Hullo, hullo, and happy Thursday! Hope it was a good one for ya 😀
Today was a real doozy of a day, and the only thing my body wants right now is a cookie and some quality time with the couch – two requests that I hope to be satisfying shortly. And because my brain feels like mush and refuses to come up with anything clever to say, I figured it would be a great time to break into my emergency survey stash…
Don’t give me that look; I like being prepared.
Truth be told, I’m a complete sucker for surveys – I actually have a collection of them saved on my computer. Not only do I think that they’re a fun way to get to know people better, but they also come in handy when you really want to blog but all you can think about is face-planting into bed and not moving for several hours. I first saw this three meal survey on Sara’s blog and immediately snatched it up for just such an occasion.
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. breakfast questions .
1. Favorite cereal as a child? Cinnamon Toast Crunch, hands down. Unfortunately, Mom always saw it as an occasional “treat” food rather than a staple, so I was usually having oatmeal, pancakes, or cream of wheat.
Oh my precious oats… how I miss you.
2. Coffee or tea? With milk or without? Would you force a person to choose between their right and left arms? You would?! Cruel. If I absolutely had to choose one, it would probably be coffee… no… tea. Ack! I never go a day without having multiple cups of both, soooo… I don’t like this question. NEXT!
3. The one food you eat most often at breakfast? Bananas. Whether I’m having oats, cereal, pancakes, yogurt messes, or smoothies, a banana is always joining me for my morning meal. Have to start the day on a sweet note, right?
. lunch questions .
1. Sandwiches are generally considered a “lunch food.” If you had to choose between a grilled cheese and a peanut butter and jelly, which would you pick? Well if it had to be one of those two then I guess I wouldn’t have much of a choice, given the whole pesky peanut allergy and all. But if I could replace the PB with almond butter, then I’d definitely go that route. As much as I love cheese, I love my sweets far more.
2. You can only put four ingredients into your salad (not including greens); what do you throw in the mix? Additionally, which greens and dressing do you pick? Only four? Talk about being stingy. I don’t usually get too fancy with my salads, but if I were to put in a little more effort then my ideal salad would include: avocado, grilled chicken, feta cheese, and mango chunks. For greens, I’d go with spinach and mixed baby greens, and then add a drizzle of olive oil with salt to round it all out.
3. One food you can’t live without at lunch? Bread. Whether it comes in the form of English muffins, toast, wraps, bagels, or buns, IÂ need some form of doughy goodness in the middle of the day or I tend to get cranky.
. dinner questions .
1. It’s the end of the day. You’re tired, hungry, and your fridge is empty. If a fast food (from a chain) is your only option, where do you go and what do you order? If I’m tired and hungry then I’m most likely close to becoming homicidal – just a fair warning… If I was lucky enough to have a Chipotle within a 100 mile radius of home, then I’d go there and get one of their burrito bowls with chicken, rice, guacamole, cheese, and salsa. But because we’re Chipotle-deprived in my neck of the woods, I guess I’d hit up Subway and get a turkey sub. So exciting, I know.
2. TV/computer on or off while you’re eating? On, always on. I tried doing the whole “mindful eating” thing and it just didn’t work for me. I found that I actually ended up enjoying my meals a lot less because I would get bored and rush through them just so I could go on to do something more interesting. I know they say it’s best to eat without distractions and all, but I say it’s best to do what works for you.
3. The one food you eat most often at dinner? 😯 I’ve been sitting here trying to think up something for quite some time, and absolutely nothing is coming to me. My dinners tend to be completely random and can include anything from grilled chicken to waffles… sometimes at the same time. One thing that’s never missing, however, is dessert, so let’s pretend that’s an acceptable answer… especially because it sounds better than ‘digestive enzymes,’ which also happen to be another constant.
. dessert questions .
