What I've Been Eating: September & October

I know that I've been missing Heather's link-ups over at Townsend House, and honestly I've been doing a really bad job of coming up with new food options lately. (M asked me a week ago via email what I had been cooking lately....and it dawned on me that I really hadn't made much new! When he's around I'm inspired to try out new recipes on him, but until this weekend, not much new had been cooking/making.)

Mainly due to time constraints I've settled in on a routine:

Breakfast is ALWAYS a Chobani yogurt, a banana, my D vitamins and then either some take on a small bowl of oatmeal, a scramble, toast/english muffin, etc. Coffee w creamer gets drank on the way to class or in the comfort of home on weekends and M/W.

Lunch has to survive five hours in my bag before being (heated up) eaten, so mostly what I've been doing is some combination of the following: veggies & hummus, small oranges/apples, V8, pyrex containers of soup/stew, bagels w/ cream cheese and turkey slices. I also haul healthy granola bars, protein bars, bags of cranberries & almonds as snacks.

Dinner has pretty much been a salmon burger w/ BBQ sauce, a side of avocado & either a tomato, soup, or other sauted veggies on the side. I eat this probably twice a week. The smoothie (frozen fruit, greens, flax seed, coconut milk, vitamins, almond butter) gets consumed 2-4x a week. The scramble or omelet might come into play here with veggies. Other items that have been consumed for dinner: sauted pepper & refried bean fajitas, shrimp & homemade (canned) veggie laden sauce with pasta, various soups, baked potatoes with various toppings, roasted veggies, and one night out for dinner with a housemate.

Honestly the main things I'm eating are variations on scrambles and the crock pot soup/stew is saving me! I make a big pot of something 1-2x a month: it feeds me a meal then, a meal later that week, gives me 1-2 lunches for school, and then lets me freeze 1-3 portions for school lunches later. I've been living off this for most the month! I'm also relearning to make 2-3 portions for dinner and then having left overs to use for lunches the rest of the week.

In September the crockpot and I made a combination of several quinoa & black bean veggie chilis from pinterest. I also made a "root veggie" soup from veggies I had on hand. This last weekend I just made an african sweet potato soup and also did a combo lentil/quinoa/veggie soup/stew. I've also been buying english muffins and bagels in bulk and then freezing half the bag until I actually use them. Left over muffins that I froze this summer have been used for breakfasts and snacks also. And if I'm honest doing this has totally ensured that I'm fed and sustaining most weeks (even if there isn't a ton of variation!). One of the things I'm *hoping* to do over Christmas break is to make several soups, muffins, pizza dough, etc that can be frozen in portions and that will get me through Winter term. :)

Looking through and cleaning out my pinterest recipes (and seeing what my health conscious classmates bring) has been inspiring me to get down on bringing salads/greens with healthy grains, veggies, fruits, nuts, and legumes. So hopefully I'll start putting together a few of these options this month. This one and this one look amazing! (And I just realized this weekend how incredibly simple making lentils is! How did I not know this?!)

What I'm Eating Series: July

Sorta-Local Tuna Melt: local Tillamook cheese, local home canned tuna, local organic bread, lettuce from the garden plus avocado & tomato (and a lil mayo and s&p)

Leftovers from 4th of July BBQ: baked beans, a fried egg, and sour cream thrown in a tortilla...not bad!

Standard summer dinner fare: sauted zukes & onions w a lil garlic salt and pepper AND salmon burgers w mayo, avocado, tomato, ketchup, & lettuce

Breakfast sandwich: Egg, tomato, avocado & a dab of mayo on English muffin

Shrimp fajitas: corn tortillas, black rice, black beans, cajun shrimp, sauted peppers, onions, and zukes, homemade guac, and sour cream DELISH

An afternoon baking with Granny using her tins and recipe for Zuchinni Nut Bread aka muffins with some healthy alterations (coconut oil, brown sugar, and whole wheat flour)

Marionberry pie: local hand picked berries w one cup brown sugar, crust from Granny's recipe (using whole wheat flour, coconut oil, and water)

In the last few weeks, I've also put up 10 lbs of blueberries into the freezer and 5 lbs of marionberries...and I'm dreaming about tomatoes.... 

What I'm Eating: Rest of May

Again joining Heather over at Townsend House for her What I'm Eating Series.

Toasted Almond Butter & Banana Sandwich

w/ Mixed Greens, Strawberries, Sliced Nuts, & Mandarin Orange Salad

Tuna Salad Melt w/ Avocado on a Hoagie Roll

Baked Sweet Potato w side of Steamed Broccoli & Cauliflower

My stand-by Baked Cajun flavored Salmon w Roasted Baby Carrots & Cherry Tomatoes

w/ Blueberry/Spinach Smoothie (w flax seed, almond butter, vitamins, protein powder, coconut milk)

The usual go-to cans of V-8 and bags of almonds & cranberries while teaching.

I'm back to an every afternoon or evening protein smoothie. 

Mixed dried fruit has become my go-to evening movie snack food.

Tonight I gorged on beef jerky (can I call myself a vegetarian in recovery?!)

And I'm still using the breakfast burrito & homemade huevos rancheros as my go-to quick meal.

The daily Chobani yogurt taken with my D vitamins and a cup of dark roast coffee w creamer has become my regular breakfast, and really seems to have done the trick of helping ease stomach issues. 

I also was able to bring home the left-over fruit & veggie platter from last week's work event, so those in conjunction with my quick grab handfuls of almonds became my weekend snack foods.

Today I did my big 6 week Costco run: more food for the animals and more food for this human. Organic black beans, PNW sustainably farmed eggs, peach salsa, hummus, refried beans, yogurts, salmon, tortillas, organic bread, dark roast coffee, cranberries, frozen fruit for smoothies, beer, V8, and coconut oil. And tonight I did my weekly grocery store run: cauliflower, bananas, coconut milk, kale, avocados, cantaloupe, peaches, red wine, sweet potatoes, and two big sweet onions......

...cause on the docket for this weekend is to make some of these awesome looking blooming onions!

What I'm Eating: Early May

Linking up with Townsend House for Heather's What I'm Eating Series :)

So what's been fixin here? Well, I'm glad you asked! 

What to do with all that left-over curry? Well reheat it solo of course, but I also thought it might be good as a wrap. Tortilla, left-over pumpkin curry base, sauteed zukes & onions, bit o' sour cream. Verdict--Delish and filling!

Simple afternoon protein & healthy fats. Half avocado & some peach salsa on top of two scrambled eggs. (This hits rotation multiple times a week.)

Almost daily protein smoothie is always an easy way to pack a big bang full of vitamins & minerals for a meal. Yesterday's mix: banana, half-avocado, greens, coconut milk, part of a cucumber, small handful boysenberries, scoop whey protein, tsp flax seed meal, biotin, EmergencE packet, small handful almonds.

Simple, fast homemade huevos rancheros. Tortilla smothered in refried black beans, two eggs (over easy?) on top, half avocado, salsa.

M's favorite breakfast fixins. Eggs scrambled with hashbrown mix & whole wheat toast w/ my homemade pear butter.

And always, always on evenings when I teach: a small bag of cranberries & almonds, can of V8 juice, and 40 oz of water.