I get behind in my over-sharing.
Thank god for Instagram!
There has been a lot going on lately that I’ve just run out of time to blog about! Hump Day seems the perfect time for a download.
I’ve been getting some good runs in (between all the summer storms). This is taken on the GA Tech campus. Saturday marked 5 years since my dad died. Without intention, I found myself heading to his alma mater for a run.
It was nice to run by all the places we used to walk past on game days and relive some of my own memories from grad school. The rain didn’t hold off for long – about 5 mins after I took this pic the sky turned black and it started pouring.
Sunday I met some of my favorite Atlanta bloggers for lunch at Dough Bakery, my favorite local vegan spot. That’s (very pregnant) Alayna, Tina, Lee, me, and Heather. Heather is former Atlanta blogger… she left us for Colorado. 😛
I always have so much fun with these ladies. We talked and ate for a long time before I had to run back home to get ready for dinner. That’s right – I said run. I ran a total of 6.65 miles there and back thanks to Atlanta’s new Beltline trail! I’m lucky my friends would be seen with me sweaty and dressed like a bum.
The dinner I was running home to was at one of Atlanta’s best new restaurants: King + Duke. I’m too lazy to write full review, but let me just say… if you are in ATL or are coming to visit make a reservation. So. Good.
Their wine program is excellent, which you know makes me happy, and the food is even better. Don’t skip the roasted beet and carrots with feta and harissa, the roasted bone marrow with smoked mushrooms, blackberries, and short rib marmalade, and the “Dates & Ale” (a fantastic sticky toffee pudding with Sweetwater IPA cream).
Meat butter
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This WIAW was less indulgent than this weekend. Thank god. I love going out to eat, but whoa. I was dragging on Monday after eating half my meals out over the weekend. I jumped back on the healthy eating train with reckless abandon.
Read on for my eats, and then check out Jenn’s link up for everyone else’s delicious days.
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Breakfast:
My morning cocktail (apple cider vinegar, water, Glutamine, and Fitmixer Aminos) was of course the start to my day.
If you follow me on Instagram you saw that I have a mini crisis: my air conditioning quit working. I live in the South. It is HOT. I was really glad I thought ahead and made a nice, cool breakfast: overnight oats!
This bowl is a little different because I combined a few protein sources. The oats, cottage cheese, and protein powder made for the most deliciously creamy bowl of cheesecake-like oats I’ve ever had!
Blueberry Cheesecake Overnight Oats
- 1/4 C oats (I use Bob’s Red Mill GF)
- 1/4 C cottage cheese
- 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
- 1 T peanut flour
- 1 tsp chia seeds
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Blueberries
- Stevia, to taste
- 1/2 C almond milk (or other liquid)
Combine everything in a bowl, cover, and place in fridge overnight.
Remove from fridge in morning. You may need to add additional liquid, especially if you choose to heat it.
Top as desired and enjoy!
Note: I order my peanut flour from iHerb – I like it better than PB2 because it is less processed and doesn’t have the added sugar and sodium. Use my discount code – USO924 – for $5-10 off your order!
Mid-Morning Snack:
I love making random mixes with no salt deli turkey. Often I do fruit, but today I had some celery to use up. I broke up the turkey and mixed it with nutritional yeast, cayenne, pepper, herbs de provence, and apple cider vinegar. Then I chopped up my celery (and some of the celery leaves) and stirred that in.
Lunch:
I’m getting low on groceries, so I had to bust out the emergency veggie burger. If you’re going to eat frozen food, the Lightlife burgers are pretty tasty.
Eaten with spinach salad, celery, kabocha, and a quick dressing made from spinach hummus, apple cider vinegar, cumin, and red pepper flakes. Yes, I spent time “plating” this at work. People stared.
Mid-Afternoon Snack:
This was fancy-looking, but I’d made it the day before. Baked swordfish in a foil pocket with veggies and Indian spices. It was fast and the clean up was easy – just throw away the foil!
I posted the recipe here on Facebook if you’re interested.
Dinner:
Did I mention my A/C is broken? It was 85 degrees and humid in my condo. I couldn’t think of a single thing to eat for dinner because I was SO hot. So I got creative.
Egg pizza. The idea was to cook the egg in a big pan so it would be thin like a pizza crust, then top it and finish in the oven under the broiler. It would have been perfect had a greased the middle of the pan a little better. It stuck. No worries… I just ate it out of the pan. Less dishes to wash!
