October – I love it. Ever since I can remember, October has been my favorite month: pumpkins, apple pie, fall foliage, haunted hay rides, cross-country season, Halloween costumes (and candy!), what’s not to love?

After Wednesday night’s fancy-pants dinner (so worth it), I buckled down and was economical from morning ’till night. I was up at 8am on Thursday  making pinto beans and brown rice on the stove. Yep, I know that’s weird, but I had plans to run after work so I wanted to do most of the prep work in advance.

I started off the morning with some green tea and then decided that I wanted coffee. I missed my morning ritual! I used 1/2 serving of coffee grounds and once I added my usual splash of 1%, it tasted more like coffee-flavored milk than anything else. But I actually kind of liked it. I think I’m going to start having 1/2 cups from now on and see how that goes…

Breakfast was another bowl ‘o overnight oats at my desk. Delicious, but it left me freezing cold! I think it’s time to switch to hot oatmeal.

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 6 oz plain, low-fat Stonyfield Farm yogurt
• splash of 1% milk
• 1.5 bananas
• dried cherries
• Tbs PB2
• peanut butter chips (candy!)
• sprinkle of cinnamon

I also packed a very wholesome lunch (using more of my free sample of Nature’s Pride bread).

I filled two slices of 12-grain bread with Sabra’s supremely spicy hummus (love.this.brand), mozzarella cheese, and spinach.

And a local MacIntosh apple with a wedge of laughing cow cheese on the side. Mmm, I always forget how much I love the combo of sweet apples + savory cheese.

Afternoon snack was a couple adora calcium supplements (have to remind myself that these are vitamins NOT candy…) and salt & pepper pistachios.

pistachios x2

After dashing home from work, I threw on my running clothes and headed out the door. My goal: pick-up my race number and packet for Saturday’s 1/2 marathon. Ahhh! Can’t believe I am doing this. T-minus 24 hours.

Since I prepped most of dinner in the morning (yay rice & beans!), I was able to eat as soon as I cooled down from my evening 4-mile run.

Brown rice + pinto beans + sauteed spinach & onion + soy sauce = din-din

And for dessert, I had some hazlenut gelato topped off with a few stroopwafels (caramel wafer cookies). It may be October, but I will eat ice cream year round. And that’s a promise.

30 Day No-Meat Challenge Update: Well, yesterday marked the end of the 30 day no-meat challenge. I’m happy to say that not eating meat for a month was not very difficult. There were a few times that meat seemed appetizing (burgers grilling over an open flame smell pretty darn good), but I didn’t really crave it too much. I’m not sure what I’m going to do about eating meat from now on. I’m hesitant to use the label “vegetarian” because I really love all sorts of foods and I feel like that puts strict limits on my choices. Instead,  I might follow Christine’s example and occasionally eat meat when I dine out (but not purchase it or prepare it myself). But for the next short while at least I will remain meat-free, stay tuned for updates!

By the way, yesterday (October 1st) was World Vegetarian Day and I believe October is Vegetarian Awareness month. How timely!

Question: What is your favorite vegetarian dish? I need recipe ideas!