Another Day Done

Well, here we are at the back end of another hump day. Did the day go well for everybody? I imagine a lot of you are still sorting through new class schedules and routines. I know my kids are still bringing loads of information home!

• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup Windy Hills Cremo cereal
• cinnamon
• raisins
• almond butter
• Crofter’s “Asia” superfruit jam
• hemp seeds

I’m still amazed at how filling this cereal is! Love it!

My morning snack was a Nature’s Valley granola bar;

This is one tasty bar! And it works well for me as a pre gym snack when my lunch is on the early side.

Today’s gym sesh was a mix of the elliptical and some strength training.

• Time: 50 minutes
• Avg Hr: 152
• Max Hr: 173
• Calories Burned: 426
• Distance (on elliptical): 3.4 miles

I made a sandwich for lunch composed of an Arnold Thin, a SOL veggie burger, honey mustard, pepper jack cheese and red leaf lettuce;

I ate the SOL burger cold today and preferred it over hot. Weird, I know. I chased the sammie with the last bag of Yoga Chips;

The afternoon dragged on a bit. Near the end of the day I ate my Ginger Gold apple to spark my energy levels back up!

When I use the apple cutter at home DS calls the core the “candle”. That comment never fails to make me laugh!

After I picked the kids up we went to the grocery store to buy some fresh fish for dinner. They decided on red snapper fillets and I was A-OK with that! I baked them in the oven at 350* for 15 minutes simply seasoned with butter and salmon spice. The sides for the night were brown rice (which I topped with homemade marinara sauce) and steamed green beans;

This was such a great tasting meal. The fam gobbled it up, too! My sweet end was a zucchini nut muffin with some macadamia nut butter on top.

On the agenda for the rest of the night?

• make lunches
• take KC for a walk
• make a batch of mini muffins
• go through school papers
• watch SYTYCD Canada

I think I’d better get a move on!

Bye for now!!

Tuesday’s Make Great Monday’s!

I love that it’s already hump day tomorrow! Aren’t holiday Monday’s great makings for a fast work/school week??

DD started cross country at the school today and had to be there early. In order to get as much shut eye as possible, I planned on cereal for breakfast.

This here is the last of my Kashi U. This makes me sad because I loved this cereal and it’s not available in these parts.

Lunch time came quick for me today because I’m on the 11:30 shift this week. I ate a zucchini nut muffin before I went;

I brought my new Lululemon outfit to wear today and had a gym buddy take a quick photo of me in it so I could show you guys what it looks like on. Don’t mind all the crap in the background or the poor quality of the photo…it was taken with a camera phone.

Hehe…I can be such a goofball sometimes! This tank was super good at keeping the sweat off me. It definitely helped to keep me cool. Here are my run stats!

• Time: 50 minutes
• Avg Hr: 168
• Max Hr: 183
• Calories Burned: 501
• Distance: 4.63 miles

I ran for 45 minutes and did 5 minutes of really good stretching at the end.

Lunch was a big bowl of Can’t Believe It’s Not Potato Salad;

Followed by a pepper jack cheese stick;

I buried myself in a spreadsheet for the afternoon and before I knew it, it was almost time to pack up for the day. I decided to eat my grapes before I left to keep me from snacking when I arrived home.

Dinner was a yummy one tonight. We BBQ’d a pork tenderloin which I basted with PC Memories of Damascus sauce and some zucchini from the garden. I had mine with a scoop of whipped cottage cheese sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Pretty plain looking plate! But, t’was delicious. My dessert was another Skinny Cow fudge bar.

These are pretty good going down, but I’m not fond of the Splenda aftertaste that they have. My hubby bought these as a treat for me which was very kind, but I wouldn’t buy them again for this reason.

DD and I just tool KC out for a walk and practiced her spelling for Friday’s test. Lunches were made before dinner with her help so that is all set to go.

Before I sign off to watch SYTYCD Canada, I wanted to give a big SHOUTOUT to my most awesome FIL who is celebrating his birthday today. The kids called at dinner time to sing him Happy Birthday and we all hope he’s had a wonderful day! Happy Birthday, Al!!!

Bye for now!!

I Got Nailed!!!

Now, get your minds outta the gutter! LOL! Read on to get the whole story….

I started the day off with a batch of marvellous pancakes.

• 1/3 cup oats
• 2 tbsp WW flour
• 1 pkt Amazing Grass chocolate powder
• 1 tbsp cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• squirt of agave, dash of vanilla extract & salt
• 3 tbsp water

I mix the batter up in the MB to get it very smooth. Once I poured the batter in the pan, I topped the cakes off with some fresh blueberries. Post cooking, they received a layer of macadamia nut butter and the last of the strawberry banana jam. Divine!

