This week has been wonderful. Something in me just clicked! After what seems like months of trying hard to eat healthy but nearly every night succumbing to a bag of nuts, cookies, etc., this week it all finally made sense again. I’ve been eating delicious eats, stopping at just one serving, and got rid of those snacking demons at night. This sudden change in attitude has been puzzling me – how can my mindset change so drastically for no apparent reason? I think I figured it out! It’s this…
No, not spices. It’s my new kitchen (with this awesome built-in spice drawer) that makes me smile every time I walk into the house and I cannot wait to get in there and cook something healthy and delicious! Why waste calories on stupid stuff when you can have a satisfying meal? There are so many recipes I’ve marked over the past month and a half of construction, I don’t have enough meals in a day to execute all of them. But I’m up for the challenge! 
Now, should we take a look at that spice drawer again? 
[And yes, I alphabetized them!]
Yesterday the black peppercorns were the star of dinner.
I haven’t participated in CEiMB in almost 2 months now. This was a great recipe to dive back into it! I used to hate pork but pork tenderloin turned that around – it’s lean and tender and I’m pretty sure it’s one of my husband’s favorite meats (we discovered it together). For this reason, when I saw that Rachel of Rachel Hearts Food chose Ellie’s pork au poivre as this week’s featured recipe, I was more than happy to jump back on the CEiMB wagon. 
This recipe was easy and had a very short ingredients list – perfect for a weeknight meal!
Gena’s carrot fries (found through Thinspired) made for a perfect side dish! Adam was making fun of me when I started making these but I knew they’d be amazing. I cut up a bunch of carrots (maybe 3/4 lb?) and used 1T of coconut oil. I think I’ll cut down on the oil even further next time, there seemed to be more than ample amount of it, but let me tell you… there will be a next time. Soon! Adam quickly stopped making fun of me after tasting these babies. They reminded us both of sweet potato fries due to a subtle sweetness from the coconut oil (I think that’s an important ingredient!). SO so good!! Adam said to add this recipe to our short list of “favorites.” Yup, carrot fries need to be on our favorites list. I’ll leave it at that. 
Veggies take over the world! Or at least this plate… (carrot fries were accompanied by garlicky string beans which I just stir-fried while the wine sauce was reducing)
Did I mention this pork au poivre was great? It was! Tender, juicy, flavorful – we both loved it!
Oops, don’t forget the wine sauce!! I’d double the sauce amount next time… it was quite nice.
So yeah, dinner was amazing. Let’s fly through the rest of the eats.
BREAKFAST
Bacon, egg and cheese on a FFL english muffin + coffee
Breakfast of champions! Or something like that 
MID-AFTERNOON SNACK
1/2 blueberry muffin with 1T Barney Butter + tea
Oh yeah…
WORKOUT – 75 minute vinyasa class. It was great today. I was almost able to do the crow pose. Yay for progress!
MID-AFTERNOON SNACK
1/2 cup reduced fat cottage cheese + 2 clementines
The clementines deserve a spot at the front and center too
MORE SNACKS
I finally got my last package of the bake sale for Haiti winnings. This one included some peanut butter/choc chip “granola bars” and banana bread.
These granola bars are basically bar cookies… and they are amazing!!!!!
It took a lot of will power to only eat 1. They are full of oats, seeds, choc chips and peanut butter – so dense and buttery. Oh yeah, there IS butter in them. Like I said, not exactly granola bars but damn, worth every calorie for sure! (I can provide you guys with the recipe if you’re interested).
The banana bread was nice too
I had 1/2 of this slice.
And that’s how you do it!
Do you ever lose motivation to keep eating healthy or exercising? What pushes you to keep at it? I have a feeling not everyone can just redo their kitchen
I will say the shrimp was delicious. 
In any case, the soup was hearty, flavorful and just the right amount of spicy (I used 1/2 amount of cayenne). The only little problem I had with it was the texture – my peanut butter didn’t melt that well. Once in a while there were pb chunks on the spoon. Not the worst problem but I was hoping for a super creamy consistency. Probably my fault. On the side I enjoyed 1/2 FFL english muffin with some four pepper goat cheese. A perfect meal on a cold winter night! 
