WIAW: G o Tea.

Good morning! I just want to take a moment to thank everything that commented, emailed, or tweeted me about my post yesterday. That was not a particularly easy thing to post, but I do think it’s something that needs to be said. Considering the comments I received, I think it’s safe to say that I’m not the only one whose noticed these sorts of patterns. Really, the important thing is to be aware of them and to not let if affect you or your relationship with food or health. Don’t fall victim to the comparison trap!

But moving on.

Clearly it’s Wednesday. That means:

Thanks to Jenn for hosting, per usual.

So, when I was looking over my food pictures from today yesterday,  I realized that this summed up a very typical day in how I eat. There’s veggies, chocolate, the use of my slow cooker, protein powders (yup, totally influenced by blogging. But I don’t consider it to be one of the negative influences), Greek yogurt, eggs, chicken, nut butter…basically, my diet staples in one day. Enjoy!

Wake up

The usual ACV drink happens right when I wake up.

I’ve realized that the big thing apple cider vinegar seems to do for me is take care of my acid reflux. I used to get it on an almost nightly basis, but when I started taking ACV daily it disappeared. The last time I stopped taking it for a few days, it was back instantly. So if all else, it does work for that, in my case.

Breakfast

About an hour later, it’s breakfast time.

1/2 cup oats made with vanilla almond milk, cinnamon, 1/4 cup egg whites, and some honey. Topped with one over-easy egg and about another 1/4 cup egg whites. I don’t know if it’s because I just really love this breakfast or I’m too lazy/uninspired that early in the morning, but this is my breakfast most days of the week. Easy and delicious.

Pre-Gym

Around 10:40, I went over to the gym for an upper body workout. I think I’ve realized why I’ve been loving BCAA’s so much (besides the kool-aid like nostalgia it brings); I don’t drink coffee or energy drinks, so besides  a little bit of chocolate and the occasional Diet Coke, I don’t typically have caffeine in my system. So I’ve developed a bit of sensitivity – not in the “gets me super jumpy” way, but in an “I feel like Wonderwoman” way. Awesome.

Post-Workout

I got home from the gym around 11:45 and made myself my usual post-workout smoothie. Vanilla almond milk (only a little bit because I like a thick texture), frozen banana, vanilla protein powder and spinach.

Topped with a bit of Nature’s Path cereal for the crunch element – I’ve determined that it is not a meal/snack unless I can crunch something.

Lunch

Before heading out to my 2:30 class, I made myself lunch. I had a little bit of chili left in the fridge leftover from last week, so I decided to finish that up.

Topped with a spoonful of Greek yogurt. The container was almost empty, so I finished that on the side with some almonds.

It’s-Cold-And-I’m-Dying Tea

When I got home around 5:30, I was dying from the cold a little. I know it’s worse in other parts of the continent, but I seriously can’t handle this shit. When I woke up in the morning, it was –16, and –24 with wind chill (-11 for my Fahrenheit people). Ridiculous.

Clearly, tea was required. In a GoT mug. G o Tea.

(wow, that was lame. #nerdalert).

Dinner

Lately, we’ve been having dinner right around 6 when the boy gets in from work. Because I’m still in love with my slow cooker, I had a chicken cooking all day.

Served with BBQ sauce, steamed green beans (my go-to dinner veggie, one of the few the boy actually likes) and leftover cornbread. Delicious. I also had a few more bites of chicken when I was putting leftovers away.

Daily Chocolate

I’ve been slowly working my way through the Campesino chocolate bar I bought at the Food and Wine Show a few weeks ago. This stuff is intense – 74% dark chocolate with raspberry cacao nibs. Seriously awesome if you like really rich chocolate.

And because variety is the spice of life:

Reese’s Minis. Of course – the fact that these come unwrapped just make it so damn easy to throw back a couple every 5.5 seconds, which is kind of what I want to do some days.

Before Bed

I’m usually in bed around 11 (as I’m writing this post at 11:21 Tuesday night…I said usually) so I eat a snack around 9:30. Otherwise, I will wake up at 4:00 am ready to chew my arm off.

