Rained Out, Horsies & Rhubarb

Today started out wet and cold and didn’t get too much better. The sun came out for a bit, but not long. The kids and I were up at the crack ass of dawn for All Star soccer tryouts (for DS) which we drove out to only to find out that they were cancelled due to the heavy rain. We’re troopers, though and I don’t regret going. DS was disappointed that he didn’t get to play, but he had a good chat with the convenor who made him feel better about it. I toasted an Ezekiel muffin, stuffed it with almond butter and peach/blackberry jam and took it to go:

Seeing as we were home with plenty of time to spare before going out to the farm I spent some time catching up on blog reading and perusing eBay. I scored a few more brand new Lululemon items for great deals so I’m happy about that! Out at the farm we discovered 2 new babies! The newest addition is Mystery. She’s so new that she hasn’t even left the barn yet!

And then we have Firefly who is only 18.5” tall! She’s bursting with energy, though!!

The second oldest baby, Flec, was extremely interested in my rain boots!

I know, she was totally jealous of those beauties!! ;) When we got home I heated up the last refrigerated portion of asparagus barley risotto:

I have some portioned out in the freezer for quick lunches. I also ate a random, unpictured BBQ hotdog. Yum! After lunch I got to work on using the rest of my rhubarb. First was a strawberry rhubarb crisp recipe that I got from last month’s edition of clean eating magazine.

And instead of stewing the remaining stalks, I tired out this quick baking method from Prevention magazine.

I used a lot more than what the recipe called for. Here’s the saucy, delicious results!

After more relaxing I got started on dinner. The fam wanted me to bake a store bought lasagna that my hubby bought so I decided to roast myself some veggies and tofu while the oven was on. I used a sweet potato and 2 big carrots which all got coated in garlic olive oil, chilli powder, cumin, garam masala and lime juice. The tofu had some salmon spice on it. I also helped myself to a piece of garlic bread:

Twp pieces of tofu were left behind because I really just wanted to get to dessert! HA! A generous scoop of the crumble served with a dollop of Cool Whip free:

Fantastic!!! The recipe called for coconut oil in the topping but I don’t have any so I used melted coconut butter instead and it created such a decadent aroma! Loved this!

We just got back from visiting my parents and I have to get everything ready for tomorrow. It’s going to be a busy week….DD has her dance recital rehearsal Monday & Tuesday night, I have Pilates Tuesday night, both the kids have swimming lessons Wednesday, DS had soccer on Thursday and DD has her actual recital Thursday & Friday. We’re all going Friday night to watch. What does your week look like?

Bye for now!!

The Best Ice Cream Ever

Hey, hey! How’s everybody doing? Yesterday was very busy and slipped away on me! That’s OK, though because I’d rather be busy than idle. It started with a 7:30am doctor appointment for DD because she’s been complaining about some chest pain since she had that flu last weekend. I thought at first that it may have been pulled muscles from chucking, but it went on longer than I thought it should have. Good thing we went because she has pneumonia again. This strain isn’t as severe as the one she had in December with the H1N1, but she was put back on antibiotics. *sigh*

I had a quickie breakfast before we left:

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup oats
• cinnamon
• raisins
• Nature’s Path PB granola

With this bowl I polished off another bottom-of-the-bag cereal.

Yesterday was the day we ran all our payrolls for the week so it was work, work, work. I did break for a WCMN Clif Bar about a half hour before heading to the gym:

I hopped on the elliptical at the gym yesterday…

• Time: 45 minutes
• Avg Hr: 149
• Max Hr: 164
• Calories Torched: 408
• Distance: 4.8 miles

I threw some leftovers together for lunch. It actually tasted pretty decent!

WW couscous, grilled tofu, asparagus all tossed with white balsamic vinegar. Later in the day I ate a bowl of my stewed rhubarb.

I like to peel my rhubarb (same with celery), but it ends up removing most of the red tint. That’s why it looks so green.

The kids had swimming lessons last night so I made the fam pasta and a SOL veggie burger and roasted sweet potato for myself:

On the burger was a LC cheese wedge, Dijonnaise, garlic pickles and lettuce. It was so nice of the sun to make an appearance, too. HA!

Today we set off early again. This time it was to the lab to get DD some chest x-rays. She thought that process was pretty cool. Weirdo! I just felt like a very simple bowl of oats today and it tasted SO good! Sometimes I get carried away with the toppings and forget how much I like just a basic bowl of oats.

• 2/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup Quaker oats
• cinnamon
• apple cinnamon honey
• pecans

Amazing. My morning snack was another Clif Bar. Chocolate mint this time.

I love this flavour and it’s a real treat because I’ve never seen it in Canada. Today’s gym session was an invigorating incline walk on the treadmill.

I enjoyed another mish mash lunch today:

WW couscous (again), tomato, cucumber, sweet potato, raspberry walnut dressing. Good stuff.

Dinner tonight was kinda pathetic, but I really just wanted dessert! You’ll see why in a minute. My meal was a grilled chicken breast and corn on the cob:

Brutal! LOL So, after work I stopped by a newly opened Baskin Robin’s to pick up DD’s requested ice cream cake for her b-day party tomorrow. While there I spotted some pineapple coconut ice cream. Drool!

