Wii Fit

This is my week to work 8:30-4:30, but in the spirit of keeping to my “earlier” morning routine, I got up as if I had to be at work for 8am and went for a 30 min walk on the treadmill. Can’t say that I felt any better or worse through out the day, but it sure was gratifying to have almost 2 miles clocked in bright and early!

I found my Bob’s Red Mill 10 Grain cereal hiding out in the back of my cupboard so that’s what I put in my bowl today!

-1 cup water
-1/3 cup 10 Grain cereal
-1 tsp pumpkin pie coffee powder
-1/2 mashed banana
-cinnamon
-2 Tbsp trail mix


I ate this while quizzing DD on her up coming social studies test. They’re learning about environments, habitats, biomes….all things that I’ve forgotten over the years and am now re-learning! When I was her age, PHOTOSYNTHESIS used to be one of my favorite words! How geeky is that??

My snack last night included about a 1/3 cup of pomegranate seeds and a Ryvita cracker with PB & Co. Cinnamon Swirl. I only got a picture of the seeds, though...I also may have noshed on a handful (or 2) of dry Cinnamon Toast Crunch.


Just look at what was in the office candy dish…


They’re caramel filled, too! Somehow, I managed to stop myself at these 3 pieces. My hope is that they get eaten (by other people) ASAP!

After 4 days off, I had a superb lunch run! My knee was a little funky at first, but the kinks seemed to work themselves out as the run progressed. Combining my walk this morning and my run, I did a total of 5.12 miles. YIPEE!

Lunch today was the last of my Sweet Potato Barley Risotto.


I must say that the flavor was even better today! Isn’t that so true of most leftovers? I only ate about three quarters of what you see before I was utterly stuffed. You’ll probably see it again tomorrow disguised as soup! I ate this yogurt this morning, but wasn't hungry for the apple so I took it back home.


After seeing all the samples of yummies that Quaker has sent out to many bloggers, I decided to email the Canadian Quaker people to see if they do that sort of thing, too. I forwarded my blog site so they could see that I actually do love oats. Here is the response I recieved from them today...

Hi Krista:

Thank you for sharing your blog with us. We applaud you for your efforts in maintaining and promoting healthy eating habits. Unfortunately, we do not have samples to send to you, but in appreciation of your loyalty to our brand we have forwarded some vouchers for complimentary Quaker products that we hope you will enjoy.

Once again thank you for your patronage and much success with your ongoing healthy lifestyle.

Best regards,
Robin

That works for me! Can't wait to see what "vouchers" I get! Thanks Robin!

For dinner tonight my hubby grilled up some Jenni-O turkey burgers that I bought last time I was in the States. On it I put some brie (it's hiding underneath getting all melty), kale, dijonnaise & hot peppers. I served mine with sauteed kale. I just steamed it down with a bit of water and salt & pepper. Too good!



For my sweet end I ate a Kashi granola bar. I <3 this flavor! My co-worker, D, brought my Wii Fit in today! WOHOO!!! Talk about being excited about something! Guess what I'm off to do?!?! have a good night, all! :)

Bye for now!!

Snowy Sunday

Sometime after I posted last night the rain turned into snow and we woke up to a white landscape this morning. Even though I do not like the snow, I must admit that there’s something magical about the first snowfall of the year. I did, however, feel the need to “summer up” my oats so I went with my Pina Colada Oats recipe today. The only thing I changed was nixing the egg whites and adding about a 1/3 cup of pineapple tidbits...



I adored the sweetness the pineapple juice lent to the oats in this recipe. I bet if I’d closed my eyes I would’ve heard the lull of the ocean and felt the sun on my face. Yeah, I know...dream on!

For a snack last night I munched on a coconut cream pie Lara Bar.



While the flavor was really good, the texture was softer than the other ones I've tried. That was a little disappointing, but I wouldn't turn one down over it! :)

Once my hubby and DS got home from hockey, we rock n’rolled out to the farm for our weekly visit. It was much whiter out there! I took some pictures before we left because I think the farm just looks gorgeous with a layer of snow covering everything!





