Edible Mail & Something Just For Me

Before I get started on my eats for the day, I have to show you all what came in the mail for me yesterday!!!

That there is a box filled with samples from Sahale Snacks!!! The wonderful people at Sahale contacted me last October to see if I would mind sampling their new line. Hell, yes!! DS and I are “nuts” over this stuff! So I was uber excited to find this waiting for me. There were 3 flavours in the box; Almond with cranberries, honey and sea salt, cashews with pomegranate and vanilla and almond with PB&J and berries.

This camera has an uncanny way of loading most pictures sideways! Sorry about that. Anywho, DS dug right into the Almond with cranberries & honey, so I ended up taste testing that one, too.

F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!!!!! I found this to be the perfect mix of sweet and salty. Great snack! DS practically finished the bag off! I think there’s maybe a handful left! I completely understand the reasoning, but I still say it’s too bad that he can’t take these nuts to school with him. If you’ve never tried Sahale Snacks, you’re missing out. And I’m not just saying that because I got free samples. I’ve bought and raved about their products many times before they ever contacted me. Check out this post here for my first go at these nuts.

So, I’m sure you can guess what I topped my oats with today!! *wink, wink*

-1 cup water
-1/2 cup Old Wessex 5-Grain cereal
-cinnamon
-1 Tbsp dried fruit (I put this in with the water right at the beginning to plump them up)
-1 Tbsp Cashew with Pom and Vanilla Sahale Snack mix

Pure joy! The cashews added a real nice feel to the bowl that I thoroughly enjoyed. I’m also glad that I added the dried fruit right at the beginning of the cooking time. They re-hydrated and were nice and soft and tender. I most definitely enjoyed this meal! Here's a better look at the cashew blend...

Work is starting to ramp up again as expected. The next 5 working days will be very busy, but not as demanding as last week. Because of this, I was only able to take a ½ hour lunch break today. That’s not really enough time for me to get a decent run in but I REALLY wanted to step away from the office for a bit. You know how it is when you try to have lunch at your desk, right? You don’t end up with a peaceful moment! I decided that I would fit as much outdoor adventure on the Wii in as I could to get my heart pumping a bit. Here’s what I accomplished;

Time: 18:01
Time in Zone: 16:11
AVG HR: 149
MAX HR: 182
Calories Burned: 143
Not too shabby for 18 minutes of exercise, eh?! I’m still in awe of the great workout this game gets me….and it’s F-U-N!!!!! Not to mention that I shook the morning cobwebs loose. :)

I ate some blueberries before I went home...

Lunch today was a bowl of my bean soup.

There was just nothing I could do to make this bowl look pretty. I had some nice grated mozzarella to sprinkle on top, but forgot it at home. L You’ll just have to trust me when I say that it was excellent! I chased it with this extra large chai tea from Tim Horton’s.

I wanted to mention what I did with the remainder of last night’s “roasted” chicken. When I got home from the pool, I put the carcass and all the pan juices into a soup pot, added about 4 cups water and brought it all to a boil. Then I let it simmer for about 1&1/2hrs. Once it cooled a bit I pulled what meat was left on the bones off and strained it all into a container. This morning, I skimmed all the congealed fat off the top and popped it in the freezer for another night’s dinner. I was brought up in a home where nothing went to waste and bones from any kind of meat were always destined for a soup pot! I guess some customs stick! This is a fantastic way to stretch your dollar. I mean, you buy the whole chicken, roast, whatever, so you might as well make use of it all! Anybody else do things like this to? I’d love to hear about it!

I put a roast in the crock pot today. I was going to follow Zesty’s fabulous recipe, but I didn’t have all the ingredients. So, in to the crock went the roast, ½ cup stock, and lots of spices…I can’t even remember what all went in! I set it on low and let it go for 8.5 hours. The finished product;

Mine turned into a wicked sandwich which I ate when we got back from DD's skating lessons at 7pm. I was ravenous and almost forgot to take a picture! You're in luck though!

This sandwich is made with an Arnold Thin, Sabra hummus, a Laughing Cow cheese wedge, lettuce and beef. I ate a few olives on the side because I was too impatient to slice them up for the sandwich!

If I may back track slightly, I did eat an apple with the last of my almond butter around 4:30. This is when the family ate dinner, but I wasn't near hungry enough for a full meal that early!

Putting food aside for a split second...one of my goals this year was to do something for myself. The kids have their sports and my hubby plays hockey twice a week, so I figured it was only fair. I was the only one holding myself back. I always just figured that I didn’t have the time….so, I made the time! I decided to try out Pilates because I’ve heard so many positive things about it, I signed up today and even though classes started last Monday, I will be going this Monday. They told me I can make up the missed class during their Wednesday session. I am SO psyched about it!!!! It starts at 5 so my hubby agreed to take DD to dance and I will pick her up. YIPEE!!! This is the first time since I’ve had the kids that I’ve taken some time for me and I think I’m really gonna enjoy myself.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long post! I'm going to go do some blog reading myself. Then I'm going to browse through some cookbooks a borrowed from the library tonight. I'll tell you about them tomorrow. I also stopped by the health food store on my way home so if you're curious to see what I bought, you should check back in tomorrow evening!!

Bye for now!!