Broke My Camera

Today has been the strangest day weather wise! It actually started raining yesterday afternoon and continued through the night and into late this morning. With that came pea soup fog and it was WARM! Then around 11am the fog broke and the sun came out for a bit. Next thing we knew, it was snowing! Geez! Make up you mind already, Mother Nature!
-1 cup water
-1/2 cup PC 5 grain cereal
-cinnamon
-blueberries
-pineapple jam
-kefir
I wasn’t sure how the kefir would go down in the hot oats, but I liked what it did to the feel of them. The taste got lost, but the oats became so thick and creamy; almost pudding like. I have a gut feeling you’ll be seeing kefir in my bowl more often in the next few days!

Here are my snacks for the day:
This was my first shot at a Gnu Bar and it was pretty good. Not my favourite, but I’d buy it again if I came across it. When I first opened the pack I realized that the bar smelled very sweet and I was a bit worried, but turns out it wasn’t too bad! It had a nice soft cookie consistency and you can’t go wrong (or I can’t) with 12g of fibre. I also appreciated the natural ingredient list. BTW…aren’t those some SAD looking grapes and blueberries? LOL…

I ended up on the treadmill at the gym today and hammered out a decent enough run. My cardio felt good, but my legs, or more specifically, my knees and ankles weren’t overly impressed. This worries me because I don’t want another injury to come about. Something to keep an eye on for sure.

Time: 45 minutes
Avg Hr: 158
Max Hr: 180
Calories Torched: 494
Distance: 4.4 miles

Lunch was serving of my 10 minute chicken & rice soup.

With the weather outside this ended up being the perfect lunch!

My dinner tonight was courtesy of work. There was a big lunch meeting and all the leftovers were put out for the rest of us. I took the opportunity to plate up some gorgeous salad. It had spinach, cranberries, goat cheese, mushrooms, hard boiled egg and cashews in it.

This is the only photo I got before I dropped my camera and busted it! :( BLAH! Looks like I’ll be camera shopping this weekend. Anyways, I sprinkled some white balsamic vinegar on before eating. My sweet end was 2 of my hubby’s PB & chocolate chip cookies. Also unphotographed.

Before I go, what camera do YOU use? I’ve been using a Kodak Easy Share but would like something a wee bit better. Please share!

Bye for now!!

The Low Down On My Sunday

So today can be summed up pretty easily. Three different activities with some food in between.

• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup flax seed porridge
• cinnamon
• trail mix
• cappuccino agave

After breakfast we drove over to Costco to stock up on some much needed necessities. They didn’t have much in the way of new interesting stuff, but I did come home with some spinach & feta sausages. By the time we got back we barely had time for lunch before we had to run back out for a hockey game downtown. I finished up my mango salad and some of DS’s noodles with peanut sauce:

Have I mentioned before how much I love Thai food? :D

We arrived home from the game at 4:30 and I needed to make a meal that wouldn’t take too long. I borrowed an idea that I saw on Nigella Bites yesterday for a super fast soup. I’m gonna call this “10 Minute Chicken & Rice Soup”

You simply take one jar of marinara sauce and add it to a pot. This is the one I used today:

Then fill the jar with water and add to the pot…twice. Bring this to a boil then add 2/3 cup WW Minute rice and sliced, pre cooked chicken breast. Bring back to a boil and cook until rice is tender, about 5 minutes. I topped mine with freshly grated Parmesan and a toasted English muffin of the side:

Here’s my attempt at a close up with the flash:

HA! My dessert was one of my hubby’s PB & chocolate chip cookies. After eating we went to visit my parents. It’s been more than a few weeks since we’ve been due to hockey commitments and the kids were glad to have gone. I changed into my pj’s as soon as we got home and peeled myself an orange.

I watched an episode of Criminal Minds before I decided to post this. And shortly I’ll be going to bed. Worky worky tomorrow, you know! I need my beauty sleep… LOL! Hope you’ve all enjoyed a super weekend!

