my first 10 days of #30daysofsalad

I finished my first 10 days of #30daysofsalad last week. In the beginning of this month, I resolved to eat a salad for lunch everyday in the month of April. I wanted to challenge myself to eat healthier, to learn how to make better choices in my day to day life, and to find creative ways to eat clean(er). It's been so much fun so far. sometimes it's challenging but I'm finding that this little extravaganza is helping me to be more mindful of what I put into my body. I actually find myself planning my life around my salads! it's pretty great. for example....

when I'm meeting up with people for lunch, trying to decide what to eat... I'm finding myself asking them "Can we go somewhere that has salads?" 

... or when I'm at a restaurant I'm asking the server, "is there any way you can make this into a salad?" 

also, we had a lunch banquet last week for Eugene's school with a pre-selected menu (no salad meals) and I had a 2-second drama queen moment about not being able to eat a salad for lunch. we ended up eating a salad for dinner instead. :)

here's what my 10 days looked like: 

day 1 // work salad - with artichoke, chicken salad, beets, peas, hard boiled eggs, kidney beans, mushrooms, corn, jalopenos and grape tomatoes. (+ a green smoothie)

day 2 // post-meal prep salad - roasted zucchini, butternut squash, eggplant, asparagus and carrots, grilled lemon garlic chicken, quinoa and artichoke salsa over a bed of arugula.

day 3 // artichoke, couscous, grape tomatoes, butternut squash and olives with balsamic vinaigrette over a bed of arugula + spinach

day 4 // open faced egg salad + avo sandwich on squaw bread // corn, feta, couscous, bell pepper medley over a bed of kale

day 5 // lunch date with erin at euro cafe in santa ana - caprese salad with grilled chicken

day 6 // home-made sashimi salad - lots of good veggies: romaine lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, avocados, alfalfa sprouts, radish sprouts. 

day 7 // leftovers from a taco party we hosted made a yummy "burrito bowl" salad - avocado, quinoa, shredded green + red cabbage, bean + corn salsa over a bed of spinach and arugula

day 8 // asian chicken salad from trader joe's (with super crunchy wonton noodles)

day 9 // a quick lunch stop after my optometry visit at which wich (who knew that the home of supreme sandwiches could make such excellent salads!) my loaded chicken salad "bowlwich" includes spinach, tomatoes, banana peppers, cucumbers, bell peppers, olives, mushrooms, dried cranberries, candied walnuts, house chips, olive salsa, chicken salad, mozarella, feta cheese + EVOO

day 10 // some goods from the salad bar at work + sprouts/avocado I brought from home. 

since day 10, i've been in kind of a salad rut (today is day 14...) i don't know what it is! trying my best to persevere through it and keep myself distracted by eating different variations of salads (!!!) there are a few things i've learned during my first 10 days

1. you really don't need to put any sort of dressing if you have tasty toppings. my favorite thing to use has been a little drizzle of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and maybe a splash of balsamic vinegar to add some zing!

2. you can pretty much find a way to eat a salad at any restaurants. most places will have salads available (though it may not be the most popular item) 

3. some places are willing to even make certain dishes into a salad

4. eating salads can be fun if you let yourself get creative with it

5. i realize it helps me when i have a lot of different textures and colors in my salads!

6. couscous + quinoa are such great rice substitutes. i am a total rice lover/freak and so that was the hardest thing for me to let go - but after adding a bit of couscous and/or quinoa here and there, it helps curve the craving!

