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?

Monday’s Meals + Trader Joe’s Things

 

Let’s take a look at Monday’s Meals for today’s What I Ate Wednesday!

Monday was a busy work day AND my son talked me into going to the Islanders game at night. The Vegas Golden Knights would be in town for the first time in their history and he didn’t want to miss it. Ugh, a Monday night game in Brooklyn!

Also, I want to throw in here that I have been working on a post about the scale. I thought I would get it up yesterday but I didn’t finish it in time. The late night Monday (this is why I hate that the Islanders play in Brooklyn, takes forever to get home) had me sleep later yesterday morning which meant I didn’t have time to finalize the post. I hate when that happens but I am getting better at letting it go and saving the post for another day!

Breakfast:

This breakfast could really be any morning, any day of the week.

I always drink a cup of coffee before heating up my oatmeal. This time I remember to add chia seeds again to the pot of oatmeal while it was cooking. I was always good about adding chia seeds to my oatmeal but then I fell out of the habit.

I ran 6 miles and then had another bowl that looked like the above after my shower.

Lunch:

I was starving early on so I made a salad for lunch before noon.

This salad was pretty basic with a Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger chopped up, balsamic vinegar and a few jalapeños because I am obsessed.

Dinner:

I wanted to eat dinner before we left for the Islanders game. Even though it was a little early, it was better than getting too hungry on the train before arriving at the game. My plan became dinner at home, dessert at the game. 🙂

I was really excited to see the purpled-skinned Japanese sweet potatoes back at Trader Joe’s! They call them the Murasaki sweet potatoes as they have purple skin and a light-colored flesh with a distinctive nutty flavor. Gosh I love them.

I roasted the sweet potatoes along with some vegetables and melted cheese. More jalapeños too!

Dessert:

I headed straight to Sugar Factory inside the Barclays Center to make a candy bag. The Sugar Factory at the Barclays Center is honestly lacking in their selection of chocolate candy though! I could use more chocolate covered options, you know? Like chocolate-covered cookie dough and brownie dough and chocolate covered pretzel poppers! They don’t have any of that!

I went with chocolate covered raisins and m&m’s. They were even low on Reeses Pieces which leads me to believe there was Nets game the night before and no one thought to refill the candy bins. It’s not right! The Islanders fans matter too!

Recent Trader Joe’s shop:

And just a couple of things about my recent Trader Joe’s shop aside from being excited about the Japanese sweet potatoes!

I know Trader Joe’s has been selling the julienned root vegetables in their frozen section for a long time now but this is the first time I have bought a bag. Definitely a new favorite of mine! There’s just a hint of a spice to them and they heat up really well in the microwave. The julienned root vegetables are great as is, with salads or as a side dish. I think I’ve melted cheese on them a few times too.

Do you like kabocha squash? I remember it became all the blog rage a few years ago but I never really liked it. Did Trader Joe’s always sell it in the frozen section? I didn’t buy it but I noticed it for what I think may be the first time? Please let me know if this is new. Thanks.

I would talk Halloween but it doesn’t matter much to me anymore. My son doesn’t dress up and certainly doesn’t go trick or treating with me at this point. Here’s a picture of him from when he was two years old though on Halloween.

Not to mention, Halloween became really glum yesterday afternoon when we saw what happened in the city. I just happened to change the channel on the television to the news, right before I was taking my son back to his high school where he was participating in something called Safe Halloween. Safe Halloween provides the younger kids in the area a safe place to trick or treat. They have lots of Halloween activities and candy and the older kids (like my son now) give the candy out.  It’s a safe place for them which we all really need right now! I can’t get over what happened in the city, right on the bike path that plenty of us know well. Really scary, very sad and just not okay at all.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

[bctt tweet=”Monday’s Meals + Trader Joe’s Things! #WIAW #traderjoes #traderjoeslist #halloween #isles #islandersgame” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Be sure to visit Sprint 2 The Table to see what everyone else is eating today!

Which type of potatoes are your favorite? 

Have you ever tried Trader Joe’s julienned root vegetables? What did you think?

Favorite type of chocolate-covered candy?

 

 

What I Ate on Sunday (WIAW)

 

 

 

Let’s back up and look at what I ate on Sunday for today’s What I Ate Wednesday!