Bye for now!!

Still Kicking Around

HOORAY for the weekend! I am so excited that it has finally arrived. This is the first weekend in quite awhile that we are somewhat hockey free. Not that I’m not enjoying it…I just need a mini break. :D
-1 cup water
-1/2 cup kamut flakes
-cinnamon
-chocolate honey
-Enjoy Life Foods trail mix
Work flowed along smoothly for a Friday. I enjoyed a few snacks to pass the time:

I was stoked to find blood oranges at the store Thursday night. I love this fruit. Easy to peel, mildly sweet, no seeds. Perfection! And the Kind Bar was friggin outrageous! I’ve seen these pop up in my area more regularly lately but have been a little gun shy to try them. One whiff and I knew great things were to come for my taste buds. The prevailing flavour was coconut. Um…..YUM! I ate it as slow as possible, but it was really hard not to shove it in my mouth. I’ll be trying the other flavours real soon.

The sun was positively shining outside yesterday so the thought of going to the gym just made me feel claustrophobic. I made the executive decision to go home, let my fur babies out on the deck for some fresh air and to just chill for ¾ of an hour. I came back to my desk feeling rejuvenated. It really is amazing what the sunshine can do for you!

My lunch was kinda lame, but I still enjoyed it. “Cheesecake” in a cup!

This is about 1 cup of goat’s milk yogurt with a scoop of black cherry/strawberry/blood orange jam. Divine!

I made turkey sausages for dinner using the George Foreman. Easy peasy. I also cut an orange cauliflower in florets and steamed it. Some mango wasabi sauce for dipping rounded out my meal:

Looks kinda orange now that I see the picture! LOL! I had a scoop of maple walnut ice cream for dessert, but the flash wrecked the picture. Urgh!

We took in a “real” hockey game after dinner and didn’t get back home until after 10pm…hence no post! I pretty much went straight to bed.

I finally had an almond butter jar empty enough to get some OIAJ going this morning.

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup Quaker oats
• cinnamon
• 2 medjool dates
• carob chips

Why is it, I wonder, that this mix tasted that much better out of a jar? Seriously, now! I guess it may just be the fun of it! :D

We spent almost 3 hours at the rink today for DS’s 2 hour practice + pizza party. I was so ready to go home. Sitting there gave me a crap ass headache. I turn into a sucky pants when I get a headache because I don’t often suffer them. Kudos to all you folks out there who get migraines!

Lunch was a very simple deal. A toasted Ezekiel English muffin topped with some allegro cheese, egg beaters and hot sauce.

I chased it with a good cup of blueberries!

For once in my life I did not want to go grocery shopping, but I absolutely had to. If I didn’t, the next available time would’ve been Friday and we just didn’t have enough basics to get us through. And wouldn’t you know that half my city HAD to be there, too. Well, it felt that way anyhow! Upon returning and putting everything away I sat down with a coffee and a small bowl of kettle corn flavoured mini rice cakes.

Then my hubby got the great idea to mix a chocolate chip cookie mix with a PB cookie mix for chocolate PB cookies.

I could hardly wait for them to cool off before eating one! YUM!

We decided to do Thai for dinner tonight. I ordered fresh spring rolls and my favourite, mango salad!

This was a nice refreshing meal. And I have leftovers for tomorrow! As for tonight? I’m going to make a tea and watch some tube with the fam. Peace out!

Bye for now!!

Catered Lunch

Halleluiah….It’s Thursday. Which means tomorrow is FRIDAY! Bring it on. These early mornings are killing me for some reason this week and I am so ready for a sleep in come Saturday.
-1 cup water
-1/3 cup Quaker oats
-cinnamon
-raisins
-chocolate honey
-pecans
Thursday = yoga in the gym so no workout for me. All worked out perfectly, though because work held a staff lunch so I went to that. For $7.00 we were served a winter harvest soup which included ingredients such as bacon, zucchini, carrots, rice, tortellini, kale, etc:
There were fresh WW honey buns:
And a mixed fruit cup.
I ate these items in stages as I had to run a few errands over lunch. I brought my thermos to keep my soup hot and ate the bun on my way to the store. When I got back to my desk I enjoyed the soup and later in the afternoon, the fruit. The food was homemade, fresh and delicious, but I thought the servings a wee bit meagre for the money. No regrets, though!

