What I Ate Wednesday #54

 

Hi and welcome to WIAW #54!

Rush, rush, rush…no matter how early I get up, still never enough time in day!  I have been starting my day with some lemon water after my coffee, I find that I drink much more during and after my workout when I add FRESH lemon to it. I just keep refilling all day long. Luckily Trader Joe’s has reasonably priced organic lemons.  I don’t want pesticides floating around in my water all day!

 

After 45 minutes of cardio, followed by 30 minutes of strength training, I was starved.  Instead of my normal avocado toast, I found a new favorite, I call it “avocado toast upgraded”. Here’s a clue.

TOFU

+

Avocado Toast on sprouted protein bread

+

Kale & Mushrooms =

HEAVEN

This is my new favorite breakfast combination! Adding a little tofu “egg” to my avocado toast keeps me full so much longer. After my workout, this is exactly what I need.  After breakfast, I take a pile of vitamins followed my a cup java, no better way for me start my workday.

ENERGIZED!

After breakfast, I packed Mya’s lunch and off to school she went. I miss her already!

On Sunday, I made a nice big pot of a veggie minestrone soup.  Lentils, beans, peas, corn, carrots, celery, onion, sweet potato, russet potatoes, and tomatoes with a little mini pasta thrown in at the end. It was so thick and rich, delicious and totally filling. It was a perfect lunch on the go, heat and eat.  I had to keep away from the thick slab of deli rye that was dying to be dunked into the vegetable bliss.  I indulged the bread by making  Andy a grilled Dayia cheese to dip and vicariously eat through him, the same way I do cookies or soy creamery ice cream!

See all the pretty veggies…

Why does his sandwich have to look so melt-y good. God bless Dayia for giving vegans unbelievable tasting, melting cheese!

All afternoon I prepared for taxes and took breaks to work on a speech I am writing on healthy eating.  After being up to my eyeballs in paperwork all day,  I felt the need for a colorful dinner.  I raided the vegetable drawer to find what I could to put together to try out my new dressing.

Asian Slaw/Salad sounded like a perfect fit!  I had lots I could put in it and even some baked teriyaki tofu that could be some protein on top.

The salad came together beautifully.

The base was one bag of broccoli slaw, chopped sweet peppers, sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, cucumber, red cabbage, spring mix, green onions, mandarin oranges, sesame sunflower salad topping, and finally my new spicy peanut vinaigrette. I liked the vinaigrette but, it was a little too sweet for me, and not quite spicy enough. But I would still give it 4.5 stars. It was so crunchy, I only wish I had some pea sprouts to go on top, but the tofu was a great protein option.

Two bowls later, I was so full, no dessert necessary.

I finished my night with half a pink grapefruit as an 8pm snack.

I was ready to dive into my next vampire tale on my kindle app before finally getting to bed by 10:00pm.  On another note, my vampire reading while on the elliptical is working great, I am walking 45 minutes in the morning and 30 to 45 minutes in the late afternoon, everyday except Sundays.  I can’t believe how fast it goes by, I have finished about 11 books so far. Thank goodness so many books are free or $2.99 on the kindle app with amazon prime, or I would be way over book budget!

I hope you all enjoy another Wednesday.  It’s going to be 55 degrees here outside of Philly today.  I don’t think there will be much snowboarding tonight, but Mya is hoping. She is doing so well, I can’t get enough of watching her, wishing I could have learned when I was younger. She has all the talent, balance and fearlessness I never had. Just like her daddy.

Thank for stopping by!

What I Ate Wednesday #53

 

Happy WIAW! What a week. It flew by with all the busy activities we had going on.  This week was busy with party planning and preparing, a few nights of Mya snow boarding, and lots of tax prep paperwork. Busy indeed! 

My meals for WIAW coincided with Mya’s 10th birthday!  Happy Birthday baby!  So let’s get to the celebratory meals.

I started my day as usual, a cup of coffee followed by 45 minutes on the elliptical buried in a juicy vampire tale. At 6:00am the house began to fill with the scent of cinnamon, vanilla, and coconut oil as I fired up the griddle to begin the b-day breakfast.

I made Mya’s favorite vanilla pancakes. We carried them up stairs with her monster High candle lit, singing happy birthday. It was a 6:30am wake up call to birthday pancakes cake! Prince stayed by my feet in hopes that I would lose my grip on the plate and he would get to enjoy those pancakes! No such luck big guy! Mya was thrilled, she woke up so happy and excited.

Mya and Andy both had pancakes. I had, you guessed it, avocado toast!

While Andy and the birthday girl dined on their pancakes, I started to make Mya’s lunch.  Being her birthday, I wanted to make it a little more fun. 

I turned her favorite Tofurky sandwich into a crown with the help of my “sandwish” cutter. She still loves to get fancy shaped sandwiches, who am I kidding, I love them too.

I also packed her frozen fruit, Chex mix, a banana, and a cupcake of course!

Yum, vanilla cupcakes!!!!!

A happy birthday note was posted on every item from me, Andy, and every pet in the house!

After getting Mya off to school, we had a bit of running around to do.  Before she left for school, I asked her what she wanted for dinner. She requested her favorite meal, so a trip to the store was also in order.  While at the store, it was way past our usual lunch time, so I picked up some convenience food for me and Andy to have a quick lunch as soon as we got home. We were both starving! My convenience food choice, Amy’s frozen vegan black bean burritos.

I heated up my skillet while two burritos spent 3 minutes defrosting in the microwave.  As soon as they were defrosted, I placed them into a hot skillet with a dab of coconut oil so they could grill up on both sides. 

Placed on a bed of spring mix, topped with hot salsa, fresh yellow tomatoes, and a dab of vegan sour cream, these were a perfect lunch. 

Under 400 calories for everything, protein and fiber packed, under 10 minutes to make and totally delicious too!

Mya’s request for her favorite dinner, which I rarely make in the winter, was for BBQ “riblets”, BBQ “chicken”, potatoes and baked beans.  If I had corn on the cob, it would be like summer!

I happily honored her request, but I did not indulge in the “riblets” or “chicken” that she and Andy ate,  I made myself some BBQ seitan.

Potatoes were buttered with one of my favorite spreads.

It was a lovely meal, Mya really enjoyed it.  She asked if we could celebrate again tomorrow, with all the same meals! What more could a mother ask for! 

After my eating that meal, I descended directly from the dinner table to the elliptical to walk for a half hour.  I had to offset some the days meals!

The real birthday celebration took place this past Saturday. Mya had a few of her closest friends over to celebrate her birthday in a “freaky fabulous” way!  A Monster High Party.  All the girls came dressed as a Monster High character.

Mya was transformed into her favorite character, Frankie Stein.

For those of you who do not know what Monster High is, it’s a Mattel branded line.  Move over Barbie--- these “Freaky Fabulous” girls are the latest greatest fad. All the charters are the daughters or sons of famous ghosts, ghouls, monsters and super naturals.  They have a theme that all people are different and everyone has flaws, and that you should embrace everything about yourself, because it makes you who you are.  No bullying, everyone is supposed to be different and everyone is accepted no matter how different they may look.  So these girls embraced the theme and transformed into the Monster High gang!

Three hours of singing, dancing, playing and eating were enjoyed as the girls helped Mya celebrate!

The party was a success! Mya was thrilled, we all had a great time. 

Here’s to WHAT I ATE WEDNESDAY! Frankie Stein and I both hope you have a “freaky fabulous” day!