Tag Archives: lunch
What I Ate Wednesday: On Repeat
If you’ve been reading my What I Ate Wednesday posts over the past year or two since when I originally joined in on the fun, than you know I tend to eat meals on repeat. Yesterday’s eats are no different– everything I ate yesterday is a tried and true favorite and all things you’ve seen before. However, there ain’t nothing wrong with eating the same foods over and over, as long as you enjoy them and they’re pretty good for you, right? Thanks as always to Jenn for hosting the party each and every week!
Two Moms In The Raw granola is similar to most raw granolas I have tried. Made of ingredients like coconut and buckwheat, this particular granola was interesting because it was shaped in little squares! It tasted amazing– it was crunchy and chewy at the same time with a lovely coconutty vanilla flavor.
I paired the granola with the usual breakfast staples of sliced banana and a tablespoon of tahini. I later added some coconut milk kefir and cinnamon.
My school building has been freezing lately, despite the fact its been in the sixties outside. Pretty much every vent in our school is blowing out cold air!. That being said, I was happy I had a longer-than-usual lunch period, which prompted me to pack a hot lunch since I would have time to microwave it! I had quinoa salad (purchased from Whole Foods) over greens, grated carrots, broccoli slaw, grape tomatoes and daikon. After I heated it in the microwave, the veggies steamed up nice and tender. I also had an unpictured orange for dessert.
Snack was consumed post-physical therapy. I had time to grab my favorite vanilla rooibos tea, which I sipped while I munched on some Trader Joe’s raw trail mix.
I literally have been eating the same dinner for days because I love it so much! This picture is recycled since I forgot to snap a pic last night, but the below plate looks exactly like what I had last night. I had some quinoa cooked with peppers, onions and seasonings with a block of baked tofu, as well as some roasted asparagus, cauliflower and sautéed greens. Totally addictive, this meal is!
I did have dessert– imagine a strawberry Siggi’s Icelandic yogurt and a hunk of dark chocolate. It’s not a complete day unless there’s some dark chocolate (unless of course there is a Crumbs cupcake instead!).
I don’t just eat meals on repeat– I once made an entire CD of just one song, played on repeat, so I wouldn’t have to manually hit repeat everytime I listened to it!
Do you eat meals on repeat, or do you eat differently all of the time?
What I Ate Wednesday: Our Having-Met Anniversary
This is a pretty special week for me– eight years ago, on May 6th, 2005, I met my husband for the first time. We actually met at a restaurant in the Federal Hill section of Providence called Zooma. I was hanging out there after chaperoning my school’s junior prom, and he came to hang out with one of his high school friends, who happened to be a teacher I was with. Three months later, we were engaged!
We celebrate our having-met anniversary by going back to Zooma each and every May 6th since we met. It is pretty lucky we met at a restaurant first that has the longevity to still exist so we can make our return visits, and second that has wonderful food. But before I show you what we ate at Zooma Monday night, let me first show you what I had for breakfast and lunch first! Thanks Jenn for hosting!
I ate my usual oatmeal bowl– except this time, it wasn’t oatmeal– it was oat bran! I picked some oat bran up at Trader Joe’s last week, and decided to bring it into my life, especially since it not only reminds me of my childhood favorite, Cream of Wheat, but also because it has more protein and fiber than oatmeal per serving! I cooked it in the microwave with ground flax, cinnamon, vanilla bean powder, and sea salt, and topped it off with a sliced banana, tahini, and unsweetened coconut flakes.
Whole Foods had my favorite massaged kale and avocado slaw as their prepared salad special the other day, so I bought a container (though I have gotten pretty good at making it myself!). For lunch, I had some of the kale salad, some raw Dr. Cow nut cheese, raw veggies and some raw crackers and zucchini chips. I haven’t had an all-raw lunch in a while, and it really hit the spot.
Now onto my Monday night anniversary dinner. An 8 o’clock dinner reservation awaited– we always request to sit at the table we actually met at!
They were aware of our anniversary story, so we were greeted with free champagne! I don’t drink, but it was a sweet gesture.
All of the food at Zooma is so fresh, including their crusty bread. I enjoyed two chunks dipped in peppery olive oil.
My husband and I split a margherita pizza. I swear, I can’t go more than a week without eating this kind of pizza.
