A Milky Day

Were you aware of just how many different types of milk are out there? And how different they all taste? We spent part of our afternoon class doing a blind milk tasting in preparation for our trip to a local dairy farm on Thursday. It’s crazy when you taste all these different milks back to back, how you can pick out so many different flavours and really compare them. Is it weird that my favourite was the buttermilk? I know, who picks buttermilk?! But it was just like sour cream, and hey, I’m Russian – I love me some sour cream.

That wasn’t all the milk I had today either. There was some at breakfast…

• 1/2 cup oats, milk, water
• 1 banana, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• splash of vanilla
• Maranatha Organic Peanut Butter
• raspberry jam

Breakfast also featured the return of the Happy Planet Mango Peach Party juice. Woot!

Tasty tasty.

Lunch was exciting today, because I got to try out a new toy.

I finally picked up a Thermos Food Jar! Actually, I bought one small one (pictured here), and one larger one, so I can expand my portable eats for school. I knew I couldn’t go all winter without some warming soups for lunch.

Speaking of soup…I cooked up a big pot last night.

I knew when I read about this Coconut Curried Butternut Squash, Carrot, and Sweet Potato Soup on Jill’s Test Kitchen, it was going on my “To Cook ASAP” list. It just so happened that I had basically the right ingredients in the house, just in differing quantities. Here’s what went into my pot to produce this beautiful soup.

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 tsp red curry paste
• 1/4 tsp powdered ginger
• 2 medium carrots, peeled & diced
• 1/2 kabocha squash, roasted
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled & diced
• 1 gala apple, diced (would have been peeled, but I forgot!)
• 3 cups organic chicken broth
• 1 can light coconut milk
• salt & pepper to taste

Just a few minor adjustments based on what was in my kitchen, but it still produced a smooth, rich, complex soup – perfect for fall. There is a great coconut aroma that hits you, then you get a subtle heat from the curry paste, that gradually builds as you eat the soup. I highly recommend trying this soup, and checking out Jill’s blog – she has some excellent recipes with awesome photos, and we went to high school together! Gotta promote my fellow local bloggers

Obviously, I brought along some soup for lunch.

As well as a hummus, cucumber, and chive & onion cream cheese sandwich on Silver Hills Squirrelly Bread.

 

Thumbs up to my Thermos product – it kept my soup warm until lunch time.

I also packed some snacks to tide me over through my marathon class (not knowing we had a milk tasting as well – that milk fills you up!)

Some plain, roasted almonds (of which I only ate maybe half of what I took).

And a Raspberry Fruit Source Plus Veggie bar. Apparently it gives you 3 servings of fruit & veggies in that little bar. I don’t know if I believe it. We didn’t have any easily portable fruit to grab this morning, and the ingredient list was acceptable, so I figured I’d give it a go.

Like a thick fruit leather. Not bad. Fruit leathers aren’t really my favourite, but it would do in a pinch.

Alas, when I got home from school this evening, there was no dinner ready & waiting for me The family had pancakes, but thought I wouldn’t want any, so there were no leftovers. Oh well. I set to work on throwing some things together, and ended up with an impromptu Tex-Mex millet dish.

I cooked up some millet, added frozen corn & peas, salsa, and a diced green onion. Then I topped it with some avocado, cheddar cheese, and more salsa.

Since there was a little chunk of homemade soda bread still around, I sliced off a piece, and spread on some Sabra Roasted Garlic Hummus. That stuff is like buttah!

Not bad for an impromptu meal. Olé!

Mom baked muffins, but I was too full to have one I did have enough room for a warming mug of hot chocolate to accompany my Hell’s Kitchen watching. Too bad it was camera shy. Now it’s time to get in a little biochemistry studying before I sleep. Night!

Permission To Bake

Happy Wednesday everyone. I can’t believe it’s only Wednesday though – is this week going slow for anyone else?! Maybe it’s just my perpetual sleepy state, but I could so use a weekend right about now.

I let myself linger in bed past my alarm this morning, which meant breakfast had to be quick. Cereal to the rescue!

A great mix of Kashi GoLean Crunch, puffed kamut, puffed brown rice, dried cranberries, and coconut.

With a glass of cranberry juice. Apparently I’m the only one in the house drinking the damn stuff.

Usually Wednesdays are a short day for me – I only have an hour of class from 8 – 9 am. Well, it turns out that is no longer the case. At the beginning of the year, I applied to volunteer at Agora, a cafe on campus run by my faculty. Due to some miscommunication, I thought I hadn’t been accepted as a volunteer because they had already filled all the spots that I was available for, therefore I never went to any training sessions. Much to my surprise, I found out last week that I was actually schedule to work on Wednesdays from 10 – 11:50 am. So today was my first day.

