Damn Daylight Savings...And A Recipe

Daylight Savings totally knocked me off stride yesterday! We totally forgot to change the clocks before going to bed so when I thought I was rolling out of bed at a very late 10am, it was actually 11am. Sheesh. Backing up even further, though…while reading our local newspaper online Saturday night I realized that there was a write up on DS’s hockey team. Being the crazy person that I am, I herded the kids into one bedroom, gave them the laptop to play chess on and made my way to the store in what turned out to be CRAP weather to the damn paper. (Note: hubby was at hockey). Two spinouts with the car and one wipe out in the parking lot later, I was home with the goods. Not exactly my most responsible moment, but in that moment I had to have that paper! Here’s the article:

I may have cropped the article to showcase my personal interest. HA! Mine’s Mr. Noah. If you’re at all interested in the whole article, here it is.

Back to Sunday morning. Seeing as I slept the morning away, I ended up with brunch instead of breakfast. Hungry Girl pancakes to be exact:

On the side, as a dipper, I had about a 1/3 cup of goat yogurt with some PB2 mixed in.

Awesomeness!

After sprucing myself up some, DD and I made our way to the mall to kill a few hours. I didn’t really buy anything because I’m saving my pennies for Buffalo this week. I did leave with a delicious NF, 1/2 sweet dark chocolate cherry mocha, though:

Holy, freaking awesome! A green tea latte is still my fave, but this is running a very close second. On our way back we scooped DS from his buddies place and my hubby from home then we all went to my parent’s place for my b-day dinner. My first course was salad and 1/2 of the bun shown.

Then I had a mix of food. Lentil salad, sweet potatoes, flank steak and some stew;

My sister made a killer cherry Danish cheesecake!

This is my piece which I just could not finish. My hubby helped me out on the last few bites, though!

This was really, really good. Lisa says the next time she’s going to try it with apples and caramel drizzle. Um, yeah!!

We were home in time for me to watch The Amazing Race and then I decided to bake some muffins. One of the hockey Mom’s made some great muffins for the hockey party, but I missed out they went so fast so I decided to try my own. I used a Hungry Girl banana bread recipe as a base.

Dark Chocolate Blueberry Banana Muffins

• 1.5 cups WW flour
• 3/4 cups sucanat
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• dash of salt
• 1.5 cups mashed banana (about 3)
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup blueberries (I used frozen)

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl
2. Combine next 4 ingredients until well blended (I used my Magic Bullet for this step)
3. Add wet to dry
4. Stir in chips and blueberries until evenly distributed
5. Divide batter into a 12 cup, greased muffin pan
6. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes

Unbelievably amazing. Seriously.

On to today, shall we? I woke up at a more reasonable 7:30am. DS has hockey camp all week from 8:30-4 so I got him fed and did a few dishes before driving him to the rink. I was good and hungry by the time I got back home so breakfast was a must.

• 2/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup Quaker oats
• cinnamon
• blueberries
• kefir

As I was eating this a package was dropped off at my doorstep. I wasn’t expecting anything and was totally surprised to find a GREAT birthday package sitting there. And from a great blogger and real life friend to boot! Check out the perfect package Jessica from Jessica’s Garden put together for me! I’d love to say that I dug into the tea first, but those Malteasers didn’t stand a chance. I ate a handful then I made a tea….

I played on the computer until lunch rolled around. DD and I had flat out pizza’s Mine had roasted red peppers, black olives, spinach and goat feta on top:

The we roamed around the mall for a few hours to kill some time and to get out of the house. By the time we left the sun had come out and the day was glorious! We picked DS up from camp at 4 and I immediately pulled a chair on to the deck and read a magazine in the sunshine. Just lovely!

The fam had pasta for dinner so I decided to have some of the penne plain with spinach sautéed in white balsamic and a re heated trout fillet:

This ended up being really, really good! My sweet end was an Activia “dessert”:

The boys just got back from playing catch at the park and DD and I enjoyed a 45 minutes walk with our neighbours pup, KC. Life is good! Anticipating the need for a snack later on, I already sliced some strawberries and pineapple:

Now that it’s ready to go, I’ll grab it for sure.

Bye for now!!

Throwing an Eco Friendly Dinner Party

I got up thinking it was Friday….DUH! Talk about being disappointed! After taking a few minutes to get over it, I hopped in the shower and got going with my day!

Breakfast:
-1 cup water
-1/2 cup Old Wessex 5 Grain oats
-cinnamon
-1 tbsp PB2
-mashed up naner
-carob chips
Mmmm…my new favourite combo! Not only does it taste great, but it lasts me for hours!!

