WIAW - Birthday Eats and a GIVEAWAY!

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I’m sharing my birthday days of eats with you today for today’s WIAW link-up! I turned 26 on Monday, and I didn’t have to travel for work this week! It was definitely for the best that I didn’t have to get on a plane on Monday morning after we spent Sunday drinking wine and eating lots of cheese in Sonoma.

November/December are BIG celebration months, with Thanksgiving, my birthday, holiday parties, Hannukkah, Christmas, my brother’s birthday, and then NYE. I definitely indulge a lot more during these months than I normally do. I really appreciate what Kath Eat’s calls “the squiggly line effect”, which is essentially that everything evens out in the end. On the weekends, the indulging makes the line go up and on the weekdays, you bring it back down to normal and it all kind of balances out.

Something I had worked on when I saw a nutritionist several months back is being okay with the indulgences - whether planned or unplanned - and then feeling comfortable getting back into my normal routine come Monday and not like I need to restrict carbs/calories. This holiday season, it’s been easier than ever to allow myself to indulge and not go the other extreme the next day. One thing that helps out with that is HEALTHY SNACKING. I used to consider myself a “3 square meals” kind of person, but adding healthy snacking into my lifestyle has helped me listen to my body and feed it when it’s hungry, leading to less feelings of deprivation. My go to snacks are PB and an apple, or a protein bar.

And that brings me to today’s giveaway! Wild Friends nut butters sent me over a snack pack of nut butters for one of my readers. Seriously - these packets SAVE MY LIFE when I’m traveling for work or during the holidays (they are TSA friendly, not like a whole jar!) These single-serving packets of organic nut butter are the perfect serving for a snack filled with healthy fats, protein, and fiber (when paired with the apple or celery). They are all around 190 calories, 7 g protein, and 3g of sugar. I have never tried their PROTEIN version, but they provided one of their protein PB packets in the snack pack for one of you. It took lots of self control to not try it myself. Read through my WIAW and then enter the giveaway!

BREAKFAST

I woke up and made myself an egg white, spinach, and mushroom omelet with a little grass-fed cheddar. I am integrating dairy into my life again and I am loving it! I also had some berries on the side and some coffee. Then I took myself to a reformer class at Core40!

LUNCH

I worked at home all morning before whipping up my favorite lunch - kale salad with baked garlic tofu and a dressing of tahini and lemon juice. I make this on the road all of the time, so I figured, why not recreate it at home since I love it so much. Recipe to come later this week!

SNACK

Wild Friends Cinnamon Raisin PB and a large honeycrisp apple! This is one of my favorite flavors, and I love that these packets come pre-proportioned so I can’t just eyeball a “tablespoon” out of the jar. Enter to win packets of nut butter for the holidays in the giveaway below!

I also noshed on a Quest bar later in the day because I was feeling hungry and I knew dinner was still a couple hours away!

DINNER

Oh my gosh - dinner. Nate surprised me AGAIN by taking me to State Bird Provisions, which has consistently been ranked one of SF’s top restaurants and I’m telling you - it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. It was just so creative, inventive, DELICIOUS, and a great ambiance. You have to make reservations months in advance or wait up to 2-3 hours, so if you have a trip to SF in the (somewhat near) future, I highly recommend SBP. What a meal!!

They have a fun, interactive concept here. You can order stuff off of the menu, but they also have dim sum-style carts that are pushed around with all sorts of delights. the food comes in small portions (often just one or two bites) so you can try a TON of things. We really went to town for my birthday. Check out some of the highlights of our meal below.

 

our menu….so much food

the state bird (quail), plus nate sprinkling dehydrated sauerkraut on a mini sourdough pancake!

trout with hazelnuts and greenery

 

Kabocha squash “mochi” with brussels and savory oats <- one of my FAVORITES!

ham/egg/cheese custard and a dumpling

deeeeelish cocktails at The Progress next door

wouldn’t be a birthday without dessert! mint chip ice cream sandwiches with toffee, plus a tres leches custard with goat cheese and dates. we couldn’t finish it all!

I have to say - I feel like 26 is going to be a GREAT year if I kicked it off with so much love, from wine tasting to delicious dinners to lots of phone calls and texts from family and friends to Nate with all of the wonderful surprises. Feeling grateful, excited, happy, and just so appreciative.

Back to the routine today! And I know what snack I’ll be having around 3pm. Join me and sample a bunch of Wild Friends flavors by entering for the snack pack below!

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Comments

  5. says

    YUM to that birthday dinner. That looks like it was a really neat experience! And I’m glad you reconnecting with dairy… I think that would be the hardest thing to give up to be vegan, most just because CHEESE!
    this is a real winner of a giveaway. Fingers crossed!
    Kate recently posted…Simple foods (WIAW)My Profile

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  10. says

    There’s only a few things I always have in my bag/purse, but one of them is individual peanut butter packets. They’ve been a total day/hunger saver on mullllltiple occasions. Sadly I don’t think I’ve ever seen Wild Friends up here but I’ve been dying to try the raisin or espresso flavor. Your mentality about balance and believing in the “squiggly line” is one I hope we can all strive for. And that Restaurant!! Holy man!! What a way to celebrate your bday (good on Nate). Happy belated and I hope you enjoy your week with less travel.
    mylittletablespoon recently posted…WIAW: Not So Tricky “Tips”My Profile

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  14. says

    Wow… looks like SUCH an incredible dining experience! I have a few restaurant visits that I am pretty confident will stick with me forever. Sometimes it’s so worth the splurge for both the deliciousness and the memories that come with it. So nice to hear that you’re stoked about the upcoming year - there is no better feeling :) Happy belated!!!
    Jacklyn @ Jack’s Balancing Act recently posted…What I Ate Wednesday: Delicious DeliveriesMy Profile

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  18. says

    Happy Birthday from Monday! We’re exactly a week a part! Mine is next week 😉 I can imagine those Wild Friends packets would be so great for traveling! I will be headed home over the holidays next week and staying at my parents for a week and I want to bring my entire collection of nut butters and healthy snacks with me! That’s about 6 jars currently, so packets would be ideal 😉
    Ashley @ Fit Mitten Kitchen recently posted…Gluten-Free Beet BrowniesMy Profile

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