True or false. . . I just wrote this whole post, saved it and went back to it to find most of what I wrote totally lost. I guess you can surmise that is true. Admittedly, I am pretty annoyed, but it’s not the worst thing in the world that can happen right? On with the show!

Happy What I Ate Wednesday! Thanks Jenn for hosting such a fun party!

Over the past few days, I have been making a very concerted effort to up my healthy fats and plant-based protein. A few weeks ago, I ordered this raw Brazil nut protein powder, which consists of nothing more than Brazil nuts. It contains 9 grams of protein for two tablespoons (all for 70 calories), so while it doesn’t have the highest amount of protein compared to most protein powders, for being vegan, raw, and clean, I think it’s a pretty good deal!

As soon as I opened it, I took a sniff. It smelled great– just like Brazil nuts! No funky ingredients here.

I decided to incorporate it into my oatmeal for the morning. Since I have never added any sort of protein powder to oats before, I wasn’t sure how to proceed. I kind of winged it. . . I combined two tablespoons of the powder, 1/3 cup of oats and 1/4 cup pumpkin. I also added some pumpkin pie spice, vanilla bean powder and sea salt. I dumped in a little over a cup of water and mixed it all up before I popped it into the microwave for about five minutes, stirring every few minutes or so.

The result? It looked like baked oats! The texture admittedly was a bit strange, as it lacked a hearty chew like my usual oats. All in all though, it wasn’t too shabby! I am going to continue experimenting with this protein powder in my oats to see if I can come up with a better formula!

By the way, I did add a banana and a spoon of sunflower seed butter to this bowl also!

The star ingredient of my lunch was this delicious dressing!

I piled some greens, sprouts, grated carrots, cucumber, daikon, half an avocado, and sprouted beans into a bowl.

I also sprinkled some hemp seeds on top before topping it with about two tablespoons of dressing.

I shook it all up and dived in!  Note how I eat practically all of my meals– with my feet up in front of the tv!

I am laying off fresh fruit in the afternoon for a while to see if that makes my stomach feel better.  I am thinking that fruit after a salad just may be too much fiber at once.  So, for a little “dessert,” I had some Brazil nuts.  Don’t ask me why Brazil nuts have made such a heavy appearance in this day’s eats– it is all coincidence I swear!

My afternoon snack was perhaps the highlight of my day.  I ordered these YAWP! bars from Vegan Cuts and finally got around to trying them.  As you can see, they are vegan, gluten-free and with no added sugars!

The ingredient list is very “me,” wouldn’t you say?

The nutritional stats are pretty awesome too.

I thought this bar would be soft for some reason, but it was nice and crunchy.  In fact, it reminded me of those Nature Valley granola bars I used to devour when I was younger!  It was not too sweet but just sweet enough and full of great texture from the seeds.

Dinner was nothing you haven’t seen before– in the mix you have some tofu scramble, roasted veggies, and steamed veggies all over a quinoa/millet/amaranth/buckwheat mix.  So good, so good.

For dessert, I had an apple of course. . .

and some dark chocolate.  Be forewarned– opening this pack of dark chocolate wedges was very, very difficult.  I had to use a knife to help me!  I enjoyed three of these wedges before calling it a day.

I am so proud of myself for adding some more protein in my life.  I hope this makes me feel better. . . I’ll let you know after a few days!

What was the best thing you ate recently?  How do you add extra protein into your diet?