One of my Perfect Saturdays

Perfect is a strong word, your right... and I did get a little burnt by the sun today, but my day was as close to perfect as us humans can aspire to achieve.

We spent our morning at the farmers market. This is my favorite farmers market in our little city. There's a great variety of booths - things from furniture to jam and it's located in the art district. There are some really beautiful buildings in the markets radius.

After we shopped around we decided it was time for lunch.

At this place:

D had the Farmers Omelet

And I had the Veggie Omelet

Both come with hashbrowns and 7 grain toast (which we got dry). After I snapped the picture, I scraped off all the cheese. I'm not a huge fan of cheese to be honest. The pictures were taken by my iphone, so forgive the poor quality.

Those are the highlights... my favorite part you ask? Spending another beautiful day with my dear fiance is my answer.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend!

Breakfast for Dinner

This will really prove how much I ADORE breakfast, I don't only eat it during the early hours of the day, but also the later ones.

In the skillet went a few left over baked fries from last night, 1/4 of an organic bell pepper, 1/4 onion and one egg.

This meal is the fastest one I know how to prepare. A swirl of spicy ketchup and I'm set for a fantastic dinner for one.

The Noon Hour,

Hey folks, I'm back! Time to dwell on lunch, but only for a short while, works a callin!

It was a pita from Pita Pit. Probably the best pita I've had in a long time.

It contained chicken breast, green peppers, cucumber, lettuce, mushrooms and honey mustard sauce. So good...

Next up.... dessert. And dessert from my favorite place at that... You guessed it! Starbucks.

I'm sipping a half sweet, light ice shaken black iced tea lemonade. This drink is my favorite hot weather accompaniment. I don't even regret ordering it when I'm sitting in my freezing cold, air-conditioned office, which is saying something!

Time for Breakfast Already?

My last few posts weren't so bad were they? So I'm going to follow this trend and blog another days worth of food!

Here is todays breakfast:

A tasty composition of plain yogurt, raspberries, blackberries, walnuts, almond slivers, shredded coconut, agave syrup, and a copious amount of cinnamon.

It was a symphony of beautiful flavors and textures. The tartness of the berries, the sweetness of the agave, the smoothness of the yogurt complimented by the crunch of the nuts.

This certainly was the perfect agreement between texture and flavor.

Stay tuned for lunch :)

Home on the Range

I tried so hard to post last night after dinner, but it just wasn't my fault! The internet out at the ranch isn't the best quality and last night it wasn't working. You have my apologies.

I'd still like to post my dinner, if that's alright?

It was a celebratory dinner. I found out yesterday that I got into the writing program I applied for. It's very exciting. So I got to pick what we'd have for dinner. I chose CHICKEN BURGERS, baked fries, a romaine salad and corn on the cob. Another ranch meal!

Here's me, cutting up those delicious fries.

Here is the salad we had. It had romaine, olive oil and vinegar garlic dressing, cherry tomatoes, sprouts, and sunflower seeds. Easy peasy.

Here are the potatoes coming out of the oven (these are my favorite).

Why are dad's always the best BBQers? Here he is finishing up the burgers and corn.

And then here's the lot of it! Everything tasted great and shared with even better company.

Confusion that is this Blog

I feel as though I'm struggling to get a grip on this blogging thing. I just don't know which direction I want to take it quite yet... should I join those bloggers who blog their daily eats and exercise sessions? Should I begin to archive my favorite recipes? Or should I take a more journalist approach and file away reports on the latest "health trends" and "current issues"? I just can't decide.

So while I'm deciding, here's breakfast:

Ingredients: 2 cups Spinach, 1 cup Almond Milk, 1/4 cup Plain Yogurt, 1 Banana, 1/2 cup Raspberries, and one scoop Vanilla Whey Protein Powder.

Very tasty, but with one problem. Can you see those little green specks in this shake? I can't handle that. If I'm going to have spinach in my smoothies, I can't be able to see the spinach AT ALL, if I'm to fully enjoy it.

