Clean Eats, Fast Feets

You are here: Home / Bottoms Up / WIAW: The Start To Finish Edition

WIAW: The Start To Finish Edition

by 47 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve participated in a legit What I Ate Wednesday, and by legit I mean the kind where I follow the actual rules. So I figured it was high time for me to get my act together and bring my A game. Confession: my A game got lost somewhere on route 66, along with my kicks, but I did manage to photograph all my meals on Saturday, so there’s that.

wiaw fall into good habits button

I’ve got another confession to reveal. Two in one day; it must be a record or maybe I’m just your classic over sharing blogger. Then again, aren’t all bloggers the over sharing type…at least a little bit and in some more advanced cases (cough, cough) an awful lot.

Weekend eating is tough for me.

Let me explain (as if you had a choice; you poor things). Since the Hubby and I had a change in our financial status (I’m pretty sure I can claim him as a dependent now), we are keeping spending to a minimum, which means very little eating out unless a gift card is involved or I’m near desperation. Quick Chipotle runs, after a particular long day, are things of the past. I will rendezvous with them again in the future though and when that day comes, it will be a thing of glory; roughly the size of a burrito.

Eating during the workweek is different. It’s easy-peasy pudding and pie because I’ve premade or prepped the majority of my meals, but by the time the weekend rolls around, that food is long gone and guess what? I still need to eat, at least three square meals a day and sometimes even snacks, which means I’ve got to make it all, usually on the fly and mostly from scratch since I have a generally hatred towards processed food, especially the kind where I can’t pronounce the ingredients. I wish I were exaggerating; I’m not.

So if I want to eat something, and believe me I pretty much always do, then I’ve got to get my keister in the kitchen and make it. I know, it’s like rocket science here today, but there’s a reason for it. Isn’t there always when it comes to me? Especially ones of the long-winded sort.

You’re going to see my weekend meals don’t always resemble meals. Half the time, they’re more like simple ways to get food in my face fast, and I’m ok with it. Not only that, I like giving you guys the real deal so to speak, because as much as I like to think I’m Martha Stewart, minus the criminal record and perfectly coiffed hair, I don’t make big extravagant meals on the weekend. And if I do, it’s usually prepping for the workweek.

Without further ado, because we all know there’s been far too much ado already, I give you my Saturday eats, in the order they were eaten; of course. I’m all about order.

Coffee, two pieces of toasted Granola bread slathered in butter + my lists and a sun patch = Saturday morning bliss.

Coffee, Granola Bread and Butter

Not one, but two of these Sunrise Energy Bars from Costco.

Costco Sunrise Energy Bar

(source)

A smoothie with one frozen banana, a couple handfuls of strawberries, some blackberries, and a splash of orange juice.

Afternoon Delight Smoothie with Strawberries, Banana and Blackberries

A fried egg and the last of my lovely Parmesan Roasted Red-Skinned Potatoes.

Fried Eggs and Roasted Potatoes

Half of a Pizza: Bed of Caramelized Onions topped with Apple Slices, Cheddar Cheese and Crispy Sage cooked in a Brown Butter Sauce. As usual, I owe my inspiration to Kirsten.

Apple Cheddar Caramelized Onions and Crispy Sage in Brown Butter

White Wine Squared.

White Wine

There you have it. A Saturday of food from start to finish, and the only thing missing is the buckets of water I put down in between. Yep, I drink from buckets now because I’m classy like that. I do put a Martha Stewart-esque bow on them though.

Is weekend eating ever hard for you too? Any suggestions?

Strange But Good

Update: It turns out the ingredients on my Apple Cheddar Pizza are a little unusual, and while I originally wanted to link up with Laura’s Strange But Good, I didn’t think it qualified. Based on your feedback, it would appear I’m incorrect, which means I happily to get to join Laura’s party. Here’s looking at you kid.

 

Comments

  1. Browned butter sage bits are brilliant. Thank you for inspiring me!
    Especially after seeing the video on I think HuffPost where Martha trashes food bloggers, but even if I hadn’t just seen that, I like the ‘minus the criminal record’ part!
    I don’t do mad prepping on the weekends for the spouse (because, obviously, I lack a spouse in my house right now) ((spouse in the house, is that like elf on a shelf?)) . . .
    train of thought . . . right! I cook throughout the week, but I really get sick of cooking by the time the weekends roll around. I can manage to make something here or there, but lately I’ve been canning and not feeling like cooking on top of canning. Making the kids do it, or making something quick, are my usual options, though we did use a coupon and get take out one of the nights of this long weekend.

    Reply

    • Making something quick has been default. Too bad I can’t put the cats to work and make them earn their keep.
      I will make your veggie Marsala though because it’s easy and lately I’ll about easy.

      Reply

  2. Yay for following the rules for once!

    Question: How many good things can you pile onto a pizza? Answer: I don’t know, let’s ask Meghan and Kirsten. Each ingredient sounds so wonderful! Carmelized onions, crispy sage, brown butter sauce… You should be a writer for a food magazine. Yes,future Cooking Light guest writer for sure.

    I just try to follow a schedule for weekend eating. Usually three meals a day with at least a few hours spaced in between. Water whenever I remember. I’ve been doing better with the water!

    Reply

    • You are a sweetheart and quite possibly my biggest fan. I love all compliments but yours make me warm and fuzzy for days.

      I have a great schedule for the workweek, but it all gets thrown out the window once the weekend rolls around.

      Great job with the water. Keep it going.

      Reply

  3. I hope you saved the other half of the pizza for me! I admire your self restraint because I probably would have eaten the entire thing. And I swear you would never know I tried to eat healthy if you saw my weekend eats…I consider the entire weekend my 20% of my 80/20 eating. Oh well!

    Reply

    • And now I’m laughing. Your 80/20 split is really funny.

      I actually gave the other half of the pizza to the Hubby. Believe me, it wasn’t about self-restraint on my part at all.

      Reply

  4. This will come as no surprise, but I never eat out. That means I cook 100 percent of my meals, and although most people would think they’re boring as heck, it totally works for me (and it’s just me with no husband to share food with, so I realize there’s that.) I always have a big batch of a grain steamed and stored in the fridge–rice, farro, wheat berries, etc.–and use it for big bowls with chickpeas, veggies, etc. for quick meals. It’s also economical, minus the vegan butter and sometimes the grains, but relatively speaking it’s cheap and you can change up the flavors a million ways with different spices, fats, etc. 🙂

    Reply

  5. First thing – I’m so jealous that you get to eat breakfast in the sun. It’s pitch black when I eat breakfast, and pitch black for a few hours after as well. Second thing – since you only ate half the pizza, that means I could potentially come over for dinner and claim the other half, right? I’m sorry, but apple slices, cheddar cheese, and brown butter sauce sound so delicious that it goes beyond my capacity to comprehend…

    Reply

    • Because you’re eating at 5 a.m. you crazy girl!

      I would have shared the other half with you. Really I totally would have, except the only reason I ate half was because the Hubby ate the other half. Oops.

      Reply

  10. Did you make the granola bread?? If so, recipe pleasseee. And may I add, I HATE U!!! I want a piece of that pizza NoW!!!!! Seems sooo good!! Ugh I envy you soooo jajajaja

    Reply

    • No I didn’t but my favorite local bakery did. They make the MOST amazing bread that I don’t even bother trying to make my own. It’s so good local restaurants use it and the my little grocery store sells it. While mine is locally owned, it is a chain and they do have other locations. You should see if there’s one in your area. http://www.breadsmith.com/
      I would have shared my pizza with you. 🙂

      Reply

  11. The pizza toppings….who knew such a combination would work and sound absolutely mouth watering!?

    Weekend eating for me is not too different (probably not out of tupperware If I can help it). I try and save too, but here we have a big sunday brunch tradition, and sometimes there’s nothing better than getting someone make me smoked salmon, eggs, avocado and toast…just need to not think about how much cheaper I could do it 😉

    Reply

    • I used Frickaccios original pizza dough. It’s a local place and my little mom and pop grocery store sells the dough balls for $1.99. Here’s the web address for them: http://www.frickaccios.com/
      They’re pretty spectacular especially their Roasted Garlic Dough. There’s literally whole cloves of garlic mixed in.
      Hang in there. You’ll be able to have a drink again soon and congratulations on the baby!

      Reply

  15. What in the worlddddd..oh my GAH at that pizza! If I could come up with such creations in my kitchen, I would have NO desire to venture out to restaurants. Heck I’d be venturing over to your place, wine in hand! Although I don’t find weekend eating hard per say, I find that it’s much more sporadic in terms of timings.. For example many times lunch has happened at 4 pm whereas dinner is around 10.30/11…YOLO, eh ;)!

    Reply

  16. Oh man…gotta say…you eat WAY better than I did when Chris left. I ate a lot of PBJs, microwave burritos, and, um, that’s it, pretty much. Oh, spaghetti, too 😛

    Weekend eating has historically been super tough for me because I’m an introverted homebody and tended to spend the entire day in the apartment. That’s a lot of time to wander into the kitchen “accidentally” and then, oops, all of sudden homemade cookies appear.

    One thing that really helped me was big batches – chilli, curry, pasta, whatev. Then, I could just grab and go 🙂

    Reply

    • There have been some cereal filled nights and lots of breakfast for dinner. Plus, since the man comes home most weekends, I shared all these meals with him. Or at least he had his own portion.

