WIAW: Double Ice Cream Day

August 24, 2016August 22, 2016 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 3 Comments

It’s Wednesday already? Thank goodness – only three more full days until the weekend and it’s also What I Ate Wednesday – time for sharing and checking out a random day of eats. I love seeing everyone’s eats and sharing my own. These are my eats from Thursday – and it just happened to be a day with ice cream more than once a day.

Breakfast was a huge fruit salad.

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Followed by some more fruit. I had bought what I thought was a cantaloupe at the store, but when I cut into it – it was green! It wasn’t a honeydew either. No idea what it was – but it was delicious. 20160818_104248 20160818_164244

Lunch was a mishmash while FW slept. A salad and a black bean burger. Plus a sweet potato and some spaghetti squash with cinnamon, honey and a little bit of peanut butter (not pictured). 20160818_135450

Snacks that afternoon included some some chex mix – thanks to Cuoghi! Her mom made a ton and she shared some with me.

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AND ice cream#1. It was on sale at the store and oh so delicious. I had to have a few scoops 🙂 20160818_165308

Dinner? Some chicken, and farmers market/local farm fresh veggies. Tomatoes from B’s coworker’s garden, plus zucchini and potato and onions roasted (all veggies from the farmer’s market). 20160818_184229

And then, dessert! B and I took a walk to get ice cream sandwiches. Cathy’s creamery downtown is the best. Cookie dough ice cream, one chocolate chip cookie, one peanut butter cookie and white chocolate chips.

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Dessert was definitely a surprise, but SO GOOD. Ice cream #2= amazing.

Some questions for you:

Do you have dessert every night? Any go-to desserts?
Favorite kind of chocolate? White, dark, milk, etc.?

WIAW #20: New Breakfasts

June 24, 2015June 24, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 17 Comments

Happy Wednesday – are you ready for another What I Ate Wednesday? These were my eats from last Thursday – I tried to switch things up a little bit. Well, for at least one meal – breakfast!

Thursdays are my new cross training days. I’m training for a half marathon in August and I’m trying to stick to the schedule so the day started with 1 mile jog (gotta keep my Runners World streak up!) and an easy elliptical workout.

B typically makes me breakfast, but I was on my own Thursday morning as he was sleeping in. So, I brought in protein powder and fully expected to just have a protein shake at work and maybe some fruit. BUT my coworker Cari let me borrow some almond milk and I used our office Vitamix to make myself a smoothie bowl! It doesn’t look that pretty but it tasted great- it was 2 scoops Biotrust vanilla protein, about 1 cup almond milk, 1 TB PB 2 and some ice.

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Not quite the same as my typical egg whites and veggies but still pretty good!

I was pretty full until lunch, when I had a salad. It was combined leftovers from a few nights – half a turkey burger from Tuesday dinner, half an ahi tuna steak from Wednesday dinner and some lettuce, bean sprouts and hummus (hidden). I also had an apple. Delish!

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Snacks included a nectarine with nuts, carrots and some more nuts. 20150618_152838 20150608_122035

For dinner, B was craving some roasted chicken so I picked up a rotisserie from Heinen’s and paired it with some veggies we had in the fridge – I roasted some cauliflower and sautéed some zucchini with peppers and onions (and basil). Again, pretty good! I also had part of a sweet potato with cinnamon for “dessert.”

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Well, wraps up this week’s exciting round of WIAW! Click on the badge below to see what WIAW is all about.

Some questions for you:

Do you like your sweet potatoes sweet or savory?
Have you ever had a smoothie bowl?

WIAW #16: After the Holiday Weekend

May 27, 2015May 26, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 14 Comments

Woohoo – it’s time for another What I Ate Wednesday! These were my eats from YESTERDAY, the day after our three-day weekend. Do you find that after a somewhat gluttonous day (or three days) you start to crave healthier eats? I definitely was feeling it on Tuesday. After the weekend’s many meals out with my parents, drinks and Memorial Day celebration, I couldn’t wait to get back on track. SO here are yesterday’s eats:

I started the day with a 4.86 mile run. I haven’t started training for my next half marathon; however, I decided I think I want to do the Runners World Running Streak so I knew I had to get outside and run. Of course I forgot to have my alarm with me so I almost slept in too late. Thank goodness my internal alarm woke me up anyway!

