grains of my life

Organic Harvesting

2010-09-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

Your eyes are not deceiving you.... this is actually the beautiful bounty I came home with last weekend! I am off to do it again tomorrow after yoga. The University Farm Organic Growers is a non profit organization that is essentially, a community garden. I'm still getting the hang of all this, but if you go volunteer by picking what the garden-leaders require for garden upkeep, you can pick whatever is ready that you wish to take and have it for free!

Actually they don't even seem to require your hard labour in line with their goals, but I feel the need to give back lest my food rot in my mouth with bad karma.

I came home with the following goodies:

- LEMON BASIL!

- swiss chard

- kale

- carrots

- cucumbers

- tomatoes

- zucchini

- squash

- red leaf lettuce

- green leaf lettuce

- onions

- and a corn stalk and some string beans

Mmmm!

Break Throughs

2010-09-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

This past week has held some break-throughs for me. I am so excited, I can't help but blog-brag. :)

On Tuesday I met with my running coach, Ro, and we went running. We have a schedule to run together during my lunch hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have known myself to zone-in/out during a run and time becomes unimportant. I run, and run, and don't track my time. I forget that I have to go back to work... where I work... and so this is why I say that running is a form of meditation for me. :)
Anyway, I forgot to warn CoachRo about this, and perhaps she has the same problem? We ran a full 50 minutes during my lunch hour! It was not the goal, but boy did we do it! She estimated we had run about 9km which is incredible. My goal being 10k, I'm excited that I have already reached such a distance in my short-term training plan. Woo!

Then on Thursday, we were much more mindful of our time and I was confident on my legs. I am proud to say that for the first time EVER (yes EVER) I ran a full 30 minutes without ANY walking breaks. I have always, always, always trained at a 10:1 ratio. Yeah! Go me.

Now, Friday evening, I've just come back from Moksha Yoga. That's right people - I went to HOT YOGA! I chose to attend the "Karma" class at Moksha Yoga because it is a by-donation cheaper option. $5 minimum and you're in. I am so happy I chose to buy Lululemon's "The Mat". It held up amazingly during class and only twice did I feel lacking in grip.
The class was great. I was surprised just how much sweat developed, I was literally dripping from my nose, beads down my arms and legs, face, it was awesome. That wasn't necessarily sweat from difficulty, but from the heat level. I found the class challenging, as I can certainly improve on my alignment in Warrior I and II and benefit from the instruction of a real instructor. I'm so used to practicing at home, I know I do a lot of things incorrectly.

Tomorrow I will be going to another yoga class with - guess who? - CoachRo! A studio nearby is holding an 'open house' where their classes are free for the full weekend. I will be going to Sattva and from there, going vegetable harvesting.

Namaste
(hehe).

10K in 4.5 weeks

2010-08-31T15:20:00.001-07:00

The Run for the Cure is quickly approaching! I can’t believe how fast time has passed. I said I would buckle down and train for it in July, and as I uttered those words to a friend of mine, I realized it was the end of August! Yikes.

I have no concerns about completing 10K, but I know at this point I will not be running the whole thing. And that’s fine. This is all about the experience, not the “numbers”. I still can’t believe $1050 has been raised so far, so amazing!

Today I set out for my first real “back in the saddle” run. It was pretty sad and pathetic, but I did it. I did a 5:1 ratio and ran for approximately 3km. My legs were ultra stiff because of my bike commuting and ChaLEAN. :) My goal is simple, Tues/Thurs/Sat runs. I want to build myself up to 10:1, 10k. Totally doable!
Plus, I have the best running buddy a girl can ask for. My really good friend is a runner, and I mean RUNNER. She has done Boston, along with other marathons… and just recently placed 1st in her division (women 20-29) at the Edmonton Marathon. Wowza. She’s taking it easy for the next month or so and it fits perfectly in her periodization to run with me, the newbie! :)
No food in this post, but I do have some interesting meals to report soon. Promise.

sprout my brussels, this was good!

2010-08-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

It's a well-known fact that brussel sprouts are gross. .... right?

No.

Brussel sprouts are GOOD! After witnessing Caitlin HTP time after time, eating these little miniature cabbages, I had to try it for myself. They are a super source of Vitamins K and C and quite frankly, they taste good too.

I also made my first step into the world of KALE! Also high in Vitamins K and C, plus A (equals Y? I dunno.) Kale is tough and apparently carries a strong taste, so I was a brave girl combining these two mystery foods into one dish.

Stir fry contained...

- 4 brussel sprouts (stem chopped, halved)

- 2 kale leaf (stem removed, ripped into bite sizes)
- carrot peelings

- mushrooms
- red onions

- EVOO

- sea salt

- rosemary

This was AMAZING. I must not have bought a "bitter" type of kale, because it didn't seem to hold much flavor but the brussels sprouts tasted pretty awesome, especially along with the rosemary.

2010-08-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went on a grocery shopping adventure! I bussed it over to Whyte Ave and went to the Old Strathcona Farmers Market. Yay!

I got some pretty exciting finds...

3 sampler jars of Very Berry Honey - Cinnamon Honey, Orange Fudge Honey and Lavender Honey

Also a jar of Jalapeno Pepper Jelly

They are all amazing in different ways, but I do wish they sold just plain Fudge Honey without the Orange. Still, yummy! (The Lavender Honey is awesome in chamomile tea)

I also made my first purchase of locally produced veggies! Potatoes and Carrots.

When I got home I did a taste test on the Husband and without question he preferred the Farmers Market carrots. :) The potatoes are good too, but they don't taste any different than grocery store sold kinds.

Next, was Planet Organic. I love this store and could spend hours in here but I often leave with very little. I have a hard time deciding what to buy, what to use it for and often... what it is!

This time I left with locally made Whole Wheat Flour:

Organic Chocolate Milk

(next we need to try the plain kind. I love the glass bottle... :))

And I raided their bulk section! I got little bits of...

- nutritional yeast (vegan cheese replacement)

- carob chips (unsweetened... OOPS... ugh)

- red lentils (cheaper organic at Superstore)

- Redman's red sea salt (not heated so has maintained the natural minerals)

- Energy Nuggets (so yummy little date/cocoa/nut clusters)

Oh, I also got some Organic Fuji Apples. It's hard to say whether it's the Organic or the Fuji mojo happening, but they were THE BEST apples I've ever eaten in my life. I hear the next step is to eat some BC apples from the Farmers Market... :)

Over all it was a great day! Although the Farmers Market and Planet Organic are a distance away from my house compared to the two grocery stores across the way from me... it is worth it for some things.

Avocado Bravado

2010-08-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

Avocados... with their ugly outer skin, the goopy innerds, and that annoying pit that ruins everything.

Those menacing avocados...

I now know the secret!

First, you must use your knife to cut the avocado in half. (from end to end, cut from skin through into the pit). Then twist the two halves and separate. You'll find yourself with one empty avo-womb, and one filled! (Oh boy, now that I've used "womb" as a metaphor, this is gonna get gruesome).

Here's the scary part. Take your knife and CHOP the pit. Nope, your knife won't go through, but it should get stuck.

Yank that sucker out and you've got yourself to beautiful halves!

Use a spoon to scoop it out, or cut slices with your knife within the skin and then turn it inside out.

Quinoa Tacos

2010-08-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, I promised you a rant about Balsamic Vinegar. So here it is.

Balsamic Vinegar is awesome. I thought I hated vinegar until Tuesday night. When I tried the Quinoa Salad at Planet Organic, I was surprised that I didn't taste the harsh "puh" of vinegar. It was thanks to our good new friend... Balsamic!

