My First “What I Ate Wednesday”

I thought it would be fun to show a typical day of what I eat.  This was an interesting experience and I now have a whole new respect for food bloggers!!  It took some extra time to stop and photograph everything and I had to remember every ingredient that I put into each meal.  It also didn’t help that I was trying to take so many pictures on a cloudy, gray Michigan winter day!  Although, the advantage to this is that it definitely kept my hand out of the box of Cheddar Bunnies on more than one occasion!

I would say this is a somewhat typical day of eating for me.   However, I am on Operation “Avoid the Dreaded Flu” right now, so I am definitely putting in a little more effort than usual to eat clean and stick to as many raw fruits and veggies as possible (lets not even talk about how many times I wash my hands in a day!).

I started off the morning with a blender full of green juice, my absolute favorite way to start the day!  Green juice is great first thing in the morning because your body has been healing, restoring, and detoxing itself all night long.  So starting off with something as clean and nutrient packed as this keeps the process going a little longer.  Into the blender went a handful of kale, a handful of romaine, 1 stalk of celery, 1/3 of a cucumber, 1/2 of an apple, a clementine, 1/2 of a banana, and a slice of fresh ginger.  I added a couple of cups of water (and more if necessary) since I prefer it more like juice than a smoothie (although technically its considered a smoothie since all of the pulp and fiber remain).  All of this green goodness is blended up in the Vitamix for about 30-40 seconds and served over ice.  This concoction grosses Darren out every single time.  But I am convinced he would like it if he stopped calling it “lawn clippings” and just tried it.  You can ease into it by using a milder green like spinach and starting off with less greens overall.  I’ve noticed that the celery adds a very distinct flavor that took some time to get used to.  And the banana definitely makes it in my opinion.

Next up, is some chia pudding.  I love love LOVE chia seeds!!!!  These little guys are nutritional powerhouses packed with fiber, protein, minerals, Omega-3 (even more than flax seed!), and antioxidants.  They also play an important role in cardiovascular health and controlling inflammation.  Plus they are great plant-based sources of calcium and protein.  My favorite way to make chia pudding is in the blender.  I add 2 T. of chia seeds, 1/4 cup of almond milk, 1/4 cup of water, 1/2 of a banana, 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract and a sprinkle of cinnamon to the blender and blend on medium speed for about 15 seconds.  I make this the same time as my smoothie and leave it in the fridge until I’m ready to eat it – the chia seeds will absorb the liquid and thicken up so that its like yogurt or pudding.  I like to top it with banana slices or other fresh fruit and some unsweetened coconut or chopped nuts.  This is definitely one of those things that can take some getting used to!  I need the toppings in there to give it the right texture so that its not so much like eating baby food.  Mainly, I just love it for the blast of nutrients and energy it provides.  It is awesome pre-workout fuel!

Lunch consisted of more immune-building foods:  a romaine salad with lots of raw veggies and topped with cayenne tahini dressing   alongside some miso garlic soup.  This dressing recipe comes from my friend Kristen over at Kristen’s Raw.  Since I am not rocking the raw lifestyle like she is, I just use the regular (or organic) EVOO.  I also am not brave enough to add in the entire amount of cayenne.  But this dressing is definitely worth a try!!!!  It is lick-the-bowl-good and one of my all time favorites.

The miso soup is made by boiling 1 cup of organic vegetable broth and 1 cup of water.  Remove it from the heat (so as not to destroy the beneficial microorganisms in the miso, which is considered a “live” food).  Whisk in 1 T. of organic mellow white miso and then grate a clove of raw garlic into it.  This soup is my secret weapon for all kinds of winter sicknesses but its definitely not for people who work in public during the day….or do anything around any other people during the day   I’m showing it as a separate item because I am a food-blogging rookie and was so hungry that I ate the salad and then took this picture and ate the soup!!!

Since I lifted weights for my workout today, I wanted to get in a little extra protein so I went for a Pumpkin Pie Protein Smoothie for my afternoon snack.  I’m sure most normal people probably stop eating pumpkin after November, but I’ll keep buying it until spring!  This smoothie had 1 cup pure pumpkin puree, 2/3  cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (I use a vegan, custom-made blend of hemp and pea protein from www.trueprotein.com), 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. ginger, and few shakes of ground cloves or nutmeg if you have them (or you could just throw some pumpkin pie spice in there).  Add a few ice cubes and blend it until its super smooth.  Sometimes I throw in a spoonful of flax seeds or hemp seeds for an extra nutritional boost, but I skipped them today.

I ended up having to share!  He is a total smoothie smuggler!

This was supposed to be their snack!  A mixed berry smoothie with chia seeds and probiotics and a homemade oatmeal bar!  I’m sure it goes without saying, but this is not all that my kids got to eat today!  I just focused on photographing my food, not theirs, since they are at school most of the day.  Since I shared my snack, he shared some of his oatmeal bar.  Mmm, shared food….such is the life of a mom….

Dinner was simple and good, but another rookie blogging experience.  A hungry family plus one extra dinner guest (my dad would have thought I was NUTS whipping out my camera at the table!) plus zero natural daylight equals no pictures of dinner!  Thats OK.  It was so basic that it was hardly worth photographing.  It was simple grill chicken with some BBQ sauce, a baked sweet potato with a tiny bit of coconut oil and some steamed green beans.

Well, that is it for my first “What I Ate Wednesday”!