Road Trip Pick & Nix: Breakfast

You’re excited, get up early make sure you haven’t forgotten anything and get in the car. En Route for [fill in the blank]. Haven’t had breakfast yet? No problem, there’s always a rest stop around…

We all know the nutritional dangers that road-trips can bring, and sometimes packing a cooler with healthy meals just doesn’t seem right. So when facing the Golden Arch and its fellow competitors, you CAN get something healthy but still get that special occasion feeling.

But beware: sometimes a healthy-sounding option is just the opposite!

Check-out the Breakfast Compilation

1. STARBUCKS
   Pick
   • Oatmeal (140 cal) + Nut Medley topping (100 cal) – watch the dried fruit topping it has a lot of added sugars.
   • Tall Skinny Vanilla Late (90 cal)
   • Egg White, Spinach & Feta Wrap (280 calories, beware: 900mg sodium – 39%)
   • 8-Grain Roll (350 calories, 5g dietary fibers-20%, 10g protein, watch it:21 g sugar)

   Nix
   

   • Yogurt Parfaits (They are all above 30g of sugar)
   • Lowfat Red Raspberry Muffin(340 calories, 37g sugars !!!)
   • Zucchini Walnut Muffin (490 calories, 28g sugars, 28g fat-44%)
   • Any drinks with “cream” in it!

2. SUBWAY
   Pick
   
   • Egg Muffin Melt w/ egg whites, black forest ham and cheese (160 calories, 4g fat, 15g protein)
     

   Nix

   • 6″Omelet Sandwich – even with egg whites! (all around 1400mg sodium and more!)
3. MCDONALD
   Pick
   
   • Hotcakes w/0 syrup or margarine (350 calories, 8g protein, 10% fiber)
   • Fruit n’ yogurt parfait w/ granola (160 calories, 4g protein, watch it: 21g sugar)

   Nix
   

   • Egg McMuffin (although only 300 calories, it packs 260mg of cholesterol – 87%)
   • Hotcake syrup (180 calories, 32g sugars)

When’s the last time you went on a road-trip? Any go-to morning favorites?

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Cinco de Mayo Recap

Last night, I ended up staying in and cooking some healthi(er) mexican food along with some not-so-healthy margaritas!

I made one of the recipe listed in my last post :

The Chilaquiles Casserole

Very quick & easy, this recipe called for enchilada sauce, which my grocery store did NOT have (!?!?) so I had to make some alterations, but the result was ASTONISHING!

– 1 Tbsp olive oil (I use a posto-infused one… mmm!)
– 1 medium spanish onion, choppped
– 1 medium zucchini, grated
– 1 15.5 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed (takes some sodium away!)
– 1 1/2 cups corn, frozen
– 1 (and more) tsp ground cumin
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 12 corn tortillas, quartered (I use the smaller ones and lower-cal.)
– 1 1/4 cups shredded fat-free cheddar cheese
– The sauce:  (an improvised mix of)

1. Ace Hot sauce
2. Salsa Ranchera
3. Taco sauce
4. Mandras simmer sauce (by Seeds of change)*
5. Jalfrez simmer sauce (by Seeds of change)

The result was a spicy and ultra flavorful, tangy-ish sauce…

Accompanied by a very simple spinach-mango salad with white-wine vinegar & poppy seeds homemade dressing, it was VERY good!
Sadly the picture of the actual food looks more like a blob covered in cheese, (and I thought of taking the picture AFTER we destroyed it…) but if you really want to see it, here…

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* Seeds of Change simmer sauces are soooo good! and pretty healthy 🙂

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Getting Back on Track

Do you ever feel those last two days/weeks/months have been everything BUT healthy? no exercise, a lot of “specials”… And at this point, getting back on track seems almost impossible – especially that first step, right?

Well, I’ve got news (or just a reminder) for you: not only is it “possible”, but it’s actually very doable!

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Step #1: Acknowledge that it starts Here and Now. Not tomorrow after that business trip of yours.

Step #2: Identify that barrier between you and your exercise: is it physical, psychological or a hibrid of both?

• Ex: It’s been three days  I have not exercised at all and have not been eating well to say the least – I STILL feel full and bloated, etc. Even my daily gigantic water intake was out the window!
  Needless to explain how I feel… but it’d be pretty close to an old, dried-up, very slow… something!
  Just the thought of going on a 5 miles run seems to be straight out of a Fairy Tale/Fantasy book… Heck, I’m not even sure I could do a mile right now!
  As sad and pathetic as this is, I KNOW I don’t have a choice: the more I wait, the harder it’s gonna be, and quite frankly, I can’t bare the thought of anything harder than that, so onto phase #3!

Step #3: Fix it, step by step!

Here’s what I’m gonna do:

1. Pick up my dear bottle of water and never let it leave my side… ever again! (OK – maybe just for the next couple of days)
2. Go for a walk with my new BFF Aquafina. That will make me realize my legs are still capable of moving (thank god!) and well it’s a great way to fill that lunch hour!
3. Finally, I feel almost ready to tackle the monster: I lace-up my running shoes, do 10-20 push-ups to get the blood flowing (really it just makes me feel really BAD-ASS!!) and head-out the door… Without giving a chance to my mind to convince me otherwise! I’m not going all out, just a nice and short run is enough to get my motivation back on track so tomorrow I’ll have a great souvenir of it and will want to do it all-over again!

OK: I talk the talk, now onto walking the walk! – Literally 😉

What are your “Back on Track” stories and tricks?

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No Pasta Spaghetti

Super quick and easy, this tasty recipe is perfect for a healthy but hearty dinner. The main ingredient? Spaghetti Squash! I used to have it as a kid, and I just loved it!

So here it is, the one meal I’ll ever steal from my mom. (sorry mom ;-))
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.Ingredients:

– 1 spaghetti squash
– Your favorite tomato sauce (with meat or not)
– 1 cup grated cheese (I use Parmesan and Romano)
– olive oil
– salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Slice your squash in half lengthwise; If you want to make individual portions, slice each half again lengthwise, yielding 4 single little “boats”.
2. Add the sauce in each pieces (half or quarters), and sprinkle with cheese, salt and pepper. Return to the oven for 45 min. or until the cheese is golden brown.
3. Enjoy!

No Pasta Spaghetti

What was your favorite meal as a kid, and do you still make it?

– Kloé

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Turkey, Kale and Bean Soup

I made this soup last week, and it is GOOD! simple yet so flavorful and it contains more than enough vitamin K, A and C and a fair amount of calcium. You can make a bigger batch and freeze it for those days you don’t have time to cook. (That’s what I did)

You will need:

• one turkey breast
• 3 cups of fat-free and less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (14.5 oz) can no salt added diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 4 to 6 cups of chopped kale
• 1 (16 oz) can navy beans (or any other white bean like Great Northern) drained
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder
• cooking spray
• (white) pepper and salt to taste

Directions:

1. Spray your pan, add the onion and brown over med-high heat. Add garlic then whole turkey breast. Splash a bit of water and brown the meat.
2. Add broth and tomatoes, bringing to a boil on High heat. Stir in Kale (and spices), reduce heat and simmer until kale is tender.
3. Meanwhile, take the turkey breast out and shred with a fork. Put back into soup. Stir in beans and cook until heated through. Yields 4 servings.

Enjoy!

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