Other eats over the course of the day were:
When I got home from work I spied a parcel on the table for me. I knew it had to be the goodies that Allie sent me for a little blogger exchange we did. She was nice enough to agree to send me some Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea (which I can not find in Canada!) and included many more awesome items!
Sorry for the less than stellar picture! I was pretty excited to see 3 seasonal Clif bars, a Kind bar, a Gnu bar and lotsa teas! I couldn’t hold the camera steady. THANKS, Allie!

Dinner was a rushed affair again. DD had skating lessons from 5:30-6:20 and DS had a game across town at 6:30. I baked some chicken burgers for the fam and heated myself some quinoa stew with a toasted Ezekiel muffin on the side:

I only ended up eating half of the stew and the second piece of bread got a coating of jam for the road. :/ I popped into the grocery store while DD was on the ice and grabbed a pack of these to eat at the rink for dessert:

Oh boy…do I love these! I haven’t had any in years so they were a fabulous treat. Before I go, here’s a photo of DD at her lesson.

See the concentration? LOL!

Bye for now!!

Working the Incline

Welcome to the middle of the week! YAY! I celebrated with another microwaved bowl of oats. LOL!
-1 cup water
-1/2 cup Quaker oats
-cinnamon
-frozen raspberries
-drizzle of honey
-some chopped peanuts
The raspberry/honey combo worked out real well here. I find frozen raspberries to be a little tart sometimes so the honey brought back a little of the sweetness.

Last night I treated myself to a small snack while watching The Biggest Loser.
This would be a Dr. Kracker 3 grain cracker with some black cherry/strawberry/blood orange jam and Allegro brie on top. Amazing combination! Did you miss my review of Allegro cheese? Never fear, just click right here.

Wanna see my snacks for the day? Here ya go!
I didn’t feel like a major sweat sesh today, but I wasn’t feeling lazy either so I decided to walk on the treadmill at 4.2mph with a 5% incline. Once all was said and done it totally felt like the right move!

Time: 45 minutes
Avg Hr: 135
Max Hr: 150
Calories Torched: 332
Distance: 3 miles

Lunch was a serving of turkey quinoa stew:
Filled my belly right up just like a good lunch should. :D

I made the fam pasta with ham, peas and a cheese sauce for supper tonight. The sauce was comprised of a 1/4 cup of butter, 3 tsp of flour, about 1.5 cups of 2% milk and 2 cups grated Allegro cheese. Melt butter over low heat, whisk in flour until smooth, add milk in increments, stirring thoroughly. At this point I added salt, pepper and garlic powder. Once mixture has thickened, add grated cheese and stir until combined. I added the chopped ham to the sauce and the frozen peas to the pasta water just before draining it. Here’s DS’s plate:

This meal was a big hit! Oh, by the way…those peas didn’t land on his plate that way. He decided he “wasn’t in the mood” for them and was half way through removing them from his meal! :) For myself I combined some ham, mushrooms, 1/4 cup of quinoa and 1/2 a cup of water to a sauce pan and cooked for 15mins. At the very end I stirred in some peas then topped it off with a little of the grated cheese.

I just love how versatile quinoa is! This meal was sp satisfying.

The kids had swimming lessons tonight and when we got home I decided to have a wee snack. Go get your shades because the flash made this bright!

This is a 1/2 cup of goat milk yogurt with some jam spread in. I’m just now sipping on a tea and settling in to watch Criminal Minds. Time to disconnect!

Bye for now!!