A Condensed 2 Day Recap

Hi everyone! The past 2 days have been jam packed with many different happenings so I’ll be brief with the typing and let the pictures tell most of the story.

Friday’s super b-fast;

• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup PC 5 grain cereal
• dried currants
• pumpkin puree
• cashew butter
• drizzle of maple syrup

My pre gym snack amidst much keypunching was this Maple Nut Clif Bar….which happens to be my favourite!

Gym stats for my time on the elliptical!

• 45 minutes
• Avg Hr: 155
• Max Hr: 171
• Calories Torched: 413
• Distance: 4.9 miles

Lunch was a serving of tasty quinoa stew;

Still loving this! I’m thinking it was my last serving that I had stashed in the freezer so I’ll need to make more soon. I saved my nuts for just before it was time to go home because I knew dinner was going to be L-A-T-E;

I got my butt out of work at 4 on the dot, went home to pick up the fam and we hit the road for an out of town hockey game. Traffic was better than we expected and we arrived at the rink in 1hr 20 mins which is about as long as it usually takes to get there. The fam snacked on PB sandwiches on the drive, but I waited until the game started at 6:30 to dig into my own stash;

I devoured my super sweet honey crisp apple, but brought the goat’s milk mozz back home. The boys lost….badly. Like 10-1 badly. YIKES! Although there were some good moments, they just seemed wiped out right from the start. Oh, well! :/

We stopped at Mr. Sub on our way out of town for some eats. I got a “big” or foot long veggie on whole wheat with honey mustard.

About the only veg I didn’t get was onions (too late for those) and mushroom because they looked fresh out of a can. It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten a sub this big and it was certainly more then enough! When we got back into town my hubby stopped at Tim Horton’s. The kids had ordered cookies and they gave us one extra so I did my duty and ate it up!

Mmm, Mmm, good! After that it was home, bed. Night night!

I rolled out of bed shortly after 8 this morning and took a much needed hot shower. I think these cold benches at the rink are going to do my lower back in. I found my Bob’s Redmill 7 grain cereal in the back of the cupboard so that made it into my breakfast bowl today;

• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup Bob’s Redmill 7 Grain cereal
• pumpkin puree
• raisins
• almond butter
• chopped peanuts

Can you guess what came next? Yup…HOCKEY! :D This game was in town, though so no hectic highway driving. The boys lost again today…5-1….but played 100% better than last night. DS’s line scored the lone goal with him having an assist. Here he is pre-game, mouth guard and all;

Once we were home, and he was showered, we grabbed some lunch. I had the rest of my goat’s milk yogurt (about 3/4 of a cup) with some cranberry sauce and some Nature’s Path Gluten free Maple crunch cereal;

All mixed up!

The cereal was very, very good! It was light and airy, but most of all, full of great maple flavour. Definitely in danger of been eaten by the handful if left in plain sight! This cereal gets a 2 thumbs up from me.

HEHE! We hit the mall after eating to get the kids Hallowe’en costumes and DS some pants as all his became “floods” over the summer. DS decided to be Bumble Bee the Transformer and DD went with a mask that she plans to pair with some odds and ends from previous years costumes. I won’t let on which mask she picked, but it’s one of these 3!!

LOL!! :D

I had a small snack around 4 to tide me over as I met up with my sis for some dinner eats (read on for the deets!) I toasted up an English muffin and topped it with some pomegranate jelly and last night’s mozz slices. That went in the microwave to get all warm;

Mmmm…gooey! The jelly and cheese were a great contrast of flavours. I’ll be pairing them up again soon!

So, Lisa and I met up at a raw food cafe that we heard about in our city called WOW Wild Organic Way.

It’s just a wee place that’s only open Thursday to Saturday with a small menu. None of that turned us off, though! I actually liked that there wasn’t a HUGE selection to choose from because it made our decision easier. We both went with the “tasty tacos” which included a sun dried tomato paste and guacamole. There was more on there that I can’t quite remember now! The side salad had the most delicate tasting cashew dressing on it! I could’ve eaten a whole plate of that alone.

For dessert I choose to get 2 chocolate macaroons and 2 hemp balls;

The macaroons were an intense chocolate flavour and the hemp balls were to die for. Lisa though they tasted like cookies & cream ice cream and they reminded me of a really good quality vanilla ice cream. Li got the berry bliss cheesecake which she really liked so I decided to bring a piece home for my hubby. Here’s his de-constructed;

He shared a few bites with me and Mom and while they weren’t over the moon about it, I thought it was pretty darn good. All in all I had a great experience at WOW and would love to go back again sometime.

And that wraps up this post. I’m just now snuggling in to catch up on some blog reading while my hubby watches hockey. I hope everybody has had a fantastic weekend so far!!