Foodie problem: you open a can of pumpkin, you use a couple tablespoons, and then you have the rest of a can of pumpkin that you need to do something with. I remembered that a few weeks ago someone (cannot for the life of me remember who) left me a comment saying that they mixed it with casein protein. So a few nights ago I gave it a shot with a bit of stevia and I was happy with the outcome.

Texture is a little mushy, but I like it. Especially when you add almond butter, because almond butter just always makes it better.

(side note: I will never call any of my casein concoctions ‘pudding’. A weird pet peeve of mine – to me, it implies that I’m eating it as a pudding replacement, which I’m not. If I wanted pudding, I would eat pudding).

So that’s a very typical day of food for me. On days when I don’t post everything I eat (aka: every other day besides Wednesday) it probably looks something like this. It keeps me happy and keeps me going!

<— What are some of your ‘typical’ meals?

<— What time are you usually in bed?

<— What do you do when you have a bunch of pumpkin to use up? I find it requires some creativity.

Five Thing Friday.

Wow. I am SO GLAD it’s Friday. It’s only my second week back to school, but it was insanely busy (my own fault, I did absolutely nothing school-related last weekend). I spent the entire week playing catch-up. But…almost the weekend!

Five Things I’ve Eaten Recently:

1. Tuesday night’s dinner: tuna melts on an english muffin with a side of green beans.

2. The Simply Bar in caramel peanut (seen on Instagram). Peanut Butter Chocolate is still my favourite, but this one’s up there.

3. Yesterday’s lunch: 1 egg + 1/2 cup egg whites, a sliced apple with chocolate PB2 and steamed veggies.

4. Last night’s dinner: Lamb, roasted potatoes and more green beans.

Ketchup added to the potatoes post-photo, of course!

5. Last night’s Greek yogurt with casein and peanut butter, topped with Reese’s Minis. Best idea ever.

 Clearly, I had another handful straight from the bag.

Five of my Favourite Childhood Movies:

1. Beauty and the Beast. I’m pretty sure I watched this movie at least once a week for about 5 years. And Belle is still my favourite of the Disney Princesses.

2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Yup, Disney kid right here.

3. The Nightmare Before Christmas. Even as a kid, I absolutely loved it.

And I still need to watch it on/near Halloween every year.

4. Tom and Huck. JTT, I miss you.

5. Fantasia. I had no idea what the hell was going on, but I still adored it.

(source)

The Pastoral Symphony was always my favourite!

Five Songs I’m Listening to Right Now:

1.Stone Sour – Taciturn. Corey Taylor will always be my favourite vocalist. Always. And this song actually gives me goosebumps.

2. Sum 41 – Motivation. It’s randomly been playing at the gym lately, and I love it.

3. The Offspring – You’re Gonna Go Far Kid. Ditto at the gym. I don’t even wear headphones anymore, because the music has been so fun.

4. Glee – Holding Out For A Hero. Noooo shame.

5. Memphis May Fire – Grenade. Yes. Just yes.

Five Herbs/Spices That Get the Most Use in My Household:

1. Cinnamon. Of course!

2. Stevia extract. It’s derived from an herb, so it counts, right?

3. Cumin. I seriously add it to everything. My favourite way to use it is on sweet potato fries before I roast them. So good.

4. Chile powder. I do like to add heat to pretty much everything.

5. Dried basil. My favourite thing to add to scrambled eggs.

Hope you have an awesome Friday!

<— What was one of your favourite childhood movies?

<— What’s your song of the moment?

WIAW: Messy Bowls and Cooking With Booze.

It’s Wednesday. Which could only mean:

the link up party that is WIAW! Thanks to Jenn for her hosting duties!

These eats are from yesterday, aka: my first official day back to class. I TA on Mondays, but right now there’s a little SNAFU with my class. So really, Monday ended up being an extra day of vacation. I guess I can’t complain about that too much, can I?

But here’s Tuesday:

Breakfast

(ignore my sink of dirty dishes…and the fact that the microwave makes for messy oatmeal. Oops).

