Simple & Easy Vegan Burgers

Hey guys! I haven’t been keeping up with my ‘Day by Day’ weight/ food journal, but I am here to bring you some recipes! I’ve been exploring healthy, vegan recipes and have found some great ones! I always put my own flair on them. Today I have for you, Vegan Veggie Burgers! 

Who doesn’t love a good ole burger? Well, here is the story behind making my own yesterday. My fiancé and I were watching the food network, as per usual, I mean what else is there to watch. We were watching Gordon Ramsay make a huge, juicy burger. My fiancé is not vegan, he loves meat, but has a very healthy diet to where he likes everything I eat so if he wants, when we go out he will have chicken or a burger, because I don’t make it at home. He was craving a burger, it was 10 pm so I wasn’t going to let him go get one because that’s not a healthy time to eat, but I decided to surprise him the next day and make him the full, healthy, experience of a burger! My style 🙂

He came home from work to find this, yummm! And he loved it! 
This was the first time I’ve made a veggie burger myself, so I will add what I suggest, and what I will do next time! 

Ingredients 

-1 can of black beans

-1/2 cup of corn

-1/2 onion

-1/2 pepper

-3 tbps of flour (I used whole wheat) 

-spices (I used garlic salt, paprika, pepper, Italian seasoning and rosemary) 

It’s a SUPER simple burger. Just mix everything together and mash it! Mine wasn’t as mashed as I will make it next time, but it was still delish! 

Once you mix it all together, put the patties into a skillet pan, or grill pan, and cook for about 4 min on each side, medium heat. Make sure you either coat the pan with a layer of oil, this will add some crispy-ness if you want, or just spray it with Pam. 

And that’s it! I did a bun-less burger, save some calories, and instead put the pattie on a bed of mixed greens with a light oil and vinegar dressing. 

The fries were super simple as well. I took 2 medium sized golden potatoes and cut them into slices, fry shapes, and soaked them in a cold water bowl for 30 mins. (The longer the better, overnight is the best. This adds the crispy texture your looking for in a baked fry.) 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Once the fries have soaked for at least 30 min, take them out, I didn’t dry mine, I just got most of the water off, and place on a waxed sheet. You can coat the fries with whatever you’re feeling, I used garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and nutritional yeast. I baked those for 25-30 mins and they are done! I broiled them for 3, I like them crispy! 
And that’s it! It’s a super simple meal with few ingredients. You can add more veggies to the burger if you want, I will. More peppers, onions, etc. Just keep the base of beans and flour. You could even add some cooked rice/quinoa if you wanted! And you could do the same recipe for the fries and substitute sweet potatos. The options are endless! 

I hope you guys try it and tell me how it goes! If you like this post, let me know that as well and I will try more recipes and let you know about them! 

Have a great rest of your weekend, 

MJ

Day 18

Man was today a DAY! I found a new love inthe workout world- TRX. 

Breakfast: Avocado Toast, as per usual. Topped with cayenne and garlic salt! 

After this I did the TRX class. 700 calories in 45 minutes!!!!! Say whattttttt???? Yea! It was amazing! Constantly moving and keeping the heart rate up. I LOVED it. 

Lunch: Banana and hummus pack. I had this before my workout, but after I also had a rice cake with pb, coconut, chia seeds and cinnamon. 

Dinner: this beauty. Man, this was the best sandwich I’ve ever made! It had mixed lettuce, tomato, nana peppers, roasted red peppers, spicy mustard, vegan mayo, sub sauce on Eureka Bread! YUMMOOO

I also went to a dance cardio class for an hour and burned another 550 calories. 

Total calories: 1,659 calories

Total workout time: 175 minutes

You today was awesome!! I also went to Publix and got lots of fresh veggies and fruits (ones I either already ate or didn’t get at the Farmers Market.) 

Keep up on your goals 🙂

Day 16&17

Hey guys! I hope you’ve had a great week so far! I’ll start with my food diary for days 16&17!

