GUYS.  I started grad school this week.  Which means my posting is going to be EVEN MORE sporadic than normal… you’re all rolling your eyes saying all she ever does is WIAW anymore… you’re righttttttttt. UGH.  I have a few posts in the works, but life is kind of hectic right now between work/travel, making friends (?! crazy I know… you never thought it would happen), and starting online classes.  I promise they will be on their way. 

For nowwwww…. Here’s What I Ate… The Day Before the Fourth of July (aka Last Wednesday):

 

Breakfast

My kitchen had not one single breakfast food in it until this past Sunday, so breakfast for me was a chocolate croissant from Starbucks.  I looked it up and all of Starbucks’ breakfast foods have less than 350 calories!  That’s not that bad… I expected much worse.  I also had an iced soy toffee nut latte… it was one of those days :)

 

Lunch

We were let out early last Wednesday because of Fourth of July, so I just had to work through 2pm and I got to go home.  Ever since I saw this salad from Jessica, I wanted to do my own recreation!  I embarked on a journey to make a roasted mango and raspberry dressing (recipe coming… I know how many times have you heard that one before).  I had some left over steak from having dinner with Cameron and Geoff on Tuesday, so I threw that in my salad with some mango chunks, crispy wontons, carrots, cucumber and onion.  It. Was. Delicious.  The dressing is kind of heavy… not as liquid-y as I would have liked… but it was really refreshing.   

Dinner

I was headed to a Sounders game with Laura around dinnertime so I made up my dinner to go.  I wasn’t about to pay $20 for dinner at the game.  I had some leftover Asian beef tips (from my dinner with Laura at Manhattan) that I heated up with some veggies (broccoli, zucchini, asparagus, and green pepper) and served over rice with some of the sauce and my favorite lemon ginger sesame dressing from Target.  I also put a healthy dose of chia seeds in there.  A few pretzels and vodka soaked watermelon pieces after dinner and I was good to go!  :)

What did you eat last Wednesday?  Tell me! Tell me!  Sorry about the salad construction pictures by the way… I couldn’t help myself.  NOM.

This is the sixth, count 'em, sixth time I've had What I Ate Wednesday over here.  You should know the drill by now…

I present to thee: What I Ate [Last] Wednesday.

Breakfast

My breakfast was pretty similar to last week's.  The only difference is that I ate the toast and peanut butter separate from the banana.  This is obviously one of my go-to's  (since you see it on here almost every Wednesday) but it's just sooo easy and good I can't feel bad about it.

Lunch

Well, if you remember correctly, my dinner last week was a hodge podge of different recipes I had been working on.  My lunch this week ended up just being a portion of the pretzel crusted pork chop (which I SWEAR once I get my act together I will post) and sauteed zucchini, carrots, red onion, with garlic.  It was super yummy.  And I don't know if you've noticed or not but my pork chop seems like a small portion because I'm trying to eat more veggies instead of meats/breads.  (Someone please take note that my lunch is practically completely carb free!)

Afternoon Snacks

My afternoon consisted of me munching on cucumbers that I soaked in vinegar with salt and pepper.  My dad used to do this all the time and I LOVED it.  Apparently its not that easy to recreate his recipe because something was off.  I'm gonna have to ask him what the secret is.  I also tried one of the Luna S'mores bars and it was DELISH.  I think we might have a new contender for my favorite! 

Dinner

Dinner this week was a BLT… without the T.  I tried to make my perfect BLT but apparently I can't follow my own directions and something went wrong… so the bacon didn't stay in the basket weave.  HOWEVER, I solemly swear I will make as many BLTs as necessary until I figure out what went wrong (as if that's a chore), and then I'll update the recipe!  Also, don't judge on the lack of tomato, I PILED up the lettuce to make up for my omission of that ingredient.  

Drinks

 Laura and I found these Redd's Apple Ales at Target and obviously had to try them.  She wasn't a fan of them but I was kind of fond of them… have you tried them?  What did you think?!  Then because Jessica posted about these summer shandy floats I decided we needed to make our own.  I still had some leftover lemon sorbet from when my mom was here, so I opted to use that.  NOM.  They were sooooooo good!

Well guys, that's it for What I Ate Wednesday!  I hope you all have a fun AND SAFE Fourth of July.  I'm starting my Holiday weekend out right by going to a Sounders game with Laura tonight!  You should probably start YOUR weekend by clicking on over to Jenn‘s page to catch up on other What I Ate Wednesdays… and read her proposal story (SO CUTE)! 

Hi Guys… (I feel like I'm sneaking into the back of the class hoping the teacher didn't notice I was late).  I never meant to leave ze blog for almost TWO WHOLE WEEKS.  I traveled to New York two weekends ago for my boyfriend's graduation party, then I jet-setted over to Chicago, or Chi-town as the locals call it, for a week of work training.  Also, I've been pretty upset/distracted over the passing of my Uncle who lost a long battle with cancer on Friday and I just haven't been able to focus on posting.  But, I'm back now and that's all that matters right?  Especially when I have news (is it really news if I'm just telling you something you can probably deduce for yourself?  We're just gonna say yes.)!    

Do you remember when I promised you like eighty billion times that things would be changing over here?  Well I meant it.  I now am the proud owner of: “thepikeplacekitchen.com” and my own domain/server/whateverletsmerunthissite (I'm obviously very tech savvy)!  Kind of cool, ey?  I thought so.  I've been working for almost a month to get the site working the way I want it to… all. by. my. self.  Are you proud?  Which is probably why there's a bajillion things wrong so don't be proud.

SOOOO.  Obviously, there are a few new (really cool) features, and I plan on telling you ALLLLLLLL about them.  Later.  Right now we have a party to get to.  A link up partayyyy.

