Saturday, I woke up early to get ready for my friend’s wedding.

Breakfast:

Apple Pie Oatmeal with a pumpkin spice coffee on the side…So delicious and comforting

Then we took a loooong drive out to the chapel of Mt. St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD.

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for the couple’s big day

Then it was on to the reception. Good food, hilarious DJ, great party.

The dinner plate was chicken marsala, a crab cake, veggies and rice. I was stuffed by the end because my friend is allergic to crab so I had two of the meatiest cakes, yummy caramelized veggies, a few bubbly dranks, and two of these…

Today I woke up determined to put my bedtime sugar rush to good use and beast out on my long run of the week.

I fixed some protein pancakes and pumpkin spice coffee for breakfast.

And set out on my mapped 8 mile loop through the harbor.

Unfortunately, this happened at mile 3.

You might notice a pretty significant tear in my pants, under which is a pretty nasty gash that I have elected to NOT show the world. You’re welcome.

So I sat there for a few seconds debating whether to turn around or call a friend and instead decided to just finish what I set out to do.

It looked a lot worse than it was, or at least that’s what my endorphins are telling me. We’ll see how my knee feels tomorrow.

Now I’m off to go find some lunch and get some essential groceries. Like Neosporin, pumpkins, and chocolate.

No worries. What’s important is I’m back and ready to say so long to Summer and hello to all of Fall’s pumpkin-y glory.

Let’s recap the lost days of my blog.

Pumpkin Obsession is in full swing!

I did wait to open a can of pumpkin on (I swear) the first non-sweltering day.

Proof:

I actually used it in some baking:

Vegan pumpkin muffins whipped together for a Labor Day potluck at work. Shhh! Nobody knew it was vegan

And this is what I did with the leftover pumpkin muffins:

Oh btw, that’s hemp milk because I’m allergic to almonds. *boom* I know, dynamite explosions go off in my mind every time I think about my break up with almond milk this Summer.

I further fueled my pumpkin obsession with Green Mountain AND Dunkin Pumpkin K-cups. Both because I HAD to know the difference, duh. (btw, experiments with coconut milk as a coffee creamer failed!)

Result: Green Mountain Pumpkin Spice tastes more like autumn spices than pumpkin and Dunkin Pumpkin tastes like pumpkin with a hint of spice. Both are good in their own way. But I will probably only re-buy the Green Mountain version.

Fitness

I took my first Tae bo class a few weeks ago with Sana. (Unless Billy Blanks tapes in high school counts…yikes I feel old)

I emerged from my first group (non yoga) fitness class a complete sweaty mess. I had no control of my hamstrings the next day, but it was so much fun!

Also new to my fitness routine: the return of running baby! I took a long lazy hiatus from running for the muggy months of Summer. But by mid-August I realized the Baltimore Half was fast approaching and decided to hit the road to prepare. 3 weeks left!! Eeeep!

Don’t let my ridiculously relaxed face on the 6th mile fool you. Last year was crazy. I finished the race completely destroyed. Do not attempt this my irresponsible preparation methods  at home. All you have to know is I could not fit my feet into my shoes for days. Seriously!

Food:

Too much to cover completely, but here are some highlights:

Left to right and top to bottom. I don’t know how else to do this…

Banana almond muffins

Perfect protein pancakes (I notice a blog crush forming)

Sweet potato black bean hash: Even my (sweet potato hating) dad loved it.

Flaxseed pizza was NOT a hit. I’m hopeful for a take-two.

Summer rolls are a perfect end to Summer.

I make a mean Pad Thai tofu.

AND a mean chicken fried quinoa. Too good to be that easy.

I attacked homemade falafels blindly (ie. recipe-less) and won.

Trader joe’s black bean soup, sautéed spring onion and peppers, lime juice, goat cheese, and added black beans make an awesome dinner.

I leave you with dinner tonight:

Mini peppers stuffed with tuna salad (tuna mixed with hummus, & brown mustard), roasted sweet potatoes and ketchup.

Time for bed. Must get up early to get ready for my sorority line-sister’s wedding. Yay!

My beautiful sister bought me a meal! Pad Thai from Noodles. I think they improved their recipe since the last time. I loved it.

More Banana Almond Muffins were consumed. Don’t worry, I gave him some banana for his photo bomb patience.

We went to go watch a local boxing team spar.

I caught the kookiest show on Discovery called Curiosity. In the episode they tested how well a group of ten men and women would adapt to life under Paleolithic circumstances. They even tried to hunt elk with prehistoric tools! My dad bet me $20 they would catch one. I won’t ruin how that played out.

Eggs, mustard, and chili powder make a great sandwich.

Unpictured rice and beans fail. I have disgraced my heritage. Lol

New to me icecream, Turkey Hill Double Dunker. Mocha icecream with cookie dough and other deliciousness. Nice flavor…but now my stomach is a little less enthusiastic.

That concludes this super chill low key weekend. I am now going to watch my 436th hour of the Olympics.

Bye!

August is definitely a tight budget month for me. This appears to be my attempt at minimizing this week’s grocery list with some planning.

Above is my afterwork reminder list/prospective meal ideas for next week. Apparently I have to remind myself that sweet potato and hummus is my snack.

You can tell I didn’t stick to the plan and snacked on a apple/sweet potato with almond butter combo instead. (First time trying sweet potato and AB and it rocked!)

Dinner was Peruvian chicken and veggies with the fam.

Then I had another late night baking sesh…

I used the Fitnessista’s Banana Almond Muffins recipe. They were surprisingly similar to traditional muffins in texture and tasted just like banana bread. Yum!

Two muffins starred in my breakfast this morning.

Delicious!

Last night I halved a carrot cake bar recipe and used my mini pan to bake it.

The above photo was taken this morning, so obviously I didn’t need to eat my late night baking; I just needed to know it was ready and waiting for breakfast.

At first bite I knew these bars were winners. Instead of inhaling them all at once I decided to stretch their life by crumbling just one square into some plain overnight oats. You can check out the full recipe at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. My mini version used white whole wheat flour and I nixed the raisins (they are not my thang!).

I continued to enjoy the Carrot and sweet potato chickpea curry fritters over my lunch salad with lentils and hummus on top.

Before I even thought about dinner tonight I decided I needed to try something I’ve been reading about for ages…homemade granola!

I rolled with this Maple Pecan Pie Granola recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction. Makes about 8 servings.

This granola is delicious! A little high on the sugar content meter, but it tastes like it’s called, Pecan Pie!

My only change was to replace the canola oil with coconut oil. I also tried to cook the granola 2 ways. The first two-thirds made it onto the baking dish that was baked in the toaster oven and the last third got tossed around a lightly oil-sprayed skillet.

Result: Skip the stove top method. I ended up popping the skillet cooked portion into the toaster oven to make them match the crispness of the batch from the oven.

Dinner was another chopped fritter with marinara sauce for dipping.

And a fried spinachy egg with goat cheese to finish up the marinara dip.

After dinner I prepared some iced coffee concentrate.

I soak lots of coffee grounds with filtered water for 12-14 hours and then strain out the grounds with my ghetto coffee filter set-up.

Okay, time for confessions.

1. We haven’t bought paper towels in a long time. I’ve been using coffee filters to clean kitchen surfaces, soak excess oil from fritters, and serve myself small snacks when I’m too lazy to wash a plate.

2. 90 percent of the time that I cook for myself I use mainly one spoon. I can have 2-3 small meals going at once and I employ the lick-and-wipe method as I transition from say spooning marinara to stirring granola. The only exception to this is when I cook meat, I’m not crazy! Although, I may need to curb this behavior to fully transition into a responsible adult.

3. I was telling a coworker about my recent cooking experiments today and she stopped me cold and said “It’s like you and I are from completely different universes!” She always looks at me like I have six heads when I talk about chickpea flour or dessert flavored oatmeal. Her astonishment at these things always amuses me.

That’s all for tonight. One day soon I will accept that we are now in August and in less than 29 days all things fall will be in full swing. I have a can of pumpkin hanging out in the back of my pantry that I’m not just not ready to unleash yet.

This week’s WIAW is not really an account of what I ate today. Instead let’s review the meals I remembered to photograph since Saturday.

Breakfasts

Of champions on Sunday.

This is called: I didn’t have time to pack breakfast and frantically ran to the hospital cafeteria for sustenance.