It carries a might lighter, softer taste than other vinegars and I wish I had bought it a long time ago.

Anyhow, I made some salad dressing with the newfound Baslamic Beauty.

1 tbsp Baslamic Vinegar

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 tsp Basil

1/2 tsp Tarragon

1/2 tsp Pepper

Voila!

For supper tonight, I made tacos.

I adore tacos.

Tacos are one reason it is difficult for me to be vegetarian.

Husband's taco...

And, here is mine!

The difference is, instead of using ground beef, I used some cooked quinoa. And to add some flavor and healthy fats, mashed up one half of an avocado with spices (chili pepper, cumin, pepper) and mixed it into the quinoa.

This actually tasted amazing. I was missing a few things that would have really pushed it into the taco zone...

Salsa.

It was missing the real taco MEATY flavor, as you would expect. But the texture was good, and the taste was otherwise on spot. There was extra taco meat left and I wasn't event tempted.

Plus, one veggie taco filled me where as I usually eat two meat tacos.

Next time I make this I hope to have a cheesy replacement. :)

Quinoa Salad

2010-08-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday evening I went to a session at Planet Organic taught by Sally J King called Lunchbox Love (after her book). It was a great session with lots of information. I like how many of the participants seem to have come to sessions before, so they often have input that is just as educational as the instructor has.

One of the recipes she made, and we sampled, was Quinoa Salad.

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a wonderfully nutritious grain very high in protein.
And it was so great! I never thought about eating quinoa cold. I've always eaten it in a similar fashion to rice. She also discussed sprouting quinoa, which I will have to try soon... :) Sprouting brings the grain to it's optimal level of nutrition and creates a more "nutty" flavor.

Recipe:

1 cup quinoa

cucumber

peppers; green, red, yellow

avocado

red onion

tomato

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

tsp terragon

tsp basil

tsp fresh mint

Almost all the ingredients are interchangeable. I left out the balsamic vinegar and red onion and I really missed them.

As you can see, I had adjusted my ingredients some. I used basil and rosemary as my spices, and left out the vinegar because I only had regular vinegar and rice vinegar.

My next post will exclaim how AMAZING balsamic vinegar is, and how I don't know how I ever lived without it.... :)

The Return

2010-08-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

Well, hello there!
I bet you didn't expect to see me here...

I'm back. I was gone, eating french fries and sitting on my ass. I'm sorry, but I'm here now and that's all that matters. :) This has been another episode of --> excitement --> commitment --> overindulgence --> injury --> "failure" --> confusion.

That's right friends, back in June I felt the sweet pang of my ITB (iliotibial band) flaring up again. I was dumb, and I didn't listen for a while. And then I was forced to listen, and forced to stop running. With the downfall of my favorite sport being out of reach, I basically gave up. I'll admit it! Initially I thought I'll just stop for a while. Keep up endurance up with ChaLean videos. Those hurt my knee, also. And with less exercise came less workouts, and a vicious cycle began.

Next step - identity crisis!

Within my lack of workouts and nutritionally sound meals, I also progressed into obsessive-career-planning. This too is a cycle for me and it's bound to happen once a year, but if I am in the right place at the right time, it won't tear me apart. Last time this happened I was very committed and focused on my running and I had accomplishments to fall back on. This time, nuh uh.

I still don't know what my ultimate career will be, but I know I should stop caring so much. After more than a full month of white knuckling my way through career research, personality profiles, I realized that I am not being true to myself. When I'm not enjoying life, I lead myself down the wrong path. I collapse into myself and become recluse. I'm not kidding, it's that dramatic. Well, for me anyway.
Maybe someone out there is like me, obsessive, indecisive, spontaneous... really not the greatest combinations. But I'm learning to manage.

This time instead of leaping into a new passion, I went back to a previous one. I recognized that I need something to focus on - I may as well choose something useful! Normally I seek outward into a new area, but I have revisited the passion of food. Nutrition. Consciously choosing what I eat and why.
Inevitably this will trickle into other areas of my life as well. Choosing what you put into your body is a reflection of your values. What reasons will or will you not eat meat? What research is enough reason for you to stop, be appalled, and set down the chicken for some chick peas?

Those are the sort of things I am learning about myself, right now!

SIlver Hills, Cold Tea and a Running Pup!

2010-05-30T21:32:00.000-07:00

Well, hello! Where have you been lately? Oh, it's me who has been a bad friend? Okay... I'm sorry. Here's an update on a few different things...

Silver Hills Bread is by far my favourite brand of bread, ever. When I popped online and did their survey, I was promised one free loaf, and got 4! With enthusiasm, I chose carefully... :)

Still number 1 is Squirrelly... maybe because of the name and it's easy availability from Costco. But it has a great nutty flavour that the others don't quite match. :)

Then a close second is Hardy Hearty Harvest, not seedy like squirrelly but fluffier than the rest with a nice nutty flavour, great for sandwiches.

The remaining three are pretty well equivalent in my books. They don't really have a distinct taste, and just didn't measure up to the top two. They hold interest due to their nutritional value, but I still prefer the tastier ones. :) Note, all of these breads seem to have equivilant nutritonal values in general observation, so I'm not worried about passing up flax or 16 grains for a nice squirrel-friendly-nutty-bread.

Now, for a fitness annoucement!

(an·nounce·ment - as per the kryster dictionary, this is not a promise, but rather discussion of something that currently holds my interest and may not in the near future. I'm a flake, I get enthusiastic about things, and then I move on with life and rant about the next best thing. Just so you know. :))

See Exhibit A: two lazy-butt dogs sitting on their butts. One is highly capable of fitness accomplishements, the other (with the froggy legs) is held back from such activities due to her short snout and bum knee cap)

Don't worry, they aren't always lazy... sometimes they play. But sometimes during the play time, they snuggle. :)

Maddy looks a little curious about the prospective of running, huh? I like the angle because it shows how different in size they really are. :)

So, the plan is to get Maddy running! As my running endevours always lead to over-training, I think training Maddy will force me to take things slow and in turn, train myself! I'll easily be safely trained for my 10K Run for the Cure in October, no problemo. Too bad Maddy can't come too!

Yep, that's tea! I normally don't like tea. I have never enjoyed tea. But one day I got curious, and I experiemented by throwing a tea bag (pomegrante green tea) into a glass bottle of water and letting it steep in the fridge for a few hours. Oh yum! Home made, herbal green tea!

I then bought a sampler package of green teas, and the excitement began. So far, ginger peach green tea is by far the BEST. I did enjoy the chai green and the white green infusion in hot-tea-fashion. Look at me... drinking tea and receiving beneficial antioxidents! Ee!

New Outlook on Running

2010-05-24T18:23:00.000-07:00

So, now that I have established a new & improved outlook on running, it's time to put it into play! I took a break from running most of this week and it felt great. I actually started feeling leaner than I have in quite a while, which paralells with some research I was reading this weekend on my body type and suggested workout approaches. Apparently, if I want to be healthy (aka lose body fat, gain muscle) I should be careful to do HIIT (high intensity interval training) cardio rather than long distance endurance (running). I also should be sure to focus mainly on my muscular strength gains and eating enough calories.

Some people may hate me for this, but I lose quickly. However, that includes losing muscle.

(For the record, HIIT cardio is important and more effective for everyone, not just me).

To be careful not to send my body into starvation mode, I have to eat enough calories to support my run and other activities.
I've begun to track my eating habits in preparation for a nutritional counselling meeting I have next weekend. I opened a fitday.com account, and will see my real ratios of carbs:protein:fat to get the nutritionist's opinion.

