What I Ate Wednesday – More Carbs Please

 

I am not ready for winter. Or the snow that comes along with winter. Or the running inside that has to occur due to the ice which forms on my routine running path that follows the snow in winter.

Lucky for me, and for everyone who interacted with me yesterday, I squeezed in a 6 mile run outside right before the whole sequence of snow to ice to freezing temperatures occurred.

6 miles is a lot for me to squeeze in on a random weekday morning but lately it seems that I have been squeezing in extra miles pretty often.

So really, with all these extra miles, my recent cravings for extra carbs should come as no surprise.

If you really pay attention to your cravings, and not just the ones for the chocolate cake and ice cream, your body almost always tells you what it needs.

What I Ate Wednesday Time – Click here to enjoy what everyone else in the Peas and Crayons link-up fun is eating this week!

Last month my cravings told me to eat more eggs most likely because I needed more protein. And now, the egg craving has subsided and the cravings for carbs has kicked in.

BREAKFAST:

As you know, I always eat before I run. The other morning, after I ate my favorite two-ingredient pancake, I just felt like I needed more carbs in me. The banana in the pancake just wasn’t cutting it.

I tried adding old-fashioned rolled oats to the pancake the next morning (to make it a three-ingredient pancake). As delicious as it was, it just wasn’t hitting that carb spot for me.

I didn’t want to give up the flavors of my pancake but knew what I needed was hot bowl of steel-cut oats – So I combined them both.

Using the steel-cut oats I have already prepped for the week, I reheat a serving mixed with egg whites, banana – and chopped apple.

Peanut Butter on top goes without saying.

For now, this is my winning combo of a breakfast. Who knows what tomorrow will bring…

NEW FAVORITE SNACK:

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw that I discovered the many colors of carrots at Trader Joe’s the other day.

If you don’t already buy organic carrots, please do so simply because they taste that much sweeter.

I can’t get enough of the yellow carrots. So sweet. Especially when topped with peanut butter.

LUNCH:

Just because I am eating my oats at breakfast doesn’t mean I stopped eating them at lunch.. But, lunch in the last week has more often than not been some type of salad or roasted vegetable combo.

Or, like the below lunch photo, an apple with peanut butter plus a roasted vegetable topped with melted cheese salad combo. Sometimes I just can’t decide what I feel like so I combine the ideas to avoid making a decision.

I have been on a bit of a butternut squash kick for a while now and I don’t see it stopping any time soon.

As well as an onion dip kick, made with plain greek yogurt and the onion dip mix from Trader Joe’s.

Combining a small amount of the mix with plain yogurt makes for a fabulous salad topping and serves as a source of protein too since I use the greek yogurt.

DINNER:

So back to the carb craving thing – I am always really conscious about refilling those glycogen stores effectively so I have been super on top of getting in a giant potato in at dinner.

I always run better when I eat potatoes. Most nights of the week my meals involve either sweet or regular potatoes but some nights they don’t. Brown rice, quinoa – not the same type of complex-carb effect for me as a potato.

I can get by not eating potatoes every evening but I definitely notice the difference in my runs if I take a look at what I have eaten the night before.

My favorite way these days to eat regular potatoes is sliced up and roasted in the oven as French fries.

They get so super crispy and I just love them paired with the onion dip. I was never a chip person or a dip person or even a chip AND dip person but for some reason, I love this dip with French fries. And a side of roasted vegetables topped with avocado.

I have also been making my sweet potato pizza bites. I have posted the recipe before but it is simple enough to just list again – just dice your sweet potato in round disks, roast for, hmm, 20-30 minutes? Then top with sauce, cheese and pop back in for a quick broil.

I could certainly get all crafty and make a sweet potato pizza crust but why? I love these little pizza bites. And so much easier.

LET’S TALK DESSERT:

My winter apples have been happening, in the form of peanut butter cup apples.

Just a sprinkle of chocolate chips and a drop of peanut butter is all you need in a bowl of diced up and warmed apples to get the peanut butter cup effect.

Don’t let me stop you from using a heavy hand with the peanut butter and chocolate but for real, a little bit truly does go a long way here.

You can even use PB2 in place of regular peanut butter (or a combination of both – that works well too).

Melty chocolate all over the bowl may seem to ruin this photo for some – to me it is just beautiful.

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I NEED TO KNOW:

Do you notice a difference in your workouts when you eat differently?

Do potatoes make a significant and noticeable difference for you?

Favorite way to eat potatoes?

Last thing you craved?