WIAW – Black Bean Pasta, Mets Game & Chipwiches

 

Oh hi! I think my site is working correctly now! My plug-in’s are back and Dreamhost thinks that they found the plug-in that was causing all of the problems. There’s still some other nonsense about my site spiking and taking up too much space on servers but I am going to pretend I didn’t hear that part for now because I had enough tech talk for one week.

Let’s take a look at what I ate yesterday!

Breakfast:

The usual cup of coffee with a small bowl of oatmeal and banana before my run. And water, a few glasses of water.

I ran 8 miles in the heavy humidity. It was overcast outside but super warm and humid. It definitely takes me a couple of miles to adjust to the humid air for sure.

My post-run breakfast is always my favorite meal of the day because everything tastes so much better after a run.

Don’t you agree? It’s like the taste buds are heightened or something.

I reheated the rest of the oatmeal with egg whites mixed in and it came out like a baked oatmeal. I also added Skoop B-Strong, cinnamon and lots of fresh strawberries.

I went over to Panera for a few hours after eating to get some work done. I filled my coffee cup with decaf coffee only because lately I can’t do more than one cup of caffeine a day.

I have a Panera gift card so when I became ravenous, I considered staying for lunch. That idea came and went real fast as soon as the workers told me that no, they cannot make the hummus power bowl for me since it is no longer on the menu.

At which point I just had to say – So that means you can no longer put tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach and hummus in a bowl? That no longer works?

Lunch:

I packed up my stuff and came home starving. I threw together a decent omelette with plum tomatoes and onion plus a side of roasted cauliflower. I added a lot more avocado than you see on the plate. This lunch hit the spot which made me happy. I was really hungry.

But then I was really hungry a few hours later again. Like REALLY HUNGRY. We were going to the Mets game in the evening but I couldn’t wait to eat a meal there so I made something at home before we left.

Dinner:

I finally tried the black bean pasta that I bought recently at Trader Joe’s and I like it. I really like it!

I cooked the black bean pasta quickly and served it with roasted vegetables, tomato sauce and melted mozzarella cheese.

I found the black bean pasta to have a fairly normal pasta texture and great flavor. I actually didn’t really notice a flavor. It tasted like pasta. The high fiber content did not bother my stomach in any way and kept me full. I was not really looking for anything else to eat for the rest of the night. I am definitely going to be eating this black bean pasta often, I just know it!

At the Mets game, I really wasn’t hungry but of course I needed to get something sweet anyway just because.

I thought about my usual sundae in a helmet but then I saw the chipwich with Mrs. Field’s cookies and I was sold.

It was a fun night although I really need to keep pointing out that I am a Yankees fan, I just take my son to the Mets games because he is a Mets fan. I always have a good time anyway but still, the Yankees are my team.

Be sure to check out what everyone else is eating today!

[bctt tweet=”WIAW – Black bean pasta, Mets game and chipwiches #wiaw #metsgame #chipwich #mets #panera” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Which baseball team is your team?

Have you tried black bean pasta? What do you think?

What do you usually order at Panera?

 

Cravings, Chopt & Out of Apples! (WIAW)

 

Just a quick note before we get to the food today — there may be some issues with my site over the next few days.

I didn’t notice anything weird but Dreamhost emailed me to tell me things are weird and that my plug-ins have all been disabled to determine the problem.

What problem?! I don’t see a problem!

So while we may not notice a problem and I am still able to sit here typing, I see that spell check is unavailable, I can’t view my stats, links to my social media accounts will be missing, SEO can’t happen and my inbox is currently loaded with spam comments since the plug-in that weeds out the spam comments on an hourly basis is disabled for now. I bet I can’t even load pictures properly either.

Lovely.

Anyway, moving on to What I Ate Wednesday. Let’s take a quick look at what I ate yesterday!

Breakfast:

Pre-Workout: The usual early morning coffee, water and small bowl of oatmeal with banana. Unpictured, oops.

Post-Workout: I made a version of my three ingredient pancake, adding Skoop B-Strong and blueberries (which you can’t see, they are inside the pancake).

How’s this for a water to coffee ratio?! That teeny cup of coffee is decaf too!

