Eating in Real Life

A few weeks ago, postpartum hormones had me feeling a bit down. And I realized that I was semiconsciously getting depressed by comparing myself to bloggers I follow online. Guess what? Their lives aren’t my life, so comparing is pointless and painful.

In the spirit of being real, I have two shares today. First, here is a real meal from our house last week.

Pictured: two different kinds of pasta that I needed to finish boxes of, jarred spaghetti sauce, a random salad, and breadsticks I froze back and Halloween (hence the “bone” shape).

Not every dinner is scratch made at pretty much anyone’s house. And that is ok. We have a couple nights a week that are a little bit hairy at dinner around here. So I have to schedule things that are easier and faster. But that doesn’t mean I can’t make them as healthy as possible.

For this dinner, I sautéed onions, bell pepper, and carrots that I cooked into the sauce. I also threw in some Italian sausage. I love having big bags of Costco produce, so I can always at least have a salad at dinner. And when I make breadsticks, I always make a big batch if not a double big batch so I can freeze them. Then whole wheat bread is a few minutes in the oven away. Little planning and additions make the difference.

My second share is an unsponsored product review. Quaker doesn’t even know I exist to sponsor a post. Although I do admit to hearing about these in a sponsored post elsewhere. When I saw them on sale last week, I decided to try a couple to tell you guys about.

Quaker has a new(ish) product of these individual overnight oats containers. There is a fill line on the container. Put in milk (or a nondairy milk substitute) to the line, put in the fridge at night, and you have breakfast in the morning. Here’s what it looks like when you pull it out in the morning.

I got two flavors: Blueberry Banana Vanilla Bliss and Toasted Coconut Almond Crunch. My husband and I both ended up heating ours up, which is optional. My husband is a warm oatmeal eater. I wanted to try mine both ways. We both thought it took longer than suggested 30 seconds in the microwave. We both thought they tasted fine. But at the sale price of $1.50, to us, it isn’t worth it. We can make something as good or better on our own. It is fast and the taste is good. But I’ve posted before how you could make your own breakfast that is similar. Just without a cute container. A little more effort in measuring, but I think the overall taste and texture is worth it. Would I judge you if you bought these? Absolutely not! It’s a healthy breakfast. Go for it!