The heating is on. The big fluffy socks are out. The winter coat is being embraced. My early morning walks with Alfie are becoming very chilly. And when I say chilly, I mean COLD. I don’t understand dogs really. Alfie never looks cold. He never grumbles about going out in the cold or rain. He gets so excited regardless of what outside is like. I think we all need a bit of that relentless joy in our lives.
So I’m joining the fun with What I Ate Wednesday today:
Hosted by the lovely Jenn (check her blog for more info)
Honestly, I have become a hungry beast. Runger is going crazy in these parts. I am a snack MACHINE. At work my drawer is full of different snacks.
Yes that is a salt shaker there; it’s for my popcorn 
Some relatively healthy (dried fruit, olives, pumpkin seeds) and some not so healthy (cranberry cookie, chocolates and sweets). This isn’t one day’s worth of snacks though! Usually in the day I’ll have my first snack about an hour or so after lunch, then another snack an hour before going home. Then I’ll have an evening snack after dinner.
There are lots of opinions as to whether snacking is healthy or not. For me at the moment, snacking is what I need. I haven’t vastly changed what I’ve been eating for my actual meals since training for the marathon but I have bumped up my snacks. I hate feeling so full and bloated after lunch or diner so I make sure my extra calories come from snacks around those meals. Plus I love food, so more time eating different food is a win in my eyes.
I recently got a Groupon voucher for Flavourly which is kind of a more elaborate foodie Graze. They send a box of assorted treats to you every month. So I tried it out.
**I have not been compensated for this review or been contacted by Flavourly, these are just my opinions**
I got loads of different items, such a curry kit, salad dressing, aubergine and basil paste (you should have seen Ben’s face with this one)… I’m not sure I’ll carry on my subscription only because it’s quite expensive but I enjoyed it as a once off. So many different things I’d never tried before.
I especially enjoyed these:
Maple syrup and bacon popcorn. You know I love my popcorn but this rocked my world. SO tasty. Kind of salty and sweet. Don’t be scared of the bacon!!
I also enjoyed these dried apple crisps:
Because I don’t eat enough apples I thought I better have these to up my intake I was impressed that they were literally just apple slices. Nothing else in there.
And yes, I have been very much indulging in less than stellar snacks as well. You need a balance.
These were the special chocolates I paid a fortune for bought the other week. Unfortunately I’d forgotten what they all were, so it was a magical mystery tour of chocolates. I’m one of those people who spend ages looking at the chocolate flavours before trying one – no Russian roulette for me in the chocolate world.
And, for evening meals, I’m still loving my slow cooker.
Bean, lentil and butternut squash stew
I used THIS recipe. I had to switch the chickpeas with cannellini beans though as I’d run out. This was so filling, hearty and tasty. Ben didn’t like it as much…apparently there were “a lot of vegetables”. Pft! He’s not on-board with the obsession with squash or lentils…
So after my first ever 17 mile run on Sunday I decided it would be sensible to not go to spin Monday morning. I definitely needed that day off! I slept for like 10 hours straight Sunday night. On reflection I’m changing my marathon training plan so that Mondays are my day off instead of Wednesday. Seems wise. My body thanked me for it. My hamstrings were so tight!
What’s your opinion on snacking? As much as I can
What are your favourite snacks? Apples.
How many rest days do you take in a week? I have at least one rest day a week where I do nothing except walk Alfie.
Bacon Jam? Please tell me it’s as delicious as it sounds! Have you topped your pancakes with it yet? I’m not quite sure I’d be able to keep the spoon out of the jar. Ha Ha!
I haven’t tried it yet but I am SO excited to give it a go. Mmmm.
I love snacking too, I really struggle to get between meals without feeling absolutely famished otherwise 😛 I like fruit, nuts, nut butter and smoothies as snacks. I take one rest day whenever I feel I need it during the week, when I am training I tend to take it the day before my long run as I like fresh legs. Like the sound of the stew!
It’s all about snacking for me. I might not necessarily be hungry either…I just like food!
Anna those chocolates look absolutely AMAZING! Love how prettily they’re all decorated!
I’m a big snacker too, popcorn is awesome 🙂
I know, they’re so pretty. I got to choose each one as well (which was so very exciting!)
That foodie treat box sounds fab! I love snacking, I don’t like it when I’m snacking more than a couple of times a day, but I tried just having meals and they never hold me over. Gotta love apples too, that was my afternoon snack with almond butter for dipping 🙂
See I’m an apple purist. It’s all about just apples for me. No adding anything else. I just love a cold crunchy apple on its own.
Can I come over for snacks/dinner/dessert? Seriously in love with your snack drawer & that dinner… and those chocolates? I NEED them.
Haha nope they’re all mine!
I love to snack! I have major runger problems too!
Runger is an issue. But nothing a good load of snacks can’t help!
Those chocolates looks so pretty! I love snacks usually an apple or almonds is what i go for first. I take at least one rest day a week sometimes 2 or sometimes none depending on work etc
Almonds are a good choice as they’re very filling. But I usually can’t stop at a few…
Congrats on such a long run! Those chocolates look like fun 🙂 I love cutting them in half to see what’s inside!
That’s a good idea! My husband just tends to pop them in his mouth in one but I like to nibble mine a bit.
Those chocolates are so pretty- although that would be something I would buy and then never eat them. The other day I found a reindeer chocolate that I bought in Bruges last year- it is still too pretty to eat!
I think snacking is good- especially when marathon training! Good idea to switch up your rest day too- I always found that I needed a rest day after a long run, especially when they got super long, but I could do a short run the day before so long as I didn’t go too hard.
Haha yes I know what you mean about saving treats. I have quite a few things in our cupboards that I can’t bear to eat yet…like special limited edition chocolate that I don’t want to eat because it won’t exist anymore afterwards!
I carry a salt shaker in my purse. Haha. I just stuffed it there after a grocery shopping trip and forgot it was in there 🙂 Eventually when my other shaker gets empty I’ll take it out.
Now you can eat apples both fresh AND dried. You truly live up to your blog name! 😉
Those chocolates are probably the cutest I have ever seen. A mini pumpkin!
And that popcorn… I need to try and recreate that for my brother. He’s obsessed with bacon. We just bought bacon ranch dressing for him last week. What?!
Bacon is slowly taking over this world I swear. I’m loving it at the moment. I never thought I liked bacon but I started on turkey bacon and then progressed to normal. Same happened with sausages.
Salt shaker in your bag? Genius!
Congrats on such a long run! Those chocolates look amazing!
http://www.journeysthroughmeadows.blogspot.com
They are really very tasty!