Getting My Bake On

Today did not start out well. I was having the WEIRDEST dream ever, and must have turned my alarm off during said dream, because when I actually woke up and figured out where I was, it was 6:15 am, and I had to be out the door in 15 min! ACK!

I threw on some clothes, washed up, and put some food in containers and was out the door. I even made it to class on time, but had to wait until after class to dig into breakfast. Boy was I hungry!

In the thermos I had yogurt, the last of the quince, and pomegranate arils. The other container was just some Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal to combine with said yogurt & fruit.

Yogurt close up!

It was horrendous weather all day. It just rained, and rained, and rained. Good thing I had my new fancy boots – they kept my feet dry and warm! But to warm the rest of me up, I had to hit up the Sbucks.

Do I even have to say what’s in there?

My last volunteer shift at Agora later, and I was on my way home. First thing on my mind when I walked in the door? What’s for lunch?

I made a grilled ham & cheese sandwich with baby spinach and red pepper jelly. Too bad my cheese didn’t want to melt.

I also heated up a bowl of broccoli soup my sister had made on the weekend.

Topped with a little more cheddar. What’s better than broccoli & cheddar?!

Rainy day food, for sure!

With a Werther’s Original candy for dessert

I spent the afternoon at home, expecting an important phone call. Of course, my mom then ended up on the phone all afternoon, and we don’t have call waiting, so I figured they called and got a busy signal. But, low and behold, and 5 pm I received my call. Looks like I’ll be working with a dietitian on a project at Children’s Hospital. Alas, it is only volunteer, but still – it’s all about boosting that resume, right?

Dinner was served way too early for my hunger, so I only had a bit.

Meatloaf, green peas, and apple/craisin/pecan salad. There were baked potatoes as well, but I wasn’t feeling it. And wouldn’t you know it, all my close ups turned out poorly. So this is all you get!

I made a quick trip up to the store to get a couple things (I was all out of good peanut butter), then had a sweat session with the dvd’s. Then it was time for me to satisfy my baking desires!

I had a hankering for muffins. I thought oatmeal and apple should be involved. I searched out some recipes, decided on this one as my inspiration, concocted a variation in my head, then assembled the required ingredients.

Some mixing, grating, scooping, and baking later, and I was presented with this:

Apple Carrot Raisin Oatmeal Muffins

makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup oats
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (would have used whole wheat, but we had none)
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1 tbsp ground flax seed
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 small apple, chopped
• 1/2 cup raisins

Method

1. Combine dry ingredients (oats through salt) in a large bowl.
2. Combine wet ingredients (milk through vanilla) in medium bowl.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry, then add carrot, apple, and raisins.
4. Mix until just combined – don’t over mix! (you know how muffins go).
5. Divide equally between 12 greased or lined muffin cups.
6. Bake at 375 F for 20 min, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

These turned out really well. I was a little worried that my wet to dry ratio would be off, but it was perfect. They are hearty, moist, slightly sweet, with a nice balance of spices. Both of my parents tried them out, and gave them the thumbs up. I think they would be a great breakfast muffin, pairing nicely with your favourite nut butter.

 

Obviously, I had one as my evening snack, with a another cup of chamomile tea.

I still have another project on the stove, but it’s totally time for bed, so I guess I’m calling it done. I’m sure you’ll get to see it tomorrow. 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

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!

Nothing Says Cool…

…like studying biochemistry on a Saturday night!

I know, I know, you are all jealous. But hey, you can’t have play time all the time, right? And seeing as my first midterm is coming up in a mere 2 weeks, I figured it was time to get down to business.

Don’t worry, I didn’t spend all of my Saturday night with amino acids.

I made the trek to the gym late in the afternoon, and the traffic had actually gotten better since this morning. Hurray for that for sure. I had a mind clearing cardio session on the stairclimber and elliptical, then made my way home. It was only myself and my dad for dinner tonight, and he had a hankerin’ for some Chinese food. What can I say, it’s one of our family go-to take out options!

Since it was only the two of us, we each ordered a 3 item dinner for one, so we could customize what we wanted. Well, let me tell you, this dinner for 1? It was at least two dinners’ worth of food. So like a good little girl, I portioned out half of the food onto a plate, and put the rest away in the fridge.

