Home Early!

Woohoo! Classes let out early today due to bad weather, so I was out at 12 rather then the usual 5:30! A nice surprise for a Friday...:)

This morning, the bulgar held me over really well, but I still snacked on a peanut crunch odwalla bar around 8 (not pictured! I was running really late in getting out the door this morning...eeks.) I knew that even though I wasn't hungry at the moment, it would be a wrong decision to wait another 3-1/2 hours for lunch to come. Me without food is not a pretty combination!! haha...

Lunch was tasty! :) I ate everything here except the milk. The sandwich was a whole wheat pita pocket, 2 T. artichoke hummus, thickly sliced carrot peels, tomatoes, spinach, and cucumbers. I was afraid the bread was going to get soggy since I made the sandwich last night, but it held up really well. I brought along a cup of grapes as well, to snack on for the ride home.

When I arrived home, I was pleasantly surprised to find my mom had been busy making homemade black bean/tomato soup. It was the most wonderful food to eat after walking around in the cold on campus...yum!

I need to make sure I don't use up all this free time with procastination, so I'm going to get straight to work. It's going to be great having the night off...:) :)

Hot Breakfast

I usually stick to quick breakfasts on the days I have school, but I decided that since it is Friday, and since it would be nice to have a warm meal on a day we're supposed to be getting 6-9 inches of snow (winter isn't gone yet!) I had a bowl of bulgar. I crave it sometimes...so nutty and delicious. :)

I had it with milk, bananas, cinnamon and a T. peanut butter...no need for walnuts, because I like my bulgar a little 'undercooked' which makes it have that nutty texture all by itself.

Off to do some homework...happy Friday! :)

Super long post...again!

I got quite a bit of work done today, and so far my week has been really productive! I'm very ready for the weekend though. My plans? Homework, and...nothing! I love having weekends where nothing is planned sometimes. :)

Three hours after breakfast, I started getting a little hungry, so I had a bowl of fat-free yogurt (and added a splash of vanilla extract) with some oranges to dunk on the side.

Lunch on Thursdays, as I've mentioned countless times before, are so random and sporatic because we're usually out of everything (literally!) However, there was leftover corn chowder from yesterday, so I had a small bowl of that. Meanwhile, I was trying to decide whether I wanted a peice of white bread or not, but I knew that wouldn't hold me over very well as a lunch. SO, I instead topped two wasa crackers with tuna salad (tuna in a bag, about 1 T. light miracle whip, chopped onions, and chopped tomatoes) and ate them on the side. It was super yummy, and held me over really well. :)

Before running out the door to do some grocery shopping, I chopped up a pear-to-go. :)
I wasn't quite prepared today, in that I should have brought along a snack with me for grocery shopping. I didn't realize I was going to be stalled by all the new magazines on the shelves (I picked up the new Bon Appetit and Eating Well,) and ended up staying out much later then I expected. Fast forward four hours, and I was starting to get a little hungry (and low on energy!)...not the greatest feeling considering I wanted to sneak in a run as well! So I grabbed an odwalla peanut crunch bar (love this flavor!) which hit the spot perfectly. It was the perfect little snack to get me moving and carried me through my run (which was amazing today, by the way...it was one of those runs where I felt like superwoman, flying over hills, feeling as if I could run forever, enjoying the fact that the neighberhood dogs could once again get over-excited at the sight of a runner, etc...I think every runner needs a really good day once in a while, where they're reminded of why it is that they run. :)

After my brisk run in the cold weather, I was ready to relax and enjoy a good supper. I bought some new foods to try this week, and settled on having a veggie burger for supper...quick, easy, nutritious. :) I started with a basic side salad with olive oil vinaigrette:

These are the veggie burgers I decided to try, and really enjoyed them! They had a bit of a kick to them, and cooked up nice and crispy in the oven. Not to mention, the ingredients are so basic and...natural! Corn...black beans...oat bran...etc.

Burger #1...I put it in a whole wheat pita pocket, along with sliced tomato, mixed greens, 3 dill pickles, and some ketchup (no burger is complete without ketchup!) ;)

Burger #2...This one I topped with the same stuff, minus the pickles, but added on some mustard. SO yummy!

