Things I Love ed. 14

Hi guys!

Another Things I Love post coming at you.

Today lets talk about food. Specifically foods that I love right now and cannot eat enough to satisfy my ridiculous cravings. I know we all find ourselves in food patterns where something is so amazing that we can’t get enough. And then suddenly, a few months pass and we’re never eating that food again for a year. Well right now, these are my “must eat all the freaking time, or I might die” foods.

1. Southern Comfort Food: I’ve been craving this for a while actually. A few months ago I was tired of my standard lunch fare and found myself craving big, hearty and comforting meals of chicken, vegetables and rolls. Within the past few weeks, these cravings have upgraded into authentic artery clogging southern foods that my Oma made when I was a child. I’m talking chicken fried steak, gravy, mashed potatoes, chicken and dumplings, fried chicken tenders. And don’t forget the huge white puffy rolls alongside.

Sorry if I’m making you salivate, but it’s honestly all I can think about right now. I haven’t succumb to the fried glory yet and have been trying to distract myself with imposter Southern comfort meals – like this one I made last week:

Roasted chicken, roasted carrots, roasted potatoes and mashed cauliflower. This meal was epic.

I’m hoping I can bide my time on the chicken fried steak until this craving passes.

2. Refried beans: Moving along with the comfort theme, I want to eat refried beans every second of the day right now. I’ve always loved refried beans – but right now I actually would just eat them straight out of a bowl with nothing else. They are so delicious and actually nutritional as well!

This craving I’ve been indulging in a little more than craving #1. Like recently, when I made chicken chorizo tacos and served them in the tacos AND on the side:

Or chicken fajitas with refried beans on the side.

Of course, I’ve been eating them much more than that. Mostly for quick lunches with burritos or quesadillas. So amazingly good.

3. Quaker chewy granola bars: I’m not actually a granola bar eater. Occasionally I’ll eat a crunchy bar from Nature Valley or Kashi, but typically I stick with the “energy” bars like luna, lara or cliff bars. I have nothing against granola bars – they just are usually more sugar than they are protein and fiber.

A few months ago, I saw a professor eating a quaker chewy bar at a lecture I attended. A few weeks later at a race I walked had these bars available after the race. I picked up one, ate it and was in love.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been eating one of these bars almost every day. Because I don’t find them generally healthy and because I don’t tend to eat them, I’ve been using it as my “treat” for the day and it’s been delicious. My absolute favorite flavor is the peanut butter chocolate chip. Holy delicious.

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This is another craving I can’t wait to pass so I can find something else to munch on for my treats every day – like my beloved dark chocolate that I’ve been craving like mad after dinner every night but not eating!

4. Water with lime: Okay this isn’t really a food, but I cannot get enough water with lime right now. Because it’s already 100 degrees in Texas – I’ve been drinking a lot more water than normal. But plain water gets old fast. And water with ice and lime makes me drink MORE water than I ever have before.

I’ve been stopping at sonic (omg sonic ice is the best) and ordering a 44 oz water with lime every day at the price tag of $.50. What can I say, I’m a big spender over here! This water gets re-filled usually twice throughout the day, putting me well over my 80 oz I attempt to drink each day. It’s amazing, keeps me drinking and is so good for me that I’m happy with this craving and hope it doesn’t go away anytime soon!

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Ahhhh, looking at this picture makes me salivate waiting for my sonic trip of the day!

So those are the foods I’ve been loving lately. Some good, some not good – but I’m trying my best to balance them all. What foods are you loving right now?

For more of the Things I Love series, click here.