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smaller meals & snacks

Posted on January 26, 2011 by Jen

I have been so hungry when I wake up over the past few weeks.  I try to get up and drink some water right away because I also feel very thirsty, but that doesn’t keep me out of the kitchen for long!  It’s usually around the time I am brushing my teeth that my stomach really starts grumbling. 🙂

I head to the kitchen for some cereal to hold me over.

Pomegranate Blueberry Crisp from Trader Joe’s.

It is delicious, but a little too sweet for me in the mornings.

I also usually whip up a smoothie to drink mid-morning at work, when I knew I will be hungry again.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

  • 1 frozen banana
  • 8 frozen strawberries
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 1 tbsp pepitas
  • 1 cup water

I love smoothies as a morning snack!  They are filling and refreshing.

For lunch today, I made an old favorite, which was pieced together after scouring through our empty cabinets and fridge for lunch.

Almond Butter, Banana and Jelly Sandwich on Millet Bread.

(this is a recycled photo, but you get the point! :))

I seem to get hungrier for snacks than I did before and I think it is because my meals have been smaller.  I don’t have as much room for food in my stomach anymore (!!), so smaller meals and snacks sit much better with me.

Snacktime  – Hummus & Spelt Pretzels

And, for dinner, I stopped at Panera Bread on my way to our Newborn Essentials class!

Thai Chicken Salad, which was packed with romaine lettuce, chicken, peppers, carrots, edamame, wonton crisps and a light thai dressing.

This salad was great!

And, during class I snacked on a Blueberry Muffin Larabar, which is a new flavor that was sent to me from Larabar as a sample.

This flavor is delicious!  It smells just like fresh baked muffins and tastes just as good.

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a simple weeknight meal

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Jen

After a 45 minute walk around the neighborhood after work tonight, I was more than ready for dinner.  The walk was very chilly, but I bundled up and headed out to walk in the snow flurries!  It was a brisk walk to get my blood flowing and legs moving.

I haven’t talked about my exercising too much on the blog lately, but I have been trying to get some type of physical activity in on most days of the week.  That includes walking, running, swimming, ellipticalling and lifting some light weights.  Running is definitely getting harder, so swimming and walking are my new two favorite activities!

I think that it is important for a pregnant woman to get some type of exercise everyday, even if it is a 20 minute walk.  It is good for both you and the baby, and definitely helps with sleeping at night along with many other things.  Plus, it’s nice to have that time to devote to each day to clear your head before the baby comes!

On to dinner!

I wanted to eat my hand off when I got home, so I needed to make a super quick dinner.  I picked up some Annie’s Mac & Cheese at the store today made of a variety of grains: amaranth, quinoa, kamut, spelt and whole wheat.

For a quick and healthy dinner, I like Annie’s products because they are organic and made up of minimal ingredients.  Definitely still processed, but minimally processed compared to other ‘boxed’ dinners. 🙂

It was cheesy and delicious!

Served along with a simple salad to get some vegetables.

This has been my favorite salad recently – filled with lettuce, dried fruit, nuts, cheese and a honey herb dressing.

In this mix:

  • spring mix
  • pecans
  • dried fruit mix – peaches, papayas, pears, apples and cranberries
  • feta cheese

A delicious dinner – quick & healthy!

After dinner, I whipped up Emily’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

I followed the recipe exactly, only making one substitution – dark chocolate chips, instead of vegan chips.  Everything else was the same…and it came out perfect!

The outside seemed a little dry, but on the inside it was just as moist as Emily says – delicious!

I enjoyed a few slices hot out of the oven with a glass of milk.

Who doesn’t love chocolate, bananas and peanut butter?!

Mmmm…

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broccoli crunch

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Jen

Yesterday morning, I made up my new favorite smoothie again – Butterfinger!  It’s funny, I definitely go through phases.  A few months ago, I couldn’t get enough of the Chocolate Cherry Bomb Smoothie, but now all I want is Butterfinger!

If you like butterfingers or toffee or butterscotch…and smoothies, you’ll love this one. 🙂

Mid-morning, I snacked on some dried fruit that I picked up at the Farmer’s Market this past weekend.

