WIAW and deep thoughts about gnocchi

Oh hi blog. Remember me?

Fewf. I thought this was gonna be awkward.





Okay pretty sure this was what I ate on... Monday... Yeah. Let's go with Monday.

Remember my very serious life or death quandary about... what to eat for breakfast? A lovely commenter pointed out that basically what I was asking for was the exact same qualifications for vegan breakfast.

Oh duh. Why didn't I think of that?

So here was my first attempt at vegan breakfast.



It ain't oatmeal!!

(I'm still boycotting oatmeal. We're not on speaking terms. On account of oatmeal being such a MANWHORE.)

It's actually bulgur. If you've never had it, I think it tastes a lot like brown rice but takes 1/3 of the time to cook.

I put it in the pan with some almond milk and then when it was done cooking I added slivered almonds and some chopped up raisin.

My morning snack was at the advice of another commenter on my breakfast post.



Green smoothie! Spinach, banana, strawberry, almond milk, sweetener. Done and done.

I started lunch off with a salad.



Spinach, almonds, roasted beets, butternut squash and poppyseed dressing.

I'm not gonna lie I ate 1/3 of the beets before I just could not take it anymore. I shoved the rest to the side and then eventually into the trash. Unfortunately their weird beety juices had contaminated the rest of the salad and I didn't finish it.

But don't worry. Cuz I had this too.



Ham and cheese PANINI!!

True story, I hate sandwiches. They are so boring and cold food doesn't really do it for me. I prefer hot meals.

But if you grill them and they get all warm and gooey and there are visible sear marks then it is no longer a sandwich... it is a... magical lunch food of deliciousness and awesome.

I am going to be eating paninis for days.

I don't have a picture of dinner. It was some overcooked honey garlic chicken (crock pot fail) with brussel sprouts, some spinach and Alexa criss cut sweet potato fries.

In a dream world after that I had a glass of water and went to bed.

In the real world where my bottom is ever-expanding I then went to my parent's house and had 4 pieces of pizza and some ice cream.

BUT let's not talk about that.

Let's talk about this.

Yesterday I made gnocchi for the first time. I made 3 different batches trying to find the perfect consistency. Unfortunately I have never had gnocchi before. I have NO IDEA what it's supposed to be like!

This was batch #2.



Chewy on the outside, but fluffy and bready on the inside. Batch #1 was super chewy and dense, Batch #3 was even fluffier than this and had almost no "chew" to it at all.

So if there are any resident gnocchi experts in the audience help a sista out.

Does this picture look right? Do you like your gnocchi chewier or fluffier?

The fate of my italian themed jewelry party rests in your hands.

What I Ate Wednesday (Tuesday)

Today I decided to try amping up the protein in an attempt to keep the hunger monster at bay. (It didn't work that well by the way. At the moment? Hardcore craving a quesadilla. Or 3.)

Kicked off the morning with a scramble.

Eggs, ham, tofu, and broccoli.

Why tofu with eggs and ham? Added protein for minimal calories and to get a greater variety of micronutrients in.

Also on the menu? This amazing tea.

Buy this!

Then it was off to work. Booooo. And at 11 am a snack to refuel.

Frozen strawberries, almond milk, vanilla, sweetener, tofu.

Definitely tasted the tofu in this so I'll have to try something different next time.

I read something online- tips about how to lose weight. A suggestion was "replace one meal with a salad". So I'm trying that.

Baby greens with a hummus dressing. (Hummus thinned with water) Topped with roasted brussel sprouts, carrots and baked falafel patties. I find that I like salad a lot more when it's mixed with some cooked elements. Tons of raw veggies just isn't my thing I guess.

I snacked on a handful of frozen grapes, a slice of watermelon and an ear of corn.

Dinner was something new to me!

Baked tofu with bbq sauce, green beans and "fried" brown rice. I didn't dig the tofu much. Much rather would have had chicken. Ha.

Also? There is a recipe online for baking brown rice and it is THE BEST brown rice I have EVER made/tasted/nommed upon. Make it this way. It will kick your old way's butt majorly.

Also also? The turkey bacon at Trader Joe's is thick cut and amazingly delicious. So much better than the regular name brands I have tried. Unfortunately, it comes at a price. A hefty one.

