If we are what we eat...

then I'm a big bowl of kale-quinoa-chickpeas with steel-cut oats for legs. Seriously, can NOT get enough of those two things. Last night I mixed up a batch of kale-quinoa for lunches, using leftover quinoa, the last of my kale, and the last lemon in the house. I felt very resourceful. Then I thought, "Why not mix up some awesome breakfasts while I'm standing here at the stove?" So I did.

Fifteen minutes later, a quadruple batch of Trader Joe's quick-cooking steel-cut oats was ready to be portioned and refrigerated. To each bowl, I added chopped pecans, ground flax seed, chia seeds, a drizzle of real maple syrup, 12 chocolate chips, a few frozen wild blueberries, and a dollop of natural peanut butter. And then I almost couldn't resist eating a portion for dessert. LOVE that stuff! It's almost like a no-bake oatmeal cookie when it gets reheated, all gooey with peanut butter and a touch of chocolate (minus the guilt of nomming a pile of white sugar and butter).

My morning routine was delightfully streamlined having these two options in the fridge. After my run, I heated up some oatmeal while I packed my lunch, then it was off to shower and work. Great start to my Monday!

Derailed

For the first time in two years, my jeans were tight this morning. ::collective gasp:: Just like a normal person! (You know, 'cause I am.) No really, my weight fluctuates even on a clean eating plan. Usually it's within the same 5lb range (even throughout marathon training) but my pants always fit the same. So their squeeziness is either a sign that I shouldn't let The H dry my jeans on high heat anymore, or that I have been getting too lax in my eating/meal planning. Since fresh-from-the-dryer jeans have never been a problem for me, I'm sadly going with the latter. Perhaps being out of work has affected my eating habits more than I've cared to admit.

Rather than wallowing in self-pity about my lack of employment (and newfound muffintop), I've decided to shape up my habits and get back on track. There's no time like, well, NOW. Here's what my day looked/will look like:

Breakfast - steel cut oats with a few dried cherries, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, maple sugar flakes, cinnamon, nutmeg, and low-fat milk

Snack - Green monster (spinach, milk, flax meal, 1/2 scoop protein powder, banana), half a grapefruit, string cheese

Lunch - Leftover chicken and garbanzo soup (chicken, leeks, garbanzos, homemade stock)

Snack - Half an apple with a small yogurt cup, two small squares of very dark chocolate

Exercise - 3-4 mile run (-5 windchill doesn't thrill me...may stick with the treadmill today)

Dinner - BBQ chicken pizza (chicken, Trader Joe's barbeque sauce, green onion, sharp cheddar, red bell pepper, GF crust)

Snack - (undecided) GF banana bread and decaf

I'm also carrying around a water bottle, something I seem to have gotten out of the habit of doing now that I'm not parked in front of my computer for work. Hopefully by this time next week (I know, these things can't be rushed) I'll be fitting into my jeans like I normally would. That's solid motivation to be mindful of my eating at this weekend's SuperBowl party!

Stay normal!
-Kate

The weekend!

Happy Saturday! I hope you had a beautiful, relaxing day. We didn't have any real plans this morning, other than spending some time with my sister. Even though the little guy was up before the sun (ok, so it was raining anyway) we had a nice morning chilling with each other while we got ready for the day. The sun came out later, which made for a grand afternoon. My little guy adores being outside, so I'm glad we were eventually able to get out of the house!

7:30am - breakfast

Steel-cut oats with walnut, raisins, and maple syrup (local).

10:30am - snack

Low-fat string cheese and a banana before going garage-sale shopping with my sister.

12:00pm - a few chocolate-covered edamame and water while we wandered and browsed.

1:00pm - lunch

We stopped at my sis's alma mater to watch a little of the rugby match. I'd packed a picnic lunch, but we started with the free hot dogs and popcorn they were serving. Then we shared some fresh fruit (pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberries), grape tomatoes, water, and veggie Pirate's Booty, and then I had a dark mint-chocolate square.

Don't you love my gigantic thermal bag? I found it at the grocery store for $8 and it's amazing! I have been huntingfor a nice-looking cooler, since that is what The Eat-Clean Diet author suggests for toting clean eats on the go (not that I eat out of the house a lot, but sometimes I wish I had one for day trips!), and this one fit the bill perfectly. The only hard part was choosing a pattern. There were so many cute ones on sale! I intend to use this for my regular grocery shopping trips to hold cold things, in case I can't get right home to put them away.

