I could never do a yearly food favorites post without including my beloved Bubble Tea! It has been a while since I've had one since it has been cold but it is my favorite way to treat myself in warmer weather!
This doctored up ramen bowl was incredible. You'll see this year has been heavy in soups and salads and I was so happy with this soup!
The Tacodillas!!!! I haven't made these in a long time and I feel like that has to change because they were so so good.
I am going to toot my own horn here and say my grilled cheese game is strong. This one was made with Follow Your Heart "cheese" slices, sun dried tomato and fresh basil and it was freaking awesome.
Discovery of the century was a pumpernickel onion bagel with Tofutti Cream Cheese from the bagel store! YEEEESSSSSS!!!!
I ate A LOT of zucchini noodles and A LOT of salad this year. Both are awesome and these are not bad staple meals to have.
I discovered my love of (Vegan) corn dogs this year! I NEVER liked hot dogs or corn dogs but I tried the Field Roast mini hot dogs and I loved them!
One of my favorite restaurant meals! This was a delicious spicy stir fry from a Thai restaurant. It was so good.
My summer staple was definitely my Ranch Chick'n Pasta salad! This meal was incredible and it was so easy to make big batches to have for the week.
Vegan Chick'n Caesar salads were also big for me this year! So delicious and such a quick meal.
This beautiful soup was a quick meal thrown together with 4 Trader Joe's ingredients (Miso Ginger broth, Veggie Gyoza, bok choy and green onion). Delicious and comforting.
Probably the dish I'm most proud of is my Vegan No Chicken Noodle Soup! It is not a difficult recipe and it felt ridiculous to share it as a recipe but it tastes so authentic (to me at least) that I felt like I had to share it.
I had to include this AMAZING vegan burrito that I enjoyed on my birthday! I definitely want to get back to this restaurant because it was so so delicious.
So now that we've gone through some of my delicious highlights of the year I thought I could talk about my health goals for the New Year. As you know, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and I have been trying to figure out the best lifestyle changes to implement that will help me to be as healthy as possible while living with a chronic illness as well as help manage the symptoms all while being mindful about not triggering eating disorder thoughts or behaviors. It's a delicate balance of moving toward healthier habits but not getting obsessive about the food that I put in my mouth.
I've learned that while Fibromyalgia is mostly characterized as widespread pain and fatigue but I would add that it should also be characterized by sensitivity to… well mostly everything. I am sensitive to light and sound, I am sensitive to temperature, and as I've discussed before I have significant environmental allergies and I also am sensitive to chemicals and medications. So as I live with these sensitivities I have to question if the chemical laden processed food that I put in my body is contributing to my daily pain and fatigue. So, I've decided that the ONLY thing that I'm going to consciously make and effort to reduce/eliminate from my diet is chemical laden processed foods. It feels ridiculous to me to continue to put it in my body when I know that it doesn't do me any favors. At the same time, I am realistic and I know that there will be times where I will eat some processed food because it's freaking delicious, but I figure that limiting it to 5-10% of the time will help me make huge improvements. I will eat mostly fresh, whole foods (including grains and limited oil) and see how it works for me.
In addition I have set a goal to find workout routines that I can complete within my pain limits. I know that yoga will likely become a significant part of my routine as well as no impact cardio and I would like to see if I can tolerate some strength training as well. It's so difficult to feel like I'm starting over with the whole workout thing and with these limitations but everyone that I've ever spoken to about Fibromyalgia says that working out with help your symptoms improve so I definitely want to work on making new workout habits as well.
I will be bringing you along for this journey, of course. I hope that it is something that you will be interested in. I know that the food will look a little different but I hope that you'll all still like it! And who knows, I may have a little something up my sleeve if this all works out for me and my changes actually do help me feel better 😉 Through the end of the year you'll still see some processed stuff as I finish out the stuff that I already have stocked and then you'll see the transition over the New Year.
I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend and for those of you that celebrate I hope that you have a magical Christmas Eve! I'll be back here on Christmas day with another post for you! 💜
6 comments:
Your grilled cheese game is definitely strong! I struggle with grilled cheese, especially with gluten free bread!!
You also have great soup game!
There are tons of really great yoga videos on YouTube if that helps. Yoga has been something I've been able to do through the years even when I haven't been the healthiest.
I agree with you, I think writing goals down makes it seem real. And it's also so satisfying to check things off of a list!
There are vegan corn dogs!? Did you make them yourself, or are they sold somewhere? I miss corn dogs so much! Morningstar Farms had amazing veggie corn dogs but they have eggs in them so I don't get them anymore.
I admire you wanting to make this change. I know it's hard to want to cook anything when you feel really awful, so I'll watch closely to see what you come up with. I'm trying to adjust myself to the idea that I really can't do elaborate cooking projects as much and I need to keep it simple, and it is SO HARD because I have such ambition!
So my goal is to eat more soup and salad. I've never been much of a salad person but salad is easy and quick, and soup can be made in batches on weekends with minimal involvement. I know I'll still get drawn in to exciting recipes but I should prioritize and I know I need to expend my energies on other forms of self care, too.
I haven't tried your soup yet but I want to soon. It does look easy and quick and comforting.
Haha thanks! I think the struggle is getting the cheese to melt before burning the bread because the cheese takes so long. I cook mine on low heat and cover to help get the cheese to melt. It works!
Yes I'm definitely going to be making use of YouTube for this fitness and yoga journey! I already have tons of videos bookmarked :)
These are the Field Roast mini corn dogs! They are delicious but SO PRICEY which is why they were an occasional treat. It's not really in my plan for how I'm going to eat so they would be a super occasional treat in the future but they are definitely delicious.
Thanks, it's really difficult to gather that strength to cook. Just this morning I had to concede and but some sushi rolls for lunch because I just didn't have the energy to put together a lunch after the holiday weekend. I know what you mean about having to pull back on what you want to do. It's really difficult when you have so many ideas but just don't have the energy to do it.
Yes!! Soup is going to be a staple meal for me too. I plan on doing an easy breakfast (usually some kind of oatmeal or something like that), one soup meal and one veggie based meal. That is my goal so we'll see how that works out! I'm excited to see what you make! I know how difficult it is to want to put your energy toward everything but just not have enough to give. Hopefully we can find balance and it's really nice to know that there is someone out there to talk to and get ideas from!
It is really great and definitely comes together quickly! I hope you love it!
"writing things out helps me to internalize it more and it helps to keep me accountable"
Definitely! I understand this! I use to make a similar list every year on the blog, but I kind-of stopped. I guess too much is uncertain anymore for me to feel comfortable to make certain goals for the end of the year, you know?
You food is making me SUPER hungry! But that is probably also because I need to eat lunch lol
Wow, you really had a ton of amazing meals this year! Wishing you the best of luck with your health goals in the new year!
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