A Little Personal Project For the Year and Pumpkin Protein Muffins
Hello Monday! Hello June!
I don’t know about you, but we’re seriously counting down the days until summer officially starts over here. Just in case you’re wondering, it will officially start for us here on June 12th at approximately 2:30 pm.
In case you’re not on instagram, this morning was brilliant and started with a a photo session with a pretty big headed running star known as Meb (aka- the Boston 2014 marathon winner).
Just a couple hours and 13.1 miles later the family was hanging (and getting mighty cozy) with the real deal Meb (who placed second in today’s half marathon).
Oh heck yes. Today’s Suja Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon and 1/2 was epic. Not because I had some miraculous performance or anything, but because it was a game changer. I took the smart route, got my priorities in order and put things into the right perspective. It was about time.
I have a full race recap and my thoughts on it all along with some future plans ready for my next post, but right now I’m letting you in on a little inspirational project I’m working on for the remainder of the year.
Oh wait, first I really thought you must know that on our way home from the best morning ever today, we stopped at the store for cat litter and marshmallows. You know, the necessities. In case you’re not aware, they now have Jumbo Mallows. They’re awesome and they microwave brilliantly on parchment paper to make some really high class s’mores with rice cakes.
Ha ha.
I’m teaming with Silk for the remainder of this year to focus on a little self improvement project. I’m sure you’ve noticed that things have changed a bit recently around here. There’s been a lot more “time is love” going on and less blogging time. I’ve been stepping back to take life one day at a time and not just look at the bigger picture, but trying to really figure out what I want it to be.
I’ve been talking forever about taking steps to be a better mom while still finding time to fit in fitness and running and taking care of myself. I’ve scaled things down a lot and am trying to simplify all aspects of life. So far so good, but there’s still a lot to do.
That’s kind of what this morning’s race was about. I love running and racing, but lately my focus has been more on just trying to maintain fitness and appreciate the running I can do while still taking things easy and focusing on family first.
Simplifying life is so much easier said than done. I say I want to do it, but day after day I’m know for making things a lot harder than they need to be. I seriously can take the easiest task and make it difficult. It’s a skill. Ha.
Since we’re in survival mode over here until the end of the school year, I finally decided to use some time the other weekend to not only catch up on laundry, but bake some protein muffins that would make mornings a little easier. I needed a super easy grab and go breakfast and with the help of Silk and Vega One I have come up with just that.
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Here are the key ingredients I used.
Here’s the recipe I came up with for these muffins. I’ve been scarfing them down daily and plan on continuing to scarf these gems down for 10 more school days and then I’ll have some time to get a little more creative in the kitchen for breakfast.
Gluten Free, Nondairy Pumpkin Chai Spice Protein Muffins
(makes 6 giant muffins or 12 regular)
2 cups canned pumpkin
3 eggs or 1 cup of egg whites
3 scoops (120 grams) of protein powder (I used vanilla chai Vega One, but any other vanilla or spice flavor would work)
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin spice
2 teaspoons maca powder ( I use the Vega brand)
1 1/2 cup Silk almondmilk
Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Pour into muffin tins sprayed with nonstick spray or lined with parchment paper.
Let cool and then test at least one to make sure it’s good. Wrap and freeze the others or keep them in an airtight container in the fridge.
Mmmmmm hmmm….
Yes, that’s part of the directions. There are a lot of things in life that CAN wait, but putting family first, taking care of yourself and simplifying what you can in life shouldn’t.
There was a part of me that thought I really needed to write all about the race tonight to have a recap ready, but then I took a step back and realized that it can wait. I also had to give up going to one event I had previously committed to in order to put family first. It just takes a little perspective sometimes.
The memories and awesomeness of this morning aren’t going anywhere and I have all week (or all month) to write about them since I don’t have any other race plans for June. I’m letting myself take my time getting to it, just like I’ve been taking my time with running lately. Ha ha.
Happy June friends!
What’s something you could (and should) do to simplify life this month?
This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.
