Tuesday~dinner inspiration

Happy Tuesday, friends!  I thought it'd be interesting and helpful to talk about food on this post today. I'd love to be inspired with some of your ideas for lunch/dinner {and snacks} and I hope I can inspire you in the same way.

I'm starting here with my coffee, because I love coffee all the time, even when it's a hundred and seventeen degrees out. I put creamer and sugar in my coffee and will probably never stop. (I say that because I'm on a healthy eating kick for the fourth week now.) I drink two cups every single morning and sometimes after dinner at night.

This is my current go to and favorite drink. Instead of having a cup of coffee at night after dinner, I've been drinking this. I pour leftover room temperature coffee into a big cup, along with a handful of ice, a tablespoon of chocolate syrup and a splash of milk, then mix it together with an immersion blender. I pour it over more ice, stir it well with another tablespoon of chocolate syrup and drink it in a pretty glass with a straw. I usually drink two glasses, because it is virtually guilt free. It's cool, it's just barely sweet and it satisfies my craving for dessert.

I had this Sunday for lunch along with a half of a peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread.

I love boiled eggs and eat them for lunch or snacks.

These are some fresh eggs Graham's friend Chase brought me several weeks ago. They're so beautiful to me...and they were really good. I returned this cute carton and asked him for more. I usually make a whole bunch of boiled eggs at one time and save them to munch on throughout the week. For lunch I usually eat one or two, whatever fruit I have on hand and some almonds and carrots. I dip the carrots in my homemade ranch dressing, if I have some made and stored in the fridge. If not, I eat them plain. I do half peanut butter sandwiches on wheat bread pretty often. The protein fills me up and satisfies me. Sometimes I'll drink a protein drink instead of an actual meal, like when I'm on the go and will need to eat lunch but I'm not in the food to make something first.

This was my lunch yesterday when I came home from Costco: pimento cheese that I dipped with these corn tortilla chips and a bowl of blueberries. The only thing I've missed since I've started eating better is something salty and crunchy, and these corn tortilla chips satisfied that craving yesterday.

I'll leave you with one last picture and statement:

In my humble opinion, any night is a good night for Mexican food. It's my most favorite. I love it right now because I am craving a lot of veggies and a little bit of meat. I can eat Mexican food in a healthy way and without feeling "guilty", and as I already mentioned, I'm doing this to experiment with gluten and what it does to my body.

Since I started this, I have lost weight, but most importantly I have felt so much better. I haven't had tummy troubles at all, and my feet never hurt anymore. I feel like I'm witnessing a miracle happening within me, because I don't remember the last time I felt so good. I wake up earlier, have more energy in the day, I rarely sit still and I've been sleeping like the dead every night. I say all of this to encourage someone~because someone on Facebook encouraged me. Accountability helps me, so I like sharing because of that.

I'm also eating less carbs, and I've cut way back in my proportion size. I'm eating small meals or snacks about six times everyday. I eat mainly "clean" so that means tons of fruit, veggies, nuts that are raw and unseasoned and a bit of meat...but if I crave something I eat it, to get rid of the craving. I did this Saturday at my mom's with a brownie I'd made and taken out there. I ate one and a half.

My day goes like this: 2 cups of coffee, a protein drink for breakfast, and an hour or two later, I eat some fruit. I eat lunch around one, which looks like the picture above with the blueberries, then at three I need something else, so yesterday I ate a protein peanut butter something that tasted like heaven. I ate dinner at six and at eight I'll drink that coffee drink I mentioned at the beginning. I drink the two cups of coffee and the coffee drink at night, but I drink water all day long. I may have a Diet Coke or Diet Ginger Ale at lunch or some green peach tea sweetened with Splenda at dinner, but I drink tons of water. If I had to guess I'd say I drink close to one gallon of water every single day, especially when it's hot and humid. I eat only between the hours 10:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.

The Lord keeps on bringing this verse to my mind, and I pray it all the time, sometimes multiple times in a day.

My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He dwells within me, and I want to glorify and honor God in my body and in what I put inside of it; this means the music I listen to, the stuff I watch on tv, the books I read and the food I eat. I want to honor God in every choice I make. Not just now and for a short while, but so that in all that I do, it brings honor to the Lord. I also want to try and prevent from getting something like diabetes or heart disease, and overweight women are very prone to both. One other thing that's interesting: since I've been eating healthier, I've had ZERO anxiety. That's pretty amazing...because I was struggling pretty badly for a while. I know that's not connected to food in any way, but I've been reading the Bible more times throughout the day, I've been praying more, and I've been quoting and memorizing Scripture more...and I know that through all those means, the Lord is helping me to take my thoughts captive. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

I really do feel as if I'm experiencing healing from the Lord...I know that may seem strange or sound weird to you, but read this verse:

LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you healed me. (Psalm 30:2, CSB)

To end, here are a few more dinner ideas that I consider my go-to meals:

Grilled hamburgers and/or hot dogs, grilled or oven baked salmon with veggies, grilled chicken with veggies and eaten as fajitas, tacos, taco salad or nachos, crock pot roast with peppers and served with roasted potatoes, meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans, black beans and rice, spaghetti and/or alfredo with salad and garlic bread, or sandwich night~French dips with au jus, grilled cheese with meat sandwiches made on a griddle, or a regular sandwich with all the fixing on kaiser rolls from the deli. There are also always some leftovers.

I'd love to hear from you~what are some things you've been eating lately? I need some inspiration!

Thanks for reading, friends~love to all.