Happy Friday! I hope it’s been a good week for you guys. I had a solid week full of training clients, teaching yoga and momming. I also had a big appointment for my hip (!!!!!) and nailed down spring marathon plans so updates on both of those are coming in the next week.
I hope you’re not too hungry because I’ve got quite the recent eats recap for you today. I’d say the shining star of this round up is the dinners. If you are in need of some healthy and fairly simple dinner inspiration – you’ll find it here!
BREAKFAST
I rarely photograph my breakfast because it’s so repetitive. 98% of the time it’s a yogurt bowl or a protein smoothie. I wake up hungry but really only crave these types of foods. I don’t know that I’ll ever be a savory breakfast kinda girl. I struggled with that even when I did Whole 30 back in the day. I ended up eating a lot of sweet potato bowls and chia pudding.
Above are two yogurt bowls – the top one has fresh strawberries, bananas, cashews, pepitas, dried cranberries, granola and almond butter. The bottom one has defrosted frozen fruit, bananas, granola and almond butter. Frozen fruit is a great option for yogurt bowls – especially this time of year when berries are not at their prime.
LUNCH
Massaged kale, grain mix from a pouch, Trader Joe’s canned lightly smoked salmon, apples, pecans, avocado, feta, dried cranberries and Trader Joe’s goddess dressing.
If I’m going to eat eggs, it’s usually for lunch. Open faced sandwich with mayo, avocado, fried eggs, bacon and cheese on homemade sourdough.
Ham sandwich (using leftover New Year’s ham) on honey wheat with mayo, avocado, sweet pickles and cheese.
Green, grain blend from a ready-to-eat pouch, roast delicata squash, avocado, pumpkin spiced pepitas, dried cranberries, apples, feta, olive oil and balsamic.
Open faced turkey sandwich on sourdough. Love that sumo mandarins are back!
Greens, brown rice and quinoa, goat cheese, beets. dried cranberries, pecans and leftover salmon.
Open faced chicken salad melt with avocado and colby jack cheese. I stopped at a local market to get the chicken salad and picked up a piece of strawberry cake while there.
Massaged kale, grain blend, air fried chicken nuggets, beets, dried cranberries, goat cheese, pistachios, avocado, olive oil and balsamic.
Sourdough toast with butter, mashed avocado and cottage cheese scrambled eggs.
Massaged kale, apples, grain blend, pistachios, beets, chopped turkey, dried cranberries, goat cheese, avocado, olive oil and balsamic.
Turkey sandwich on freshly baked sourdough.
DINNER
This is my new favorite bowl combo. Air fried chicken seasoned with Dizzy Pig Wonder Bird, roasted green beans drizzled in balsamic, quinoa and hummus.
Seared tuna bowl with sushi rice, wasabi aioli and a frozen veggie blend. I marinated the tuna in Trader Joe’s soyaki sauce.
Pork tenderloin, sautéed broccolini and baked potato.
Roasted salmon with Trader Joe’s soyaki sauce, roasted cauliflower, roasted delicata squash and a mini croissant from Whole Foods. The kind you buy frozen, let sit out for 20 mins and then bake.
Quinoa, air fried tofu, roasted broccoli and roasted white sweet potatoes with a ginger miso tahini sauce on top.
Our favorite homemade spaghetti sauce, salad and toasted sourdough.
Veggie packed turkey meatloaf with roasted potatoes and roasted brussels. I love this meatloaf recipe! And FYI, I didn’t pre-saute the veggies this time before adding them in and it worked just fine.
Pre-marinated spiedie chicken breast from Reid’s, roasted potatoes and roasted carrots.
Pasta skillet with chicken Italian sausage, sweet peas and a jarred butternut squash sauce that I picked up on final sale at Whole Foods.
Another pasta bowl with orzo, sautéed chicken sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, feta and a bag of the Whole Foods Provencal frozen vegetable blend. The veggies are seasoned and gave the dish a lot of flavor. Worked well with the sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil. Finished it off with some parm.
New Year’s Day dinner of black-eyed peas, ham, homemade buttermilk biscuits and roasted brussel sprouts. I was just going to do a pork tenderloin or smaller piece of ham but then I was able to get this whole 10 lb Smithfield ham on sale for less than $8 at Harris Teeter so it was ham for days.
Another pork dinner…my dad smoked a boston butt while we were in Florida and it was soooo good. He also made baked beans from scratch (starting with dried beans) and they were the best! Night and day difference from the canned ones.
