Bananas or Sausage???

Hi, friends! How’s everyone doing? Did you have a chance to read my Food Should Taste Good review? The weather today was hot and steamy AND Ontario had an earthquake today! From what I’ve heard the epicentre was closer to Ottawa, but tremors were felt right up to the Michigan border. Thankfully, I didn’t feel a thing. Seeing as I did a review post yesterday, we have 2 days to catch up on! It poured for most of yesterday which made it a good day for oats but I already had breakfast ready to go in the fridge.
This was delicious, though so no complaining here. I mixed a ¼ cup of Quaker oats with about a ½ cup of Greek yogurt, agave, 1 tbsp of chia seeds and blueberries. It was super thick some time to eat and some diced peach over the top was like icing on the cake!
My morning snack was a Clif Mojo bar:
I only have 2 left! EEEK!!

My time at the gym was spent on the elliptical where I upped the resistance a notch from what I’m used to. It was just enough so that I noticed a difference.

Time: 45 minutes
Avg Hr: 156
Max Hr: 167
Calories Torched: 426
Distance: 4.8 miles

I know I ate a salad at lunch time, but I must’ve forgot to take a picture! It was good, too; spring mix, broccoli, carrots, blue cheese and sweet onion salad dressing. I did get a picture of my juicy watermelon:
For dinner we had pork tenderloin done on the BBQ with corn, leftover grilled zucchini, and broccoli.
Dessert was a few squares of the raspberry tea infused dark chocolate:

This was pretty darn good. You would really have to like raspberry and chocolate together, though because the fruit flavour is quite strong.

DD and I had our last Pilate’s class last night and the instructor kicked our booties! It was almost like she was in a bad mood. I’ve got a few tender spots today for sure. I’m done now until Monday July 9 where I’m taking a 9:15am class as I’m off Mondays this summer. It should make for a nice change! I did have a snack when I got home….a warmed blueberry muffin with coconut butter, to be exact!

Breakfast this morning was a bowl full of Dorset cereal, blueberries and USVAB al la Jessica.
I added more cereal this time and it kept me full much longer. It’s also super delicious!

I had some errands to run over my lunch hour so I brought a lighter snack with me to eat closer to noon…a blueberry muffin.
One of the places I had to go at lunch was Walmart. We’re going out of town this weekend for a wedding and I realized this morning that DD had no shoes to wear. That kid went from a size 2 to a size 7-8 over the winter!! Now our feet are the same size but she’d probably break an ankle if she wore my heels. :) I bought her a cute pair of wedges and by some miracle she likes them! I also bought myself some Glambert!
I adore Adam Lambert. Call me weird, I don’t care! The guy is H-O-T and has an amazing set of vocals cords on him! LOL

Lunch was salad---again, with a picture this time!
Spring mix, coleslaw mix, carrots, corn, pork tenderloin with honey Dijon dressing…YUM! I like the more intense dressing with the hardiness of the coleslaw. It just seems to go well together. I also ate this mini Toblerone bar:

Later in the afternoon I enjoyed a pint of blackberries:
Not local, but that’ll be coming soon!

This morning I thought I was quite smart pulling out some sausages for dinner that were already cooked. Too bad for me that when I got home and took them out of the fridge I realized they were actually bananas! DOH! What a mess their thawing in my fridge left! Seeing as it was hot and muggy out my hubby wasn’t too impressed but I decided to bake with them rather than throw them out. I’m not sure if you can re freeze fruit. Hmmm…Here’s what I chose:

The recipe is from one of my favourite cookbooks…
I have all 3 of the Podleski sisters books and love’em! Of course I switched a few things up so I bolded my changes.

Banana Snack Cake

-2 cups all purpose flour ~whole wheat flour
-1 tsp each baking powder & baking soda
-½ tsp salt
-1 cup sugar ~sucanat
-½ cup egg substitute
-¼ cup softened butter ~coconut butter
-1 cup mashed ripe bananas
-½ cup sour cream ~Greek yogurt
-1 tsp vanilla
-½ cup mini chocolate chips ~dark chocolate chips

*pre heat oven to 350*
*Mix dry in a medium bowl
*Beat sugar, egg and butter until smooth, add banana, sour cream and vanilla and beat
*Gradually add flour mixture to wet beating after each addition (batter will be thick)
*Stir chocolate chips
*Spread batter in a greased 9X13 and bake for 25-28 minutes
*cool completely and cut into 16 pieces
This came out great even with all my changes! We were still stuck for supper because everything was frozen so we ended up going with breakfast for dinner. I had an egg white omelette with asparagus and goat cheese with a side of toasted Silver Hills Steady Eddie bread:
The bread was amazing and I’m so glad I found it in my city. It’s actually only sold in one store!!! I’ll be back for more! The kids had their final swimming lesson tonight. In this heat they were more than happy to get in the pool! I, on the other hand, almost melted….and I like the heat! Hehe! Anyways, I’m home now and I’m gonna watch SYTYCD. There’s some tornado warnings flashing across the bottom of the TV, but not for my area thankfully. I hope nobody gets hurt!!!