My toppings: broccolini, edamame, tomato, spinach, and ricotta salata. It was really good! Will try it again, this time properly greased to get onto a plate.
Midnight Snack:
I ate some snacks at my mom’s… she made a quiche and had these yummy chocolate-salted nut things from Trader Joes… but it was just bites and when I got home I still needed a little something.
Despite the heat, I wanted cake (when do I NOT want cake?). I made my favorite 150 Calorie Chocolate Microwave Cake, topped it with a peanut flour “icing,” and served it with a side of cookies and cream Arctic Zero. And a little Stevia-sweetened Smuckers strawberry jam… it went really well with the peanut butter icing!
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In less than I week I turn 30. And I identify with just about all of these 30 Signs You’re Almost 30. My mom likes to remind me of #19.
What do you eat when it’s too hot to eat?
Do you make and effort to have your food look pretty at work? It’s so much nicer than eating out of tupperware! This should probably be added to the signs you’re almost 30…
Wahaha, I love the 30 signs. #19 speaks totally to me. My Mom had my older brother when she was 22 – and I am 35 and still childless (which I am fine with) 🙂
If I eat at the office, I always plate my food. I feel so much more like eating a real meal 🙂 Though sometimes I go out to sit in the park or at the river – tupperwarelike.
I NEED to get my hands on the microwave chocolate cake, it looks heavenly!!
My mom had me at 25… I’m 5 years behind (in her head)! LOL!
When it’s hot, I eat salad, salad and more salad! I try to bake all my food in advance so I don’t have to turn the oven more than twice a week. Luckily London doesn’t get hot for very long so I only have to live this way for about a month!
I wish I hadn’t done such a poor planning job this week. *sigh*
The heat definitely throws around my cravings..lately I have been eating SO much Greek yogurt, fish, and salads…and fro yo 😉
I feel for you about the AC. We don’t have any and it’s been the same temps/humidity here. Although I’m guessing it’s 10x worse for you! Hope it gets fixed soon. Great idea on the egg pizza. Gotta try that!
You don’t have any A/C ever?! I can’t imagine…
I stalk yer instagram pics and SO SO SO COMMISERATED with the a/c dilemma.
We have no a/c here.
Im a sad sad summer misfit.
No A/C at all??? So many people have told me that. I’m shocked… but I guess you don’t hit 100 degrees?
No AC is definitely a crisis in my book! As for work food, nah… most people think it’s ugly anyway, so why bother. (Though I think kale is just darling.)
I’ve never used cottage cheese in overnight oats but that’s a wonderful idea, Laura!! I’ll put cottage cheese in anything! Yum!
Ha Ha, I had to laugh when you said you ate the egg pizza right out the pan. You are right, it does save dishes 🙂
Happy almost 30th!
Thank you! 🙂
Hahaha, I am all of those about to be 30 things (though I’m already in my 30s). It just gets truer and truer!
My favorite hot weather foods are salads, sandwiches, and smoothies. I’ve been eating plenty of those lately.
Our house doesn’t even have an AC, just like my car. Dumb choice, I know.
Ohhhh… no A/C in the car would kill me.
I saw your midnight snack on instagream=love! Also I see a lot of recipes with nutritional yeast- what does that do to the dish, is it a nutty flavor? My friend and aI were talking about bone marrow this morning, how funny! and yum to egg pizza, wow
I think it’s a nutty flavor. Some people day cheesy, but I disagree. It’s high in protein and B-12, too!
oh and by the way I looked up the artic zero- I def want to buy some!
Fun meet up! And sucky on the AC. Hope you get it fixed quickly – it definitely makes you not want to eat much. My kitchen is in complete disarray thanks to a painting project gone bad and we’ve been grilling out every night. Which is fine b/c we refuse to turn the oven on and we do have working AC. Those overnight oats look yummy. One of these days I’ll get wild and crazy and try a different oatmeal concoction 😉
I love the grill! Times like these I really, really miss having one. Good luck with that kitchen…
Dude I read that Buzzfeed article and I was like…shiiiiiiiit, I am ALL of these haha.
Ok that midnight snack….yum…yum,and yum.
I love that you’ve been running! And a broken a/c – ugh. We just made it to the northeast and I’ve been amazed at how humid it is right now.
The humidty is crazy, right?! You get used to it…
It was so fun and really good too! Hope your boobs are doing okay after that run. 😉
The twins are hard core. 😉
mmm! i’m all over that blueberry cheesecake overnight oat bowl!! i love any and everything cheesecake!