I also had a few bites of my husband’s red wine infused goat cheese tortellini. It looks horrid but tasted divine. It was house-made too!
I also devoured a tasty escarole salad with fresh mozzarella cheese and a red wine vinaigrette.
I think our dessert though was the best part– tiramisu for the anniversary win! I forget how much I love this creamy dessert– I need to get it more often.
I was up late considering it was a school night– I didn’t get to bed until 10! I know, I know, for an average person that’s not late at all, but for an old lady teacher like me, that’s super late, considering I usually fall asleep before 9!
It is fun to do something a little different on a school night though. . . and I wasn’t even tired the next day!
Do you like dining out on work nights? I tend to prefer to stay home when I know I have to get up early.
What I Ate Wednesday: May Half-Days
Happy, happy, happiest May! May is by far one of my favorite months– there are so many awesome things that happen in May! First, today and tomorrow are half-days at school, where underclassmen get dismissed at 10:40 and seniors come in to school in the afternoon to present their graduation portfolios to teacher review committees. It’s a big few days at my school because seniors have been prepping for their presentations all year and it’s one of their last hurdles to overcome before graduation. In fact, after this week, senior have only three weeks left before final exams, and since I have a lot of seniors this year, that means I’ll be done teaching a few of my classes after three and a half weeks!
May is the season of proms too in my school, which is always exciting. In fact, I met my husband immediately after I chaperoned one of my school proms years ago, which means we celebrate our “having met” anniversary in May too. This month just screams that summer is approaching and school is truly winding down, and that makes me so happy!
Anyway, before i present my latest eats, please, let’s thank Jenn for being such a wonderful WIAW host!
This side profile highlights all the magnificent clusters! I heart chunky granola!
I adorned my granola with the usual– coconut milk kefir, cinnamon, banana, and tahini. So good it was!
For lunch, I enjoyed a serving of Trader Joe’s minestrone soup, salad-ified by adding greens, cucumber, daikon, and broccoli slaw to the soup before heating. Souper-salad is one of the best ways to pack in extra veggies.
For a protein punch, I had some plain Greek yogurt and sliced strawberries for dessert. Strawberries are so good right now– nice and sweet!
Later in the afternoon, I opened a new bag of these Two Moms in the Raw granola planks, this time in the goji berry flavor.
THese bars are incredible on texture due to how seedy they are, which is why I am such a huge fan! The goji berry flavor doesn’t taste too different from their blueberry flavor at all.
Dinner consisted of all my new staples: here we have some herbed millet, curry tofu that I bought from Whole Foods, roasted cauliflower and asparagus, and some sauteed spinach. All veggies were seasoned with Trader Joe’s garlic salt, which is by far one of my favorite spice blends ever!
More yogurt, more protein for dessert! Siggi’s is by far one of the tastiest thick Icelandic style yogurts out there.
And, finally, once again, dark chocolate to really put an end to the night. Sorry for the recycled pic. . . and mind you, I only ate half of the bar!
Looking back, it was a very satisfying day of food, full of variety. I really enjoying dairy products in moderation lately and am so thankful that they seem to be agreeing with my digestion!
What’s your main source of protein in your diet? For me, right now, it seems like Greek or Icelandic style yogurt!
What I Ate Wednesday: Reunion Shows
Before I dive into a day’s worth of eats, I just wanted to make an observation. I have noticed lately that practically every reality show I watch now also has reunion shows once a season is over. Real Housewives has been doing that for a long time, but the thing now is that their reunion shows are practically their own season, with the reunions broken down into three or more episodes itself! I am currently watching the Mob Wives reunion– I don’t recall being a reunion for prior seasons of that show so they too are jumping on the reunion bandwagon. Generally, I feel reality show reunions are pretty tedious and boring, but the one thing I do like about them is you get to see how the cast of the show looks in “real time” because reunion shows are taped much more recently than the actual season of the show they follow.
Anyway, I just engaged you in some pretty mindless banter there, didn’t I?
Happy Wednesday! I simply cannot believe April is on its way out. Once May hits, I seriously will be counting down the days until the end of my school year, which I think officially ends on June 20th (darn snow days!). One of the things I look forward to the most in the summer is being able to eat my lunch in more than twenty minutes, which is basically how long I have in school. Soon enough, that time will come I guess!
