Happy Hump Day!
Some of you might have noticed I missed WIAW last week. I guess I just had too much to catch up on. Oh, and while in Chicago I also ate like total crap. (I’m human, and it happens!)
Instead of showing you the cheat meals I indulged in, I decided to hold off and pick it back up with a little more green and good-for-you inspiration.
For those of you thinking “what the heck is WIAW?” I started taking part in What I Ate Wednesdays, hosted by Jenn. Each week I share a full day of my eating habits, and explain the strategies and benefits of what I ate with you!
This week, my goal was to clean my plate up and take a huge jump back onto the healthy eating train.
Lucky for me, I have been loving salads lately and cannot get enough of them. Both Scott and I go through phases where we are obsessed with them. After a few weeks, it fades to just liking salads, and then eventually we get sick of them. It is a cycle that usually happens after a vacation or an indulgent weekend of eating, and it always turns into my body craving greens.
Recently, we both caught the obsession and are enjoying one to two veggie loaded salads a day!
WIAW #8 – Return of the Monster Salads
Getting back on a healthy eating track starts at the very beginning of your day with breakfast.
Occasionally, I will ensure myself of choosing something beneficial by preparing breakfast the night before. While I often turn to overnight oats, this time I had something different ready and waiting for me to heat up.
Chocolate Pumpkin Protein Muffins! (<- click for recipe)
I made a few regular sized muffins alongside the minis, and happily ate two of them while drinking my morning coffee.
Mmmmm, pumpkin! All. Year. Long.
Typing the morning away, lunch time popped up before I even realized I missed a mid-morning snack. While making lunch, I quickly devoured a Activia Strawberry Banana Probiotic yogurt.
I then filled my plate with almost every chopped vegetable in my refrigerator. Without further ado, I would now like to share with you what I like to call a Monster Salad.
All a monster salad requires is anything random. Find any kind of vegetable, meat, cheese, or chopped topping of choice and throw it on a bed of lettuce and/or spinach.
The majority of mine do not have any rhyme or reason, but always have one thing in common: color!
Vegetable loaded salads are colorful and this one included:
• romaine lettuce and fresh spinach
• chopped red, green and yellow peppers
• cucumbers
• tomatoes
• broccoli slaw
• black olives
• diced Cajun flavored deli turkey
• shredded cheese
• side of Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus for dressing
It was fantastic. No more explanation needed!
Before heading out for a late afternoon run, I loaded up on some protein with a new bar. I am in the midst of sampling Quest Nutrition Bars for review, and holy geez are they delicious. Check out this peanut butter and jelly flavor!
Like the package suggested, I unwrapped it, stuck it on a plate, and popped it in the microwave for twenty seconds. Warm and gooey, I couldn’t help but to eat it with a fork and wash it down with a big glass of skim milk! Ahhh… so good. (A full review of their products will be up next week.)
After five miles, I hopped in the shower and came back downstairs for a serving (or two) of low-fat cottage cheese to tie me over until dinner.
If you have never tried cottage cheese because of it’s questionable looks, you are truly missing out. I have been a huge fan for years, and often enjoy it with tomato slices, peaches, avocado, or just a few twists of ground pepper on top.
Dinner quickly followed with (wait for it…) another Monster Salad. Rawr!
This time, I simply added a few more ingredients to the already leftover prepped salad from lunch.
Added to the previous salad was garbanzo beans, bacon bits (my weakness), light ranch dressing (instead of hummus), and a diced MorningStar Farms Chik’n Veggie Patty (instead of turkey).
I may or may not have gone back for a second plate of it. My body is just c-rrraving vegetables lately!
Not pictured is a handful of dark chocolate chips I had for dessert. I like to keep a container of them handy for nights where I need something chocolate, and a small handful usually does the trick.
• 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
• What do you like to put in your monster salads?
• Do you ever crave them, then get sick of them, then crave them again?
Ashley
Love Quest Bars! I had the chocolate brownie flavor the other day… amazing heated up 🙂
Heather
SO GOOD!!!!! 🙂 (notice the five exclamation points!)
Brittany @ FreckledNettles
Such a fresh blog! I love your posts. That QuestBar is my absolute favorite flavor!
I put everything in my monster salads… literally everything. All healthy of course! My favorite two toppings are tempeh and red bell peppers.
Heather
Thanks so much, Brittany! Ohhhh wonderful ideas 🙂