The list of choices for the dinners was pretty limited, but I worked with it. My first choice was the Diced Chicken With Cashew – chicken, celery, carrots, peas, mushrooms, baby corn, cashews.

Choice #2 was the Sweet & Sour Pork – pork, green pepper, onion, pineapple.

And I can’t have Chinese food without a noodle, so I went with the only option – Chicken Chow Mein.

I’m pretty sure you can all guess what I’ll be having for lunch tomorrow

After dinner, I got caught up on a couple shows on the PVR from this past week, then watched the remainder of one of the late hockey games while getting caught up on some reading. Then I figured it was about time to dig into the biochemistry.

Of course, studying required brain food.

My mom’s fruit scones sounded like the perfect option. I heated mine up and spread on a wee bit of Artisana Coconut Butter.

I also brewed up a cup of Stash Coconut Mango Oolong Tea, with a splash of unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze and agave nectar.

Tea & scones. How British of me!

Of course, my dad brought me another distraction – he has a hockey pool through is old work, and he asked if I wanted to put in a team. Like I could say no. So once I had my fill of biochem knowledge, I started perusing my options for this hockey pool. Yes, I’m a hockey fiend. What can I say? Maybe this year will be my year, and I’ll actually turn a profit on my hockey pools? Fingers crossed people!

And now, my Saturday night has turned into Sunday morning, which I think is my cue to consider some sleep. Night!

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!

Lessons Learned

Oh, what a long, tiring day I’ve had. While I only have 1 hour of class on M/W/F, I’m on campus from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm on T/Th. I left my house at 7:30 am, and got home just after 7:30 pm. Good thing I only have these 12 hour days for this semester. I was one tired person when I got home!

But let’s go back to early this morning. I made a hearty bowl of oats for breakfast – need some good fuel for those long days.

• 1/2 cup oats, water, milk
• 1 gala apple, chopped
• splash of vanilla
• lots of cinnamon
• raisins
• 1 tbsp flaxseed
• sprinkles of brown sugar (added after pictures, mostly because I forgot)

With the usual glass of juice – still working on the Happy Planet Mango Peach Party.

That whole apple sure made for a huge bowl of oats!

I made my way to the school for my 9:30 am class – Introductory Psychology. I think it will be pretty enjoyable. Our prof is pretty funny – he’s apparently “retired”, but has been teaching for the past couple years still, and he reminds me of some other profs I’ve had close to retirement. They are always candid, and don’t give a crap. Colourful characters I tell ya!

After that class ended, I had an interview for a volunteer position on campus. It is with Sprouts – a student run organic & local food cafe/grocery store/bulk buying co-op. It wasn’t so much of an interview as a “get to know you” kind of thing, and I will be doing some training on Saturday. I’m looking forward to getting involved in something on campus.

I then made my way to the Student Union Building, and planted myself in a semi-comfy seat to do some reading, play on the internet (hurray for laptop), and eat my packed lunch. I didn’t get any pictures, but it was nothing exciting – a peanut butter & rhubarb jam sandwich on Silver Hills Squirrelly Bread, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, and a Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar that I munched on throughout the day. Sadly, this proved to not be enough food for my stay at school, as I was ready to eat my arm off before the end of my last class. I’m going to have to figure out more voluminous lunches that don’t require much refrigeration, since I have no desire to carry a big, insulated lunch bag with me. Any lunch suggestions would be greatly appreciated

My 2nd (and last class) of the day was Land, Food, and Community. It’s a 4 hour long class, twice a week. It looks like it’s going to be quite interesting, but we have to do most of our work in groups of 6 or 7. And we didn’t get to pick our groups, they were assigned to us. Today we had a breakout section where we had to put together a food flow chart/web diagram for the home, looking at everything from production, distribution, waste, environment & health issues, etc, etc. It was more to get us going on something in our groups, but I don’t know about my group – seems like we have a few timid people in there, so hopefully that changes.

And of course, I ended up with some random free things today – a wallet sized transit map, and a lollipop. HA!

 

When I got in the door, I changed into my pj’s stat, and made a beeline for the fridge. Mom had my dinner all plated up and waiting for me. Gotta love moms

Looks like there was some sort of roasted, maybe BBQ’d, pork tenderloin.

A vegetable stirfry – broccoli, carrot, yellow pepper, zucchini, and onions. Not sure what, if any, sauce was on it.

And some brown jasmine rice.

