Tag Archives: food

Snacks Lately

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I’m exhausted – physically and mentally, and the only thing getting me through is my day off on Friday!  It’s this goal that is still a few days away but not so far it seems out of reach.  Part of the reason for my physical exhaustion was Monday’s 11-hour workday (don’t ask) and the two hours I had splitting up my day was spent at the gym running a really rough 4 1/2 miler.  A night of less-than-great sleep, a second 3:30 am wake-up call, another 7 hours on my feet, a tough leg workout, and then an hour of shoveling snow.  At least I know how to do it in style… ;)

225303_862435540309_1918680002_n1/2 marathon training is really pushing my body to new limits and this week is re-assuring that point while also bringing in the struggles associated with working a job that has you on your feet without a break.  I’m really trying to be mindful of how my body FEELS so as to not push it beyond what it’s actually capable of AND being sure to stretch and foam roll often.

 

It’s also safe to say, my appetite has been creeping up more and more.  When things are slow at work, I know I need to be mindful of “boredom snacking” or dehydration versus “real” hunger but thankfully, I’m usually a pretty good judge.

 

 

I decided to participate in WIAW again this week and share some of my favorite snacks I’ve been enjoying the past few weeks.  I get on kicks with different food items and right now, I just can’t get enough of these:

 

Smoothies:

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Despite the cold, a smoothie always sounds good!  I haven’t had that many, but I assure you my body has been CRAVING them.

 

Yogurt with granola:

photo-204My lunch 99% of the time is a yogurt bowl with fruit and cereal or granola.  This often means I don’t have yogurt for a snack as well but since Chobani sent me some of their new Bites, they’ve made a perfect snack!  I love the new flavors so much, it’s possible I’ve had yogurt for a snack AND lunch on the same day. ;)

 

Apple & Celery with peanut butter:

photo-202Does that ever get old?  I don’t think so!

photo-200Or an apple with a side of an apple oatmeal muffin is also always a great choice.  These have been in the freezer and I took them out to enjoy this week.  Just as good!

 

Rice cakes with toppings:

photo-203Now I’m all about a rice cake with a simple peanut butter smear, but why not mix some peanut butter (or PB2) with a 1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder and a splash of almond milk to make frosting?!  Top with a handful of granola or raisins…

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…or strawberries!

 

YUM!

 

What are some of your favorite snacks lately?

Coconut Veggie Sliders

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Remember when I said I wasn’t going to participate in WIAW link-ups unless I thought I had something to contribute?  I have something to contribute.  In fact, I have a few things to contribute because you see, I’ve been changing up my eats, I’ve been cooking, I’ve been creating new recipes.  And lucky for you, I’m going to share!

 
We all know yogurt bowls are my favorite lunch, I eat it almost every day, but sometimes it’s good to change it up…sorta.  A bowl with fruit + a Chobani bite and a 1/2 sandwich with a slice of P28, spinach, hard boiled egg white and TJ’s roasted pepper spread.

photo-198This lunch was so good and a nice little change from my usual while still offering me a daily comfort.

—

After Saturday’s race, we went to eat at a local pub in Madison.  I got their falafel wrap with hot apples, but only ate 1/2 the wrap and took the rest home.  Alongside I made a giant salad with roasted brussels and a homemade dressing.

photo-199This was delicious and while the wrap didn’t hold up quite as nicely as I would have liked, it was still a delicious dinner!

—

I love giant salads for dinner and finding new, easy ways to change them up and make them tasty.  One way I love to do that is with the toppings and one night that meant veggie burger + lots of avocado.

photo-197But that’s no ordinary veggie burger, those are my coconut veggie sliders and they’re delicious!!

 

Coconut Veggie Sliders

by Katie Arnold

Ingredients (12 sliders)

  • 1/2 cup carrot, chopped
  • 1/2 cup red pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 cup celery tops, chopped
  • 1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
  • 1/4 red onion, chopped
  • 2 tsp Garlic powder
  • 2 tsp Cumin
  • Salt & Pepper
  • 2 tsp Coconut Oil
  • 3 tsp Water
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1/4 cup almond flour
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1/2 cup planko bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup coconut
  • 1/4 cup oats

Instructions

Saute carrot, red pepper, celery tops, mushrooms and red onion with some salt & pepper in a little olive oil until soft.

Put sauted veggies in a food processor with garlic powder, cumin, coconut oil, water and a bit more salt & pepper and blend until well combined.

Add the coconut flour, almond flour and panko and blend until combined.

Pulse in coconut and oats.

Take 1/4 cup of “dough” and form into small patties. You should be able to get 11-12 mini sliders.

Cook in a pan with coconut oil until browned, flipping 1/2 way through. You can also bake in a 375* oven for 20 minutes, flipping again 1/2 way through.

