This Week’s BSI Ingredient IS…

I recently switched work schedules in order to accommodate my life a little better. I have always enjoyed AM workouts and with my desire to practice yoga daily, I wanted to be able to fit those things in before work. So, yesterday, I began and it felt great! I was up at 5 for a 30 minute treadmill session followed by 30 minutes of yoga. I flowed through sun salutations, a number of standing poses, balances and twists before finally settling into pigeon and then shoulder stand. I ended with a short meditation; I really don’t think there is a better way to begin the day than this! It was fabulous!

My new schedule also allows me to eat breakfast at home which I truly missed. Yesterday, I made microwave banana oats with flax seed and a PB spoon.

After breakfast, I headed into work for what would prove to be a challenging day. Monday’s are normally pretty productive because the club is closed and the only people at work are The Pro, T and myself. And even so, it still seemed that if it could go wrong, it was. Lunch ended up being much later than I expected so I snacked on a few grapes to get me through.

Lunch finally came around 1, this week, we chose Red Robin. The menu isn’t very pescatarian friendly is you are looking for healthy, too. I settled on a salmon sandwich on whole grain bun without any of the spicy mayo sauce.

On the side, I had a small salad with oil and vinegar. Overall, it was a good lunch but it wouldn’t be my first choice of eating establishments.

Things sort of settled down in the afternoon just in time for a pre-gym snack; I had greek yogurt with mixed berries.

With my new schedule, it is more convienent for the dear husband and I to meet at the gym after work, so that is just what we did. I had to wait about 10 minutes for him so I walked on the treadmill until he arrived. Once he was there, we headed upstairs to lift weights. We both did the full STRIVE circuit and the resistance machine circuit for a full body workout. By the end, my whole body felt like jelly so I knew I got in a good workout.

Once we were home, I munched on some grapes while I prepared dinner. I didn’t photograph them because they were the leftovers of the grapes I had before lunch. For dinner, I made BBQ tempeh sandwiches with Kath’s BBQ slaw minus the pecans.

On the side, I made skillet sweet potatoes.

 

This dinner was fantastic! I ended up taking the bread off of mine because it was super messy and pretty impossible to eat without a fork. Thank goodness we weren’t on a first date 😉 For dessert, I had a Reese’s heart that we scored on clearance at Target.

After some reading and TV, I realized I had checked my email in a long while so I went upstairs only to discover that I had won last week’s BSI contest! I was so thrilled! My entry for Orange Miso Tofu Stir Fry won the prize but I did feel a twinge of guilt since I just took my favorite parts of a couple of recipes I found online and made my own. That is how some recipes are born, I suppose. Anyway, to top off my win, she also chose me as this weeks host of the BSI contest!

After some thought, I decided that I wanted this week’s ingredient to be kale!  This is for selfish purposes, of course, since kale is my favorite green! It is also versatile, accessible and of course, veg*n friendly. Here is what The World’s Healthiest Foods has to say:

Kale is a leafy green vegetable that belongs to the Brassicafamily, a group of vegetables including cabbage, collards and Brussels sprouts that have gained recent widespread attention due to their health-promoting, sulfur-containing phytonutrients. There are several varieties of kale known commonly as curly kale, ornamental kale and dinosaur kale, all of which differ in taste, texture and appearance. The scientific name for kale is Brassica oleracea.

Curly kale has ruffled leaves and a fibrous stalk and is usually deep green in color. It has a lively pungent flavor with delicious bitter peppery qualities.

Ornamental kale is a more recently cultivated species that is oftentimes referred to as salad savoy. Its leaves may either be green, white or purple and its stalks coalesce to form a loosely knit head. Ornamental kale has a more mellow flavor and tender texture.

Dinosaur kale is the common name for the kale variety known as Lacinato. It features dark blue-green leaves that have an embossed texture. It has a slightly sweeter and more delicate taste than curly kale.

Pretty good stats, I’d say! You can enter two ways:

• Email the photo and recipe to whatiateyesterday [at] gmail.com
• or email me the link to the recipe in your blog.

I will update this page with the links/recipes as I get them. The deadline to enter is midnight, Sunday February 22nd! The prize will be a pair of handmade earrings in your choice of colors using glass beads and/or semi precious stones and sterling silver, you can see a few examples of my work on my Beading Page.