Good thing they left me a large plate of food, cuz I was starving!

So starving that I also wolfed down these cookies – they have dried blueberries in them, and flax seed. Nothing to write home about, but they aren’t bad.

And after some biochemistry reading (blech), I was still munchy. And wanting something chocolate. I satisfied that with a piece of whole wheat toast spread with a little Artisana Cacao Bliss.

Now it’s time for me to make my way to sleepland – another early morning for that 8 am class. At least it’s Friday, right? Night!

Back To School Eve

Is that an official day? It should be. I’m adding it to all my calendars from now on. HA!

I can’t believe that tomorrow I’m actually heading back to school. It’s a weird feeling. I’d gotten over quitting my job, and these past 3 weeks have been more like a vacation than anything else. But tomorrow makes it official – I’m starting the journey towards a new career. Crazy.

Dinner ended up being a “fend for yourself” night, which was perfect, because I knew exactly what leftover I was going to clean out of the fridge.

Yes, there were still two pieces of delicious Mediterranean Veggie Pizza left. How could I let that go to waste?

 

 

Of course, I picked off all those nasty black olives. Look at how many there were!

I feel the olives were over-represented in the toppings on my pizza. Just my luck eh – the one topping I despise, and they load it up with the damn things.

I was Little Miss Productivity this evening – I printed off a campus map and highlighted all the buildings I need to find, downloaded 50 new songs for my iPod (free offer from eMusic with my new laptop – gotta love that), charged said iPod for my excessive commute, made recovery discs for my new laptop, and responded to a billion emails. Oh, and I’ve applied with another volunteer opportunity on campus, but I’ll expand more on that later, once I’ve checked it out in person

In amongst all that productivity, I managed a tasty snack.

A sliced up sunrise apple, peanut butter, pecan butter, and some raisins.

Oh how I love apples and nut butter. Alas, this was the last apple in the house. Obviously, some grocery shopping is in order.

And now, I must sign off, as this girl needs to go to bed. Before midnight? Who am I?! What can I say, it’s a school night Hopefully I’ll sleep as soundly as someone else did today.

From Sienna & myself – Night!

Oatmeal Revelation

I think I made my favourite bowl of oatmeal ever today. Pretty bold statement, I know. But I’m serious. I didn’t want the bowl to end.

Did it include chocolate? No. Coconut? No. Peanut Butter? No. So how could it possibly be my favourite, if it doesn’t include some of my favourite ingredients?

It is one of my favourite colours though.

So what exactly did I add to my oats to produce such a beautiful green colour? Spinach? Kale? Food colouring? Nope!

I call this Matcha Latte Goji Oatmeal. A bit of a mouthful – literally.

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup 1% milk
• ~2 tbsp organic dried goji berries
• ~1 tsp Silk Road matcha green tea powder
• splash of vanilla
• 1 tbsp Meadowpure Ultra SmoothOmega Flax Seed 
• squirt agave nectar
• sliced almonds

Isn’t it just gorgeous?

Enjoyed with a glass of cranberry juice.

I brainstormed this combination yesterday when I stopped at the store to buy salsa. I wandered into the bulk foods section, and noticed that organic goji berries were on sale, so I brought a small bag of them to try – I’ve never had a dried goji berry on its own before. I sampled one, and the taste reminded me of matcha green tea. I thought – why not pair the two in a bowl of oats? I’m a bit fan of matcha lattes, which is why I went all milk on the this bowl, to give it more of the latte feel. And it was so. freakin. good. I’m tempted to make a bowl again tomorrow.

True to my summer holiday fashion, this bowl of awesomeness was enjoyed rather late in the morning, servings as more of a brunch really. I did have snack later on – Kashi Dark Chocolate Coconut granola bar.

Proof I like that colour of green – that photo was taken in my newly painted bedroom.

I received some light bedtime reading in the mail.

I know you are all jealous. Green with envy even.

My mom twisted my rubber arm into going to Costco with her this afternoon. I made sure to get some of my favourites into the cart (Kashi GoLean Crunch, Silver Hills bread). I supplemented my granola bar snack with some random samples while at Costco. Then we hit up Safeway for a few more items on the shopping list, where I spied a sweet deal on Larabars – $0.99 each!  They were all reduced to clear – me thinks Safeway is no longer going to carry them. This particular store only had Cashew Cookie, Peanut Butter Cookie, and Cherry Pie. I grabbed the last 4 Cashew Cookie, and 6 Peanut Butter Cookie. I’m tempted to check out some of the other local Safeways to see if they also have the same deal going, and if they have any other flavours left.

