Last Chance!

cliHello!  I just wanted to stop in with a quick post!  Work was INSANE today and DS had an out of town soccer game that we had to leave the house at 5:30 for.  Ahhh!!!  So here’s a run down for you!
Breakfast:
Nature’s Path hemp oatmeal made with one cup of water and topped with carob chips and coconut butter.  I liked the hemp oatmeal, but the flax is still my favourite!
Snackage:
It was 30 Day Shred day so we did level 2 again.  Because I had an hour lunch I spent another 15 on the elliptical.  Another difficult, but good workout!
Lunch:
Sandwich made with Silver Hills bread, mortadella, cassata cheese and some mayo.  Totally forgot about the lettuce.  DOH!  Still a fantastically filling lunch!  I also had a crispy, sweet Ginger Gold apple:
I made taco pasta for the fam for dinner.  Simply prepare your ground beef with a packet of taco seasoning like you were making tacos, then mix with pasta when done.  Simple and they love it!  I ate the second half of my spaghetti squash with kidney beans, salsa and some Fage: 
**There are still a few hours to enter my giveaway for a $60.00 CSN Stores gift cert!!!**  Check it out!!
Bye for now!!

Highlights

Hi!!  It seems like I’ve been gone from the blog so long.  “Busy” has been my middle name the past few days and I can guarantee  that I’m exhausted today.  I don’t have the energy for a huge post and wouldn’t do that to you anyways, so I present you with some highlights instead…
Wednesday
It was a typical day at work.  I did have a pretty decent lunch, though! 
Cottage cheese, blueberries, a peach and honey. 
I also picked my first spaghetti squash of the season from my garden.
I steamed half and topped it with salsa, a wee bit of sour cream and kidney beans for a great meal!
I bought these 2 chocolate bars that were just begging to come home with me: I’ve only tried the 64% with cacao nibs and its to die for!
Thursday
This was actually my Friday.  Amen!!  My belly was a little off all day so I decided to buy some chicken soup from Tim Horton’s instead of eating the tomato/tuna salad I had packed:
I kept dinner light, too with scrambled eggs and a toasted Ezekiel muffin with zucchini jam: We went to Costco after dinner to pick up a few pies for the hockey fund raiser Friday night.  Each family was required to bring dessert so we took the easy way out! 
Friday
DD had an appointment downtown Toronto so that’s where I spent my day.  Looks like a mall inside, doesn’t it?  After her appointment we grabbed some Starbucks and walked around outside for a bit.  I had a grande iced decaf Americano with a shot of vanilla syrup:
DS was pretty sure he was gonna “pet” one of these pigeons: Yeah, right!  :)  On the way home we stopped at Chudleighs apple orchard to see what varieties were available.   The one I love, honey crisp is due out at the end of September along with the kids fave, McIntosh.  I did, however, get my second fave: Friday night was the hockey party.   My babysitter bailed in the 11th hour so we ended up renting a room at the hotel that the party was held at.  One of the dad’s is the manager so anyone who wanted to have a few drinks got to stay at a reduced rate.  We stashed the kids with movies and what such and proceeded to have a blast.  Don’t worry, we checked in on them frequently.  I  knew dinner would be a late one so I had a microwave dinner before we left to tie me over: These are just a few photos from the night:
The evening was a huge success and a good time to boot.  All the parents on the team DS is playing on this year are fabulous people and I’m so happy to have made a new group of friends.  YAY!!
Saturday
I was happy to find a big pot of oats in the breakfast area the next morning!  I topped them with raisins and honey. Lunch was pretty great, too.  Kale freshly picked with tomato and tuna all dressed with some fig balsamic dressing: We went to a BBQ at the neighbours place last night.  I didn’t take any pics because I got the distinct feeling the the hostess woulda been offended.  I did take these over, though…
HA! I’ve consumed more alcohol this weekend than I have in 10+ years!!!
Today
We all slept in this morning, but had to be in the next city over by 11:30 for 4 hours worth of soccer.  Ugh…  At least it was a gorgeous day out!  We stopped for a very late lunch at Subway before coming home.  I think DS was famished even though I fed him hardboiled eggs throughout the morning!
I had a veggie & Swiss on a flat bread; This is my second go with the flat brad and I’m not convinced yet.  They just seem too gummy.  We also got cones at McDonald’s for the drive. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in the cool rec room watching Eclipse.  The fam loved it, BTW!   I’m going to go scrounge up something for dinner.  Then I’ll be relaxing some more.  Don’t want to start the first full week back to work tuckered out!!!
Don’t forget to enter my CSN Stores giveaway!!!
Bye for now!!

Couch Potato

It was a toughie getting out of bed this morning! I was so warm and cozy under the covers. *sigh* I made sure that breakfast made it all worth while, though!

• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup Quaker oats
• cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice
• cranberries
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• almond butter
• chocolate honey

Work was busy so that part of the day went lickity split. Before the gym I munched happily away on a gorgeous, delicious, organic honey crisp apple;

Honey crisp is hands down my favourite breed of apple. Crispy, sweet, firm…YUM! I paired the apple with some nuts;

I had a good run today. The last 10 minutes felt like 400, but it was still good! :)

• Time: 45 minutes
• Avg Hr: 158
• Max Hr: 177
• Calories Torched: 452
• Distance: 4.5 miles

The whole time I was running I was thinking about my lunch. I was pretty eager to dig into another helping of quinoa stew. It was even better today, as most stews tend to be!