 

Lunch:

I had a recent craving for grilled mozzarella cheese and tomato on a toasted Food For Life Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Burger Bun. The only part of the combo that I had in the house was the cheese so off to Fairway I went for tomtatoes and the buns.

Grilled mozzarella cheese and tomato on some sort of bagel, bialy, toast or roll was my standard lunch for at least two years straight not too long ago. I should just eat this every day again so that I don’t have to think about what to have for lunch since you know I can’t stand lunch.

Dinner:

My son loves going to Chopt so when he asks randomly to have a meal there, I don’t say no since it’s a salad place. I don’t love the price at Chopt but I am liking the salads I get a bit more each time.

In the mix:

• Romaine & Spinach
• Hearts of Palm
• Tomatoes
• Quinoa
• Avocado
• Butternut Squash
• Charred Onions

I asked for a side of both the lemon tahini and the tzatziki dressing.

Dessert:

Last week I said I was tired of apples with peanut butter. This week I am back to apples with peanut butter and freaked out last night when I realized I ate the last apple. How did that happen?!

Good thing I have a lot of watermelon in the house. I have been eating a ton of watermelon in between meals so instead of slicing up apples if I get hungry, watermelon it will be until I can get to the store!

I have to be in the city later today so food shopping isn’t happening. Hopefully tomorrow!

Click here to see what everyone else is eating today!

What have you been snacking on lately?

Favorite type of peanut butter? I am wondering if maybe I will try a new one.

Which meal can you eat for several days at a time without getting tired of it?

 

 

What I Ate Wednesday June 1, 2016

Oh hi June 1st, so nice to see you. 🙂

I have always loved the start of June. Mainly because my birthday is approaching but also because the weather is so nice, school is coming to an end and camp time is only a few weeks away.

I can’t tell you how happy I am each morning when I wake up. Even if I am a bit tired, just knowing the weather is warm and the sun is rising well before 6:00 am makes heading outside for my run so exciting. I feel like I am celebrating in those first steps outside in my running shoes each day simply for getting to this point in the year after what feels like I suffered through so many early morning dark and dreary winter runs.

Even with the sprinklers on these days which interfere with my running path, I think I am just happy to know that the sprinklers mean green grass which means Summer!

Moving on to What I Ate Wednesday…Let’s take a look at what I ate yesterday!

Breakfast:

I have been having an extremely hard time taking pictures of the food I eat because I am usually too hungry too care what it looks like, I just care how it tastes and satisfies my appetite.

I am not a food blogger. I don’t cook to take pictures, I cook and prepare food to eat it. So, imagine my excitement when I was super hungry after my run and this post-run bowl of oatmeal with egg whites, Skoop B Strong, cinnamon and blueberries actually photographed decently!

Usually my oatmeal looks like mush in a bowl topped with cinnamon.

Lunch:

I hate to say that I feel myself slowly getting away from wanting to eat eggs. I have been on a roll lately with the eggs and I am still eating them because the protein serves me well but eh, I am not really in the egg mood.

I did make this spinach and onion omelette though with roasted Japanese sweet potatoes served with mashed avocado. And lots of salt. I need a lot of salt in my food in the summer to keep up with my sweaty runs.

Dinner:

Salads are for dinner are becoming a routine thing around here.

In the mix: roasted brussels sprouts, onions and mushrooms, leftover Japanese sweet potatoes from lunch, feta cheese, avocado and tahini! The exclamation point is for the tahini!

I received two types of tahini from Sesame King (garlic tahini and honey tahini) which I have been playing with using over the last several days. More about the tahini maybe on Friday.

Dessert:

The usual apple with some peanut butter, a sprinkle of Skoop and Trader Joe’s Midnight Moo.

Click here to check out what everyone else is eating today!

[bctt tweet=”what I ate Wednesday #wiaw #globalrunningday #salad #eggs #tahini #sesameking @healthyskoop” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Are you a fan of tahini? How do you like to use it?

Do you make salads at home often?

It’s Global Running Day! Will you be running today?

