What I Ate Wednesday #104: Restaurant Quality

Nathan can take credit for the title, but I’m taking credit for the meal behind the title! Not all of my eats from Monday might qualify as restaurant quality, but seeing as how I was pretty darn excited when Nathan made that comment about dinner, I say it works. Honestly, though, who’s to say my favorite oatmeal breakfast shouldn’t be served at a restaurant? I’m pretty sure it’s better than any bowl of oats I’ve ever had out!

[Pre-Workout]

I love starting my morning with a Skoop superfood blueberry bite. Don’t be fooled by the color; they’re delicious!

[Breakfast]

I guess if I were serving this in a restaurant I’d have to make it look a little prettier, huh? Looks aside, the banana, cinnamon, and nut butter combo can’t be beat. Knowing that I have this waiting for me is mostly what gets me through my workouts every morning 😉

[Mid-Morning Snack]

I’ve recently decided that it’s a better idea when I’m not working too late at Athleta to save lunch for after work instead of trying to scarf it down in 15 minutes. [Not to mention, it’s less food to pack the night before!] I’ve fallen back in love with these peanut butter ThinkThin bars. They’re just too good and with 20g of protein, they hold me through the next few hours till lunch.

[Lunch]

And speaking of.. snack plates are fun. And even more fun when you have leftovers [even though this is the pork that I gave Nathan a hard time for ordering]! It’s just tastier than grilled chicken and nice to mix it up sometimes.

[Afternoon Snack]

I totally forgot that I have paleo bread in the freezer! I mixed up some of my NuStevia cocoa syrup into plain greek yogurt, crumbled a piece of bread on top, and drizzled a little more cocoa syrup. It was nice and filling with the protein from the yogurt and the fat from the almond meal in the bread. Yum!

[Dinner]

I have a feeling this dinner is going to become a staple. This is my “restaurant quality meal” courtesy of Half Baked Harvest. I subbed turkey for the beef and made cauliflower rice instead of regular rice [still added the lemongrass but not the coconut milk.] It was super easy because I was just using ground turkey instead of having to slice up some chicken breast and it was crazy flavorful! I also used our homemade thai chili sauce which might have kicked it up an extra notch. Yea.. definitely making this again!

[Evening Snack]
The fuji never fails me! I’ve been trying some new apples since the season is upon us but the fuji is still my go-to.

Food for Thought

What’s your most successful meal that you’ve made?
Now that apple season is back, do you have a favorite kind you’ve been waiting for?

Five Things Friday

Has a week ever passed you by and you’re completely baffled as to where it went and what you actually did? Yea, that’s where I am right now. But it’s Friday so that’s always a good thing. I do love my weekends!

1. I’ve been really craving bread [thanks, Passover] so last night I made a loaf of Elana’s Paleo Bread. It didn’t make it the full 2 hours to cool, whoops! No worries though, it still sliced perfectly and was just as delicious as I remember. I really need to try more of her recipes!
   
2. Yesterday I went into Athleta.. always a mistake because I want everything! Especially this top. It’s next on my list.. good thing Nathan’s birthday is coming up soon. I get presents too, right?
   
   
3. I made a crazy awesome salad for lunch yesterday. It was pretty much crazy awesome because of the sweet potato. I have a strange habit of only buying one sweet potato at a time.. probably because I could eat tons of sweet potato at a time so maybe I’m just subconsciously looking out for myself haha.
   
4. Marshalls is my favorite place to get snacks and fun flavored coffees. The other day I found some white cheddar Chia Pop. It’s not completely gone, but let’s just say it’s on its last leg. I have a popcorn problem. #fail
   
5. When I got my new phone a little over a year ago, I got it from Best Buy and being accident-prone, decided to get the Geek Squad protection. A few weeks ago, my power button stopped working so I put that $10/month to use and traded in my phone.. for a refurbished phone. I’m now on my 4th phone and for a few days had to use a loaner phone. Fingers crossed that this phone works out but bottom line, I would not recommend Geek Squad [I just typed squash.. I have a squash problem too!] protection.

I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend and hitting up the farmers’ market tomorrow.

Food for Thought

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

Five Things Friday

Hi friends! I wasn’t sure I’d get a post up today, but I decided that since I have some time, I wanted to drop in and share a few things.

