Happy Easter & Aurorae Yoga Mat Winner!

Hey guys!  I am hoping that everyone had an EXCELLENT Easter and spent lots of time with family and/or friends!  I know I did!  And I’ve got tons of pictures to show you from my weekend.

Here’s the Verse of the Day:

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”- 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

I know you’re all antsy about finding out who the winner of the Aurorae Yoga mat is, buttttt I’m gonna hold you in suspense until the end of the post so you make sure to check out all my cute pictures of family from the weekend!

Hi-lights from Easter:

• I went to my first sunrise service EVER at 6:30AM on Sunday morning.

 

 

 

Holy squinting.

• The kids in my family being their cute selves and participating in a candy scramble, pinata, & egg hunt!

candy!

mckenna taking a whack.

 

Abbie & Kenny. 

The three amigas: Me, my cousin Allison, & my sister Myranda.    

• My Easter basket from my cute parents who still are determined to buy things for my sisters and I regardless of how old we get.  It contained a bunch of goodies!  Muscle Milk Light (chocolate), sugar free jello, Trident white, a cute outfit, an adorable scarf, and a cute outfit from Old Navy.  I totally forgot to snap a pic, but I’ll get some up soon.
• All of the yummy looking homemade stuff that the family brings to Easter at our house!  Unfortunately, I wasn’t hungry for any of it really.  I did however gobble up the fresh veggies on the veggie trey and ate oven roasted turkey breast! YUM.  Unpictured was a flat out with laughing cow & splenda

Steamed broccoli, sweet potato patty, and roasted turkey with pomegranate balsamic vinegar!

Drink table

Note: I cleaned house on the veggie tray in the lower right hand corner

The cooks!

Momma (Blue) + Godmother aka Nana Banana (Yellow&White)

There was a ridiculous amount of food including ham, turkey, corn, scalloped vegetables, baked beans, candied sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes for the main dishes.  For desserts, which were the most photogenic, we had:

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (baked by a man in our family, actually!!)

 Sugar cookies, peanut butter eggs, German chocolate cake,

Chocolate dipped pretzels!

ice cream cake, angel food cake,

Strawberry pie

My Mom took one for the team and finished this off straight from the dish.  Haha.

How cute...haha.

There is always a ridiculous amount of food at family gatherings on my Mom’s side of the family.  I stay away from most of it because since I became a “clean eater”, when I try to eat things made with butter, sugar, creams and heavy fat laden homemade stuff, it sits in my stomach like a brick and I feel nauseous the rest of the day.  I wanted to enjoy my Easter!  And I did. 

I don’t have a photo of dinner, mainly because I didn’t really eat a sit down dinner.  I just munched throughout the evening on the veggie tray, my sugar free jello, some sugar free ice cream, some egg whites (from the eggs in the hunt!), and roasted turkey.  Also I had another flat out with laughing cow & splenda later in the evening.  I was perfectly satisfied!  And I got some exercise in too!  No photos because I was busy being active, but we played a little bit of football & basketball in the gorgeous sunshine!

Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for!  The giveaway winner issss….

Comment Number 18!

Congratulations, Angie!  Please email me your address & information so I can get your Aurorae Yoga mat shipped to you!

Oh and here’s a quick shot of the lunch I packed and my breakfast this morning:

Egg whites, Flat Out Light with Sonoma Jack's, and veggie container with pomegranate balsamic!

I’m so excited to use up allll these egg whites! [9 dozen worth!!]

Muscle Milk Light & Fiber One!

Tons of fiber & protein!

Perfect way to start a Monday.   Have a GREEEEAT DAY! 

 

 

 

 

Hello Again, Spring!

[sung to the Hess truck song]  The Hess truck SUNSHINE is back and its better than ever for Christmas Spring time this year, the Hess truck SUNSHINE is here. Perfectly cheesy.

How appropriate is today’s Verse of the Day, being that it’s April Fool’s Day!? I ♥ Biblegateway.com.

