A Few Gems

I feel like I’ve been gone forever again!  LOL  My blogging “schedule” has certainly become anything but routine.  I just can’t seem to bring myself to sit down with my laptop when the weather’s been so nice!  To be honest, I use to prepare most of my posts from work, but extra responsibilities (which were obviously needed) have prevented me from doing that.  I do have a few things I wanted to update you all on, though.  Like some new (to me) eats!  Last Sunday we made the hour long trip to Whole Foods (and Lululemon) where I picked up a few gems. 
These 365 coconut frozen fruit bars are officially my favourite summer treat!  Not only are they pure coconutty goodness, but they’re chalk full of coconut pulp!  YUMMY!! I know some may dislike pulp, but I dig the texture of it….always have.
I L-O-V-E SOL burgers and these rice & mushrooms patties are no exception.  Jason actually found these and put them in the cart.  A year ago that NEVER would’ve happened!  LOL These Green Cuisine tempeh burgers were also a find at Whole Foods.  I love the texture that tempeh has!  I mostly enjoyed these done up on the BBQ then served on an Ezekiel English muffin with goat gouda, spicy mustard and lettuce. These Gardein Tucson breasts were a HIT with Jason and myself.   I’ve wanted to try Gardein for some time now, but just can’t justify the cost.  When I caught these on sale a few weeks ago, I snatched them up.  I served the “breasts” over a bed of WW couscous for a quick, delicious meal.   Even Jason, who is a total meat & potato kinda of guy, gave them a thumb up.  We’ve really been minding our plates lately.  Lots of fresh fruit (and veg), salmon, meat “alternatives” or poultry (the sausages in the following photos are all turkey sausages), quinoa and couscous perked up with various veggies and cheese.  We’re slowly moving to a “diet” (HATE that word) that is as local and fresh as possible which is SO much easier to do in the summer months.
The beans you see ^^^ there are fresh from my garden.  As in, pick’em, wash’em gently steamed’em, ate’em!
Here’s a look at how my other plants are getting on: Everything is later than usual due to cold, wet weather in May & June, but things are starting to pick up!
We have been enjoying some treats, too!  Noah was at a sleep over last weekend so Jason, Sarah and I tried out a local “hole in the wall” type   Italian restaurant.  I find restaurants that are very unassuming usually have the BEST food and Pauli’s was no exception!  We loved our meal!
Sarah’s Orangina brought me right back to Italy and my roasted onion, goat cheese, prosciutto pizza was to die for!  Jason ordered a chicken parm dish with a side of pasta which he inhaled.  All their sauces, dough’s, pasta, etc are homemade, on site.  The way it should be, right?  ;)
On to some non food goodies!  I wanted to show you a shirt and pair of shoes that I snagged at 50% off this past weekend! LURVE!!!  The shoes are super cute and very comfortable and the shirt is in my fave colour!  SCORE!  And last week Jason and I attended an awards assembly at the school to see Noah receive a HEART award for cross county: Sarah also got a Win It award which is given for having a good attitude.  I think they got the wrong kid.  ;)  LOL  So proud of them both!  
So I think I’ll stop here.  I have a few other fun posts planned and a review coming later this week, so you’ll be seeing me more frequently….I promise!!
Bye for now!!

A Few Favourites and a Garden Tour

Hello!  Have you had a chance to read my review on Nature’s Path’s hot cereal and Whole O’s?  What did you think?  I meant to post yesterday, but honestly, I haven’t been feeling 100% since Friday night.  Not sure if it’s allergies or a bit of a cold, but I haven’t been sleeping great and my throat has been really scratchy.  Ugh…  Anyways, my eats have been on the boring side so I decided to pick one favourite breakfast, lunch and dinner from the past 3 days and roll with those for you.  I also took some photos around the gardens to be able to update you.
I didn’t eat anything memorable on Saturday, but do want to show you my son’s idea of a grilled cheese: OMG!  Apparently he toasted the bread, added a slice of cheese then nuked it for a minute twenty.  That baby was stuck to the plate!!!  I did get some laundry on the line….
And played with KC for a bit; Ate a few snacks here and there: Read a little Racheal Ray, Did you know that Rach likes her oats savoury, too?? Pick up this months issue to find a few more savoury oat ideas!!  We stayed out on the deck until after dark chatting.  I enjoyed some rare snuggle time with DS: And then crashed for the night. 

Two of my best meals were enjoyed yesterday along with copious amounts of water.  The first one was English Muffin French toast for breakfast. The egg mixture was Eggbeaters, coconut milk, cinnamon & vanilla extract.  I spread some coconut butter on the toast, added agave, walnut pieces and blueberries that I swirled around the hot pan for a few minutes.
DS had soccer practice from 9:30-11 and DD and I went to Walmart after that for some back to school supplies.  It amazes me how much faster summer is than winter. 
Let’s take a walk around the garden now, shall we?  The flowers:
The veggies: Another favourite meal was enjoyed on Sunday.  My hubby did a beer butt chicken on the BBQ and I picked a bunch of kale to make a big salad.  I dressed the kale with some Kraft fig balsamic dressing and let it sit for a good half hour.  This helps to make the leaves tender.  When it was time to eat I topped it with tomato, cucumber and chicken breast: We spent the evening visiting my parents and watching TV until bedtime.  I slept much better last night and was awake by 7am so I got laundry going, ate some cereal for breakfast and read blogs for awhile.   Eventually the baking bug hit me and I remembered that I printed off a recipe for blackberry oat bars courtesy of Mama Pea.  I had pretty much all the ingredients so I went to town.  The only things I changed (out of necessity) was coconut butter for the margarine and I used mandarin orange marmalade in place of blackberry jam:   The results were fabulous and I enjoyed a piece after my third fave meal of the past few days…..BLT using tempeh bacon on a bagel thin….YUM! And my oat bar: Our afternoon was spent rearranging furniture, getting some photos developed to send to my Uncles in Italy and driving the kids to a b-day party.   And because chocolate is always a favourite of mine, I have to show the picture of the bar that I’ve been working on this week. Heck ya!!  :)  I’m off to chill for the rest of the evening in preparations for a busy 4 days of work.  Fun times.  Hope you’ve all enjoyed a fab few days!!
Bye for now!!