Berry puree

At any given moment, there are usually no less than three types of frozen berry in my freezer. I got tired of shoving bags of them out of the way to reach other things, so I decided to combine a bunch and make a puree that I could use to flavor plain yogurt, pour over pancakes (The H doesn't care for syrup), and who knows what else.



This began as roughly two cups of strawberries (thawed), one cup of blueberries (semi-thawed), and 1/2 cup blackberries (frozen). To cut the tartness, I also added 2/3 teaspoon of stevia.

When it was smooth, I poured it into ice cube trays, with the intent of popping them out into a freezer bag once they were frozen.



Today I pulled out two cubes to thaw in the fridge throughout the day, then mixed with about 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt as part of my afternoon snack (total thaw time was approximately four hours).

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?

Homeward bound

7:15am - Breakfast at hotel

Fage fat-free plain Greek yogurt with 1 cup cantaloupe and two tablespoons chopped walnuts, plus coffee. This was very filling. I would like to remember this as a breakfast alternative once I'm home and back in my steel-oats and/or peanut butter toast rut.

9:45am - Snack in airport

Dried apples, raw almonds, organic dark mint-chocolate square, water.

11am - Flight #1, 1 hour

11:15am - Snack in flight

Nature's Path choco-peanut granola bar, pretzels, water

1:00pm - Lunch in airport

Cheese ravioli in marinara sauce (2 of 4), baby shrimp, tomato-mozzarella salad, cucumber-onion salad, water. I was thrilled to find a place for lunch that offered *beautiful* salads--fruit, Greek, caprese, tomato-cucumber--at the airport! The little guy shared everything but the shrimp with me. He actually spit that right back onto the plate. It was his first experience with any kind of shellfish.

The H had Burger King--a Whopper and a hamburger, with fries, and without buns. I tried to convince him to order from the place where the little guy and I got our beautiful lunch, but he refused. I felt like a failure as a clean eating ambassador. He ate some of my caprese salad.

3:45pm - Flight #2, 1.5 hours

4:00pm - Snack in flight

Odwalla chocolate superfood bar, water with lime, Yummy Earth organic lollipop (thanks, Katie, for the recommendation!)

7:00 pm - Dinner at HOME sweet, wonderful HOME!

Chipotle barbacoa (spicy beef) fajita burrito with pico de gallo, grilled peppers and onions, very little cheese--no rice or beans--lots of water.

9:45pm - Snack at home

Decaf with organic half and half (yes, I did indeed dash out to the store for this an hour after arriving home), one serving (3 pieces) of Trader Joe's milk chocolate peanut butter cups, and a stick of low-fat string cheese.

I don't usually do low-fat cheese, even though it is more in keeping with a truly clean diet, but I chose this one because it was lower in saturated fat and higher in protein than the regular sticks. The texture was not as soft as the regular kind would be, of course, because of the lower fat content. The only additional ingredient is vitamin A palmitate, which I learned is used as an antioxidant and added to reduced-fat dairy products to "replace some of the vitamin content lost through the removal of milk fat" (from Wikipedia... not a scholarly source, but easy to understand). I think they will make a suitable protein component to my morning or afternoon snacks.