I promptly dished myself a (small) bowlful. I kept the bowl small so I could fill it up and trick my brain. HA!

This is hands down the best thing I’ve eaten in a LONG time. OMG! Creamy, full of coconut flavour and packed with pineapple tidbits. To.Die.For. I could have gone back and eaten the rest of the tub. No joke. Instead, I hopped on my laptop to hammer out this post. See, I knew blogging was good for my health!

Tonight is free and will see me watching CSI and Vampire Diaries in a bit. Until tomorrow…

Bye for now!!

Mother’s Day, Horses and Lilies

Happy Monday, everybody!! It’s been a cold one around here, but the sun is out which is more than I can say for the weather over the weekend so I’ll take it! I had a low key, relaxing Mother’s Day yesterday. It all started with breakfast in bed courtesy of my kidlets. DD prepared me a bowl of oats. I know there was cranberries, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries in it and I’m told there was also a little sugar (like, a ½ a tsp, Mom) and “some” honey. DS served up a bowl of the same fruit, still frozen. LOL! And a cup of (very strong) tea.
Such dolls! After that bowl of oatmeal I was pretty full so the berries thawed on the counter until lunch time.

We took a drive out to the farm and I finally got to play with the 2 babies!! I snapped a bunch of photos so here are a few. The reddish horse is Cinder Ella and the silvery on is Flec, short for reflection because she looks like her Dad.
They’re teething which is why you see them nibbling on our hands. At this point they’re about the size of a golden retriever and just as friendly. Last years babies were a lot more skittish, whereas these 2 love to be handled. Once back from the barn and washed up, I enjoyed an apple Fritter straight from the Farmer’s Market:
Haven’t had one of these in ages and it was scrumptious for sure. Lunch was on the light side because we were dining at my parents place for dinner and they eat ridiculously early….like 4:30pm. So around 1ish I ate my now thawed berries with some kefir and Nature’s Path PB granola. There was also a kind bars on the side.
I brought some of the bars to my parents place my Mom and sis loved them.

My Mom mentioned in passing last week that she really liked calla lilies and hydrangeas so I set out to find her a plant for Mother’s Day. I found the MOST gorgeous calla lily! It’s my favourite colour in the whole wide world and I knew she would love it.
Isn’t that one of the most beautiful plants you’ve ever seen??? Love. My kids quickly made friends with a random cat that was wandering around the nursery:
They’re like their Mom when it comes to animals!

We all enjoyed a great feast for dinner. There was a good variety of food. Here’s my plate loaded with ½ a sausage, sweet potato fries, bean salad, asparagus and artichoke hearts. I also ate an unpictured (small) piece of steak.
Mom also made her signature Drumstick cheesecake as it’s my brother’s b-day today and that was his requested cake.
Here is my monster piece.
I tend to go a bit overboard when this is around because she only makes it once, maybe twice a year. After dinner we all pulled up a piece of couch and vegged out. HA! I did more of that when I arrived home under the guise of watching The Amazing Race. So sad the cowboys didn’t win. Boo!!

After a pretty good sleep I woke up fresh and ready to start a new week. A delicious, non oatmeal breakfast sealed the deal.
-1 cup thawed berries
-1 cup cooked quinoa
-1/2 cup USVAB
-cinnamon
I just tossed this in the microwave for 3 minutes, checking it on and off to make sure nothing bubbled over. This breakfast held me over quite well until my late 1:30 lunch. I did enjoy a wee snack in the morning. One of my co workers left me a piece of homemade rhubarb cake on my desk:
I really liked the cinnamon topping! Speaking of rhubarb; look at what I brought home from the farm yesterday!
My MIL and DD went out into the cold weather to harvest a box for me. Aren’t they awesome?! I split it with my Mom. After I post this I’ll be washing, chopping and stewing this. Can’t wait!

Its yoga Monday so no gym for me. Instead, I went home, harassed my cats some, made a chai tea latte and read a few chapters of Foods Matters by Mark Bitton. I found this at the library Saturday morning and snatched it up. The only thing is that I have to be careful reading these types of books because they really have an effect on me. If I were on my own I wouldn’t buy half the food that I do, but it’s difficult to completely follow “my way” of eating and thinking considering my hubby is not on the same page as I am. Just as he can not force me to eat strictly meat and carbs, I can not force him to give up those same foods. Such is life. Moving on…..back at work I ate half a WW pita stuffed with a LC cheese wedge, salmon and romaine lettuce.
Kinda hard to take a good pic of a pita! HA! I ate a few chocolate soccer balls throughout the afternoon.
And yes, I am 110% guilty of pilfering these from DS’s loot bag from a party he went to on Saturday! ;)

Dinner tonight was grilled turkey sausage, asparagus and WW couscous with some Japanese dressing on top.

Then I ate a kind bars:

Probably a little much for a sweet end, but SO good!

Well, I’m off to pick DD up at dance and then I’ll be moving on to that rhubarb. Any fun plans for the week?

***Edited to add!!! Marianne is hosting a fantastic Silver Hills Sprouted Grian Bread giveaway!!

Bye for now!!