It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas....

I had a fantastic sleep last night! I was lights out by 10:30 and slept solidly through until 8am. DD had a restful night, too! We both needed it. I wasn't hungry right when I woke up like usual, so I puttered around the house for a bit folding laundry, making beds and such. When I did eat, I decided that a nice, normal bowl of oats is what I wanted!


-1 cup water
-1/2 Flax Seed Porridge
-blueberries
-cinnamon
-1 tsp Mighty Maple PB (OK, so maybe that part wouldn't be considered "normal"!)


I enjoyed this bowl in the quiet of my kitchen while gazing out my big kitchen window at the gently falling snow. So calming which is a nice change from the usual morning rush!

Last night I was really craving grapes so I had a fair size bowl with the "bum" end of Weight Watcher WW bread coated in a smear of PB & Co cinnamon swirl PB.


Doesn't that look pretty?

We went for our weekly visit to the farm after breakfast. No much new to report there. For me, it was an extension of my peaceful breakfast because for the most part the kids were preoccupied playing MarioKart on the Wii. While there I had a coffee (mmm..) and 2 chocolate chip rice cakes. I forgot my camera at home, but I'm sure everyone knows what rice cakes look like! :)

We came home in time for lunch. I had some extra polenta from supper last night in the fridge and there was about a 1/3 cup of egg whites that I needed to use. I decided to try popping the polenta in the toaster (thank God it didn't fall apart)and I nuked the egg whites. Once on my plate, I topped it with a spoonful of salsa and a sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese.


It all turned out pretty tasty!

After lunch we pulled out all our Christmas tree stuff and got to work decorating it. Every year my hubby assembles our (fake) tree and strings the lights. I then hand out the ornaments to the kids and they place them where ever they want on the tree.


Once the kids go to bed, I usually re-arrange the ornaments so that there's not 3-4 per branch. :) This picture is obviously a "before". I seem to have misplaced my tree skirt, though! If I can't find it soon, I'll have to buy another one.

My MIL bought, then lent me, the Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009 game for the Wii! I was super excited to try it out! It's one of the items on my wish list for Christmas. I was confused when I first popped it in because it told me to use the Wii balance board but nothing seemed to work. My hubby got me to try without the board and off I went. I picked a 30 minute "weight loss" workout that really had my heart pumping. A few of the sections still confused me, though. For instance, one activity requires that you pick up and throw paint balls. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to pick up the balls so I just stood there. That sucked. All in all, my heart rate was definitely up and in the end it said that I burned 158 calories in the half hour. I'm sure I will do much better than that once I've got it all figured out. I'm on the fence on whether or not I like it, though. Wii Fit is still my fave!

Supper tonight tonight was baked tofu (re heated) steamed frozen veggies and a sweet potato that I quartered and microwaved for 5 minutes.



I think my eyes were bigger than my stomach because I couldn't finish the whole sweet potato. I saved some for lunch tomorrow.

We've just come back from my parents house and I'm getting ready to scurry downstairs to watch the Amazing Race!

Bye for now!

Holy Saturday!

Oh...today was a busy one and I was SO tired! DD was up at 3am with the stomach flu(or something) and I’ve pretty much been up since then. By 4:30am I was starving but there was no way I was going to have breakfast that early so I laid in bed and read a book until almost 7am. When I finally ventured down to the kitchen, here’s what I had;


-1 cup water
-1 pkg diet Swiss Miss hot cocoa
-1/2 cup Quaker oats
-1/2 mashed banana


Mmm, YUM! This was just the breakfast I needed! It was so chocolaty and creamy. I’ll be eating this combo again!

I was at Old Navy just before 8:30 to do some Christmas shopping while they had their 50% off sale happening. I even got a little MP3 player for being one of the first to walk through the door and spend more than $20 before taxes. I basically bought outfits for my niece and nephew and PJ’s for my kids. Before I left the mall, I decided that I needed some caffeine so I went to Starbucks and bought a tall Espresso Truffle with no whip. More chocolate is JUST what this girl needed!


I actually kind of spoiled myself because while at the mall last night I bought a tall skinny gingersnap latte. It was good, but the espresso truffle was better. I also ate a Kraft Live Active bar when I got home last night. Three hours at the mall=one hungry gal!


