What I Ate Wednesday, 11/19/14

Hello friends! It’s Ashley…returning from my bloggity hiatus! I missed the blog quite a bit, but I’m so happy that Lynda was able to fully take over while I was gone. A lot has happened in the last month…some of it wonderful and some of it, well, not so wonderful. Things are finally settling down now and I am feeling more like my old Ashley Pants self. I will explain more in an upcoming post, I promise! For now though I will just tell you all about the yummy foods I ate today.

Breakfast

I made a packet of instant oatmeal because I didn’t have time to cook my usual oatmeal. The brand is Nature’s Path and it’s called Blueberry Cinnamon Flax. It’s pretty good for something quick in the morning. I made mine with unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I also fried one egg to go with it. I also had coffee, of course, but I failed to get it in the picture.

 

 

 

 

Snack

My snack while at work was this KIND bar in the Vanilla Blueberry flavor. I’ve mentioned these before I think. So good! I also drank lots of H2O because I need it to keep doing the living.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch

My Lunch wasn’t all that exciting. I had a turkey sandwich with pepper jack cheese and mustard on some Ezekiel bread. I toasted it in the toaster oven. I also made a smoothie, which actually turned out to be more of a slushy. The “smoothie” consists of about 1 cup of frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup frozen pineapple, a handful of baby spinach, and a cup or so of coconut water. It was very good! A little thick, but that can be easily fixed by adding more water, I just didn’t care that much. The pineapple makes it naturally perfectly sweet. And look how pretty it is!

 

 

 

Dinner

My dinner was Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken…a recipe I found on Pinterest. I’m not sure what to call this, but it ended up being a burrito bowl of some sort. The recipe is really simple. It’s pretty much chicken breasts, corn, black beans, tomatoes, and spices all thrown in the crock pot and cooked for several hours. It’s really good over rice and/or with chips. I added some salsa and some Trader Joe’s spicy guacamole on top. The recipe can be found here. I also ate some Trader Joe’s Quinoa and Black Bean infused Tortilla chips with it! I drank more H2O…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we are all caught up to right now. I’m not eating anything, but I have to say I wouldn’t hate it if that ice cream in the freezer somehow magically ended up in a bowl and then in my belly. I’m not gonna do it though! I hope you guys have a wonderful night. I’m looking forward to posting on here more regularly again. Thanks for reading! xoxo

Bows and Arrows,

Ashley

What I Ate Wednesday, 10/8/14

Hey guys! I’m back for my every other week appearance on the blog. Lately, I have really been failing at balancing all of the things I need/want to do on a daily basis. I have so much going on right now! Mostly it’s very exciting stuff, but I wont get into that now. Maybe I will share more in another post, but right now I am gonna share my food because that’s what you came here for, right?

Breakfast

My breakfast was the most pathetic thing ever. I ran out of almond milk, so not oatmeal this morning. 😦 I guess I could have used water, but that’s not as good. I wasn’t very hungry this morning anyway, so I just toasted one slice of my 7 sprouted grains bread with a little butter and grape jelly. I had some coffee by Caribou Coffee in my adorable Frankenstein mug (again) with organic half and half.

Snack

I forgot to take a picture, but I had a KIND bar in a new flavor. Well, new to me at least. It’s called Caramel Almond and Sea Salt and it is probably my favorite KIND bar now! Another good thing about this flavor is that it is low in sugar compared to a lot of the other ones (only 5 grams). Go try it!

Lunch

I was pretty much starving by the time I was able to eat lunch, which was around 2pm. I decided to pick up a Cobb salad from Chick-fil-A. I know this is the least healthy salad I could have chosen, but I don’t really care, so ha!

