Big Portions for a Big Week | What I Eat in a Day

This week is a crazy one! Hence the post being a day late (sigh). My final portfolio for first year is due THIS FRIDAY GAAAAAH! It's such a stressful and busy time that eating is one of those things that's really easy to push to the side. However, if I want to get through this week I need to fuel my body with good, wholesome foods that will give me energy!

Breakfast - 8:45am

Of course, sticking with my old faithful. I had 1/2 cup oats cooked in 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup water. I mixed in raw cacao powder and cinnamon and topped it off with a dollop of greek yogurt and cinnamon. Along side it was a very large cup of coffee. It was the perfect start to a long day at school of edits and photo printing.

Lunch - 2:30pm

A big portion of carbs and veggies to get me through the afternoon after such a long amount of time from breakfast was much needed! I had 1/2 cup of rice with peas and carrots. While the rice cooked I added in rosemary, pepper, and red pepper flakes to infuse some flavour into it. It was actually really delicious!

Dinner - 7:45pm

After lunch I headed back to school to do some more editing and a last minute photoshoot. When I finally got home for dinner I realized the serious lack of protein i had in my day. Ground beef was exactly what my palette was craving! I seasoned it with oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. I threw in some broccoli, peas, and baby carrots for some more veg! It was delicious!

After dinner I did a 40 minute vinyasa to relax after such a busy day. After my yoga time I had a cup of peppermint tea and read a book. I finished off the day with a nice hot shower and a phone call home before heading off to bed!

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I eat in a day to get through end of the semester crunch time! How do you fuel a busy day? Do let me know in a comment.

If you're going through finals right now GOOD LUCK <3

Thanks for reading & check back again to see what KatieDidd, xo

What I Eat In A Day: College Edition | Food Friday

Breakfast:

The power went out just as my coffee finished brewing; I must have had some good karma on my side yesterday morning! Unfortunately that meant no hot oatmeal for breakfast. However I did have some greek yogurt mixed with raw oats, raw cacao powder, and cinnamon. I topped it off with a layer of Multigrain Cheerios and cinnamon. Whilst eating I was reading Game of Thrones. I didn't much enjoy the television show, but I'm loving the book so far!

Lunch:

Two fried eggs and a peppermint tea- that's it? Nope... I also had roasted mixed veggies (beans, carrots, and peas) but forgot to take a picture! Bad blogger award goes to me. I seasoned my fried eggs with black pepper, and roasted red pepper flakes. 

Dinner:

Why yes, that is melted cheese you see! For dinner I had a pork chop seasoned with black pepper, rosemary, garlic, and red pepper flakes on top of corn, broccoli, and rice. A little trick I've learned to ensure extremely flavourful rice is to season the water from the very beginning of the cooking process. I love using rosemary and red pepper flakes!

This is a very typical day of eating for me- super simple recipes but still so healthy! What do you eat in a typical day? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading & check back to see what KatieDidd, xo

What I Eat In A Day: College Edition | Food Friday

Now that I'm moved away and in college I thought I'd share with you a typical day of food for me. I try my best to plan ahead to make sure that even if I have a busy day I will always have home cooked, healthy meals so I don't need to resort to boxes and cans to survive.

This is absolutely hilarious that I haven't done a what i eat in a day for ages and yet the breakfast is still the exact same haha. I had been switching it up a little bit for the hot days by mixing together:

1/2 cup greek yogurt

1/4 cup oats

1 tsp cacao powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

But now that it's cooler again, I'm really loving my old faithful of oatmeal! I always make my oatmeal stove-top and with large flake oats.

1/4 cup oats

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp cacao powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

 Lunch for me was a pasta salad that I pre-made on Sunday for all week and a bowl of romaine lettuce salad. I don't like most salad dressings so I just dressed it with with black pepper and plain white vinegar.