On Saturday, I by-passed my Saturday-Group-Long-Run for some relaxation and other commitments. Cleaning. After destressing, I took Maddy for a run. Doesn't she look excited?

She and I had fun, we went out and walked/ran for 30 minutes. Mostly walked. And when I ran, she gallopped infrequent strides. She certainly needs to embrace the ChiRunning methodology... :)

Today, Monday, I went for another! I had already done my ChaLean weight training session, but had a bad headache for hours. I thought, maybe a run will help! This time I let Maddy home and went on my own. I didn't really do any better without her. It took me a good 30 minutes for my body to warm up completely and feel in the groove.

Hubby has been sick with bad-ass cold all weekend. I think this headache is my version of his cold. I really, really hope I don't catch it in it's full capacity. :(

I experimented for this run and took a homemade energy gel based on Brendan Brazier's recipe in Thrive Fitness. I blended a few dried dates, agave nectar, salt and water. It tasted fine but WAY too dense. I suppose on a longer run, it may be appealing.

I also tested out some placements for my security device this weekend. I think I've just settled on keeping it in a pocket or up my sleeve. This spot would be conveient but it flip flops all around. For those who don't know, this is a "weeee-ooo" device. I pull the bottom pin out and a siren goes off. :)

This blog post is very unorganized, but bear with me.
Friday I spent the evening making cookies... oatmeal and carob chip!

At some point I ate this beautiful salad with some dill-ranch dressing to dip my fork in. Salad eating method a-la-Liz.

I also made some Avocado-Cashew-Sauce from Vive La Vegan. It was pretty awful warm but after sitting in the fridge overnight it turned out pretty yummy! I used it as a salad dressing and was pleased. It would also be great on sandwiches or burritos.

More salad dressing...

Some treats...

And lentil burgers!

Can you imagine wanting actual ground beef burgers after making a beautiful lentil burger? Just look at this disgusting mixture...

Always end on a good note... :) Enjoy your supper!!!

Indulgence

2010-05-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a caption of my indulgence from last night.... :) Well, this is actually a picture of Hubby's meal. I ate mine too fast and then realized I didn't have a picture. So I stomped on his foot before he shoveled in so I had time to take a picture. Just kidding.

This is "Cheesy Egg Dippers". A creation of my Dad's which I came up with a name for because Hubby and I had to many confusing conversations figuring out what he was requesting for supper.

Basically it is two peices of bread dipped in whipped egg (aka, french toast) with a cheese slice in the middle (aka grilled cheese sandwich) with maple syrup on top! Pretty awesome if you ask me.

Supper was roasted veggies (sweet potato, golden potato, parsnip and carrot) with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, rosemary and basil. Mmmm. On the side was pork chop which had been marinated in BBQ sauce and brown sugar.

As soon as I took supper out of the oven, I replaced it with.. COOKIES!! Oh my. These are the best cookies I've ever made. Don't worry Liz, no healthy cookies here. I mean, they are "healthy" compared to other cookies but they don't taste like a health-bar this time.

These are Carob-Chip-Cookies made from the recipe "HomeStyle Chocolate Chip Cookies" from the book Vive La Vegan. So good.

Here is a snapshot of the recipe. Click to view closer. I replaced the unrefined sugar with agave nectar and skipped out on the molasses. Because I wasn't including molasses, I kept the agave nectar an equal measurement of what the sugar would have been. Normally you would cut back but about 1/4 cup and also cut back on some of the dry ingredients... but this recipe seemed quite dry so I added more in.

They baked in about half the time the recipe says (6 minutes!). Maybe because my oven is crazy and it was on for about 45 mins before putting the cookies in. I can't wait to take these in for Liz and Sven to try.

I got Hubby to eat one and didn't tell him anything about them. He says MMMMMMMM! Then I admitted that they are vegan and have agave nectar instead of sugar and carob instead of chocolate. He was quite surprised! :) Just one more step to making him open his mind to healthy foods! (Same for you Liz!)

I'm now enjoyinga beautifully heavy rain with some lightning and thunder... Alberta summers are sooo awesome with the scorching heat and the rain storms. Yay!

enough!

2010-05-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

That's it, I'm done!
No more obsessing. I am now cutting myself OFF from any goals. It's official. I'm not allowed to make goals. Okay? New goal: No goals. If you see any goal setting on this blog for the next... month... you know that I will have failed this current goal. (note the irony, but keep in mind I am serious)

Today was the quarterly Krysta-Obsess-And-Freak day. I stressed over everything and nothing. I made lists until I had no paper left. Lists about groceries, cleaning, how to clean, what to clean, what to throw out, what to keep, what to wear, what to give away, what is fair, what is not fair, what is wonderful, what is terrible... everything that really, really, doesn't matter in life.

Well, grocery lists are important.

Then I came home and gushed it all to my husband, bawled my eyes out and felt better. I'm embarassed to say it... Sometimes you just have to be a hormonal, irrational female. :)

After all of this, I realize, I have been cranky since I started running! It's very weird, but it makes sense to me and I know it's true. I'm just too competitive and obsessive and I took it way too seriously. As much as I love running, I have actually been less happy and more crabby since I started training again. I have been overly tired; sleeping 8+ hours a night and waking up tired. I can tell I've lost muscle mass already, and most importantly - begun to OBSESS. Muscular strength is my #1 goal at this point.

I am so proud of having done 12k on Saturday and it really excited me to progress so fast. This could have been my year if my mind hadn't got in the way.

So, I will continue to run, but only on a casual basis. No marathon goal for this girl (unless I happen to be at that level without trying, ha-ha!). I am going to deny myself the luxury of tracking my distance and pace. I am to run ONLY by time. I will keep my Nike + system on, but I'll try to limit my analysis of my pace.
Also, I am going to take my dog, Maddy, out for runs and teach her to run. It's going to be really good for her and great way for me to run without over-thinking.

Since finishing the book ChiRunning, I was able to recognize the natural competitiveness I have and how unhealthy it is in regard to my body's recovery. I need to learn to run for fun.

It's time to obsess over not obsessing. Truth be told, I must obsess about something.

If you know me, you'll know this is a normal occurance. I obsess until I digress and then I hit the reset button.

:)

12K, Beans and Bear Paws

2010-05-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

Saturday I ran a full 12.6k (I've been rounding it up and bragging on 13). I'm so proud! It's my first real long run of the season, and beyond that, 12k was my longest distance EVER from last years season. Obviously my cross training during recovery has paid off. I feel confident that I'll be able to progress each week.

First, let's marvel at the beauty that is homemade nachos. these were awesome!

I took flat wraps, coated them in a light layer of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and spices and baked them in the oven for about 5 minutes. Oh, I sliced them into triangles before baking. Then for the salsa, I used some pre-made organic salsa from Safeway and added some beans and sprinkled spices and heated for a minute in the microwave! Pretty simple and I'm sure it could have been even better if I had indulged in adding cheese... :)

Now that you've seen the success of my nachos... Take a look at my FAILURE cookies. These cookies were made for the Husband, so they were full of butter, sugar and egg. I actually got grossed out making them and they didn't appeal to me one bit. Obviously, even less once they were baked because... they didn't rise. LOL. Garbage.

I'm not sure if it is the fact that I cared more about my cookies, or what, but mine turned out great... despite a few with a bit of burnt bottom syndrome.

Some were made with carob chips:

Some with cashew butter mixed in:

(This is just a really dark picture... they both were actually the lighter color.) And the cashew butter ones tasted just like Bears Paws! You know, those unhealthy banana bread biscuits in the cookie aisle? Yum!