4:00pm - snack while doing food prep

Wheat toast (local) with sunflower seed butter; hardboiled egg (local) with horseradish. In my rush to eat before the little guy woke up, I forgot to take a picture until after I'd taken a bite. Oops!

6:00pm - dinner

The little guy and I had another picnic while we waited for The H to get back from his weekend business trip. I reheated a portion of tuna nicoise casserole, and his plate was filled with quinoa, turkey, cheese (local), edamame, and grape tomatoes. I intended for us to share the strawberries, but he snatched 'em all, little fruit monster!

When The H rolled in just before 7, we piled into the car and met my sis and bro-in-law for ice cream. It was sadly unsatisfying... I had a single scoop of some chocolate-peanut butter combo, shared with the little guy.

The H put him to bed while I made H a salad, since he hadn't had dinner yet. Thanks to my gorgeous fridge, I was able to pull this beauty together in no time:

Spinach, turkey, egg, bell peppers, walnuts, beets, tomatoes, cucumber, baby bella mushrooms, feta, Romano Caesar dressing. He had a peach Chobani yogurt on the side, then we made some decaf and settled in for the night with our second dessert--almond butter chocolate chip cookies--that was far better than the first!

I'm back in the game!

Not that I ever truly *left* the game... anyway, I'm home! Starting with breakfast, I got right down to filling my fridge with good, clean eats.

Breakfast was steel-cut oats with a new topping combination this time:

Chocolate peanut butter, frozen tart cherries, and pecans (oatmeal not pictured). Not my favorite, but a nice change. Sorry for the dark pic; the sun wasn't really awake at 7.

While breakfast cooked (I made 4 portions and refrigerated three of them), I also boiled some eggs and when those were done, I cooked a package of frozen edamame.

I LOVED my morning snack today! Two eggs with horseradish, edamame, and two Cuties. Super sweet! Plus, I have my pretty plates back. No more boring hotel white! This pic makes me happy.

Lunch was pretty good--a veggie burger with spinach, mustard, and pepperoncini on a whole-grain sandwich thin, with three sliced baby bell peppers and a Laughing Cow cheese for dipping.

No, the mustard was not applied artistically specifically for the photo. I always squiggle my mustard. No lie.

I loved the burger but could've done without the cheese with my bell peppers. I really prefer them with olive oil and a dash of sea salt... so that is how I ate the last five pieces.

Afternoon snack was on the go, between grocery shopping and a haircut. I ate the last Nature's Path choco-peanut bar and a slice of deli turkey. Once I was home, about 2 hours later, I had a piece of wheat toast with sunflower-seed butter for my pre-run snack.

It tasted exactly like sunflower seeds, which I always forget how much I like until I have them somewhere. This will be a tasty alternative to my usual peanut butter, and leave a jar of almond butter available for making cookies this weekend!

Dinner was with my girls' run friends--taco night. I made a little salad out of romaine, the delicious Crock-Potted chicken, a sprinkle of cheese, and fresh tomatoes. I also had corn chips and peach salsa, with a gigantic glass of water. I was *so* thirsty! The little guy came with me and had black beans, chips and guacamole, a (banana?) muffin, some cheese, and then we shared an M&M cookie.

I'm now sitting down to work with a blueberry Chobani and bottle of water. Looking forward to making some real recipes again tomorrow! I have a full fridge that I'm mighty proud of.

Does Chobani make anyone else's teeth kind of sticky-squeaky?

Home stretch

Today is our last full day in DC/Alexandria. For some reason, this 12-day trip has felt a lot longer than our two-week stretch in Austin, TX last summer. Maybe because the little guy is way more active (and talkative) and we've been in a studio room rather than a 2-bedroom suite? I was fortunate enough (::snort::) to be blessed with the bug the little guy had yesterday.

Breakfast was steel-cut oats with walnuts, raisins, and a little brown sugar, along with my lovely coffee. The little guy and I had a big-bed picnic while he munched a piece of toast (The H found bread at the breakfast buffet) and watched the Disney Channel. We each had a banana. Actually, I'm pretty sure he had two... one at 6:30 with The H, and another at 8:30 when I was getting ready.

