I can’t believe it’s been 3 weeks since my last WIAW post! As much as I gripe and moan about how cumbersome it can be to take pictures of my eats, deep down I really do enjoy it — at least once a week, anyway 😉 So without further ado, here’s What I Ate Wednesday Tuesday…
So let’s talk about my appetite… because I don’t think it’s been seeing enough blog time judging by all the fuss it’s been making lately. Seriously. You know those days where you feel like you’re eating all.the.time? I’ve currently got 3 consecutive ones like that under my belt. Cold weather, boredom, holiday baking, snowboarding… whatever the reason, the result is the same — eat ALL the foods!
Yesterday started out innocently enough. I woke up, glanced at the clock, rolled over, and went back to sleep. Whaaaat? It was 3 AM, which is way too early even by my early-bird standards. Nuh uh. 5 AM was a little more acceptable, at which point I actually got out of bed, ambled over to the kitchen, brewed a cup of tea, and did some blog reading while prepping breakfast…
Oats. Yogurt. Almond butter. Honey. A combination I have yet to get tired of. The only thing different about these oats was the addition of coconut flour. I’ve been adding a spoonful or so to my morning oats and I love what it does to the consistency. I like my oats really thick and chewy, and I find that the coconut flour helps create an almost batter-like consistency while adding a subtle coconutty sweetness. Big fan.
A little while later, I brewed up a homemade latte and enjoyed it alongside a [ridiculously microscopic] piece of daily Advent chocolate (2 weeks left ’till Christmas!!!!)…
… which only sparked my hunger and paved the way for my morning snack. Or should I say, snacks…
Side note: does anyone else really dislike the dried up nut butter that ends up hanging out in the bottom of the jar? I know it’s a mixing failure on my part, but DANG — there’s just no working with that stuff! Unfortunately, Justin’s is a rare commodity up here in Canada, so it’s a crime to let any go to waste. And Christmas oranges (please tell me someone out there calls them that too) have got to be one of my favourite foods at this time of the year. My parents would always buy huge boxes of them, and I remember my fingers turning orange from the amount of peeling I had to do. Worth it. But back to the point of this post — my appetite.
I got a little snacky before lunch time rolled around, so I dug into some kabocha while trying to decide what to make. And yes, I’m still eating squash on a daily basis. Don’t act like you aren’t too.
I stood around my kitchen for what felt like forever [while snacking on squash], but nothing really jumped out at me so I went with the only thing that sounded mildly appealing: a toasted almond butter and jelly sandwich.
Followed up by by some carrots ‘n’ hummus…
Aaaaaand vanilla Greek yogurt. You know… just to end things on a high sweet note 😀
Snacky — and that’s just the beginning. I spent the majority of the early afternoon working and studying, which did absolutely nothing to help curb my appetite… I managed to hold out for a little while, but hunger is a demanding mistress and I eventually had to break for an afternoon snack…
You guys. These brownies. I’m in love. But come on — just look at that crackly shell! It’s enough to make me weak in the knees! Enough to make me run back for more! But we’re getting ahead of ourselves because first there was dinner #1…
Random salad with veggies, deli chicken, kabocha, and avocado.
Followed by dinner #2…
Cold (the best) leftover sesame chicken stirfry.
And then I ran back for more…
Oh.heck.YES. And apparently my stomach thought so too because it finally settled down after that — thank goodness. I used to spend a lot of time analyzing my eats on days like today yesterday, trying to figure out why I was so hungry and where I went wrong… Too much sugar; not enough protein; more fibre; etc., etc. But you know what I found? It doesn’t really matter. I can eat the same exact way on two different days and be hungry on one and perfectly satisfied on another — there’s a lot more going on than what I choose to eat and I prefer not to get too caught up in day-to-day analysis — I like the bigger picture.
And before I go, just as a little reminder… The very first Thinking Out Loud linkup is happening tomorrow and I’d really love it if you joined! All you have to do is grab a button and let those random thoughts flow; then come back tomorrow and add your link so everyone else can see what’s on your mind.
See ya then! 😀
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Anyone else feeling extra snacky lately?
How do you like your oats? Soupy? Cakey? Chewy? Creamy?
What do you do with the dry nut butter at the bottom of the jar?
