Heat Wave Appetite (Recent What I Ate Wednesday Meals)

My appetite is definitely feeling affected by the heat. It’s not noticeable every day but some days, I’m noticing that I’m not as hungry. The thought of eating sometimes feels like too much in my stomach. I’ve even had a few moments where I think a smoothie sounds good and if you know me, you know I don’t like to drink my food.

Back in the day, What I Ate Wednesday showcased one full day of food. I stopped doing posts like that because I so rarely think to formulate a post in that structure. As I was putting this post together though, I kinda noticed I have a full day of food from Sunday’s boardwalk run day.

Sunday Meals:

Before I left for the boardwalk, I had my usual (not pictured though) small bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, cinnamon, and peanut butter with coffee and water. I added an extra pinch of sea salt to the oatmeal since I knew I would be sweating a whole lot.

After my run, I guzzled (literally guzzled) two bottles of water and then ate some watermelon. I was not ready to eat food. These summer runs give me the after you finish a race feeling.  You just can’t eat yet.

I sat down after a little while to recover with my cold oatmeal but I took a few bites and couldn’t eat it.

Even later on around lunchtime when I was home and showered, I was hungry but wasn’t ready for a full meal. I had a slice of cinnamon raisin Ezekiel toast with mashed avocado and everything but the bagel seasoning. This was perfect actually. But notice, I left the chickpeas out of the avocado mash and didn’t have a salad with it.

I had some watermelon in the afternoon and then got hungry around 4:00 PM. I was finally in the mood for salad but still, nothing heavy. I made another slice of avocado toast with a basic salad of lettuce, tomatoes, chickpeas, and feta cheese.

Chocolate chips for dessert. Plus more watermelon before bed.

Other salads from the week:

Lettuce, tomato, cucumber, chickpeas, feta cheese, and avocado. So simple and perfect.

This salad was an “empty out the fridge” for a dinner salad. I couldn’t tell you exactly what was in it but I think there were roasted potatoes involved.

Um, not sure what was in this salad either but I see what is likely my usual salad ingredients and colorful carrot coins.

There were two pizza nights in the last week! On one of the days when I didn’t have my normal appetite (and had oatmeal for breakfast and lunch), I had two slices of grandma pizza for dinner. The only salad ingredient on my plate was lettuce. It was a carb kind of day I suppose.

Another night my son wanted pizza so I had a whole wheat vegetable slice for dinner.

Important to note something that is not food-related! I heard Stoney Clover is restocking the tie-dye masks! Check their site to get yours before they are sold out again!

You Pick Two + Vegetable Fajitas + Raspberry Leaf Tea (recent eats)

 

I have a whole bunch of recent eats to talk about today but before we get to that, I have to tell you something so funny. Well, at least I think it’s funny.

So the weather is finally turning colder here in New York. We went from 70 degrees on Monday down to real chilly fall weather. It was beautiful for my run yesterday morning! Nice and crisp, in the low 40’s. 

Before heading outside, I kept thinking about how I really need to go through my cold weather running gear as I don’t remember what I have to wear and I KNOW that I really need to get myself a new running vest for this time of year. Like I keep mentally putting it off but it’s time to buy it! Then I go into my closet, open the drawer to dig out my warmer stuff and then notice that I had in fact bought this GapFit running vest last winter! HA. It was literally hanging in my closet. It’s bright yellow. How did I not notice the vest there this entire time AND how did I completely forget that I wore it last winter? Am I the only one who finds this funny?

Anyway. Let’s talk food!

Same breakfast, before and after my run. It’s so very rare that I get tired of oatmeal for breakfast!

Two lunches at Panera:

One day, I went with a You Pick Two option and chose the half mediterranean veggie sandwich with half a salad. The mediterranean veggie sandwich was always a favorite of mine. Ask my son about it, he used to order for it in broken baby English when he was two years old. It was the cutest thing. My mommy will have the mediterranean veggie on ciabatta bread. I forgot I used to order this sandwich on ciabatta bread!

Another day at Panera, I ordered my usual salad.

Two meals at home:

I’m sort of back to making big salads at home again. This salad was made with basic salad ingredients and chick peas but also included roasted Japanese sweet potatoes which were definitely the highlight!

