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!!

Home Alone

Today marked one of the rare days that I got the house ALL to myself! Two and a half hours, to be exact! DS had hockey practice from 4:45-6:05 and then they drove one of his team mates home. DD went along to hang out with one of the boys sisters who she has taking a real liking to. Don’t get me wrong….I love my family, but it’s a real treat to be at the house by myself once in a blue moon!

On with the eats!

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

Using coffee is quickly becoming a favourite of mine! I like to use tea, too….I just always forget to brew it the night before. I should get on that when I’m done here!

Work was smoking busy today. I broke at noon to snack on the last (stale) butternut squash muffin;

I found this lonely only hiding out in the back of the fridge. Chances are it came home from somebody’s lunch and just got tossed in the fridge (in a baggie, of course!)

I was psyched to get to the gym today because they installed the TV’s….finally! I think I got a little too excited because I was really dragging my ass by the end of the run. I slowed the speed down a bit for the last 5 minutes I was huffing so bad! DOH!

• Time: 45 minutes
• Avg Hr: 168
• Max Hr: 182
• Calories Torched: 508
• Distance: 4.5 miles

I can tell just by those stats that it was a toughie!!

I turned last night’s leftovers into a great lunch. I warmed up the rest of the bell peppers and a small piece of chicken and rolled them up into a flatout wrap that has a LC cheese wedge spread on it. On the side there were some orange slices and grapes;

Here’s a close up of the inside of the wrap;

Later in the afternoon I had an Earl Grey tea. Here’s my saying for the day;

I like that one! Just before leaving for the day I ate the last half of my Clif Bar from yesterday because I knew it would be a while before dinner time rolled around.

When I arrived home I changed into comfy, warm clothes, made a coffee and plopped myself on the couch for some Food TV. *bliss* I got started on dinner about 6pm. DS likes pasta in a big way after hockey so I combined some ground beef with a good 4 cups of homemade marinara sauce then combined it with 2 packages of store bought ravioli. That mixture went into an oven safe dish and got sprinkled with a combo of panko crumbs and marble cheese. 30 minutes in the oven and voila!

I ate maybe 4 of the ravioli….yummy! That's my pasta limit, though. For myself I baked up some butternut squash fries using one of the squash picked from the garden yesterday and I also made some bok choy with a little Ted Readers peach bourbon sauce. That blob is Dijonnaise;

Looky what came in the mail for me!

THANKS, POM Wonderful! I can’t wait to try this tea. It looks so refreshing. Well, I just finished helping with homework and now I plan to grab a bit of dessert. I’m thinking a slice of banana butternut loaf with some almond butter. Mmmm!

Bye for now!!

Run, There’s Mosquito's!!!

Happy Friday! The weekend is finally here! I was off work today and enjoyed a nice, relaxing day. I started off by sleeping in until 8am and taking my time getting ready. Then I enjoyed a great bowl of rye flakes!

• 1/4 cup POM Wonderful
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup rye flakes
• dried currants
• pecan pieces, carob chips, shaved coconut

My hubby commented that my bowl looked like the filling of a butter tart! That’s how good it tasted, too! :)

After we dropped the kids off at Italian school we set out on a nice long walk. Part of said walk was on a trail where my poor hubby was getting eaten alive by skeeters. They never bother much with me. To keep them off him we decided to run out the rest of the trail….I would guess a good mile. As it was we were gone for almost 2 hours.

• Time: 1hr 40 mins
• Avg Hr: 117
• Max Hr: 178
• Calories Burned: 508

I’d say we walked a good 7 miles. We got home with enough time to go seal the deal on the Jeep Liberty! YAY! We’ll be picking it up next Wednesday. Very exciting stuff!

Once the kids were picked up we settled in for lunch. I made a toasted WW bun with a 1/4 cup egg beater, pepper jack cheese and Sabra hummus. On the side was some strained yogurt with strawberry banana jam and a sprinkle of Dorset cereal…

I took the camera down to my garden today to take some progress photos to show you. Here are my tomatoes…

Flowers from the bell pepper plants;

My crazy butternut squash vines!

