Blog - Just Justice

Cooking/Recipes / January 23, 2024

BEST SALAD EVER!!! Jennifer Aniston salad spin-off!

Heyooo friends! Back with another recipe. Let me just tell you this salad has changed my life. No that is dramatic and I know it is, but I mean it. Usually, when I have a salad on my dinner plate I just feel like eh… I’d rather eat the other things on the plate because I don’t want to eat this salad. NO. That is not the case with this salad my friends. This salad is full of nutrients, grains, and protein. Some of you may have heard of the Jennifer Aniston salad… and yes this is that but a little spin-off. I have perfected this salad. I am obsessed with this salad. I eat this salad at least 3 times a week. Okay enough about the salad, but just please make it okay?

Ingredients

1 cup of quinoa

15 oz can chickpeas

1/2 red onion

10-15 cut-up cherry tomatoes

1 avocado

1/2 cup of feta

3-4 cups of kale

Nuts of your choice – pistachios, sunflower seeds, cashews

3-4 tablespoons of olive oil

Dressing

1 lemon

1/4 cups of olive oil

1 tablespoon of honey

Salt and pepper to taste

Additional:

Grilled Chicken

Directions

First, watch my TikTok link below for a demonstration. 🙂 #justtryingtobetiktokfamous
Make your quinoa a few hours before assembling this salad. You want to make sure you also rinse your quinoa in a strainer before cooking it. You want the quinoa to be cold when you are putting all the ingredients together. I am simply so obsessed with this salad that when I make the quinoa I just make a ton and keep it in my fridge for later. If you’re lazy like me sometimes I even get the bagged quinoa that you just pop into the micro. Whatever floats your boat. 🙂
Next, take the bag of kale and rip the kale into small bite-sized pieces. I just like my kale to be small. You want to make sure there are no stems! Those are gross and you should not eat them.
Once all the kale is cut up nicely, add the olive oil to the bowl. You will want to massage the kale so every piece has oil on it. This should shrink your kale amount to about half of what you had before in your bowl.
Next, you will grab your can of chickpeas, and give those a rinse in the strainer as well. Add those to the bowl.
Next, add in the cold quinoa that you made before making the salad. Trust me, I have added warm quinoa to this salad and it’s just not it. Just trust me. Put it in the freezer for ten minutes if you’ve messed up or something. 🙂
Next add all your toppings: red onion, tomatoes, avocado, feta, and pistachios (I like cashews the best in this salad). The important thing about the avocado is I always like to make sure the avocado is perfect to eat because when you stir the avocado into the salad it kinda merges with the dressing and boy oh boy is it yummy that way. (merges the right word… Do you know what I mean) It is also great when you have chunks of avocado, but stir it up to where you can’t see them. Then every bite will just be a yummy goodness.
Lastly, we are going to make the dressing! Add lemon juice, olive oil, honey, salt, and pepper into a small bowl. Use a spoon to stir for a few minutes.
Toss the salad and enjoy!

Just a little tip. You can double or triple this recipe and keep it in your fridge for around 3-4 days and it lasts! You’re welcome 🙂

@justicemartin_

THE BEST SALAD EVER YALL!!!! Full recipe is on my blog and I will add the link to the comments. Yall its life changing i promise 👩‍🍳🤍🥰#jenniferanistonsalad

♬ La vie en rose (Cover Edith Piaf) – 田东昱

Happy/ Mental Health / November 14, 2023

Choosing Happiness

Happy Tuesday friends!

About a month or so ago I went to this yoga class with a friend & boy oh boy did our sweet sweet instructor speak to me. I just had to share this little piece of advice as I think everyone needs to hear it!!

She began telling us a story about how she used to have a yoga studio in New York and how she and her family have now moved to Nashville. She said she found herself that week really missing the community that she had in New York. She missed her friendships and everything she had built there. She then began to tell us how as humans we fall into this hole of sadness, anxiety, anger, loneliness, or frustration. We sit in it. We let this run our days. She then said you know we can have many different feelings at once, what is most important is what we let drive our day. We can be sad and miss something, but we can also be really happy with our lives right now. We might be annoyed with a situation at work or with a friend, but we can choose joy over annoyance.

I needed to hear this! I am someone who lets the littlest things ruin my day. I just let my thoughts overpower my brain sometimes, with negativity. According to the National Science Foundation, an average person has about 12,000-60,000 thoughts per day. 80% of those are negative. I have a hard time believing that it is a whole 80%!!! Let’s rewire our brains friends.

Yes, life gets hard and there will be frustrating and sad things that pop up in our everyday lives. But it is our choice on what we let drive. Happiness over being pissed off. Joy over sadness. One of my best friends and I call each other quite often and just rant to each other if something happened that day. In this case, she called me telling me how she got her feelings hurt. I told her about what my yoga instructor said… and said, “Okay we are going to be 25% frustrated, but 75% happy!”

Last week I had two flat tires right when I got to the gym. Instead of throwing a pity party (which is what I would have normally done), I chose calmness over freaking out. Just wanted to share this little piece of advice in hopes that it spoke to you as much as it did for me. Hope y’all have a wonderful week!

Happy/ Mental Health / October 12, 2023

Setting Boundaries

Hi friends !!!

It has truly been a second since I wrote a blog, and I feel like I always say this but for real real. So much has happened to me recently, it’s actually insane. I bought a house and got engaged, and work has been crazy. Anyway I am back babbbyyyy!! Back and better than ever.

Something my therapist + work life coach has really been pushing me to start doing is setting boundaries. In your work life, love life, in all relationships. When I first think of making boundaries, I think of it as being mean. Or making boundaries means me just telling people no. Which is not true!

My therapist sent me pictures of this book she was reading one day, and I just think it is so good I have to share.

“Boundaries are ways to communicate our needs to others via words and actions. They are also perimeters that we establish with ourselves and others. Therefore, boundaries aren’t just about telling other people what to do but are also about holding yourself accountable for creating your life.” SO GOOD

Why is it important to have healthy boundaries you may be wondering?

“Anxiety, depression, and burnout, among other issues, can result from your inability to set healthy expectations with yourself and others. Your body and mind know when you’ve had too much. Unfortunately, it’s common for people to fight against the signs that limitations are needed.”

We can’t do it all, and we shouldn’t try
We can’t be everything to everyone, and we shouldn’t try
We can’t please everyone, and we shouldn’t try.

I mean come on!!! This is so good. I don’t know about you but I am trying to do it ALL, ALL THE TIME. I try way too hard. I want everyone to like me and think I’m cool and blah blah blah. Well, I am working on this, but I am assuming some of you might be this way as well. It is human to do this. But I truly believe God is putting people in your corner for a reason. People who make you a better person and make you grow. Why is it that I want people to like me who don’t like me ?!!!! This makes no sense, again I think this is easy to do. But friends, let’s stop trying so hard.

Another instance that pops into my head is having company in town or over. When we have company in town, I do everything in my power to make sure everything is perfect, and we have a million reservations, and we have a million things to do. Well, shocker, I wear myself out and then I am so exhausted by the time my company even comes. SELF INFLICTED. Most of the time those friends don’t even want to do half the things I planned anyway! We can’t do it all friends, and that is OKAY. I have realized a lot of my stress and anxiety is self-inflicted, and I just need a chill pill. LOL

Now I kinda wanted to talk about something my life coach for work has been trying to help me with! So a little background on my work, I was an intern for the company that I worked for for 1 year and now I work full time. I love my job and love all my coworkers so much. Well, I never realized that I could communicate to my boss that I wouldn’t have time for something that day, so I would STRESS MYSELF OUT. This might seem so silly to you, but I would just say yes yes yes I can do that!!! In reality, I might have had a lot on my plate that day. In reality, my boss does not care if I tell her I can do it tomorrow. Again SELF INFLICTED. Communication baby!! You can say no! Most the time the other person doesn’t even care if we say we can’t.

You have to set boundaries to protect yourself! Again like I said I am the type of person who just wants to wow everyone, make everyone like me, have my boss think I am such a hard worker, have my friends think I am the best host, or whatever it may be. Friends we are trying way too hard for somethings that are going to make us feel exhausted in the end. All we can do is try our hardest every single day, and I think that is enough!!

I just felt led to share about this topic, and I am also learning to set boundaries, and I do feel just less anxious and stressed!

Also hehehe I am so excited Jadon and I are filming an engagement video explaining every little detail and I am so excited to share!!!

Workouts / August 9, 2023

Morning skinny/ Body Image

Hello friends!!

Happy summer. I have been going back and forth on whether I should write a blog about this for about 3 months now, but I saw a friend recently who was talking to me about this… and I took that as a sign. Maybe many people must feel this way.

First of all, how amazing are the human bodies? Pretty freaking incredible. But something that is not talked about enough is the concept of morning skinny. Now if you don’t know what that is. According to Google, morning skinny is “when someone looks or feels slimmer first thing in the morning, before they’ve had anything to eat and, often, after going to the bathroom.” Wonderful right? I think we may have all felt this way at some point in our life. Your girl has IBS and a serious bloating issue, so I look very different in the morning than I do at night. Which this can be very frustrating as I am trying to take care of my body and lift more. But we have to understand that MILLIONS of little microscopic tasks are happening within our bodies every minute, so it’s hardly fair to expect your body to always look the same.

And let me reassure you everyone has felt this way. Lighter when you wake up, and heavier when you go to bed. This is normal. I think this is when self-love comes in. It’s so important to remember that every body is different. God hand created our bodies to look exactly how they look today. We all have different genetics! I have to continuously remind myself it’s okay that I have stretch marks all over my body, God made those. Especially, women, we can have a whole child in us? That just blows my mind. Our bodies can do some incredible things. Next time you start having negative thoughts about your body. “Oh my legs look big. I have stretch marks. I am so fat. I am too thin. I looked better 3 years ago. I wish I had curves.” Or whatever lie your brain is telling you. Remember that the fact that you have a body that can move and dance is a blessing. Stop being so hard on yourself. Start loving your body. I realized I am always thinking oh I will love my body when this is gone. Oh I will love my body when my butt is bigger. Start loving your body now!

This past month I was at the lake with my family, and boy oh boy was there so much food. Jadon and I of course took advantage of the free food and just stuffed our faces 24/7. I am not going to lie, I was pretty down on myself after the trip. I just didn’t feel good about myself. I think a lot of us need to change the way we think about food and working out. Food fuels your body to work, exercise, meet with friends, to go out with friends! This is also something I need to work on, is not feeling bad if I eat a ton of food. I had a family member this past month say, “Dang you eat a lot… how are you so tiny?” I instantly started feeling very self-conscious and embarrassed. I was just thinking oh gosh, I DO EAT A LOT. But I had to remind myself that I should eat when I want to eat, and I should not feel bad about that. Food is fuel friends!!

Another topic I wanted to talk about is our “ideal” body weight. So many athletic trainers that I know are always saying they have more room to grow in their fitness journey. (which is true) But everyone is always wanting to change something about themselves, that is just human nature, my friends. But I think your “ideal” body weight is the weight that allows you to feel strong and energetic and lets you lead a healthy, normal life. Not what you see on Instagram or Tik Tok.

I once told my therapist I feel like I talk down to myself a lot. She told me to get a picture of myself when I was a little girl and put it on my mirror. So now, every time I want to say something bad about myself, I look at that picture and I would never want that little Justice to feel that way. I encourage you to do the same thing!

I just hope this blog encourages you, that you are so beautiful. God hand-knitted you in your mother’s womb and thinks you are simply perfect. I also want to mention that we are on this journey together. I am not perfect, and I have my days of feeling bloated and bleh. But I am just here to normalize this. EAT THE DAMN COOKIE babe. Take care of yourself mentally and physically. Love you, guys 🙂

Happy/ Mental Health / June 28, 2023

Ups & Downs

Happy Summer friends !!

Life has truly been so crazy with graduation and starting a job and just all the things happening.

I first want to start this blog off with the fact that I have been feeling a lot of highs and lows in the past couple of months. Graduating college is scary, and no one prepares you for the anxiety you feel lol!! I think there is this pressure society puts on you to be extremely successful right when you graduate. You should have it all together, right?

I think the biggest thing that I have been struggling with is the fact that I thought I would have it all figured out by now. Let me break it to ya, I don’t think anyone ever feels like they have figured life out. But I always thought I would by now. I think I grew up with this mindset that “by 23 I will have all my shit together.” I will be happy and feel fulfilled and feel all the happy feelings. This is not true people!! I have just been reminding myself that life is all about learning and figuring yourself out. I will always be going through things, that is life!

I wanted to be honest in the fact that I have just been feeling off these past couple of months, and if that is you that is okay!! I am obviously not the biggest fan lol, but I do trust God and his path for me. I think we just need to take a deep breath and enjoy the time of life that we are in. Our brains can simply be too hard on ourselves. We must stop believing the lies and anxious thoughts our brain is telling us! I obviously have been loving life at this stage, but a lot of change and uncertainty also creep in sometimes. I was telling my therapist all about these life doubts I have, telling her I just hope this is God’s path. She said, “You know you are such a big believer in God but it really doesn’t seem like you have any faith in him and what he has in store for you and your life.” LOL. I was like welppppp YOU RIGHT!!

Psalm 20:7 says that many will trust in the world and the things it has to offer, but few will trust in God. My challenge for you today is to just put more trust in him and his plan for your life.

Speaking of my therapist she also said something to me the other day that just made me really think, and I wanted to share it with you. She asked me, “Where are you your happiest? Who are you with? What are all the vibes?” This really made me realize that my happy self is not in Nashville. My most confident, fun-loving, peaceful Justice is at the lake with my family in Michigan. There is something so peaceful about being with your person and the people you love with no worries. My therapist began to explain how it’s sad that I am not the happiest version of myself here in Nashville where I live! I explained wellllll there is just so much going on here in Nashville. Work is stressful, I am trying to be successful, have good grades, and have a social life and blah blah blah. There is a lot of pressure. I feel like I need to be doing something at all times when I am in Nashville. What if I started treating Nashville like the lake? Taking more time out of the day for me? Being around people that my soul feel happier. Doing things that I want to do!

I have spoken on this before, but I mostly am saying this because I need to also hear it. We are in control of our happiness. If I am being honest I have not been taking care of myself recently. I have just been so anxious about what my life Is going to look like and if I am doing all the right things in the right order, I have not been taking care of myself.

I encourage you to just realize how beautiful your life is. Lean into spending time with yourself. You get to wake up every morning and be a change in someone’s life. You personally have the ability to do that in someone’s life. You have the ability to make someone feel seen and beautiful. You have friends and family in your life that love you. You have so many wonderful opportunities in life for traveling and being successful. There is just so much to life. So when I start spiraling and freaking out a little inside, I hope I can remind myself of these same things.

Most importantly you have a God that is so in love with you and only wants you to be happy. He personally hand-made you… how freaking cool.

Every single day, we have two choices: we can simply react to everything happening around us, or we can take action and create the lives we want to live. Don’t give someone else the keys to your happiness!