Breakfast: Day 16- banana pb toast with coconut, cinnamon and chia seeds. Day 17- a side ways Avocado Toast with cayenne pepper and garlic salt. Yums to both. I really could tell you which one is my favorite. But they both are my favorite things to have for breakfast! Simple and quick makes that keep me full for hours! Both provide a variety of health benefits unique to what they are! 

Lunches- Day 16- a veggie burger from the Cheesecake Factory. It was so good! Had all the toppings, no condiments. And nooo cheese  cake. Day 17- not pictured- a PB and J sandwich, and some peach green tea from Hillcrest Coffee in Lakeland. 

Dinner- Day 16- rice cakes with pb and banana  day 17- avocado enchiladas with vegetable sauce and rice/beans from Abuelos. These enchiladas were SO GOOD. The ranchera sauce was perfect with the avocado! Def will get again. 

Workouts: Day 16- elliptical workout for 30 min and then 30 min of ultimate frisbee with my boy. Day 17- 60 minute elliptical workout with arms. 

Both great days! I’m achieving my goals I set for myself this week. Are you? If you need an accountability partner I’m here for you! 
MJ

Day 15

Hey guys! Hope you had a great Monday! Today was a GREAT day. Lots of health and fitness! 

Started my day with these yummies: Banana PB roll up with chia seeds &a almond cold brew sweetened with Stevia! It was a perfect breakfast. 

After my class, I headed to the gym for a 30 min elliptical workout before lunch. 

Lunch consisted of an Apple ‘n Greens smoothie from Jamba Juice, and I had a rice cake with hummus later for a snack, not pictured. 

Dinner was bomb!!!!!! I tried this Upton Natural Jack fruit BBQ. ITS WAS SO GOOD!!! I’m not even lying when I say you wouldn’t know the difference between that, and pulled pork. It says to sautée it, I did, and also cooked it in the oven until crispy! I had it with a sweet potato, not pictured. It was the BEST dinner after a hard day like today. 

Between lunch and dinner I went to the gym and did some more cardio and then an hour long class of total body conditioning. 

Total Calories burned today: 1,578!!! Whoottt

Total workout time: 183 minutes

Yo, killing it. Loving it. Let do it again tomorrow? Yes! I hope you all had as great of a day as I did!! 

Are you starting your week off strong and following your goals?

Love, MJ

Day 14

Last day of the weekend 🙁 but…. that means we have a whole new week ahead of us to accomplish new goals! I’ll start with my food log: 

Breakfast: South Pacific Smoothie: coconut, spinach, banana, Mango. And I also had an egg wrap with veggies. Not pictured 

Lunch/Dinner: Travel day, so I had a combined lunch and dinner. ‘Miracle noodles’ with pasta sauce and for dessert rice cakes with PB and dairy free chocolate chips. 

Okay honestly I didn’t know how these noodles would turn out, texture was chewy, but not bad! I was freaking out because I opened the bag to drain the liquid, it smelled like fish. Like gross, but they were basically like rice noodles, just a lot chewier. I could have made them wrong, I think you were suppose to boil them before you cooked them, but I didn’t care. The whole package was only 10 calories! It was PLENTY, I didn’t even finish I was so full. 

Ugh my fav. This is my new go to craving. And I love it. These are brown rice cakes, with a combined amount of one tbsp of PB and dairy free chocolate chips with a sprinkle of cinnamon. The whole thing is under 200 calories!! 😍

I had a long 1.5 hour walk on the beach this morning. 

Now, my goals for this week! 

-100 push-ups a day

-Get up to 2 mile run @ 6mph 😪

-Plant based all week

-Drop 5lbs by next Sunday 

These are big goals for a big push! I’m ready! Are you? 💪🏼

What is a goal you have?

Let’s all start the week strong!! 😎

Love, MJ

Day 13

Hey guys! Today has been a traveling/beach day! Look at that beauty! 

Breakfast: my go to, you know it, Avocado Toast 

That joined with cold brew with some almond milk with a touch of stevia, mmmm hit the spot. 

I then traveled to the beach! I met my parents up at our house on Anna Maria Island, heaven on earth. 

Lunch: consisted of a turkey wrap, not pictured, with lots of veggies. Usually I’m all plant based but this weekend I’m off the hook, I decided to have turkey and shrimp. 

