Just Enjoying Life

Happy Thursday!  How is everybody doing?  I could get used to not working.  Too bad I would miss the dinero, too!  HA  The past 2 days have been fairly low key as we wind down the last few precious days of vacation.  We stayed out on the deck until the wee hours of Wednesday morning, then I was awake by 8.  Needless to say, I drank a boatload of coffee.  But breakfast came first. This is a packet of Nature’s Path flax oatmeal jazzed up with some coconut butter and carob chips.  DELISH!  Nature’s Path was kind enough to send me a few items to review, so I’ll be getting to that just as soon as I try everything out.  One review I can share now is for their newly revamped line of granola bars: These were in the box that was sent (YAY!!) and you can read all about what we thought about them by clicking right here.
I pretty much spent ALL morning reading blogs.  Time really flies when you’re having fun!  I know I haven’t been commenting as much, but I’ve been reading each post.  Once I’m 100% caught up I’ll be back to full fledged commenting!
I eventually got hungry for lunch and whipped out my smuggled turkey artichoke sandwich half from Panera.
I opted to eat it cold and liked it lots better!  I’m not a big re-heater of things like pizza, sandwiches, etc.  I much prefer those kind of leftovers cold.  My hubby, on the other hand, likes everything to be steamy hot.  He was kinda grossed out that I ate this cold.  LOL  And the last few deck photos, I promise.  Just wanted to show the completed projects that I’ve been babbling on about so much!  :)
And here are how the deck lights from Target look, both with and without the flash(taken last night at dusk):
And here are some shots of the gardens I’ve been working on.  Ya know, in case any of you thought I was slacking the past few days!  HEHE
In both the above photos I turned all the dirt by hand with a shovel.   I also did the edging and extended them a wee bit.  The picture underneath is still a blank slate.  That patch is under a huge maple tree and doesn’t get much light so the grass never really grew properly.  I finally decided to clear out all the weeds and roots and in the fall I will be transplanting some of my perennials there so it will look gorgeous in the spring.  This one was a back breaker and my hands are still sore from clearing the space!  DOH!

We had a great summer dinner last night.  I made bison burgers with my smuggled ground bison and there was also fresh corn on the cob the my neighbour gave us.  I served my burger on a bagel thin with pickle, roasted red pepper, tomato and lettuce.  For dessert I cubed a ripe, sweet pineapple for us all to share:
My kids have been helping the neighbour with some yard work so she took them to DQ last night and treated them to Blizzards.  While they were gone my hubby and took our adopted doggie for a walk:
 
When we got back I tried this Skinny Cow ice cream cup:
This was not very good.  Wegman’s was selling them as singles so we bought 4, but I wasn’t hungry for mine after my salad so I threw it in the cooler and popped it in the freezer when we got home.  It didn’t have a lot of taste to it except for the bitter aftertaste.  Good trial run, though.  I know now not to fork over the cash for them here!
We were late going to bed again last night and early to rise.  I spent another morning on the computer entertaining myself.  LOL  While at that I downed a bowl of my favourite Kashi cereal ever; Kashi U:
Crunchy flakes, walnuts, blueberries….Mmmm!  I won’t say where I enjoyed my morning activities, but I’m sure you can guess!  ;)  Before I knew it lunch time had rolled around.  I wasn’t terribly hungry, but knew that eating lunch where we were heading would be a challenge so I took one for the team and used all the burger topping leftovers and a few extras to make a light salad. 
A little bit of lettuce, tomato, corn from the last cob, cuke, tuna and pear & blue cheese dressing.   I also enjoyed half a Panera chocolate chip cookie. So!  We took the kids to a water park that’s one city over from us.  Can’t believe I haven’t been since I was a teenager.  DS had never been down a “big” waterslide so I wasn’t sure if he’d like them or not, but he had a blast.  And I knew without a doubt that DD would be jazzed.  Here she is hitting the bottom of one slide. Unfortunately, everyone one I took of DS shows just a big splash!  But here is is at the bottom of a tamer slide: DD went down some “cyclone” slide that dumps you into a cylinder and spins you before you get dropped in the water.  No thanks! And lastly, the 2 of them happy as clams! Before we left they each got a “fake” tattoo… The fun and sun made us all peckish and the fam got soft serve cones at Mc Donald’s.  I wasn’t feeling one so I waited until we got home then had a piece of Stonemill pumpkin seed cranberry bready with a touch of butter,
I tended to the veggie garden a bit and picked myself some kale for dinner.  It’s so pretty! We did a beer butt chicken on the BBQ so I decided to turn my dinner into a big salad.  I tossed the kale with some cucumber, yellow tomato, green pepper and a dressing made with some olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, chili powder, honey, salt & pepper.  Then I topped the whole beast with some chicken breast! My sweet end was a chocolate Oikos yogurt.
Last time I bought the caramel and I like them both very much.  A  great healthy treat!!  After dinner we hauled butt over to DS’s soccer game.  He’s got one friend from school on his team as well as one of his All Star teammates and on the opposing team were 2 classmates as well.  I had the camera so I annoyed them all taking pictures!  Here’s the 5 of them;
DS is in the centre.  The little rascals….but they’re all great kids! 
Well, my hubby just came outside from having a shower and his back is BURNT.  Guess he didn’t do such a good job with the sunscreen.  I’m off to lather him in aloe…..  ;)
Bye for now!!

