Last Night’s Dinner - Success After A Long Day!

Looks pretty good, right?? :)

Ok, before we discuss this tasty plate of food let me preface this by saying that man, Santa Barbara was absolutely NUTS yesterday! I’ve never hit so much traffic in this town the whole time I’ve lived here. It took me almost an hour to go less than 10 miles - it’s graduation time for a lot of schools and it’s Father’s Day weekend, so I’d like to think that everybody on the road was on their way to see people they love.

I guess if I have to sit in traffic and be late and stressed out all day because of it, it’s at least nice to think of it that way, right? Might as well - it makes me feel less crabby about it! :)

But anyway, the traffic isn’t really the point - my point is that it took me SO long to get everywhere yesterday, that I missed my opportunity to go home and have my midday meal (I did eat the snack I had with me, but it wasn’t enough), which left me feeling ravenous and depleted when I was finally done with everything for the day.

I am happy to say though, that I powered through and went straight past the takeout places and fast food joints - when I got home, I started right away cooking whatever I could find in the fridge…

Correction. Let me rephrase that: when I got home, I started right away cooking EVERYTHING I could find in the fridge! :)

I’m only sort of joking, because I really did cook a LOT of things. Everything looked particularly delicious since I was so hungry, so I just went for it!

But everything was healthy, nutritious, fairly low-calorie, and minimally processed, so I felt totally great about crushing a HUGE plate of food after a rather taxing day, if I do say so myself :)

Here’s what I made - pesto marinated chicken breast, garlic cauliflower rice, roasted rainbow carrots with sea salt, fresh cucumber slices, and roasted eggplant with a little bit of organic marinara sauce and a sprinkling of low fat mozzarella. I had a mango fermented probiotic kombucha along with it (low sugar), and a couple of teeny tiny little apricots (because cute things are always more delicious) and a couple of lychees (killer find, they’re my favorite) for dessert. Not too bad, huh?

Speaking of cute things, even though I was super hungry I managed to make my food look fairly cute on the plate (at least I think it looks cute) because it felt more special that way, and I thought after a long day that having a special dinner would be nice - and it was! All food, especially healthy food, always tastes better when it looks pretty, don't you think? :)

I think one of the keys to making healthy food happen when you’re exhausted and starving is keeping things that you truly like to eat, that are goal-friendly and fairly quick and easy to cook, in your house at all times. I try to keep at least two or three of my favorite veggie options in the house without fail, and a couple of lean proteins in the fridge and another in the freezer.

I also go to the grocery store pretty frequently, to replenish our options before we run out - that’s the worst, most annoying situation to me, and a recipe for a diet disaster. I keep a running list on my phone of things we like that fit our nutrition plans, so that I don't have any guess work when I get to the store and my shopping can be done in a hurry.

Just like everyone else I don’t always want to go to the store after a long day of work, so each time I go I buy as much produce and meat as I think we can get through before it goes bad, in order to score myself some time before our next grocery run!

What I'm saying guys, is that it CAN be done. Is it easier? Not exactly. But is it worth it? Totally. It actually took me less time to make this whole meal than it would have to go through the long drive-thru line at In-n-Out burger, which is dangerously close to my house... Trust me, I've done the "research" in my day to know this is true haha!

My dinner was so hearty and filling that as soon as I was done, I finished up my work for the night and hit the hay - and I slept like a BABY. Crazy Friday night, I know! ;)

But now I’m rested, ready to work, hit the gym, maybe swim some laps and then go to a party to see some old friends…

Cheers to the weekend, everyone!

How do you stay on your healthy path even when you’re tired, super hungry, or had a stressful day - or maybe all three?

Please feel free to comment, upvote, or resteem if you’d like! :)