Hellllooo Wednesday! School is starting to pick up and require more brain power, so I haven’t been able to pour much into my blog. I did, however, manage to snap photos of (most) of my eats from yesterday. These eats are particularly “fall” themed, so I guess you could say I’m giving in to the cooler weather.
thank you for the link up, Jenn!
For breakfast I enjoyed a big bowl of apple pie oats, inspired by Stephanie. The recipe is based off an Oh She Glows recipe, but I didn’t use chia seeds or maple syrup and I reduced the liquid. I like my oats chunky! I added peanut butter, of course. Coffee & you guessed it, a piece of 85% dark chocolate, were also enjoyed.
Later that morning, after an upper body workout I had this Greek yogurt for a snack. I have been trying to be consistent about eating protein after weight lifting and yogurt makes it easy. This is my first time trying this particular kind and it was pretty good. I like that it wasn’t overly sweet and it was rather creamy.
Lunch was leftovers from the previous night. I chopped up onions, carrots, and purple potatoes and placed them in the bottom of my crockpot. I plopped a whole chicken on top and let it cook all day. The meat literally fell of the bones. I think the leftovers tasted even better than it did before. Served over rice.
Are you partial to white or dark meat? I used to only eat white meat, because of its lower fat content and its lighter taste. However, I learned the fat difference isn’t that much and the dark meat provides more iron & zinc, plus moisture. I like to mix to the two when I roast a whole chicken. Just don’t make me eat it straight off the bone. I hate that. My lunch also included a banana and a diet ginger ale.
My coworker treated me to an after-lunch overly sweet mini Reese’s cup.
Continuing with the peanut butter & chocolate, my afternoon snack was a protein bar I quickly grabbed from the grocery store. I thought it was quite delicious & filling.
Dinner was pumpkin mac & cheese made with mozzarella cheese. I added peas for color. I used Katie’s recipe, but added a little chicken broth, parmesan cheese, and light sour cream. I needed to up the creamy factor for the hubs. We both liked it, but it wasn’t super cheesy. Still good though, for sure.
After dinner we had Bible study at Panera and I got a (not so satisfying) almond milk latte. It had a weird taste, so I probably won’t get it again.
Late night snack was a slice of this amazing peanut butter pumpkin cake plus some almond milk. I used another one of Katie’s recipes, but I changed it up a little. I swapped 1/2 of the peanut butter with pumpkin and I used baking stevia instead of sugar. Y’all… this was SO dang good. Her recipes calls them bars, but the texture was like fluffy cake. I will definitely be making it again.
Every now and then I use My Fitness Pal to see how I am doing with meeting my macro/micronutrient goals. Interestingly, I always seem to fall below my protein and carbohydrate goals, but go over my fat goal. I obviously have a thing for peanut butter.
I’m not super concerned about this because they all fall within the recommended ranges, carbohydrates 45-65%, fat 20-35%, and protein 10-35. (See more here). To note, on this particular day, I did really well on calcium, fiber, and vitamin A (thank you, pumpkin!). I did not so well on iron, vitamin C, and potassium. This is a great reminder of why we need variety in our diets. Everyday is not the same, and the more variety can help us to get in more nutrients.
Furthermore, I highly recommend you go make that peanut butter pumpkin cake. Right now.
Do you like liquid-y oats or chunky oats?
White meat or dark meat?
Do you ever use an app to track your macros/micros?
The Domestikated Life 
I’ve been on a Mac & Cheese kick lately too. It looks delicious.
Happy WIAW and thanks for linking up.
Yes, noodles and cheese sauce is a lovely lovely thing.
Fall-themed indeed 🙂 Oh baby, thanks for the recipe recommendation – love the looks of that cake! I think you mentioned this before when I outlined my macros one day but I tend to have a pretty similar distribution and also totally attribute it to nut/seed butters haha!
Hope that school isn’t feeling too overwhelming and that you’re having a productive week so far!
I think our hair is shinier and skin clearer thanks to our fat intakes. 😀
School isn’t too stressful, but I think it probably should be, lol! Being in my sixth year of schooling, I’ve become a little lackadaisical.
That peanut butter pumpkin cake looks amazing! Katie’s recipes are almost always winners!
I used to use Myfitnesspal all the time, but last year I found myself becoming pretty obsessive about it. No good.
I am not a fan of Panera’s coffee drinks either, but I’ve heard that their bagels are wonderful.
Bagels are off the chain. I’d like one right now. As far as their coffee goes, I really only like their iced coffee.
I definitely don’t use MFP everyday, because I don’t want it to become obsessive. Plus, I pretty much trust my body knows what nutrients I am craving. The nutrition nerd, however, loves to see how the micros/macros played out.