      Great advice. I’ve been all about the big batches. One for him to take back to school, one for me for the week, and one for the freezer for some unknown future date.

      Reply

  17. Oh that pizza! I think it’s inspiring me AGAIN. And I actually find weekend eating easier–I guess because I have more time to plan and cook, and the fridge actually has fresh ingredients, as opposed to the end-of-the-week scramble of, “Well, I have one egg, a few broccoli stems and this almost-moldy cheese left…”

    Reply

    • It sounds like you’ve got an omelet to me. 😉

      Weekend eating is definitely more casual since there’s no set structure, but it can be a pain to make it all from scratch. Read: I get lazy on weekends and would prefer someone to cook at least one meal for me.

      Reply

  18. GOOD GOD WOMAN!!! I can’t believe you ate that….PIZZA WITHOUT MEEEEEE!! 😉 Seriously, a bed of caramelized onions? With brown butter sauce?! Ok, I’ll admit it, I’ve never actually HAD brown butter sauce, but I’ve heard that one taste will put you that much closer to God! Hmm, is it blasphemous of me to bring the holy man into a rant about foodporn? Well, if it wasn’t before, the fact that I just referenced him and “foodporn” in the same sentence is likely to cast me off to the firey pits of hell. Guess I better get in the kitchen and whip up some brown butter, huh?

    Reply

    • I bet the big man would be a fan of brown butter. He might even use the phrase food porn himself. 😉

      I think I might have been a little bit misleading about this pizza; in a completely unintentional way. I browned a pat of butter and added the sage until it got all crispy. What’s remained was my crispy brown butter sage, which I put on top of the pizza. It was probably a teaspoon of butter in the end and a handful of sage leaves. Either way, it was still fantastic.

      Reply

    • I didn’t think it was strange either. Hence the lack of a link up originally. I kept getting comments about how unusual the toppings were so I hopped on your party train. Hope you don’t mind.
      If I were a carnivore, I would have topped it with bacon too.

      Reply

  21. That pizza is a thing of beauty for sure, and I love that you aren’t afraid to pile all the goodies on 🙂
    That being said I’m not sure anything can top a sun patch with warm toast and things that make you happy (which we all know your lists do!) that to me is the epitome of weekend perfection.

    On another side note perhaps I should get myself a bucket (with a bow of course) to help with the water intake, if this is in fact a real thing in your life I would love to see pictures!!

    Reply

    • It was a picture perfect start to the weekend. Can’t beat that.

      I need to take pictures of my bucket guzzling ways.

      Reply

  22. I love the simplicity of all these little meals and snacks. I like that it all isn’t “perfectly” healthy like what we would expect from the media and what have you. Sometimes you have to eat things that taste good. A little butter here and there isn’t going to kill me (but, not having a little butter sometimes just might!). It tastes good and feels good. This paired with that great looking smoothie and ridiculously unique looking pizza is definitely appealing to my senses. At the moment, they are on overload. I am literally salivating at the thought of eating today. Maybe sometime I’ll post my own “What I Ate Wednesday,” and join the club!

    Reply

    • I actually think butter is significantly healthier than it’s over processed counterparts (Margarine, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, etc) so I’m all good with eating a little of it on occasion. I’m not talking Paula Dean butter love, but in moderation is a great thing.

      I absolutely think you should do your own WIAW. They’re fun, and they always teach me things about my food choices I didn’t necessarily see before. Plus, I get inspiration from other people’s WIAW.
      Thanks for stopping by and saying hello; I hope to see you again.

      Reply

  23. I’m curious as to why you would say that butter is “healthier” than it’s counterparts. Are you talking just in terms of the barebones nutritional content, or something like the availability of the artificial products and the excessive consumption of them? I think that with really anything, moderation is the key. Alcohol can be bad for one’s health, but in smaller dosages some studies would argue that it is actually beneficial and life-prolonging. I think a part of this might be the comfort of certain food products. I like having a glass of wine once in a while, and sometimes even more than that! It tastes good and altogether feels good. The same sort of goes for butter, though I feel it sort of creeps up in so many products and recipes, that it can be hard to escape keeping it in moderation.

    Thank you though for your time responding, it’s an interesting topic of discussion, and maybe one you’ll look at down the road in more depth?

    Reply

    • Thanks for your thoughtful questions.
      I suppose when I say butter is healthier than its over processed counterparts, I’m talking barebones nutritional content AND the availability of the artificial products. What I mean to say is I’m not against indulging in comfort foods from time to time, but I prefer they be comfort foods made with simple ingredients, and without chemicals, additives, pesticides, GMO’s. I don’t think the latter are necessary, yet they are all rampant in our food supply. It’s a reflection of our current food climate.
      This article is very much in line with my personal feelings on butter. I hope you find it helpful.
      http://thescienceofeating.com/fats/butter-vs-margarine/

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.