What I Ate Wednesday #106: Travel Edition

Hello from Florida! Hope you all are having a wonderful week so far and that you have a fun weekend planned ahead. Today I am sharing my eats from yesterday, an all day travel day! I think I ate pretty well for being in and out of airports, and it helped that I had prepped some snacks ahead of time to bring along!

My day started at about 4:00am to give myself enough time to shower and finish getting ready for my flight. About 4:45 I had a banana for a little fuel.

Also had a few last sips of a peach blush kombucha from the night before.

At the airport I bought a cranberry pumpkin muffin from Colectivo for breakfast. It was quite delicious!

Here we are ready for our flight!

We saw the most gorgeous sunrise out the window while waiting in the airport. This picture doesn’t do it justice, but the whole sky was lit up pink!

Mid-plane ride #1 I had a homemade chocolate banana bread bar and some water. The perfect snack!

In between our next flight we had time to grab lunch and I tried a sofritas bowl from Chipotle. It was very good, super flavorful, and huge. I didn’t finish all of it but ate most of it!

My last bite of lunch however happened to be an overpowering red onion…I knew that taste would not go away anytime in the near future so I bought a pack of gum. I haven’t bought gum in years, but this did the trick!

On the second flight I had some orange juice, which hit the spot. I was so thirsty!

Along with that I also had a homemade granola bar. Yum! They were Nutty, Oaty, Cinnamon Pecan Cranberry Bars!

About 5:00pm we finally arrived in Florida! It was sunny and warm and we sat outside while waiting for the shuttle :)

My sister and I are staying with our Grandma for the trip, and she had some Bourbon Sweet Potato soup and salad ready for us when we got home. It was delicious!

For dessert my Grandma made a gluten free berry crumble which was also delicious. The subtle ginger flavor was scrumptious!

Then we all watched the finale of Master Chef Junior and headed to bed.

TGIW,

Sydney

What I Ate Wednesday #105

Welcome to another week of What I Ate Wednesday! I can’t believe Wednesday is here again already, but I am happy that it is because that means we are slowly inching our way towards Spring! I cannot wait to be warm again. I haven’t been warm for like six months. And my poor circulation really doesn’t care for the cold, this is my finger (white because it is completely numb) after walking from my car into work with gloves on!

I think I need to move somewhere more like this!

But until then, or until Wisconsin decides it is time for Spring, I’ll be warming myself up with some delicious meals. Like this cozy bowl of oatmeal. 1/3 cup of oats, 1/3 cup of water and 1/3 cup of coconut milk brought to a boil in a small sauce pan, then add in chia seeds, cinnamon, a ripe banana and cook on low for another 5 minutes or so. At the end I added in some more water and two tbsp of almond butter. I like the consistency of my oats to be a little thinner, more porridge like.

Midmorning at work I snacked on some homemade granola, which was amazing. I don’t know why it took me so long to make a homemade batch of granola, but now that I’ve got one under my belt I can’t wait to experiment with other varieties. Since it was the day after Valentines Weekend someone at work left a bunch of chocolates in the lunchroom. And they were dark chocolate so I had to snag one!

Lunch was another comforting meal! Such a great way to perk up the workday. It was a veggie curry dish served over kale and brown rice. The recipe came from the Oh She Glows cookbook. Love her and her recipes!

Along with the curry I ate this leftover fruit salad that I had prepared for a work event on Saturday. It was a mix of pineapple, kiwi, grapefruit and pomegranate arils. Yum! The snap peas didn’t actually get eaten that day, I put them back in the work fridge and saved them for the next day.

Late afternoon at work I snacked on an english muffin with tahini and cherry preserves. A sweet, savory, and satisfying combo!

After work I went home and made myself some chai tea. So much more cost effective than buying a cup of chai from the coffee shop!

I also had a handful of this cereal. It was a new box and I had to open it up and try it! The verdict: it was okay. I definitely prefer this brand’s cinnamon squares cereal. That stuff is heavenly.

Dinner was a big plate of veggies, grains and fruit! I roasted some cauliflower, sautéed kale, asparagus, mushrooms and onions, and cooked up some quinoa. All together is was wonderful. And I also had a few orange slices on the side.

I was in the mood to bake and decided that night to make some chocolate banana bread. This version is vegan, gluten free, super moist and cakey. I had only a few taste-testing bites after I pulled it out of the oven because I was actually quite full. But I’m looking forward to warming up a slice and slathering it with pb tonight!

Thank you again to Jenn for hosting this get together!

TGIW,

Sydney

Cheezy Chili Lime Temp Tacs

Vegan tacos made with tempeh as the protein source instead of meat (referred to fondly as Temp Tacs by my brother and I), made a regular appearance on our diner menu the two years I lived out East while going to grad school. Since moving back to Wisconsin I haven’t made this dish too often, but I had a craving for a delicious taco the other day and knew Temp Tacs would do the trick!

I wanted to spice things up a bit this time, and deviated from the original recipe a smidge. This version turned out to be just as scrumptious!

The chili lime combination paired with fresh cilantro is heavenly. And the dish has a wonderful, subtle cheesy flavor thanks to the nutritional yeast! For a simple, delicious and nutritious meal, you’ve got to try these Cheezy Chili Lime Temp Tacs!

Cheezy Chili Lime Temp Tacs

Makes 4-6 hearty tacos

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp garlic

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1 package of tempeh, diced/crumbled  (I used a pre-cooked version so all I needed to do was warm it through-I love the Trader Joe’s brand!)