1. Just My Imagination is having a huge semi-annual sale. Today through August 25th, you can get 40% off your entire order using code 40OFF at checkout. You don’t want to miss this!

2. Nathan and I are in concert mode this week. On Tuesday we cashed in his birthday gift and went to see Buddy Guy and George Thorogood. [Buddy was the jam!] Tomorrow we’re spending our day at Hot August Blues. What beats an all day blues concert outside when the weather is gorgeous?!

3. Speaking of the weather, I can’t believe it’s August. What is this 60 degrees when I wake up and 80 as the high?! It’s beautiful sweater weather but I’m not quite sure I’m ready for fall yet.

4. I absolutely loved making so many recipes from my pinterest boards this past week and I’m currently scouring to figure out what I want to make this weekend! Maybe some more roasted veggies and quinoa?

Roasted Veggie Quinoa Salad – The Talking Kitchen

Also considering a chicken salad. Which one do you think? [Nathan? ;)]

– Honey Chicken Salad with Grapes & Feta
– Lemon Roasted Chicken Salad
– Avocado Cashew Chicken Salad

5. As far as this past week’s recipes go, I’m needing to finish up this post so I can melt down a piece of chocolate banana peanut butter fudge to spread on a piece of toasted paleo bread for today’s snack! So on that note, I’m out! 😉

Have a great weekend!

Food for Thought

What are your weekend plans?

Which chicken salad would you make?

What I Ate Wednesday #51: Pinterest is My BFF

I really do have entirely too many recipes pinned and sometimes I get into a kick where I want to make everything! Unfortunately, most of the time I have high hopes and it just doesn’t pan out. This past week, however, I’ve been making, baking, and devouring! It’s been fun.. especially the devouring part 😉

For Lunches – Kale, Edamame, and Quinoa Salad from Ambitious Kitchen.

Kale, Edamame, & Quinoa Salad – Ambitious Kitchen

Kale, Edamame, & Quinoa Salad – Ambitious Kitchen

I pinned this recipe forever ago. Seriously, my board says it was pinned 43 weeks ago. That’s almost 11 months ago and I still had yet to make it! It looked like a perfect, summery salad so I added the ingredients to my shopping list and had this salad for lunch for two days. I added beets and feta on day one and left out the mango because it wasn’t ripe yet. Day two had the mango and beets, no feta. Either way, it was dynamite! A definite repeat.

For Dinner – Roasted Vegetable and Quinoa Salad from Bev Cooks.

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad – Bev Cooks

As good as it looks. Actually, it’s better than it looks. The recipe says that it serves 4 and after consulting with Bev, herself, it was noted that is for a side serving. I added some sweet potato to the mix and doubled up my side for dinner! Best of all, I had 2 side servings leftover which I’m turning into lunches by topping a bunch of swiss chard with it and adding a few extra things like tomato and mango. Another success!

For Snacks – Paleo Bread from Elana’s Pantry. Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Fudge from Ingredients of a Fit Chick.

Paleo Bread – Elana’s Pantry

I saw this bread in Gina’s post last week and was very intrigued by it. I’ve never made paleo bread before but the idea of bread out of almond flour sounded wonderful! I thought I had all of the ingredients but ended up having to sub half of the almond flour for brown rice flour when I ran out but it still came out great! I think I could have taken it out of the oven a couple minutes earlier since it is a little bit dry, but I guess that just means I have to smother it with peanut butter, right? 😉 [The other half of that broken piece in the middle didn’t last much longer than this picture!]

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Fudge – Ingredients of a Fit Chick

My sweet tooth has been out of control lately and when I saw this sweet treat a couple weeks ago, I knew it would come in handy! I love having snacks like this at my fingertips for when the cravings hit. Let’s see how long they last!

I have also found one of my most favorite salads at a restaurant ever. Most of the time when I order a salad, I’m disappointed by the size. I understand not everyone eats salads out of mixing bowls, but apparently at Looney’s, they are all for it! The picture doesn’t do the size of this salad any justice. Nathan’s friend told me if I couldn’t finish it, he would be happy to help. He must not know me very well..

Greek Salad with Grilled Chicken – Looney’s Pub

If you ever find yourself at Looney’s Pub, the Greek salad topped with grilled chicken is highly recommended!

Food for Thought

How often do you go back through the recipes you’ve pinned to make something new?

Are you a “normal-sized” salad eater or do you go for the mixing bowl?