Roadtrip Tips

So Patrice and I had ourselves a little roadtrip this weekend. We went to a wedding in Blacksburg on Saturday and then came back Sunday to go to my sister-in-law's baby shower! I've been eating clean for about 2 weeks, so I was pretty worried that this trip would ruin that. But it didn't! And here's why:

I knew that we were going to have to eat on the road and I wasn't prepared enough to pack ahead (oopsie), so I knew we had to make some smart choices. I did bring water (heyyyyy) so that was a point for me. When we got hungry, we told ourselves we had 3 options to choose from: Subway, Chipotle, or Panera. Luckily the exit we took had all 3 and we ended up with Panera. I got an unsweetened tea and then had the roasted turkey & avocado BLT on whole wheat bread. Score.

When we got into town, I made Patrice go to Target where we purchased Greek yogurt, low-fat granola, bananas, fruit salad, and almonds for the hotel room. We snacked on the almonds while we got ready for the wedding and then on the way home the next day. We had our Greek yogurt with granola and some fruit for breakfast this morning. This was awesome for 2 reasons: 1. The hotel's breakfast was $9 a person. We paid $5 total for our breakfast so that's $13 in our pockets right there 2. We had nutritional info and knew what we were eating

Okay, back to Saturday. The wedding. Ah! Luckily I don't drink beer/wine so I stuck with iced water and had a cup of unsweetened iced tea. Dinner was a buffet and I just made really good choices. I had salad with dressing, skipped the butter/roll and rice options, had a crabcake and some steak medallions. I didn't eat too much. I feel like after weddings I always feel gross. 
When they cut the cake I think I started visibly sweating...hah! But, I took 3ish bites off my plate and then put it on the other side of the table.

Aren't we precious? 

8 words that will change your life:

WEGMAN'S ORGANIC CHICKEN SAUSAGE WITH SPINACH AND GARLIC

Okay, so maybe it won't change your life, but it will certainly change your pasta. I picked this up on a whim the other day and it was ah-mazing! I was going to put it on a whole wheat pizza...I got everything - dough, cheese, sauce, toppings and I was PUMPED to make pizza. Then I got home and remembered our oven was broken...wompwomp

So I heated it up in a dry skillet the next morning and had it on a whole wheat English muffin with an egg and it was delish! I had a hankering for pasta that night (recipe below - look at me, healthy recipes to share) and decided that the leftover sausage would be great with pasta! Per usual, I was right :)

Okay, so I had no idea how to make pasta sauce. I just bought some stuff that I thought would be good in it, and did a little chopping, sauteing, heating, and simmering, and it was delish!

^These are the veggies I decided on: 1 onion, 1 organic bell pepper, 1 pound mushrooms, 10 vine-ripened tomatoes, basil (fresh from my garden, thank you very much!), 1 stem of rosemary, garlic, and parsley (which was accidentally cilantro at first because I was rushing and didn't smell it until I got home...don't worry I went back).

1. I washed all my fruits and veggies with The Honest Company's fruit & veggie spray!
2. I cored my tomatoes and chopped them into 1-inch chunks. (FULL DISCLOSURE: I attempted to peel them and then decided it was too much work and stopped after "peeling" 1/4 of my first tomato...) These went into a big pot on med-low heat to start stewing.
   
   
   
3. Chopped the onion, pepper, and 3 cloves of garlic and sauteed them in 1 tablespoon of EVOO until they were soft. Then I added my sliced mushrooms in and sauteed for another 3-5 minutes until the shrooms were softened.
   
4. I dumped that business in with the tomatoes and simmered it for about an hour and a half. Then I chopped up the basil, rosemary, and parsley and threw that in to simmer for another half hour.
   

So easy and so, so delish! I even had some leftover. I threw 2 in the freezer (don't worry, I didn't actually throw them because, duh glass) and put 1 in the fridge for later this week. YUM

I think I'll double or triple the recipe next time so that I'll have enough to get me through winter with delicious, fresh, summer tomatoes! Who knows, maybe I'll even get crazy and learn about the actual canning process!

2 things...

A few big things happened this week...

1. I have gone 16 days without a Diet Coke. If you know me, you know that is a HUGE deal for me! I am so proud of myself.

2. Last night, I was alone for dinner. Normally I would have just ordered something or picked up drive-thru. But *drumroll please* I stopped at the store and bought organic, grass-fed beef. Now, if my father were still alive - he would have asked if I cooked/ate it. the big jerk :) And yes, I did! I put that delicious organic, grass-fed beef on a 100% whole wheat tortilla and then topped it with cheese, lettuce, pico de gallo, light sour cream, and avocado! Do you know what's even better than the fact that I made the decision to cook dinner? I felt so good about it! I didn't feel gross after fast food because I didn't eat the fast food! Yay for me! It's all about the baby steps people :)

3. I went to the doctor for a physical this morning. Now, I haven't really been good about this. After I got too old for the pediatrician, I just never got around to going. If I got sick, I just went to urgent care. I avoided it because I knew how the conversation was going to go and I didn't want to hear it. I know that I'm overweight. I know I need to stop. But until I really made the decision to change, that conversation wasn't going to have any affect on me. But I was finally ready to hear it. My blood pressure and EKG were normal (yay!) and I have an appointment to go over my bloodwork next week (fingers crossed). 

I'm really proud of myself :) And I didn't even reward myself with food and that makes me even more proud.

Gotta go cook a healthy dinner!

Also I just checked my math...that was 3 things. So sorry for the lie :-/

Getting informed

The beach is the BEST place for reading (in my humble opinion). It's a big deal to my sister, my mom, and myself to go to the library and check out books. This year I checked out 14 and brought about 6 from home. I mean, I am obviously going to read 20 books in 14 days, of course I didn't overpack!

Anyway, my reading list this year has been extremely different than in years past. I've read 1 book for pleasure, but these 3 beauties have been my main companions on the beach:

I started with The Honest Life because Katie had it with her (I have clearly since ordered my own copy and written/highlighted/post-it(ed?) everywhere in it). That book is great for getting toxic chemicals out of your life taking baby steps. Letting you know the big ones to avoid and simple swaps that will make the biggest impact. 

Next up came the Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Clean. I love this book. It explains the benefits of the lifestyle change. It gives you great tips for making little changes or helping you go cold turkey. The last 12ish chapters are dedicated to awesome clean recipes. My book is seriously dog-eared, because lets face it...I love food!

I finished reading The Everything Eating Clean Cookbook yesterday. And if I thought the idiot's guide was dog-eared, I'm not sure how to describe this one. There are amazing sounding recipes in this book! 

I cannot wait to get home and make my first trips to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Costco (just to see what they have in bulk that I can use). I think I'm getting my mom excited about eating clean, too. 

I love cooking and I love eating, and this lifestyle lets me do that 5 times a day! Winner winner :) Please don't worry, I'll post pictures of my cooking on insta @kathryncleansup