Dinner

My dinner was something I have pretty much once a week, and I have probably featured it more than once on previous WIAW’s. I made baked wild-caught sockeye salmon topped with olive oil, a little black pepper, minced garlic, and fresh lemon juice. I also steamed some green beans and made mac and cheese to make the boyfriend fiance 😉 happy. The macaroni is by the brand Annie’s. It’s organic and non-GMO and all that good stuff, but it’s still a packaged food and something I don’t consider very healthy. But, I guess it may be a little better than other brands. I had some water with lots of lemon with my dinner. Isn’t Rose a cute little beggar?

Well, that’s everything. Not very exciting, I know! I’m sorry. I hope you guys have a great rest of the week. Thank you for reading!

Bows and Arrows,

Ashley

What I Ate Wednesday, 9/24/14

What a dreary and chilly second day of fall here in Raleigh! I’m totally fine with the cooler temperatures, but the rain really puts a damper on my mood. 😛 (unintentional pun). It also makes me want to take naps and be a lazy pants. No good. Luckily, I think it is clearing out and tomorrow will be nicer. Yay for sunshine! Anyway, I’m sure you didn’t come here for a weather forecast, so here’s the delicious food I put in my belly today…

Breakfast

I ate my usual oatmeal this morning made with unsweetened almond milk, a tablespoon of local honey, cinnamon, chopped walnuts, and banana slices. I had coffee with organic half and half in my adorable Frankenstein coffee mug that I bought from Carolina Pottery a few weeks ago. This seems like a good opportunity to let you all know that I LOVE Halloween! It’s definitely my favorite holiday (yes, even over Christmas). In fact, I’m seriously considering putting up a Halloween tree this year and just leaving it up through Christmas. I also love pumpkins and pretty much anything else having to do with fall, so be prepared for some fall/Halloween themed posts from me (and Lynda goose too)! Okay, moving on…I also had some water.

Lunch

I did not eat any snacks between breakfast and lunch which is pretty unusual. I normally eat lunch well after noon and am always starving if I don’t have a snack. Today was no different, but I just didn’t remember to bring a snack with me to work. I couldn’t take this picture fast enough….I was so hungry. Oh wait, I did eat some crackers while I was waiting for the sweet potato to cook. So this random lunch consists of: a sweet potato with coconut butter and cinnamon on top, a spring mix salad with cucumbers and some Bolthouse Farms Ranch dressing, some grapes, and some mandarin orange slices. Oh, how I love sweet potatoes!

Dinner

My dinner was baked Salmon, peas, and french fries. To drink I had a lightly sweetened iced tea with lemon. So random, but it was good.  I topped the salmon with 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter, minced garlic, and fresh lemon juice. The fries are by the brand Alexia. I guess you could consider these a little healthier than the average french fries. Definitely better than fast food fries that are made in a fryer, but still a french fry nonetheless. The peas were just frozen peas that I steamed in the microwave and added a tiny bit of salt. I love peas! “Give peas a chance!” If you know where that’s from, you are awesome and had a good childhood and watched lots of Nickelodeon.

Well, that’s everything. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week. Thanks for reading!

Bows and Arrows,

Ashley

What I Ate Wednesday, 9/10/14

Hey guys! I’m going to try my best to be entertaining in this post, but my head is hurting and I’m a grumpy/sleepy pants, so bear with me. 😛 Also, I didn’t plan any meals for this week and didn’t go grocery shopping either so, as you can imagine, there will be some unhealthy and unimpressive food showcased in this WIAW. I promise to do better next time, okay!

Breakfast

I made my coffee and drank it in between putting on my makeup and getting ready. This particular coffee is by Caribou Coffee and it is some sort of light roast, but I forget what it’s called. I made it with some organic half and half like usual.

I didn’t have much time to make breakfast, so I decided to fry up two eggs. These are my beautiful eggs from the farmers market. I quickly ate my eggs and filled up a water bottle to take with me to work.

Snack

I had to run an errand for work and therefore had a good excuse to get coffee…you know, because I was already out and there’s a Starbucks on practically every corner. So yeah, this is me drinking a “tall” Americano with cream. I looked so thrilled. I also managed to capture some artwork in the background.

