What’s up, my little party animals?
Is everyone recovering well from yesterday’s FAT fest? I’ll be honest, it completely slipped my mind that yesterday was Mardi Gras! I’m not catholic, but in years past, I have participated in Lent just to show how masochistic I amย challenge myself. Yeah, don’t think I’ll EVER forget the year I gave up nut butter…or the number of spoonfuls of peanut butter I ate straight from the jar come Easter morning! Ha!
Mmm, speaking of peanut butter…let’s get on to the eats…the delicious, yet somewhat random, for today’s What I Ate Monday Wednesday!
Obviously I started another food phase this weekend, because when I rolled out of bed, all I wanted was another peanut butter bagel! But since I’m out of bananas (I know, Amanda…the insanity!), I plopped on some SUPER ripe persimmon slices and then layered on the TJ’s chocolate coffee “sprinkles”!
On my way out the door, I brewed up a big cup of vanilla creme bruuuuLAY coffee to have at the start and halfway through my shift for the night. To be honest, neither one of these flavors even comPARES to myย vanilla hazelnut, which I’m now maybe kinda sort of hoarding, but well that’s nothing a little cinnamon can’t cover up fix! ๐
As the case has been lately, this day involvedย yet another snack plate…though this one was assembled AFTER the fact to showcase the items I noshed on over, get this, FOUR HOURS! I know, I’m weird! I would just nibble a bit and then put it away and then nibble a bit and then…yeah, you get the picture…literally! Ha! ๐
Anywho, we have here a whole carrot, stick-ified, half a Pink Lady apple (which I know is a favorite among a lot of you!), about a cup of cold pre-roasted kabocha, and a handful of Stacy’s salty pita chips with some sweeeeetย Apricot Riesling Greek cream cheese (a mouthful in more ways that one) for dipping!
Around 2ish, 3ish or hell, I don’t know, whenever I got hungry, I had the second half of my coffee along with an apple pie Quest bar…another of my TOP favorite flavors!
So true story bro: In the middle of my shift, I got the HUGEST craving for vegetables…crisp GREEN vegetables. Of course, I had no such animals (don’t even try to understand my brain) with me but I seriously started fantasizing about green smoothies, salads, and you guessed it, a little broccoli kissing (again, don’t even TRY!). Knowing I was lacking in the way of fresh produce at home, I started flipping through ideas of what I DID have that I could make FAST once I got home…
And this broccoli and sesame tofu stir fry was born about 15 minutes after walking through the door! Oh boy let me tell you, it hit THE spot!
All I did was saute some onions and tofu in a bit of toasted sesame oil, tossed in some thawed from frozen broccoli, and stirred it up with some of TJ’s soyaki sauce! Oh and on a whim I decided to pile it all on top of some yam noodles that I’ve had in my fridge for so long I’ve forgotten where they came from…oops?
Also, not one, not two, but THREE liters of water for the day! Guess I’m making up for all the dehydration over the weekend, huh? ๐
And even though we’re in a new month, I’m pretty sure daydreaming about greens warrants the “Love Your Veggies” button, amiright?! ๐ Be sure to hop on over to Peas & Crayons and check out all the other link ups today and I’ll see you back here tomorrow for a bit of randomness!
Later ‘gators!
What food combo are you currently obsessing over?
Are you giving anything up for Lent?
Snack plates are definitely the way forward. I really enjoy the tapas style of eating as you get a little bit of everything on your plate. ๐
How do you make your tofu stirfrys look so good? I totally fail with it and always end up with my tofu breaking a partโฆ ๐
Probably because I let the tofu cook up a bit and get crisp before I added anything else…and since the broccoli was already presteamed, I didn’t really have to stir it around to cook it! ๐
Plates snack became simply a hit in the world of blogs ๐ I can admit? I didn’t eat peanut butter already nearly half a year… Madness.
Hahaha I love little snack plates, too ๐ I’ve been working from home for the past couple of days because of the snow and a lot of my meals have just been snacky things!
