Souper Saturday

My walk this afternoon was great. It was still really cold out there along the water, but it was nice to be out in the fresh air. And apparently I wasn’t the only one with the same thoughts today – there were tons of people on the trail, walking their dogs and kids

After my brisk walk, I came home in need of some lunch.

Since I was chilly, I needed something to warm me up. Bring on the soup!

There was a serving of avgolemono soup and a wee bit of orzo left, so I made the same combo as yesterday. Still tasty!

Dad had bought this monster sub from Safeway, and saved me a chunk.

It’s pretty much all meat and cheese, but there is a single layer of lettuce, and some tomatoes on there. I, of course, picked off those tomatoes.

Mmmm, lunch.

As I was chowing on lunch, I enjoyed some figure skating on TV with my sister. It was only an hour of coverage though. I swear, the TV coverage of skating just keeps getting smaller and smaller each year. I want to see whole events over multiple days people! Good thing I discovered Skatebuzz, a site run by Skate Canada, where they have live coverage of the entire event. In fact, I’m sitting here right now, watching some live coverage.

Not sure what’s happening here this evening dinnerwise – both my sister and mom will be out, so it’s just me and dad. I have a feeling take out might be on the menu, but you never know. Now back to the skating!

Remembrance Day

Hello eveyone. How did you spend your Remembrance Day (or Veteran’s Day for those in the US)? Did you attend any ceremonies? Take a few moments out of your day? Anything? I’ll be honest – I’ve never been to a Remembrance Day ceremony that wasn’t held in school. I don’t buy poppies to wear. I don’t even know anyone who has served in a war. It makes it harder for me to really connect to the meaning of the day. I know that those people who have gone to war have made the freedom I experience possible, but at the same time I find I have a disconnect to the whole thing, because it hasn’t influenced me directly. Does anyone else out there feel similar?

I did take my day off school to be productive though – no point in wasting that freedom that has been granted to me, right?

Since my whole family was at home this morning, my mom cooked up bacon & eggs for breakfast. I’m not an egg person, and wasn’t really feeling the bacon and toast, so I went with cereal.

Just a bowl of Nature’s Path Mesa Sunrise, topped with craisins and shredded coconut.

With a glass of Oasis Black Currant Elderberry juice.

Just what I wanted.

But I’ll admit it, I totally snagged a piece of bacon that went unphotographed. What can I say, I love me some bacon

I had an appointment to get my hair cut today, because it was getting just a little out of hand. I don’t like when it gets too long, because it doesn’t curl nicely. I went to the salon my sister goes to, and I think they did a pretty good job. Plus they blew it out straight, which I always enjoy. What do you think?

 

Yeah, I know, more pictures of me not smiling. I’m just not good at fake smiling for pictures! So deal with it

I also browsed the mall for some boots, as I seriously need a waterproof, stylish, well made pair. Le sigh – why must they all be so expensive? Like I have $200 to spend on a good pair of shoes. But I refuse to buy shoes that are shoddily made, that have no arch support, and that I can’t wear in the rain. So demanding, I know. This is why I really need to find a job

I came home from the mall, and had some leftovers for lunch. It started with some salmon loaf (for those who asked for the recipe – it’s coming!)

Orzo with parmesan, olive oil, herbs, and spices.

And steamed broccoli & cauliflower.

Hurray for leftovers!

After my lunch, I set out on a mission to get me a job! I printed off some copies of my resume, and went out to flog them at a few grocery stores around my house. I figure if I’m going to get a part time job, it should involve something I enjoy. Can’t go wrong with food! It took me a good couple of hours though, seeing as almost every place I went wanted me to fill out an application form as well.

Once home, I was in need of a snack. The double pumpkin cranberry cakie from Sprouts was calling my name (plus I didn’t want it to go stale).

A few bites in it hit me that this would be awesome with some pecan butter.

And I was right! Yum

Dinner was another collaborative affair between me and mom. Mom’s component: Baked Mac & Cheese.

 

My components: Steamed green beans.

And a caesar salad. My sister did a good job of setting the table too.

My plate, with a little of everything.

Close up on the cheesy crust. Mmmmm.

Shortly after dinner, my sister and I were off to my cousin’s place to partake in some Cardio Striptease a la Carmen Electra with my cousin’s wife. He always hides when we do the video tape, it’s quite funny. We bumped it up a level, and tried some harder routines, so it was fun.

