I have really good intentions when it comes to food. In an idealized world, my day would go something like this:
- Morning: They go something like this: wake up early, but not too early. Take a shower. Have enough time before class starts to sit at the kitchen table with a mug of something hot and steamy and a plate of something delicious and fresh but not too fatty: prosciutto and avocado on country bread, maybe. Read a few pages of the latest New Yorker. Take a leisurely stroll to class.
- Mid-morning: A healthy and tasty snack. Some almonds and a small piece of cheese, maybe. Or a few clementines. Some baby peeled carrots and a small cup of hummus, maybe.
- Afternoon: A salad with added protein (beans or chicken). Low-fat 1000 island dressing, if such a thing exists. Or a sandwich, maybe: whole-grain bread and turkey and lots of veggies, no mayonnaise. Unless it’s aioli. I’ll always make an exception for aioli.
- Dinner: Something fabulous with brown rice or whole-grain pasta. Maybe a nice piece of salmon. Maybe splurge a little and throw some heavy cream in there if I was good all day.
- Post-dinner: A glass of not-too-cheap-but-not-too-expensive red wine and an ounce of dark chocolate.
- Throughout the day: Lots and lots of hydrating water.
That sounds amazing, right? But here is what actually tends to happen:
- Morning: Hit snooze four times, rush through a shower, cram down a Luna Bar and an apple and take the bus to class.
- Mid-morning: Nothing. Or maybe a super buttery chocolate croissant from the coffee shop.
- Afternoon: Pizza or Chinese food or tacos from the eateries around campus. Sometimes a BBQ bacon cheeseburger and fries (ouch).
- Dinner: Soup and bread, or something microwaved (like Trader Joe’s chicken tikka masala). Maybe some frozen ravioli with jarred sauce.
- Post-dinner: Something sugary and fatty if it’s in the house. Ranch sunflower seeds. A bowl of cereal (Honey Bunches of Oats = my not-so-secret weakness).
- Throughout the day: Lots and lots of (low-sodium!) Diet Coke.
I really need to work on turning the latter into the former. Okay, probably not that idealized. But… I do need to work on improving my eating habits. I’m plotting out ways to make this happen. Part of this involves working on my grocery list: I want to keep things like those Laughing Cow low-calorie cheese wedges, prosciutto, avocados, fresh berries (blackberries, swoon), and whole-grain English muffins around. Sliced turkey and smoked salmon and just the little things that make throwing together tasty-but-healthy meals possible.
…Okay. Prosciutto might not be STRICTLY healthy. But I’m so in love with it, it’s making the cut. There’s nothing better than catching a bite of that delicious, salty ham. My current quick meal is a wedge of good bread spread thinly with pesto and topped with prosciutto and torn mozzarella, the kind kept in water for freshness.
Some yummy breakfast possibilities:
- English muffin with pesto, mozzarella, arugula, prosciutto. YUM.
- Quiche. I can picture baking up a quiche lorraine on the weekend and having a slice each morning the next week for breakfast. I never get tired of quiche.
- A croissant with an egg scrambled with cream cheese and chives, with two slices of no-fat-added fried pancetta.
- Mimosas. Okay, not on the days I have class. But on the weekend. With fresh-squeezed orange juice. I’m totally going to buy a citrus juicer thing and make this happen.
Also, things I am lusting over: a gorgeous ceramic toast rack. This one was from a fabulous and drool-worthy blog post on Luxirare. I can totally picture spending Sunday mornings curled up with crisp slices of toast and a dish of European butter alongside some fresh blackberries, sigh.
P.S. Want to see some more gorgeous breakfast inspiration? Check out BKFST, a beautiful photography-centered Tumblr that captures gorgeous images of breakfasts all over the place. This is my current favorite, not because I like porridge (blech!), but because of the lovely Scrabble (or Bananagrams?) tiles in the gently fuzzy background.
P.P.S. I just got back from Whole Foods. I don’t shop there all the time (for one, it’s prohibitively expensive, and for two, they don’t sell Diet Coke), but I like to treat myself to a bag of groceries from there once or twice a month. I picked up some great ciabatta rolls, fresh strawberries (swoon), organic peeled baby carrots, blood orange sorbet, and some other goodies. Also, a turkey-bacon-avocado sandwich from their deli, on parmesan focaccia – delicious, especially the red-tinged aioli. I’m not sure if it was sun-dried tomatoes or roasted red peppers, but it comes highly recommended from me.