Of course, this meant I needed to take some eats with me, so I wouldn’t want to gnaw my arm off before I got home.

I brought (blurry) concord grapes from my uncle’s grape vine.

And a couple of my mom’s homemade cookies. Mmmm, cookies.

And I have no clue how this grande, non-fat, half sweet green tea latte found it’s way into my photos. Or into my tummy

So my first shift at Agora was…interesting. I find that it’s run somewhat differently than Sprouts, perhaps because they are solely a cafe, whereas Sprouts is also a grocery store. I was able to prepare and serve a variety of foods – soup, quiche, egg sandwiches, smoothies, etc. The best part though? They let me bake! When I arrived, I was asked if I liked baking (duh), so I was shown the recipe binder and told to pick something and go ahead and bake it. Sweet! I was all over that. I surveyed the items in stock, and chose to make some blueberry oatmeal muffins. I hope they turned out okay – I was leaving just as we pulled them out of the oven. I guess I’ll find out next week, if they let me bake again

We also have volunteer t-shirts to wear at Agora. Check it out.

Front

Back

I just like that it’s brown

I finally found myself back at home just before 2 pm, and I was ready for some lunch. Soup seemed like a good idea this afternoon.

I heated up a serving of homemade borscht, topped with a little sour cream and dill.

I had thought about another avocado/hummus/cheddar sandwich, but when I was getting a bowl out of the cupboard, I saw mom had done some more baking this morning. She made more whole wheat cheddar & onion soda bread. I scrapped the sandwich, and toasted up some of the good stuff.

I still wanted my hummus, so I spread some Sabra Roasted Garlic on each piece.

And saw that my dad had opened a package of harvest garlic sausage, so I snagged a couple slices.

It was a great fall lunch.

My evening is quite the busy one – my parents are out, so I’m on dinner duty. Plus I have some oh-so-important hockey to watch, Thanksgiving desserts to decide upon, and school work to attempt. Later!

Dark And Early

I know the saying is bright and early, but it doesn’t seem to make sense when you are getting up when it’s still dark out, now does it?

I did not want to get out of my cozy, warm bed this morning. Not for a biochem lecture, that’s for sure. But I was the good student, and forced myself to get up and going. It helps when you have tasty breakfast options around.

I started with one of the last homemade scones, slathered with Maranatha Organic Peanut Butter.

Accompanied by a simple bowl of Nature’s Path Pumpkin Raisin Crunch cereal & unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze. (Side note – I always type “pumpking” instead of “pumpkin”. I have no idea why!)

Plus a glass of cranberry juice. Must drink up this bottle so I can move onto something a little better.

Breakfast in less than 5 min. Gotta love that when you get up at 5:30 am

I must have not hit all my bus connections right this morning, because I was actually a couple minutes late for my lecture. They were still on the first slide though, so I know I didn’t miss much I then had my usual volunteer shift at Sprouts. We had some mighty good looking soup on the menu today for lunch – I wish I had been staying around!

Maybe I should try recreating something similar myself? I have had a creative cooking urge for a few days now. Hmmm…

At least there was a new baked good for me to try out this week

Yes, I went with the Infamous Diet-Buster Cookie (although, I take issue with the name – do we really need to label a baked treat as “diet-busting”?).

Hello delicious cookie that is as big as my hand! This one did not disappoint – it was perfectly crumbly, the way you want a cookie to be. Plus it was peanut butter & chocolate. You really can’t go wrong there.

We also had some beautiful organic peaches come in with our produce order today. I swear, they were the size of a baseball, if not bigger. One of them was a little bruised, so we had to sacrifice it to taste test. Sooo good!

Once I finally found my way home, I made my own soup for lunch. I pulled some of homemade borscht out of my freezer, and topped it with sour cream and dill.

Plus an avocado & cheddar sandwich on toasted Silver Hills Squirrelly Bread.

And again with the weird lighting – I think it’s our windows. They have a slight green tint to keep the house from heating up too much in the summer.

I think I’m going to head out to cardio kickboxing with my sister tonight. That way I’ll get in some gym time, and be back in time to watch the hockey game at 7 pm. Go Canucks!

Finally Friday

It’s been a long, tiring week. I think my little trip over to Victoria made it that much more so. I was not wanting to get out of bed at 5:30 this morning, that’s for sure. But I somehow made it out of my warm, cozy bed and into the kitchen for some breakfast.

