Soup + salad

Hi friends! How’s the day going? Hope you’re having a great morning! First things first: huge congrats to the winner of the coconut scrub giveaway! Liz S., check your email so I can get your goodies on the way. For friends who’d like to pick some up, the FITNESSISTA30 code will work until June 15 to get 30% off your order..

In an effort to step up my salad game, and help a sad post-vacation fridge, Liv and I ventured to Trader Joe’s for essentials. 

How to eat fresh vegetables: wash and chop, instead of letting them sit in the fridge to slowly wilt to their death. (<— what has been happening way too often lately)

Food prep has been hit or miss, but I realized that if I devote 20 minutes to chop, wash, and get some salad stuff together, we’ll all eat more fresh food during the week. Liv snacked on veggies with hummus while I chopped some veggies for salad, sliced some for dipping,

made a balsamic dressing

(1 part balsamic, 2 parts olive oil, a teaspoon of Dijon, 2 minced garlic cloves, salt, pepper, onion powder, oregano and dried basil) 

and put together lunch: a glorious salad with chopped spinach, kale, veggies, turkey (pan-seared to heat up), 1/2 avocado, balsamic and the secret ingredient.

These mushrooms from Trader Joe’s are fantastic on salads. They’re just the right amount of vinegar + garlic. 

Oh, and meal prep includes the brownies, yes? ?

Spin was particularly awesome last night. It’s amazing what fresh songs will do, and I try to download at least a few new ones each week to rotate into the hundred or so that I love for spin. Last night it was “Hey Mama” for a moderate climb, “Fight Song” for a cool down, and “What Kind of Man” for a heavy climb with tempo work. So good.

 

Dinner was a random mix of goodies; it kind of felt like our house was Soup Plantation (which is a good thing, because it’s Liv’s favorite restaurant haha). The Pilot grilled some chicken drumsticks, we roasted some veggies, and I was really craving tomato soup, so I put together a dairy-free version.

Here’s the easy recipe: saute a chopped onion with 3 cloves of minced garlic until fragrant, and blend in the Vitamix with 1 1/2 cups cashews (raw, soaked for at least an hour in water), and two large (28 oz) cans of drained San Marzano whole tomatoes.

After the mixture is smooth, pour into a large pot, and heat on medium low, stirring occasionally. Season well with salt, pepper, dried basil, onion powder, and a pinch of sugar. 

Can’t wait to have this for lunch later today with a manchego quesadilla.

(When you try to be artistic with a basil oil drizzle… and that happens. Haha)

For now, it’s off to a doc appointment!

See ya later today on the Family page.

Last week to check in for your April workouts! I’m surprising a lucky winner with a new lulu tank and “HIIT It!”