Random Cravings

Posted: August 3, 2011 at 7:00 am

I think my body has gone into overdrive on wanting to get back to my regular eating habits after last week. I have encountered numerous cravings the past couple of days. Luckily, all of my cravings have come in the form of healthier choices in lieu of the incessant pizza and ice cream cravings of last week. How nice to have a place to share them with you for another What I Ate Wednesday post!

Peas and Crayons

Yesterday morning I grabbed a pack of Love Grown granola to snack on before hitting the gym for a cardio session.

IMGP0276

When I got to the gym, I hopped on the elliptical without any particular plan in mind. Then, after just a couple of minutes I decided to bang out an interval routine that came to mind right then. I don’t really know where it came from, but it worked me good.

Intensity Time
Warm Up 5 min (0-5)
Speed Interval 1 min (5-6)
Recovery 1 min (6-7)
Speed Interval 2 min (7-9)
Recovery 1 min (9-10)
Speed Interval 3 min (10-13)
Recovery 1 min (13-14)
Speed Interval 4 min (14-18)
Recovery 1 min (18-19)
Speed Interval 5 min (19-24)
Recovery 1 min (24-25)
Repeat Intervals 20 min (25-45)
Cool Down 5 min (45-50)

Basically, I alternated between a higher speed and intensity interval and a recovery period. My recovery period remained one minute after every speed interval, but the speed interval increased by one minute each round until hitting 5 minutes. I went through the interval session twice, before cooling down for the final 5 minutes of this 50 minute routine. Loved it! I know you will too if you give it a shot!

After that, I came home with a strong craving. For oatmeal with strawberries, raisins, and peanut butter.

usual oats bfast

I crave this breakfast practically every day. I’m cool with it. I know it satisfies me and I would hate to vary it up “just because” and end up wishing I had my tried and true oatmeal with iced coffee instead. Sometimes I crave different things for breakfast – like PBJ French Toast – but it never fails that I return to this favorite.

My cravings went down a slightly different road than normal lately once lunch time rolled around. I knew I wanted two things – an egg sandwich and a smoothie.

egg sandwich   smoothie

Interesting combo, but it’s literally all I could think about for lunch. My egg sandwich featured one egg, a garlic herb laughing cow wedge, spinach, and tomato.

egg sandwich

My smoothie included a frozen banana, a scoop of peanut butter, vanilla almond milk, some vanilla protein powder, and xanthan gum to get that milkshake quality I so adore.

smoothie

Once snack time rolled around I, yet again, knew only one thing would make me happy. I must have had breakfast on the mind because I found myself craving the exact bowl of cereal Courtney had shared earlier in the week.

cereal bowl

Funnily enough, her post was about how that bowl didn’t satisfy her cravings. I guess it felt shunted by her and hopped through the screen and planted itself as a craving in my belly. Thanks Court for sparking a cereal bowl craving that I could easily satisfy – Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal, Fiber One 80 Honey Squares, and a banana. 😉

My snack held me over for a bit of studying NASM materials before my sister showed up for dinner. We had taco night on the menu, but when dinner rolled around I wanted something a little different. I couldn’t completely overhaul the menu since others wanted their tacos, so instead, I took some inspiration from my blogger lunch and created a Mexican breakfast quesadilla.

quesadilla 3

I scrambled one egg and one egg white with a mix of black beans and corn. Then I mixed it all with salsa and lettuce to layer on a whole wheat tortilla. Topped with cheese and another tortilla to cook in the funky little quesadilla press I got as a gift forever ago.

quesadilla 1

It even has fun little designs on it. 🙂

quesadilla 2

It turned out great! Me gusto muchisimo! <—The former Spanish teacher in me is pained at the lack of accent marks in that sentence.

I wrapped up the night with some Phase 10 game playing action with the sis and her boyfriend. And an ice cream cookie sandwich.

ice cream sandwich day

‘Twas National Ice Cream Sandwich Day after all. And who am I to not celebrate such a momentous occasion??  😉

  • What random food holiday would you create? I think every day is Strawberry Raisin PB Oatmeal Day here.
  • What is the last random craving you had? I didn’t mention it above, but I had the strangest craving for gum yesterday. I don’t usually chew gum, either!

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76 Comments to “Random Cravings”
  1. Lauren says:

    You and your sister look so much a like! 🙂

  2. Listening to your body & what it wants to eat is very important! Sometimes I feel guilty posting the same type of breakfasts on the blog, but I know that if my body asks for it– there is usually a reason 🙂

    P.S. Those quesadilla designs are adorable! The maracas are my favorite!

  3. Looks like a great day of eating! If I had to celebrate a food holiday, I would definitely celebrate National sweet potato fry day… or National Overnight Oats Day.

  4. creamy buckwheat cereal with cinnamon and sliced banana definitely needs its own Holiday.

  5. I love that quesadilla press — how adorable!

    I’m glad you listened to what you want — I used to try to have so much variety in my meals and you know what? I ended up not being satisfied and wishing I had had “the usual” — so I totally know where you’re coming from. Eat what you want!

  6. I want that press! so cool. I would make pumpkin annything, even if it is a “holiday food” haha 🙂 last craving I had was for honey and figs…

  7. the weirdest craving i’ve ever had was several months ago and it was for fried pickles….the weird part is that i’d never even tried them before!

  8. I love that quesadilla press!

    I crave peanut butter every single day…. I think I’m addicted 🙂

    • Tina says:

      Me too! A day without peanut butter is a day not to be remembered. We shall find pb to gobble up at HLS! 🙂

  9. lindsay says:

    i just keep craving COLD these days. ANything and everything. So much I freeze my fruit, my yogurt, etc. Time to cool this place down please!

  10. Lee says:

    That interval workout sounds good. I find that in order to get my heart rate up on the elliptical, I have to do intervals, otherwise I make it too easy on myself.

    I wish I knew about National Ice Cream Sandwich day. I love them. Of course, I guess I could belatedly celebrate it today.

  11. Great interval workout! Those types are my favorite, they really kick your butt 🙂
    I have been craving cold items recently, obviously because it’s been so oppressively hot! The idea of having soup or a warm drink…ehh not so much

  12. allison says:

    I didnt know you use to be a Spanish teacher?!?! thats awesome:) I taught english in Argentina to spanish speaking kids (the reverse from you lol) and i was getting my minor in spanish but the spanish classes conflicted too much with my art classes for my major so i had to drop it:(

    Last summer i was all about overnight oats since i was home at my parents all summer and i ate outside every (hot) morning. This summer im loving hot oatmeal since im chilling (literally haha) in the freezing cold gym every morning!

  13. I love that press! And I love quesadillas, I’ll have to remember to make those sometime! 🙂

    I would declare a fro yo day everyday, I know I’m addicted to the stuff 😉

    And recently I’ve had intense cravings for beef, which is rare for me. A big juicy burger or steak just sounds sooo good!

  14. OMG – that quesadilla maker is SO cute–with those shapes on it–i love it! too funny! 🙂 My last craving was for brussel sprouts – i love them!! xoxo from Trinidad

  15. Alexandra says:

    All of your eats look amazing!! Especially the egg sandwich and those oats, be my personal chef for life haha? 🙂 Hope you have a great day!

  16. Kelly says:

    YUM! Looks like a good day of eats. You might have inspired taco night in me for tonight! 🙂

  17. Khushboo says:

    Wow all your food looks yum, especially the quasadilla! I want to make that smoothie for breakfast tomorrow, do you think it will matter too much if i don’t use protein powder??

    • Tina says:

      Nope. I have made smoothies plenty of time without the added protein powder. It just gives a slightly more vanilla kick (and a bit extra protein) but its fine without! 🙂

  18. I need to start adding xanthum gum to my smoothies– yours looks so fluffy and delicious!!

  19. Haha, so glad you liked the cereal combo! It’s a yummy one 🙂
    ALL of your food looks yummy here…wow. Especially that quesadilla. I gotta get me one of those!

  20. jobo says:

    Yum, I totally did NOT have an ice cream sandwich yesterday even though I intended to…but did have a skinny cow ice cream instead. So SO good! 🙂

  21. Stephanie says:

    I love that you had breakfast all day! I thought I’d gone overboard with breakfast on my WIAW…but you have me beat. I looooove breakfast.

  22. Just did your workout. WOW! Loved it! I’m an outside runner, but with the temps only getting down to the mid-80s with humidity in the 80-90% range, I’m finding it hard to run. I’ve been alternating elliptical and stationary bike starting with 30 on elliptical, then 20 on bike, 15 elliptical, and 10 bike with push-ups and tricep dips in between. It’s a great workout too. Now I can alternate my workout with yours on non-running days!

    • Tina says:

      So happy you liked it! When I do cardio machines I HAVE to do some sort of mixing it up – either switching machines like you or a random interval workout.

  23. That quesadilla press is the cutest thing I have ever seen! I love the little shapes! I have been eating Mexican all week at home and work! I swear I eat whole-wheat tortillas for every meal! It’s so easy to change them up and add so many different ingredients!

    Happy WIAW! 😀

  24. Katherine says:

    I’ve been craving a big chunk of pure meat lately! It’s unusually because I’m a 90% vegetarian these days. I’ve always been craving cheese and I don’t really love cheese (I think my cravings have to do with the time of the month).

