We’ve hit the ultimate low with lack of food in our house.  I’m not exactly sure how this happened because I did go to the grocery store (two I think) this past weekend but we are basically out of veggies and protein.  We do have plenty of fresh fruit though.  As I took a quick break from the Hawk’s game last night to prepare today’s food, trying to keep my eyes open from exhaustion, this was blatantly clear!

 

I typically use the the week night’s to prep for the day ahead.  This means picking out my clothes and making breakfast (if needed) in order to be as quick as possible getting out the door in the morning.  Last night as I thought about what to eat for my pre run breakfast, running through my typical list, I realized that I didn’t have many options.  No oatmeal, oats, bread, cooked quinoa etc.  I do have eggs, but Thursday mornings are early up and out the door so no time for eggs.  What I did have was a cooked sweet potato and a love of this Chia and Flax Bowl.  Well…I figured I’d give it a try.  And then packed up a LaraBar as a back up!

 

 

First step, I mashed up my sweet potato and added in some banana.

 

 

Then measured out the rest of my ingredients.  For Overnight Oats and Chia Bowls, I tend to use the scale for easy clean up.

 

 

Breakfast went into the fridge and I went back to the couch to watch the Hawk’s overtime.  Thank you Hawks for scoring (again) because I was definitely ready for bed!  Bright and early (ok, maybe just early because it’s not really bright at 5:45am), I was downstairs curious about my breakfast.

 

 

I was meeting a friend for an indoor interval run at the track.  We both ran the Soldier Field 10 Miler this weekend but were eager to get back to our weekly workouts.

 

 

 

I ate half of my surprisingly tasty breakfast in the car on the way to the track.  No LaraBar needed!!!  I’m a huge fan of the texture common in chia seed bowls and anything with sweet potatoes makes me happy.  I got to the gym late and found my friend running along the track.  We started a 90 second push/90 second recovery interval workout which lasted about 15 minutes before my coworker needed to head off to work.  I had an extra 15 minutes before I needed to shower, so I ran at an easy pace.  Although 30 minutes was a little shorter of a workout than I had planned, after my busy weekend and Tuesday swim, it was enough.

 

I worked my second 11-12 hour work day in a row.  At one point today, we had a quick and crazy rain shower, but the skies cleared by the time I left work at  7:45pm.

 

 

The clouds were incredible (they looked like fireworks) when I walked out of my office.  As I was sitting in intense construction traffic, there was another dense cloud off to the side.  I was feeling silly for taking pictures at the stop light until I realized that the person behind me was also taking pictures and the people to my left were pointing at the cloud.

 

 

I don’t think the picture does the depth and size justice!  There were blue skies ahead and unique clouds at every stop light.

 

 

I drove home with the windows down listening to the Lumineers CD trying to unwind after a LONG day.  About 3 miles before my exit on the highway, the skies ahead were jet black and you could see the line where the clouds changed from light to dark.

 

 

We had a huge grey cloud hanging over our city!

 

 

I walked in the door just as the first drops began to fall.

 

 

The sky this evening was astonishing!  And I just added this last picture because I thought it turned out pretty cool.  The symbolism of the grey cloud was not lost on me.  Despite seeing the darkness under tonight’s cloud, I knew that the clouds would soon move on over another city and when I wake up tomorrow there will be blue skies ahead…followed by an amazing weekend.  Hooray for my girls only slumber party!  And maybe a trip to the grocery store for more food : )  Luckily, I have another half of sweet potato to remake this breakfast again for tomorrow!

 

 

Sweet Potato Chia Bowl

 

Ingredients

1/2 sweet potato, baked and mashed

1/2-1 banana, mashed

2 tbsp ground flax

2 tbsp chia seeds

1-2 tsp cinnamon

dash of vanilla

1/2 cup almond milk

 

Directions

Combine all ingredients and stir well.  Place in refrigerator overnight.

In the morning, stir, top with your favorite flavors, fruits, and nuts, and enjoy!

 

 

Do you run out of food by the end of the week?

Do you ever contemplate the clouds?