Happy Monday all! Thanks for sharing all your Fitness Wins this month ~ you all totally motivate me to move more! I am pretty excited to say we both survived the entire month of Meatless March and I can honestly say we had fun doing it too! I had fun trying out several new Vegetarian recipes and making Simply Filling Vegetarian work. I do think the key to not becoming a “Carbetarian” during Meatless March was focusing on Simply Filling Foods. It didn’t work every day or every meal, but, more times than not, I focused on the good stuff (lots of veggies & fruit as the focus each meal) while keeping my carb choices everything else in check. This year I netted a 5 lb. loss for the month which I plan to keep as we move into April.
Speaking of April ~ What is your goal this month?
Now that the sunshine is out, I plan on averaging 10,000 steps a day. Who is up for the challenge? I double dog dare you to join in and we can push each other to step more each day.
No pressure or anything lol….Ok, moving on to the final day of this year’s Meatless March.
Breakfast started with The Husband’s favorite ~ 2 scrambled eggs (SF) – 2 points+
Paired with a bowl of super sweet pineapple, strawberries and blueberries.
We had our usual working lunch Monday meeting and the sandwich person got a little crazy on the pepperoncini’s and pickles on my sandwich. In addition to all those pickles, my sandwich included a slice of light cheddar, sprouts, tomatoes, cucumber, spinach, mustard and a little hummus.
I ate half plus my salad ~ it was just ok. (SF + 3 WPA) – 6 points+
I did end up having a couple of New York Cheddar Chips ~ I totally blame the bubble chip for it. I am not sure why, but, I love any chip (potato or tortilla) that has bubble in it. It is the one I’ll pick out of any in the bag ~ yes, I am weird, what can I say?! 
(SF + 1 WPA) – 1 points+
I also caved and had 1/3 of an Oatmeal Cookie. (SF + 2 WPA) – 2 points+
The rest of my day flew by and I never had a chance to think about any of the snacks I brought. I suppose that is good and not so good.
I had really high hopes for this Cooking Light Recipe for Pasta with White Beans, Greens and Lemon when it showed up in my inbox. Start to finish, it takes about 20 minutes to make.
Start by boiling 1 lb. of whole wheat shells based on the package instructions.
Meanwhile, prepare all your ingredients as everything cooks together in about 5 minutes after the noodles are finished.
I used a package of Trader Joe’s Sun Dried Tomatoes without oil, 15 oz. Can white northern beans, drained and rinsed, plus a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes.
You know this recipe was a WIN! in my book when they added the pepper flakes.
Roughly chop 1/2 cup to 1 cup basil and combine with the zest + juice of one lemon and 1 tsp. sea salt.
I cut the oil down to 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil that I heated over medium heat with 3 minced garlic cloves.
Add the cooked pasta, beans, tomatoes, pepper and 1/2 cup of the pasta water or white wine Cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.
Then, wilt in your greens plus basil, lemon zest & juice plus sea salt. I used spinach because it it what I had on hand.
Finish by topping with 1 oz. shredded parmesan and 1/3 cup dry roasted walnuts.
Toss and serve.
My thoughts: I really liked how “hearty” this recipe was, but, felt like something was missing. Perhaps, I should’ve doubled the oil, added a little butter or wine, reduce the pasta to 12 oz. and double the greens as there wasn’t really a “sauce”. The overall flavor is pretty lemony, but, I loved the crunch of the roasted walnuts with the nutty parmesan and sweet sun dried tomatoes.
(SF + 2 WPA) – 8 points+ for 1/8th of the dish.
Paired with a slice of Alexia Garlic Bread (SF + 3 WPA) – 3 points+ for 2 slices.
STATS:
- Simple Filling (SF): 11 WPA (Weekly Points Allowance) used, 27 WPA remaining
- 22 Daily Points+ 0 WPA used, 49 WPA remaining
- I did it! The Husband did it too which is huge for my steak & potatoes man ~ so proud of him! The best part, we didn’t really start missing meat until the last few days ~ success!
- 425 pushups down, 325 to go (with a makeup 75)
- My FitBit Dashboard :
Night all!
Lol I always go for a folded chip!
I just increased my steps goal to 15,000 today!!! I get over or at least pretty close to 10,000 – so my April goal is 15,000 steps a day!!! YAY!!!!! I’m also increasing my zumba time to 1 hr – I usually do zumba on my Xbox 3-4 times a week and go to the gym a couple of times too – usually Tabata on Mondays and Insanity! on Wednesdays. Spring is here – warm weather is here. I’m excited!
After reading you for a few weeks now, I had to buy the bread! I just found it at our grocery store, so I’m excited to have it sometime this week! I’m in the middle of a “21 Day Weight Watcher Meal Challenge” coming up with 21 different breakfast ideas, and 21 different Dinner ideas, while keeping my daily points between 26-30, so I’m gonna have to work that bread in!! 🙂
I just bought several hours of Yoga! That will by my fitness challenge for the month of April, and likely May too!
Still loving the Egg Roll!
I’m in, Danica! I’ve been wanting a reason to get a Fitbit! How are we keeping track of the challenge? Yay!
I will get my pedometer on and start tracking my steps. 10,000 steps sounds like alot but I am game for it.
I will join the challenge. I use a fitbit zip and am doing couch to 5k (on week 5 day 1 tomorrow). I have really been trying to get 10 k steps average so this will help!
I have just started WWSS and am trying to get 10,000 steps each day. I’m up for a challenge this month! Hopefully this will help keep me motivated!
I am inspired. Certainly inviting pictures of healthy food. The word healthy gives many recipes a bad rep.
If it wasn’t for the fact that I busted my knee this winter, I would totally do the 10K+ steps challenge. As is it, all exercises now are from the hips up. I find it not fair since I was so gung-ho about ramping up exercises this Spring.
I am totally in! Just purchased a Fitbit One! Looking forward to getting more activity in after this long, cold winter! Love your blog – great recipes and lots of motivation.
Im in! I need to get more active!!!