That’s oatmeal right? I’ll give you a hint…

A lovely coworker returned from vacation bearing the above gems. I think you know where this is going…

Peanut butter fudge is to a part of a complete breakfast!

Lunches

Turkey Mushroom Lasagna leftovers.

Veggie platter at Maiwand Kabob. Delicious!

Simple salad with hummus and you guessed it: caramel corn. Caramel corn was pretty much in my hands every time I rose from my chair these last couple of days at work.

Bonus points to the super huge cluster!

Snacks

Halva pistachio posicles with crazy quantities of whole pistachios!

Second attempt at fancy cereal. Yes, I know I’m late to this party. Cheerios, 2 peaches (yes 2, I finally finished that darn box), a scoop of peanut butter, and a splash of milk.

Dinners

Lentil stew. 1/2 cup of lentils, 3 tomatoes, piece of chopped onion, cumin, chili powder, apple cider vinegar, and s & p.

Carrot and sweet potato chickpea curry fritters. That’s a mouthful! I basically used The New Healthy’s latest recipe for Healthy Broccoli Slaw and Sweet Potato Fritters. I used 1.5 cups of shredded carrots in place of the broccoli slaw and seasoned my patties with 1/2 t curry powder. It’s a pretty awesome recipe Stefanie! I only wish I had some yogurt to dip them. Although, hummus did the trick. I love dipping chickpeas in chickpeas.

Dessert

Monday was National Cheesecake day so I headed over to the Cheesecake Factory to pick up my half priced slice of heaven (Adam’s Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple). The promotion said dine-in only, but if you asked the cheesecake counter they were allowing take-out cheesecake orders to apply. Shhhhh! It will be our secret for next year.

Thanks again Jenn! Back to studying for my first exam (and watching the Men’s gymnastics all-around) I go!

Quick and easy scramble with Peach Protein Muffins on the side.

2 eggs, 1/2 tomato, 1/3 orange pepper, spinach, and goat cheese. I’m still not sure which roommate received flowers, but they definitely brightened my week.

The muffins were inspired by the lovely Healthy Diaries. I microwaved a chopped peach into a crushed sauce, mixed it into the basic vanilla recipe, and cooked it as two separate muffins. Coconut, peaches, and almond butter is a winning combo.

I continued to use up my box of peaches with peach protein overnight oats.

1/2 cup of oats, 1 microwaved peach sauce, 1/3 cup of soy milk, and 1/2 a scoop of sun warrior. 

Another bowl of leftover Spicy Basil Stir fry (which  basically tastes like Thai takeout)…

and my first Masala Dosa with chutney. 

Brought in to share by my coworker. Four in a box for $1.99! A steal!

I don’t normally like frozen meals, but this was seriously delicious! Not too shabby on the nutrition stats either.

Another Turkey Mushroom Lasagna was made and enjoyed.

I added an egg to the ricotta this time per some internet recommendations, but we really didn’t notice any difference. I’ll save my eggs for breakfast next time.

Although, I clearly had plenty of eggs left because breakfast this morning was my first attempt at “traditional pancakes” and eggs.

My plate + 1.5 more pancakes. This fluffy pancake was made out of a basic google search inspired batter of 1 cup flour, 2 t baking powder, 1/4 t salt, 2 T sugar, 1 egg, 1 cup milk, and 2T vegetable oil. Makes 6 pancakes. 

Before I go, let’s quickly discuss this week’s Spicy Basil Stirfry. Let me start by saying I have never been so excited to eat repeat leftovers for so many days in a row. This recipe clearly does not cause #singlepeopleproblems. 

It is basically the awesome (never home) maker’s recipe but the only main ingredients I had were red pepper, mushroom, basil, onion, and chickpeas. I started out with tofu, but I had to toss it because it smelled, um yea… All the sauce and marinade components were pretty much followed to a tee. 

It was just as awesome on the third day as it was on the first. So I suggest you go make it.

Now I’m off to go catch up on lectures. My first exam opens up online this week, eek! I’ve been out of the swing for quite a while, so now it’s definitely time to buckle down.

1. Popsicles. The popsicle neighbor is still at it this week. Shown below is cucumber lemonade. So refreshing after a hot walk home from work.

2. Curry lentil soup. My amazing coworker witnessed my meltdown this week and sensed I could use some comforting soup. Her secret to lentil soup: a pressure cooker. I may need to investigate this wonderful appliance further.

