SNEAKING IN THE GOOD STUFF - ANY SUGGESTIONS

What do you do when your other half is strictly a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Mine is just that he is anti vegetable, although I have managed to get him to eat a couple sprigs of broccoli (must have cheese sauce though) or cauliflower here and there. To him "eating his vegetables" amounts to a slice of tomato and leaf of lettuce on his sandwich.... lol. I have to humour him though, and agree that he's doing good. For some reason he gets a little miffed when my sarcasm shines through on this subject.

I pretty much refuse to cook separate meals for each of us, so I try to hide what I can in the food for him. I have to pulverise peppers, and shred carrots so they melt into the food. I even went so far as to buy "Deceptively Delicious". A cookbook written to help parents hide good stuff in their kids food, if he only knew.

This week I thought I would try something else on him. I purchased some PC Blue Menu ground soy and used it along with a little regular extra lean ground beef to make tacos. They were delish and he couldn't tell the difference.  I wouldn't necessarily class this as a health food, because it is still a processed soy product but once in awhile to swap out some beef for him is ok.  You could also use some black beans, or even lentil instead of the ground soy. Either way I'm sure his arteries were doing the dance of joy.

I have been dying to try the Bean Burgers I keep seeing on Lynn's blog http://lifehealthfit.blogspot.com/ , so I mixed them up with one slight modification for hubbies, I added the rest of the leftover taco mixture from the night before. I have to say these are awesome. Mine did not have the taco mixture in them and I loved them. Hubby, ate 3 and really liked them as well. WOO HOO!!! Thanks Lynn

I'm running low on ideas though. Does anyone else have this problem? What do you do to get them to eat healthier?

Let the baking begin!!!

It's that time of year and I will take any excuse I can get to bake. I love, love, love to bake but refrain from doing so simply because I love, love, love to eat it too. I figured I would do some baking since it's getting close to Christmas and take it into work. Excuse number 2 to bake... There was someone in from out of town and he asks for my treats when he visits.

Here's a pic of the yummmy squares.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Really how can you go wrong with a name like that. I found the recipe yesterday while I was blog surfing. They were DELISH!!! and easy.

ALL THINGS TEA

I have always been a tea drinker, however, have not ventured far from the standard orange pekoe teabags. I started drinking the Celestial Seasonings flavored teas, which are quite tasty. I was never a fan of mint tea but read on someones blog (I think it was over at Life, Health Fitness) to add some hot chocolate mix to mint tea., and let me tell you I was pleasantly surprised.

My new favorite thing!!
I have been on the lookout for loose tea for awhile, but wasn't having much luck around town. So when I was at Tweed and Hickory looking for some K-Cups for my Keurig coffee maker ( I love my flavored coffee too) I was excited to find they sell loose tea. Then came the hard part.. deciding what flavor to buy. I decided on Vanilla Cream and I have to say it was a good choice.
A friend of mine was out shopping and came across a kiosk at the mall for "The Tea Brewery", that was selling various flavoured loose teas. She purchased the Nova Scotia Blue.... yummy. If you like blueberry you will love this tea. The next day I was off to find me some more yummy flavours. I scored some at Sunnyside Mall. My favorite so far is Rum Truffle Rooibos..It is delish!! The others I brought home were Maple Fundy, Ginger Snap Rooibos, and Caramel Crunch Rooibos. I can't wait to give them a try. The great thing about it is they have $2 sample packs that you can buy so you don't have a big bag of tea you don't like. The Rooibos tea is caffeine free, a bonus there. I took this excerpt from Wikipedia

Nutritional and health benefits
Rooibos is becoming more popular in Western countries particularly among health-conscious consumers, due to its high level of antioxidants such as aspalathin [5] and nothofagin, its lack of caffeine, and its low tannin levels compared to fully oxidized black tea or unoxidized green tea leaves. Rooibos also contains a number of phenolic compounds, including flavanols, flavones, flavanones, and dihydrochalcones.[6]
Rooibos is purported to assist with nervous tension, allergies and digestive problems.

The Tea Brewery is a local company from Mahone Bay, NS. I've been to Mahone Bay a number of times and didn't know it was there. You can visit their website for a price list and information to place an order http://www.teabrewery.com/. You can find their kiosks at various malls until Christmas. I know they are in Sunnyside Mall in Bedford, and Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth.

I think I'm going to brew myself a cuppa Rum Truffle now.

Jackie

Breathing a Sigh of Relief

I guess I haven't gotten off to a very good start with this blog, since it has been over a month since I last posted. We'll see if I can put in a little more effort.

