Broccoli Beet-Tastic Chicken Salad

Oh leftovers, how I love you.

Today my lunch included pulled chicken leftover from last night’s dinner.

I was going to make a simple chicken salad sandwich, but I decided to add a little oomph with fresh veggies.

I bring you broccoli beet-tastic chicken salad!

Revitalized Chicken Salad

Beet-Tastic

My salad included:

• 3 oz. shredded chicken breast
• 100 grams broccoli
• 2 tbsp. Miracle Whip Light
• 1.5 tbsp. dijon mustard
• 50 grams canned beets
• 50 grams sweet corn

I shook it up to cover the chicken and veggies in the “dressing.”

Broccoli + Beets + Corn + Chicken

Hump Day Lunch

For dessert I had banana yogurt pudding which I made by stirring a large spoonful of instant banana pudding mix into a cup of Greek yogurt.

Banana Yogurt Pudding

If you haven’t tried yogurt pudding yet, you must. It’s so thick and creamy and reminds me of custard.

More Tips for Gettin’ Him to the Gym

You guys had some great ideas for getting your partner to the gym, so I wanted to share a few more straight from you!

• Encourage your guy to workout with his friends. Many guys enjoy playing sports with their buddies and thrive on competition.
• Continue with your own dedication to fitness. It may take some time to rub off on your partner.
• Take your guy to a group exercise class that you’ve scoped out beforehand. This way you can see whether or not there are other guys in the class and make sure that the music isn’t too girly so he won’t feel like he’s in a girly class.
• Don’t make the gym the only option. Exercise can occur outside, in the home or with a friend.
• Offer to create a workout plan for him. Some people are intimidated by working out and don’t know where to begin or what exercises to do.

Thank you to Angela, Tina, Natalie and Tess for the above ideas!

Buy One, Get One Free at Jamba Juice

Click here for a buy one, get one free coupon for Jamba Juice, valid through April 25!

Free EAS Myoplex Nutrition Shake

Click here to receive a coupon for a free EAS Myoplex nutrition shake, which has 25 grams of protein. Wow-zaa!

TV

For the past two years Ryan and I have lived without television in our apartment.

As of Sunday night, we now officially have TV again.

TV

I should clarify my first statement by saying we did have a television and could watch DVDs, but we did not get any channels (no, not even the basic channels) and couldn’t just “flip on the TV” for two years.

Whenever people found out that we didn’t have TV, the variety of responses were always quite amusing. Many people found it incomprehensible that we didn’t have television. Others thought the idea was fabulous.

What do you think about going TV-free for two years? Could you do it? Would you want to?

Not having television really wasn’t hard for us at all. I am not a huge TV person and only wished I had TV on a couple of occasions (like for the season finale of The Bachelor or during the Olympics). Being the sports fan that he is, the no-TV thing hit Ryan a little harder, but even he didn’t mind it too much.

The times we wished we had TV were when we had friends or company over because many people are used to having TV on in the background or want to be able to catch the end of a big game.

Now that we have TV again, it really feels like a treat! Ryan said that with the World Cup coming up this year and March Madness in full-swing, having TV was something he’d like to try out again.

To be totally honest, I’m excited to take in some wedding-related TV (like Say Yes to the Dress… which I’ve only seen one time at my parents’ house!).

Still, I know myself and I get bored with TV fairly quickly. While I think it will be fun to have TV again, I don’t see myself falling into the TV trap.

TV Facts

According to AC Nielsen Co.:

• The average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours a week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year)
• If the average American lives to be 65, they will have spent 9 years watching TV (Source)

How much TV do you watch every day?

Moving on from TV talk…

Lunch

Lunch today was quite random!

Yesterday a guy was eating a BBQ pulled pork sandwich and baked beans in the break room at lunch time and it smelled phenomenal.

I was determined to include BBQ in my lunch today!

Following a recipe for baked BBQ tofu that I saw on Meghann’s blog, I made myself a BBQ tofu, sweet corn and roasted cauliflower veggie bowl.

This morning while I showered, I roasted the cauliflower and baked the tofu. The house smelled like dinner at 7:30 a.m.!

Roasted Cauliflower

After adding several handfuls of frozen sweet corn kernels to the cauliflower and BBQ tofu bowl and microwaving the mix for about a minute, my lunch was ready for eatin’.

BBQ Tofu Veggie Bowl

This lunch was so easy to make and satisfied my desire for a BBQ-filled lunch. 10 points for PBF! 😀

Sure… Throw That In, Too!

That was my motto when creating my lunch today.

I knew I wanted tuna salad, but I also wanted chickpeas and sweet corn. What’s a girl to do?

Throw them all into the salad and hope for the best, of course!

Tuna Salad

Today’s tuna salad included:

• Tuna
• Light Miracle Whip
• Dijon mustard
• Relish
• Sweet corn
• Chickpeas
• Sliced baby carrots

I also enjoyed a snack sized baggie of carrots on the side.

Monday's Lunch

I wasn’t sure how I’d like my random ingredient tuna salad since I generally limit tuna salad to the fish, mayo, mustard, relish, celery and onion. Fortunately this was an experiment that turned out really well. Everything tasted great and I got to enjoy all the foods I was craving.

Well… almost everything I was craving. Chocolate didn’t make the cut, but including chocolate chips in the tuna salad would be barf-inducing, I believe.

What little extras do you include in tuna or chicken salad?

I love adding in fun foods and flavors to kick tuna or chicken salad up a notch. I’d love some creative suggestions!