Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a morning person. I’ve talked about this several times here, so even if you don’t know me personally – you probably know this as well.
Simply put—I’m a night owl. I like to stay up late. I usually get a second wind at about 10 PM, so my head doesn’t hit the pillow until 12 or 1 (sometimes later).
So it’s not me, but rather my alarm clock that gets a workout in the morning. Instead of getting my sweat on, I snooze it up until the very last minute and then I save my sweat session for later in the day.
Here’s the catch. I desperately want to be a morning exerciser. By the time I start grad school in the fall, I want to be converted. I’ll have far too much work to save my workouts for the evening.
So, I did something crazy. Crazy for me, at least.
I signed up for a 5:00AM boot camp class. Yep, you read that right. FIVE IN THE MORNING. Who am I?
Suffice it to say that I am terrified. No really. I don’t think I have ever intentionally been up at 4:15 AM. But on Wednesday, that will change. Thank goodness I have my friend Tracy to make certain my booty is up and ready to go.
Wish me luck.
Since I’m terrified of this new schedule, I went a little prep crazy on Sunday. I prepped lunches. I prepped breakfasts. I even prepped snacks.
I’m setting myself up for success guys. No excuses when that alarm goes off, right?
Vegan Grain Bowls (prepped for the week ahead)
These bowls are clean, nutritious, and great for prepping on a Sunday.
Here’s what you’ll need.
5 medium sized to-go containers. I prefer glass so I can simply pop it in the microwave and then eat.
2 cans of beans. I chose kidney beans and black beans, but anything would work.
[make certain to drain and rinse to get rid of excess sodium]
Vegetables of choice. I used baby spinach, red peppers, tomatoes, and roasted broccoli.
Gosh, I love Costco and their produce.
A grain. I used quinoa. Wheat berries or brown rice would also work well.
I cooked my quinoa in a rice cooker. So simple.
Last but not least, you’ll need toppings. To keep it vegan—use hummus, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and salsa. Not all together, unless you like it like that.
Or you could make your bowl Mexican style and add Greek yogurt, salsa, and hot sauce. Not vegan, but absolutely delicious.
Once your ingredients are all ready (veggies chopped, quinoa cooked, broccoli roasted) – it’s time to layer it up.
Layer one: spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, and red peppers
Layer two: beans and quinoa
Layer three: toppings
[supremely spicy hummus, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar]
TIMES FIVE
Between work, research, family, boot camp, my presentation, and my personal training class, my week will be pretty crazy.
It gives me piece of mind to know that I have a delicious and healthy grab-and-go lunch waiting for me in the fridge.
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