Thanks to Jenn for hosting the party. . . now onto my food!
I tried a new-to-me soup for lunch to warm up my bones on that chilly Sunday. This Amy’s veggie soup has an excellent ingredient list basically consisting of all veggies!
I veggie-fied it some more by adding some greens, grated carrots, cucumber and daikon to it before I heated it up. It turned out pretty great– I recommend this soup if you are looking for a light, veggie-tastic soup.
While it was quite filling, the soup wasn’t enough calorically, so I added this piece of toasted Ezekiel bread with melted cheese to the mix for some carbs and protein.
I had one of my favorite snacks later in the afternoon– vanilla Rooibos tea and Trader Joe’s raw nut and raisin pack.
Dinner was fantastic! I had a slab of store-bought Wildwood brand sprouted baked tofu, which is extremely delicious. I had the “savory” flavor, which just means the tofu is marinated in soy sauce and spices. I served it over some quinoa pilaf I made (recipe coming soon!), along with some garlicky spinach, roasted asparagus and roasted cauliflower. I love this meal for how veggie and protein packed it was!
I am on a Siggi’s kick big-time. I love ending my dinners these days with cool, creamy and thick Icelandic yogurt. This container has 14 grams of protein for only 100 calories and it is lightly sweetened with agave.
My last bite of the night was half of this TJ’s dark chocolate bar. I always end my nights with chocolate!
All in all, looking back, I ate well on Sunday! The tofu/pilaf kick has continued into this week. . . I am just going with it because it is what I am craving.
What foods have you been craving lately?
What I Ate Wednesday: Before I Went To NYC
Woah– this is my first quote unquote normal blog post I have written in a long time! Obviously, the last few days have been hectic in so many ways– I was away for two and a half days in NYC and came home Monday. I spent yesterday getting back into the swing of things in terms of eating and exercising (I did a bunch of meal prep and took a 6.6 mile walk!), and only now do I feel adjusted back to “home” life. Of course, I couldn’t let What I Ate Wednesday pass me by, so my New York City recaps will just have to wait until tomorrow.
Thanks as always to Jenn for hosting the show! Here’s what I ate the day before we left for NYC!
While it’s not much in terms of nutrition (it’s very low fiber and low protein), the ingredient list is great– just corn and sea salt! They didn’t taste quite as good as the Kellogg’s I used to devour as a kid, but still, they were decent and a nice change from sweet breakfasts like granola.
I have had this almond, cashew and hazelnut drink in my pantry for a long time also. Cereal calls for “milk” so it was the perfect opportunity to try it.
I enjoyed the corn flakes and “milk” with a banana and some peanut butter. The nut milk was pretty tasty, FYI!
For lunch, I made a simple salad with romaine, bell pepper, vinegar-infused beets, carrots, daikon, cucumber, sprouted chickpeas, a dollop of cottage cheese, and the below dressing I picked up from Whole Foods.
First, if you eat dairy and have never tried cottage cheese on salad– do it! It’s a great way to get some extra protein and it acts similarly in a salad as feta or goat cheese would. Anyway, this red wine vinaigrette from Tessemae’s was good– a little watery but it had a nice flavor and very simple, “clean” ingredients.
Snack was another 2 Moms In The Raw granola bar with black rooibos tea.
Dinner was amazing! I had a spaghetti squash on my counter from October probably and finally decided to roast it up. I had half of the squash mixed with Amy’s marinara sauce and vegan parmesan. This was the first time I have ever had spaghetti squash that almost had me convinced it was pasta! I cooked it just right! For some protein, I had some baked tempeh, and for veggie power, I ate my newest veggie love, roasted garlicky cauliflower!
Now, I didn’t capture my dessert on film, but I had a Siggi’s peach yogurt and some dark chocolate. I have been off the apple for dessert train for some time now because they started to make me feel a bit bloated (aka I had a major fiber baby every time I ate an apple!). Greek yogurt has been a fantastic dessert for me lately, particularly because of the protein boost!
Adding dairy back into my day-to-day does cause me some anxiety because I had been vegan for so long, but I think the protein that often comes along with dairy is a necessary addition to my diet. Not only that, but it has been agreeing with my digestion as far as I can tell. Only time will tell, but as for now, dairy and I are officially friends.
So friends, what’s the best thing you ate all week?
