Amazing Friday

I had a great day today! I got an awesome walk in, ran all my errands and bought some new (to me) products. Let me show you! I started the morning off with a nice bowl of kamut flakes.

• 2/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup kamut flakes
• cinnamon
• 1 tsp instant coffee
• pecan pieces
• a dried banana
• splash hazelnut flavoured coffee creamer

Yum ditty yum!

I dropped the kids off at Italian school for 9:30 and then drove over to Mom’s to meet up with my sis for a l-o-n-g walk. We did a trail route which was beautiful and caught up on all things new. There’s an 11.5 year age difference between us so it can sometimes feel like we’re from different planets which is why I like to spend time with her when we’re both free. When we got back we were laughing at how sweaty we had gotten….our t-shirts were soaked! I’m not sure how far we went, but I’ll guesstimate 8 miles.

• Time: 1hr 45 min
• Avg Hr: 126
• Max Hr: 157
• Calories Burned: 623

I hung out until it was time to pick the kids up. By the time we arrived home it was lunch. The kids went for grilled cheese so I decided on some egg whites while the pan was “dirty”. I served them on a toasted WW bagel with Sabra hummus and a slice of Monterey cheese. On the side was the last 2 carrot sticks with a blob of hummus and a handful of cherries;

My sweet end was a coconut lemon bar that my sis made…

She loves to bake and is good at it so I jumped at the offer to take some home!

Next up was errands. We had to go buy 2 b-day gifts, drop one off at my work and then do groceries. It was 4:30 by the time we got back and I was definitely snacky. When I get a hankering for a snack later in the day it’s usually something sweet that I want so I grabbed this Glenny’s PB brownie;

That pretty much killed my dinner appetite! We typically eat around 5:30, but dinner didn’t come around until 6:45 tonight! Even then I wasn’t starving by any means. I cleaned up a few more leftovers….couscous and broccoli….and cooked up a Gardenburger Tomato Basil burger. I added some Ted Readers peach & bourbon sauce to the plate for dipping purposes;

Here’s a peek at some of the things I bought while out today;

Lots of chia….Pranana chia seeds and Ruth’s Chia Goodness, shaved coconut, carob chips, ginger chews, 3 halvah squares, a bag of rye flakes and some cocoa Camino. I can’t wait to try the rye flakes in the morning! I enjoyed one of the Halvah squares after dinner…

I’m off to prepare for the fundraising walk in the morning! I hope the weather holds as there is rain in the forecast. Keep your fingers crossed! I’ll be back tomorrow with a full recap. If you wanted to sponsor us, you can visit my donation page which will also tell you all about the research they’ve been doing on paediatric brain tumours. Have a great night, all!

Bye for now!

Made It Another Day

We enjoyed another glorious day of beautiful weather here in Southern Ontario! Despite my somewhat unhealthy state, this has kept me one happy camper! Although, I’m feeling better yet again today. Mornings seem to be the worst coughing wise, other than that, it’s a stuffed up nose. Anyways, enough about that….let’s move along to breakfast!!! I tried something new (to me) today—dried currants!

These guys were really just like little raisins with a bit of a bite.
-1 cup water
-1/3 cup Quaker oats
-cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg
-single serve container of unsweetened applesauce
-2 tbsp currants
-pecan pieces
Tasty, tasty bowl, I tell ya!

I felt like a small snack while watching TBL last night so I had ½ cup plain 1% yogurt, a small scoop of cinnamon honey and some Nature’s Path Red Berry Flax cereal crumbs;
Now that the weather is improving my co worker and I are able to get out for our “around the block” walks at break time again! It feels so nice to get out of the office for a few minutes and stretch. When we got back I ate my dates…
Ruth over at Plentiful Plants rolls her dates in PB2. I must try this someday soon!

I hopped on the stationary bike at the gym today for a 40 minute ride. Then I had enough time for some ab work. Gotta strengthen that core! Before I left I ate a half of a Blueberry Crisp Clif Bar…
Here’s my stats!

Time: 45 minutes
Avh Hr: 131
Max Hr: 146
Calories Burned: 290
Distance: 4.7 miles

That Clif Bar did nothing for my hunger today. By the time I left the gym I was ready to gnaw my arm off and I’m pretty sure that everyone in the building could hear my stomach growling. Not sure what was up with that, but I heated my lunch up sooner than normal! I packed my very last serving of chicken divan from the freezer with extra broccoli to beef it up.
Those random orange dots are pieces of cheddar cheese. There was a tray leftover from a meeting in the staff kitchen so I grabbed a piece. This tamed the hunger beast, but just barely! I slammed back some water and chewed a few mints just to keep my mouth busy.

I munched on my delicious fruit salad before going home. This one was 2 small oranges, blueberries and strawberries.
I leave this in my desk drawer so that by the time I eat it, it is room temp. Do you prefer your fruit cold from the fridge or on the warm side?

So, just a small sidebar here. Apparently I’m a bit of a dork as I’ve been calling Halvah Havlah since I opened it last week! DOH!! Guess I read the pack too fast and read it wrong! End of dork admission! :) Regardless, I finished it off when I got home from work!!

Dinner tonight was a SOL burger served up on a toasted English muffin with sabra hummus, a LC wedge, lettuce, ketchup and mustard. I had some orange cauliflower on the side with extra hummus for dipping and DD and I split a BBQ'd hot dog.
I adore hot dogs. I know they are crap, but I've been known to eat them straight out of the fridge, raw. I haven't eaten many dogs in the past few years so when I do, they're a real treat for me! I ate half of this coconut/mango bar from Mara for my sweet end.
It rocked in the coconut department...I had that great coconut chew, but I couldn't taste any mango at all which was disappointing. Half was plenty after a meal so I could see this bar in it's entirety being quite filling!