This meal has so many flavours and textures going on so for a girl who likes a party in her mouth, this is heaven in a bowl…or Tupperware container in this case! :)

DS had hockey practice from 5-6 tonight that I knew I’d be going to so I ate a piece of apple butter bread about 4ish;

I hadn’t been to a practice in a bit and was glad to have gone. To be quite honest, I really enjoy the social aspect that hockey has brought with it! I know that DS lurves his carbs after being on the ice so I had planned a pasta dinner for the fam. Seeing as I already had the sauce in the freezer, it was just a matter of boiling the noodles and nuking the sauce. For myself there was a small spaghetti squash with some TJ’s Spinach sauce…here it is;

And a side of kale chips. Mmmmm…..

Trust ne when I say that it tasted WAY better than the picture would indicate!! Dessert was a piece of pumpkin coconut chocolate chip bar with some almond butter spread on top.

Fan-taste-ic! SYTYCD Canada is on followed by The Biggest Loser. Looks like I’ll be in front of the TV again tonight! Swimming starts up again tomorrow night so I won’t be parked on the couch…promise! Catch ya tomorrow!

Bye for now!!

BSI:Pumpkin!

I’m going to go out on a limb here and hope that nobody is too sick of hearing about my Wii Fit yet because I was up early and at her again this morning! I did 4 yoga moves to stretch out…Sun Salutation, Warrior, Half Moon and Tree. Then I did some each of the aerobics and balance games. Too fun! I did more today than that, but I placed the info in the post as it happened throughout the day...

I was pretty hungry again by breakfast. Here’s my bowl for today;


-1 cup water
-2 Tbsp hazelnut liquid coffee mate flavor
-1/2 cup Quaker oats
-1/2 a mashed banana
-cinnamon
-2 Tbsp trail mix


Once again, I ate breakfast while quizzing DD for her test which is tomorrow. The information seems to be sinking in finally. There’s a lot to learn so we’ve been studying in the morning and after dinner. She’s also been reading the material over before lights out. The teacher sent home a few websites for the kids to checkout as well. I think I’ll let her at that tonight as a change of pace.

I was honored to receive an award yesterday from Balance, Joy, Delicas!


I love getting awards! It’s so cool to know that there are others who enjoy reading about my daily going on’s! I’ve decided not to pass it along to any particular blog...they’re all wonderful and most of the ones I read have already been tagged! I do want to thank ALL my readers out there! Those who comment and those who don’t alike! Thanks for all the support and great information you all share everyday!!

I had a bit of a (chocolate) snack attack last night. No pictures as it was all random crap! First, I ate about 4 chocolate covered almonds, then 2 chocolate chip cookies while I got the kids lunches ready, then a hot chocolate followed suit. Thank God it was a diet Swiss Miss packet! After that, I shoved a piece of minty gum in my mouth and left the kitchen to watch The Biggest Loser. I know exactly what happened, too! After we got back from swimming, I realized how “messy” the kitchen was. I really don’t enjoy having to do housework at 8pm and had a little bit of a melt down. Hence the chocolate! I am SUCH an emotional eater!

Went home at lunch and hopped on the Wii. I won’t get into the details, though. I’ll leave it that I did mostly strength training moves with a little yoga and cardio thrown in the mix!

For lunch I ate this beautiful Lean Cuisine Steak & Cheddar panini;

This is now officially my favorite “flavor”. If I’d of been at home, I would’ve left it as an open faced sandwich and eaten it with a fork and knife as it was a bit messy for desk eating. It was just so cheesy and melty! For any Weight Watcher readers, it was 7 points and well worth every single one! Just look at this goodness!


I also packed a yogurt and apple. I ate the yogurt in the a.m. and fancied it up with a little agave and a teaspoon of hot chocolate powder. Yum, yum!


The afternoon positively dribbled by today. I had to keypunch all afternoon and it was pretty much lulling me to sleep! Ugh! I shouldn’t complain because I really do have a pretty good (paying) job! Like the other day, I did not get to my apple. I drank a hot cocoa at 3pm break and that left no room for my fruit.

I found a small spaghetti squash in the back of my fridge that needed to be used so I cooked it up in the microwave and topped it with the end of the chili and some wilted spinach. The sprinkles on top is nutritional yeast....tastes just like cheese!


I made my BSI recipe tonight, too! I wanted this one to be fun, simple and on the sweet side. Here's what I came up with!

Crispy Pumpkin Pie Bars

-2 Tbsp butter
-1 cup pumpkin puree
-2 cups mini marshmallows (mine were colored because that's what I had on hand)
-4 cups Kashi Puffs cereal
-2 Tbsp cinnamon chips
-1 tbsp cinnamon
-2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
-1/2 tsp nutmeg

*prepare an 8 x 8 pan by lining it with saran wrap (so that the ends hang out the sides)
*melt butter in a large pot
* add pumpkin and spices. Stir to combine.
*when mixture is hot, add marshmallows, stirring until melted


*add cereal, remove from heat and stir until Puffs are all coated.
*mix in cinnamon chips
*spread evenly into pan and refrigerate for a few hours until cooled completely.


*grab plastic wrap by ends and remove from pan. Cut into 9 squares
*plate and enjoy


These babies came out very moist and taste just like pumpkin pie. They're obviously a spin off of Rice Crispy Treats, but with a huge twist! Thanks again to Lindsay for picking the BSI of the week!

Bye for now!!

**I will be late with tomorrow’s post! My son is doing something VERY exciting after dinner and I likely won’t be home until around 10pm. Details to follow!**