Lunch today was a yummy one! I toasted a WW bagel, spread a Laughing Cow cheese wedge and about 1 Tbsp of fig preserves on it and then topped it with a slice of chicken breast. I paired it with an apple that my MIL gave to me from her trip to the market.



This was a great flavor combination. One of the items on my Christmas list this year is a panini press. This sandwich would have been just that much better if I had one of those handy appliances now! Here's a closer shot of the fig preserves that I used...



I spent the afternoon catching up on my blog reading before we had to leave for hockey again. DS had extra ice time from 3-4pm and was pretty excited about it. He told me that he needs lots of practice so that he can be better than his Dad. Funny kid! This was actually a test for coaches in training so they needed some boys on the ice. There only ended up being 8 kids, 7 of which play on the same rep hockey team. Not only that, they were all at least 1 year older than DS! I was so proud of how he went on the ice not knowing anyone and being the smallest and most inexperienced kid there. I wish I could be half as brave as him! This rink had a Tim Horton’s in it, praise the Gods!



Tim’s already has their Christmas cup out! This here is an extra large pumpkin spice tea. Love this flavor!

You may notice some color in this post. I finally figured out how to change the tool bar so that the cool functions show. Only took me 3 1/2 months! :)

Dinner tonight was a package of Shiritaki noodles with about a 1/2 cup of left over chili from the other night.



This dinner filled me so much that I didn't even bother with a sweet end. I did seed a pomegrante before eating so I may have a yogurt with some of the seeds a bit later on. Tonight I plan to watch the Amazing Race and hit the sack at a decent hour. Hope everyone enjoys the evening!

Bye for now!!

BSI:Sweet Potato

What a gray morning awaited me this morning! It’s been raining non stop since I woke up at 7:15am! I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again...better than snow!! I also woke up to a sore shoulder from my efforts on the Wii last night. What a blast the 4 of us had! I played tennis with the hubby, bowling with DD and boxing with DS. The boxing match REALLY got my heart racing! Checkout this action shot of DD during her boxing match with her dad...



Notice the pony tail in mid flight and the red cheeks? She’s stiff today, too! :)

Here’s breakfast;



-1 cup water
-1/2 cup Quaker oats
-dash unsweetened almond breeze
-1/2 mashed banana
-pumpkin butter
-2 Tbsp granola
-cinnamon



DD was playing Wii music downstairs so I took my bowl and went to watch her. She showed me how to use a lot of the functions. Good to know, but I ended up not really tasty my oats because I was pre-occupied. I was surprised when the bowl was empty because it really felt like I hadn’t been eating! Thank goodness it wasn’t a full bag of chips or something in my lap!! :)

I had planned to get chores out of the way, do groceries and run errands all before lunch but that did not happen! DS didn’t wake up until 10am which put my vacuuming behind schedule and then I ended up doing a thorough dusting (under beds, along baseboards...). I was also waiting for the rain to stop as I despise running around and getting wet when it’s so cold outside, but the rain just kept coming so I ate my lunch instead. Mind you, it was 12:30pm by then!

I wasn’t terribly hungry so I ate the last of my yogurt cheese, about a ½ cup) with pineapple tidbits, and a sprinkle of each coconut and chopped walnuts. I also ate a small handful of Sahale almond mix which didn’t make it in the shot!



DD and I were on our way to get everything done by 1:30. I went to a locally owned grocery store that carries specialty items first in search of some of the Stonewall Kitchen pumpkin pesto. Although they carried many Stonewall items, the pesto was not one of them. I did pick up this fig jam and a beautiful purple kale...



Next was the regular grocery store, Zellers and the library. Finally, 2 hours later, we arrived home. I made a hot chocolate and relaxed for a while before getting supper going. Speaking of supper, I made my BSI submission tonight! Check it out and tell me what you all think!

Sweet Potato Barley Risotto


-1 tsp olive oil
-1 small onion, diced
-1 cup pearl barley
-3 cups broth or water
-1 sweet potato, cubed
-1 tsp each coriander & cumin
-1/2 tsp each chili powder & cinnamon
-salt & pepper to taste
-2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

*cube sweet potato and microwave in a bowl with a touch of water for 6ish minutes or until fork tender. Side aside
*heat oil in saucepan and cook onion about 5 minutes
*add barley and spices and cook 1 more minute
*Add broth/water, cover and cook on low heat for 15 minutes or until thick, checking every so often that the liquid hasn't dried up. Add more fluid if needed.
*Once barley is cooked through, stir in sweet potato and cheese. Remove from heat and serve.




