What I ate in the Sunshine State

This morning, I woke up in my little apartment in San Francisco. While I was super excited to see Dave when he picked me up at the airport last night, I always return from Florida with a little bit of sadness. It’s sort of like those post-holiday blues. But it’s post-family/friends-time blues. And it always subsides after a little while, and I get right back into the swing of life in the big city.

I do my best to go home to visit my parents and friends at least a few times a year, but for someone who grew up and lived in the same three-hour radius all the way until two years ago, being this far west can be difficult. On this blog, I’ve certainly shared a lot of the hard times about moving across the country, but there are also a lot of good times, and I’ve learned a lot. But right now, let’s get to business, because I’ve got some pictures of food to display for “What I Ate Wednesday,” work to catch up on, and of course, I’m teaching my favorite double-header of BODYATTACK and BODYPUMP classes tonight.

That being said, today’s food recap will be showcasing some of the eats I had while at home in Florida. My Mom is a great cook and knowing that I (mostly) stick to healthy foods, she is always sure to make my special requests. While I had pretty clean meals and snacks every day, I also had wine and dessert every single night. Multiple helpings. 

If you check out my “What I Ate Wednesday” posts regularly, you know I rotate a handful of go-to foods. Well, I fit in a few of those items on this trip, but I certainly branched out a bit. Needless to say, I never go hungry when I visit home in Florida. Here’s some of the eats from Monday …

Breakfast at 9:30 a.m.

Greek yogurt, topped with blueberries, a banana and almonds and green tea.

First of all, as you can see this breakfast was enjoyed much later than usual for me. Not too worried about the time on this short trip, I basically stuck to my West Coast schedule and woke up at 9 a.m. there each day, which would be like 6 a.m. here.

Mid-morning protein recovery at 11:30 a.m.

Muscle Milk and coconut water. Two tasty beverages.

I was home for four nights and did two 30-minute workouts over the course of the visit, which I think is certainly good enough. On Monday morning, after a 30-minute CXWORX core workout video in my parent’s living room using my resistance tube, I had a tasty protein beverage and polished off a coconut water. Once my workout was complete, I put on my bathing suit, laid in the sun a bit and read my book (currently LOVING Gone Girl), and then my Mom and I headed out on the town.

Lunch at 2:30 p.m.

Sweet potato and turkey sausage hash, topped with two eggs and served with greens.

Okay, this lunch was absolutely delicious. Have you ever heard of First Watch? It’s The Daytime Café, serving just breakfast, brunch and lunch, and is only located in select states. I not only love the healthy food at First Watch, but I also have a special place in my heart for the restaurant chain, because it was my first real client when I worked in public relations at an agency in Orlando. I actually managed the First Watch account to announce all the new restaurant openings and became a huge fan of the brand along the way. Sadly, there are no First Watch restaurants in California, nor are there hardly any chain places in San Francisco, so I like to stop in to The Daytime Café when I visit home.

Mid-afternoon snack at 4 p.m.

Starbucks non-fat green tea matcha latte.

Matcha is my jam. I had two matcha lattes during my trip, one at the airport on the trip there and one with my Mom in the mall food court. If you’ve never had a matcha latte before, you must know it’s a bit of an acquired taste. Very green and gritty, but also strangely sweet. We ordered our beverages and sat in the center of the food court chatting away and people-watching. After our snack, we made a couple successful stops, and I picked up two cute dresses and some pants at Marshalls and Kohl’s. 

Dinner at 8: 45 p.m.

Blackened salmon and sauteed mixed vegetables.

After some shopping and a Publix trip (Southerners, can I get some love for Publix please? Oh how I miss that grocery store now that I live in California — I even got my flu shot while there!) we came home to play. I had big glass of chardonnay (un-pictured, but you know what that looks like) while I sat at the kitchen counter in my favorite spot, and my Mom cooked dinner. As my last dinner at home, I requested salmon, cooked to perfection on the grill, and my Mom delivered.

Dessert at 10 p.m.

Publix marble cheesecake, pecan pie and some vanilla frozen yogurt.

It would be a lie if I told you this was my only helping of dessert that night. Knowing I was leaving the next morning, I wanted to help my Mom out by finishing up all the sweets in the house. I’m very compassionate, you see. I really had my fair share of sugar during this trip with the desserts and wine combined, and I don’t regret a single bite or sip.

That was all she wrote for Monday, however I did take a picture of another meal that’s worth sharing too.

EXTRA: Sunday night dinner at 8:45 p.m.

Filet mignon, baked sweet potato, sauteed portobello mushrooms and cheesy bread.

Dave and I do not have a grill, so we don’t really cook or eat red meat very often, outside of dining out. So I always like to have a good steak when I go home, and this one was absolutely amazing. 

Okay, and now the food pictures are complete.

Enjoying the good stuff in an 80/20 world

As you see, I had a ton of great food while visiting home and wish I could bring back doggy bags, like I used to do when I lived just a short-drive away from my parents in Florida. While I live my life pretty healthy, I never turn down the good stuff on the weekends or on a trip like this. Today, I’m still recovering a bit from a full day of travel and will be careful to get extra water in my system before teaching a tough double-class session tonight. And if you want to see a little bit more fun from my Florida trip, check out all the pictures from a lovely engagement party I attended in Celebrating with friends in Southwest Florida.

I hope you’re week is going great. And to my Momma and Daddy and Florida friends, I miss you already. See you in December!

Enter the Lululemon giveaway

Do you want to win something pretty good? In case you missed it, yesterday I posted a giveaway to win a $50 gift card to Lululemon. Check out A good fitmob story and a Lululemon giveaway and enter today. Share with your friends for a little extra good karma!

Follow along with of A Lady Goes West

Are you a “What I Ate Wednesday” fan? Then let’s stay in touch. If you want to keep an eye out for future posts, just follow me on Bloglovin’, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. And for some other daily eating recaps:

1. A full day of eating in pictures
2. Another full day of my eats and drinks
3. Real food isn’t always pretty
4. Do you have a balanced dining out strategy?
5. What I ate and drank all day
6. Three meals, two snacks and a shake
7. Food trucks and rest-day eating
8. Plenty of protein at every meal
9. Colorful fuel for a day of training
10. Long days of training require a lot of food
11. Making do on “What I Ate Wednesday” 
12. Healthy foods for a rest day
13. Who doesn’t like pictures of food?
14. A look at a full day of eating in pictures
15. Snapshots from a day of delicious meals
16. Pictures of food, because you like them
17. Food pictures and the juice cleanse that wasn’t
18. A look at what I really eat in a day

Questions of the day

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten lately? How is your week going so far? What’s on the menu for dinner tonight?