What I Ate Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!  This week already seems to be going by faster than last – thank goodness!  Probably because I had appointments in central Illinois on Monday, so spent most of the day in the car. It felt long while I was in it, but now it is suddenly Wednesday and it feels as if Monday almost didn’t happen.

Today I am participating in my very first What I Ate Wednesday link party.  I first heard about this a few weeks ago and have been considering joining in every week since.  Wanna know something, though?  My Tuesday eats are boring.  I kept waiting for a more exciting day to join my first partay but, alas, it never arrived.  Since the purpose of WIAW is to share what I ate, and not necessarily to be super creative with my food, I bring to you my first contribution – a day that truly sums up what it means to be an in-home consultant (lots of meals in the car).

Breakfast

To start off my day, I enjoyed a cereal combo bowl which included Chex, Basic 4, Honey Nut Cheerios and chia seeds, all topped off with coconut milk.  This was the first time I’ve ever tried coconut milk as a cereal topper.  Before yesterday, I had only ever used it in Indian/Thai cooking.  And let me tell you something.  It was good.  I expected it to taste kind of like nothing, but it actually had a pretty strong coconut flavor.  It wouldn’t be an every day choice for me, ’cause sometimes you just don’t feel like coconut, but it really livened up my bowl of cereal!

Snack

For a mid-morning snack, I enjoyed a strawberry fruit strip.  So fruity and delicious!

Lunch

Lunch had to be portable, since I was planning on eating in the car on my way to a 1:00 appointment.  I made a peanut butter sandwich on a multigrain sandwich thin, and enjoyed some Glutino gluten free pretzels on the side.

Many children with autism are on special diets, including gluten/casein free.  This means that I am continually exposed to new gluten and casein free foods.  I remember when I first started in the field several years ago, most of the gluten free options were pretty dry and bland.  But since the allergy has come into the spotlight, more options have been popping up that are really quite tasty.  These pretzels are delicious.  Honestly, I like them more than regular pretzels, so I was really excited last week when one of my co-workers brought me a bag that she had found at Whole Foods.  I have since finished said bag, so I’ll have to take a trip there sometime soon to stock up 🙂

Dinner

I had an evening appointment yesterday as well, and wasn’t going to be home until 8:30.  Since I hate eating late, I decided to have dinner in between appointments – at Starbucks.  I love that so many places are coming out with healthy options nowadays!

I started off my dinner with a Tazo Refresh tea.  I had never had this flavor before, but I definitely needed to be refreshed so I figured I’d give it a shot.  It is a blend of peppermint and spearmint and is ridiculously good.  I actually went back up to the counter and purchased a tin of it before I left.  I am enjoying a cup as we speak 🙂

I also had a bowl of oatmeal with a little brown sugar, dried fruit and mixed nuts.  I sprinkled in some vanilla protein powder that I picked up from CVS to give the oats a little more staying power.  It did the trick and was quite a filling meal.

Snack

On my way home, I snacked on some honey wheat pretzel sticks, which really hit the spot for some crunch and sweetness.  And when I got home, I had two Christmas peanut butter cups and a Clementine.  Perfectly sweet end to the day!

And there you have it.  My first What I Ate Wednesday post.  I hope you enjoyed reading about my travel-filled day!