A Few Different Things

Ola!  I’ve got a few things to “talk” about in today’s post so I hope you enjoy it!  I want to start with a recipe for wonderful espresso chocolate chip muffins a la Kelsey. This girl makes some seriously amazing muffins based on her favourite cafe’s delights.  I halved the recipe for this one and still got 6 great big muffins: DD and I have been enjoying them as morning snacks this week.  We finished them off today and I think a tear or two were shed! Next up is a super simple butternut squash soup recipe that I made on Sunday with a freshly picked squash from my garden:
Butternut Squash Soup
-1 butternut squash, chopped
-1 large onion, wedged
-2 cloves garlic
-2 tbsp olive oil
-1 tsp dried oregano
-salt & pepper to taste
-3 cups stock of your choice (I used homemade turkey stock)
-1/2 cup milk of your choice (I used unsweetened almond breeze)
*preheat oven to 400 deg
*put squash, onion, garlic and spices in a big bowl
*add olive oil and toss to coat well
*roast for 45 minutes
*add veggies and any “juices” to a soup pot along with stock
*bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes
*puree until you get your desired consistency (I used a hand blender)
*stir in milk and heat through
*serve with a dollop of sour cream/Greek yogurt/quark This soup is smooth, silky and filling.  Especially with the quark I used that insisted on sinking to the bottom! 
Now on to something totally unrelated to food; dry shampoo.  Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about this stuff!  I was pretty curious about it so I decided to find out what the rave was all about.  Here’s what I learnt:
“Powdered shampoos are designed to work without water. They are typically based on powders such as starch, silca or talc, and are intended to physically absorb excess sebum from the hair before being brushed out. Those with dark hair may prefer to use brown powders such as cocoa or carob powder.”
(source)
You can buy some really fancy, and sometimes costly, dry shampoos such as these brands:

(source)
OR…you can use what I’ve always used in “emergency” situations (which is also WAY cheaper!):
 
Good ole baby powder!  Now, I like to wash my hair every other day.  Any longer than that and I start getting greasy where my hair parts naturally and where it usually ends up tucked behind my ears.  There are times on the weekend, say, where I don’t have time to give it a wash.  Those are the days that I pull out the baby powder to sprinkle on my “problem” areas.  Just a bit will do and once it’s blended and brushed through you’re left with clean looking, un-greasy hair for the day.  This works especially well when sporting a ponytail. So tell me, have you ever used dry shampoo or baby powder?  What do you like/dislike about either or??  
Now on to some of the yummy food I’ve been eating! Oats.  Was there ever any doubt??  LOL  Lots of fantastic tasting fruit.
I ate this stir fry yesterday.  It was put together using stuff from the fridge such as brown rice, broccoli, raisins and chicken with fig balsamic dressing.  The sweet potato was tonight because I wanted something on the small side so as not to have an overly full belly for Pilates.
And lastly, because I forgot to post about it Sunday,  I made sure to stick Operation Beautiful notes in each and every bathroom I encountered in each tournament city.  These are 2 of them!  
So how’s that for an extremely random post?  I’m trying to keep things a little less “structured” because I feel my posts have been a little lack lustre lately.  Let me know whether you love (or hate) this format.  Your input is important to me, loves!!
Bye for now!!

My Weekend in Tournaments

Hi!  Hope everyone is doing well!  I’ve been MIA from the blog world, but I’ve also been MIA from my house!  DS was in a soccer and hockey tournament this weekend so it was go, go, go.  We had hockey about 45 minutes away on Friday,  soccer an hour and a half away at 9:30 am, 12pm & 2pm on Saturday, then another hockey game an hour from where soccer was at 6pm.  This morning we were back up at 6am for another out of town, 8am hockey game.   Needless to say, I am in a zombie state right now.  LOL  I thought I’d just highlight a few eats and stick mainly to some pictures from the tournament. 
EATS-The good and bad in no particular order:

Wendy’s new Apple Pecan Chicken salad.  I ate this in the dark on the drive home last night at 9pm.  Even though I couldn’t see what was going in my mouth, I loved every bite!  Have you tried this salad yet??  Please check the link ^^ for a MUCH better photo!  ;)

French toast using multi grain bread Friday morning.

I made this delicious rice dish for dinner Thursday night using brown rice, corn and a mix of these 2 ingredients:
The bean mix is from Wegmans and genius, IMO!

The kids are selling these chocolate covered almonds for a school fund raiser.  So far that’s the only box I’ve gotten into.  ;)

This above picture is one of the “bad” from the weekend.  Friday night we decided to try a new fish n’ chips place that was on our way home.  I’ve never been a fried food fan but hadn’t had fish n’ chips in years so went with it.  Blah, blah, blah!  Even my hubby was not impressed and commented that we’d all be fighting for the toilet in an hour’s time.  That didn’t happen, thank God, but we’ll not go back.  Oh!  Did I mention that it cost us almost $72.00 for the 4 of us???  Yeah, I know.  :/

Grande pumpkin spice misto between soccer games.

