Snack Attack and Gazpacho for Dinner

In an attempt to change up my normal morning protein shake shot, I took this picture while walking out the door of my building and ended up getting a really interesting light effect ...  And I also got a disconcerting reminder of how short my thumbs are :( 

So, I basically went snack crazy yesterday and ended up eating almost everything I have stashed in my cupboard at work.  Mid-morning I snacked on some dried mixed berries. 

Then a little later I had carrots (not stashed at work, I brought those from home). 

After that it was oatmeal with a big scoop of peanut butter (which I may or may not have made again right after I finished the first serving ...). 

And then I had a big bowl of kettle corn.  And of course after I had that the bag was almost empty so I had to go ahead and finish it off completely ...

NOT GOOD!  I need to get my snacking under control!!!  And I think a big part of that is not eating enough real food during the day.  And certainly none of that was nutritious (well, maybe the carrots). 

Plan for the future to prevent snack attacks:

1. Pack a lunch.  This seems so simple, but it's so important.  I didn't pack a lunch yesterday, so naturally I went crazy eating everything I could find.
2.  Stock nutritious, real food options at work.  Sometimes I just won't be able to pack a lunch, or I will pack a lunch and still be hungry, so I need to have go-to options that actually satisfy so I can stop snacking after just one snack!
3.  Don't even let myself buy the non-healthy snacks.  If it's not there, I can't eat it. 

To make up for my crazy snack attack I decided to make vegan gazpacho for dinner.  It's super easy and definitely healthy - just blend up a bunch of veggies and eat!  I put a healthy dose of cayenne pepper in this gazpacho, which made it really spicy and exciting.  With toasted French bread on the side, this was an easy, delicious summer dinner.  I'll definitely make this one again.

But of course I still needed a little something sweet after dinner, so I used leftover flourless chocolate cake batter to make some mini cakes in a cupcake pan.  The batter didn't translate so well, and the cakes ended up losing their integrity when you tried to pick them up.  But they still tasted good!