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Happy Friday!

I got almost 9 hours of sleep last night which was so nice. I woke up naturally around 7:20 and invited Sullie up for some cuddles. It’s a cold, rainy day so I’m now camped out at my desk with a space heater and french pressed coffee. Perfect Friday morning.

While I don’t mind getting up and at ’em and training clients and teaching in the pre-dawn hours, I much prefer 7 a.m. natural wake ups and coffee/computer time. This is my most focused and productive time of the the day.

My recent eats are usually mostly about dinner (and y’all gave me great feedback on last week’s 7 nights of homemade dinners post!) so I thought today I would focus on all the things I’ve been eating lately for breakfast, lunch and snacks.

Pumpkin Pie Protien Smoothie

You know I have to kick it off with a smoothie but this isn’t just any smoothie…it’s a seasonal treat! I created this Pumpkin Pie Protein Smoothie last week and it’s so yummy!

Pumpkin Pie Protein Smoothie

1 frozen banana
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or more if you want to kick it up)
1/2-3/4 cup almond/cashew/soy/skim milk (adjust for desired consistency)
1 tablespoon almond butter
1/2 scoop Premier Protein Vanilla Milkshake Protein Powder

I topped it with some peanut butter pumpkin pie granola I whipped up…and need to share the recipe for soon! Let me get through this move.

9.25smoothiecoffee

Acai bowl topped with banana and granola and french press.

10.2pumpkinoats

Pumpkin banana egg white oatmeal topped with Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butter and creamy peanut butter. Here is my recipe for Banana Egg White Oatmeal and I added 1/4 cup pumpkin puree to it.

9.25kalesalad

Moving on to lunches…kale salad with tahini dressing. I’ve been whipping up this simple tahini dressing for the last couple of weeks and I’m totally addicted. I will measure out proportions and share.

9.25sandwich

Soudough + mashed avocado + sliced honecrisp apples + deli chicken + melted muenster = HEAVEN!

10.2eggs

Also spot on with an egg.

10.2saladcc

Spinach salad topped with chick peas, avocado, pine nuts, hardboiled egg, carrots, tomatoes, feta and cottage cheese. I have been on a major cottage cheese kick lately.

10.2tunasalad

Tuna salad made with mashed avocado, plain greek yogurt, a little lite mayo, dried cranberries, sliced grapes and sliced almonds.

10.2burgerpoes

A burger topped with pimento cheese, avocado and crispy onions with bleu cheese bacon cole slaw.

10.2poesmenu

I couldn’t visit Isle of Palms without a stop at Poe’s Tavern on neighboring Sullivan’s Island. Poe’s has been a longtime favorite and I have eaten countless meals here and drank countless beers in the 10+ years I’ve been going to Poe’s! 🙂

It had been 3-4 years since I last ate at Poe’s so I was excited to return…and to find the menu hasn’t changed at all!

9.25snack

Must try combination of Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter swirled into peanut butter with honeycrisp apples.

10.2brownie

Brownie bites topped with peanut butter. (We’ve got a lot of peanut butter going on in this post!)

10.2cupcakes

Cupcakes from Polka Dot. Blackberry Lemon (my fave), Salted Caramel and Butterfinger.

10.2yoplait

And we’ll end with something a little healthier! Last week I received a surprise delivery from Yoplait with Yoplait Original, the cutest little spoon and fresh flowers. Yoplait recently reformulated their original recipe to feature 25% less sugar in all 25 of the flavors available. One of the reasons I avoid flavored yogurt is the sugar content so I was happy to hear that they had made a significant cut to the recipe. It was definitely a throwback to my teen years when I would always open our fridge at home and find that red foil cap!

Tell me how your Friday morning started.

What’s been your favorite salad dressing lately?

Favorite recent snack?

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