Lunch

A beautiful bowl of goodness! Also known as a Chipotle burrito bowl. I think I eat here too much, but oh well. My burrito bowl contains: chicken, black beans, brown rice, pico de gallo, their hot sauce, guacamole, and lettuce.

Dinner

Yes, this is Cookout food and no, I’m not sorry about it. Well, maybe I am a little. This is what happens when I don’t meal plan guys! Everything just falls apart and I end up eating a bucket of grease. yummmay! To be honest, I wasn’t even that hungry considering I had a pretty big lunch, but I ate some of this anyway. This is the barbecue plate, which as you can see, comes with slaw, french fries and hush puppies.  The cornerstone of every nutritious dinner.  Just so you know, I drank a gazillion ounces of water today like always.

Well, that’s all my food for today. I am now going to get back to watching Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey on Netflix because I like to have my mind blown a little before bed. What am I even talking about anymore? I shouldn’t be allowed to write a blog post when I’m this tired and also have a headache. I’m sure watching tv isn’t going to help my head situation. But, anyway I highly recommend that you watch Cosmos….even if you’re not a science/space person (which I’m clearly not) because it’s good stuff. Was that convincing? Goodnight guys! Thanks for reading.

Bows and Arrows,

Ashley

 

 

 

 

 

What’s in my Pantry: Larabars

You just can’t beat the convenience of snack bars for when you’re on the go! There are so many out there to choose from and some are definitely healthier than others. Choosing the right bar can be a challenge! Some are more like granola bars, others are actual protein bars, and then there’s the ones that contain so much sugar, chocolate, and JUNK that you might as well be eating a candy bar. Even some of the more popular brands at the grocery store that seem nutritious and are even marketed to look healthy and “all natural” are not always! I have bought bars in the past like Nature Valley and even Chewy granola bars (ahh!) when I was younger, but I now realize that was not the best option for a healthy snack on the go. My rule for packaged bars now is that they have to have an extremely short ingredients list and I need to be able to identify the ingredients. I also try to avoid bars that contain a lot of added sugar. This is actually a good rule for all packaged food in general. Ideally I would like to think that I could make my own bars at home so that I could REALLY control the ingredients, but I just know that’s not going to happen…at least not all the time. Luckily there are some pretty delicious and nutritious bar options available.

If you’re looking for an “all natural” bar that REALLY contains all natural ingredients, then I would have to suggest Larabars!These are the two flavors I currently have in my pantry. The Coconut Cream Pie is my favorite out of all the one’s I’ve tried! Allow me to list the ingredients for you. Blueberry Muffin contains: dates, cashews, blueberries, blueberry juice concentrate, lemon juice concentrate, and vanilla extract.<<<That’s SIX ingredients! Coconut Cream Pie contains: dates, unsweetened coconut, almonds, cashews, and extra virgin coconut oil. <<<FIVE ingredients!

Some of the other flavors I’ve tried and loved are: Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Key Lime Pie, and Lemon Bar. These all have 6 ingredients or less. These actually do taste good or I would not be suggesting them, I promise! However, if you have never had Larabars try not to get turned off by their appearance. They don’t exactly look beautiful, but who cares?! Also, if you want a crunchy granola type bar, these aren’t for you. You might want to try these or these which are also by Larabar.

Another bar that is probably my second favorite is KIND bars. KIND bars usually contain a few more ingredients and often have some added sugar in some form or another, but they are still a pretty healthy bar in my opinion. Also, most, if not all of them, are gluten-free and non-GMO. I recently tried the ones that are in a square shape and I really like those!

I feature Larabars so often on my WIAW’s I figured it only made sense to mention them in a “What’s in my Pantry”. You guys should definitely give these a try! I hope you guys are having a wonderful weekend!!! Thanks for reading.

