Are Pigs Flying???

This was the sight on my bed this evening

Here’s how I figure this went down: Sienna was sleeping on her blankie, per usual. Wilson came in, hoped up, and curled up on there. Neither were aware of the other’s existence, since  the lights were out. I have serious doubts they have become friends overnight. Also, ignore my unkempt bed. I’ll admit it, I can be a a slob, especially when it comes to be making.

Anyways…let’s back track to this afternoon.

I met up with my workshop group, and I think we’ve come up with a pretty good plan for our classroom workshops. Plus it gets the kids trying out veggies with different healthy dips (salsa, hummus, guacamole). I think it will be fun I snacked on the new Peanut Butter & Jelly Larabar while we discussed.

I’m going to be honest here – I was somewhat underwhelmed. They had the peanut butter flavour working for me, but I wanted more jelly. It was more like a watered down Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar. That’s not to say it was bad, but I wanted a better pb to j ratio. To be fair though, I would give it another go, because you just never know if your bar wasn’t representative of the majority.

I also promised to show you my Sprouts treats from early today. First, I grabbed another delicious Diet-Buster (still hate that name) Cookie.

I had to get a second treat, because they had these Double Pumpkin Cranberry Cakies!

Can you believe I haven’t even tried either of them yet? I know, I’m obviously insane. I just hope my family keeps their paws off mah cookies!

My dad picked me up from the train this afternoon, then we went to vote. There was a federal by-election in our riding, so we had to do our civic duty. No one ever shows up for by-elections. I think the voter turn out here was something like 30%? Lame

Once I was home, I got changed, and decided to not go to cardio kickboxing with my sister. I had a new form of workout torture fun I wanted to try.

I picked these up on the weekend when went to get my hemmed pants. What can I say, I had a week moment. Plus they were only $9.99 each. I looked for the infamous 30-Day Shred, but it was MIA.

I decided to try out the No More Trouble Zones. Yeah, I’d say that was a good substitute for cardio kickboxing. I’m pretty sure I’ll barely be able to move tomorrow, which I love and hate. I liked the workout, because there were some challenging moves in there. It made me angry I couldn’t do some of them full out, but that just gives me incentive to work at it so I can do them

Dinner was leftover stew from last night.

See, even though I didn’t get a photo last night, you didn’t miss out I was actually saving you from the boredom of seeing it two nights in a row. Riiight.

I had some beef, lots of mushrooms, carrot, celery, a piece of potato, and a small dumpling. ‘Twas all delicious.

Then I hunkered down, and spent the majority of the evening working through all the questions on my exam tomorrow. They are all essay questions, so I was just taking notes about what I want to write. There are a couple questions I don’t feel as comfortable with my answers, so I’m hoping they don’t all end up on the test.

I did take a break from studying to enjoy more leftovers – apple blackberry crisp.

I love the way the blackberries turn the apples that magenta shade. Very cool.

I also took a little time out to watch some CSI: Miami. It’s a big deal this week – all three of the CSI shows are dealing with an interconnected story line. You can’t miss groundbreaking tv like that

I’m considering a little more work on my exam questions, then getting some shut eye. It’s great, I get to sleep in tomorrow. My morning class is cancelled, so I don’t need to be at the school until my exam at 2 pm. And since we have our midterm, the class is only 2 hours instead of the usual 4, so I should even get home in time to watch most of the hockey game, enjoy dinner, and hit up the gym. Woot!

Time to go be studious. Night!

Wonky Week

Hello wonderful readers I hope everyone has started off their week right. Mine school week is going to be a bit off – today I’m staying late to meet with some people, tomorrow I only have a midterm from 2 – 4 pm, Wednesday is a holiday, then Thursday/Friday should be pretty normal.

Alas, I still had to wake up before the sun, so I went for the usual quick breakfast – cereal.

This was a pretty great combo of flavours.

• Kashi Honey Almond Flax
• Kashi Cinnamon Harvest
• Peanut Butter Puffins
• dried raspberries
• shaved coconut

I like how the shredded wheat pieces fall apart in the milk, making the bowl of cereal seem thicker. Plus they give the milk a delicious cinnamon flavour

I also had a glass of that Oasis juice – Black Currant & Elderberry. You’ll be seeing it for awhile!

I was out the door a little late today, but transit was working in my favour. The train was there right when I got to the station, and the bus was sitting waiting for me to get on once I was off the train. I made into class only a couple minutes late, which is perfect, because our professor spends the first 5 min recapping what we covered last class.