I try to avoid my oven as much as possible when it’s really hot out – a lot of salads, veggies and hummus and green smoothies…and burgers and ice cream 😉
And I have to say, I am impressed that you can run after eating lunch! That would not be a pretty sight if I were to try that.
I normally can’t run after eating, but we sat and talked for a long time before I had to run home.
Your food looks amazing all the time. My food ain’t so pretty at work. It is when I cook at home though 🙂
Blueberry Cheesecake Overnight Oats <— pinning!
Thank you!!! It’s not always pretty at work, but some days just call for it. 🙂
Woman, I’m almost 40! I don’t even want to talk about it! I was so sorry to miss that meet up! I’m glad you all had a great time though. I’ve seriously been into my protein softserve these days. I haven’t had a microwave cake in months since I really need the colder stuff to cool off.
I hope you got your ac fixed and are enjoying the cooler air inside!
I can’t believe that. You look 21. We are going to meet up one day, I swear. 🙂
I am soooo sorry for the heat! It was pretty hot over here last week {getting up to 110 some days} and I didn’t want to cook either, so we ate LOTS of salads! That “30 signs….” was hilarious!
I keep thinking how grateful I am that it’s not 100 here for a change! I would have gotten a hotel room. LOL!
Heck yes for a great run!!! Love the group picture 🙂
Loving every bit of the midnight snack. I haven’t had arctic zero in ages.
OOh so sorry about the AC and heat!! Not fun. But how fun you were able to have a meet up with blog friends! I have yet to do that. Also, I love your haircut! It’s the cutest cut and it looks great on you! 🙂
Thank you so much! I love my hair stylist. 🙂
Oh man, that “30 signs you’re almost 30” is dead on. I think about how my mom had me at 23 and I’m like, there is NO way I could have handled that responsibility back then. I find it weird to realize that I actually knew my parents when they were in their 20’s – they already seemed so much older to me at that point but in reality were probably just as immature and clueless as I was in my early 20’s.
Same here! I wonder if they felt as young as I did at 23-ish…
So annoying when your eggs stick to your pan! At least it was still yummy 🙂
I’ve been loving overnight oats at the minute too…they’re my go to breakfasts when its hot! Love salads for lunch too mm.
I’m having a bad egg week – I broke my egg yolk this morning too! DOh.
Ummmmmmmmmmmm, my food NEVER looks pretty & I am fine with that! 🙂
Only time I did not want to eat was when I had mono in college… it seems like I always want to eat whether I need it or not. 😉
HUGE HUGS on your dad again.. I know I said n Instagram but hugs are always needed!
My youngest stepdaughter is older than you – you are a baby! & a babe! 🙂
I bet your cookies are pretty. 😉
I love making foil-pocket meals. They are so convenient and don’t leave a mess on the baking pan. Your eats all look good. I hear you – I love running or biking to coffee as it is a fast way to get in a mini cardio session.
Thank you! Have you tried baking in parchment too? I love both ways. Anything to avoid dishes. 🙂
Hmm, I’ve put parchment paper in to line a baking dish, but I’ve never just wrapped food in parchment paper. I’ll have to look into that!
I would be honoured to be seen with you even if you were wearing naught but a ripped paper bag. LAURA THE PAPERBAG PRINCESS. I love cooking fish in the oven in packets of deliciousness. Soy, ginger, garlic, coriander… so good.
LMAO! Thats why I love you. Ginger and garlic belong on everything!
Your midnight snack is so pretty, I’m way less pretty with my food that late at night. And lunchtime…forgetaboutit. 🙂
I’ve never thought about putting cottage cheese in my overnight oats.
Your mugcake looks so so good.
It’s really good! I like it beter than Greek yogurt in them.
I never thought to add cottage cheese to my overnight oats! That’s a great idea and going to try that. I’m sorry to hear about your Dad but so glad that you were able to run in an area that reminds you of him.