What I Ate Wednesday 5.25.16

 

Before we get to what I ate yesterday…

What I Ate Wednesday posts are just here to showcase what others eat and perhaps give you some new ideas when it comes to your own meals. The important thing to remember though is that you must do what works for you, not what works for someone else. As always, there are tons of diets and foodie trends out there which can be confusing, overwhelming and if we allow it, brainwashing. The more you read about other people’s diets and food choices, the more you may start to question your own < – this can be good and bad.

Adapting your diet to match someone else’s choices may be a good thing if you know you need to make a dietary change, if you know that tweaking what you eat, when you eat or how you eat may make a positive affect on your life. However, making some dietary changes can become a really bad decision if there’s absolutely nothing wrong with what, when and how you eat.

Please remember to do you. Don’t follow someone else’s diet and nutritional plan if it at all seems questionable, is not enough food to sustain your life and most of all, cuts out the foods you love and really don’t want to give up.

There. I feel better now. Let’s take a look at what I ate yesterday!

Breakfast:

This is what early morning breakfast time looks like around here. Coffee, banana and a serving of oatmeal out from the fridge. I usually have half of the banana and mash it into a small amount of the oatmeal, reserving the rest of the oatmeal for after my run. Sometimes I finish the banana, sometimes I store it in the refrigerator for later or try to pawn it off on my son.

Lately I am heating up the oatmeal and banana combo until it’s good and soupy as I am finding that much easier to digest before heading outside for a workout.

It’s rare to have an empty jar of peanut butter to use for my post-run breakfast these days. I am still not eating as much peanut butter as I was but I think that’s okay – we all have our phases.

Oatmeal mixed with blueberries, diced strawberries, Skoop and almond milk. More often than not, I cook eggs/egg whites into my oatmeal but yesterday I didn’t. No reason, just didn’t.

Lunch:

I really wanted a Red Mango parfait as I can only handle so many days in a row of eating real people food for lunch but the Red Mango I chose to go to was not open yet <-  I don’t want to talk about it.

Instead I found myself across the street at the Whole Foods food bar which really didn’t thrill me since my mind was on frozen yogurt mixed with berries, pumpkin flax granola and dark chocolate chips.

Whatever.

Dinner:

I spiralized my organic zucchini and then got really lazy. I wanted to try one of the new recipes I had pinned using zoodles but I ended up just roasting some other vegetables and tossing everything in a bowl with Vincent’s tomato sauce and nutritional yeast. Right before eating, I remembered I had made a batch of quinoa so I added it to the bowl just because.

Oh, and crushed red pepper. I have been adding crushed red pepper to everything lately.

Dessert:

Talk about balance on a plate. My son came home with a ton of candy from the Bar Mitzvah parties over the weekend so I made use of the mini bags of m&m’s by adding some to my apple with peanut butter.

Genius decision.

[bctt tweet=”What I Ate Yesterday! #WIAW #recenteats #oatmeal #veggies #running #fitfluential ” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by the many varieties of diets and nutrition plans out there?

What have you been eating for lunch lately?

Favorite type of m&m?

What I Ate Wednesday 4.27.16

 

Good morning! I am all cheery today because my son is off from school the rest of the week (another spring break) so we are in no rush to get out the door. Yesterday was my last serious run before Sunday’s race so I will head out at my leisure this morning to run just a few easy miles.

Let’s take a look at what I ate on Monday which saw a lot of the usual meals plus dinner out because I had enough of looking at my kitchen.

Breakfast:

The early morning usual pre=run oatmeal with banana and coffee.

I didn’t finish this first bowl of oatmeal so I saved it for after my run, mixed with Skoop B-Strong and frozen blueberries (just like my blueberry pie protein oatmeal).

Lunch:

I worked from home all morning and then made myself early lunch. Under that plate of roasted Japanese sweet potatoes is an omelette topped with avocado.

 

I had so much work to do that I decided to go to Starbucks for the rest of the day before picking my son up from school. I tend to focus best in the morning but really needed to stay in a working groove in order to finish up a bunch of writing things so out of the house was the best way to do that.

More coffee (half decaf) plus a side of fruit because I was getting hungry again.

Dinner:

It was such a mentally busy working day that as I thought about dinner, I just knew I wasn’t cooking. I didn’t have it in me and honestly, I was feeling tired and bored with everything I make and really didn’t want to even look at my kitchen.