So breakfast included egg whites, spinach, frozen veggies and an apple. AND coffee. I still don’t drink it daily, but definitely needed it on this ~~Monday~~ Tuesday!

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For lunch, I had leftovers. While my family was in town, we went to the Willoughby Brewing Company and I had their salmon with quinoa/carrot/cabbage/brussels sprouts salad – leftovers of that plus leftover cauliflower from our Memorial Day get together were perfect!

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Snacks the day included another apple, a LOT of carrots (I had already eaten half the bag when I took the pic), some hard candy and some beef jerky. This kind is pretty good – not a bad texture for being in a bag and it has a great kick!

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Dinner was SOOOO good. I hadn’t had time to go to the West Side Market for groceries this weekend, but I happened to have enough random groceries on hand to make a really good, filling, meatless meal (B had the same thing but had leftover ribs from the Memorial Day BBQ with his). Here it is – a loaded baked sweet potato. I love this – it was a baked sweet potato topped with mashed avocado, mashed pinto beans that I sautéed with onions and garlic, tomato, corn and cilantro from our friends’ garden.

This is what my loaded potato looks like.

Yum! I ended the day feeling pretty good and somewhat back on track after the long weekend.

Two questions for you:

Favorite way to eat a sweet potato – sweet or savory?
What was the best thing you ate during your holiday (or not-holiday) weekend?

WIAW: Sunday! (Cake for Breakfast)

April 1, 2015March 30, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 11 Comments

I decided to switch it up a little bit this week – I’m sharing with you a day of Sunday eats! I typically share a weekday post but guess what – I remembered to take food pics on Sunday!

I woke up fully intending to have a great breakfast of eggs and beans – and B was ready to make it of me! – but somehow ran out of time and only had 15 minutes for breakfast before my Sunday morning plans, meeting Nicole for a walk and tea. Oh well. That meant breakfast was quick – but still delicious! I had made lemon cake Saturday so it sounded perfect for Sunday breakfast. IMG_20150329_164012 Then it was time to meet Nicole. We took a nice walk and enjoyed a pot of tea while we caught up. She just got back from Australia so it was awesome to hear some of her stories. That’s my favorite from Cleveland Tea Revival – ginger turmeric.

a whole pot of ginger turmeric for me!

I got home about 1 p.m. and was starving. Guess lemon cake doesn’t fill you up? I luckily had some leftovers from Friday night waiting for me. Note – I forgot to take a photo of it on Sunday, but here’s the photo of my veggie burger on Friday. I had about half leftover.

And with the veggie burger I had some more veggies! I did some meal prep and ate some of the veggies I was preparing – spinach, brussels sprouts and some additional frozen veggies. Oh and this new flavor (for me) of La Croix. Pretty yummy!

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Sunday dinners are typically with B’s family, but I had to work and we had tickets to see a final movie at the Cleveland International Film Festival, so we had a quick dinner planned. Below – my concoction from the Heinen’s salad bar. I assure you it was really good and about 1.3 lb. of food. #notashamed

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Some questions for you:

Do you have standing Sunday night dinner plans? We typically go to B’s parents house for dinner and I love it!
Dessert for breakfast – anyone else guilty?
Favorite salad bar toppings? Quinoa salads, edamame, hummus, beans and the Heinen’s roasted red pepper tofu (in the photo above on the bottom) – so good! Oh and I also love some good Krab (fake crab). I don’t know why – but it’s something I enjoy!

What I Ate Wednesday: A Real Wednesday

March 18, 2015March 15, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 6 Comments

Guess what – for this week’s What I Ate Wednesday, I’m actually going to share with you a Wednesday of eats. I tend to share Monday or Tuesday (because those are the days I remember to take photos of everything), but this week I’m showing you an actual Wednesday!

For those of you that have followed my WIAW posts before, you know that breakfast for me are typically the same. My hubby B makes me egg whites with an assortment of vegetables and/or beans. This week was no different – I put some cholula on my veggies and wolfed this down around 8 a.m. at my desk. No coffee today – I don’t drink it daily and instead focused on hydrating with my crystal light. Yes, I have a slight addiction.