You can see the last 2 heads of lettuce, too. And lastly, my zucchini plants;

As you can see, things are coming along nicely!

Later in the day DD and I went to run some errands. DS decided he wanted tacos for dinner but all the ground beef was still frozen so I went to the grocery store to buy some. I can never leave with just what I went in for so when I saw this Mocha Almond Fudge coffee creamer I knew it was coming home with me!

An indulgence for sure but it’s not like I use it everyday.

Tacos are not my thing and never have been. Yucky. I decided to make a batch of vegan chilli that I have made before. I found the recipe over at Mara’s place this winter and loved it! I cut the recipe in half this time and still have plenty leftover for lunches. This batch had an onion, garlic, 1 cup bulgur, 2 cups water, a large can of tomato sauce, 1 can each of red kidney beans, lentils and chickpeas, green beans and 3 chipotle’s. I left those out last time and boy, oh boy did they EVER spice it up!

I topped my serving off with a good 1/3 cup of plain NF yogurt and some grated marble cheese…

Very, very good! I cooled my mouth off with another grocery store treat….cappuccino fro-yo with espresso bean flakes…

As good as it sounds and looks! I even went back for another bowl. *blush*

After all that food I figured I’d better move around some so I played “baseball” in the driveway with DS for a 1/2 hour. This meant he threw the ball at me while I dodged it and he laughed hysterically! What a kid. They’re down at the park now so I plan to tuck in on the front porch with my book until they get back. I’m aiming for an early night because I want to go to the market tomorrow to stock up on fruit for the week. Hope it doesn’t rain! Enjoy your evening!

Bye for now!!

Who Can Resist A Pancake Challenge?

When I read that Katie over at CCV was hosting a pancake challenge, I knew I wanted to submit a recipe. I began by getting all my dry ingredients out last night to speed the process along this morning. I decided to make Green Tea Latte Pancakes:

• 1/3 cup Quaker oats
• 2 tbsp bisquick
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• 1 tbsp plain NF yogurt
• 1 tsp match green tea powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• a squirt of agave (or honey)
• 3 tbsp unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze

I put everything into a Magic Bullet cup and whirled away for a minute or so. As you can see, I got 4 good sized pancakes from the batter. They were so good that I lost track of time and had to eat the last one one the go. Good thing I put the maple syrup on the side!! Here’s the stats on the recipe according to Spark People:

Calories	394
Fat	6.2
Fibre	11.1
Protein	26.8

Not too shabby, eh?

I also threw together a quick crispy cereal square concoction last night which I ate a piece of before going to the gym. I call these treats Puff N’ Stuff Squares.

And here’s the “recipe” for these bad boys although you can sub in any type of cereal and spices that your little heart desires!

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 bag miniature marshmallows
• 3 cups puffed wheat
• 3 cups puffed millet
• 1 cup Kashi Vive
• coconut shavings and carob chips to garnish

1. melt butter in a large pot then stir cinnamon in
2. add marshmallows and stir, stir, stir until smooth
3. add all of the cereal and mix very well until all is combined
4. press into a 9 x 9 pan and sprinkle with coconut & carob chips
5. allow to come to room temp before cutting into 16 squares

STATS!

Calories	130
Fat	3.3
Fibre	1.7
Protein	1.6

Here’s an up close and personal shot!

Well, I’m all reciped out for now, folks!

I had a few things to do at home over lunch today but wanted to get a bit of a workout in so I opted to do 30 minutes on the elliptical. After that I raced home (I live very close) and hung a load of laundry out on the line and pulled my frozen brussel sprouts out of the freezer to thaw. It’s amazing what one can accomplish in just under and hour! If I didn’t have to take the kids to the sitter, I would be walking or riding my bike to work. One day! Here’s my gym stats!