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Happy What I Ate Wednesday! It feels good to be back!

Eat your veggies, people!  Right, Jen? ;)

 

How have you changed up your meals this week?

WIAW Honesty

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I’m going to be honest today.  Honest with you all.  But most importantly, I’m being honest with myself.  Sometimes that’s harder to do than you may think.

You see, I enjoy partaking in What I Ate Wednesdays.  They can be fun and a great opportunity to share new recipes, snack or meal ideas, but I’m a creature of habit and often eat the same (or similar versions of the same) foods everyday.  It can get old.  Not for me to eat, but to share with others.  I try to change it up from time to time but that doesn’t really work.  I like what I eat and I like how it makes my body feel (the most important thing for me).

 

Where am I going with this?

I like joining in the WIAW fun but I think it’s time I cut back.  It’s not to say I won’t partake anymore, but it’s not going to be every week.  It might be a few weeks in a row, or it might be several weeks apart.

 

Why?

Because for me it’s about quality, not quantity.  It’s about talking less, saying more.  It’s about ensuring I’m putting together posts that I feel good about sharing, not just posts for the sake of posting.

 

With that said, here’s my What I Ate Wednesday…

photo-191Oatmeal with banana, raisins and chia seeds for breakfast.

photo-190Chobani banana yogurt, blueberries and granola served in a jar and consumed while working a double.

photo-189Pizza, beer and football….remind me again why I’m single? ;)

 

So for those of you who find your way here on Wednesdays, thank you and I hope you’ll stick around, come back soon, and enjoy what else I have to say. :)

 

Tell me how your week is going!

Tell me something yummy that you ate!

Changing It Up

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IMG_1134I don’t know about where you are, but dang, it’s been cold here these past couple days.  But I’m not complaining, I’m still embracing every moment of weather change that occurs in my life since moving from Southern California.  Some people do better in warmer climates, some do better where the weather changes.  I’m one of the latter.

 

I have to tell you I’m having a pretty great week.  It’s always amazing how much your thinking, your mentality and your life can change by simply changing your mentality!

IMG_1125I believe I took this photo from Jef Holm’s (from the Bachelorette) Instagram. It’s now the background of my phone and I love it.

 

Anyway, here’s a bit of what I’ve been eating this week.  I’m trying to change things up a bit, can you tell?

Screen Shot 2013-01-22 at 4.51.22 PM-French toast made with an english muffin and soaked in a egg batter with cinnamon, almond extract and almond milk, and topped with fresh sliced strawberries, a little peanut butter and Chobani.  This was SO good!

-A test recipe for banana blueberry buckwheat muffins.  Stay tuned, these aren’t ready yet…Yes, I ate them anyway.

-Giant arugula salads with my pesto pearl couscous

-Oats in an (almost) empty peanut butter jar, topped with sliced bananas and raisins.  Alongside a delicious cup of coffee with almond milk.  #partofthiscompletebreakfast ;)

 

Have a lovely day!

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How’s your week going?

Any particularly delicious eats? 

Any new recipes I must try? <- I don’t have any for you yet. My bad.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Protein Smoothie

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I’m in the middle of a busy week, though I swear every week feels pretty darn busy lately.  I’ve got a lot going on on the back end of things – chiropractor appointments, writing, planning, researching, training, and working at the coffee shop.

229463_806056239879_38152901_nBut since it’s Wednesday, I have to share some fun and delicious eats with you.  As a reminder, this is not all I eat in a single day as there are snacks un-pictured.

photo-183

Breakfast: English muffin with peanut butter & banana with a side of coffee with almond milk

 

Snack: Chocolate covered strawberry protein smoothie

 

Lunch: 0% Plain Chobani with blackberries, cereal + granola and a sprinkle of raisins (I promise there’s greek yogurt under there). ;)

 

Dinner: Loaded sweet potato with peanut butter, cinnamon and Greek yogurt

 

TASTY!

 And as for that smoothie…seriously delicious!

 

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Protein Smoothie

by Katie Arnold

Keywords: blender snack beverage strawberry

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Ingredients (serves 1)

  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 1-2 TBSP cocoa powder
  • 2/3 cup almond milk
  • 5-6 strawberries, sliced
  • handful ice

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend.

Sip and enjoy.

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Also, I won a giveaway on Lauren’s blog and was sent this amazing care package from the kind folks over at KIND.  THANK YOU SO MUCH!

photo-185Don’t forget to enter my Chobani giveaway!

 

What delicious eats have you had this week?