I got the baking bug at the late hour of 9pm last night. What's a girl to do? Well, I went for it! I baked this banana bread recipe from Hungry Girl. The only thing I changed was adding a ¼ cup of agave nectar in place of the Splenda (yuck!) and I also took the liberty of adding a scant quarter cup of cocoa powder to make it a chocolate banana bread! Here’s the damage!
I spent a good chunk of the morning in an impromptu meeting. You all know the kind…”this will only take a few minutes” and 1.5hrs later you get back to your desk. Yeah…fun times! I snacked on a piece of the above mentioned treat after reorganizing myself. Man, it turned out goooood!

I decided not to go to the gym today. Since my hubby has been on afternoons I’ve hardly seen him and the tension of the different schedule is starting to take its toll so I called him up and asked him to meet me at Subway for lunch. I had a 6” turkey on WW with lettuce, tomato, green pepper, black olives and sweet onion sauce. This sub was delish!
And it was nice to catch up with the man!!

I spent the afternoon fiddling with a government site to get some payroll documents sent and sending out new tax forms. Jealous? No? Don’t blame ya!

The kids and I went grocery shopping right after work. Let me tell you how impressed they were! Well, DD doesn’t mind, but it’s certainly not DS’s idea of a fun outing! I normally would’ve gone tomorrow but the store I shop at has some sweet sales so I pushed it up a day. I’m a rebel, I know.

What I had packed for lunch turned into my dinner. I think it made a much better dinner, to be honest! I defrosted the portion of butter chicken that I put away last week and served it over a bed of Shiritaki Fettuccini noodles.

Did this ever hit the spot in a good way! I ate the normal sweet end...a mint chip Cadbury Thin!

The kids are just finishing up a movie and then I'll be breaking out my 30 Day Shred DVD to (hopefully) work up a sweat! It's really nice out and I thought about going out for a run, but I think the kids are pretty wiped out so I'm gonna have to pass on that. Once that is done I will be doing the 3 sets of squats that I would have done last night had Precision Pilates not kicked my butt so bad! Then, as per the OSG BBCC, DD and I are going to dance around the living room! I’m pretty sure the 2 of them will think I’m nutso after that!

Is anyone thinking about planning a spring dinner party??? I'll leave you with an article by cookware.com on some tips to having a eco friendly get together!!

Hosting an Eco-Friendly Spring Party
Depending on where you’re living, spring
is either here already, or it’s right around the corner. To me there’s no
better time of the year to have an outdoor party, weather permitting of
course. There’s always a sense of optimism; as good as the weather is now,
it will only get better as the months go on!
But as spring begins anew, keep
in mind that there’s no better time to starting thinking about the earth when it
comes to party-planning. While parties and get-togethers can certainly be
a good time, they can also create a lot of waste, and it doesn’t need to be that
way. If you follow just a few simple guidelines, you should have no
problems throwing a party that is both fun and earth-friendly!
Don’t Bother
Sending out Snail Mail
Many people still use traditional stationary and cards
when sending out invites for weddings and anniversaries, and certainly these
types of invitations do have their time and place. However, for a spring
gathering, are sending out paper invitations really necessary? These days,
a simple e-mail or facebook invitation should do the trick in most cases.
And if you want to send an invitation in style, sites such as evite.com or
socializr.com can send out customized and personalized invites for free without
creating paper waste.
Buy Local
Buying food produced locally has been a
huge trend recently, especially when it comes to produce. Simply put, food
grown locally will greatly reduce you carbon footprint, especially when you
consider that much of the produce stocked in supermarkets come from Central and
South America or Europe and thus uses a lot of energy to get from the fields to
your plate. Certainly what’s available can vary depending on where you
live and whether the party is planned for early or late spring, but it might be
a good idea to go to a local farmer’s market, see what is available and then
plan out your recipes and dishes accordingly.
Ditch the Disposable
Plates and Utensils
Most people opt for disposable dinnerware as it makes
cleanup a lot easier. But this creates a lot of unnecessary waste, and
some types of disposables are quite harmful for the environment, especially ones
made of Styrofoam materials. Using real plates, utensils and glasses are a
much more eco-friendly option, even if it does mean more cleanup work.
Using non-disposable dinnerware does require that more water being used
during the cleanup process, so if you’re making water conservation a priority or
live in an area in which water use is restricted, consider using disposables
that made of materials certified as biodegradable. While this does create
more trash, biodegradables compost within a month, so they won’t create any
long-term environmental problems.
These are just a few simple ways to help
host an eco-friendly spring party. The important thing to remember is that
having a party without creating waste is easier to do than you think. Even
taking such simple steps as having your party during the daytime will help
reduce excess waste and energy without sacrificing fun as you ring in
Spring!

Hope you all enjoyed that!! Have a great night....

Bye for now!

A Neat Quiz

Hello everybody! How did Monday treat everyone??

I’ve noticed some new reader comments the last few posts and wanted to welcome all my new “guests”!! I really enjoy hearing what everyone has to say and sourcing out new and exciting blogs to read!

