Grilled Avocado and more

I hope everybody had a great weekend! We had amazing weather on Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately it didn't last over the weekend, so we didn't go for a hike or in the Zoo. But that's okay, we had to take care of a few things (like renewing our Costco membership, taking advantage of a great diaper deal, .....) and overall just enjoyed a relaxed weekend.

On Saturday the hubby and me did our workout together (he started P90X on Monday - so exciting!) and it was fun doing Kenpo X together with him. Time flew by really quick. And after that we had a Smoothie with the new Chocolate Protein Powder he bought the day before. Yum! 

Today we did some more shopping and in the store I decided to grab a Larabar for the way home, because I was hungry and I planned on working out after the little one was done for a nap. The Larabar "Coconut Cream Pie" was extremely delicious. Even the hubby liked it and I hoped that he didn't want to have a 2nd bite. (hahaha)

It was the stretching routine today and while I was in the "Frog" position, our dog decided to join me. He came up all the way to my face and gave me a few kisses, little silly dog. :-)

I totally forgot to drink a green smoothie yesterday. But I thought it counts as a whole "St. Patrick's Day" weekend. So I threw all the ingredients for a Green Smoothie in my Vitamix......

It includes:

3/4 cup Vanilla Coconut Milk
1 frozen Banana (I just love frozen fruits)
3/4 cup Pineapple (fresh or frozen)
1 cup Spinach (I always freeze those bags of Spinach - works great for me)
6 oz fat free Greek yogurt
1 tbsp unsweetened coconut
1 scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
1 1/4 ice cubes (not shown in the picture)

If you use frozen Pineapple instead of a fresh one, use less ice unless you like a really thick smoothie :-)

.....and blended it up really good. THIS IS SO DELICIOUS!!! Even if you're not a spinach fan. Try it! I could drink that one every day.

Inspired by Skinny Taste 

Even though the weather wasn't as good as we hoped, we still started our BBQ season today.

We made "Grilled Avocado" for the very first time. And this one totally makes it on our "Healthy side dish" list for a BBQ.

You need:

1 Avocado
Lime juice
Olive Oil
Sea Salt (optional)
Greek Yogurt (or Sour Cream if you prefer)

Cut the Avocado in half, remove the seed, mix up the lime juice with the olive oil and brush it over the Avocado and place it, flesh side down, on the grill for about 4 to 5 minutes.

Put a scoop of Greek Yogurt in the middle, sprinkle a little bit of Sea Salt on it and dig in. Pure Yumminess!!!! Trust me.

After the avocado I had a piece of chicken, stuffed mushrooms and a Cucumber-Tomato-Feta Salad.

And my little one couldn't get enough of the corn and she wanted to eat it all by herself. :-)

Stupid scale and a great hike

I don't like my scale right now. I haven't lost any weight last week and today I even "gained" some. That is so frustrating. Especially since I went running yesterday morning, we did go a great hike and I did my Kenpo X (Cardio boxing) workout. But I can't and won't go on a run anymore until I have new shoes. Mine are old so I need to go and buy a new pair.

Today I am trying to drink more, don't eat my greek yogurt after dinner and all I am going to do today is my Stretch workout. And of course trying to don't be frustrated anymore. :-)

And I am so glad that we went for a hike yesterday. I woke up this morning to a cloudy sky and no sunshine. We wanted to go to the Zoo today, but maybe we're going to stay home and do stuff around the house.

Yesterday was amazing though. So far one of the best hikes we've been on since we live here.

The dogs needed a water break as well. :-) 

 

And silly Duke had to go under the bridge. 

 

After the hike I worked out and drank a protein smoothie (of course). And for dinner we had

Walnut crusted Salmon and a Quinoa salad

You need a large salmon filet

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

a little bit of honey 

Preheat your oven to 375. Brush the salmon with the honey, sprinkle it with the chopped walnuts and place in the oven until cooked.  Quick, simple and so good!

 

It's the first time that we made Quinoa and we really liked it. We added Black Beans, Red Bell Pepper and Celery. The vinaigrette was made out of olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, pepper, salt, basil, oregano and garlic. And my husband added some mediterranean spice too.  

Healthy food choices for on the go

Good morning!

