Happy What I Ate Wednesday, friendly faces!
You know what I realized after I started sharing these posts with you guys? I eat pretty much the same things all the time. I mean, I already knew this, but it really hits home when you realize that you can basically copy/paste one WIAW post to the next and not really have to change much besides the commentary.
This is something I constantly go back and forth with. On the one hand… I don’t really care. An obsession with variety and coming up with new meals all the time was a huge part of my eating disorder, but now that that’s no longer an issue, all I want is something that’ll fill my belly and let me go about my day. Bonus points if it’s quick, easy, and finicky stomach approved.
On the other hand, I realize this isn’t necessarily the most interesting approach from a reader’s point of view, and I blog for you just as much as I blog for me.
SO! In an effort to keep things interesting for you guys and challenging for me, I’m going to switch things up today and eat something other than what I normally eat. Mmmkay? Mmmkay.
Starting after breakfast, though…
[Breakfast:] 1 cup of dry oats with a banana cooked in. 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, 2 spoonfuls of golden flax, a handful of blueberries & strawberries, and cinnamon added post-cook.
Sorry, guys. I love you, but I’m not willing to mess with breakfast.
See, it’s kind of what sets the tone for the rest of the day, and I feel like I’ve finally found a perfect combination that:
- gives me tonnes of energy,
- never bogs me down or upsets my stomach,
- lasts me all the way until lunch, and
- tastes amazing
I love eating stovetop oats in the morning (baked/overnight isn’t the same), and while I’ll swap flavours based on what’s in season and what I have on hand, I usually stick to this general formula.
And… *looks down at shoes*… I kind of stick to the same formula for part 1 of lunch, too…
[Lunch pt.1:] typical swampy chocolate smoothie (2 frozen bananas, 2 Medjool dates, big fistful of spinach, 1/2 scoop protein powder, 2 spoonfuls of cocoa, and cashew milk)
But that’s it! I promise.
It’s just that… the morning is when I’m the most productive, so I like to eat things that I know work for me 99.9% of the time. There’s a slight chance that my stomach will protest one of the above, but it’s so rare that I can’t even remember the last time it happened.
That being said, I did step away from the ABJ sandwiches to switch things up for part 2 of lunch…
[Lunch pt.2:] a sweet rice bowl! (white basmati rice with applesauce, maple syrup, cinnamon, and almond butter)
… but I couldn’t step away from something sweet 😉
And that brings us to the afternoon snackage – probably the easiest meal to keep varied since I’m usually snacking on whatever recipe I happen to be testing for the blog.
This particular day involved some banana bread that I’ll be sharing with you guys soon. Until then, check out the almond butter & jelly muffins I posted yesterday.
[Afternoon Snack:] a few slices of oat-y banana bread.
Alright.
Real talk from my last WIAW -> “I’m not a fan of cooking dinner.” At all. But I’m more than happy to toss a few things together and call it a meal 😁
[Dinner]: a can of Amy’s lentil soup with avocado and a slice Silver Hills 20 Grain Train toast with avocado.
More real talk -> I almost never heat up any canned food that I happen to be eating, BUT not because I’m lazy [in this case]… I’m just not a fan of hot food and prefer the taste of things at room temperate. I do toast my bread, though, because… crunch.
And that’s that, friendly faces! Not 100% switched up, but not bad for a first attempt. Now watch me go back to my old ways until the next WIAW 😂
Let’s chat!
Do you switch things up or usually stick to the same meals/snacks?
What’s your favourite simple dinner? <- I may or may not need some ideas.
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I’m trying to eat less animal products and yout WIAW are so inspiring ! It’s my first time on your blog and I’m loving everything I’m reading and looking at. I mean your pictures are amazing !!! I definitely have to make myself more smoothies and try sweet rice bowls, what a discovery !!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Sarah! Definitely give the smoothies a try – I couldn’t live without them. This one in particular is one of my favourites -> http://www.runningwithspoons.com/2015/08/05/chocolate-overnight-oatmeal-smoothie/ It tastes like melted chocolate ice cream!
I tend to eat the same breakfasts (oatmeal, overnight oats, or a smoothie bowl these days) but dinners vary (and lunches are usually leftovers of dinner). That being said, there are a handful of dinners that I tend to remake often like tacos, stir fries, and turkey burgers!
I love smoothies, if I don’t have one during the day, it feels so wrong. 😉
Favorite simple dinner? Roasted sweet potatoes, an egg, and some random veggie.
I totally am at that stage where I’ve found things that are really nice to my stomach, and Amanda, I don’t think any of us would mind if you posted the same eats, because your eats always look so good and satisfying. I’m kind of habitual about breakfast, but I do like trying some different things like:
Overnight Oats
Smoothies
Oatmeal (Hot)
Yogurt Bowls…
And there are days I want to make a HUGE dinner, and other days, cereal sounds really good. 😀
I feel exactly the same way! I’ll occasionally be inspired to try something fancier for dinner, but more often than not, it’s either something ready made or breakfast round 2.