Since we had to leave the room for housekeeping to do their thing, we wandered down the street and ended up at Whole Foods yet again, more to look around than actually buy anything. It's super-windy here today, and I dressed the little guy inappropriately, so he was cold on our walk. Oops. The grocery store was a good choice. We did end up with a package of organic whole wheat creamy/deluxe style mac 'n' cheese, at his request. We could've done worse. The ingredients list was pretty short compared to the other "natural" kinds on the shelf. After cruising the aisles for a while we headed over to the fountain by the Metro station for a snack--a plain roll and strawberry applesauce for me, and peaches with oyster crackers for him.

Lunch was the aforementioned mac 'n' cheese, which I ate from a mug and he from a leftover container since the dishwasher was running and we literally used EVERY last dish in our kitchenette yesterday. It was good that we chose the one with a creamy pre-made sauce, because my milk-and-butter (and hummus, lol) stash is severely lacking at this point in our trip, and there is NO way I'm shelling out more $ for them now. I forgot to take a picture.

Snack was... something carb-y. The little guy had a squeezable applesauce. Then it was off to the train station for a nice long ride to Silver Spring. There we met my cousin, his wife, and their three kids for pizza at ZPizza, which has gluten-free crust so The H was a happy camper. Well, that and he didn't see the total bill. Folks, bring your big guns if you go here. The "Provence" pie was delicious with added chicken sausage, but it sure wasn't cheap. Oh, it's organic, too, which no doubt added to the bottom line. I forgot that part.

And now I'm packing... well, procrastinating on the packing. Dreading it is more like it. :(

I have a picture or two from today, but the camera is charging... maybe I should've put that sentence at the top of the page, so you wouldn't have gotten all the way to the bottom of my whiny post without seeing any food or little guy's cuteness. Hrmmm. Talk to you all when I'm back in the mitten.

Fabulous Friday

8am - Breakfast

Steel-cut oats with apple butter and chopped walnuts and raisins from the breakfast buffet--my favorite combination this week. I'll be sure to repeat this with my last serving of home-brought oats. I enjoyed this with some fresh pineapple and, of course, my one true love:

Hello, gorgeous.

11am - Snack time

After shopping with the little guy (I got two new tops to go with my two new Gap skirts from Monday) I had a Kashi honey almond flax chewy granola bar on the way to look for a more suitable midmorning munch, all the while hearing the little guy say "Go back to hotel! Take a nap!" Yeah... he wasn't kidding.

I scooted into Bruegger's and grabbed a protein smoothie (no added sugars, and 16g of protein per serving) that I swigged on the way back to the hotel.

The little guy was still asleep by the time we made it back to our 4th floor room, so I left him in the stroller and closed the curtains... and uploaded the pics I'd taken so far. :) He ended up snoozing for an hour, before lunch, which never happens anymore.

1pm - Lunch time

The H was done with work early so the three of us got Jimmy John's (turkey for me, no mayo, with hot peppers--no chips) and enjoyed a windy little picnic near the hotel. The little guy loved being able to run again! It was nice to be in green, open space. Hotels and strollers are rather confining for small fry.

4pm - Snack time

I smeared half of my last whole wheat wrap (the other half was moldy) with almond butter and apple butter. It gave me heartburn. After a failed attempt at a second nap, we piled into the Metro with the running stroller and set out to run around the National Mall--we ended up with 4 miles (plus some walking) and a very tired but well-behaved little boy!

I love running.

7 pm - Dinner and bedtime

The H went to hunt and gather for us (Five Guys--ever had it?) after feeding the little guy some mac 'n' cheese, fruit, and turkey.

I utterly devoured my burger--topped with lettuce, tomato, green peppers, mushrooms, and mustard--and most of my fries. I liked the ones with potato skin on them best.

Even after consuming these eighty trillion calories, I was craving something sweet. If there had been a Dairy Queen closer than 6 miles away, The H would've been off like a shot, and I would have inhaled a small Blizzard. Instead, I ate the rest of the fresh pineapple from this morning and made a (surprise! Ready for this?) pot of decaf. :)

I must have been hungrier than I thought (and I felt famished) because for all I ate at dinner, I don't feel that overloaded. At all. Of course, I don't usually run three days in a row (5mi, 4mi, 4mi) and walk multiple miles on top of that, either. We're still trying to decide what to do tomorrow. Probably a museum...

Wet Wednesday

We woke up to rain today. No surprise, as I'd been checking the weather all week, but still kind of a bummer with a wiggly nearly-2-year-old to entertain all day.