I'm off to the pool now for swim night....AKA...quiet reading time. I plan on an early night as I'm pretty tired and there's really nothing good on TV Wednesday nights. I might even do some baking if I'm feeling it. We'll see!! Hope you all have a great night!

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!!

Name that Baby!

I'm not feeling 100% today but I still wanted to post because I got some really great picture of the baby horse while out at the farm this morning! Now that I've got carob chips back in my pantry I was able to bring back my favourite breakfast combo!!!
-1 cup water
-1/3 cup Old Wessex 5 Grain cereal
-cinnamon
-banana
-2 tbsp PB2
-carob chips
Love it, love it, love it!!!

I found myself itching for a snack last night so I warmed up the last piece of sweet potato bread and spread some cinnamon honey on it..
This ended up being a tasty flavour combo!

After breakfast we made our way to the farm, very excited to meet the newest addition. He hasn't been named yet so if you think you've got a great name for him after you see the picture's, please let me know!!! A few have been batted around....Panda, Kaleidoscope, Pewter....let's see what YOU think!



God...isn't he the CUTEST?! You can see in the picture where my MIL is holding him that he really is the size of a mid to large dog and he is so, so soft! His Mama is in one of the photos, too. She was really good about letting us man handle her baby. He was born on Thursday....

I had a few cookies with my tea at the farm and wasn't very hungry for lunch as a result. I made myself a small treat that included a 1/2 cup of FF cottage cheese, pear ginger jam and a mix of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.

I haven't had cottage cheese in so long that I forgot how much I love it!!! I got busy doing yard work in the backyard after eating. After 1.5 hrs I had quite a bit accomplished, but weariness took me over like a slap to the head!! As I mentioned yesterday, I've been battling a cough for the past few days and my body finally gave up the goose. I got cleaned up, made a coffee and grabbed a small piece of Halvah...
then took my book out to the front porch and read for an hour. Just what the doctor ordered!! :) My MIL stopped by later in the day to pick up some perennials that we had for her and before she left we twisted her arm into trying a new ice cream my hubby found yesterday....Banana Cream Pie! I had a small scoop, of course!
This is the Breyers Double Churned brand and it was FABULOUS!!! I'm not an ice cream addict, but I love me a blizzard from DQ and that's what this reminded me of!

I still wasn't too hungry by our usual dinner time. I guess I had too many snacks over the course of the day! DD spent the afternoon at a friends house and ate her dinner there so it was just me and the boys. When I finally decided to eat I felt like soup so I made a can of Amy's lentil soup. The men in my life decided to make "pizza's". All they did was spread tomato sauce on the bread and top it with turkey pepperoni and cheese. Looked pretty decent so I made some for myself, too!
My sweet end was these Parnoosh dates.
My parents are out for dinner tonight so we'll be skipping our weekly visit. Just as well because all I plan on doing tonight is sitting on the couch like a lump. The Race is on tonight which should make for some good TV watching!!! Please enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll catch ya all tomorrow!!

Bye for now!!

Halvah...A Treat Indeed!

Hi! How's every one's weekend going? So far mine is going fast!!! Isn't that the way? I got up this morning and felt like something cold for breakfast. Odd for me, but I went with it! I made a huge bowl of cereal...
-1 cup puffed wheat
-1 cup puffed millet
-1/3 cup 3 Sisters Honey Oaties
-diced strawberries
-1 cup unsweetened almond breeze
This bowl hit the spot! Not to mention that it was HUGE!!!

After a bit of house clean up, a shower and putting my face on, we were off to the rink for ball hockey pictures at 11am. The game followed at noon but there was some time in between so DD and I went and did a little shopping at the "fancy"grocery store. Also known as the one that stocks everything but is clear across town from me! I picked up some more carob chips and Camino dark hot chocolate and some different store made breads that were reduced at 50% off. I also found some turkey pepperoni and raspberries that were on sale! I've had a nagging cough and sore chest for the past few days so before we left I bought myself a large organic mint green tea to try to soothe the irritation.
Worked like a charm. There's just something about a hot drink when you're not feeling up to par.

Lunch was a little later seeing as we didn't get home until 1:30. I made myself a toasted WW bagel with a LC wedge, slice of deli turkey and egg whites. On the side I had a sliced yellow tomato and the green beans leftover form dinner the other night.
I was full when this was all gone but not full enough to try a piece or Mara's Halvah that she sent me!
I've never, ever had this before so just decided to go for it and cut a hunk off. SO GOOD! It starts off a bit crumbly, but quickly turns creamy once in your mouth. The sesame taste is subtle and smooth. As I was eating it I was thinking that it would be great over some oats. Must put on the "to try" list!
The weather was up and down all day today and DD went to visit a friend for the afternoon. The boys were watching hockey so I decided to go for a LONG overdue pedicure. The place I go to gives you a nice foot massage while they're at it. Here's my toes!
This was just what I needed to put a smile on my face!

Once home I got started on dinner. I made pasta with meat sauce for the fam and I had a vegetarian version with Shiritaki noodles.
For my sauce, sauteed some mushrooms and carrots in broth with oregano, basil, chili powder, garlic, salt and pepper. When that was all cooked down I added some spinach and maybe a 1/3 of a cup of tomato sauce. Then the noodles went in to get themselves all coated!
I wasn't able to finish all of it! There's maybe a half cup left. In the old days I would've just eaten it, regardless of my hunger level. Now, I know to listen to my body better! After cleaning up and found a wee bit of room for another small chunk of Havlah. Then I hid the rest on myself!

My parents have come and gone and I'm in the process of showering the kids. I've got a few magazine's to catch up on tonight and there may be a movie later as well. Hope you're all having a great Saturday!!

Bye for now!!