2), Chia seeds with vitamin water, black bean brownies, and pistachios (my favorite nut).

Then I made cauliflower fried rice and yellow-green salads for a side/lunch/dinner.

For dinner tonight, I'm going to make a healthy spin-off of spaghetti and meatballs using spaghetti squash and vegan meatballs.

This has been a very productive day.

-Miss M

*Recipes on the previous post

Yellow-Green Salad (to-go)

I didn't plan on the colors, they just came out that way. Prepping salads are a life-saver! Or should I say, time-saver!

This recipe yields four, because I basically put 1/4 of everything in a bag (with the exception of the lime--those are halves).

Ingredients:
1 big box of fresh spinach
1 can of rinsed garbonzo beans
1 can of corn (no salt added) and rinsed
1 granny smith apple
1 cucumber
1 mango
2 limes (cut in halves)

Put the heavier items on the bottom and the spinach at the top. I don't really use dressing, instead I use half a lime and I mix it with any type of Mrs. Dash's salt-free seasonings.

The simpler, the better! Like the bag says, YUM!

Black Bean Brownies!

I got this recipe from this food blogger here. Although, I'll also copy and paste below. In my version, I omitted the chocolate and peanut butter chips, just to see how the brownie really tasted. Next time however, I'll make sure to add mint chocolate chips! One thing to note is to rinse your black beans to take away that beany taste. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it and I'm sure I'll use it as a pre or post workout snack! Also, I used muffin tins instead of a brownie pan because I knew I would be too lazy to cut them (though I forgot to put cooking spray, so it was a bit stubborn--learn from my mistake!) and I wanted to individually wrap them so I could bring them to school or the gym.

Note that their are other BBB recipes. This was just the simplest one I could find.

Low Calorie Black Bean Brownies Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 15.5 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 3/4 cup egg beaters egg whites OR 6 egg whites
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 tbs. unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. instant coffee granules
• 3/4 cup splenda for baking (or regular granulated sugar)
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup peanut butter chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and spray a pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Dump black beans, applesauce, cocoa powder, egg whites, vanilla extract, splenda and coffee granules into the blender and blend until smooth.
3. When blended to your satisfaction, stir in chocolate chips and peanut butter chips
4. Then pour into a baking dish.
5. Put the brownies in the oven for a half hour and bake until the edges pull away from the sides and a knife inserted comes out clean.

BASIC Cauliflower Fired Rice

I will just say now that I am a basic cook. I like to be as simple as possible. When I heard about cauliflower as a substitute for rice, I had to give it a go! I'm trying to get as much veggies in as possible, so I thought fried rice with mix veggies would be perfect.

So I use an eco non-stick pan that doesn't require cooking spray or oil, so if you must, add it accordingly.

Ingredients:
I medium head cauliflower
1 Can of mixed vegetables (Although, I prefer frozen over canned, but seeing as I didn't want to wait for it to defrost, I went with canned this time)
2 eggwhites
black pepper and soy sauce for seasoning

Like I said, this is a very basic recipe. Feel free to add garlic, green onions, your choice of protein, and other additions to your liking.

To prepare the cauliflower, either put it in a food processor to chop, or you can cut it yourself if you have the time.

Rinse/defrost your mixed veggies.

Medium-heat a large pan.

Cook the cauliflower first (or rather, give it a head start) then add the mixed veggies, egg whites, and the seasoning.

I thought it was pretty good, considering I was eating a plate of veggies! I can't wait to use the cauliflower rice with something else. Maybe curry? Hmmm....

Yesterday, was yesterday.

I'm not a writer.

This thought came across my mind yesterday. A web of self-doubt was weaved before my eyes, as my peers and professors threw their comments across the table. Yet, I was the designer of it all. This web that I've caught myself in.

Workshop is workshop. That's all it is. I don't think I'm amazing and I don't have thick skin. Why did I take it so personally? I'm not sure. Maybe it's because I'm too nice. That's what my sister says at least. I need to get mean. Whatever that means. I'm small, petite, with a soft-spoken voice. I don't think mean is in my nature...

Now, I'm living a very temporary life it seems. A life that doesn't seem to belong to me. I feel like I'm just going with it, because I've become so dissociated with the world, that I'm just trying to latch onto anything familiar. The scenery's changed and I guess I'm just seeing where I fit. I understand this is a part of life, but I know I will never fit society's "mold". I won't be what others want me to be, but that doesn't necessarily make things easier. I'll always be on the outside looking in.

And I think that is the reason why I write. So that I can place myself somewhere. So that I can fit within my own design. My own web. I just need to clear away all of the cobwebs that have haunted me and accept what is and go on. I don't write for you or for anyone. I don't write to be heard or recognized.

I write for me.

Writing Exercise #2: I don't have much time left, and I still have a few things left to say...

           “I don’t have much time left, and I still have a few things left to say. My name isn’t Brian Ofla. I lied. My name is Guglameshna Foreska. And I’m not twenty-seven years old. I’m actually one hundred and sixty-eight years old, but it’s equivalent to twenty-seven from where I’m from. Or at least I think so. I’m also not from a small town in Ohio, but from here like you, but from the future. Five hundred and sixty years into the future to be exact. Only, I came back. For you.”

            Analise started laughing. So hard, her body shook.

            “I’m serious!” I said, hoping she would believe me.

            “Aright, Goog-lamesh-ness.”

            “It’s Guglameshna!”

            “Oh right, of course.”

            I grabbed her by the shoulders. “Please. They’re coming for me. But before they do. I. I. I just wanted you to know.”

            Gently, she placed her hand on my cheek, with a large smile on her face. “Okay. I’ll bite. What do you want me to know?”

            “I love you.”

            With that her smiled disappeared, surprised by my declaration. But before she could say anything, I suddenly felt light-headed. I looked at my hands and saw that they were dissipating into small miniscule particles. They had come for me.

            Analise was suddenly afraid, but belief was now in her eyes. I saw her lips move, but I couldn’t hear anything. I was being pulled back to the future at light-speed.

This has become one of my favorite poems. Relatable? I think so!

I’m Over the Moon

By Brenda Shaughnessy

I don’t like what the moon is supposed to do.

Confuse me, ovulate me,

spoon-feed me longing. A kind of ancient

date-rape drug. So I’ll howl at you, moon,

I’m angry. I’ll take back the night. Using me to

swoon at your questionable light,

you had me chasing you,

the world’s worst lover, over and over

hoping for a mirror, a whisper, insight.

But you disappear for nights on end

with all my erotic mysteries

and my entire unconscious mind.

How long do I try to get water from a stone?

It’s like having a bad boyfriend in a good band.

Better off alone. I’m going to write hard

and fast into you, moon, face-fucking.

Something you wouldn’t understand.

You with no swampy sexual

promise but what we glue onto you.

That’s not real. You have no begging

cunt. No panties ripped off and the crotch

sucked. No lacerating spasms

sending electrical sparks through the toes.

Stars have those.

What do you have? You’re a tool, moon.

Now, noon. There’s a hero.

The obvious sun, no bullshit, the enemy

of poets and lovers, sleepers and creatures.

But my lovers have never been able to read

my mind. I’ve had to learn to be direct.

It’s hard to learn that, hard to do.

The sun is worth ten of you.

You don’t hold a candle

to that complexity, that solid craze.

Like an animal carcass on the road at night,

picked at by crows,

taunting walkers and drivers. Your face

regularly sliced up by the moving

frames of car windows. Your light is drawn,

quartered, your dreams are stolen.

You change shape and turn away,

letting night solve all night’s problems alone.