Tickling The Taste Buds

My focus this week with my food was to excite my taste buds and I did pretty good at this.  There were days/meals I tried to balance but still excite my taste buds and make my food enjoyable.  I also didn’t snap as many photos as I should of.  Sometimes I’m good at remembering and other times I am not.  My meals at work are usually very unappealing to look at as they are in Tupperware.

Papa Murphy pizza was on the menu for last Tuesday and then my dinner plans with my friends changed.  So I ended up baking up the pizza and taking it to work.  I was showing a WW friend of mine how I cut my pizza into smaller slices so I think I’m having more.  Of course it always tastes so good I WANT more.  I had one full slice and cut into two and then another half of a slice.  I had Caesar salad on the side with parmesan cheese and ground pepper (they key to good Cesar salad).

I picked up some coconut oil at Trader Joe’s.  I’ve heard a lot of good stuff about coconut oil and it was a good price.  I LOVE the smell!  I want to eat it by the spoonful.  But I didn’t.  However, I am struggling with getting that yummy coconut flavor to come through when I use it.  Upon a suggestion from my WW board buddies I used some when I cooked the apple for my apple pancake.  It was yummy.  As usual my panckae is topped with sunflower butter and honey.  The only way to do it.

I had some Trader Joe’s hummus a few days this week as a snack at work.  I spread it onto Melba toast and top with cucumbers.  I also had some celery and ranch dip made with light sour cream.

I threw together a quick dinner of a cut up chicken patty, frozen corn mixed with asparagus, and green beans.  It got the job done.

In following through with making my food tingle my taste buds this week I bought some spinach and mozzarella ravioli that we tired at Costco a few weeks ago.  It is delicious!  However, the demo girl said you get 10 ravioli per serving.  Um….she lied.  You really get five for 6 PPVs.  It was a big letdown.  I ended up cooking 20 ravioli so I split it into three one-and-a-half servings.  You also add your desired amount of olive oil and this really yummy cheese/seasoning packet to it.  Despite being 10 PPVs it is REALLY worth it. One day I served it with left over salad and one day with butternut squash.

I woke up one morning and Kenyon had just made a baked egg casserole for breakfast.  It sounded really good and a great way to change up my breakfast.  I started with frozen potatoes and added one egg and two egg whites, chopped pepper, cut up chicken breakfast sausages, and cheese.  I topped it with ketchup.

Frozen potatoes with peppers and chicken breakfast sausage.  Topped with one egg and one egg white with grapes on the side.

Kashi changed up my usual granola bars just a bit but I really like the change.  These are tasty and larger/flatter than the granola bars I used to buy.  They are the perfect size for spreading peanut butter on.  The bars are thin and crispy and come two to a package.  One whole package is 5 PPVs or one of the two granola bars is 2 PPVs.

I went to SouperSalad for NO clam chowder Friday this week.  Still a total bummer there was no clam chowder but I do still love SouperSalad.  Sadly I didn't get to walk to/from today as my back was hurting and I needed a rest day.

I finished off my meal with some USwirl yogurt.  I got the NSA praline pecan with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.  This was the smallest pour I’ve ever done.  I was pretty proud of myself!

Sunday evening Kenyon and I went to Golden Corral.  All day I had been feeling like I wanted “something” but I couldn’t quite pinpoint what exactly.  I love buffets because you get such a variety and don’t have to pick just one dish.   I started with salad.

I also love that at a buffet you can get just one French fry!  I have been really lucky to get hush puppies each time we visit.  I love hush puppies.  I shared the sausage in the middle with Kenyon and ate most of the white meat part of the chicken but peeled off the skin.

Did I mention I love hush puppies?  Apparently so does Kenyon!  He tried to steal one.  Since I was feeling “somethingish” but not sure what I went back for a few corn chips topped with some fajita chicken, refried beans, and the not-so-good cheese sauce.  I also had a dollop of mashed potatoes but they were below par.  I usually always have four hush puppies each time I go.

I was going to have a few bites of cookies for dessert as I know Golden Corral has very yummy cookies.  Then everything up there looked yummy.  My third favorite thing about a buffet is you can take lots of dessert and just have a bite each!  I had a bite of the lemon and the red velvet but the cheesecake stole the show.  I had about four bites of it leaving more than half.  A little goes a long way when I am trying to satisfy my taste buds.

You might have noticed not any Dutch Bros photos this week.  Or maybe I just noticed because I am obsessed?  Regardless, I did cut back on my trips to Dutch Bros this week.  At the start of each month (i.e. new credit card statement) I re-load my gift card.  Well I don’t quite load it with enough money for as many times as I like to visit and I am running low.  I didn’t go for like five days.  Wow!  That was a lot.  I’ve been every day since.  I just can’t stay away!