Daily Manna: pancakes, rest day, and a muffin recipe!

Well hello there! I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend and are having fun gearing up for Christmas! I know I am! My hubby and I decorated our apartment and we are so excited to celebrate our first Christmas together! I love everything about this season and am looking forward to many cozy nights sipping tea and watching Christmas movies! :) 

I thought I'd bring back my daily manna posts from...um...about 2 years ago? I used to write these daily posts as a journal to myself and I absolutely loved them! But, life got in the way, which is typically the case, and I didn't give this blog the attention it deserves. Blogging is near and dear to my heart so I definitely want to take care of my blog more and give you more content to read! 

And with that said...here is today's daily manna!  

Today was a rest day for me workout-wise. I don't take nearly enough rest days as I should, and since I felt a little under the weather earlier this week, I decided to take it easy on my body. So, I started my day out with quiet time with Jesus and read and journaled. Then I whipped up my shakeology and sipped on yummy superfoods! 

I blended a scoop of vegan chocolate Shakeology with coconut milk and ice...so good!  

I decided to make my hubby and I some pancakes since I had some extra time in the morning (I am a super early riser). I used the gluten free pumpkin pancake mix from Trader Joe's and mixed in oats and flaxseed for some extra fiber and healthy fats! I topped these babies up with sunflower seed butter (I'm obsessed). They hit the spot!  

Around 9am, I definitely needed something warm since our office was freezing! I had an extra tea bag from sbux (I usually order grandes with just one tea bag and sometimes the kind souls at Starbucks let you take the second tea bag home!) so I boiled some water and snuggled in my office chair with my tea. I also had a Larabar but forgot to take a picture of it...sad day! 

After a busy morning meeting with patients, it was time for lunch! 

Lentil veggie stew with brown rice and a side of carrots. And for dessert...kiwi! I love kiwis!  

Work ended pretty quickly in the afternoon and once I got home and did an inventory of our fridge, I grabbed my purse and headed to sprouts. We literally only had kale and quinoa in the fridge, and I knew we needed some more supplies! I love going to the grocery store when I'm NOT in a hurry, and this afternoon provided me with that opportunity! I walked along each and every aisle and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I also snacked on some almond because PSA: do not go grocery shopping hungry!  

Almonds yummmm :)  

I got home and organized our fridge and pantry and settled down to some Netflix time. I love being productive when I'm home (and I DID clean the kitchen floor!) but today, rest was calling to me, and I listened. 

Until...baking called my name. I have been wanting to experiment with spelt flour lately, so I decided to whip up some almond blueberry muffins. I just basically threw what I had into a bowl and hoped for the best! The recipe went something like this: 

Makes 9 muffins:

1/2 cup spelt flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup applesauce

1 T coconut oil

1 whole egg

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup baking stevia (or sugar) 

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

I mixed the batter thoroughly, poured the batter in 9 muffin tins, and then baked them on 350 for about 20-25 minutes (I've found the baking time REALLY depends on your oven, so check with a toothpick!). While I waited for these to bake, I whipped up a quick dinner. 

I had made the quinoa and black beans yesterday, so dinner was a breeze tonight (yay for meal prep). Basically cooked quinoa and added a can of cuban black beans and about 1/2 cup fresh salsa (laziest dinner ever). So for today, I made a huge salad (massaged kale, romaine, cucumbers, and tomatoes with olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic salt), with the quinoa-bean mix, and a small handful of rice chips! This dinner hit the spot and left me feeling satisfied and happy! 

And a little bit after dinner, it was time to taste-test my muffin. I smeared it with a bit of Justin's vanilla almond butter which legit tastes like frosting...SO GOOD! And I'll definitely be baking with spelt from now on! Some benefits of spelt include its high fiber and protein content, and how abundant it is in important minerals such as iron, zinc, and B vitamins! Plus the spelt flour gave these muffins a crunchy top and a soft and fluffy middle...just the way I like it!

After my delicious muffin, I cleaned up the rest of the kitchen and am now enjoying some quiet time waiting for my hubby to get home. On Thursday nights, he leads a small group bible study for high school guys in our home, so I plan on heading to our bedroom and having some quiet time, reading, and journaling, then hopefully dozing off and getting a good night's rest for my Disneyland day tomorrow! I'm oh so excited! 

