yummy avocado

Breakfast.. wait, breakfast!? Yes. Instant Quaker Oats oatmeal, apple and cinnamon flavor! I sprinkled a little extra cinnamon on top. Mmm.

I met my mom for lunch at this wonderful local brunch cafe that opened up a few weeks ago. I'd tried a few of their breakfast selections, but I really wanted to try one of their sandwiches. This is the 'Brunch Chicken' sandwich. Grilled chicken, lettuce (the good kind, not iceberg), sliced apple, swiss cheese, avocado, and french dressing on a.. oh I forget the name of the bread. Something I hadn't heard of before. Tasty bread. They didn't have a light or fat free french, so I asked for it on the side. I subbed out the fries for fruit!

The sandwich was *amazing*. I ate juust over half of the sandwich and took the rest home. It was my first time eating straight avocado (as opposed to guacamole). The sandwich was so big! My mouth wasn't big enough.

I snacked on a few pieces of candy corn and I believe I ate the last gobstopper today. Then dinner arrived. Parental unit 1 (aka mom) had to be at work late and no one will eat my cooking unless I am specifically told to cook. It's not that I'm necessarily bad at it, it's just one of those weird family things. My family is also under some dietary restrictions, so there's not too much wiggle room for experimentation.

So I picked up dinner for parental unit 2 at the local pizza place down the street. I decided to try the chicken parmesian sandwich, subbing in grilled chicken and whole wheat bread instead of getting it fried. So I opened the box and find...

Those are a lot of french fries. I didn't realize it came with them. I'm trying super hard to limit fried foods. I usually do a pretty good job, though every so often if I'm at one of my favorite places I'll get some.

So below is a picture of what I actually ate. I cut off the corner of the sandwich, because there was no chicken in it. I also really wanted root beer, but we had none. I think I had maybe half a glass of apple cider instead.

I found Keebler chocolate covered graham cracker cookies in the fridge. They are so good, and so addicting. I realized after I took the picture there isn't really a scale for how big these are.. they're maybe an inch and a half long. I wound up having two.

I also had three Cheez-it crackers. Just for records sake.

layering

It's lunchtime. The all American staple: Peanut butter and jelly. Oh, and a little apple cider. The bread is 'whole wheat white' which is slightly healthier than white bread. I personally would prefer legit whole grain bread, but I would be the only person in my house eating it, so therefore it is not bought. Sigh. But do you see that jam? That is cherry jam from Canada's, which is based in... can you guess? Canada. Formerly known as Malkin's, Canada's is some amazing jam. My family goes up north every year and we stockpile on jam. If you ever see some, get it! So good. My all time favorite is cherry, because it was such a big part of my childhood, but I also love blackberry and blueberry. Other flavors include strawberry, apricot, saskatoon, and raspberry.

Snackage time... was reading most of the day, and the gobstoppers were near me. They are nearly gone now.

Dinner was an epic adventure. I made a lasagna! This is my mom's recipe, and this was my first time making it on my own. Also, I was actually making dinner. This never happens in my house. Ever.

Well, I say I made it on my own... my mom actually made the meat sauce the day prior and refrigerated it, but in my defense I actually know how to make that sauce. I love this sauce. No straight-out-of-a-jar sauces here. (My fiancé has not accepted this yet.)

Hello in process photo.

I cooked the noodles though! ...which, of course, was far more epic than need be. When I stuck them in the pot I realized I didn't have enough water, then I cooked them for 5 minutes longer than told and they were still undercooked (I was told later this was okay, since they bake in the oven), and then I'm not... 100% I was supposed to leave them in the strainer. OH WELL.

Here we are layering on tasty mozzarella cheese!

After all the layers are on! I think I put the layers on in the right order. I didn't think anyone was going to analyze it after it was baked.

Finished lasagna! I think it came out pretty well, and my nephew assured me it tasted good. If little kids will eat it, you know you did something right. (By the way, I nearly forgot to take a photo, so I already ate like a third of this... oops.)

Afterwards, the cookies my sister-in-law made yesterday were so good, I wanted a legit ice cream sandwich. so I got two chocolate chip cookies and stuck in a little cookies n cream ice cream. Sad thing is, this was terrible. The cookies were over a week old and the ice cream had been sitting in the freezer for a few months... ick. I wish I could undo eating this. My nephew told me he felt the same way after eating one of these cookies. Sigh.