Bows and Arrows,

Ashley

What I Ate Wednesday, 8/27/14

The weather was just beautiful here today. The cool mornings we’ve had the last couple of days are tricking me into thinking Fall is near. In reality, we’ve got a lot more hot and humid days ahead here in North Carolina. It doesn’t help that Starbucks has already busted out their Pumpkin drinks! Too soon!! Anyway, now that you’ve gotten a weather update, on to what I ate today…

Breakfast

My breakfast was…wait for it….oatmeal!! You would have never guessed, I know. I had to kind of eat and put on my makeup at the same time because I was running a little behind this morning. The oatmeal is made with unsweetened almond milk, cinnamon, chopped walnuts, a teaspoon of local honey, and blueberries. The coffee is the same as last week, Larry’s Beans Bolivia roast, with organic half and half.

Snack

A typical snack for me at work, a Larabar! This is the coconut cream pie flavor which is probably my favorite one that I’ve tried. I also drank lots of H2O like always.

Lunch

I made a salad for lunch and I also had some crackers with pepper jack cheese and salami slices. The salad is a spring mix with cucumbers, raw sunflower seeds, feta cheese, dried cranberries, bacon bits, and topped with balsamic vinaigrette. The crackers are gluten-free by this brand called Crunchmaster. They’re really pretty good for something gluten-free. The salami is by the brand Applegate Farms. I really like this brand for deli meats.

Snack

They got me again! Stupid Starbucks, why must you be on every corner?! This is a soy iced chai latte. I don’t usually drink soy milk, but I actually prefer the way it tastes with chai lattes.

Dinner

I made a new recipe tonight that I found on Pinterest. It came from a blog called Honey, Ghee, and Me. This seems to be a pretty popular site, so maybe you have heard of it. The recipe is Spicy Sesame Honey Chicken and it was quite delicious in my opinion. So, thank you Natalie (from Honey, Ghee, and Me) for this recipe!! This is a crockpot recipe, so it is really easy and perfect for busy days when you don’t feel like cooking. The recipe is also gluten free, if that matters to you at all. [click here for the recipe]

Here’s a picture of some of the ingredients. I actually didn’t end up using the jalapeno because it wasn’t very fresh and had been sitting in my fridge for far too many days. I used some red pepper flakes instead.

 

It doesn’t look as pretty as hers because I didn’t have green onion or sesame seeds…and it was dark out and the lighting sucks. 😦 But it was tasty, so that’s what matters most to me! I put it over brown rice and it was perfect and had just the right amount of spicy and sweet flavor.

That’s all I ate today. Now, I’m just drinking water and about to watch a few episodes of Friends and then calling it a night! Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week. It’s a long weekend coming up for most of us!! If you work on Labor Day, I’m sorry! Thanks for reading.

Bows and Arrows,

Ashley

 

 

 

 

What I Ate Wednesday, 8/20/14

Hi guys! It has been a while! Lynda goose was kind enough to take over last weeks WIAW for me while I was on a little vacation. We didn’t want to ruin our perfect WIAW posting streak! Anyway, today I ate some things…I’m not all that proud of some of the things, but hey, it happened, it’s in my belly, and it’s all good. 🙂

Breakfast

Breakfast was the usual…oatmeal made with almond milk, cinnamon, chopped walnuts, blueberries, and about a teaspoon of honey. My coffee is Larry’s Beans Bolivia roast. I am loving this local coffee roaster! It is some of the tastiest coffee I have ever made at home.

Sometime at work, before lunch, I ate a coconut cream pie Larabar, but I failed to get a picture of that. Sorry!

Lunch

I still haven’t made it to the grocery store for this week, so for lunch I decided to pick up food from Roly Poly. I think I have mentioned this salad before in another WIAW, but it’s worth talking about again because it’s really that good! This is a Spa Salad with chicken added. The toppings include: cucumbers, shredded carrots, dried cranberries, walnuts, tomatoes, mushrooms, green pepper, avocado, and sprouts. I don’t really know what the salad dressing is..some sort of vinaigrette. I just love how fresh this salad is and the variety of toppings give it so much flavor. Check it out if you ever go to a Roly Poly.