Original Recipe
My adjusted recipe:

Oatmeal & Carob Chip Cookies

* 2/3 cup Agave Nectar
* 1/2 cup Earth Balance Butter
* 1/2 cup mashed banana
* 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup rolled oats
* 1/2 cup 10 grain cereal

I split the dough in two sections and added ...

Dough#1

* 1 tablespoon cashew butter

Dough #2
* 1/2 cup carob chips

My only complaint about these cookies is that they were sticky! I think it was the banana, or maybe the agave nectar. Not sure. They didn't have a cookie texture, it was more of a cake/square texture. Still liked them though! :)

Last night I made... bean burgers!

I made hubby some hamburgers and made myself a bean burger. It was an experiment, but it worked!

Basically, I took 1/2 c kidney beans, 1/4c chopped onions, 1/4c 10 grain cereal and tons of chili pepper and cumin. I threw all that in a blender to mix. Threw it on the grill and waited! It took a LONG time to bind, but eventually it did.

On the bun I had avocado mushed with chili peppers, salsa and mustard plus some spinach. :)

Now, for another failure segment!

One of my favourite bloggers, Angela, has been raving about her soft-serve banana overnight oats. So I tried my own. Fail.

My banana was mixed into soft serve this morning and spent about a half hour in the fridge before coming to work in my lunch bag. Not a good idea. ... it turned brown and terrible! It ruined the whole thing.

Then I had way too much banana compared to oats, so I couldn't possibly create the beauty you see on the screen behind my failure. That is Angela's beautiful version of the recipe where she has WHITE banana layers and overnight oats layers... so pretty! Mine, however, was probably 70% mushy brown banana and looks like... this....

It did taste good, and I think in the future I would add some cocoa powder to the banana so I can stay in denial of it's brown-turned-state. And I would probably just use 1/4 of a banana for the amount of oats I made. I eat a VERY small bowl of oats in the morning. Probably only 1/4-1/2 cup.

Okay.... I did it !! I blogged more!!!

Tonight the plan is to go running with the Running Room for 10K. I find it so hard to get my butt out the door on a weeknight to run unless it's by myself and I'm calling the shots. but then I don't accomplish a distance that I could if I was with a group. So, RR it is!

She Returns

2010-05-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry Mom, Liz & Brandy... I am back!

I have been MIA in the blogging world since MAY 6. Shameful! I will make more of an effort to post... :)

I don't have a full day's worth of eating to blog about here, but here are some subjects for your entertainment!

What has happened in my life recently? Well....

We bought a truck:

I made granola:

1c. 5 grain cereal

1/2c. quinoa

1/4c. chopped almonds

2tbsp agave nectar

1tbsp olive oil

1tbsp maple syrup

stir around until all is moist then spread onto wax paper on a cookie sheet.

Bake in oven at 250* until browned. Mix around occasionally.

I bought a camelbak:

The most exciting purchase of mine in a while (excluding the truck). This baby hugs your back so naturally it's like you really are a camel! With a hunchback to hold 2L of water. hehe. I bought the boy's version because I'm a rebel. All the girl versions were pink or flowery. Ugh. This one has a stray across the chest too, which is way better than none. Although I am a girl and do have boobs... the chest strap isn't so bad as long as you place it properly. I like the extra support there to know the pack isn't going to bounce or move.

yes, that little hose is where the water comes out! Instead of carrying a water bottle, I suck my water out of a hose like a pro. I feel like an athlete using this and I must say.. I legitimately bought this for functionality! I'm notorious for buying things to be cool but this time I didn't. I swear. I need it. :)

I actually do! On to my next announcement...

I began MARATHON training!

I am training for the Intact Edmonton Marathon! I've joined a running group which is lead by my friend who ran the Boston Marathon in April, 3:24! We meet every Saturday and the group runs off and does their long run together or separate, then we all meet up after and say "yay we did it!"

I'm still recovering from my knee issues, so I'm not saying the marathon will be 100%. But as long as I train for it, I'm happy with that. It's about the running, not the race. I can always opt for the half marathon, too.

I plan on running a few races before August to get used to the racing atmosphere (I have never raced) and ease my nerves.

I made a banana-french-toast-sandwich:

whole wheat bread dipped in egg, fried with cinnamon

Banana, chopped and fried beside the bread

then Dark Chocolate Dreams spread with banana between the french toastied bread! Mmm...

Now, time for an update on my babies, the animals.

The doggies are doing just fine, I'm going to recycle this picture because it's just too funny. Maddy is making progress still. Our walks this week have been "milestone" walks because she has finally settled down to the point where she can see another dog and not freak out! She stays calm, wags her tail, and watches. So amazing, considering she used to throw a fit of excitement and scare them away!

Also, she has gained 8lbs since we adopted her 3 months ago. She looks so much healthier now!

The cats are doing good, but they are driving the Husband crazy. He claims to be getting no sleep, soley because of these little beasts.

Not this one: (who failed at the simple task of pooping this morning and I had to clean his bum... what?!)

This little monster is the culprit:

It's safe to say he is obsessed with the Hubby and wants his attention at ALL TIMES! Well, when we are in the bedroom anyway. The cats reside mostly in the bedroom and only "fly" through the living room to land on the window cill, risking interaction with the dogs. :)

Fella may look cute and innocent in this photo, but he has only #1 in mind. He doesn't care of Hubby is sleeping. He'll wake him up and ask for a snuggle. If Hubby doesn't wake up... well then the hitting, meowing, and scratching begins.

Poor Hubby....

But even more so, poor me! I am stuck with the chore of waking up the sleep deprived husband in the mornings for work. This week I began to wonder if he is actually an adult, or perhaps a 16 year old boy ignoring his mother... lol.

There you have it, you are up to date!! I will continue to blog... I promise... :)

non-existent blogger

2010-05-06T12:21:00.001-07:00

I've been a little non-existent lately. I have a few excuses, one of which I will be inserting below. The other is just plain business and not making time to post my eating habits... I did take pictures but haven't had time to post them.

I have registered for the CIBC Run for the Cure to raise money for Breast Cancer Research. Please view my fundraising page here: http://www.runforthecure.com/site/TR/RunfortheCure/PrairiesNWT?px=1297421&pg=personal&fr_id=1108

2010-04-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning I decided to take a recipe from Teens Eat and give it a try. I pulled my overnight oats from the fridge (5-grain cereal, steel cut oats, chia seeds in almond milk) and started on making Carrot Cake Oatmeal!

I made some "topping" but didn't follow their directions exactly (I think this was the main ingredient to pull it all together... ah well. Instead of using coconut butter, which I don't have, I used the Dark Chocolate Dreams butter. Mixed this and greek yogurt together and microwaved until smooth, stirring often.

In the oatmeal I added some shredded carrot, pinapple, cinnamon and nutmeg. Threw it in the microwave and topped it with the "icing!"

This has the potential to be AWESOME but I think my chocolate topping threw it off. I hope to get some coconut butter and try it again sometime. :)

Those oats were at 6:30am...and then I had ANOTHER unintentional nap for a few hours.

Today was a rest day, so after my nap I did some yoga from memory, hung out on the floor for a while and foam rolled. :)

And had some snacking... greek yogurt with strawberries and crummies of some granola

And a Green Monster (banana, spinach, GREENSuperFood Berry)

Another snack... Hubby requested "Cheesy Egg Dippers" So I made myself half of one with some healthy options. Instead of white bread I used ezekiel bread. Instead of cheese slice I used laughing cow cheese. I drizzled some maple syrup below it and I was good to go!