The Jar of Good Things

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I feel like I have SO much I want to talk about and share with you today that I have to split up my posts between days or you might be reading for the next several hours… ;)   And since it’s Wednesday I am going to make sure I share some tasty eats with you but first I want to talk about the jar of good things.

delicious african pb my sister brought back for me last year. (an old picture...that stuff is so good and LONG gone)

delicious african pb my sister brought back for me last year. (an old picture…that stuff is so good and LONG gone)

Not that kind of good things, though it IS good…I mean this kind of jar of good things:

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The idea?

jar-of-good-things

I’ve seen this idea floating around the internet for a few weeks now and as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to join!  I saved the image to my computer and kept it open for weeks so that I would remember every time I saw it.

 

Here’s what my jar looks like:

photo-180And did you notice, it’s already got something in it! :)

 

Anyway, I promised some tasty eats and I have to say with my parents being out of town, I’m loving cooking for myself again.  While I appreciate the free groceries and endless home-cooked meals, I’m itching to get my own place again and do all my own grocery shopping and cooking.  I’m confident 2013 will help me get there sooner rather than later.

So with that, here’s some of what I’ve been eating:

photo-177After craving sushi for weeks, I picked up some California rolls from Trader Joes.  While I know not to expect much, they were a bit of a disappointment to the usual TJ’s sushi quality, but still good.  Alongside I had a big greens salad with roasted brussels.

photo-178This was originally supposed to be a salmon burger with roasted brussels and sweet potato on the side but the salmon burger did NOT come out as anticipated.  Thankfully I had just finished making hard boiled eggs for snacks this week and smashed a few with some mustard for an egg sandwich.  So yummy!

photo-179This meal stole the show! After the New Years / Commitment Day run, we decided to go out for lunch somewhere in the city.  My friends were telling me about this place called Karyn’s Cooked, a gourmet vegan restaurant that wasn’t too far from the event.  They were raving about it so we HAD to go.  I got the falafel which was absolutely amazing; I nearly cleaned my plate!  Honestly, I can’t wait to go back!

 

Hope everyone is having a great start to the New Year!

Any delicious eats this week?

Are you doing any fun ways to remember the good things that happen to you this year?

WIAW / Traditional Holiday Eats

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If I was a good food blogger, you’d be seeing my eats from the Christmas weekend.  Well…things don’t always go as planned and sometimes life happens and we forget to take pictures of our food.  Or the more realistic scenario where you become so hungry you can’t help but dig in, only to remember later you meant to take a picture.  Oops.

 

Since tradition exist, that means I have pictures from years past…here’s a bit of what I’ve eaten this and for many Christmas past:

IMG_0219IMG_0221IMG_0204

And because I’ve received some requests, here is the recipe I used for the 15 loaves of zucchini bread made for gifts.  This is a recipe our family has made every year but with the changes I used this year and while it was slightly different, still got rave reviews from the peanut gallery. ;)

 

Zucchini Bread

by Katie Arnold

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Ingredients (2-3 loaves)

  • 3 eggs (well-beaten)
  • 3/4 cup Chobani Greek yogurt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups white flour
  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 cups grated zucchini

Instructions

Combine all ingredients.

Divide into 3 small loaf pans or 2 regular loaf pans. Bake in a 350* oven for 1 hour (if 2 loaves) or 45 mins (if 3 loaves) or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

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As usual, thank you to Jenn for bringing us together for this foodie (festive) fun!



 

What yummy eats did you have over the holidays?

Banana GingerBread!

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Happy Wednesday all you lovely people!

 

There’s some exciting things happening and lots of planning and figuring things out over here but nothing I can share yet, partly because it’s not ready yet.  But I have high hopes for what’s ahead in 2013 and I hope you all join me for the ride!

But since it’s Wednesday, that means it’s time for What I Ate Wednesday and instead of the usual sharing of my eats, I want to share a recipe today.  One that is so good and that I’m so proud of, that I don’t want it to lose any of it’s glory.  It deserves a post all it’s own.

 

And if you don’t believe me, just ask my dad how many times I’ve said “I love this! I’m so happy with this recipe!” as I sneak another bite of the delicious bread.

 

And if you still don’t believe me, what if I tell you that my dad, who isn’t a big fan of banana bread or gingerbread, called this “a great balance of the two flavors.”

photo-173

Yes, that’s right – banana and gingerbread.  And it turned out even more amazing than my mind even thought it may.  Don’t wait, make this for your Christmas morning brunch or to eat right.now!

 

Banana Gingerbread

by Katie Arnold

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Ingredients

  • 2 bananas, mashed
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1 TBSP coconut oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cloves
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp ginger

Instructions

Combine all wet ingredients, bananas + sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together all dry ingredients.

Mix together the wet and dry ingredients until incorporated.

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 325* for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

ENJOY!

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What delicious eats have you had this week?

