It’s Been a Very Christmas-y Weekend

Hi! How has your weekend been? Mine has been fabulous! I had lots of fun with my parents and their dog, Madee. Layla was in heaven having company all weekend. The best part of the weekend was decorating the Christmas tree and listening to Celine Dion’s Christmas album (which is my favorite Christmas album.)

It feels so nice and Christmas-y around our house now. We don’t have a lot of decorations, but managed to set up a little display in the living room.

My parents are homebodies like me, so we mostly just stuck around the house and went for long walks. There is a family of five deer that I always see on my walks. They aren’t even scared when Layla and I walk by.

Layla and Madee were pooped by the end of the weekend. Here they are laying on the couch together this morning.

It was really nice to have my parents around and to show them our new neighborhood.

This afternoon I worked on some Christmas presents (I almost always try to make something homemade) and made a batch of pumpkin soup to have on hand for lunch over the next week. Have you seen those dry soup mixes at World Market? My friend Kristyl made the pumpkin soup for our office last year and I loved it, so I picked up the mix yesterday. I followed the recipe on the back of the mix and substituted reduced-fat coconut milk for the heavy cream and added some cooked ground turkey to boost the protein. When the soup was done, I ladeled individual servings into bowls and put them in the fridge so they’d be ready to eat this week.

One of the easiest ways to eat healthy all week long is to cook and prepare most of your food on Sundays and have it ready to grab for the busy workweek. For lunches this week, I’ll heat up a bowl of soup and add a small salad to go with it. I try to keep lots of quick breakfast foods on hand: bananas, blueberries, oatmeal, protein powder, greek yogurt, ground flaxseed, eggs, frozen gluten-free waffles, etc. This way, I can whip up whatever I feel like in the morning and start my day off with a healthy meal. Left-overs make great lunches, so try to double your recipe when preparing dinner. Then, box up the extra serving of food in a portable container and your lunch for tomorrow is done! Dinners in our house are either planned in advance or thrown together with whatever food needs to be used up. Some of my best stir-fry creations have come from using random left-over meats and veggies.

You don’t have to plan out every one of your meals each Sunday, but use this time to shop for groceries, get an idea of what meals you need to prep for that week and make sure that your kitchen is stocked with healthy foods to keep you from calling the pizza man or going through the drive-thru.

I’m meeting a friend from high school for dinner tonight. I’m excited to try out one of the restaurants here in town. I heard that it’s supposed to be really good. Have a good night and remember to stock up your kitchen with some healthy foods for the week ahead.

Take care,

Kilee