With a full belly I sat down to cruise the net for a bit and at 10am we set out to enjoy the beautiful morning with a bike ride to the lake. The path we decided to travel on is off a 2 lane highway, about 3km out of town. We live on the edge of town so it only took us 15 minutes to get lakeside. The scenery was breathe taking and I kept repeating to the fam that I can’t believe I have lived in this city my whole life and have never been down this trail until today. Here are a few pictures I took along the way.

And a few of us enjoying the adventure!

You are looking at me sans make up here! :D

What a GREAT time! Just as we were about to get back on the highway home, I noticed that my rear tire felt odd. I looked back to see this;

Uh-oh!! With 30secs, the tire was flat as a pancake. I told the fam to go ahead and I walked the rest of the way home. I’d estimate that I arrived home only 15mins after them. And I was one hot, sweaty, thirsty gal! That aside, I actually enjoyed the peacefulness of the walk. Now I have to make the decision on either a new bike or fork out the cash to fix the tire on this OLD one.

After a much needed shower, I settled down to a fabulous lunch. I toasted up a Stonemill English muffin, topped it with thinly sliced Ginger Gold apple, whipped cottage cheese and cinnamon. The remainder of the apple found it’s way on the plate as well;

The afternoon was really low key. I made the Hungry Girl “Can’t Believe It’s Not Potato Salad, read my book and played with KC. We also got a beer butt chicken going on the BBQ. I enjoyed a mid afternoon snack of an iced coffee and a Kashi Mocha Almond bar;

So, my dinner was pretty predictable! Chicken and salad!

Dessert was a cool Skinny Cow bar;

I just spent some more time reading and now DD and I are going to get KC for a nice walk. Lunches are done for tomorrow and school bags are packed and ready to go in the morning. YAY!

Bye for now!!

Laid Back Sunday

The weather was perfect again today for a nice, relaxing day spent mostly outside. I started it all off with a bowl of Zucchini Bread oats;

• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup PC 5 Grain cereal
• cinnamon, nutmeg
• raisins
• 1/2 cup grated zucchini
• cinnamon honey
• walnuts

I had a wee bit of zucchini leftover from the muffins and figured this would be the perfect way to use it up. This meal was stellar! :D

We spent some QT with the baby horses out at the farm seeing as the day was so nice. Lacey was the first to come running!

She’s totally giving the camera the stink eye here! She also got some love and attention from my hubby;

Spent some time checking out Turbo’s tail which she has had a major interest in since day one!

She is such a little love bug! And here’s one of Daisy kicking it in the clover;

Such a diva!

We got home at 2pm and I grabbed a quick lunch so as not to ruin my dinner. A blueberry Chobani (which was da bomb) and a sunrise apple.

The apple was only so-so. The flavour was good, but it was a soft apple and I prefer my apple to be crisp and crunchy. A little later on I ate two Cracker Jack flavoured rice cakes;

These used to be a pantry staple, but I got out of buying them for some reason. They caught my eye while doing groceries yesterday so I grabbed a pack. I forgot how good they were!

I spent a good chunk of the afternoon out on the deck with my book. I also made a big pot of marinara sauce. Takes a bit of time to get in the pot, but it’s 100% worth the effort. Here’s my Homemade Marinara Sauce recipe for you all to try out.

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 onions, diced
• 3-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 3lbs Roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
• tsp each salt and pepper
• tbsp each dried basil and oregano
• a 6oz can of tomato paste

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot
2. add onions and cook about 5 minutes
3. stir in chopped garlic
4. add tomatoes and stir well
5. next goes all the spices and the full can of tomato paste
6. let simmer on the stove top for at least 3 hrs, stirring occasionally. It will thicken considerably.
7. allow to cool before dividing into whatever portion sizes you like

I made up 3 large containers for the freezer. I will use this as is over noodles, rice or any cooked grain, as pizza sauce, mixed with ground meat, combined with a few cups of stock for a chunky tomato soup. It’s very versatile. Let me know if you give it a try!

I used some to make a flatout pizza for my dinner. I guess I put a good 3 heaping tbsp on then added broccoli, mushrooms, black olives and feta cheese;

There’s also some parm cheese sprinkled on there. Mega good! Then I ate a zucchini nut muffin;

After dinner we went to my parents place for a visit. I had a nice mug of tea and 2 of these most awesome chocolate chip cookies;

Currently, I’m working my way through a ginger gold apple dipped in PB2. Sorry, no pic! I’m gonna go see if there’s anything good on the tube. So glad tomorrow’s a day off work! YAY!

Bye for now!!