WIAW: The Usual Suspects

Happy What I Ate Wednesday! Thanks, Jen, for hosting!


Today was full of my go-to eats.

For my "brunch" I sauteed some spinach and grape tomatoes in olive oil with black pepper and Mrs. Dash. I ate it over three huge pieces of cheese ravioli that I chopped up.

So delicious. I make sure each bite has a little bit or spinach, a little bit of tomato and some ravioli.

Before I headed into work I had some coffee with pumpkin spice creamer.

I'll be sad when this is no longer available. :(

At work I had a Luna Fiber Bar as a snack.

Definitely one of my favorite bars. I haven't tried any of the other flavors because I like this one so much. I've heard that the peanut butter jelly ones are good.

When I got home I made myself a green sandwich.

The greens: baby spinach, cucumbers, half an avocado. I really wanted a Sheetz shmuffin, but the closest Sheetz to me is 30 minutes away... maybe sometime over the next week I'll make the trek. :) The combo of toasted bread and avocado was almost as good though, and almost canceled out my craving. If you have a Sheetz near you, you probably know what I mean about cravings for shmuffins.

I finished off the night with some cookies and tea.

... I had a few more gingerbread men than pictured. So cute! But also so hard to stop at just one serving.

I know the theme of this month's WIAW is supposed to be "Healthy Holiday Recipes." but I haven't been creating/following any recently. I have to bake sometime this week though, because I want to give my co-workers some yummy baked goods before Christmas!

~ Susan

WIAW: Random Eats

Hi, all! It's Wednesday, here's What I Ate... Tuesday. :)


I ate Ravioli with Cherry Tomatoes for a very early lunch/very late breakfast.

I added a drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper. I usually like to add steamed spinach or other greens to up the volume, but I didn't have any around.

I was craving something sweet, so I followed it with a Skinny Cow Peanut Butter Candy Bar:

These things satisfy my sweet tooth. They're not that great, but if you just want something sweet that's low in calories, these do the trick.

I had some Coffee with Pumpkin Spice Creamer as a pick-me-up before work. (I work in the afternoon/evening).

I had some applesauce for work as a snack.

...times two. :)

Later I had a Peanut Butter Pretzel Cliff Mojo Bar.

(This is a picture of my current stash at work.)

... then, I was way too lazy to make anything for dinner, so I ate the rest of my ravioli from lunch. =D

Kinda all over the place, but I've had an all over the place kind of week. I'm still recovering from the holidays party I went to this weekend. I made healthy choices food-wise, but I stayed up a lot later than I do usually, and I think tomorrow I'll finally feel totally rested.

How about you? Have the holiday parties started yet?

~ Susan

WIAW: Fruit Flush Day 1

Hi, all! It's Wednesday, here's What I Ate... Tuesday. :)


I decided yesterday that I would follow Jay Robb's Fruit Flush plan. The plan lasts three days, and the first is basically all protein shakes, all the time. I altered the plan a little, because I've tried drinking protein shakes made with just water, and I think they're disgusting. I made all of my shakes with Almond Breeze unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, and some with juice.


Breakfast: Creamsicle Shake

• Tropical Dreamsicle Whey Protein Powder
• 12 oz. almond milk 
• 1 c. ice

This shake was a lot less smooth than I'm used to, probably because I didn't add xanthan gum. I was trying to stay as close to the Fruit Flush plan as possible.

Lunch: Pina Colada Shake

• Pina Colada Whey Protein
• 6 oz. almond milk
• 6 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum

Creamy and delicious - also, this was about twice the volume as my breakfast shake. Xanthan gum is definitely the way to go!

 

 













Snack: Creamsicle Shake

• Tropical Dreamsicle Whey Protein Powder
• 6 oz. almond milk
• 6 oz. orange juice
• 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum

Dinner: Salad

• lettuce
• grape tomatoes
• avocado

Morning Star Grillers Patties

I definitely altered the plan... a lot. But, I didn't feel starving or weird at all throughout the day which was great. Tomorrow is basically all fruit. I can't wait to see how that goes. :)

~ Susan

WIAW #3

It's Wednesday, here's the stuff I ate on... Tuesday. :) Thanks for hosting, Jen!


For breakfast I ate some hard-boiled eggs that I made the night before.

Does anyone else ever have trouble remembering how you're supposed to make these? I always have to Google the correct technique (i.e., am I actually supposed to boil them?) and the correct time before I make these. For the record, I let the eggs sit in warm water that was an inch higher than the eggs in the pot for about 30 minutes so that they wouldn't go through the temperature change as quickly. Then I brought the pot of water to a rapid boil. As soon as the water started boiling, I removed the pot from the heat, put on a lid, then waited 15 minutes before removing the eggs.

I think I may have let these boil for too long (I didn't really stand around watching them) because the shells were a bit hard to get off.

For a morning snack, I had a serving of banana chips. Pretty good. I've never tried banana chips before; I picked them up on a whim during my trip to Trader Joe's earlier in the week. I actually wanted a real banana, but we didn't have one.

