Let’s Talk Food |

Bells determine my daily schedule. They tell me when I need to start working, when I can use the restroom, and when I can eat. This semester, the 12:36pm bell, after sixth hour, tells me it is time to eat lunch.

I have heard that you should listen to your body and eat when it wants you to, but I have also heard it is good to eat on a normal schedule everyday. My body loves food, and even when I have a large, protein-packed meal, my stomach is growling four hours later. If I go beyond that four hours by much, watch out; I get grumpy and often stop talking. I hate hunger pains! In general, I am a very happy, relaxed person, but if I am hungry, it is not pretty.

To deal with my later lunch this semester, I have recently reduced the amount of peanut butter in my overnight oats and added a small snack (this week it was strawberries) to munch on around 9:40am.

This week I ate a salad for every lunch. Yah for vegetables!

Here was my lunch from Thursday: salad, cool mint chocolate Clif bar, and water. Of course I caught up on some blogs while I ate.

For Brody’s birthday, he requested a favorite meal: Baked Ziti in Mornay Sauce. I found this recipe a few years ago and make it for special occasions. After many times of making it, I finally figured out the key to a good Mornay sauce; heat up the milk a little before whisking it in. I have also used different kinds of cheeses such as parmesan and Romano. It makes for great leftovers too!

Not the prettiest but the tastiest

This morning I slept until 8:20am and treated myself to pancakes…after doing the dishes and unloading the dishwasher. We all know how much I dislike doing dishes, so the pancakes kept me focused and motivated. I followed Julie’s recipe but used two egg whites and a packet of Splenda instead of honey. I also sliced a banana and sprinkled chia seeds over them while they cooked on one side. The banana caramelizes and becomes amazing. The pancakes were topped with TJ’s peanut butter and a little sugar free syrup. Delicious and filling! A perfect breakfast before a 4.5 mile run with a friend.

As I type this post, I have a cheesecake baking (or cooking?) in the oven. Brody’s birthday is really a birthweek, so the celebration involving food continues on through today. This cheesecake recipe is a new one for me, but from a fantastic cookbook my sister-in-law got for me for Christmas a few years ago.

I have made the Baked Brownie, (which are famous and I think were on Oprah’s favorites things episode one year), the Whiteout Cake, and the S’more Nut Bars. There are so many other recipes I’d like to try but baking from this book every weekend would not be doing my marathon training or my waistline any favors. However, these are two I would like to make in the relative near future: