How I Get Through My Day

Stretch. I'm usually pretty stiff when I wake up in the morning. Especially if I wasn't able to exercise the day before. One of my favorite stretches to do is the Sun Salutation. 

I love this because all the poses flow into each other, it stretches my whole body and it only takes a couple minutes. I like to do the whole thing a couple times to really get a good stretch out.

Treat Yourself to a Sweet Breakfast. When I was eight, one of the first recipes I started baking regularly were blueberry muffins. What I learned from that experience was that the only way to make blueberry muffins is with fresh blueberries. Since I found this Blueberry Muffin recipe I've been anxious to get some fresh blueberries into this house. I finally got my hands of some! 

These muffins are made from spelt, a distant cousin to wheat, and don't have any sugar! I asked my brother-in-law to rate them based on a scale of 1-5 (1 being the lowest) and he gave them a 4! Yup, these are delicious! 

Bring out your Beauty. I've always had bags under my eyes. Lately they have been turning into a lovely shade of veiny blue. Nothing has been working to get them covered and then I found this!

Bobbie Brown Creamy Concealer Kit. This stuff is awesome! It's the first concealer I've tried that really covers up my bags. Yeah, my bags are still there, but they blend in my face now! Imagine that. This stuff really stays put. Even when my mascara has smeared and I've smudged it off, the concealer doesn't budge. With four steps it better not! 

Ten-Minute-Meals. When you think, "Vegan Meal", what most likely comes to your mind is, labor some, tedious, involved, well planned, tofu. But thankfully it doesn't have to be any of these things. Here is a ten-minute-meal I whipped up the other day when I was super tired and my fridge was on empty.

No Bake Enchiladas

Based off authentic style enchiladas, these are simple and pan fried. 

The main difference is I opened cans.

I found this canned enchilada sauce at our grocery store. I had to get no spicy to make it toddler friendly. This sauce is really yummy. You can use whatever you have on hand but let me just say, get a good one cause the sauce is the main contributer to the flavor of this dish. 

Fry a corn tortilla in some olive oil and a couple tablespoons of enchilada sauce until the tortilla bubbles. Flip tortilla and repeat.

I usually have some left over beans in the fridge. This time I had to open a can of black beans and warmed them in a pan. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. 

Authentic Mexican Enchiladas are served with cabbage, but I just had lettuce on hand. 

Wrap the beans in the enchiladas 

 Top it with lettuce. Quick and yummy.

When I served these to Daniel, he got a little sad that we didn't have any Tofutti sour cream on hand. Pretty terrible name, but this stuff is legitimate.  

You could also top this with tomatoes, avocados or onions. 

Have a great Monday everyone! Am I allowed to say that? Or does everyone hate Mondays too much to enjoy them? 

How I Get Through My Day

In our house, Monday's are Mandatory-Get-Our-House-Clean days. Here are some of  the things I do to get through the day.

Eat a good breakfast

I'm pretty good at sneaking veggies. My two year old loves these.

Green Strawberry Shakes

1/2 heaping cup strawberries (fresh are best or rinsed well if frozen)

1/2 of banana

1 Tablespoon Almond Butter or nut butter of your choice

1/2 cup apple juice

1/4 cup water

2 cups lettuce (or spinach) 

Yesterday I made it with blueberries and different proportions. If the right texture isn't there, this shake doesn't work. I couldn't stand it. But Thérèse loved it. She drank hers, and then she drank mine.

She loved it so much that she put on music and danced while she ate it. 

I used to make my shakes with protein powder. I've tried lots of different powders, but mostly they just make me feel bloated. It only takes eight amino acids to make a complete protein. Bananas have all eight! So between the bananas and nut butter, this shakes ranks high in the protein.

Exercise

I don't always get to, but I love to start my days off exercising. Working out gets me ready to chase my babies around (by warming up my muscles) and gets my blood flowing. But I think the best part is the deep breathing. If I can't exercise in the morning, I like to get in a couple stretches and take a couple minutes to get in some good, steady, deep breathing. Really helps to energize and cut tension.

I work out with Tracy Anderson. She is fantastic, superb, I can't say enough about her. I have her post pregnancy work out and I love it! It's set to classical music which is nice if you have babies around. She doesn't talk to much so you really have to pay attention to what she is doing. But she is great 'cause she focuses on giving you a dancers body, compete with long muscles.

I now do her dance aerobic work out too. I'll put in the dvd, and skip around to different songs. If I can get 15 minutes in, I'm happy. 

Here is a sample work out she made. Beware! It's intense!

We couldn't stand looking at her undie thingy so I broke down and gave her a modesty skirt. Hehe.

Keep up with the work
My mother-in-law found this checklist. I now try to stick to it. It makes long term clean-up much easier.
Click on the picture to visit the site. 


Snack-Up!
I'm constantly hungry. I've always been this way. Always needing to eat. If my blood sugar level drops too low, I get tired and cranky. Since we don't have packaged snacks around, I'm always looking for something quick to make. Here is one of my favorites.

Toasted Ezekiel bread with butter, avocado slices and a little salt sprinkled on top. Sometimes I add sliced tomatoes on top too, but some days I don't have time for that!

How do you get through your day? Hope you all have a fabulous Monday!