Good food and a Thanksgiving Challenge update

Bobby was very pleased with the response from yesterday’s post.  He was very nervous!

I got a blog award from Brittany @ Eating Bird Food!  Thank you!

Here are the rules:

1. Post the award on your blog
2. Link to me for giving it to you
3. Link the originating post here
4. Pass it on to five deserving people
5. Post these rules for your recipients

I’m giving this out to:

1. Divya at Dil Se…
2. Teenage Veg. Head
3. Moran @ The Running Addict
4. VeggieGirl
5. Catherine @ Stevia ‘n Spice

Sorry if any of you have been awarded already!

I did my usual 20 minutes of yoga this morning before I packed our lunches and headed out.

I wanted to see if I could change up my breakfast routine a bit this morning.  Instead of having an apple on the side, I beefed up my oats.  Unfortunately they were out of both soy milk and yogurt at work and I was unprepared – so I had to just use water in my oats.

• a little more than 1/2 cup oats, 1 whole banana, a little more than 1 cup water, 2 Tablespoons wheat germ (added at the end), and about 3/4 cup cheerios (added at the end)

It actually help me over really well.  It sounds weird, but sometimes eating that apple on the side just makes me hungrier.  Mid-morning I broke into this peanut butter Zbar:

This flavor is definitely not my favorite.  I don’t think I’ll be buying it again.  I still like the chocolate brownie best.  Before lunch I took my hour-long walk and talked to my dad.  I still wasn’t very hungry when I got back but I broke into my lunch anyway:

• Flat-out wrap with a veggie dog, sliced apple, and rice cheeze
• Salad with bacon bits, apple, celery, cucumber, shredded carrot, wheat germ (about 1 T), crushed peanuts (a little more than 1 T), and balsamic vinegar

Snacks:

• 2 medium pink lady apples
• 1 honey graham Zbar – I didn’t like this one that much either.  Better than peanut butter, but nowhere near the chocolate brownie or the blueberry.

This snack was so filling.  I didn’t eat dinner until around 8 and it kept me going all through the afternoon and evening!

Dinner was a new creation – grits pizza! I pretty much followed this Pepperoni Polenta Pizza recipe from Self that I got in my inbox the other day.  I subbed grits for polenta, 2 veggie dogs for the pepperoni, and used rice cheeze on my part of the pizza.  It was good!  I ate the extra filling on the side.  I had about double this portion (a little less than half of the whole thing):

The only problem was that I didn’t let the grits cool for long enough, so it was a little mushy – but I like mushy things, so it was all good.

For dessert I had grapes (times 3):

Thanksgiving challenge update – yesterday we spent $29.50 at Milk Pail and $19.99 at Trader Joe’s, which brings our total to $103.54.  We’re getting a bit bored with the cheap food so we splurged this week.  Also, Bobby came with me for shopping which immediately means buying more goodies.  Last night was our night out for the week, and we did manage to make it cheap – we split an entree!  I think we have a leftover meal out to use up from last week too.  We’ve had it kind of easy because my dad treated us a few times when he visited and then Bobby’s parents fed us this whole weekend.  It is definitely possible to spend such a small amount on groceries, but I don’t like feeling so limited all the time.

What is your favorite grocery item to splurge on? I think mine is probably freeze-dried fruit.

EDIT:  I also had a box of raisins (1/4 cup serving) that I had leftover from the plane.  And 1/4 cup of cashews (salted).  I really need to get the unsalted ones.  But I did have a few handfuls of unsalted peanuts!  Sometimes I get these ridiculous nut cravings.  But they’re good for you 🙂  (In moderation, of course.)