Craving Veggies – WIAW
Hey everyone! Happy Wednesday! You all know what Wednesday means – What I Ate Wednesday! If you are new to WIAW, head over to Peas and Crayons where Jenn is hosting and see what it’s all about! This month the theme is What I Ate Wednesday Goes Green!
I love the theme, I’m a fan of holidays and a whole month of green sounds good to me! Luckily I was craving some veggies on Monday!
Monday morning started with a 5am wakeup call to head to the gym for my first morning of Tina’s Bootcamp! I get up that early so I can be back, showered and ready to leave for school by 7:30am!
Since I knew I wouldn’t have any time to make and eat breakfast in the morning, I whipped up some overnight oats the night before, just like I did for last Monday (and yes, this is a recycled photo…). I also had half a banana before I headed out to the bus to tide me over until I got to school to eat my oats!
I did make one change to my oats this week. Instead of using 2 T of chia seeds, I just added 1 T of ground flax. Sometimes I feel like chia seeds make my oats taste a little watery and take away some of the flavor. The flax was a good substitute!
For my mid-morning snack I had an apple with some almonds (sorry no picture… I was hungry and forgot. But the colors help, right? You can totally visualize them now)
And then for lunch I ended up buying a salad at a local place called I Dream of Falafel. Normally I get their salad with chicken, but I thought I’d try the beef today! Unfortunately I wasn’t a huge fan of the beef. It was a little greasy and tough, but don’t worry, I sure ate it! I was pretty hungry.
I have classes all day Monday and don’t get home until 7pm, so for my afternoon snack I ended up getting some trail mix from the vending machine. I’d planned on getting some fruit and yogurt from the cafeteria but they were out of both grapes and cantaloupe and the canned oranges and peaches did not look appealing…
I forgot to take a picture but here it is:
It was alright, but had a bit too many yogurt bits for my taste. I would have preferred more nuts for it to be more filling!
Luckily though, it tided me over until I made it home for dinner. I wanted something fast and was really craving veggies, so I made up a spinach salad, topped with steamed eggplant, carrots, broccoli slaw (from trader joe’s) and a hefty dose of Trader Joe’s Avocado Salsa Verde. Gotta get those healthy fats!
On the side, I added a 2% fage yogurt (20g of protein! crazy!) topped with blueberries.
I ate the salad first and then ended up adding 2 T PB2 flour mixed with water and cocoa powder to the yogurt to turn it into more of a dessert! So good.
Are you ever stuck with vending machine food? What do you pick?
Do you think chia seeds give things a watery taste? Or is this just me?
Peace Love & Oats 
I get stuck with vending machine food all the time. I usually get a Nature Valley granola bar or some trail mix. Our vending machines at work have green tabs for the foods that are semi-healthy, so we usually have a decent selection.
Haha ours do too but there are always seriously questionable things with those tabs…
I hate the vending machine! Pretty much because of my allergies. I usually get popchips or kettle cooked chips. I would get trail mix but it has peanuts but I’m allergic 😦 I never tried chia seeds but I saw them in the market the other day. I may have to try them!
omg if our vending machine had pop chips I’d be a happy camper! And yea, most everything in the vending machine other than trail mix is off limits to me, although I don’t have a peanut allergy, that would make it harder!
I know I was surprised when i saw popchips lol at least I can have something 😦
Both of your salads look amazing.
I could eat salad breakfast lunch and dinner.
I haven’t been around vending machines as of late bc I’ve worked from home for almost a year now.
I used to get either peanuts or trail mix.
sometimes they had popcorn and I would get that (like the microwave kind that I pop myself)…
You know what’s funny? Our machines have popcorn, but there are signs by the microwaves saying don’t pop popcorn in there!
2% tastes so decadent when I get used to the fat free! 🙂
it was so thick! I don’t think I’d ever had 2% greek yogurt before this week!
This is my first time visiting your blog and I love it!
I haven’t been stuck with vending machine food in a very long time. But I try to stick to things like a granola bar or the packaged trail mix. And I know that stuff isn’t the greatest, but at least there are nuts for protein in it! I don’t think chia seeds give a watery taste…but they do thicken up my morning oatmeal really fast so I have to be quick about eating or it becomes a thick, sloppy mess!
I’m glad to hear you like my blog, thank you!! I used to get granola bars, but now I can’t eat gluten so I’m stuck to trial mix.
i haven’t gotten vending machine food in a long time – but if i did now, i would definitely pick the not-so-healthy animal cookies!
sometimes i love chia seeds and the added volume they give to oats but sometimes i don’t like them because they make my oatmeal a little bland.
Haha the good thing about being allergic to gluten is I can’t get the unhealthy stuff! And yes, I think they make my oatmeal bland! Okay, I’m not crazy, haha.
If you’re making your overnight oats with water that could be why.. I usually use almond milk and haven’t noticed a watery texture.
I do love adding flax though- I haven’t tried it with overnight oats but I love it in hot oats.
I usually avoid the vending machine but the one at my school is pretty scary! You’d think a school of public health would have some healthy options but our machine is worse than most others!
Nope, I used milk! I think they just make it taste bland? And that’s too bad about your vending machine, I was lucky mine at least had trail mix and nuts!
I really need to get some PB2… what is my issue? I can’t tell you that last time I got something out of a vending machine but I would try to get something like a granola bar… try to make the healthiest decision!
you NEED some PB2!!!!
I LOVE 2% Fage Greek yogurt. It is so much better than 0%…Great idea to mix in something sweet and make it more of a dessert. I will have to try adding some chocolate PB2 🙂
Chocolate PB2 is heaven, give it a try! And I mix the PB2 with water first and then top it onto the yogurt rather than adding the powder to the yogurt.
I love chia seeds – I wonder if its just the ratio of seeds to liquid? I tend to have them when I’m also mixing in sun warrior so that helps me I think. I think I’d be screwed if I had to manage with vending machines, sounds like you got a good choice 🙂
Haha the trail mix was the ONLY thing I could eat because it was the only one without gluten or too much sugar!
i love when i crave veggies! i actually haven’t tried chia seeds yet! i have a huge thing of ground flax i’m trying to use up first, then i plan on trying them out.
Chia seeds are pretty expensive, so I rarely use them! I’m a big fan of ground flax too, and it’s cheaper!
I’ve been meaning to get on this WIAW bandwagon. I keep forgetting to take photos of my eats for a day! Looks like fun!
Haha I always have such a hard time remembering! I have to really focus and sometimes I have to recycle photos!
I laughed on seeing that Mix’n Yogurt trail mix. I used to live off of that in college, since it was the only remotely healthy thing in my dorm’s vending machines.
I’d never seen it before!
That yogurt mix sounds really yummy!
it was pretty good!
Dont you just love how protein-packed Greek yogurt is? Your dessert sounds delicious! I love the texture chias add to overnight oats- haven’t noticed them being watery but maybe that’s because I mix it with yogurt?
Oh yea, I don’t use yogurt. That’s probably why!
I love adding cocoa and peanut butter to my greek yogurts, they do make for a great dessert! 🙂
I do get stuck with only a vending machine when I forgot a snack during school or work, I usually like to go with nuts or trail mix of some sort too! They need to start supplying healthier options in those, like roll out an apple or something! ha
Haha yea, they could have some better options that’s for sure!
I’m always shocked by how much protein is in yogurt! Cottage cheese, too. And they’re so delicious! I just got some cottage cheese today and I need to try whipping it like you’ve been doing!
definitely try whipping it! So delicious! just be sure to add some sweetener and a splash of milk!
that dessert looks so good! I love greek yogurt. SO MUCH PROTEIN!
Haha it’s so much more protein than I thought!
i just ordered some peanut flour and cant wait to try it! seems to be all over the blogosphere!
It’s so good! Especially PB2, I don’t know why, but it just tastes better!
i actually bought the PB2 and smothered it on a banana this morning before my run. oh my its delicious and tastes even better than PB!
Haha I don’t know if it tastes better than PB! But I like it because it doesn’t stick to my mouth so much!