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WIAW: The Cheesy Edition

Posted on March 12, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

I LOVE cheese.

Something I actually used to convince myself I could take or leave back when I was counting calories…because I was convinced that it wasn’t really “worth” it in the end. But on the contrary…

Because THIS was totally worth every melty gooey stringy bit of IT!!!

Sit back kids and enjoy, because today, I’m throwing MORE than just grilled cheese in your face…today is all about What I Ate ~~Sunday~~ Wednesday!

After making it through my 12 hour on-call shift on Saturday, I woke up Sunday EVENING (another 10 hours of sleep, yo!), stumbled my way to the kitchen, and had the grill pan in my hand before I was even fully awake!

SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF CHEESE?

One slice of the BEST multigrain bread, buttered, halved and topped with fresh spinach and sharp white cheddar cheese…which kinda slid off the spinach and made for one cheesy mess, but omg, finger lickin’ good! And I guess there was a carrot and half an apple involved too…I don’t really remember! 😉

Thank God I had a decently sized meal BEFORE going into work because once I got there, I was busier than a one-armed bandit! As you guys know, I’m not much of a “lunch” person during the week, but when I started getting light-headed, I HAD to take a few breaks to throw something down my gullet!

Coffee

One cup of (3/4 caff…I’m in the BIG leagues now!) coffee around 11pm and another about 3am.

HOW DOES MOSES MAKE COFFEE? HEBREWS IT!

I also had the other half of my apple and another freakishly huge carrot.

HOW DO YOU KILL A SALAD? GO FOR THE CARROT-ID ARTERY!

Greek Yogurt with M&M's

But come 4am, I had a stroke of absolute GENIUS! Because that? That right der would be half a container of my favorite plain Greek yogurt mixed with cream cheese extract (TJ Maxx score) and topped with…carrot cake and coconut m&m’s!

HOLY FREAKIN’ CHEESUS!!

Seriously, I died. Then I came back to life after a few minutes and took another bite. Then I died again. And well, here I am a ghost of a woman typing up my WIAW post so yeah, go figure! Whatta way to go! 😉

After getting home at the end of the ~~day~~ ~~night~~ whatever, I was in the kitchen for approximately five minutes before this plate was devoured in less than FOUR!

Pilfered sausage pizza from the break room at work (Sarah’s not the only one with a penchant for scouting out free food!), eaten cold the way leftover pizza SHOULD be eaten alongside some steamed broccoli topped with chili flakes…hit the spot!

NOT MUSHROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT HERE!

And in the act of full disclosure, before my ~~day~~ ~~night~~ whatever started, I woke up in the middle of ~~day~~ ~~night~~ whatever and had the first half-container of yogurt and a peanut bar.

WHAT CAN I SAY, I WOKE UP AND FELT NUTS!

Big thanks to Jenn as always for hosting! Be sure to hop on over to Peas & Crayons and see just how everyone else is celebrating this week. Don’t forget your party hats!

NOW, LETTUCE TURN UP THE BEET!

♫ “Sweet dreams are made of cheese. Who am I to diss a brie. I cheddar the world and the feta cheese. Everybody’s looking for Stilton…” ♫

What are your favorite kindS of cheese?
Because seriously, how could you pick just ONE!?

Tell me something punny!

Posted in What I Ate Wednesday | Tagged apples, broccoli, carrots, cheese, coffee, Greek yogurt, M&M's, night shift, pizza, pun | 31 Comments

Guilt, Party of ZERO?

Posted on March 11, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

Can I tell you a story?

I’ve worked at the hospital for almost SEVEN years now (no, I am NOT a nurse), which is officially the longest time I’ve ever been with a company. Since my very first job, where I waitressed in a little mom & pop-style restaurant at 15 years old (paid under the table…hush, hush), I’ve always given everything I’ve got. I feel a sense of pride with any title I carry and I can’t help but form family-like ties with my coworkers…I mean, heck, when you spend more time at work than you do at home, it’s only natural. Besides, there’s no “i” in life, right? Wait, I mean…uh, never mind! 😉

Ok, let’s get to the REAL story…

Last week was rough…on top of being busy, I was sleeping very little and feeling a bit under the weather. So come Thursday, I was seriously patting myself on the back for having the foresight to book myself a massage that night. My plan was this: hour-long massage > bubble bath > glass (possibly bottle) of wine > Benedryl > bed…where I hoped to slip into the best drug-induced coma possible.

As I pulled into the parking lot of the spa, I got a call. It was work, asking if I could come in that night because the regular tech was sick. I sat there…in my car…staring at the door to the spa…and literally could not form words for nearly two minutes. I was a little upset, but my immediate thought was to agree to work. I couldn’t cancel my massage without being charged, but I could still get it AND get to the hospital IF I hurried.

But…

But I was scheduled for call on Friday night AND Saturday…hence the reason for the “party girl” plan on a Thursday. What if the tech was too sick to make it in for the rest of the week? What if I ended up working ELEVEN days straight?? My gut told me to say no, so that’s what I did. I knew that with a week of averaging 4-5 hours of sleep a night AND feeling a bit sickly myself, I needed to take care of ME, but I still I couldn’t seem to shake that twinge of guilt…

UNTIL I got on that table and had one of the best massages ever! When I told her about some migraines I’d been having, my therapist practiced some reflexology and I could actually feel my scalp tingling…as she was rubbing my FEET! Afterwards, I went home, and carried out my plan as…well, planned. I’m sure Meghan would be proud! 😉

Then I went to bed and slept for TEN HOURS!