Spark People recipe builder says the following for 3 servings of risotto;

325 calories
3.4g fat
12.6g fiber

YUM-O! Need I say more? You could use rice if you like, but I love the texture of barley. Either way, it will be delish! I also tried my hands at kale chips a la Kath. Me likes!



What a great dinner this was! Thanks Melissa from Trying to Heal for the great ingredient pick!

Well, it's still pouring here....it hasn't stopped all day. Jeez! I'm think I'm going to play some Wii and then make like my cat, Octavius here...



and chill out! (by the way, he does this all day. Cushy life, eh?)

Bye for now!

Productive Friday

It’s finally Friday!! Friday’s have to be the worst day of the week to get out of bed for me. But I had exciting plans for part of the day so that motivated me quick enough! I went back to my trusty bowl of oats for breakie today!




-1 cup water
-1/2 Old Wessex 5-Grain cereal (the last of it...so sad!)
-1/2 mashed banana
-2 Tbsp hazelnut flavored liquid Coffee Mate
-2 Tbsp trail mix
-cinnamon



Snackie last night was the last piece of banana bread. I warmed it up in the microwave and sprayed some butter on it.



I also strained some yogurt for my snack today. Whenever you see that I've eaten yogurt, this is the brand that I use....



It's 60 calories per half cup and the best brand that I have found around here.

I was tagged by Bunny Trails to divulge 7 random facts about myself. I already did this in this post, but thought it would be fun to do it again. Now you will know 14 random things about me! Here ya go!

1) My first stint in college was for food and beverage management, my second for business administration
2) Until I became pregnant with my son, I hated coffee and steak. In fact, once I started craving red meat and coffee with hazelnut flavoring, I knew I was pregnant!
3) I have 2 tattoos...both on my back...one of a dolphin, one of my zodiac sign
4) I absolutely LOVE to read. In fact, I have to read in bed before I can fall asleep at night!
5) I've been to Italy three times and Cancun once. Time for another trip soon, I do think!
6) From the ages of 17-24, I was a smoker....eeeww! Thank God I quit that nasty habit!
7) I prefer to drive a standard vehicle over an automatic one

And here are the rules. I’m not going to tag anyone because I thin it’s gone around a lot already, but if you want to participate, by all means do!



No run (or walk) today. I had very exciting things to do! I was very productive over my lunch...it’s amazing what can be accomplished in one hour! Here’s what I did;

1)Drove over to the mall to hit up EB Games for a Wii system. I have the Wii Fit coming to me on Monday as my co-workers nephew works at Future Shop and snagged one for me earlier today, but she won’t see him until the weekend. No matter...I bought the new Wii Music to keep us occupied over the weekend and the system also came with a disc that has 5 games on it.



2)I then went across the street to William’s Coffee Pub to use my coupon for a FREE regular sized specialty drink. I decided on a pumpkin spice latte made with skim and no whip. OMG! So.Good.



3)The same plaza has a grocery store that I needed to do some price checking in so I
popped over there. There was a lady at the front handing out roses and coupon books with $20.00 worth of savings! How cool is that? Check out the beautiful rose!



I made a wrap last night for lunch using an Italian Herb flatout wrap that I smothered with a Laughing Cow cheese wedge and topped with 2 pieces of turkey bacon, lettuce, roasted red pepper and shredded carrots.




YUM! I also packed a half cup of strained plain yogurt with some pineapple-coconut jam.



After work we set up the Wii and played some tennis between the four of us before heading out to Swiss Chalet for dinner. I was irritated when looking through the menu and realized that most everything I would normally eat there is no longer on the menu! What the heck? No more grilled chicken breast, no more roasted veggies, no more soup & salad combo at dinner. Geez! I ended up begrudgingly ordering a quarter chicken white with a side of veg.