(Real Cheesy Egg Dippers is one of my Dad's breakfast recipes. Basically French Toast Grilled Cheese combined. Yum!)

And some apples with Dark Chocolate Dream butter... sprinkled with cinnamon.

And now for the REAL food! BURGERS!

I made Hubby his own normal beef burgers, and of course had one made for myself. I also experiemented by making myself a lentil burger! I simply boiled mixed lentils for about 45 minutes, mashed them up with an egg and bread crumbs and seasoning.

First picture here is the lentil burger:

Second pic here is the beef burger.

The verdict? I think I could stick with a lentil burger instead of a beef burger! I ate them side by side, and although the lentil burger lacked the real beefy taste, it was still great!

Later on, another snacky-face-attack.Strawberries and almond milk.

And *gasp* a hot chocolate! :)

I've been reading Thrive Fitness (Brendan Brazier) all weekend. I started with grocery list I would add a few items on to, and soon it turned into a real wish list! ... look how long it is... this is awful! I'll never be able to buy all of these things!

Pancake Kinda Day

2010-04-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

First of all, before I ... forget.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! :)

Last night I dug into my new library books... Thrive Fitness by Brendan Brazier and Eat, Drink & Be Vegan by Dreena Burton. Two very good books. Thrive Fitness is full of lifestyle-changing suggestions, approaches and REASONS. I can't wait to read Thrive Diet! Eat, Drink & Be Vegan is stocked full of some good recipes, and best of all... good salad dressing and sauce recipes. Most important in my opinion. :)

Breakfast was pancakes! Wholewheat pancakes actually. I haven't had pancakes in years...

This combo was pretty amazing. A whole wheat pancake topped with a fried egg and ketchup. I squirted the maple syrup beneath the pancake. I was a bit worried about mixing maple syrup and ketchup, but it actually didn't taste too bad in the same bite anyway. Definitely will do this breakfast again.

However... the side, I will not. I made some more toasted quinoa this morning, but a bit lighter in ingredients (agave nectar, cinnamon and nutmeg). I attempted to match the quinoa with some pumpkin greek yogurt, as per Caitlin. This is probably the fourth time I have tried to incorporate pumpkin in my meals, and I never, ever enjoy it. I dream of it tasting like pumpkin pie, but it does not.

If I get up the gumption, then tomorrow will be my LAST pumpkin attempt. I might make pumpkin-banana bread. We'll see....

After an unintentional nap............

Workout was ChaLean Extreme's Burn It Off + Recharge. Whew! Burn It Off is a high intensity interval session with very little breaks or recovery periods. It's pretty intense but it feels awesome. Especially following a strength training day. Recharge is pretty great too. I hadn't tried this one yet, but the schedule says to match these videos together. (I cheated before). It's a 20 minute yoga session. It is instructed nicely and the transitions make the postures easily maintained and understandable. Chalene is growing on me more and more each day!

Post workout I had a Green Monster with GREENSuperFood Berry Flavor. This flavor is by far better than the original (gross) and chocolate (okay). If I were to buy some, it would be this flavor, I think. It still had a hint of "that taste" but it wasn't bad! I blended it in with almond milk, spinach, banana and protein powder.

Lunch time meant... my left over Oodle Noodle Kung Pao! Yeeeeah! Look at this awesome noodle box. I love it!

Look what was inside the awesome noodle box! I love it!

With the Kung Pao I had a "Draft Root Beer". This is the same brand that makes the amazing Vanilla Soda I tried last weekend. I prefer the Vanilla Soda over this Root Beer, but I must say it was unique, "rootish" and really great. I can't quite explain the taste, but it was filled with flavor and the taste was nice and thick. I would recommend it, but the Vanilla is my choice because it was so unique and sweet.

Snack was ... Steel Cut Oats! I've been thinking about trying them for a while, but I've been so satisfied with my 5 Grain Cereal, I didn't bother. They both have the same nutritional value. I let the oats and some chia seeds soak overnight in almond milk. I added some almonds, cinnamon and nutmeg. These were pretty awesome! Much nuttier and texture filled, as I've heard. They are way more filling, and I was only able to eat about half of my bowl.

A few hours later.. an apple and some almonds while I made some supper. Spaghetti for the Hubby....

Something weird for the me! I threw some red lentil dal and rice on top of a pancake! What?! It was good. I could've done without the rice though. It would have been a smoother, goopier enjoyable gop of ...goo. :)

Check out that side salad. It was SPECTACULAR. I'm all for getting your greens and veggies, and what has really pushed me into LOVING healthy eating is condiments. Since I have discovered home made salad dressings, my life has taken a turn for the best. This salad wasn't special in the veggie area. It was a simple spinach, tomato, cucumber and babybel cheese salad. But when I poured the dressing on.... everything changed.

Cumin-Cinnamon Vinaigrette (Eat, Drink & Be Vegan)

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (I used rice vinegar)

2 tbsp lemon juice

3-4 tbsp agave nectar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp cinnamon

pinch of allspice (I didn't have any...)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 - 1/3 cup walnut oil (I used EV Olive Oil)

HEAVEN.

Dessert was some frozen fruit (cantelope, honey dew melon, pinapple) thawed with heated pieces of pancake and 2 tbsp greek yogurt. Also, heavenly. :)

Now, it's on to an exciting announcement. I.AM.RIGHT. Husband has outwardly admitted that I am right! So rarely in our relationship am I right, that at one time I actually created a notebook to record situations like this. I lost it. :( I have now created a new online version.. because this is noteworthy. :)

Basically, Hubby has had a leg injury for almost a full year after a big mountain biking trip to BC. I have been telling him since the beginning to go for massage therapy. No way... Then I moved on to foam rolling. Massage yourself at home! No way...

Well, he gave up and bought one, as I posted a few days ago. It has been showing real benefits already, and he is really energized with the results he is seeing.

He has decided to start working out again, so I am creating a full upper body split workout (different muscle groups on different days). We only have limited equipment, so it's putting my knowledge to the test to be creative with my combinations and actually make this effective. He's not doing lower body yet because of his injury.

Yippee! This is like a 'test' for me. I have applied for my employer to pay for some classes for me this summer, and this might give me some insight on whether I really want them or not. I have applied for funding to become a certified Personal Trainer and Nutrition & Wellness Consultant. I actually took the Nutrition and Wellness certificate before, exam and all, but the certification has since expired. So, I'll be taking the Personal Trainer classes and re-doing my NWS written and oral exam. If I get funding. :)

The weekend is heeeeeeeeeeeeeere

2010-04-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

6am this morning I was a good girl... and did ChaLean Extreme - Burn Circuit 3

After my workout and morning routine (I now shower after the workout, it's too hot out now!) I tried out the CHOCOLATE Green SuperFood sample. It was... alright. It wasn't nearly as bad as last night's plain version. But there was that hint of something. Not sure if that flavor is wheatgrass or something else, who knows. This one is certainly tolerable! I think it would have been even better with the whole packet, I conserved my supply by only using half the pack and adding protein powder.

The word of Subway's free breakfast was spewing from everyone's mouth at work. But magically, I wasn't even tempted! I had this amazing oatmeal waiting for me...

overnight 5 grain cereal
almond milk
2 tbsp chia seeds
half cup mixed berries YUM!

and a tangerine from my little collection of cuties ... :)

Later on, I had to try my exciting new purchase. VitaMuffin Deep Chocolate Vita Top! Ah! I put it in the toaster to un-freeze it and it tasted sooo good. Although, when I took it out of the toaster I jabbed my fingers into the chocolate chips on top... lol.

