Prep

So, the other day I posted about my goal for this week: to make (and drink) green smoothies every day for breakfast.  It's healthy, portable, and perfect for an on-the-go breakfast.

This morning, I made a menu for every breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the week.  Grocery list in hand, I made my weekly shopping trip today, and got everything I needed for the week, including fruit and spinach for my smoothies.  As I was putting my groceries away, I got to thinking.... I have to be at school before 7 am every day.  I am not a morning person.  Will this discourage me from making smoothies each day?

So, instead of getting overwhelmed, I got practical.  I went ahead and prepped everything I needed for the entire week!  Here is everything I purchased, although I already had the random kiwi and the frozen fruit.  I will say that I normally use Almond Milk instead of greek yogurt, but the store was slam out of the almond milk I usually get in the pint-size, and I knew I couldn't use 1/2 a gallon in 7 days, so I got the Fage for my protein instead of the almond milk.  I love Greek yogurt, so I know I'll devour that by the end of the week, even if I'm only putting a little bit in my smoothies!

I decided to prep my strawberries because they were super-duper ripe and wasn't sure how long they would last.  Even though these are "green" smoothies, I just felt weird using the greenery on the strawberries, so I tore that off and halved or quartered the strawberries.  I used all of the strawberry, except for the few that had some soft/spoiled parts.

I divided the strawberries and put a cup in two different containers.  This way, I can just grab one for each day I'm using strawberries in my smoothie.  Then I sprinkled the strawberries with a few spoonfuls of sugar to help them keep over the next few days, and make that delicious strawberry juice.  Mmmm.

Next I prepped my lemons and limes.  The recipes I've used in the past called for the zest and the meat, but not the hard white stuff between the two.  So I went ahead and zested the fruits and will cut off the white part when I de-seed them to throw them in the blender.

Next, I went ahead and cut two bananas in half and froze them.  A few days, I'll probably use a whole, fresh banana, but some recipes call for 1/2 a banana, and the frozen part helps make it a thick consistency, so I decided to have both on hand.

Finally, I separated the spinach into 5 baggies so I could grab one each day.  Easy peasy lemon breezy!  

Finally, here is the prepped fruit all laid out in my fridge!  I'm so excited and can't wait for the week to begin.  I will most definitely keep you updated on my progress!

Next on my agenda today: cooking up some quinoa so I have my lunch for Monday and Tuesday, then I will be making my vlog!  I am participating in a vlogging link up party and I am so excited!!

Next Week's Goal

I'm hoping if I write a post about my goal for next week, it will come to fruition.  So, fingers crossed, next week will be successful.

When I was writing my soap-box blog solely about weight-loss, I wrote a few posts about green smoothies.  I loved making green smoothies - they were so yummy and kept me full and healthy and I felt really good.  And, even though this isn't a focus for me now, I lost weight while I was drinking them.

One big reason I stopped making smoothies daily is I was tired of washing my blender every day.  For some reason, it just seemed overwhelming to me.  Also (and I know I'm an airhead), I didn't know that the blender came apart for easier washing.  How did I not know this?  The *whole* thing comes apart so you can scrub the blades.  This discovery did make my life much easier!

So, my goal for next week (and really, the next 5 weeks) is to drink a green smoothie every day.  I am starting a 5-week substitute teacher position and will have to be at school at 7 am every day.  I've been struggling to come up with a healthy breakfast that I can eat on the go and this seems to be a perfect fit.  Plus, it will help me get in my fruits and veggies every day because I've been struggling getting those daily requirements in.... thank goodness for pre-natal vitamins.  Also, they take like, 3 minutes to make and are super portable.  Last time, I used kale as my primary base; a few times I used parsley.  I have been on a huge spinach kick lately, so I plan to use baby spinach as my leafy green this go-round.  A bag of it is relatively cheap and it should last almost a whole week.

My goal for this weekend is to sit down and plan a week's worth of healthy smoothies, lunches, and snacks since it'll be like I have a real job again for a little while.  On Sunday, I'll go buy everything and prep what needs to be prepped.  That way, during the week, I can reach out and grab whatever I need to throw in the blender that day.

Hopefully, this will give my little nugget a surge of good vitamins and get me more healthy as I prep for motherhood.  I can't believe I'm almost at my halfway point.  So, next week, make sure you stay on top of me and ask me about my smoothies!  Make sure I'm being healthy.  What's good for mamma is good for baby, and I want to make sure my baby gets all kinds of goodness.

Pound Foolish #1 - Naughty, Naughty

So, I am currently doing my student teaching internship at a elementary school in Hampton.  I was at a staff meeting one day and read some data gathered through a survey given to the fifth graders about what they liked and didn't like about their school.  One kid wrote "THE FOOD IS NAUGHTY".  Caps included.  Which put me in a fit of giggles, I barely composed myself in time for the meeting to start.  I found it hilarious on so many levels.  On the one hand, the lessons taught in language arts about synonyms got through to this kid.  However. s/he must have been asleep during the part about syntax.  Or, maybe there is some stuff going on that I don't know about in the cafeteria.  I mean, I haven't been at this particular school during lunch.  Maybe the food causes some drama..... the carrots simply refuse to mingle with the peas; hot dogs refuse to be placed on a stick and dunked in batter... flat out chaos.

However, after my giggles died down and I started to think about it in terms of my struggle with eating healthy.  The food IS naughty.  I mean seriously.  If a person tempted us, made us struggle against our will power, and did something to adversely affect our health, they would be considered a bad influence.  Afterall, peer pressure is naughty.  And succumbing to a craving is sort of like peer pressure, right?  Ipso facto - Food is naughty.

Maybe this kid is on to something.........