Oh my goodness that first combo! I’m drooling! PB and persimmons are pretty much the perfect combo… but persimmons basically go with everything! My hubby bought me a box of those apple pie quest bars for my b’day and they are MIGHTY delicious!
oh I love your snack plate so much and I think I said this a hundred times before. I really need to think about this combo on a weekend when I actually can eat food from a plate.
Lately, I LOVE coconut flour with anything. I put it in my oats, in my pancakes, muffins, dessert batters (don’t try to understand MY brain) – and I can not get enough!
I guess I have to try the apple Quest again… that one I had was not good. But it’s been a year or so. What if they made a kabocha Quest??? I’d die of happiness. Kabocha PB.
Me too! everyone raves about these Quest bars, I can’t seem to get them down…no wonder why people cook them! lol
Oh yeah, it makes a HUGE difference! Also, you can tell they’ve reformulated over the last year or so because they used to be SO freaking hard it was nearly impossible to eat them withOUT cooking!
Heather,
It totally shows what’s on my brain when I see in the first photo a portabello mushroom topped with melted cheese, sliced sweet potatoes, and pepper. I want that now.
Hahaha! Well, I’m happy to help you with a psychology lesson anytime you need it, hon! ๐
oh man I should give up coffee. I’m currently getting headaches all day long because I think I’m addicted to the caffeine..
I want that stir fry! Yum!
Lately the combo I’m obsessing over are eggs and avocado. It’s SO good!
I’m impressed that you were able to give up nut butter for lent one year! I’m not Catholic so I’ve never participated…and no matter what I gave up, I would probably fail. I remember growing up, Catholic friends would give up chocolate, candy or TV…I could do without candy, but with TV or chocolate I would probably fail.
For a minute there I thought you had topped your bagel with smoked salmon instead of persimmons and I kind of freaked out since I am the only person I know who eats peanut butter and smoked salmon…it’s seriously amazing!
SERIOUSLY?! Oh my gosh girl, and you call ME a strange human! Haha! Buuuuuuuuut, since I share your love for peanut butter and pickles….ok, now I’m a little curious! ๐
That breakfast is so unique and I’m totally calling vegetables “animals” from now on.
I just got a couple of sharon fruit/persimmons from my mum today. Looking forward to eating them now, esp. after seeing your breakfast! Love snacky plates too – right up my street! And ur final meal looks delicious. Not heard of that ready-made sauce but sounds good! ๐
apple pie questbars are my jam. they might be my top flavor, along with pb&j and cookies and cream. and i’m loving snack plates too. carrot chips, tuna salad, cucs, and cracker chips have been in my rotation lately.
That bagel looks to DIE for..
I haven’t come across persimmons up here in Canada yet.. sad ๐
The apple pie quest bar is definitely one of my favorites!! Gah I wish they weren’t so expensive! I wish life wasn’t so expensive. But I digress…now I want stir fry!
I have heard awesome things about that soyaki sauce from TJ’s. I cannot wait to pick some up!
That broccoli stir fry looks amazing!! And I totally get the veggie cravings too. It’s so strange! I just want to chomp down on something crisp and fresh! Now you’re making me want some right now!
For Lent, I always give something up. I’m not Catholic but I grew up going to Catholic school and I always loved the tradition. Conformity is the name of the game ๐
So this year my husband is giving up gluten (he’s already texted me asking “do Saltine’s have gluten?… dammit they do!”). I’ll do that with him (since I already am like 99% gf) and I think this year I’ll try the no nut butter thing. I was going to give up all nuts, but I don’t know how safe that sounds (but if something is already peanut butter flavored, I’m eatin it!). As long as I’M not the one adding the nut butter, I’m gonna be good. Wish me luck!
