When the day passes by quickly - good news, lunch and dinner, bloating (and the difference between morning and evening belly)

Hello :)

This day has just passed by in one flow today and dont really know why the time has gone by so quickly, but at the moment i am sitting locked away in the kitchen as my mum is having a yoga class in our house (in our living room), so i had to choose between sitting in my room (which has a claustrophobic and warm feeling as i have no where to put my things) or the kitchen... and i choose the kitchen, so that i could silently try to make dinner and not have to wait until 8.30pm when the yoga class is over XD

I'll start off with the most important thing i want to write, because after that it will just be food talk and those who arent interested in that... just skip it i guess XD

Soooo... I got a job!!! Yayyy.

At a food store and i will mainly be in the cashier, and i dont have so many days/hours scheduled at the moment, but hoping for more!! But i am so happy and excited, and i start tomorrow. I am nervous and a little worried, but mostly happy. 

As i dont have so many hours to start with, it also means it wont be too much all at once which is a good thing i guess. I start tomorrow and will learn how the cashier works and that, and i also have a few hours of online course/work to do and learn before the end of this week, so going to start with that now!

So that was that... now food talk, haha.

For lunch today i made cauliflower pizza again topped with tomatoe sauce, veggies and some fake meat! Despite not following a recipe it turned out great, and then of course potatoe wedges, peanuts and sweet corn on the side! 

Then for dinner - while being locked up in the kitchen i decided to try making rice paper rolls as this is the recipe idea i have as starter for the recipe book i will be part of. Though i am aware that the consistency of the rice paper rolls (i.e can taste a little bit like gum or elastic) can be a little love/hate, so i thought i would try and also try to make them look good. As i couldnt boil or cook anything i.e rice or rice noodles i had to just use some prewarmed fake meat and cucumber and beet roots and the combination was delicious, but my plan had been to cooke rice noodles and add sriracha and things like avocado.

I personally think rice paper rolls are delicious and am planning to eat plenty of them now as i have roughly 20 rice paper left, however i dont think it will be a good starter and i dont think my friends will like the consistency of the rolls, and i dont think i can make them look good. So now i am going to try to think of a new starter idea which will match my main course and dessert idea.... 

But it is a good thing i tried making the starter before hand, and didnt start panicking on Saturday when serving my friends/taking photos, and realise that it wouldnt work or taste good for anyone but myself, hahaha.

For now that is enough food talk, and i am going to try to get some of the work/study done which i need to do for my job!! It will be an early start tomorrow for my first day at work, hahah!!!

Also thought i would add this... i.e my bloat. Due to my diet changes i havent been bloated at all i.e compared ot my usual 90% bloat it is down to 10% bloat.. and the same with stomach pain. But yesterday and today i have had alot of stomach pain and bloating, and i thought i would show you the difference in my morning shape/after breakfast shape compared to my evening post dinner bloat.

Bloating happens, it is normal and it is OK. Don't panic, smile anyway and just wear comfortable clothes :) (p.s the right photo isnt even my complete bloat, hahaha dont dare post that )

Embrace the bloat. Be ok with the bloat... and if you want, give your food baby a name XD XD

Monday 29th February - Tired and just trying to get through the day & todays dinner and yesterdays lunch

Hello :)

Today i guess you could say is an "extra day" considering that it is a leap day!! And tomorrow it is already March... think, when March is over then 25% of the year has already passed? Maybe a good time to start thinking, is the year going as you want it to... are you trying to reach your goals?

Today had not been the best of days for me... infact when i woke up i knew that today wouldnt be that great a day. Infact i lay in bed for 10 minutes after turning my alarm off and contemplated whether i should just skip my classes today as i was not excited for school at all.

Hahahah, pretty much my thoughts this morning!!

But i got myself together  and got ready and headed to school where i mostly felt like sleeping and didnt feel so great at all. Just an overwhelming tiredness in a way and a heavy body, and a lack of concentration all day. But i made it through my lectures and ive answered almost all the emails i said i would answer on Sunday, so just a few more to go!

Finally at 3pm it was home time and i headed to the store to get a few items and i also found vegan chicken, which i have tried for my dinner. My opinion on it? Well it doesnt taste like chicken and it tastes kind of weird, but it wasnt horrible... but i would prefer to just eat tofu.

Supposed to be eating smaller meals for the sake of my stomach and digestion... but that isnt working well at all. Infact im pretty much just eating 3 big meals a day, hence why i am  not writing any food diaries either, as i do think eating smaller meals frequently is generally better. But at the moment this way of eating works for me.

