Meal Catchup

She's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack. (How many times have you heard that before? Don't count.).

What's up, people? Just checking in to do a photo dump. Aren't you lucky?

So, did you miss me? Again?

I think blogging helps with accountability and making better choices, so I'm back to photographing and hopefully sharing most meals. No promises, but fingers crossed, okay? I haven't gotten all obsessive about taking pics of every snack or bite/lick/taste, so maybe that's cheating, but at least it feels less daunting!

Here's Monday-Sunday (Feb. 10-16). It wouldn't be xoAmanda if I wasn't perpetually behind!

Monday:

Breakkie

Choccie Protein Shake. I think it had chocolate Sunwarrior protein powder, half a frozen banana?, frozen strawberries maybe, and a handful of spinach. Probably a little stevia, too. Maybe a little hemp and flax?

Lunch

Unpictured. Don't remember. Whoops. I think it was brown rice, peas, and some kind of protein.

Dinner

Used up an Outback gift card. Simply grilled mahi mahi (half eaten in the pic) with steamed broccoli.

I barely touched the rice (I HATE when rice comes with a meal when it wasn't on the menu description. Yuck!) I ordered off the health menu, but the broccoli still came drenched in butter? Makes sense. Not.

Dessert

sugar-free chocolate coconut milk ice cream with one crumbled peppermint oreo-like cookie from Sprouts and a few almonds + pecans

Tuesday:

Breakfast

coffee, 1 egg, 1 nitrite-free turkey bacon, breakfast potatoes, 1 slice o' ezekiel raisin roast with coconut spread

Lunch

Trader Joe's chili lime chicken burger patty, blue cheese & greek yogurt mashed cauliflower, leftover brown rice/peas/breakfast potato combo

Snack

I usually come home from work FAMISHED and eat everything not locked down in the kitchen while I prep dinner (or worse, raid my parents pantry before I even get home when I go there to pick up my dog every night), so I'm trying to incorporate more healthy snacks into the work day to nip that habit. Pictured here is Chobabi simply yogurt (stevia and monk fruit sweetened. Only 6 grams of sugar) and some almond milky black tea.

Dinner

Chili with organic blue corn chips topped with greek yogurt and hot sauce. Phew no GMOs. Chili gives me heartburn and/or a stomachache 99.9% of the time I eat it, but my mom made this and I was hungry. Yes, I felt awful after, but it was kiiiiind of worth it. Thanks, Mom.

Dessert

Homemade "rice krispy treat" except made with Aldi-brand organic cheerios + Krave chocolate cereal. Not healthy, but damn good.

Wednesday:

Breakfast

coffeecoffee, 1 egg, asparagus wrapped with 1 turkey bacon, ezekiel raisin toast with coconut spread. Later most of this was drenched in cholula, I imagine

Lunch

TJ's chili lime chicken burger topped with sauteed mushrooms & goat cheese, more (grilled this time) asparagus, raw snap peas dipped in ranch

Snack Attack

Pretty self-explanatory

Dinner

Ugly picture, but tasty take out salad. Pei Wei thai chili lime salad with steamed chicken with no salad dressing + I added a few almonds and cashews. Can't resist a buy one get one coupon, especially when it comes to Pei Wei! 

Dessert-esque

When my family doesn't have chocolate at their house and I'm over there watching American Idol or some other competition show and may die without cacao consumption for the next 2 hours, I have an emergency supply of adora calcium disks that taste like delightful chocolate candy. This time I tried them topped with a lil peanut butter. I think they're actually better plain, but this hit the spot. Kinda.

Midnight Snack

For the most part I've FINALLY kicked my AWFUL habit of eating after dinner, but this night, for some reason, I was pretty much going to die of starvation if I didn't eat a snack at midnight. Literal midnight snack. I'm not a popcorn girl, and, speaking of dying, I'm convinced microwave popcorn is killing the world. That said, a friend left a bag of this red pepper buttery light variety at my house and, well, you see what happened. 

The whole next day I kept smelling doritos wherever I went and had people convinced at work I was going crazy (my dad said maybe it was an aura proceeding a migraine). Nope, just the leftover smell of this popcorn I had in my lunch bag. I told you it was evil stuff!

