In A Funk

Hi everybody! Well, we ended up staying home again today. DD woke up through the night with a migraine that lasted a few hours. She was better by morning, by totally wiped out. So…we have plans to go to the Toronto Zoo tomorrow as the tickets we have for there expire well before the ones for Ontario place.

I was pretty zonked, too and didn’t get up until almost 9am. I really wasn’t feeling any food, just lots of coffee! I did finally settle on a bowl of cereal….Nature’s Path Optimum Slim, to be exact.

I enjoyed a cup of this with a few handfuls of Nature’s Path agave granola and USVAB…

This kept me pretty darn full. After some debating, we made a trip to the farmer’s market seeing as DD was OK, but not 100%. I have to admit that I was feeling pretty grumpy so nothing at the market really caught my eye. I did buy some blueberries and corn on the cob, though. By 2pm I still wasn’t very hungry, but I decided to snack on this Clif Mojo bar that I brought along with me…

I really enjoyed this! It was full of nuts and dried fruit and even chocolate chips! I have a PB one yet to try, but I’m betting I’ll like it, too. Once home I also noshed on a handful of blueberries and 3 mini blueberry muffins with some almond butter on top.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon reading out on the deck in the gorgeous sunshine that we had today! My snacks ruined my dinner appetite and I wasn’t anywhere near hungry when the fam was so dinner was on the pathetic side. My hubby grilled up some cod on the BBQ and I cooked up the corn on the cob.

That blob there is some Sabra hummus that was suppose to be for the fish, BUT, I wasn’t feeling the cod at all and only ate about half of what you see. I did eat another half of a corn, though. For my sweet end I pulled out a Kashi dark chocolate coconut bar to try;

This bar had a nice gooey layer of chocolate on it that was sprinkled with coconut….

Although I liked the bar, I didn’t really taste any coconut. :( That and the bar was on the small side. I don’t think this is one flavour that I’d run out to buy again.

I have to apologize for my “blah” attitude in today’s post. Being tired and disappointed in not being able to go to T.O today has got me feeling very out of sorts. I kinda wish I could blame it on PMS or something along those lines cuz I really do feel like a big spoiled baby! Ah, I’m sure that a good night’s sleep will be just what the doctor ordered. I plan on fixing myself up some banana soft serve later to eat while watching SYTYCD. Can’t believe next week is the finale!

Bye for now!!

An Oddball Breakfast

The day started out cloudy again but by the time noon rolled around the sun was shining! YEAH! Happy day. My breakfast was a little different this morning, but I’m not counting it as part of my “eat a different breakfast once a week for June” challenge because it wasn’t too far off what I normally eat. Follow me;

-1/2 cup Silk
-1/4 cup water
-1/2 cup cooked rice
-cinnamon, salt, vanilla
-1 tbsp Flanigan’s Farm trail mix
-hulled hemp seeds
This was a great switch up! It was close enough to my oats so that I didn’t miss them and held me over just as well. This is what the package of trail mix looks like;
This was a really nice addition. I enjoy having raisins and peanuts mixed in the same bite!

As usual, I ate my dates around 10:30ish. I think these are becoming a bit of a bad habit! On the weekend, I forget about them completely, but find that I miss them through the mornings at work. I’m on 12:30 lunch this week so before the gym I chowed down on this Chia Raspberry Cashew Dr. Weil bar;
Holy Hannah, this was most definitely my favourite flavour of the 5 that Nature’s Path sent me a while back. It was jammed with raspberry flavour and cashew pieces. I didn’t notice the chia, but I’ve never tried it before so maybe I just missed it? Anyways, I would buy this one again for sure.

It was so awesome to finally get back in the gym! I hammered out a fantastic run today. But it was HOT….76*F when I finished up. S-weaty!

Time: 50 minutes
Avg Hr: 164
Max Hr: 179
Calories Burned: 493
Distance: 5.08 miles

I’m back in the game! Yahoo!

I brought the leftover cod and veggies for lunch today. I wasn’t really feeling it, mostly because I forgot to pack the peach bruschetta with it! Oh, well. It did the trick.
Don’t ya just hate an unfulfilling meal? My lunch dessert was a cup of stewed rhubarb, sans Cool Whip!
My fresh fruit supply is dwindling terribly but this made a great substitution. Shopping day is Friday and I want to wait until then to restock.

For dinner I made myself a "burger" using lentils. Here's what I mixed together;

-1/3 cup cooked lentils
-1 tbsp Sabra hummus
-1 butt end slice of WW bread (made into breadcrumbs using the Magic Bullet)
-2 tbsp Eggbeaters
-chili powder

I just mashed it all up, formed it into a patty and let it sit in the fridge for a 1/2 hour. I cooked it up in a greased pan until brown on both sides. I topped it with a generous scoop of peach bruschetta once plated. On the side was a pile a steamed veggies;
This is the first patty I've made using beans and it was stellar. It held its shape pretty good and the blend of hummus and peach was out of this world. I'm sitting here wondering why it took me so long to try this! And I just realized how many of these steamed vegetables I ate today! Holy fibre...watch out for me later! :) My sweet end was a Cravings macaroon...
No words are needed here! In a few minutes I'm off to the pool for the kids swimming lessons. I believe that next week is the last night and then that will be it for swimming until the end of September. My hubby has just gone up to Purolator to pick up my laptop! SO excited!! I can't wait to be able to blog where ever I want. HEHEHEHEHEHE!!!!

Bye for now!

Summer: Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are!

I must admit that I’m becoming quite impatient waiting on summer to arrive. Today was overcast and cold…more like a November day than June. Blah! Guess I should be glad that it’s not too hot to enjoy my bowl of comfort food for breakfast!

-1 cup water
-1/3 cup Quaker oats
-banana
-cinnamon
-cinnamon honey
-hulled hemp seeds
Some of you have asked how the hemp seeds taste. Well, they certainly don’t have an over powering taste. They add more of a background nuttiness to a dish. I love the subtlety that they offer. I just have a small bag which was a great buy for me to be able to see if I liked them or not. I plan on getting a bigger size once this one is done.

Work was work. What can ya say? I did eat my dates, but didn’t bother with a picture of them. No gym again today because I had a medical appointment at noon. Nothing serious, just routine. *wink* I noshed on a banana rhubarb muffin on the drive over to the office;
I'm not real sure why this photo insists on staying sideways! This was enough to hold me over until almost 2pm! Yowzers! Actually, I think the oats had more of a hand in that.

I packed myself a terrific lunch. I found some leftover rice and broccoli in the fridge and decided to top it with a mild curry tuna steak.
I’ve preached my thoughts on how fabulous I find these tuna steaks on the blog before. I find them so convenient and healthy. This is the kind I ate today;
Snacky, snacky later in the day was the rest of my mango from yesterday;
While enjoying it I realized that it would have been a great addition to my lunch. Ah, the bright ideas always come after the fact around here!

This morning I pulled some mystery fish out of the freezer for dinner. I really need to remember to label ALL bags that I put in the freezer. Anywho, it ended up being a cod fillet. I cut it into 3 pieces and seasoned it with with salmon spice and spritz of butter. On the side I had a mix of steamed spinach and about a 1/3 cup of lentils which was all drizzled with some avocado oil.
My sweet end was some stewed rhubarb topped off with Cool Whip Free;
I hope that cool whip blob didn't blind anybody! It's pretty sad when I have to use a flash at 6pm! There was also a handful of Gold fish crackers consumed while dinner prep was going on and I just finished savouring 3 chocolate filled Werther's candies. :~) I'm off to tuck in with a few new magazine's that have come in the mail. I was planning on a run this evening seeing as I missed the gym 2 days this week, but I can't summon the motivation to go out into this nasty weather. Sigh. I'll be back at it tomorrow!