Bye for now!!

Wish I was Doing Yoga

The day started out mild and sunny and ended up wet and cold. Urgh. Tis the season, I suppose!

• 2/3 cup coffee
• 1/3 cup PC 5 grain cereal
• currants
• Enjoy Life Foods trail mix

As you can see, it’s now dark enough in the morning to warrant the flash. Bugger. Still looks pretty, though, eh?!

I was a little miffed to find out today that for the next 10 weeks on Thursday’s the gym will be “closed”. There’s a yoga class going on in the upper level which I did know about but can’t participate in because the department I’m in rotates lunch hours. Initially, we were going to be able to use the lower level where the cardio machines are, but the committee changed their minds. I ate this Kashi bar while I mulled over what to do during my lunch hour;

I decided to make a trip to the bank to get some American moola while the exchange rate is still pretty good seeing as I’ll be doing some State side shopping in November. Then I dropped my prescription off and went home to throw some food into the crock pot. Productive, no?

Lunch was the leftover tofu and kabocha squash from last night. **WARNING** ugly food photo ahead!!

Ya just can’t make something like this look pretty, but it sure tasted good! As you can probably tell by the dimness, the clouds had rolled in.

I wore my new trial contact lenses to work today. I’ve been using the Acuvue for a few years, but can’t wear them to work because I get a major headache by noon from looking at the computer so much. My Dr. is having me try the Acuvue Oasys and they worked out OK. No headache, but the screen was still a bit on the blurry side. I’ll wear them again tomorrow and see if it gets any better. I’m hoping my eyes just need to adjust. Anybody have any tips for me??

When I got home from work I had a present waiting for me! Nature’s Path sent me their new gluten free cereals to try!

Crunchy Vanilla and Crunchy Maple. Both sounds mouth watering to me! Thanks, Kari!!

Back to my crock pot dinner. Into the insert I tossed a smallish pork tenderloin, chopped, 1 cup dry kasha, 2 red bell peppers, 2 chopped carrots, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 can each of chickpeas & kidney beans and a can of mini corn cobs. Seasonings included oregano, coriander, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. I didn’t measure, just gave each a good shake or 2. I set it on high and washed my hands of it until dinner time. The fam had theirs over pasta, I ate mine With some Goat’s milk yogurt.

I had used one of my POM coupons the other day to buy some POM iced tea. I drank some of that with my dinner;

It was refreshing and a bit tart. My kids really enjoyed it, too! Dessert was some grapes that I shared with DS…

I just got home from a meeting at the school and plan on snacking on some yogurt with cranberry sauce while watching the rest of CSI. And then it’s time for Vampire Diaries! You may not see me around tomorrow. DS has an out of town game that we have to leave right after work for and I’m not expecting that we’ll be home before 9:30pm. Make sure you all have a fantastic Friday!!

Bye for now!!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Hey everyone! I’m back for round 2. After I posted this morning I made one heck of a wicked breakfast;

• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup sunrise blend with quinoa
• cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
• currants
• cashew butter
• maple flakes

This was SO good….dessert-like, really.

After visiting out at the farm, we came home to a quick lunch. I made a sandwich with a WW Arnold Thin, Monterey Jack cheese, the last of the ambercup squash and a 1/4 cup of Egg Beaters. On the side was the apple that I didn’t eat yesterday with cinnamon sprinkled on;

Then I baked up some Pumpkin Coconut Chocolate Chip Bars;

These bars are stellar and VERY easy to make!

I spent the afternoon watching a cheesy cheerleading movie with DD before getting ready to head over to my parents place for dinner. As usual, Mom put on a great Thanksgiving Day spread. Here’s my plate;

Turkey & gravy, sausage stuffing, a WW bun with some butter, sweet potatoes and pecan green beans. DS ploughed through a turkey leg. The bone was as big as his forearm!

Dessert was a beautiful piece of pumpkin pie with a dollop of Cool Whip on top;

This is pretty much what I looked like after eating all this food;

That’s my parents ancient cat, Sinjin. She’s something like 17yrs old!

I had a small piece of my Green & Blacks Maya chocolate bar when we got home, but that’s it for tonight. The Amazing Race just finished and I think I’ll watch Criminal Minds before hitting the sack. Here’s to hoping you all had a lovely Sunday!

Bye for now!!

Productive Wednesday

I was on fire at work today! I got so much done and feel so accomplished about it now. I hope to continue the memento tomorrow because I’m off Friday and then again on Monday for Canadian Thanksgiving.

• 1 cup coffee
• 1/3 cup sunrise blend with quinoa
• carob chips
• chocolate honey
• almond butter

Here’s the honey I used;

So, so good!

Before the gym I snacked on one of the two bars in here;

The other was eaten after lunch.