It’s really good – creamer than just almond milk and/or Greek yogurt
Thank you. 🙂
You just always seem to find a way to make protein so beautiful 😉 Haha. I’m going to have to check out your recipe for baked fish on Facebook! I’ve been wanting to make a piece of frozen cod in my freezer for awhile, but just haven’t. The main reason being I wanted to use aluminum foil to bake it but was just worried that it wouldn’t work and burn/be undercooked. Fish can get expensive. 🙂
Our A/C is broken at home as well 🙁 I hope yours won’t be too expensive to fix because as it turns out we have to get an entire new one. Money money money. I think it’s upwards of $6000 some dollars!! GAH. Luckily I am not living at home this summer so the A/C in my apartment is working fine (thank goodness… *watch it be broken when I get off work today!!*) but whenever I go home for the weekend it’s just awful. High 80s and for the first few days we had no fans. I totally sympathize and hope you get it working soon! What helps me is just munching on ice cubes 24/7. Lol.
Thank you!!! When you eat so much of it, you have to get creative. 🙂
The aluminum is fine to bake with. Parchment works as well!
Wow, the 30 over 30; yep I can identify with way too many of those, except 22. I will never do 22.
Your mid morning snack could almost pass for chicken salad…you might be onto something there.
We have the same pans…cephalon. They rock; stay cool, in whatever sense a 30 year old would mean.
Totally guilty of 22… I wear ballet flats, flip flops, or tennis shoes everywhere. Oops…
Thanks for introducing me to iHerb … had never heard of it and just used your referral code for a few fun goodies!
Thanks! Let me know what you get – I’m always looking for new ideas too. 🙂
I totally agree about eating out on the weekends. I try to have a couple meals out at most or otherwise, my energy levels plummet. Although running to said destination would help. 😉
I love the idea of the egg white pizza! When I saw it on Instagram, i was immediately intrigued!
So I have a freezer full of blueberries a picked from a friends farm and freezer full means I have 82 pints if blueberries! Sooooo the blueberry cheesecake overnight oats is calling my name. Can I leave out the peanut flour? I am not a big peanut butter fan. Really hate I missed meeting everyone on Sunday. Hope y’all have another meet up soon!
Check out the strange but good link up today! Megan linked a post with a billion blueberry recipes… I want the grilled blueberry cheese! 🙂
Please do come to the next one! We need to plan them more often.
Yes to putting effort into plating. I hope there will be time for at least a little bit of pretty plating at my future workplace which isn’t too likely :(. I’ll admit to having eaten my fair share of meals from tupperware during the past years of university but at least I didn’t have class every day and was able to eat many meals properly at home.
On those days when it’s too hot all I feel like eating is fresh fruit, banana softserve and zucchini pasta dishes. Yet somehow I still end up having some hot dishes, too. Maybe I’m just a little weird …
Zucchini pasta is a great idea – I haven’t done that in so long! 🙂
I love the idea of combing kabocha with a veggie burger. Hmm..maybe I should attempt making a homemade veggie burger with kabocha in it!
That would be delicious! I think Sarena may have done that actually… or we talked about doing it… LOL!
I’m glad you were able to get in a run Saturday, I’m sure it must have been a very hard day for you. I find that on hard days, especially ones like that, getting in a workout and giving myself some alone time to think and reflect always makes me feel better. Also, thanks for posting the discount code to iherb
That’s what I needed as well – time with myself to reflect. 🙂
Awesome post! I love your recipes! You have my exact philosophy on clean eating and it is nice to see someone else who would rather eat at home than out! I hate how tired I feel after eating out at restaurants-something should definitely tell people that isn’t good for them- hello!
So I’m loving the recipes you post and wanted to know where you found stevia sweetened Smuckers jam?! All the varieties I have here locally are artificially flavored and contain tons of nasty food dyes:( Thanks in advance:)
Hope you have a great week!
Thank you so much!!! I do love eating out, but – like everything else – moderation is key. 🙂
I found the jam at Publix (grocery chain). HTey had that and Splenda, but I try to avoid Splenda too.
Oh awesome! I have a Publix across the street from my neighborhood so I’ll have to check that out!:) I love sugar-free jam!:) I also hate to admit I love the Walden Farms sugar-free pancake syrup too, though it is full of Splenda. It is so good though! Tastes just like the real deal. I’m still waiting on a Splenda-free version to come out:) If they could only come up with a healthy pancake syrup like they did with powdered peanut butter! Then we would be in biz!:)
Have you tried the Joesph’s sugar-free syrup from Whole Foods? It a *little* better than the splenda versions.
Heck no, but I’m headed there this week so I’ll be sure to let you know if I find it!:) THANKS GIRL!!
Sounds like you had a wonderful time 😀
And that midnight snack looks super perfect!
Cheers
CCU
Your midnight snack is a treat I would make, so yummy!