Trust me when I say my son did not argue with me when I told him we were going to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. He was slightly surprised and certainly happy! He can’t stand my cooking most nights which makes no sense because I am a good cook but he’s a boy, so what do boys know anyway?

My favorite salad totally hit the spot. As you probably already know, I always order the barbecue ranch chicken salad with no chicken. I ask for extras of everything else in the salad to replace the chicken which means more black beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn and avocado. The onion strings are the best! Dressing on the side.

 

Dessert:

We did not have dessert at The Cheesecake Factory. This was a dinner only adventure. I came home and sliced up a granny smith apple, warmed it in the microwave for two minutes, sprinkled Skoop B-Strong on top and added broken up dark chocolate which got all melty after taking the picture. I also ate most of the chocolate while breaking it up.

Be sure to check out what everyone else is eating today!

[bctt tweet=”What I Ate Wednesday! #wiaw #recenteats #oatmeal #Skoop @healthyskoop #cheesecakefactory #starbucks” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

What’s your early morning usual breakfast?

How often do you randomly decide to go out for dinner during the week?

Favorite snacks lately?

Recent Eats

 

I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s guest post regarding tune up races. Laura really is the greatest for explaining the running stuff.

If you don’t already read Laura’s blog, she actually shared a wonderful post last week about how she is making sure she eats enough during her marathon training. I think this is why I love her so much — she often talks about how to eat enough, rather than about how to run on as little food as possible.

While training with Laura for my upcoming half marathon, I have definitely looked to her as an example and reminder to eat even more than I usually do. My additions are often subtle but my body notices – larger sweet potatoes, extra oatmeal, more bananas plus eggs and extra slices of avocado — these foods have helped me to feel more satisfied while increasing the intensity of my mileage.

Some recent meals from the last few days….

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with egg whites, Skoop B-Strong, frozen blueberries and cinnamon.

I don’t go through peanut butter as often as I did so oats in a jar are a special occasion. Cold oatmeal mixed with Skoop B-Strong, blueberries and peanut butter. A splash of almond milk too.

Skoop B-Strong (the best plant-based protein powder ever) is currently 25% off  — Use code STRONG25 at checkout (valid through April 30).

Lunch:

This egg sandwich is a favorite of mine. I cooked a quick spinach and onion omelette and placed it between super toasted cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread with mashed avocado.

Same type of quick omelette as the above only this time with roasted sweet potato wedges and avocado on top.

Dinner:

Even though I can make my own whole wheat vegetable pizza, I still like to go out to the pizza place. We love Villa Monte for their specialty pies including their incredible veggie-loaded whole wheat slice.

Giant greek salads from the Premier diner are my favorite. I ordered this greek salad with avocado.

Surprisingly, I haven’t one picture of dessert. After last week’s need for a brownie sundae, I settled right back in to my usual night-time apple with some peanut butter. Wait — I did have my typical cup of Cold Stone Saturday night but I didn’t take a picture —which sort of makes it feel like it didn’t even happen.

Islanders playoff game tonight! Getting excited 🙂

[bctt tweet=”recent eats #wiaw #oatmeal #halfmarathontraining #runner #pizza @healthyskoop #fitlfuential” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

What have you been loving to eat lately? Anything different than usual?

What do you eat more of when you are training for a race?

 

Cereal Milk Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

 

I made you cookies. I mean breakfast. I mean breakfast cookies. Oatmeal breakfast cookies. Oatmeal cookies made with cereal milk so we will just call them cereal milk oatmeal breakfast cookies!

I have been wanting to create cookies using cereal milk for a while now but didn’t get around to it until a few days ago. What else was I going to do with my son home sick for so many days? I was starting to go crazy.

I knew he was feeling better though when he walked into the kitchen, saw me straining milk from a cereal bowl and grinned that evil grin at me which means he is about to say something to insult what I was doing.

He just observed for a few minutes (with a consistently evil and calculating grin, which I was happy about, meant he felt better) until he finally spoke:

“So how exactly does it go down, mom?

Do you wake up and say, Gee, how may I screw up a cookie recipe today?”

Gotta love my boy.

While he feels that I should leave well enough alone and forever just make my original chocolate chip cookies which contain real ingredients-as he would say – real ingredients like butter, sugar and white flour, I still like to get creative. So there.

