By the time I got home from work today, my pants no longer fit! I can’t believe I’m showing you this picture, but I feel like it’s important I accurately represent myself when I say I feel expanded. I’m not talking about: Oh, I’m so bad. I ate two cookies today. (P.S. If you’ve been reading along, you know I would never say that anyway!) I’m talking about: Ohhh, I really enjoyed my food today … but maybe too much because now I feel decidedly uncomfortable!
The day began with another bowl of black and white protein porridge since it was such a hit on Wednesday:
I can’t get over the contrast:
Now, I want the real deal!
Once at work, I opened up the next flavor of Newman’s Own Organics breath fresheners. I think I ate four of these peppermints over the course of the day.
Today was another brown bag staff lunch. I ate the collard greens, vegetarian baked beans, and cornbread that I packed:
Plus 1/2 cup cooked spiced apples with 1/2 cup healthy cream cheese icing and a sprinkling of golean crunch:
And then it was time for communal treats: fruit salad and pecan pie!!!
Obviously, I had seconds:
I took that picture of plate #2 in the elevator, and a woman in there asked, Oh, are you documenting your lunch? I said, Yes, I am … and every other meal, too!
After lunch, Mildred, Jessica, and I got to work decorating the nursery room for Heather’s surprise baby shower.
As I filled the goodie bags, some of the candy that was supposed to go into the bag went into my belly:
And then it was time for the shower! Myrna finally managed to get Heather down into the room sometime around 3:30. We surprised her … but not enough to make her go into labor (phew):
Here’s the “snack” spread with Maria’s green salad and pasta, Mildred and Myrna’s chicken and cheese empanadas, tamales, myrna’s flan pudding, Inginia’s guacamole, tortilla chips, Deborah’s fruit salad, mini-quiches and jalapeno poppers:
More:
My plate — a big one this time — with (clockwise from top) pasta salad, fruit salad, empanada with green sauce, tortilla chips, guacamole, 1/2 tamale, and flan pudding:
I had another plate just like it.
Plus two bowls of salad like this:
And Myrna’s homemade pina coladas made a repeat appearance, yum!
Beryl led us in some games — I won a bar of soap because I remembered all my nursery rhymes! — and then it was time for dessert 😀
Look at the magnificence:
I had a bowl with one slice of chocolate mousse cake:
And one slice of custard fruit tart (my favorite dessert!):
I had another slice of fruit tart after that 😀
After we packed up all the leftovers, I somehow wound up coming home with a ton of food, including 11 empanadas (now in my freezer), 4 tamale halves, 4 cups of green salad, 2 cups of pasta salad, 1/2 cup fruit salad, 1/2 cup guacamole, and 1 cup of flan pudding. How did that happen?? 😛
I turned the flan pudding into my Friday night project. When I got home, I mixed the pudding with two cups of healthy cream cheese icing and two eggs. I put the mix to the side and then pressed a bunch of crumbled graham sticks (that have been in my freezer since some time in January) into the bottom of a pie plate with a bit of millet (for crunch) and canola (for glue and nonstick-ness). I baked the crust for 10 minutes at 450. Before and after:
Next, I poured the batter on top:
I baked for one hour at 375 and then turned the oven off, cracked the door, and let it sit in there for another hour:
(That dark spot is a raisin from the cream cheese icing. It’s not an ant. In case you were wondering.)
And now I have a beautiful and healthy(er) cheesecake. I sliced it into 12 pieces and put it in a container for the freezer (because I do not need any more dessert right now)!
There were crumbs left in the pie plate. I obviously ate them:
And now I really wish my leg would let me run!! The weather was beautiful earlier this evening (before the flood started), and I was so jealous of all the runners out for their dusky jogs. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’m at least elliptical-ready by Monday!
I’m also not sure if I’ll ever be hungry again (I know, I say that all the time), but I guess we’ll find out about that soon enough.
When will YOU be hungry again?
And if you haven’t entered the giveaway yet, hurry up because there are just two days left!
Anyway, that breakfast kept me so full all morning (as it should have — holy protein plus no cardio in days!) that I didn’t even need my typical morning snack. Plus, I was racing around crazily what with my visits and work to make up from Monday. My “injury” was kind of giving me a lot of pain today — I think I overdid it with the hobnobbing around town 
Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition 