Baking, Cleaning & Chilling

I think this has been the laziest weekend we have had in a long time. Makeup didn't even make it to my face the past 2 days! My hubby and I watched a crappy Richard Gere movie last night called "The Flock". Not recommended! Before we popped it in, I made my green monster of the day. This mix had pretty much the same produce in it....3 good handfuls of spinach, 4 frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup frozen mango, 1 tbsp ground flax and the one little change, 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze.
This one tasted just like ice cream! The only drawback is that I'm left stone cold by the time I finish it! Brrr!

I got a good solid 8 hrs of much needed sleep in and woke up at 9am...or 8 if you want to go by the old time! For breakfast I heated up a serving of Apple Pie Oats and drizzled some cinnamon bun coffee creamer on top.

I have one serving of this left in the freezer so I decided it was high time to pull the crock pot out for another batch. This time I went with Pumpkin Pie Oats. I followed the recipe to a "T" with the addition of a 1/4 cup of slivered almonds for crunch. Here's what it looked like after 2 hours of cooking time...
I got 6 generous 1 cup servings out of this batch. To store it, I portion it out into Ziploc baggies, flatten it and pop them in the freezer for quick, easy breakfasts. DS wanted you all to know that he like his oats in the morning, too. His pick? Quaker instant Dino Eggs! *He still looks pretty wiped out from yesterday, but is feeling just fine today.*
I had some leftover pumpkin from the oats so I decided to make a Hungry Girl Pumpkin Loaf while the kitchen was still upside down. I've made this many times and it always turns out fabulous!!! Hot out of the oven;
I spent the remainder of the morning doing my chores that were neglected yesterday. The boys were at hockey so I put DD to work with a Swifter duster while I got busy scrubbing the kitchen down and vacuuming. I truly dislike housework, but I'm always happy when the house looks nice and clean! I snacked on these 3 figs as I worked. And, yes....I need some serious moisturizer on my hands!!
By the time we were done, the boys were back and it was lunch time....already! I wasn't starving or anything so I went with a simple egg white, Sabra jalapeño hummus and spinach sandwich. A juicy blood orange joined the fun on the plate!
I know that the bread here looks like Arnold Thins, but it's actually not. The brand is called "Pita Break" and they're pretty much the same. These ones are higher in calories, but I can't find a lighter version and for someone like me who isn't fond of bread, they're worth it!
We went for our weekly visit to the farm this afternoon. It was my MIL's b-day last week and we missed our visit due to 2 hockey games so we enjoyed some of her Oreo birthday cake today!
So naughty, but SO good!!!!! My hubby had to leave at 3:30 for his own hockey game so I browsed the Internet until it was time to start cooking dinner. I had some pasta sauce in the freezer so I defrosted that and made a pot of pasta for the fam. I had some random ingredients in the fridge that I wanted to use up so I came up with this;

I heated a 1/2 cup of veggie broth and cooked a small onion, 2 gloves of garlic and a tsp of ginger until soft. Then I added some chili powder and a tbsp of curry powder. Next up was a half cup of diced tomatoes with their juice, 1 cup chickpeas and 1/2 cup rice. Once that was piping hot, I stirred in 2 tbsp of peppercorn crusted goat cheese until melted. Here it is cooking away...
I put half in my bowl and the other half went into the fridge for tomorrow night's dinner. I put a biscuit on the side to wipe the sauce from the bottom of the bowl.

After I took the picture's, I added a dollop of plain yogurt which made it very creamy. This "recipe" turned out fabulous! Not sure what to call it, though. It was definitely reminiscent of Indian cuisine. Any of you have any ideas???

We are off to my parents now where you can be sure that I will eat a few cookies. When we get back, I plan to watch The Amazing Race while walking on my treadmill. After that will be green monster time, then bed shortly after. How fun does that all sound?? :)

Bye for now!!

The GREAT Give Away

OKAY! I’m going to keep the first part of this post word light and picture heavy because I want to get straight to the GREAT GIVE AWAY that I’ve been planning to do!

I tried the tofu/oat/immersion blender method today on my oats with fabulous results! Here’s what all went into the mix;
-1 cup water
-1/2 cup soft tofu
-1/2 cup Quaker oats
-cinnamon
-blueberries
-maple Flakes

I blended the water, tofu and cinnamon first. After the oats were done, they got a whirl, too. Lastly, the blueberries jumped in! I topped it off with some maple flakes..
DELISH!