Dinner: yum, shrimp scampi, probably my favorite dish. We went to Mar Vista on Long Boat Key Island. Man it hits the spot every time!!!

Today was MUCH needed, especially after the last couple days of crazy. Tomorrow morning I’ll be going on a walk and then doing a Spartan workout! 

I hope you guys had a great day! I’ll have next weeks goals in tomorrow’s post. They’re going to be good, challenging, and exciting! 

I hope you guys are having a great weekend! Don’t forget to indulge, whether that be in a sweet, or like me, a meat, shell fish or white meat, be good to your health! Make sure you keep a balance. 

What is one goal you have for next week? I’ll tell you mine tomorrow 🙂

What is your favorite cheat meal/food? Mine is easy, nice cream, but shrimp or turkey if I’m eating all plant based. 

If you’re confused, like sometimes I am, about why I go back and forth between plant based and not, I can’t give you an answer lol. Usually it’s convinence if there isn’t any plant based options, but sometimes I just want turkey or whatever. I don’t eat red meat. My person preference. I haven’t for 5 years. I mainly stay plant based, I prefer it really, but when with my family or my fiancés, they are big meat eaters, it’s just best to have what they give. I was strictly vegetarian for 3 years and I ran into “well what are we going to make for Madison?” All the time. Maybe it’s just me, but I felt bad that people had to work around it. Now, I’ve come to not care as much, caring more about my health, but will occasionally have meat. Anyways, that’s my side lol. 
Love you always, MJ

Day 11&12

Hey guys! Sorry for not posting yesterday, it was a crazy day! But both yesterday and today were very successful! From moving in to my last year at USF to exploring Disney’s brand new World of Avatar, I would say these past two days have been very successful! 

Breakfast: One day I had toast with PB and banana, not pictured, and this morning I had toast with Avocado! 

Guys I really have a problem when it comes to Avocado Toast, it’s just so easy, yummy and healthy I just can’t seem to budge away from it….but is that a bad thing?

Lunch/Dinner: Yesterday I had a Veggie taco bowl from a local Mexican restaurant, and today I had a late lunch/dinner of caprese flatbread and a Caesar salad from Walt Disney World! Both days I had a really late lunch due to moving in, and being at Disney world so I was still full when dinner time came around. Both meals were very filling anyways!  

I did get a snack of Dole Whip at WDW. My fiancé and I shared! 

We were able to explore the new Pandora World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, it was amazing!!!!! Here are some pictures. I highly recommend going! If you want to know a secret, get to the park before it opens, like 8-8:30, they let you in around 8:30 and by 8:45 we were let into Pandora World. We walked quickly to the Avatar Flight of Passage (the new hit ride) and was able to get on in less than 30 minutes. The wait times are usually 105+ easy. As I’m typing this the wait time is 120 min. This was on Mt Everest, look at his face😂

Yesterday I did 25,468 steps, and over 14 miles. Just from moving in and getting everything fixed up!  And today from Disney I did 18,384 steps, walking around Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom! Whoot whoot! 

Tomorrow I’m headed to the beach for the short weekend before senior classes start, ugh, but let’s finish this thing! 

I hope you all have had a great start to your weekend and finished out your work week strong. Keep your eye on the prize! 

What is your goal for the weekend? Mine is to workout every morning! Usually when I’m down at the Beach house I slack, so my goal is to keep on track! 💪🏼

What is one thing you have always wanted to do, that you plan on doing this year? Well, graduate! I’ve always wanted to be a college grad, so let’s do this! 🎓

Love, MJ

Day 10

Happy hump day! Today was filled with things to do! Started the day with a 3 mile walk, and then went on to wash my car, pack it, and get ready to move tomorrow! I also mopped, cleaned all the wood floors, and polished/restrained all the kitchen cabinets, whew. 

Breakfast: my fav, avo toast. Just look at it, and all its glory. 

Lunch: Crisper’s pick a pair featuring the plain tomato bisque and Mediterranean flatbread salad! I didn’t take a picture of the soup, whoopppssss. This is my favorite meal. 