Bye for now!!

12 Years

Hello everybody! How was your weekend? Are you catching up on posts? Click here to see my brand new kitchen toys! So, yesterday marked our 12 year wedding anniversary! We didn’t do anything special, never really have, but the weather was great and the day was spend at Costco, at a gold exchange party (me & DD) and out in the sun planting some annuals in my flower beds. By some miracle we were both out of bed before the kids and ate our breakfast in peace before they came down. I got creative with 2 pieces of whole grain bread by turning it into French toast:
I soaked the bread in a mixture of Egg Beaters, USVAB, vanilla and cinnamon and then cooked them until golden brown in one of my new RR pans. They then received some 5 star treatment in the form of honey pecan butter and sliced strawberries!
Spectacular! The density of the bread worked wonders with the egg mixture. I thoroughly enjoyed this meal.

The rest of the morning was spent at Costco. Surprisingly, the only things I bought were flowers and a box of Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal! I guess I didn’t really need anything else. The main reason I went there was to drop some photos off to be plaqued. I didn’t bother taking a picture of my lunch because it was the same as dinner the night before….Yves veggie hotdogs….and they were just as tasty! I grabbed a treat to enjoy while driving out to the gold exchange.
These are also from Costco, but were bought on another trip. We were back by 3pm which gave me lots of time to get my front flower beds looking decent. I still have a bit more to go, but nothing that will take too long!

My hubby cooked up a beer butt chicken on the BBQ for dinner and I grilled a full bunch of asparagus to go along with it. We used some of this BBQ sauce that my hubby bought at Costco:
YUM! This has a great tang to it….and I don’t even like beer. Here’s my plate with the chicken a random shrimp and asparagus:
Dessert was some coconut pineapple ice cream:
Heavenly!

I was back to my regular oats for breakfast this morning…
-1 cup water
-1/2 cup Quaker oats
-cinnamon
-2 tbsp Enjoy Life Food trail mix
I’m on early lunch (11:30am) this week so I just packed a light snack to eat before heading off to the gym:
Whole grain bread with a LC cheese wedge.

I hopped on the elliptical today as yoga started at noon and it’s the quietest piece of machinery in there. I can sneak a full 45 minutes on yoga Monday when on the early lunch which makes me happy because if I’m gonna skip a day in the gym I’d rather it be later on in the week.

Time: 45 minutes
Avg Hr: 157
Max Hr: 170
Calories Torched: 435
Distance: 4.8 miles

And it’s your lucky day *roll eyes* because I felt frisky enough to snap a few shots of my newest Lululemon shorts.
These are the same “line” as DD got for her b-day called “groovy run short”. I also have a pair in plain black. They’re extremely comfortable and can be worn for leisure as well.

Lunch was nice and fresh tasting! I mixed WW couscous with tomato, cucumber, chicken breast, white balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt. (I’ve always enjoyed my cukes and maters with a little salt)
The only thing that would’ve made this better would have been some feta. Next time, perhaps! My afternoon snack was sliced strawberries and blackberries:
We pass a strawberry patch on our way to Costco and I noticed the little white blossoms on all the plants yesterday. That can only mean great things!

For dinner tonight We put some pork tenderloin on the BBQ. I also cooked some Aztec blend. Here’s what’s in it:

I also nuked the remainder of the broccoli from Friday’s Chinese feast. On my pork I drizzled ginger wasabi for a little oomph.

Dessert was a granola bar.

There’s nothing on the agenda tonight. I’ll be heading out in a few to get DD from dance class. My newly planted flowers have been watered and the boys are hanging shelves in the garage. The weather today was cooler than what was forecasted so it’s not nice enough (for me) to hang about outside. Maybe I’ll do some baking. Be sure to visit again tomorrow because I’ll be doing another product review!!

Bye for now!!

Retail Therapy

I’ve felt like this guy all day:

Remember the Pillsbury Doughboy or am I aging myself?? He was such a happy little fella, but I’m not a happy camper when I feel like he looks! LOL! Bloaty days are the pits, but I’ve been drinking loads of water which should flush the nastiness away by tomorrow. A little retail therapy doesn’t hurt, either. I won me this little pretty on eBay today!

Let’s just say that had I bought this in the store I woulda spend a solid $70 more….and this is new with the tags still on. SCORE! :)

I finished off my box of Alpen cereal today for breakfast. I was rearranging the one shelf in my cupboard last night and came across a few random, almost empty bags of cereal so I’ll be trying to get those finished off this week.
-1/2 cup-ish Alpen cereal
-1/4 cup spelt flakes
-cinnamon
-Enjoy Life Foods mountain mambo trail mix
I just warmed this all up for a few minutes in the microwave before I added the toppings. It was quite filling!

