WIAW #10

Happy Wednesday and first day of Spring!

Between sports, Spring Break, birthdays, and end-of-school-year activities, this time of year always seems to get a bit hectic for us. Looking back over all that I ate today, I think its a pretty good example of eating well even when your days are busy.

I was rushing to get out the door with the kids this morning and literally threw a handful of things into the blender to get a smoothie into my to-go cup and grabbed 2 of these little oatmeal bundles to go with it. Quick, yummy, healthy, and totally kept me full all morning!

The smoothie was 1/2 of a frozen banana, 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk, a big handful of spinach, 1 T. flax seeds, 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, and 1 T. ground almond meal (a spoonful of any nut butter would work here). The oat bundles are still a work in progress. They are made with mashed banana, oats, maple syrup, shredded coconut, orange zest, and dried cranberries. But as you can probably tell from the picture, they’re a bit dry so I need to work out the kinks in that recipe before I post it!

After a marathon morning of running errands, I came home and munched on a handful of gluten-free crackers and hummus while I threw lunch together.

The kale salad came together quickly since I had some pre-washed, chopped kale in the refrigerator. In a small bowl, I mashed up 1/4 of an avocado with a big squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of kosher salt and massaged it into a huge bowl of kale. It was topped with chopped carrots, cucumbers, dried cranberries, and toasted walnuts – served with an orange on the side.  I love this lunch because it is filling without weighing you down.

Before I took off for my after-school shuttle run, I threw some chicken into a quick marinade of equal parts fresh lime juice and olive oil with a couple of teaspoons of homemade taco seasoning.  Darren filled in as the dinner chef tonight so he cooked up the marinated chicken, and also sauteed a big pan of sliced onions and bell peppers with a splash of lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to make homemade fajitas. We also reheated some of the Slow Cooker Black Beans that I had de-frosted from the freezer and seasoned them with a little taco seasoning.  The kids fajitas are a little more simple than this and consist mostly of cheese, but we’re working up to more toppings to make it a more balanced meal for them too.

The busy day didn’t end there because right after we ate this, we were off to see Hailey’s artwork that was featured in this year’s school art show. So proud of her for making it into the show again this year. She loves her art class so much!

Well, there you have it for this What I Ate Wednesday!  I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to some fresh spring produce and warmer weather for grilling in the coming weeks/months!