#WIAW #12 – Back to School & New Food Finds

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for another WIAW. What I Ate Wednesday is a fun weekly post/blog social event started over at Peas and Crayons. If you want to follow my eats everyday, become my friend on MyFitnessPal.

This past week I found a bunch of fun new foods/drinks and I also started the new school year. Which means I’ve transitioned from “summer staples” to “school staples.” I have a lot of fun photos to share with you this week, so let’s get started.

My sister actually told me about this Arnold Palmer zero calorie drink from Arizona Iced Tea. It’s really refreshing and definitely not too sweet.

I’m a sucker for matching “lunchables.” I got the coffee tumbler from Target, and it keeps the coffee hot for quite some time. The insulated lunch bag is from Sachi.

My lunch staple for this time of year, before the weather turns cold. Fruit, salad (this version had mache, a tiny bit of sweet corn, 1/2 cup of sugar snap peas, and 3 oz rotiserie chicken) and Chobani yogurt. It keeps me full till dinner.

I tried The Fitnessista’s Breakfast Cookie for the first time this week, and I can say that it is the best make-ahead breakfast I’ve had. Period.  Delicious, modifiable, and packed with protein.  If you haven’t tried it yet, do it.

Next up is a fabulous food find from Trader Joe’s: Gourmet Chicken Meatballs.  I bought both flavors: sun-dried tomato, basil, provolone AND spicy buffalo style with blue cheese.   The nutrition is for the buffalo, but the sun-dried were similar (150 calories).

Tuesday’s dinner: Salad (romaine hearts, Persian cucumbers, raspberry vinaigrette), buffalo chicken meatballs, and brown rice medley.

Those who know me know that I am a coffee lover, so I was thrilled to see this can of limited edition Peaberry Kauai coffee beans at Trader Joe’s.  It says medium roast, but it’s definitely a full-bodied coffee.  A great way to start the day.

What was the best thing you’ve eaten today? This week?

• Do you have a go-to salad idea to share?
• Have you found any new foods?
• What’s your favorite make-ahead breakfast?

I highly recommend joining in on the WIAW posts! Not only do you get a TON of great ideas for healthy, interesting meals, but you can make some new blogging buddies, too.

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On a side note, late last year when school was ending, I was really struggling with heavy snacking in the afternoons, after school until dinner.  It was like I had a compulsion to overeat, and I set myself back every single day because not only was I eating way too many calories, but I would get really sluggish and not work out.  I had some ideas for how to tackle this, and I’m proud to say that so far this year (I’m only 2 days in, but I’m feeling confident about this), I’m not having that same issue.  Part of it is that I’m eating more at each meal (400 calories), but I’ve also changed my habits.  I get home, change, and take Sofi for a walk immediately.   Then when we get back, I clean up my lunch stuff and set up my lunch bag for the next day.  Afterward, I head straight into a workout.  And by then it’s time for dinner.  Alternately, I’ll go straight from school to workout, then come home and do the walk, clean-up, set out tomorrow’s clothes, and cook dinner routine.  The point is, I keep myself busy and don’t sit down until it’s finally time for dinner, and that makes all the difference.

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Swai, You Say?

I love trying new foods. I think part of it is the mystery of the unknown. Will I like the taste? Is it going to be a regular part of my menu from now on? And part of it is the “cool factor” of being groundbreaking.

Last night I tried a new type of fish called Swai.  It was on sale at Safeway and was something I had never heard of before. Maybe it’s not a new fish to most of you, but to me it was, and it made dinner a bit more exciting last night.

They were selling it frozen, in individual vacuum-packed bags. I love that, because it makes defrosting it so much easier.

Plus, I knew I HAD to try it with nutritional info like this:

I wanted to make the dinner quick and easy, so used one of my favorite “kitchen helpers” – Zip n’ Steam Bags. I usually only use them for steaming veggies, but they can steam meats, so I figured with a delicate white fish like this, it would be a great method to use. And because I wanted to keep the meal as lowcal as possible, I used one of my favorite sauces – Chaka’s MMM Sauce.

After 4 minutes in the micro, the fish looked like this. Definitely nothing to write home about, but very mild in smell and taste. The link above said that Swai is similar to catfish, but to me it’s closer to Tilapia. Very mild and versatile.

I knew the Chaka’s would help liven it up, and did it ever.  My meal was delicious!  Best of all, the entire spread you see before you was only 219 calories!

Dinner: fresh from the garden tomato, kale and onions, swai with Chaka's sauce. Yum!

Swai is going to become a regular part of the rotation in my kitchen.  I bought several different marinades  to add some flavor, including a mango spice one that I think will make fantastic fish tacos.

Are you adventurous in the kitchen?  What’s your newest food find?

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Food Finds

Yesterday  after finished my training session, I was DRAINED, but knew I needed to stop into Target for a few things.  I should mention right now that whenever I go into Target, it’s never a cheap trip because I always find lots of things that I want to  buy.  If I make it out of the store spending less than $75 I consider it a good trip.  LOL.  Last night was no different; I found a ton of things that I just “had to have” and I thought I’d share a few of them with you.

I saw these on someone else’s blog and thought they looked really good.  Plus, I liked that they were already pre-portioned.  The thing is, there are about 15 nuts in a little bag, which doesn’t seem very economical.  I think I’d rather buy them in a bigger container and separate them out myself on my food scale.  They did taste really good though – it was a nice combo of a little bit of chocolate and some crunch.  Plus, a good source of protein. 

I was so excited when I found these because I thought it would be great portion control.  I don’t know why, but I didn’t read the label in the store.  If I had, I’d see that one of these very small containers was 390 calories, 32g of fat, and 4g of fiber, equalling 10 points!! 10 POINTS!  This is way too much for something that amounts to a bit more than 2 TBSP.  My reduced-fat Jif at home is 4 points for 2 TBSP, and I have no idea why this one is so much more.  I can definitely pre-portion out my own peanut butter and put it into a small Rubbermaid container to save 6 points.  Bad purchase for sure. 

 I usually always make my dinners ahead of time on the weekend, but this weekend was hectic and I ran out of time.  Last night I was so exhausted from the training that I decided I’d buy some WW meals to have on hand for nights like that one.  I know the sodium in the frozen meals is high, but I don’t mind having them from time to time.  It’s nice to have a few in the freezer for nights when unexpected things happen or I’m just too tired to cook.  This was really good, and for 6 points, well worth it.  The bread was chewy and crunchy all at the same time and the flavor of the sauce and red peppers was great.  I’ll definitely buy these flatbreads again. 

Are these adorable, or what?  Growing up, we called these “fishies” and the name has stuck all these years.  I loved the idea of having little “fishies” that tasted like s’mores.  These definitely did, and as you can see in the photo, the 30g serving size is a good amount of crackers for 3 points.  This is definitely the type of snack that satsifies the sweet tooth but doesn’t make you feel too guilty.  I’ll definitely buy these again. 

So those were the food items I found at Target last night.  (I found many other non-food related items on this trip, too, including a Barbie RAZR scooter for my niece’s 7th birthday.  She’s going to LOVE it!!)  Most of them are processed snack foods that I could do without, but a few of them are fun snacks that will help curb cravings or fill in when I only have time for a quick bite. 

Have you found any interesting foods lately?

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