This evening ive got two articles - 50 pages about sugar and sugar addiction to read, and i am actually quite excited to read them and see what the proffessors have to say about that, and then also prepering for my seminar on Thursday as well as lots of note taking. So a study filled evening, but its interesting so it isnt so bad, and i am filled with energy now so much easier to focus and concentrate!!

I hope you have all had a great Monday and maybe this evening set some goals for March, and things to look forward to :)

Below: Yesterdays very late lunch when i got back to my apartment before having to spend my evening studying and doing group work.

2 meals from today

Sometimes i wonder where the time goes because its 18.30 and i havent done much today. The most productive thing i have done is wash my hair and shave my legs (The only reason i do this during the winter months is because i wear shorts to the gym XD and generally find it fresher, but  it takes so much time that sometimes it doesnt feel worth it XD). Otherwise the time has just flown by today.... Ive read as well which has been nice and even made some protein pancakes (using a coconut and vanilla chocolate protein pancake mix which i then mixed with eggs.) I used 4 servings as the pancakes weren't all for me. Ive used the mix before, and i find it extremely sweet and today i felt my body burning up from the inside, my cheeks going red (which often happens when i eat too much sugar) and just feeling nauseous and sick - which often happens when i eat anything with too much sugar. I dont know what the ingredients are but those pancakes dont seem as tempting anymore after feeling so ill afterwards.... usch.

But once the nauseous feeling passed all i was craving was salt (which happens after eating sweet) so then i made myself some roasted carrots and potatoes (using oil and salt as toppings/flavourings) and into the oven for 20-25 minutes. And i can say... it was like a dream dish. How can something so simple be so delicious?

Also, as you may have noticed ive started eating potatoes!! Ever since my time at Mando where i ate potatoes pretty much 2 times daily for almost 1,5 years. I then hated potatoes, the taste was awful... didnt matter if they were boiled, mashed, made as wedges or used in dishes etc i didnt like the taste of them. So it went pretty much 2,5 years where i maybe ate potatoes 5-10 times as they were part of a dish made at home or in a restaurant. But its only this year where i have started to eat potatoes again and actually they are ok... nothing beats sweet potatoe though. And i still cant stand mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes, but i fries or wedges are actually really good... if they are made ok. If they are too soft or very raw, i cant stand them and they just bring back thoughts of Mando or the hospital in Ireland. But it just shows, that tastebuds change... somethings which you didnt like before you can learn to like, or maybe you just need to go a few months or years and you will like the food again!!



Alot of food talk, but thats because that is pretty much the only thing today..... Tomorrow is a new day, with new energy and new things to do!!

3 meals from today

Food posts is such a mixed thing for many. Some say they love when i post food posts and others say they dislike them, it leads to comparison etc and i understand both sides. So my only answer really is that i will keep both in mind and just post whatever i feel like. And today i feel like sharing three of my meals today, just because.....

If you find that food posts trigger you or lead you to compare yourself, then just skip this post :) Its just food pictures anyway!!!

I dont count calories or macros, i dont think about food as healthy or unhealthy or good or bad. I eat what it is i am craving and this is some of what i was craving today:

Breakfast:

Greek yoghurt, nuts, raspberries, raisins, a protein bar!

After school snack:

 2 slices of bread with spread, yoghurt with granola, cucumber and some salted cashews & a drink.

Dinner:

2 chicken breast (made in the oven), couscous, vegetables, sauce & 2 kiwis and the last bit of an orange!

Some recent meals

This mornings second breakfast(pre workout!)

Yesterdays lunch!!

Todays lunch!! It was soooooo good. My favourite salad combination!

Tonights dinner, chicken burgers (made by me!!!) - They were so good, i can definitely recommend this :)

Monday night dinner

As more dinner/lunch pictures have been requested i thought i might as well show you my dinner this evening.
   As i eat lunch in school 4/5 days a week i cant photo them but i eat whatever fish/vegetarian dish is served that day, and if i dont like either option then i eat crisp bread with butter and cornflakes with yoghurt!!!
 
This evening i decided to do a bit of a 'meal prep' so that i have some lunch boxes for dinner :) And i decided to make sweet potatoe fries, grilled chicken and brocolli & some greek yoghurt. Basically the easiest thing to make, but also super delicious. (Add either garlic powder or chilli or both to the whole meal = Yummmm!)