Thursday:

Breakfast

Oh-em-gee, you guys. Healthy chocolate cherry waffles topped with coconut spread with a side of coffee. I mean, can you even???? This was heaven. A blogger, Kat from Katalyst Health (so sorry too lazy to link right now, google her), instagrammed the recipe for plain chocolate waffles. I made a few subs, but basically followed her advice. It did NOT disappoint. Can you tell?

Lunch Lady Land

Trader Joe's grilled mahi mahi burger I rescued from the depths of my freezer topped with TJ's hot & sweet mustard I hoarded, 1 zucchini pancake (pretty much my favorite food of all time, maybe second to perfectly ripe avocadoes) that I cooked in the toaster and now that I know that works I will pretty much eat until I turn green, brussels cooked with unrefined coconut oil

Yogurt Snack

Winner Winner Time for Dinner

My Mom cooked for us again! Did hell freeze over? JAY KAY, Mom. Chicken and D's (you've never had any until you've tried my Mom's. Hers is the simplest most basic recipe of all time, but by FAR the best best best) + a mug of veggies and ranch

Dessert

HEAVEN IN A CUP. Or, corn-syrup filled Blue Belle cookies & cream. I've been dreaming of c&c ice cream for over a month now. I had to. I just had to. It was everything I dreamed and more.

Friday:

Valentine's Day! 

Friday is my day off (I work Saturdays), so my Dad and I had breakfast at a local fave. We decided to share a western omelet (swiss instead of cheddar--his call) made with egg whites only (my call) + the best breakfast potatoes on earth & half an eng muffin each. Perfection. Oh, and coffee. But you knew that. 

I guess I took a holiday hiatus, 'cause that's all she wrote (or, photographed) that day, folks.

For a late lunch while running errands, my mom and I popped in TGI Fridays. Neither of us had been in YEARS. It was better than I expected! I had the balsamic chicken ceasar salad off the healthy menu. It was a little boring, but I liked it. The balsamic chicken was excellent. We also kept saying "if you order a cocktail, I will." "No, if YOU order one, I will." And so on and so forth. In the end, she had a margarita and I had a kentucky lemonade (makers mark, lemon juice, and honey). It didn't taste strong enough, but the effects kicked in slightly. Whoops. I liked it and would probably order it again, but I'm more of a scotch/bourbon-on-the-rocks type these days. 

The love of my life is of the canine variety (and I wouldn't have it any other way!), so no big date night for this girl, but I invited my cousin's 4 year old over for singing & dancing and we ate homemade tacos and cupcakes. Can't complain!

Saturday:

We started a new round of social skill groups at my office and it was chaos! In some ways it went better than expected, but there are always kinks to work out,  people that show late, etc. I don't know if I even had time to eat breakfast? I may have had a Detour protein bar, but I don't really know? Or maybe I brought something like yogurt to eat there? ANYWAY.....

For lunch, I ordered in Jimmy John's for most of us. I had a tuna on wheat--no cheese add dijon. NEVER a bad choice, taste wise. But you see, the thing with me and Jimmy Johns is, if I eat half I'm still starvin' marvin, but if I eat the whole thing I feel like ass. I guess in the future I should eat 1 and a half? But that would have been too easy, so instead commence feeling like ass. My bad.

My parents had their big fancy V-Day date on Saturday (when my Dad tried to make reservations 2-3 weeks early, they only had 4:30 pm or 10:00 pm slots left on the actual day. CRAY!), so my brother and I decided to venture out on our own, er, adventure, and went to a local fave sushi spot. I had read online they changed owners in December and recent yelp reviews were NOT in their favor (it used to be the highest rated spot in my city). I had gone once, not knowing of the change, in January with a friend and ended up disappointed. To be fair, I ALWAYS order the same thing and that time I deviated, so there's that. I kept trying to talk my brother out of going (I was lazy! I even offered to make homemade naan tikka masala pizzas! Usually a surefire choice), but he insisted it would still be good. We had to wait (despite our reservation), they sat us at the sushi bar (we prefer tables), and it was crowwwwwwded, but it was still DELISH. Phew.

My brother likes sushi, but LOVES teriyaki steak, so he usually gets that and gifts me the soup & salad.  I didn't finish the salad, the leaves were too big and I kept feeling self-concious, but it was fresh and tasty. 

MY FAVORITE. The red mountain roll, which is a cali roll wrapped in sashimi-style salmon and topped with a mound of spicy tuna and spicy mayo sauce. In-cred-ible. It's HUGE, though. Again, I feel soooo self-conscious eating it. It barely fits in your mouth in one bite (TWSS? Do people still say that?), so I usually eat the top first and then try to eat the rest, but it tastes freaking delightful. I also LOVE LOVE that red garnish in the center. I don't even know what it is, but I could eat a plateful. 

My brother came back to my house for a few hours after we ate, so I'm sure we ate some kind of dessert? I'm thinking more "rice krispy" treats? But no pic, so I guess it didn't happen! Suuure.

Sunday:

Oh dear. This is all I got. I probably shouldn't show off my douche-ness, but I need at least one photo a day! 

Really, Amanda? Really? I'm sure this is not the last time you'll see that pose either. 

xo,

Amanda

I am Pippi Longstocking If You Say It Fast It's Funny

I woke up still felt a little throat discomfort and heard a co-worker complaining of allergies and an itchy throat, so my "corn allergy" may be partially food related, partially environmental. Still trying to figure it out.

quick, easy breakfast--had to rush! rainier cherries, peppered turkey bacon I accidentally shredded up when I took it out of the package, 1 egg, piece of honey bran muffin, iced coffee with almond milk & vanilla stevia

also quickly assembled lunch: chicken sausage, onion, spinach, mushroom, red pepper, & green pepper in a tomato sauce with a small greek salad and a plum

I heard on a Shaun T segment on Dr. Oz that plums reduce inflammation, so I bought out the store, but most are still hard. We'll see. In an ideal world, food=medicine.

Snack time! I ate half of this and was full.....and then finished it off as I was leaving the office

My Mom and brother got Chinese food for dinner. Even though I wasn't eating with them, I had been craving Chinese that afternoon, so I couldn't refuse ordering my own dish! I also had a random yen for tofu, so I tried out the tofu & veggies in a white wine sauce. I was SO mad though, I forgot to say brown rice or no rice-extra veg. I hate white rice ugh. Not even a health thing, I just find the taste so bland and boring and the texture unappealing. No bueno. I ate a little bit of it, but not happily! :-P I also ordered a shrimp summer roll. Mmm, peanut sauce.

I ate too much chinese (I went back for a little more than what's pictured above), but couldn't shake the craving for an ice cream sandwich! What was with all the cravings today? Anyway, my brother came over to watch tv (Pippi Longstocking ftw! We're on a childhood nostalgia kick right now) and when he grabbed one out of the freezer, I couldn't deny it any longer! Full or not, that ice cream was mine! I showed my brother the pic after (I hadn't intentionally meant to include him, but thought it was cool once I saw both our ice creams pictured LOL). He was like, "UGH I hate when people take pictures of me when I don't know it." But if you do ask him for a pic, he says no! I told him it was in the background and blurry and he agreed, so he said I could use it LOL. Brothers!

                                                                                                                xo,

                                                                                                               Amanda

Smoothie for Dinner

Thankfully, a starving-all-day day is usually followed by the opposite. I ate fairly light and stayed comfortably full all Tuesday. Good balance.

egg sandwich! egg over easy, slice of white american cheese, & lingonberry jam on raisin ezikiel toast. AMAZE. with french pressed (easy coldpress!) iced coffee (added almond milk, ice, and vanilla stevia shortly after)

chicken tamale with greek yogurt, cilantro, 1/4 of an avocado, and hot sauce

I don't know if it was psychosomatic or legit, but I read an article that morning re: GMO corn allergies and then, after eating this, I felt sickly after. Not nauseated, but my throat felt weird (like it was *maybe* on the verge of closing up) and my body felt weighed down/heavy, despite being a small portion. It sure tasted good, but ugh. That homeopath-type practitioner I went to a couple years ago claimed I was severely affected by corn and should only eat it sparingly...maybe I should listen. I have so much polenta at home, though! Boo.

