Mini Me-als
Hiiiii 😀 How are you? I’m excited to have so many new virtual walking buddies– let me know how it goes and if you feel a difference in your day 🙂 Also, thank you so much to all of you who are supporting Katie’s bake sale for Japan! I promise to hook up my macaroon goodie package winner something fierce 😉
So this post title has two sources:
1. This mini meal:
The Pilot and I call each other (and Bella) a wide variety of nicknames, all of which are totally random and ridiculous.
Somehow Bella —> Bell —-> Beal —-> Meal.
I have no idea how it happened, either 😉
2. My fuel of choice: mini meals 🙂
(Stir fry with tomatoes, onion, broccoli, kidney beans, cumin, garlic, cayenne, sea salt and pepper)
Since spring has sprung-ish, I find myself wanting smaller more frequent meals. I usually prefer this style of eating, as it keeps me super satisfied and my metabolism cranking/ When it’s chilly outside, I crave larger meals to warm me up 🙂
Lately, it’s been roasty toasty in Tucson –we hit the 90s last week!- and for the past month or so, I’ve been enjoying 5-6 smaller, yet deliciously satisfying meals throughout the day. I say “mini” because it sounds cute, but always make sure each smaller meal has enough calories to support my activity level for the day.
Some examples:
Protein pudding
(1 container goat’s milk yogurt, 1 scoop vanilla Sun Warrior, almond milk to thin it out, cinnamon and 1 square dark chocolate with sea salt)
Wraps:
(today’s was a brown rice tortilla with organic chicken, farmer’s market goat cheese and veggies. They’re just as lovely with hummus, beans or eggs)
Carrots with hummus and raw sunflower seeds
(Tip: did you know 1/4 C sunflower seeds has 8g of protein?! Word)
I’m about to get ready for dance, but before I go, check out this video if you’d like your heart to melt 🙂
(I’ve watched it at least 4 times already)
See ya in the morning with a giveaway 🙂
xoxo
Gina
Something to read: "Set up a home gym on the cheap" <—- thanks so much to Womans Day for the shout out!!
Something to talk about: Do you do the mini meal thing, or 3 square meals? What’s the strangest nickname you have for your pet?
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Love your blog!! When I’m not at work, I’m a grazer! I love to eat a ton of small meals as apposed to eating large, heavy, weigh you down meals! I dance almost every night until pretty late, so I never want to go to bed with a full stomach (ick!)
As for pet names, oh my goodness, they run the gamut at my house!
Pumpkin – Pumps – Pumpernickel – Shnickle – Shniks! (My personal favorite!)
OMG, thank you for that! I’m totally addicted to their YouTube channel now!! All of their videos having something funny with either the dog or their friends in the background. So cute!
I do the three meals a day– well, one of my meals is usually green juice, so I guess that technically makes it two square meals a day? I practice food combining principles, so I prefer to have bigger meals, and give them plenty of time to digest before eating again.
Regardless, I always make sure to listen to my body and make sure it’s getting the nutrition it needs. The calories just tend to accumulate later in the day for me. 😉
Strangest nickname for my pet? Her name is Yasha, but we mostly call her “stinky” or “stink-face!” (don’t ask me why, because she doesn’t smell! LOL)
Hi Gina, love the blog! I discovered it a few months ago and have been hooked ever since! Regarding eating enough calories to support your activity level – how do you break down your meals? How many calories do you allocate for each mini-meal?
I am a 3 mealer for sure! But I eat tons of snacks too 🙂
That video is so good! I wish I could play the piano like that. The dog in the background is too funny!!
Our dog Beasley is usually just called B or Beas but the dog we dogsit for, Cuba, is nicknamed Dubs or Cubastank 😀
I love, love, love that cover! Maybe these guys are really famous in the states but I have never seen them before! Thanks for posting it! 🙂 Wow.
Cute video! Love the hyper dog in the background! I’m old school and do the 3 squares per day. Our dog is named Dodger but his nicknames are: D, DD, Dodge, dodgemeister, dodgoirno (it’s no delivery, it’s dodgoirno) and dodge mahal. Sweet boy answers to all of them.
absolutely love the cover! They have such fantastic talent! I watched Grenade as well and had a giggle! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
have you ever made pseudo-hummus with sunflower seeds instead of tahini? I’ve been thinking about trying it
My puppy Charlie gets booger face, poo poo and chicken legs. None of them make any sense but it’s funny haha
Loved that video!
