The Morning Muse

Good morning friends,

Now that I have a bit more time, I’ve decided to start sharing my daily food diary! I’m eating pretty healthy and staying in a slight deficit to shed a few pounds, so I know some of y’all will find some inspiration here.

Due to the fact that I am recovering from some recent health issues, I am not supposed to be in a big calorie deficit, so your mileage may vary! I know that in general, I have some lbs to drop, but starting slow and focusing on getting enough protein.

So here we go…

Breakfast:

Skipped breakfast this morning, not out of any plan, but just listening to my body. I’m one of those people who doesn’t feel as hungry in the morning. But you know I couldn’t skip my coffee, and so I made my regular decaf with this Skinny Mixes Hazelnut syrup (zero calories for two tablespoons) and half a cup of oat milk.

The hazelnut syrup is really creamy, and it tasted a bit strange first, but it’s grown on me. I usually use the Torani sugar-free syrups, but the flavours my store carries are limited in the sugar-free version, so when I saw this skinny mixes syrup, I picked it up to try something different.

Lunch:

I bought two of those pre-portioned salmon fillets from walmart last week and finally cooked them in the oven last night. 10/10 for convenience; you just pop them on an oven -safe dish and bake at 400 for 10-11 minutes. But I’ll say, the flavour wasn’t a 10/10… Salmon is always good anyway, but the Loblaws salmon I used to get was a lot better.

Anyway, had one of the fillets for dinner and one for lunch today. There’s a whopping 31 grams of protein in each fillet, so that’s great! Mashed it up with a little mayo and paired with leftover rice, shredded carrots and sliced cucumber for a little salmon bowl vibe.

For dessert, I grabbed one of these birthday cake Quest bars. I haven’t had Quest protein bars in well over a decade and picked some up last week as I am trying to eat more protein.

Well, I don’t remember loving them this much, but I’ve been reaching for one every day! It definitely satisfies my sweet tooth, and it has 20 grams of protein. It does have that milky whey protein taste I don’t love though.

Snack:

I’ve been loving this snack lately! Microwaving 3/4-1 cup of frozen broad beans and then snacking on them (no peels) with salt! It reminds me a little of eating salted roasted sunflower seeds, but they’re creamy and soft.

Not as much protein as you’d expect unfortunately, but still really yummy and filling (and low in calories). I cover them in a little water before placing in the microwve and go for a few minutes on the vegetable setting.

Dinner:

A bit of a dog bowl for dinner, but there were a few things I needed to eat, and it tasted better than it looks. I cooked some of these grape tomatoes with olive oil and had a few of these small canned beets left. I added the last of my leftover rice and tried to brown a chicken sausage. The sauce is the baja Subway sauce (don’t recommend it–tasted a bit fishy!).

As you can see in the photos, I also had (only half of) a Celsius! I picked some up when I saw them on sale during my last grocery haul. Celsius is my guilty pleasure. I try to stay away from too much caffeine, but I guess because it is from green tea extract and there’s taurine in it, the effects you feel are much more calm focus and much less jittery “too much coffee” feeling. Plus they taste good!

And that’s all I ate! What are your favourite snacks to keep you full and energized between meals?