Can you believe that the part of Rach today that I was most excited about, the Hungry Girl segment, was the one that I missed? It was aired during the 15mins that I had to get cleaned up and back to my desk. Boohoo!

• Time: 45 minutes
• Avg Hr: 163
• Max Hr: 179
• Calories Torched: 485
• Distance: 4.6 miles

Lunch was pretty much the same as yesterday’s supper. I sandwiched an Yves burger between 2 corn cakes. I also added some chipotle mustard for some pizzazz;

See those sweet little nibblets? They were a great contrast to the spicy mustard. Later in the day I ate another container of monster grapes;

Some of these babies were 2 biters! A co worker noticed them as she walked past my desk and thought that I was eating a bowl of plums! :D

When I got home from work I tidied the house up some and then got to work on some pear sauce. I took home a beautiful bag of pears from the farm on Sunday and used 8 big ones for the sauce. Here’s my method for the sauce;

1. Peel and finely chop 8 large, ripe pears
2. Put into a heavy bottomed sauce pan with 1 tbsp of cinnamon, 2 tbsp of agave, a 1/4 cup of dried currants (or raisins) and a splash of water
3. bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for a 1/2 hour
4. lightly mash pears until you get the consistency you want. We like our chunky
5. remove from heat and let cool. It will thicken a bit as it cools off
6. ENJOY!

I eat this straight up, mixed into yogurt or oats, as a muffin/loaf topping (or add in). My hubby enjoys it with a big glob of Cool Whip or over vanilla ice cream.

Dinner was baked salmon, mashed butternut squash (with some butter and cinnamon) and steamed baby carrots;

A very orange plate, indeed! I ate the last piece of peach blueberry pie for dessert in my classy Tupperware container;

I was lucky to get this!! Out of the whole pie I ended up with 1.5 pieces. My boys LOVE pie so it doesn’t last long around here. I likely eat some of that pear sauce later on. Straight up….nothing added to change the flavour, me thinks.

I’ll be off now to read all your fabulous blogs! Have a fun night…

Bye for now!!

Made It

Phew! The work week has finally ended! I’m always glad to see Friday roll around. :D So, I ended up buying more storage space so that I can continue posting hassle free. To post what I did last night I had to delete a folder from Picasa. Unfortunately, the posts those picture’s were in are no longer visible. Grrr…

• 1 cup coffee
• 1/3 cup sunrise blend w/ quinoa
• Crofter’s ASIA preserves
• almond butter

This warmed me up against the cold, wet day we’re having. Fall in Ontario is here.

I got up to no good in the kitchen last night. I’ve been wanting to make Caroline’s vegan pumpkin bread for a while now and decided to just get on with it! Following the recipe I had all my dry ingredients combined in the bowl when I went to get my pumpkin. Turns out I had none left. WTF??? I ALWAYS have a can of that in the pantry and don’t remember using the last one. I scrambled around trying to find a substitute that at least had the same consistency as pumpkin and came up with a jar of apple butter. I figured what the hell, and went with it. The jar was 3/4 of a cup so I topped it off with applesauce. Moving on, I soon realized I was out of oil, too. DOH! I just decided to omit it all together, added a handful of currants and waited to see what happened. Aside from taking and extra 1/2 hour to cook, the bread came out wonderful! Here’s the piece I enjoyed at break time this morning;

It is a bit on the sweet side, but considering all the changes I ended up making, I think that’s a non issue!

The gym! Been enjoying those new TV’s!!!

• Time: 50 minutes
• Avg Hr: 155
• Max Hr: 169
• Calories Torched: 451
• Distance (40 minutes elliptical/10 minutes treadmill): 5 miles

Lunch was a massive egg “mcmuffin”;

This beast was a Stonehill English muffin with a LC wedge and a 1/4 of nuked egg whites. And it. was. good!

For my afternoon snack I grabbed a long piece of licorice from the office candy dish;

And enjoyed an Earl Grey tea with a cute quote.

Love that one!! Just before going home time, one of the ladies came around with a box of chocolate from a local candy shop. I choose a dark chocolate coconut piece.

Rich, sweet and just the right size.

Look who I caught sneaking a quick after school snack when I came home!

He was dipping Triscuits into the Crofter’s jam!

Hambone! We had a “grab whatever you feel like” kinda dinner tonight. I ended up with a serving of vegan chilli topped off with Fage (sorry about the flash…it’s dark out today!)

I nibbled on a handful of carob chips to cool my mouth off for a sweet end.

Just before I left to come home a co worker called me up to see if we had plans tonight. He had 4 Storm tickets up for grabs and wanted to know if we could use them. Ummm…YEAH! So, we’ll be off in just a few minutes to take in an unexpected, free game! Enjoy the evening, all!

Bye for now!!