What I Ate Wednesday #81!

Morning! And welcome to another installment of What I Ate Wednesday! Today’s edition actually recaps my eats from Monday. I’ve featured weekend eats the past few times, so today I thought I’d share what I ate on a fairly typical workday.

To start my day I had a delicious new smoothie combo! It was a coconut almond butter smoothie with dates! I used 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk, 1 frozen banana, 1/3 cup old fashioned oats, 2 tbsp almond butter, 2 dates (chopped), and 1 tbsp chia seeds. Heaven.

My mid-morning snack at work was plain greek yogurt topped with some honey sesame almonds from Trader Joe’s. The almonds sweetened it up a bit and gave the snack a nice crunch!

I also had some sesame seed crackers from Whole Foods. Lots of sesame going on that day!

Lunch was a wonderful new quinoa salad. Made with lots of veggies and a variety of spices including curry, chili powder and ginger. Recipe to come! I ate the quinoa salad over a layer of garbanzo beans and topped it with tahini. So good!

I also had some red grapes with lunch. Still loving the grapes.

And for an afternoon snack I had two of my Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bites!

When I got home that evening I had a few pretzels before dinner.

And for dinner I had a big plate of veggies. Roasted veggies, a cauliflower/potato mash, sauerkraut and some melon.

Dessert was a homemade frozen Bailey’s ice cream bar that my Mom made. It was quite wonderful!

Be sure to head on over to Jenn’s page to see where this WIAW party gets started!

TGIW,

Sydney

Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bites

Finally. After seeing recipe after recipe of amazing little granola bites, or power balls as some people call them, I finally made a batch of my own!

I’ve tried them before when other family members and friends have made them, but I never got around to whipping up a batch until now. And let me tell you, it will not be the last time I make these!

This batch was a Chocolate Peanut Butter version, but the options are endless and I cannot wait to create some more. For a quick, easy, and delicious snack, make these crunchy, chewy, creamy granola bites today!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bites

Makes ~20 small bites

1 cup old fashioned oats

1/2 cup of natural, creamy unsalted peanut butter

1/3 cup of honey

2 tbsp raisins

1 tbsp hemp seeds

2 tbsp chia seeds

1 tbsp of chocolate hemp seed powder (or cocoa powder!)

Mix all ingredients together in a medium sized mixing bowl, then refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Form into approximately 20 balls.

Store in the fridge and eat chilled. Enjoy!

What I Ate Wednesday #80!

It’s Wednesday! And time for the 80th installment of What I Ate Wednesday! Last weekend I went up to Green Bay again and had a great time with family. I also had some tasty food!

Sunday morning I had a delicious breakfast of a combination of grape nuts cereal and Ezekiel brand cinnamon raisin cereal. I topped it with a sliced banana, creamy peanut butter and coconut milk.

 

Mid morning I had two power balls that my Step Mom  made, they were delicious! They were chocolate peanut butter flavored. I liked them so much I tried making a batch last night with a few new twists. I’ll share the recipe soon!

Just a cute picture of our dog sprawled out across my lap.

Lunch was a fresh, chilled quinoa salad on top of a bed of arugula and a piece of bread with hummus. So lovely.

Even though it’s August, it was about 61 degrees on Sunday afternoon. Nothing like hot chocolate in the middle of August.

Dinner once I was home that night was a sampler platter plate of glory. Two farmer’s market carrots, an arugula salad with tomato and balsamic and olive oil. Some unfortunately tasteless mango…and a whole wheat tortilla with spicy hummus! For dessert that night I had a dish of plain greek yogurt, coconut, chex mix and dark chocolate. Forgot to snap a pic. And that was my Sunday!

Make sure to go check out Jenn’s page, the lovely host of this WIAW get together!

TGIW,

Sydney

Creamy Tahini Tempeh Salad with Zesty BBQ Sauce

If you’re looking for a quick and easy salad for dinner tonight, try this Creamy Tahini Tempeh Salad with Zesty BBQ Sauce!

It is a simple and delicious combination of flavor and textures. The creamy tahini and zesty BBQ sauce are a wonderful compliment to the nutty tempeh. And the fresh pea shoots add a lovely fresh and crisp crunch!

