Garlic Cilantro-Lime Rice

Tired of plain ole brown rice?  Spruce it up with some fresh garlic and herbs!!!  This rice goes great with anything...fish, shredded chicken, beef, etc.  It's also good left-over.  :)  Here's how you make it:

First, get all your ingredients together:
  • 2 cups brown rice
  • 2 limes
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • fresh cilantro


Next, start chopping up your garlic into small pieces.  Go ahead and put 1 tbsp. olive oil into your pot and start getting it warm over medium heat.  While it's heating, measure out 2 cups of brown rice.  Once the pot is warm, toss in your chopped up garlic.  Let it cook for a couple of minutes. 

Next, toss in all of your rice.  Stir it around to coat the rice in oil and let it toast for a couple of minutes.

 

Then, add in 3 1/2 cups of water, the zest and juice of 2 limes, sea salt, and black pepper.  Stir everything around to mix, then put the lid on and crank the heat up to high.  Once everything comes to a boil, turn the heat down to low-medium and let it cook for about 40-45 minutes.

 

 

 

Once it has cooked, turn the heat off and let it steam for a few minutes.  While it's steaming, chop up some fresh cilantro.

 

 

 

 

Toss the cilantro into the rice, fluff with a fork, and that's it!

 

 

Here's the nutritional info per serving (makes five 1-cup servings):

• Calories:  269

• Protein:  5g

• Carbs:  53g

• Fat:  4g

 

Enjoy! :)

 

What I Learned From My Spontaneous Week “Off”

This past week has been a total whirlwind of crappy decisions and not taking care of myself!  "Just this one time" turned into a whole week of not working out and eating junk.  So, I want to share what I learned not only so I can look back on this as a reminder of why I'm on this journey, but also to possibly help someone else out there who may be having a rough week!!  So, here's what I learned from my week of madness:

1. Eating out is more expensive than I realized.  Each week, my hubs and I get a certain amount of “blow money” to spend on whatever we want.  I usually save mine up for things like boot camp, getting my hair done, and protein powder.  I had 50 bucks, and I blew through it in 2 days. 
2. Not having my meals prepped stressed me out.  I usually plan my meals, get groceries, and prep everything for the week on Sundays.  I didn’t "feel like it" last weekend, so I only got half of my food ready.  Since I didn’t have it all completely done, I just said screw it all and decided to take the route of eating out instead.  While finding a place to eat may sound easier than bringing your own lunch, it actually caused me to stress.  I didn’t have a plan, not much time to think about where to go, and kept ending up at stupid drive through windows and convenience stores.  Having everything in the fridge ready to grab and go is definitely a must. 
3. Skipping workouts sucks!!  It may sound crazy, but after a week of doing absolutely no physical activity...boot camp was way harder than usual.  I kept getting out of breath quicker, I felt weak, and I was slow.  With sweat pouring off of me last night while doing superband hammer curls and feeling like I was going to pass out, I remember looking down at my legs and thinking about how I am never taking a week off from boot camp again.  If you want to stay in shape, you’ve gotta stay on top of your workouts - there's no way around it. 
4. Reverting back to old habits brought back old emotions.  I felt like a fatty, ugly, boring, not confident, and just gross.  My hubs would tell me I was beautiful, and instead of believing him and saying thank you, I would shake my head and be like psh yeah OK.  Eating greasy junk foods and not working out = feeling like ew. 
5. I have to learn how to balance all the craziness in my life and not let stressful situations drag me down.  I recognized that I have a tendency to go back to old routines when stress comes up.  In the past, when I felt overwhelmed – I’d just hide on the couch with food.  That’s all I wanted to do last week...I would think about what all I had going on all at once, and I would reach for food...cheez-its, candy bars, cokes, just junk.  Not cool. 
6. I’m not the same person I used to be.  I read a quote once that said, “Stop being who you were and become who you are”.  SO TRUE.  I used to be totally okay with being the girl who never worked out, ate what she wanted, felt like crap, and did nothing to fix it.  I’m different now.  I have goals.  I want to be the best version of me, and eating healthy and working has definitely become a WAY bigger part of my life than I realized. 
7. Haters gonna hate.  Someone is always going to have an opinion about how I live my life and the decisions I make.  As much as I'd love to please everyone in this world, I can't.  If someone has something negative to say to me, I try to only let it bother me for a few minutes...then I let it roll and just keep doin my thing!
8. Making excuses and saying “oh, it’s just this ONE time – it won’t hurt” ADDS UP!  All those days that I told myself it was okay to have just this ONE drink, just this ONE order of fries, only ONE cupcake, and it’s just ONE day of not working out...all added up – not only on the scale, but also on my rear...and waist...and face.  Yes, it’s easier to make excuses than do the work – but you’re only hurting yourself in the end.  
9. No matter WHAT is going on, I have to make time to stop.  Last week I had a ton going on.  I decided to take last Friday off (which was amazeballs by the way), and I need to do that more often. Making time to take care of yourself is not selfish, and it's OKAY to do!
10. I had a crappy week, and it's time to get over it and move on.  Life has its ups and downs, good times and bad times, crazy times and slow times.  It's okay to mess up, but I'm not going to let it stop me.  I've only got 67 days left until I hit my bikini goal, so I've gotta get with it!!!!!!

To sum things up....

Not working out + eating junk + lack of sleep + stress = not a happy girl!