Pasta Salad Recipe:
Rotini pasta
1 diced chicken breast
Peaches and cream corn
Broccoli
Tomatoes
Peas
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Greek yogurt

This is literally the easiest meal prep recipe in the world! All I did was cook the chicken and the pasta, chop all the veggies and throw them in, then add the spices. I used a little bit of greek yogurt to kind of bind everything together. It tastes amazing and lasts in the fridge for ages

Around 3:30 I always seem to get hungry and my go-to is ALWAYS my favourite cereal; Multigrain Cheerios with a splash of chocolate milk, a dollop of greek yogurt, a few chocolate chips, and a generous sprinkle of cinnamon. It's so delicious and not as unhealthy as you would assume!

For dinner I made a HUGE pot of meat sauce and portioned it off into freezer containers (you can see the small container in the corner for my lunch tomorrow haha). I served it over whole wheat penne pasta and broccoli. I had another bowl of romaine lettuce with vinegar- gotta get those 5 a day!

Meat Sauce Recipe:
5 strips 40% reduced sodium bacon
1 Lb extra lean ground beef
1 can diced tin tomatoes
1 can crushed tin tomatoes
2 tsp white sugar
Garlic to taste
Basil to taste
Oregano to taste
Onion powder to taste
Black pepper to taste
Salt if desired

To make this sauce I began by dicing up the bacon and cooking it in the pot. I poured both tins of tomatoes over the bacon and added the spices whilst I browned the beef in another pan. When the meat was fully cooked I rinsed and drained it, added the same spice mixture as shown above, then added the meat to the sauce along with the sugar. The sugar does a really good job of cutting the acidity of the tomatoes. I let the sauce simmer on a low heat for about 2 hours before putting into freezer containers. It's absolutely delicious!

To finish off the day I had a glass of 2% milk with a touch of cinnamon- I know, weird combination, but trust me it's really good and calming for before bed. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing my first college edition of what I eat in a day! If you try any of my recipes do let me know! I'm also curious to know any easy, student-friendly recipes that you know of (freezer friendly is a great option).

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Food Friday | July 24, 2015

What I Ate...

Breakfast

I had my typical breakfast of 1/4 cup oatmeal cooked in 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup water topped with cinnamon and dark chocolate.

Lunch

For lunch today I scrambled some egg whites up with bacon, lettuce (since we had no spinach- this was surprisingly just as good), and tomatoes. I seasoned the dish with salt, pepper, garlic pepper, and basil. This was so delicious!!

Dinner

Mom made homemade lentil soup which is one of my all time favourite soups- next to leek. It was so yummy and I can guarantee I will be tucking into the left overs for as long as their in the fridge. 

*I didn't take a photo, but I did have a mug of cocoa between breakfast and lunch. I've found that this helps to keep me awake throughout the day as chocolate naturally has caffeine but it doesn't get me wired and shaky like coffee does*

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Food Friday | July 10, 2015

What I Ate...

Breakfast

No surprise here... I had oatmeal cooked in 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup water. I topped it with cinnamon and dark chocolate. (I really need to find something else for breakfast ha ha!)

Lunch

I ate lunch at work and so had to bring something along with me that I could make on the spot. I diced tomatoes and seasoned them with basil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. I also diced some old cheddar cheese placed everything on a piece of 12 grain bread from Country Harvest and microwaved it for 2 minutes. It came out so delicious- like a homemade bruschetta bread! 

Dinner

I actually made dinner tonight and I really surprised myself with how delicious it was. I took the risk of barbecuing and as you can see, I didn't burn anything! I made bacon wrapped chicken drumsticks, spaghetti with a homemade marinara, and then romaine lettuce on the side with some oil and vinegar. 

Bonus Recipes!

Chicken: For the chicken I seasoned it with garlic, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and onion powder. I then wrapped the drumsticks in bacon and secured the bacon with a toothpick. It took about 20 minutes on the barbecue to cook these all the way through- they were super juicy and delicious.

Marinara sauce: For the sauce I used a can of tomato paste and a can of diced tomatoes. I seasoned the sauce with fresh herbs from my moms garden including basil, oregano, and parsley. I also used fresh garlic, white onions, and salt and pepper. I let the sauce simmer on the stove top for about 2 hours to allow the flavours to really come to life.

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Food Friday | June 26, 2015

What I Ate...

