It's All Orange

This is going to be a short post because frankly, I don't have much to say.

D and I watched the Canada - US game today! Go Canada Go! During the last part of the game, I snacked on these

I love goldfish. :)

Dinner was also orange.

The leftover chickpea soup from the other day. It was so good. I love that recipe.

I'll see you all in the morning with a little slurp and gulp breakfast cookie :) :)

There's No Beating a Breakfast Cookie

Hey kids,

Today has been relaxing day thus far. I woke up to the new bag of spelt flakes waiting for me in the kitchen. This made me a little sad. I was craving a chilled breakfast cookie. The spelt flakes don't really look that different from regular rolled oats.

They certainly cook faster though. I'm wondering if I got the equivalent to "quick cooking oats"? I doubt it because of the way they tasted. They had a lot of texture, which I loved.

In the bowl was:

• 1/2 cup spelt flakes
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 banana
• 1 tbsp natural peanut butter 

I wanted this bowl of spelt to be pretty plain so I could see the different between spelt and oats. It certainly had more texture, and I think it could have used a little more liquid to help it get creamy. 

Lunch was superb! D and I went out with my parents to a restaurant downtown. I got the Omega Eggs Benny on spinach and portobello mushrooms, with no hollandaise sauce.  It was incredible. 

They served a vegetable harsh (potatoes, eggplant, peppers, and onion) and fruit on the side. 

I didn't think we were going to go out to eat after church, so I didn't bring my camera. I'll have to get better at this! That's two days in a row now. You have my apologies. 

I'll chat with you all soon :)

Saturday Perfectness

Hey-O

I've had such an awesome day today. I woke up pretty early (considering it's Saturday), and ate another chocolate breakfast cookie. I guess I'm not over the chocolatey goodness just yet.

And thank goodness! It's just that good. I've eaten the same concoction three days this week! That's nearly unheard of for this girl. I also figured out the best way to eat them. See that beautiful cup? Well I fill it with coffee and sip it in-between each bite of my cookie. Mmmmmm.... I get goosebumps just thinking about it ;)

Shortly after this, I headed to other side of the city for a two hour workout at Prime Fitness. It was incredible! I haven't been that tired from a workout in a long long time. Just after an hour into it, it felt like I nothing left to give. It was awesome.

We did over 200 pushups, tons of lunges, squats, different variations of sit-ups, burpies, skipping... It was crazy - I'll leave it at that.

Then my mother and I went out for lunch to a place called Cafe Mosaics. It's a vegetarian restaurant located in one Edmonton's most eccentric neighborhoods, Whyte Avenue. My mom got the Pho Soup and I got the Cowgirl Breakfast. It was pretty darn good. I'd like to go back for dinner.

Since I was out of chia seeds and my mom needed a few things from Planet Organic, we decided to make a quick stop. But who can really make a stop at Planet Organic "quick"? Not us.

Here's what I got.

Almond milk in both chocolate and vanilla flavors, spelt flakes, chia seeds (!), and onions. I can't wait to see what the spelt flakes are like. We'll found out tomorrow.

Well I'm off to clean the house. I hope your Saturday turns out great! Chat soon.

 

Curried Walnuts

It's been great day so far. I got my work out in, a short one - just 30 minutes on the treadmill. I wanted to run for at least three miles, but my right hip was giving me some grief. So I stopped running and just walked at 4.0 miles an hour for the rest of the time.

I came home and got to work on lunch. It didn't take much time, since it was my shrimp leftovers from the other night.

I know... white bread. Shame on me. French bread just goes so well with tomato sauces and shrimp. I don't even remember the last time I ate white bread. It's so fluffy!

D and I are going over to another couple's house to watch the hockey game tonight. They asked me to bring the salad. I decided to make a mixed green salad with apples and curried walnuts. One of my favorites! I have the second batch of walnuts cooking the oven as I write this post.

The first batch didn't work out so well...

Hence the second batch...

