A Walk in the Park

Ugh, it's Monday already.

We had a beautiful weekend in Houston, with temps finally beginning to feel like fall. For a few days anyway--they're forecasting mid-80's again by the end of this week. Blah.

Sundays are always busy for me, although they start out lazy. Ever since we finally gave in and started going to the 11:00 service at church (we had been getting to the 9:00 service...at 9:30), the mornings have gotten more relaxed. After church it's home for lunch and naps (for the kids), and laundry and cooking for daddy and me.

Every Sunday, I chop up a bunch of vegetables to roast for the week.  Lately, my veggies of choice have been brussel sprouts, zucchini, eggplant, and broccoli or cauliflower (broccoli this week). Sometimes I throw in some mushrooms too. I've also been cutting up and roasting a squash; this week it is acorn (might be my fave).  I toss the vegetables in coconut oil and Bragg's Seasonings and roast them at 400 for about 15 minutes (sometimes longer for the brussel sprouts and cauliflower).  I quartered the acorn squash, scooped out the goop, rubbed it with coconut oil, and roasted it for about 45 minutes at 425. I usually end up with 2 big cooking sheets of roasted vegetables, plus the squash. Since no one else in my family eats them, they last me all week. I'll take a quarter of a squash and about a cup of veggies to work, toopped with hemp seeds and pumpkin seeds, then heat it up and toss it in a tahini nooch sauce (tahini, nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, and water, courtesy of Powercakes ) or a curry hum-nooch sauce (hummus, nutritional yeast, curry powder, courtesy of fortheloveofkale).

Sometimes I'll eat the veggies and the squash as part of a HUGE salad, with spinach/kale, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, avocado, raw sauerkraut, and anything else I've got in my fridge!

Last night, I made this lovely plate:

Topped my veggies and squash with a fried egg (over easy so the yolk spilled out...YUMMM!), Sriacha, and hemp seeds.  The kids and the husband were enjoying a Papa John's pizza, but I'm pretty sure that my dinner tasted better. I did share some of my broccoli with the littlest one and my son had some sugar snap peas. I always insist that they have a veggie or a fruit with lunch and dinner!

It's crazy, but even a month ago, that pizza would have been incredibly hard for me to resist, despite the bloated feeling that would immediately follow.  And although I did sneak one bite last night, I really had no desire to join in the pizza-eating.  The way my body responds to plant-based foods is SOO much better...it's not worth the pain!

I was planning on cooking dinner last night, but the weather beckoned us outside so we went for a little hike

Our mile and a half walk took us about 45 minutes thanks to our psychotic dog (who freaks out at the sight of any other dog) and my lovely little girl, who had to pause about every 10 feet to draw an "X" in the dirt with a stick.  But it was worth it! Love these precious times with them!

Since Sundays are my day off from my workouts, the hike was my excercise for the day. This morning, I was back at the gym bright and early for a 20 minute HIIT workout on the treadmill followed by the 5 minute plank workout from PurelyTwins (it's a killer!!) and a quick back session comprised of 2 supersets:

Superset 1:  One-armed rows with dumbbell, 15x/side
                   Assisted pull-ups, 15x          repeat Superset 3x
 Superset 2:  Seated rows, 12x
                   Lat pull-downs, 15x             repeat Superset 3x

Today is Meatless Monday, which means the whole family eats vegetarian! Hooray! I'm planning on making a new soup recipe. I'll post it if it turns out well :)

In the mean time, please follow me on Instagram if you're interested in following my nutrition/fitness journey. I'm obsessed with IG!! My IG name is brookeeking.

Have a blessed day!