 

Yes, I’m still going on my oatmeal and eggs. It’s weirdly addictive! This version has 1/2 cup oats cooked with 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk and 1/2 cup water, cinnamon, french vanilla stevia and blueberry jam (buried under the eggs) with 2 eggs + 1/4 cup egg whites. Yup, almost every morning.

A few hours later, it was gym time.

The package I got last week came with amino powder, so I’ve been trying it before my workouts. First off: it actually tastes like kool-aid. And that makes my inner six-year-old so, so happy. And it actually seemed to add a pep in my step at the gym, so I guess it works! The directions recommend to have a scoop before and after workouts, but there’s amino acids in my protein powder (that I always have post-workout) so I’ve just been taking it before.

Post-Workout

Yesterday’s workout was a high-rep upper body workout + 10 minutes of treadmill intervals. After being away from weights for 2 1/2 weeks, I’m happy to be back at it! And surprisingly, the gym wasn’t ridiculously crowded, but I’ve heard it gets worse in the afternoon. Yup, January Joiners…I’m excited for people that want to get in shape, but I’m allowed to get whiny when it means I have to wait for equipment/do my best not to accidently whack somebody with a dumbbell. I just have to wait a few weeks for it to thin out a bit!

The post workout smoothie – vanilla protein powder, almond milk, spinach and a frozen banana.

And baby carrots…because I need something to crunch on, clearly.

A little while later, I also snacked on some chicken.

(not the whole thing, just a few pieces from the container). Yes, I consider cold chicken (leftovers from the whole chicken I did in the slow cooker the night before) to be an appropriate snack. It makes me happy.

Lunch

Then I decided I should probably utilize said chicken and make an actual meal.

Spinach, spaghetti squash, marinara sauce, chicken, avocado and olive oil. This will have to be recreated soon – it was delicious! Lately I’ve been increasing up fat intake, and I’ve been really enjoying it. Bring on the avocado!

Dinner

After lunch I was off to my first class of the semester. One down, This will be my last semester of course work, which is actually pretty nice. After April, it’s all about working on my thesis for about a year (hopefully) and then I’ll consider my education done. I’m still not sure about the “what do you want to be when you grow up” question, but I do know that I don’t want to move into the Ph.D/research/professor realm. Where does that leave me? I’ll have to get back to you on that (the class I had was my research and professionalization seminar, so this is on my mind right now).

While I was in class, I had dinner stewing in the slow-cooker:

And, I was cooking with booze again Seriously, I may start doing this more often. Last night’s was a slow cooked white wine pork tenderloin:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound pork tenderloin
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• dash of pepper (maybe 1/4 teaspoon)
• 3 peeled garlic cloves

Directions:

1. Place chopped onions in slow cooker, followed by pork. Add water, wine and soy sauce.

2. Stud the tenderloin with garlic and add pepper.

3. Cover and set to low. Cook for 6-8 hours.

Tender enough to shred, pulled-pork style. And delicious! Eric added BBQ sauce to his, but I just added a bit of the liquid and onions from the slow cooker and I thought it was flavourful enough on it’s own.

Served with a spinach salad and baked sweet potato (in the oven again! I’m on a roll).

Yea, I think I’m going to be experimenting with this cooking-with-alcohol thing a bit more. On my tilapia post, Laura pointed me in the direction of her tequila-lime tilapia recipe. Yea, that’s a must-make. Because alcohol always cooks out, don’t you know 😉

Because my day would not be complete without it. Camino’s dark chocolate coconut – one of my favourites.

Snack

The bedtime snack:

My delicious (albeit messy) bowl of Greek yogurt, chocolate casein and crunchy peanut butter. I would seriously be the worst food stylist ever – My meals and snacks tend to look not-so-put together a lot of the time. Note to self: eat prettier food.

And on that note, I’m off to my Wednesday class today. Advanced stats: wish me luck. Going to need it with this one

<— Do you put effort into making your meals ‘presentable’? Considering that a lot of what I eat ends up on the internet, I should work on that.

<— Do you struggle to figure out what career moves you should make? I honestly change my mind every 20 minutes about what I want to do for a living. I feel like it’s going to be a very ‘trial-and-error’ sort of process.