I knew exactly what I wanted and needed to do. I soaked some Cocoa Mighty Flakes from Love Grown Foods in almond milk. Once the milk was all chocolately, I drained out the cereal to use the almond milk as flavor for the cookies!

These cereal milk oatmeal breakfast cookies are literally a bowl of breakfast only in cookie form. I have made so many variations over the weekend and I love them all.

Why I love the concept of Cereal Milk Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies:

Individual servings. Since I used an individual Love Grown Foods oatmeal packet for the cookies, this recipe can be for one serving (or two, all depends upon your appetite). Even if you eat all of the cookies, it’s not the same as eating an entire regular batch of cookies (this recipe makes four cookies).

Cereal Milk. Who doesn’t love the milk at the bottom of a cereal bowl, especially when it’s chocolately milk? You can use any type of cereal you wish for these cookies to create any flavor cereal milk that you desire.

I had a great time playing with making different types of cereal milks for the cookies and really, even if you don’t use the milk for the cookies, you can always use the cereal milk to flavor a bowl of oatmeal or even for your coffee < – so good!

Easily Customizable. Add in your favorite oatmeal toppings such as raisins, chocolate chips, walnuts, peanut butter etc.

If you use a cereal with marshmallows, stir in the marshmallows!!!

And, you can get creative by using your choice of oatmeal varieties – you can use plain oats (a packet or serving of old-fashioned rolled oats) or flavored like a maple brown sugar or blueberry.

We are talking a great balance of nutrients and flavor all in one cookie.

Some notes before getting to the recipe:

After much experimentation, I recommend using a flake-type cereal over a cheerio-shaped cereal. The flakes absorb less of the milk, leaving you more milk to work with for the cookie recipe.

Chocolate, fruity or peanut butter cereals will give off a stronger cereal milk flavor that transfer over to the cookies than a frosted-flavor cereal but I encourage you to try the types of cereal you like!

After taking the cereal milk from the chocolate cereal, I did end up incorporating the milk-soaked cereal in the cookie dough which was not my original plan but it was delicious. It’s up to you if you want to use the cereal or discard it.

I didn’t add additional sugars to this recipe but if you like things on the sweeter-side or want these cookies as a dessert, I recommend a teaspoon of maple syrup or coconut sugar.

I tried using both coconut flour and Skoop in these cookies. Both work! The only issue with using a flavored protein powder is that it may take away from the cereal milk flavor – not in a bad way, but it’s worth noting.

Use this recipe as inspiration for getting creative with your own cereal milk oatmeal breakfast cookies and let me know what you come up with!

Cereal Milk Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Recipe Type: cookies

Cuisine: breakfast/snack

Author: meredith @ Cookie ChRUNicles

Prep time: 35 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 4 cookies

These cereal milk oatmeal breakfast cookies are like eating a bowl of your favorite cereal and oatmeal all in one bite — in a cookie!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
• 1 serving cereal of choice (I used Cocoa Mighty Flakes)
• 1 packet of oatmeal of your choice (I used Love Grown Foods Super Oats original)
• 1/2 banana mashed
• 1 scoop of [url href=”http://cookiechrunicles.healthyskoop.com&#8221; target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”]Skoop[/url] protein powder plus 1 tablespoon (or 2 tablespoons coconut flour)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp maple syrup or 1 tsp coconut sugar (optional! use only if you want a sweeter cookie)
• [b]Optional add-ins:[/b]
• The cereal that was soaked in the almond milk
• raisins
• chocolate chips
• nuts
• peanut butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Soak your cereal of choice in almond milk for at least 30 minutes.
3. Stir the cereal around and then drained the milk from the cereal into a mixing bowl using a strainer.
4. Add the rest of your ingredients (except for the used cereal) and mix well.
5. Add in the used cereal and mix just a bit.
6. Drop cookie dough onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes.
7. Serve immediately or store in an air-tight container – cookies will last longer if stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

Notes

Cookies are great reheated with some peanut butter or jelly on top 🙂

3.5.3208

[bctt tweet=”Cereal Milk Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies #cereal #cookies #oatmeal #breakfast @lovegrownfoods @healthyskoop #fitfluential”]

Although I am an ambassador for both Love Grown Foods and Healthy Skoop, this is not a sponsored post. I was not asked to create this recipe or use their products.

