Wednesday's "What We Ate April 22-28, 2013"

Have you ever kept a food journal? You know, where you write down everything you eat? The kind of thing that might make you think twice about getting a second helping of dark chocolate almond ice cream or a 4th slice of pizza, just because you have to write it down?

When I was in high school & college, I had severe headaches & migraines (about 2 migraines a week, lasting anywhere from 1-3 days & other headaches daily) & my doctor encouraged me to keep a food journal to see if there were any direct links to what I was eating & my health. Of course there were-- if I ate a lot of processed foods, caffeine, red wine, citrus foods, any kind of food with nitrates (especially hot dogs or lunch meat), MSG, or really any kinds of preservatives, I almost always got a migraine or at the very least, a "normal headache" (that's what I literally called them because that was my normal).

At that time, I also started seeing a chiropractor more regularly, trying to sleep more regularly, drinking more water, exercising more often, & "stressing less" (I used to be a big time worrier) & consequently, I saw a huge improvement in my health.When I was pregnant, I really got serious about eating healthy & I think I had 1, maybe 2 migraines during that time. It was probably hormonal, but I do know for a fact that my eating better sure wasn't hurting me any.

I bring this all up because since I've been sharing all of our dinner meals with you, it's kind of like I'm keeping a food journal all over again, but one that other people read, which is kinda intimidating sometimes. Do I really want to type that we ate hot dogs & cheese sticks for dinner? Hmmm... maybe I can do better than that (but I don't always succeed).

It's definitely challenging to come up with healthy, wholesome & tasty meals every night, but I whole-heartedly believe that the investments are worth the extra time & energy it takes. If you're new to planning meals ahead of time, check out my post on why I think it rocks. If you've missed a few weeks of meals, make sure you check out some ideas for dinner here (there are now 16 weeks worth of meals!)

If someone could read what you ate for dinner every night, would that change the way you cooked?

Friday's dinner: prosciutto-wrapped chicken stuffed with asparagus & mozzarella, covered in a pesto cream sauce 

What We Ate April 22-28, 2013
Monday: We ate at friends' house & they made sweet potato, black bean, & corn quesadillas
Tuesday: Breakfast burritos (scrambled eggs, sausage, black beans, cheese, cilantro & salsa) with grapes
Wednesday: Herb encrusted turkey tenderloins with cheesy broccoli quinoa
Thursday: Spinach lasagna roll ups with salad (spring mix, red bell pepper, cucumber, broccoli, soy nuts, & balsamic vinaigrette) 
Friday: Prosciutto-wrapped chicken stuffed with asparagus & mozzarella, in a pesto cream sauce (it was date night)
Saturday: Crockpot mac 'n' cheese with broccoli
Sunday: Pepperoni pizza quesadillas with carrots, cucumbers & hummus

I also made whole wheat bread & graham crackers this week.