Andrea
Meatless Mondays
Week 5 4/7/14
This Meatless Monday was not quite
as successful as I had planned due to lack of time. My weekend was
exceptionally busy, especially Sunday when I try to get to the grocery store to
pick up any items I might need for the next day. Needless to say, I did not
make it to the grocery store, nor did I have much time at all on Monday to
prepare meals. After an early morning run, I had oatmeal with flaxseeds, peanut
butter, sliced bananas and a little bit of Splenda for sweetness. I made a
quick smoothie to take to school with me to have in-between running lab
sessions. I was able to store it in a refrigerator until I got the chance to
have it; I made it with vanilla protein powder, frozen strawberries, spinach,
plain almond milk, and some more flaxseeds. I also packed some chopped walnuts
that I had lying around in my kitchen cupboard and a clementine for snacks.
When I got home from school at night I had some cottage cheese and a salad with
sliced strawberries and apples, feta cheese, chickpeas leftover from Sowmya’s
hummus that I made, leftover chopped parsley, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar
and olive oil. I would have tried to make something more creative with the
chickpeas but I had homework and projects to get to ASAP. I finished off the
night with my mug of decaf Refresh Mint Tazo tea.
I’d have to say my dinner was the
most affected meal, considering I wasn’t able to devote much time to preparing
a more complete meal. Going meatless on Monday didn’t really affect other days
of the week, especially since I didn’t even make it to a grocery store or
devote much time to meal planning. I think what I might need to do for next
week is to be extra prepared by meal planning/shopping by the early weekend,
that way I’m not caught up in the rush of school or work. I’ll try to aim to
have my meals semi-prepared by Friday or Saturday with a clear plan of the kind
of time I’ll need to cook on Monday. It’s just unfortunate that Mondays are one
of my busiest days, but I’m going to keep trying to make this work!
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteFor being so busy, your meals didn't sound too bad! That smoothie sounds really good. Does flaxseed have a certain taste? Someone recommended it to me on here before and my roommate adds it to yogurt in the morning, but I have never had it before. I need some new ideas to add to my daily meals. I have also never heard of adding Splenda to oatmeal! I started the year off making smoothies for breakfast but it’s hard in the early morning because I have 3 roommates that were bothered by the noise at 7 am of the blender and smoothies taste gross if you let them sit all night. Also, does the spinach add a weird taste to the smoothie? My roommate adds kale to her smoothies and they have virtually no taste at all. Lately I see more and more smoothies at restaurants being made with kale, I guess that is the new health trend. I am also really impressed with your salad; whenever I try to make homemade ones they come out very plain, I am not creative with them. I totally agree with you thought about their not being enough time to prepare meals. Especially over these next few weeks, I am really crunched with time between work and projects for six classes. I want to prepare ahead of time but I don’t want my meals to come out gross if I prepare them Friday and don’t eat them until Monday. I’ll have to figure out something that is fast and easy to carry to work with me. Good luck on your final week next week!
-Cass