My morning was spent keypunching and it wasn’t until 11:45 that I noticed I was feeling hungry. I made quick work of a smores Luna bar:
My cardio at the gym today looked like this; 20 minute walk (4.3mph, 7% incline), 20 minute run (6mph, 1% incline), 5 minute walk (4.3mph, 7% incline). I never did get my running mojo back after having Achilles tendonitis in both ankles this time last year. I’ve come to terms with the fact that running is not something my joints approve of, but I would like to incorporate it back into my workouts in small doses. My body was happy with what I did today.

Time: 45 minutes
Avg Hr: 160
Max Hr: 181
Calories Torched: 461
Distance: 3.8 miles

I enjoyed some curried chickpea quinoa for lunch today!
Sounds all fancy pants, doesn’t it? In reality, it was leftover quinoa and a small can of chickpeas in a curry marinade. I forgot to take a picture of the can this morning, but I’ve had these many times before. I mostly use them as a topper when I make big salads during the summer months. The marinade then serves as my dressing. For today’s lunch I rinsed the chickpeas off knowing that they would retain the flavour I was after. All in all, it was a very satisfying lunch!!

My afternoon snack consisted of thawed blackberries and cherries:
Pretty sad, but we have no fresh fruit left and I was desperate!!

Before I left for work this morning I marinated some tofu in a Japanese dressing. Once home I popped it on the George Foreman (with some burgers for the fam) and grilled it up. On the side was WW couscous, cukes & tomato:

I had a piece of sea salt Lindt chocolate on my way out the door to Pilates. I didn’t get to the rhubarb last night so I tackled that as soon as I arrived home. Right now its bubbling on the stove with some cinnamon and sugar. I love stewed rhubarb! What’s your favourite way to eat it?

I just settled in with a tea and a chocolate chip All Bran bar to watch The Biggest Loser:

Before I go, we had another baby on the farm today! I believe her name is Penny’s Ash. (Her Mom’s name is Penny)

Bye for now!!

Hot Like Summer

Hi everybody!! Have you all been out enjoying the fabulous weather like I have? I guess that’s assuming the weather is grand wherever you are. As soon as this is posted I’ll be heading back out to enjoy the last of the daylight. Here’s yesterday’s breakfast:

• 2/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup kamut flakes
• cinnamon
• peanut hazelnut butter
• carob chips
• kefir

Sitting in the office yesterday was torture. I wanted to be outside so bad that I could’ve screamed. I’m sure we all have days like that, though. I snacked on a chocolate chip zbar:

I decided to go home at lunch and sit out on the deck soaking up some vitamin D. My kitties joined me which made it that much more relaxing. There’s just something about a purring, content cat.

I ate lunch back at my desk. I packed the last of the pork tenderloin and couscous salad from the other night.

I ate this cold and actually liked it better that way. My co worker surprised me with a small iced cap from Tim Horton’s:

I don’t drink these often so this was a definite treat.

Before leaving work I ate some mango and a blood orange:

I paid Walmart a visit before grabbing the kids to buy them some Easter treats. Our Walmart just turned into a super store so I wandered around the grocery area. It would seem they’re carrying a few neat items that I might have to try soon. ;)

Dinner was late….for us. We had BBQ-d chicken breast, green beans and I ate some leftover butternut squash, too.

Dessert was this most cute chick a dee cookie!

Almost too cute to eat! :)

I woke up today at the same time I would to go to work. Blah! I wasn’t hungry right away so I played on the computer for a bit. When the hunger came on I made a batch of Hungry Girl pancakes:

These beauties were topped with a bit of coconut butter and defrosted blackberries.

Freaking amazing, I tell ya! By 10am all 4 of us were out for a great bike ride. We hit the pavement and some trail. My new bike rides like a Cadillac compared to the bruiser I was using last year. I do think my bum will be tender in the morning, though! HA! We rode for a good hour and when we got back home my legs were feeling pretty good so I went for a quick 15 minute run around the block. The first half was all down hill, the second all up. By the time I made the driveway I was out-of-breath. Whoa. I felt great, though. A nice cold shower helped! Lunch followed:

Egg white, Sabra hummus, LC cheese wedged all between a burger thin and a yogurt topped off with granola. T’was good, but not quite enough so I ate a little bunny:

The afternoon was spent doing some gardening, playing hockey in the driveway with DS (which ended abruptly when I beaned in the head with the ball!) and some gardening. There was some relaxing, too.

I made a really good pasta dish for dinner tonight….shrimp marinara. I simply sautéed some onion and garlic, then added a can of diced tomato and tomato paste. Spices included dried oregano, basil, nutmeg, chilli powder, S & P. Just before the pasta was done I stirred in about a 1/4 cup of hummus and all the shrimp off a shrimp ring, tails removed. This was served with a pillow of freshly grated parm.

There was no talking at the dinner table tonight! I finished off with a little milk & white chocolate:

So, tell me….what have you been up to today???

Bye for now!