what i ate wednesday: issue 66

More of the same...

 Figure 1. Breakfast: The usual All Bran mixed with puffed wheat, a banana, cocoa powder, and milk.

Figure 2. Morning snack: peanut butter toast. Wow, I'm starting to feel repetitive...

Figure 3. Lunch: chocolate vanilla peanut butter protein green smoothie. 

Figure 4. Afternoon snack: a chocolate cottage cheese bowl topped Koala Crisp.

Figure 5. Dinner: eggplant pizza (roasted eggplant discs topped with marinara, Italian seasoning, and Gorgonzola cheese) on top of raw spinach with a side of couscous and almonds. This bad boy barely fit on my plate...

Figure 6. Dessert: dark chocolate sugar free pudding with whipped cream.

And that concludes another What I Ate Wednesday (featuring what I ate Tuesday, January 29).

weekend review: tuna noodle love

Figure 1. Out of the oven: bacon, tomato, and arugula pizza.

Figure 2. Friday night's dinner: bacon, tomato, and arugula pizza and a warm broccoli and spinach salad.

Figure 3. Saturday night's dinner: skirt steak with gorgonzola polenta and green beans with pecans and maple vinaigrette.

Figure 4. Out of the oven: skinny tuna noodle casserole. I have been craving this every since I made it the first time...

Figure 5. Sunday night's dinner: skinny tuna noodle casserole and lemon pepper steamed broccoli.

a serious interjection: on persistence

I was entering mile 9 of my 12th for the day and I wasn't going to make it. The sparkling water and pile of raw carrots and peanut butter I had downed two hours before just wasn't a good idea. My legs were a heavy mess. As I ran, feeling every single painful stroke, I was bribing myself to finish. This was proving to be one of the hardest long runs I had ever tackled and it certainly didn't help that the last two miles of this run were more or less solid hill - uphill.

I turned the corner and two fit older women looked up at me. One of the women said to the other, "Doesn't she have the most beautiful running gait?"

And I was transformed. 

In that moment and with those words I was reminded that after a certain mileage, running is 90% mental. With her words behind me, my attitude shifted and I pushed on. 

As I ran I remembered how that in college, when I first became active, my runs were slow and clunky and red-faced. I have worked hard - pushed myself to the limit - to be able to walk out the door and clock 12 miles on a Monday afternoon. I was finishing this run and not even a stomach full of raw carrots and tired legs could stop me.

And with these women's kind words in my my mind I finished. The hills were still hard and my stomach was still wonky, but I changed my attitude - and it made all the difference.

A Serious Interjection: Just keep going.

 --
Previous serious interjections:
on perfection 
on disappointment

what i ate wednesday: issue 65

 Figure 1. Breakfast: You know it's true - All Bran mixed with puffed wheat, a banana, cocoa powder, and milk.

Figure 2. Morning snack: peanut butter toast. It happens every day. Maybe I should get a toaster?

Figure 3. Lunch: Ethnic Gourmet vegetable korma. Dug out of my freezer and surprisingly delicious.

Figure 4. Afternoon snack: a chocolate cottage cheese bowl topped with cinnamon chex. Yum.

Figure 5. Dinner: a random leftover concoction. Leftover thai slaw topped with 1/2 a leftover thai turkey burger, roasted butternut squash, and a piece of leftover whole wheat bread topped with smashed avocado and salt

Figure 6. Dessert: dolce de leche sugar free pudding.

And that concludes another What I Ate Wednesday (featuring what I ate Monday/Tuesday, January 21/22).

weekend review: kitchen madness

Figure 1. Out of the oven: spinach, mushroom, and feta crustless quiche. I added hot sauce and dijon mustard to the eggs of this bad boy to spice.things.up.

Figure 2. Friday night's dinner: spinach, mushroom, and feta crustless quiche, lemony arugula salad, and store bought "take and bake" multigrain bread with Earth Balance.

Figure 3. Kitchen madness: okay Sunday night's meal was no easy task and resulted in piles and piles of dishes. But, it was sooooo worth it.

Figure 4. In the skillet: thai turkey burgers. These lovely patties were a mixture of ground turkey, shredded carrots, green onions, and a magical sauce made of sweet and spicy thai goodness.

Figure 5. Sunday night's dinner: thai turkey burgers topped with a spicy Asian slaw, roasted Brussels sprouts, and baked Sriracha butternut squash fries. These were supposed to be butternut squash 'fries', but mine turned into a delicious mashed mess.