We raced home to make sure we didn’t miss all the key shows we needed to watch tonight – ANTM, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY. Heaven forbid we miss Wednesday night tv! I spent the time multitasking on the computer, and enjoying a snack.

I was craving popcorn and cinnamon toast, so I combined the two into cinnamon toast popcorn – popcorn with a little butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

And a mug of rich Ecuadorian hot chocolate. I’m almost out, it makes me sad.

Question of the moment: How do you make your hot chocolate? With water? With all milk? With water, then add some milk for creaminess? I’m a water + milk user myself.

Now I’m off to watch the rest of the news, then hit the sack. I have a full day of school ahead of me tomorrow. 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!

Another Marathon Day

Wake up time: 6:30 am

Time out the door: 7:30 am

Time home from school: 9:15 pm

Bed time: ASAP!

These marathon days are just killing me! Especially when they involve projects and presentations. I feel like such a bore in my posts lately, but school is taking it’s toll on my brain.

I started off my morning with a bowl of cereal – mostly because I was cooking up something for lunch, so I didn’t want to cook oats as well.

It was a mix of Nature’s Path Mesa Sunrise, Peanut Butter Puffins, and Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax granola, topped with pomegranate seeds, and drowning in a sea of unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

A glass of cranberry juice paired nicely with the cereal mess.

I’m starting to run low on acceptable cereals now! Oh no!

*insert psychology lecture on altered states of consciousness*

Then I made myself comfortable to map out what I was going to say in my presentation later on this afternoon, and to chow on some lunch.

What’s in the thermos you may be asking? Well, I made up a little pasta dish featuring the wild rice pasta I bought a little while back. I cooked some up this morning, then mixed it with some leftover chicken, peas, corn, red onion, shredded carrot, parmesan cheese, and Annie’s Organic Green Garlic Dressing.

Honestly, I could even detect any difference between the wild rice pasta and regular wheat pasta. I’d totally eat it again.

There was also an apple.

And for a snack later, I brought two leftover blueberry pancakes with peanut butter inside.

They kinda looked like tacos, folded in half like that. Pancake tacos!

I sort of wish we had pancakes, with leftovers, more often. What a great little snack idea

Then we had our class with our presentations. It went fine, and we got a higher mark than on the last one. Considering I wasn’t even sure the presentation was going to get completed yesterday, I was glad to see we’d still improved. But – some of the comments on our evaluation irked me, so I really hope we fix them for our next presentation.

I totally toyed with the idea of going home after my class, because I was just so drained, but there was a "Meet The Dietitian" night at the school, so I figured I should go. It was actually really interesting, and I am glad I went. They had 3 community dietitians in to answer questions. It was great to hear about their experiences working in the community, since there is so much focus on the clinical aspect through school and the internship. Even though I’m aware of many of the different areas one can get into once they are an RD, they still brought some more to my attention.

I also met up with Bronwyn at the session, and the wonderful person she is, brought me a whole wheat fig scone she had baked. It tasted great, and was a good snack to keep me from gnawing my arm off before I got home from school Thanks Bronwyn!

*insert transit ride home, where I nodded off on the train, and was this close to missing my stop*

Dad informs me on the ride home from the train that they had KFC for dinner. Booo-urns. So I know I’m going to be scrounging for food when I get home. I totally thought there were some perogies in the freezer, and got myself psyched up to eat them. Alas, when I open the freezer, I find out there are gone. Apparently they were "eaten ages ago". I pout, open cupboards, complain to my family there is no food in the house, then lie on the couch for awhile feeling cranky. I contemplated just going to bed, but I was to hungry. Back to the kitchen to come up with something…

Sesame bagel with cheddar cheese, cucumber slices, dill dip. Something about a cheese sammy. I just love it!

Of course, I realized I still had a chunk of vegan brownie leftover from my volunteer shift on Monday, so I made a fro-yo sundae.

Vanilla frozen yogurt, crumbled brownie, chocolate chips, coconut. I swear, there is actually fro-yo under there!

It was obviously amazing. Even if it left me chilled afterwards.

My eyes are totally getting droopy, so I guess I should sleep. Not only do I have my one, early class tomorrow morning, but I have a job tomorrow! That pays money! My sister’s work is doing inventory this weekend, and they need help, so she got me in for three days worth of work. And they order in lunch for all the staff when doing inventory. Woohoo! It’ll be nice to have some spending cash pay bills.

Anyways, I sleep now. Night!