Indian For Lunch

I found some multi grain bread hiding in the back of the fridge that needed to be used up and had a bit of time this morning so I made myself some coconut blueberry French toast:
-3 slices multi grain bread (this was bought from a bakery)
-1/4 cup egg beaters
-1/2 cup coconut milk
-cinnamon and lots of it
I made a VERY quick blueberry sauce by heating the blueberries in the microwave for a minute with a tsp of cinnamon apple honey. I also spread a wee bit of coconut butter on the toast. Lush. This meal was 100% satisfying to me!

I didn’t go to the gym today because I had a lunch date with my supervisor. She takes each of us payroll gals out for our b-day every year. Mine was a bit late because I was off the week of my birthday, then she was pretty sick last week. No matter, I don’t mind the wait. I didn’t want to hit the restaurant starving so I ate an orange late in the morning:
This one was SO juicy! The last few I’ve had have been duds. Maybe I’m just a bad orange picker….

For lunch I chose a restaurant that serves up some great Indian food. It’s called Diana’s Downtown. We both decided to go with the Tandoori Naan.
We were pretty psyched by the looks of it when the server set it down!
The meal was delish! I loved the Tandoori spices on the chicken and the naan was oh so soft and fluffy.

Towards the end of the work day I ate a dark chocolate chip avocado muffin:
The weather here today was positively beautiful! I had anticipated this and pulled some ground bison out of the freezer for burgers. I dressed mine with Dijon, ketchup, relish, mayo, pickles, lettuce, a slice of turkey bacon and hot pepper rings. On the side I had some steamed green beans and 2 curly fires. Those are sure a blast from the past!!

As soon as dinner was done DS and I hopped on our bikes and went for a 3 mile bike ride. Pure bliss! I loved everything about it. The temp was perfect, the sun bright and DS and I had chance to catch up. We went on one of the routes that I like to run in the warmer months. Ironically, our bike ride took us about the same amount of time as if I were running. HA! When we got back I made a coffee for myself. Coco! This is the one you were asking about:

I enjoyed this out on the front porch while reading a magazine. Oh, how I’ve longed to be able to do that all winter long! I’ve lived here long enough to know that it’ll likely get cold again before the nice weather is here to stay, but I’ll take it while it lasts!

I’m off to gather “stuff” for tomorrow and then I’ll be watching some tube. Don’t forget to enter my Nature’s Path giveaway!!! Hope you’ve enjoyed you day!

Bye for now!!

Bumming Around

Hello! Has everyone had a good Saturday? Mine has been glorious! I started it by (finally) sleeping in a bit. The tournament last weekend really threw off my sleep schedule through the week and I was certainly feeling the side effects of that by last night. Then I chatted with my Mom for a bit before getting breakfast started.

• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup sunrise blend w/ quinoa
• cinnamon
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• raisins
• almond butter

I ate this while doing some blog reading. Very relaxing. Next up was to DS’s hockey game which was here in town. The kids played well and tied 3-3. We play the same team tomorrow, but on their ice.

