Fall beginnings…
After an exceptionally dry/sunny summer, we are having some rain today. The whole vibe is “gloomy fall” and I’m kinda loving it.
I went for my 7 a.m. walk in the rain (not so heavy I needed an umbrella, but I definitely needed a rain jacket):
I haven’t done any of my usual fall decorating yet. No pumpkins or mums have been bought yet.
But I did dip my toe in fall-land on Sunday on a quick grocery run. I was enticed by the end-cap display of fall teas and came home with these:
People who know me know that despite being a huge “fall fan”, I’m not really a big pumpkin gal. But after my recent experience really liking Asher’s pumpkin spice shake from Culver’s, I decided to cautiously attempt more pumpkin. Maybe I can be won over yet.
I tried the pumpkin spice tea right away Sunday afternoon, and it’s good!! Anyway, I love the tea bag envelope, so that right there is a good enough reason to drink it:
Sunday night we had Ivan’s family over for dinner and I cooked this time. I was feeling a bit guilty because his mom has been in town a while and yet I hadn’t really cooked a big, proper, sit-down meal for her myself yet. Not that she asked/expected, but still.
I made a chipotle crusted pork tenderloin, roasted red, seasoned potatoes, green beans with parmesan and honey almonds, and…. an apple pie. It produced very fall-like scents in my house. The day on Sunday was gorgeous, and I prepped most of this meal with the kitchen window open and the Packers football game on TV. Quite pleasant!
I forgot to take any pictures of the food. But here’s the pie, which Asher got his hands on and carved an A for Asher as the steam holes… haha.
*When I ran to pick up a few items for dinner, the grocery store was very busy. I decided to lean into the ~5-10 minutes I stood waiting in line and did NOT pull out my phone, but rather grabbed a copy of Better Homes and Gardens from the rack and browsed all the fun fall and Halloween decor pictures:
I felt very “Laura Vanderkamish” doing this, haha. I feel like she’s all about using little windows of time for interesting and pleasurable activities.
Need to improve: Breakfast and Lunch
On my walk this morning, I listened to most of the latest Best of Both Worlds episode about meal planning.
Sarah mentioned her recent woes with lunch planning for her in-office days.
I work from home, so I eat all of my daytime meals at home typically. But I still feel like I’ve been in a bit of a similar rut here lately, too.
Sometimes in the mornings I end up just eating a quick bite while the kids do, but sometimes it’s just been like a mini-bagel or something. This is not enough for my, uh, appetite levels. So then I end up eating more around ~10:30, often something like a cheese stick/fruit/ a few turkey bites, etc.
But then if I snack too late, now I’m not really hungry for a regular lunch…. So then I kind of snack through lunch, too.
Also, for some unknown reason, I have been craving microwave popcorn lately with a sparkling water. I have had too many bags of microwave popcorn for “lunch” recently!! Nothing against popcorn, but eating an entire bag of popcorn is really not an appropriate grown-up lunch. Lol.
I also fully realize that these sort of random/ snack-heavy “meals” are also definitely not helping me hit my protein goals (which I’ve not been worrying too much about lately, but I’d like to keep the focus back on that since I do feel it’s very important for aging well. And it’s essential for good gym performance and recovery.).
I’m considering trying to plan out my Breakfast and Lunch and putting it on my calendar, like I’ve been doing with our evening meals.
Since I do WFH, I can fall into the trap of just thinking, hmm… what do I feel like eating right now?? PBJ? Sure, that sounds yummy. Or… popcorn. 😆
Not entirely sure why this is happening, since I ate salads for lunch for a long time. But I have not really been on a big salad kick right now. Who knows.
Anyway, perhaps just knowing in advance, “Ok, I’m having a turkey burger patty, baby carrots and strawberries for lunch” would prevent me from just perusing the fridge and cabinets for “whatever’ (i.e. usually higher carb/ lower protein yumminess).
I will try planning my B/L and will report back next week if I stuck to it!
Do you have a favorite fall-flavored product I should try? What’s your typical breakfast/lunch routine??
Quote of the Day:
“Going for walks doesn’t solve my problems. It just makes me better able to deal with my problems.” – from The Frugal Girl (I love this! Yes! So very true and succinctly sums up why my walking/exercise routine is so important to me.)
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful that I figured out how to use Apple Car Play in my new van. SO easy (duh…but it was new to me!) and I love it.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Those fall teas look lovely. I’m one of those who needs to eat on schedule (7:30 for breakfast, 12 p.m. for lunch) but I’m scrambling too. It’s eggs or a protein shake for breakfast and whatever dinner leftovers for lunch. I’m guilty of making a packed lunch for my husband all last year – he was just getting hamburgers on the road at 2 p.m. almost every day and it’s a lot better – but not always for me!
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Haha, I can relate to the husband thing. I don’t pack his lunch but honestly probably should, because he never seems to take much food…I am not sure WHAT he eats most of the time. lol.
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I am here for jalapenos in eggs!
I work out first thing in the morning so I have to have a decent breakfast afterwards or I am not a nice person for the rest of the day. What works for me is making breakfast burritos and then freezing them. I don’t eat breakfast burritos everyday, but it’s the fact that I HAVE them when I want them.
Lunch…that’s tricky because it’s harder to sit down on Sunday and say “OK, on Thursday I’m eating a tuna sandwich” and then Thursday comes around and I’m just like “I am willing to eat anything except for a tuna sandwich”, and being at home, I’ve got my whole kitchen available to me. So I don’t have a solution but I have the same problem;-)
FWIW I’ve been really into popcorn for afternoon snacks recently. I found single serving size bags that really fit the bill.
