Happiest of Mondays to you! I don’t know what is going on, but Wisconsin decided to skip fall and go straight to winter. It’s quite depressing considering I am home on maternity leave and completely cooped up. I envisioned my maternity leave full of walks, hikes, orchards, and other fun fall activities. But instead, here I am stuck indoors because mother nature decided to give us cold, windy and rainy weather instead of the beautiful sunny and 65 degree fall days. Come on Wisconsin, get your ish together! I have falling to do.
This past weekend was the first weekend I was home alone with Avri for consecutive days in a row. Saturday was easy because I literally did nothing. I needed a day to just chill out, not pick up the house or do any other house chores, take a break from recipes and cooking and just relax. This could have been because I was awake at 4am to feed the babe and realized our heat wasn’t working. It got below freezing Friday night and our house was freeeezing. Normally I would have just bundled myself up and dealt with it. Not with a newborn, though! I was so worried she was cold and was going to get sick so I threw a hat on her and covered her up with another blanket. Then, since the hubby was out of town I had to tinker with the furnace to figure out what was going on. Long story short, I finally got it to work around 5:30am and baby girl woke up an hour later. Oh, and I was plunging the toilet 4:30am too because our new roommate (cough, cough, my little sister) thinks she needs to use half the roll of toilet paper when going to the bathroom. Moral of this pointless story, I needed a day to do nothing and Saturday was that day.
Sunday, however, I decided to get my act together and be productive. After church and feeding Avri I headed to the grocery store with her and picked up some lunch while out. This all went very well! Then, I needed to meal prep and make a recipe for you guys. Normally, I can get all of this done within 1-2 hours and go on with my day. Let me tell you, being home alone with a newborn sure puts a wrench in things. I did end up getting everything done, but it took much longer than normal. I had to stop at least twice for feedings and to entertain her a bit. But, I DID GET IT DONE! You should have seen my kitchen, it was a hot mess.
Every time I do something with her that used to not take me long like getting ready for church, grocery shopping, running errands, meal prepping, recipe development I am learning that I need to give myself much more time. I am also learning that all of these things are still doable while taking care of a baby. I could use her as an excuse to not meal prep or get other things done, but instead I am learning a new routine and way of doing things. I have made living a healthy lifestyle a big priority in my life. If I didn’t have the foundation and basics of living a healthy life, this adjustment would be that much harder. If you find yourself struggling or creating excuses to not make healthy choices throughout the week, to meal prep, to get a workout in then check your priorities. If it is important to you to be healthy, you will find a way to make it happen.
And, I am here to help you with that! Just like a lot of you, I am going through a life change and having to relearn how to do things. But first, you need to know and be able to consistently do the basics of healthy living. If you are ready to make healthy living a priority and throw aside the excuses, lets chat and be sure to check out my options for nutrition coaching that will change your health and life for good!
These yogurt bars are perfect to keep on hand for a quick snack or for dessert after dinner. Since I am still feeling all the fall feels, I used my Pumpkin Autumn Harvest Trail Mix to make these bars and they did not disappoint. Enjoy!
What you will need: 1 batch Pumpkin Harvest Trail Mix
- 1 batch Pumpkin Autumn Harvest Trail Mix
- 1½ cups plain Greek Yogurt
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with oil (I used avocado oil spray).
- Add the yogurt, honey and vanilla to a medium sized bowl and mix well. Fold in ¾ of the Pumpkin Autumn Harvest Trail Mix.
- Add the yogurt mixture to the parchment paper lined pan and evenly spread out. Top the yogurt mixture with the remainder of the trail mix.
- Place in freezer for 4+ hours or overnight.
- Set out 10-15 minutes before enjoying. Keep in the freezer.
What you will need: 1 batch Pumpkin Harvest Trail Mix