OK! So I had a lot of interest on my Facebook page about joining a 12 day juice cleanse with me! I am starting today and going until midnight on the 11th....or maybe longer. We'll see. Today I am just going to share the very basics of a juice cleanse. To see why you should do one look here and to see my favorite recipe go here.

What I {Ate} Wednesday

Normally when I do a What I {Ate} Wednesday post I will just pull random pictures off my iPhone camera roll and compile a general list; but today I thought I would take you through a full day, start to finish, on what I eat. It's actually yesterday :)

 

As most of you know, I a STILL having morning sickness- yep, at 27 weeks. It's fan-tastic. So my carb intake is at least 60% of my diet. Unfortunately, this is showing up drastically on the scale. So I am trying to get my carbs through fruits, whole grains, etc. instead of breads. I am really trying to eat healthier or these next three months are going to be awful.

 

I will do my 27 week update after I finish replying to work emails. I have had my computer in the shop and have soooo many emails and voicemails to get to.

 

Anyyyywaaaayyyyssss, here was yesterdays meals and some simple recipes :)

 

I'm sure most of you are sick of seeing this breakfast but I really do love it and eat it a lot. They are Van's Whole Grain Waffles with some butter, syrup and chia seeds. Normally I would put half a banana on it but I knew I would be eating a lot more fruit through the day so decided to save it.

 

 

An hour or so after being awake I will have a small cup of iced coffee with some Sweet Cream Natural Creamers. Delicious and only three ingredients!

 

Foster needed a "toffee" too so he has some chocolate almond milk.

When lunch time rolls around I was definitely feeling hungry so I had my morning snack with my lunch because I had missed it.

 

My morning snack would have been a "green" juice but it worked with lunch too and helped me feel fuller. I was out of kale and parsley, which is why my green juice is so orange.

 

There is 1 green apple, 2-3 carrots, 2 celery stalks and 1 lemon. Delish. I missed the parsley especially but it was still really good.

 

 

For my filling part of lunch I had an acai bowl. All I do is blend 1 acai packet with 3/4 a banana and a splash of milk then top with granola, goji berries, the remaining banana, chia seeds and raw unsweetened coconut. Normally I would through more nuts and seeds on but the granola I used already had a ton, so I omitted those.

 

After picking Lo up from school she requested a smoothie and a juice. So her and Foster slurped down a carrot + green apple + celery juice while I made whipped smoothie ice-cream. For the three of us I used 2 bananas, 1 cup frozen blueberries and 1-1/2 cups frozen strawberries, lots of chia seeds and 1-1/2 cups of milk. Blend until frothy and thick.

What's the point of having a big ol' baby belly if you don't use it as a table for ice cream?! 

Dinner WAS going to be stuffed bell peppers but my Mema called and asked us to come over for dinner, so Frito pie it was! We'll have stuffed bell peppers tonight, because life is all about balance people :) 

What I {and the littles ATE} Wednesday

In the essence of full disclosure eating healthy for me lately has been a huge struggle. Excess meat upsets my stomach and I have still been feeling the effects of morning sickness so I have been on a major carb trip lately. I have been trying to sneak more protein in with eggs, broccoli, oatmeal and things like that but it's not always easy! I have been trying to log my food intake a lot more on myfitnesspal (aspengroen) but it's taking me awhile to get back into the routine of it. 

I am also going to share some quick meals that I threw together for the kids but it really didn't merit it's own big post because I do not make my kids "special" food because they don't like or don't want to try what we are eating. So everything you see is both what I ate and what the kiddos ate. Their portions are a little different so I did show a couple of pictures :) 

There are a couple recipes on this post as well :) 

We love egg muffins. They are so easy and really easy to heat up and give to the kids on the way to school. We just throw in whatever we want and cook in a muffin tin until they are fully cooked but still wiggle a little.

What I {Ate} Wednesday

Yesterday all I managed to keep down was 1/4 cup of chicken noodle soup juice, two crackers and a piece of burnt-Bryson say's I can't call my toast "toast" anymore because I burn it, not toast it. In honor of feeling better, and it being Wednesday, I thought I would share some of my normal food picks from last month. I haven't been cooking because I have felt completely awful these past four months so food at our house has been boring. I am 15 weeks now and slowwwwllllyyyy starting to feel better, so I'm sure there will be more yummy meals and recipes in the future. 

Bountiful Baskets {Review}

We finally have a Bountiful Baskets in my home town! I have been waiting for one to open up here and it's amazing! You can buy up to three baskets ($15 each for all of the food) but for the first time I just wanted to see what all was in it and the quality of the food. I was super pleased! The only downside is you don't get to pick what you get but I have ideas for pretty much everything! Except the radishes...do people really eat radishes? 