And don’t forget, today is the last day to enter my Country Bob’s Giveaway, comment and link back before midnight tonight for your chance to win some of this fabulous sauce and a secret prize!

The following are entries for BSI: Kale!

• Shannon at Tri to Cook: Kale Skins
• Jenna at Eat, Live Run: BBQ Beans with Kale
• Kath at KathEats: Butternut Squash and Kale Soup
• Mara at What’s For Dinner: Zuppa Toscana Ala Mara
• Brandi at BranAppetit: Green, Eggs and Ham Pizza & Creamy Curried Lentil and Kale Soup
• Sweetie Pie at Just Sweet Enough: Crispy Kale Salad with toasted Walnuts and Pomegranate Drizzle
• Laure at Hey, Mom, What’s For dinner: Sauteed Greens
• Sarah at Tales of Expansion: Kale Crust Pizza & Stuffed Kale Leaves
• Spiceaholic at One Bite at a Time: Panchphoran Potatoes and Kale
• Scrumptious at In My Box: Raw Kale Salad
• Erin at Life is Yumbo: Imposter Pesto Sauce
• Becca at Bites of the Day: Garam Masala Kale
• Hallie at Healthy Twists: Chickpea and Kale Curry
• Biz at Biggest Diabetic Loser: Bean Soup with Winter Vegetables
• Vani at Fit for Free: Kale and Mushroom Pancakes

On a Sushi Roll

Yesterday, I woke up in time to spend about 30 minutes doing a walk/run on my treadmill followed by about 15 minutes of vinyasa yoga. I flowed through a few sun salutation a followed by my own version of sun salutation b. I included warrior I, warrior II and side angle. I also worked on wheel and then did a short meditation. What a terrific way to start the day.

I got to work feeling ready to take on my day but first, I had breakfast. I made overnight banana oats which had 1/3 cup oats, 2/3 cups milk, a dash of salt and a mashed banana. When I got to work, I heated them in the microwave for 3 minutes and then topped them with ground flax seed and a PB spoon. Yum! As long as you know that you want oats the following day, I see no reason to use any other method!

Again, T suggested that we pick up sushi from Kenji for lunch. Being the sushi lover that I am, I happily obliged. This time, we decided to order 3 rolls and share them. On my plate was half of each of the following: green spiral roll, volcano roll and red passion roll.

On the side, I also had a ginger salad.

OK, this was THE BEST SUSHI I have ever had. Ever, in my whole career of eating sushi. The part that makes me sad is that since I work so far away from home, the dear husband and I can’t pop over there and eat sushi anytime we want 😦

After lunch, G brought up frozen reeses cup for T and I to share. It was a perfect compliment to the spicy sushi.

The afternoon wizzed by and when I got home from work, I was  a little hungry so I munched on an orange.

We once again consulted the blue jar for dinner because neither of us knew what we wanted. We pulled out a couple of meal ideas before finding one that we had all of the ingredients for. We settled on whole wheat ravioli in marinara sauce

with pan roasted broccoli.

After dinner, I had a few chocolate covered almonds and then started baking for a special event happening this afternoon. You’ll have to tune in tomorrow to find out what it is!

Shortly before bed, there was a knock on the door and right away, I knew it must be my secret cupid gift. Maggie at Say Yes to Salad sent me a jar of my beloved lemon curd

a couple of honey sticks

and a cute pair of handmade earings.

Thanks, Maggie, such thoughtful gifts you sent!

And don’t forget to sign up for my country bob’s giveaway! All you have to do is comment on that post, link back to the contest and you are all set. If you don’t have a blog, comment and send me an email confirming that you don’t have a blog. I will also be including a very special surprise so be sure to sign up! The contest ends Tuesday, good luck!

Feel My Feelings?

Whoa. Did I ever oversleep yesterday. I grabbed my coffee and got ready as fast as I could. I ended up getting to work about 10 minutes late but, besides The Pro, I am the first one there anyway, so it didn’t really matter.  I was super excited about my breakfast. I talked with Lee about her overnight oats so I gave it a try. I used Bob’s Red Mill Muesli and milk and put that in the fridge overnight. Once I was at work, I popped it into the microwave for a couple of minutes and I had perfect oatmeal without any oatmeal explosions. I topped it off with mixed berries, flax seed and a PB spoon.