This is Liz's paragraph of shame...

Liz was boring and didn't even try hers. Even after I made a huge deal about them and was so excited about it and gobbled it up... she didn't try her's. I was disappointed in her. Shame, Liz, Shame. (she is afraid of new things)

Lunch came, but my LUNCH was not here yet .. Liz's obedient husband, Clem, was sent on a mission for something special. So I held myself over with half an apple and some Dark Chocolate Dreams butter. Check out this cool photo...

And this one... Mmmmmmmmm.

Ohhh yum.

Oh! Alas, Clem has arrived. He bore gifts of Oodle Noodle! Our favourite of favourites. I had Kung Pao Chicken and two spring rolls. So, so good. I only ate half, so I'm going to have another serving tomorrow. :D

Late afternoon called for another snack, and this one was pretty incredible. This is a new staple recipe for me, and I highly recommend it. Let me precede this with the fact that I do not like quinoa (keen-wah). I've cooked it before and it was weird, transparent... hrm.

But let me tell you.... quinoa can be a granola replacement!!!!

It all started with a blog post by Caitlin (2nd from top). I used this recipe but added a bit to it later on. First I toasted the quinoa with maple syrup and chopped almonds in the oven for 10 minutes at 350*.

While it was oven toasting, I took some Dark Chocolate Dream and heated it in the microwave with almond milk to make a goopy syrup.

After the quinoa was oven roasty toasty... I mixed it with the melted chocolate butter mix and threw it in the fridge over night!

Check this out. Strawberries, Greek Yogurt, Toasted Quinoa!

Mix it together, and be in heaven... The texture is not bad AT ALL! I tasted a bit last night and wasn't too sure... it was crunchy and sticky. But after cooling down it changed consistency and softened some. It mixed perfectly into the yogurt and strawberries and I will definitely be doing this again. Not sure I will indulge in maple syrup AND Chocolate Dreams butter... I will come up with something a bit less guilty. :)

After work I ran a few errands... picked up some hart fundraising tickets (World Cup Soccer!) and got some groceries. (Steel cut oats review... coming soon!)

Supper was left over roast beef dinner I had made for Hubby last night. I was tempted to indulge in the left over Oodle Noodle Kung Pao, but really, I will be happy I saved it for tomorrow. :)

2010-04-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

Oh no! I've been slacking on you. I'm sorry.

Today I forgot my camera, and that's even worse. I have resorted to photographing with my blackberry. Not the greatest, but it does the trick!

This morning I attempted some pumpkin oatmeal... I missed the boat on this and did not include enough spices. Yeck!

Then at lunch time, Liz and I took a trip over to Planet Organic. I bought some very exciting items. :) They will make their appearances throughout this post...

It is Earth Day today, so they had free chocolate cake which was utterly amazing. The icing was the best part. I also tried samples of a blood orange, some winter body cream, maple chocolate, pistachio chocolate... I wish I could remember of the brand of chocolates they were sampling. They were GREAT.

I love Planet Organic. I feel a kinship with the workers there, like "You care just as much as I do! HUG ME!". But I don't hug them, because that would be wrong.

When I returned to work I had a salad with apples, cucumber, tomato, spinach with Cape Cod Dressing. I couldn't focus on eating my salad because I wanted to try NEW items...

Like GREEK YOGURT! I have looked everywhere for this in the regular grocery stores and I don't know why it didn't occur to me to check Planet Organic. This stuff is further strained compared to regular yogurt, so it's consistency is much thicker, creamier, and much more protein dense! Also, lower in fat.

strained which leaves it lower in lactose levels, carbs, and fat. Higher in protein. However, it seems as though I have missed something and grabbed the wrong kind. My greek yogurt seriously has 19g of fat and only 7g protein. What gives? The lesson here, is don't go gung ho when you find Greek Yogurt and find the first one you see... you'll end up with an 11% MF yogurt. lol.

I must say, it is pretty damn good! At first it has a mousse type texture, but after stirring it it turns creamy. It's much thicker than regular yogurt and it tastes a bit sweeter in my opinion. :) I wish SO BAD that Planet Organic carried Oikos. I'm going to see about suggesting it to the store manager.

I combined a few scoops of Greek Yogurt with strawberries, and another special ingredient....

CHIA SEEDS!!!

These babies are high in Essential Fatty Acids (Omega 3) and fiber. They also gelatin-ize and absorb liquid. Whoopah! (Think Chandler trying to make the "whipped" sound). Don't ask me why, this is just how chia seeds make me feel. Whoopah!

And now, for the most exciting purchase of the day.... DARK CHOCOLATE DREAMS!! Oh, my. I have not lived until I've eaten this. This equally rivals those chocolate croissants I mentioned a while back. Yes, they are high in calories and fat, but it's peanut fat... :) If this was Almond butter instead of Peanut butter, I would eat this every, single, day.

So, yes I had some Ezekiel toast with Dark Chocolate Dream spread and banana.And a really disgusting smoothie...

This smoothie was made of...

Looks yummy? No. That green powder is actually Amazing Grass SUPERFOOD powder, original. I didn't expect it to be great, since it's not flavored. It smelled okay, but combined with banana and strawberry it turned out to be pretty awful. The nutrition chart, however, looks pretty fantastic!

I hope one of the other flavours satisfies me. Shipping was free, and all these samples pictured below was only $2.99.

Also, I bought some Earth Balance spread. Replacement butter. I put it in Hubby's mashed potatoes tonight and he never even knew...

I seriously snacked bad all day.

Three timbits at a work meeting this morning.

Pumpkin oatmeal....

Chocolate cake at Planet Organic along with other random samples...

Spoonful of Dark Chocolate Dream...

Cupcake from the Earth Day booth on campus...

Salad...

Greek Yogurt with Strawberries...

Amazing Grass smoothie...

Toast w/ Chocolate Dreams and Banana...

and now, I am finally full. I have a real plate of supper in the fridge, potatoes, turnips and roast beef. Smells awesome but frankly, I wasn't hungry so I didn't eat it. I think I had my share of yummy food today, lol. Wow.

Today was a "rest" day from ChaLean Extreme. Tomorrow I will be back on, and doing Circuit 3. I mixed them all up to try all of them this week and all out of order. I am really liking the workout and Chalene is growing on me. I'm going to give it a real effort starting Monday, or maybe even the weekend. I will follow the schedule, give it 100% and I bet you, I'll be seeing some MUSCLE! Yeeeah!

In case you're curious, here is the schedule I will be following for the first four weeks:

I will probably jumble it a bit, because I'm not crazy about having Tuesday and Sunday as rest days. I always have Friday as rest days, and knowing tomorrow is not a rest day is driving me crazy! Although, I am antsy and looking forward to a good workout...

Okay, this post is going on forever, but I have another announcement!

The foam roller has officially arrived in our house! YIPPEE! Or should I say Ouchie?? My gosh these things are painful. They are supposed to be a do-it-at-home equivalent of a deep tissue massage. Yes, I believe it. I wanted this mainly for the Hubby due to his leg injury. He finally agreed that it might help, and we went to get one today! I don't NEED it now that my knee is better, but I'm hoping perhaps this with some specific strengthening exercises will protect my knee from future injury and maybe let me start doing some small runs again. Totally worth $50. It's like a cylinder of torture.. hehe.

Night you!

to Eat or not to Meat

2010-04-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

6am rang, and I popped out of bed for my first day of ChaLEAN Extreme & Jillian Michaels experiment week. Um, no. I slept in... so I had to reschedule the workout for this evening.

