Back to the Wii!

It was a COLD one this morning! When I left for work it was -27* Celsius! That’s cold enough to make the insides of my nose freeze and upholstered seats in my van feel like a piece of concrete when I sit on it! I had a nice warm breakfast, though!


-1 cup water
-1/2 flax seed porridge
-cinnamon
-1/4 cup fresh blueberries
-1 Tbsp French Vanilla International Delight coffee creamer

Oh, so superb! I missed fresh berries in my oats!! Not sure why the pictures went sideways, though!!

So far this week work has been uneventful. As much as I enjoy being busy at work, I don’t like when it gets to the “panic” level. I find that type of busyness to be more exhausting than 8 hours of physical labour. I believe it’s much healthier to work in a calm environment!

Here’s my mid morning snack….

Did you miss the medjool dates? I’ve been pretty much eating them all week, but I promised no photos! These were my last three, though, so I decided that they needed a little recognition! :)

Today I brought back Wii Wednesday!!!!!! I didn’t realize until I started up my Wii Fit that it’s been 25 days since I’ve used it! Where the heck did the time go?? The game even “pretended” to forget my name…hehe! Anyways, I did a good 20 minutes of various strength moves and 10 solid minutes of yoga poses to stretch out. My body was thanking me for this workout because my caboose is pretty sore after yesterday’s sprint intervals. Funny side note—as I settled into my 90 second plank pose, Mr. Pepper decided to hop up on my ankles, walk up my legs and then he proceeded to LAY DOWN on my lower back! Now, he’s only about 4lbs, but that’s enough to make 90 seconds feel much longer! Silly feline!

I had a warm bowl of soup for my lunch today…

This is the only canned soup that really, really like. I tried searching the web for a link to it, but couldn’t find anything! It’s just your basic run of the mill veggie soup. I ate it with a Sabra hummus sandwich on the side.

The part of the building at work that our gym is located in is now open so I wandered over to check out the area. Oh, my Lord the gym is a disaster! Due to renovations issues, they had to knock a wall out and make it smaller which is going to make fitting all the equipment back in a challenge to say the least. Also, everything is covered in about an inch of dust. I promptly emailed one of the people on the “committee” to offer assistance with clean up. He told me that it’s scheduled to open January 26. HOORAY! I guess a company will be coming in to do a machine clean up and placement, but we will be going in to do some scrubbing. I can not wait until we can get in there again! Not having to go home equals more sweat time (don’t worry, we have showers)!

Are you looking for another GREAT give away contest?! Check out Angela @ Oh She Glows for a FABULOUS Honest Foods gala!!!!! Even if you don’t care for Hoest Foods products, you should still check out her blog. She’s got some great ideas going on over there!!

I munched my way through some edamame and carrots for my afternoon snack. This was just enough to hold me over until dinner time.

I pulled a chicken out of the freezer this morning so that I could do a 30 minutes roasted chicken in the microwave. Yes, that's right....the microwave! Using my Pampered Chef covered casserole dish, I gave the bird a fine mist of EVOO and a sprinkle of spices. Then it went in the microwave, uncovered for 30 minutes. When it beeped, I took it out and covered and let it sit for 10 minutes....

Voila! Roasted chicken on a week night!! I ate my piece of breast with a side of corn and a scoop of mango chutney...

I didn't realize how plain my dinner plate looked until I saw this picture! I ate my last Cravings cheese cake cup for dessert. This was key lime pie and it rocked! I'm not usually a citrus-y kind of girl, but this was really good!

While the chicken was doing it's thing, I decided to try out that recipe for black bean soup that I found in a Biggest Loser mini cookbook. I changed SO many elements that I think it's safe for me to post my version. I'd love to share the link for the original recipe, but I can't find it online! I'll just call mine;

Bean Soup

-2 cups low sodium chicken stock
-1 19oz can each black beans & romano beans, drained and rinsed
-1 28oz can diced tomatoes, with juice
-3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
-1 onion, chopped
-3 cloves garlic
-1 Tbsp cumin
-1 tsp each coriander, oregano, red pepper flakes
-salt & pepper to taste
-1/2 cup corn (thawed if using frozen)

*put first 6 ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil
*lower heat to a simmer and add all spices stirring well to incorporate
*cover partially and let cook over low heat for 20-25 minutes
*remove from heat and, using an immersion blender, puree to desired consistency (I left mine a bit on the chunky side)
*stir corn
*when cool, distribute into bowls

This would be really good topped with sour cream, grated cheddar or crushed tortilla chips! I divided mine into 7 one cup servings to use for lunches. I plan on freezing it as a quick grab n go.

Well, all...I'm off to read pool side while DD enjoys her hour long swimming lesson! Tune back in tomorrow for a very special delivery I got in the mail today!!

Bye for now!!