Creamy Tahini Tempeh Salad with Zesty BBQ Sauce

Serves 1

A few heaping handfuls of greens (spinach, arugula, mixed greens, etc.)

1/2 cup of pea shoots, chopped

1/2 an 8 oz. block of tempeh, pre-cooked* and chopped

1 tbsp of tahini

1 tbsp of BBQ sauce

To make this salad simply top the bed of greens with the pea shoots, tempeh, tahini and BBQ! Enjoy!

*Note: I used Trader Joe’s Tempeh which is pre-cooked and ready to eat!

 

What I Ate Wednesday #79

Morning all, and happy Wednesday! I hope this post finds you well and that you are having a wonderful week! Today I’m sharing my eats from last Saturday, another tasty day of eats. Make sure to stop on over to Jenn’s site, the lovely blogger who hosts this What I Ate Wednesday get together each week!

On Saturday morning I went out for breakfast with my mom, grandma, sister and two of my cousins, and had this amazing pineapple stuffed with greek yogurt, fresh fruit, granola and honey. I was literally served an entire half of a pineapple, which was filled with amazing goodies. I ate about half of it and saved the rest for the next day.

Midmorning as I ran some errands with my sister I finished up a piece of banana flax bread that I bought from Outpost the other day. Quite the tasty banana bread! Reminds me I need to make my own loaf again soon.

Lunch was a mix of all things veggie: carrots, snap peas and a chilled veggie salad of sorts that had onions, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers and more. Also had some hummus and grapes on the side. I have been loving all the crunchy red grapes I’ve gotten lately. So good!

That afternoon I had a slice of Great Harvest’s High Five Fiber bread. It’s pretty amazing and I just ate the piece of the bread plain.

I also snacked on an oatmeal bar that I made the other day. I’m still working on the recipe so hopefully I’ll have something to share soon!

Dinner was leftover arugula and artichoke pizza. Eaten cold. I love cold pizza.

And a clementine. This one was perfect, and the next one I peeled was awful. You never know how they will turn out!

Later that night I went to one of my best friend’s birthday party. The theme was the 90’s, and it was awesome. She even made Dunkaroo dip! Do you remember Dunkaroos!?

And check out the 90’s museum. So fun!

I also had a vanilla cupcake that another one of my best friends brought along to share. Yum yum.

TGIW,

Sydney

 

 

Blackberry Mango Smoothie

Smoothie time! Lately I’ve been having at least one smoothie a week for breakfast, and I’ve got a new combo that I think you’ll like! I’ve enjoyed having smoothies all summer, probably because I’ve finally switched it up a bit from my normal toast/english muffin with peanut butter and a banana, or yogurt bowl breakfasts (which I ate more frequently last spring as I was finishing up grad school). Don’t get me wrong, both are delicious breakfast dishes, but I think I’ve gotten a little tired of the same thing over and over and I’m glad I’ve moved on to smoothies. Which are super versatile!

And since Fridays always seem like a good day for a nice, quick and easy breakfast, I thought I’d share this smoothie with you. It’s a delicious and satisfying way to start your day!

This Blackberry Mango smoothie is wonderful. And absolutely beautiful as well! Look at that purple! I love how gorgeous and vibrant the colors of real, whole foods are. This smoothie features frozen blackberries which give it the deep purple hue. Food is much more fun to eat when it looks good too!

Blackberry Mango Smoothie

Serves 1

1 cup of unsweetened coconut milk

1/2 cup of chopped mango, frozen

1/2 cup of blackberries, frozen

3/8 cup of old fashioned oats

1 tbsp of chia seeds

2 tbsp of nut butter of choice (I’d recommend almond butter!)

To make this smoothie, add the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

WIAW #78: Farmer’s Market Eats

Happy Wednesday! I hope your week has been off to a great start and that you’ve got something fun planned for today. It is Wednesday, after all! I’m joining in on the link-up party hosted by Jenn over at Peas and Crayons again, and I hope you enjoy my recap of last Saturday’s eats. My morning started off bright and early, about 6:30 am, so my sister and I could drive to the huge farmer’s market surrounding our capitol building in Madison! Breakfast on-the-go was a peanut butter banana oat smoothie. Oldie but a goodie! We stopped for gas about five minutes into our trip and I was glad to see that there was hand sanitizer next to the pumps.  I was wondering what the ‘scent’ would be, and it was a bizarre, sweet minty scent that I recognized but couldn’t quite place. I thought it smelled like Tic Tacs, but my sister nailed it and said it was the smell of wintergreen Lifesavers! Have you ever had those? By the time we made it to the market it was already packed! I was so excited to go, as I hadn’t been to the Madison farmer’s market in four years. It is unbelievably large and has so much to offer! My sister and I had a few things on our list that we knew we had to find. One of them was this amazing bread vendor that sold fresh, hot, doughy bread with a bit of gooey cheese and some heat! We remembered it from years ago and had to have it again. Luckily, it didn’t take us long to find it. Stella’s here we come! We got in line quick and bought the large loaf of their famous bread. We each ripped of a few hunks and munched on them on the lawn outside of the capitol. It was such a beautiful day to be out at a market! We walked around a bit more, finished food shopping, and then got lost on our way back to the parking structure. We literally parked about five minutes from the market, and I think it took us about a half an hour of wandering around to find it…we pulled out a map at one point, probably looked a little lost,  and a nice girl offered us help. We proceeded to follow her directions and walked around for about 20 minutes before realizing we were going in the opposite direction. Better luck next time! Anyway, we were super hot by the time we made it to the car from lugging about 20 pounds of fresh produce and baked goods with us, so we took a short break sitting in the car and chugging water like there was no tomorrow. After a we regained our energy, we headed out to find lunch! We ended up going to a Mexican restaurant on State Street, a super fun street filled with restaurants and shops. I wasn’t too hungry and decided to go with the fresh guacamole appetizer. Good decision! Once we got back home that afternoon I ate half of my whole wheat dark chocolate chip scone. It was pretty amazing. Not dry and scony at all, it was moist and dense! For dinner that night my sister and I went to our step-brother and sister-in-law’s house! It was a wonderful evening hanging out with them and our little niece! It’s always great spending time with family. And we had fun preparing a dish with our farmer’s market finds! We brought along this fresh salad with spinach, cilantro, yellow cherry tomatoes, raw corn, raisins, almonds and a mustard vinaigrette dressing. The rest of dinner was a delicious stir-fry made with more farmer’s market goodies and roasted beets. For dinner we split gluten free white chocolate chip mint cookies and chocolate cheese fudge. I had a few bites of each. Yum! I didn’t get a picture though, and once home later that night I had a spoonful of my Mom’s first batch of homemade coconut milk ice cream with dark chocolate and cherries. Heaven! My sister and I watched an episode of Gilmore Girls, which I’ll never get sick of. And I finished the other half of my scone. It was a wonderful day filled with fun, fabulous food and family. Hope this weekend is just as great.

TGIW,

Sydney

Chilled Blueberry and Fresh Corn Quinoa Salad

Another weekend is right around the corner, and if you need a quick, delicious and fresh summer salad I’ve got just the recipe for you!

This Chilled Blueberry and Fresh Corn Quinoa Salad is a unique and delicious flavor combination!

The fresh blueberries and corn work wonderful together for a crisp salad bursting with flavor!

Chilled Blueberry and Fresh Corn Quinoa Salad

Serves 2-3

1/2 cup of red quinoa

1 cup of fresh corn

1 cup of shaved brussels sprouts

1 cup of blueberries

1/4 cup of tahini, at room temperature

Olive oil

Apple cider vinegar

Arugula

To make this delicious salad, start by cooking the quinoa. Add the quinoa and 1 cup of water to a small pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer (with lid on) until quinoa has absorbed the liquid. About 10-12 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

While quinoa is cooking, sauté the brussels sprouts until tender. This should only take a few minutes.

Once the quinoa and brussels sprouts are done, combine in a large mixing bowl along with the corn, blueberries and tahini. I used tahini at room temperature so that it was thin and easy to stir into and coat the salad with.

Chill the salad for a few hours before eating, and drizzle with olive oil and apple cider vinegar when serving. Enjoy!