    ALWAYS crave peanut butter! haha

  25. National Pumpkin Pie Day! And no it’s not Thanksgiving 😉

  26. What a cute quesadilla press! I make mine pressed on a pan hehe. Great workout too, I love intervals!

  27. Anna Marie says:

    I am going to have to make an egg sandwich this week. I have been craving turkey sandwiches with pepper and egg white omelettes with spinach! Yumm!

  28. That egg sandwich looks AMAZING! 😛

  29. That tomato on your sandwich is so perfectly red! It looks fake! 🙂

  30. booo i didnt know about national ice cream sandwich day! i even had some in the freezer.

    i love eating breakfast for all of my meals!

  31. I want that tortilla press, so cute! And I bet kids love it 🙂 Also, you’re my favorite…I love breakfast for every meal!

  32. That tortilla is adorable and i was just going to make a different lunch but now i have to have an egg sandwich 🙂
    The games sound like fun and how did i miss icecream sandwich day????
    Happy wiaw!!

  33. Last random craving is chinese food….I LOVE the stuff!

  34. Last night I had a random craving for a smoothie so I made a giant one for dinner with lots of chocolate in it. That way I got my smoothie, dessert, and dinner all in one shot.

    My random food holiday would be S’Mores Day! I’d make a s’mores smorgasbord and invite everyone I knew to help celebrate!

  35. Suzanne says:

    That quesadilla looked awesome!

    I have never craved oats…….ok….once but thats it. I know…..so sad

  36. Tiffany says:

    That quesadilla looks sooo good!

  37. Melissa says:

    i love that cereal! it brings me back to cartoon sundays when i was a lot younger. yum! the only thing that i was a little disappointed in was seeing that one of the ingredients is sucralose.

  38. Now those are some tart cravings! Especially that breakfast sandwich… Love me some eggs with veggies 🙂

  39. you can NEVER have too much brekkie!!

  40. I love breakfast burritos, never made a quesadilla – and that package of granola is just the right size!

  41. Sarah says:

    This morning, I was “craving” a bowl of hot oatbran even though I’ve never had it before- now I’m hooked!

  42. Carly says:

    Love the all day breakfast cravings 🙂 Everytime I read your blog I find more and more about you that is just like me! I didn’t know you used to be a Spanish teacher. I used to be a teacher too (math) 🙂 Then I realized my passion is more health and fitness!

  43. Okay, now I’m dying of curiosity. I noticed you mentioned that you included xanthan gum as something you included in your smoothie. I’ve seen that listed on a lot of ingredient lists in different food and just assumed it was one of those weird chemical things that food manufacturers added.

    So, what does it do? Make things thicker? And you added it — as in, you bought it and added it to your smoothie? If that’s the case, where did you buy it?

    Just curious…and hoping that’s not a totally ignorant line of questioning.

    • Tina says:

      No not ignorant at all! I never heard of it before blogs either. LOL

      It is a thickener and makes things creamier as well. I use about 1/2 tsp in my smoothies to thicken them up. I bought mine at my local Kroger grocer in the natural foods section. 🙂

      • Thanks! I’ll have to look for that. I think that’s part of the reason I’ve never really liked smoothies — I expect them to be thick and milkshake-like and they’re not.

  44. That quesadilla looks SO good right now! I haven’t had one in so long and now I’m totally craving one.

  45. I love that you had a bowl of cereal as a snack! Sometimes it just hits the spot.

  46. I crave beer every now and then..is that weird?! lol

    I also crave cereal w/ ice cold milk and fresh fruit – but I think this is just indicative that I’m pretty thirsty too 😉

  47. Oh my gosh, those quesadillas are so adorable with the imprinted shapes! I’m a sucker for cute food! : ) I’ve never seen that before!

  48. Maren says:

    I usually do so much better with workout routines that get made up on the fly. When I have time to plan them out I always seem to get down on myself when I don’t perform.

  49. The eggs sandwich looks to die for!

  50. Anna Marie says:

    Question: I have started training for a half-marathon. Can I substitute one of my run days with training on an elliptical? I live in Oklahoma and the heat is in the above 100s lately so literally the best time to run is 5:30 AM. Which is fine on somedays but there are days that well life happens and one does not want to run that early. Lol.

    • Tina says:

      Well I’m no expert (LOL), but I think if I were training for a race I would probably emphasize the runs. Or at least getting in three regular runs per week. Now, if there were times I couldn’t fit in a run and my only other option were the elliptical, I certainly think it would make a good sub. Or if your plan calls for 4 days of running and you would rather do 3 running and more cross training with the elliptical. Regardless, my personal opinion is workout SAFELY first, while still focusing on the training you will need to also safely run your race. Hope that makes sense! And, like i said, that’s what I would personally do so always go with what works for you. 🙂

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