Dried kiwi, pineapple, strawberries, cherries, papaya and golden delicious apples.

Lunch had 2 parts:

Salad

Romaine lettuce with dried cranberries, almonds, apple and honey balsamic dressing.  This is my favorite salad!

Yogurt

Plain greek yogurt with granola and honey.

Mid-afternoon, I was craving some chocolate milk!

After a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood, Brant and I got started on dinner.  It has been awhile since we’ve made a dish from 101cookbooks.com, so we tried one out tonight.

Broccoli Crunch

We followed the recipe exactly, except we subbed onions for shallots and added sugar snap peas for 1/2 of the broccoli.  We caramelized the onions until sweet.

Mix all of the veggies/nuts/fruits in a bowl.

Then, add the delicious almond butter sauce!

The sauce is by far the best part of the dish…next time, I would make extra!

Served over a bed of millet (cooked in our rice cooker with salt, pepper and olive oil – about 40 minutes).

This recipe was simple, quick and delicious.  Can’t get much better than that for a weeknight meal!

There were plenty of leftovers for lunch today, we well!

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quite the appetite

Posted on November 4, 2010 by Jen

I have quite the appetite these days!  Especially on the days when I workout.

Yesterday morning I woke up to enjoy a very chilly 45 minute run outside.  It was cold out!  The first frost I have seen on cars since last winter!  I take it very easy while running these days and enjoy the scenery around me.  It is wonderful to just go for a run to enjoy it.  The last few years, I have been so caught up in training that I forgot what running for fun means!  I never stopped loving running while I was training, but my mindset was just very different.

I am loving getting a workout in on most days to move my legs and body.  I think it helps me feel better too!

After my run, I had a few leftover pancakes with pear syrup for breakfast.

And, whipped up a smoothie to take with me to work.  I have been getting much hungrier mid-morning this week, so I wanted a healthy snack just in case.  At 10:30am on the dot, I was craving that smoothie. 🙂

For lunch, I kept it simple with an Amy’s Burrito with beans, rice and cheese.

And, sliced peppers and plums.

Mid-afternoon, I snacked on a few dates and dried pineapple for a little fuel before meeting Victoria for dinner!

We headed to Rustic Kitchen for a delicious meal.  I had an awesome salad with mixed greens, sliced apples, candied walnuts, butternut squash, shrimp, cheddar cheese in a citrus viniagrette. 🙂  Yum Yum!

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getting enough protein

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Jen

I said before that I am more conscious about my protein intake now.  I don’t necessarily think that I am eating more protein, but I am just more conscious about getting it into every meal/snack that I eat these days.

Yesterday, I decided to roughly count up the protein that I was eating to give myself a better idea of how much I was really eating.  Well, apparently I have nothing to worry about!  Some days are definitely more protein filled than others, but I think it all evens out.

For breakfast, I was craving chocolate milk.  In fact, I think I have my first pregnancy craving, because all I want to eat/drink is chocolate milk!

Instead of having a glass of chocolate milk, I decided to make a chocolate smoothie for more of a filling breakfast.

In the mix:

  • 1/2 cup plain lowfat yogurt
  • 3/4 cup 1% milk
  • 1 banana
  • 4 tbsp chocolate hemp protein powder
  • 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
  • 1.5 tbsp of peanut butter
  • 2 tbsp flax seeds
  • 1 tsp spirulina
  • handful of ice cubes

The chocolate hemp powder is very chocolately, so this was delicious!

Protein = about 30 grams

For lunch, I made up a tuna sandwich to bring with me to work.

Enjoyed along with an apple and a yogurt.

I love Siggi’s yogurt, but it is way to expensive for me to buy every week.  Luckily, it was on sale last week, so I picked up a few!

Protein = about 48 grams

Mid-afternoon, I was hungry!  So, I snacked on the only thing in my purse, a granola bar.

Protein = about 8 grams

Once home, I was more than ready for dinner, so we whipped up something super quick:

Veggie Burger with Sweet Potato Fries and a Salad

Yum!

Protein = about 30 grams

Seeing the numbers on paper really helped me realize that I am getting enough protein for this baby without even really thinking about it.  I guess I am doing ok!

Total Protein for the day = about 116 grams

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