Bye for now!

Wonder Drugs

The weather outside was positively gorgeous today!!! I am SO glad we are done with winter! I’m feeling better today, too which goes a long way towards my cheery manor. It’s amazing how fast medication starts to work once you take it. Here’s my breakfast;

-1 cup water
-1/3 cup Old Wessex 5 Grain cereal
-cinnamon
-banana
-big scoop homemade PB
Mmm! I stirred the PB in after I took the photo and it made the oats so incredibly creamy. This meal kept me satisfied until 1:30!!! I did partake of my usual dates mid morning, but I eat those more to please my sweet tooth than anything else.
The way I look at it, these are better for me than a handful of synthetic sugar!

I felt well enough to go to the gym today for a bit of a workout and I got the OK from my therapist, we’ll call him “A” from now on, to use the elliptical. He gave me a few stretches to do before and after I workout which I made sure to do today!! I ended up doing 30 minutes on the elliptical with the resistance at level3, then I caught myself up on all the BBBC exercises that I haven’t done since May 1. Here’s what I did;

*2 set calf raises (50 each)
*2 set lunges with 5lb weights (25 each)
*1 set of 10 “girly” push ups (I’ll get there one day!)
*2 sets tricep dips (20 each)
*100 bicycle crunches
*side planks, 30 seconds each, both sides

I need to get DD to help me with today's exercise as you need a partner to do it!

Time: 50 minutes
Avg Hr: 156
Max Hr: 177
Calories Burned: 413
Distance (on elliptical) 3.4 miles

I know that my HR was higher than usual today because of the bronchitis. I was pleased that I was able to do what I did, but I won’t lie….I was pooped out afterwards.

Back to my physio, “A” also gave me acupuncture on my feet and lower legs which didn’t seem to do much, but I’ll take a wait and see approach! He set me up with a “foot” doctor so I can get started on some orthotics for my high arches. I go to that appointment May 14 and back to physio next Monday.

I packed leftovers for lunch today and let me tell you, I was NOT feeling it today! Here it is….
I ate it, but it wasn’t at all what I wanted. I don’t really even know what I wanted. I just know it was not this! Thankfully, this doesn’t happen to me very often! I did appease my mouth some with a piece of blueberry almond cornbread which served as my lunch dessert;
Afternoon snack-a-roo was a fan-taste-ic bowl of fruit!
Yumalicious!

As soon as I got home from work I changed into more comfy clothes and relaxed on the deck in the sunshine until it was time to start dinner. I may have even dozed off a little! I pulled chicken breasts out for dinner tonight and my Hubby grilled it up on the BBQ. I let it marinate for a few minutes first with PC Memories of Damascus sauce. I served my 3oz of chicken on top of a HUGE bed of spinach, tomato, cucumber, peppers and asparagus. A wee drizzle of Cranberry Walnut Gorgonzola dressing finished off this massive salad.
Doesn't that look AWESOME?! My belly was pretty full after this, but I managed to make a bit of space for a small chunk of halvah....
Plans for tonight? I'm going back on the deck with a magazine while the sun is still out and then I'll be watching The Biggest Loser. I'm eager to see how they did at home for the past "30 days". Have a wonderful evening, all!!

Bye for now!!

Back to the Doctor

Monday, Monday! Man, that weekend just whizzed by, didn’t it?? The power must’ve gone off for a minute or two throughout the night because my alarm didn’t go off and when I woke up (pretty much on time, thankfully) the numbers were flashing. Great way to start the week, eh?! By the time breakfast rolled around, I was a bit behind so while it was delish, I didn’t really have the time to enjoy it.

-1 cup water
-1/3 cup Quaker oats
-cinnamon
-banana
-blueberries
-True North nut “crumbs”
Heads up for all my Canadians readers!! I contacted True North to see if they sell their products in Canada and was told that they just started selling at Walmart, Safeway, Sobeys and Loblaws! Keep your eyes open for them!!