It truly was such a good day today. It's so important to look for the good in every day and gather the blessings God lays before us, just as the Israelites gathered the manna God provided for them. I am so grateful today for my job, my coworker, my sweet bosses, my husband, and our quaint little apartment. I'm thankful for my clients who bring such joy into my life and are KILLING it with their healthy lifestyle habits this week during our challenge. Lastly, I'm so very thankful for my relationship with Jesus and the grace and restoration He has shown a broken girl like me. His love is SO sweet! 

I hope you all have a restful evening...it's FriYAY tomorrow!! :) 

Adding Variety to Meal Planning

I've heard it said time and time again that the more simple you keep your meals, the higher the chances that you will stick to your healthy eating goals. While I agree with this to some extent, I do think there are a few exceptions to this piece of advice. Keeping meals simple helps us when we are planning because we don't have to overthink what we want to eat. I know that I do this from time to time, especially during busy weeks. If I have some of my beloved frozen turkey burgers from Trader Joe's in my freezer, BOOM, meals for the week. If I have some sausage and sweet potatoes, I whip up a casserole and call it a day. But sometimes, especially when you are finding yourself eating out of boredom and dreading your next meal, it's time to rethink the mundane simplicity of your every day, go-to meals.

I've been feeling this kind of boredom lately. And I am a big lover of food, so when I don't look forward to my next meal...it's a problem. I realized that all I've been eating are salads with the same dressing, and some kind of protein, usually my turkey burgers. I love those turkey burgers, but sometimes, a girl needs some variety! These past few weeks, I have been giving myself so many more options when it comes to my meals. My only "rules" are gluten free (I started sneaking that pesky bugger in during and after the holidays...not a good idea), and minimal sugars, processed carbs, and processed foods in general. All else is totally game.

Let's start with breakfast. Usually, I eat veggie scrambles. Every. Single. Day. And while I love eggs, eggs every day can get a tad bit repetitive. Last week, I made some protein pancakes instead. I hadn't made pancakes in FOREVER, and I decided that I would make them again. They don't take that long to make, and are still healthy when you pack them with some protein (I used Jaime Eason's Lean Body for Her Vanilla Whey; best whey I've ever tasted!). These turned out great and added some nice variety to my morning.

I also hadn't had oats in what felt like a very long time, so yesterday morning, I microwaved my oats (short-on-time syndrome) and topped them with some chopped walnuts and blueberries. This kept me full for a WHILE and I thoroughly enjoyed my warm mushy breakfast.

And speaking of blueberries, I've just been having them as a snack lately too! On Saturday, I was pretty hungry in the mid morning, but it was almost lunch time and I didn't want too much to fill me up. So I opted for a nice bowl of bloobs and they hit the spot!

Lastly, last night, I decided to have a vegetarian dinner. I am a huge, HUGE, meat eater. I was actually vegetarian a few years back in grad school, but because of some of the health problems I experienced, I decided to add meat back into my life, and I have never looked back. But as much as I love meat, having it at every single meal can get annoying and kind of gross. Last night, I heated up a can of Amy's Organic low sodium lentil vegetable soup. I added a WHOLE lot of spinach to the pot to make it more vegetable-y (yes, it's a word), and the spinach of course shrank. Then, I added a bag of Trader Joe's frozen brown rice. The whole meal was ready in about 5 minutes, made two servings so I am all set for lunch today, and is the perfect winter stew!

If you want to add more variety to your meals while still keeping them healthy, I recommend getting started in a few easy steps:

1. Take inventory of what you have at home. I realized I have so much frozen tilapia, chicken, grass fed beef, and a mahi mahi burger that are just waiting to get eaten. You can season these meats up differently every time you cook them and get a different flavor each time.

2. Make a list of all the meals you could make adding and combining these foods. I brainstormed that I could use the chicken as a stir-fry with vegetables and some coconut aminos, I could make it into a vegetable casserole, or I could eat it with some marinara sauce and lentils (such a great combination!) I could make the grass fed beef into taco meat, or into little sausage patties. There are so many things we could create if we actually knew the foods we had on hand!

3. Start today. Start changing up your schedule today. You can still eat healthy foods while adding variety to your meals and not getting stuck in the same patterns every day. For me, getting stuck causes me to reach for variety in the form of not so healthy foods. I'd rather change up my daily meals knowing that they are still healthy and look forward to eating every day of my life!

I hope this helps someone out there who finds themselves in a food rut! What is your go-to meal every day, and what do you think you could do to spice up your meal plan a bit?