After picking up my salad, the stupid Starbucks nearby was calling my name. It was saying “Ashleyyyy, you know you want me even though I’m not really that good and I’m highly overpriced and overrated”. I ordered a “grande” (aka MEDIUM here in ‘merica) Americano with cream and justified it by telling myself I needed the extra caffeine for the leg workout I was about to do. 😉

Snack

After my workout I drank a protein shake. It was simply one scoop of Optimum Nutrition 100% natural whey protein powder mixed with about 8 ounces of unsweetened almond milk. I didn’t get a picture of this either, but don’t worry it was nothing special, just liquid in a blender botttle. Fascinating…

Dinner

Pizza party Friday! …on a Wednesday! Okay, so I hardly ever eat delicious things like pizza (or Bojangles) on weekdays. I try to save it for Friday or Saturday because I just feel less guilty about it if I’ve eaten relatively healthy throughout the week. I also try really hard to only eat out for dinner like once or twice a week. That does not always happen (clearly), but it’s just what I strive for! Why do I sound like I’m defending myself. This is pathetic 😛 Well, I did add weight to my leg routine, which made me more exhausted than usual. I also walked Rose, went to Target, came home, realized I had nothing to cook, and that was it. Next thing I know I’ve got greasy delicious pepperoni and jalapeno pizza in my belly!

Well,  that’s everything I ate today. I did drink water throughout the day like usual, but I just didn’t photograph that, but I promise I did.

Hope you guys enjoy the rest of your week.

Bows and Arrows,

Ashley

 

What’s in my Pantry: Blueberries

One of the best parts about summer to me is all the delicious summer fruits! Watermelon, strawberries, peaches, and blueberries! I love them all, but my personal favorite, and the one that can be found most frequently in my refrigerator, are blueberries. I ALWAYS have blueberries of some sort in the house. In the summer I have fresh blueberries from the local farmer’s market and when they’re not in season I buy frozen ones.

What’s so great about blueberries?

Well, besides the obvious fact that they are delicious and can be used in many ways (some of which I will talk about below), they are also highly nutritious and good for you! Blueberries are packed full of antioxidants. In fact, they are ranked as one of the highest in antioxidants out of all fruits. Antioxidants are good! They help to combat free radicals in our bodies. Free radicals are bad! They form when certain molecules react with oxygen, a process called oxidation. Free radicals can cause all sorts of damage to cellular structures and DNA, so consuming foods rich in antioxidants is important to help combat them.

Many studies indicate that blueberries are beneficial for the nervous system and brain health. They are a good source of vitamin K, vitamin C, and manganese.

What to do with blueberries?

Besides just grabbing a handful and eating them, there are so many ways you can get a daily dose of bluberries in your diet! Luckily, blueberries freeze really well without losing their nutrient content. I like to either freeze fresh blueberries or buy some that are already frozen to use in smoothies! When I am on top of my meal planning/prepping I like making little smoothie freezer bags that I can easily throw into a blender for a quick snack or breakfast.

This particular one has blueberries, banana slices, and spinach. I can pour this whole bag straight into the blender, add some liquid (coconut water, apple juice, or whatever) and it’s good to go.

The other way I usually eat my blueberries is on top of oatmeal almost every morning. You could also add blueberries to cereal, mixed in some yogurt, on top of a salad, or in some muffins! 😉

Now don’t you want to run out and get you some blueberries! You know you do.

Thanks for reading!

Bows and Arrows,

Ashley

 

What I Ate Wednesday, 7/30/14

Is anyone else wondering how in the world it is already almost August!? Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like this year is flying by. Anyway, today was a pretty good day for me. I went to work, walked my dog, and even managed to workout and cook dinner when I really didn’t feel like it. Go me for not being a lazy pants! So, this is what I ate today…

Breakfast

I drank coffee while I put on my makeup this morning. Don’t mind the messy background. This coffee is SO delicious. It’s from a local coffee roaster called Larry’s Beans. The specific blend is called Woodstock.