Breakfast:

Sunday was a rest day but that doesn’t change my breakfast routine. My body and mind are so used to eating two breakfasts that even if I’m not running, I still have a small bowl of oatmeal early in the morning as I finish my first cup of coffee and then another bowl a couple of hours later.

Here’s my early morning oatmeal bowl which includes oatmeal heated up with frozen blueberries. After taking the picture I added cinnamon and a spoon of peanut butter. Do you know that I NEVER went back to eating fresh blueberries after a bout with a stomach virus almost two years ago now? 

I had a similar bowl of oatmeal to the above later in the morning after taking my son where he needed to be.

Lunch:

With my son occupied for the majority of the day, I was a free girl.

Lucky for me, it was a beautiful day here in New York. It was so warm and sunny that we were able to enjoy brunch at Smuggler Jack’s outdoors. I can’t even believe the weather lately!

I actually ordered a vegetable omelette which is SO UNLIKE ME. It sounded good so I went with it over my typical order of a salad. I do not eat a lot of eggs anymore as I’ve noticed over the last few years that a lot of eggs (as in, eggs or egg whites on a daily basis) create horrendous menstrual cramps for me. An egg here and there during the month however does not negatively affect me although it’s ALWAYS on my mind.

Not pictured is the spinach artichoke dip, glass of Riesling and shared brownie sundae. 🙂

Dinner:

I picked up my son in the early evening and came home to make dinner. I’m on a roll right now with making a dinner he actually likes! I know this won’t last long but for now, he will eat and enjoy the taco meat I’ve been making lately using ground beef. Last week I showed you the taco potatoes  which I sometimes serve with this easy taco meat. I feel like most people have a taco meat recipe by now? If not, please let me know and I can share it. It’s really easy.

For myself, I’m not really sure what I had? I guess it’s your basic plant-based power bowl concept of roasted vegetables and potatoes with chick peas and avocado.

Dessert:

The usual handfuls of my favorite chocolate chips.

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

[bctt tweet=”Taking a look at what I Ate On Sunday #WIAW #eats #oatmeal #restday #outdoordining ” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Do you eat differently on rest days vs. run days?

What do you plan on having for lunch today?

 

Recent Eats + New Favorite Taco Roasted Potatoes

 

Let’s catch up on what I’ve been eating these last few days! Please excuse me for once again not photographing breakfast. I’ve been eating the same oatmeal every morning. If/when something changes, I will probably remember to stop to take a picture. 

Sushi for lunch is always a good idea. I love when I spot the spicy mango shrimp roll on a menu – it’s definitely a top favorite of mine!

Dinner at Del Frisco’s Grille was a really good funny time. Is there anything better than laughing while eating good food? Our only issue was that the waitress wasn’t old enough to remember the original Beverly Hills 90210. Her loss in life if you ask me.

We enjoyed lots of flat bread pizzas and ahi tuna tacos. Gosh I loved those tacos. You may have seen the sangria I ordered with the popsicle on Instagram. 🙂

So I’ve been off salads lately when I’m home for lunch. Instead I alternate between sweet and savory ways to eat toasted cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread.

This peanut butter and jelly on Ezekiel bread alongside a mug of coffee probably looks like breakfast but it was actually lunch. I was feeling sweet and this hit the spot.

I’m not a big meal for lunch type of person most of the time. I don’t like to feel too full during the day so depending upon my appetite, I eat smaller meals and then have something else if I end up hungry again later.

One day sweet and then next I’m feeling savory. I’m loving mashed chickpeas and avocado again, especially on toasted cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread! It has always been a great combination.

I like to add the everything but the bagel sesame seasoning to the mashed chickpeas and avocado which makes for a terrific flavor addition.

This dinner bowl loaded with veggies and roasted sweet potatoes is reminiscent of the early blog years when I lived on plant-based power bowls for my meals. I guess I sort of still do at times but not like I used to in the past.

What I am most excited to share today is the new way I roasted potatoes the other night! I was making taco bowls for my son (which he actually said were delicious!!) and I had the genius idea to roast his potatoes in taco seasoning.

I now call them my taco roasted potatoes.

Just dice the potatoes, spray with coconut oil cooking spray (or drizzle with oil) and then sprinkle taco seasoning to coat. I roast the potatoes in a 450 degree oven until really crispy. You have to make them!