As usual for Monday, getting out of bed was a chore! I always feel so much better once I’ve had my morning shower. I made the most scrumptious bowl of oats this morning! They helped wake me up, too!

-1/2 cup oat milk
-1/2 cup water
-1/2 cup Quaker oats
-cinnamon
-3 huge frozen strawberries, thawed and chopped up
-1 Tbsp crushed up pecan pieces

This was seriously like dessert. OMG! I was sad to see the end of it. This is the brand of oat milk that I used.

I found it at Wegman’s on my last State side trip. I only bought one carton because I wasn’t sure if I would like it or not. I regret that now! Maybe I’ll get lucky and find some around here.

Had a good lunch run today even though my calves are sore from my Friday night Wii adventure!

Time: 32:16
Time in Zone:31:06
AVG HR:161
MAX HR: 225 (yeah, right!)
Calories:283

Not sure about the spike in my heart rate, but I can assure you that it didn’t get that high! It beeped there for a second and then went back to about 171. Weird stuff! I’m excited to get back to my Wii Wednesday’s now that my schedule is back on track. I’ve missed doing it!

Lunch was a hodge podge of stuff. I started with a few blueberries before I went home to run…

When I came back, I ate the last bit of my Mango Shrimp Salad from Friday. I guess it was about a ½ cup. Still tasted really good! It left me wanting much more than what I had!

After a bit of a busy spell at work, I ate about a ½ cup of 1% cottage cheese with a tbsp of apricot preserves. I love jam in my cottage cheese! You can buy them with the fruit on the bottom already, but it’s more cost effective to buy the plain cottage cheese and mix your own favourites into it.

Yesterday I posted a link for whether to keep or toss foods from your fridge and freezer. Another article I found worthy of mentioning in the January 2009 issue of Prevention Magazine was called “healthy cabinets”. It has loads of info on what to keep and what to toss in cabinets such as the medicine cabinet (where, it turns out, you should NOT keep medication) to items in your garage cabinets. Check it out here. There's a cool "what do you know" type quiz to see what you would keep or throw away. Some things are common sense, like a dish sponge. Others threw me. Send me a comment to let me know what you think of the article!!

So, I pulled a real stunner today which means I can't download my dinner pictures. Seeing as I'm using old Bessy until my camera is back from repair, I also have to use this ancient USB "thingy" to transfer the photo's. During the week I always get my post started at work because the internet is much quicker there and the picture's load really fast. Well, today I followed my trend and forgot to unplug the USB "thingy" so it is still at my computer at work. DUH! For the record, I had grilled chicken breast with mango chutney, Israeli couscous and sauteed purple kale. I will post the pic's tomorrow and give a review of the couscous, too.

As for me, I'm going to spend some time blog reading, then I have some more laundry to get done. DD is preparing a speech for class and I promised to help her with that. Her topic is "cats". She actually dug up some pretty good facts!

Hope everyone enjoys their Monday evening!

Bye for now!!

Passing the Torch

Before I get into my eats and events for the day, I want to pass the Blogger’s Excellence Award along to my three blogs of choice. If you’ve been reading my blog you will know that the award was passed along to me by the fantastic Zesty Cook.



The first blog I want to “award” is Kath Eats Real Food. This is the first blog that I started to read over a year ago and was the inspiration behind starting my own blog. I love keeping up with Kath because there’s never a dull moment and she and her husband truly work as a team to create some delicious recipes! Once you start to read her blog you will become addicted!

My second choice is What I Ate Yesterday. Christie (aka Beadie) has been a great help to me along the way with encouragement and tips. She takes the time each day to leave me a comment and I always look forward to what she has to say. When you visit her blog, you will be met with gorgeous pictures of her eats and an honest, creative dialog.

And last, but certainly not least, I award Jenna over at Eat, Live, Run. Jenna is a down to earth, hard working gal who amazes me with every post at all that she accomplishes in a day. You won’t be disappointed when you checkout her blog and find out just what she bakes and cooks up each day! And if you like bananas, you must try this recipe!!

If you three gals would be so kind as to pass the torch along, I’m sure it would be much appreciated!

Now, on to my breakfast! I bought some frozen wild blueberries last night so I incorporated them into the mix!



-1 cup water
-1/2 Flax Seed Porridge
-1/3 cup wild blueberries
-1 Tbsp of sugar free apricot preserves
-cinnamon



These blueberries are like little bursts of flavor with every bite! I do prefer fresh, but these will do in the colder months.

For my snack last night, I ate some more yogurt cheese all mixed up with a few spoonfuls of cranberry sauce. I really like the texture the yogurt gets once all the whey has drained out. It’s totally a cheap version of Greek yogurt!