I got hungry again around 6:30 pm or so, so I ate a little more pre-dinner (I worked 'til nearly 8, so good thing I packed this!)

side salad with organic romaine, feta cubes, a couple kalamata olives, and 1/2 an avocado dressed in evoo topped with a pinch of himalyan pink salt & freshly ground pepper

THEN, I dropped off my mom's BJ's order she requested before heading home. One thing she ordered was a gluten free sausage & meatball pizza. She offered me a slice, so I tried a small one. I thought about going to look for my cell phone to take a pic, but just ate it. Rebel! It was a triangle with toppings. You know.

I felt a bit crummy after that and realized it probably had corn in it too. My bad. 

By the time I walked in my door it was nearly 9 pm and I decided I wasn't all that hungry after my 2 snacks. A strawberry-banana smoothie sounded great. Plus, it doubled as a dessert. Win.

frozen strawberries, about 3/4 of a frozen banana, 1.5 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk, a tablespoon or two of plain greek yogurt, 2 packets of stevia, & a sprinkle of raw oats. Delish.

And that's all she wrote.

             xo, 

                      Amanda

Super Hungry Monday

Whoops. I took pictures as promised, but never posted them. You expected nothing less, right? I will forever be hanging my head in shame as long as this blog exists.

Instead of posting a week and a half's meals at once, I think I'll just start fresh with Monday (yesterday).

leftovers compliments of Mimi's Cafe: egg over medium, 2 turkey sausage links, potatoes with organic ketchup, honey bran muffin & cold brew coffee with almond milk + vanilla stevia

cranberry ginger Kombucha. Tasted exactly like a glass of plain cranberry juice.

peppers stuffed with grass fed beef doused in hot sauce, whole wheat cous cous, spinach, and black beans topped with a sliver of monterrey jack

I had a seafood dish the other day (clams, snapper, scallops, shrimp, and calamari cooked in a spicy tomato sauce) that came with a side of olive oil pasta and spinach. I wasn't in a carb mood at the time, so I took it to go, covered it with the leftover seafood sauce (sans seafood) and shared half with my dad. I forgot it was once full of seafood and wondered why the hell my spaghetti tasted like fish. DUH.

P.S. my dad didn't know the word "sans" was a word. I guess they'll give a ph.d. to anyone. ;)

I was hungry ALL day yesterday, it got a little ridiculous. I ingested this after 5 pm. Caffeine seems to have little affect on me (sometimes even the opposite. I drank a cup as dessert at a restaurant the other night at a 9 pm dinner and went to bed almost immediately when I got home). I finally tried the cherry almond luna protein bar last week. No good. Chocolate mint is the only decent one of the protein luna bunch, I'm afraid. 

My first time EVER having (organic chicken) sausage, onions, & peppers. I also added some garlic and mushrooms and cooked it in red wine. I was going to have it with a glass of wine, but decided on a Blue Moon agave nectar ale. About 1/4 of the way through I decided I didn't want beer after all, but didn't want to be wasteful. I made it through 3/4 before pouring it out. I was torn between wasting beer and wasting calories. I knew I still wanted some chocolate (aka sugar) and that beer = sugar, so I sort of compromised

This ended up being a hassle to get to! I'm having a random ant problem in my kitchen *shudder* and despite placing 8 baits around and drenching the kitchen in organic (pet safe!) spray, I opened up a drawer and found myself surrounded!! I salvaged what I could. NOM. Love this stuff!

AGAIN the snack monster hit, so I finished off my mom's leftover pad thai she didn't want + part of the edamame

I don't think I really like edamame anymore for some reason. I used to love it. Hmmmmm.

                              xo,

                                    Amanda

EVOO, Feta, and Kalamata Olives

Hey peeps. Remember me? The girl who often deserts you but always come back eventually?

Yeah, that girl. Hi.