Lunch was an unexpected treat. T offered to go pick up sushi from a new place. I jumped all over that one and from her recommendation, I ordered a Happy Roll

and a sweet potato roll.

The happy roll made me very happy indeed. It was tuna, avocado, spicy sauce and crunchies. The sweet potato roll was a little undercooked but it was still tasty. I think this place will be our new fav because it is much cheaper and we both really enjoyed the happy roll. The afternoon was productive and when 3:30 rolled around, I hit the door running. I got home and felt a little hungry so I had a few grapes to hold me over.

For dinner, I made eggs in purgatory again. I overcooked them again but we did enjoy them a little more because I served them over creamy polenta instead of brown rice.

On the side, we had garlicy green and yellow beans with an olive oil drizzle.

After dinner, I made my way to group therapy. This week, we focused on chapter 7, Feelings, in Eating in the Light of the Moon by Dr. Anita Johnston. What a loaded topic this was. I, along with everyone else in the class, felt really uncomfortable with this topic. Avoiding my feelings is what I have done my whole life, how am I supposed to all of a sudden start feeling them now? I even avoid feeling happy by sabataging myself with guilt and anxiety. It feels easier to just feel depressed, anxious or sad than to explore the array of other emotions. Obviously, that isn’t working too well for me but it was really hard to be told to intellectually just feel.

We all agreed at the end of the session that we felt worse than when we walked in. Why is it that just talking about trying to feel is hard? I think it is because I have so many unreconciled emotions that I’n not ready to feel my present life. Or maybe, it is easier to feel anger at my boss for a tiny little thing than to actually feel all of the anger I have stuffed down with food. Ah, a loaded topic, I tell you.

When we left, I was able to connect with a couple of the ladies in the group and it felt nice to talk about ED with a real live person as a friend instead of as a client. I’m surrounded by people that I view as normal eaters and it kills me that I am the screwed up one. Having someone relate felt so good, I hope that we can expand these conversations and become better friends.

By the time I got home, I was ready for bed. I fell asleep quickly which I think is a good sign that even though this is hard, it is good.

I can tell you what I am feeling right now, I feel that you all should get on over to Mara’s blog to enter her 100th post giveaway, I assure you, you want to win this one. And don’t forget, time is running out to enter my Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce giveaway!

An Emotional Day

Well, I will tell you, the downside of getting up at 4:30 am for work is getting up at 4:30 when you don’t have to work! I woke up bright and early and finally was able to fall back asleep for another little while. Once I had my chocolate cafe au lait in hand, I sat at my computer and wasted a little time until I was ready to write my post for the day. I was really emotional for me to write it out but I felt like it was the right thing to do. I had never written about my brothers passing before and feel that it was really therapeutic. As the day progressed and I read all of your comments, it was even more so. I was able to let it out even more as I read the thoughtful and kind words. So, thanks to you guys for being so kind, I know this is supposed to be a food blog but for me, it is so much more than that.

Once I pulled myself together, I heated up a bowl of oatmeal that I made a couple of nights ago. I was made with 1/3 cup rolled oats, milk, mashed banana, a smidge of salt. Once it was done, I stirred in ground flax seed and cashew butter.

I had errands to run and a Doctor appointment so I headed out shortly after breakfast. The doc said I had yet another sinus infection and gave me a heavy duty antibiotic and a steroid shot. After a battle with my insurance company, I got my prescription settled and headed out to buy a pair of rain boots. The weather forecast for the dear husbands race was very rainy and with the number of blocks I would be walking, I wanted my feet to stay warm and dry. I wanted a cute pair with ducks or something but I could only find the heavy duty ones for the winter. I guess the cute ones probably come out in the spring. I finally settled on a pair and headed to lunch. I went to Panera and got my favorite, the tomato mozzarella sandwich and creamy tomato soup with no croutons. It was really good but I wasn’t able to finish the soup.

