False Identities

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Hey there!

It was a productive weekend filled with errands, housework, work, workouts. I enjoy when I have many different things going on during the weekends, but then there are times when I feel like a full schedule makes those two days pass by way too quickly.

Let’s begin with the food…..

On Saturday, I finally got around to making a version of Ashley’s Breakfast Bakes. After making this, I questioned myself why it ever took me so long. This is probably the closest (but significantly more healthy) thing I have had to the infamous Hershey Pantry Baked Oatmeal. (aka my favorite meal on this planet)

Strawberry Banana Breakfast Bake

1/4 Cup Oat Bran
2 TBL Rolled Oats
1 TBL Peanut Flour
1 TBL Flax
1/2 Mashed Banana
1 Egg White
1/2 C Almond Milk
1 tsp Almond Extract
1 tsp Strawberry Jam

Mix dry ingredients together. Add wet. Insert a spoon of jam in the center. Microwave for 1 min 40 sec.

I added strawberries and bananas on top. The warm jam was delicious cooked inside the oats. I was in awe and so amazed at how much this reminded me of Baked Oatmeal. So easy, so filling, so delicious!

After breakfast, I headed out to a Body Attack class at the gym. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I love Body Attack. I hardly ever get the chance to take it because of scheduling reasons but it often hits the Saturday rotation and when it does, I try and make sure I can take it.

I spent the rest of the morning shopping and stocking. The kitchen was bear so after a major grocery trip and a stock up at BJ’s, it felt good to come home and fill the empty shelves.

Lunch was a bit of a whim but turned out quite well.

I heated up the rest of TJ’s Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup, added a can of white beans and a bunch of baby spinach. I then processed this in the food processor and added a few spoons of white bean basil hummus.

I just love to doctor up canned soups. Semi-homemade skills are a good thing!

I enjoyed the soup with two small slices of leftover pizza. (Amy’s No Cheese Roasted Veggie)

Later on, I got ready to work. My job requires me to attend fancy galas every so often and last night was one of those opportunities. Tough work I know! ;)

Rather then go out and buy a new dress (which is what I wanted to do but ran out of time) I put together something I had in my closet….

I receive so many compliments on this shirt. I believe I got it at Body Central for less than $20! Can’t beat that.

The event was great and I didn’t end up getting home until 11pm. Bed was calling my name after such a long day.

Sundays are the only day of the week I actually sleep in so when my internal body clock woke me up at 6am, I forced myself back to sleep for another hour.

7am is about the longest I can go. I got up and started to think about Sunday Breakfast.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon French Toast with Blueberry Compote

For the French Toast

2 Slices Whole Wheat Cinnamon Swirl Bread
1 egg white
1/2 C Almond Milk
Cinnamon
Vanilla

Mix the egg white, milk, cinnamon and vanilla. Dip the bread into the mixture and place on a hot griddle until cooked on both sides.

For the Compote

1 Cup Blueberries
1 tsp Sugar
1 T Maple Agave

Place all ingredients in a sauce pan and heat until berries break down and create a thick syrup consistency.

This was fantastic! French Toast is one of my favorite “weekend” breakfasts but I realized I hadn’t made it for awhile. The compote was such a nice touch. No extras were required, just the blueberries were more than enough.

Toly and I took our time eating breakfast, looking through the paper, and engaging in some good conversation. It was everything a lazy Sunday morning should be.

Once through, I cleaned up and headed to the gym for back-to-back classes. Body Pump and Body Flow. Let me say, taking these two classes in that order is so effective. They always offer Flow after Pump of Sunday’s but I never have time to stay. I was SOOOO glad I did today. As usual, I haven’t been spending near the amount of time I should be with stretching so forcing an hour of yoga in my week is quite a pleasant surprise for my muscles.

I came home starving. Pump always gets me hungry.

I put together a fantastic salad using the last of the leftover pizza.

I have a tendency to “overtop” my pizza, meaning, I add way too may veggies so that the pizza never holds together. My way to overcome this problem is to make a huge salad with all of the veggie toppings and cut up the pizza to use as the croutons.

This salad had romaine, cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli, sun dried tomatoes, leftover pizza bites, sun dried tomato hummus and balsamic.

On the side, I made a simple smoothie of frozen Strawberries, Pineapple, Banana and unsweetened coconut milk.

The rest of the afternoon, I attended a fantastic workshop at church led by my BF Jen. She does such an amazing job leading one of our Woman’s ministry’s at church and held a workshop today for women on the topic of false identities.

We talked about the fact that we, as woman, have a tendency to place so many distinct labels on ourselves and also place all of our value, self worth and significance in these labels. When we fail at fulfilling these false labels, we feel as though we loose our sense of purpose.

It was great to listen and connect with other woman, especially on this topic.

Dinner tonight was a little random but entirely wonderful.

Trader Joe’s Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Pear, Brussels Sprouts, Sweet Potato and Walnuts

I basically just added everything that sounded good into the pan and it came out fabulous. I love when that happens.

Wow, I think I covered it all. I told you it was productive.

What is one “false” label you place on yourself? My false label I shared was that I often feel like I’m not enough. I put on a front that I always have it all together when often, I feel as though I don’t.