Everything we got is in good shape and some of it isn't ripe yet so it will last awhile. I will definitely get 3 baskets next time,  I would save over $90 that way! Win. Win. Win.

They come every two weeks and it's always different foods but is always 50% fruits and 50% veggies. I was hoping we would get some potatoes/carrots so I could make some soup but we still have a lot of different things and with the money that we save it's no problem picking a couple of things up from the store. 

So below I have the prices of what everything would have cost if I purchased it at the store. 

Baked Honey Mustard Chicken

You know it's a good meal when your one year old takes a bite and then hi-fives you or when your husband says, "This is delicious!" and your 5 year old interjects with, "This is more than delicious, it's...DELICIOSO!" 

Tough Mudder 2014

 Last week Bryson and I ran (and completed) our first Tough Mudder! 11 miles in Utah, we ran up and down probably a million ravines (ok, like 30), jumped in ice water (I will NEVER do that again), did monkey bars shaped like an upside down V, Climbed over 16 foot walls, ran up a 30 foot, greased half pipe, ran through electrical wires and of course, played in the mud. We finished in 3 hours and 10 minutes (average is 4 hours) and I am SO proud of us! Honestly, Bryson could've finished in 2ish hours but I am no runner and have NEVER ran over 6 miles. It was a blast and we will definitely be doing it again. It was the hardest thing I have ever done, including giving birth, and my heart rate had an average of 190 and not once did it go under 170. 3,000+ calories later and we were enjoying some Dos Equis and protein bars. 

Thank you honey for always pushing me and for staying by mysids the whole time. I never could've done it without you! 

Be prepared for picture overload!

Farmers Market/Grocery Store Haul $100

Today I FINALLY made it over to our local Farmers Market and picked up some local, organic fruit and veggies. It smelt AMAZING. If you are from New Mexico you know there are few smells better than roasting green chile. So with $100 in my pocket, two kids in my stroller and a large Natural Grocers bag on my arm we got there early, fought the crowds and left with an amazing haul. 

Bryson and I decided the days he wasn't working we would try to go to the Farmers Market every saturday. We have a basic list that we get every time we go shopping and it was great to be able to get some of it local. 

Everything from the eggs left is from the Farmers Market and from the granola right is from the grocery store. 

11 month PP Update

Well, I wasn't wanting to do this until I was happy with how I look but this is me! I told myself I'd be looking fan-freaking-tastic by the time foster was one and at 6 months I was telling myself I had time but now, with only a couple of weeks left, I'm realizing that I obviously wasn't focusing on how I looked enough to  reach my "goal" and I'm totally ok with that. I have been roasting s'mores over the campfire and making pancakes in the morning when Lo asks. We are totally just loving summer. 

So You Wanna Start a Juice Fast...

Juicing is obviously huge right now and there are a lot of reasons why so many people have jumped on board the juice train (if you've been following me for awhile swap juice train with The Juice Bus ;) ) Juicing gives your body a much needed break from using energy to break down food and send that energy straight to you to use. I also have to say I absolutely loathe the word fast. In our house we  call it a juice cleanse but it is commonly referred to as a juice feast because, if you are fasting properly, you should never feel a hungry sensation. 

Here are some of the main reasons why I, personally, juice feast:

* To give my digestive system a break

* Allow the body to cleanse waste and toxins a greatly accelerated speed

* To learn that missing a meal isn't the worst thing in the world 

* To experience how energizing nourishing foods are - rather than filling foods

* To reestablish your gratitude for food

* Save money and time from prepping 

* To gain control over food, rather than food controlling you

* Weight-loss

What I {ATE} Wednesday

I've been deciding whether or not to start this new post series call What I Wednesday. I'll post what I {LOVE} {ATE} {WORE} and who knows what else! I thought first I'd just go over a quick day of what I normally eat. 

I eat anywhere from 800-1500 calls a day and some days are freakin killer and others could use some work but I enjoy food and I'd rather eat good food and be happy than dry salad and be that person. 

You can't even pretend to like dry salad.

It's gross. 

I always start off my morning with some type of juice. It's normally very green but sometimes I like to mix it up with a little more fruit. 

Pantry Revamp

Ok. Don't judge me.

My hubby and I have been living together for four years and I still jump on the struggle bus when it comes to keeping the laundry room clean.

They shouldn't put a door on the freakin things and maybe when my hubby asks about where all his (___insert clothing item here___) are, I wouldn't respond with, "outta sight, outta mind." I try, I really do. But it's either dishes or clothes and dishes normally win. I think it has to do with the whole door thing. I really should just take that dang thing off.

The picture I'm about to show you is mega embarrassing. I promise the rest of my house does not look like this...except maybe my bathroom....notice the my. No I don't share with anyone. I take it over.

Back to the image. Again, don't judge me.