Soooooo if I shove a spoonful of peanut butter in your face next weekend, what are you gonna do?? ๐
I think that instead of giving up something for Lent I’m going to aim to do yoga once per day during the season. Giving something up has never been fulfilling for me, esp. since I just go back to it right after. Plus there’s no way in heck I would give up sweets when Lent always falls during my birthday month!
Oh yeah, that WOULD be hard! But I really like the idea of ADDING something to your life…and I’m especially a fan of adding yoga! I’m still bummed that I didn’t get to go to my hot yoga class last weekend! Boo!
I really thought that was salmon the first time I saw it. Persimmons are so good though, I love bagels! I always try to convince my boyfriend to go to brueggers with me for bagels when I’m visiting him over the weekend
Ahh – you personality and random thoughts crack me up! You should be a comedian! Haha. I’d go watch you. ๐
I always crave peanut butter. It’s like what.. I’ve also been craving broccoli.
No together though, because that would be plain out weird. ๐
I miss Questbars!
Hmmm, yes, I think I’d even have to draw the #strangebutgood line there! Ha!
If I ever start a stand up tour, I’m nominating you to be my official introducer! ๐
Dang it, not fair making a pregnant woman crave all the foods when she’s too lazy to go to the store ๐ Everything sounds SO good, even the stir fry! Yummmm!!!! I’ve totally been craving all the fruits lately, I’m embarassed to admit how much watermelon I consumed today.
Hahaha! Well, I’m jealous of your access to watermelon! So are we even now? ๐
Deal ๐
I’m not Catholic, so I’ve never given up anything for Lent. And thank goodness because I wouldn’t be able to give up anything I love for longer than a few days!
Love the looks of your snack plate lunch! Those are always my favourite kind of lunches.
Fifteen minute veggie stir fry for the win. I’ve been craving all things green lately. Smoothies, salads, stir frys. I’ll take ’em any way I can get ’em.
I could never give up nut butter!
It has been way too long since I had a veggie stir fry. I used to make them at least once a week but I don’t know what happened.
I NEED to buy more quest bars and try out more flavours, I’ve only ever tried out 2 bars cookie dough >> which as an amateur I didn’t microwave and then brownie which I did and it was amazing.
Loving how your snack plate looks. I am currently obsessed with pb, jam and greek yoghurt combined for the win.
So impressed that you were able to snack on what’s on the plate for 4 HOURS because I would have devoured it too quickly! Nut butter is a good one to give up for Lent… I’m aiming to write in my journal every day so that I can make it a consistent habit. I’m not so solid at giving up sweets and I would just OD after! Great post ๐
That’s a great idea to ADD something to your life instead of depriving yourself! I really should get better about my journal writing too!
I decided to give up shopping for Lent. Clothes/shoes/accessories/shit I don’t need shopping, at least. We’ll see how this goes…
Ohhhhh, that would definitely be a hard one for me! I swear every time I say that I’m banning myself from TJ Maxx, I just end up prowling by the store until I eventually cave and go in! Ha!
Wait…I need to reread that…. you mused over that snack plate for 4 hours?
That’s so funny that you had THAT quest bar flavour- it’s the one I gave to my work colleague….new work colleague. To bribe them to be my friend. Okay maybe not the latter bit but yes.
Currently obsessed with Brazil nuts. Can we give up clothes for lent?
Converting people to the dark side, eh? ๐ Haha! Oh, you just reminding me that I have some Brazil nuts in the freezer that have been patiently awaiting my (and the food processor’s) attention…oh yes, buttah-making is happening soon!
Give up clothes for Lent? Sure! But you may need a priest to get you out of jail later! ๐
I cannot find persimmons… isn’t that weird? Also I NEED those sprinkles… I’ve never seen them before. I have to scour harder next time I’m at TJs…
Not weird at all! I actually have only been able to find them at my local asian/international markets…usually I can find them at Wal-Mart but I haven’t seen them at all this season! And I’ve had the TJ’s grinder for a while now…not sure if it’s a seasonal thing or not, but if you find it, I definitely recommend picking it up!