Mango Quinoa Salad

I came across this recipe some time ago on Our Best Bites. My mom has made it a few times, but I have been reluctant because Wes is not a fan of Quinoa. He does, however, LOVE mangos. So, I finally made it today. And it is GOOD...and, I'm thinking it will be even better tomorrow when it has sat a bit longer. And, just for the record, Wes said it was good!

I've REALLY been off track healthy-eating wise, but lately feeling really motivated to get back on track: back to real, whole foods. 

I was just talking to Stephanie the other day about how this blog as sort of died. IS THERE STILL AN INTEREST?? 

Anyway, give the recipe a try! It's great!

Mango Quinoa Salad

Recipe adapted from Ali Vincent

2 cups cooked quinoa* at room temperature, or chilled

1 14 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 medium mango, peeled and diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

6 green onions, thinly sliced

1 handful chopped cilantro (about 1/2 cup)

4 tablespoon red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

kosher salt

freshly cracked black pepper

*Quinoa can be cooked in water or broth.  I suggest using vegetable or chicken broth for enhanced flavor, but plain water works great too.

Place cooked quinoa in a large bowl.  Add mango, red pepper, green onion, black beans, and cilantro.  In a small bowl combine vinegar, olive oil, and lime juice.  Whisk until smooth and pour on top of salad.  Toss to combine and add salt and pepper to taste.  Chill for at least one hour before serving.

I'M BACK!!

Well if you haven't noticed I have not blogged in forever. Not only that my last month has been terrible. It started with doing my workouts but slacking on what I was eating. I was getting very lazy with my nutrition and thought I workout so hard I can eat this crappy food if I want to. Then I complety fell off the wagon not only did I fall off I ran in the opposite direction screaming! I ate everything I could eat. If it was UNhealthy I would eat it. I stopped working out completely for 2 weeks. What was supposed to be my last 2 weeks of p90x was instead 2 weeks of me sabotaging my hard work and being guilt ridden b/c of it. One day my husband came to me and said "Charity what are you doing?", "You are determined to not be successful with your health goals." And that is when I realized that he was right. I could no longer see myself getting past a certain weight, I didn't deserve or could never attain the body that I want to have.
I decided that playing the victim was no longer acceptable. The next day I got up and did plyo and every single one of my muscles KILLED from my butt down. But I felt good! This week I started full force again and I am going to finish my last two weeks. So instead of finishing p90x in 90 days I will finish it in 104 days. No biggie.
We have a saying in our family that we use with our girls. Whenever they fall weather its off the bed, down the stairs, off the park whatever, we ask them " why do we fall" and they respond " so we can get back up"
I fell and I am back up ready to fight for what I want. I have aprox 1 1/2 weeks left till my first round of p90x is done! Round 2 starts on June 9th! This time I will finish 90 days in 90 days! Anybody else ready to BRING IT and start June 9th with me??

Feel the Burn!

No really, I sunburned my face.

In other news, I REALLY felt the "other" burn as I started to use the 30 Day Shred video. I am so sore and so very obviously out of shape even with the exercise routine I already started. To embarrass myself publicly, I will announce to all who read this blog that I in fact could not even FINISH the, ahem, 20 minute workout level 1. It was awful. BUT! I am determined and have definitely come a long way even in the short period I've been using this video.

And I now have more motivation, since we're going to start taking V swimming more, I think I would like to start flattening my abs a little bit.... I know other people won't really notice, but darn it I sure notice!

Meals: fell off the healthy eating bandwagon again this week, but not too badly and I'm being lenient with myself so there. This week: back to motivated me again. Will have a yummy dinner menu plan up shortly!

Note to self: sugar is bad, sugar is bad, sugar is bad, sugar is bad, sugar is bad....... I should stencil this on my walls.

OKAY!

Dinner schedule for next week!:

not in any particular order btw:

Chicken Ceasar Wraps
Rice Bean Taco Salad x 2 days
Cold Pasta Vegetable Salad x 2 days
Fish (probably white) with yam, broccoli and rice


Yum!

Stephanie

It's Wednesday...

Hmmm.... so much for meal plans this week, must get on top of that again!

Workouts are still going on, I need to find my Shred dvd though.... the search is on today!

dinners for the rest of this week...ummm..... let's say soup, and fish with veggies and rice.
There. That should hold us until Saturday and hopefully I have my meal act together by then!

Stephanie

p.s. lost 3 pounds!

Steph this week.

Okay, so meal plans went a little awry, but I tried to keep them relatively close to the schedule... Except we had pizza last night, and I had more meat this week and last week than anticipated (every once and a while I just love a bologna sandwhich, and had them last week...mmmmm!). And chocolate. woops.

In answer to Charity's response on my workout post: it's awesome! I feel really really good, albeit sore, and even in the last two weeks my strength has gained (I can do pushups now!!!! Note that you are entitled to put an "s" on the word as soon as you can do more than one....)

I too have the 30 day shred video as Amanda, and plan to start it with B next week.

It is SOOOO nice to have extra time in the morning (not really extra as we were awake anyways, perhaps "productive" is a better term) and to get our family scripture study in. V really enjoys having a whole extra half hour of everybody together in the morning before Daddy leaves for work.

Food: I 'll post a plan for next week on Saturday/Sunday...I need to think about what I want to make a little more....

update on baby Z: I quit the anti-wheat diet for him, doctor thinks his allergies are most likely environmental, and boy was that crazy to meal plan around!

Last week

Oh my, well, it was weird. I've had to start waking up at 5:00 to open the dayhome. I actually thought it would be a good reason for me to continue my work outs in the mornings and get tons done before the kids woke up.

So....some days I got up and worked out, other days I went back to sleep after I put the boy to bed because I was so tired. I didn't end up working out at all those days. On the days I worked out I felt really great all day...like an energizer bunny!! It was awesome. On the days I went back to sleep rather than working out, I was dragging ALL DAY!!

So, my goal for this week is to work out every day (except Sunday) even if I feel too tired or whatever. I'm going to see if this week is better. Maybe I just need that extra boost in the morning to keep myself going.

I did work out this morning, although I wasn't in the mood, and am happy about that.

PS: I'm currently doing Jullian Micheal's 30-day shred level 3 (with a couple variations due to my ever-growing belly) and I will alternate days with only cardio.

I'll let you know how this week compares with last.