Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Heating Pads and Ice Packs

I’m cuddled up in bed with my best friends..the heating pad and an ice pack.  I was at the chiropractor on Friday and feeling great but my shoulder seems to be acting up now and I thought the bursitis in my hip was on the mend but that appears to be flaring up too.  Yay!!!  Zumba class  tomorrow so I want to make sure I’m ready.  

Breakfast and lunch yesterday was my usual.  Green monster, bucket of salad with a few slices of Piri Piri chicken and some homemade hummus.

For supper there were two meals.  For the boy meat of course in the form of a steak.  

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I was never a steak fan until I met the boy and he cooked me steak his way.  Still not something I would eat all the time but once in a blue moon I can definitely dig into one.

Supper for me was some boneless skinless chicken marinated in Pampered Chef souvlaki seasoning a tiny bit of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.  While the chicken was marinating another large mixed greens salad dressed with balsamic vinegar.

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With that a side of roasted asparagus and sweet potatoes.

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All together now with a little Tzatziki for dipping.

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I also found the recipe for these little pieces of heaven on Averie's blog.  She has quite a few quick, easy and tasty raw recipes on her site.

Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough  Balls

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I’m not a fan of cashews so I used almonds.  They are had to put down.  I threw mine in the freezer so they would be out of sight and would last longer.

I am still on a quest to find the perfect protein bar.  By perfect I mean tastes good, with good nutritional information.  Not too high in fat and sugar and not alot of additives.  I thought I would give this one a try.

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This was a fail. smile_sad     The nutritional information was good   (7 g of fibre),  but the taste… YUCK!!  The bar itself was hard, it had a bitter taste with an odd aftertaste.  The “blueberry” well I’m not quite sure how to explain that flavor.  Needless to say it went in the garbage, and I hate to waste money like that, but there was no way I was going to finish it.

Have a good night all

~~Jackie

Monday, March 29, 2010

Trying To Be A Better Blogger

I was browsing through the memory card for my camera and found a few food pics from last week.  Apparently I’m good at taking the pictures just not so good at putting them into the blog.

In attempt to find something new to eat I searched some recipes using Lentils.  I decided on Sloppy Joes.  Since the boy likes lentils I thought this might be a winner for him as well.  They were good and he liked them so as always that’s a bonus.  I used 3 different recipes to come up with my final one but it still needs a little tweaking to get it just right.   I used canned lentils for the recipe.  If you’ve never tried them you should.  They are convenient and don’t taste any different than the dried lentils.

All the ingredients ready to go.

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The finished product with some homemade tabouleh.

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I also jazzed up my usual pumpkin oats with a scoop of  Chocolate Amazing Grass a couple dark chocolate chips and a sprinkle of coconut.  This was totally delicious.

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This pasta dish is a household favorite.  I’ll post the recipe once I have it written down.  It’s just something I made up as I went along so I don’t have measurements.  There are onions, celery, peppers, carrots, garlic, ground turkey, bay leaves, oregano, basil, chicken stock, red wine or balsamic vinegar if there is no red wine available, tomato paste, chopped baby spinach,  pasta and parmesan.  I think that’s everything. 

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The finished product with some roasted cauliflower also sprinkled with a little parmesan.

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That’s it for now.  Off to catch up on everyone else’s blogs.

~~Jackie

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Where Do The Weekends Go?

I ask myself this every Sunday.  The work week drags on but the weekends just fly by. 

Saturday was a fun filled day of housework and a quick trip to the grocery store.. surprise, surprise. 

The eats for the day consisted of.

Breakfast was Oatmeal.

Lunch was a huge salad with a wrap of Piri Piri chicken, veggies and Tzatziki

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Supper was homemade pizza.  I make 2 pizzas one for the BF that consists of meat, meat, and more meat topped with cheese.  Mine consisted of some , roasted garlic smeared on top of the crust, hot genoa salami cooked till crispy and crumbled on top, sautéed onions and peppers with some balsamic vinegar added at the end and reduced down.  Some oregano, basil and topped with some partly skimmed mozza and parmesan.  Super yummy!!

Saturday night well let’s just say it was entertaining.  The BF and I along with his brother went to a benefit for someone they grew up with.  It was at a church hall in the country.  I was the designated driver so I got to people watch all night.  Love doing this, it  is so entertaining watching the interactions of people when large amounts of alcohol are consumed not to mention the unique and varied dancing  styles.

Even though we didn’t get home till late Saturday night I was up and off to Zumba this morning.  Still loving this class. 

Started the day off with a blue/green monster.  Lunch was at my parents so not my usual food.  On the menu today was Philly Cheese steak Sandwiches, and some kind of lemon desert.  Tasty but really just empty calories and a lot of salt.  Oh well, I don’t expect them to change their ways now at the age of 75.

Of course there was another quick trip to the grocery store  yet again today.  I’ve been missing my hummus the last couple of days and there was no Sabra at the grocery store so I decided to whip up a batch of my own. 

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Hummus is so quick and easy to make.  I didn’t measure anything just threw everything in and adjusted till I liked the taste.

Can of chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt, ground black pepper, roasted garlic, a pinch of cayenne,  and little warm water to make it smooth.  Very good!!