Since I have tried a few of the ChaLEAN videos before, I'm mixing it up this week with the un-tried videos, such as Burn Intervals, Burn It Off, Jillian Michael's Boost Metabolism Burn Fat, Jillian Michael's No More Trouble Zones.

So far I prefer ChaLEAN Extreme for it's heavier lifting workouts, but I still prefer Jillian's narrative. We'll see how her non-30-day-shred videos are!

Tonight will be ChaLEAN Extreme - Burn Interval.

Well, good morning oats! I played things up this morning by eating my oats WITH my green monster ... at home! I was pretty hungry, but I will continue with the norm and eat the oats at work. I was pretty hungry by 10am and wished I had saved them. But... as you see, there are strawberries on top! That is probably why I couldn't resist... :)

The green monster looks legitimately like sludge... because of the spinach and frozen berries combo.

10am I opted for tangerine and some almonds... in the absence of a 10am overnight oats mix. The weather is a beautiful 23 degrees lately, so I ate it outside! Why didn't I photograph it outside? I dunno. Would've been prettier.

I did photograph my lunch outside! I settled into the dead grass on campus and ate some real yummy food. What you see here... is some black beans with dal and chopped green onions and rice. Some water and a tangerine.. and...

A strawberry, apple, spinach, asparagus and babybel cheese salad!! Can you believe it? Can I hear a whoop whoop? I deserves an exasperated sigh because now I wish I had it RIGHT NOW. I had some honey dijon dressing on it, which pulled it all together nicely. I would have preferred my homemade Agave Dijon Dressing, but I had to settle with the creamy version, not homemade.

Afternoon called for some indulgence. I'm forcing myself to photography my candy servings so I will feel more accountable. I'm doing wonderfully, and then these little balls of joy call to me from across the room. Hm. What you have here is some m&ms, sour easter jelly beans, marshmallow easter balls, and a butter filled Werthers.

I actually felt gross after eating it, and got a headache. Even if the 'sugar headaches' I get are just psychological, they are working at making me second guess eating candy. Good in my books. :)

I didn't quite pack enough food... and ended up finding some Cheerios in my cupboard. Mmm! These cute paper clips that Liz brought back from Vegas did a little dance around the heavenly snack that came to my rescue. Yes, she bought office supplies in Vegas and brought stuff back for me. She is THAT cool. :)

Supper ended up being a spontaneous but really cool creation! At least for Hubby's side of it. I took some left over Roast Beef and chopped it all up nice and fine, mixed in ketchup, bbq sauce and mustard and plopped it into some wraps. Then I sautéed some onions, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce, added some bullion to make the 'au jus'. Oh and of course there was a lot of cheese in those wraps. They got the seal of approval from the man. :)

My creation wasn't so impressive. It was actually a recipe from Hungry Girl to imitate the Southwestern Egg-rolls from Chili's. Those are seriously my favorite and I drool when I think about them. These didn't quite match up, but I'm sure I could have messed something up. I think I put too many beans in, and if I had backed off on the beans it would have tasted better. I also swapped ranch for dill in the dressing, and that may have caused some issues. Anyway, healthy!

Let's also show you a tragic failure from the weekend. I attempted to make homemade ketchup over the weekend... I pulled the recipe from Angela and I didn't have high hopes. You see, I love ketchup. With a passion. Ketchup and I have been more than friends my whole life. So I was sure nothing could quite compare, and it was true. This recipe carried WAY too much tomato paste flavor and I just couldn't handle it.

Notice, the failure ketchup is in the failure capers jar? hehe. I've been a bad blogger lately and forgot to announce my "throwing of the capers". I didn't even give them a real shot.... but I couldn't even comprehend eating them... The smell alone made me nauseous. But the jar was cute! Totally worth $2.

Enter, ChaLEAN Extreme! Tonight I did Burn Intervals, and oh... my... golly! This was way more intense then any of the interval training I did in the 30 Day Shred. It was so awesome. Really really hard, but awesome. I still don't enjoy her cheerleader chipper and her step aerobic type warm ups, but at least she does the same warm up for each video so you don't feel lost in the choreography.

I actually got dizzy and cross eyed about 30 minutes into the video and had to stop. Hubby proceeded to give me an "eat meat" lecture, because my vegetarian ventures have been worrying him. He is skeptical that I can maintain nutrients while cutting out meat. For now I've decided to stick to vegetarian lunches, and have meat in my suppers. That dizzy spell was bad, and when I look back today and yesterday I had no meat. I had tons of beans and other protein sources, but still didn't last through the video.

Don't worry - I persevered!! After about 5 minutes of deep breathing I got re-focused and finished the last 15 minutes of the video at full effort. :)

After that, I desreved an extra special smoothie. I made a protein smoothie with banana, fresh STRAWBERRIES! and almond milk. It was amazing. Mixing real strawberries with vanilla protein powder results in a really great strawberry taste. Similar to that of a Dairy Queen's Strawberry Cheesequake Blizzard. Oohh.!

I'm posting this one day late but changing my present/past tense grammar. hehe. My Dad's birthday is "tomorrow" and my mom's is on Saturday! We bought them a heart rate monitor to help them be sure they're being effective during their workouts. I'm excited to see them use it. A heart rate monitor totally changed my cardio workouts back when I was biking and even during my runs.

Happy Birthday, Parents! The best ones anyone could ask for. And they are MINE!

Day 30 of 30 Day Shred

2010-04-18T19:43:00.000-07:00

Day 30 of 30 Day Shred! Wooo!! Watch for a new workout plan soon... This week will be a bit mish mashed while I test out some new workouts.

Breakfast was Oats in a Jar! (linky-link to KERF)

1/4c 5 Grain Cereal

Granola

Strawberries

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

Jar's remainder of hazelnut butter

YUM!

After I ate my serving, Lily had a go at it. She tried so hard, but her little snout could only reach so far..

Once Lily gave up, it was Maddy's turn.

She picked it right up and carried it out the door to continue her attempts on the deck...

What was I thinking? Of course, she let it roll right off the deck. The jar broke and I had to run down to our down-stairs-neighbor's yard to clean up all the broken glass. lol

Time for some salad dressing creations!!

Today I made my own adjusted Cape Cod Dressing (Barefoot Contessa)

1tsp minced ginger

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp fresh squeezed orange juice

1/4 tsp orange zest

2 1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp maple syrup

1/4c rice vinegar

2/3c olive oil

1 pinch salt

1 pinch pepper

Turned out pretty good, but I'd opt for a little less vinegar... or maybe I should add some agave. We'll see tomorrow after the ingredients mesh some more.

As you can see, I treated myself to the remaining orange from the juice and zest making. :)

This morning I had a workout planned with my first-real-Alberta-friend. I made this friend when I worked at the women's gym from hell. We sold un-cancellable gym memberships to unsuspecting women. It was the ultimate cult-like experience, with the no-socialization among staff policy... Dispite our limitations we made friends anyway, hehe. :)

Before heading out to see her I had a banana. After it set on the floor for it's photograph.

We went to an off-leash river valley dog park and did some hardcore walk-talking. It was great! (hard-core being sarcastic, because we intended to work out and ...didn't)

At home I had some cottage cheese, banana, strawberry, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Then, I headed out to a super fun hart Bark Break! I planned this two hour session with a local dog trainer, Scarlett Luke, to allow hart volunteers, foster homes and adopters' dogs to have a play date. I brought my own dog, Maddy... and she was the worst behaved dog there! As "Volunteer Manager" that was kind of embarrassing, but hey, maybe this will show people their dog doesn't have to be perfect to attend. :)

It was SO fun and I totally enjoyed every minute of it. Listening to her talk about dog behavior and training was like bliss to me and the two hours felt like two minutes. I wish I could be a dog trainer. I haven't even got a handle on my little tyrant yet... lol.