Breakfast was steel-cut oats mixed with half of a sliced banana, pumpkin pie spice, some apple butter, almond butter, and raw almonds, with half of a chocolate protein shake and my precious coffee. The oats weren't all that tasty to me today--maybe I oversalted the water?--so I picked through to find all the almonds and banana pieces, then pitched the rest. Then I smeared half of a whole wheat wrap with almond butter and apple butter, rolled it up and microwaved for 10 seconds, then enjoyed my ghetto ABJ roll-up with my coffee.

Despite the rain, the little guy and I ventured out. I wanted to hit up the Jake's ("Life is Good") store on King Street after seeing a shirt I loved in Katie's blog, Health for the Whole Self. I ended up with the same saying, "Gotta Run," but on a pink running shirt. The little guy got a red shirt that says "Monkey" on it. Oh, so fitting.

We paused for a snack at La Madeline, where I swigged a Cafe Americano with skim milk and we (sort of) shared a mini fruit tart and two lemon cream cheese mini muffins.

The little guy ate the fruit off the top of the tart, and a handful of pretzels from my purse, but was more than content to just color on his kids' menu while I nommed the rest.

Lunch was--surprise--mac 'n' cheese. I had the leftover "hummus mac" from yesterday, with grapes, melon, a peach Activia yogurt, and a hardboiled egg.

The little guy ate melon, an egg white, and some grapes. He threw fistfuls of his macaroni around the room. Naptime!

My afternoon snack, in anticipation of my pre-dinner run, was a green monster smoothie: low-fat milk, almond butter, spinach, and half of a banana I'd frozen this morning.

The little guy drank the few sips that didn't fit into my oh-so-fancy goblet. Anybody else get that gob of peanut butter (almond butter, in this case) stuck to the side of the blender? I never gets blended with the rest.

Little guy and The H went swimming while I pounded out a fast (for me--9:14 pace) and sweaty 5 miles on the treadmill. I refueled with a hardboiled egg white and a shower (yep, simultaneously--that one's for you, H&F).

For dinner we ended up at an old favorite--Ted's Montana Grill. It was a quick Metro ride (one stop). We have never yet been disappointed by the food or service at a Ted's, and we have been to locations in Denver, Atlanta, and now Alexandria. Our server tonight was the most friendly, interactive person--restaurant workers, salespeople, hotel personnel, and passersby included--that we've met on our trip to DC. He helped make our evening truly enjoyable. The little guy loved him.

The camera got left behind and The H's cell battery died, so no pics of this fabulous meal. But it was a good one! We all shared a tomato-onion salad (three fat slices of fresh, red tomato topped with sliced red onion rings and a vinaigrette) and two dishes of half sours. I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich topped with avocado, jalapenos, pepperjack cheese, tomato, pickle, and lettuce (I ate about half). I substituted delicious peppery roasted asparagus for my fries, and ended up also eating the squash casserole we'd ordered for the little guy. He made short work of his cottage cheese, and between the snacks he had before we left (an egg and some chips, hummus, and fruit snacks) and the tomatoes/cucumber/pretzels he munched before the main meal, his little belly was full and happy. The H had a bunless burger of some sort.

We're now sharing our nightly decaf and hoping the little guy settles down soon. We are hoping to go for a run around the National Mall and monuments tomorrow... if anyone reading this has a great recommendation for dinner (casual, since we'll be in running duds) around there, please let me know!

Monday, Monday... so good to me!

Short version: I ate reasonably. I took a nap. I went for a run. I drank lots of coffee.

Long version:

The little guy is getting the hang of this "sleeping away from home" gig again. He conked out from 7:45pm to 5:45am, when The H was able to get him back to sleep until 7:30. Great start to the day! The sun was shining, it was not as cold or windy as it was yesterday, and we had a jogging stroller, toys, and booster seat delivered from the rental company.

For breakfast, I mixed up a bowl of steel-cut oats and cup of coffee with half and half while I boiled a half-dozen eggs for the week. Old baby formula dispensers are great for toting single-servings of oats and protein powder! I brought one 4-compartment container with oats, and one 4-part container with protein.

Apparently, I am a better gas-stove cook. Oops.

The end result was good, though. I stirred in a scoop of apple butter, more almond butter than I intended, a shake of pumpkin pie spice (what, you don't travel with that?), and a handful of raw almonds for a change of texture. I also had half of a gigantic banana.