3. I tried a granola, milk, and nut butter combo for the first time this week and I think I liked it.

4. Spicy Basil Stirfry. More on this later.

5. Blog giveaways. I won this Jounery bar stash in a giveaway hosted by Modern Girl Nutrition last week. I haven’t tried them yet. But I’ll be sure to share the deets when I do.

6. Long cool nighttime walks. Tonight I went on a 4 mile trek to the hill overlooking the harbor and caught part of this breathtaking show.

See, no complaining today. Good night peeps!

This is what breakfast and lunch looks like on a Monday from hell.

Yes, that is it. I actually had nothing ready to go Monday morning, ran past Starbucks for some necessary fuel, and then didn’t get an opportunity to chew something until lunch. I spy with my little eye a piece of chocolate.

At least the chicken pesto ciabatta was good. (and yes, that is my second iced coffee of the day, times were rough)

Unpictured work eats: A few small pastries from the coffee room donation box.

As the escapades of my work day slowed down I received an offer for a groceries and pizza night that I just could not refuse.

We tried one of Trader Joe’s premade pizza doughs, and with a few over-floured do-overs ended up with an undercooked pizza. Oops.

His side.

Mine.

Orange peppers, mushrooms, marinara, pepperoni, and goat cheese.

It looked crazy but I was too hungry to care. He may disagree, but I thought it was still delicious in its half cooked state. I really needed a win yesterday.

Oh and I ate half a Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate bar while dinner was coming together. Not a baby bar either, you know the one I’m talking about.

I assumed today would start with a repeat of Monday’s madness and I still had no meals prepared for the day (#fail) so I tripled the easiest meal: Breakfast.

I started with a waffle topped with almond butter and blueberry jam and an egg on the side. Also pictured are some coconut chai protein overnight oats packed for work.

I stopped at Starbucks (two days in a row, my bank account will scold me later) and this time added some extra food to reinforce my meager eats. Their protein box always does a pretty good job of satisfying all my cravings…Except chocolate…I should write to Starbucks about that…

Unpictured work eat: Random bagel I found in the coffee room donation pile.

So, what have we learned from two days of intense return to work and no real planning: If there are no options, I will reach for the nearest caffeine/carb or bust.

Oh well, it could have been worse.

Now I’m off to regain some kitchen mojo for dinner, kick this migraine to the curb, and eat some peaches because this big box from TJ’s was a steal.

PS. On the last day of my trip I had quite a bit of almond milk left over so I ventured to a nearby Starbucks and asked if they would make my drink with it. I asked for an iced drink because I wanted to be able to add more almond milk later to finish it off. They were cool with it, as long as I poured the milk in myself. So halfway through making my triple caramel machiattio (it was my last hurrah splurge!) the barista told me where to pour my milk up to and then finished making the drink as usual. Not too shabby.

Yesterday was officially the start of my four-day weekend away! 

This weekend’s trip required me to plan 3 days worth of bagged breakfasts and lunches. We plan to splurge on dinner.

In past years this was a trickier task because our hotel room didn’t have a fridge. So I ate the same 1 hour oats and tuna packet sandwiches each day.

This year we have a hotel fridge that gives us a little more flexibility with our meal options.

Here’s how I put together breakfasts and lunches out of a hotel fridge.

Preportioned oatmeal baggies with protein powder and dry spices are packed for easy oats in the morning. (combos used: cinnamon and sun warrior, coconut-cocoa and sun warrior, and coconut-chai spice and sun warrior)

To prepare the oats I can either add hot water from the hotel coffee pot, mix in cold almond milk (since we have a fridge), or round the corner and ask a Starbucks barista for a tall cup filled halfway with hot water.

Before we left home I boiled a bunch of hard boiled eggs and cooked a small batch of quinoa for an easy protein filled lunch bowls.

I also brought a can of low sodium beans with the easy open pop top.

Once we got to our destination we hit up a grocery store for some fruits and veggies.

Apples and bananas to snack on. 

Avocados, red peppers, and lemons to round out my quinoa-bean-egg bowls.

Today’s meals are packed and ready to go:

I would love to hear any suggestions you have for easy meals when you have limited resources. (Hotels, camping, traveling etc.)

Have a good weekend!