I love your nickname for Bella. One of my friends ended up calling her doy “Pants” like lovepants and some other kookie names. My mom calls my sister “bread.” Her name is Anna, so anna banana, banana bread, then just bread. I always love nicknames. My dad has called me creature my whole life, thus the name of my blog 🙂
AH! I loved that video!! The dog in the background was crazy haha but they were amazing!
It depends on my schedule. If I’m really busy, I usually only have time for 3 large meals and a couple of small snacks. But if I have the day off, sometimes I like to graze throughout the day and mini-meals work well for that. That stir fry looks great. I love colourful meals!!
Ok I love that song cover!!! Never could figure out some of the words, it is kind of sad!
Love the idea of mini meals, I do that too. I just never could stay satisfied with 3 larger meals each day.
I am definitely a mini-meal person – need to snack all day!! Usually I eat breakfast at 8, snack at 10:30 or 11, lunch at 1, another snack at 3:30 or 4, and dinner between 6 and 7. Yep, it’s pretty much like clockwork! My stomach starts asking for food right around those times and I find I get really grouchy if I ignore it. The only drawback is that it takes FOREVER to pack my lunches for work because there’s so much food!
We call my cat Sam, Black Swan… or sometimes The Situation.
There is this weirdo at my dog park that calls his dog “A loaf of bread” or “a pineapple upside down cake”
I’m so glad you consider a wrap to be a mini meal! I have no idea how some people can eat just a wrap and be satisfied for the next few hours! 😛
I’m more of a 3 meal + snacks kind of girl because I like the filling feeling of eating a big meal.
in reference to my above post, note that I also have a dog.. that I bring to said park. 🙂
Loving the mini-meals and the video! My favorite part was the dog running back and forth, lol
I love juicing! I’m currently on a carrot, tomato, parsley and spinach kick. The color is not as pretty as your though 😉
3 square meals for me 🙂 That is what works for me.
I just discovered your blog and love it! As a military kid, pescetarian, and nature lover, I think we have a lot in common. I’m definitley adding you to my Blogroll. =) Happy blogging…
thank you so much! can’t wait to check out your blog, too 🙂
Bella is so sweet!! 🙂 I’m loving all of your recent eats!! they look fab especially the chicken wrap.
Are you going gluten-free? How have you been feeling after kicking gluten to the curb?
Great cover! And we call my cat Zoe “Bird” and “Fish.”
Pet nicknames – when Angus pukes, we call him “Barfo Johnson” and when he’s really cute (which is all of the time), we call him “Bunky Tater Tot”. My husband went to grade school with a kid who barfed a lot – so that is where the first one comes from. The second, just made it up. Have a good one. I would give my first born for a 90 degree day!
I don’t eat chicken, but that wrap looks fab! I may have to seek out a hummus wrap for lunch today.
I try to do mini meals, too, since I am borderline hypoglycemic and have GERD (I promise I’m not an 80-year-old man). Frequent, smaller meals are supposed to help with both. Generally I end up eating three decent-sized meals and then one or two 200-calorie snacks. It’s not quite the same, but it’s a good balance for me.
And as for pet nicknames, my dog is Sully, but she’s really furry, so I call her Fuzz, The Fuzz, and Fuzz Butt a lot. The weirdest is probably Sheep Butt. You’d have to see her to understand the last one. 🙂
And now I’m bawling…. and simultaneously buying the song. Wow this is really beautiful. BEAUTIFUL! How did you come across this?
my little bro’s girlfriend showed them to me yesterday and i was instantly obsessed!
glad you like them too 🙂
I do the mini meal thing! I’m so used to it, I’m not sure I could even do large meals anymore.
And I have some really strange/embarassing nicknames for my cat, Basil, the worst of which include “Boozle Doozle” and “Cutsie Tootsie Puss-in-Bootsie”… Hehe!
I LOVE this cover! omg. amazing. Does anyone think the guy on the left looks like Marshall from how I met your mother? haha
I am now OBSESSED with them. Thank you – you just made my day at work SO much better.