Our peaches are quickly advancing past their prime, so I knew I needed to save one from the compost bin.

I filled a small bowl with yogurt, Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax granola, half of a peach, and some coconut.

I swear there was yogurt and granola under there. See?!

My mom had baked some whole wheat dried fruit scones last night. Needless to say, I had to test one out, with a blanket of Maranatha Organic Peanut Butter.

And I finished off that damn imposter juice. Finally!

Another orange hued breakfast.

Mom’s scones get my seal of approval   They were quite tasty – I think she used raisins and dried cranberries in them. The peanut butter didn’t hurt either

I was so tired today. I was doing the head bob all the way to school, fighting it all the way through class, and again on the way home. Fortunately, I didn’t miss any of my transfer points. Phew!

When I got home, I needed some grub. I finished off the Terra Blue Potato Chip crumbs someone left in the bag while I surveyed the fridge for options.

Seriously, who does that?!

My fridge searching revealed a lonely bbq’d hamburger. I decided to show it some love with a little Tex-Mex flair.

I toasted a slice of whole wheat bread, them smashed on 1/4 of an avocado, added some salsa, and the reheated hamburger.

To put it totally over the top, I added some jalapeno slices and melty sharp cheddar.

And yes, it was as spectacular as it looks. I had thought about doing some kale chips on the side, but the last of my kale was no good. Booo-urns.

I spent some quality time with the newspaper, then did some research online (with a few mah jong games thrown in for fun). I’ve decided the rest of my evening is homework free, and tomorrow will be a dedicated study day. Now I’m off to figure out what this family is having for dinner – my mom is gone for the weekend, which means dad is cooking. And by cooking, I mean ordering take out. I have to figure out what I’m craving. Later!

The Switch Up

This morning I got a little wild and crazy with breakfast. It involved a fork.

My sister was making her lunch, packing some leftover mac & cheese. There was only one serving left, and since I’d had it for lunch the other day…

…it ended up in my cereal bowl.

Oh yes, I ate delicious homemade mac & cheese for breakfast. Cold. Love it.

There was a tiny little end piece of the whole wheat cheese & green onion soda bread left too, so I nabbed that alongside. It looks like I spread a crap ton of butter on it, but I swear, it wasn’t that much!

With a glass of the imposter juice.

Showcasing another autumn themed tablecloth.

Mmmmm, cold mac & cheese. So good.

So, in keeping with meal mix up, I made a lunch that was more suited to breakfast.

We have bananas again, and they were just begging for some peanut butter lovin’. I granted their wish in a pb + b + honey sandwich on Silver Hills "The Big 16" bread.

I added some Peanut Butter Puffins to my well traveled bag of custom trail mix. Again, with the breakfast food.

But to keep a little touch of lunch, I brought along cucumber & carrot slices.

I’m thinking I might actually do a number on the trail mix today, since I didn’t pack half the kitchen with me this time.

Today also turned out to be a rainy cold one. I was freezing in my first class, and had to make a stop on my way to find a good lunch spot.

Somehow this tall, non-fat, half sweet green tea latte found its way into my hands, and subsequently into my belly. It may have been bad for the wallet, but at least it warmed me up!

But seriously, I need to avoid the Starbucks. I have no job! I’ll be destitute before you know it if this keeps up. Or I’ll have to ask my parents for an allowance again. HA! I think I’m going to source out a good thermos/food jar so I can start taking soup or stew with me, because I have a feeling winter is going to have alot of these cold, rainy days when a sandwich just isn’t going to cut it. Plus it’s incentive to cook more fun things at home on the weekends.

Strangely, I have no reading to do for my afternoon class today, so I’m off to enjoy the rest of my 3 hour break. And impatiently wait for the first hockey game of the season tonight – I totally wore my jersey to school. GO CANUCKS!

Carbs & Cookbooks

There is always one thing that makes my 12 hour Tuesdays & Thursdays a little more bearable – knowing when I get home, dinner will be ready and waiting for me

Tonight was a completely home cooked meal.

Mom made mac & cheese. Not the uber-insane cheese one from my coworker’s secret recipe, but her usual version, which is always delicious. Check out that cheesy crust.

Alongside there were steamed green & yellow beans.

And a homemade cheddar & green onion soda bread. Mom might not have used whole wheat pasta, but the bread was whole wheat.

I was totally carb loading and loving every bite

So much so, that I did go back for a 2nd slice of that tasty bread

Not only was dinner waiting for me when I got in the door, but so was this.

My aunt dropped off a box of cookbooks she was getting rid of. She was going to let me go through them and keep what I wanted, then give the rest to charity. Does she know me, or what?

