My current goals are to eat more salads, find good fruit and vegetables in the winter, continue to exercise and follow my nutrition plan through the holidays and the winter season.
Living a healthy lifestyle has definitely made me feel more confident in all areas of my life. I feel like I am a more positive person and more encouraging of others. I have more energy to do all the things in life I want to do!
Strategies that have been most helpful to me:
- Meal planning and prep every week
- Bringing my snacks and lunches to work everyday and cooking at home
- Food journaling-I’ve food journaled 158 days in a row!
- Signing up for classes in advance each week
- Not using food as a reward or celebration or as a stress buster!
I have a lot of favorite foods, that’s one of the problems! My recent most favorite recipes:
Roasted Vegetables
- 1 lg Vidalia or sweet onion
- 1 lb carrots
- 2 medium zucchini
- 1 bag of cut butternut squash (such as Trader Joe’s)
- 2 cups of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 3 T olive oil
- ¼ cup goat cheese crumbled (optional)
- Egg, fried (optional)
- Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut all veggies into bite-sized (1”) chunks or wedges. Add onions and carrots to a large roasting pan or casserole. Add 1-2 T of olive oil, salt and pepper and toss. Roast for 25 minutes, stirring once. Add zucchini and butternut squash. Add 1 T olive oil and toss. Roast for another 15 minutes. Add tomatoes and roast for 10 more minutes.
To serve as a main dish: top each serving of roasted vegetables with a 1 tsp of goat cheese and a fried egg. Can also serve on ½ cup cooked quinoa. Leftovers also work great as a savory breakfast or easy lunch.
Tofu Tacos (adapted from Mark Bittman)
I know many people do not love tofu, but this is a great way to make it if you want to give it a try!
- 8 6” soft corn tortillas
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 1 small red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 T chopped garlic
- Salt and pepper
- 1-1 ½ lb of firm tofu
- 1 T taco seasoning (salt-free if possible)
- Juice from 1-2 limes
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro
- ¼ cup chopped scallions
- 1-2 avocados, sliced
Heat olive oil in a skillet. Cook onion, red pepper, and garlic 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Crumble tofu in pan (with your hands) and cook, stirring/scraping pan until tofu browns, about 20 minutes. Add taco seasoning and ½ of lime juice.
Cook corn tortillas in a 350 degree oven until warm and slightly crisp (about 6 minutes).
To make tacos: On each corn tortilla, add 2 T tofu mixture, cilantro, scallions, lime juice, and sliced avocado."