After lunch, I headed home to get packed up for our mini trip to Richmond. Though we only live 14 miles from downtown, we booked a hotel near the race to avoid the hectic traffic situation that we have faced year after year. Once we were packed and ready to go, we made out way downtown. The rain was just starting and I was glad I had on my new rain boots. Once we arrived at the hotel, I had a mini meltdown because I assumed there would be a parking deck but there was not. And though I am 32 years old, I do not know how to parallel park! I have never really been a city dweller so I’ve never really had to practice it. So, the dear husband ran into the hotel and advised them of my meltdown. A lady rushed out and parked the car for me! Then the valet came out to help us with our backs and to whisk the car away to a secret parking deck. Crisis averted. I think I need to pay my friend Sarah to teach my how to parallel park in order to avoid such situations in the future.

Once settled into the hotel, we hit the sidewalk to plan out the morning and how we would meet up once the race was over. We also had dinner at The Capital Ale House planned but walked about 40 blocks waiting for it to be 5pm. It was raining the whole time so by the time we arrived we were soaking wet for the rain and the sweat from walking so far. More than hungry, I think we were thirsty so we started off with big glasses of water. For dinner, I ordered fish n greens. The fish of the day was tilapia and I ordered it blackened. When it arrived the salad probably didn’t even equal a cup of salad so I asked for an additional salad on the side! I guess that is better than ordering an additional dessert!

After dinner, we walked the 10 blocks back to the hotel and then settled in for the night. Just before bed, my stomach was talking to me again so I had a bowl of cocoa pebbles I had packed in preparation. Cocoa pebbles remind of time spent with my grandma when I was a child and bring happy warm memories. She always gave me cocoa krispies bu when I was buying them, I noticed that the nutrition information on the pebbles was better than the krispies. The have less calories, less sugar and more fiber! I’m not claiming they are health food my any means but they sure are a nice treat!

Before hitting the hay, my dear friend Mara from I Made Dinner made my new header for me! Let me know what you think of it! Give her a shout out if you’d be interested in having a new header for your blog!

Thought Provoker: Do you have a favorite junk food cereal? Though my parents were not health conscious (AT ALL) they did not allow us the have sugary cereals because they were more expensive than the plain ones.  I only got junky cereals as a treat every once in a while when I was away from home.

Tagged x 2

I woke up at 4:30 (!!) yesterday to get in an hour on the treadmill before work. To be honest, 4:30 really isn’t any harder than 5:00 because I have gotten used to going to bed early enough that I still get my 7-9 hours of sleep. I feel so accomplished when I get up and workout before work, it makes me feel all smug and happy 🙂

On my way to work, I had a cafe au lait and then had breakfast once I got there. I had rolled oats made with milk, chopped apple, a dash of salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Once I reheated it, I added a PB spoon on the side. I ended up only eating half of what I brought, I guess as far as oats are concerned my body is pretty used to 1/4 to 1/3 cup instead of 1/2, I will make less next time!

For lunch, I had whole wheat couscous topped with black beans and salsa. I need more lunches like this, it took me all of 5 minutes to throw this together and it was awesome, so ideas like this are much appreciated!

Just before leaving work, I had greek yogurt topped with thawed frozen cherries and some NUTrition heart healthy nut mix. This was a very filling snack and made dinner time prep much easier because I wasn’t starving for it.

For dinner, I made skillet lasagna and kale chips, this is one of those recipes that reminds me of childhood (the good times). I’m embarrassed to say that it reminds me because hamburger helper was a staple in my house and this is a more grown up version of it.

In the past few days, I have been tagged by Krista and Mara to tell 7 unknown things about myself. So, here they are:

1. I only paint my toe nails during the summer and sometimes not even then. The reason is because I hate when it starts to look all junky but am typically just not into maintaining it, so, bare it is.

2. Speaking of nails, I have always had long, thick, healthy fingernails. My thumb has a ridge in it just like my grandma.

3. I am the oldest of 4 children and my parents were VERY young when I was born.

4. I was married before, my wonderful marriage to my dear husband is my second. I have no doubts that the SECOND time is a charm.

5. As a child, I twirled the baton for many, many years.

6. As a child, my family told me that I ate like a bird and that I needed to eat more. Ironic, don’t you think?

7. I collect Wheaton bottles. My Great Grandfather worked in the factory in Millville, NJ that made them in the 70’s. I have a few that have been passed down and many that I have collected over the years. My dear husband often gives them to me as gifts which touches my heart so.

