Hi guys, hope you’re all well. As usual, it’s What I Ate Wednesday. Check out Jenn’s blog to get involved or peruse other people’s exciting eats. I can’t promise mine will rock your world, but I certainly enjoyed them 
The theme is to get your veggies in and, to be honest, I never really have a problem with this. I’m a big vegetable fan (not you though, celery, you can stay back). Usually every evening meal is accompanied by a big serving of veg. Ben used to be shocked, but now he just expects it.
Breakfast is where I draw the line with veggies though. I just have my bog standard bowl of oats with almond milk, zapped up in a delightfully stodgy heap of deliciousness.
Are you surprised? I literally don’t change. I literally haven’t changed this for about 8 years. I think I just like how simple it is to make, how filling it is and how much I love eating it. Why would I change?
Lunch has been a different affair at work recently. Last week I had my usual monster tuna salad, Babybel and yogurt with fruit at work. It’s easier to throw together and I like it.
However, I’ve been finding that I hit the afternoon and find myself feeling FAMISHED. I tend to have a banana and apple to bridge the gap between lunch and dinner and that used to be fine, but recently this hasn’t worked. I would drive home feeling not so great and in need of food. LIKE NOW.
I’m thinking it’s because I’m running more. I never used to run 5 times a week and never the mileage I’m doing now. Because I’ve crept the mileage up quite gently I haven’t really thought about increasing my food as well. Typing this now actually makes me feel stupid. It’s another “well duh Anna” moment.
Now you might have noticed, I’m not a huge carb lover. You can take your bread, your pasta, your rice…I’d much rather have protein or fat. Salads piled high with veg, cheese and chicken. Roasted vegetables with melted cheese. Chicken stews with a side portion of veg.
However, this isn’t working for me right now.
It’s annoying because I like what I eat. I don’t want to change, but let’s be sensible here. So for lunch at work I’ve swapped the tuna salad for a turkey bacon and cream cheese sandwich…
…With a side portion of salad. I can change some things but not all! I also had fruit with Alpro soya yogurt and frozen fruit salad (that had nicely defrosted by lunch). This has definitely made me feel a bit better. I also adore the combination of bacon with cream cheese.
Then for dinner I tried something crazy (in Ben’s eyes). I attempted…savoury oatmeal. I was dubious going into this if I’m honest. I mean, I eat porridge every single morning and suddenly having it with chicken and vegetables. Well, that’s just weird…or is it?
Yeah OK it doesn’t look great, does it? It looks pretty much like sludge. But! It tasted so good. It didn’t remind me of breakfast at all. It was just a completely different meal.
I based it on THIS recipe but added a few bits and pieces to make it a bit more filling for my new found hunger.
Chicken Savoury Oatmeal (aka Sludge for Dinner) (serves 1)
- 1/2 cup (40g) quick-cook oats
- Garlic clove, diced
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 2 small mushrooms, chopped
- 1/4 zucchini, chopped
- 1 chicken breast, cut into chunks
- 350ml (1 & 2/3 cup) chicken stock
- 1tbs nutritional yeast
– Fry onions in a little oil for 5 minutes, then add garlic for a minute.
– Add chicken, mushrooms and zucchini and fry until chicken is cooked.
– While this is happening, cook the oats on the hob with the stock. Add more water if it looks too thick.
– Then combine all the ingredients together and add the nutritional yeast. Then serve when at the consistency you want.
Yep, still sludge. But it tasted so good and was so filling.
Another meal I really enjoyed was Monday night. We had a lentil meal which we both loved (BBC Good Food recipe: Middle Eastern Chicken and Apricot Stew).
Very simple to make and really flavoursome.
So, more carbs I hope you noticed. OK I didn’t go crazy – I didn’t chomp my way through a full-sized French baguette obviously. But I’ve been adding bits and pieces and adopting this pattern now throughout the week and my energy levels are so much better. I’m not a horrific beast when I get in after work (can you hear that sigh of relief from Ben??) Small changes!
Have you found that you needed to change what you were eating to compensate an increase in exercise?
What’s your favourite carb?
Have a great Wednesday!
I’ve only just gotten into Almond Milk but its probably because they only just brought out Almond Breeze here and it is delicious. I’m not so sure about your savoury oats but the lentil meal looks pretty darn good 🙂
I can’t live without almond milk now! I just love the taste.