When I have the Japanese sweet potatoes in the house, I eat at least one a day. I roasted the sweet potatoes for dinner the other night in the everything but the bagel sesame seasoning and then piled them together with chick peas and other vegetables.

Two dinners at Mexican Restaurants:

Mexican is becoming one of my most favorite cuisines when we go out to eat. I ordered vegetable fajitas twice recently at two different Mexican restaurants.

This picture only captured the sizzling plate of vegetables rather than the plates that contained the rice, beans, guacamole and tortillas. Fajitas are so fun to order, right?

Then there was this plate of vegetable fajitas that I ordered at another Mexican restaurant which were very different from the traditional vegetable fajitas! The vegetables were in a pan with cheese which is not something I typically encounter! I am not a huge lover of cheese but I didn’t send it back. It was good, I just picked around a lot of the cheese parts.

Snacks:

I am not a big snacker which is why I very rarely share snack pictures on the blog. Sometimes in the afternoon I will grab a few baby carrots but I don’t actually like them. In fact, if I eat too many raw carrots, they hurt my stomach so sometimes I microwave them to soften them up.

In between breakfast and lunch I drink tea though. This week it’s all about Raspberry Leaf tea. Even though I really don’t enjoy the flavor, I drink it for the powers of relieving PMS and menstrual discomfort.

Does it work? I haven’t the slightest idea but I like to think it does something. I’m fairly new to Raspberry Leaf tea but I intend to keep it up just to test out the theories.

I am back to eating apples with peanut butter most nights during the week now! Not Granny Smith though, I can’t return to those just yet but the Honey Crisp are working for me at the moment.

Oh, and last night I dipped one of these mini dark chocolate bars from Trader Joe’s in peanut butter. Perfect snack.

Be sure to visit Sprint 2 The Table for today’s What I Ate Wednesday!

[bctt tweet=”Recent Eats on the blog today including vegetable fajitas, you pick two’s and snacks! #WIAW #recenteats #ontheblog #fajitas #raspberryleaftea #running #panera” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Are you a fan of fajitas? What kind do you usually order?

Do you drink Raspberry Leaf tea? Do you believe in the health benefits?

Anyone else completely out of touch with their winter running gear? Do you think that maybe you need some new stuff for this coming season? What do you need?

What I Ate Wednesday 9/6/17

 

As my son walked out the door to the school bus stop yesterday morning, I asked him to please make a pledge to himself that he will keep his notebooks organized this school year.

One can hope, right?

I used to get such joy in organizing MY notebooks but that doesn’t mean I want to organize HIS notebooks all year long. Sure, I enjoyed setting them all up for yesterday (can we believe he started high school?!) but I can’t handle when he allows them to get overloaded with unorganized papers or when he blames the mess on the quality of the binder rings.

It’s not the binder rings, it’s him. Why is my child such a school supply mess? Will I still be organizing his notebooks when he goes to college? Doesn’t he know that messy notebooks can lead to a messy mind?! 

Breakfast:

My son may have started high school yesterday but I still have his Bob The Builder spoons in the kitchen drawer. I like to use these little spoons for my oatmeal and may never get rid of them. Is Bob The Builder even on television anymore? He loved Bob back in the day. And Handy Manny. Is Handy Manny still on? I am out of touch on the toddler television shows.

Lunch:

Back to making lunch at home which is really fine with me after eating out way too much lately. I realized that I haven’t had roasted potatoes at home in a really long time. So, I roasted a few baby potatoes in the everything but the bagel seasoning to add to my lunch salad with chick peas and avocado.

Dinner:

I don’t even know what is in this bowl. It looks like broccoli, rice and chick peas? Maybe with avocado?

Sometimes that’s the beauty of being a meatless eater. You just sort of wing things and then combine what you see in your pantry and refrigerator. At least I cooked a nice steak dinner for my son.

Back To Apples!

I am back to eating an apple a day. This is not because I suddenly felt like my old self who wanted to eat at least an apple a day. It’s more because I realized that NOT eating apples isn’t really a good thing. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away and I don’t want to mess with that.

So, back to apples. I still don’t like apples on the same level as I once did but I bought a few pink lady apples and have been heating them up with cinnamon.  I can’t say I LOVE this snack but it’s fine. On my list though is to make my vegan apple crisp to have in the house for a few days as a good snack!