Dinner: multigrain toast with coconut peanut butter, banana, and lots of cinnamon, perfect for a post workout meal! 

I also had a snack of chia seed pudding with peanut butter, mmmmm. 

My workout was the Spartan WOD. 

It was a good day! 

Tomorrow will be busy, I’ll be moving back to Tampa, so a workout itself is part of that! My last year of college, thank God. 

I hope you all had a great day 🙂

What is your go to workout sesh? I love weights, minimal cardio. But I do have full cardio days, ew. 😂

What is your post workout meal/snack? Mine is pretty much anything banana and peanut butter. Lol. Or a protein shake, but I’m not big on the protein powders. Depends really
Have a great evening!! 

Day 9

Heyyyyy ya’lllllllll! Happy Tuesday, whoot whoot!

I started my morning with a 3 mile walk {375 cals gone} and 100 push ups! After that it was some serious cleaning time! I scrubbed the entireeeeeeee kitchens grout. Yuck. But seeing the results was ammazing! 

Breakfast: Protein Smoothie I had an Arbonne protein blended with banana, spinach and cinnamon. Yummmoooo

Lunch: Vietnamese Stirfry Rice noodles, veggies, and shrimp (I eat plant based most of the time but some yummy shrimp was just perfect with this dish) terrible photo I know, apologies 

Dinner: Mixed Greens with Balsamic Dressing with an ear of corn. This was a basic salad, literally just the lettuce and dressing I didn’t eat even half but 

It was an okay day, nothing big to report. I’m looking tomorrow to do a Spartan workout and take a 2 mile run along with the morning walk. 

Hoping your day was filled with good vibes and success. 

What do you do when you feel “not in the workout mood” but know you need to?!

What is your goal before the year ends? Mine is to lose 30lbs. Crazzzyyy I know. But I’ve done it before. A healthy diet and exercise, no problem. 

Love, MJ

Back to college & goals for the week

Helllooooo, I’m starting my senior year of college at USF, whoot whoot. I’m planning on moving back Thursday so work with me on blog production! I don’t know if it’s just me or is college not everyone thing? 

Did you like college? What was something you were involved in that made your college experience? I really want to know! I rushed, wasn’t me, joined clubs, eh they are okay, and did trips with the school, nothing that stuck. What should I do! I want the college experience but I’m just not feeling it! 

Anyways, my goals! I wanted to share them with you to keep accountable! I think sharing goals can be a pivotal step in success! 

1. Clean, plant based eating allllll week. While camping in GA I fell of the plant based eating, and I could tell! I fell groggy and unhealthy. It’s crazy how your body can react to the food you put in it so quickly! 

2. Workout everyday! My thing is, even walking for 30 min is a workout, as long as your up and moving each day, you’re doing your body good. So whatever your definition of working out is, do it! Although I do say ‘workout’ 5-6 times a week. I’m planning on doing the Spartan WOD routines! The one I did a couple weeks ago KICKED MY BOOOTAYYYY. It was awesome. Let’s do it again! 

3. Keep a positive attitude. I recently found out I needed to push my wedding back a couple months because of some things and I am NOT happy about it! The thing is, I know I can’t change it. I need to try to focus my dissatisfaction of moving the wedding, towards excitment for the wedding! Change of perspective. 

4. Get Involved. As I am moving back this week to college, I want to get involved in something right off the bat! I can be so bad about making myself do things I don’t want to do, even if it betters who I am. 

5. Be present. I am a serious Type-A person. I get things done before they need to be done, and stay focused and organized while being extremely efficient. Being the way I am, I can get caught up in silly things, struggling from GAD doesn’t help either, but I want to become more present. Whether that is with my fiancé, my classes, my friends, whoever, I want to soak in the moments and focus on what is most important rather than worrying about something else. 

Those are my goals! 

What are your goals? 

What motivates you to succeed? My motivation is my future, whether that be with my fiancé, my work life, my family life, etc. 

I hope you all set goals for yourself and strive to follow them. Nothing, I repeat nothing, feels better than achieving something you set out to accomplish. 

Strive on, MJ