Haha fair enough 🙂
Your sludge looks interesting, I can’t really imagine what it would taste like, I’m intrigued! Yes another duh Anna moment 😛 I’ve added having yogurt or coconut cream with some fruit at lunch time this week, which really helps fill me up, especially when I’m having salads for lunch! You ever considered making your own Nakd or Oat based bars? Would be great to much on the drive back home!
Yeah that’s true, something to nibble on the car journey home would definitely help!
The savoury oats just doesn’t remind me of normal porridge at all. The texture is similar I suppose but not the taste.
Haha! Sludge for dinner actually sounds pretty darn good!
Hehe I really enjoyed it!
I think your savoury oats would be great for Sprint 2 the Table’s Strange But Good link-up! I’ve personally only ever tried sweet oats in the past, but I can see how a savoury porridge could be good 🙂
What I am positive looks good is your “plain” bowl of oats in the morning. Plain is the best in my opinion 🙂
Ahh yeah, I’ve seen that link up. I’ll post it again some time and link up then I think. Always nice to get involved with the link ups 🙂
Mmm alll looks yummy – i love my oats really stodgy too, i can’t stand them when they’re really runny!
Urgh yeah runny oats are so disappointing!
Love the changes! That savory oatmeal doesn’t look too bad! We cook the same type of thing with polenta/grits over here and I love it with some cheese thrown it. Yummm. Also I LOLed at your celery comment. I’m not a fan either, unless it’s cooked to death in soups and you can’t taste it.
Haha yep celery is just so stringy!
I think I’m just going to run my way through all the different grains hehe. Definitely want to try polenta.
The oatmeal “Sludge” looks interesting! I may have to try it if I can get over the idea of oatmeal being strictly a breakfast food 🙂
I found it so weird eating my usual breakfast meal but with chicken – but honestly it didn’t taste anything like my breakfast so it was fine after the first bite hehe.
That Middle Eastern stew sounds great! I would love to try it with tofu instead of chicken :).
I’m sure tofu would work really well with it or beans!
Its really good that you’ve become aware of this, I fell into that trap but never really corrected it when I was running and that caused me some problems! My fave carb is kabocha squash, followed by butternut squash followed by sweet potato. Can not get enough!
Oh yeah squashes are so good. I forget how carby they are so they’d be great to bulk out my salads a bit more. I still need to try kaboacha squash though!
You may want to try ACTUAL bread ,as opposed to ( chemically, processed, diety) sandwich thins…just a thought.
Yeah you’re right. Those things though taste nice, aren’t that hugely satisfying! I’m just not a big fan of bread in general. But I’m happy to keep experimenting until I get it right.
I can completely relate to the stubborn feelings towards increasing carbs to fit the demands of exercise! The same thing happened to me when I began lifting heavy; suddenly my energy needs were through the roof (like, drastically different), and I quickly realized that increasing my carbs was the only ticket out of chronic exhaustion. Once I was able to transition, I felt SO much better! My favorite carbs are definitely the orange ones–sweet potatoes, butternut squash and kabocha squash–however, I also love a good piece of whole grain toast spread with peanut butter or butter and cinnamon + sugar. 🙂
Your savory oats sound like something I’d love! Sure, they’re not the most attractive meal in town, but I firmly believe that the best food often looks the worst. 😉 Thanks for sharing the recipe! xoxoxo <3
I think it just surprised me how quickly my appetite changed. I tended to eat the same thing at work and was surprised by how different I started feeling. Definitely eating more carbs is helping though.
I’m the same; I only really have carbs (always porridge)at breakfast, not reallylunch or dinner… maybe that doesn’t help with me always being tired! If you change exercise habits gradually though, it makes sense you wouldn’t realise you might need more.
I’ve had savoury porridge and love it; Laura (KHGS) made a lovely recipe with nutritional yeast and cashew butter, I think she might have used another grain but I used to have it with oats, sauted garlic mushrooms and leeks and it was lovely 🙂
I’m so ready to try different variations of savoury oats now! And other grains. I just never really felt the need for them before, I always prefered more protein or fat.
Your oats always look so thick! I love it! Do you add eggs?
Nope, I just use a little over 1/2 cup (60g) rolled oats and then mix it with almond milk so there’s a little bit above the oats, then microwave for 2.5mins, stire, then microwave again for another min. Perfect!