They came out beautifully! Probably due to the fact I didn't forget about them in the oven. ;)

Curried Walnuts:

• 1 cup raw walnuts
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbsp stevia/sugar 
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp hot curry powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 

1. Preheat over to 250 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray
2. Pour egg white into a small bowl and whisk till frothy. Add the nuts and stir until they're coated with the egg white. 
3. In another small bowl mix the sugar, salt and spices. Dust this mixture over the nuts. Make sure all the nuts are equally coated. 
4. Lay them out on the  baking sheet and bake for about a half hour. 

They are so good on salad, especially with apples. The sweetness of the apples balances the heat of the spiced nuts. 

I'll chat with you all tomorrow! 

A Labor of Love

This morning it was time to pull out the steel-cut oats. Sometimes I just don't have the patience steel cut oats require. I mean we're talking 30-45 minutes plus on the cooking time of these things. That's a little much when my stomach is growling in the background! 

So I found a little trick to compensate for the cooking time. All I do is boil the oats for about two minutes the night before and leave them sit overnight. In my experience, this procedure cuts the cook time in half. This is what it looks like the next morning.

Here's what my oats looked like.

Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats with Coconut and Raisins

• 1/4 (40g) cup steel cut oats
• 1.5 cups water (could drop this down to 1 cup)
• 1/2 banana
• 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup cottage cheese
• cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg - all to taste
• 4 grams raisins
• sprinkling of coconut 

Here it is after I smothered it in natural peanut butter. 

It was creamy, and sweet - just the way I like my oatmeal. 

Sweet and Spicy

Hey gang,

Dinner tonight was so tasty! I made a Martha Stewart recipe, called Chickpea, Tomato, and Spelt Soup. I did make a ton of modifications to it though.

Instead of paprika and saffron (I'm out of both spices), I used chili powder and cayenne pepper. I also added a few teaspoons of red pepper flakes. The soup came out just as I was hoping it would. The spices gave the soup a really warm taste. Together with this salad and balsamic dressing, it was the perfect meal for tonight.

D's meal looked something like this

I made him chili and cornbread. Cornbread is so simple to put together, and it makes the meal in my opinion. Notice the Diet Pepsi? I hate it when D drinks that stuff, but what can I do? I can only govern what I eat. I'm working on picking the bigger battles to fight over ;)

Next up - chia pudding!

2 tbsp chia seeds
1/4 scoop protein powder
cinnamon
1/2 stevia packet
1/4 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
2 tbsp milk

I let it set in the fridge for about a half hour. It was the perfect consistency. YUM!

I've gotta get back to the women's figure skating program. It's one of my favorite olympic events. Night :)

New Template Unveiling!

Afternoon everyone,

When I woke up this morning I knew two things. I had a breakfast cookie ready to be eaten in the fridge and I needed to make a pot of coffee.

Here's the cookie:

I love the chocolate flavor so much, but I think I'll start experimenting from here on in. Today's cookie subsided my chocolate cravings. I think a cinnamon raisin cookie sounds pretty spectacular.

Here's the coffee:

Coffee in my Coldplay mug. D bought it for me when we went to see them last year. It's just about the perfect size for my morning cup of joe.

I don't have photos to show you of my lunch, but it's ok, cause it was pretty much the same as my supper last night.

After class, I made D's dinner - Chili. It's in the slow cooker getting all nice and.... cooked? Then I snacked on this:

Another one of my protein bars; the last protein bar unfortunately. This one was the cinnamon bun flavor. MmmmMmmm good.

Do you like the new template? I do!

No More Midterms

I'm boycotting midterms, so thankfully for them, I don't have any more! YAAAAY. I wrote my last one just about an hour ago. I'm so glad to be done with them.

Anyone want to see the awesomeness that was my dinner tonight? I honestly could not even believe it was raw!

I made Gena's Raw Cauliflower "Rice"

Please make this! It was so fast and easy, and delivered big flavor! I have over half still in my fridge waiting for another salad date.

I have some chia pudding setting up for me in the fridge. Can't wait to dig into that next!

Night all.

Mid-Morning Chat

Good afternoon,

I hope you all had a great morning. It's been ANOTHER productive day (this usually doesn't happen to me ;)). About an hour after I ate breaky, I went to the gym for a killer hill workout. Then I came back and ate this little egg sponge:

Such an awesome way to get protein in me throughout the day!