I had my usual volunteer shift at Sprouts after class, and I scored a couple of tasty treats. You’ll just have to come back later to see them

Then instead of heading home, I found a place to eat my packed lunch.

My cousin’s wife made soup yesterday, and brought some over. Obviously, I had to try it out for lunch. You can’t pass up on homemade soup! It was a modified version of Avgolemono soup.

So it doesn’t really photograph well, but it was tasty! Instead of chicken, she used leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, and used whole wheat alphabet pasta instead of rice.

I’d never had avgolemono soup before, but had always wanted to try it. I loved the turkey in this. Unfortunately, most of the pasta fell apart in the soup, but it made it thick and creamy. I think the rice would have been a better choice, but it’s not the end of the world. I’ll have to try making it one day myself

To go with the soup I had some cucumber and snap peas.

With some Sabra Roasted Pine Nut hummus for dipping.

I guess I should get some midterm studying in while I wait to meet up with my group. We are working on our education programs for Nutrikids. At least it’s a fun project!

Question of the moment: It seems I’m the only blogger out there who has a morning glass of juice. Do you drink juice? Why or why not? I feel juice gets a bad rap in the healthy eating world!

A Moment Of Self-Consciousness

Ah Sunday, the day of rest. Which I indulged in by sleeping in, per usual weekend routine. No matter when I set my alarm for, my body is all about sleeping in on the weekend.

Another good thing about weekends? There is always time to cook up an excellent bowl of oatmeal.

Into this bowl of oatmeal goodness went:

• 1/2 cup oats, milk, water
• 1 banana, thinly sliced
• splash of vanilla
• shredded coconut (2 tbsp maybe?)
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• peanut butter
• Artisana Cacao Bliss

A new juice found its way into my glass this morning – Oasis Health Break Immuniforce. The main flavours being black currant and elderberry.

Full meal deal.

The juice was tasty, but nothing holds a candle to my beloved Happy Planet juices. What can I say, I’m all about supporting the local businesses whenever I can!

Sienna longed to go outside today. But we saw I coyote out back this morning, so no kitties were going out in the backyard today.

My sister & her boyfriend made a trip down to Tim Horton’s this morning for breakfast, and brought back a big ol’ box of Timbits. Obviously I had to try out at least one. I went for my fave, the sour cream glazed.

The rain decided to hold off for most of the day, so mom and I took the opportunity to go for a walk at Mundy Park. We spent a good hour wandering through the park, getting in some much needed fresh air.

I went on down to the mall afterwards, to get my newly hemmed jeans. I don’t know why it took me so long to get them done – what good is it to have a pair of pants you can’t wear hanging out in your closet for over a month?! I’m such a procrastinator sometimes.

Once I was back, I made a little snack. I wasn’t really in the mood for a full on lunch, since I had a late breakfast, and knew we were having a big Sunday dinner. There was a fresh loaf of French bread just asking to be sliced into. I had a slice with some cheddar cheese, and a sliced gala apple

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing in the lazy boy recliner with the laptop and some Food Network. I *should* have been working on some midterm things, but as I stated above, I’m a procrastinator extraordinaire!

I invited my cousin’s wife over for dinner (since my cousin was at work), as mom was making her delicious beef stew with dumplings, and apple blackberry crisp for dessert. And for some reason, I totally couldn’t bring myself to take a picture. I don’t know what it was – I just felt too self-conscious to do it this evening. I’ve been writing this blog for over a year, and yet I still have this apprehension about photographing my food sometimes. I’ve also never even really told my family or friends about my blog. Is that weird? I’m not sure what it is. I guess I fear explaining it to them, and making them understand that it’s enjoyable and that yes, people actually want to read. Is that odd? Am I making a big deal out of nothing?

Now that I’ve had that little brain spew, I’m off to get into the homework a little before bed. Better late than never, right? Night!

Fish, Fish, And More Fish

I’m soon going to be growing fins and gills here!  

Weird side note – I have a friend who is afraid of fish. Like, freaks out afraid of fish. She can’t watch Finding Nemo. We once got into an elevator, and it had a fish tank in it. It was not a fun elevator ride!

Today was a usual lazy Saturday. It started with an excellent sleep in, then breakfast. I warn you though, this oatmeal turned out a really bizarre colour.

Mom thought it looked like mashed up kidney beans. But rest assured, there were no beans in this oatmeal!

