Day Four

I remembered to take photos of Friday... YAY! We were still a little sleepy when the alarms when off on Day Four, but we were still able to make our breakfast, pack our lunches, make a trip to Whole Foods, and be at work on time by 10am. I know most of you are thinking that by 10am you've already been hard at work for about two-three hours, but we typically work evening and night shifts, so we generally get off of work around 10 or 10:30pm... so there's that factor.

A couple of dear friends, Marti and Lee, gave us Danielle Walker's Against All Grain cookbooks as an early wedding gift. Marti has a gluten and dairy intolerance and found these cookbooks to be great resources, so she shared them with us. Our lunch was one of the recipes found in these books (we just had to omit the red wine) and it was delicious! Incredibly tender, juicy and very rich. Perfect filling meal for a crappy day of yet more Chicago winter.

Breakfast: Omelets with Red Pepper and Broccoli, Bacon
Snack: Dehydrated Strawberries (for me)
Lunch: Crockpot Pork Roast with Veggies and Sweet Potatoes, Raw Veggies, and Banana Chia Pudding (for me), Leftover "Burgers" and a banana (for Jason)
Dinner: Shrimp and Sautéed Cauliflower, Apple with Almond Butter (for me), Crockpot Pork Roast (for Jason)

I'm trying to cut back on the times I am needing to have a snack each day, while also not allowing myself to become overly hungry either. I have found that simply increasing my portions at each meal often leads to me not being able to finish everything before I am too full, but that a small snack such as some veggies, a piece of fruit or a cup of applesauce is usually plenty to help me bridge meals.

I picked up a few things at Whole Foods today, but these LaraBars were something we decided might not be bad to have around. They are made with dates, fruits, nuts and spices, but no added sugars or oils. This is not true for all the LaraBar flavors though, so read the labels carefully! These aren't something we plan to incorporate into our daily meals and snacks, but are shelf stable so we can each stash one or two at work or in our bags so that in a emergency situation we have something that won't blow all our efforts out of the water.