The little guy munched a blueberry muffin, a whole banana, and a few cocoa-vanilla bunnies. He wasn't really a fan of the bunnies.

After breakfast the two of us set out to explore a bit of the shopping area, with the intent of making it down to the water for a snack break. Alas, the Gap outlet sucked us in, so his mid-morning munch was a package of fruit snacks while I tried on some skirts. I had a Kashi honey almond flax granola bar when we were done shopping. By this time the little guy was starting to look a bit sleepy, so we saved the water for another day and headed back to our room for lunch.

His lunch was turkey and black beans, cheddar cheese, egg white, hummus/chips, and grapes. He had milk to drink.

Yes, he is dipping his black beans into the hummus. This kid is all about the musical fruit...

My lunch was half of a whole-wheat wrap with turkey, black beans, salsa, cheese, and spinach, along with a hardboiled egg white, hummus/chips, grapes, dried apple rings, and lots of water. Very filling!

After naptime, which was a vast improvement over yesterday's lack of one, I downed a bowl of cocoa bunnies and low-fat milk while the little guy cried for more fruit snacks. I'm a sucker.

He also had the second half of my banana from breakfast.

Dinner came from Whole Foods, after our attempt to find the gluten-free-crust-making pizza place less than 2 miles away ended when we couldn't figure out a way to get across the highway on foot, about a mile into the journey. A stash of pretzels in my purse kept the little guy from losing his marbles; The H and I each had about 6 M&Ms.

I love the hot food/salad options at Whole Foods! Everything is clearly labeled with ingredients (so I can pick the shortest/cleanest ingredients lists) and allergens (so The H doesn't croak at dinner). We were each able to get what we wanted without hemming and hawing over a menu, annoying other diners with the little guy's operatic tendencies, and we could take our food out wherever we wanted.

We ended up in a little plaza across from the Metro station. It was nice and quiet, and we had a view of trains, a fountain, and a few dogs. Custom-made dining for the little guy!

Since I wanted to go for a run afterwards, I opted for a lighter dinner--Mediterranean salad with chicken, red onion, roasted red peppers, and spinach (I put some fresh spinach underneath) with a side of tomatoes topped with an olive-caper tapenade and too much feta. Super salty! The little guy ate my hardboiled egg.

The H had roast turkey breast--like he did on Saturday--with roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes.

The little guy nibbled half of his slice of pizza (topped with ham, artichoke hearts, and kalamatas) and his sample of mac & cheese before going to wander with The H.

I did get a 4-mile run in--half outside and half on the treadmill, because it got too dark for me to feel safe.

Afterwards, The H and I shared a pot of decaf, and now I'm about to down a 4oz peach Activia yogurt (from the hotel breakfast buffet) before bed.

Breakfast time!

A typical weekday breakfast for me starts out looking like this:

The container on the left contains my pre-made serving of steel-cut oats, already mixed with whatever yummy add-ins I had on hand. I aim for a fruit, a nut, and real maple syrup, with a shake of cinnamon. I try to make 2-4 servings at a time and keep them in the fridge. The bowl on the right is microwave-safe.

It comes out of the container looking like this:

I like that the goodies all end up on top. Looks like this was a cherries, walnuts, and pumpkin day!

Once I pour a cup of coffee, this is what I sit down to:

(See my cute little food scale on the left, and handy yellow Amphipod bottle on the right? Great tools, both of them!)

I'll usually let the oatmeal settle, then come back for the grapefruit and banana (half, if the little guy has anything to say about it) a bit later. My son often asks for some oatmeal as well, especially if I've used dried cherries as my fruit that day. Nice and sweet!

What's your favorite go-to breakfast?

Post-Christmas cleansing

No, I do not subscribe to a "cleanse" in the sense of chugging pepper-spiked lemonade. Gross. And no, I am not consuming only fruits and vegetables for the next 10 days. What I mean by "cleansing" is getting back onto the clean-eating and menu-planning track and refocusing on whole, clean foods again after a good solid week of holiday treats and party food.

I started this morning with a hearty bowl of steel-cut oats mixed with chopped walnuts, a few dried cherries (until my son ate them all--"Cheddies! Eat, eat!"--and some real maple syrup from the co-op. I would have loved to whip up a Green Monster smoothie, but I forgot to buy peanut butter when I went to Trader Joe's. Grr. Lunch was a salad with mixed greens, apple, and stinky cheese dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette. Planned snacks are raw almonds, dried apricots, blue-corn-flax chips and salsa, and 72% dark chocolate to ease myself off the steady sugar intake of the previous week.