Work was pretty uneventful. I’m still coughing and hacking so I decided it was time to so see the doc again. The only good thing about that is that I left work at 2:30 instead of 4! I did eat some dates mid morning…
So, the doc told me pretty much what I already knew to be true....bronchitis. The upside is that it got caught in the early stages. Bronchitis and I are old friends. From the time I was 14 until my mid twenties, I had it every winter. No joke. This is the third time since 2003. Blah. I got me some drugs, though so I should be up and running soon enough! Needless to say, no gym for me today. Jeez!! I’m a total wreck these days! Instead, I went home and crashed on the deck with my cats and a magazine. It’s was the perfect weather for that.

I ate lunch back at work. I brought the last little bit of dinner leftover from Saturday and served it over some WW couscous.
Then I ate a nice big bowl of sweet berries….strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.
I’m so glad that all my favourite fruits are all coming back into season now! After leaving my appointment I ate a piece of Blueberry Almond cornbread that I had packed as a pre gym snack;
I spent more time on the deck in the sunshine when I got back from my appointment. Gotta soak up that vitamin D! The kids were at my parents so I took advantage of the quiet. :) Soon enough I had to go get them to take DD to dance. When DS and I got home I cooked up a cod fillet for dinner along with re-heated roasted potatoes and steamed veggies. I put a dollop of Caramelized Onion Sabra hummus on the plate for dipping purposes.
Then I enjoyed two sweet ends! First up was a Raspberry Cravings cheesecake.
Then I allowed every single bite of this luscious mint chocolate to melt in my mouth...
HEAVEN. I tell ya, Mara is the queen of great treats!! Now I am off to pick DD back up and then I have my first physio appointment at 7:20. I'll be sure to give you an update tomorrow. Enjoy the beautiful weather....if you have it....and have a great night!

Bye for now!!

White Stuff Again

I woke up to snow again this morning! YUCK! They said it was suppose to turn into rain, but they lied because it snowed lightly all day long. I’ve officially had enough of winter! To top that off, I was up coughing all night with some random scratchy throat. I think I need a holiday! :)Actually, I’ve booked March Break off (March 16-20) and I can not wait! I did have a good bowl of oats to brighten up the day, though!

-1 cup water
-1/2 cup Quaker oats
-3 big strawberries & ½ a banana all mashed together
-cinnamon
-handful Nature’s Path pumpkin flax granola

A delicious, fruity bowl that I thoroughly enjoyed!

The morning flew right on by as it’s pay run Wednesday, which means we have to complete all the payrolls and transfer then to the bank. Around 11, my tummy was rumbling a bit so I took the opportunity to eat the other half of yesterday’s Carrot Cake Clif bar.

I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite flavour, but, it certainly tasted MUCH better today!

I only had time for a half hour lunch today, so I did my killer treadmill workout that you’ve heard me talk about. I was a little tired today so I didn’t hit all the incline’s, but I made sure to always have a bit of one when called for. Here are my stats:

Time: 25 minutes
Avg HR: 162
Max HR: 185 (must’ve been at the peak of the routine!)
Calories Burned: 238
Distance: 2.58 miles (4.15 km)

Not too bad (for me) for a 25 minutes sweat-a-thon! A BIG thanks to everyone who gave me advice/info on my dilemma on whether or not to snack before my midday workouts. I’ve decided that if I am truly starting to feel hungry within an hour of going to the gym, I will have something small to tide me over. Otherwise, no snacky pour moi!

Lunch was leftover dinner. I know, you’re all very surprised by this!! Baked cod, lentils and broccoli.

The fish ended up a bit dry after being nuked but other than that it all tasted yummy. I also ate an orange that I painstakingly peeled last night. See, I hate the pith and it’s a requirement that my citrus be pith free before I eat it. This usually results in a messy fruit, but I took my time last night while watching the Biggest Loser. Pathetic, I know, but it was one tasty orange!!

Lunch didn't hold me over as well today as yesterday. Just before leaving work, I ate one of my cranberry oatmeal muffins. These are a bit denser than the apple flax ones, but just as good! I really enjoyed the tartness of the cranberries.

It was quite mild out when I left work considering that it was snowing so I decided to shovel the driveway for some fresh air.It felt so nice to be outside and not freeze to death!!

The fam had pasta for dinner tonight with some sauce that included 4 chicken thighs. I decided to make myself a stir fry with some random veggies from the crisper. I think it turned out just lovely!

This creation contains 3oz of linguine, 1/4 each red, orange & yellow bell peppers, 5 asparagus stalks, tofu, soy sauce, chili powder. It.Was. So. Good! Hope I don't regret the pasta later on tonight!

Tonight was swim night so I was able to relax with my book (I'm reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini) by the pool for an hour. So what if the pool's inside? It's humid enough in there to make it feel like summer! :) I've had some problems uploading my photo's in to Blogger tonight so I hope you are able to view everything OK. Have a terrific evening!!

Bye for now!!

Home Sweet Home

Hello, everyone!

Before I forget...a few of you have been asking where I get the cheesecakes cups I've been eating. I buy them at Metro here in Canada. I know they're a hard item to find, but here's the link to the website if you want to check it out.

I was hardly home at all today! We left the house at 9, made a quick stop back around 2 and then took off again until 6! Yowers! I almost wasn't feeling the oats today but I wasn't feeling anything else enough to stray from my old stand by so oats it was!

-1/2 unsweetened chocolate almond breeze
-1/2 cup water
-1/2 cup Quaker oats
-1 Tbsp dried fruit

After I ate and showered, we drove out to the farm for a quick visit. My MIL had a small Biggest Loser cookbook in which I found a simple black bean soup recipe. Keep an eye out for that sometime this week. While there, I ate a few clementine's while everybody had cheesecake for my hubby's birthday. I wasn't being a party pooper or anything, I was just still content from my oats.

From there, we went straight to DS's hockey game. That was 12:30-1:30. A girl that I know was there so we chatted it up the whole time. I love catching up with people! DD informed us that we were "gossiping". HEHE! She'll get it soon enough! Just before the game was over my belly started to rumble so I pulled out my handy Cinnamon Roll Lara bar....

I ate the apple on the drive home. This is still my favourite flavour of Lara bars.

We got to the house by 1:45, had quick washroom breaks, my stinky boy freshened up and changed, I switched a load of laundry, ate a handful of beer nuts (don't ask) and we were off to a Storm game for 3pm. It was a televised game so it lasted a good half hour longer than usual due to commercial breaks and such. Unfortunately, we got clobbered 6-1. Blah! I think the boys will have some tough practices coming their way this week!

Once home (at 6pm), I reheated some lasagna for everyone, but not me. You don't need to hit me over the head with a brick twice! I was still feeling last night's meal well after midnight! I opted for some steamed asparagus, a small sweet potato, steamed as well and a piece of grilled cod.

I also gnawed away at a small piece of homemade bread while cooking, but it was camera shy! This meal was MUCH lighter than yesterday's and suited my tummy just fine. I didn't have an issue with scarfing back a slice of cheesecake, though!

This cheesecake is pretty light so it doesn't take much to get it down! There's actually no cream cheese in it. I can't post the recipe because it's from my Looneyspoons cookbook, but I will say that it has 2 cups light sour cream and 1 cup 1% cottage cheese. Those are the 2 main ingredients.

I read a great article in Prevention magazine about knowing when the food in your fridge and freezer is past it's prime. Check out this link for the scoop! There's some really good information there on whether to "eat it or toss it".

I'm off to organize for the morning and then I plan to chill out with a nice cup of Stash ginger peach tea. Mmmmmm.....

Bye for now!!