What I Ate Wednesday: smoothies, slow cookers & spices

I love reading other bloggers' What I Ate Wednesday posts, mainly because I'm nosey about other people's habits and enjoy seeing the sort of thing people cook and eat on a day to day basis. So this week I'm writing a WIAW post myself, to give something back to all the other nosey foodies out there!

Today started with a session at my Crossfit box, so I had a pre-workout smoothie before heading out the door. I only started hitting the gym in the morning fairly recently, as I used to go after work. But I quickly realised that I was good for nothing if I hadn't had a little something to eat beforehand. I can run quite happily first thing without eating, but I definitely can't do a high intensity work out without some fuel in the engine! So this morning I had my usual banana, cashew nut butter and almond milk smoothie before a session of push jerks and pull ups. I regularly use Meridian nut butters in my pre-workout shakes, as a healthy fat like nut butter (Meridian use no palm oil and no added sugar) is a great way to get some serious energy, fast! 

After I'd scraped myself off the gym floor and made it back to my flat for a shower, I had breakfast. I definitely wanted some protein as I'd worked out, so I decided to have scrambled eggs on buttered toast. I also had some romaine lettuce with grapes - not a combination I've eaten before but they were both in my fridge, so I thought why not? I always try to have at least one portion of fruit or veg with my breakfast. It turns out that sweet grapes are actually pretty tasty with salad. To drink I had my favourite tea of the moment, redbush tea with a splash of almond milk. I always use Alpro unsweetened almond milk as it has really mild, creamy flavour, is low calorie and has no added sugar, so you don't have to worry about splashing it generously in smoothies, teas etc. As I also need a caffeine hit to get me going in the morning, I had a black coffee too.

Redbush tea with almond milk

Scrambled eggs, toast, salad, grapes

My mid-morning snack was another cup of redbush tea with a Trek berry burst bar. I got this in my Wholefoods goody bag at the end of Richmond Half Marathon last week. It tasted pretty good for a protein bar, but I prefer the Trek protein flapjacks, as the crumbly texture really does it for me.

Trek Berry Burst Protein Bar

For lunch I had a bowl of minestrone soup that I'd made in my slow cooker on Sunday. I'd had a leftover parmesan rind, and some bacon lardons, so minestrone seemed like the perfect way to use both of those things up easily by adding a few inexpensive ingredients, many of which I already had in my fridge or store cupboard (carrot, onion, celery, tinned tomatoes, tinned beans, spaghetti). I'm not usually a huge fan of soup but I think I'm going to be eating it more often going forwards, as I've just started a new job where I sometimes don't get home until after 9pm in the evening. At that time I definitely don't want a heavy meal and so a soup that I can simply re-heat fits the bill perfectly.

Slow-cooked Minestrone Soup

I was in Richmond this afternoon, and just couldn't help myself when I walked past the Hummingbird Bakery. So yeah, this happened:

Red velvet brownie

For tonight's dinner, I had a turkey steak which I seasoned with this amazing American BBQ seasoning by Steenbergs Organic. They're a Yorkshire, family-run company that make some really interesting spice blends using organic and fair trade spices. I had romaine lettuce and mange tout for veg. I also made a quick chipotle mayo for the steak by mixing mayonnaise with some of Cool Chile Co's chipotle ketchup - I love that stuff! Give it a go if you love chipotle!

Turkey, veg and chipotle mayo

Looking back on it, I ate quite a lot today! What did you eat? Did you have any smoothies, slow-cooked foods or spices today?