Laid Back Sunday

The weather was perfect again today for a nice, relaxing day spent mostly outside. I started it all off with a bowl of Zucchini Bread oats;

• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup PC 5 Grain cereal
• cinnamon, nutmeg
• raisins
• 1/2 cup grated zucchini
• cinnamon honey
• walnuts

I had a wee bit of zucchini leftover from the muffins and figured this would be the perfect way to use it up. This meal was stellar! :D

We spent some QT with the baby horses out at the farm seeing as the day was so nice. Lacey was the first to come running!

She’s totally giving the camera the stink eye here! She also got some love and attention from my hubby;

Spent some time checking out Turbo’s tail which she has had a major interest in since day one!

She is such a little love bug! And here’s one of Daisy kicking it in the clover;

Such a diva!

We got home at 2pm and I grabbed a quick lunch so as not to ruin my dinner. A blueberry Chobani (which was da bomb) and a sunrise apple.

The apple was only so-so. The flavour was good, but it was a soft apple and I prefer my apple to be crisp and crunchy. A little later on I ate two Cracker Jack flavoured rice cakes;

These used to be a pantry staple, but I got out of buying them for some reason. They caught my eye while doing groceries yesterday so I grabbed a pack. I forgot how good they were!

I spent a good chunk of the afternoon out on the deck with my book. I also made a big pot of marinara sauce. Takes a bit of time to get in the pot, but it’s 100% worth the effort. Here’s my Homemade Marinara Sauce recipe for you all to try out.

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 onions, diced
• 3-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 3lbs Roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
• tsp each salt and pepper
• tbsp each dried basil and oregano
• a 6oz can of tomato paste

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot
2. add onions and cook about 5 minutes
3. stir in chopped garlic
4. add tomatoes and stir well
5. next goes all the spices and the full can of tomato paste
6. let simmer on the stove top for at least 3 hrs, stirring occasionally. It will thicken considerably.
7. allow to cool before dividing into whatever portion sizes you like

I made up 3 large containers for the freezer. I will use this as is over noodles, rice or any cooked grain, as pizza sauce, mixed with ground meat, combined with a few cups of stock for a chunky tomato soup. It’s very versatile. Let me know if you give it a try!

I used some to make a flatout pizza for my dinner. I guess I put a good 3 heaping tbsp on then added broccoli, mushrooms, black olives and feta cheese;

There’s also some parm cheese sprinkled on there. Mega good! Then I ate a zucchini nut muffin;

After dinner we went to my parents place for a visit. I had a nice mug of tea and 2 of these most awesome chocolate chip cookies;

Currently, I’m working my way through a ginger gold apple dipped in PB2. Sorry, no pic! I’m gonna go see if there’s anything good on the tube. So glad tomorrow’s a day off work! YAY!

Bye for now!!

To The Apple Orchard We Go!

Happy Saturday, everyone! I’ve enjoyed a busy, yet fun filled day. It all started with a 7am wake up call so that we could get ready and eat some breakie before we had to leave for hockey.

• 2/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup oats
• cinnamon
• raisins
• PB2
• cinnamon honey
• walnuts

I made a monster coffee to keep me warm and off we went. I don’t know that I’ve mentioned this on the blog, but the past 3 times DS has been on the ice it has been for Triple A Rep tryouts for his division, which is Tyke. Well, the coaches made their final decisions after today’s ice time and DS made the team!!! WOOT! You’re looking (well, you know what I mean) at one proud mama bear today! This is basically a competitive travel team so there are 5-6 different city’s that the team will be playing against. I’m excited for the season to officially begin on September 26.

After hockey I picked up one TIRED DD from her slumber party at the hotel. She had a wicked good time. I’m not surprised a bit! They had the movie “theatre” room reserved and had the pool to themselves. The room was an ensuite so the 6 girls had their own room, bathroom and flat screen TV. They enjoyed a waffle bar for b-fast, as well. Not too shabby at all.

I was pretty hungry by the time we got home so I ate a zucchini nut muffin to tie me over until it was lunch time.