And the cake we had over the weekend was short-lived. Straight from the box is the way to go.

Thanks to Laura for today’s WIAW link up!

[bctt tweet=”Recent Eats plus my new favorite way to roast potatoes! #WIA #sushi #delfriscos #potatoes #foodie” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Favorite sushi roll?

How do you like to roast your potatoes?

Are you a big meal for lunch type of person?

 

Catching Up On WIAW (recent eats)

 

 

Let’s catch up a bit through a few recent eats!

I think I mentioned in Sunday’s workout recap post that my PMS this month was pretty bad. Not even the mood part so much as the hot flash part. I could barely drink coffee in the morning without breaking into a major sweat! It didn’t stop me but man, it was annoying. It’s not a typical PMS problem that I have but as we know, every month can be different.

Thankfully my temperature has regulated itself now that the PMS part of my cycle is over. Even my oatmeal was a struggle to eat, most mornings I just ate it cold.

We went to the Islanders game again Monday afternoon on Columbus Day.

We had suite seats which were fun and not as cold as the rest of the arena. I know I told you in Monday’s weekend highlights post that the Barclays Center attempts to freeze us all the way out of Brooklyn and back to Long Island. We heard so many people discussing how uncomfortably cold it is in there which made me happy to know it’s not just me who complains. Rumor has it, the announcers bring in space heaters!

Anyway, popcorn was my snack choice for the game.

When I actually have leftovers, I really get excited to reheat Chinese food for another night’s dinner. The vegetable dumplings are my favorite part. 🙂

I had this Maoz salad a few days ago while out and about. While I used to LOVE Maoz, sometimes this salad gives me indigestion which is not something I get from anything else that I eat. While I don’t know which ingredient does it to me, my guess is the broccoli and cauliflower. I can heavily taste the oil they use to roast the vegetables and I think it’s a bit too much for my system to handle, even if it is delicious.

I really need to work from Panera one day this week (maybe today in fact) as my excuse to order a salad for lunch. This Panera salad I create myself (seasonal greens salad with the addition of hummus and avocado) is just so delicious.

And my homemade brownies stash that has been in the freezer since the summer is now officially gone. We defrosted the last two brownies as a snack yesterday. I love this super fudgy brownies recipe so I think it’s time to make them again for emergency purposes.

Thanks to Laura for hosting today’s WIAW link up!

[bctt tweet=”What I Ate Wednesday! #WIAW #MAOZ #Isles #recenteats #panera #PMS #brownies” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

What do you like to order when you get Chinese food?

Any desserts currently stashed in your freezer?

Do you have a favorite Panera salad that you like to order?

Craving Eggs + Lots Of Salads

 

Hi! It’s Wednesday already! Somehow I didn’t get a post up since Sunday which isn’t exactly like me but hey, it happens.

I’m just in time for What I Ate Wednesday so I’m sure nobody minds anyway.

So last week, which you may have caught on my Instagram story, I found myself craving eggs for breakfast. I thought I saved the story as a picture but it saved as a video which I somehow loaded here as a picture and it got caught off. Don’t ask, at least I got it up!

The egg craving only happened for two mornings (maybe three?) but I went with how I was feeling instead of forcing myself to eat oatmeal.

Isn’t it funny how cravings happen and then once you satisfy them, they go away? It’s not that I don’t like eggs, it’s that I really only like them when I actually crave them. I don’t even know if that makes sense to anyone but me.

Anyway, there are a whole lot of salads in my life lately.

I had this cranberry walnut salad for lunch the other day at the Sweet Hollow diner.

And then there was this giant greek salad at the Premier Diner. You know the Premier Diner is my favorite, especially for breakfast!

Plus coleslaw and pickle! Diners are the best for the coleslaw and pickle before your meal arrives. 🙂

My favorite pizza and salad dinner combo. This was of course a corner slice of grandma pizza. Always the corner slice!

Most of my meals when I eat at home involve big salads. I had fallen off the sweet potato train but I think I am back. Roasted sweet potatoes added to a salad with chick peas and avocado are always a good idea.

Then there was this quick salad with chick peas plus half a toasted protein multigrain bagel with avocado.