I’m not tagging anyone else because it seems that everyone has been tagged at least once and if you haven’t been, consider this your tag!

Thought Provoker: What meals were popular in your house as a child? My mom was a crockpot queen.

It’s What I Love About Sunday’s

I slept in a little yesterday, I didn’t wake up until the late hour of 6:30. For breakfast, I was really cravings buttered toast with eggs so I channeled my inner Jordan and makes eggs in a basket. I brushed two slices of TJ’s high fiber whole wheat bread with a little melted smart balance and then cut a hole in each piece with a glass. I put them into the pan and then cracked an egg into each hole and sprinkled on a little salt and pepper.

While they cooked, I munched on a bowl of grapes.

This breakfast really hit the spot, I am thinking you will be seeing this one many times in the future. Thanks, Jordan! After breakfast, the dear husband and I hit the road for a quick dose of sunlight. We walked around our neighborhood bundled up in our hat and gloves, it was chilly! Our walk was followed by laundry and then lunch. For lunch, I made whole wheat couscous topped with a morning star farms fake chicken patty and topped it all off with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese.

For dessert, we shared this lovely chocolate croissant from Whole Foods.

Lunch was followed by a little more laundry and some food prep for the week ahead. While I was cooking, I took a little break and had two of these little chocolate meringues from TJ”s. I really really liked these, I was surprised by how chocolaty the flavor was! Once my prep was done, I took a nice long nap. This IS what I love about Sundays!

For dinner, I made a little dish I dreamed up in my head while looking at our choice of ingredients.

BBQ Apples and Pork Chops

2 servings

2 bone in pork chops

1 tbsp olive oil

salt, pepper, Penzy’s BBQ 3000 (or any other BBQ seasoning)

1 small apple, core removed and thinly sliced

1/4 of a small red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup BBQ Sauce

Preheat the oven to 350*. Coat the chops in the olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and BBQ Seasoning. Place chops in a baking dish and cover each with half of the the onion and apple. Drizzle each chop with 2 tbsp of BBQ sauce. Cover the dish and bake for 45 minutes then remove the cover and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Serve with additional BBQ sauce for dipping.

I made baked sweet potatoes topped with smart balance and cinnamon to go along side our chops. This was a perfect easy fall dinner. For dessert, we had the last of the peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal bars with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and then drizzled with chocolate sauce. These bars are so tasty, I can not wait to make them again and again.

Thought Provoker: Do you think it is important to have a low key day to regroup and prepare for the upcoming week? I feel lost throughout the weekend if I haven’t done my prepwork.

Friend Therapy

Yesterday was a really busy day but awesome! I started out pretty early for a Saturday with a bowl of oatmeal. I made it in the microwave with 1/2 rolled oats, 1 cup milk, a pinch of salt, flax seed, cinnamon, nutmeg and a banana. Once it was done, I topped it off with a big glob of almond butter. I made such a big bowl because I needed it to get me through a few hours. I wasn’t able to finish all of it as I guess my stomach has gotten used to smaller meals.

A couple of hours later, I went to my yoga class at Journey Home Yoga. The class was a hatha flow class taught by Laura. She focused on sun salutations and back bends, my favorite! We went through many many rounds of sun salutation and then did a number of back bends including cobra pose and sphinx. The end of the class was a little core work and twists followed by guided breath work. I think the breath work will come in handy when I need a few moments of calm in my work day as it was very soothing and relaxing.

After yoga, I met my friend Sarah at Starbucks for a light meal and a latte. I asked for the veggie piadini and a vanilla latte but once we got outside, I realized they gave me the one with sausage and cheese. I decided to eat it anyway because I was hungry and the line was all the way to the door. It was still delicious and I highly recommend these to anyone looking for a quick light meal on the go. Despite my order being wrong, it was a pleasant trip because the nice man behind the counter told me that I had “such a sweet face”. That really brightened my day!

After Starbucks we headed out to the west end to meet our friend Tanya at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. The first stop was TJ’s to stock up on cereal and yogurt among other delightful goodies like lacey cookies and cashew macadamia nut butter! Next up was Whole Foods for produce and hummus. I was looking for the lemon hummus I see all over blogland but they said they didn’t make it in that store. I settled on a small container of basil hummus instead, lets hope it is fabulous. On the way out, we all got a little of the homemade gelato. I got a small with butter pecan and chocolate. It was so delicious and I ate it with a baby spoon to make it last much longer!