Hot Diggity Dog

Another Thursday has come and gone, which means one more marathon 12 hour school day has passed. Only another what, 5 or 6 weeks to go? Can you believe the semester is going by that fast?!

I actually was able to leave class early again today. We were doing group work on our projects at the end, and since 5 of the 7 people in my group had a big biology midterm starting at 7 pm, they all took off early. Kinda hard to do group work with no group there. So I stayed for a little bit, then took off for the ever enjoyable transit ride home. I got to listen to a guy talk on his cell phone about how he "sort of won his court case today, because he got bail" Oh public transit, how I love thee.

I did scarf down some snack while still at school. Like these red grapes

And a cashew cookie Larabar.

When my dad picked me up from the train, he said "We’re having hotdogs for dinner. Do you eat those?" I had to laugh. If that’s what’s for dinner, I’m not that picky. Plus hotdogs sounded good – I enjoy me a good dog every once in awhile.

I did, however, make him buy whole wheat buns on the way home

I had two all-beef, high quality dogs with plastic cheese, dill pickle relish, ketchup, mustard, and red onion. Nom nom!

So other than the plastic cheese, which I only used because I was too lazy to get out real cheese & the grater, I think it’s a pretty decent hot dog on the hot dog scale of nutrition. And if you enjoy, isn’t that really what counts? Plus they were filling enough, that I had no desire for an evening snack. Hurray for hotdogs!

The rest of the evening was spent with the computer, tv, and yoga mat for some ab work. Now this girl should get to bed – early morning wake up call! Night!

Jealous

Oh, to be a cat   I only wish I could sleep this peacefully. Who wouldn’t want that life – spend all day sleeping, eating, grooming. Maybe play with some string. So simple.

Alas, I don’t get to sleep 20 hours a day, and therefore sleep later than I want to sometimes. I didn’t exactly wake up that late this morning, but I was late leaving the house. I must have been moving in slow motion.

I decided to use up the rest of the millet for breakfast.

• cooked millet
• 1 small banana, sliced
• raisins
• splash of vanilla
• milk
• pecan butter
• hemp seeds
• raw cacao nibs

To go with that monstrous bowl of millet, I had a glass of cranberry peach juice.

No way was I going hungry this morning

I actually couldn’t finish the bowl. Sad, I know. I probably should have put less millet in, but then there would have only been a little bit left in the fridge, and it seemed silly to leave that.

We had our last psych lecture this morning before our midterm next week, and man, our prof was flying through the slides! I guess he wanted to make sure he got everything in before the exam, but it meant I could hardly get any notes down, because the slides would disappear before I’d written a sentence even. Looks like I’ll be relying on the textbook to study for this one

After class, I found a comfy spot to eat and blog. Surprisingly, I was hungry for lunch, even after that massive millet bowl for breakfast.

Lunch today was all about things I could dip in hummus.

Like whole wheat pita triangles.

Or this little container of goodies – carrot, cucumber, pepperoni, cheddar cheese. My dad bought the pepperoni sticks yesterday, so I had to get one before they were gone.

As I often say, food is always more fun when you add dip

And yes, I had to buy a water today. Why? Well, turns out I left my Kleen Kanteen stainless steel water bottle back at the cafe when I was volunteering yesterday. At least, I hope that’s where it is. I’ll be heading over to that building for my afternoon class, so I’m going to stop in, hoping it’s still there. I’ll be sad if it’s lost for ever – I love my green water bottle!

Speaking of which, I guess I should think about packing up my things and making the trek across campus. At least the rain is holding off! Later gators

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!

Peachy Keen

Here I am, blogging from the ferry on my way home from the island. Sadly, there is no Wi-Fi onboard, but at least this will be ready to post when I walk in the door, so I can hit the sack ASAP! It’s been one long day.

I started my long day bright and early – or should I say dark and early since the sun isn’t up yet – at 5:30 am. I put together one monster of a cereal bowl for breakfast.

I enjoyed having fresh peaches in my cereal when I was over at my cousin’s house on the weekend, and thought I would recreate it at home since my mom had picked up some beautiful peaches at the farmer’s market on the weekend. They had just gotten ripe enough to use.

I dished out a bowl of Kashi GoLean Crunch, then added half of one giant peach chopped up. A dusting of shredded coconut & a healthy dose of milk completed the bowl.

I think it was almost a1:1 cereal to peach ratio. And that was only half the peach!

To continue on with the peach theme, I had a glass of imposter Mango Peach Party juice.

It even went with the new fall tablecloth on the dining room table.

I actually drove myself to school today, and it was alot quicker than I expected. I guess rush hour isn’t quite in full swing yet when I have to get to an 8 am class. It was also a beautiful sunny day, which always helps

After class, I motored on over to the ferry terminal, and caught the 11 am ferry. Once I was settled in, it was time to work on lunch.

I’m sure it’s not shocking that I had leftover mac & cheese.

With a side of green - cucumber slices.

I also grabbed some concord grapes for a fruity kick.

And had a few bites of the trail mix that forever lives in my school bag. I take it every day, but haven’t been eating more than a bite or two at a time.

One of my good friends picked me up at the ferry terminal, and we hung out at his house for the afternoon – I was playing around on the laptop, sorting out some more hockey pool things, and he was playing some first person shooter game on Wii. Quality time, I tell ya We did have a little unpictured popcorn snack. He makes the best popcorn, seasoned with cajun spice and seasoning salt. Yum!

Then I was off to my old workplace, where I had a little time to catch up with some people before the hockey draft. Fortunately, dinner is always provided – the winner from the previous year buys pizza for the night of the draft. I ended up with one slice of Hawaiian, and one slice of some veggie pizza. It had artichokes on it, so it had to be good. I also managed to draft up a pretty good team – assuming no one gets injured on me. Here’s hoping I might actually win this year!

One of my coworkers whisked me back to the ferry, but sadly, I had to wait an hour since the ferries only run every two hours when it’s not peak season. I had a little nap in the terminal, and called home to chat since everyone will be in bed when I get there.

Once I was on the ferry, I was feeling the nibblies. Could just be boredom, but whatever, I went with it.

A delicious white chocolate chunk cookie. This one was perfectly crisp on the outside, but chewy enough on the inside I didn’t think I was going to break my teeth Plus it had giant chunks of white chocolate – how can you go wrong?

Sadly, that brings my day of eats to a close. I think I’ll play a little mah jong do some homework for the rest of the ferry ride. Hopefully I’ll stay awake the whole drive home. Night!

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!

Chips Squared

Boy am I glad it’s Friday. I think I appreciate the weekends more now that I’m back in school than when I was working, probably because I have such early mornings now. It makes sleeping in seem extra special Too bad I need to get started on a crapload of school work this weekend. My first midterm is in 3 weeks!

I started off my early Friday morning with a nice little breakfast.

Cereal is always a winner early in the morning. I went with Nature’s Path Pumpkin Raisin Crunch.

Check out that lonely little milk droplet.

The crusty whole wheat bread was still sitting out on the counter from last night, calling my name. So I slathered on a little peanut butter & raspberry jam.

And of course, there was the obligatory glass of juice. I’m sure you can guess what kind.

As for lunch time eats – well, there weren’t really any. I snacked on a Kashi Dark Chocolate Coconut granola bar on my bus ride home, then ended up napping for a couple hours. By the time I got up, it was too late to have lunch, so I just made a little snack to tide me over.

I figured I should try my hand at some iced matcha green tea lattes at home, since they aren’t exactly wallet friendly to buy at Starbucks every week. I ended up blending mine, since that always makes for a fun treat. I think I had it almost perfect – a little less water, and it would be there. I added a splash of vanilla and drizzle of agave nectar for sweetness.

Tonight was deli night for dinner. I wasn’t feeling any of the deli meat choices, and remembered we had some of that awesome wild coho salmon in the fridge still, so I turned it into a salmon burger.

I put a chunk of salmon fillet, havarti cheese, lettuce, ED&BV Lemon Cashew Basil Pesto, and mayo into a fresh kaiser roll.

The sides of the evening were chips. Starting with some plain Lays potato chips.

I also made kale chips out of some organic kale we picked up at the Farmer’s Market last weekend.

I think dinner makes up for the lack of a proper lunch.

I even had time to wander down to the gym tonight. I’ve been missing getting my sweat on. It was actually quite relaxing to go down there for an hour this evening. I’ve always liked the gym for clearing my mind, not having to think about anything. Now if only I can find a way to work it into my schedule a little more.

I did dish up a little snack later on in the evening.

My new favourite yogurt combo – plain non-fat yogurt, Saskatoon berry creamed honey, Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax granola, and some frozen blueberries.

I wish I had a parfait glass, because this combo would make the best parfait!

Time for this blogger to hit the sack – lots to do tomorrow!