Since then, my throat has quit hurting and I haven’t had any headaches. I’ve even had a bit of energy…which looked to be jussssssst enough to get me through a shift on Saturday (since the tech was indeed to sick to work the rest of the week…luckily Friday was covered) without a nap…hence the brain-dead ending to Sunday’s post.

Moral of the story:

Wine and chocolate are a girl’s best friends.
Always trust your gut.
And never EVER feel guilty for taking care of YOU!

And since I actually thought ahead and planned this post for today, I’m super excited to be linking up today’s post for my very FIRST Treat Yourself Tuesday hosted by the lovely Becky of Olives ‘n Wine! Be sure to head over and check out all the other links to see just how everyone else has been TREATING themselves this week!

What’s the last thing you did for yourself?

Do you struggle with guilt for putting yourself first?
DON’T!!

Posted in Personal, Treat Yourself Tuesday | Tagged chocolate, hospital, massage, night shift, wine | 25 Comments

Confessions of an Intuitive Eater

Posted on March 9, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

So, I realized something…

Yesterday marked the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of my knee surgery…but ALSO the first day that I finally let go of calorie counting (and the unrelenting hold it had on my life) and starting my journey toward finding my long-lost intuitive eater. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I actually went public with it on the blog, but I’m so glad that I did…because even though part of me is amazed that this much time has already passed, the other part knows that there were more than a few moments when I thought of giving up completely. And I’m thankful to have a way to look back on those times whenever times get tough.

Today, I’m not only closer to the person I was years ago…before I ever flipped that first package over in the middle of the grocery store…before I started “researching” (read: obsessing over) ingredients and macros and micros and…before I started experiencing anxiety, guilt, and remorse for eating certain foods. While I do still look at labels from time to time these days, I only do so because I feel it’s important to know what sort of things I’m putting into my body on a regular basis, but thankfully, I no longer have illogical fears and feelings of guilt associated with any random occasion “mystery” foods.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how much I’ve changed recently and I started noting some differences – some things the old me would have DIED before she let happen. Please, allow me to confess my “sins”…

1. I dined at a chain (OMG) restaurant and failed to check the menu online for the lowest calorie/fat/sodium item I could order before going in.

2. I ordered sweet potato fries…as in FRIED POTATOES…as in they used a mother ‘effin DEEP FRYER…with oil of UNKNOWN ORIGIN!! 😯

Along with the buttered roll I had BEFORE my meal, I paired those greasy and deliciously crunchy fries with salmon and steamed broccoli…but not to offset the fries, no, because I wanted them. I ate half the fish and half the fries but all of the broccoli…because it was good.

3. I drank an ENTIRE bottle of wine by MYSELF and basically had like three handfuls of popcorn for dinner.

I also woke up with a hangover for the first time in forever (ok, maybe it wasn’t that long ago), but I felt absolutely NO guilt whatsoever. I just woke up the next morning, popped some Aleve, drank water, and sweated my ass off at hot yoga for an hour…BAM, instant detox! 😉

4. I ate straight from a PACKAGE…without PLATING!

I also stopped before I ate the whole damn bag…because I was satisfied, not because I told myself that I “should”. And then a few days later, I ate the rest of the whole damn bag…because it was good and I couldn’t help myself.

5. The other night, I emotionally ate to the point of DISCOMFORT.

6. When I woke up, I did NOT eat breakfast but instead went to the gym.

I also had the best workout of my LIFE and felt 14729 times better afterward. I listened to my body and instead of forcing myself to eat when I didn’t want to, I took some antacids to sooth my stomach and then went to the gym because I knew it would make me feel better. I did NOT have a balls-to-the wall sort of workout, but I did go up in weight for my squats!

7. I ate my FIRST meal of the day at 10:38am.

I also only know that from looking at the time stamp on the picture. I also know by the following picture that…

8. It took me a total of FOUR minutes to “clean” my plate.

But the point is that I ate when I was hungry and I ate until I was full and I didn’t sit there and beat myself up over it. And the fact that the healing power of yolkporn lives ON!

9. I admit that I freakin’ LOVE m&m’s!

I seriously can’t even tell you HOW many years I’ve been trying to convince myself that I don’t like candy! Let it be known though that for those many years, I’ve also put Reese’s cups on a bit of a pedestal…only to discover in the last few months that…I don’t actually like them anymore. But really, when it comes down to it, I’d rather just have a
SUPER THICK slice of pizza!

But my biggest confession?

10. I don’t really CARE about food anymore.

Like seriously. I just…don’t…care! I used to think about food ALL the freaking time! Planning what my next meal would be before I even finished the one I was eating. I would fantasize about food, I would be scared to death to put myself in any situation where I could possibly be without food for more than an hour. I was obsessed. And I barely had time to think about anything else.

Now it might hurt the blog a bit to see a decline in recipes lately, but honestly, I don’t care about that either. I love you guys and I love sharing recipes, but I love myself MORE! And right now? Well, I don’t really see the snack plates and cereal bowls going anywhere…except down my gullet!

So that got a little wordier than I intended, BUT yeah, I’m glad we had this talk. Please don’t hold this crappy sign off against me. I typed up this post earlier, but as of now, I just got off work and have officially been awake for TWENTY FOUR hours so umm, g’night!

No thoughts…just your questions!

Wait, OTHER way around! 😉