My work hosted a Christmas party at 11am today for the kids at the bowling alley. DD wasn’t up to going so she went to my parents place. DS had fun bowling, at the arcade, during lunch and of course, when Santa showed up. His present was a Transformer and DD got the HSM3 CD. Needless to say, they were both thrilled!

I had packed a bit of a lunch so I didn’t have to eat bowling alley fare. I munched on a kid size flatout wrap with mighty maple PB and ½ a banana and an apple on the side.



I also ate 1 of DS’s chicken nuggets. It was pretty gross, really!

After the party, I went back to the mall to pick up a few things for my Mom for Christmas. At this point, I was starting to get cranky from lack of sleep. I came home, ate a piece of pumpkin loaf (sorry, no pic!) and caught up on my blog reading. Next up was preparing and putting a chicken in the oven for dinner. Finally, I sat down with a big tea and a magazine. AH, relaxation! I even managed at 30 minute siesta!

Dinner was exactly how I remember Mom preparing on cold winter weekends…roasted chicken, carrots and parsnips.


The only thing missing was potatoes. To compensate, I whipped up some herbed polenta as a side.


My sweet end was once again a chocolate/peanut curves bar. I also may have eaten a few of these tasty squares!


My parents should be here soon for a visit. After they leave I plan on following my cat Charlie's lead and getting some shut eye!



Bye for now!!

A Feline Fashion Show

I switched up my breakfast again this morning to make Caitlin’s English muffin French toast. Last time I made it with “normal” English muffins….today I used Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted muffins. Seeing as they have a dense texture to them, I was curious to see how they would turn out.


Well, they were marvelous! I still had some blueberry sauce in the fridge so I used it as a topper again. Fabulous! These muffins really soaked up the egg white mixture in a good way!


**Product Review!!** I broke into my PB & Co. Mighty Maple last night! The very first thing I did was scoop a spoonful out to taste. OMG! When I was younger (like, a tween) I used to eat PB and maple syrup sandwiches. They were one of my fave’s. Well, this PB tastes the EXACT same, but better because there’s no sticky maple syrup drips!! What a grand treat! Next, I proceeded to slather it all over a piece of pumpkin loaf. Pure heaven! I don’t think this jar will last me too long!


I didn’t make it home for my run today. Friday’s seem to be turning into my errand day. My son’s zipper on his winter coat broke and the first place I took it to told me it was gonna cost $42.00 to fix it!!!! No word of a lie, I asked them if they were nuts! I can buy a new coat for that kind of money! Anyways, I thought I’d try another little tailor shop by my house. They wanted $20. I can live with that! After that, I went down to Zellers to buy some Christmas cards. They were already discounted at 75% off! That doesn’t usually happen until after Christmas! They went from $14.00 to $4.20! What a deal! I also caved a bought a bag of Hersey's Extra Dark Chocolate.


When I got back to work I ate this delicious sandwich! On here we have Weight Watchers WW bread, laughing cow cheese, fig preserves, spinach & a slice of deli chicken breast. I love the combination of these flavors!


The placing of the sandwich in this photo is a strategic move to hide the fact that I took a bite out of it before I took the picture! I also enjoyed an extra large chai tea from Tim Horton’s.


Later in the afternoon, I noshed on a batch of tri colored grapes!


For supper I ate a chicken breast that I poached the other night. I topped it with the end of my baby spinach leaves, roasted red peppers and some jalapeno Havarti cheese. I also ate a bowl of cantaloupe.


This meal should power me through Christmas shopping!

A friend sent me an email today with some pretty cool cat pictures. I really felt the need to share a few of them as I <3 cats!!!








Off to the mall I go! Happy Friday night! :~)

Bye for now!!

Happy Thanksgivng to my American Pals!

To those of you celebrating Thanksgiving today, I hope you’re having a fantastic day full of goods eats, great company and hopefully some nice weather to walk (or play) off you’re gobble, gobble meals in!!

I started off my day with a great hot cereal combo!



-1 cup water
-1/4 cup Quaker oats
-1/4 cup oat bran
-1/3 cup blueberries
-cinnamon
-sprinkle of Ezekiel cinnamon Raisin cereal



Once again, this bowl had a great consistency to it. I actually reminded me of dessert! Can’t go wrong having dessert like food at breakfast!!

On to last night’s baking adventure! To re-cap, I made this recipe while waiting on supper last night but it was still too hot to cut when I posted. Here’s what it looked like when it was (finally) cool enough to cut!