P.S. I love your blog – you are too cute! 🙂
i’ve watched almost all of their videos- LOVE.
thank you so much for reading :))))
that video 100% made my morning! i love the dog in the background! lol.
I love doing the smaller meals in the summer too, It is just kinda what my body craves! Mmmmm! The best is when tomatoes are finally in season, then my “go to” summer small meal is a small slice of grainy wheat bread, motz cheese and tomato with basil. ok…drooling! 🙂
I usually go with 3 meals that are on the smaller side and 2 snacks, so somewhere in between mini-meals and three squares.
I have three pets, but I only really have weird nicknames for two.
Shay (dog): Bananas, Boo Boo, hobag (for when she is getting on my nerves)
Rio (chinchilla): Beebs, Beeberino
Sam (cat): no cool nicknames here
ahhh! i want a chinchilla SO BADLY!
They are great – mine is really sweet and affectionate (and soft). He turns 8 on Friday! (They live a long time) I hear they can be trained, as well, although I never tried to train mine. They do poop A LOT though. A LOT.
OMG I LOVE LOVE LOVE THAT VERSION OF THE SONG!!!! Sooooo Flippin’ good!!!!
ridiculous, huh?
Haha, that’s great. I definitely have many nicknames for my dog, whatever comes to mind at the time, but here is how his nickname has progressed:
Perrin – Pear-bear – Boo-bear – Boober – Boo-berry
My puppy’s name is Reese (short for Reese’s Pieces) and sometimes I call her Reesie Face and other times Pieces Pants, and sometimes I throw it all together (who knows why?) and she’s Reese’s Pieces Pants Face.
I also call her Pumpkin Head a lot 🙂
My puppy’s name is Reese (short for Reese’s Pieces) and sometimes I call her Reesie Face and other times Pieces Pants, and sometimes I throw it all together (who knows why?) and she’s Reesie Piece-y Pants Face.
I also call her Pumpkin Head a lot 🙂
I call my pupper McKinley goober a lot… Not that weird!
I still need to make your ballz haha
Also, protein pancake question…do you think I could make the batter the night before I leave it in the fridge to cook in the am? I want to try them tomorrow but I have a tight schedule between hitting the gym and getting to work!
i’ve done it before- it totally works!
I like having 3 larger meals and 2-3 snacks a day. The more I get to eat, the better. 🙂
We have a ton of names for Olive and for each other, but the newest name for Olive is Olli-Bear. haha
I eat all the freakin time, so I definitely am all about smaller things here and there. Today was the first time I had a normal sized breakfast & lunch.
I call my dog “Bird”…apparently it came from Haley > Haley-Bird > Bird. Noooo sense at all!
We call our “little girl” Daisy Bell: “hers” (b/c she always perks up when we say something is hers.. so now she is just HERS!) and Budschapen.. it’s a long story including a children’s book in Africa.. But now she perks up when any of them (or her real name) are mentioned.
dog children just make life better! 🙂 Fun video by the way!
I’m a huge fan of the mini meals, though I have to be mindful that they stay mini.
How do you make such beautiful wraps? Mine always come out sloppy!
hmm maybe i’ll do a short video of my technique? i think caitlin at htp did a tutorial, too
My favorite part about that video is the little dog in the bedroom in the background zooming around and playing with his ball. I die…
OMG, they sang beautifully, but the dog in the background was the best…
I usually eat 3 meals and 2 little snacks between lunch/dinner and dinner/bed. I like having a bigger meal to look forward to when I’m done school/work for the day which is why I stick to it.
My cat’s named Nola and surprisingly she doesn’t have a weird nickname, when I call her though instead of “kitty, kitty, kitty” I say “Nola, ‘ola, ‘ola” and my boyfriend looks at me like I’m crazy.
On the other hand, our dog Zoey gets called Zoey Bologna all the the time…I don’t know why.. lol
Lovely video!! The dog in the background is hilarious. 🙂
LOVE the video and yes, the dog in the background is cracking me up!
I just call our dog “The Baby Pup”. Probably still will even when she’s not a puppy.
Thanks for the video! Enjoyed them as much as their puppy playing the background. So cute 🙂