1 cup corn (I used frozen)

1 cup bell pepper, chopped

1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups of chopped kale

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp of 21 Seasoning Salute (or any other savory spice blend will do)

1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast

Juice from half of one small lime

To make the tacs start by heating the olive oil in a large skillet over medium low heat. Once the skillet is ready, add in the garlic and onions, stirring occasionally and sautéing about 5 minutes.

Add in the tempeh, corn, bell pepper, kidney beans and kale. Continue sautéing for another 5 minutes or so.

Once the kale has wilted and you’ve got a little more room in the skillet, stir in the rest of the seasonings and the lime juice. Cook for about another 10 minutes on low until the dish is warmed through. Serve with some sprouts, avocado and hummus for an even tastier taco! Enjoy!

 

 

What I Ate Wednesday #104

Morning! Happy Wednesday! Hope you had a wonderful weekend and a fantastic start to your week. For this week’s What I Ate Wednesday I am sharing my eats from last Saturday. A day filled with fun food, shopping, and hanging with my family.

Breakfast started at Colectivo, where my sister and I both had their baked oatmeal dish. It was thick, clumpy, dense and delicious! I had mine with almond milk, which I poured all over the baked oats. The orange on the side was quite the sweet treat!

Breakfast was later than I normally eat, so I had a lighter lunch. I made a salad with a few leftover sweet potato slices and some avocado. Topped with some olive oil and balsamic.

My sister and I did some shopping, and I came home with some new dress pants and this lotion from Lush. It is such a creamy and scrumptious cocoa butter/banana scented lotion.

That afternoon I had a gluten-free cheesecake swirl brownie from Outpost.

I wasn’t super hungry when dinner time rolled around, but I had some of this fruit salad my Mom had made and a seltzer water. The fruit salad was so good!

A bit later I was a little hungrier and finished the last of my tempeh tacos over an arugula salad.

That night my sister and I wanted to do some baking, so we made these luscious vegan, gluten-free chocolate cupcakes with chocolate coconut cream frosting! Our Mom helped show us how to make the frosting out of a refrigerated can of coconut milk. It was so cool! This cupcake was eaten with an episode of Pretty Little Liars. Then I was off to bed!

Thanks as always to Jenn for hosting this gathering!

TGIW,

Sydney

 

Curry Cucumber Radish Slaw with Raisins and Crunchy Cashews

Morning all, and happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and had a nice balance of relaxation and fun! I had a great time Friday night out to dinner and drinks with a friend. It was a long overdue girls night! Saturday was spent doing some shopping and baking with my sister. We made these insanely delicious gluten-free vegan chocolate cupcakes with whipped chocolate coconut cream frosting!

Sunday was a busy day running errands and prepping for the week ahead. If your weekend came to a close too quickly as well and you’re looking for an easy dish to whip up than I’ve got just the thing for you!

Curry Cucumber Radish Slaw with Raisins and Cashews. One bowl. Stir. Done! Enjoy the flavor explosion with each bite and the glorious texture profile of this dish :)

Curry Cucumber Radish Slaw with Raisins and Crunchy Cashews

Serves 4

1 can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1 pink lady apple, diced

1 cucumber, diced

6-7 small radishes, finely sliced

1/3 cup of raisins

1/3 cup of cashews

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp curry powder

A dash of salt and pepper

Tahini for drizzling

To make this dish, simply combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine! It’s that easy! Store in the fridge as it is best chilled. When ready to serve I recommend drizzling on some tahini! Enjoy!

What I Ate Wednesday #103

Here we are again! It’s Wednesday and I hope you had a wonderful weekend and start to your week. I’m joining Jenn’s What I Ate Wednesday party again, and as always, thanks for hosting! Today you’ll get a peek into my eats from yesterday. An overall delicious day of foods in my book!

On Tuesday I had an extremely early day at work, and therefore didn’t want to have to get up insanely early in order to give myself enough time to shower and eat like I normally do. Therefore, I figured I’d let myself get a little extra sleep by eating breakfast at work instead. Thanks to the overnight oats I prepared on Monday I was set with a delicious meal to eat after my meeting. This jar contained 1/3 cup old fashioned oats, about 2/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk, some raisins, some cinnamon, chia seeds, hulled hemp seeds and 2 tbsp of almond butter. It was so good!

Mid-morning I was still a little hungry, so I snacked on the last of my cinnamon cereal. Yum!

For lunch I had an arugula salad topped with some leftover vegetarian chili my Mom made, quinoa, sweet potato and avocado. I drizzled some balsamic vinegar on top and it was quite the amazing flavor combination.

I also had two little clementines as well.

The good thing about being to work very early in the morning was that I got to leave early in the afternoon. I was home by 3:00 and decided to stop by the local bakery which is often closed after my normal work hours. I had a gift card from Christmas and finally used it to buy a piece of their cheesecake. It was scrumptious. The cheesecake was light and fluffy and the chocolate ganache on top was the perfect touch! I had this for my afternoon snack.

After doing a workout at home using Gina’s videos from the Fitnessista, I finally sat down to dinner. Last night was a hearty and filling temp tac! I haven’t made temp tacs in quite some time, and this batch I spiced up again so I will have to share the recipe soon!

I also had a pear along with my taco, although this didn’t look or feel quite ripe it tasted wonderful!

Dessert was two rice cakes with peanut butter and honey. The best!!! I haven’t had rice cakes in quite some time and need to start keeping these on hand!

TGIW,

Sydney