So the last few days were not good to say the least. One of our fur children, our 13 year old golden retriever was not doing well. It all started with a little limp Wednesday night. We didn't think too much of it since he is 13 and has had a limp off and on before but it never lasts. Anyway Thursday morning he struggled to get up so hubby helped him up but he wouldn't walk. He did eat his breakfast and we took him outside to do his stuff, but he still wouldn't walk. We had to go to work, so asked the neighbor to watch him. Through the day she called hubbie and said "he was breaking her heart". He wouldn't get up for her. We couldn't get an appointment at our vet until Friday. Upon my return home from work, he seemed quite a bit better, he got up for me was walking around, he still had a limp, but was up and around so we thought he was on the mend.

Then Thursday morning came. He wouldn't get up again. Hubby got him up and he tried to walk, but had no control and was falling over. We were beside ourselves, it was heartbreaking to see him like that. I took the day off work to stay home with him, (I'm sure I'll get grief about that on Monday), and we were taking him to the vet in the afternoon.

I think both of us cried all the way to the vet thinking we were going to get bad news and might not be able to bring our beloved pup home.

Thankfully, that was not the case. Turns out his muscles are in spasm and this is effecting his nerves, so he was prescribed Robaxacet and massage therapy. Yes you read that right we have to massage him a few times a day or whenever he will let us. She also suggested acupuncture for him, I'm thinking I might take him with me next week when I go to my acupuncture appointment. Maybe I could get a 2 for one deal.

Our buddy is home, feeling better and that is all that matters.

Shoes...Well sort of

I thought this was the cutest thing and part of the cost goes to Breast Cancer Research so really you just can't go wrong. It sits proudly on my desk at work, and I made sure to order some for the other shoe lovers I work with.

No food pics today. Huge Thanksgiving dinner yesterday at mom's. It was sooooooo yummy. She made "Boosey Pumpkin Pie" for dessert and it was awesome. Then I saw the recipe with the nutritional info. NOT GOOD!!! It was supposed to be 12 servings and I think ours was about 8. Can you say not figure friendly. I did manage to work out today. 30 mins treadmill, 30 mins Power Pilates, and some crunches. Every little bit helps. I may have worked off 1/8 of the pie...lol. I have to do it all again today at the inlaws. More turkey, gravy, and pie... what's a girl to do.

GEODUCK - AKA GOOEY DUCK

So the other day I was watching Anna and Christina's Grocery bag. If you have never seen it, they take cookbooks prepare the recipes and review the book. Anyway it is quite an entertaining show as they are not cooks. On this particular show they were reviewing a book of seafood recipes, so I thought it was odd that they were talking about Gooey Duck. Silly me I thought it was a duck. Well..... I WAS SOOOOOOO WRONG. They took the "duck" out of the bag to prepare it and this is what it looked like.







Does that look like any duck you've ever seen, I think not. Now I'm not a huge seafood fan. I like the usual haddock, scallops, lobster, salmon and the odd deep fried clam, but I just might be rethinking the whole clam thing after seeing this.

Divine Intervention May Not Be Needed After All

Sleep eluded me yet again last night. I'm sooooooo tired I can't stand it. Actually I'm way beyond tired at this point. A month or so of an average of 3hrs of sleep a night.... not good!!

I am happy with myself though. I got on the treadmill again today. YAY ME!!! Managed to get 2o minutess in, then I thought I would dig out Wii Fit and give that a go for something different. I didn't have the energy for Wii Active. All in all I'm happy with today. Will the 2 day trend become 3 days? I certainly hope so!!

Food Today
Breakfast - Oatmeal with blueberries and ground flax and Coffee. Today's flavour was Sugar Bush Maple
Snack - Apple with Peanut Butter
Lunch - Large Salad and leftover Tuna Casserole (Thought I would try a new recipe. It was not a hit with me. I actually don't like Tuna or most fish for that matter, but try to eat it because I know I should).
Snack - Larabar
Supper - Spicy Chicken Breast with about 20 baked french fries and some Tzatziki for dipping.


Oh, I almost forgot WI on Friday was not a big WOO HOO last week but that's ok. I haven't be exercising so I figured I would stay the same and I did.

Well, I think I'm going to ty for some sleep now.

Chat Later
Jackie

Inspiration, Motivation, Determination, Focus, Divine Intervention

Or... Maybe all of the above. I'm not sure what I need but I need something.


I have been slacking when it comes to activity over the past week or so. Mostly because I haven't been physically able and as always the same pattern seems to be taking hold. I get discouraged because I can't put the effort in I want to put in. I will try to do a workout, and can't complete it because something or everything is hurting. Then I figure well it's been a week now, I'll just give it another day. Then that turns into two weeks, and so on and so on. I know on one hand what I should be doing when this happens is an easy workout, until I can get back to full strength, Some activity is better than no activity. On the other hand I tell myself, if I can't do it at full strength what is the point. It's a vicious cycle and my lack of sleep certainly isn't helping either.

