What’s In Your…Eclectic Whatnot Edition!!

Today’s post is from a girl who I not only consider a real life friend, but also an amazing photographer, and true inspiration, Ruthanne from Eclectic Whatnot.

Ruthanne recently started eating better and took up running.  She has lost tons of weight, become a real marathon-er, and has bravely shared it with her readers every step of the way–successes, failures, and even cold, hard scale numbers.  I couldn’t be prouder to know her and I know you will love her too!!  Thank you so much for sharing your life AND your fridge with us Ruthanne…I’m so glad to know you!!
Hi, y’all!

I’m Ruthanne. I’ve been a stalker of Kristan’s blog for what seems like eons now. I love drooling over all of her confectionery creations. My absolute favorite one is her Homemade Zebra Cakes. I keep hoping she’ll magically appear at my door one day with a box of them.

I was so excited when she asked me to share, but I’m pretty sure when this post goes live I’ll be hiding in my closet. Opening up my fridge? Isn’t that kind of like opening up your underwear drawer? No? Just me? Mmmkay then.

I’ve been on a weight loss journey (for what seems like forever) since December of 2010. As of now, I’ve lost almost 78 pounds. I’m slowly working my way toward my goal weight. It’s taking lots of time . . . and patience.

Would you like a visual?

Before:

Now:

Needless to say, the contents of my fridge have changed in the past seventeen months.

If you’re anything like my friend, Melissa, your gag reflex might start flaring up at the sight of all the fruit and veggies. ::snort::

Annnnd here it is.

I’ll start with the top shelf.

Grapes. Gotta have grapes.

Red seedless ones are my absolute favorite.

Whenever I can find yogurt on sale and I’m able to pair them with a coupon, I’ll snag some.

I don’t eat them, but my children love them for a quick snack.

I love fresh broccoli.

I usually end up steaming some for a dinner side dish one night and then chopping up the rest in a salad a different day.

Sometimes I’ll go all crazy and buy already grilled chicken from Kroger. It’s diced and ready to just toss into a salad.

Speaking of salad, Living Lettuce is the yummiest stuff. It’s always my first choice over any other kind of lettuce.

Eggs.

We like ‘em.

We love ‘em.

We eat a lot of ‘em.

I make two scrambled eggs every morning for breakfast.

Every Sunday night, I make some eggplant pizza for my man and me.

Roasted asparagus is a standard weekly side dish.

My man eats a lot of strawberries. Each morning, he cuts them up in his muesli and sometimes he’ll have some at night with a little bit of ice cream.

I love strawberries. If they’re at the perfect ripeness, then they’re like candy. Better than candy.

Awww, yes . . . the meat and cheese drawer. Gotta have meat and cheese, right?

Apples, clementines and avocados. Oh my!

I eat an apple a day.

No lie.

I also eat a clementine at breakfast every morning. My children love them! They are so easy to peel and very sweet.

Avocados are great to cut up in a salad. Or just eat right out of the shell. Ya know . . . if you’re into that kind of thing.

Cucumbers are another great edition to any salad.

And just in case you haven’t noticed, I eat a lot of salad.

And I eat a lot in my salad. ::snort::

We are just getting into the season for some yummy yellow squash. I’ll be steaming that up sometime this week for a dinner side dish.

Baby carrots make for a quick snack. My children love to dunk them in ranch dressing.

I almost forgot the butter.

::gasp::

I always have a few frozen meals on hand for me.

There are days I’m too lazy to fix a salad or I’m just not in the mood, so I’ll throw one of those bad boys in the microwave. Three minutes later I’m eating.

This drawer gets restocked weekly. Green beans and corn are a stable around our house.

I’ve got a catch-can drawer, too.

Shredded coconut, walnuts, pecans, wheat germ, flax seed, etc. I just throw whatever can fit into the drawer.

I keep our bananas, tomatoes and pears outside the fridge.

In our laundry room, we keep a twenty year old fridge full of milk and beer.

My favorite beer.

Dark beer.

Oooooh, how I love Guinness.

Not pictured: My bag of Hershey’s Bliss Dark Chocolate and Caramel candies. I eat a small handful every night.

Thank you so much for sharing, Ruthanne!!  And now I feel like the unhealthiest person in all the land

You guys make sure you head over to her blog…it’s super cute and I love reading her weekly weigh ins!!