DS had a game at 9:30 this morning. We all went because it was the first time they played full ice. All season the rink has been divided in to 2 sections with 2 mini games going on. Today was the real deal! DS even scored 2 awesome goals! YAY!

I did some relaxing in front of the computer for an hour before lunch getting caught up on blogs and some news events. I finally moseyed downstairs for some eats shortly after noon. Here’s what was on the lunch menu…

Carrots and jalapeno hummus, a flatout wrap with ¼ cup egg beaters, Laughing Cow cheese wedge and more hummus, and a juicy orange.
Lunch “dessert” was ½ of a biscuit from yesterday with some cinnamon raisin PB slathered on.
Right after lunch was shower time and off to another hockey game downtown!! It was against a neighboring city which is always fun! Our team won 2-1! After the game they hosted a “skate with the Storm” where fans are invited on the ice for 45 minutes of ice time with the team. My 2 were all over that!!

We got home late and the fam decided they wanted chicken burgers. No thanks! I tried this noodle stuff that I bought on a whim a few weeks ago;
I served it over top a good cup of steamed veggies to bulk it up.

It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t good. The noodles kinda stuck to each other fairly quick and there were some unknown crunchy things in it. The taste wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t very dominant. It was more like a hint of peanut going on. I don’t think I would waste my money on it again, but it served its purpose tonight! Dessert was the last brownie! I Know! I cut the batch in 12 and they’re gone! Just proves what a big hit they were! :)

And now for the best part of this post – the give away! Here are the reasons I decided to do this;

*March 5^th will be my 200^th post

*March is my birthday month

* I’d love to attract new readers to the blog

What's up for grabs, you ask? I’ve got a bit of a goodie bag for the winner which will contain a bag of my favourite oats, Windy Hill Farms Flax Seed Cereal, a jar of Creamy Coconut Paradise Spread, a jar of Pampered Chef Sweet Mocha Hazelnut Sprinkles and a Lemon Coconut Simply Bar!

Don't worry...the winner will get a full bag of Flax Seed Porridge! When I went to the store yesterday to buy a bag they were sold out. I was told that a new shipment will be in this Friday so I used my bag as a stand in. :)

This is what you need to do:

*leave a comment on this post letting me know which item in the give away you are most excited to try

*Link back to this post on your blog and let me know that you’ve done so via your comment or email (kristaskravings@gmail.com)

*Please put me on your blogroll!

And that’s all, folks! If you don’t have a blog, don’t fret! You can still enter by leaving me a comment in this post! Now’s the time for all my lurkers to come forth! You will have until midnight on March 5 to enter. I will be choosing and announcing a winner (using the Random Generator site) in my post on March 6. Please, only one comment per reader! This is open to anyone, anywhere with a mailing address! Have fun! I’m very eager to see what the response will be! I hope to “meet” a lot of new people with this!

I’m off to tune into the Amazing Race! Can’t believe the weekend is over already. This coming week will be super busy for me, but swimming lessons are wrapping up for both kids so we’ll get a break from that anyways. My hubby starts afternoon shift tomorrow so he’ll be taking the kids to school which will help me out immensely in the morning. I’ve got a batch of crock pot oats cooking right now, too. I got the base recipe from Sarah at Tales of Expansion and if it turns out as fantastic as her picture’s look, I’m in for a treat tomorrow! My fruit of choice was 5 apples of different varieties that I got dirt cheap at the store yesterday because they’re on their last legs….perfect for what I intended to do with them! :) So, I guess my oats will be called “Apple Pie Oats”! I also used lots of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla extract. One cup of frozen cranberries also jumped into the mix! Here’s what they look like now…
I’ll post a photo or 2 of the finished product tomorrow!

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Bye for now!!

Introducing.....

Even though I fell prey to downloading music last night for MUCH longer than I had intended, I managed to bake my Christmas Day cheesecake. It took me a little longer to do because 1) I thought I had graham cracker crumbs, but they were actual crackers, so I had to grind them down and 2) my blender blew up months ago, which I forgot about so I had to pull out my food processor and 3) I was pretty busy boogieing to my new tunes! It all worked out in the end, though!!