I ate them while enjoying my free Redbox Rental... "Magic Mike." My friend told me to fast forward through all of the portions dedicated to plot development, lol. It felt like a slightly naughtier version of "Step Up."

It was kind of funny - I didn't realize Neil Caffrey, Eric Delko, and Sam Merlotte knew each other. ;p

I didn't feel like eating lunch around my lunch time... a huge mistake because I was ravenous by the time I got off of work at 9 P.M. During work I ate two Granny Smith apples.

I also ate two mini Midnight Milky Way bars from the candy dish at work.

I was starving by the time I got home, so I quickly made a green sandwich.

So delicious! But I was still hungry, so I made a slice of Coconut Vanilla French toast for dessert.

Then, to top it off, I had two mini gingerbread men.



I obviously have a raging sweet tooth. O.o I need to figure out how to keep my craving for sugar at bay.

~ Susan

WIAW #2

It's Wednesday and I ate some stuff!


Thanks, Jenn, for always hosting!

I had a bunch of stuff to do this morning, including going to the gym and walking the dog, so I ended up skipping breakfast. O.o

For lunch I had a banana and cacao coconut butter. One of favorite combinations recently.



 My banana was a bit under-ripe. I used to HATE any spots on my bananas, and preferred them slightly green to what I considered "over-ripe." Now, I like my bananas spotty. :)

At work I had a Cashew Cookie Larabar for a snack.

I also gave into temptation and had two Fun-sized Snickers from our Halloween stash. An excellent reason for eating breakfast - it helps you make better choices throughout the day. Surprisingly, we still have a bunch of candy left from Halloween even though my kids seem to eat tons every day.

I got home and has a pasta bowl for dinner. The bowl contained some pasta, tomato sauce, smoked mozzarella, and a whole bag of spinach. I like to bulk up my pasta with spinach because it adds nutrients, it tastes just as good, it keeps me full for longer without the heavy feeling one gets after over-indulging in carbs.

I'm still hungry, but it's really close to my bedtime, so I'm turning in. I'll definitely eat breakfast tomorrow!

Do you always eat breakfast?
 
How do you like your bananas? Spotty, yellow, or green?

~ Susan

 

Green Sandwich

What I Ate Wednesday is a blog social event held on Wednesdays by Jenn of the blog Peas and Crayons. It's an opportunity to share a day's food diary and to check out what other bloggers are eating. Thanks for hosting, Jenn! Here's what I ate:

Breakfast

For breakfast I ate two bananas and a packet of Artisana Cacao Bliss. I like to start my day out with fruit because a good, healthy start seems to make it easier to keep making good choices throughout the day. Fruit isn't always filling - that's where the healthy fat comes in!

Lunch

For lunch I had a green sandwich. I toasted two slices of Trader Joe's Complete Protein Bread.

Then, I sliced up a small avocado and smashed it into both pieces of toast. (More healthy fats for the win!) I added two petite cucumbers (sliced) and a handful of spinach to complete the sandwich. This tastes absolutely delicious, it's very filling, and I feel full of green energy after I eat it. This is my new favorite lunch! I'm kinda over salads - this is a salad sandwich!

I also had a cup of Yogi's Blueberry Slim Life Green Tea. I love it's saying its name - "I'll have a cup of Blueberry Slim Life, please!"

Snack

At work I helped myself to two fun-size Almond Joys from the Halloween candy bucket that we have for the kids. I'm going to try making some homemade ones soon.

Dinner

By the time I got home I was starving, so I heated up a packet of lentils in the microwave and at the whole thing, as is. I meant to eat some baby bell peppers that I have in the fridge, but I guess I'll have to get to those tomorrow.

~ Susan

WIAW #1

 

What I Ate Wednesday is a blog social event held on Wednesdays by Jenn of the blog Peas and Crayons. It's an opportunity to share a day's food diary and to check out what other bloggers are eating. This is my first WIAW post. :) Thanks for hosting, Jenn!

 

 

Today was an interesting day in terms of food.

This morning I woke up and went to the gym. I usually don't eat before I work out, so I ending up eating a very late breakfast. I was feeling like lentils, so that's what I ate. :)

My boss surprised me with some Kim Bap today, so I had that for lunch instead of what I had packed.

Kimbap is Korean sushi. It's usually made with rice (bap) and pickled vegetables, but it basically can contain ANYTHING (...except raw fish, which is what I usually associate with sushi). The roll I ate had some pickled vegetables, egg, some sort of pork/sausage (which I removed) and crab. I really like Kimbap, especially rolls that are made with lots of different pickled vegetables.

I had a Chocolate Cherry Chip Torte Larabar for a snack at work.

I'm getting a little bored of my go-to Larabar flavors (Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough). Can anyone suggest some new flavors to try?


I ended up eating what I had packed for my lunch at work - meatless meatballs and a salad -  for my dinner. After dinner I drank a serving of GoodBelly.

GoodBelly is a probiotic juice drink that is supposed to help your digestion. My stomach has been feeling a bit weird recently, so I'm hoping that the probiotics will help regulate things.

I ended the day with a small handful of dark chocolate covered peanuts. I ALWAYS have some sort of dessert. :)

~ Susan