[bctt tweet=”What I Ate Wednesday #wiaw #backtoschool #salad #apples #oatmeal” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Linking up with Laura for What I Ate Wednesday today!

How do you feel about apples? Do you eat at least one a day? Which type of apples are your favorite?

 

 

What I Ate Wednesday (8.23.17)

 

 

It’s Wednesday! I’m linking up with Laura today for What I Ate Wednesday. 🙂

Breakfast:

I am so proud of myself for remembering to get a picture of my post-run oatmeal bowl. I’ve started adding raisins to my usual mix of oatmeal, frozen blueberries and strawberries. The jumbo black raisins from Trader Joe’s are my favorite!

Lunch:

I am back to working at Panera a few mornings a week in order to really focus. This usually turns into me ordering my favorite (made-up-by-me) Panera salad for lunch.

Is it me or did Panera get new bowls for the salads? The salad looks different, right? And that apple you see there is the only time I eat apples right now. You know I have completely given up my apple and peanut butter a day habit when I don’t even buy apples at the grocery store anymore. Maybe one day I will get back on track with my former favorite snack.

Dinner:

I had a salad and pizza craving the other night so this really hit the spot. We chose a grandma pie and of course I went for the corner slices.

I had this plate of salad and pizza X  two.

Dessert:

I am really simple lately, just hand me a bag of chocolate chips and I am happy. I have both the Nestle dark chocolate chips and Trader Joe’s semi sweet chocolate chips in the house. The chocolate chips from Trader Joe’s are still my favorite though.

Not pictured is watermelon that I snack on throughout the day. I usually cut up two watermelons a week although I am guessing that will end soon as we approach fall. I don’t want summer to end!

[bctt tweet=”Taking a look at a full day of food for What I Ate Wednesday! #WIAW #oatmeal #panera #salad #pizza #chocolatechip #traderjoes” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Do you like raisins? 

Any recent meal cravings (like salad and pizza) to report?

What’s for breakfast today?

 

What I Ate Wednesday (3.15.17)

I burned a pot of oatmeal yesterday. Please don’t ask me how I managed to burn the oatmeal. I was sitting in the kitchen the entire time the oatmeal was cooking on the stove! I guess that I didn’t pay attention to my ratio of oats to water, not that I ever really do.  All I know is that burned oatmeal is NOT good. I had to throw it all out and start over!

Breakfast:

I walked over to the gym in the snow/ice/sleet blizzard of a storm and then came home for some oatmeal in a jar. School was closed so it was nice to do things on a later schedule. Lately I find myself unable to get out of bed as easily as I used to!

When was the last time I used an almost empty peanut butter jar for my oatmeal? I can’t even remember.

Lunch:

I really wasn’t hungry for lunch which happens to me sometimes. Peanut butter and jelly with banana on toasted cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread is always good though.

Dinner:

Roasted broccoli, sweet potatoes, leftover brown rice and chick peas became dinner topped with parmesan cheese. I don’t make meals like this as often as I used to but I really should. It’s so easy and a great way to eat your vegetables.

Dessert:

I really like handfuls of chocolate chips as a snack. 🙂

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

[bctt tweet=”What I Ate Wednesday #WIAW #oatmeal  #peanutbutter #chocolatechips” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

If it snowed by you yesterday, how much snow did you get?

Do you like your oatmeal in a jar? What do you add to it?

What’s for lunch today?

 

What I Ate Wednesday 3.8.17

 

I feel like I haven’t done a What I Ate Wednesday post in a while!

Breakfast:

The usual early morning ugly oatmeal with blueberries going on here.

This is the after my run bowl. The before my run bowl of oatmeal had banana instead of blueberries. I am still mixing PB2 into my oatmeal (after taking this picture) by the way. I really like the texture it creates.

Lunch:

I was due for a big salad at home for lunch with a whole bunch of stuff in the bowl.

In the mix:

• Chopped romaine
• Roasted sweet potatoes
• Brown rice
• Chick Peas
• Roasted broccoli
• Roasted pearl tomatoes

Dinner:

We ordered in pizza for dinner because I guess I didn’t get enough pizza in Chicago over the weekend. I also ordered a greek salad because salad and pizza just go so well together.

Dessert:

You know how I love eating m&m’s out of a really big bag.

