My brother turned 27 yesterday! I can’t believe my older brother is going to be a daddy in just a few months! I’m so excited for him and my lovely sister-in-law. They’re going to make fantastic parents (and I cannot wait to be an aunt!) Since I’m lucky enough to be in the same city as my brother and his wife, birthday celebrations are always a lot of fun. Even though my parents are back in Ohio, I’m thankful to have family here in Virginia. My brother and his wife were the biggest motivation for me moving here, and I so happy to be near them.

So in this little “What I Ate Wednesday” here’s what some of my meals have looked like, including my brother’s birthday dinner!

Breakfast

I’ve broken out of my smoothie rut, and I’ve been enjoying greek yogurt with frozen blueberries. I wish blueberries weren’t so expensive. Regardless, this breakfast does a pretty good job of keeping me full. If you’re really looking for a protein packed breakfast, try this trick with your Greek yogurt.

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I love how simple and quick this breakfast is. I’ve been doing more blog-writing in the morning before work, so a breakfast that is quick to prepare is key.

Lunch

Since I didn’t have any leftovers to pack, I grabbed this salad from the cafeteria at work and paired it with a side of tomato soup. It wasn’t bad, for cafeteria food. I love chickpeas on my salad, because they give it a little more staying power than just veggies.

salad and soup

Afternoon snack

I’ve seen so many bloggers raving about Quest bars, but when I tried the brownie flavor, I was terribly disappointed. I wanted to like it, but I thought it tasted like a shoe. I’d heard good thing about the Cinnamon Roll flavor though, so I gave it a shot, and it actually did taste pretty good. I ordered a box on Amazon, because they’re super expensive to buy individually. These only have 170 calories, and pack in 17g fiber and 20g protein. (You can order them here.)

quest bar

That bar will keep you insanely full, I swear. Maybe I’ll add Quest bars to my next round of Protein Bar Reviews.

Dinner

The birthday celebration! We went to dinner at Stuzzi, which is a local Italian place that serves Neapolitan style pizza. It’s pretty good (although I have so many pizza places I love) and it’s a little nicer than your standard pizza joint, so it was perfect for a birthday. Alex and I split a small plate of gnocchi (which was creamy and delicious) and a vegetarian pizza. The pizza had mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini, and artichokes. So yummy. I think pizza is my favorite way to get vegetables…

stuzzi appetizer

After dinner, Alex and I walked to Sweet Frog because I’d be craving fro-yo all week. Gotta love frozen yogurt. I loaded my chocolate/cake batter/cookies n’ cream combination with lots of chocolate. What can I say, sometimes you just need some chocolate. It was the perfect ending to a delicious dinner.

Do you have any birthday traditions in your family?

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