In one word…YUM!

Jared has given me Apex bars on my menu.  If you have a 24 Hour Fitness place nearby, I believe they sell them there, but if not (and where I live does not), you can purchase them online.  I found the best price to be on Amazon.  I will warn you though that they came from Canada and took almost two weeks to get here.

If you’re a peanut butter and chocolate fan, this Apex bar is for you!  It’s  a brownie with real Reese’s peanut butter chips in it and drizzled on top.  It’s fairly rich, but not too over-decadent that you can’t eat one all in one sitting.

You definitely feel like you’re cheating when you eat one of these.  Just had to share this item with you.  Mmm…mmm.mmm.

This week, Jared has me eating Lasagna Rolls for dinner.  I cannot even begin to tell you how yummy these are!!!  Some substitutions are made (ground turkey in place of ground beef…lowfat cottage cheese in place of ricotta, etc…), but it doesn’t deter from the taste at all.  These taste just as amazing as regular lasagna.  They were so simple to make, although we were getting a little impatient with having to wait for them to bake for 40 minutes in the oven (we took them out a bit early…the smell was driving us mad).  YUM!

You can find the recipe on the THF Heathy Recipes site.  Take some time and search around for some other great recipes to try.  I have yet to find one that I haven’t liked.  Thanks Jared for putting this on my menu this week.  I’m looking forward to dinner every night.

I have so many to choose from this week.  There’s pancakes for breakfast, Pesto Pasta with Chicken for lunch, and soup for dinner.  All amazing choices, not to mention that one of my snacks is a chocolate dipped Mojo bar.  YUM!  I’m loving every single meal each day!

I will admit that I was too lazy to grill some chicken for my Pesto Pasta for lunch yesterday, so heated up a Morningstar Veggie Chick Patty instead.  Tasted great!  I use these as my lazy day chicken alternative.  I’m not much for meat anyway, so getting a break from meat and having something “veggie” is always a treat for me.

I highly recommend both the Protein Pancakes and the Pesto Pasta.  Both are so simple to make and very tasty.  Check on the recipes (with the links above) and give them a try.  You won’t be disappointed.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Favorite Food post.  The reason you ask?  My food hasn’t been extremely exciting lately.  It’s pretty basic and I’ve already shared my favorites with you from this particular menu.  I will say that there was a particular food that was introduced into my menu this past week that I hadn’t tried before and am now a fan.  Have you heard of Bagel Thins?  I’ve heard of Sandwich Thins, but not Bagel Thins.  I was surprised to find them and have to say that they’re pretty darn good.

As for an update…  I’m back on track (starting today), but not quite 100%.  I’m still very weak and therefore was not able to make it through my whole weight routine today.  I did half and was about ready to die.  I barely had the strength to lift the weights.  I chose not to do cardio today.  I definitely don’t have any wind in my sails for that today.  I’m hoping to feel more relief tomorrow to jump back on that bandwagon.  I’m doing what I can (a step in the right direction).  I just wish I had more energy and felt better to pick up where I left off.

I will admit that it’s frustrating to see how easily I can fall back into my old habits.  Taking almost a full week off from exercise didn’t phase me a bit.  I thought I’d be craving it or missing it or at least something.  I enjoyed the time off (and really wanted to take today off too…very easy to talk myself in to that).  Sad, huh?  As for eating, I didn’t stick to plan hardly at all.  I’ve never had an off eating week like this past week.  I wanted comfort food.  I felt miserable and was stressed this past week and comfort food is what I ran for.  What’s up with that?  I’m actually sad I’m going back to eating right today.  Really?  I thought I was past this.  *sigh*  How’s that for true honesty.  I almost want to hide it and just tell you I did today’s workout, blah, blah, blah, but really want this blog to be “real” and truthful.  Things aren’t perfect, even after losing 40 pounds.  Heck, I probably gained a couple of those pounds back this past week.  Ugh!  Life isn’t easy, losing weight isn’t easy, staying on track isn’t easy.  It all takes a lot of time and effort.  I just need to get my head back in the game and continue on with my journey.  I’m so close to my goal.  I can’t quit now.

Hands down, this week my favorite food is Jared’s Breakfast Hash!  It’s extremely easy to make and tastes great (not to mention, it’s very filling)!

It has hash browns, ham, cheese, eggs, and veggies in it.  All great things!  YUM!  My husband took one look at the bag of hash browns and said, “I know what your favorite meal is going to be this week.”  LOL!  He was right.