busy bee

Now that I've been back to work for a week, I have finally realized how much I like to be busy. Yes, I do love sitting at home and I do love being alone at times, but having a (pretty much) filled up schedule helps me tackle the not-so-fun things I need to get done (like cleaning the house). I think I've done pretty well adjusting to my new schedule as a working mom - Seth is having some trouble with the adjustment (he had to get up earlier to take Avery to gramma's house every morning), but he's working on it. 

One thing that I'm sure has been helping me out so much is having my lunches and smoothies for the entire week made! This was probably one of the best ideas I've ever had, and I don't know why I didn't do it before (maybe because I didn't have a baby?).

Yesterday was an interesting day. I babysat Grace, one of our BFF couples' kids, at my mom's house while the boys were at the Tigers' game. It wasn't so bad. We only had 1 fit thrown and 1 extremely-nasty-not-from-this-planet super poop (I was laughing so hard at the nastiness that came out of Gracie, that I stopped breathing - it was intense). So, all in all, a good day. After dinner, I did my weekly grocery shopping, then headed home and whipped up this savory-sweet recipe for lunch during this week at work:

Apple Cranberry Quinoa Salad (adapted from a recipe at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice)

3/4 cup walnuts, chopped*

1 cup quinoa, uncooked

2 green apples, diced

1/2 cup dried cranberries

3/4 cup feta, crumbled (leave out for a vegan option)

6 green onions, chopped

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 tbs lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook quinoa according to directions and set aside to cool.

2. Add 1/2 cup of the walnuts, olive oil, and 2 tbs of the lemon juice to a food processor or high power blender and process until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. To a large bowl, add quinoa, apples, cranberries, green onions, feta, and the rest of the onions and toss with the remaining 1 tbs lemon juice. Add the walnut dressing and toss again, making sure to evenly coat all ingredients. 

*the actual recipe calls for the walnuts to be toasted prior to processing. I said F that because I'm lazy, but do what you want.

back to the grind

I'm going back to work tomorrow. Yay. It's almost like I can't contain the excitement (note the sarcasm). 

I lie. I'm not completely devastated to be going back to work - if I could stay home with my little one, I would, but I gotta do what I gotta do and I am looking forward to having a daily schedule again...I definitely don't hate my job. 

(But seriously, I wish I could spend all day just hanging with this cutie patootie)

In an effort to be extra healthy (and lose that extra 20 (!!!) pounds in baby weight), I took the time today to prepare my lunches for the whole week (as well as green smoothie packs and a snack). I need to try to walk on my lunch break too - we'll see how that goes, I have a LOT of work that needs to be caught up on, 7 weeks' worth. 

So I've been doing my research and (you know all about it if you follow me on Pinterest) I've found tons of recipes for simple, healthy lunches that I can make up on Sundays to last me the entire week. Here's what I came up with for this week:

Black and White Quinoa Salad

1 cup quinoa

1 can black beans (drained/rinsed)

1 can white beans (drained/rinsed - I used great white northern, you could sub navy or chickpeas)

1 cucumber (diced)

1/4 cup cilantro (chopped)

1 small red onion (I omitted this because Kroger didn't have any...I know, whaaat??)

Dressing: 

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tbs apple cider vinegar

2 tbs lime juice

2 1/2 tsp chili powder (courtesy of my friend Ashley - I didn't have any. Thanks, Ashley!)

1 clove garlic (minced)

1 tbs Italian seasoning 

1 1/2 tsp onion powder

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook quinoa as directed.

In a large bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients. Add beans, veggies, and cooked quinoa and mix thoroughly. 

This made about 6 cups - the perfect amount to cover my entire work week!

In addition to this yummy lunch, I made up green smoothie freezer packs - enough for 10 (!!!) smoothies! That means I have 2 weeks of smoothies ready to go!

Here's what you need:

5 green apples (peeled and diced)

5 bananas (peeled and sliced)

A bunch of kale (destemmed/chopped)

A bunch of parsley (chopped)

Each bag will contain:

1/2 apple

1/2 banana

1 cup kale (tightly packed)

1/4 cup parsley (loosely packed)

These can be thrown in the freezer until you're ready to use them! Just add to the blender with about a cup of water (im sure your fave nut milk would work too) and blend! 

Oh! I made a snack too (I was definitely on a roll today)!!

Garlic Roasted Chickpeas 

1 can chickpeas (drained/rinsed/dried ~30 minutes)

2 tbs olive oil

1 clove garlic (minced) 

2 tsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. After chickpeas are dry, add them to a bowl with other ingredients and toss to coat thoroughly. Spread chickpeas out evenly on a cookie sheet and bake until crunchy.