Giving In....

you guys it happened last night. i gave into the snack monster. i'm so mad at myself! around 9 last night, i started getting snacky. i sat and tried to tell myself not to give in, and then i walked in the kitchen to fill up my water bottle and it was all over. i made myself a mini quesadilla with cheese and black beans. it ended up bringing my total calories yesterday to 1,850. i didn't take a picture, but just know that i gave in (side note: i've been taken all my "meal photos" with my iPhone and haven't been editing them all so they're kind of crappy quality - i'm on a mission to fix this as i get into the swing of blogging almost daily!). :(

i'm pretty bummed seeing as it was only day two. this is why i need your guys help!!! does anyone have ideas/suggestions for curbing the late night munchies. i've tried brushing my teeth but that doesn't seem to stop me. maybe i should just put myself to bed as soon as those munchies kick in. ideas? thoughts?

time to move on. today is a new day, and i can only try and be better today than i was yesterday, right?

little man had a doctor's appointment early this am so i made a quick breakfast of one of my pre-made breakfast smoothies (i had the blueberry banana smoothie today!) and my standard ice coffee recipe to go.

the smoothie had 326 calories in it, but for some reason, only 2.5 hours later, i was STARVING!!!! so i made a second breakfast/early snack and had one of the lean cuisine turkey sausage breakfast sandwiches. i'm trying to keep my snacks under 200 calories, but i was pretty hungry and since these bad boys are only 220 calorie and loaded with 15 grams of protein, i made an exception. ;0)

the turkey sausage breakfast sandwich worked because it kept me full all morning and early afternoon and i didn't end up feeling hungry enough to eat lunch until almost 2!

lunch was my leftover italian wedding soup from blue apron!!! you guys blue apron is the best. for those of you who don't know what it is, it's a weekly delivery service that delivers farm fresh ingredients to your door with perfectly proportioned food, seasonings, etc. to make 3 meals. it also comes with step by step instructions that are so easy to follow.

you can sign up for the two person plan or the family plan (family of 4) and it breaks down to about $9.99/person per meal. this has saved me the past few weeks while i've been working full time and being a full time mom. i have had absolutely no desire to go grocery shopping and because it's just me, the 2-person meal plan, basically eliminated the need to grocery shop (which is why i was relegated to cupcakes before my big grocery overhaul). it made enough food for me to eat for lunches and dinners and have plenty of leftovers!

if anybody out there is in a cooking rut, wants to learn how to cook, or like me, just has no desire to grocery shop (i know, lazy), this is seriously for you! i'm posting the recipe for the italian wedding soup i had for dinner the other night (and lunch today!) down below for those of you who are interested....it was really yummy!

after running errands with little man, then taking him on a 40 minute walk to the park (40 minutes round trip), it was snack time! i had a bag of my pre-measured out boom chick-a pop popcorn and a cup of green tea. we played some more and then the little guy went down for his last nap before feeding him his dinner and doing the nightly bedtime routine (bath, bottle, book, bed) - you guys, lincoln slept from 7:30 pm last night until 5:45 am this morning and i thought i died and went to heaven!!!! cross your fingers he does it again tonight!

next up...dinner time! i made a quick stir fry using the prepped veggies i had on hand, along with the poached chicken and served it atop about 3/4 of a cup of quinoa. it was pretty tasty and came together in under 20 minutes! i made sure to make up a bunch of quinoa so i can have it on hand for stir fry's and to even bulk up some salads.

i'm excited for tomorrow, little man and i are trying out a mama/baby yoga class and then dinner with one of my besties!

My total calories for today (after burning 200 on our walk) came to 1,632. A little more than my 1,500 goal.

Here's the recipe for lunch today!

Blue Apron Italian Wedding Soup

(Serves 2 - but i found it made 3 very large servings)

10 oz ground chicken
1/2 c fregola sarda pasta
3 oz baby spinach
2 cloves garlic ( i love garlic so i doubled this)
1 carrot
1 yellow onion
1 stalk celery
1 small bunch celery
3 tbsp chicken demi glaze (they send you this, but i found this recipe for those of you wanting to try and make this)
1/3 c grated parmesan cheese
1/3 c plain breadcrumbs

(Blue apron has this as 2 servings and about 630 calories. I made mine into 3 servings, which would make it 420 calories a serving)

Prepare all the ingredients. Wash and dry the ingredients. Chop up the spinach, mince the garlic, chop the onion, dice the carrot and celery and pick the parsley off the stems.

Make the meatballs. combine the ground chicken, breadcrumbs, 1/4 of the onion, half the garlic, half the parmesan cheese and half the parsley in a large bowl, mix and form meatballs (mine made 15 large meatballs, they suggest 24-28 mini meatballs).

Cook the aromatics. heat 2 tbsp of olive oil on medium hot and add in the remaining onion, carrot and celery and garlic. cook stirring occasionally 3-4 minutes.

make the broth. add the pasta, chicken demi-glace and 3 cups of water, season with salt and pepper. heat to boiling on high. once boiling add the meatballs. reduce heat to medium high and simmer. stirring occasionally, cook 5-6 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.

finish the soup. add the chopped spinach, season with salt and pepper and let simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes. remove from heat. divide the soup into two bowls and top with the remaining parmesan and parsley.

enjoy!