7. even if you are making food for your family, you can make anything into a salad if you opt out the carbs and put it over a bed of arugula/spinach/lettuce, etc! (i.e. burrito bowl salad, sashimi salad, roasted chicken + veggies salad, etc...)

i'm nearly halfway through the month! 

so excited to find more and more fun ways to eat more salad. 

will update you after day 20!

xoxo

{tried & true} meal-planning

in my humble opinion, i think that one of the hardest things about becoming a wife was learning how to cook for another human being. in college, all i really ate was pasta, rice + eggs, rice + eggs + bokchoy, or in-n-out. I honestly just ate anything that was quick, easy and cheap. let's be honest - in college, most of us just eat to survive. 

however, when I got married - I really embraced this new calling I had to serve my husband by way of cooking for him. by God's divine plan and sovereignty, He granted me a husband who loves food (it makes cooking so fun!). It was seriously God's grace and mercy to me in granting me a husband who is really not picky at all (also, he loves Korean food, which is a huge plus for me!) cooking becomes a whole new art when you're doing it for someone else. I was so eager and excited to make many extravagant meals and to pack really cute, thoughtful snacks throughout the day for a guy who would otherwise eat costco nuts all day long.

to my dismay, I found that cooking three meals a day is really, really hard to do (especially around work and things). I've tried different techniqes and read an embarrassing amount of blogs/magazines trying to figure out how to do this "meal-planning" thing. I still have a lot to learn - but I'm definitely getting better at it every week. It's definitely a trial-and-error type of thing, and more often than not I don't really do a good job at it. but by God's grace and the patience of my gracious husband - i'm learning new things and finding the courage to try again and again. 

I knew that I really needed to start getting better at meal planning. life gets dangerous when you don't have good, healthy food on hand. for example, last week I didnt bring lunch to work and I had a stressful day so I ate a huge chicken quesadilla. (i'm serious, it was huge - like probably 3 servings. but I was stressed!) anyway - I realize the enemy of healthy eating is not having healthy choices on hand. I've been following a few people on IG who eat really healthy, whole-food meals. I've been so inspired. I'm really motivated to eat/cook more healthy food at home. On a related note - I went to the optometrist today and he said I have cholestrol in my eyes. yes, IN. MY. EYES. (I know, so embarrasing.) honestly... who gets cholestrol in their eyes? sigh. 

anyway - I set aside some time this afternoon to prep a few meals for the rest of this week. I tried to prepare enough meals to last eugene until saturday (since I'll be staying in Irvine for the rest of the week) and it looks like he'll be all set for the week. I actually only spent about 3 hours to make/prep/pack everything. I learned a lot of new things today that I think will be helpful for my fellow meal-prepping, meal-planning friends. 

A few things I learned and will continue to practice in my kitchen:

1) cooking things in the oven is the best! roasting/baking, etc. I rarely used my oven because I used it as storage for all my pots/pans - but after today, i re-organized my kitchen so that I could leave the oven as empty as possible. 

2) roasting veggies is my fave. it's so yummy and easy. I basically start my meal prep by washing and cutting all my veggies. I toss it in some EVOO with salt + pepper, line em up in a single layer (not touching) and put it in the oven (400 deg) for 10-12 minutes. I basically did this for one hour, cycling 4-5 times and finished all my veggies. (I used a timer to remind myself when to take it out)

3) google is my best friend. so many great recipes! 

4) clean out your fridge as you're prepping for meals. I bought canned tomatoes and beans at the store today - so i decided to make soup. I basically just took out all the veggies out of my fridge and threw everything in my soup! (zucchini, eggplant, onions, mushrooms, celery, etc). it's kitchen multi-tasking and its the best! (check out this clean-out-yo-fridge vegetable soup recipe that I made before!)

5) quinoa is my new best friend. I've been trying to cut down on our carbs at home, so I bought a bag of quinoa today and it is so good. I basically just threw in a cup of quinoa with some water and let it steam for 10-15 minutes. it goes well with everything (salads, rice-substitute, etc.)

6) clean as you go! this is definitely my biggest flaw/weakness. i make such a mess when I cook... but today I really tried to clean during my idle time (waiting for things to boil, etc..) and clean-up at the end was way easier (and less burdensome.. hehe)

7) throw stuff into the oven while other things are baking/roasting. I had a little bit of extra room on my cookie sheet while I was roasting my veggies, so I threw my sweet potatoes on top (scrubbed/dried with skin on, no foil) and it came out perfect!

8) I personally like organizing all the meals in tupperware vs. storing each thing separately. eugene and I are a grab-and-go couple in this season of our life so that's easiest for us. 