Late night snack: Ritz cracker with a bit of sharp cheddar cheese on it. I love cheese, so when I have it I try not to eat too much of it. Hence.. one cracker.

can I cook yet?

Day three and I'm still here.

I was contemplating what to have with lunch and was sorely tempted by the leftover Chinese in our fridge... but I wanted to at least try to be a little healthy. I decided to make an egg sandwich, so I know I succeeded at least in the sodium department.

I have mentioned before I have very little cooking ability. I am working on it! But the scene below illustrates this nicely. I have to toast the english muffin, scramble an egg, and cut a piece of roast beef all at once?? I was legit slightly intimidated. I mean, those eggs cook fast. Also, somehow one half of the english muffin got wedged under the wire bread normally sits on, so it was nice and stuck.

But it all worked out in the end, and I was left with a tasty roast beef+egg+cheddar sandwich! And Simply Orange orange juice, because I can't have eggs without orange juice. I'm not sure what the roast beef was leftover from (I didn't know it was roast beef until my dad said so... I have much to learn.), but it was pretty good.

Of course, then the brownie. This is like, half a brownie. They're almost gone.

Later for dinner, I went to my brother's house. For starters there was iceberg lettuce, chopped carrots, a little cheddar cheese, and just a drizzle of light Italian dressing. Just enough to kind of make everything a little moist. Sorry about the poor quality of the next photos, I left my camera at home and only had my phone.

My sister-in-law made chicken alfredo! She makes a really great marinade for chicken, which my brother grills outside. No, it is not warm outside, but he will do it anyway. That's how he rolls.

Two pieces of grilled chicken, mostacholi noodles, alfredo sauce, and a piece of garlic bread. I only eat the insides of garlic bread. Not a fan of crispy things.

My sister-in-law always makes dessert for us. Today was triple chunk chocolate chip cookies. Ooooh my gosh. Halfway through my cookie she made an ice cream sandwich out of hers with vanilla bean ice cream, so I split another cookie with my mom just so I could make a mini sandwich with two quarter pieces. Sooo good.

Evening snack. Serving size of Cheez-it crackers are 27 crackers for a 150 calorie serving. I have 7. Go ahead and count 'em. I also had another half brownie... sigh. I love chocolate, what can I say.

First day

Alright, first [real] post! Since I came up with the idea to document what I eat after I had eaten lunch, there are no pictures of my apple and spinach salad... but I really enjoyed it, so I will probably make it again. And we have a ton of apples from going apple picking at local orchards. I love fall.

Anyway, there wasn't a terrible amount of protein in my lunch so I wanted a snack. I tried to make hard boiled eggs! Which... I had never done before.

I wound up overcooking them... the whites tasted okay, but the yolk was a little hard, crumbly, and dry. They weren't bad enough for me to toss the other two eggs, I'll probably save them and use them in a salad.

Look! A chocolate chip cookie. It looks so innocent, too. My mom bakes and then leaves goodies in the kitchen... sigh.

I drink water almost exclusively, but it's fall- that means it's apple cider season! This stuff was made at the local apple orchid a few miles from my town. Normally when I drink something at home that is not water, I literally only have an ounce or two just so I can get the flavor of it and not all the calories- and then I switch back to water. And then it lasts a long time! Which is nice, because I love this cider.

Late afternoon I was getting hungry again, so I delved into the large store of apples and added a little bit of peanut butter protein. I love the apples from the orchid, because you can get them in all sorts of sizes. The big ones are great for a salad or for baking. If I just want a little snack, I can find a little guy like this one. It was smaller than a tennis ball.

My mom rules the kitchen for dinner, so I basically eat what is made. I have recently convinced her to make broccoli, my favorite vegetable! It doesn't really go well with the meat, but it's healthier than other options. The meat and potatoes were leftovers, but the meat was actually really crumbly and tender. I'm not a huge fan of beef, but this was pretty good. Also, mashed potatoes are one of my ultimate weaknesses. I also caved and had a dinner roll. See, I must confess the good and the bad.

I had a brownie.. and a half.. afterwards. Brownies are another one of my ultimate weaknesses... I am pretty good about resisting lots of sweets, but the rules are out the window when it comes to brownies. One and a half is.... actually not terrible for me. I'm working on it.

For an evening snack I had a Special K 90calorie chocolate drizzle bar. I felt kinda blah after eating it, so that may not have had the best decision.