• 1/2 cup oats, milk, water
• 3 dried figs, chopped
• frozen raspberries
• splash of vanilla
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• 1 tbsp peanut butter, swirled in

Check out that swirl!

A glass of the Happy Planet Mango Peach Party, of course.

It might look a little weird, but it tasted good.

I ended up getting suckered into watching figure skating on tv, then finally showered up and had some lunch. It was all about the leftovers.

Half a piece of halibut, with tartar sauce.

Plus the rest of the fries, with ketchup.

It reheated & crisped up perfectly in the oven.

I decided to head on down to the mall this afternoon, which really, wasn’t the best idea. It was a rainy, cold day out. Where do you think everyone in the city is going to be? At the mall. I did have some errands to run though – I took in a pair of jeans to get them hemmed so I can actually wear them, made an appointment to get my hair did (Wednesday!), looked around to see if any store I would consider working at was hiring (none), browsed some books, dvd’s, shoes, makeup (hello new Sephora at the mall). And I got gas for my car, which should last me til Christmas, since I hardly drive the thing anymore. So although I left empty handed, I got some stuff done. But let’s be honest – the mall is way more fun when you actually have money to spend!

I got home, chilled with the family, then helped my mom out making dinner. She opened a bottle of wine, so I had a small glass.

Mom was making a family favourite – salmon loaf. I know, I know. It sounds really weird, maybe even disgusting, but I swear, salmon loaf trumps meatloaf any day!

Made with only the finest sockeye salmon, of course

One of my dishes – orzo pasta with olive oil, garlic, parmesan, fresh parsley, black pepper. This was in place of the rice we planned, but apparently didn’t have in the cupboard.

 

And some greenery – steamed broccoli & cauliflower, and a caesar salad (also my creation).

There’s just all sorts of good going on on this plate!

After dinner, I found myself over at the cousin’s place to watch a movie (The Taking Of Pelham 123), where I found myself served with a slice of chocolate cream pie. Yum! It wasn’t a late night this time, and I was home by 11:30. Which was when I planned on getting this post up…until Sienna broke a plant in the living room. Bad kitty! Looks like a trip to Ikea is in order for more plant pots.

Now it is way past my bedtime, so I shall bid you adieu. Night!

Friday = Takeout

Yes, it’s another instalment of Friday Night Takeout at my house. You’ll be happy to note, that we did not have pizza or Chinese food. I know, how is that possible? Those are the 2 standbys around here. But I put my foot down (or just whined alot). I had really hoped we could get something from a place that serves sweet potato fries, because I’ve had a serious craving lately, but I was out voted. Hmph

So, what was on the menu? Fish & chips.

Here’s my piece of halibut, with some delicious tartar sauce.

And the chips, with ketchup.

It’s fish & chips. Not much more you can really say about it.

I have a love-hate relationship with the fish & chips. I do love the taste, but they don’t always love me. Fortunately, tonight they were on my side

I watched/napped through the Canucks game, which they lost. I caught up on a variety of random tasks, and got in some upper body work while my cat sat on the couch, looking at me like I was crazy.

Eventually it was tea time – Stash chocolate hazelnut decaf with a splash of milk & agave.

And then I was feeling the need for fruit, so I went with the classic frozen fruit in milk. Today’s fruits included blueberries and Saskatoon berries.

I jazzed it up a little with some coconut, coconut extract, and brown sugar. Yum!

Basically, it was a low key evening at home. I like my Fridays for relaxation, because there usually isn’t much time during the week.

Now it’s time for the ultimate relaxation – sleep! Night

Relinked

Marianne vs Windows Live Writer – I win! I have worked with Microsoft support and finally I’m able to add links into my posts from my laptop again. I’m a fully functioning mobile blogger again

So when I went to bed last night, this mystery item was sitting on the stove, waiting for a hot oven this morning.

What on earth could it be? Alas, due to my early class, I had to wait until I got home. So I just threw together a quick breakfast. I couldn’t decide between cereal or toast, so I had a little of both.

Toasted Silver Hills “The Big 16” sprouted grain bread, topped with peanut butter and raspberry jam.

A wee bowl of Nature’s Path Mesa Sunrise cereal.

And a glass of the ol’ standby, Happy Planet Mango Peach Party.

I spent my morning mostly on transit, with a short stint of biochemistry in the middle. When I got home, the mystery treat was baked!