Another dad dinner – roast Cornish hens with gribiche sauce, homemade mac and cheese and air fried brussel sprouts.
Fried grouper tacos with green beans and hush puppies. We ventured out to Stewby’s one night while we were in Florida to take a break from holiday food and OMG yum. I’ve eaten there tons but it was my first time trying the tacos. They are 100% my new fave!
Back at home and on the lighter side…a salmon salad with grains, beats, dried cranberries, goat cheese and toasted pecans. Dressed with olive oil, sea salt and balsamic. I air fried the salmon with some seasoning and lemon slices until it reached about 125 degrees.
Air fried steelhead trout (very similar to salmon) with steamed rice, roasted delicata squash and roasted broccoli.
And sometimes we let Trader Joe’s do the cooking! Butter chicken with naan. I like this frozen entree a lot. Very flavorful.
ETC
Carrot cake slice from The Fresh Market. I think they have the best bakery of any of the larger chain grocery stores around here.
Best sourdough bake in ages. I need to get the new stretch and fold method posted for you guys!
Big ice cream restock when Harris Teeter was having a BOGO sale. I eat ice cream almost every night (unless I have cake haha). It’s my favorite little treat with a cup of hot tea before bed. These are some of my go-to flavors.
And with that we have come to the conclusion of this edition of recent eats. As you can see, it’s eats as usual over here. I’m not planning to make any dietary changes for the new year or in 2025!
QUESTIONS
What have you been eating for breakfast lately?
Have you made any delicious soups this season?
Which of my ice cream flavors would you go for?
100% agree with the frozen berries and yogurt bowl combo, I can’t stop!
Love the White Choc. Raspberry flavour there (but I love all flavours)
Yes, such a great option for winter! Ate the white chocolate raspberry truffle last night 🙂
Is there a formula for greens/grain/veggie/protein bowls? Especially is the veggie are more carb-y like roasted but squash?
Thanks!
No formula! I just have a general template in my head for salads…
Greens
Fats (avo nuts)
A fruit (dried cran, apples, blueberries etc)
Other veggies (carrots, peppers, tomatoes, etc)
Healthy carb (grains usually or roast squash or sweet pot)
Protein
Cheese 🙂
I don’t want to sound good police-y, and I LOVE ham, but Smithfield treats its employees, most of whom are illegal immigrants terribly (hires them for a duration then cooperates w ICE to deport them, so they got useful, cheap labor. Then, they (Smithfield) do it all over again.. the documentary (by respected Michael Pollan of The NY Times, not an “influencer.”) Food, Inc documents this well.
Alicia – thank you so much for sharing this! I had no idea and my dad has just always bought Smithfield hams. I will educate myself on this and make better brand decisions moving forward.
I get it! Life is so hard; it sucks that we can’t just food shop without having to really think about our food supply/sourcing. It’s a drag, but imo pretty important when human lives are so impacted.
You might be interested in this:
https://apnews.com/article/smithfield-meats-child-labor-37331398891881f762c49db751ef52de
Yessssss stretch and fold! Love that method!!
Game changer! Love it so much.
Hi! I’m trying to overhaul my meal/cooking game this year. Two questions: 1) Do you meal plan when you go to the store, or do you just buy what looks good and come up with meal ideas over the week/on the fly? 2) What are your thoughts on eating processed meats like deli meats, the canned salmon, ham etc so often? I’m really trying to get off deli meat and other processed meats but it makes lunch a challenge, I would love more meal ideas that don’t involve deli meats, ham, canned things that bacon etc. if/when you have them!
Great questions –
1) I haven’t been menu planning lately but I enjoy doing so. I typically just buy a few protein and veg and know I can make some meals out of it.
2) Trying very hard to eat less processed protein! It is challenging. Maybe I’ll do a month without it and try to come up with new recipes and combos for us! 🙂
Hi Jen! Do you calorie count at all? You eat the most delicious but simple foods, and just wondering what your approach is. Do you snack throughout the day, or eat more structured meals? Not sure if you already have a post on this, but curious how you approach nutrition with being so active.
Hi Shelby! I don’t count anything. It’s never really worked for me – although I know it’s helpful for some. I really just try to eat from an intuitive/what I need kind of place. I lean more towards three big meals a day – not a big snacker. I like to be satiated – it helps ground me (vatta dosha). Of course, I’ll add in some extras when I need it because of hunger or training load. Here’s a post I wrote that you might find helpful: https://www.peanutbutterrunner.com/finding-food-freedom-and-the-journey-of-getting-there/. Always open to chatting about this topic!