First Meal in the Apartment

The second night after moving into my apartment I had gone grocery shopping so I actually had food in my refrigerator and could make a proper meal. Plus the stove in the apartment is brand new and I was dying to test it out! It was really hot outside and I was not overly hungry, so I settled on a simple meal of baked chicken with oven roasted vegetables. 

I didn't do anything fancy to the chicken. I simply brushed a bit of olive oil over the top to prevent it from drying out and baked it for 20 minutes, flipping it halfway through. 

The vegetables are super simple to make and absolutely delicious. I made a giant batch of them so I could heat them up throughout the week. I have posted the recipe for my roasted vegetables before, but I'll post it again below.

Oven Roasted Vegetables

• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 small red onion
• 1 broccoli crown or 1/2 large head of broccoli
• 1/2 head cauliflower
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Wash and cut up all vegetables. 

Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and spray with nonstick cook spray so vegetables won't stick to sheet and burn.

Spread vegetables out evenly over baking sheet. They should be as close to a single layer as possible.

Carefully drizzle olive oil over vegetables. 

Sprinkle salt and pepper over vegetables to your liking. 

Bake veggies at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. The vegetables will be golden and slightly crispy when done. 

The Dreaded First Day

I remember a time when I actually used to look forward to the first day of school. The shiny new school supplies, the perfectly pointy crayons, perhaps a new backpack, those were the days. Oh how quickly things change...

Now I dread the first day of classes, I dread the tuition bill even more! College first day of classes isn't exactly thrilling. Thankfully I eased my way into the new semester with only one class on Monday. Not a bad start to the year! Because my class was late in the afternoon and I knew I would get stuck in horrific rush hour traffic getting back to the apartment I made a hearty lunch packed with protein to hold me over.

It wasn't anything fancy, but it was hearty and delicious. I had one slice of gluten free bread with 2 tablespoons prepared PB2. I sliced half a banana and put it on top of the PB2 and drizzled a bit of organize honey over the top of the whole thing. 

With the PB2 and banana sandwich I had a parfait bowl (surprise, surprise!)

The parfait bowl is 1/2 cup Dannon Light and Fit vanilla greek yogurt, small handful fresh blueberries, 1 tablespoon KIND cinnamon and oat clusters and one Cocoa Crunch Square Bar. I cut the Square Bar into chunks and heated it up for 15 seconds, just enough to get the chocolate warm and gooey...YUM!

Cottage Cheese with Fruit

Not being able to run for the past two weeks has really been a struggle for me. Every time I just start to build up mileage it seems like lupus strikes and pushes me back. I have been having pain in my lower back since coming home from Up North and per doctors orders I've had to lay off the running. 

It's definitely frustrating, but I am trying to be positive and find other ways to exercise. On Thursday morning I chose to do the bike. I did a little over 12 miles and had to stop because the seat on the bike was killing my back.

After biking and some stretching I was hungry for a snack. Recently I've become a big fan of having fruit in cottage cheese. Maybe it's the salty and sweet combination? Who knows, but it is delicious! It's a great post workout snack/meal too.