This evening i also ate dinner with my sister (during the weekdays my parents either eat really early i.e by the time im eating my afternoon snack they are eating dinner. Or they eat really late because my mum has her yoga classes, and as my sister and i have such different schedules either she is working or studying evenings so dinner is usually eaten on my own on weekdays) but my sister was home so she was eating a snack while i ate my dinner and we just sat and talked for 90 minutes or so which was really nice. We've been sort of distant recently..... we've both had so much to do and havent been home at the same time so it feels like it was a week ago that i last saw her or talked to her. Strange that.
   But now we got to talk about all these things and sorted out some 'problems' we've had. And we could laugh over the misunderstanding we had!!!

This evening i think im going to watch a film, take it easy and eat some more sweet potatoe fries! Tomorrow my plan is to go into school 2 hours before i start (as i start later than usual) so that i can get lots of work done and then hopefully have the weekend more free :)

How are you spending your Monday evening? :)

Dinner for one

I have to admit... sometimes i have to give myself a pat on the back for my delicious tasting food!! How can something so simple taste so amazing?
   
Broccoli, leek, onion, pepper, quorn kebab, prawns fried in oil & couscous and cottage cheese and then lots and lots of soya!!  It was soo good that i had to take some more... and i still have left over for tomorrows lunch :)

If you're ever out of ideas.. throw together some ingredients in a frying pan and fry and mix together with some sauce and there you go... delicious :) Can also reccommend eating it with pasta, noodles or rice :)

Do you have any simple delicious dinner/luinch ideas? :)

My afternoon snack and dinner & 3 positive things

Today has been filled with both negatives a positives.....
  Ill begin with the negatives.... Well when i first got to school my mind was elsewhere so i ended up leaving my books and journal by my locker and it wasnt until class started that i realised they were gone and had to ask th teacher if i could run down and get them... Then when i come back up to the class room, with my book and journal i realise that my fly/zipper on my jeans is all the way down.... *hahahah* i hope no one saw ;);)
    
I also dropped my phone today so pieces of the glass fell off -_- Holes in my phone screen now!!! -> My mum is gonna get angry!

And also ive started getting an allergic reaction (i think) to the antibiotics im taking so had to call the doctor and see what they said... so going to begin with antihistamines as well and see if that helps -_-'

But lets go to the positives of the day now.... :) And im aiming for minimum 3 positive things ( Feel free to share YOUR positive things of the day as well :))

1) I bought myself a questbar today during my long break as i was hungry :)If you're a questbar addict like me im sure you have seen that they have come out with a Smores questbar? Ohhh my gosh, i cant wait until i can order them :)

2) I finished an hour earlier than usual today - i was supposed to have a test but the teacher was sick... this is both positive and negative. It now means that i have 3 tests next week :(I just sort of wanted to get the test over with. 

3) I made my own rice pudding today and it turned out good :) So now im gonig to eat that instead of the store bought one :) So much tastier and now i can add my own flavourings i.e cinnamon/cardamum.

4) After school i just layed in bed and watched the Maze Runner... felt so tired, so that was much needed!!!

^^There you have the positives of the day

And here you have my afternoon snack & some coconut chocolate (its sooo good!!) 

 ¨
And dinner:


Sooo good!!! :)

Afternoon snack & dinner

No time to blog or write... so just some photos of my afternoon snack & dinner

Making dinner

When i feel i want to relax a favourite thing of mine is to bake or cook.... For many this sounds strange but for me, its relaxing. I dont find it stressful at all, infact i love it and it makes me think of other things... infact barely think at all. Also, after all my years of baking, cooking, reading recipes etc i have quite good knowledge about how food works together and how much of what is needed. So i rarely follow recipes. Pies, pancakes, muffins, sauces, smoothies, soups etc none of it i use recipes. Just use my imagination and knowledge.
   For dinner i decided to be creative and spend some time cooking and then i decided i might as well do a big dinner and hopefully my parents would also be home so we could all eat together!

And they were home and they really appreciated me making dinner!!!

Cod with cottage cheese, garlic and salmon topping (serisouly .- try this combinationg. So good... and dont forget to add some herb or sea salt!), carrot fries, sweet potatoe chunks, sallad, halloumi (and even fried leek - but i ate all of the leek and half of the halloumi while waiting for everything to cook :) hahah)

The good thing is that there is even left overs for lunch tomorrow :)

^¨Its only really when i cook that i photo - otherwise its weird to stand and take a photo of what my mum or step dad cooks, but also that they never really make it 'look good' ;) Just a normal spaghetti bolognaise - thats nothing to photo!! :)

So the like once a month when i do make something fancy its nice to have a memory of it!