Alternatively titled “Under the Influence,” but I decided to go with something a little less risqué 😉
… and before your mind runs away with you, not that kind of influence. Rest assured that I’m serfectly pober perfectly sober as we speak. I’m talking about the blogging influence. We spend a lot of time browsing various food blogs, so it’s inevitable that some of what we see rubs off on us. This can be both a good and bad thing, but for this week’s edition of What I Ate Wednesday, I wanted to focus on the good. So, let’s take a look at some of the blogging influence that can be found in my meals…
Breakfast… [Eggy oats with toppings galore]
I’ve been eating oatmeal for pretty much as long as I can remember, but my current bowls definitely look a lot different from my bowls of breakfasts past. Back then I would have never thought to add egg whites to my oats, and I kept my toppings pretty basic with things like brown sugar, cinnamon, and a splash of milk. These days? Bring on the eggy bananafied oats and load ’em up with plenty of plain Greek yogurt, blueberry jam (or honey/maple syrup/pudding/etc), and roasted almond butter.
Morning snack… [Chia seeds]
I can’t even believe I’m saying this considering how much I’ve ragged on them in the past, but this is just another example of why it’s a good idea to never say never – you may end up eating your words. I’ve been wanting to get these little buggers out of my pantry for a while now, and I think I may have found a way that I actually enjoy eating them – sprinkled on top of vanilla infused Greek yogurt that’s been mixed with fruit; sliced banana and homemade applesauce in this case.
I’m still not a huge fan of them when they get all gelled up and goopy, but they add the most delightful little crunch to things before getting to that point. Sure I end up having to spend a minute picking them out of my teeth afterwards, but I’m willing to overlook that… for now.
Lunch… [Almond butter]
Wanna hear something crazy? I didn’t have my first taste of almond butter until the ripe age of 25. Since I’m allergic to peanuts, peanut butter was obviously out of the question for me as a kid, and I didn’t even know that something like almond butter existed until I came across it on the pages of various blogs. Let’s just say I pretty much owe blogging for life for that one, because I don’t think a day has gone by without AB in it since my first faithful taste. I love it on ALL things, and especially when it’s paired with bread and [blueberry] jam…
Afternoon snack… [Creating my own recipes]
Before I started blogging, my creativity in the kitchen was basically non-existant. In fact, I’m pretty sure that one of the only things I could make was mac ‘n’ cheese, and I’m not talking about the fancy ones from scratch. I was a lot better with baking, but even then I was always following a recipe. It wasn’t until I got into blogs that I became more adventurous in the kitchen and eventually started coming up with recipes of my own, like these no-bake almond fudge protein bars.
Dinner… [Kabocha squash]
Before blogging, I thought that pumpkin and squashes were just for decoration; I never imaged that people actually ate them. But in my defense, they do look a little intimidating, and they are dangerous. I can’t even tell you how many close calls I’ve had with knives – the fact that I still have all my digits is a miracle in itself. But I digress. The point is, I love squash, even if my stomach doesn’t always share that love (helloooo, squash belly!). Thankfully, the small kabocha I picked up at the store the other day didn’t cause any problems, and it was delicious roasted and eaten alongside almond butter and a baked chicken salad.
Evening snack… [Eating before bed]
Okay, so cereal definitely isn’t a new thing in my life, but eating before bed is. Even before my ED hit, I went through a phase where I bought into all the talk of not eating past 7 o’clock and usually ended up going to sleep hungry. It wasn’t until I saw plenty of bloggers who looked great and ate late that I started doing the same. Thank goodness, because waking up due to hunger pangs is misery, while a bowl of Kashi Cinnamon Harvest with a sliced banana, almond butter, cinnamon, and almond milk is just pure bliss.
. – . – . – .
I could probably go on and on about the foods that blogging has introduced me to (Greek yogurt, coconut, kombucha, hummus, pumpkin, avocado, dark chocolate, sweet potatoes), but I’ve already rambled on for long enough so it’s probably best that I end it here. But before I go, I wanted to mention that I just realized I had almond butter in 5 out of my 6 meals… Apparently I’m making up for lost time 😆
Happy Wednesday, beautiful people!
What are some foods you love that blogging has introduced you to?
What about some that you’re not so fond of?
what kind of greens do you use for your salads?
Usually just mixed baby greens. I like that I don’t have to worry about washing them 😉
you mean spring mix? Not sure what mixed greens would entail. I’m new at this!
Yes, spring mix.
I still think your squash picture might be one of the prettiest I’ve seen.