What have you been eating for breakfast lately?

 

 

What I Ate Wednesday 3.9.16

I have to say – having your race entry determined by a random drawing certainly ups the excitement! I don’t think I ever logged into my bank account (to see if I was charged for the race registration) so many times in one day, or even, one year. I am surprised the bank didn’t call to question fraudulent activity with the amount of log ins I made throughout the day yesterday!

So while I won’t be running the marathon this November (nope, didn’t get in but thanks for all of your wishes!), I am totally okay with it! I definitely believe everything happens for a reason and this year, for whatever reason, is not meant to be my marathon year.

In all honesty, I was (and always will be should I ever get in) in fear of the marathon coinciding with my time of the month. I swore off racing during my period ever since having a fainting scare a few years ago during the Fitness Magazine half and really would have had to make a decision come race day if the two collided.

I have always had a low blood pressure issue which has caused me to faint several times in my life, especially when exercising during my period (at the beginning and end of it so there’s no good day!) so I am sort of happy that I don’t have to think about it now for November.  You may remember this is the main reason why I don’t normally plan out my races all that far in advance – I like to know when I am due so I can avoid racing during that time of the month.

Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled What I Ate Wednesday programming!

Breakfast:

The early morning, dimly lit usual pre-run breakfast of oatmeal and coffee. Please note that my travel coffee mug is ready and waiting for my second cup which I drink in the car as I drive down the block to take my son to school. I may not have his lunch made, but my coffee mug is prepared.

I really need a new name for my three-ingredient pancake because I have been making it a little differently these days.

Protein Pancake? Five-Ingredient Pancake? Whatever we call it, I really like it.

This pancake filled with blueberries, Skoop, some coconut flour, a little banana and egg whites, didn’t flip very well but that’s more because I didn’t care if it flipped well – I was hungry and rushing the process.

Lunch:

I made a quick spinach and onion omelette alongside roasted sweet potato wedges which had a hint of maple syrup drizzled on them as they cooked.  I also added some raspberry jelly and Earth Balance to the sweet potatoes when they came out of the oven because the idea sounded appealing. It was delicious.

Dinner:

When Trader Joe’s actually has their wild shrimp in stock, I become a pescatarian rather than vegetarian. I was so surprised to see the wild shrimp the other day – they really haven’t had it since easily last summer!

I was very happy to make a simple shrimp Stir Fry topped with avocado – it was so good. (Stir Fry recipe very similar to this one in case you are interested).

Dessert:

I rediscovered the simple yet satisfying combination of strawberries with whipped cream. I also rediscovered Trader Joe’s Midnight Moo!

This bowl contains some diced up warmed apple plus strawberries, whipped cream and the Midnight Moo on top < – such a rich chocolate flavor unlike most chocolate syrups.

Click here to see what everyone else is eating today 🙂

[bctt tweet=”What I Ate Wednesday #WIAW #running #marathon @healthyskoop #traderjoes #fitfluential”]

********

Who got accepted to the marathon yesterday?!

Favorite pre-run and/or post-run meals?

What’s for dessert lately?

 

What I Ate Wednesday – 3.2.16

Before we get to the What I Ate Wednesday food fun, I wanted to thank you for your kind comments and emails regarding yesterday’s post. I know we all go through different experiences in life so I hope that by sharing a bit of my own stuff, I can help someone else, even if the situation is completely different.

Now on to the food!

Let’s take a look at what I ate on Monday instead of yesterday because yesterday I was in the city for event industry stuff so the only picture I managed to take was of a giant fruit bowl at a meeting. I shared it on Instagram if you care to see it 🙂

Breakfast:

Pre-run early morning usual of coffee plus oatmeal with banana.

Post-run was a little different on Monday.

Remember I stopped eating greek yogurt? Well, I bought one container of the plain organic greek last week so I finally opened it and gave it another try, just like the good old days when I was eating it every morning.

I made a bit of parfait if you will, mixing the greek yogurt with strawberries, blueberries, Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax Granola and some dark chocolate chips. The same combo that I get at Red Mango, just with greek yogurt in place of frozen yogurt.