Not very satisfying. The veggies were a soggy, water logged mess (I didn't even eat them) and my chicken was on the dry side. *sigh* I guess the 8 or so chocolate covered almonds I ate when we got home made up for it! I plan to have a bowl of grapes later to get some produce into me. Until then, it's Wii time!! Yahoo!

Bye for now!!

The Re-invented Roast

I woke up to the sound of pouring rain this morning. Much better than looking out the window and seeing snow! I do tend to feel bad having to wake my babies up on rainy days, though! They look so cozy and cuddly wrapped up in their blankets! *sigh*

I completely deviated from my regular breakfast of oats today! It may sound crazy, but there was a real mental block to climb over in order to eat something out of the ordinary! How sad is it that I seem to be addicted to my morning bowl?? The breakfast I did make was super satisfying, though! Check it out!




-an Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted English muffin
-1/3 cup egg whites with some mushrooms, S & P, nuked for 2 minutes
-1 slice Swiss cheese
-Frank’s Redhot sauce



This sucker was a monster!! Man, was I stuffed after I ate this! I actually took a bit of an eating break half way through and organized some things before I came back to it! WOWZERS! I did miss my oats, but I think this was a nice switch up!

Last night I decided it was time to use up the very ripe bananas that I had on the counter. I made a recipe from Hungry Girl that I’ve done many times. The only switch I did was nixing the Splenda for agave. My system does not appreciate artificial sweeteners! Also, I sprinkled about 2 Tbsp of peanut butter chips on top as well as 2 Tbsp of chopped walnuts. Here she be before going into the oven;



And in all it’s glory 55 minutes later!



Doesn’t that look wicked good?? Believe you me, my house had an intoxicating aroma wafting through it last night! Of course I tried a piece when it was (almost) cool enough! I spread half with PB & Co. Cinnamon Swirl.



Holy Cow! Absolutely sinful!

I also enjoyed a piece with the coffee my body was craving mid morning!




I walked on the treadmill again today. It’s really hard for me to allow myself to walk instead of run. I have this mental thing going on that I’m not getting a good workout if I’m not hot and sweaty and “panting”. Reading a magazine certainly helped distract me, but I hope to be back at it again come the weekend.

Lunch making was a challenge last night because tomorrow is grocery day and my fridge is VERY empty! If you can believe it, there wasn’t even any leftovers! I came up with a veggie sandwich…Weight Watchers WW bread, a Laughing Cow cheese wedge, Eat Smart 3 bean dip, lettuce and roasted red peppers. I toasted it up in the oven at work. On the side, I had sliced peppers for some color.



When I got home from work yesterday there was a message form my doctor’s office wanting me to call to schedule an appointment for my yearly physical. I called right away this morning thinking I would book for Monday or Tuesday seeing as they’ll be slower days at work. Just guess when they’re booking for! MARCH! What? Why call me now for March? I have no idea what my schedule will look like in 5 months. I ended up booking for March 11, but I haven’t a clue as to whether or not I’ll make it!

My afternoon snack was a plain Bio Best yogurt with pineapple tidbits and a touch of instant coffee mixed in.



Dinner tonight was leftover crock pot roast that I turned into pasta sauce, which turned into chili for tonight! I defrosted the leftovers and added a can of 6 bean medley...



...and some mushrooms. I also boiled up a small package of elbow macaroni to use as a base because it wasn't a huge pot of chili and my family can eat! I had about a 1/3 of a cup of noodles under a cup of the chili. I put a dollop of plain yogurt on top for some creaminess and a garnish!



VOILA!

My sweet end was a half coffee, half french vanilla cap from 7-11.



I got a few magazines in the mail today that I want to dig into and CSI is on later. I might walk on the treadmill again for a bit, too. I emailed Stonewall Kitchens yesterday asking if they sold their product in Canada and they referred me to a distribution place near where I live. With the help of this company, I was given a name of a local store that carries some of the product. I plan to check the place out over the weekend to see if they have any of that pumpkin pesto in stock. I've also been toying with a recipe for this weeks BSI-sweet potato. I plan to make it sometime Saturday so stay tuned for that post! Have a great evening, all!!

Bye for now!!