These are some seriously tasty muffins. I highly recommend the recipe. Like I mentioned yesterday, I always leave the Splenda out of the Hungry Girl recipes and use agave instead. This has always worked well for me.

When lunch rolled around I was feeling some pizza so I topped a Stonemill English muffin with a piece of pepper jack cheese, a tomato and a few sliced olives and popped it under the broiler for a bit.

Once I sat down to eat it, I realized the the muffins were cran-apple and was afraid that they’d taste horrible, but they were GREAT! I also ate a Rachel’s pomegranate acai yogurt;

Not sure that I tasted any of the fruit mentioned, but it was pretty good none the less.

After lunch we drove over to Chudleigh’s, a somewhat local apple orchard that we go to every year.

As you can see from the above sign, it’s a bit pricey to go in. When the kids were small we gladly paid the fee because they enjoyed the petting zoo and the play area. These days we’re content to just browse the store and load up bags of pre picked apples. Today I bought Ginger Gold;

And a bag of Sunrise which I’m told are very similar to Honey Crisp, my other fave. I must have accidentally deleted that photo cuz I can not find it now! I also bought 4 yummy sounding jams.

As I was putting these away, I realized that I have A LOT of jam in the pantry. I won’t be buying anymore for quite a while! As soon as we got home, DD and I left again to get the grocery shopping done. Nothing exciting there…just a hefty bill. Eeek! September is such an expensive month.

For dinner I ate a SOL veggie burger;

…on an Arnold Thin with mayo, chipotle mustard, sharp white cheddar and lettuce. On the side was a crispy apple;

The photo came out dark because we lost our sun for a bit later in the day. I was not very impressed with this SOL burger. I liked the Spicy Black Bean ones much, much better. This wasn’t horrible by any means, just not great. I’ll likely not buy these again.

After we were done with dinner, the kids and I took KC for a walk. My hubby is at hockey tonight and I needed to get both the kids out of the house to occupy them. Upon our return I ate a chocolate brownie Z-Bar;

And then we left the house again to hit Walmart for more back to school crap. Both the kids needed indoor shoes, hand sanitizer and DS needed a pencil sharpener and a ruler, not to mention body wash. I got suckered into a t-shirt for one and a hat for the other and left the place $75 poorer. Ugh…

Now the kids are showered, watching Hannah Montana and we are not going anywhere else tonight. I’m enjoyed a dark cocoa Camino hot chocolate as I type this out and then I’ll be reading all the blogs that I missed so far today. Then I’m not cat litter duty. Fun times. Hehe!

Before I go I wanted to show you all the new shorts and tank that I ordered online from Lululemon’s “loot” (or on sale) section. I’m pretty excited to get these new beauts on for my next workout!!

Bye for now!

Heat and Hockey

Today was gloriously HOT out…. 39*C (not sure what that is in F) and just the kind of weather I wait for each year. So it felt a little odd taking DS to hockey camp this morning! Before we left I made a bowl of oat bran;

• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup oat bran
• cinnamon
• almond butter
• raspberries

A purdy little feast!!

I had to have the boy dropped off for 8:30am so I went into work for 9. That seems so late after starting at 8 all summer! Before I knew it, it was almost gym time so I broke into a Peanut Butter cookie Luna bar that I picked up at TJ’s.

I don’t normally buy Luna bars because I’m not a fan, but I couldn’t resist a few flavours that I haven’t tried before. This one was actually pretty good! It kinda reminded me of a PB flavoured rice crispy square.

I’ve got a few sore spots from weeding yesterday so I set the treadmill to 6mph and ran a leisurely few miles. It actually felt really good to stretch everything out without using too much exertion!

• Time: 45 minutes
• Avg Hr: 162
• Max HR": 175
• Calories Burned: 444
• Distance: 4.5 miles

I was good and hungry by the time I settled back at my desk so I dove into my lunch. First up was the last of the beer butt chicken, the last of the raw marinara sauce and 6 chopped up black olives. I guess you could call this a salad of sorts;

Mmmm….all kinds of tasty! Then I ate the last candy cane beet from the market.

I’ll be visiting this vendor again on Saturday. These were some of the best beets I’ve ever had.