9) label everything (and make sure to date it) - isn't it the worst feeling when you spend all this time making/packing/storing food and weeks later you see a rogue tupperware sitting in the corner of your fridge, covered in the mold of death? ...no? just me? okay. well, anyway - that's why I have to label everything. 

10) challenge yourself! make things you've never made before. be creative with your ingredients, too! just use what you have. for example - i had two packs of eggs in my fridge (really, who needs TWO packs of eggs?) so I decided to make egg salad. It's a pretty simple recipe (boiled eggs, mayo, mustard, green onions, paprika, salt/pepper). I didn't have mayo or greek yogurt (which I would have preferred) so I just used a dollop of sour cream instead.

I'm excited to try new things and to keep up with my meal planning. Euene really liked all of these things I cooked today (even the quinoa!) so I hope to make lots of delicious, colorful and healthy meals on a day-to-day basis.

 

shredded salsa chicken // sauteed onions + mushrooms // roasted butternut squash // baked sweet potatoes // roasted vegetable medley - carrots, eggplant, zucchini, asparagus // minestrone // mixed quinoa // egg salad // lemon garlic grilled chicken

 

 

all packaged up and ready to go!

 labeled up with name + date of preparation // no more mold...hopefully.

cheers to many more meal-planning, meal-prepping adventures! 

....and to eating better so that I don't have cholesterol in my eyes.

xoxo

hello, spring!

happy april, everyone!

the month of march was pretty great - it was full of lots of celebrations (bridal showers, weddings), a lot of cheerleading during midterms week, stress-free/chillax time with my husband during his spring break (well, sorta - he worked/had clinicals almost everyday hehe) and balancing good eats with lots of smoothie-making/juicing. 

this month will forever be marked by a love for superfoods (chia seeds/flaxseeds/coconut oil, our current faves), buying our nutribullet (best investment ever), cooking with our cast iron skillet for the first time, late night food runs with eugene and trying to balance life and to live it faithfully. i struggled a lot with trying to learn how balance my different day-to-day responsibilities without losing sight of my purpose and ultimately Who I am serving. it's a work in progress - but more on that later.

this is what this past month looked like:

sushi samarai is our fave - i'm a regular on yelp now, woot woot // baby haddon is so cuddly // trader joes is my favorite - wish we lived closer // pumping eugene up before his elections - he won, hooray // my mom is my bff4eva // brazilian bbq with a few sweet sisters before lyssie leaves for dc (miss you!!)

lots of coffee drinking - portola's mocha is yum // egg + milk in a bowl is so beautiful to me - breakfast burritos in the making // learning a few new songs - i'm still really newb // meal planning is key to eating healthy and not eating out IMO (!!) // recharging and powering up after a few days of feeling super under the weather - nothing an iced espresso cant fix // celebrating the end of finals with kat 

the best investment we ever made - our nutribullet is our fave // wise words at our favorite chinese-korean restaurant // celebrating spring break with eugene over ayce sushi, yum // kbbq at home + game night with the oquindo's - such a fun couple // my first dutch baby - which actually ended up being sort of a fail // green bliss cafe lunch date with gloria - so sweet!

recharge breakfast at work - oatmeal with brown sugar, cinammon and granola, so good // a much needed coffee break in the middle of a tough work day - learning to praise God in every situation // learning the hard way that frying eggs should not be done on a cast iron skillet // gorgeous handrolls // a sweet dinner double date with one of our favorite couples ever - we'll miss you matt // my first cast-iron skillet ribeye steak, yay!

there are a lot of fun things in store in april, but hoping to make the most of it by keeping up with my goals! goals are everything in my book - basically, i can't function without them! 

eugene and I are trying to be more intentional about living a healthier lifestyle, so we are going to (try to) eat 30 salads this month. we're going to try to keep ourselves accountable by taking photos of our salads every day. (#30daysofsalad) 

here was day 1:

cheers to a healthy and happy month! 

let's strive to live faithfully :)

xoxo