At home, first came the cleaning up a puke ridden towel and walking the dogs. I was starving! I don't know what's going on with all these eggs, but I had eggs AGAIN tonight. I made a fried egg with ketchup and a salad. The salad contained spinach, cucumber, tomato, strawberry and babybel cheese. I used my Cape Cod Ginger Dressing, which yes, was a bit too vinegar-based for me. I'll adjust it and make it better eventually. :) I still think honey dijon is the best for strawberry salads.

(tomorrow I will have a salad which includes both strawberries AND apples... it's going to be epic!)

Still hungry 5 minutes after supper, I had half an apple and laughing cow cheese.

Looking back on this post, it's obvious why I was hungry all the time, I didn't have a real lunch OR supper! What...!

Sir-Suns-A-Lot, Bananas take the Cake.

2010-04-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

Did I mention yesterday was beautiful? Yesterday was beautiful. 23 degrees.
Today, even better, I was HOME to experience it!!

I woke up bushy tailed at 8am this morning. Not on my own accord, but I'm still glad I was up! My mom accidentally phoned me, and I woke up, got the dogs walked and all ready to phone her back. Then realized, oh, she's at work! lol.

I made use of my morning and headed over to get some groceries... (some of that stuff is for the un-healthy Hubby)

In that pile of awesome groceries is some frozen berries. I utilized them in a green monster, but I made the ultimate Green Monster mistake... I mixed in a strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and blackberry, icecubes, spinach, almond milk and took a big sip. YUCK.

I forgot the BANANA!!

Bananas take the cake.

There is no drinking a Green Monster without a banana in it. At least not for me. Apparently I would really hate juicing, huh?

Another gem in my groceries is this baby: Real Brew Vanilla Cream Soda.
OMGAH! If you see this in your grocery store, buy it. I wish I had also bought the Draft Root Beer flavour, because this is incredible. I personally have not drank pop in a really long time and don't even find Coke appealing anymore. This soda has a nice strong vanilla-bourbon taste and is quite sweet. I could only handle a couple swigs at time. Fine by me! Lasts longer that way. :)

I was thrilled when the Hubby answered "yes" to my "do you want a salad" question. I made him a really nice salad but loaded it with Ranch Dill dressing. Kinda breaks my heart to do that... but at least he's eating salad right?? I even snuck some swiss chard leafs in there. hehe.

Mine was even better...
spinach
swiss chard leafs (too much roughage in a salad... I dunno!)
swiss chard stem
dark dried figs
cucumber
tomato
babybel cheese
Johnny's Jamaican Mistake dressing

Hubba Hubba...

For about an hour, I attempted to "bronze" my pale white legs and drank some lime water.
I also read some of Thrive by Brendan Brazier. So good so far! I'm excited to keep reading it and even more excited that there are a few more of his books on hold for me at the library. :)

Um... eggs again. :) I had a veggie-egg omelet for supper with ketchup. Hubby had it made into a wrap with sour cream and salsa and cheese. Don't think he will want the salsa on there next time. I can't pass up ketchup... my favourite!

housework, housework, and more housework... and TWO trips for groceries, I would like to just eat a whole chocolate bar right now. Since I have set myself up for SUCCESS, there is no chocolate in my cupboards. :) I had to resort to trying to create my own treat. And, I failed.

First I tried to mix cottage cheese, cocoa, agave nectar into a thick pudding to match with strawberries. It did NOT turn out and I forgot to photograph it.

Next I mixed 1/4 banana, cocoa and agave to top cottage cheese, strawberries and almonds. That was less than satisfactory... here's my little sample taste:

Instead, I put this mixture into a bowl:

cottage cheese
chopped strawberries
chopped almonds
squirt of agave nectar
sprinkles of cinnamon and nutmeg.

SO GOOD.
Although, cottage cheese seems to carry a bit of a "chalky" taste I don't really like.

I'm still tempted to have a hot chocolate, but it's already 10pm and I will be going to bed in a few... nightie night!!! :)

TGIF-riday

2010-04-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

This was one of those Fridays were I was just soooo thankful it was the weekend. I was more than ready to leave the office behind and break into home life with the Hubby and Doggies.

It started out pretty good though! Fridays are my rest days, so no workout this morning. Instead... some good old fashioned cartoons!! We discovered recently that we have Teletoon Retro included in our TV bundle, but just never noticed it. So exciting... for a few minutes.

And a green monster... which just didn't taste right. I screwed something up, I guess.

I had forgotten to make my overnight oats last night, and when the Hubby came in to tuck me in he offered to do it for me. So cute. :) I explained to him the simple steps of putting 1/4c oats with 1/4 almond milk in a container. As long as the milk covers all the oats, it's correct.

Well, I don't know what he did wrong, but they were watery/goopy when I went to heat them up, LOL! I told him he did fine, but really, I didn't eat them.

I opted for a tangerine and a piece of toast with almond butter. Again, the toast didn't taste right, so I didn't finish that EITHER. What is wrong with me this morning???
(I realize I'm messing up my past and present tenses, I'm too tired to keep track... hehe)

Lunch times, my appetite turned up. :) Back to the sustainable, reliable, lunch!

Dal with Ancient Grain rice
Salad with... spinach, apples, tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms, babybel cheese, Agave Dijon Dressing (homemade!) and a tangerine. :)

Around 3pm I remembered that the steam cleaners are coming this weekend... so I had to lift everything off the floor. I didn't realize just how much I had hidden under my desk until....

As if on cue, new-work-friend Nancy came by to infect me with her amazing carmel candies. She premised the candies with "I've been reading your blog, and you're so healthy! But I know you like candy..." LOL
Thanks, give me a baggie full of sugar. They are seriously awesome candies though... I ate 3 at work and left the baggie at my desk so I couldn't indulge over the weekend. I have to save one for Liz to try when she returns from Vegas on Monday (which I've been counting down to all week.... !)

From work the Hubby and I whirled over to the mall to buy a replacement iPhone for the iPhone I dropped in the toilet (I know...). Don't get excited for me, I'm actually selling it. It's taking a hellava lot of restraint not to just pop my sim card in there and start using it. But I can make a profit from selling the phone, and I've got credit cards eye-balling me.

Unfortunately, the guy who planned on purchasing it didn't show. According to his voicemail message he was likely out "doing a lawn". Apparently he mows lawns for a living. In Canada... where we only have grass half of the year...
and I thought I have silly career ideas. :)

Enter: Fried Egg Sandwich!!!! I had other plans for tonight, as per my google calendar meal plan. But the Hubby had a different idea and it was much easier, so I said yes.

I fried up some eggs and made him a simple mayo, egg and cheese sammy. Mine, however, was a bit more creative.

Here we have two pieces of Silver Hills Squirrely bread with mushed avocado, laughing cow cheese, dijon mustard and shallots.

An egg, and the secret sauce... JAM! Jam is an egg-sandwich addition my Dad coined (at least in our family). I never enjoyed this combo until I was older, maybe it's an aquired taste, like wine (still don't enjoy that one). I highly recommend it, it's sooooo good!!! I used my favourite, Europe Superfruit Spread.

Kept me full for the whole evening! Good thing too, because I spent the whole evening cleaning the house and finding evidence of having two dogs and two cats. I love them, but oh, so, much hair.