After work I went back to the rink to pick my boy up. I was hoping he’d be beat out, but not so much! He was so hyper!! You’d of thought that 3hrs of ice time as well as other activities would tucker him out. Ah, to be young again!

I used the “too hot to cook” excuse and stopped by the grocery store for buns and sandwich fixings for a cool, easy supper. My multi grain bun sported a slice of deli ham, mortadella, swiss cheese, mayo, chipotle mustard and lettuce. On the side was cherry tomatoes, honeydew and cantaloupe;

Awesome summer meal! And the perfect ending was a bowl of froyo;

I’ve spent most of the evening on the deck with my book which I will be returning to after finishing up here. Then I have lunches to make for tomorrow for me and DS. I’m looking forward to tomorrow because my bestie is down from Windsor armed with her bootcamp notes so she’ll be hitting the gym with my after work! YAY! Enjoy the rest of your night!

Bye for now!!

Full Bar Review

YAY…the weekend is finally here! Today is a bit overcast and cool, but the next 2 days are supposed to be fabulous. I’ve got plans to hit up the local farmers market, watch ball hockey and plant my vegetable garden. Can’t wait!

I made a blended bowl of goodness this morning…
-1 cup water
-1/3 cup Quaker oats
-cinnamon
-coconut extract
-mango
-pineapple jam
-homemade cinnamon maple almond butter
-unsweetened coconut
This bowl tasted fabulous but didn’t keep my hunger at bay for very long. Not sure if it was the oats or the fact that I ran later than usual last night.

Speaking of last night, I made myself a delicious snack. Into this very cute “bowl” (which used to have a candle in it) I put a ½ cup of cottage cheese, a scoop of pineapple jam and some Nature’s Path Agave granola.
Ummm…YUM! Unfortunately, this snack woke up my sugar craving monster and I ended up serving myself a (small) scoop of Bryers double churned cookies and cream ice cream. Very good! It’s probably a good thing that ice cream isn’t a fave of mine or I bet I would’ve gone back for more! PS, the bowl was camera shy! :)

Because I was fighting hunger all morning I decided to eat half of my banana bread mini loaf before going to the gym.
I ate the other half as my lunch dessert.

My hubby is off work today and met me at the gym. I always like when he shows up because it’s nice to be active together without the kids around. It was mucho HOT in there today. That’s the one complaint I have about our gym. The hotter it gets outside, the hotter the gym is. I checked the thermostat on my way out and it was 75 in there! Too hot for running comfortably, for sure! Anyways, I did a 45 minute run at a slightly faster speed than I’ve been doing the past few weeks.

Time: 45 minutes
Avg Hr: 163
Max Hr: 182
Calories Burned: 445
Distance: 4.25 miles

My hubby found a fan that he plugged in mid way through and it was sweet relief! I sat in front of it for a good few minutes before I went to change. Very refreshing.

I made a huge, delicious salad for lunch today!
-romaine
-spinach
-tri coloured bell pepper pieces
-mango
-pork tenderloin
-strawberry pomegranate dressing
Isn’t that a beauty? It took forever to eat, too! Love lunches that are time challenged! ;)

Just before leaving work I ate the last of my fresh fruit….raspberries and blackberries;
Tonight was Pilate’s night and ball hockey straight afterward. I decided it was the perfect opportunity to try out one of the Full Bars that I got a few weeks ago in the mail. Would you be surprised if I told you that I went for the chocolate one???
Here are my thoughts on this product. When I opened it up my first reaction was that it looked like a rice crispy square made with puffed wheat so I was surprised (not unpleasantly) that the bar was soft and chewy.
It had a fantastic chocolate flavour and I liked that I could see the puffed wheat. So, the way these bars work is that you are supposed to eat one 30 minutes before a meal with an 8oz glass of water. The idea is that you won't be hungry for much dinner, hence weight loss. I ate this around 5pm, then went off to Pilate's. It held me over well until I got out and was able to eat what I had prepared for dinner. Now, in my opinion, I think that I can pack a lot of fruit or veggies into me a 1/2 hour before I eat for 160 calories and that would obviously be better for my health. That being said, I think these bars are a great choice for those times where you are in a rush and don't have time to scarf back a salad before you eat. Like me on Friday nights. I would buy this product again, but not for a weight loss tool because 1) I'm not trying to lose any weight and 2) I think fruits and veggies would be a better choice. I would definitely use it as a means to tie me over when I know it'll be awhile before I can get some chow. You can learn more about FullBars right here.

