It is a dark Sunday morning here. The rain clouds are moving in and the humidity is palpable, the air is thick but thankfully the temperature is a low (but sticky) 70 degrees. I must say that this has been one of the most beautiful summers I can remember. Most nights I am able to sleep with the windows open and wake up feeling cool rather than with the air con on – not only am I thankful for these cool, enjoyable evenings, the electric bill is too!

This week I ate on the cheap – and it was pretty fun! On my way home from work on Tuesday, I stopped by Trader Joe’s. I had a small list, and to my surprise, I stuck to it. I was not derailed by the amazing candy and speciality (and unnecessary) foods that they have to offer. I bought romaine lettuce, golden tomatoes, the smallest size of milk available, a loaf of delicious whole wheat Tuscan bread, a jar of tomato sauce and probably a couple of other items that escape me at the moment. The grand total? $13.56 which I paid in cash (is it just me or are the cashiers always thrown off when you pay with cash?) and bagged myself.

When I got home I made an omelette and had a piece of toast for dinner. I checked my fitbit and was happy to see that I had walked 17,708 steps on Tuesday. I felt accomplished! And dinner was simple and delicious:

Not exactly a beautiful picture, but I loved this dinner because of its simplicity. I used two eggs, a splash of water some freshly ground pepper in the omelette mix. As I was eating this, I was sure I could survive on omelets all week. But I didn’t.

For lunches this week, I had salads with grilled chicken breast, romaine lettuce and tomatoes and a slice of bread with nut butter on the side. I had a piece of dark chocolate as a lunch time dessert:

Another standout dinner this week was pasta, tomato sauce, two turkey meatballs (from the freezer) with fresh, steamed zucchini straight from a friend’s garden.

This zucchini was so amazing! I only steamed in in the microwave with a little freshly ground pepper on top… I snacked on the zucchini as I was making the rest of the dinner. I minimized the use of pots and pans and did a lot of heating in the microwave.

Honestly, I could have just eaten this bowl without the added pasta – but the pasta was really good!

The finished product:

This week I started a new way of eating. I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and cutting out most snacks that I have been eating throughout the day. The only snack that I continue having is a (late) afternoon snack especially if I will be going to the gym or exercising after work and / or having a late dinner (to me a late dinner is around 8 o’clock). Because of this new way of eating, I have been trying to have more protein or more (healthy) food in general with my lunch. I was finding that I was often feeling hungry all day – and I have tried to curtail this by eating more at lunch. I have even been able to continue this way of eating through out the weekend which I find to be an accomplishment because I am home, and have a lot of access to delicious food and could easily snack all day.

Sunday morning’s breakfast:

Coffee and a mini croissant. Well blog readers, I hope you are enjoying your Sunday!