Impromptu Road Trip and Some Food Buys

Today is Family Day here in Ontario so NO WORK for us!!  Hooray!  We aren’t doing anything much as most everything is closed, but we did go on a fun adventure yesterday!  DS had a soccer practice yesterday morning and we found out from one of the other Dad’s that the Washington Capitals were playing in Buffalo in the afternoon.  Said Dad convinced us to buy last minute tickets and so the adventure began!  We kinda felt like the Griswald’s heading to Wally World on the way there, but it all worked out in the end.  :)  Here’s how it went down, in point form;

• flew home from soccer practice and ordered tickets online
• hopped in the Jeep at 11:15 am for a game that started at 12:30 (did I mention that it was a 1.5hr drive??)
• waited for tickets to be emailed to us on the drive down
• call ticket seller to find nearest FedEx location to the HSBC Centre so we could print the tickets once across the border.
• beautiful, sunny drive down
• 30 minutes from the border a rock shot up at our windshield and chipped it
• 10 mins from border have to stop for gas (left home so fast we didn’t think to check the gas tank!!  DOH!)
• get to border and encounter a 40 minute wait to cross.  (The last few times we crossed on a Sunday afternoon we didn’t have to wait at all!)
• PASS HSBC Centre  to get to FedEx, print tickets
• FINALLY get to the game half way through although we did listen to the game on the radio in transit.

Comical or what?  But it was 100% percent worth it because the Capitals Ovechkin is DS’s favourite team player ever!  Pictures! Yes, we were CANADIAN’s in Buffalo cheering for the WRONG team.  LOL  That earned us a few dirty looks.  But you’d be amazed at the amount of Washington fans that were there!  And I found it amusing that each time Ovechkin was on the ice he got booed.  HA!  After the game we met with our soccer/hockey family at the front doors and walked over to TGI Friday’s for some grub. None of us had been before and we all enjoyed our meals.  I ordered a bruschetta pasta which was divine.  I didn’t take any photos there, but I do have a picture of my leftovers that I ate at lunch today.  There’s also a small piece of my hubby’s salmon from his meal on my plate: And the 4 kid acting like hams before leaving the restaurant: Truly a fun, spontaneous, amazing way to spend a day that started out having zero plans.  I should mention that I live pretty much smack dab between Toronto and Buffalo.  The drive to the Air Canada Centre is the same length of time as the drive to the HSBC Centre.  However, NHL hockey tickets are MUCH cheaper to buy for games in Buffalo.  We are fortunate to have the option, though….
It’s been a very long time since I posted about any groceries on Krista’s Kraving’s, so I took a few photos after I shopped at Costco and the “big” grocery store on Saturday.  I still haven’t done our regular grocery run, yet.  By “big” grocery store, I mean the one across town that stocks certain items which I love/need that my regular store does not carry.  Costco was a big haul this time because we needed stuff like toilet paper, toothpaste, etc… 
I was thrilled to find the individual Greek yogurt’s.  I have Kristie the thank for that.  She keeps me in the know as to what our Costco is carrying!!  :)  And from Zehrs; Nature’s Path and Kashi are 2 of my favourite brands and are well stocked at the “big” grocery store.  I bought other items as well, but mainly stuff for the kids lunches, etc.  What been popular in your grocery cart lately??
I’ve been enjoying some pretty fab eat, too.  Check them out! Well folks, that’s the end for me.  I’m off to do some laundry, make some muffins for the week and hang out with my fam!  Have a great rest of the day!
Bye for now!!

Valentine’s Day, Recipes and a Cat Video

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!  Did anyone do anything special over the weekend to celebrate?  My hubby, parents and I go to a dance each year that is put on by the kid’s school as a fundraiser.  It’s always a fun night with a dinner, dancing a silent auction as well as a live one.  This year I bid on a custom made blanket box and won it!  I did take a picture, but it’s too dark out so it didn’t do it justice.  For now it will go into our computer room, but once we get our new furniture in the living room it will move there.  Here are some  photos from the night:  
Other than that the week seemed really low key.  I was still out of the house each evening, but didn’t feel nearly as rushed as I usually do.  Hey!  I’m not gonna question it!  This week coming DS is on the ice 3 times, I’m at Pilate’s Tuesday, DD has dance tonight and Friday I’m going to visit friends of mine who just had their second baby.  Looking forward to baby snuggles!!  Yesterday was blissfully free so I made a few meals to carry us through the week.  Whenever I make bone in chicken I save the bones in a bag in the freezer.  Once it’s full, like yesterday, I put them in the crock pot, cover them with water and set it to low for the day.  This gives us a few meals worth of homemade chicken soup to work with.  Next I made 2 batches of muffins; Blueberry Corn Muffins and Banana Dark Chocolate Walnut.   Recipes!!  Recipes!!
Blueberry Corn Muffins