Once back to my side of the world, Sarah and I parted ways and I headed home. The dear husband and I went to our favorite place, Target, to pick up a few facial products for my new out of control skin. I’m having such problems lately with oil and acne. My mom tells me that she had the same problem in her 30’s so I am looking for a way to get through it. After Target, we headed to the drug store to pick up my prescriptions only to find that one of them is no longer covered by my insurance. Well, it is covered but my co pay was $120! Are they kidding me? The pharmacist recommended something over the counter to tide me over until I can talk to my insurance/doctor. I think the state of health care in the country is awful!

Once we were home from our errands, I hit the treadmill for 35 minutes. I had planned to do an hour but my friends, Jamie and Courtney, were coming through Richmond with their friend Megan and we had plans for dinner. She was running a bit earlier than I expected so I hopped off the treadmill to be sure I made it with plenty of time. The funny thing about being on the treadmill is that I discovered that I like walking at a little higher speed than I have been. It seemed that I liked it to be more challenging and I really enjoyed it much more. Maybe over time, I can slowly increase my speed to the point of running again. That would be great!

I met Jamie and friends at the Cracker Barrel for dinner. We were all really hungry at this point as they had been at Busch Gardens all day and I hadn’t had anything since the gelato 5 hours before. I started with half a biscuit and half a corn bread. The biscuit was great and the corn bread was OK, I prefer sweeter corn bread. For dinner, I ordered chicken n dumplings with turnip green, green beans and stewed apples. I ate mainly the veggies because I hadn’t really had any veggies all day long. The dumplings were good but the chicken was insanely dry so I only had a few bites of that.

Once they headed back to NC, I headed home. I had barely seen the dear husband all day so it was nice to cozy up with him on the couch before finally heading to bed.

Though Provoker: Do you think that spending time with friends is an important part of keeping you happy? I love being social as long as I really know everyone around though being around a bunch of strangers makes me shy and withdrawn. I think that having friend time is really important to my overall well being.

Ladies (And a Gent) Who Lunch

Thankfully, I woke up feeling much better yesterday than the day before. No headache and no stomach bugs, I guess my body just needed some extra rest. I think our bodies have a way of forcing us to rest when we don’t listen to the small signs. But onto the food! I started out with a bowl of oats, 1/4 cup oats, 1/2 cup milk, half a banana and a pinch of salt. Once it was done, I stirred in a heaping spoon of flax seed and topped the whole thing off with almond butter.

At work, things started slow and easy, just the way a Friday should be. I was hungry around 10 so I had a pita with PB & Co. white chocolate dreams with grapes on the side.

Then around 11:30, The Pro stopped in my office and invited me to lunch with him, his college daughter and T. We had lunch on the porch overlooking the 19th hole and the back nine. And yes, our club has a real 19th hole not just a bar named that 🙂 For lunch, I had a half BLT and a small cup of tomato and fennel soup. It was a nice lunch and we had a great time chatting away and living vicariously through The Pro’s daughter.

After lunch, all hell broke loose and I was up to my eyeballs in work. Everyone seemed to need me in some fashion or another. By the time it all calmed down, my stomach was growling as if it hadn’t eaten in days. Since it was only a couple minutes until go time, I had a honest foods bar instead of making my usual yogurt. I started with the cran lemon one, took one bite and gave it to K. Oh, I did not like how “zingy” it was. I told K that it wouldn’t hurt my feelings a bit if she didn’t like it either.

My second attempt was a honest food trail mix bar. I liked this one better but the peanut butter chocolate one is still the all time best.

After work, I was really craving Italian food so the dear husband and I went to the place about a mile from home. It is family owned and operated and has awesome food. I started with a salad topped with house dressing.

Then for my entree, I ordered the special, baked ziti. It was chessy and carborific just like I wanted.  I only ate about 1/4 of the dish but the leftovers will suit the dear husband just fine after his long run.

After dinner, we ran a couple of errands around town and finally made it home. I made a batch of vitamuffins to cure my chocolate craving. I had been wanting chocolate cake since lunch and this was the perfect solution. I love them because they are easy to make and relatively healthy since they are made with whole grains and are low in sugar.