I just finished my breakfast, after I left the house at 7 to go for a little run. It wasn't a long one, almost a half an hour, but it was so super cold this morning.

Yesterday my husband my kid were off school. So we decided to go and spend time together. I knew that we planned on being gone the whole day so I got up at 05:30 to get my workout for the day done.

 

I did my P90X Legs & Back and the Ab Ripper X workout. I was done a little bit after 7. And I couldn't wait to get something in my stomach. I made myself a smoothie loaded with Protein (Almond Milk, Greek Yogurt, Protein Powder), fruits, a little bit of shredded unsweetened coconut and Vanilla Almond Butter. 

While I drank that and my cup of coffee I prepared our cooler lunch bag for the day. We didn't want to spend money on unhealthy fast food during the day. So we took a protein bar for everyone (My husband likes the Cliff one and I still had one Luna Bar in the house, unfortunately I didn't have any Larabars left. I need to stock up, because they are so freaking good! ). Some Pistachios to snack on and I made a fresh fruit salad and hummus for the Blue Corn Tortilla Chips (they are made out of 3 ! ingredients).

We dropped the dogs off at a kennel so that they wouldn't be alone all day long. First we went shopping at a Outlet Mall. We bought a few things for the kids and a pair of pants for me. 

I HAD to take a picture of the pants, or lets say the tag. :-) I bought a pants size 12 last week, so I don't know why I did fit in a size 10. Maybe Levis is a little bit different. But I don't care....hahaha.....I was and still am really excited about it. Especially when you think about that the last pair of Levis jeans I bought last summer were a size 16!

After the mall we went to IKEA. I wanted to buy a few jars and cushions for our chairs. And before we headed towards the museum we had our lunch in the car. It was really good and filled us up without feeling guilty.

We decided to go to the Nature & Science museum because we didn't have to pay the admission. Who says no to that? :-)

 

On our way home we wanted to eat out in a restaurant, but everybody was so tired that we really didn't feel like sitting in a restaurant. It's no fun for us with grouchy and tired kids. So we placed an online order to pick up dinner at On the Border. I looked up calorie information for the meals (even though I don't count them) and I chose to go with the Chipolte Chicken Salad with the Mango Citrus Vinaigrette, because the whole salad just has 290 calories. But I was so tried when we got home and didn't even finish my plate. I made myself a bowl of greek yogurt, with blueberries and Agave Sirup and went to bed early to get some rest.

Right now we're thinking about what to do today. Going for a hike sounds great to us.

Have a great weekend!

Make a Low Carb pizza using Cauliflower

Craving pizza, but trying to reduce your carb intake?

This recipe might be a great alternative for you. My family loves this recipe!

Ingredients:

3 cups riced cauliflower (1 head)

3 eggs 

3 cups (fat free) mozzarella cheese 

Oregano

Minced garlic 

Tomato sauce

Your choice of toppings

Cheese

How to "rice" cauliflower:

Remove the leaves and the core from the cauliflower. Cut it into little florets and put them in your food processor (I used our Vitamix). Pulse until the pieces have the size of rice. (If you don't have a Vitamix or other food processor you can grate the florets using a cheese grater).

Place everything in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes. You don't need to add water for cooking process. (Or use a pan to cook it, if you don't have a microwave). 

If your pizza is going to be smaller you can freeze the leftover riced cauliflower.

How to make the crust:

Preheat your oven to 450 degree. 

Mix the riced cauliflower together with the cheese, the 3 (beaten) eggs and season it with 1 Tbs Oregano and 1 Tbs minced garlic. (Or how ever you prefer to season it). 

Transfer the mixture on a baking sheet (ours is 15 1/2" x 10") and spread it out with your hands and create your pizza crust. Place it in the oven and bake it for 15 minutes.

Once you have baked the dough you can start adding the tomato sauce, your choice of toppings and cheese! You can use canned tomato sauce. I like to make our own one. Chop up your tomato in your choice of blender and season it with minced Garlic, Sea Salt, Pepper, Oregano or your choice of spices). Note: Your toppings have to be precooked before you place them on the pizza because it's just going to be in the oven for a few minutes. Place it underneath the broiler on high until the cheese is melted. (I personally don't use cheese on my piece since it's already in the crust).

Inspired by: Eat-Drink-Smile