What I Ate Wednesday // Pancake Fail

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I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already.  I swear the weeks are just FLYING by lately which could be seen as a good or bad thing, I’m not sure.  But Christmas is quickly approaching and while all of my shopping is done (sweet!), I’m trying to enjoy the season and wouldn’t mind it slowing down at least a little bit.

I’m also working on several plans – career, life, blog, etc and I feel like time is just flying by and I’m not getting nearly as much brainstorming done as I’d like.  Because let’s face it, it’s all just brainstorming right now. ;)

But it’s Wednesday which means I have some super yummy eats for you.  I was hoping to have a recipe but when you base your new pancake recipe off an already proven failed pancake recipe, well you just end up with another pancake fail mess.  #truth.

 

Thankfully second chances exist so I hope to have a perfected recipe for you all next week.  Stay tuned… And until then, you can drool over some other really delicious eats.

 

Breakfast:

If I didn’t convince you last week of my love affair with cranberry sauce, the fact that my dad surprised me with a package of Thomas Cranberry English Muffins should be more proof fuel for the fire.

Topped with the usual peanut butter, banana, and chia seeds.  With a side of un-pictured coffee x10… ;)

 

Lunch:

I was wandering Target the other day (dangerous!) and ran across these Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal and couldn’t pass it up.  It was like everything I could have ever wanted and knew it would be best topped on a sliced apple with Chobani Apple Cinnamon.

So I did it.  And I loved every bite.  More, please?

 

Dinner: 

My parents were having my uncle and his girlfriend over for dinner with the plans to have smoked brisket.  This little vegetarian lady obviously wanted no part of that so I scrounged the internet for a lentil recipe and while it tasted great, it didn’t turn out the way I wanted.

But like I said, it tasted great and I think my uncle’s girlfriend was eyeing my bowl.  What can I say? I think it’s better than brisket. ;)

 

P.S. This Elf4Health challenge was a lot harder than I anticipated.  

Note to self: drink more water.

Now please excuse me, I’m off to work on that whole pancake fail…

 

What were some of your tasty eats this week?

Have you ever had lentils? What’s your favorite recipe? (Link it in the comments!)

What was the last recipe fail you had in the kitchen?

WIAW // FaceTime

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Ever since I started my job 3 months ago, I’ve had to close Wednesday nights.  Until today.  Somehow I got today off (thank you new hires!) and I couldn’t be happier.  My day is pretty jam packed with tackling my to-do list and some errands, but I’m so excited  for another day off to relax.  (Though I am really confused about what day it is…)

 

Thankfully, my blog writing schedule reminds me that it’s Wednesday which means What I Ate Wednesday.  It’s always nice when there’s some kind of constant to remind you what day it is… ;)


And as usual, I had some DEEEEE-licious eats!

 

Breakfast:

With the weather getting cooler, oatmeal for breakfast sounds better and better every single morning.  And since it’s nearly December and the holiday season is in full swing, I’m in the process of finding the perfect combination of spices for gingerbread oatmeal.  Stay tuned, it’s coming.

For now, it’s cinnamon chia banana oatmeal topped with peanut butter, with a side of coffee and a view of the Christmas tree.

 

Lunch:

My usual fruit, yogurt and cereal bowl.  Every time I think about something else for lunch, it just doesn’t sound as tasty as my yogurt bowl or I become sad at the thought of NOT having my yogurt bowl that day.  I’m such a creature of habit and I can’t change that.

Deal with it that deliciousness.

 

Dinner:

I offered to bring roasted veggies for Thanksgiving dinner and seeing as I was informed some of my family didn’t like brussels sprouts, I’m glad I didn’t tell them what veggies I was thinking.  HA! (They admitted they tasted pretty good so I hopefully didn’t lose my opportunity to bring food in the future…)

But I made a LOT of veggies and thankfully there was some left over.  We went out for Mexican food Friday night to celebrate passing my test.  I saved two of my fish tacos to take home and mixed them with some of the leftover veggies and I ended up with 3 fish + Thanksgiving veg tacos.  YUM!

Now with the holidays in full swing, it’s time to start planning our Christmas Eve and Christmas morning menu, as well as which cookies I want to bake (and try to make healthier while still being full-flavor).  Bring.it.on!

And if anyone wants to send me one (or all) of these cute face mugs, I would gladly fill it with soy milk or hot chocolate to dip my Christmas cookies. ;)

Today I’m super Thankful for technology.  Not in the “I can’t live with out my phone” way, but in the “it keeps me connected to my friends and the people I care about” kind of way.  And when I can FaceTime with the friends that I miss so very much, it’s something to be Thankful for.

 

How was your Thanksgiving?

What were some of your favorite eats?