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Work was busy, so lunchtime came and went. Whoops! Thankfully, I was able to heat up my lunch I had prepared the night before – an assortment of roasted cauliflower, sweet potato and onion with smoked paprika and hot sauce (I like spicy food) and tofu. I give up meat for Lent and sometimes I take the easy way out to get in some protein.

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For snacks, I had a whole cut up yellow pepper, some peanuts, carrots and of course, tea with honey. I love decaf herbal tea and this lemon ginger tea is so yummy.

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B went for a run outside after work, and since I had already worked out, I made dinner while he ran. I was craving some brinner and was happy to see we had the ingredients on hand. Thankfully, I was able to throw something delicious together quickly – we had everything for my sweet potato zucchini hash, and I added a runny egg and avocado. I love this meal so much!

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And for dessert? Some homemade browned butter chocolate chunk cookies I had made and of course more tea and honey.

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Some questions for you:

How do you like your eggs? I like the whites the most, but do love the yolk when it’s runny. Yummy!

What are some non-meat ways you get in protein? Eggs, tofu, beans, etc.

WIAW: Sick Day Eats

March 11, 2015March 11, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 21 Comments

I wish I had a more exciting WIAW Wednesday post to share. You know, a post that includes peanut butter cheesecake cookie dough blondies (yes these exist), homemade granola, this gnocchi and sausage soup and more of what I’m craving as I type this.

But alas, I had a sick day Monday. I woke up with a fever and achy. No stomach issues (I rarely get stomach sick), but super tired, feverish, a bad headache and sore. So what do I eat when I’m not feeling well? Here’s a sneak peek in today’s WIAW!

For some reason egg whites and veggies didn’t sound like they would hit the spot in the morning, so I opted for a pretty large bowl of Special K that took me about an hour to eat. It was probably close to two servings, so maybe that’s why it took so long? Oh, and yes – I eat it dry. I don’t like milk in my cereal.

I swear I didn’t eat the whole box ..

I slept through lunch so I had a snack around 3 p.m. I started with some peanut butter and half a sweet potato with some caramels. I ran out of the homemade ones so had a few (more than just the one pictured – I had 3) ones from my cabinet.

1/2 sweet potato not pictured.

1 of 3 caramels

Then an hour later I had another half of sweet potato with honey and cinnamon. Still my favorite snack.

B said he’d make me dinner and I napped again throughout the evening until dinner at around 8 p.m. B made some veggie burgers (my favorite – Luna!) and salads which somehow hit the spot. Oh, and yes, I also had some Arctic Zero. About 1/3 a pint #notashamed

So that was it! That’s what I ate on my sick day. Apparently I’m still hungry AND I crave comfort food as you can see – gotta have my ice cream, caramels, peanut butter, honey and sweet potato on my sick days!

Some questions for you:

What do you eat when you’re not feeling well? Do you tend to not eat much?
What comfort foods do you crave when you’re ill?
Favorite flavor of Arctic Zero? I’m almost done and need more!

PS – Thanks to The Big Man’s World for hosting this week’s WIAW!

Meatless Monday: Sweet Potato Zucchini Hash

March 9, 2015March 19, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 5 Comments

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted a recent Meatless Monday blog post. I’ve been eating plenty of meatfree meals (I give up meat for Lent every year) but I guess I haven’t been blogging about them! For example, here are some photos of the meals I’ve been enjoying: (these were originally from my Instagram account – feel free to follow me there @koskim for more gratuitous food shots)

Curried lentils with sweet potato and cauliflower

breakfast for dinner! egg white omelets with potatoes, peppers, onions and avocado

veggie burger with a side of – veggies!

cabbage and papaya salad with peanuts

spaghetti squash with homemade spicy tomato sauce and tofu

Anyway, finally, I’m sharing a recipe with you so that you can eat meatless on Monday (or any day!). I LOVE making this recipe and have made it or a variation of it probably too many times in the past month to count – but it’s so simple and so delicious and healthy that you should try it too! Leftovers are great as well – I typically have four 2-cup size servings with this recipe and then have enough leftover for 2 lunches.

