You guys… I’m just going to go ahead and get this off my chest right from the get-go… I baked yet another batch of soft and chewy protein granola bars…
… which, if you’re keeping track, brings my tally up to 4 batches. I would say I have a problem, but it’s all in the name of experimentation — I swear! I received a few samples of Plant Fusion (expect a review + recipe soon), so I figured I’d test ’em out by seeing if my favourite bars could be veganized — and they can! I replaced the whey with a plant-based protein powder, and used a mix of chocolate chips and raisins instead of straight up chocolate chips. Gooooooood stuff.
But don’t you worry your pretty little heads off… I’ve been enjoying plenty of food that doesn’t come in bar form. And to prove it to you, let’s take a look at What I Ate Wednesday Tuesday…
We’re going to start with what I’m eating as I write this [on Tuesday night], since it’s the easiest to bring to mind. Behond! The nighttime snack…
Banana milkshake and a granola bar.
Err… I just realized that starting things off by highlighting a meal with a granola bar probably isn’t the best way to convince you that I eat things other than granola bars — I clearly didn’t think that one through. But it’s late, I just got back from snowboarding not too long ago, and the majority of my brain juices are working at keeping my basic functions functioning — there’s not much left over for coherent thought. Bear with me.
Okay. So I’ve recently started increasing my nighttime snacks because boarding kicks my butt and waking up at 2 AM to the loud crescendo coming from my general stomach region is not my idea of a night well spent. What is my idea of a night well spent? I’ll leave that to the workings of your imagination.
In non granola bar news, we have breakfast…
… which actually contains a lot of the same ingredients as my granola bars, now that I think about it. You’ve got your oats, your almond butter, your honey… I guess I have a fixation? Evidenced further by the fact that I followed it up with a morning snack of one of my flourless almond butter muffins…
… whiiiiich, again, are made with oats, almond butter, and honey 😯 But at least the cantaloupe was different!
… as was lunch!
I’m still loving my snack plates, and I honestly don’t see that changing anytime soon. This lovely spread was made up of some killer combos — chips & salsa (dangerous!!!); almonds & raisins; cottage cheese & jam; and…. roasted kabocha, all by its lonesome self. I think what I love most about snack plates is that they allow me to satisfy all my cravings in one go so that I’m not left prowling the kitchen in that annoying state of: “not-hungry-but-need-something,” ya know? There’s nothing worse than finishing a meal and not feeling satisfied, so I’ve learned to say to hell with convention and just eat whatever it is that I might be feeling… and for an afternoon snack, I was feeling some chocolate…
Belsoy dark chocolate pudding.
… and a banana, apparently…
Another classic combo, but at least it’s not oats, almond butter, and honey 😉 And neither was dinner…
… which was leftover chicken stir fry, eaten cold because everyone knows that’s the only way to do it.
I’ve got some exciting news to share, but it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. I hope you guys have a wonderful Wednesday! And I’ll see you tomorrow for Thinking Out Loud! 😀
What’s one of your favourite food trios? I think mine is pretty obvious…
Favourite leftovers to eat cold? Stir fry or pizza.
What was breakfast this morning? Oats… with almond butter and honey 😉
I love leftover stir fry <3 And if I had *good* protein powder, I would bake another batch of bars! (They are a staple now)
If you send me some of that granola and those muffins, I’ll send you some Maple AB…
DONE!
Um. Oats, almonds, and honey are only the best things ever. And I know Arman will agree with me that anything eaten cold is definitely better than warm! Ha!
P.S. love that you still have kabocha! I cannot find it anywhere now! Ergh. Maybe a trip to Canada will do 😉
How do you make your stir fry? It looks so good! Thanks for the recipes! I really don’t like any leftovers cold. I love my warm meals. Today’s breakfast….the usual hot buckwheat cereal with blueberries, peanut butter, and chia.
This one was actually made by my mom when I went over there for dinner on Sunday, but I’ll probably end up posting a stir fry recipe eventually, seeing as I eat it so darn often…
I’m loving your snack-plate lunches! Breakfast for me was Ezekiel toast with PB, but I have a feeling I’ll be grazing all day. An unexpected snow day has left me with no sense of purpose and nothing to do, which means hanging out in the kitchen!
I love a good snack plate 🙂 My ideal one has some sort of creamy dip and veggies, but I do have to say that when I lived in Philly I used to get this great pimento cheese at Whole Foods and enjoy it with veggies, crackers, and a bowl of unsweetened apple sauce topped with blueberries and a swirl of agave. Something about that combo was just amazing to me. Happy Wednesday!
Congestion and laryngitis this morning = green smoothie (frozen spinach, frozen pineapple, frozen banana, juice of a lemon, one carrot, OJ, water, and berry powder mix) along with hot peppermint coffee is all I was in the mood for today.
Favorite combo? Standard peanut butter and chocolate. It’s a classic, what can I say?
Stay warm on the slopes! It is BITTER cold here in Pittsburgh again!
Awwr no! Hope you feel better soon, Lisa! <3
everything looks so good!
For breakfast this morning I had a big smoothie, and I’m already heading to the kitchen to find a breakfast part 2 🙂 after reading this post I’m most likely going to have a big bowl of oats!