This morning I was thrilled to get my first 2010 issue of Clean Eating Magazine! I am so excited to flip through it and get some fresh ideas. One of my tasks tonight is to peruse the grocery store circular for some green veggies; we have plenty of squash, onion, and potato from the co-op, but eating green things in the middle of a Michigan winter requires a little more non-local shopping (or preserving, oops), I've discovered. And besides, I've become rather fond of roasted broccoli, and I used my last two heads for dinner on Saturday.

This week I will be soaking some black beans, making a big batch of brown rice, and cooking a million-and-a-half chicken breasts to I'm ready for a quick snack or lunch without too much additional prep. I've said before how important planning ahead is, but I too often forget it myself. And now I need to choose something for dinner tonight... What's on your menu this week? Got any great recipes for acorn squash?

Oatmeal overhaul

I just couldn't do it. I could not start another day with reheated steel-cut oats. Around 8am I had sprouted grain toast with peanut butter and honey and a glass of milk, instead. Then I grabbed my coffee and got to work (love those daycare Fridays).

With a few hours separating me from breakfast, I was ready for a snack and decided to face those oats after all. But mixing them up with cherries, nuts, and agave was just not doing it for me... thus, the overhaul.

Hiding in the back of the fridge was a dish of leftover canned pumpkin from last week, thankfully not yet fuzzy. To my oats I added about 1/4 cup of the pumpkin, 1/2 tablespoon ground flax seed, 2 tablespoons chopped almonds (walnuts would have been better, but I'd already chopped the almonds, and the walnuts were allllll the way downstairs in the basement pantry), a shake of cinnamon, a sprinkle of nutmeg, and a healthy drizzle of real maple syrup. For someone who doesn't like pumpkin pie (yes, really) the combination was delicious, hearty, and a very welcome change.

The grass is not always cleaner

We're on the road... again. I know! Seems like we're always going someplace. This time it's a short trip with The H to the east side of the state. (Go Blue!) I tried something new this time and did not go grocery shopping when we first arrived. The hotel fridge is as empty as I've ever seen it. Just a sad little yogurt, cream cheese container, baby's juice cup, and a box of leftovers adorn its shiny shelves. We've been eating hotel breakfast and going out for lunch and dinner. Yes, I feel bloated and my face is extremely broken out. Now, about those leftovers...

Dinner last night was at a steak-and-ribs joint, the west-side locations of which have long been closed. We were looking forward to enjoying their food again, and I was determined to live it up. (Please note the title of this post...) I ordered a pork BBQ sandwich, which turned out to be as big as my face, and crispy onions. Yikes, right? Big yikes. I couldn't even pick up the sandwich at all until I'd eaten a Piglet-sized serving off the top, and when I finally did start mowing through with BBQ sauce up to my ears, The H made the observation that "it seems like you've been eating forever and haven't really gotten anywhere." So very, very true. I put down the sandwich, shuffled through the onions, and decided a to-go box was in order... not for myself, though. My often-vegetarian son decided he actually liked the taste of overly-sauced oinker, so I brought the rest of the meat home for him. And then I went for a run.

This morning I knew I had to start getting back on track or people will think I'm a 15-year-old boy (pizza face, anyone?), so I hauled out the container of steel-cut oats I brought with me and stirred up a batch with dried cherries (also brought) and pecans (thanks, Marriott). Double batch = some for tomorrow! I've also got another run planned for tomorrow, and then a 5K to look forward to on Saturday. Hopefully that gives me something to focus on when the siren song of a glossy menu is calling to me the rest of the week. I think I've decided that no matter how short our hotel stays will be, from now on I want to at least stock the fridge with eggs, wheat bread, my own natural pb, and some good fresh fruit. Live and learn.

Really good oatmeal!

Since my toddler-baby was still sleeping when I got up this morning, I took advantage of the extra time to make myself a bowl of oatmeal--the perfect start to a drizzly gray day. I've been getting bored with my typical clean breakfast (sprouted grain toast, natural peanut butter, honey, and a small banana) and needed to change it up a bit. My oatmeal was so good! haven't had it in so long and I'd forgotten how much I liked steel oats.