sweet potato zucchini hash-icrashedtheweb

Sweet Potato Zucchini Hash

Serves 4

Here’s what you need:

2 TB olive oil, divided
1 onion, diced
2 zucchini, diced
2 bell peppers, finely chopped
1 sweet potato, diced
2 tsp. cumin, divided
2 tsp. ground paprika, divided
2 tsp. garlic powder, divided
1 tsp. cayenne pepper, divided (or more if you like it spicy! Note – if you have fresh hot pepper – like chili peppers or jalapeño, feel free to substitute with this)
salt and pepper to taste
Optional toppings: avocado, cilantro, hot sauce, tofu, sunny side up egg (not vegan)

Here’s what you do:

Preheat oven to 400 and finely dice all your veggies. If you’re like me, this may take a little while.
Place diced sweet potato on a prepared baking sheet (I spray mine with Pam or olive oil spray). Sprinkle generously with 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp garlic powder and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper. Cook in preheated oven for about 15 minutes. Check often so not to burn and toss potatoes halfway through.
While potato is cooking, heat half of olive oil in a large pan. Sautee onion for a few minutes or until translucent. Add in remaining chopped up veggies – peppers and zucchini. Add in remaining cumin, garlic powder, paprika and cayenne pepper and cook for about 7-10 minutes or until veggies are browned and softened.
When potatoes are done, add to pan with rest of veggies. Toss to incorporate. Finish until cooked but not mushy!
Enjoy! I like mine topped with cilantro and tofu. Other fun toppings include avocado, hot sauce and/or a sunny side up egg. I’ve also served it over spinach for an extra nutritional boost. The one pictured (above and below) has tofu crumbles in it.

So many veggies!

sweet potato zucchini hash-icrashedtheweb

Linking to my first MM linkup!

Question for you:

What meatless meal should I add to my repertoire?

WIAW: Leftover Chinese Food

March 4, 2015March 3, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

Once again – here’s a look at my Monday eats from this week. Enjoy this edition of WIAW!

Monday’s breakfast may look familiar. That’s right – once again, I had egg whites with hot peppers and frozen veggies. And B made it.

Sadly, we had no more leftover spaghetti squash to enjoy – I thought I did but after tasting it I noticed it was bad (ice) so it was just veggies and egg whites. Oh, I also had some coffee again!

For those of you that have read my other WIAW posts, this may look familiar …

Lunch was leftover Chinese food! B and I had FEASTED at Wonton Gourmet in Asiatown on Saturday night, getting lomein, szechuan fish, Chinese broccoli and more. Thankfully we had leftovers of my favorite – the fish and broccoli.

Not quite sure what kind of “fish” this is?

Snacks during the day included:

A sweet potato with honey and cinnamon and a handful of salted almonds. Sweet and salty ftw!

Probably about a handful of almonds – 12ish? – with my sweet potato. Some are hiding.

Carrots and cinnamon gum. Not together …

carrots and gum.

Homemade caramels – I made them over the weekend at my Ladies Craft Beer event and they are SO DELICIOUS.

Don’t worry, I didn’t eat ALL of these. Just about 2 or 3 🙂

Some Arctic Zero!

I didn’t quite eat the whole pint ..

For a Meatless Monday dinner I made some sweet potato zucchini hash with tofu. Yup, more sweet potato. YUM- I topped with cilantro.

I’ll be sharing the recipe for this soon – it is so GOOD and i make it all the time!

And for dessert? A small peanut butter cheesecake cookie bar. I’ll be posting the recipe for these asap because they are SO SO amazing.

I swear I only had one small one of these bars. Not the whole plate 🙂

And here’s my fitbit activity for the day- I got in a 4 mile run and short elliptical workout in the morning and that’s about it for activity.

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Some questions for you:

Do you WIAW? Share the link – I’d love to see!
What’s your favorite dessert you’re jamming on right now?
Do you eat the same breakfast each day too?

WIAW: Case of the Mondays = Cookie for Breakfast

February 25, 2015February 25, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 6 Comments

I decided to switch it up a little bit this week – I’m sharing with you Monday’s eats for this edition of What I Ate Wednesday. I typically share a Tuesday eats but guess what – I remembered to take food pics on Monday!