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hehe, I can also relate to the, OK, I want ANYTHING but that! That’s what tends to happen to me with leftovers… I like leftovers, but sometimes I’m just not in the mood if I just ate that the previous evening. Or I end up wanting something just a little different in the daytime for some reason versus a meat/potatoes/veggies style meal.
Popcorn is a great snack- in small amounts (i.e. not the entire bag… oops) and probably not as a main course. LOL.
Love the burrito idea. I do love breakfast burritos, and my boys love them like from McDonald’s- but I’ve never made them at home! I need to try this. Do you have a certain recipe you love?
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I am uninterested in pumpkin-flavored products, so I spend a lot of fall being left out of a major topic of conversation. Oh, well.
My breakfasts and lunches are always the same. I’m very boring. Yogurt with granola and fruit in the morning and nuts, guacamole with pretzels, seasonal veggies (raw) with ranch dressing if needed, and occasionally a slice of cheese as a treat for lunch. So boring.
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I am a very routine breakfast and lunch eater but it works for me if I find something I like and I am honestly excited to eat it every day; even if my family thinks I’m crazy. I make a batch of egg + veggie muffins every weekend so I have a healthy protein + fiber breakfast every weekday morning. I keep them in fridge and heat three up every weekday morning. My lunch lately has been greek grain bowl with baked salmon or chicken. 90 second rice/grain + protein + kalmata olives, sometimes feta cheese and greek dressing. Otherwise I’ll have leftover soup or chili I make in the fall/winter. But I love the lack of mental load when I have it figured out. Always interested in what others do for their meals!
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I have staple breakfasts items: if I crave sweet I’ll have oatmeal with almond butter, if I crave savory, I’ll make toasts with eggs. for lunch, I’ll pack leftovers from dinner if I’ll be busy at work or need to leave early, if not, I’ll have lunch with colleagues friends.
I prefer not snacking in the morning unless I did hard running so my appetite is high, otherwise I don’t enjoy lunch as much. in the pM, I will have a snack around 3 with homemade baked goodies or more quick oats with protein powder.
please share your planned B/L.
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I don’t usually like tea but I love the Harley & Sons pumpkin spice tea. It’s a nice fall tea and I think it’s Herbal so caffeine free so I can drink it at any time which is nice (I can’t have caffeine after noon or it impacts my sleep).
I love fall but do zero decorating. I only decorate for Christmas. I just can’t manage another holiday and different decor. We carve pumpkins and do some fall things, like Paul and I are going to the pumpkin spectacular at our zoo which I enjoy at least as much as he does if not more!!!
Meal planning is tough. I basically eat the same thing every week – a big salad. I eat it whether I am at home or in the office. But it is an easy lunch to pack. I probably need to change the protein and combos as I am getting a bit tired of chicken with chopped cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and an Italian dressing. So maybe I will shift to taco salads next week. I need to shake up by breakfasts a bit though. I think I am going to try some frozen egg bite type of things. I don’t eat enough protein in the am so can get hungry early.
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Weird, I left a comment but it did not work. So you may get two from me!
I am on team Jalapeno too!
I have been known to eat popcorn for dinner sometimes, but usually I do the same thing every week. Breakfast is two eggs – if I am home, I fry them up, sometimes with a little potato, or rice, or protein depending on what else in in the fridge. If I am at work, I either bring hard boiled or I microwave them and eat them with the same as above or maybe a piece of cheese if I have it.
For lunches, I always make one or two items on the weekend and package up my five lunches for the week. This week I cooked pork chops and chicken thighs and made rice and carrots, so my five lunches are rice and carrots with either the chop or a thigh. It may be boring for some, but I prefer to take the though out of it and just grab and go each day, whether I am home or at work.
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I don’t love fall flavours but I love fall fruits! Where I am now, the fruit is local and I don’t think I will ever get tired of it. I don’t love COOKED fruit though, I’m a raw fruit kind of gal.
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You really leaned into fall and I’m loving it! Your pie looks great. I really should try some fall tea flavors- I love black tea but every time I try a different flavor I always want to go back to earl grey. Now I’m determined to try some pumpkin spiced tea.
When I decided to up my protein intake (this was a 2023 project) I had the same realization as you- I was usually snacking instead of having a real lunch, which meant my protein for that meal was low. Lately… I’ve been drinking a protein shake for lunch, which is fine (I don’t really have time when I’m at work to eat much anyway) but the problem is, I get home hungry and eat a bunch of junk. So it’s still a work in progress. I’ll be interested to see what you do- I think it would be hard, working from home. Oh, and I’ve definitely eaten a huge bowl of popcorn for lunch- as a matter of fact I did it Sunday : )
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I am not a big fan of pumpkin but I am always open to trying new things. I wonder though, what does pumpkin tea even taste like?
I work 3/4 days at home and I have a pretty good breakfast routine (either yogurt and granola or whole grain bread with cheese or jam), but I don’t do “official” lunches…. I usually grab whatever I feel like that day (a slice of bread with cheese and tomatoes – if I had yogurt in the morning, apple with almond butter, or I through together a small salad with leftover produce).
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Thank you for this cozy post!! I love ALL fall flavor/scents/tastes. The more the better! With tea, I stick with what I have (regular black with cream, green, and some caramel moose left over from Christmas lol). I saw a pumpkin-flavored Keurig cups but, alas, no Keurig here.
A favorite fall-flavored product? Fall-scented candles from Bath and Body Works and their room sprays! I use room sprays in class to set the mood so to speak. The students love it.
Typical breakfast/lunch routine… Breakfast: loaded oatmeal, made the morning of (when I say loaded I mean: nuts, dried cranberries, apricots, chic seeds, berries, etc). Lunch- almost always are leftovers from the dinner the night before.
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