I’m getting some samples from Plant Fusion too, haven’t got them yet so I’m interested in what you think!
I hear ya girl, the weather last week got randomly warm, so I started running outside a bunch and my appetite shot through the roof lol.
I think that my favorite trio to eat for a snack would be an apple with a nut butter and cheese! YUMMM
And I definitely agree about leftover pizza, or pizza anytime really is good in my book!
Have a great Wednesday
🙂
Favorite combos? Oats, bananas, and dates right now and oh! Chocolate chips.
mmmmm cantaloupe… haven’t had any in forever! Gosh dip some almond butter in that baby and its pure perfection in my book!!
And Ive been planning on making your granola bars but seeing as how obsessed you are with them makes me a bit scared…you know how I can get! I bet I’ll be eating them breakfast, lunch and dinner…not that there is anything wrong with that 😉
Don’t worry! We can always start a support group 😉
Oats for me too this morning! Loving hot oats every morning right now 🙂 gets my day started off nice and warm thankfully, which is needed with this cold snap! I don’t know if I could pick a favorite trio haha…I love putting almond butter on just about everything right now, so that makes an appearance often, as does hummus with whatever I have on hand…chips, pita, pretzels etc. sooo good!
Plant Fusion was the first protein powder I tried, and still the only one I can mix with milk or water and drink alone. Most protein powders have a weird, chalky taste and make me want to vom. No shame in oats, almonds, and honey–they’re all not to shabby for you, and it sounds like the perfect combination! 🙂
Breakfast for me this morning was homemade breakfast “sausage,” baby carrots and almonds. I know I am weird.
That pudding looks so creamy and smooth and amazingly chocolatey. I also like snacky lunch plates sometimes because like you said you can get in all your little cravings so that you’re satisfied. Mine always seem to include apples and nut butter… oops :p I am surprised you got a good cantaloupe! I can never find them out of season.
That stir fry looks bomb.com!! Hmmmm I don’t really have a trio, but I do eat almonds a lot! I always have a banana slathered in a almond butter & honey mixture, with a side of almonds :), then later in the after it’s almonds with some dark chocolate. And although I can’t have pizza, once upon a time when I could eat it (lactose intolerant), it was by far the best thing ever cold!
Want…no….NEED those muffins this weekend. I haven’t had pudding in forever but I love it so much–thanks for the reminder! I actually do not like stir fry cold but I preferrrr pizza cold. It’s just so good.
I’m still unable to come up with an answer to yesterday’s four foods question. I like to eat small amounts of several things hence, snack plates equal two thumbs up. But, narrowing the choices down to just four? No can do.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with eating oats, almond butter, and bananas in multiple forms. A bowl of oats is a completely different experience from a muffin or granola bar. When something is that good why reserve it for just once a day?
Most of the time I prefer hot food but leftovers are definitely better cold. No matter which method of reheating is used they simply cannot hold up to the original version. (Except some soups. They actually tend to get better as the flavors meld.)
What do you put in your banana milkshakes? That one looks delicious!
That one was actually super simple… It was just a frozen banana, some regular milk, and a bit of vanilla for flavour.
Thanks. That’s basically what I do with the addition of cinnamon.
This question will cement any impressions that I am truly a nerd. When I type in a word such as flavour my computer automatically changes it to flavor. I can override the computer’s change but I am left with an angry red line beneath the word. For those of you in Canada and Great Britain are you plagued by the angry red line if you type flavor? (Clearly I have waaaaaay too much time on my hands but I am legit curious.)
Yes ma’am! Flavor is squiggly for me, but flavour looks juuuuuust right 😀
I love PlantFusion! I got samples to try too and I’m definitely a fan! 🙂 PS your breakfast looks amazing!
My trio would have to be guac, chips and hot sauce. I could it this any time of the day and be perfectly happy! 🙂
There ain’t nothin’ wrong with oats, AB, and honey! Mine, as you might know, is extremely similar: oats, PB, and banana. 🙂
I actually have my stir fries warmed up usually, but I have a feeling I would enjoy them cold even more! I love to have leftover roasted vegetables cold and with hummus.
Breakfast this morning: overnight oats (with PB and banana), and three random brussels sprouts that my mom just pan-roasted and for which I all of a sudden had a HUGE craving.
I feel you on the nighttime snack thing – now that I’m running again, I seem to want ALL the food, ALL the time, and have found myself waking up in physical pain from hunger. Not fun! I actually made myself a grilled AB&J sandwich last night, thanks to you! 😉
!!! You know, what’s sad? I can’t even remember the last time I had an AB&J. That needs to change, stat.
Your Tuesday in the food department = perfection..I’m sure the day followed suit with you fueled by your fave eats 😉 . Recent favorite trio (because tomorrow it could change depending on the weather) : chocolate oats, yogurt and berry jam/honey. Cold pizza is the bomb and I like my pasta cold too.
Breakfast was.. overnight oats in an almond butter jar that was nowhere near empty 😀
Snack plates are great, you get to have a bit of everything – love eating this way!