I still don't feel I can handle blogging regularly in terms of telling you what happened all day. Let's be real anyway: nothing happens. I workout, I work, I work more, I watch tv, sometimes I read a little, I sleep. There. Done.

I also eat. And like to take pictures of it. So I figure I can spend a few minutes sharing that shizz.

I saw the movie Before Midnight last week and it took place in Greece. I've been on kind of a Mediterranean food inspired kick ever since. Here are the last few days.

 

0% Greek yogurt with honey roasted pb, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and granola with cold brew coffee and almond milk

 

Half of a large turkey/roast beef sandwich on sourdough with romaine, tomato, white american cheese, and light mayo

Guys, I think I'm over sourdough for the time being. It's usually my fave bread. Tragic!!!

 

Rest of the sandwich with rainier cherries (fave!) and coffee with hazelnut coconut milk creamer

Sometimes I don't have time (/make time?) to eat lunch at work until 3 pm, but you can be assured I make up for it and eat 10,000 times a day by the end of the day!

diced organic chicken breast mixed with leftover spinach artichoke dip, leftover potato salad, and steamed broccoli with spices and evoo + a glass of Macaron pinot noir (I don't recommend that wine, but it was massively on sale and the label is super cute--so, there's that)

 english toffee ice cream bar I pilfered from my parents house. I debated back and forth between eating this, but clearly I went for it. It wasn't worth it. Not too tasty. Lame!

I think I also ate a bunch of frozen watermelon that night, as I have been most nights recently, but didn't get to take a pic because my dog was face-deep in the tupperware. She's 10 and this is the first year I've noticed she's OBSESSED with watermelon. She's a pretty polite beggar (sits pretty by your feet but doesn't jump up on you or whine), but when watermelon, strawberries, or apple slices come out, she loses. her. shit.

leftover mixed berry crepes from Mimi's Cafe (not good...disappointing!), leftover turkey sausage, egg with cholula (new fave), coffee

organic chicken, leftover steamed broccoli, the last of the cherries I took to the office

 I had tried other luna protein bars and didn't like them, but something told me to give this a shot even though I don't always like chocolate and mint. Good thing-- I liked this variation a lot!

I'm on a glass of wine with dinner kick right now. I picked this up to take over to my family's house to watch tv with my mama. It was pretty good! Usually cheap pinot noir's taste...cheap and acidic, but this hit the spot. Apparently I took all the wine glasses to my house, so my mom and I had to drink wine out of water glasses. Oops.

The meal to accompany afformentioned vino. Macadamia crusted flounder, kalamata olives from Greece, goat milk feta crumbles, butter beans drizzled with spanish extra virgin olive oil, pink salt, and garlic powder 

  chocolate in bed! last 2 squares of a dark chocolate Cadbury bar I found in my nightstand

repeat! except, full fat this time and no strawberries

 

turkey, white american, and organic romaine on sourdough with light mayo + hot and sweet mustard

 quinoa salad with salmon kabobs! I ate this whole thing in one sitting and was sickly full all night, whoops.

I'm sure this didn't help with the fullness

I don't really understand how they allowed this monstrosity of eggs, turkey bacon, and chicken sausage out of the kitchen. It all looked burnt and the "over medium" eggs were basically cooked through. I should have sent the whole thing back, but instead I covered it in love aka cholula and all was right with the world again.

I took this from my Dad's stash as a mid-afternoon snack. I hate that it has splenda in it, but it tastes pretty good for a whey-based bar. A little protein powdery, but almost like candy 

 My mom left this amazing hummus at my house with homemade pita chips. Finders keepers. I gave her the leftovers at least!

For dinner, I went out with my cousin and Kendyll. I'm not Chili's biggest fan, but I saw they were featuring watermelon margaritas and I was totes there.

Looks pretty. Tastes.....like high fructose corn syrup. I wasn't impressed. I should know better by now than not to pass on any marg with sweet and sour in the ingredient list. "House made" or not.

