I’ve had more energy this past week, yea!
I attribute it to eating more produce.
As I mentioned in a previous post, my sleep schedule was turned around and I was sluggish all day. I have been working toward righting my schedule, using Little-bit as a guide. I actually went to bed (and was tired) at 10:30pm the last two nights!
But the big thing has been more energy throughout the day, and that, I believe, is because I have been eating more produce.
Breakfast
For my breakfasts, I’ve been eating fruit cereal. I have figured out two different combinations that I really like. One with apples, which I blogged about before, and one with bananas. I have noticed that I have much more energy in the afternoons, and the breakfast keeps me satisfied until lunch.
For the apple version (yield: 1 serving):
☀ 1 apple, core removed and diced (using one of these apples)
☀ 1/2 Tbsp. ground flax seeds
☀ 1 tsp. cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
(I really like the combo of the pumpkin pie spice)
☀ 1/2 box (personal size) raisins
☀ handful of pecans, broken into small pieces
☀ spoonful of almond butter
☀ 1 cup soymilk (I used omega-3 Silk), or more if needed
For the banana version (yield: 1 serving):
☀ 2 bananas, sliced
☀ 1/2 Tbsp. ground flax seeds
☀ handful of walnuts, broken into small pieces
☀ spoonful of peanut butter
☀ chocolate drizzle
☀ 1 cup soymilk (I used omega-3 Silk), or more if needed
Dinner
Another thing I have done to make it easy to incorporate more produce into my day, is to prep a few veggies so that I am more inclined to use them. Case in point, red peppers, celery, and zucchini…
Whereas, some veggies, I won’t prep until I want to use them, like tomatoes and avocados…
You may have noticed that the containers were overflowing a bit for the celery and zucchini… so I had an ingenious idea. I had gotten a craving for burrito bowls after reading this post… It just so happens that when I was preparing the burrito bowls, I was also prepping those veggies. I thought, why not just add some celery and zucchini to the burrito bowls.
Weird?
Perhaps, but it turned out really good. The added crunch to the burrito bowl actually decreased my desire for the corn chips I had on the side. Which is exactly what I had intended, when I started adding more produce to my day, the lessening of my desire for processed foods.
For the burrito bowls, I made some brown rice…
Next, I made my bean mixture (refried pinto beans, black beans, frozen corn, salsa, cumin, corriander) and I sauteed some onions, garlic, and red pepper (to which I added salt, pepper, and chipotle chili powder)…
Then I chopped up some romaine lettuce (first into ribbons, then across to make those ribbons bite-sized), deseeded and diced a tomato, sliced the celery, grabbed a handful of diced zucchini from the prepped bowl, and made guacamole…
Then the fun part…
First the white and green layer (brown rice, lettuce, zucchini, and celery)…
Then the brown and red layer (bean mixture, sauteed onions and peppers, and tomatoes)…
Then more green (guacamole), with a side of chips (red hot blues)…
Fabulous!
Lunch
Having the veggies prepped made an afternoon salad a breeze (mixed greens, zucchini, carrots, red peppers, celery, hemp seeds, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, and goddess dressing)…
Dinner
But then last night, I had a great idea…
I was running around getting supplies at various stores and wondering what we should have for dinner. Should I grab something while I’m out? Whenever I go shopping, I very rarely feel like cooking when I get home. I thought about going to that Asian place, and even to Subway. But then I thought, the time it would take to wait for those orders I can make my own subway-type sandwich… only better. So instead of picking up dinner out, I picked up some hummus and kalamata olives.
When I got home I grabbed the prepped veggies, the kalamata olives, hummus, and a loaf of freshly baked wheat bread (out of my grocery bag, from Whole Foods bakery)…
I had to do a bit more prep, and realized I forgot to get out the mixed greens…
I cut off a piece of bread, about half the loaf, then I cut that piece in half horizontally. Next, I spread some hummus on both sides of the bread, then topped with the prepped veggies on one side and the mixed greens on the other…
Ok, so maybe I should have removed some of the bread to make a little shallow bowl, heh, it was a bit messy :oops:…
Even though it was messy, it was delicious! I ate one half and my taste-tester ate the other half. By the way, the toothpicks didn’t really help.
So that was this week’s adventure with a few pre-prepped veggies. Just like I had hoped, having them already prepped persuaded me to use them more often in my meals. And the added benefit was much more energy throughout the day.
Until next time…
~nic
The Auspicious Squirrel 