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

[bctt tweet=”What I Ate Wednesday #WIAW #pizza #oatmeal #salad” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Are you a pizza and salad lover too?

What’s on today’s workout agenda?

Which meal has been your favorite meal of the day lately?

What I Ate Wednesday February 8, 2017

 

Lots of good comments on yesterday’s quirky eating habits post. I am still working on responding but hope to reply today!

What I really need to do is pick a different day for What I Ate Wednesday because lately I am always doing Monday meals.

Although, I eat the same breakfast every day and only rotate a few lunches and dinners during the week so I guess it really doesn’t matter.

The one thing I will say is that I have been eating more sweet potatoes and vegetables again on a regular basis. At first I was trying to get back to my “normal” because I knew the sweet potatoes and vegetables were good for my muscles and my running and stuff like that. But then, after a few days, it’s what I was craving just like my usual eating habits of the last few years. I was happy about this for sure as it was getting tiring to not want anything that I usually liked to eat! I am still off apples though, I just can’t even look at the granny smith apples.

Breakfast:

Same old breakfast going on here. Pre-run oatmeal early in the morning with some banana before I run and then another bowl like this with frozen blueberries after I run. I mixed up the oatmeal with peanut butter after taking the picture.

Lunch:

My friend Dina was over for our routine Monday work from home day together. We call ourselves the Long Island satellite to the city office.

I made our typical big salad for lunch but added roasted cauliflower to our usual mix. It was SO GOOD.

In the mix:

• Chopped romaine
• Roasted pearl tomatoes
• Roasted sweet potatoes
• Roasted cauliflower
• Chick peas
• Avocado

We have been enjoying just a drizzle of balsamic vinegar but I also added Sriracha to mine because I like things spicy lately.

I drank a lot of Yogi Tea throughout the day and we had some watermelon too.

Dinner:

When we have leftover salad, I end up using some of it for my dinner. I am very big on Dr. Praeger’s veggie burgers right now. I always have them in the freezer but I definitely go through phases of eating them a lot and then not eating them at all.

This salad contained brown rice because I had some left in the refrigerator to use.

I also added avocado to the salad and some of the five layer dip that we had in the house from the Super Bowl.

Dessert:

Insert something boring here. I just picked around at things because I didn’t know what I wanted. Some popcorn, some crumbs from the cookie cake left from the Super Bowl. I don’t even know.

[bctt tweet=”What I Ate Wednesday! #WIAW #oatmeal #salad #eats #drpraegers #whatiatewednesday” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

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

Are you getting the big snowstorm tomorrow or it is snowing where you live right now?

What do you like as your salad dressing/salad toppings these days?

 

 

What I Ate Wednesday 1.25.17

 

It’s Wednesday already! I tend to say things like that when I miss a Tuesday post because missing a post in my  normal schedule really throws me off.

Let’s take a look at what I ate on Monday!

Breakfast:

I thought about having an English muffin with peanut butter for breakfast but ultimately went with oatmeal, both before and after my run.

This is the messy, before my run bowl of oatmeal, which always involves banana (and chia seeds cooked in) too. My post-run bowl was equally as ugly only that bowl had frozen blueberries and peanut butter added to the mix.

Shortly after getting my son to school, I packed up my things (as in my computer) and headed over to my friend Dina’s house for the day. We really like to work together at least once a week and Monday’s are usually it.

Lunch:

Dina made us such a nice, big salad for lunch. She even had it ready early for me since she knows I tend to get hungry.

There was watermelon for me too. 🙂

Dinner:

I am completely indifferent to dinner lately. There’s nothing I really feel like eating or cooking although lately I have been in the mood for spicy flavors. I added sriracha to my plate of roasted potato wedges, broccoli and a Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger.

Dessert:

I am still off apples! Isn’t it funny how we can eat the same thing every day for years and then one day, just stop?

Right now, I have no set night-time snack during the week like I did when I lived on apples and peanut butter.

Some nights I make plain popcorn. You know, the kind where you pop the kernels in a brown lunch bag in the microwave? I wrote a post about how to do this SO LONG AGO. Here it is if you missed that popcorn post.

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

[bctt tweet=”What I Ate Wednesday! #oatmeal #WIAW #popcorn #salad #drpraegers ” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

What have you been craving (or not craving) lately?