I spent the night doing a little exercising, roasting a pumpkin, and making pumpkin syrup/pumpkin cream cheese spread. I'm passing the syrup along to my dad who wanted "pumpkin spice" coffee but the spread is miiineee all miiiineee! I will possibly share it with my husband. Possibly.

I cannot wait to pick up some bagels at the store to accompany the deliciousness.

Now? I'm off to chill with this sweet little guy.

Love. <3

Breakfast Challenge Day 1

What I Ate Wednesday ya'll! Head over and check out the party. Woot woot!

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Okay so yesterday was day 1 of my big ol' breakfast experiment.

I kicked off the day with some oat bran. I actually ate peaches and cream oat bran but it was 5:30 am, the picture didn't turn out right, yada yada yada... so I'm showing you this hazelnut cocoa oatbran instead.

This nutty, chocolatey version actually took my oatbran virginity.

I have not gone back to oatmeal since. o.O Please don't hate me oatmeal. I think we just need to see other people/oat varieties for awhile.

Awkward.

Then, because this is the GIANT breakfast challenge, I also had one of these guys.

Kale banana nut smoothie. Lemme just say? Yum. I got the idea from here, but I changed a few things. I didn't use flax seed cuz... I forgot. Also, the first time I made the smoothie I used whole cashews and ground them up... but the smoothie was mealy. No bueno.

So this time I used nut butter. A peanut, almond, cashew blend from Target. I HIGHLY recommend cashew with this... And next time I will splurge and buy full cashew butter just for this shake.

I also added in a bit of greek yogurt for protein and a splash or two of almond milk, but that's about it.

This is, far and away, the best smoothie I have ever tasted. Ever. Seriously.

I usually don't list calorie counts when I link up to WIAW but since I'm doing a special challenge, I'll tell you my breakfast totals. 460 without my coffee, 510 with the coffee.

WhaaaAaattt?! Yeah. That is almost 3x what I normally eat in the morning and I definitely felt "Kingly" stuffing my face in the name of science.

Now for my princely lunch.

After work I headed out to Trader Joe's to grab a few essentials. Once I got home (at 12:30 pm) I was fairly hungry.

Not starved, but pretty hungry.

So I quickly threw these guys into a pan with some soy sauce, rooster sauce and hoisin.

Bean sprouts! Yum! There was about double this but... yeah... as I said. I was hungry.

While I ate those I made this salad.

Red leaf lettuce, baby carrots, cucumber, roasted cauliflower, low-fat ranch dressing and onion straws.

Dessert? Yes please!

The only new-to-me thing I got from Trader Joe's.

This is definitely going to be a staple in my freezer from now on. Only 100 calories per half cup serving and it's YUMMY. It's not the same taste as "original tart" froyo or the froyo I make myself... but I really like it. The quart is only $1 more than it costs to make froyo at home and it has less calories.

So... no brainer. Why do the work when you have the fabulous Trader Joe people to do it for you? ;)

After I ate that I was still craving yogurt. Which is odd cuz... I don't really like yogurt... as I've adamantly stated. But whatever. I just went with it.

Greek yogurt + blackberry preserves. I sorta made myself eat this. It sounded better in theory than it actually tasted. I think I like yogurt... but I like it really, really cold. Like... freezing cold.

So what was my tiny pauper dinner?

Salmon with salsa on a bed of black beans. It was yummy.

My favorite thing I ate all day though?

Definitely this.

A giant movie-watching snack plate! A few roasted sweet potato rounds, roasted radishes seasoned with Trader Joe's 21 seasoning salute, some cheddar cheese, broken up crackers, cucumber slices with pepper, smoked sea salt and feta cheese, sliced strawberry, kale chips and roasted snap peas.

I dipped the kale chips in some ketchup. Omgosh. Best thing ever. Thank you Microcosm of Life!

And I dipped the snappies into rooster sauce/peanut dressing combo.

I will probably start making these every night before bed. I just loved the huge variety of yummy vegetables and can't wait to start thinking up other good combinations. :)

Yesterday was a GREAT day!

I thought I was going to be STARVING because I ate so many calories early in the day but it was exactly the opposite! I really did feel fuller and satisfied all day, even with less food.

I still ate the same amount of calories I usually do but somehow eating them in reverse order made me feel more... satisfied.

So I think I *maybe* might be a big breakfast convert! Woohoo! I've joined the darkside! And there's oatbran and kale banana nut smoothies for everyone!