Then I started to get ready for school. I packed this up to eat on my way there:

A quarter of a banana with about 2 teaspoons of almond butter and two apricots.

After school (and a midterm in Intro. to Lit.), I ate this baby:

This was soooo good. It was a tuna wrap:

half a can of light packed in water tuna
tbsp light mayonnaise
tsp mustard
2 slices of pickles

I loaded it with spinach and wrapped it all up:

It took me less than two minutes to finish this. I then made this salad (just like all my other salads):

Time to study! I have another midterm tonight. Yuck. I can't wait for this work week to be over! Only one more day :)

See ya soon!

A First Time Favourite

This morning's breakfast was AAA-mazing. I don't know why I haven't tried this sooner. Well that's not entirely true. I do know why... because it's cold. I usually like to have a hot bowl of oats in the morning. But this morning it was tie to try the breakfast cookie.

Again, this idea is Gina's idea.

My cookie had:

1/3 cup oats
1/2 banana
1 tbsp natural peanut butter
1/2 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
1 tbsp cocao powder
splash of milk
sprinkling of toasted, unsweetened, shredded coconut

I have no words to describe how delicious and decadent this was. Mmmmmmm... excuse me while I go reminisce about my breakfast.

I See Green

Today has been great. I feel like I've accomplished a lot, and I love that feeling.

About an hour after I ate breakfast I went to the gym for a killer shoulder work out. I love the Fitnessista's blog for many many reasons. One of them is her crazy work outs. Today I did the intermediate version of the Winter Shape Up week 2. It was awesome. My arms were quivering by the time I was finished.

Another reason why I love the Fitnessista? Her egg puff idea! Love this one - a great way to get protein in without taking in too many calories.

Soon after I got back to our house, I left again for school. Part way through class I munched on my lunch, which unfortunately went unpictured because my camera died. It was a cup of 1% cottage cheese, an organic apple, and cinnamon. Not too exciting, so don't feel bad for missing it.

When I got home again, I started making D's dinner. I made him beef lasagna, very similar to this one. While cooking his dinner I ate this:

I absolutely love these bars. They come in three different flavors. We got them from Cosco. They have 15 grams of protein! How awesome is that!?

About a half hour after D's lasagna went in the oven, I started on my dinner.

This had:

2 ounces pasta
1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup frozen peas
1.5 cup spinach
freshly grated nutmeg
s & p

It was alright. The sauce was hardly there at all, but the peas made up for it. I adore peas in my pasta.

After I finished that off (which didn't take long), I moved unto my salad.

This salad had about 2 cups of mixed salad greens, 1/4 of a tomato, 1/4 of a cucumber and less than a tablespoon of balsamic vinaigrette. So good. I think a salad is the best way to end a meal.

Now, it's back to work.

My work area looks something like this right now (yes, that is a cup of coffee, I need to stay awake through this paper!)....

Gooooooood night to you!

Sunrise, Sunrise

Good morning,

Today looks like it's going to be another crazy busy day - at least that means the day will go by quickly!

So let's start at the beginning... a bowl of oats.

This beautiful bowl had:

1/2 cup oats
1 cup water
6 grams (1/2 tbsp) chia seeds
1/2 banana
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
2 egg whites
a boatload of cinnamon
1 tbsp almond butter

This is one of my favorite combinations.

Time to get going! See you later.

Shrimp Feast

Evening folks,

Today has been one productive day: including 2 classes, a midterm, and an in-class assignment. And still the school work isn't finished. I've got to finish a paper and study for another midterm on Wednesday. The sad thing there is only three more years of this bliss right ;)

For lunch I had this baggy of Puffins (my favorite cereal right now).

Then this wginormous salad.

It had:

about 3 cups of lettuce
2 carrots
half of a cucumber
about 1/3 cup of hummus
2 tbsp organic balsamic dressing

It hit the spot.

During my last class I had a protein bar. Sorry, there's no picture. I didn't think it was appropriate to whip out my camera to take a picture halfway through class. Ha!

After class I came home and immediately started thinking about dinner. I knew it needed to be fast so that I could start studying ASAP... so shrimp seemed perfect.