• Time: 30 minutes
• Avg Hr: 161
• Max Hr: 175
• Calories Burned: 308
• Distance: 3.4 miles

Mission accomplished! Can you guess what I at for lunch? That’s riiiight…SALAD!!!! I may eat one everyday but at least I switch up the toppings! I went with a burger theme today…

• red leaf lettuce
• grilled red onion and bell peppers
• feta
• St. Yves chick’n burger
• honey Dijon dressing

Me loves! I also snacked on a bunch of berries throughout the afternoon. Cherries, raspberries and blackberries to be exact!

When I got home there was a few samples of one of my favourite things in the mailbox: NUTELLA!

I sent away for the samples so long ago that I forgot all about them. Samples are good for me because I could seriously OD on this stuff!

We had grilled chicken breast for dinner tonight along with some canned mixed veggies (I’m trying to clean out the pantry) and I also sautéed up some brussel sprouts in a wee bit of avocado oil. Once toasty, they got mixed up with some Kraft Fig Balsamic dressing. Oh, yeah!

I remembered tonight that I much prefer canned veggies in soup. They’ve got a better consistency for it. My sweet end was a 1/4 cup of POM Wonderful w/ Blueberries topped off with tonic water;

I sipped on this while reading the new Prevention mag that came in the mail today. As for the rest of the night….it’s going to be an early one. I’ve been getting to bed WAY too late the past few nights and it’s starting to catch up to me. How are you all spending your evening?

Bye for now!!

And We Walked

I was up earlier than my alarm was set for because I was so excited for our walk. I was also excited to give those rye flakes that I bought yesterday a whirl. I was not disappointed!

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup POM wonderful w/ blueberries
• 1/2 cup rye flakes
• goji berries
• shaved coconut and carob chips

OMG…this bowl rocked my socks off! What a GREAT tasting breakfast!

As I was eating I could see that some very ominous clouds were rolling in. Sure enough, by the time we left it had started to rain. When we arrived we registered, picked up our t-shirts, snapped a family photo all before Mother Nature unleashed her fury. Here we are!

DS was less than thrilled about being out in a storm. Check the attitude out;

Boy did it RAIN! Actually, that’s too mild a word….it TEEMED! They actually had to delay the walk because there was so much thunder and lightening. When I checked the weather later on I realized that our region had been under a severe thunderstorm watch! Luckily, we nabbed a spot under the covered bridge and managed to stay somewhat dry. I took some pictures of the storm while we were waiting;

Finally the rain stopped and we were on our way. I was a little worried that it would be really muggy, but it was on the cool side which was perfect for our intent. The sun even came out at the half point mark! They always put on a great lunch for the participants and this year was no exception. They served roast beef sammies with sautéed onions, chickpea & pasta salad and assorted fresh fruit. I grabbed a sandwich, some chickpea salad, watermelon and apple…

At least half of the beef that you see here made it’s way to my hubby’s plate. Too much for moi! We stuck around for a bit so the kids could watch the entertainer they had for the little ones, but were still home by noon.

Before I forget, I put my chia seeds to good use last night. I mixed 2 tbsp of the seeds with a half cup of pure pressed, thick mango juice and let it sit for about a half hour. When it was all thick I added a dollop of Cool Whip Free and went to town!

Sorry for the crap photo. I didn’t realize how dark it was until I uploaded it to the computer! Post picture, the cool whip got mixed in and I enjoyed a lovely snack!! We also took some picture’s of or killer cat, Pepper, in action. Check out the ferociousness!

Here he is with his Polly pocket jacket that he covets like nobody’s business!

What a beast! :)

DS had a b-day party all afternoon so the rest of us enjoyed some down time while he was gone. That brings us up to dinner plans! We’re meeting 2 of my childhood friends along with their hubby’s and kids for dinner. The gals both live out of town now so it’s difficult to get together by we try to as much as possible. All of us have 2 kids….a girl and boy each. We laugh how the 3 of us morphed into 12! Dinner’s a little later than I’m use to so I snacked on a 1/2 cup of strained NF yogurt with blueberries, strawberries banana jam and some Dorset cereal.

This will tie me over nicely. I’ll leave you here now and continue today’s story in tomorrow’s post!!

Bye for now!