I know this is old, but wow. I can’t believe you thought this was a big day of eating, and you insinuate this was also an unhealthy, or at least unbalanced day of eating when it looks remarkably healthy and diverse. I hope you are in a much better place mentally now. Sending love.
What a way to make a comeback on WIAW!! That is one delicious-looking day you’ve got there, missy! And I swear I can always count on you to make me go weak in the knees over a PB&J (or in your case, AB&J) sandwich! Also, you’ve totally motivated me to a.) crack into the kabocha that’s been sitting on my counter for 2 1/2 weeks (yeah, that’s what happens when you buy veggies just before coming down with the plague…I’m just NOW ok with the thought of them! Ha!) and b.) MAKE those BROWNIES! I mean, I already pinned them and was thinking of when I might get around to making them, but damn girl…I’m sitting here with a serious case of chocolate envy right about now! So keep your fingers crossed that the motivation lasts until after I go to bed and wake up this afternoon. Otherwise I’ll have to wait until this weekend! 🙁
I’m actually on the opposite end of the spectrum and have been filling up REALLY quickly lately! There’s hardly been a meal I’ve prepared myself in the last few days that I’ve been able to finish…I mean, I know I had to get my appetite back after I got sick, but geez, it’s been two weeks now!
Oats are best when they are thick and chewy! I like getting them to the point where they practically stick to the bowl and then add a little almond milk to them and stir them up!
Add a bit of coconut oil to your nut butter jar and then stir it up! Works every time! 😀
The dried nut butter on the sides of the jar actually freaks me out. It gets all crusty and kinda gross looking, so overnight oats aren’t really an option for me. Then again, I always eat my oats in granola form anyway, although I’m thinking some cookies might be in order in the near future. I did promise the in laws cookies.
Great attitude about the appetite. I can’t explain the inner workings on the body, nor it’s cravings, but I have learned to listen, and in the end it all balances out. The body knows what the body knows.
Yummo! Your brownies make me swoon! I love you intuitive eating style! I have been reading your blog for a while, and it has definitely helped me!
And I agree, some days you just have to snack your way through the whole dang thing!
I am definitely going to have to try coconut flour to my oats! Looks divine!
Omg yes that hard nut butter at the end of the jar drives me crazy! I’m continually mixing mine up, but somehow I still end up with those couple tablespoons of hard nut butter. Ugh! 😛
That’s a neat idea to add coconut flour to your oatmeal – I need to give that a shot! I like my oats not too soupy but not too solid. I like them juuuuuuust right.
Haha love that post! So good to see there are people outside there who sometimes eat their own bodyweight in one day too 🙂
I have been having eat all the food days lately also, I am pretty sure it has to do with the fact that my classes just ended and I am just hanging around my apartment studying all day. And now I am craving a latte…
I’m thinking I need to start employing old habits and head out to Starbucks to work more often. At least then I’ll be farther away from my kitchen 😛
I can’t stand the dried up nut butter at the bottom of the jar either! It happens every time, no matter how well I think I’ve mixed the jar!
Your oatmeal looks delicious. I’m a big fan of thick, creamy oatmeal with a little butter, brown sugar and toasted walnuts on top. It can never get old.
Also, your brownies look AMAZING! I am a HUGE gingerbread fan, so to combine it with chocolate = HEAVEN! I am pinning your recipe to make this weekend!
I am a total scatterbrain for having missed your link up, otherwise I would have done a post today on it – tomorrow I already have my Friday favs otherwise I would have done it. Will join in the fun next week for sure. I like to blame it on the fact I’ve been watching back to back episodes of Hart of Dixie…sorry lady!!
I am seriously drooling over all your eats. I like my oats all of those different consistencies in different things at different times not always altogether.
Love the idea of the jelly and nut butter toasted sandwich, that may be my dinner tonight now.
Thanks for the lovely post, as usual. I have a tip for the nut butter bottom corners – I started storing my jars upside down. It can be a little messy opening the lid if your’e not careful, but the oils distribute more evenly this way!
Good luck – I find the stuff incredibly irritating, as well 🙂
Thanks for the tip, Erin! I’ve been trying that, but then I forget and start to store them upright again. Definitely need to start being more consistent.
I’m right there with ya on being extra snacky lately. I think the combo of cold weather, dark early, & sitting & studying does me in too. It’s like a constant eat fest sometimes… grazing from one thing to the next.