I made a really tasty bowl of oats this morning! Well, they’re ALL tasty, but this one seemed to have some UMPF to it!

-1 cup water
-1/2 McCann’s Irish oats
-1 Tbsp pumpkin spice coffee powder
-cinnamon
-3 pecan halves, crumbled (I think this was the UMPF!)

I don’t normally have pecans around the house, but I bought some last night for the cheesecake topping so I figured…what the heck! They are one expensive nut, though!!!

Work was pretty uneventful today. There were even less people in than yesterday. Looking forward to being done at 2pm tomorrow!! Here’s my morning snack….

TAZO Refresh tea and another piece of carrot cake baked oatmeal.

DD and I watched videos today while I was on the treadmill. Seeing as I felt so energetic running yesterday, I bumped up the speed and managed 3.5 miles in my usual time frame. Not bad….for me, anyways!!

Lunch will look familiar to you…..

It’s last night’s dinner leftovers! Imagine that, eh?! I’m loving the edamame! I’ve had it before, but never made it myself. I didn’t realize how simple it was t prepare. You’ll be seeing more of this, for sure!

Mid afternoon I smuggled a cookie or 2…..they disappeared so fast that my camera didn’t stand a chance! Once my mouth got a taste of that sugar, it started truing to rule my brain so I quickly ate this apple to solve the problem!

Ah…nothing like natural sugar!

I was excited for work to be done today because I had a special trip to make before I went home. If you’re curious, you can skip ahead over dinner to see what (or who) I’m talking about!! :)

So yes, dinner...well, it was a quick one because I arrived home later than usual! I made spaghetti and meatballs (store bought) for the fam and whipped up a third cup of egg whites for me. I put them on an Arnold Thin with Sabra hummus & whipped cottage cheese. A small salad with the last of the hummus went on the side.

I ate 2 chocolate bells for my sweet end, but my camera was being used so no pic!

On to the BIG announcement!! After much begging and pleading and groveling on my part, my hubby finally gave in and let me adopt another kitten!! WAHOO!!! So, with further ado, I introduce you to Pepper...

I had thought to call him Cinnamon, but when I picked him up they told me his name was Pepper and I decided that it suit him perfectly!

He was born Sept 15 and his whole litter was surrendered to the Humane Society. Out of 6 of them, there was still one left.

He's a spunky little man and I do believe that he will be the perfect match for my other two boys. Right now, Charlie and Octavius are sulking in the rec room, but they'll come around!

I hope you enjoyed the picture's of Pepper. I'm sure there will be more to come! As for me, I'm off to play with him a bit, get a few more things ready for Christmas Day and wrap the last of the presents. Enjoy the night!

Bye for now!!

Snow & Rain...What Season is It?

Sometime during the night the snow Gods must’ve opened the snow gates because did I ever wake up to white stuff! And LOTS of it! Even the kids were amazed. It certainly looks like December and I don’t think we’re in any danger of a green Christmas in these parts this year!!

I gave my gingerbread oats another try this morning and think I got it just right this time!


Gingerbread Oats

-1 cup water
-1/2 McCann’s Irish oats (the quick cooking kind)
-1 tsp each ground ginger and cinnamon
-2 Tbsp molasses
-1 tsp agave
-red and green sprinkles (for decoration!)

*bring water, spices & molasses to a boil
*add oats and cook until liquid has absorbed
*once in your favorite bowl, drizzle with agave and top with sprinkles!


Easy and delectable! Pretty, too!

The Christmas Concert last night was a hit! I really liked the fact that they didn’t sing any traditional carols. Each song was super fun and up beat which I think is a great idea for the kids. They all had a really good time performing for a VERY large crowd! The church was packed by 6:45pm and Mom, my hubby and I actually ended up standing (with others, of course) because all the pews were full! In hindsight, standing actually gave us a much better view!

I was hungry a lot sooner than usual for some reason this morning so I ate a piece of gingerbread around 10:30 or so. Seemed to do the trick because I didn’t get to lunch until 1:45pm!


My run today was kinda blah. I really wasn’t feeling it and almost didn’t even go home to do it, but I preserved and got it done. The snow turned into rain and the roads were absolute mush. I can’t wait for the office gym to open back up!

On to lunch, I had leftover chicken stir fry and couscous from last night.