I decided to only keep one though.

The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook – First Edition, circa 1959.

Apparently my grandpa won this book when my aunt was around 13 or so, and gave it to her. And she has never even used it!

What made me decide to keep this one? Well, this was the page I opened it up to.

You had me at tempura

So then I had to continue flipping through, and it looks like there are a tong of great recipes to work with. Not to mention the kitschy layout and pictures!

Even in 1959, people were looking for meatless meals

Although, I can’t say there was any mention of fully vegan meals

Other than that, my evening consisted of some quality tv watching (Hell’s Kitchen & SYTYCD Canada), and completion of my hockey pool stats. The hockey draft is tomorrow, which means I’m going on a road/ferry trip after my 8 am class over to Victoria! I’ll be there all day, and get to visit with all my old coworkers. I’m excited!

5:30 am is coming quick, so I’m off to sleep. Night!

Hitting The Books

Today I was a good little biochemistry student

I took over the kitchen table as my workspace for the afternoon

But before that, I went out and ran some errands. Okay, so it was really only one errand, and it was to a specific grocery store for certain things that were on sale. Like Almond Breeze – 3 for $5.50? Or organic avocados – 3 for $4.98? Yeah, can’t really pass stuff like that up.

Lunch also happened before I put my studying cap on.

I started with the last of the Chunky Potato soup. I diced up a couple slices of deli ham to add to it today. And topped it with fresh chives for that pop of green.

There was a container of leftover salad on it’s last legs, so I polished that off as well. To the lettuce/yellow pepper/green onion/radish combo I added some cucumber and sunflower seeds, and dressed it with Brianna’s Honey Mustard Dressing.

Another successful leftover-filled meal

While going through my biochemistry study questions, I had a hankering for a snack. I wanted something bready, so took a slice of crusty whole wheat bread and spread on some peanut butter & raspberry jam.

Not only was it good brain fuel, but it should keep me from eating my arm off until later. I’m off to a house warming party for one of my cousins tonight, so instead of having a proper dinner, I’ll be filling up on party food. Should be lots of fun! I’m off to make myself beautiful. Enjoy your Saturday evening everyone

Number Crunching

It’s what, the 3rd week of school, and I’m already having some minor grade anxiety? That’s can’t be a good thing

I had to prep for a very long, busy day today. Yes, Thursdays are normally my long day, but I had two extra meetings to go to, and my first graded assignment – our group presentation.

You’d think oatmeal would be the preferred fuel for a day like today, but I wasn’t in a cooking mood when I got up, so cereal won out.

A combination of Kashi GoLean Crunch and Peanut Butter Puffins, topped with dried cranberries and coconut.

It’s been far to long since I’ve had Puffins for breakfast. Oh Puffins, why you gotta be so damn expensive?!

Paired up with a glass of cranberry pomegranate juice.

After a riveting psychology lecture, I found myself a nice bench in the sun to eat my lunch and prepare for my presentation in the afternoon. I packed quite a spread to last me throughout the day.

For lunch, I chowed down on my sandwich – Silver Hills bread, avocado, cheddar cheese, and ED&BV Lemon Cashew Basil Pesto.

Plus my concord grapes. They are really good – the skins are a little tart, and the centres sweet. Yum!

To fuel me through my lecture/presentation, I brought along more custom trail mix. I maybe had half the bag, if that.

And because I was staying after my class that ended at 6 pm for a meeting, I brought along a this gala apple

And a Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar.

I didn’t have my normal 3 hour break between classes, as I had my first meeting of the day – the Dietetics Applicant Info Session. Where I was also lucky enough to meet up with a blog reader/fellow applicant (Hello Bronwyn!). Too bad we didn’t get more time to chat – we’ll have to go coffee sometime The session itself was quite informative, but sent me into a tizzy when I found out how they would calculate my GPA using my grades from my previous degree/school. I thought I was going to be screwed, but I pulled out my transcripts when I got home, and was able to put my mind at easy with some quick number crunching. I’m still not 100% positive on how they will calculate my GPA, as not all my classes transfer directly, but I think I’ll still be okay. Phew! I also got some really great insight into the rest of the application process, and what I can do to make sure my application stands out

I also had my first assignment today – our group presentation. It went very smoothly, and we got decent marks. There are definitely things to improve on, but we have 3 to do over the whole course, and we get to keep our best 2 out of 3 marks, so we can only go up from here.

