Pizza Muffins

Looking for a quick and easy snack?  Here's one that Joe and I had that goes along with the Insanity diet.

Ingredients:
-1 whole wheat English muffin, cut in half
-Tomato sauce
-Mozzarella cheese, part-skim
-toppings of your choice

Directions:
-Slice English muffin in half.  Cover each half with tomato sauce (about two spoonfuls per half)
-Top each half with an amount of cheese of your choosing (I used about one and a half large pinches)
-Add any other toppings you want (we used some grilled chicken)
-Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes
-Eat and enjoy!

I prepared these the night before and reheated them the next day.  We both enjoyed this snack a lot!  It's filling, satisfies the craving for pizza, and is healthy too!

Question for you: What's your go-to quick, healthy snack?

WIAW #18: Insanity Diet

Happy Wednesday, y'all!  I hate that I forgot to post this post on Sunday!  I added the photos but never went back in to edit them.  Oh well!

Anyway, I've been staying late at work the past few days, which makes me want to come home and do nothing.  Therefore, no blogging has taken place.  Sorry about that!  I do have a pretty interesting What I Ate Wednesday post for you today, though.  This week, Joe and I started eating the Insanity diet!  Check it out!

Thanks to Jenn for hosting the link-up!  This month's focus is Halloween-themed snacks, but sadly I don't have any this week.  Check out some of the other WIAW participants if you need an idea for a festive treat!

So, the Insanity diet.  Joe is doing the workouts and decided he wanted to follow the meal plan, too.  Guess what that means?  I chose to do so, as well!  Makes cooking a lot easier :)

The basics of the diet are: 5 meals a day, each of approximately equal calorie count.  You do a calculation based on age, height, weight, activity level, and your weight goals.  After doing mine, I learned that I'm supposed to eat 5 400-calorie meals throughout the day!  That seemed a little crazy to me.  Here's a look at what we've been eating this week:

Meal #1

This is the Protein Cereal Bowl option.  We chose Kashi Go Lean! Vanilla Clusters cereal with a few chopped walnuts and half a sliced banana on top.  This isn't the exact prescribed meal, but it works for us!

Meal #2

This calls for a nutrition bar.  There are options to make it more calories if you need it, so I added an apple to my meal.  These Luna Protein bars are DELICIOUS.  Joe has a chocolate chip protein bar, and we both agree that this meal is more like dessert!

Meal #3

A roast beef pita pocket with spinach and tomato inside.  I also had a side salad of spinach, tomato, and onion.  I had other veggies to add to the salad, but I haven't chopped them up yet!  I've really enjoyed the pita pocket.  The roast beef I bought is great!

Meal #4

No picture of this, but the meal was peanut butter toast with raspberry preserves.  Essentially, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  This is actually a great afternoon meal, as it is satisfying AND has a little bit of sweetness to it.  Yum!

Meal #5

Salmon with honey mustard on top, some whole-wheat pasta, and steamed green beans.  I think there's better toppings for the salmon.  I think next time I'll just top it with some lemon juice.

Overall, the diet has some great options for each meal.  We are going to try some of the other options later in the week, and I'm looking forward to some of the other meals!

Question for you: Have you ever done a diet that goes along with a workout program?

Virginia Weekend

***I wrote this post on Sunday and JUST realized that it never posted!  I decided to post it anyway so you'd know what I was up to!***

Hey, everyone!  Long time, no post.  We had a busy week last week, and we just returned from a weekend up in Virginia.  We got to see my family and go to a Virginia Tech football game!  I didn't take too many pictures, but here's what I've got:

Our trip was a bit of a whirlwind, but it was a lot of fun!  I also got in a lot of reading during our travels, which was really nice.  I haven't done much reading lately and enjoyed getting involved in a book again!

One of the reasons I haven't posted much lately is that I haven't been making myself a priority lately.  I'm in a little bit of a rut, you could say.  I haven't been eating right, I haven't been exercising (despite the fact that I have another half marathon coming up in 13 days!), and I really haven't made my daily quiet time with God a priority (despite being in that Breaking Free Bible study).  BUT, Joe and I figured out some things today (meal plans, workout schedules, etc.) that I think are going to help me make myself (particularly my health) a priority again...

-We are starting the Insanity meal plan/diet.  Joe is doing the Insanity workouts right now and wanted to follow the diet.  I figured it'd be much easier for him if I did it too, and it gives me incentive to eat right.

-Joe is doing his Insanity videos while I'm at home, so I'm going to get in a workout while he is doing the same.  Plus, a lot of our dinners will be prepared ahead of time, so that makes it seem "easier" in my mind to make working out a priority.

-I'm also going to set some new goals for Best Body Bootcamp to motivate me to get my priorities straight.  One of those goals is going to be having a daily quiet time.

Question for you: What did you do this weekend?  What do you do to get yourself out of a rut?

Why Do Bad Things Happen?

While doing my homework for my Breaking Free Bible study, I read something that I wanted to share with y'all.

Beth Moore, the author of the study, was discussing Matthew 18:5-6 as it relates to child victimization:

"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.  But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."

Matthew 18:5-6

Child victimization is a tough subject, and we often wonder why God doesn't do anything about something like that happening.  We question why God would let that bad thing happen to an innocent person, a good person, someone who doesn't deserve it.

One of the points Beth makes is that God does not ordain bad things happening to us.  "When you are trying to discern whether God or Satan is the author of a hardship, one of your best clues is whether or not sin is involved."  After reading that quote, I reflected on a lot of the bad things happening on our world today.  For the most part, these hardships are brought about because of someone else's sin.  

I think this is a really good thing to keep in mind.  I know what's it like to question why God would let something so horrible happen.  I distinctly remember our youth group meeting after the September 11th attacks in 2011.  Many of us were wondering how God could let something like that happen.  But, God did not ordain that situation.  God did not plan that situation.  Satan intervened, caused someone to sin, and thus our heartbreak over those terrorist attacks occurred. 

The good news is that, while God does not cause these things to happen or "ok" them, He will use them for our good.  Romans 8:28 says:

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

We may have pain and suffering, but God will use that situation to teach us something and help us grow for the better.

Beth's teaching gave me a good perspective as to why bad things happen in our world.  I hope that you find this uplifting and helpful to you in the future!