1. Choose between these two American desserts: cheesecake or apple pie? But… but… neither of these involve chocolate or frosting! To be completely honest, I’m not crazy about either of these two desserts. If I was in dire need of a sugar fix and these were my only options, I’d go with apple pie, but only under the condition that it was freshly baked and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If not, then I’d rather go with something like this…
2. Choose between these two foreign desserts: tiramisu (Italy) or flan (Spain)? I’m going to have to go with tiramisu on this one. I’ve never had flan, and although the powers of Google magic reveal it to look far tastier than it sounds, the coffee addict in me can’t resist the rich and creamy luxuriousness that is tiramisu.
3. Ice cream: cone or cup? Cone! I know that most people tend to go the cup route because you [maybe] end up getting more ice cream, and don’t have to worry about it melting as quickly, but for me there’s nothing quite like that last bite of cone after it gets all soft from soaking in the ice cream. Bliss.
Wahoo, all done! Time to face-plant 😀
. – . – . – .
What’s one food you can’t live without at breakfast? Lunch? Dinner?
Which fast food chain would you visit if you needed food in a pinch?
I’m just catching up, and squealed when I saw that you’d filled out this survey! Love your answers! As you already know, Cinnamon Toast Crunch was my favorite childhood (rationed) cereal as well. I actually saw it on a restaurant dessert menu a few weeks ago, incorporated into a cheesecake crust and sprinkled on top. Yeah, I know…you don’t love cheesecake, but what about Cinnamon Toast Crunch cheesecake?! 😉
In regards to watching TV/distracting yourself during mealtime, I completely agree–the most important thing is that we do what what works for us individually. Mindful eating unfortunately does NOT make me feel good, mainly because it results in indigestion from eating too fast! :-p I’ve actually found that my tummy is happiest when I eat slowly while completely engaged with something on my computer, like a homework assignment. This actually works out quite nicely, because I’m usually studying around dinner time. 🙂
I have to ask…what is spread on the jam side of your almond butter English muffin? If it’s cream cheese, I think I may have just discovered a new must-try combination! <3
It is cream cheese 😀 And you really -must- try it if you never have, because it’s probably one of my favorite combinations!
Haha I’ve never actually noticed the smell in Subway; I’ll pay more attention to it next time 😉 And that’s glorious cream cheese under the jam… I swear it has to be one of my favorite combos.
Haha, we food bloggers are so predictable aren’t we? Can never say no to a good survey…especially one that is all about food! 😀
My precious Lucky Charms…and Captain Crunch and Fruitty Pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch…basically anything that had more sugar than nutritional value was also considered a “novelty” item and the much less cool store brand version of the box would happen to find it’s way on our kitchen table once every month or so…most of my mornings were full of instant oatmeal and I’ll be honest, I practically LIVED off of cream of wheat! Remember when the instant packets used to come with a squeeze pack of jam? I used to love “decorating” my bowl with those! Lol
I love Chipotle too, but unfortunately, we don’t have one in my area either…but I’m sorry girl, I can’t stand with ya on the Subway thing! How do you take the smell? I hate it…and then I swear it follows you around for hours! Haha!
What pray tell, is that under your jam in the AB&J pic? Cream cheese? Goat cheese? Must have! 😀
One thing I’ve been having with breakfast a lot lately is almond butter mixed with pure maple syrup and dark chocolate chips. It definitely satisfies my sweet tooth without being too sugary for the morning!
For fast food type places, I like Chipotle, Qdoba (like Chipotle but with more options) and a couple locally-based places, Mad Greens (make your own salads) and Garbanzo (Mediterranean food). They always have tons of healthy options and I never get bored with them. In fact, right now I’m craving some falafel and hummus!
I used to go crazy on a box of cinnamon toast crunch!! That was my jamm. I haven’t eaten that stuff in years. Sad day.
Hallelujah for someone else out there who loves bread as much as I do! Nowadays it’s kind of rare to see someone actually eat real bread and enjoy it! My favorite is warm, crusty bread with a cloud-soft interior. YUM
I love surveys for that reason as well! I think they’re fun to read and get to “know” the blogger better.