I do have a little more studying to get done before calling it a night, so I'm going to go get that finished right now. :) Hope everyone has some fun plans for the weekend (even if it means good ol' relaxation like I'm planning on for myself! :)

Morning Oatmeal

I was set on trying a new flavor combination in my morning oatmeal, but when I first woke up this morning, there was absolutely no sign of creative juices at all! ha...So I stuck with my basic bowl of banana-nut oatmeal (1 c. 1% milk, 1/2 c. 5-grain oats, 1 banana..half mashed, half diced in for last cooking minute, small handful of walnuts, and a small spoonful of peanut butter.) It was absolutely delicious as always, but I do want to try some new flavors. Coming soon! :) Maybe on the weekend...

Anyways, today is a busy, busy day, so I better get at it this morning to avoid procastinating later on. Tomorrows Friday, everyone! :)

Hunger cue conclusion...

Well, the 20 minutes of waiting for fullness cues came and went after I had eaten my supper, and my stomach was still rumbling. I needed a little snack to keep me happy and full for the remainder of the night, so I had a serving of all-bran with 1/2 cup of milk and a small handful of raisins. I'm now comfortably content, and ready to go off and read a good book for a while. It's such a nice feeling to be done homework for the night. :D

Late lunch and supper posts!!

Goodness, today was a long day. I didn't get out of classes until 3:30, but was able to hang out with a friend over a steaming hot latte as soon as classes let out. It was definately my incentive to get through the day! :) Now I'm relaxing a little before getting some more never-ending homework done! At least I have tomorrow off. My plans are to sleep in for an extra hour, and get a whole lot of homework done early on. By the end of next week, things should start to slow down a little...I just need to get through these 3 big exams first!

Since there's so much food to cover from today, I'll just order it all in right here, time-wise:

5:00---Breakfast
7:45---1 pack of simple harvest oatmeal. I plopped it in the microwave this time around rather then pouring in boiling water, and actually really enjoyed it! It made for the perfect mid-morning snack, and held me over really well until lunch time.
11:30---Peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the other 1/2 of my breakfast banana made for an easy lunch to pack and eat for a busy school day. :)
12:30---I snacked on a pear (not pictured! sorry!) during chem class. I pre-cut it before I left so that it would be easy to snack on.
3:30---16 oz. skim latte with a friend...a nice treat after a long day of classes. :)
5:30---For supper I had a nice heartwarming bowl of homemade corn chowder, which was amazing! It's a lighter version (made with 1% milk, lean ham, corn and potatoes) but you would never ever tell. It's so rich and creamy...:) I also had a peice of homemade bread with smart balance on the side. And, since we were out of salad mix, I had some carrot sticks and juicy cherry tomatoes on the side. I'll admit, I'm still feeling hungry, and think it has to do with the fact that this meal didn't quite cut it in the fiber department (but I couldn't resist having a slice of homemade white bread while its still fresh...:)! I'll see if my stomach settles and digests (I like giving it 20 minutes to wait and see..:) before deciding if I'm still hungry or not. hehe...

Morning Snack

LUNCH (Pear not pictured)

SUPPER (Pre-supper latte not pictured)

"Salad replacement :)"

Getting a routine

I'm getting a good morning routine going, but wanted to keep breakfast pretty quick this morning so I could use some extra time on homework. I had a nice hearty bowl (1.5 cups) of Kashi Go Lean Crunch (honey almond and flax) with 1/2 a banana and about a cups worth of fresh strawberries, topped with 1 cup of milk. Absolutely delicious...:) This should keep me going for quite a while too.

As a p.s., last night I had a bowl of 100-cal popcorn and hot chocolate while watching the biggest loser. Just so you guys know, popcorn isn't the only "night-time snack" that I enjoy on occasion! haha...it just happens that its been what I've wanted these last few times. :D

Hope everyone has a good Wednesday! I keep thinking its Tuesday because of the Presidents Day mix-up, so the week is flying right on by!