The Homestretch! Days 12 & 13

I think I've eaten too much fiber today, my tummy is making moves as I type this.

Sarah's flowers were delivered! Thank you Priority Unit of 1800Flowers for making this problem right! Still never going to use them again but at least she got the flowers...finally

I even got them to upgrade to a larger size than I had ordered. BOOM BABY!

Now onto.....Day 12!

Breakfast today was supposed to be the berry/yogurt "parfait" again but I ended up with potato chips and apple juice at my desk. Not my proudest moment but at least they were the popchips that are like baked and stuff. I wasn't in a yogurt mood. 

Lunch was supposed to be the chili I didn't make when I didn't feel like cooking so that one was out too...whoops? You can really see I'm being disciplined here and sticking with it.... Instead I had some Chinese food because it was free lunch Thursday at the office and that's what was catered. At least I still stuck with my goal of not thinking about what I was going to eat?

I did have the pear for my snack! And it happened to be a perfect pear. It was everything that every pear hopes to be.

Dinner was talapia cooked on a bed of green onions and baby bok choy with some sauce stuff I whipped up and all folded into a parchment packet. I was a little leery going in but it was actually very good. The recipe called for 6 heads of baby bok choy and I think they meant the very smallest of small baby bok choys. Even when I was grocery shopping I did not buy the recommended amount because my options for baby bok choy were more like large toddler bok choy. I started out intending to use 3 but only used one once I realized how small a parchment area I had to work with, and that was even making a bigger parchment packet than they suggested. 

This is what large toddler bok choy looks like

The recipe also called for shallots instead of green onions but I again forgot to buy more shallots on my way back from work. I think the green onions were a fine stand in and they worked with the color scheme. I completely forgot to take a picture of the pretty finished product so you unfortunately get a picture of the not so pretty almost fully eaten product. 

This was quite delicious and the quickest/easiest meal I've made so far and it didn't even involve the use of leftovers. I was actually surprised by how quickly I was able to make and eat a good for you meal. 

Night time snack was supposed to be the home made hot chocolate again. I still stuck with the chocolate theme but with a little more sugar/calories.

Then came my last weekday of clean eating, Day 13: 

The day started out with overnight oats again except this time with strawberries instead of black berries. Since my strawberries went bad prematurely in the week I used some raspberries I had on hand instead. AND I made sure to smash them up before adding the other ingredients so the flavors could mingle overnight. Well they weren't nearly as bad as my first overnight oat attempt where I had one bite. By the time I called it quits with this version I was surprised to see I had made it half way through. Although I did dig around to find the biggest chunks of raspberry so I don't know how much credit I really deserve. 

There is just something about the texture that continually irks me about this breakfast. It's thick enough with enough chunks that I want to chew it but if I do that then I'll really be grossed out by how much I don't need to chew. Then if I just kinda slurp it down it feels all slithery thanks to the weird jelly like quality of the chia seeds from sitting overnight. It's just too weird and I can't find a good way to eat it. Food should be eaten on instinct, not by figuring out the best way. 

For lunch was supposed to be some of the leftover salad I didn't make because I wanted real food for dinner. So I made a quick sorta version of it without adding some steamed snap peas. No loss there, I don't care much for cooked snap peas. I'll eat them forever if they're raw and I have ample ranch dressing but they're not my thing once cooked. 

The salad I had consisted of aragula, sliced raddish, a little mint, some feta, and leftover quinoa all topped with a balsamic vinaigrette. It was quite tasty and I ate the whole thing. And I completely for got to take a picture. I'm just now realizing it. I could take a picture of the empty container but that's just sad. Just know that it was good, I ate all of it, and it looked like most other salads I've had so far. 

Snack today was supposed to be carrot sticks and hummus but I wasn't feeling like putting in the effort to peel and cut the carrots this morning. Instead I had another one of those perfect pears that was at the peak of flavor awesomeness. 

Dinner today was again surprisingly easy and quick to make without leftovers. It was a quick stir fry type dealio of mushrooms, shrimp, green onions, and some garlic. Tossed with some of the sauce used on the fish yesterday and then served in romaine lettuce leaf boats. Well it was supposed to be served in the boats. Unfortunately my lettuce got funky on the outermost leaves and the inner ones weren't boat material. Instead, I chopped up the smaller leaves and just topped my salad with the stir fry mixture. It was way easier to eat like this anyways!

Again it was very good and I ate all of it! Thankfully after being bad for the past two days I feel like I redeemed myself a little bit today. Snack tonight is apples with a bit of honey. If you look at the summation picture for the day you'll see their version of putting honey on apples is complete chaos. Seriously, are you then going to eat it with a fork or get insanely sticky hands? I just don't understand.

Sheep update: they're still in that field but there is only a fence on one side. This morning I saw animal control wrangling some sheep that had gotten onto the road. What the heck! Why are there free range sheep? California, I will never understand you....

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!