I did manage to get on the treadmill for 30 mins tonight and do 40 mins of Pilates so that's progress. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. With any luck, sleep will not elude me again tonight and I'll be full of energy tomorrow. Fingers crossed!!!

I used to go to the gym with my friend and actually looked forward to going to the gym (I never thought that would happen), but, she doesn't go anymore and I really don't enjoy going by myself. Not too mention it is much more difficult to avoid going when the other person is on your case to get to the gym. I have a gym at home now so you would think it would be easy to walk in the other room and get on the treadmill but oh noooooo, it is much easier to turn on the computer, or the TV or read a book.

















I have been doing good as far a staying on plan with my food. Although nothing too interesting there. A few frozen dinners last week and we all know how exciting Lean Cuisine is. I did cook a delicous roast last week. Hubby said on a scale of 1 to 10 it was and 11 so that's a bonus. It also fed him for 3 meals so an even bigger bonus. I thought I would treat him to his favorite. He is becoming meat deprived since I very rarely cook beef anymore.

So what do I need. I guess I need to refine my plan, and find my focus. I can find some inspiration in all these fabulous blogs. I am determined however, I am lacking in motivation so I guess I'll have to work on that one. As for divine intervention well... who knows

Jackie

Sleep... or should I say LACK OF SLEEP

Hi All... How's everyone enjoying fall so far?

I am wondering if a day or days will come when I actually get more than 3-4 hours of sleep. I've never been a good sleeper but good lord, this is getting ridiculous. I can't remember when I've slept more than two hours at a time, and the last few weeks I'm only getting 3-4 total most nights. This lack of sleep is starting to affect my interest in exercising, I just don't have the energy. It's much easier to sit my butt in front of the TV or computer. I'm sure if it keeps up my eating habits are sure to suffer and I'm so close to getting back to my WW Lifetime goal, and I was hoping to surpass that goal but I'm having my doubts now. :o(

I haven't been to creative in the food department lately, but I have been staying on plan. For lunch Monday it was a wrap. Which consisted of a WW tortilla, 1 TBSP of roasted garlic hummus, onion, 3 Slices of PC Piri Piri deli chicken (delish) and topped that with some left over Tabbouleh. Then I grilled it in my George Foreman Grill. Lunch wouldn't be complete without a large green salad.

Supper was a pasta dish that consists of Lean ground chicken, chicken stock, onions, celery, carrots, tomatoes, tomato paste,wine, spices, parmesan cheese, and of course pasta. I'll post the actual recipe later.

Oh I almost forgot. The Curried Cauliflower Soup was a hit with my sweetie. I was thrilled. He is anti vegetable, and loves his meat and potatoes, so whenever I can sneak good veggies in I'm happy.

Supper yesterday was baked haddock, baked sweet potato for me, and baked garlic potatoes for hubby. I also made oven roasted broccoli for the first time and it was very yummy. Just a little olive oil , salt, pepper and of course broccoli. The broccoli has almost a nutty flavour.

My food pics are on my other computer so I'll post them later. I do however, have a couple pics of the sunsets from the last couple of nights so I thought I would post them. We have some beautiful sunsets in Porters Lake.

Roast beef and all the trimmings for supper tonight, maybe all the yummy comfort food will help me sleep, fingers crossed!!!


Jackie

Back to work tomorrow :o(

It was an uneventful weekend here. My typical Saturday consists of errands, groceries, lunch at my parents and then home to do my chores and make supper. I do my best to make it to my parents every Saturday for lunch since I moved out of the city. I bought the house next door to them and now that I have moved they (and I) look forward to our weekly visits. My lunches at that folks don't always follow my weight loss plan though. This week was a Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich. Not as bad as it sounds. They are actually really quick and easy to make. Saute peppers and onions, add deli roast beef cut in slices, cook slightly and add Cheese Whiz. Cook till it melts. Put on a toasted bun and voila lunch..

Before lunch I took mom for a drive over the old bridge to see the "Bras across the bridge". The fundraiser for the CIBC Run for the Cure. C100 estimated there were 8000 of them, and for each one a dollar was donated. I thought is was a great way to generate $$ and interest.

So for supper I decided to make pizza, one of my favorite foods. Last week I made pizza geared towards my liking Louisiana Cajun Chicken Pizza with Red Onion Relish. YUMMY!!! My honey of course prefers meat lovers so this week was for him. I try to make it as healthy as possible by adding a few veggies to mine but really, it's meat lovers so what's a girl to do.

