Typical Dinner & the Day Off!

I'm pretty happy that I'm writing this post from my couch at 11 a.m. on a Monday morning because I have the day off! I've come to realize that I am very fortunate with my work schedule because as long as I'm there for visits and meetings, nobody really cares what I do with my hours! I just have to meet 40 hours a week which means I can often shape my work day however I please. It just so happens that the two other people who work on my study have the day off so there wasn't much for me to do at the office. I have a couple late visits this week which means I'll be able to make up a lot of the PTO hours I'll be taking today! 

I'm also happy that I had the day off because it meant I could take as long as I pleased with my workout. It so happened to be leg day which is the epitome of a love/hate relationship. I love working legs but then I'm sore for days afterwards. I texted Margot this morning and it says it all haha!

It was a killer workout but I loved it! It was great to be able to really focus on hitting the muscle groups, taking my time with form, and feeling my legs work without the rush of getting to work. After lunch, I'm going to take Layla for a nice long and slow walk to stretch my legs out. Then, I have a date with the foam roller! 

Okay so rewinding to last night, I wanted to do a typical dinner night post since I think a lot of people might think that healthy dinners might be too time-consuming, too difficult, or not so tasty. Well, I hope this dinner post might change some minds! 

Dinner yesterday took less than 30 minutes, and is packed with protein and nutrients! My go-to choice for dinner is always a lean protein and lots of veggies. Whether that be in the form of a salad, protein bowl (my own random invention), or a baked dish, it doesn't matter! I'm not one to pick a very carb heavy dinner like pasta or breads. I prefer to spread my carbs throughout the day, that just works better for my body! If I want something starchier my first choice is sweet potatoes or a wrap, something like that. 

So yesterday was pretty typical since it was chicken with a side of two veggies! Roasted kale sprouts and roasted butternut squash. I've talked before about how I pan-roasted the kale sprouts, but this time I roasted them in the oven to make them more like kale chips. I liked them better baked in the oven but Amanda likes them better pan-roasted so the vote is split! Our mom doesn't like them period haha so her vote didn't count. 

For the kale sprouts this is what I did: 

1 bag of kale sprouts

1 tablespoon sunflower seed oil 

sea salt & pepper

You can use any light oil to roast them, it's just to help them brown and crisp up properly. I'm not sure how much salt and pepper I used, I just eye balled it. I definitely put on probably double the amount of salt compared to pepper. 

Then, pop them in a 400 degree oven on a greased baking sheet for about 10 minutes, that's it! 

For the butternut squash, I wanted to change it up from the typical savory route and went with a coconut-sugar glaze. I also sprayed the pan with coconut oil instead of olive oil. 

The sprouts only took about 10 minutes and the squash about 20-25 minutes. 

While the veggies were roasting, the chicken cooked on the stove. It was just four chicken breasts seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, and parsley until cooked! I made sure to brown both sides, and then added some pesto to my chicken at the end. I go crazy for pesto chicken haha! 

I ended up throwing it all together in to a "protein bowl" which is exactly what it sounds like-- a bowl full of protein! I like to add in lots of veggies because I'm a volume eater. I was able to have all those veggies for under 100 calories but they filled up my entire bowl. You can't beat that! 

What's your favorite typical dinner?!