I’m the opposite with foods – I prefer my food hot (except things like yogurt or fruit) rather than at room temperature. I even microwaved my salad for a few seconds today just to warm it up a bit without wilting it. It’s weird, but maybe that’s because it never really reaches summer temperatures most days in Seattle and I’m one of those always cold people.
My favorite quick and lazy dinner is roasted chicken and veggies with baked potatoes. Everything just goes in the oven at the same temperatures and I can do whatever I want for that hour.
I can’t even tell you how long I’ve wanted to bake some potatoes and veggies, but by the time I realize I want to eat, I’m too hungry to wait for it to cook. Clearly my foresight needs some work 😕
I think we all tend to eat the same things over and over. These are great choices. Love the oatmeal with flax and the rice dish.
I’ve toyed with the idea of doing WIAW posts but I know they would be super boring because I eat a lot of the same things every week. I guess it would be a good way to force me to try something new though.
Your dinner looks delicious and so easy. That’s a great idea to eat it room temp, especially seeing how it’s summertime.
I would love to see WIAWs from you! You always seem to eat the most delicious things 🙂 And that’s kind of how I feel about it – encourages me to step out of my box every couple of weeks.
I’m a creature of habit with a sprinkle of variety 😉 I almost always have a smoothie bowl or sweet potato hash, but I switch up what fruits/toppings are in the smoothie and what veggies/meats go in the hash. I almost always have a salad and a bunch of nuts for lunch, but I mix up what’s in the salad and what types of nuts, etc. My snacks are usually fruits, sweet potatoes, nut butters, and chocolate, but I change what kinds of fruit and flavors of chocolate. It’s like… I have formulas, but I can switch up the individual pieces. Dinner is where I have a little more creativity, though, since I’m cooking for more than just me.
Formulas. I love that. I’m basically the same way and find it works really well. And I feel like I’d be a lot more creative for dinners if I was cooking for more than just me too. As it stands, cereal for dinner is perfectly acceptable 😆
I eat a lot of the same things daily as well. Green smoothie for breakfast, tuna sandwich and veggies at lunch, apple with peanut butter for a snack, and some kind of chicken for dinner. Dinner varies the most, but we have the usual go-to meals that rotate throughout the week. It’s just so much easier at the grocery store when you know exactly what you need!
It really is! I like the idea of constantly making new things, but I just don’t have the energy for it after trying to constantly come up with new recipes for the blog. I like food, but not thinking about it THAT much.
To be honest, I think a lot of people are guilty of eating the same thing (or very similar items) daily. We know what we like and what works for us!
I usually stick to staple breakfasts of eggs and toast or baked oatmeal and fruit. If i change things up its for dinners and dinner leftovers are always my lunches 🙂
I eat the same thing every day too. Creature of habit I guess. If it works for you, there’s no point in switching it up! Unless you want to, that is. Which I usually don’t hahah
I am the same way…tried and true favorites throughout the week and a little something different on WIAW 🙂 I have so much protein powder at home…I need to find something new to do with it other than smoothies…
i never thought of using avocado as a soup garnish…..I think i better re-think my avocado uses ! and on TOAST? I heard about that…but forgot about it !! guess I better do that on my favorite English Muffin tomorrow ( Trader Joe’s version)
and applesauce in rice? wow…..always interesting combinations from you…better give some of these a try….plus, I have my pear/black raspberry sauce sitting in my fridge right now….( from my own trees)
Avocado on toast is amazing!! Definitely try it out, and let me know how you like it! 😀
If I had to document what I ate every day, it would pretty much be the same-ish. I rotate lunches and dinners and snacks, but you don’t mess with breakfast! My go-to is Greek yogurt with berries, toast, and peanut butter. It’s the only thing I’ve found to 1. keep me full, 2. satisfy my cravings, and 3. agree with my stomach.
And I also like eating food at room temp (most of the time)! I’ve been known to just pull leftovers out of the fridge and eat them straight from the container, no microwave required! 😉
Me too! The only thing I really don’t like eating straight from the fridge is rice since it gets kind of dry… but then all I do is pour some hot water over it and then drain it when it softens up.
I can totally relate to the sameness in my WIAWs which have been happening since last spring now (how can I have been blogging so long?) There are differences over time – when I was in law school I tended to have more mornings during the week when I was cooking breakfast at home so had eggs then a lot, and I ate a lot more of my homemade baked goods, and I tended to do salads or other raw veggies multiple times a day. Now I often have a sweet breakfast (yogurt, baked something) with nut butter that I bring to work, a lot of lunch salads, but always cooked veggies with dinner. Day to day it’s really the same – especially lately when I’ve not wanted to use the oven and keep making eggs and potatoes or GF waffles for dinner!