“The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.”- Psalm 14:1

Anyway, last night was a yawn for me.  Except the fact that I finally made a protein cake that I LOVED/was successful.  My camera’s battery was on the charger when it was done nuking, and I didn’t want to eat it cold, so I don’t have a final picture, however I will show you the ingredients!  Minus an egg white

 

 

Dixie Diners' Carrot Cake Muffin Mix!

 

 

Stats.

+

Banana Nut Protein Powder!

2 Tbsp. Carrot Cake mix + 1/2 scoop protein powder + 1 egg white + splash of water.

And for icing?

Milk Chocolate Oats & Whey Protein Optimum Nutrition Protein.

I just took 1/2 scoop & mixed it with a splash of water to make it a little pudding like for the chocolate icing!  I know the flavors may seem a little odd together, but TRUST me, it was AWESOME.  Chocolate covered banana + carrot protein cake?  The carrot cake had coconut flakes in it too!  It was tropical & heavenly.

After my fueling experiment [foodie success!], I went downstairs to bike for awhile.  I had missed the first two episodes of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, so I watched them online while biking.

[source]

It was excellent!  I can’t wait to watch some more.

I was home by myself because my Mom had a softball game & my Dad went to watch.  My youngest sister is a manager for the team, so she was along too.  I was crazy bored so I just kept biking and biking, reaching a total of 600 burned calories.  Sometimes I wonder if the calorie counter on the bike is correct?  Anyway, after that I did 3 sets of 50 “in & outs” from the ab ripper moves.

Afterward, I showered up and made something new to eat!  It was a success and VERY easy.  It’s going to sound gross, but I promise, it was delish.  I swear by Sugar Free Syrup.  It’s good in ANYTHING!

Ingredients:

• 1 Bag Steamfresh cauliflower
• 1/3 C. Sugar Free syrup
• 1 Tbsp. Cinnamon

Directions:

1. Steam the cauliflower in the microwave (in bag) for 4 minutes.
2. Once steamed, tear open the bag and empty into a blender cup.
3. Add syrup to the cup along with cinnamon.
4. Blend on high until cauliflower is purreed and syrup & cinnamon are thoroughly mixed.
5. Enjoy!

It reminds me of sweet cream of wheat, but it’s an easy way to get in some veggie power!  The entire recipe contains approx. 130 calories and TONS of vitamins & minerals.

Along with this bowl, I had:

wrapped in this:

Light Flat Out & Laughing Cow.

 And one of these babes:

Musselman's Blueberry Pomegranate Healthy Picks Applesauce!

Then I decided since I’d need to clean up soon, I had better get my lunch packed so that everything was spic & span when the fam got home.

Lunch.

I decided on some sweet bean dip (mashed navy beans + sugar free syrup) for dipping my huge tub o’ veggies & a light flat out with Sonoma Jack’s Pepperjack Cheese. 

I love all the colorful veggies! It brightens my day.

Toldya it was a huge tub!

It’s got baby carrots, orange bell pepper slices, cucumber, & tomato in the mix!

Breakfast has been the same thing almost every morning.  I can’t help it!  I look forward to the flavors everyday.  Optimum Nutrition has me sold on its protein powder.  The official review will be very soon, but for now I’ll leave you with this shot of my pre-made breakfast:

Chocolate Mint Protein Powder!

In the mornings, I blend this with about 4 ice cubes and 1/3 C. water (120 calories)!  Then, it’s like a chocolate mint malted milkshake!  T.D.F.  Then, for staying power, I stir in 3/4 C. Fiber One (75 calories) which also provides a nice CRUNCH.  It’s like eating cereal with chocolate milk!  I eat it straight from the blender cup.  Why waste a clean dish?! Haha. Classy, I know.  My prep the night before saves me about 15 minutes of extra sleeping time, which I’m allllll about

Today is the last day to enter my AURORAE YOGA MAT GIVEAWAY!

HAPPY APRIL FOOL’S DAY! 

What’s the best April Fool’s joke you’ve ever played?

Once when I was little, I begged my teacher to write me a “fake pink slip” so that I could fool my Mom into thinking I got into serious trouble at school.  It may not have been a HUGE deal, but I thought back then it was SUCH a good trick!  Haha. What’s yours?!

PS- Check here to enter an AWESOME vegan giveaway!