After the epic 4 hour class, I was off to my second meeting of the day, for a volunteer position to help my dietetics application in February. It’s for a program called Nutrikids, where student volunteers form teams of three, and go into elementary schools to teach nutrition workshops to the students there. I think it will be really valuable experience, and I’m looking forward to putting together our workshops. I’m all about making fun posters!

Of course, this late meeting meant I wasn’t home until 8:40 pm! Look what I found when I walked in the door.

The table, all set and ready for me to eat dinner. Thanks mom!

On the menu tonight – Chunky Potato Soup.

The soup has potato, carrot, celery, onion, chicken stock, cream, and swiss cheese. I doctored mine up with a little black pepper and fresh chives. I’m thinking corn would be an excellent addition as well.

There was also a loaf of crusty whole wheat bread, so I toasted a couple slices, spread on a little butter, and topped them with cucumber slices, salt, and pepper.

With a bottle of the bubbly water.

Now that I’m thoroughly exhuasted, both mentally and physically, I’m off to bed. Tomorrow is Friday – woot! Night

Loafing Around

I’m pretty sure I’ve reached my bread quota for the day. That wonderful loaf of Farmer’s Market 7 Grain bread made another appearance at dinner!

It was basically a leftovers dinner. I grabbed the pinkest piece of roast beef I could find. And yes, I cut out all the marbling that I could. I cannot stand the texture of the fat in meat when it’s cold. *shudders* But check out that embedded garlic. Yum.

Some steamed broccoli & cauliflower, with lots of fresh cracked pepper.

And here’s where that delicious bread comes in – I slathered my slice in some Laughing Cow/avocado mash. Definitely better than butter.

No wine tonight though – I think that would have put me to sleep right after dinner!

Tonight I got to watch some hockey! So excited that hockey season is back. Sure, it was just a pre-season game, but it’s still counts. Especially since my boys, the Canucks, won in a shoot out. Woot!

I worked on our group presentation and read blogs while enjoying the game, then made my way to the kitchen for a little snack.

A yogurt bowl – plain yogurt mixed with vanilla whey protein powder, cinnamon & nutmeg, topped with canned peaches, frozen blueberries, flax seed, and almonds.

With a mug of Stash Creme Caramel Decaf tea – splash of milk & agave included.

Someone was pretending to be innocent & cute. Riiiight

Time to get some essential reading done for class tomorrow, so my 3 hour lunch break is free to work on Powerpoint. I can hardly wait! Night

Brownie To Go

Hello new week! Hope you are all having a wonderful Monday so far. Mine actually hasn’t been that bad, other than the whole waking up before the birds thing.

My day started off with the usual quick breakfast – cereal.

Some crunchy & delicious Nature’s Path Pumpkin Raisin Crunch, with 1% milk. This cereal definitely has enough going on, that it doesn’t need any add ins.

I also had a small piece of 7 grain bread with peanut butter. We picked up this bread at the Farmer’s Market on Sunday. It’s made with all organic ingredients

And a glass of pomegranate cranberry juice to wash it down.

Fuelled up and ready to take on the day.

I had my usual 8 am biochemistry class, then went to my volunteer shift at Sprouts. It was much more involved today, since we were actually serving lunch – soup and bread – as well as various baked goods. As I’m working the opening shift, I get to do things like getting the soups reheated to serve at 11, stocking the fridge/shelves, throwing any dishes through the dishwasher, and all the other usual things once the store opens. We are entitled to either soup or a baked good for each shift we worked. Since I was on my way home after my shift, I opted for a baked good – an organic vegan brownie

Great brownie flavour, a little drier than I would like in a brownie, but still a tasty little treat. I’ll have to work my way through the other baked goods in the weeks to come!

I arrived home just in time for some lunch. I though there was one piece of pizza left in the fridge, and had plans of eating that for lunch. Turns out, someone stole it! Boooo. Oh well, I improvised.

I toasted up another slice of that Farmer’s Market bread, then spread on some ED&BV Lemon Cashew Basil Pesto (can you believe I still have some, and that it’s still good?!), and topped it with some aged cheddar cheese.

The last few slices of cucumber graced my plate with a dollop of dilly dip.

And I rounded out the plate with some gorgeous concord grapes These ones were grown by my aunt & uncle at their trailer on Cultas Lake. They had a bumper crop this season, so my mom & dad went to their place last night to pick up some.

I seem to be all about the tasting plates these days.

Pesto + cheese + bread? Match made in heaven. Dilly dip + veggies? Awesome. Those grapes? Are they not beautiful? And they taste just like really good grape juice. Yum.

Now I’m off to the gym for the first time in over a week. I think my cold is finally almost gone, and I’ve missed exercise. Time to get my sweat on!