The best dessert I’ve had recently is this chocolate fudge cake. While my son’s 14th birthday is this Friday, he was in fact born on Yom Kippur in 2003. So, every year on Yom Kippur (the date changes every year according to the Hebrew Calendar) we remember that I was in labor and he was born.

I call it his Hebrew Calendar birthday so we had a small chocolate fudge cake to celebrate Saturday night.

This chocolate fudge cake was so super delicious, with my idea of perfect ratio of fudge frosting to cake.

We haven’t quite figured out his birthday cake logistics for this Friday night because it will depend upon where he wants to go for dinner and if that restaurant offers a super delicious dessert. I will certainly keep you posted. 🙂

Thanks to Laura for today’s link up!

[bctt tweet=”Craving eggs + Lots of Salads + chocolate cake #WIAW #eggs #cravings #salads #chocolatecake” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

How do you feel about eggs? Do you love them and eat them often or only crave them occasionally?

Any random cravings for breakfast lately?

Do you have a favorite diner near you?

 

Yesterday’s New York Luncheon

 

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending my company’s annual New York luncheon.

It was held this year at the beautiful Conrad Hotel in lower Manhattan. I had to throw in the lower Manhattan part because driving downtown is probably my least favorite thing to do. We won’t talk about how long it took me to get there during rush hour (well over 2 hours) or how long it took me to get home (another 2 hours). Or that I ended up on the Brooklyn Bridge when I didn’t mean to end up on the Brooklyn Bridge and had to go over the bridge only to turn around to come back. Once you get down to lower Manhattan though (I’m talking down by the World Trader Center/Freedom Tower area) it’s really beautiful. 

Anyway. Let’s talk about the food!

While I handle writing and content for AllSeated, my role at our events typically involves social media. This means taking pictures of the food is actually considered normal and appropriate!

I missed pictures during the cocktail hour but I did eat a mini grilled cheese.

With a quick picture of the menu, you can see that the first course was caviar and the main course was a smoked salmon dish. They went with a super cool and trendy “boozy brunch” menu concept (Bloody Mary shooters at each place setting!) but my taste buds were not exactly thrilled.

Of course I can appreciate a fine menu and trust me, the food was of highest quality and delicious. However, you need to actually like caviar and smoked salmon to fully enjoy it.

I did my best to not be my former picky eater self. I tried everything, found the parts that I liked but didn’t touch the caviar. I’m still not ready for caviar. While there was an option for a vegetarian menu, I was honestly too busy at the event to ask for it. The bread basket is always my friend though!

Dessert was great which we know is my favorite part anyway.

I had one of these mini carrot cake cheesecake things and really liked it even though it didn’t involve chocolate.

And sweet potato donuts! I can’t really say that the donuts specifically tasted like sweet potatoes but they were delicious. The maple glaze really tied it all together.

I didn’t have one of these cute little sorbet cones but took the picture for us.

Dina and I realized after the fact that we don’t think we took our usual team photo or even a picture together! If I find one today from the photographer images, I will share it in a later post just in case you care to see what I looked like at the event.

I had actually bought two new fall outfits to choose from for the luncheon but the weather has been SO WARM here that I ended up wearing my all-time favorite, always perfect black Juicy Couture dress.

I once shared a picture of me in this dress, it’s in this post – I honestly looked the same yesterday and even wore the same shoes.

I’m hoping to go back to try the Conrad Hotel’s rooftop bar and restaurant. I was speaking with the marketing manager and she was telling me all about their seasonal menus which sounded really delicious and interesting. I will keep you posted!

Thanks to Laura for today’s What I Ate Wednesday link up fun!

[bctt tweet=”Taking a look at the food from yesterday’s #TechLunchNYC luncheon! #WIAW #luncheon ” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Do you like caviar?

Ever tried a sweet potato donut?

Favorite type of donut?

Finally Tried Halo Top + Monday’s Meals

 

 

I finally tried Halo Top plus I’ve got a full day of food from Monday to discuss so let’s get started!

Breakfast:

I’ve been on borrowed time with the cheap price of strawberries for a few weeks now. I had gotten really used to strawberries and blueberries (frozen blueberries though) in my oatmeal but that breakfast is quickly coming to an end for the season.

This week I went back to making my autumn oatmeal using pink lady apples. I’m trying to eat an apple a day anyway again so this was a good way to do that!