I didn’t have time to cook my typical oatmeal, so I settled for 2 scrambled eggs and a slice of 9 sprouted grains toast with grape jelly.

Snack

 Not really a snack, but I had a tall Americano from Starbucks while at work. I also drank tons of water all day. I swear I pee pretty much every hour. Yay for hydration!

Lunch

My lunch was inspired by Lynda’s most recent post of her simple summer salad. My salad is made with spinach and baby spring mix, blueberries, chopped granny smith apple, sunflower seeds, feta cheese, shredded chicken (that I made in the slow cooker yesterday), and balsamic vinaigrette dressing. So yummy!

Snacks

I ate a banana! Then after my workout I drank a protein shake. It’s just one scoop of Optimum Nutrition 100% natural whey protein in the flavor vanilla mixed with 8 ounces of unsweetened almond milk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner

For dinner I made Zuppa Toscana soup which I’m sure I have mentioned before on a WIAW. It’s probably my boyfriend’s favorite thing that I cook, so obviously I make it for him pretty frequently to make up for all the not-so-great things I cook for him. 😛 I drank some simply apple juice with my dinner and now I’m drinking more water.

I’m going to get ready for bed now because I’m an old lady. Hope you guys have a fabulous rest of the week. Thanks for reading!

Bows and Arrows,

Ashley

 

 

 

What’s in my Pantry: 7 Sprouted Grains Bread

Technically, this item is kept in my refrigerator and not my pantry, but “What’s in my Refrigerator” just doesn’t sound as good. I found this bread because I had heard a lot about Food for Life’s Ezekiel bread and wanted to try it. The grocery store I originally bought this 7 Sprouted grains bread from did not have the Ezekiel bread, so I figured I would settle for this because it was very similar. Well, I like this kind so much that I have yet to try any of the other types by Food for Life. I have repurchased this kind several times now. Let me know if you’ve tried any of the other varieties by this brand and what you think of them!

 

What is a sprouted grain anyway?

Sprouting involves soaking the grain, nut, seed, or bean in water. The process mimics the germination process. Soaking and sprouting times may vary depending on what it is you’re trying to sprout.

Why is that good?

• Helps to break down the hard-to-digest starches in grains into simple sugars that are much easier to digest.
• Increases the nutrient content of the grain
• Neutralizes phytic acid, which inhibits nutrient absorption in the body
• Contains less gluten than non-sprouted grains, and therefore may be a good alternative for people who are gluten-sensitive

Sprouted grains vs. whole grains vs. multi-grains

Whole grains– The entire kernel is used, meaning you get a good amount of nutrients.

Sprouted grains- The entire kernel is used, but sprouting enhances the nutrient content even more!

Multi-grains- could be the entire kernel or could be only the endosperm. It simply means that mutliple grain types are used, but does not necessarily indicate the state of the grains or what part is used/removed.

White bread- made from using only the inside part of the kernel, the endosperm. It’s basically sugar

Besides all of its wonderful health benefits, this bread actually tastes surprisingly good! Another plus is that the Food for Life brand uses only certified organic grains and no GMOs, flour, refined sugar, or anything artificial. This bread is easy to find also. You don’t even have to brave Whole Foods for this one. I’ve actually picked this up from Food Lion before. You will find it in the freezer section. That is probably the only downside to this bread is that you have to keep it refrigerated (or in the freezer if keeping for longer periods). I always just toast mine a little bit and it’s not a huge deal. Another thing to consider is the price. Yes, it does cost a little more than other breads, but to me it’s worth it because I enjoy the taste/texture and really enjoy the added health benefits!

Hope you guys are enjoying this new post idea. Looking forward to sharing more yummy foods from my pantry! Thanks for reading!

Bows and Arrows,

Ashley