WIAW #7: Going Meatless

Oh. My. Goodness. It is a sunny 66 degrees up here today! I had a very productive morning, a lunch date at the gym to take Fitness Pilates, and am just now getting home to get some work done.

I left the gym feeling good after class, stepped out into the sun, and instinctively rolled the windows of my car down. I honestly cannot remember the last time I did that! Back in Florida, I could get away with it almost year round – except a few scorching hot summer days.

Here… not so much.

As I got onto the main road, I turned the music up and kept the windows rolled down without needing any kind of heat or air conditioning. Talk about being on a natural high… that “sun is shining” good feeling paired with the “I just had a great workout” feeling put me in the best mood.

I found myself taking the long way home and enjoyed a few extra minutes of driving around the neighborhood. Love that!

Now onto today’s subject. For today’s WIAW, I wanted to highlight a day of eating as a vegetarian.

If you are new around here, I started taking part in What I Ate Wednesdays, hosted by Jenn. If you frequent healthy living blogs, then you know eating a healthy well balanced diet is a huge subject we all post about. Each week I share a day of my eating habits, and explain the strategies of what I ate and why I ate it with with you!

WIAW #7: Going Meatless

Every now and then, I go through an entire day without eating any meat. I have never claimed to be any type of vegetarian, or vegan, but instead enjoy a healthy diet that includes almost any type of food.

I always prefer white meat like chicken or turkey, and usually stay away from red meat if I can help it. I find myself loving more and more types of sea food as the years go by, and am not sure if I could ever leave the lean meats I do like behind for good.

I do, however, often enjoy vegetarian substitutions of meat like tofu, black bean burgers, and veggie dogs. If you are one of those people cringing right now, just give it a chance before you turn your nose up!

I discovered the MorningStar Farms® Veggie Foods brand a few years ago, and have become absolutely hooked to most of their meatless products.

I enjoy most turkey Jennie-O products, and will often pick up a new brand every now and then to give their “meatless meats” a try.

This week, however, I somehow managed to go an entire day without even eating those! It’s funny how sometimes you do not even notice things like that until afterwards. Let’s see how I managed to stay full!

Breakfast

Breakfast was a breeze with a pre-made serving of chocolate peanut butter banana overnight oats waiting for me in the fridge.

This time, I made them extra exciting by adding a Tbsp. of PB2 into the mix. Have you heard of this stuff before? If you haven’t and you are a peanut butter fanatic (like myself) this might just change your life.

PB2 is basically a powdered 85% less fat calories form of regular peanut butter. It is all natural, made with high quality peanuts, and free of artificial flavors, sweeteners, preservatives.

Perfect to add to smoothies, sprinkle on toast or enjoy in overnight oats, I am becoming addicted to it pretty quickly.

It paired perfectly with my previous chocolate banana overnight oats concoction and even made a fan out of Scott. This was the first time he actually loved the taste of overnight oats, and the added peanut butter held us both over until lunch. Success!

Lunch

I know this, because I actually met him for it. Since I needed to pick up some things from the grocery store anyways, we decided on eating lunch at Whole Foods Market. By far, they have the freshest and biggest variety of a grocery store hot and cold bar I have seen.

This time, I kept it light (but still filling!) with a 16 oz. cup of vegetarian chili and a green tofu and veggie salad.

The cup might look small, but the chili was hearty enough for me with the variety of beans and chick peas. It was delicious!

While I normally stack my salad plate ridiculously high, I stuck to a reasonably normal amount this time. I started with a mix of fresh romaine and spinach, then added cucumbers, corn, peas, carrots, egg pieces and a few squares of tofu.

I drizzled it all in a balsamic vinaigrette and ate every single bite. I love how fresh everything tastes there!

Scott despises tofu, so I take advantage of eating it on my salads whenever I see it. With a little seasoning or dressing, I think it tastes great and gives me a little extra protein my meatless meal might otherwise be missing.

Snack

Later on my way home from the gym, I quickly devoured a new chocolatey treat. I knew I was on my way home to cook dinner, so I really liked that this particular bar only had 160 calories.

The kind folks over at Designer Whey sent me a whole box of goodies to review, and I am looooooving everything so far. This Triple Chocolate Crunch flavor, friends, is absolutely fantastic!

So chocolatey, so crunchy, so dreamy.

Dinner

Dinner was bright and colorful, which is just how I like it!

Inspired by the WIAW host herself, I created my own version of her loaded sweet potatoes.

There is no chance mine are even half as pretty as hers, and to be honest, I did not plan on even sharing this meal with you. At the last minute, I remembered this dinner fell on my WIAW day and snapped a few shots via iPhone. Oops!

There IS a sweet potato under there… somewhere. On top is the vegetables you would find in a fajita (green peppers, red peppers, onions), shredded cheese, and a ton of black beans.

To avoid crunchiness, I heated the veggies up on the stove top for a minute or two to soften them up. While doing that, I steamed a side of broccoli and carrots and heated up the beans.

Scott got a dollop of sour cream to top his potato off, but I left it off of mine. I just don’t like the taste. Weird, right?

Anyways, it was really, really good and I will be sure to make a better version of it in the future.

Dessert

As usual, I got my nightly sweet craving about an hour after dinner. I just don’t even let it bother me any more! If you allow yourself to have sweets in moderation, you will be just fine. Promise.

My obsession for mint chocolate continues, and this time I really did myself in with this So Delicious Coconut Milk No Sugar Added Mint Chip Ice Cream.

Shut the front door, this stuff is out of this world. Somehow, I managed to control myself and stuck to a serving and a half. In reality, I could eat this stuff all day. Every day. It is that good.

And there you have a full day of eating plenty, without a bite of meat. The best part is, I can say that I really did not even miss it. 😉

• If you liked this WIAW post, head on over to Peas & Crayons to check out plenty others, or even link your own!

• Also, you can always find my latest What I Ate Wednesday posts by exploring the “WIAW” tag on the right hand sidebar.

Questions of the Day

• Have you ever challenged yourself to going a day, week, month or even longer of not eating meat?

• What are some of your favorite types of vegetarian foods? (brands, protein substitutes, snacks)