After supper it was time to relax with my honey with some wine and a movie. We don't get to do that allot. He works 12hr days 6 days a week, his day off being Wednesday. Of course I work through the week so It's nice when we do get a chance to relax together.

Today I managed to work out which was a treat. I've been in too much pain lately to do much. I thought I would do some Pilates (40 min power pilates workout). Hopefully that worked off some of the pizza.

I had a head of cauliflower I had to use up today so I searched for something to do with it. I found a recipe for curried cauliflower soup I thought I would try. It was easy to make, healthy and tasted really good. You can find it here if you want to check it out. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/03/curried-cauliflower-soup-with-honey-recipe.html




The true test will be when hubby tries it. He is anti-vegetable so we'll see what he thinks.

That used up half of the cauliflower but I still have half left. I found something that suggested using it as a replacement for cous cous so I thought I would try it in my tabouleh as a replacement for bulgar. I was skeptical, I didn't want my tabouleh to taste like cauliflower but it worked out great. You just pulse the raw cauliflower in the food processor till it is the size of bulgar or cous cous.


That's it for today. I need to get a head start on my work for tomorrow (I've been avoiding doing it all weekend).

Bye for now
Jackie

As you can see I added some pictures. Some "before" pics, some pics of my fur kids, and my honey. I put in a pic of our kitchen because I seem to be earning alot of my activity points in the kitchen. No I'm not crazy I actually said earning activity points. You see I am used to cooking in a small galley kitchen, but this new one is so big I find myself going around and around in circles looking for stuff while I'm cooking. You might notice there is no after pic.. well I haven't reached that point yet so I'm going to wait a bit to post one.

I've been on vacation for a couple of days so I've been taking some pics of my meals. Normally I eat 2 of my daily meals at work (breakfast and lunch), so those meals look pretty much the same every day.

Breakfast = Weight Control Oatmeal with 1 cup blueberries or strawberries, skim or 1% milk, 1 Tbsp ground flax seed, and of course a cup of coffee. I love flavoured coffee so todays flavor was cinnamon pastry. YUMMY!!

Today I added a piece of cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread.

I love salad so I have a large one every day for lunch. For dressing I use alot of cracked black pepper, lemon juice and 1-2 tsp of Kraft light Greek Salad dressing. Today I added a piece of salmon left over from dinner yesterday and instead of tartar sauce I use Tzatziki. Delish. I actually use Tzatziki as my go to dip these days.

Here is today's lunch (salad and salmon) and yesterdays supper (salmon, baked sweet potato, and bruschetta).

I haven't decided what supper is going to be yet. With any luck I'll be inspired while I'm on the treadmill!!

Happy Friday!!

Starting the day off with a WOO HOO!!

Down 2.9lbs this morning.... WOO HOO!!!! Friday is my weigh in day so I am always a little apprehensive and I was a little more so than usual today. Last weekend there was some end of the summer partying going on, so a little wine was consumed. Who am I kidding alot of wine was consumed. I counted all of it in my points though, stayed OP the rest of the week and got alot of AP points this week and it looks like it worked. Hopefully it doesn't come back to haunt me next week.


I'm going to try and get some pics on here later. I just have to try and find some. I hate having my picture taken so before pics are few and far between.



That's all for now. :o)

The cost of eating healthy

I don't quite have the hang of this bloggin thing yet. I haven't quite figured out how to set up my blog so it looks appealing. I'll have to keep working on that I guess. Any hints and tips would be appreciated.

I have been wondering what I was going to write about for my first post and what I came up with is the outrageous cost of eating healthy. Now I only recently began looking at these items that you would find in the "speciatly section" of the grocery store. I decided to look at some items I have read about on blogs here and the daughter of a friend of mine, whos daughter was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease, was telling me about the cost of items they have to purchase in order for her to remain healthy so I wanted to see for myself.

I have always been a big fresh fruit and vegetable person, so I am well aware of the ever increasing cost of fresh produce. I certainly look forward to the summer and early fall when there is fabulous local produce at markets around town, and in the Valley. Unfortunately living in Nova Scotia means that season is short lived and then we are forced to purchase what is trucked/flown in from the rest of the world.

Obviously if more people chose to eat this way instead of opting for the processed, pre packaged food, eventually there would be more of a selection and the prices should come down. However, I don't believe the average person can afford to do this for themselves let alone for a family of 3 or 4. For example it is much more cost effective to buy the no name white bread for .99 a loaf than it is to pay $5.99 for a loaf of Ezekiel bread.

Maybe someday we will have a Whole Foods here in HRM, like they have in the States. Although from what I hear the products in the States are very reasonably priced, but the products at Whole Foods in Canada are quite pricey.

I guess I am going to have to try and find a balance between the organic unprocessed foods and the regular grocery store items.