Figure 6. Sunday night's indulgence: chocolate cobbler for two. OHMYGOD.

confessions of an imperfect perfectionist

Confession 1.

I ripped a hole in the sleeve of my not cheap running jacket because I was too lazy to take my watch off first. I was hooooot people. Real hot.

Confession 2.

Sometimes I load the dishwasher like this. I know what you are thinking, and you are correct. 60% of this load did not get clean. I never claimed it was an efficient system...

what i ate wednesday: issue 64

Stupid life. Getting in the way of my motivation and energy for creating and eating exciting food. Lately, my meals and snacks are the same day after day. Quick, easy, nutritious, aaaaand redundant.

 Figure 1. Breakfast: All Bran mixed with puffed wheat, a banana, and copious amounts of cocoa powder and milk.

Figure 2. Morning snack: I've been getting up so early these days I have had to add more food to my morning otherwise I'm eating lunch at 10 AM. Ezekiel sprouted grain toast smothered in peanut butter.

Figure 3. Lunch: this isn't glamorous, but it's reality. A chocolate-vanilla-peanut butter green smoothie with a side of applied statistics.

Figure 4. Afternoon snack: an apple, almonds, and sparkling water.

Figure 5. Dinner: I mustered something delicious and filling up - sweet potato fried dipped in agave nectar and a veggie-egg scramble with sauteed green onion, mushrooms, and zucchini all dipped is glorious ketchup.

Figure 6. Dessert: this is simple - days like these need to end in chocolate. And one piece isn't enough.

And that concludes another What I Ate Wednesday (featuring what I ate Tuesday, January 15).

because i need to remember this today...

A reminder:

weekend review: old favorites

Figure 1. Friday night's dinner: PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps. I have been craving these since I made them a few months ago. My boyfriend's eyes lit up when I said I was making these for dinner. If you haven't made them yet - doooo it.

Figure 2. Saturday nights dinner: chicken cordon bleu, zucchini casserole, and a spinach salad with maple vinaigrette. I'm not gonna lie - this entire meal was centered around the zucchini casserole, which I crave all the time.

Figure 3. Sunday night's dinner: pasta with tomato cream sauce (I didn't have the shrimp) alongside a spinach salad with leftover maple vinaigrette.

my less serious day: first day

So I wore purple tights on my first day teaching as a college professor. That either makes me super cool or completely awkward and inappropriate. Let's just go with super cool...
 

Wearing.

Dress: Macy's; cardigan: J Crew; tights: unknown; necklace: Loft; pumps: Miz Mooz.

Doing.

Before teaching, I did a 35-minute ramp interval workout on my stationary bike. After work, despite my post-teaching headache, I hit the gym for a 60-minute Turbo Kick class.Ten minutes in and my headache was gone and I felt great. Ah, the power of a good workout....

Eating.

Breakfast was a bowl of Kellogg's All Bran, Arrowhead Puffed Wheat, cocoa powder, a banana, and a combination of cow and almond milk.

Lunch was a chocolate-vanilla-peanut butter green smoothie.

My snack was a bowl of plain Greek yogurt with Cascadian Farms Ancient Grains granola.

Dinner was sweet potato chips dipped in agave nectar alongside roasted Brussels sprouts mixed with eggs (2 whites + 1 whole egg) and 1/2 avocado.

Dessert was SOO an (un-pictured) pudding cup with whipped cream.

Note: this post represents what happened in my world on Tuesday, January 8. 

what i ate wednesday: issue 63

 Figure 1. Breakfast: I knoooooow this looks gross, but I promise you - it is delicious. All Bran mixed with puffed wheat, a banana, and copious amounts of cocoa powder and milk. I'm addicted.

Figure 2. Lunch: two slices of Ezekiel sprouted grain toast - one topped with peanut butter and grape jelly and one topped with peanut butter, banana, and gave. Two Bugs Bunny-style carrots on the side.

Figure 3. Afternoon snack: leftover roasted butternut squash and (more) peanut butter - zapped in the microwave.

Figure 4. Dinner: pasta and chicken mixed with goat cheese + marinara + pasta water (for thickening) alongside roasted green beans.

Figure 5. Dessert: Hi my name is Sara and I have a pudding addiction.

And that concludes another What I Ate Wednesday (featuring what I ate Monday, January 7).