Hope your night was restful and relaxing!!
I love my sweets far better as well, so I’m with you on the AB + jam sandwich:)
I totally have naners with every breakfast. In fact they go in every smoothie too. So I have like 2 a day lol. And bread…mmmm warm soft bread. I pretty much love bread in all forms, whether it be sweetened like french toast or smothered in garlic and dipped in soup. I want all of it!
I have bananas almost every day at breakfast too. 😀 And I totally agree about bread/carbs at lunch. Totally necessary. Even if I have a huge salad with meat for protein, I still need some bread to truly fill me up. My dinners are all over the place so there isn’t really any one food I consistently eat!
Subway would probably be my choice for fast food too. Either that or Pita Pit! Or take out sushi – does that count? 😛
Hmm unfortunately I’m going to go with McDonald’s. I love their soft serve, and if I’m feeling healthy, I can always get their yogurt or a apple and walnut salad which is really yummy.
Cannot live without bread either. Can’t go a meal without it 🙂
You know, lately I’ve really been craving McD’s fries. They used to be my favorite fast-food fries back in the day, and I’m thinking that I’ll have to give them a try to see if I’m still so crazy about them.
loved this survey. so i’m with you on the mindful eating thing. when i tried eating without computer/tv i tended to rush through my meals to get to the computer/tv. sad, but true.
Loved your answers, Amanda! I’ve been meaning to do this survey for the longest time, but am “saving” it for one of those days where I am lacking inspiration to bust out a normal post! Between yours and Sara’s recent post, I am CRAVING some vanilla ice cream in a cone…and this is coming from the girl who ALWAYS opts for a cup! Breakfast for me always involves yogurt, regular or Greek- I need that tang!
Regarding bananas for breakfast, you have centuries of wisdom supporting your choice, according to sivananda yoga: “There is an old Indian folk saying: Bananas are gold in the morning, silver at noon and lead at night. Their high carbohydrate content makes them the perfect breakfast food for an active lifestyle, and their potassium content encourages muscle pliancy; if you suffer from muscle cramps, bananas will help to alleviate them. The students at our yoga centers and ashrams consume vast amounts of the fruit for this reason.”
That’s great to know! Well, aside from the “lead at night” thing anyways, because I often eat a banana later in the evening as well.
Love this survey!! I may have to steal it for the future heehee 😀
Foods I can’t live without for breakfast– bananas HANDS DOWN haha. lunch would probably be chicken or some kind of meat and dinner can’t happen without an appearance of cashews mmm I love their butteriness to end a meal 🙂
It’s way too hard to pick foods that I can’t live without. There are a few meals that I rotate through for all three meals of the day, but no particular foods stand out. I do like to eat a fruit or veggie with each meal though.
As for fast food – Subway for sure. I pretty much always order a Veggie Delight with Swiss cheese, all the veggies (except onion and hot peppers), and honey mustard. For fast food, it’s not bad.
Loooove surveys too! So much fun to learn more about each other’s interests. Well I share many of your answers as well- coffee is a must in the morning as well as some sort of fruit usually berries or a banana! And lunches almost lays involve bread too! I’ve actually never been to Chipotle but sounds good!
We eat very much alike 🙂
Stop copying me 😛
Haha, we seem to have a lot in common, food-wise at least. One food I can’t live without at dinner would be almond butter. Might sound strange but seeing as I enjoy breakfast for dinner my bowl of oat bran wouldn’t be complete without it.
And Chipotle all the way! Though it might rather be Dolores, the German version of it, as I never had the “original”. I’m a real fan of Dolores’ burrito bowls, though. Did you ever try making your own burrito bowls at home? We did when I was at my parents’ some time ago and it was awesome. Good food, good company – loved it!
I’m a big fan of having breakfast at dinner, so AB doesn’t sound strange to me at all 🙂
And I’ve definitely tried making my own burrito bowls at home and they were really great. But then again, it’s hard to go wrong when cheese, guacamole, and salsa are involved!