Blueberry Pudding & Gardein

Saturdays are great, why can’t everyday be Saturday? Oh yeah, guess I kind of need to work. Rats. This morning I was craving something different from my usual smoothie for breakfast. So I threw together a quick chia seed pudding of:

• 1/2 cup chocolate almond milk
• 2 tbsp. chia seeds
• 1/3 cup frozen organic blueberries, defrosted
• a few liquid stevia drops

I didn’t want too heavy of a breakfast since I was taking off on a 5.5 mile run shortly after and chia seeds are supposed to be a running super food. And that’s pretty interesting that chia seeds can help runners stay hydrated longer since they hold seven times their weight in water.

This pudding was like a sweet blueberry tapioca/pie filling thanks to the concentrated juices from the frozen blueberries, very tasty.

But my 5.5 mile run after was a tough run. Not because of the breakfast, but because of the heat and me lacking energy from a stressful week low on sleep. The last half mile was the longest and a painful reminder that I need to get more sleep and relax this week.

I did get some relaxing in with hubby enjoying an early, post-shopping dinner out at the Yard House. They have a multiple page menu of nothing but beers on tap, there’s even an iPhone app you can use to keep track of all the beers you’ve tried so far. Nope, don’t have the app yet, but I did try Sam Adams Cherry Wheat beer and it was wonderful with a mild cherry flavor that wasn’t too fruity or girly.

Yard House also has a decent selection for vegans with a Gardein sub menu and Gardein patty option on most non-vegan burgers. We started with tofu mushroom lettuce wraps.

The tofu mushroom mixture was nicely spicy with three different sauce options, I layered mine with the peanut and spicy red sauce – yum!

And I got the Gardein Orange Peel “Chicken” again because it’s my favorite dish on the Gardein menu. The Gardein chunks are coated in a soy orange sauce served with baby corn, bok choy, and fried carrot strings. Served with too much rice, of course, I couldn’t get through the mountain of it.

The Gardein chunks look a lot like chicken, it was almost eerie. But the texture was much more moist than I remember chicken being and my non-vegan hubby was very impressed with the flavor and texture of the chunks saying they were satisfying as a meat alternative.

It was such a nice day that I’m bummed it’s over, but also wiped and looking forward to sleeping.