And some beautiful, firm, yet juicy, ruby red raspberries.  And now for some fun photos!
Soccer:

Hockey:

These next 2 are my ultimate favourite.  They were taken by a professional photographer (they’re usually at all hockey tournaments) and my hubby scanned them for me so I could share with you!  The one where he is practically sideways is a trip that drew a penalty.  Please let me know what you think!! 


And what kind of shenanigan’s do we get into while waiting for game time and/or food?  Let’s take a peek!
Have a great rest of the weekend, lovelies!  I’m due for a nap!  :)
Bye for now!!

This and That

Give it up for hump day!  We’re in the last stretch to the weekend, peeps!  Hopefully you are all having an awesome week thus far.  No complaints over here.  When I posted Monday night I mentioned that I had some baking in the oven so we’ll start with that today.   A wonderful loaf of Erica’s delicious Multi Grain Bread.
This bread is so versatile.  I usually pair it with sweet, but I’ve done savoury with amazing results as well.   My intention for it this week was to replace the bars that I’ve been eating before the gym.  I’m all out and didn’t want to make a special trip to the store for them.  Not that I even had the time!  So yesterday I spread some zucchini jam on a thick slice:
And today I partnered it with peanut hazelnut butter.
The absolute best aspect of this bread, IMO, is that it tastes really buttery with not a hint of it in the recipe.  Me loves!
The mornings have been rather brisk so I’ve been sticking to my oats for breakfast.  Yesterday was a blend of Nature’s Path hemp seed oatmeal topped with blueberries and pumpkin butter:
This ended up being a bit too sweet.  Lesson learned; don’t use blueberries and pumpkin butter together in oats.  Today followed a tropical theme with coconut extract, crushed pineapple and Hawaiian trail mix & yogurt chips on top:
This bowl was really good!
Tuesday’s gym session included day 7 of level 2 of the 30 Day Shred and 10 minutes of incline walking on the treadmill.  I’m excited to hit level 3 because I’ve never made it that far.  When I first did the DVD a year ago I buggered up my ankles by day 15.  Back then I was doing the disc every single day and I know that’s how I injured myself.  Keeping it tame with Tuesday’s & Thursday’s seems to be the ticket.  Today I popped on the elliptical.  I was feeling really tight across my back and figured the motion of the machine would loosen things up….and it did.
Lunch has been all over the place.  Yesterday I had tuna on a toasted multi grain English muffin with a LC cheese wedge:
Like the birthday plate?  LOL  These English muffins are perfect for me because they have seeds in them which give them some great texture.  And we all know I’m a texture kinda gal!  Today was totally random; cottage cheese, Crofter’s jam and thawed blobs:
Sorry for the less than stellar set up.  I was too lazy to walk halfway across the building for a pretty bowl.  :/
I ate a bit bigger of an afternoon snack yesterday.  I didn’t get out of work until 5:15 and wanted to be at the rink by 5:30 for DS’s game (I made it).  That and dinner was uber late for us.  I had a ginger gold apple plus some walnuts rescued from the depths of my desk drawer.
Today’s 3pm-er was much lighter; a chopped up navel orange:
I’ve been keeping to the meal plan for our dinners and it’s been going smooth.  Last night was pasta night and the fam had the regular spaghetti and homemade meat sauce.  I went with a cup of the WW pasta but topped mine with a mixture of tempeh bacon, 2 diced garden tomatoes, garlic and some grated Romano cheese.   It was splendid!  The only issue is that pasta NEVER sits pretty in my belly.  I know this but thought I’d see if things have changed.  Nope…..I was chomping on Tums at 10pm last night.  What a bummer!  Dinner tonight made my tummy happier…chicken stir fry night!
I kept this simple in using red & yellow bell peppers, chicken breast, oregano and fig balsamic dressing.  A bed of brown rice sealed the deal.
Random snacking that has happened looks like this:
Homemade oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookie x 2 from co worker;
Lots of ginger chews.  I also just polished off a bowl of Wildroots cereal that missed the camera.
In other news, the boys won their hockey game last night 3-0!  As you can imagine, they were pretty stoked!   Tonight’s soccer practice turned into a 2 hour one.  The weather held out so it wasn’t too bad.  Plus I had a few other Mom’s to chat with so the time whipped by.  ;)  Tomorrow is free and I’m SO looking forward to it!  As for the rest of tonight?  I think I’m gonna hit the sack early and read a little longer than usual. 
Tell me something exciting you’ve done so far this week!!
Bye for now!!