• 1.5 cups WW flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 5 Tbsp sugar
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter milk*
• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 1 egg or 1/4 cup Egg Beaters or 1 flax egg*
• 1/5 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 400*C, lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan
2. Whisk first 6 ingredients in a large bowl
3. Whisk buttermilk, oil and egg until combined well
4. Add wet to dry just until mixture is moist
5. Gently stir in blueberries
6. Fill muffin tin and bake 20 minutes
7. Let cool completely before storing

*I never buy buttermilk.  The easiest thing to do is add 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice to your milk of choice and letting it sit for a few minutes.  Voila….buttermilk.  I always use Almond Breeze in my baking.  To make a flax egg combine 1 tbsp ground flax and 3 tbsp of water.  Stir then let sit for a few minutes.
Banana Dark Chocolate Walnut Muffins

• 1 cup WW flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup Quaker oats
• 1 egg, beaten or 1/4 cup Egg Beaters or 1 flax egg
• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup well mashed bananas (about 2 medium)
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 400*C and grease a 12 cup muffin tin
2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl
3. Stir in oats
4. Add the next 4 ingredients and combine
5. Stir in walnuts and dark chocolate chips
6. Bake for 20 minutes

I also made Averie’s Sweet and Sour Honey Lemon Tofu and Chipotle Salsa Lentils with Mixed Vegetables.  That’s what my hubby and I ate for dinner last night:
And today’s lunch was more lentils with some chicken from the broth I made!
My hubby made breakfast for me this weekend; oats with blueberries and dark chocolate chips:
And waffles which I choose the same oats toppings for.  LOL
I enjoyed some fabulous sandwiches over the weekend, too.  It’s nice to have the time to devote to my meals!
One night I made “pizza rolls”. 
I simply divided the dough in half, rolled it out and filled it with tomato sauce, ham, roasted red peppers, goat cheese and marble cheese.  Then I baked it for 20 minutes at 475*C.
I let the rolls cooled for a few minutes then sliced and served! The kids thought this meal was especially cool.  Hehe! Another night I made Mu Shu Chicken, but subbed sliced pork chops in for the chicken.  It turned out really good!
I think I’ll leave the food at that for today, but I will leave you with a quick video of Pepper.  He begs to go out on the deck and usually wants back in within a few minutes.  This is what he does when we “ignore” him!

Bye for now!!

Enjoying a Meal or Three

So here we are at Monday again, huh?  The weeks seem to be flying by so fast; I can hardly believe we’re into the second week of February!  My day to day schedule has pretty much remained the same….hockey, dance, Pilates, hockey, soccer, hockey….you know the drill, right?  But this past week I have made, eaten and enjoyed many a delicious meal.  I’ll be focusing on these goodies in today’s post.
Tuesday night I tried a recipe for Mu Shu Chicken that I found in Prevention magazine.     This meal came together WAY faster than I expected so dinner ended up being a little earlier than usual, but I’ve definitely filed that information away for a day when we need something fast, nutritious and tasty!  
I had no coleslaw mix or scallions so I used Swiss chard and an orange bell pepper instead.  We enjoyed the mixture nestled in WW wraps:  Even my picky-as-sin son gobbled this meal up!  LOL  The next day I mixed the bit of leftovers with a quarter cup cooked WW couscous.  Yummy!
We had some pretty blustery, winter weather Wednesday which resulted in my office and the schools being shut down for the day (YAY!!) so I got to stay home with my kiddie’s.  Unfortunately my hubby’s workplace never closes so he had to go in for the day.  Boo!  I did not get out of my PJ’s, but did make a fabulous pot of chilli for dinner. 
I found 4 bison burger patties in the freezer so I broke them up and  combined them with some diced onion and garlic, then added a can of black beans, chickpeas, diced Italian style tomatoes, tomato sauce, corn and loads of spices.  
As you can see in the photo we topped our bowls off with grated havarti cheese and fresh cilantro.  The perfect cold day meal!  Friday night was kept simple because we had to head out of town after dinner.  I grilled a chicken breast then topped it with mango chutney and havarti cheese.  I used roasted asparagus as a side: And tonight was good ole pasta! Lunches have also been grand affairs lately.  I scored this gem of a bagel at lunch last Thursday: 
It was SO GOOD!!!  I was inspired to make a similar version at home on Saturday.  On a crusty ciabatta bun I layered whipped cream cheese, grilled chicken breast, tomato, roasted red pepper and avocado.  Then I pressed the sandwich in my George Foreman grill (I had to hold the lid down) for about 5 minutes.  I was rewarded with this amazing creation!
Breakfast around here for me rarely stray’s from some form of oats, but seeing as I had time on Wednesday I made us some waffles with dark chocolate chips and homemade strawberry sauce, I’ve had a few tasty snacks along the way, too…
Tell me what foods/meals you’ve been enjoying lately!!  I’ll sign off with a few pictures of the kids enjoying all the snow we’ve gotten!
Bye for now!!