Great idea with the coconut flour in the oats – sounds amazing! Oh, & the nut butter in the bottom corners of the jar… for some reason I love seeking that drier stuff out & devouring it by the spoonful. I’m a bit of an odd one. 😉
You make me feel like my food consumption is pretty tragic. Probably because in actuality, it is. That sandwich looks amazing, I want one now! And I’ve never heard of Christmas oranges – do you mean the small ones, the clementines? Cuz those, I love. I have a parent of a student that keeps bringing me them at work. Love.
I’ve been feeling snacky in the sense that I am not super hungry for big meals, so I just have tiny things throughout the day. Not sure what’s going on with that but I don’t like it! Although it does make for portability when I have to be out of my house for 4 + hours. No more of that though with the semester end!
Also, I’ve been thinking about adding coconut flour to my oats. So I should do that then?
Definitely give it a try! I always add mine near the end after all the water has been absorbed, and then I add a splash of milk if I find it too dry.
I love all my meals cold, but that stir fry looks especially delicious! I actually really love the hard part at the bottom of nut butter jars! It is my favorite part and I look forward to it in every bottle. We would make a good team at finishing up the bottles. 🙂
I actually love the nut butter at the bottom of the jar! Perfect to spoon right into your mouth! Haha I call them clementines, but I like the idea of Christmas oranges. One of my favorite fruits!! I always get so excited when there back in the stores.
I think part of the reason I call them that is because they always come wrapped up in the coloured tissue paper, so it makes them seem more festive 😆
I am eating dinner right now seriously wishing I could trade it all for some of those brownies!
Okay, you’re right, your advent chocolate is seriously a joke. It is SO small (TWSS) and there is no way it could satisfy any chocolate craving known to man. No way. You poor thing. I feel like I need to send you a bag of chocolates just to make up for that sad image above 😉 Luckily, your brownies might might up for the lacking candy!
To prevent the dried up nut butter- when I first open a new jar I dump the whole jar in a tupperware or something and mix it that way- it stays much creamier.
I swear studying burns more energy than a marathon…seriously. During my studying times, I would what seemed like every hour.
You get my stamp of approval and hi5 (with an innocent twerk) to the cold leftover noodles. Best. Ever.
Oats need to be thick and chewy- NOT soupy. Seriously, I feel like I’m having a smoothie when it’s like that!
I will forever and always call them Christmas Oranges!
I love me some chewy oats either hot or in cool overnight oat form!
I love making overnight oats with the leftover dried up peanut butter.
oh my goshhhh I totally had one of those days yesterday!! i was a bottomless pit. like you had mentioned i use to over analyze and feel so crappy about being hungry all day but i didn’t feel that way at all. in fact i took a moment to reflect and realized i was probably extra hungry from a crazy new circuit workout i tried.
i also giggled at the justins comment because i totally know what you mean about the dried up stuff however i just tried mara natha’s natural almond butter and it did not do that! ps – i had to order justins from IHERB – have you actually found it in Canada?
I haven’t 🙁 I’ve gotten all my jars while visiting the States, unfortunately. And based on your blog name, I’m going to assume you’re a fellow Albertan?! Do you mind me asking which city?
Grande Prairie 🙂
So close but so far! Edmonton here.
So close! hoorayy! I am originally from Vancouver Island.
tried Justin’s Maple for the first time 2 days ago and I. Am. Obsessed. They were in packets for samples, and I can’t wait to go buy an actual jar! (It won’t last long 😉
I’ve totally been feeling snack lately! My eats yesterday were just a collection of random snacks that just sounded good. I used to overanalyze and restrict as well if I felt like I was having “too much” for my levels of activity that day. Ridic.
I like my oats creamyyyy. But the thick oats with the coconut flour sounds highly appealing! Must try that.
As for the sad, hard nut butter at the bottom, I just eat it as is since it’s too hard to spread on anything. Or I loosen it up with some overnight oats in a jar! I stir my salted nut butters also to ensure that it’s not disgustingly salty. No bueno.
I am dreaming about those brownies…. !!
Honestly this makes me feel like a pig lol! 🙁 I eat more than this everyday! I guess everyone is different- but just to let you know- two oranges a banana and almond butter is not that big a snack, let alone two- in my humble opinion. Sorry- just shocked by the way you worded it as a day of eating ALL the food, I guess.
