A Terrible Habit

I have a terrible habit. I need to break this habit. But I don?t quite know how.
I snack while I make food. Constantly. Anything I make, I snack on in the process. Cutting up banana for a pot of oats? A quarter of it won?t make it to the pot. Cutting up veggies for a salad? Many won?t make it to the bowl. A snack of cottage cheese? I?ll eat just as much (if not more) straight from the container before even putting it in a bowl.
I hate this habit. Often I?ll snack so much during prep that I kill most of my appetite for my meal. I still eat the meal.
This is a big contributor to the fact that I don?t bake all that often. I want to bake!

Anyone else have this habit? Or had it in the past and managed to break it? How do you avoid snacking while making meals? I really want to stop doing this! I feel like I would enjoy my meals so much more if I didn?t a big chunk of them in bits and pieces before they even got put together. I guess I need to work on the will power thing?

I woke up with a cough. Pffft what? I don?t know where it came from? maybe it?s allergies to the new spring season?

Either way, it made me want to load up on fresh goodness for breakfast.

This smoothie was mad delicious. It included: frozen banana, a baby clementine, one small apple, spinach, kale, almond milk, vanilla soy protein powder and liquid whey. I don?t usually use apple or orange in smoothies so I wasn?t sure how the flavour would turn out but I loved it!

This definitely beat out any smoothie I?ve made with berries.

I?m now wasting my days away doing nothing since school is done. I need to get a job really badly. I?m going to go nuts. I work one day a week (Saturdays) but that?s not nearly enough, especially when I have nothing really else to do all week. I?ve been cleaning and such and it?s only the first week off but I?m already getting bored. I?m just really terrible at searching for jobs. The thought of it actually makes me nervous. Ugh. I know it needs to be done though so I?ll be getting on that asap? hopefully? sigh.

I eventually ate a salad that helped me finish up last bits of containers of cottage cheese, refried beans and sour cream. Nice.

Later on there was MAIL. Mail is usually never all that exciting for me. Yesterday was different, however, because I received a very special package.

I won Lara?s British Bar Contest a little while back and I finally got them! I was beyond excited to have all of these in my possession:

I spent plenty of time being a creepy food obsessor and giggling while looking over each and every one, then I had to begin the taste testing.

I tried the Nakd Apple Pie Bar. So good! Similar to a Larabar but a little more dense/baked good-like? So I?m terrible at trying to come up with a way to explain it but rest assured it was darn tasty.
Thank you thank you thank you Lara!!

Not quite as exciting but I also got this coupon for a free box of Kashi granola bars. Free is cool in my books.

After admiring my bars some more I finally got started on a new dinner. I had a nice big container of ricotta cheese sitting in the fridge waiting to be made into something new and fun, so I used Coco?s Veggie Ricotta Pudding recipe that had intrigued me a while back and I had saved just for an occasion where ricotta was gracing my refrigerator shelves.

My version: (All measurements are very approximate. I just basically threw random amounts together)

First Layer- 1.5 cups canned sweet potato puree + 1 egg white
Second Layer ? 1/2 bag frozen spinach, 1/4 diced onion, garlic powder, 2 egg whites
Third Layer ? 1.5 cups light ricotta, 2 tbsp light herb and garlic cream cheese, sprinkling feta

Each layer was spread into a baking dish then cooked at 375 for 45 minutes.

Plenty o? goodness in this dish. And pretty darn simple with the canned sweet potato already conveniently in my cupboard. Baking a sweet potato beforehand then mashing it up would probably be even tastier though.

And I had more spinach with it. The fresh stuff.

I?m not doing a very good job at taking pictures of my desserts but rest assured they do exist. Usually it?s just me chowing down on bites of yogurt straight from the container, cereal straight from the box and nut butter straight from the jar. Photos are an afterthought.

This morning started off really tasty.

I made oats with whey, almond milk, banana, cinnamon, agave and raisins. I never think to add raisins but these are a great addition! Will be used more often for sure.

Then I topped them peaches n cream style with a little something I bulleted together last night: canned peaches, plain yogurt, cinnamon, flax and a splash of hazelnut creamer. So freaking delicious. It tasted like a baked peach crisp dessert.

+ Icccccced Coffee. Love em.

I started a deep bedroom clean. As in dusting every nook and cranny. I got about half done but then I got bored of it. I may continue the task tomorrow. I broke it off for a mad good wrap I was dreaming up.

This included Spicy Sabra hummus, a slice of fat free swiss, spinach, baby tomatoes and pickle all heated up.

Paired with iceberg lettuce wedges drizzled in garlic vinaigrette, this lunch did not disappoint.

You would think though, with such a satisfying lunch, I would be satisfied enough not to want to dig into more food. Nope, not the case.

I defrosted a homemade nut butter bar from my freezer and stuffed and topped it with Chocolate PB2 mixed with lemon meringue yogurt. This was not as big as it looks. More like two-bite brownie size.

Delicious. But yet again not satisfying enough. I?m having a terribly sweet and carby day and immediately after this I went right for the cereal.

Some of it made it into the bowl! (Most of it only made it from box to mouth)

After feeling stupid about eating a whole bunch of cereal after already having an entire lunch, I still felt for more food. I guess I was still hungry. I had an apple. Not sweet enough for today?s sweet tooth.

The Easter chocolate won. I had two Easter egg things left. I opened both. I had a bite of each. I rewrapped them and put them away. I later gave the rest of them to my brother. He gladly accepted my gracious chocolate givings. I am now completely out of Easter candy. I love it but FINALLY. It?s about time I got rid of the chocolate voices calling after me.

Blah blah oh well.

The rest of my day was treadmill, groceries, dinner.

Dinner was Fettucine Hungry Girlfredo! using Tofu Shirataki noodles. Oh so good. If you can get over the initial fishy smell when you open the package of course?

I used laughing cow and a wee bit of full fat sour cream since that?s all we have right now. It wasn?t cheesy enough though so I also threw in a bit of light cream cheese. If I?m going for a cheesy dish I want it to be cheesy alright? I also veggied it up with sauteed red peppers, mushrooms and shallots. Oh and I also threw in a couple pieces of leftover baked tofu. One big tofulicious meal!

Full package of noodles. I ate and loved every bite.

Now I?m hungry again. Big darn surprise. I?m gonna go grab a big apple. Maybe two. Mmm.