Wow so many ideas. Oats – definitely chunkier the better. CROCKPOTS!! Man I need to pull mine out. I always forget how amazing and easy they make everything. I feel like I have sooo many pumpkin Mac&Cheese recipes saved, and have yet to find one that I love and that satisfies those creamy needs. Not giving up though. I love your ideas in altering both the pasta and especially that pumpkin cake! I want to try this!
What are you studying in school?
It is definitely crockpot season!
This mac n cheese was good & simple, which I appreciated. However, Husband argues it needed more cheese.
I am in a nutrition/dietetics graduate program. Lots of fun!
I pretty much roast whole chickens all fall/winter. I’ve never done it in a crock pot before though!
Check out the 100 days of real food blog. She has a good instructional post on it. Deeeelicious.
Mmm! Those ‘bars’ look fantastic. It looks like a cookie cake I’d want to faceplant into. 🙂
Great macros! I like that you mentioned you were well within the recommended ranges and no day is the same. Thanks for the reminder! ❤
Thank you 😀 I don’t track everyday, but it is fun to see where I’m at. I can pretty much guarantee I eat all my needed fat.
Oh my yumminess that peanut butter pumpkin cake looks amazing! As does the pumpkin mac and cheese. You weren’t kidding about all the fall themed meals! I love chunky oats as well and sometimes have to add some nuts in to give it an extra crunch. I occasionally will use My Fitness Pal and have the same problem with you in that I go over fat because I eat too much peanut butter – but I can’t going to stop!
Nuts are a good idea! I always use nut butter, but I bet a combo would be yummy.
Yeah, I don’t have a plan to reduce my fat intake. It is mostly unsaturated and helps me stay full!
Love chunky oats – and I really need to make that chocolate chip pumpkin cake… I use My Fitness Pal as well to check my macros… especially with marathon training I want to make sure I’m not just eating “all the carbs” haha
Yes, make the cake! You won’t regret it!
Smart about macros, I imagine with your training it is even more important!
I’m with you on the chunky oats! I will alway pass on liquid-y oats.. even if it were the only thing on the menu. Ha!
Hahah, I know what you mean- liquidy and chunky are two totally different dishes!
Chunky oats all the way! And the boyfriend has been relatively unimpressed with the pumpkin stuff I’ve put together recently. I’ll have to try some pumpkin mac n cheese!
Terry liked the mac n’ cheese, but insisted it needed more cheese. I have to be careful not to make things taste too healthy, haha.
I havent had any oats recently, but Im looking forward to my daily bowl when the weather starts to cool down! Its already getting there and I can feel the craving starting to kick in!
Isn’t it funny how the cooler weather produces an automatic response for all things comfort food?
School + the weather have hit me hard this week too! I’m a wimp though and the weather here is not too terrible, but just enough to make me want to crawl into bed all day and sleep. 😉 I love your mug featured in your breakfast post! I collect mugs so I really like that. 🙂
I like liquid-oats, but on occasion, I really want chunky oats!
White meat for me!
Have a great Wednesday. 🙂
Ahhhh crawling in the bed for all day sleep sounds amazing!! Such a fantasy for a busy school gal.
The mug was a gift from my friend and I use it every morning!
I love how you always seem to be adding your own twists to recipes, it’s good to tailor things to your taste! I hope you enjoyed the apple pie oatmeal and I’m so glad you tried it, thanks for mentioning me, that’s really nice 🙂 Seems like a pretty awesome day of eats in my opinion! Pumpkin mac and cheese sounds so amazing, I really want to try that! and that cake.. I mean, wow, I want that too.
It’s funny, because I don’t really feel like I can critique recipes since I change them so much!
The pumpkin mac n cheese was rather unique and very hearty!
Do you like liquid-y oats or chunky oats?
I like it just in the middle – not too soupy, but not extremely thick – my texture of choice is creamy, like a big fluff ball of creamy oaty goodness 🙂 Banana and pumpkin always do the trick!
White meat or dark meat?
I’m not a big meat eater, but when I do, definitely chicken thighs and drumsticks! I find chicken breasts a little plain, and I don’t like pork or beef. Chicken thighs all the way… especially fresh off a rotisserie chicken. Yum!
Do you ever use an app to track your macros/micros?
No, because I’m worried I will become obsessed with them. I’m very picky with little details, and I would really beat myself up about it because I have very perfectionistic tendencies, especially with things I eat. So no – especially with midterms coming up, definitely don’t want something else to freak out over!
I’ve definitely had over chunky oats… usually when I walk away from the stove for too long!
If you feel like you will be overly obsessive, don’t start! You obviously are already a very healthy and adventurous eater 😀 Being obsessive (been there) just isn’t worth it!
Same! A splash of almond milk or water always seems to fix the problem, though. I used to be very obsessive about food too, but more about it’s quality and where it came from, whether or not it was organic, etc. Not a very good state of milk to be in, for sure.