Oh man, it felt good to sleep in a bit this morning. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday mornings start really early- to the blaring sound of an alarm, a little before 5:00 am. You can see just how awake I am at this time of day.
Hot mess.
But really, I’ve said it many times before. The five minutes of waking up and putting in my contacts (ouch!) is the worst, and then I’m good to go. By the time I get to the gym and start teaching, the energy just seems to somehow get there. And then of course, by the time my classes are over… I’m ready for a nap!
**
As promised, I’m back to share the delicious eats from Sunday with you guys for today’s version of WIAW. I know that you’ve been anxiously waiting, right? 
The current theme for What I Ate Wednesday is “Fall into good habits”- and “better habits” are definitely something that I need to work on … a lot (which you will read about tomorrow!).
But for today, let’s just talk about food.
No, I didn’t eat a jar of Justin’s Vanilla Almond butter (although I definitely could!)- I spread a little bit on a piece of banana and ran out the door (along with some water and fitmixer aminos).
After I got back from the gym, I threw a bunch of good stuff in the Vitamix. And by stuff, I mean ice, water, frozen strawberries, rhubarb, spinach, guar + xanthan gum and a scoop of Sunwarior Vanilla Blend protein powder.
Which (a moment later) turned into this delicious super-thick smoothie.
I am absolutely loving the strawberry-rhubarb combination lately.
After devouring that delicious smoothie, I started prepping food for the afternoon. And then I decided that we also needed dessert- and that it should involve apples. So, after a quick run over to Common Market, I returned home and got to work. I prepped the dessert first and put it in the crock pot so that it would be ready later in the afternoon. More on that later.
Check out the spread:
We had some chips and salsa to munch on while the burgers were being grilled. Mine and Greg’s contribution to the meal was a salad, which contained mixed-greens, beets, apples and roasted sunflower seeds. Oh, and goat cheese. Can’t forget the goat cheese. I also made an awesome dressing by blending almond milk, salt, pepper, basil, roasted garlic and red onion, apples, beets, walnuts and balsamic vinegar. I didn’t get any photos of the salad by itself, by Gretchen did, so I’m stealing hers.
Yeah. Her photos look a lot better. I need to stop being lazy and pick up my DSLR once in awhile.
We also made bulked-up burgers (which contain 3 oz grass-fed beef and about 3 oz chopped up mushroom and onion each- no one knows that they’re not “just” beef!) along with grilled portobello mushrooms (marinated in Bragg’s liquid aminos and balsamic vinegar) and grilled onions.
Our guests brought some amazing eats, including mango guacamole
and a blue cheese coleslaw from Gretchen (check out her post for recipes!)
(I’ll have you know, that I actually do not like blue cheese at all- but I really liked this!)
And Ken and Terri brought a quinoa salad
And a ton of eggplant from their CSA to roast.
I loaded up my plate with all of the goodies (including an Ezekiel sprouted grain roll for the burger)
Holy plate of deliciousness. All of this food was so good.
We also broke open the bottle of Fat Jack. Awww yeah.
It was everything I hoped it would be!
A little while later, it was time for dessert. I surveyed the crock pot, and it looked liked it was ready- but needed a partner to make it even better. Luckily, we live about a mile from the closest grocery store, so Greg made the quickest trip ever to grab a pint of Breyer’s vanilla ice cream (the best, in my opinion). I poured some KIND Cinnamon Oat flax granola in a bowl, and dessert was ready!
I was a little nervous about how it would taste, because I just kind of threw a bunch of stuff in the Crockpot- but I was not disappointed. It was incredible!
I’m going to call this “Flavors of Fall,” and here’s the recipe:
Flavors of Fall Dessert
4 apples, cored (I used ginger gold)
1 small winter squash, peeled (I used kabocha)
1/2 c frozen cranberries
1/4 c walnuts, chopped
1 T Earth Balance buttery spread (or butter)
1 T blackstrap molasses
1.5 T coconut nectar (or other sweetener of choice)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Dice the apples and squash into cubes- about 1″ in size. Place all ingredients into a slow-cooker and stir well. Cook on high for 5 hours, or low for 8 hours. Stir every hour or so. Top with granola, ice cream- or whatever you want!
**
That was pretty much it for the day. I was pretty much full from all of the eating in the afternoon, and didn’t need any dinner. And there were lots of leftovers to enjoy the next day (but unfortunately, no dessert)!
What’s your favorite “fall” dessert?
While I do enjoy pumpkin, my fav fall desserts involve apples and lots of cinnamon!
I apple/pear desserts either in the form of quick breads, pies, crisps or cakes. Yum!
What a fun recipe! It has squash?!?! Oh my word. I don’t know if I’m brave enough for that, but it looks like it works!
YUM! Looks delicious!!
And seriously, you make me *need a Vitamix!
Yum, that ALL looks and sounds delicious, I’m totally pinning that dessert.
blue… cheese… coleslaw??? wow, that sounds … GOOD.
and I love the idea of rhubarb in the smoothie – I’ll have to see if I can still find some here!
Haha, I love your candor. I’d be scared to post a pic of myself straight out of bed, but you do it in a way that is both endearing and chuckle-worthy. Your burgers look so good! I was telling my husband everything you ate, and he said he actually used to eat burgers with chips and salsa as toppings….ah, it must be nice to be a growing boy.
I am loving that dessert!!!! For me fall = apples and cinnamon
I like the taste of blue cheese –sooo good! I found a great dressing that is a yogurt based blue cheese–soooo good! Totally gonna make that coleslaw
Delicious looking dessert! Love baked apples.
I need to come to one of your parties! This all looks so good.
I love the burger-shroom idea! And I couldn’t agree more on the Breyers – maybe it’s a childhood thing, but there is no better vanilla ice cream out there.
I have a note from last winter to make an apple-butternut pie! Maybe a crumble is in order…
That spread looks delicious!! I need to make this dessert. I love that it is in the crockpot!
Wow it all looks great, especially the fat jack.
What an awesome recipe. I would never of thought to combine all those flavors! It looks and sounds absolutely delicious girl!
That dessert sounds amazing – just pinned it, so I’ll remember to make it later.
that dessert sounds amazing! definitely going to try it!
[...] Last Wednesday I mentioned that I really needed to start creating some better habits for myself- and then I elaborated on it more the following day. And I’m happy to report that I’ve been feeling pretty darn good the last few days- and inspired to dedicate myself a bit more to mindful eating. And I’m not surprised- I left Fitbloggin’ very inspired to treat my body (and my mind) a little better, and that’s what I’m focused on right now. [...]
[...] in salads [...]