That pretty much sums up the weekend.  Time to watch some TV with my honey and get to bed.

~~Jackie

Friday, March 26, 2010

The good, the bad and the ugly…. well mostly just the UGLY!!

The day started off pretty good, with my usual blue / green monster

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In the mix, blueberries, banana, baby spinach, chia gel, UCAB, and flax meal.  Delish as always

Then I had a small bowl of oats at work.  Oats, UVAB, pure pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice and a squeeze of Agave.

Lunch consisted of the standard weekday salad accompanied by leftovers from last night and roasted cauliflower.

So far so good  right?

After work I went to my Chiro appointment.  I picked the wrong profession.  I was in and out in 5 mins,  for the low low cost of $50.00.  That works out to quite the hourly rate.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t know what I would do without massage and chiro, but the cost is scary!! 

After my adjustment I needed to get groceries but since the weather was crappy I decided to stop at the grocery store closer to home. Here is where the UGLY starts.  I was wandering around the store not finding anything I was looking for and getting very annoyed when something started calling my name….. and well, I couldn’t resist

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Yup,  it was actually the Dark Chocolate version I picked up and ate while waiting in line at the checkout.

Then when I got home I may have consumed some of these.

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Who am I kidding I consumed most of the bag smile_sad.  I did manage to throw out what was left so I wouldn’t get into them later on.  I know better than to buy them.  Chips are my weakness, I just can’t stop eating them.

Then we had supper which wasn’t all that bad I guess.  I decided on a grilled cheese sandwich. 

2 slices of Body Wise Whole Wheat bread;  Becel, Light Cheddar, and 3 slices of Back Bacon.

I was feeling a little chilly so I thought a nice hot cup of tea was in order.  So going with the not so healthy eats theme I seemed to be on.  I had to have something to accompany my tea.

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A yummy homemade ginger cookie.

There you have it.  Some good choices, some ok choices, and some really bad choices.  C’est la vie…. tomorrows a new day!

~~Jackie

Monday, March 22, 2010

Food Catch-Up

I haven’t been posting much on the food front lately, mostly because its been a lot of the same. 

Breakfast has included lots of these .  My not so green, green monster.

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In the blender

  • 2 cups organic baby spinach
  • 1 cup UCAB
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
  • 1 tbsp ground flax
  • sprinkle of chia seeds or 1 tbsp chia gel
  • 1 scoop of AG Chocolate Superfood

YUM!! YUM!! YUM!!

Lunch is usually a bucket of salad, with the usual mixed greens,  arugala, assorted veggies, sunflower seeds, feta, a squeeze of lemon, egg whites, lots of ground pepper, and dressing of choice.

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There have also been lots of these in the mix for both lunch and supper  Black Bean Burgers that I first found on Lynn’s blog.  I love these things, and the boy will eat them too, so it’s a win win for me.

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A side of Sweet Potato or Butternut Squash fries with some Tzatziki for dipping… DELISH!!

There have been a lot of stir fries as of late too, but no pics of these.  Baby Bok Choy is my latest favorite ingredient to add into the mix. 

I was even adventurous one night and made some Kale Chips. I had never tried Kale before so I figured that might be a good way to go for my first time.  I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.  Are they a “potato chip” substitute, no… but they make for a good snack.  I sprinkled mine with some salt.  The kale gets crunchy, and sort of melts in your mouth. 

So there you have it, nothing too earth shattering going on in the food department but good eats all the same.

~~Jackie

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Jiffy Pop - Popcorn

I couldn’t decide what to have for supper yesterday.  It was one of those days when I was just craving something like take out Pizza or Chinese food maybe, but I knew I would be better off cooking for myself.   So after wandering aimlessly in my kitchen going from cupboard to cupboard I settled on Chicken Parm It’s pretty basic, nothing too fancy but oh so good.

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It was such a gorgeous night out the boy and I decided to have a fire down by the lake.  Now what would a bonfire be without  treats.  My honey had stopped at the store and picked up some marshmallows to roast, a bottle of red wine for me and last but not least some Jiffy Pop to cook over the fire.  Corny I know but I thought it was cute.

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I didn’t know they still made Jiffy Pop, and I can’t remember how long it has been since I had some let alone how long it’s been since I roasted marshmallows. 

It was a fun way to spend the evening.  I was up bright and early to go to Zumba, and it was definitely needed after consuming all that sugar.

~~Jackie 

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Spring has sprung!!

The weather this week here in Hali has been awesome.  Sunny and warm every day.  Again today, bright, sunny and they say it is supposed to go up to 17 degrees.  WOO HOO!!!  I took a walk around the yard to see if any little flowers were peeking their way through the soil, but nothing yet.  So I thought I would put my spring decorations out (until it’s warm enough for the real things).
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Unfortunately I couldn’t find the other half of my flowers , I have no idea what I did with them.  You would think they would be stored together but oh no that would make too much sense, so the other planter is empty for now.
I took the puppers out for a stroll around the yard with me
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Not the best pic but I couldn’t get them to sit still.  If you look in the window behind the pups you can see the other fur babies inside, just waiting for their turn outside.
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It’s so nice to look out and see blue sky, sun and no snow!!
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Time to go enjoy the day  smile_shades