I felt really strong on the treadmill today! When I got home I was frozen so I kept reminding myself that by the time I was done my run, I would appreciate the less then stellar weather outside. True to form, I wasn’t nearly as cold when I got back to my desk!

For lunch today, I finished off the last off my lentil & brown rice pilaf.



There’s just no way to take a pretty picture of these leftovers. I assure you that it was a flavorful lunch! About 3pm, I dug into this very LARGE honey Crisp apple. Seriously, this apple was so big it was like eating 2 apples! Heaven to my taste buds!



Tonight was swim night which equals crock pot night. I decided to make this recipe that I found on Zesty Cook’s blog. I intended to follow the ingredients to a tee, but soon realized that I was out of rosemary so I subbed in cumin.



The delectable smell that this baby spread through out my house was unbeatable! My cats must have been salivating all day at the wonderful scent! I served this with brown rice and steamed broccoli! What a hit!



I will most definitely be making this again...and again! Thanks, Zesty for a great dinner idea!

Check out the size of this cookie that my co-worker baked and brought in for us! It was HUGE! I ate about 1/2 of it and saved the rest for my hubby. It was really good...chalk full of raisins, nuts and seeds. One of these and a yogurt and you would have lunch! Thanks, D!! :)


I'm off to watch The Biggest Loser now. Enjoy the rest of the evening!

Bye for now!

Something Old, Something New....

I made the coolest breakfast this morning! After reading a post on Megan’s blog about polenta, I was reminded of a dinner staple from my childhood. My Mom prepared polenta many times and it was mostly used as a base for stews or saucy dishes. But sometimes, if there were a lot of leftovers, she would spread it out on a baking sheet and refrigerate it overnight. The next day she would cut the polenta into pieces and grill it on the BBQ. O.M.G! That was so good! It would get nice char marks on the outside and stay soft on the inside. So I got thinking (there may have even been smoke coming out of my ears!) about how I could do something like this with oat bran for breakfast. So I’d like to introduce….

Grilled Jewel Studded Oat Bran

-1 cup water
-1/3 cup oat bran
-1/4 cup trail mix (the kind with dried fruit & no nuts)
-cinnamon

Prepare oat bran as usual adding the dried fruit. Pour into a container with a fairly large surface area, cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, spray a pan with non stick spray and cut oat bran into desired shapes. Place pieces in pan and heat on either side until light brown in color and “crisp”. Serve with a little butter and maple syrup. Makes 1 serving.



I gave mine a spritz with Becel spray butter and about a tablespoon of E.D. Smith sugar free maple syrup. This meal was the bomb! Seriously! I was a tad worried that it wouldn’t keep me as full as a big bowl of oats, but it held me over quite well. This would be the "new" item today.

I didn’t end up with pears for a snack last night. After I posted I made a big cup of English Toffee dessert tea and dunked 2 small oatmeal cookies in it. No picture as it was a spur of the moment thing. That’s probably the smallest snack I’ve had in a long while! I bet it was the steak that kept me so content.

Although I know I kept very busy Thursday through Sunday, it felt awesome to get back on the treadmill. My run today was extremely invigorating. And I did some small chores around the house so I didn’t have to worry about them when I got home.

Lunch today was more leftovers rummaged from the fridge. I’ve been wondering how in the heck we accumulated so many?! Anyways, I ate the last of the turkey breast with last night’s broccoli and sweet potato fries. This would be the "old" item for today. There’s a dollop of spicy brown mustard on the side for dipping purposes.



I also packed an apple and about 1 cup of stewed pears.



I snacked on the pears at about 4:30. I didn't end up eating the apple, though.

A friend of mine sent me an email with some really cool tips for everyday uses. Here are some of the more interesting ones. Enjoy!

-Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things off of it. That's how the primates do it.
-Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster
-Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!
-Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.
-Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
-Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.
-Reheat Pizza-Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy.
-Expanding Frosting-When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.
-Reheating refrigerated bread -To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
-Measuring Cups-Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.
-Conditioner -Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.
-Goodbye Fruit Flies-To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

I thought some of these tips sounded pretty useful!

Tonight was dance night, AKA...fend for ourselves dinner night. I decided that leftovers twice in one day was a bit much (and there’s always lunch tomorrow) so I made an egg white omelet which I folded into a sun dried tomato Flatout wrap with some smoked Gouda and roasted red peppers. On the side was a spinach salad with shredded carrot and some poppy seed dressing.



A couple of bites in....



My sweet end was a chocolate chip All Bran bar. You guys have all seen the picture!

I found this cool article at Good House Keeping magazine. It's about cravings. You choose a food item that you may be craving and click on it. You will be given an alternative to satisfy your "need". Man, I'm just full of information today! Better get it while you can because it doesn't happen very often!

I'm not sure if I'll snack later on. I'm still pretty full from dinner. I hope my tummy stays that way because I'd really like to break the snack habit!

Bye for now!