Enjoying Life Lately

I have been a little absent from blogging lately and I'm not even going to apologize for it! Life has been so busy lately that I just hang out with the family whenever we're all home together and just totally soak it all up. So while I have a quick minute I thought I would update everyone on our life lately! 

Dinner Recipe:

Ingreds

1 whole Pineapple, sliced and diced

1 Red Bell Pepper, sliced

1 Yellow Bell Pepper, sliced

1 Orange Bell Pepper, sliced

2 Green Bell Peppers, sliced

Recipe

1) Marinate peppers and pineapple together in a ziplock back with your choice of seasoning we did a steak sauce and a dash of low sodium soy sauce.

2) Grill peppers in foil and pineapple directly on grill for 40 minutes. Flip once

Serve over brown rice

Artichoke and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Panini Wrap

So you may be looking at the title thinking what the heck but I had no idea what to name this awesome thing that would do it justice and I had to get all the good parts in. I made this the other night and it took maybe 10 minutes and what the best wrap I have EVER had in my entire life, and I like my wraps. It was creamy and roasted-y all at the same time and this baby was HUGE. It looks squished in these pictures because I stuck it in my panini press to get it crispy but I could barely get all the goodness wrapped into the huge spinach tortilla. 

I like to have some sort of carb with dinner and I, personally, like savory dinners. I know you're supposed to keep in lean and green at dinner time but I eat my salads throughout the day. What better way to have the best of both worlds then to shove a salad in the spinach tortilla?

Like I said above, this is a huge wrap. If I was eating this for lunch I would only eat half but it was a perfect portion for dinner. As my hubby was eating it he said it was a definite "make again." Does anyone else judge how good a meal is by if you would make it again? That's basically our only scale of yumminess. This is a vegan dish and honestly you will not even miss the meat because it is so filling and full of flavors.

A Healthier (Vegan) Tian de Courgettes au Riz (Zucchini Tian)

Today as I was about to start making  my normal lunch of sautéed zucchini and squash with roasted brussels sprouts I had a thought that had never crossed my mind before...

What would Julia Child do. 

I have always thought it would be fun to cook my way through her cookbook (like that one movie) but let's be honest it's not the most healthy option out there, even though it may be the tastiest so substituting quite a bit this is more of a zucchini, squash, asparagus, bell pepper tian. Which I love, the more diversity the better :) but if you'd rather not have something just omit it, but trust me it turned out delicious and I wouldn't change a thing. 

Daily Morning Detox

Just a quick post from the mobile device. I love juicing! After I had Foster I invested in a juicer so I could do a five day juice cleanse which was completely amazing and so cleansing (excuse the corniness) 

Today I wanted to share my favorite daily detox with you. You do need a juicer. I picked mine up at walmart after about a week of review reading. It was $60 and had better reviews than those compared to it that were hundreds of dollars. I can't remember the name but it's plastered all over the box with a sticker that says rated #1 gift or something like that. 

I use lemon, carrots, apples, parsley, kale, and celery!

Enjoy! 

Ps if you haven't checked out my $100 giveaway you should definitely do that ASAP! It's one post back :) 

Healthiest VEGAN Spaghetti Ever {Pasta Zero Review}

I was planning on having just snacky foods for dinner, like we normally do when Bryson is at work but then I got these noodles. You guys, they are a game changer. The bomb diggity noodles are only 15 calories like 0 everything else but fiber and taste BETTER than normal spaghetti noodles. 

Cake Pop Basics {Never Trust a Cake Pop}

I finally did it! I made a cake pop that didn't look like a blob of grossness. Speaking of grossness let me just go over the cake pop making process. 

I'm sure in a professional cake pop making setting cleanliness would be number one but when I'm home with two kids by myself it's a miracle if we're all showered. So washing our hands as we touch things is more of a guideline rather than a set in stone rule. #NeverTrustACakepop

Step one: Crumble that cake. Cake loves to be crumbled. 

It can be any kind: gluten free, vegan, chocolate, vanilla, homemade, store bought. 

Whateva floats ya boat. 

I Watched The Biggest Loser Season Finale

Is there anyone else out there that is as obsessed with the Biggest Loser as I am? I wait for it all year and as soon as the episode is out on Hulu I am sitting down ready to feel motivated- Ok, normally there is some dark chocolate covered pretzels involved but afterwards I'll feel motivated! 

The Mother of All "Green" Smoothies

I am not typically a smoothie drinker. I like my food whole but it is nice to get a ton of nutrients packed into one little drink. Since this "green" smoothie is actually purple you can totally trick your kids who don't like veggies. Is it lying if it's for their benefit? Nah. This is one of my favorite smoothies but really you can throw whatever you want into it and it will come out awesome 90% of the time.