Please try to keep in mind that it’s not only difficult to judge how much someone eats based on pictures alone, but that almost no one shows every single thing they eat in a day. If I were to show every random handful, spoonful, and BLT that I take, I’d literally have a post with 40 ridiculous pictures.
Those eats look amazing and good for you for not only honoring your hunger but also not trying to psycho-analyze it. Whenever I do that and come up with some “explanation” as to why I was so hungry, something happens to debunk my explanation. So really what’s the use trying to explain it, just experience the hunger and eat! And eat well you did. That grilled AB sandwich is genius and I am loving loving loving the banana in AB. BTW I can’t stand that dried up nut butter at the bottom of the jar either!
You are basically forcing me to make those brownies. They look so amazing!!
Also, if there was a medal for most attractive oatmeal pictures, it should go to you. Somehow you manage to make oatmeal look delicious, every time.
Letting any Justin’s go to waste is a crime no matter what country you’re in. I’m insanely addicted to the vanilla.
Trade you a brownie for one of your cranberry orange muffins? Believe it or not, I think I’m starting to get chocolate-d out 😆
Those brownies sound divine!!! Brilliant pics! Love the one with the Justins and Banana!
I have a lot of eat all the foods days myself. It seems to come when I’m taking a rest day though (or at home all day long). Anyways I hate small advent calenders…I hope you are able to find a bigger one next time!
Old, dried up nut butter bums me out like you wouldn’t believe. I can (and often do) stir like mad to prevent it from happening, but either I fail at stirring or it’s largely inevitable, because it happens to every. Single. Jar. I then stab it out of the jar and eat it anyways, though. 🙂
I can totally relate to the days of perpetual hunger, too. My girlfriends and I have discussed this, and it turns out we’ve all had days when, if it weren’t for the fact that I was 100% certain that there was no way I could be pregnant, my ravenous hunger would make me think that maybe I was pregnant. It’s weird, but I’m convinced it must be some sort of hormonal shift that sends the ol’ appetite into overdrive. No matter what, though, it’s definitely weird when it hits!
Chewy oats are definitely the way to go, so I’m going to have to try adding some coconut flour next time! I wish I had read this post before breakfast…:-p
Dry nut butter at the bottom of the jar = OIAJ. So HLB of me, but it’s the best way to get it all nice and melty. I actually had banana egg white oats in a coconut butter jar for breakfast this morning and it was a really, really good decision.
And yeeees on the squash. Bah. Can’t stop.
FOOOOOOD
Yeah, I have a lot of those days where I “eat all the foods.” Strangely they seem to fall on days when I don’t work out… or on ski days, but that’s no surprise!
The advent chocolate is so small, I thought it was part of your coffee mug!
I love the tip on coconut flour in oatmeal. I put peanut butter in mine but I probably need to not eat so much peanut butter (inflammation). What other stuff can you do with coconut flour?
Everything looks delicious.
One of my favourite uses for coconut flour is mug cakes:
http://www.runningwithspoons.com/2013/11/15/double-chocolate-mug-cake/
http://www.runningwithspoons.com/2013/12/02/chocolate-chip-pumpkin-mug-cake/
… but I also love adding it to yogurt to make it even thicker and sweeter.
I am eating a banana right now as I type this and I must say that I am very sad that I don’t have some Justin’s to dip it in :(.
Those are amazing eats! I am most snacky around 3pm and 8pm. Can you please please do a post on how you bake the kombucha? They look so delish! Do you cut them into halves, quarters?
Also, I don’t know why people love Justin’s PB so much…. We have jars and packets free at my office, and no one touches those. They really taste like rancid peanuts.
Hi Amy! The squash is really simple to roast. I just cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, cut it in half again (so I’m left with quarters), place the 4 pieces on a baking sheet, and bake at 400F for around 30 minutes.
It so coolly that you can operate the appetite because I can’t 🙁 If in any days I eat more, I absorb simply everything… My stocks of food are considerably exhausted in this case. Besides I have problems to choose food which satisfies – if to listen to my stomach, chocolate and pizza is necessary to it only. Therefore my days share on two categories: to eat everything or to submit to strict control. Haha, I think it because of that frustration that I had a few years ago. How many this influence will last in general? You can tell, how the person who consulted?
Our bodies are crazy like that, you want an explanation but in the end there really is not one! Can’t wait to link up tomorrow (if I get my act together….)