It was almost 1pm by the time we got home so lunch was the first thing we did. I wanted to use up some odds and ends and came up with a toasted WW English muffin topped with 1/2 an avocado mashed with a LC cheese wedge and mashed sweet potato;

I wasn’t sure how this would come together, but it was incredible. I also had 3 Clementine's. At this point I parked my butt on the couch and watched some TV. Then I got to work making a batch of Mama Peas vegan chocolate chip cookies….only I used mint chocolate chips!

I tried one straight out of the oven and they were oh so good. I snuck another one later once they had a chance to cool completely and they were even better!

I used the pound of bison I bought at Whole Foods a few weeks ago to make burgers for dinner. I simply combined the meat with 1/2 a chopped onion, 1 egg, 1/3 cup of panko bread crumbs, 2 cloves minced garlic and dashes of dried oregano, basil chili powder, salt and pepper. I let them rest for about 10 minutes once they were formed and then set them to cook for 9 minutes on the George foreman. I topped mine with sliced Allegro cheese, Dijonnnaise, hot pepper rings, lettuce and a few hot pepper rings. Steamed green beans finished off the plate!

My parents just left a few minutes ago and I’m currently munching on a vegan almond joy bar that’s feeling camera shy. :D I have to get up at 6:30 am tomorrow in order to shower and get ready for our 8am departure time. Ugh….early mornings shouldn’t be allowed on Sunday’s!

Bye for now!!

Menu Planning: Week Six

Hi all! You won’t believe this, but we learned at DD’s doctor’s appointment today that she’s got pneumonia. HA! I was told last week that this may happen, but aside from a cough she’s been back to normal. Well, the right side of her chest is infected. She started on another course of antibiotics this afternoon and will be out of school until Friday when she goes to see the doctor again….hopefully for the “all clear”!! Yikers!

I needed a quick breakfast today because DS had early morning practice and I had to go pick him up. I decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to have a bowl of the Nature’s Path banana almond cereal I bought Saturday;

This was amazing and very filling. I loved it! Those people at Nature’s Path know what they’re doing!

After dropping DS off at school DD and I went to Wal Mart to pick up a few Christmas things. (Remember…at this point I was sure she would get a green light at the doctor!!) Among the few things I bought was Twilight for $8.00! Is that a steal or what? When we got home we borrowed KC and took him for a walk down to the drug store so I could mail my over sea Christmas cards. While we were walking it started to snow! Actually, there’s suppose to be a big storm blowing in this Wednesday. Brrr…

I roasted the last butternut squash for my lunch today. I served it with some Dijonnaise and chipotle mustard for dipping.

Then I enjoyed a brownie z-bar. It cured my chocolate craving! :D

Next up was the doctor, then the pharmacy. I had some time until I had to get DS from school so I played on the computer and did a few loads of laundry. I was hungry by the time 3:30 rolled around so I had a piece of vegan banana carob nut bread with chocolate honey for a snack.

I had bought a pound of ground bison when we were at Whole Foods a week ago and my hubby requested that I make burgers with it tonight. Sounded like a plan to me! I combined the meat with some onion, fresh parsley, panko crumbs, egg white and various seasonings. They were ready for the grill when the grill master arrived home from work. I loaded mine up with goat’s milk brie, mango wasabi mustard, mayo, pickles, tomato and lettuce. Check this baby out!

For a bit of a sweet end I warmed up some chocolate peppermint stick soy milk.

I bought that Glade candle today. It’s apple cinnamon scented and boy does it smell delightful!

We just got back form the kid’s Christmas concert. My sister came over to hang back with DD who was not at all happy about having to miss out. Poor kid! Once I finish here I’ll be catching up on a few magazine’s that came in the mail today seeing as there seems to be nothing but repeats on the TV these days. Before I go, here’s what the menu plan looks like for this week;

Monday – Christmas Concert (6:30-8:30)

• Bison burgers

Tuesday – Pilate’s (6:15-7:15)

• Shepherd’s Pie

Wednesday – Hockey (5:30-6:20) & Swimming (DS only) ( 7-7:30)

• Crock Pot Roast
• Steamed veggies
• blended grains

Thursday – Free DD to miss skating lesson

• Turkey Sausages
• broccoli
• rice

Friday – Free

• Minestrone w/quinoa (CE magazine pg 40)

That’s all folks!!

Bye for now!!