WIAW: What I Eat When My Hubs is Gone.

ITS WIAW!!! AND IM BACK AT IT AGAIN! I have recently gotten my blogging gusto back and I’m super pumped about it…as always thank you thank you thank you to Laura, Crazy Megan, Arman, and the one and only Jenn for teaming up to host these crazy days! Love them you guys!

This summer has been an extraordinary one for sure, my husband has gotten to take part in some amazing things happening in our church and in the community along with heading up a trip across the country for research on church work and functions. I am so happy to report he is back in my loving care and under strict instructions to stay put here for awhile…I’m not being selfish at all ;).

Literally he was gone for a week, came home to vacation bible school week where we saw each other for maybe ten minutes every evening, onto middle school camp for almost a week, and then to a trip for a week away again.  I myself have been living the ‘single’ life so to speak, single as in singly the only one here that is. I find myself even in the times when I am here without him to be a serious snacker and each evening going through series of snacks instead of actually eating meals.

Let me track back a little bit to right when he returned from one of his camps….

Panera anyone?

I always always end up ordering the classic chicken salad with grilled chicken and a sprouted whole grain roll, so yummy and easy on the nutritional load.

We have started a somewhat tradition of going out to eat so he can tell all about the trip or camp that he was just on and that has become something so special to me, I love to taken in a good meal and listen to everything he has to say, I feel like if we are out to eat then I don’t have to focus on the home or anything else but to give him my full attention and that is a remarkable thing to have someones full attention. I watch every detail and take in all the faces as he remembers the memories. It helps me to delight in things so much more too when he doesn’t have to repeat a story because I listened the first time.

Protein Balls were consumed in amass whilst he was here and whilst he was gone….

Soo maybe some of those photos were reused, you get the picture I love these little things and they definitely satisfied my sweet tooth…

Sometimes I find myself having cravings for the same things…popcorn and baby carrots are definitely those things right now, my husband is very understanding though, sometimes every night it’s just a fend for yourself night. I didn’t photo it but I had a bowl of popcorn (Two tablespoons unpopped kernels) on most evenings he was gone with some Molly Mcbutter sprinkled on top, this was the perfect amount of saltiness and butteriness to compare to movie theater popcorn, I use a Airpopper and GUYS if you don’t have one think about getting one. The popcorn is so good and not weighed down at all extra crunchy wow it is phenomenal, I even sometimes spray with PAM Olive oil Butter spray , probably some chemicals loaded in that but man does it even give it a great smell, sprinkle the seasoning and we are good. to. go. So yep I like my popcorn.

Enter baby carrots and saying goodbye to him through any mans ‘other’ love language food. These carrots are the perfect amount of sweet in a veggie, I buy big bags of organic baby carrots from HyVee every week and go through one bag by myself with very little help by the hubs, I may turn orange one day…

That was scenes from the Hubs going away dinner before he left for his trip, Venison (deer Meat) Burgers, with sweet potato fries and mixed peppers sautéed in a little oil, he of course had the two burgers with buns while my version on the right consisted of more veggies and no bun on my burger, and of course those lovely little baby carrots.

On Tuesday of the week my hubs was gone I headed out to meet a friend for lunch at HyVee I absolutely love their salad bar, and when it comes to ordering salads in a restaurant I’d much rather eat a buffet and make my own, bring me those veggie toppings! Does anyone else feel like they get jipped when ordering a salad at a restaurant? Let’s not even get me started about the time I tried to order a salad at Firehouse Subs, how many times can I say, “I am positive I want a salad.” Lesson Learned. When in need of a salad: Head to HyVee.

Other snaps from the week consisted of sparkling water of which I am recently loving, chicken and fresh tomatoes (a super nice lady at the gym offered me tomatoes and I did NOT turn them down they were delicious), Extra sweet watermelon gum (I can’t help but think of summer when I chew this and I may have already gone through the pack =s), Fresh Almond Butter from HyVee (they have a machine now and it actually is decently priced and so so good no high fructose corn syrup here!), and home made Blueberry Banana Bread (made with love and coconut flour all for the hubs I ended up not having enough almond flour to make it very ‘bread-y’ so it ended up being more cake like texture he loves it).

I can’t believe honestly how much I wasn’t hungry it seems when I’m happier I’m hungrier too, having the hubs home can definitely up my intake which is a good thing when you are a serial snacker to have someone to help you eat actual meals. Ha.

Speaking of actual meals I NEVER missed a good breakfast, protein pancakes, God’s word, almond butter, vitamins, and almond milk every morning got me fueled for the work day. Praise the Lord for these mounds of goodness. Love them!

When my husband did return we went on a long day walk, not kidding we walked basically all afternoon eight miles actually…and we had so much fun and talked about everything; best friends. We realized upon getting home we hadn’t had lunch and thus missed a meal our stomachs brought us to El Toro a Mexican restaurant here in town we haven’t been to, and boy did it deliver. I got the mango salsa chicken with a side plate and my husband got the special with an enchilada, burrito, and tamale. We both dug right in and there was no photo opportunities, but we agreed the price was right so we will be back and maybe have more self-control next time… 😉

Sunday Funday

So now things are gearing up for back to normal round here, seems an ice cream cone fits right into that spot for us, our favorite ‘date night’ activity, McDonalds cones are where it’s at!

So I must say goodbye, I have a husband to attend to and boy am I happy about that! Happy WIAW everyone! Check back next Monday for another Marvelous Monday Musings….

Until next time….love love love.

So NOW it’s Your turn:

What do you guys do for date night?

What is your go to thing you like to snack on?