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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

It even has fun little designs on it. 🙂

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.

‘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!

Want to do a little good today with just the click of a button? LOVE GROWN FOODS is donating a FULL BAG of their granola to a hungry child for every new fan they receive on Facebook and Twitter. Please help! 🙂

After pushing through my workout last night (and envisioning flash mobs of “Can’t Touch This”), I happily welcomed a rest day this morning. I had time to leisurely start my day, including a shower in peace. I forgot what that feels like since I normally must shower in 2 minutes flat to avoid the breaking point where Makenzie decides seeing how high Braedon’s bouncer will bounce is more fun than reading a book. Ah, motherhood.

I reveled in my hot shower. Although I hate then having to wait a bazillion years to cool off so I can put on my lotion without it just sliding right back off me. 

I want that extra sun protection to stick, after all. A few years ago I had a handful of moles removed and biopsied that looked questionable and ever since then I have taken a lot more precaution with my skin. I stopped using tanning beds ever. I stopped baking in the sun at the pool and when we went to the beach. I loaded up on SPF when I would be outdoors all day for hikes. I did kind of lack on the daily SPF though. Oops!

A few weeks ago I received the Eucerin Everday Protection face and body lotion for review and have used it every single day since. I like the lotions because they aren’t thick piles of goop like standard sunscreen, yet still contain SPF 15 (body) and SPF 30 (face).

They blend in lightly and smoothly without leaving a greasy feeling at all. The face lotion hasn’t caused breakouts – a side effect I feared with using a face lotion with SPF every day. My only complaint is the lotion has a slight sunscreeny smell. Regardless, sun protection, a non-greasy lotion, and a fresh face? I’m game!

Me, my fresh face, and I took advantage of the rest day to also get some errands done. I have a baby shower I’m helping with this weekend, so I had to pick up some things for the shower – including a gift. I’m really bad about putting off gift purchases! Luckily, the registry (and having my own kids to know what is actually worth having) makes it easy. I quickly bought my necessary items and moved on to more important things. Like lunch with a friend!

My friend and I made plans for lunch, but didn’t know where to visit. I Urbanspoon’d it and discovered a cute little sandwich shop called Wildflour.

We got there shortly after it opened at 11 and at first were unsure if it would live up to the reviews since it was so empty. But not 15 minutes later the place became PACKED! I’m glad we got there when we did!

So, did it live up to its wildly popular status on UrbanSpoon?

Do you see that beauty? Portabella mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, fresh basil, provolone cheese, and a sage sauce on their daily fresh baked bread.

My stomach will tell you that, yes, yes it did live up to its reviews. Wildflour now takes the cake, er, sandwich as my favorite deli/cafe/lunch spot in my local area. And that’s a big claim from someone who proclaims sandwiches as one of her favorite foods. Ooey gooey cheese. Perfectly cooked mushrooms. Flavorful sauce. Crispy yet soft, pillowy bread. I could eat you all day. But – I won’t. Only because I have some peanut butter graham truffles to whip up and inevitably taste test 20. You’ll just have to hold your horses to hear more about those though. 🙂

• Do you wear daily SPF lotions?
• What is your favorite way to find new restaurants to try?

**I received the Eucerin products free for review. All opinions expressed are my own.