Shouldn't be overly difficult to fix. I'm just going to start blending the spinach and almond milk first and then add all the other ingredients after. MmmMmmm good!

Lunch time? Oh I have photos of that too!

Now, don't be alarmed at what you see next...

Although it doesn't look too pretty, it sure was tasty! Amy knows what she's doing. I love these pre-made dishes. I've never purchased one before this and I have a small inkling this one won't be my last.

I'm hoping to see you all in the evening. Enjoy what's left of your afternoon.

Another First

I finally had an opportunity to write a product review. I'm not sure how all of you out there feel about egg sandwiches, but I happen to be very fond of them. The texture of an egg patty is a wondrous thing.

For lunch today I decided to treat myself by not packing a lunch and going out! Simple and easy - just the way I like it.

I decided to try out the Reduced Fat Turkey Bacon Egg Sandwich from Starbucks.

I confess. I'm a Starbucks junky. If anyone wants to find me on my lunch hour, they know where to go. And obviously it's Starbucks. I can hardly go a day without my caffeine fix.

But I have to admit, this sandwich would not have me speeding any faster while I'm driving to my local coffee shop. It kind of reminded me of cardboard - not exactly what I wanted to eat at lunch. There wasn't much flavor, it needed some ketchup or something.

So I'll be sticking to this...

A medium blend coffee with one milk and one sweetener. Now, when's my next coffee break??

The Guilt and Shame

It's sort of funny that after I wrote a post on one of my favorite desserts, I'm writing a post on the guilt one feels after eating something they know they shouldn't have eaten. This post is coming from a place that's filled with a lot of personal experience. I wish you could just flip the rewind switch and go back to the place where you were deciding if you really needed that second bowl of frozen yogurt or that coffee shop muffin. Why can't we all be like the french? Everything in proportion? Even if it is a slightly smaller portion than you'd like.

We often hear, balance is best and I think we'd all agree that's true after we've had that coffee shop muffin. But what about before we've had the muffin? Why can't we just put ourselves in check and analyze the situation rationally? When people come to me for advice on eating or losing weight, I give them a simple equation. Food = Calories, Calories = Energy, Excess Energy = Fat. Cut out some calories and boom! Your losing weight. Now, I do realize that there's a lot more to it than that, but that's the gist of it. So why is it so hard to follow my own advice?

I'm not looking for answers to all these questions, just needed to get some of this off my chest.

Sweet Dreams

Today, I wanted my post to you to be a special one. I wanted to share one of my favorite things. Something that makes my heart go "thump, thump", something that gives me goose bumps (in the best of ways), and something that I dream only the sweetest of dreams about.

Drumroll please!

My goodness gracious... this stuff... well let's just say that I crave it almost daily.

Tonight was no exception. Did I need dessert? Probably not, but man was it worth it. 2 and half scoops of chocolate frozen yogurt, 1/4 banana and a sprinkling of peanuts.

Bliss in a bowl!

I JUST HAVE to show this picture. Look at how cute D looks!

Information Station

I'm back and so soon!

I thought it would be nice to let you all in on how our trip went. And share with you the big events we took part in. We flew to Toronto Thursday night, got in at around 11:30 p.m., but didn't actually make it to the in laws house until around 1:30 p.m. So needless to say, we were a little tired.

The next day, we spent some time with the family obviously. D and I went into TO to pick up my wedding dress and visit an art show that was actually D and mine's first date last year.

After that we drove to D's great aunt and uncles house. They threw us a beautiful wedding shower.

Then on Saturday I had the church shower at D's parents church. It was so lovely. I met so many wonderful women. You could really tell how much they loved D and his family. I might have shed a few tears... but I'd never admit it ;)

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more posts :)

Home Again, Home Again!

What a whirlwind! I love busy trips, but this one was SO busy I only found time to work out once in the 3 days we were in Toronto. Not ideal, but what can you do? The trip really was amazing. I'll be sharing a few stories and pictures a little later in the day. I just have so much to get done before my wedding day hair trial at 2. Including a good, hard workout!