 

Cinnamon pull apart And as you can see, it had already been pulled apart. Don’t they I know I need to take photos? Oh well, it still looks mighty tasty. Obviously, I had to try a piece.

Who am I kidding, I totally went back for a second piece.

Friday is totally my relaxation day, so I wasted some time on the interweb, and chasing the cat around the house. Eventually I was ready for some lunch.

More Silver Hills bread, this time in the form of a tuna sandwich. Too bad we were out of pickles.

And a side caesar salad. We even had croutons!

Simply delicious.

Now that I’m all digested, I must be off to the gym. I need to be back in time for important hockey! My Canucks are taking on Miss CCK’s team! Your team is going down Katie!

Peace out

An Apple A Day

Keeps the doctor away. Good thing I had one for a snack this afternoon

I never ended up going to Starbucks. My practical side thought I would be better off saving the money. Instead, I had this Cocoa Jocolat bar during class. They are alright. I think the Larabars are better.

Class was long, per usual. We got to have an afternoon discussion on GMO’s which was quite interesting. I really wish there was some sort of legislation here in Canada (and the US for that matter), that companies had to identify foods that contain them. Whether you are against them or not, it’s not fair for consumers to not know what’s in their food. They should be allowed to make their own informed decisions, and they need that labelling to know.

Anyways…I missed the hockey game, since it was an early one. I think I got home just as it ended. Boo. At least there was dinner waiting for me.

Mom made split pea soup with the hambone from earlier this week. I think there’s also some barley in there

I also scored the last biscuit, and topped it with a little cheddar.

Hearty homemade soup sure hit the spot on a cold, windy night like tonight.

I spent some time perusing our midterm exam questions – we have 6 essay questions posted, but only 4 will be on our test on Tuesday. They seem pretty straight forward. I’ll have to jot down notes for each of them this weekend, and I should be set for the test!

I also took some time out to get a little activity in – some jumping jacks, ab work, and 15 min yoga. Nothing hard core, but it got the muscles moving. I can’t really ask for much more on my long school days.

I had a total craving for rhubarb all day today, so after my workout, I heated some up in the microwave, mixed in a wee bit of brown sugar, and topped some yogurt with it. I added a little granola for the crunch factor.

I think rhubarb is highly underrated. I think there should be more rhubarb products out there. Anyone else with me?

But now, it’s time to get cozy under the covers. 5:30 will be here before you know it! Night

Shiver Me Timbers

No, I’m not turning into a pirate. It’s just WINDY out there today. And rainy, and cold   Typical BC fall weather, that’s for sure. Makes me glad I can hide inside all day. And that I had time to make a warming bowl of oatmeal this morning.

• 1/2 cup oats, milk, water
• 3 dried figs, chopped
• splash of vanilla
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• swirled in peanut butter
• sprinkle of pomegranate seeds

A glass of the usual.

It was another fig-licious bowl!

 

I decided to dress up as a studious 12 year old today – wore my glasses, and braids. Thumbs up? Thumbs down?

And no, that’s not the only hoodie I own – just the one I wear all the time. LOL.

Psychology lecture was the norm. We finally got our midterm marks back, and it was decent, around what I expected. And since I have a better idea of how he writes his midterms, I’m the next few will improve

I couldn’t find a good couch to curl up on today, so instead I pulled up a piece of floor in the library, so I could compute and chow lunch.

I made biscuit-wiches! Mom had made some baking powder biscuits last night, so I made up a couple of mini ham & cheese sammies. Delicious!

The usual veggie component – carrot, cucumber, snap peas – for dipping in hummus.

Time to get back to my lunch break. I’m considering a stop over at Sbucks on the way to my next class – it’s chilly out there!

Time Flies

Wow, where has this day gone? I can’t believe I’m only sitting down now to write this post. You’d think on a day when I only have one class, I’d have all the time in the world! Time flies when you’re having fun, right? If only I could say my day was filled with fun though.

Not so fun? Waking up at the ass crack of dawn. Especially when the house is still cold. I totally stayed under the covers until I heard the heat kick in (it’s on a timer). Of course, it meant I was a little behind, so I had to go the cereal route for breakfast.

• Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal
• Kashi Cinnamon Harvest
• pomegranate seeds
• dried blueberries
• milk

They look like pretty jewels

With a glass of Happy Planet Mango Peach Party.

I love taking pictures of breakfast.