Mmmmm I haven’t had pudding in forever but it is one of my favorite snacks. I tried the s’mores variety this summer and felt like I was in heaven. I’m still with you on the snack lunches. Even yesterday I couldn’t figure out what I was in the mood for so I ended up with a bunch of different things and I was far more satisfied. Whatever works!
I JUST started eating leftover Chinese food (stirfry) cod and omg where has that meal my whole life?? College-Mary would have had a field day…
Nothing’s wrong with the combination of almond butter, oats and honey. I could have that all day long everyday. Too sad I couldn’t find any almond butter in France yet, they have organic PB though and since I am luckily allergy-free I’ll make do with it. Which reminds me of a recipe of yours I still need to try: these pancakes you posted a week or so ago. Head like a sieve, that’s what you get from writing a master thesis! I should probably make a list of recipes to try… as if the amount of lists I got wasn’t obsessive enough already.
As a gal who has a hard time making decisions especially when it comes to the all-important meal time, I also enjoy snack plates quite a bit! A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Snack plates are fun!
Some of my favorite food combos: peanut butter and chocolate, peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and banana, crackers and cheese, veggies and hummus, brownies and ice cream!
Mmm those oats look good! I used to eat oatmeal for breakfast all the time but it just never filled me up enough for my workout. Sometimes I will eat it after, though. I am a cereal gal at the moment!
I’ve been noticing myself getting a little more munchie after breakfast lately as well — what did you replace your oats with?
Just straight up cereal with milk. I like Special K Protein Plus at the moment!
Your chocolate muffins look so delicious! I am making them tonight with my sister FOR SURE.
One of my favorite food trios is hard boiled egg whites, some soy mayonnaise, and warmed up peas. Oh it is SO DELICIOUS! I love egg salad and try it in new ways as often as I can.
Breakfast this morning was a fantastic banana almond milk protein shake. Can’t get enough of them! Especially after working out 🙂
That cantaloupe looks perfect. I wanna take a spoon to that bad boy sooo badly. One of my favorite food trios is fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, and basil. Throw some syrupy balsamic vinegar on there and I’m a happy human.
I love chocolate pudding as a way to satisfy my craving. I have been making snack plates for lunch, too, lately. I seem to always want a bit of numerous things, so it works for the best. I eat a bit of each and I’m good! I had a bagel thin, turkey bacon, and an egg with cheese and salsa for breakfast! Just finished it up 🙂 Have a great day!
Hmm, I’m drooling over the muffin. They MUST happen this weekend!
And I LOVE cold lasagna. I sometimes eat it for breakfast. Rebellish, I know.
all looks amazing, I kind of wish I had a melon right now. when the temps drop like this I totally need warm food, whatever that is.
Honey and PB/AB pretty much rock a delicious combo! Especially when both are natural and it just makes you feel even better about putting something that tasty into your body!
Cold Pizza is the best ever, hands down, period.
Ahhhhh breakfast! my most favorite meal of the day! whats better than waking up in eating?? 🙂 but for breakfast today i had toast with AB/honey, a FLOURLESS ALMOND BUTTER MUFFIN! (so good Amanda!) and some other random nibbles!
You made em? Aww — thanks for letting me know! I’m glad you liked em 😀
I love eating cooked veggies cold the next day and stir fries cold…totally!
This morning I went back to basics and just had a bowl of cereal consisting of crispy brown rise and mesa sunrise flakes with loads of cinnamon…and almond milk 🙂
I try not to pay attention to the fact that most of what I eat is the same thing just in a different form lol. I am thinking to make those muffins today or the granola bars considering I am snowed in once again with beyond frigid temps that even after I dig out my car, I am heading back into the comforts of my kitchen. I don’t use protein powder ever but I am pretty sure I have a sample packet or two in the pantry to play around with.
Have you watched Freaky Friday?
Well…the reason I am asking is if you and I had a swticharoo – I would so NOT complain of your (switcharoo -my) eats as they reflect mine most days! My trio are oats, chocolate and nutbutter (PB or AB) – in pancake or bowl or scone form, they are my favs – and today they were my breakfast (I am out of leftover pancakes) 🙁
That chocolate pudding looks heavenly – I gotta check em out and see if they have dairy free options.
In the summer, I could eat leftover pizza or chicken cold, but in winter I have to heat EVERYTHING up! My SriLankan roots were so not meant for cold weather! 🙂 Enjoy your day lovely lady!
sweet potato+greek yogurt+nut butter. hummus+brussels+avocado.
meal…done.
Snack plates are a win. I can never decide if I want sweet or savory meals, so I just have both! I used this plate to divide: http://www.hipbabygear.com/assets/images/skiphop/owl_plate.jpg
…O.o… Clearly I am a grown up.
Clearly I am as well, because that’s seriously the cutest thing ever.
My Mama got it for me as a joke … who is laughing now?
What is the yummiest way to prepare/eat kabocha squash?
I slice mine in half, scoop out the seeds, slice in half again (to end up with quarters), rub a little bit of coconut oil on the outside, place the quarters on a baking sheet, and bake them at 410F for about 30 minutes.
Thanks! Do you think any oil or cooking spray would also work?
Definitely! Just anything to keep the outside a little bit moist.