I'll try to stop thinking I'm hilarious (because I'm SOooOOooOO mature now that I OWN my own little corner of ze internet).  I wouldn't hold your breath.

Without further ado (yes, I googled the proper spelling without knowing I'd stumble into a huge controversy), here is What I Ate Wednesday Monday:

Breakfast

  (8:03 am)For breakfast I enjoyed two pieces of Italian Bread (from Trader Joe's because I had my first experience there and it was just as amazing as Caitlyn said it would be) toasted with super chunk peanut butter and banana slices.  (9:29 am) My coworker/former boss (ahem, Jeremy, cough) apparently didn't learn his lesson about the correlation of my giggle fits and sugar intake.. so he gave me some lemon heads.  Best. Candy. Eva.

Lunch

(11:44 am) Let me tell YOU about MY lunch.  I made myself a HUGE salad.  As in, I REALLY overestimated how much this little container could ACTUALLY fit.  My salad had red onions, carrots, tons of cucumber, green pepper, and a couple chopped up chicken fingers from my dinner out on Friday.  I used the Trader Joe's Cilantro Dressing, which was really good… but I felt like I'd like it more on chicken or something.  I don't really like heavy dressings on my salads.  (12:06 pm) I also munched on a few chopped up organic strawberries. Nom, nom, nom.

Afternoon Snacks

(2:10 pm)  I snacked on some Sour Cream & Onion potato chips, which I like now?  My boyfriend is corrupting my tastebuds.  I guess it's only fair because he can now down a bag of Salt & Vinegar chips like no one's business thanks to me.  

Dinner

(7:03 pm)  SO dinner.  I spent a few hours in the kitchen on Monday trying to come up with some new recipes for you kids.  I ended up just munching on the results.  I had half a pretzel crusted pork chop, which was DELISH (recipe coming).  I had to stop myself from eating it.  It was an issue.   (7:44 pm) Then later, I munched on the breakfast skillet I made out of left over tater tots and fries.  I threw in some bacon and eggs (shocker of the century I know… the eggs not the bacon… however, the eggs were cooked in the bacon grease so don't be too surprised) and tons of veggies.  Pour a little siracha on top and you're good to go.  I'm gonna end up re-working this recipe with potatoes and not leftovers… it was a bit too greasy for my taste.  Zucchini counteracts fat right?  Right.  Glad we're in agreement. 

Dessert

(10:01 pm)  I was too full after my dinner to even have dessert.  I heard all those gasps… keep them to yourself people, this happens occasionally never.

Fewf.  Well, I'm glad to be back & excited for the new realm of self-hosting my blog.  If you notice anything that's off [or just have suggestions] please email me or comment or something!  But that's it for my What I Ate Wednesday, but click on over to Jenn‘s page to catch up on other What I Ate Wednesdays! 

It's Wednesday, which means Jenn is hosting What I Ate Wednesday.  I know… I know.  You've been anxiously awaiting this post ALLLLLLL week long.  (aka you stumbled on my blog in the array of Jenn's loyal link-up-ers and are probably navigating away now).  Well here it is guys….

So let's dive right in, this is What I Ate [last] Wednesday.

Breakfast

(10:05 am) So.  I was really busy Wednesday morning an I had to just grab a Special K Bar for breakfast.  This is my go-to when I don't have any fruit around or the stuff for peanut butter toast.  I don't really like doing this because I'd rather eat something more substantial for my first meal, but like I said I was swamped at work.  I really love the Chocolately Drizzle Bar.  It's one of my favorites.

Lunch

(11:51 am) I was super hungry around lunch time because my breakfast was so skimpy, so while I was waiting for my lunch I snagged a hamburger bun.  (12:04 pm) Lunch was a chicken patty with buffalo sauce and lettuce.  Laura and I have both been craving buffalo sauce like no other lately, so when she mentioned that this was going to be her lunch I jumped on that bandwagon.  I used to have these for dinner all the time when my mom worked late during high school.  And oh, the fond memories I have of Chicken Patty Tuesday in Salmo (my college's dining hall).  Theres just nothing better.  (12:10 pm)  I also snacked on a few Tostito's chips.  There wasn't any salsa so I snacked on these plain.

Afternoon Snacks

(2:29 pm)  I got hungry again later on in the afternoon so I munched on some pretzels and hummus.

Dinner

(4:48 pm)  Dinner was actually two mini meals.  After work I heated up some chicken potstickers that I made in bulk a few weeks ago and threw in my freezer, I had these with a glass of apple juice and a quick dipping sauce I threw together.  I LOVE making these because I LOAD them up with veggies.  Theres tons of broccoli, carrot, and onion in there (remember last week when I told you I'm trying to trick myself?  This is what I was talking about).  Don't worry.  The recipe is coming your way soon.  They're actually super easy to make and they freeze really well, which made it an easy and quick dinner for me while I was trying to prep my meals for the rest of the week.  (7:26 pm)  I spent a couple hours prepping chicken kebabs to make myself a bunch of rice bowls for lunch and dinner throughout the week.  When the stuff was done I threw together a quick plate for myself.  My kebabs have chicken, red onion, green pepper, red pepper, and zucchini, which I put on top of a serving of rice and broccoli.  I ate this with a glass of refreshing water and grapefruit mint ice cubes to drink.

Dessert

(10:01 pm)  When I was out getting the stuff for my kebabs I picked up some Chobani greek yogurt (because remember I'm trying to teach myself to like it), and I decided to have the Chobani Flip Key Lime Crumble for dessert.  I already told you that I am now obsessed with the stuff.  It's delish.

I guess I kind of failed at the sensible snacking aspect… oops.  But that's it for me, but click on over to Jenn‘s page to catch up on other What I Ate Wednesdays!  Also: there are some BIG changes about to happen over here at the Pike Place Kitchen… so get ready!