Happy weekend! I’m enjoying a Saturday morning of hanging out at home catching up on work and baking four loaves of sourdough to give as gifts before I head to the studio to teach at 11:15 and then out for Tanner’s family Christmas this afternoon/evening.

Last week was a little rough. I owe you a post-mortem on my “strategy for managing a busy week” post but let’s just say…things didn’t go exactly according to plan. It definitely wasn’t a complete wash but definitely didn’t make it all happen as I hoped.

Here’s what did happen when it comes to food and eats!

BREAKFAST

It’s been cold in Charlotte this week so breakfast has been a lot of banana oatmeal with cottage cheese stirred in and topped with almond butter and figs. I’ve also been using about 1/4 cup of coconut milk eggnog in my oats for a holiday twist.

Yogurt and granola bowl.

More oatmeal. For my local readers, I’ve found these figs on and off at Harris Teeter this fall over by the berries and grapes. They’re a little pricy but I think they’re worth it! One big fig diced up is enough to top a salad or a breakfast for me so I can stretch out the package all week.

LUNCH

Back on salads for lunch this week mainly because that’s really all I had in the fridge to work with and wanted to avoid another grocery trip. This is a base of massaged kale with quinoa topped with avocado, feta, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, a Hilary’s Eat Well veggie burger and Trader Joe’s Almond Butter Turmeric dressing. These are new dressings that you can find in the refrigerated case over near the bagged lettuce and they are GOOD!

Wrap with hummus, provolone, arugula and avocado. Apple slices and salt and vinegar chips on the side as well as some simply caesar dressing for dipping. I had a moment with salt and vinegar kettle chips this week.

Another veggie burger salad, this one with arugula, avocado, pecans, apples, figs, feta, dried cranberries, a Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger and a mix of the Trader Joe’s Almond Butter Turmeric and Carrot Ginger Miso dressing.

Sushi lunch with some girlfriends at Namastay Kitchen. I’ve been craving sushi and while this “cooked” roll with shrimp tempura and eel didn’t exactly satisfy it, it was definitely delicious!

One last veggie burger salad! 🙂 This one is the same mix as the one above but minus the figs and with a Hilary’s Eat Well root veggie burger.

DINNER

Spiced chicken leg/thigh quarters with leftover mashed cauliflower and peas. I also sauteed some Trader Joe’s frozen mushrooms with the chicken because I love mushrooms!

On Monday night I roasted three acorn squash and then made a stuffing with Italian sausage, apples, mushrooms, celery, shallots and breadcrumbs. This was pre-baking.

This is post-baking.

We both ended up eating this twice for dinner throughout the week. They were so good. I loosely followed this recipe.

Let’s just say the rest of the week’s dinners weren’t quite so healthy. On Wednesday night I went over to Dorie’s for a quiet 40th celebration for one of our friends. We ordered takeout from Namastay and the only thing that sounded remotely appealing was a turkey burger and I was ordering roasted cauliflower for my side I said, “give me a side of fries too.”

I also brought cupcakes from Sunflour to celebrate the birthday girl and had a carrot cake cupcake after dinner. Needless to say, I didn’t feel super great on Thursday morning when I got up to teach my 6:45 a.m. yoga class. I was mostly SO thirsty, it was crazy. I was guzzling water while teaching.

Tuesday night I made dinner of a freaking ton of various chips and dips at another Christmas party and then came home and had a bowl of ice cream. And Friday night was another holiday party of snacks and then I made an egg sandwich at midnight when I got home.

Yikes. Tis the season?

ETC. 

It’s also the season for hot chocolate. I just whipped up a quick mix of unsweetened cocoa powder, a little sugar, a dash of salt, some vanilla and some chocolate syrup and mixed it with heated plain unsweetened almond milk. Tanner was judging my marshmallow topping to hot chocolate ratio but I think it was just right. 😉

It’s also the season for cookies! One of my sweet yoga friends gave me these with a bag of tea. Love that idea for a little “thinking of you” happy!

THE GIRLS

Our nights end with a big family cuddle session, either on the bedroom floor or in the bed. Now that it’s so cold out at night, the girls are all about bed cuddles for a while and then they get hot and jump down.

And couldn’t resist sharing this photo of baby Zoey that popped up in my Facebook memories today. Hard to believe this was three years ago. Look at that nugget!

Have a lovely weekend y’all! xx

Have your eats stayed pretty regular/balanced lately or are you on the holiday wagon a bit with me!? 

If you had to choose…chips and dips or Christmas cookies for holiday party food? 

What breakfast has been your go to with the colder mornings?