Thank you everyone for all your nice comments regarding my lower back pain. I took a complete 2 days off from working out, but I made sure that my eats stayed squeaky clean as much as possible.

Wanna see what I had yesterday?
Breakfast
Simply 2 slices of Egg Loaf Frittata that I made the day before. This thing tastes good even out from the fridge!

Lunch was simply shredded chicken from Citrus & Spice Baked Chicken, steamed veggies, sliced whole tomato and diced whole avocado. Look how colorful my plate is 🙂

My afternoon fruit snacks was colorful and tasty as well. I shared this bowl with Hubby K as well while watching Sex and the City 2 the Movie.

Dinner was very simple yet yummy. Last remaining of shredded chicken, some quick stir fry beef, steamed veggies sprinkled with TJ 21 Seasoning Salute, topped with macadamia nuts. I enjoyed this dinner with Hubby K while watching some random episode from LOST Season 1.

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Today my lower back felt a lot better although I still could feel it hurt, especially if I’m trying to bend down to sit down or picking up stuff from the ground. But no worries, at least it’s not like it hurts everytime I move. So this morning I did 12 minute workout from Bodyrock.tv and some additional upper body strength that I came up on my own.

After stretching and cooling down, it was quite a horror when I saw this

OMG! Are you freaking serious?! My fridge was totally almost empty! There was no more protein other than the eggs (hell I could only eat so many eggs in one day!). And silly me not pre-baking any sweet potatoes for my post workout snack so I had to improvise a bit.
Breakfast/post workout meal
3 over easy fried eggs, steamed veggies from last night and thinly sliced pan fried sweet potatoes

Afterward we ran to grocery store to shop the essentials. Came back home, I just had to whip up quick and tasty protein for lunch so I made Oven Fried Curried Chicken Fingers. Those stuff was easy to make, no need to marinate too long and so damn yummy! Nothing could go wrong with it (unless you don’t have the curry powder). Hubby K made a simple Tomato and Egg dish and steamed veggies.

While waiting for the chicken fingers to be done, I experimented making Plantain Chips. These are great!!

I don’t have a mandolin slicer so I used my not-so-great knife skill to slice the plantain as thinly as possible. Pan fried this with some coconut oil in medium low heat, I got myself Plantain Chips!

Lunch

Ever since I saw Fit Daffy made her gluten free Chocolate Cake, I’ve been itching to make some as well and today finally I did!
I followed the recipe from Tropical Traditions Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake and made some modifications here and there.

Chocolate Espresso Gluten Free Cake (modified from Tropical Traditions Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake)
Ingredients:
9 eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp instant coffee
1 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla powder
3/4 cup & 1/8 cup coconut flour
3/4 tsp baking powder

Directions:
1. Combine the dry ingredients (coconut flour, coffee, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, vanilla powder) mix and set aside
2. Melt the coconut oil then mix with honey and coconut milk and set aside
3. Beat the eggs with hand mixer on high speed for about 5 minutes (until the mixture is pale yellow and not much bubbles)
4. Lower the mixer speed, spoon in the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients one after another. Keep mixing using the mixture to avoid lumps
5. Grease 9″x5″ loaf pan with coconut oil and pour the batter in
6. Bake in 350°F for about 40-45 minutes or until the tooth pick comes out clean
7. Remove from heat and let cool before slicing

BOY, this is so DELICIOUS! Unlike traditional cakes, cakes made from coconut flour tends to be on the dry side. Mine has a bit thick crust probably I baked it a little bit too long, that it got burn a little, but still yummy though. I reduced the honey since I don’t want it too sweet and the coffee added some bitterness to it, which I like (bitter sweet taste)

My dinner was exactly the same as my lunch (minus the tomatoes) but in a smaller plate. And after that, I had the chocolate cake. Super yummy that I couldn’t help myself to have 3 slices! Not gonna lie about it.

Earlier today I spoke with C, my former colleague who got taken out the same day as I did and we will be having lunch this coming Monday with our other colleague, who’s still employed btw. Talking to her kinda reminds me that I need to get my act together again. True, I’ve been enjoying this little break, maybe a little too much. However, job market out there isn’t that great either. Couple days ago, Brother A told me his friend just got laid off while he was on his vacation. Isn’t it sucks to find out that you no longer have your job after you come back from your vacation? Life can be harsh sometimes.

As you noticed, lately my eats aren’t as varied as before, because of my lack of cooking inspiration. But I do try my best to keep my plates colorful as much as possible. I want to show that even with simple ingredients, I can still make my plate look appetizing, taste great and good for my body. Just because I’m at my lowest point of my life now, doesn’t mean I should give in to the junks, right? 😉

Anyway, enjoy the weekend.

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