I’m not sure what foods I actually get from bloggers. I certainly try different recipes, and I find bloggers to be great inspirations, but I usually make things according to the produce I get in my CSA share.
I did try cocnut flour and wasn’t a fan. Same thing for almond butter (sorry, don’t hate me), athough I’ve done a few things with coconut oil and been pleasantly surprised. Typically I still with my traditional EVOO though. I do take bits and pieces of things from other blogs though, but nothing too crazy or fad centric I guess.
Oh my gosh, if it weren’t for blogging, I too would never had known the deliciousness of any nut butter other than peanut (and even then, our relationship was pretty unexciting), kabocha (and putting pumpkin into practically anything), nutritional yeast, tempeh, hummus, peanut flour, coconut, and Greek yogurt. Actually, I knew of Greek yogurt before blogging, but I definitely wasn’t a fan until my tastes for it changed. I used to get the Fage that came with the jam and add MORE jam…and now I love it plain! So crazy! But seriously, sometimes I sit and wonder how in the world I survived before blogging…WHAT did I eat?! Oh yeah…pizza rolls and poptarts! Lol
I keep trying to give chia the benefit of the doubt, but honestly, besides using it as an egg substitution, I never touch them! That’s pretty much the only blog food I can’t seem to get behind!
Pizza rolls and Poptarts sound pretty familiar 😉 And I was the same way with yogurt – I wouldn’t touch the plain stuff before, but now I prefer it over the flavoured varieties.
why is everything you eat so pretty? teach me your ways, because I currently eat out of tinfoil haha
GOSH your food always looks so good!
One thing that blogging introduced me to was spaghetti squash. I never even thought to try it before I saw people blogging about it. Really, though, WIAW posts are so hard to look through because everything looks so good! I always want to run out and recreate others’ foods.
Blogging has introduced me so so many good foods! I just want to come over and eat everything you just had! 🙂
Blogging has definitely introduced me to new foods and funky meal combinations. It’s funny, I was actually recently talking about this with one of my friends when she asked me for my overnight oats recipe. She had never heard of them before, but knew I eat them a lot. When she asked me where I got the recipe, I said “blogging” thinking hmm….I suppose that sounds a bit odd. I think I used to be somewhat embarrassed of the food combinations I came up with, but now I’m proud of them – especially since people are always asking me for recipes now!
😆 Sometimes I forget that most people out in the “real” world aren’t as creative with their food as we are, and what seems completely normal and old news to us is actually pretty interesting to them.
Most recently, Kombucha 🙂
There are lots of foods I tried because of the blogging influence, namely coconut products. I’ve had a deathly fear of coconut since my ED because it’s so high in saturated fats, but now that I focus more on whole foods and nutrients rather than calories, I LOVE coconut oil (also as a face wash) and coconut flour. I still am not a huge fan of squash, ketchup or oats but at least I’ve given them a try and found what I really like.
I’ve actually eaten more kale, sweet potato, and chia seeds since I started blogging 🙂 Also I tried kombucha (eh) and loved green juices. Interesting to see what others are eating!
Keep making up for it! Almond butter is too good to go a day without (just saying!) I love all the different things that blogging has helped you expand into, getting a look into other people’s lives (and their eats) has been one of my favorite parts about joining the healthy living community!
Also I just wanted to let you know that I nominated you for a “sunshine Award” because I always feel good after reading your posts and you continually inspire me to push myself to be better! The nomination post and award information is in the link 🙂 http://slicesofsarahpie.blogspot.com/2013/09/sunshine-award.html
I actually am really happy that I read your blog – especially since I just ate cereal with almonds, PB, and honey. I used to go to bed hungry, but after a 1 hr workout, I was a bit hungry. Do you ever have trouble eating in the morning? I wake up and the thought of food makes me nauseous.
I don’t usually have any problems in the morning, no. But I don’t usually eat right when I wake up either… I’ll have some water, then black tea, and wait for hunger to kick in. How about things like fruit and yogurt? Does that cause you grief too?
I pretty much agree with everything you listed here – blogging has definitely changed the way I eat. It has introduced me to so many foods like banana egg white oatmeal, chia seeds, almond butter, Greek yogurt, tempeh, winter squash, pumpkin in oatmeal, kale, kale chips… the list goes on and on! The blogging trends that I’m not so fond of are OIAJ (way too hard to eat!) and protein powder in baked goods.