Breakfast

This goes without saying by now that I had oatmeal for breakfast ha ha ha. I cooked it in 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup water then topped it with cinnamon and dark chocolate.

Lunch

For lunch I enjoyed a cup of cooked green beans with some old cheddar and a poached egg. This and a few variations with other veggies has become my go-to lunch as it's delicious, the cheese makes it super rich, it's healthy and the egg provides good protein. Absolutely delicious!

Snack

For my afternoon snack I enjoyed some multi-grain Cheerios with a few dark chocolate chips in 2% milk. It's the perfect afternoon top up!

Dinner

For dinner I was having a huge craving for grilled cheese but I didn't want to have a lot of cheese since I did with lunch. Instead, I used 4 slices of low fat old cheddar cheese, 1 on the vine tomato, 2 slices of low sodium bacon and two slices of Country Harvest 12 grain bread and made a delicious cheese-tomato-bacon sandwich! It was absolutely delicious, really filling and surprisingly only 450 calories!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Food Friday | June 12, 2015

What I Ate Today...

9:00am - Breakfast

For breakfast I had my usual- 1/4 cup oats cooked in 1/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup water topped with cinnamon and dark chocolate. Along side it is always my travel mug filled with water.

12:30pm - Lunch

This lunch is one of the best lunches I've had in quite a while. I had baked asparagus with some garlic salt and pepper. I then added some shredded old cheddar cheese and topped it all off with a poached egg and black pepper. I also had a glass of milk which holds about 1/2 cup.

2:25pm - Afternoon Snack

I had a snack around 2:30pm as I worked at 4 (otherwise my snack would have been closer to 3:00pm). I had 1/2 cup multi grain Cheerios in about 1/4 cup milk.

6:00pm - Dinner

For dinner I pre-prepared (as I had to eat at work) a delicious little pasta dish. I pan cooked a chicken leg in tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic, and parsley. I then added the frozen vegetables and pasta and cooked it all up. It ended up really delicious (I did add salt and pepper after it was finished) and was a perfect dinner for at work!

I thought I would include the diary from My Fitness Pal (please note that I don't use this to track my exercise, only my food) so that you can see how balanced this food day is as well as the nutrients I'm getting from these sorts of eating habits.

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Food Friday | May 29, 2015

What I Ate Today

7:30am - Breakfast

Today I had my typical morning breakfast of 1/4 cup oatmeal made in 1/3 cup 2% milk, topped with cinnamon and raw cacao bits.

10:20am - Mid-morning snack

Today I worked 9-5 so on my first break of the day I had 1/2 cup multi-grain Cheerios in 1/4 cup 2% milk.

12:50pm - Lunch

For lunch I enjoyed a nice salad made of romaine lettuce, tomatoes, some cubed old cheddar cheese, and 1 breaded grilled chicken breast. I dressed it with a homemade oil and vinegar dressing.

5:30pm - Dinner

Dinner every Friday night is pizza at my house! Tonight we treated ourselves to Little Caeser's three meat hot and ready since for the past few weeks we have made our own pizzas!

I'll probably have a little snack around 7:30pm. Usually I will have some air popped popcorn or a little (and I mean little, like maybe 1/4 cup- it's so incredibly rich) bowl of homemade ice cream!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Food Friday | April 17, 2015

What I Ate Today

Breakfast

This morning (and almost every morning), I started my day off with 1/4 cup oats cooked up in 1/2 cup 2% milk. I topped it with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and some 90% raw cacao nibs. 

Lunch

For lunch I enjoyed two poached eggs on 12 grain toast by country harvest with a glass of 2% milk. 

Afternoon Snack

My afternoon snack was 1 cup of hot cocoa and 2 oatmeal cookies (stay tuned for the recipes to both of these next friday).

Dinner

Chicken burgers and garden salad was on the menu tonight at our house. I enjoyed mine without a bun since we decided to treat ourselves to potato chips (a rarity for me as once I start eating them I just can't stop!). I had another glass of 2% milk to wash this all down.

Today I drank 1.5L of water, which means that I managed to reach (and surpass) my goal of 2L of liquids a day!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn