On Top of Old Smokey......

My breakfast this morning was like a warm blanket wrapped around my shoulders…..so comforting. I flavored this bowl with one of my favorite food combinations – chocolate & peanut butter. OK, so I used almond butter instead. It was a satisfying bowl of pleasure and just what the doctor called for on a cold fall morning!

-1/2 cup unsweetened chocolate Almond Breeze
-1/2 cup water
-1/4 cup (plus maybe a tsp more?) Bob’s Red Mill 10 Grain cereal
-1 tsp almond butter



This 10 grain cereal has a consistency that is very similar to polenta. It’s really thick and hardy and makes a great “rib sticker” of a breakfast!

Last night I tried this yogurt that I bought for the kids...



And mixed it with about a half cup of All Bran Guardian cereal....I swear, the yogurt is under there!



This yogurt was really thick and creamy with a nice vanilla flavor. Two thumbs up! A little while later I was pretty cold so I made a steamy mug of dark hot chocolate.



Mmmm...much, much better! :)

I pulled all my Hallowe’en decorations out at work today (we did the ones at home over the weekend) and dressed up my work space. I tried to get a picture, but none turned out! Here is my little “witchy” kitty...



Isn’t he a cutie?! One of my co-workers and her family participated in the CIBC Run for the Cure event here in town. A donation form came around and I, of course, donated to the cause. Today she brought in little "thank you" gifts that her daughter hand crafted for those of us who sponsored them.



How thoughtful was that?!

Well, the flame that was under my butt on the treadmill last week seems to have been extinguished today. I found my lunch run a real struggle today and only managed to hammer out 2.5 miles. I am glad I got on because I really considered not doing it. Wonder what’s causing my burn out? Hopefully I’ll be more energetic tomorrow!

Lunch today was an Italian Herb Flatout wrap stuffed with leftover onions and a chicken thigh from my crockpot dinner the other night.



Delicious and simple! I also ate this little sliver of lemon tart that was in the staff kitchen. OMG! So yummy and tangy, but I wouldn’t want to eat much more than that! A little lemon goes a long way for this girl.




Dinner tonight was spaghetti squash that I sliced in half and nuked for 5ish minutes. I took the rest of the sauce, celery & onions from the crockpot meal and blended them together with my immersion blender until smooth and then tossed in some store bought meatballs for a quick topper. My hubby and the kids had good ole spaghetti n’ meatballs for their dinner. I also had a side salad with a few roasted pecan halves and about a tablespoon of Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of Kraft roasted red pepper dressing.



After dinner we went out and ran some errands including a trip to the health food store. Here's what I bought...



From left to right...Sahale Snack mix, unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, Enjoy Life Foods cranapple granola, unsweetened original Almond Breeze and milk & dark chocolate hot cocoa powder.

I'm now off to organize for the morning. The kids have PJ day tomorrow. For $1.00 they can wear their jamas to school. The money is going towards the United Way. I believe next Friday is "Chew gum in class" day. Remember getting caught for that as a kid? Haha!

Bye for now!

Hectic Hump Day

Breakfast today was a big bowl of….you guessed it! Oats! Here’s today’s combination.

-1 cup water
-1/2 cup Old Wessex 5-Grain cereal
-1/3 cup pumpkin puree
-1/2 cup wild blueberries
-cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice



This meal kept me satisfied until lunch at 1pm. Go oats!!

At about 8pm last night, I became pretty hungry. I decided to pop a mint in my mouth to see if it would do the trick. Well, by 8:30 the cat was starting to look pretty tasty so I figured that for his sake I should get a snack. I decided on cereal with milk which is strange for me because I usually prefer it dry. What a monster bowl I made!



This is a half cup of each Kashi Puffs, Kashi Honey Sunshine, Kashi Digestive Wellness and All Bran Guardian with 3/4 of a cup of unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze. This was delicious and filling! Yum Yum!!

I had a reader ask me about Fage and what it was, so for anybody out there who is unsure, it’s a thick, creamy, tangy, delicious Greek yogurt. I’m sad to say that it is not available in Canada. Whenever I go to the States on a shopping trip, I pick up as much as I think I can eat before the expiry date. I enjoy it mixed with honey or any kind of jam. It’s also great as a topper on thick soups, stews and chili. If you ever have the opportunity, try some. You won’t be disappointed!

I sipped on a Stash vanilla chai tea this morning. I did a wonderful job of warding off the damp chill from outside!



I felt kinda tired and draggy on my lunch run today. I woke up with stiff joints, too, so I hope I’m not coming down with another cold! I am glad I stuck it out, though. I feel much better regardless of the aches.

For lunch today, I packed 2 slices of ham and a good cup of steamed veggies. I enjoyed a triple chocolate chunk cookie for dessert.



Throughout the afternoon, I also munched away on a pumpkin muffin and...I can’t believe I’m going to admit this...2 more cookies! We had a very stressful afternoon at work and actually ending up staying an hour late to finish. I realize that I still need to work on my mindless eating habits some more!

I de-stressed when I came home by cooking a wonderful dinner! Cooking and/or baking always helps to soothe me when I've had a crazy day. Here's what I made...

Smoked Gouda and Roasted Red Pepper Stuffed Turkey Cutlet

Serves 1

-1 turkey cutlet
-1 ounce smoked Gouda
-1/4 roasted red peppers
-salt & pepper
-steak spice

Flatten out the cutlet and season with salt & pepper. Place Gouda and peppers along the top of the cutlet and roll tightly. Spray with oil mister and sprinkle on steak spice. Place covered in 350* oven for 45 minutes.

I also placed some sweet potato fries along side the turkey roll and kept the seasonings the same.



This was SO good! Some of the cheese oozed out as it melted and gave the sweet potatoes and nice cheesy coating that was lip smacking! Obviously, the stuffing ideas are endless, but this was a good selection for me. Next time I'd like to roll some spinach in with the filling, as well. That would be great color!

The rest of the evening will be spent folding laundry (Hey...it's gotta be done, right?) and at 9pm, I'll be tuning into "The Workout" with Jackie Warner. I've become hooked on this show even though I know they're re-runs from a few years ago. I think she'd make a wicked good trainer! I'm looking in my crystal ball here and seeing that there is a yogurt in my near future.....updates tomorrow! Enjoy your evening!

Bye for now!

Another Rough Night

I think I must be battling some unknown anxiety this week. It was 2:30am before I fell asleep again last night! I had no reason to be awake, I just could not settle! I'll have to try to make it an early night again tonight. As a side note...I did eat a Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Peanut Butter granola bar around 9pm...



Wonder if this innocent looking snack is the culprit??

Breakfast today had a little extra protein added in. I figured it would help to fuel me through the morning on very little sleep!

The combo:

-1 cup water
-1/2 cup Old Wessex 5-Grain cereal
-3 Tbsp egg whites
-1/2 cup blueberries
-cinnamon/sugar sprinkles



I find the egg whites make the oats really creamy and thick. YUMMY!

I had a meeting today from 11am to 1pm and lunch was not supplied which is OK with me! I'd always rather pack a lunch than be faced with unhealthy options. I decided on a ham & cheese wrap, which I cut in half, and a bunch of carrot sticks. I ate half the wrap before the meeting and the other half with the carrots after the meeting.





There was also a bowl of fruit provided by one of the ladies in attendance. I had a big, beautiful sprig of crunchy, juicy, sweet green grapes. I'm judging that I ate a good 2 cups worth....they were BIG grapes! Sorry, no photo! I didn't take the camera into the meeting...that's no place for a camera!

Supper needed to be quick tonight because my husband had a 6pm appointment to pick up the siding for the shed so I ended up making 2 fast, easy dinners. I had a container of pasta sauce in the freezer from the last batch I made and a package of cheese tortellini so those two items got paired up. Again, I have nothing against pasta, it just sits too heavy for me! Here's my daughter's plate....



Looks yummy, doesn't it?

For myself, I made what I'm calling "Leftover Soup". Basically all the odds and ends from the fridge went into a pot. Here's the combo:

-2 cups chicken stock
-1/2 cup fire roasted diced tomatoes
-the last of the pumpkin puree, maybe a 1/3 cup
-1 cup chickpeas
-1 mango chili sausage
-1/2 cup mix veggies

I basically threw everything into a pot and brought it to a boil. I served it with a handful of pretzels (which I forgot to photograph) and 1 Tbsp of Parmesan cheese.



This made about 3 cups of soup. It was fantastic! The sausage gave it some spice and the pumpkin puree smoothed it out. The chickpeas added texture and the fire roasted tomatoes tons of flavour! Too bad these ingredients may never all be in the fridge at the same time again! I ate half the pot and packed the other half for lunch tomorrow.


On the weekend I bought a big box of Land O Lakes hot chocolate at Costco. It's got 6 different flavors in it and it's something I buy there once a year. There's Dark Chocolate, original, mint, raspberry , french vanilla and caramel flavors and I love them all! This box will last me almost the whole year!



For dessert I had a mug of the dark chocolate kind....



OOoohhhh...so good!

After dinner I hit the grocery store so I have one less thing to do tomorrow after work. And I had some quality time with my Chatelaine magazine that arrived in the mail today. For a snack I had a half cup of Kellogg's Guardian cereal topped off with a half cup of unsweetened Original Almond Breeze. It was the perfect size to calm the "gotta have a snack" demon that lives within me!



It's 9pm now and I must go make lunches for tomorrow and get school bags set to go. The more I do at night, the less hassle I have to deal with in the morning!

Bye for now!