Zucchini And Corn Casserole!

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• Zucchini and Corn Casserole

Ingredients:

• 4 cups grated zucchini, squeezed dry with a towel
• 1 1/4 cups Heart Smart Bisquick 
• 1 Small yellow onion, minced or grated
• 1 Ear of corn, off the cob
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp Himalayan and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tsp parsley

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix everything together in a bowl. Spray 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and pour mixture. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 45 to 50 minutes. Cut into 12 equal pieces.

Devour!

Banana Apple Muffin Recipe

Banana Apple Muffins

This recipe is super simple, and extremely yummy!

Ingredients: 

• 2 Mashed Bananas (slightly ripe, spotted)
• 1 McIntosh Apple, peeled & chopped
• 2 Eggs
• 1T Butter, (optional, may also use coconut oil)
• 1.5c Almond Flour (or other flour)
• 1tsp Baking Soda
• 1tsp Ceylon Cinnamon 

Directions:

1. Mash Bananas with a fork until smooth, mix in 2 eggs, butter (optional, may also use coconut oil) and Apple
2. Add cinnamon 
3. Add Baking Soda
4. Add Almond Flour slowly, mixing as you go

Make 12 muffins, bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

Servings: 6 (makes 12 muffins, serving size: 2)

Fatigue and Exciting News

It's been a few weeks since I wrote an entry, and to be honest, I've been WIPED!   The good news is, I can finally say why.

We are expecting our third son this August, it's been a roller coaster of emotions and my body is struggling to keep up after only 6 months between when Thomas was born and when this little nugget started growing.


That being said, I'm continuing to do my best!


I decided this week to scale back a little on workouts, I had been doing an amazing program (I truly love it!) but the 60 minute workouts I noticed were getting in the way of my sleep and leaving me more physically exhausted than rejuvenated.




.. I'm ok with being tired when I wake up, but not so much the rest of the day!




So I took some time this weekend to regroup, rest and do some restorative yoga before I made the final call to switch gears.   

As a coach, I encourage people for a living, but I also remind them to be kind to themselves and realistic to where they are in their life.   It took me a few weeks to realize I wasn't doing the same for myself.




I've also been struggling quite a bit with food - but now that I'm in to the 2nd trimester I realized I have less of a reason to continue to eat a poorly balanced diet (and of course that poor nutrition was also making me...more tired!).



So I'm back to my consistent morning breakfasts, which always lift me up even when I'm extremely tired.



I also took some time this week (this photo was taken on day 3), to do a 'cell free' challenge with a few people I coach.  What this was, was a way to start our days without mental clutter.  The challenge was to sleep with your phone away from your bed, not to press snooze, and not to touch your phone for at least 5 minutes after waking up (it's amazing how much different you can feel with these small changes!)




And while I loved my last program, and the workouts were super manageable for me, this 5 minutes a day gave me a lot of time to stop and think.



I'm pretty sure my son is going to miss the 'elastic bands' but that will make it easier to get him on board with me to do this routine after the baby comes!




He even has all the gear!




This is a photo taken from our Mommy & Me Pilates classes last week, when I started teaching Ben was only around 18 months, and now at nearly 5 he's officially become the 'big kid' in class.  



So let's get back to food, this weekend for the first weekend in a month I got back to food prep.   I had prepped for 2 weeks in a row and been too sick to eat any of the foods, so I took some time off before I felt my stomach was ready to handle these foods again, and I have to say I'm excited to eat for the first time in a long time!




One thing I did slightly differently, I prepped 2 serving meals (usually I do 6 servings), I did this just to be safe and avoid waste if my appetite still feels funky this week as my hormones are still regulating.




I kept some quinoa separate as well so that I had some leeway with blander foods.



And I totally had forgotten about this gem!! Chickpea tofu!



And some regular tofu!



This is a super simple 'oldie but goodie' quinoa, olive oil, salt, pepper, chickpeaks, peas & corn.  Typically I include carrots but we didn't have any.




Another recipe I tried, and loved!   Roasted chickpeas.   I'm struggling to get proteins in and I'm finding chickpeas don't bother me hence why all my recipes this weekend included them!

Cali!

I tag this week the week of self care! I forgot how much I love being totally alone.  And it didn’t hurt that I got to do it in California, my favorite place.

I spent a lot of time doing what makes me feel good - being alone, recharging, going to bed early and not feeling bad!

Mixed in was some business, but honestly it didn’t feel like business.  We had a leadership conference, full of so much amazing information.  It ended with a really goofy game show, in which I got to participate in a nerf contest (I won!)

This was one of the quotes that really sank in with me. They were talking about the business, but it relates to so much more. 

I can honestly say I’ve never had this much fun at a work function.  I mean, who gets to do a workout as a part of their conference? We do!

Here I am with the company CEO at our evening reception. 

And of course between sessions, I had to enjoy the rooftop pool! 

Another fun part of this trip was exploring all the vegan restaurants I could find in LA. Of course I also had the prerequisite that they had to be outside!

Doing a little planking outside our corporate headquarters!

It was great to be able to see the main office from inside - including all the ingredients of my favorite smoothie split out by ingredient.

One of the things I really loved was the one of the stairwells going into the offices was covered in thoughts and quotes like this from the CEO.   They were both motivating as well as telling about the type of company I represent.  I am proud to be a part of such a wonderful community with such a wonderful leader.

... this part of headquarters almost had me applying for jobs.  A gym with every piece of equipment I could ever want, available to all employees all day long!

This is more of an inside joke,  but this is a puppet that was made of one of the executive directors - it was a ‘treat’ to be able to hold it! 

And now a few photos from my exploration at the beginning of the trip!

I spent some time exploring Venice Beach and Santa Monica - it was nice to have no agenda at all!

... and with no agenda comes the ability to get a massage!! 

I also love travel because I get to bring my workouts with me.   Every space is different, but my routine can remain consistent. 

These bands traveled well and let me get my workouts in!

Before Santa Monica, I visited some friends in San Diego who I met while hiking the Grand Canyon.  They took me on some amazing hikes!

I did miss my little guy, but I’m so grateful for FaceTime!

And of course, the food!! My first restaurant was called Cafe Grattitide, the foods were all named affirmations. So you’d order by saying ‘I’m Thriving’ - I loved the concept, plus the food was amazing!

I also had to pick these suckers up for my travels - clearly! 

My hotel in Venice Beach had a full kitchen which made it easy to feeeze my banana!

I also decided to use this trip as a chance to sample all sorts of raw juices that they seem to have at every restaurant out here!

Another vegan restaurant - a TLT, tempeh, lettuce and tomato!

This one was amazing too - butternut squash tostada!!