 

I had my usual commute, usual biochemistry class, then my volunteer shift at Agora. Uh, yeah…let’s just say that was less than fun. I’m pretty glad that my time there is almost over, and won’t be returning next semester for any more unpaid labour.

I did bring a great snack with me to keep me going until I got home for a late lunch.

Medjool dates are back! We picked up a container at Costco on the weekend. These ones are stuffed with Artisana pecan butter. Nom nom!

I eventually found my way home, and had a lunch bowl full of leftovers.

I layered mashed potatoes, corn, sauteed mushrooms, a couple of random brussel sprouts, hot italian sausage, and sausage gravy. It cleared out a few containers from the fridge, and made for an excellent meal.

A hot meal at home is always the best.

I will say though – I could have done without the sausage. Give me the potatoes, corn, ’shrooms, and gravy, and I’d be a happy camper. Probably because of the gravy

I had a leisurely afternoon on the interweb, and enjoyed a little snack.

Sourdough rye Wasa cracker with peanut butter, chocolate chips, and dried cranberries. It always amazes me how great this is at satisfying a sweet treat craving

I headed over to my cousin’s place this afternoon, as we had plans to get our workout on. She has the whole Carmen Electra series of striptease workout videos, so we figured it would be fun to go through them. Uh yeah…I’m so not a dancer. Figure skater/ice dancer? I’m all over that. Put me on the ground, and I am a spaz. At least I can laugh at myself, right? LOL.

And, as I’m sure will come to no shock to you, we went out for sushi afterwards. I swear, my cousins and his wife are obsessed more than I am with the stuff! We couldn’t go to our usual place though, as they were closed when we pulled up. There was a note on the door saying they had to take one of their children to the hospital. I hope everything is okay!

We hit up all you can eat sushi instead, which isn’t as bad as it might sound. Every item is brought to you in really tiny portions, so you get to try all your favourite without leaving overstuffed. I had all of my favourites, and was totally content when we left

I went back to their place, watched some tv, drank some hot chocolate, then made my way home. It is a school night afterall My cousin hooked me up with all of his music (80 Gb!), so now I have the task of transferring it all to my computer, and sorting through what I don’t already have. I’m sure it will be a warranted distraction from school work this weekend.

And that concludes my Wednesday. Hope the week is treating you all well. I’m off to dreamland. Night!

Jambon

When I left you earlier, I was off for a little stroll around campus. It was a perfect crisp fall day. I even took a few pictures on campus.

I’m sad most of the leaves had fallen from the trees down Main Mall, because it would have made for some spectacular photos. Perhaps next year?

Then I was off to my afternoon class. We found out that our midterm next week will have a different format – we will be getting 6 or 7 essay questions given to us on Thursday at the end of class. 4 of those will be on the midterm, so we’ll have all weekend to work on the questions. It’s kinda good, because there’s no reason to do poorly on the exam, but I’m not really a fan of writing essay questions on tests.

I had some snacks in class – 1/2 a Cocoa Coconut Chew Larabar (leftover from Saturday, escaping the camera), as well as an apple

I don’t think these were gala apples, but I’m not 100% sure what variety it is. Oh well.

Class ended up going late today, which put a hamper on my plans to attend a seminar right at 6 pm. By the time I was out of class, I had already missed almost 30 min of the seminar. Since I knew there was a hockey game on tv tonight, I figured it was a sign I should just go home

Mom had cooked up a dinner I haven’t had in ages! Ham & scalloped potatoes. Mmmm

Jambon (ham, en français) with mustard.

Delicious scalloped potatoes. *drool*

And some mixed veggies. I totally wasn’t feeling them tonight. I think I would have preferred just the peas.

With a little bubbly – of the H2O variety of course

Oh man. The ham was sooo good. So were the spuds. If it wasn’t so filling, I would have totally gone for seconds. Although, we have a crap ton of ham leftover, so it’s not like I won’t have ample opportunity to enjoy it later. I hear rumours mom might make split pea soup with the ham bone

While watching the hockey game (in which we were victorious, even with half the team injured, defensemen playing forward, tons of players in the penalty box), mom brought me a piece of that caramel apple crumble pie. It didn’t hold together so well.

I also had a mug of lychee tea to warm up. It’s supposed to go down to 3 degrees C tonight! Brrrrr.

After the game, I made my way downstairs to do a short 15 min yoga video, as well as some upper body work. I must have done a good job, because my arms were shaky while I was brushing my teeth later on

Now I must get some shut eye. Night!