I ate a piece before bed, of course, and another small one for a morning snack today.




*The Review* This loaf was scrumptious! It hit every taste bud in my mouth just right! And true to Hungry Girl recipes, it was a cinch to make! It’s definitely a keeper that you’ll see more of! I decided not to be greedy and brought some in for my payroll chummies and they all gave it thumbs up, so now you have more than just my biased opinion!

Our new space at the office will be ready for occupancy Dec 8 so I spent some time this morning cleaning out my desk drawers. It’s really incredible the amount of junk that accumulates! I had stuff in there from 2004! Can you say “pack rat” or “garbage”!! I really have a lot less to pack now! :)

Went home a lunch and did my 3 miles at a nice steady pace. Actually, I could have kept going, but I ran out of time. I hate when that happens! Damn work!! :~)

Lunch today was a mix of leftovers from the week. The way I look at leftovers is “gotta clean’em up!



This is a mix of chicken from last night with kasha pilaf and steamed veggies from Tuesday. I served it all up on a bed of baby spinach. YUM-O! I think we’re officially out of odds and ends in the fridge now.

I spent some time this afternoon covering reception. It was a nice change, but I couldn’t do that all the time! The rest of the afternoon was divided between cleaning up the files from yesterday’s pay run and sorting through the paperwork for the upcoming run. What fun! As I was performing these oh so exciting tasks, I munched on some carrot sticks.



I baked up some tofu for dinner tonight. I actually took the time this morning to slice it up and press it between some paper towels like I’ve seen all you lovelies out there do. I spiced it up with some cumin, coriander, chili powder, S & P, soy sauce and sesame oil then popped it in the oven for 30 mins @ 400*. I served it up on a toasted ezekiel muffin with brie, spinach and fig preserves. On the side I had some mushrooms sauteed with a bit of onion.



My sweet end was a chocolate curves bar. After dinner I went and got the groceries done because Mom and I have another Christmas shopping excursion planned for tomorrow night which is my normal grocery day. It's nice to know that that's been taken care of! I plan on watching CSI Vegas tonight and will most likely have another early night. Yeah for tomorrow being Friday!!

Bye for now!!

Wacky Wednesday

For all you Biggest Loser fans out there…what did you think of last night’s show?! I gotta tell ya, I’ll be extremely disappointed if Miss Vicky wins this. Especially seeing that I totally think that her and her husband are in this for the $$ alone. I highly doubt she will maintain an active lifestyle after the show! Okay, enough of that!!

I traded my oats this morning for a bowl of Bob’s Red Mill 10 grain cereal. I love this as a switch up!


-1 cup water
-1/3 cup 10 grain cereal
-1/3 cup pumpkin puree
-trail mix
-cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice



Work this morning was 100% insane!! So much so that I really have nothing to say about my morning except, “Where did it go???” I had a fuzzy head by 11am and realized it was due to hunger! I scavenged around, but all I could find to eat that was compatible with working was a handful of sliced veggies that I pilfered from the staff kitchen!!!


I didn’t end up eating the cucumber because it was slimy…..eewww!!!

My sweet end/snack last night was plain yogurt with pumpkin granola and blueberry sauce.


I was excited about lunch time, though, because Wednesday is Wii day!! I got about 35 mins in on my Wii Fit. I did a variety of yoga, strength, balance and aerobics stuff. I unlocked a new phase in the boxing segment and boy, did those routines screw me up! I’ve learned that I’m not near as coordinated as I thought! It’s still loads of fun, though!!

Lunch tasted great today but wasn’t very enjoyable because I was basically on the run with our payrolls jumping from one computer to another. I shoved spoonfuls into my yapper as I walked past my desk!


Can you guess what that is? Bet you aren’t surprised to see Kasha pilaf, veggies and haddock, are you?! I also snacked on these delicious grapes through out the afternoon.


For dinner tonight I made Mara’s Chicken dinner


This recipe was so easy that it's ridiculous! I served it up with some brown rice as a side.


Everybody LOVED it! Thanks for a great, easy-peasy dinner recipe, Mara!

I had some pumpkin in the fridge that needed to be used up so I tried out this recipe from Hungry Girl for a pumpkin cranberry loaf while I was waiting for supper to be done. This recipe was really easy and only took maybe 10 minutes to throw together!