I just might have stolen an idea for this breakfast from Heather Loves Almond Butter. This was such an awesome idea, I couldn't help myself. The oatmeal itself was subpar, however. I forgot to add cinnamon and there wasn't enough almond butter left in my jar. I guess I'll just HAVE TO go grocery shopping to pick some more up.

The perfect pairing. Oatmeal and coffee... yummmm. I'm officially addicted to caffeine. Especially over this last weekend. The only way D's mom could get me out of bed was offer me a steaming hot cup of joe.

I'll see you all a little later. Have a wonderful day!

Another Trip

Hi folks,

In about an hour I'll be flying on a plane to Toronto, Canada. D is from the Toronto area. Most of his family still lives there and they're throwing us a wedding shower! I'm pretty excited. I haven't met most of his extended family, so this will be the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Our agenda is pretty loaded this weekend. We won't get into the Toronto airport till 11:30 p.m. tonight. Then it's about an hour and fifteen minute drive back to D's parents house. This weekend is sure to be quite the whirlwind, but I couldn't be more excited to see D's family again and meet those I haven't been aquatinted with yet.

I doubt I'll have a chance to post till Monday. Can't wait to tell you all how it went and share my photos :)

Have a great weekend!

The Good Life

I was here...

And it was even more beautiful than it is in this picture! On the drive down to Banff it was raining so hard. At one point, we were driving up a waterfall that had once been a road. Thankfully we made it there safely.

Here are a few pictures of the hotel's surroundings...

Now lets get to the important part, shall we? The food!

It's safe to say that my mother and I were completely spoiled at dinner. We had our own private room for the tasting, set exactly how it would be for the wedding (minus the table center). We had two different appetizers, four soups, four entrees and three ice creams to try.

First up was the spinach salad with goat cheese, roasted pears and balsamic vinaigrette.

The roasted pears were rocking my world with every, single, bite!

Second up to bat was the goat cheese soufflé.

This was the winner of my entire meal. I have never had a savory soufflé, I've mastered the chocolate variety but dare I say, the savory ones may even be better!

Thirdly, were these babies, the start of the soups. We had four different kinds…

Lobster bisque

Carrot ginger

Seafood chowder

Thai butternut squash

Can you guess which was the best? If you guessed the Thai butternut squash you definitely guessed right. It was deliciously creamy, perfectly seasoned and flawlessly “Thai”.

Now for the exciting part – the ENTREES.

Most of the people in my life are of the opinion that Alberta = red meat and since we want to give out guests the best experience possible when they spend time with us in Banff we want to give them red meat. Makes sense, no? Just incase there are those attending the wedding that would appreciate a lighter protein, we’d like to serve a combination plate.

One of them was the beef tenderloin with prawns, potato gratin and seasonal vegetables.

This one was just the buffalo served with potato gratin and seasonal vegetables.

This buffalo was the most tender of meats, seasoned with precision! However, it was the combination factor we were missing with this dish.

Possibly the worst dish of the night was the chicken with risotto and seasonal vegetables. Odd for me to say, isn’t it? I do love my fowl.

The flavor of the sauce was just way off for these taste buds.

The next entrée was beef tenderloin with salmon, potato gratin and seasonal veggies was quite good. The salmon was light and tasty, just what salmon should be.

Dessert time!

What's better than ice cream? Well besides clothes, pedicures and beautiful, big castles of hotels that is.

Like I said earlier, we tried four different kinds of ice cream.

Maple

Hazelnut

Honeycomb

The verdict? Maple all the way. It's just so Canadian. And let me just say, those baskets holding the ice cream and fruit were fantastic! So chewy and delicious. I wanted to meet the chef, just to tell him how much I loved those baskets.

The dinner was fantastic. I loved every minute of it. The food was incredible. I felt like a princess, living in a castle. What could be better?

Have a lovely day everyone.