Hi! Long time, no daily eats posts. (3 months actually!)

I hope you all had a great Super Bowl (if you celebrate). I tried to catch most of the commercials and ate artichokes, chips with salsa and queso and chicken fingers. (I have no idea…but they sounded SO good!) I sipped on some wine with the snacks and then made some paleo chocolate chip cookies that my friend Erin pinned – she seriously pins the best paleo recipes.

am workout: 30 minute express physique 57. I’ve been doing the physique 57 dvds for a few months now and am a big fan. Do I look like Kelly Ripa? Not yet but I’ll keep you posted.

breakfast: coffee with half & half + 2% and a banana pancake that I baked into a huge banana loaf (way easier than making separate pancakes!) – I make them with bananas, almond meal, flax meal, eggs, egg whites, vanilla and cinnamon and top with some almond butter and a small drizzle of maple syrup. Trust me when I say it is hideous (especially in fluorescent lighting). Most of us thought it tasted good… 

lunch: chopped salad with romaine, kale, cucumber and pepper + 5-6 oz chicken + 1 slice turkey bacon + 1. 5 hard boiled eggs + annie’s light honey mustard dressing.

and a cookie for dessert!

pre-run fuel/snack: few bites of applesauce for some sugar

pm workout: run! I think I might sign up for a 1/2 marathon. I really have no idea what brought this on, it kind of came out of nowhere. (maybe because I’m turning 30, maybe because I just joined a gym, maybe as an excuse to buy some workout clothes, maybe because one of the 1/2 marathon possibilities is in Santa Barbara which means I could turn it into a running and WINE weekend?!) Whatever the reason, I am literally starting at the beginning. I really haven’t done much cardio in the last few months so when I say I’m starting at the beginning I mean, I’m running: 1 mile, 1 mile, 1.5 miles, 2 miles this week. I’ll run more than just 1 mile per workout, but I need to run a mile straight, then take a walking break, then start running again. {Today’s workout ended up being about 4.5 miles total: run 1, walk .5, run 1, walk .5 and 1.5 miles round trip walk to and from gym}

snack: my new favorite – Finn Crisp cracker + deli turkey + mustard – 2 of them are about 100 calories and have more than 10 grams of protein!

dinner: “the word’s best chicken” (recipe from pinterest) + asparagus. The chicken is really good but world’s best might be a stretch, although I have made it a few times now…

dessert: paleo cookies (3)  - the cookies get really soft the next day, I think next time I’ll try adding some more almond meal and freeze them into little dough balls.

I’ll have prettier pictures on my next post, promise!

It seems that this is the week of super bowl food. Forget the commercials, it’s all about the food. Is the game even worth a mention anymore? I’m not sure…

Pinterest is FULL of cheesy dips, party foods and sweet treats. Which is pretty standard, but I swear there are more than normal! (super bowl recipe pins)

There is a full-fledged shortage of chicken wings – buy them sooner than later and you will be paying a premium!

Every article and headline is either low-calorie recipes so you don’t gain weight, or the opposite – drool-worthy, cheesy, gooey recipes that are begging to make your super bowl party food list.

Commercials are getting us geared up to think that we absolutely couldn’t watch the game without: soda, beer and a pizza delivery.

And I’ve even joined a #superbowlplus hangout on google+.

It’s a bit ridiculous, right? But what are we to do? Go completely overboard and indulge in everything we’ve seen online or on tv? Or serve some boring grilled chicken breasts with veggies and a low-fat greek yogurt dip? Don’t even get me started on soup – so not super bowl food. Ugh.

I’ve never been one for making things too healthy, and I’ve never been one to have a snack spread lacking some sort of vegetable. And even though I think it is all a bit ridiculous, I’ll still have to partake in the super bowl food fest. My spread will look something like this:

A balance of healthy and indulgent, fun and veggies.

What is on your super bowl food menu this year?  

*image via what the health magazine