Chocolate Covered Strawberry Hazelnut Smoothie

Happy Friday all!

My day entailed work, a gym session, taking Harley for a lunchtime walk at the park on this hot but nice day…

…and pizza night! I just enjoyed a few slices of a homemade pie I made: whole wheat dough + mozzarella + roasted red pepper + tomato + fresh basil + arugula + sea salt. The endless possibilities of pizza combinations ensure that making it never gets old!

To feed the curiosity that some of you have about what the hell a vegetarian eats from meal to meal (or really, what THIS vegetarian eats), today’s topic is one of my What I Ate Wednesday posts… only it’s 2 days late, because I was more excited to talk about quinoa green bean salad and throwback travel posts about studying abroad in Sicily this week!

My day’s eats started off in a pretty usual way, with lots of vibrant whole foods:

It tastes better than it looks, I swear.

Recently I talked about my obsession with Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter. Well, this love has not faded in the least bit, and I’m starting to debate whether keeping a whole jar of it in my house is a good idea. Sometimes I buy the packets of them – more expensive, but at least it’s portion control! – and I may just have to do that once this runs out, which will probably be in about 5 minutes…

I love how it’s made with all-natural ingredients, and it’s just so damn delicious! I think I have an issue with nut butters in general – as I’m also in love with Trader Joe’s almond butter with sea salt, cookie butter (which I don’t even think has nuts in it, but I’m counting it as a nut butter anyways! PS I don’t buy it anymore because I can’t stop eating it when I do.) and peanut butter in general, but I digress. Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter was part of the yummy smoothie I made for lunch (plus the spoonful I couldn’t help but eat right out of the jar!):

In the mix:

• 1 cup unsweetened chocolate almond milk
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 2 TBSP Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter
• 1 TBSP cocoa powder
• 1/2 scoop whey chocolate protein powder
• Ice

For a snack later on, I had a plain Chobani Greek yogurt mixed with honey and cinnamon, and topped with blueberries.

I love honey. And cinnamon. And blueberries. And Greek yogurt. So I obviously loved this combo!

For dinner, I made a big salad that included these guys:

I’m a fan of the easy ingredient list of the Gardein brand products. No foreign ingredients = awesomeness.

The salad included a few of the tenders with mixed lettuce, avocado, cheddar cheese, and tomato, topped with a dressing I whipped up that was a combo of salsa + light sour cream + mashed avocado. It’s my go-to salad-dressing-when-I-don’t-really-feel-like-salad-dressing combo.

Lastly, my nighttime snack was a cup of hot green tea and a few dark chocolate kisses to satisfy my sweet tooth. I love dark chocolate and find it so satisfying to just eat a bit of it.

Ha, that mug makes me laugh. My aunt bought Adam the above ‘Mr. Right’ one, and me a matching one that says ‘Mrs. Always Right.’ I think they’re so cute.

And on that note, I’m off to have a relaxing movie night!

Question: Do you love nut butters too? If not, what food(s) are you loving lately that you have a hard time eating in small quantities?