Bet you’re all very surprised to see that today, eh?! And a Ferraro Roche for dessert. I <3 style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixUQSRjleZIa0TP8jx7vnObwaE5GZiNX5PGOSMXZoLv3AOm8sVAoZsubuA6jBvdm_672x2wQD-_qbkpLrcO6-KdstfP7g_boXcK9-dpoY0BMo89RR896yearlMyIZbrfZS70xZs_rsurA/s400/choco.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277896299376693410" border="0">I also snacked on some grapes and kiwi throughout the afternoon.


Nothing very exciting happened at work today. December is a busy month for us so I’ve been keeping pretty busy. Good thing, too! Nothing sucks more than being slow at work….the clock never seems to move on those days!

**UGLY PICTURE ALERT!!** I give you fair warning that my dinner looks absolutely horrid....but it was delish! I had this tuna....


with a side of baked acorn squash and kale chips.


It matter not what I did. There was no getting a nice shot of this meal! My sweet end was a chocolate chip All Bran bar. I'm off to watch videos with DD(I promised) and then I'm going to bake my peppermint BSI recipe to submit tomorrow. By then, Biggest Loser should be ready to start! Looks like my night is all planned out! I'm going to try to get some blog reading done somewhere in there, too. I haven't had much time for commenting, but I promise I'm reading them all!

Bye for now!!

In Memory of Braeden

So you may be wondering right now who Braeden is. Well, I’ll tell you about him as long as you promise not to be sad! So, twelve years ago today, Dec 2, 1996 at 7:41am, I gave birth to our first born son…..6lbs 11oz, 19.5” long. Sadly, Braeden was stillborn. Man, that was one tough blow and at the time, we were left wondering how we would ever manage to get through it all. We had a wonderfully strong support system that I’ll never be able to thank enough. Twelve years later, I can sit back and marvel at all that has happened over the years. I have 2 beautiful, healthy kids, a great job and a nice house. We will never know what went so wrong with Braeden in the eleventh hour….an autopsy came back “inconclusive”….but we take strength in the knowledge that everything in life happens for a reason. All these years later, the memories of that pregnancy are the happy ones, not the sad. And every Dec 2, I take a few minutes to reflect on all that I have to be grateful for and I know deep within my heart that Braeden is the wind at my back and the sun on my lips. He is our angel.

OKAY! On to the business of food and stuff! I had another rough night because DS played the role of Sicko McPukey from the hours of 2-4am. Poor kid. I really hope the 2 of them have it out of their system now! Funny how you can put kids to bed healthy as can be and within hours they are ill. I’ll never get it! I decided to go into work at bit later so I could see how he was once he woke up. He felt better so I took him to the sitter instead of sending him to school. He was able to have a nice quiet day there. Just what the (mom) doctor ordered! I was able to enjoy a delicious bowl of oats without having to rush out the door!


-1 cup water
-1/2 cup quick cooking steel cut Irish oats
-1/2 mashed banana
-cinnamon
-trail mix



These oats cook up super fast so you have to be quick with your add ins! I also really like them because they make a real stick-to-your-ribs bowl of yum!

We enjoyed some family Wii time last night! DD and I played a round of tennis and one of baseball. The boys did the same. DD obliterated me in baseball! She did really well! Afterwards, I snacked on a bowl of plain fat free yogurt, fig preserves and pumpkin granola.


I considered taking the day off from running, but decided that was just being lazy. I’m tired, after all, not ill! I got my 3 miles in and true to form, felt marvelous after wards! I even thought up a new recipe idea! I’ll share that one later on….

Lunch today was simple and taste bud heaven! I made a sammie using an English muffin, 2 pieces of thinly sliced, lean mortadella (I <3 this stuff!) and a laughing cow cheese wedge. I microwaved it until it was all soft and warm inside...YUM! I also had a container of strained yogurt with a scoop of pineapple coconut jam.

How about that retro plate?! It’s from the cabinet here at work… :)

I had pulled pork chops out for dinner tonight and I knew we were out of propane so I decided to try something a little different tonight....