You'd think I'd learn, but nope. I made the mistake again with patron. I'm not sure if she gave me the wrong patron-based drink or if I ordered wrong, or, most likely, just expected more from my favorite tequila buddy, but again...not my cup of....lime?

excuse the straw wrappers

Those were probably a 1500+ calorie mistake. Alas, I used "girl math" as Rachael Ray calls it and attempted to lessen the guilt with a "light" chicken salad entree.

It was alright *shrug*....nothing special

But I cannot tell a lie: I also feasted up more than pictured, thanks to a coupon. I can't say no to free! It's unpictured, but we also had guacamole and salsa with chips. Lots of chips. They were thin and broke apart in the guac, forcing you to eat 10,000 just to get your avocado fix.

After loading my body up on sodium and sugar all day, I went home and jumped on my mini trampoline a little bit while I watched Big Brother Afterdark. Cause sporadic jumping TOTALLY negates poor dietary choices. Right?

Um, there's always tomorrow. 

Hey, I did have the opportunity for frozen yogurt and turned that down. That counts. Sorta.

*thinks thoughts of Greece* Let's get back to the good stuff from now on, shall we?

xo,

Amanda

Winner, Winner

Congrats, NikkiLou, you are the winner of the Red Gold Tomato giveaway! Please send me an email to manolomandi@aol.com with your address and I will forward it to Red Gold and get you your prize pack! 

Another Giveaway coming your way in the near future. Woohoo. 

xo,

Amanda

Red Gold Tomatoes Giveaway

Cristy from Red Gold Tomatoes contacted me recently and asked if I'd be interested in trying some of their products. I had never heard of the company before, but after perusing the website I was game. I'm always a little weary of canned goods, but who doesn't love a canned tomato sauce for chili, sloppy joes, etc? And since we're being honest here, even though I logically know "100% natural" can mean just about anything legally, it does still kinda get my interested piqued every time.

I was sent a can of: diced tomatoes; petite diced tomatoes; diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano; diced tomatoes with green chilis (queso ready);  diced tomatoes with onions (chili ready); and tomato sauce

They also make tomato juice, salsa, ketchup, pasta sauces, and even beans.

Thus far, I have sampled two of the products: the queso ready diced variety & the chili ready.

The queso ready tomatoes reminded me, of course, of their competitor rotel. I didn't notice a distinct difference in taste between queso made with red gold tomatoes and queso made with rotel, but they're definitely comparable. The whole bowl of queso was devoured and loved, including by a very picky three year old tester (who asked for seconds, I do believe).

The chili ready was awesome in theory and pretty good in execution. I loved the chili spices already being in the can of tomatoes--way less sodium and funky ingredients that way! Plus, I only had to use one mini jar of tomato sauce instead of 2 like usual. However, personally I wasn't a fan of the chunky tomatoes. I'm a big texture person when it comes to food and this was a little different in a chili for me, but the flavor was still there. I did have to add a *bit* more chili seasoning to kick it up a notch, but barely. A HUGE positive was that I didn't get a stomachache! 99% of the time when I eat chili I feel sickly acidic afterwards, so this was a major plus. I'd like to buy another can, put it in the vitamix or food processor, and try it out that way.

I don't mind chunky when it comes to pasta and italian dishes. I'm most looking forward to trying the basil, garlic, and oregano tomatoes on top of brown rice pasta. YUM.

Aside from what I've had access to, I'm especially curious about the ketchup! I'm a heinz girl allll the way (organic, please!), but who knows, maybe this would be almost as good ;). They've been around since 1942, so they must be doing something right.

GIVEAWAY:

Cristy has generously offered a reader a sample pack of their very own. I'm gonna keep this one simple: just leave a comment and I'll pick one of ya in the near future. I've briefly neglected the blog, yet again, I know (mostly due to family reasons, all is good now--no worries), but I still love it and hope there are still people reading! I'm going to say it should probably be limited to U.S. only since I didn't clear it otherwise, but get your comments in! FREE FOOD, people.Who doesn't love that?

COMMENT AWAY!

xo,
Amanda

Blah Blah Blah all opinions are my own, I was not compensated for this post--

in fact, I was never asked to even make a post, just to try the products.

 I was sent 6 cans free of charge. Blah Blah Blah