After dessert, I read for a bit and then called it a day. Hooray, the three day weekend is here!

QOTD: How do you relax after a long week at work? I love coming home of Friday nights and snuggling on the couch with a movie. To me, it is the perfect way to wind down.

Pictureless

I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures, I wasn’t feeling great all day yesterday. I started the day with a bowl of oats. 1/4 cup oats, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 a small banana, flax seed and an almond butter spoon. It was good and I think I finally have the almond butter amount down to an amount that leaves me hungry in a couple of hours.

I went to work, despite feeling sick to my stomach and a headache. Around 10, I got hungry and had a spinach and feta sausage and a little acorn squash. The squash was really hard to eat so I finally gave up and ate a macadamia nut apricot KIND bar. I really enjoyed this flavor but the almond coconut is still my favorite, too bad I can’t find it again.

A couple of hours later, I had the rest of the veggie roll and shrimp roll. I still couldn’t eat all of it so I left a few pieces behind and retired them to the trash. I could tell they weren’t made that day as they kind of tasted like the fridge. Ya know, that fridge taste?

Just before go time, I felt ravenous, like I hadn’t eaten all day. I ate what was left of my TJ’s greek yogurt topped with lemon curd and granola. I left work shortly after and went to get my hair cut. After my hair cut, I felt awful, my head was pounding and my stomcah was ill. I came home, ate a couple pieces of bread and hit the hay. Thankfully, I am feeling much better today!

QOTD: What do you eat when you don’t feel well?

Only Hungry for Chocolate

I started another day with fast oats except this time, I didn’t use so much banana. I used 1/4 cup oats, 1/2 cup milk and a dash of salt. I cooked it for 2 minutes, stirred and cooked for 2 more minutes. Once it was done, I topped with half a small banana, a smidge more milk and an almond butter spoon. I like it much better this way and what I like most is that I can multi task while it cooks and pack all of my mini meal supplies.

Work was slow and steady. For some reason, I didn’t get hungry for my second meal of the day until almost 11. I had a leftover spinach and feta chicken sausage

and a little roasted butternut squash. I ate it all cold but think next time I will heat it up a bit.

T had to run errands so she offered to pick up sushi. I got a shrimp tempura roll with brown rice and a veggie roll. I only ate about half of both as I still wasn’t all that hungry, so look for a repeat of this tomorrow!

A little after lunch, I had a raging sweet tooth and decided to have a little square of chocolate. It did the trick for the time being. Just before go time, I had some greek yogurt with granola and agave. I promise there is some yogurt and agave under that pile of granola!

I was still craving chocolate so I ended up eating what was left of my chocolate stash, not quite half a ritter bar. It made me feel sick, I felt like a kid at halloween. When I left work, I really felt like I was going to be sick but I made it to therapy without having to pull over.

I guess my therapy was coming back to me because my therapist saw that I was there very early and went ahead and called me back. I guess that makes up for her being very late last week. This time, the water works started right away. I had been having a real tough week and even though I was pinpointing some issues, I wasn’t kicking the depression or the anxiety. She really pulled some answers out of me and I realized that I have been harboring something that I haven’t really talked about.

On Saturday, I was verbally assaulted by a crazy drunk driver. It really scared me at the time and still today I have some pretty creeped out thoughts about it. It has really triggered my anxiety and depression. My therapist wants me to focus this week on “coming down” from my anxious episodes by doing things that make me feel better, namely exercise. She also suggested medication since this time of year is always tough for me because of the lack of sunshine and the anniversary of my brothers death.  I am thinking over the medication idea but will try to exercise more to see if it breaks my gray cloud.

Once home from therapy, the dear husband had lovingly prepared a frozen pizza for us. It was the Archers Farms brand with goat cheese, tomato and spinach. I wasn’t very hungry so I didn’t eat very much of it.

After dinner, we watched Oprah on the DVR. By the time that was over my stomach actually growled, I think for the first time all day. I had a bowl of hazelnut biscotti cereal with milk and then called it a night.

QOTD: Do you eat just before bed if you are actually hungry? I have never really been a believer that you shouldn’t eat before bed, I was always in the calories in calories out camp.