Really Good Oatmeal

1/4 cup dry steel-cut oats, quick-cooking variety

3/4 cup water

1/4-1/2 cup blueberries (frozen are fine; just thaw a bit first)

Shake of cinnamon, to taste

1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or other nut if you prefer)

2 teaspoons brown sugar (or sweetener of choice)

1. Boil the water in a medium saucepan (leave room for those oats to expand!) with a tiny shake of sea salt if desired. Stir in the 1/4 cup oats and cover. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes stirring often.

2. Meanwhile, put berries, nuts, cinnamon, and sugar in a bowl. Thaw berries in microwave if frozen (about 30 seconds for me).

3. Stir cooked oats into berry mixture. Top with milk of you want.

The oatmeal came out nice and creamy, and just a touch too sweet. I haven't had brown sugar outside of baked goods in a very long time, and I think the 2 teaspoons combined with the blueberries was a tad much. I'll cut that back next time. Agave nectar would be a good substitute, but be careful with the quantity as it's sweeter than sugar. The walnuts were an excellent hearty addition, keeping the whole thing from being too mushy. Combined with my small cup of (half-and-half whitened) coffee, this was an excellent breakfast. My toast just got demoted to "AM snack." Well, at least until my stash of frozen blueberries is gone.

A good clean day

I feel good about what I ate today. I wonder if that's because I planned my eating/exercise last night? I'm not very good about that. Sometimes when it's time for a meal or snack, I don't know what to go for and having a written "menu plan" to refer to is a big help. Today was easy, though! Sorry I don't have any pictures up; I will have to get used to snapping a pic before we dig in.

Breakfast (my son slept in enough for me to enjoy this, start to finish, before he started chirping):

1 serving quick-cooking steel-cut oats

1/4 cup fresh blueberries

2 tsp ground flax meal

1/8 cup sliced almonds

1 Tbsp organic grade B maple syrup

Along with this I had a cup of half-caff coffee (it's all we make anymore) with a splash of low-fat milk. I know cow's milk is technically processed, but I'm ok with having that in my diet.

Snack 1:

1/2 cup Daisy brand 2% cottage cheese (Daisy has the shortest ingredients list of any cottage cheese I've ever seen at our grocery stores!)

1/4 cup peach salsa with 2 Tbsp black beans (rinsed)

8 soy-flax tortilla chips

The black beans got added to the salsa on a whim; I was trying to up my fiber, iron, and protein intakes. Wow, was it good! I seriously wanted to eat it with a spoon. I already love that peach salsa more than any person *should* love a condiment, but the beans just put me over the edge. Delicious.

Lunch:

1 small (half, I guess?) grilled chicken breast

1 Tbsp of my favorite (probably non-clean) barbeque sauce

1/2 of the largest sweet potato I've ever met in my life; I think it started life as a football

2 tsp brown sugar

1/2 cup brown rice

This was leftovers from dinner last night; we had to order from Logan's Roadhouse (Road House?) on the way home from visiting my parents. It was nearly 8pm and none of us had eaten dinner yet. I asked for the chicken plain grilled, and requested no toppings on the potato. I'm not the world's biggest sweet tater fan, but I'm trying--really, really trying--to get used to them. Half was all I could handle in any given sitting, so it worked out great. Oh, and then I had 1/4 of a small 72% dark chocolate bar. Could've lived without that, but oh well.

Snack 2:

Less than half of a green monster smoothie (milk, spinach, natural peanut butter, frozen banana, ice). I was still so full from the rest of the day that I didn't need this, but didn't want to bonk on my run tonight. I let my husband drink most of it; mine was probably closer to 1/4 serving.

Dinner:

1 grilled chicken breast, marinated in balsamic vinegar and olive oil

Grilled zucchini and summer squash, drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with dried tarragon and fresh black pepper

Grape tomato-feta salad with white balsamic vinegar

Quinoa tabbouleh salad (cold)

What a gorgeous summery spread! I adore the colors of fresh food on the table in the summer. We had the green and yellow from the squashes, green onion and red pepper in the quinoa, and the brilliant ruby red of the tomatoes next to the golden chicken breasts, which were amazingly tender and juicy. Looking forward to leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

We ran two miles between the green monster and dinner. Not my easiest run (I'm blaming the humidity) but I'm glad to have done it. I'm very happy with my eating today and hoping for another like it tomorrow. The beets I'm roasting now (smelling up my house in the most tantalizing manner) are sure to play a part!