Do you make microwave popcorn in the brown lunch bag too?

What are you packing for lunch today if you bring your lunch to work?

What I Ate Wednesday 1.11.17

 

I know I have mentioned in the past that I am lucky enough to work with one of my best friends. Dina and I both work remotely but sometimes, like on Monday, we set up office and work together.

Dina was over early on Monday to work from my house for the day which made Monday that much more fun!

Breakfast:

I had my usual pre and post run oatmeal, here’s the post-run bowl.

It was so super cold on Monday which I mentioned in yesterday’s post so the two of us spent the day refilling our cups of tea like you can’t imagine.

Lunch:

Of course I made sure that we had a nice lunch to look forward to eating before our webinar.

I threw together a pretty salad which included chopped romaine lettuce, roasted sweet potatoes and grape tomatoes plus chick peas and avocado. It was really simple to make while working and didn’t take much effort.

All I had to do was roast the sweet potatoes and grape tomatoes in the oven and then assemble when ready.

Such a simple salad but so good!

This salad sort of reminded me of the Power Salad recipe I shared a few months ago. We like that salad a lot too!

Dinner:

We had a little bit of salad left over so I roasted some extra potato wedges, put them on top and called it dinner.

Dessert:

I am still on a Hershey’s Kisses kick and obviously I had more than just these two. Who can only eat two?!

Be sure to check out what everyone else is eating today for What I Ate Wednesday!

[bctt tweet=”Sharing what I ate on Monday for today’s #WIAW #salad #oatmeal #eats #recenteats” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

What are you having for breakfast today?

Do you have an easy salad combination that you make often?

Favorite nighttime snack lately? (I love asking this question to hear new ideas)

 

What I Ate Wednesday 1.4.17

 

Thank you for your comments (and emails) regarding yesterday’s post! I am still working on responding to them but your thoughts on disordered eating and how it can start unintended are greatly appreciated.

It’s pretty fitting to follow up yesterday’s post with a What I Ate Wednesday post, although, this post almost didn’t happen because I have been doing a terrible job remembering to take pictures of a full day of food.

I am sure it’s partly because what I eat lately, and especially during the week, really isn’t all that interesting although the boring stuff is worth sharing too!

The truth is, I just don’t believe that anyone really eats elaborate meals that require multi-step recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner on a regular basis. We all go through phases with cooking more often and prepping food for the week and then, well, not so much! It’s totally normal. Well, at least I think it is!

Breakfast:

I’ve been back to oatmeal lately – with mashed banana before I run and then another bowl after I run, sometimes with frozen blueberries cooked in too.

I did something crazy (crazy for me) yesterday by mixing a little bit of coconut oil into the oatmeal instead of peanut butter and really liked it!

Lunch:

There were six bagels sitting on my kitchen counter from Stew Leonard’s and the giant cinnamon raisin bagel had been calling my name all morning.

I meant to get a picture of the cinnamon raisin bagel after I toasted it with the butter and jelly but then I got distracted. Oops.

Sometimes I make egg sandwiches on my bagels for lunch and sometimes I just don’t care if my meal is lacking in protein. I really fell in love last week with the butter and jelly combination all over again and that was exactly what I wanted yesterday. Totally hit the spot.

So this guacamole is the spiciest guacamole that I have ever tasted! I still ate it but wow does it set my mouth on fire for a bit.

Dinner:

I really didn’t know what I was in the mood to eat which seems to be the trend these days when I have dinner at home.

Dr. Praeger’s veggie burgers always come in handy though! With a side of roasted potato wedges that still aren’t sweet potatoes because I just don’t care to have those yet.

Dessert:

I’m still obsessed with Hershey’s Kisses. What is it about Hershey’s milk chocolate that makes it so good?! Most of the time, I choose dark chocolate over milk chocolate yet I love Hershey’s milk chocolate, especially in the kisses.

It’s pretty warm here today for winter (like in the 40’s already this morning!) so I am excited to run outdoors. Be sure to check out what everyone else is eating today!

[bctt tweet=”What I Ate Wednesday! #WIAW #recenteats #bagels @stewleonards #hersheys #chocolate” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

What have you been mixing into your oatmeal lately?

Favorite brand of chocolate?

Are you currently in cook mode or wing your meals mode?