Do you like my bright green yogurt store spoon?! I have quite a stash.

Lunch:

Loving this egg sandwich combination lately – toasted cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread with avocado, eggs, plum tomato slices and some spinach.

Who am I eating sandwiches? I don’t know either.

Dinner:

I could eat this plant-based plate every single night and probably never grow tired of it. Roasted sweet potato wedges with roasted broccoli and brussels sprouts with mashed avocado on top. Not a sign of protein on this plate because I just didn’t feel like quinoa, chick peas, lentils or whatever.

I know we need protein and I know I need to get my complete protein combinations but I am in no way a perfect eater (is anyone?) so let’s just call the yogurt and eggs from breakfast and lunch enough for today, okay?

What’s not seen here are the roasted potato wedges that I snagged from my son’s dinner plate. I kept waiting for him to be done with his hamburger because he usually leaves over a bunch of the roasted potatoes on the side (which I don’t understand but appreciate greatly).

Dessert:

So remember when I said I deal with food allergies in the form of Oral Allergy Syndrome? The other night I had a raw Pink Lady Apple and my allergies appeared in full force. My throat was tight and my chest was heavy for two hours which really doesn’t happen anymore. It was bad enough for me to take a Benadryl so I decided I need to stop eating raw apples, at least for a bit.

No problem – cooked, warm apple slices sprinkled with Skoop for a vanilla flavor (and hey, some protein!) with melted chocolate it is.

Oral Allergy Syndrome really only applies to raw fruits and vegetables. Once you cook them, the pollen is altered which eliminates the allergy (not always, not in every case, but most of the time).

I have to say that I LOVE eating the apples this way. The Skoop blends itself in and the chocolate gets all melty. So, so good.

[bctt tweet=”What I Ate Wednesday Fun #WIAW #food #recenteats @healthyskoop #running #fitfluential”]

Click here to see what everyone else is eating today!

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Do you have food allergies?

Have you eaten something new or different this week?

What’s on the workout agenda for today?

Kid Approved Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes

I don’t know who I think I am posting not only one recipe this week but two, two days in a row but these peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes really couldn’t wait.

My son requested pancakes for breakfast Saturday morning and after a lengthy recipe discussion, these peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes were born.

I am calling these peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes Kid Approved because My Kid actually loved them and he is not the easiest of crowds if you know what I mean.

He is a one man peanut gallery who has been giving his poor mother major grief over the ingredients and foods that fill our kitchen.

He wanted pancakes for breakfast and those pancakes came with strict instructions. They should be REAL.  They should not involve bananas or applesauce, no oats or replacement flours or anything that resembles a pancake recipe that is modified to make him healthy.

If you don’t believe me about his requests, here’s a quick text conversation between us from Sunday morning regarding my sweet potato latkes:

And I get it. I understand his point of view completely even though I also understand why I choose to lighten up recipes or make use of “healthier” ingredients when I can.

But not everything we eat needs to be complete with replacement ingredients. Unless we have specific allergies, it’s okay to eat the real stuff as part of a real life balanced diet.

I also think that sometimes, it’s more important to figure out to how make some simple, easy recipes from scratch that doesn’t feel like they are from scratch. It’s can be so much better than relying on the packaged, more processed foods (which often involve artificial colors and preservatives) to get our meals on the table.

When he wasn’t looking, I did take my whole wheat flour out from the cabinet to combine it with the regular flour but trust me, the texture and taste is on point.

There’s a scoop of Skoop B-Strong in the mix too for added vanilla flavor and protein but other than that, I consider these peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes real…and healthy.

These pancakes are gluten-free if you use gluten-free flour and even dairy-free if using dairy-free chocolate chips but don’t mention this sentence to my son, he will only make fun of us for all of this free of this and free of that food talk.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:42]

3.5.3208

[bctt tweet=”Kid Approved Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes #breakfast #pancakes @healthyskoop #glutenfree #dairyfree #fitfluential #peanutbutter”]

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Favorite kind of pancakes?

Favorite restaurants/place to order pancakes?

If you have kids, do they chime in on what kind of foods you make for them?