Soooo…..
It’s snowing! We received a light dusting of an inch or two on Tuesday afternoon but the roads were fine and dry this morning. I went in to teach the 8:10 class at Y2 and then stayed to take the 9:15 and by the time I left at 11 the snow was pouring down and sticking. It’s still coming down heavily and we are expected to get 7-9 inches with a possibility of ice as well. Needless to say, Charlotte is shut down. This is one of the biggest winter storms we’ve had in years.
My snow day plans include working on my book, baking and making a big pot of homemade spaghetti sauce. Snow days require carbs…cookies and pasta, here I come! 🙂
Before I get to that stuff, here is what I’ve been eating lately.
Breakfast
A smoothie in the snow. I was craving one for breakfast this morning despite the weather. In all fairness, I did wait until I got into the hot yoga studio to drink it. (One of my clients was just commenting yesterday on how my smoothies are never brown…I would say this one is a pretty unappetizing color!)
Apple cinnamon oatmeal with lots of chia seeds and dried cranberries. Some of you asked after my chia pudding disaster post if I like chia seeds in my oatmeal and yogurt and the answer is yes! I just can’t eat a big bowl of straight up chia seeds.
Another smoothie (in a more appetizing shade of green) and warm lemon water. On Sunday morning I started drinking warm lemon water before I eat breakfast. I had been feeling like I was retaining water and I’ve heard so many good things about starting your day with warm lemon water. I was having a hard time getting it down but someone recommended on Twitter to add honey and cayenne pepper. That has helped tremendously. I’ll let y’all know what I think about this warm lemon water thing after I try it for a while. Anyone else start your day with this?
Lunch
Panera You Pick Two with turkey chili, spinach power salad and whole grain baguette. These are two new menu items and both are really good. The You Pick Two combo of them both only has a little over 400 calories (sans bread, of course) and is pretty nutritionally sound and satisfying. They recently opened a Panera next to the yoga studio…thus the reason you’ve seen me eating there frequently.
Return of the lunch bowl! I used to eat these on the regular for lunch but now I’m on more of a soup/salad/sandwich kick. I had leftover pine nut couscous in the fridge and lots of Greek-ish toppings in the fridge so it was just begging to become a lunch bowl. I layered a super greens mix, couscous, avocado, tomatoes, olives, hummus and plain greek yogurt. Gave it all a drizzle of red wine vinegar and olive oil.
Dinner
Coconut green curry (base recipe in this post although in this making I added some fish sauce, brown sugar and chicken broth to the curry as well) with mixed veggies, eggplant and shrimp over steamed rice. I was feeling really over protein + veggie dinner and craving something different. This hit the spot!
Turkey burger with goat cheese and sriracha aioli, sweet potato and kale chips. This turkey burger combo was so good a couple of weeks ago that I had to recreate it.
Moroccan spiced chicken, roasted cauliflower and roasted eggplant.
Off to cook, bake and get productive with this book!
Is your tank the very light flare color from Lululemon?! Love it!
I’ve been trying to start my day with warm lemon water and have had trouble getting it down! So sour first thing in the morning. But the long list of health/beauty benefits keeps me going !
My ex-boyfriend’s mother drank warm water with lemon every morning. Her hubby would bring it to her in bed. She swore by it!
I’m curious to see how it works for you and perhaps I will give it a try!
Yum! I’m not big on fast food, but Panera Pick 2 is an exception. I love a soup/salad or soup/half sandwich.
Lemon water is great for debloating for sure! I actually like the taste, but if you dislike it, try ginger and lemon. Boil some ginger in the water and then add lemon, it tastes more like a tea with some zing that way (vs. straight up lemon).
My GI doctor recommends hot water with lemon! Great for de-bloating and getting things moving!
I always start my day with 24 oz of green tea. How much lemon do you add to an 8 oz glass of water?
Yum all those look so delicious to me right now! Glad you are enjoying your snow day 🙂
I’m hoping for a snow day here as well! Stay warm and safe!
OMG stay warm and safe…Cannot believe you are eating a smoothie with those cold temperatures! I wanted to make one this morning, but it was 35 degrees…I’m waiting until later this weekend, when we are in the 70’s…XO
I recently had Panera’s turkey chili after a very cold and wet 5k-and I definitely agree that it’s delicious. And perfect to warm up with on a dreary day!
You are inspiring me to start eating healthier! Thank you. I really needed that. 😛 Hope you all in Charlotte stay safe & warm!
This is a heap of info on such a small topic, but this is totally my jam and I’ve been progressively getting my friends converted so may as well post some knowledge for anyone who might find it interesting! 🙂
Different combos of lemon/water/others = different health benefits!
Pretty much you can’t go wrong, and they’re all going to do good things for your body.. but some differences:
Hot lemon water + honey = the BEST sore throat/cough relief
Lukewarm lemon water + maple syrup + cayenne = cleansing
Lukewarm lemon water + honey = my go to 🙂
..make sure to use real lemons (vs. lemon juice) whenever possible, they have a lot more active enzymes & nutrients! Honey is also antibacterial/antimicrobial, so if you’re feeling sick/run down/having digestive issues, it will help. Maple syrup is a better source of minerals than honey though! And leukwarm vs. hot.. once the water is above body temperature, a lot of the enzymes in the lemon are denatured (they no longer function) so it’s optimal to stay below that threshold 🙂 Honestly the lemon + honey just tastes so good, I’m not really fond of any fruit or anything in my water – but this is the exception!
**Note re: honey: as much as it may sound pretentious, you’ve gotta get raw, unpasteurized honey and or/real maple syrup!!! Pasteurizing/processing the honey kills pretty much all the good stuff, so you’re just left with the sweet.. and if it needed to be pasteurized, you probably don’t want to eat it anyways (standard grocery store honey can come from not very nice places..) Same sorta deal with the syrup. Also, the taste is incredibly different (and infinitely better!!).
Water+lemon in the morning helps with regularity, not sure about water retention… But it had a bad effect on my skin so I stopped.
I bought a big container of Kale, planning to add it to my green smoothies….not a big fan. I think I will stick to spinach and avocado. Do you ever add avocado!? I like to use instead of a banana..adds creaminess without a strong flavor. Now that I have all of this unused kale….how do you make your kale chips?? Thanks!
I had that same combo at Panera this past weekend! I really loved the soup! The rest of your meals look awesome! Have a great snow day!
Whoaah! That’s a lot of snow for Charlotte! We just had a similar snowfall in Kansas City, but it’s not unusual for us. You should get out and build a snowman 😉
Love your Y2 sweatshirt!
I have a mug of hot lemon water every morning!
I started after a class on ayurveda about a year ago as a way to help with skin issues, and haven’t looked back! If I skip it for even a couple of days I can tell, but it is hard to keep up with when it’s hot out.
I don’t envy you. Eugene just had a huge snow storm followed by a nasty ice storm that left ice covering everything, which means trees fell everywhere, etc. We’re like you guys, snow shuts us down. Take good care of yourself and be careful 🙂
I stopped drinking coffee (and all caffeinated beverages) a few years ago. I often drink lemon water in the morning. I really love it, but I worry about my teeth so I don’t do it on a regular basis. Usually just a pint of fresh water first thing in the morning.
I start my day with warm lemon water. I am reading a book called “Eating Right for Your Blood Type” and it recommends it for digestion and ridding your body of excess mucous that some blood types have. I will have to try it with honey and cayenne.