I made a tasty wrap to eat after class on my drive across town. This baby has a ¼ of an avocado, a LC cheese wedge, deli turkey and romaine lettuce....
The perfect portable dinner! I also drank a small French vanilla cappuccino at the ball hockey game as my sweet end. It's pert near 9pm right now and I'm nursing an x-large chai tea from Tim Horton's. I plan to bring it out on the front porch to enjoy the rest of the evening with. Anybody have exciting plans this weekend? Or, how about having to do something you are NOT looking forward to??

Bye for now!!

Half Day Thursday

We woke up to a windy, wet morning today! Thankfully, the wind blew it all out and the skies were blue by noon. I worked until lunch today so now I'm FREE until Tuesday!! YAY! Breakie was my favourite combo;
-1 cup water
-1/3 cup Old Wessex 5 Grain cereal
-cinnamon
-1 tbsp homemade PB
-carob chips
-cinnamon sprinkles
Oh, so good and held me over until just past 1pm! That's some staying power! I did have my dates this morning as a boredom snacky.
Does anybody else ever feel the need to eat something when bored??? It can't be just me....I hope! I also ate this sweet, juicy strawberry that was left from a meeting at work today.
A much better choice than all the pastries and muffins that were up for grabs!

I made a few mundane stops before I came home to change and eat lunch. I had to make something simple because I only had an hour before I had to be across town for my orthotic fitting appointment. I decided on an English muffin with Sabra hummus, sliced yellow tomato and some sliced green olives. I also finished my sweet potato fries from the other night.
For the life of me, I can not get this picture straight. DUH! This was a great tasting lunch! I got the idea for the muffin toppings from this months Prevention magazine. The article was about simple meal ideas that contained "MUFA"...mono saturated fats. I guess these are suppose to be great ingredients to eat for a happy tummy. You can find the information right here. In keeping with good for the belly foods theme, I ate this Activia yogurt that I also scooped from the meeting at work...
I adore this brand of yogurt, but it is costly so I don't buy it much. The vanilla is to die for. Straight up, no lies!

So, the podiatrist and 2 of his employees are guys that I went to high school with. How random is that? And I haven't seen any of them since I graduated, which was a LONG time ago (I can't believe I'm going to admit this, but it was 1992! *BLUSH*) I was nice to catch up with them. Bottom line is that my left ankle seems to be mostly healed. The right side, on the other hand, is still inflamed. "Thick" was the word that he used. He told me it would be OK to start wearing kitten heels, but nothing higher and when I run on the treadmill I'm to be sure to switch things up a bit every ten minutes so I don't put extra strain on my feet by doing the same thing for long periods of time. Good stuff to know! His office is right by the mall so I whipped in there to get some birthday party supplies. Can't leave the mall without hitting up Starbuck's so I treated myself to a grande NF iced green tea latte.
I enjoyed this while waiting for the kids to be done school. Ahhh...downtime!

I had a grown up version of one of my favourite childhood meals tonight...a hot dog sandwich! I lived off these until I got serious about my health a few years ago. The sammie consisted of white bread slathered with relish, mustard, ketchup and 2 hot dogs. Tonight's version had WW bread, relish, dijon mustard and ketchup with an Yves jumbo veggie dog.
I also had a side of steamed edamame...
My sweet end was a SF dulce du leche pudding and an unpictured Lindor chocolate.
I also nibbled on about a 1/4 cup of trail mix throughout the afternnon, but didn't take any picture's as it was a bit here and a bit there.

The CSI season finale is on tonight but I think that I will get out for a walk before I sit down to watch it. I'm off work tomorrow and have a very fun morning trip planned that I can't ait to share with you in tomorrow's post. Here's a hint....it involves another awesome blogger! Come back tomorrow to get the deets!!

Bye for now!!