Breakfast
Kodiak Cake Frozen Waffles with Strawberries and Whipped Cream

I could not resist these when I saw them at Sam's Club. The vanilla and cinnamon ones taste like a waffle cone! When we run out of strawberries, I plan on cutting up a pineapple and topping the waffles with that and some coconut milk whipped cream!

Lunch
Turkey and cheese on a whole grain wrap with spinach and pickles, broccoli, strawberries and blueberries, hard boiled egg, almonds, and Reese's peanut butter cup cookies

Afternoon Snack
Blueberries and almonds

Dinner
Petite sirloins, baked potatoes, and spinach salad with blueberries, pecans, and goat cheese
Mustard-Dill Pork Chops, Leftover Potatoes, and Asparagus
Chicken Stir Fry with Broccoli and Carrots over Cauliflower Rice
Carne Asada and Bell Pepper Lettuce Wraps with Jicama and Guacamole
Slow Cooker Beef Ragout over Spaghetti Squash
Shrimp Scampi
Leftovers or Takeout

Dessert

Ice Cream

Shakeology
Peaches and Cream

That's it for this week. I would love any feedback or ideas!

Menu Plan Monday

It's been a REALLY long time since I did one of these. But, like everyone else, my family and I trying to eat a little more healthily. One of the big things is eating actual breakfast, not just grabbing something quick on the way out the door. I'll try and remember to link all the recipes I can.

Breakfast
Hard Boiled Eggs, Avocado Toast, and Fruit

This is a great way to use up those leftover Easter eggs! Dennis and I finally broke down and tried avocado toast. I mashed together 1/2 an avocado, a squirt of lime juice, and some kosher salt and then spread it on two slices of whole grain bread. Oh, and then I sprinkled it with some black pepper. We still have some enormous oranges left over from the bag that we bought last week, so I segmented one of those and he and I shared it. The girlies are not avocado fans, and Safeway kindly gave me a coupon for a free loaf of Pepperidge Farm swirl bread, so the got toasted cinnamon swirl bread and half of one of the giant oranges.

Lunch
Turkey sandwich, carrots, grapes, string cheese, and leftover Easter candy (for the kids only, since the hubs and I are off sugar until June)

Afternoon Snack
Carrots and Olive Dip

I substituted Greek yogurt for the mayonnaise in the olive dip recipe

Dinner
Easter Dinner (Not going to go into too much detail on this one)
Grilled Cuban Citrus Chicken Breasts and Spinach Salad with Mango, Walnuts, and Goat Cheese
Petite Sirloins, Mashed Potatoes, and Spinach Salad
Mustard-Dill Pork Chops, Leftover Potatoes, and Asparagus
Chicken Stir Fry with Broccoli and Carrots over Cauliflower Rice
Carne Asada and Bell Pepper Lettuce Wraps with Jicama and Guacamole
Leftovers or Takeout

There's no fancy recipe for the chicken breasts. I found a cuban citrus marinade at Safeway that is put out by Food Network. The carne asada came pre-marinated from the meat counter at Sprouts.

Dessert

Easter Pie

I kind of got away from Shakeology and I have a pretty good size backstock of it, so I am going to try replacing my lunch with a shake since I am frequently eating lunch alone. This week I am going to try making Peaches and Cream shakes.

That's it for this week. I would love any feedback or ideas!

Time To Get Serious

The big 4 - 0 has arrived and brought a lot of major life changes with it. My oldest DD graduated from high school. We followed my hubby's dream job to Arizona and bought a house that we have been renovating. And the biggest thing to rock my world - I went from a stay-at-home mom of 18+ years to working full time. To say it has been stressful would be the world's biggest understatement. My old foes anxiety and the need to please everyone resurfaced and dug in. I started falling back into old unhealthy patterns of binge eating and comforting myself with sweets. By September, I found that my jeans no longer fit.

I reached out on Facebook and a couple of old friends reached back. They have been very patiently waiting on me to get my head in the right place to focus on climbing back out of the abyss. I don't know when the switch flipped, but sometime this weekend, it did. I feel like I have a handle on things at work, and I have developed a daily schedule using time blocking that, in theory, will allow me to accomplish everything that I want to accomplish in a day. Most importantly, though I've remembered that if some of those things don't get done, that it's ok. The world won't come to a screeching halt. No one is going to think less of me if the house isn't clean or if I call for a pizza instead of making a healthy, well-balanced dinner for my family.

My biggest challenge in this upcoming journey is going to be not getting ahead of myself. Not setting myself up for failure by trying to change everything all at once and then beating myself up when I don't live up to my own expectations. It's a pattern that I am going to have to break out of. My family is on board - in fact, my hubby has been super encouraging. So, I think I am finally ready to do this thing for real.

My goal for today was to set up this blog / online journal / whatever it ends up being. So, mission accomplished.

Tomorrow's goals are going to be to drink at least 3 of my Yeti cups full of water, take starting measurements and before photos, and walk the dog as soon as I get home from work. Tomorrow will also be the first day of following my new schedule and seeing where it needs adaptation. I'm not sure if I will check in here everyday or not. So, until then....