I keep wanting to make baked potato fries but I don’t have the patience to wait for them to cook 😆 Fingers crossed for making it happen next time.
So the “u” in words like “favourite” always makes me happy…I work for a Canadian bank and my best friend here is Canadian (and many of my other friends/colleagues) and I love that. 🙂 I’m also a creature of habit with meals, which is the main reason I’ve never joined in on WIAW – I eat salads, eggs, protein shakes, smoothies and fruit pretty much exclusively, unless there are fish tacos to be had!
Yay for Canadaland!! <3 And that was one of the main reasons I stayed away from WIAW too, but I kind of like that it encourages to get more creative with some of my eats, at least once every 2 weeks 😆
What you ate looks super delicious!
I totally switch it up from time to time but yesterday I had 2 protein smoothies and 1 protein bar all in the same day….not so yum!
I really really need varieties, though the importance varies depending on the meal. I will never eat the same breakfast two days in a row, but I have eaten the same lunch/dinner at most 3 days in a row. It’s just more convenient if I prepare a batch of something.
Fave simple dinner: baked sweet potato topped with a glob of sunflower seed butter and on the side anything protein-y with some veggies. Hits the spot every time. 🙂
Ooooh I totally forgot about sweet potatoes! I have to get back into those – thanks!
I totally have the same foods on repeat too, which I think a lot of us bloggers do if we are being honest 😉
Though I have to say, I’m not sure why you dont warm your soup! What if there was a cheesy soup, would you heat that one at least to get all the cheesy goodness? Wait…do you drink your coffee hot at least? ITS LIKE I DONT EVEN KNOW YOU!! 😉 <3
Haha! I just find that food tastes better when it’s not hot, because when it is, I can hardly taste it. And hot coffee isn’t all that appealing to me atm so I’ve been drinking it iced 😕
Wait, wait, wait…are you telling me you didn’t warm up that soup? You’re crazy. Hot food (or warm food) is so good, especially soup.
I can’t remember the last time I had a chocolate smoothie. I need to change that, as soon as I finish my beets that is. 🙂
Lol no. Not hot food. Even when my mo is making soup and it’s hot, I always wait for it to cool down before I start eating it. Tastes better that way! And I’m betting you could add cocoa to your beet smoothies. Just saying!
LOVE the yummy eats today!! That sweet rice bowl looks so good and so did those AB&J muffins yesterday. I usually stick to the same meals too and I’m surprised I’m not sick of them yet haha. My favorite simple dinner? Eggs and sauteed zucchini with onions. BOOM! 🙂
I really like the idea of a sweet rice bowl – I wonder if my kids might go for that? I feel like I need to switch it up for them sometimes more than I do for myself. They’ll LOVE the same thing for a week and then suddenly can’t stand it. That banana bread looks seriously tasty!
Until reading this post I thought I was the only one who added various nut butters to bows of rice and added honey. I had no idea “sweet rice bowls” were a thing! They makes such good snacks!
https://thedogtribe.com/2016/07/18/college-friends/
For real! I’ve been eating rice this way for as long as I can remember. As a kid, one of my favourite things in the world was rice with plain yogurt, sugar, and cinnamon.
you know I eat the same foods every day. I think I am switching things up but what usually happens is I use the same ingredients just in a different way. yes to sweet lunches! any time I deviate I always regret it.
The regret is real! I didn’t have a smoothie for lunch today (ran out of bananas), and I’m seriously going through withdrawals.
Avocado toast is the bomb and I love it when I’m lucky enough to catch an avocado when it’s ripe! Which is rare because I’ll buy them, then wait too long haha.
I usually switch up my meals a lot. I think it’s because Riley gets bored easily and always wants dinners to be different. If I lived alone, though, I’d probably just do the same things all the time. I go through phases with breakfast, but have to switch it up there too because I love breakfast food so much I want to try it all!
My store actually sells ripe avocados that are pretty much perfect the same day. Now if only they’d start doing that with bananas…
I have two breakfasts that I swap between through the week – smoothies or cereal with berries. Weekends I like toast and nut butter.
Lunches I really need variation with, especially on work days. It’s the highlight of those 8 hours at a desk, so I need something to look forward to and I’m quite easily bored if I have the same thing every day.
Dinners I tend to vary as well. I’ll make a couple of big dishes and eat them two days in a row to save time preparing something after work, but I rarely eat the same things week after week. I wish I could – it would be much easier!
Haha! And here I am wishing I could switch things up more often.
If only we could find some way to swap!