Lunch:

As you know from Monday’s post, my mom’s birthday is September 11.

We went out for a birthday dinner over the weekend but then met for a quick birthday lunch on Monday at Panera where we did not discuss her birthday from 16 years ago. I guess we are getting better at not reliving that day over and over and over again. At least not every second on her birthday.

Dinner:

Big salad for dinner! In addition to the basic house salad ingredients, I added chick peas, avocado, brown rice, and roasted sweet potatoes.

Dessert:

I had a coupon to use at Stew Leonard’s so when I spotted Halo Top, I said okay fine, why not finally try it. I’ve avoided Halo Top all this time not only because I think it’s overpriced but because I don’t really care for these lighter style ice cream concepts.

Nor do I care for the fact that Halo Top lists their calories for the entire pint. I don’t like to focus on calories (especially for dessert) and I also think that listing the entire calorie count for the pint as a focal point on the front of the carton promotes the idea of eating the entire pint which is a subject for another post entirely.

Overall impression of Halo Top? Not impressed.

While I do think that Halo Top tastes better than Arctic Zero, calling this cookie dough flavored is a bit of a stretch. The pieces of cookie dough can hardly be called pieces of cookie dough. They are more like barely-there slivers of what you may think is cookie dough.

Chocolate chips do not exist in the pint unless you try to count whatever chocolate you can find inside the barely-there pieces of cookie dough. The texture and taste of the ice cream was fair but I would need to load this container up with chocolate chips to reach a level of satisfaction that I want from dessert.

I won’t be buying Halo Top again. If I want ice cream or frozen yogurt, I would prefer (as I figured I would) to buy the real thing with real toppings and call it a day.

[bctt tweet=”I finally tried Halo Top plus the rest of Monday’s meals #wiaw #halotop #salads #Panera ” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Be sure to visit Laura’s blog today for the rest of the What I Ate Wednesday fun!

What is your opinion of Halo Top? Which flavor, if you like it, is your favorite? Do you usually add your own toppings?

 

 

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?

 

 

Recent Eats + Go-To Meals (WIAW)

 

 

I’ve got some recent eats and go-to meals to share today!

Chopt for lunch! I know it doesn’t look like much but I do love this salad. Lately my go-to combination is romaine, spinach, quinoa, avocado, spicy peppers, charred onions, hearts of palm and spicy tahini dressing (on the side).

There’s something about walking around while eating a Red Mango parfait that makes me happy. I love to get a Red Mango parfait and walk the mall as I eat.

It’s so rare that I eat this parfait sitting down. Maybe it’s because my friend Lisa and I started our Red Mango habit years ago when the kids were still little and we always ate on the fly? I don’t know.

When I don’t know what I want for lunch, I end up with an English muffin with peanut butter. You really can’t go wrong with an English muffin with peanut butter (and jelly)!

It’s too bad my pizza bagel doesn’t look more photogenic. I told you I was brining back pizza bagel night! I love using a whole wheat bagel to make my pizza bagels – it gets so crispy! With a sprinkle of parmesan after it cooks, it’s just perfect.

My usual go-to Panera salad while working. It’s all about the cilantro hummus!

I’ve been making an effort to cook more often when I am home for dinner.  My idea of cooking means really easy meals so please don’t confuse me with the meal prep/involved recipes for meals type of person.

I’m back to making my quick and easy plant-based stir fry. This stir fry “recipe” has always been one of my favorite go-to meals.

It’s basically just a bag of steam fresh vegetables with brown rice, organic chick peas, Trader Joe’s Island Soyaki and avocado. I just pull a steam fresh bag of the freezer, heat it up, add everything else and dinner is served.

I’m probably most proud this week of making my black bean & quinoa chili though!

This vegetarian chili is definitely a go-to meal for me.  It’s super easy to throw together and great for freezing. You just sort of dump everything in, let it cook and then it’s done. I also added lentils to the recipe this week!

[bctt tweet=”Recent Eats & Go-To Meals #WIAW #TraderJoes #redmango #panera #veggies #platbased #vegetarian #chili” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Linking up with Laura for What I Ate Wednesday!

What are your go-to meals lately? 

Are you trying to cook more often now that summer is ending?

Do you buy steam fresh vegetables to keep in your freezer?