Pork Chops Supreme

-4 boneless pork chops
-1/2 cup each flour & seasoned bread crumbs
-1 egg, beaten
-1 Tbsp olive oil
-2 onions, sliced
-1 pkg mushrooms
-1 cup stock
-cornstarch, as needed
-1 tsp each cumin, coriander, dried basil & oregano
-S & P

*heat oil in frying pan
*in 3 separate dishes, place flour, egg, bread crumbs (in that order)
*season pork chops with salt & pepper
*dredge pork chops through flours, then egg, then bread crumbs
*place in pan and cook over low heat until golden brown and cooked through


*meanwhile, add about a 1/4 of water to a smaller frying pan and add onions
*once onion are soft, add mushrooms and cook another few minutes
*add spices and cook one more minute
*pour stock over the veggies and bring to a boil
*make a slurry with equal amounts of cornstarch and water. Add to pan and bring back to a boil, stirring constantly
*place a pork chop on a plate and top with sauce


My only regret with this dish is that there was only 4 chops thawed out! It was a tasty alternative to good ole BBQ'd pork chops! My sweet end was 4 squares of the 60% dark chocolate bar from the fund raiser. I did take a few pictures, but they were all blurry. ARGH!

I baked this gingerbread recipe tonight as well! I've made it before, but it was at least a year ago. I remember that it turned out well, but I'll have to give a full review tomorrow because it's still too hot to cut!!

I plan to spend the rest of the evening playing some Wii Fit. I'm kinda stiff today and so I'm eager to bust out the yoga moves! After that, it's Biggest Loser time. I'll say a prayer in advance that Vicky will FINALLY be sent packing!

I meant to post this picture of my cat last night, but I deleted it off my camera and it was on my work computer! This is Octavius, AKA Tavers. I like this photo because he looks so mean, but really he's a sucky pants!



Enjoy your evening!

Bye for now!!

Figgy Friday

No early morning Wii workout for this girl this morning! I didn’t fall asleep until well after midnight and was just exhausted this morning so I used the extra 45 mins to sleep in. Once I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower, I was awake enough to get some breakfast going. Thank God the kids had a PD Day today so I didn’t have to worry about lunches! Phew! Anyways, here’s my bowl de jour!


-1 cup water
-1/2 cup McCann’s Irish Oats
-1/2 mashed banana
-1 heaping teaspoon full of fig preserves
-cinnamon


This bowl was kinda sweet which was OK because I needed the sugar rush!

I think that due to a lack of sleep, I was hungry again by 10:30. That’s way earlier than normal! I managed to hold off until 11am before I ate my Pumpkin Pie Bar. No picture today…I didn’t want to be too repetitive! The snack must’ve been just what I needed because it did a pretty good job of holding me over until my lunch at 1:30pm.

I decided to give myself a rest today from any workouts. I promised my guilty conscience a nice run and Wii workout tomorrow! I had some things to take care of anyways and it’s nice to have the hour to do them. DD was invited over to a friend’s place for a visit so I picked her up from the sitter’s and drove her there, went home and picked up the library books that were due and made my way to the library, picked out 2 novels and 2 food related books...Whole Grains, Every Day, Every Way by Lorna Sass(which came highly recommended by Tri To Cook) and "Skinny" by Melissa Clark & Robin Aronson. The latter book claims to tell you "how to fit into your little black dress forever" and is just for reading during commercials. I like these books for the little tidbits of info you can get from them. I still had some time so I hit up 7-11 for a small half pumpkin spice latte/half hazelnut flavored coffee.


That’s all that was left by the time I got back! It was SO good!!

My bagel yesterday was so awesome that I decided to make it again today! Just changed the type of cheese I used…..Weight Watchers WW bagel, mozzarella, fig preserves, spinach, slice of deli chicken breast.


I also picked up a bag of huge cookies at 7-11 for an afternoon treat for the office gals I work with. There were chocolate chip and macadamia nut. I saved one of each for home and quartered the rest for afternoon break.


This plate did not last very long!

DD wasn't home for dinner tonight so the 3 of us went out to Boston Pizza. I ordered the California pizza which came with mushrooms, onions, sun dried tomatoes and fresh tomatoes and Parmesan cheese. My hubby's pizza came with black olives which he doesn't like, so I popped them on to my pizza!



After dinner I dropped the boys off and went to pick up my Mom to hit the mall and try to accomplish some Christmas shopping. We ended up spending almost 3 hours there! I picked up a few things, but Mom bought loads of stuff! As I type, I'm sipping a hot chocolate and relaxing in my comfies. What a long day! Hope everyone enjoyed their Friday evening!

Bye for now!