More work than I thought.

It continued to rain the remainder of the afternoon, so any chances of getting Malin outside to play were foiled. So we had fun on our own. We played fetch for a bit (man we should have played that more when he was younger!!) and then his favorite, tug on the rings. Must've been enough activity, because he's nice and tuckered now. :)

I did have an afternoon snack: the other half of the trail mix. I didn't take a photo of it because it's already featured in today's meals. Sorry if that breaks the rules...

Around 6p I started making dinner. I decided to try my hand at butternut squash soup. After all, I certainly had lots of leftover squash. I started by chopping up half an onion and an apple and threw them in to a pot over medium heat.

Once the apple and onion softened (~4 minutes), I added the precooked butternut squash and some chicken broth. After the mixture was heated through, I used the immersion blender and blended until smooth. I needed to add quite a bit more liquid (both water and chicken broth) in order to end up with a soup vs. a stew.

I'm so glad I added the extra liquid because the consistency was spot on!! Along with the butternut squash, I heated up the remaining brussel sprouts and topped the soup with croutons.

It was good enough to eat!! However after finishing dinner, I felt like I was lacking some serious protein. So I made a quick and easy addition to my meal.

Eggs in a basket. This is simply a slice of bread, with the center ripped out (I ate that too). Heat a pan over medium heat, once hot spray with cooking spray place bread in pan, crack egg and put in center of the hole. Flip once egg appears set. Cook to desired egg doneness.I topped my "Eggs in a Basket" with a smattering of Cholula. Great addition! This was a delicious second course. So glad I made this!I ended my dinner with two Pepperidge Farms cookies from their "Golden Orchard" collection. These made for a yummy end for both the day and my little test.

Observations & Feedback Post-Food Blog Trial:

1. This is not how I eat every day. Not any where close. With this experiment not only was I blogging about my every eat, but I also tried to eat like the food bloggers I was emulating. Of course there were differences to what they eat vs. what I ate. For example, they probably would have had beans included in the lunch salad and they most likely would have topped their oatmeal with a scoop of nut butter in addition to the trail mix or granola (for some reason I just wasn't feeling nut butter this morning).
2. This is a lot of work. Taking photos of everything eaten doesn't sound like a big deal, but then you need to download your pictures each and every time you post. It ends up taking quite a bit of time.
3. In fact, I couldn't keep up with the posting schedule. I actually ate all of this stuff on Wednesday and wrote my posts Wednesday night. Because in all honesty, I just don't have the time to write posts and add pictures like this during the work day.
4. I found myself not eating more than was included in these posts for two reasons. One: I had to put a lot of thought toward my food choices. Two: I didn't want to take another picture.
5. The items photographed truly show all the food I ate today. However, it's now 11:52p and I'm hungry. So I am going to have a protein bar. Just thought I'd let you know... because I'm not taking a photo of it but will be eating it. Now that I think about it, I might technically eat it after midnight so it doesn't count...