I made a few changes out of necessity; 1/4 cup sugar instead of the Splenda (I don't like "fake" sugars and I'm low on agave), 1/2 cup of egg whites as I'm out of egg beaters and a 1/4 cup trail mix for the dried cranberries. I just took it out of the oven 10 minutes ago so I can't give a review yet because it's still too hot to cut! I will be eating a piece for a snack later, so I'll be sure to tell you all about it tomorrow!

My plans for this evening include organizing for the morning, watching SYTYCD Canada, catching up on some blog reading and hitting the hay a little earlier than I have been.

Bye for now!!

A New Grain

OKAY! So, the first thing I have to say today is that after reading yesterday’s post, I realize that I am a dork that can’t count! I told you all that DD has been dancing for 7 years. It’s actually 6years. Apparently, even though I work in a payroll department, I can not count! I am officially a goof!!!

Now that I got that off my chest, here’s my oat mix for the day!



-1 cup water
-1/2 Quaker Oats
-1/2 mashed banana
-dash of coconut extract
-cinnamon
-1 tbsp trail mix



Whereas yesterday’s bowl was full of texture and chew, today’s bowl was smooth and lush. What a fabulous sensation on my tongue. Alright! That’s enough porn talk outta me today! Suffice it to say that I seriously enjoyed this meal.

Because supper was so screwed up last night, I ate a larger snack than usual. While it was delish going down, I feel like the Pillsbury Dough Boy today! I think it was just too heavy of a snack for me at 8pm! Here it is!



-1/2 cup Nature’s Path Flax Pumpkin granola
-1/2 cup unsweetened Almond Breeze

I drank this huge tea this morning instead of eating a snack...




On my trip home at lunch I found a much awaited package in my mailbox! Marianne and I traded PB & Co. flavors as we each can buy flavors that the other can’t. I’ve been dying to try the Mighty Maple and now I have it! Marianne was also kind and thoughtful enough to send me some of her goodies that she got from Trader Joes!! An organic brown rice marshmallow treat and a baggie filled with mini meringues and chocolate edamame!




If you haven’t checked out her blog From French Fries to Flax Seeds yet, you must! There you will find beautiful, creative eats AND the cutest kitty ever! OH! I did get my 3 miler in, too!! I changed it up a bit by running the first 15 mins at a higher incline/lower speed and the last 15 at a zero incline/higher speed.

Of course I ate some treats after my run!! :)



Lunch was a Weight Watchers WW bagel with a Tbsp of PB & Co. Cinnamon Swirl (didn’t have the Mighty Maple when I made lunch) and pineapple/coconut jam and a juicy pear. A few chocolates seem to have made their way onto my plate!



I also packed grapes for an afternoon snack! I only ended up eating about a ¼ of what you see.



Tuesday is usually crock pot night but with me getting off work at 4pm this week, I had time to prepare dinner before we hit the road for the pool. AND tonight is the last night the kids will have swimming until January! The fall session is now complete. I can’t believe how very fast 8 weeks went by! Now my only night out of the house after dinner for kid stuff is Monday’s for dance.

Anyways, supper tonight (for me, anyways) was a haddock fillet done up with a smidge of olive oil and salmon spice, S & P. On the side I had steamed veggies and a 1/2 cup of Kasha pilaf....



You can find out more about KASHA here. This is a grain that I really like and need to start using more of!



This is what I did to make the pilaf;

Kasha Pilaf

-1 tsp olive oil
-1 small onion, diced
-1/4 cup chopped carrot
-1/2 cup Kasha
-1 cup water
-cumin, coriander, dried basil, S & P
-1/2 oz Brie cheese

*add oil, onion & carrot to a sauce pan and cook until veggies are soft, about 5 min
*add Kasha & spices and cook 1 more min
*add water (or broth) and bring to a boil
*cover and simmer over low heat 12-15 min or until water is absorbed
*stir in Brie
*enjoy!



I'm off to get things ready for tomorrow and then it's Biggest Loser time. I really hope Vicky goes home tonight! She's really ruined the show for me this season and I'd hate to see her win the money. Aren't I awful? Oh, no...wait a second...SHE is the awful one!! :)

I wanted to leave you all with a beautiful picture tonight that a friend emailed me of a transparent butterfly.



Just gorgeous!!!

Bye for now!!