What to do?

I have been plagued with hunger again lately. Part of this is because I haven't eaten enough at meal times before I get hungry... So in that case it's my own fault.

Yesterday, I had apple fritter toast followed by my homemade nut-heavy granola. Recognizing this as carb-heavy, I had the last two eggs from the farm... and was starving an hour later. My daughter suggested a trip to Wawa, and my husband suggested red meat...

I didn't have any better ideas.

With guilt in my heart, I ordered myself a roast beef sandwich with cheddar on an everything bagel with lettuce, tomato, pepper, oregano, and creamy horseradish sauce and a big old side of potato chips. I was satiated and didn't eat for the rest of the day. But I hate the prospect of resorting to nitrate-laden, processed lunch meat. What specifically satiated me? The heavy caloric content? The massive amounts of protein? The fat?

Hmmm... maybe I'll make some huge veggie sandwich with avocado and sprouts and see if that has a similar effect. There must be healthier ways to feed my body... without resorting to piles of soy analog sandwich products or processed meat.

Another Fine Wawa Meal

Once upon a time there was a mom who loved to cook. One day, her life exploded and her college classes, her job and her volunteer commitments all needed attention at the same time. Between that and kindergarten registration and the flood and and illness and spring in general, any attempts to cook flew out the window.

For breakfast, my daughter had Aldi brand Peanut Butter Crunch and soy milk. For lunch, she had pollock on homemade bread and whatever else my husband packed. I had one slice buffalo chicken pizza, that was brunch for me. Then my daughter and I split a Nature Valley almond granola bar.

For dinner, my husband went to Wawa as he waited for us to come and get him. (He worked until 4:30. I got out at 5 in a town 14 miles away.) He said the pickin's were slim. He settled on a chicken salad whole wheat wrap and a club sandwich with cheddar on marble rye. He also got apple slices with caramel dip and watermelon. And the sandwich came with a whole dill pickle. Our daughter loves pickles. Total spent: $15.

Daughter had watermelon, apples, 1/3 of the chicken salad wrap, a few bites of the turkey sandwich and several bites of the pickle. I had the remaining 2/3 of the wrap, the remaining 1/2 of the turkey sandwich the two of us had planned to share, and I think three apple slices. This was augmented by some leftover spinach-ham-bean soup and Aldi brand fritos with Aldi brand red pepper hummus. My husband had the other half of the turkey sandwich, a BIG bowl of the soup, a couple apples, some watermelon, and some hummus with multigrain gluten free crackers.

Chicken Salad à la Oua Oua

That lame title is my idea of a joke. I'm trying to make chicken salad sound fancy by making it French. Chicken Salad à la Oua Oua. Otherwise known as Wawa. I think I've mentioned before that I like Wawa. 

For a convenience store, they have a good variety of real food. When we vacationed in Cape May, we survived on Wawa... Our daughter was 2 and she didn't need a $10 kids meal like what we found in many of the restaurants. So we bought lots of fruit and chicken salad at Wawa.

That may even be how we discovered the chicken salad at Wawa. I like a good chicken salad. My high school English teacher makes incredible chicken salad with grapes. Then I tried the chicken-apple-walnut salad at the coffee shop by my office. Also great. When my husband came home with the American croissants from the warehouse club, it made me hungry for chicken salad. Except I've never made chicken salad and I don't have chicken.

Since the family had salad for lunch, and homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast, and peaches for snack, I had chicken salad and (GASP) potato chips (Herrs Salt and Pepper Kettle Chips) for dinner.

Tomorrow my mother-in-law is prepping chicken and dumplings for me to make for my dad. Oh, and I made bread today, but it... well... was impotent. I left it rise while I went to class, and the dough was gorgeous when I got back. But when I formed the baguettes and left them for the final rise... They didn't expand. I can only guess I had left them rise too long during class. Then two of the three stuck to the pan. So I have three short, stubby loaves...