A Few Gems

I feel like I’ve been gone forever again!  LOL  My blogging “schedule” has certainly become anything but routine.  I just can’t seem to bring myself to sit down with my laptop when the weather’s been so nice!  To be honest, I use to prepare most of my posts from work, but extra responsibilities (which were obviously needed) have prevented me from doing that.  I do have a few things I wanted to update you all on, though.  Like some new (to me) eats!  Last Sunday we made the hour long trip to Whole Foods (and Lululemon) where I picked up a few gems. 
These 365 coconut frozen fruit bars are officially my favourite summer treat!  Not only are they pure coconutty goodness, but they’re chalk full of coconut pulp!  YUMMY!! I know some may dislike pulp, but I dig the texture of it….always have.
I L-O-V-E SOL burgers and these rice & mushrooms patties are no exception.  Jason actually found these and put them in the cart.  A year ago that NEVER would’ve happened!  LOL These Green Cuisine tempeh burgers were also a find at Whole Foods.  I love the texture that tempeh has!  I mostly enjoyed these done up on the BBQ then served on an Ezekiel English muffin with goat gouda, spicy mustard and lettuce. These Gardein Tucson breasts were a HIT with Jason and myself.   I’ve wanted to try Gardein for some time now, but just can’t justify the cost.  When I caught these on sale a few weeks ago, I snatched them up.  I served the “breasts” over a bed of WW couscous for a quick, delicious meal.   Even Jason, who is a total meat & potato kinda of guy, gave them a thumb up.  We’ve really been minding our plates lately.  Lots of fresh fruit (and veg), salmon, meat “alternatives” or poultry (the sausages in the following photos are all turkey sausages), quinoa and couscous perked up with various veggies and cheese.  We’re slowly moving to a “diet” (HATE that word) that is as local and fresh as possible which is SO much easier to do in the summer months.
The beans you see ^^^ there are fresh from my garden.  As in, pick’em, wash’em gently steamed’em, ate’em!
Here’s a look at how my other plants are getting on: Everything is later than usual due to cold, wet weather in May & June, but things are starting to pick up!
We have been enjoying some treats, too!  Noah was at a sleep over last weekend so Jason, Sarah and I tried out a local “hole in the wall” type   Italian restaurant.  I find restaurants that are very unassuming usually have the BEST food and Pauli’s was no exception!  We loved our meal!
Sarah’s Orangina brought me right back to Italy and my roasted onion, goat cheese, prosciutto pizza was to die for!  Jason ordered a chicken parm dish with a side of pasta which he inhaled.  All their sauces, dough’s, pasta, etc are homemade, on site.  The way it should be, right?  ;)
On to some non food goodies!  I wanted to show you a shirt and pair of shoes that I snagged at 50% off this past weekend! LURVE!!!  The shoes are super cute and very comfortable and the shirt is in my fave colour!  SCORE!  And last week Jason and I attended an awards assembly at the school to see Noah receive a HEART award for cross county: Sarah also got a Win It award which is given for having a good attitude.  I think they got the wrong kid.  ;)  LOL  So proud of them both!  
So I think I’ll stop here.  I have a few other fun posts planned and a review coming later this week, so you’ll be seeing me more frequently….I promise!!
Bye for now!!

All Together

Happy Saturday! Hope you’ve all been having a good weekend so far. I know I have been! I wanted to stop in to say hey and post my eats before I head back outside to enjoy the night.

Yesterday was a cereal kind of morning:

I went with a bowl of Nature’s Path optimum ginger cranberry with blueberries on top.

Work was busy, but there weren’t many people in the office. Vacations have definitely started! I tried another new (to me) bar before going to the gym:

This was just as tasty as the Caribbean Ginger one I ate the other day! Not surprisingly, my legs and shoulders were sore from the 30 Day Shred I had done the day before. I really wasn’t up to what I usually do in the gym but I knew that moving would help so I walked for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I didn’t bother with my HRM…..the point was just to loosen up.

When I packed my lunch I kept in mind that I would be learning a new “job” from a co worker in the afternoon so I took a few things that I could spread out. First I ate 2 golden beets that I had steamed the night before:

They look like peaches!! I love beets! It doesn’t matter what colour they are, I find them sweet like sugar. Over the course of the afternoon I ate 3 rice cakes with LC cheese wedges:

And some almonds:

My hubby worked late again last night so I got the kids some dinner and then made myself a bit of a “pilaf”. I cooked a 1/4 cup of couscous and then added dried cranberries, dried apricots, garlic salt, feta, green onion and a leftover falafel. It turned out awesome!

After dinner I went to Costco to stock up on some necessities like detergent, dish washer tabs and cat littler. I also bought a big bag of frozen blueberries and loads of cereal!

It was also time to replenish my cinnamon.

I hadn’t been sleeping well all week and after a great night with the windows open last night, I think it was due to the air conditioner. Have I ever mentioned that I despise air conditioning? I figure I freeze my ass of 8 months of the year, I don’t need to during the summer. I never use it in my vehicle and I stay out of malls in the summer, too. But I live in a house of 4 and can’t just be thinking of myself so I deal. I was happy that the temps cooled off enough for us to shut the damn thing off! Do you like air conditioning or could you live without it? I can’t be the only one that hates it!!

I wasn’t starving when I got up but needed to eat because there was some running around to do. i ended up toasting 2 slices of cinnamon apple bread and spreading one with almond butter and one with honey pecan spread;

Then it was off to Walmart for some b-day presents and the market! We loaded the basket with goodies while there.

Here’s what was in there besides the eggs:

Love, love love! When we got home I showered and had a quick lunch before heading over to my parents place to see my niece and nephew. I haven’t seen them since April!! They live 2 hours away which is a real bummer. And it was my nephew’s 5th b-day last week so we celebrated that, too. Back to lunch; again, I wasn’t very hungry so I made a smoothie. I used some of my hubby’s protein powder which I have never, ever tried before. It was OK. Into the MB went a little less than 1 scoop of the powder, 1 cup frozen cherries, dark chocolate cocoa and 1 cup almond milk:

This was creamy, smooth and I loved it! It also kept me full for almost 4hrs….BONUS! I took lots of photos of the kids, but here are a few:

DD & my niece who will be 4 in November.

DS & my nephew. Mom had cake and ice cream for G’s b-day:

Instead of cake my sis and I killed a container of watermelon:

Party hats!!

We spent the afternoon at a festival where the kids enjoyed many a barf inducing ride:

Seriously, though…they loved every minute of it! Back at my parents I noshed on a mini Lara bar:

Not long after we all broke into a jar of marinated seafood…

Yes, I ate that!!! :) We all stayed for dinner, my Uncle included and my Dad commented that it’s been a long time since the whole fam was together. He’s right and that made the meal more pleasurable! My bro & Dad went and picked up Portuguese take out from a caterer by their house and we feasted!

There was roasted chicken, potatoes, chickpea and octopus salad and grilled veggies. Delish! Dessert was some sort of custard tart.

It was good, too! I’m back home now and nursing a full belly. Tomorrow is soccer practice in the morning and then DS is off to a b-day party. Later in the day we’ll go back to the festival to watch the yearly greasy pole contest. That’s always a bucket of laughs!! Enjoy the rest of the weekend, bloggers!!

Bye for now!!