I went to my go-to-shrimp recipe. All it is, is:

1 tbsp EVOO
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
dried basil
dried oregano
dried red pepper flakes
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
salt and pepper
1 stevia packet
1 340 grams of shrimp (tonight I used wild, Canadian shrimp)

*This recipe will make 3 servings.

I also made a pot of brown rice and 2 heads of broccoli.

I hope you all have an amazing night! I'm thinking there might be some chia pudding in my near future... Night!

Food (hang) Over

Good morning to you!

I hope everyone's night was splendid and filled with rest. The concert last night was awesome! Our seats were amazing. We sat in the highest box, closest to the stage = incredible!

The Fray are so talented. Their live music sounds better than their CDs.
Before leaving for the concert I had this bowl of 1% cottage cheese and a small organic apple peppered with cinnamon.

After the concert (since it was my high caloric day), we went out for supper to one of my favorite restaurants - Joey's. Warning... the photo you are about to see is horeness and should not be used to vindicate your ideas of me being a horrible photographer. It was dark! AND I was using my iphone!

This was a goat cheese with chicken quesadilla. D and I split this and an unpictured tuna club. I also ate an unpictured house salad. I was surprised how disappointed by the meal I was (this used to be my absolute favorite meal)... I think it's because I've been eating SO clean lately, my pallet has changed. To make that even worse, by the time we were home my stomach was in knots and I thought I was truly going to throw up. I know it wasn't food poisoning because D wasn't sick at all, and we ate the same things. Oh well... Today we'll be another clean day, so it should be ok.

Breakfast this morning was a bowl of overnight oats.

Last night I put in my bowl:

1/2 cup oats
1/2 tbls chia seeds
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt

This morning I added:

a "baked" apple (warmed in the microwave)
tons of cinnamon
1 tbls natural peanut butter

It's gym time! I think I'll run about 3 miles today, but I'll tell you all about that later.

Have a great day!

A Little Mexican in My Life

Afternoon to you all,

Let me just say that driving your best friend to the airport after spending 10 days together for reading week sucks. :( I just got home from doing this... we did stop for Mucho Burrito, which redeemed the trip a bit.

I had the Vegetarian Burrito with guacamole, black beans, lots of veg., cilantro and jalapeno peppers.

Tasty stuff my friends.

Tonight D, myself and another friend are going to see the Fray! We're pretty excited. I'll try to take some pics with my iphone, since they won't let my cannon in.

Have an awesome afternoon :)

A Bowl of Goodness

Goooooood Morning!

I'm pleased to say that I'm enjoying one of my favorite bowls of oats right now - pumpkin pecan. So tasty.

This bowl contained:

1/2 cup of oats
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
6 grams chia seeds
1/2 banana
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
2 egg whites
0.2 ounces pecans
1 tbsp almond butter
cinnamon
nutmeg
cloves

D gave me these tulips as part of my valentines day present. I love them. :)

Today is a high calorie day for me. YES! I've been waiting for this day all week!

Another Come Back?

I know I've been away for quite awhile! I had a really hard time adjusting to so many changes in my life that were happening all at once (marriage, quitting my job, school, etc.), but now I feel like I have them under control. At least under control enough to start blogging again! I've missed it! 

There's a significant change I think I need to share with everyone!

My hair colour! I changed it about 2 months ago. I love the way it looks, but I can't stand how often I have to get my roots done (since I'm naturally a blonde). So I've decided to go back to blonde. It's just not worth all the money I have to spend on being brunette. :( 

What else has changed? 

Well over the months I've been absent, I gained a few post wedding pounds... so recently I've been carefully watching what I'm eating and I've upped my workouts substantially. Thankfully I've noticed quite a huge difference in my body. D even told me that I look smaller than when he married me. Such a huge compliment since I've been working so hard to lose the last few pounds. 

I've also taken up running! I love, love, love it! Surprisingly my hips haven't acted up on me either (I injured them last summer while running and haven't been able to run again till recently). I'm hoping this isn't just because I haven't started running outside yet. I notice that when I put the treadmill unto an incline over 3 it does strain my hips and I have to take the incline down again. Right now I'm working on getting my millage up. I'm at about 3 and half miles, and I'm proud of the work I've done! 

Thanks for accepting me back into the blogging world! :)