Full disclosure: Today (Wednesday) I’m going out to eat for dinner and likely having chips and guac, tacos, margs and dessert. Sorry you’re stuck with viewing pictures of zoodles (and some treats) instead of Mexican 🙂

Monday morning I started my day with a cookie. That’s right – a cookie. I ran before work and was hungry before I even had a chance to make breakfast (B had to pick up his dry-cleaning so I made my OWN breakfast!) so I had a butterscotch oatmeal coconut cookie bar. Delicious! And there’s oatmeal in them so it’s totally a great pre-breakfast treat.

butterscotch oatmeal cookie

When I got to work, I had my egg whites and veggies – this time a mix of spaghetti squash and frozen vegetables. Oh, and coffee with cinnamon. I don’t drink coffee daily, but when a colleague puts in Vietnamese cinnamon AND it’s Monday, it’s hard to resist.

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Lunch was a mix of leftovers from our dinner out with my parents on Friday (salmon and lentils – both my mom’s and my leftovers) and some roasted broccoli and tomatoes I had prepared on Sunday.

Salmon, lentils, roasted broccoli and tomatoes. Yes, my lunches often look like a dinner.

Snacks during the day included:

Bag of red and yellow peppers

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A few werthers (not pictured) and tons of tea with honey (also not pictured)

A sweet potato with honey

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Some Arctic Zero! Yes it’s cold, but I still have a sweet tooth (as evidenced by the cookie for breakfast)

I didn’t quite eat the whole pint ..

And for dinner – I made some shrimp scampi-type dish with zoodles! I don’t know what is officially in shrimp scampi, but this was sautéed onions, garlic and shrimp over zoodles with some peperoncino flakes and fresh basil.

Shrimp scampi over zoodles!

Some questions for you:

Does anyone have a spiralizer? What do you recommend making?
Cookies for breakfast – anyone else guilty?
Arctic Zero fans – what’s your favorite flavor?

*Note: The original WIAW linkup seems to be on hiatus sadly – but I’ll be sharing this here too!

Sweet Potato Chicken Chili

November 12, 2013November 10, 2013 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

Whether I like it or not, the weather is getting cooler and we’re well on our way to fall and … winter. I don’t mind the weather getting cooler – especially since it means it’s finally officially soup and chili weather!

We got a lot of sweet potatoes in our last summer Fresh Fork CSA, and though I’m a fan of roasting them, making fries, and more – I really wanted to make a chili with them. So I did. Typically I make my chicken or turkey chili in the crock pot to save time, and energy, but for being a chili recipe, this is pretty easy and painless to prepare AND make. You could probably use ground beef – but I always prefer turkey or chicken personally so I haven’t tried it.

sweet potato chicken chili photo - i crashed the web

Sweet Potato Chicken Chili

Here’s what you need:

1 Tbs olive oil
16 oz lean ground turkey or chicken
1 medium yellow or Spanish onion, chopped
1 medium sweet pepper, chopped
1 Tbs garlic powder
1-2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
10 oz can tomatoes with green chilies
16 oz can diced tomatoes
8 oz can tomato sauce
2 cans our favorite beans – I used kidney and Great Northern beans
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes about 1/2-1 inch thick

Here’s what you do:

In a Dutch oven, brown the ground chicken over 1 Tbs olive oil. Cook, on medium-high, and break apart chicken as it cooks. Season with some of the garlic powder and cumin as it cooks.
After chicken is cooked through, add onion and pepper and some more of the cumin and garlic powder. Continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes until onion starts to become translucent.
Add the can of tomatoes with chilies, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans and sweet potato.
Add rest of spices – rest of cumin, garlic powder and then chili powder. Stir to combine mixture.
Cover Dutch oven most of the way and simmer over medium to medium-low heat for about 25-40 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft and full cooked. Stir often.
Serve in a bowl. Mine made about 9 cups and I had about 1 1/2 cup for my dinner serving.
Enjoy alone, over rice or with corn bread. I chose the corn bread — because why not?

And that, my friends, is the perfect fall meal!