Health Made Simple, Days 25-28

Another successful weekend on the Health Made Simple plan (well, sort of — I definitely had some beer and brunch treats, but overall, I ate really well).

Thursday morning started with another banana walnut smoothie (no pic), followed by a morning snack of fruit at my desk (plus, some extra-strong coffee because I was extra-sleepy on Thursday morning — trying to stick with one cup a day, but sometimes, I need that extra boost). Lunch was another Orange Tofu Tahini Wrap with baked tofu, mandarin oranges, tahini, pickled onion, red cabbage, and romaine. I made some Roasted Potato Wedges (from the Health Made Simple plan) on the side. They're oil-free!

In the afternoon, my co-worker Madelyn gifted me a yummy chocolate bar (she's gotten a huge shipment of chocolate from her sister, who co-runs this chocolate company with her husband). As far as I'm concerned, dark chocolate is the healthiest/awesome-ist dessert you can have!

I also snacked on crackers and hummus that afternoon, followed by a dinner of Lisa's Lentil Soup from the HMS plan. A solid, tasty lentil soup on a cold night! This had spinach, tomato, and quinoa.

Friday morning started with bootcamp (after a pre-workout Larabar)! I haven't been to bootcamp since I fractured my foot, but it's doing much better. And I was able to take the class with a few modifications (no jumping jacks or high knee touches). After my workout, I had my little white rice post-workout snack. And then later, my breakfast of a greens-fruit-flax smoothie (no pic). 

Morning snack was a fruit bowl, and lunch was leftover lentil soup. Afternoon snack was baked corn chips (made in the air fryer using homemade tortillas) with salsa. Dinner on Friday night was super weird, but it was really good! We had Veggie Burger Tostadas on the plan. 

They recommended the more whole foods-y burgers, like Sunshine or Dr. Praeger's. I went with Sunshine because they only have a handful of ingredients that are all real foods! Served on a corn tortilla with ketchup, mustard, cashew cheese, and pickled onion. The whole thing went in the broiler, so it browned the cashew cheese and made the tortilla all toasty. I had a salad on the side.

On Saturday morning, I woke up early and made gluten-free Whole Grain Pancakes (oat, almond, and chickpea flour) with berries and maple.

We had a Crosstown neighborhood clean-up that morning, so these kept me satisfied for that. The clean-up crew met and ended at Crosstown Brewing Co., so of course I had to have a post-clean-up beer (at 11 am, why not?). Then I headed home and made a snack of a banana-walnut smoothie.

Lunch was another veggie burger tostada, and then I cleaned my house and ran some errands (snacking on a fruit bowl in the car). Dinner was Sweet Potato & Chickpea Curry over brown rice. This was sooooo good! It had a coconut milk base with tomatoes and peas. Yum!

That powered me through the rest of the night, which was spent attending a few Halloween events. I went to the Crosstown Booo-zy Bar Crawl and the Black Lodge Halloween Ritual party — all within blocks of my house! I dressed as a New Kids on the Block fan because I just bought tickets to see them (with Salt-n-Pepa, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, and Naughty By Nature) in May!

Here's me with a GLOW wrestler (Megan) and Spiderman (Paul).

I had several beers that night, so it was great to wake up on Sunday to a cleansing fruit bowl! This had banana, plums, and strawberries. I kept it light because we had brunch plans Sunday morning.

We met some friends at Fuel for our pal Don's fourth Lulu's Pop-Up Brunch. This one had a mushroom theme (mushroom steak and tofu eggs were on the menu!). I went with the Brunch BBQ Sandwich with smoked BBQ oyster mushrooms and slaw on a homemade English muffin. Side of crispy potatoes. So good! Paul and I brought our own champage for mimosas too because brunch!

Still pretty whole foods-y for a meal out, right? Sure, it had white bread, but it was handmade by Don, a master baker. Totally worth it! 

My afternoon snack was bell peppers with cashew ranch. And finally, for dinner, Paul and I had another HMS entree of Portabella Mushroom Ragout over whole wheat spaghetti. This homemade (oil-free!) sauce was loaded with portabella mushrooms. SO GOOD. I topped mine with a little cashew cheese. We ate this on the back patio since the weather was so lovely last night.

Another great weekend gone by!