I haven’t had the best luck baking with protein powder either… but it works alright in non-baked goodies. And it’s always nice to come across another OIAJ hater 😉
Bahahaha the serfectly pober made me laugh out loud. You’re the best 🙂 PS let me know if you ever go to Vegas again- can’t believe I missed that!
Its crazy how blogging introduces us to a whole new concept of recipes, eating, cooking, everything- it can be overwhelming but at the same time, you can find newfound skills and tastes.
For me, I’m a huge fan of eggwhites in oats too, heck oatmeal in itself- I used to think it was prison food. Pumpkin NOT eaten in a sweet way, the versatility of coconut and peanut flours, and of course, how nut butters should be their own food group.
Something I’m not a huge fan of- eating oats out of a jar and kombucha. Especially Kombucha. It makes medicine taste like juice.
Looks amazing! How do you make your kabocha?
I just cut it in half, scooped out the seeds, cut it into smaller chunks, peeled off the skin, rubbed it with a little bit of coconut oil, plopped it on a baking sheet, and cooked it in a 425 oven for about 40 minutes.
I can relate to this so much! In fact I’m pretty sure I could write a whole post on it! I feel like most of the foods I eat were inspired by blogs in some way and I am totally okay with that…I’ve been introduced to some amazing stuff! Things that I would never have known to try or even that they existed. Kabocha is definitely a top one! 🙂
I’ve been under the influence for so long… I don’t know how much of my weirdness was before blogging or after. LOL! Definitely have blogs to thank for chia seeds and peanut flour!
I didn’t have almond butter until I was like 21, so I was kind of late to the party, too. But I’m totally jealous of that massive collection you’ve got!
Chia seeds have taught me a lesson: Always look in the mirror after eating them. Otherwise things might get a little embarrassing later in the day. You know…when you finally realize you’ve been grinning all afternoon (and to strangers) with about 2 or 3 chia seeds between your teeth. Yeah…
Coconut butter is definitely something I was introduced to thru reading blogs. And I absolutely love it. Something that seems to be mighty popular around the blogosphere (especially around the fall) that I’m not exactly a big fan of is canned pumpkin. I just don’t find it tasty and the only thing that I really ever use it for is subbing butter in recipes. But even so, it’s pretty rare. But like you said…never say never! haha
😆 I’ve had that happen to me with chia seeds as well… That’s actually one of the reasons I started hating on them 😉
I looooooove learning new foods and crazy recipes from the blogging world! And thank GOD you found love in almond butter. Without it, life would be very sad 😉
It was so bad, I think I blocked it from my memory 😉 Honestly hard to imagine life without it now!
No shame in all the almond butter. It is delicious! I probably have that or peanut butter in most of my meals as well. Just so tasty. Now and I really want some roasted squash to go with dinner. I need to pick one up next time I grocery shop!
Chia seeds are a blog influenced food for me for sure! Same with kale chips!
I actually didn’t start with almond butter or pumpkin until late(r) in life as well. 🙂
No matter how many recipes get posted, I still can’t bring myself to eat:
+ eggplant
+ mushrooms
+ artichokes
Eek.
Pumpkin, plantains, various nut butters, overnight oats, hemp seeds…so many great foods! Not to mention the recipes and prep ideas that come with them!
Oh gosh, the recipes… far too many, not enough time.
Yesss without bloggers out there I would have never imagined to eat all these amazing things!
I’ve definitely become more creative in the kitchen since I started cooking. I used to be all about baking, because it’s a science. There’s a recipe to follow – no improvisation is necessary. But when I moved out on my own and had to start cooking for myself, that’s when the magic began. haha. I love cooking now, it’s fun experimenting with different spices in my salad dressing, or new marinades for my chicken. I don’t get tooo crazy, but I do get creative so as to cater to my own tastes.
All of the above! The pumpkin one is so funny but so true! I also thought oats were only for porridge or making granola!
I definitely adapted a different way of eating since discovering blogs! There were some bad habits, but I have learned to distinguish the bad from the good. All with time <3 My favorite foods blogging introduced me to are nut butters, oats, pumpkin everything, pancakes, and waffles. I guess I love breakfast foods 😀 I am NOT a fan of overnight oats. I tried them once in college and it just didn't do it for me. Just… no. And I'm not a fan of foods which try to taste like other foods (ie. Cookie dough made from coconut flour and banana). Just call it something else and it would be fine. Lol.
😆 I feel you on the mock recipes, but sometimes it’s just so inconvenient to call them what they are! “Cookie dough” is a lot quicker to say than “coconut flour mixed with almond butter until a cookie dough consistency is reached,” ya know? 😉