We got home, put away those groceries, and basically got started on dinner. On the menu was this amazing Mac & Cheese that a coworker of mine made for every potluck we had at work. It uses a small mountain of cheese – nothing low-calorie here!

Paired with a salad of romaine lettuce, cucumber, green onion, and tomato (I picked those out), which I topped with ED&BV Roasted Red Pepper & Almond Hummus, sunflower seeds, and a little Annie’s Naturals Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing.

A nice, balanced plate of deliciousness.

Oh how I love homemade mac & cheese. I never made it for myself when I lived on my own, because you really can’t make a small batch – it’s just wrong!

We watched the results show of SYTYCD Canada, then I was off to the gym. I spent some time with the stair climber and bike, then had a fun ab session.

You all know what happens when I get back from the gym – dessert!

Yes, there are still some Fudgy Wudgy Blueberry Brownies kicking around.

As you can see I went the classy route, using a napkin as a plate.

I also had a small bowl of my homemade applesauce, heated up with pecans and raisins.

And now Wednesday has come to a close. My summer is slipping away every so quickly – this time next week, I’ll be back in classes full swing! Which is why tomorrow is going to involve some school supply shopping for sure…perhaps even some laptop shopping? That’s a school supply, right?

Well, time to go read. Night!

Another Day, Another Bowl Of Cereal

What can I say, I’m enjoying my cereal these days? It’s just too easy to throw together a bowl, especially when you keep sleeping in and need food stat when you get up

And I especially enjoy being able to eat it outside. It is yet again, another sunny   day here. There is a bit of a breeze, which is quite refreshing. Perfect weather for al fresco dining.

Into my cereal bowl went:

• Kashi GoLean Crunch
• puffed kamut
• puffed brown rice
• raisins
• coconut
• hemp seeds
• cinnamon
• unsweetened vanilla almond milk

New juice! Just regular old cranberry. I much prefer this to the flavoured cranberry juices.

And to think, my days of leisurely breakfasts are soon to be over! The travesty of it all!

I tried taking some self portraits this morning for my student ID, but so far they are all a fail. I think I’m going to have to wait until my mom gets home to see if she can get a better shot. I’m probably just being uber picky, but come on, no one wants a dodgy looking photo on their ID. I already have enough of those!

Off to get some things done around here. Happy Monday!

Who Replaced My Oats With Cake?!

I was up early this morning for a change! It’s amazing how when you have something you actually want to do (leave work to head out of town), your body cooperates for once and gets up on time. I was at work a whole hour early, and left a whole hour early. And I got everything done that I needed to while I was there. I’m on fire!

This morning I decided to channel my inner pasty chef and make up a breakfast based on a favourite cake of mine.

Carrot Cake Kamut Flakes!

• 1/2 cup kamut flakes, milk, water
• 1/2 carrot, grated
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• splash of vanilla
• raisins
• pineapple tidbits
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• walnuts
• shredded coconut
• coconut butter
• drizzle of maple syrup

If only I’d had a little cream cheese to make a true “frosting”. Oh well, coconut & coconut butter is a very acceptable substitute

Check all those colours and flavours out up close!

With a glass of Happy Planet Mango Peach Party, of course.

It was pretty awesome, I must say. I lucked out that I had a little bit of pineapple left in my fridge that needed to be used up, so it was the perfect time to try it out. And it definitely seems more like you are eating cake that veggies for breakfast

My lunch pales in comparison to breakfast, mostly because it wouldn’t play nice with the camera. I grabbed a couple of slices of leftover bison sausage pizza from the freezer, made a side caesar salad, and grabbed the nectarine I didn’t eat yesterday, and some plain popcorn I found in the cupboard.

I guess the fact that the pizza is in the Ziploc bag doesn’t help it’s photogenic-ness, eh? HA! At least it tasted good!

So now, it’s 5 pm, and I need to be outta here by 6 to catch the 7 pm ferry. Things I still need to do:

• dishes
• take out garbage
• pack(!)

Guess I better get on that! Hope everyone has a great weekend, and I will see you all Sunday night