Breakfasts are conquered…..for now at least

I have another fabulous discovery! Whole wheat banana pancakes. They are awesome and even my husband the junk food fanatic said they were good. And the 9 month old baby loves them too. Thank you again to http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/ for giving me ideas to try.

This recipe made me 16 pancakes that were actually rather large. That was fine with me but if you made “regular” size pancakes then I’m sure you could get at least 20, if not more. But in my lifestyle change/diet plan/ fit in a bridesmaid dress I’m not about to be unrealistic and starve myself. Starving myself only leads to going out for fast food late at night or getting ice cream. Like I’ve said before, I cannot set myself up for failure. I have to do what works for me and slowly work on changing my habits. With that being said. I have so many breakfast options in my freezer right now that I can honestly say since starting this I have not ate an unhealthy breakfast. Now some of you may think only 3 options is not going to cut it. I know I will get sick of these 3 foods I’m sure, but the beauty is one recipe of each creates so many breakfasts that I am all set while I keep researching for the best tasting healthy recipes out there. Microwaving the muffins and pancakes are working out to be very quick and easy for me. I may try adding pears or apples to the pancakes instead of bananas just for a change.  Here is the awesome pancake recipe. http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/04/21/recipe-whole-wheat-banana-pancakes-freeze-the-leftovers/

Once I get a collection of the best recipes out there for us food lovers that are flavorful and filling I am going to work on a meal plan to combine all of these sources. I hope I can inspire someone to just keep trying to get healthy in their life. I know that I don’t want to be the largest bridesmaid but I also don’t want to be the unhealthiest mom and wife. So keep trying everyone. Try one of these recipes. Maybe it will be start for you to go in the right direction.

And P.S. how could I forget….I lost 3 pounds. Not bad so far 🙂

Portion Control All the Way

Portion control always needs to be reviewed!! After working midnights last night, this morning I came home and went right to bed skipping breakfast. Normally I would not recommend skipping breakfast but us shift workers have a strange schedule. For lunch I had tuna salad with whole wheat organic pasta. I had one bowl and some fruit. I don’t care that pasta has carbs and that I used a tablespoon of mayo. I care that I had one serving and chose healthier ingredients than usual for me. I was eating lunch as I was feeding my daughter and realized how true it is that when you eat slow you actually feel full faster with less food. Since I had to take many breaks from eating to cut up her food in tiny bites, since she is just learning to eat, it caused me to eat my lunch over a course of 30 minutes. I normally would have ate 2 or 3 servings until I was feeling stuffed. There is NO REASON to wait until you feel stuffed. If you wait a few minutes after a normal serving size you will feel full and satisfied not stuffed and sick.

The zucchini bread muffins I must say are working out very nicely for breakfast when I don’t have much time to cook myself a gourmet breakfast. (every day) One recipe made 2 dozen muffins and I popped a bunch into the freezer. So now I just heat one or two up and I’m ready. Grab water and whatever fruit is in the fridge and I have a much healthier breakfast than before. Also, I am so proud of myself for spending some time today making up freezer bags of smoothie kits. This recipe is a little time consuming but super easy. Here is the website I got it from. Love all of these ideas!!

http://laceyinloveblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/diy-smoothie-packs.html

I bought a 16oz container of plain yogurt.

Filled the 12 holes of a muffin pan with the yogurt. The 16 oz container is the perfect amount to fill all of the holes.

I then cut up all of the fruit I wanted and layed it out on a cookie sheet.

Put all of this in the freezer until the yogurt is frozen and the fruit pieces don’t stick together.

Then you just have to portion out the fruit and one now “chunk” of yogurt and place them into freezer zip lock bags.

When you are ready for a smoothie just dump the contents of your bag and add a little orange juice, apple juice, or skim milk to help blend everything easier and voila! You have a super fast and easy all natural fruit smoothie.

Now I have about 15 muffins and 6 smoothie kits in my freezer ready to go. I need to buy some more fruit for the leftover yogurt.

I have found that spending the time to prepare these breakfasts in advance eliminates the temptation to either buy a fast food breakfast, eat something in the house that is quick but unhealthy, or skip breakfast all together (that’s me). Now I have no excuses!! I can’t mess up breakfast for at least 2 weeks. Oh and both of these options can be taken in the car with me if I need to leave early in the morning.

With a little planning and organization I just may be on the right track.