B.L.T. Quinoa Salad

Even stale coffee tastes deeeelish in a cute mug. Yellow makes me smile.

I don’t know how it happened but my fruit bowl is entirely empty.  And I’m unwilling to bust into the frozen blueberries just yet so my waffle found itself paired with a flattened banana today.

And since I was apparently having fun taking pictures of things I was holding this morning, here’s the boiled egg I ate before heading to the gym.

I heard a dirty rumour that today (or possibly Sept-6th…apparently it’s up in the air) is the last day of $1 drinks from McD’s so clearly I had to stop for an iced coffee to mark the occasion.

And paired it with a granola bar because I waited way too late to go the gym and my stomach was screaming for lunch…which I just COULD NOT wait the 5 minutes for.

Awwww yeah.  Fresh veggies!  And another hard boiled egg.  It’s a good thing I live alone.  ;)

My little patio herb planters are chock full of fresh green herby goodness now so I decided to pick a bunch last night and turned it into an easy peasy dip.  Fresh basil for the win!

Fresh Herby Dip:  mix together…

• 3/4 cup light sour cream
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (I used parsley, basil and chives)
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• juice of half a lemon
• salt & pepper, sprinkle of paprika

I was a bit too heavy handed on the garlic in my batch but overnight the flavours came together quite well.  The lemon really works with the fresh herbs.

Check this dinner out. Genius I tell you. What do you do with a random pack of bacon, a recently unearthed bag of quinoa, and a bounty of cherry tomatoes from your very own patio planter?

Well B.L.T. Quinoa Salad of course!  And just like I’d put on the sandwich, the dressing involves mayo and Dijon.

Ingredients (two servings):

• 1/2 cup quinoa, cooked in 3/4 water, room temperature
• 4 slices bacon, cooked crispy, crumbled
• 12-14 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup shredded lettuce
• optional:  fresh herbs (chives and parsley)

For dressing:

• 1.5 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a large bowl.  Taste and adjust seasoning if desired.
2. Simply add the quinoa, bacon, tomatoes, and herbs to the dressing bowl.  Toss, add the lettuce, toss again.  Serve.

I enjoyed the first bowl so much that I actually went back and hoovered down the second serving I was planning to save for tomorrow’s lunch. Oooops.

This evening I met up with the other Jamie for our traditional coffee date.  I heard a rumour that the new Starbucks finally opened at Uptown and they were giving away free food and drinks in exchange for donations to our local food bank.

Nothing wrong with a Decaf Americano Misto in exchange for a few bucks to The Mustard Seed!

Of course, we also took this opportunity to pop into Cupcakes since it is conveniently located right next door to the new Starbucks.  I hadn’t been there yet and even though I was up to my eyeballs in quinoa salad I couldn’t resist the cupcakey goodness.

Red Velvet.  Sorry local cupcakeries, this mainland chain still wins in the cream cheese frosting department.  So deeeelicious. 

I kind of want to go back for a six pack of day-olds to bring camping this weekend.  What?  It’s RV camping.  There’s internet access.  Cupcakes would be perfectly acceptable.  Honest.

Active Release

Lookie here!  Dog walking coffee.  Something about this cute ceramic mug is so much more appealing that a regular travel mug.  Thanks Janna!

Waffle love.  One waffle, double almond butter, double raspberries.

My produce all survived the weekend!  Survival salad!

In the big silver bowl:  red leaf lettuce, radishes, cucumber, celery, green onion, tomatoes, Honey Poppyseed Dressing, dried cranberries, pecans, and mixed seeds.

The salad was lacking protein which gave me the excuse to eat yet another Larabar this afternoon.  Half before meeting my new chiropractor and half when I got home.  What I really should have done was allowed myself a gigantor chocolate chip cookie because after the torture she put me through I deserved a real treat!

Since massage and physio didn’t really fix me I have decided to give ART a go.  Also known as physical torture.  In just ten minutes I now know what a pounded piece of meat feels like.  My ice pack is my best friend.

Dinner was a total overcooked fail.  Those green beans really have seen better days and the extra steaming they took didn’t help.

I picked up this salmon pinwheel from the grocery store.  I opted for the spinach and artichoke version over the cream cheese and shrimp, but I didn’t enjoy this at all.  Boooo.  It doesn’t help that I dried it out by cooking it way too long.

Clearly my cooking mojo felt beaten up today.

For dessert I tried to make banana soft serve but it tasted off.  Like a freezer burnt banana.  Hmmm….I wonder why!  Sadface.

So I tossed it and broke into my emergency flattened banana and smeared a piece with almond butter.  Thank goodness Jessica brought me this Trader Joe’s loveliness on her last trip to Portland.

I don’t know what I would have done without it.  A girl who has endured torture and a bad dinner cannot go to bed without her dessert!

Missing Pieces

Well it’s a good thing I happened to notice the gorgeous and take pictures tonight because apparently I totally failed as a food blogger today.  Mondays are sooooo hard.  Waaaah.

Before leaving Michael’s this morning he filled me up with leftover breakfast burrito.  My body was in shock at the concept of food at 7:30am…my eyes were barely open let alone ready to tackle photos.

On the drive home I grabbed a triple grande non-fat vanilla latte with the last of my Starbies gift card.

For second breakfast I busted into the fresh raspberries I forgot in my fridge over the weekend.  Thankfully they were no worse for wear and my yogurt was still good too.

Instead of lunch I munched a Carrot Cake Larabar before heading to the gym.  Quite delicious but I don’t think I would guess the flavour if I didn’t know what it was. 

After the gym I munched on toast with almond butter and another handful of raspberries but I guess my body was still confused by the workout and didn’t tell my brain to grab a camera.

Dinner was a total cop out.  After work I zoned out with my laptop and this weekend’s episodes of True Blood, Entourage and Project Runway.  I had no desire to cook, so while I ran to the grocery store for milk I picked up the most unhealthy deli salad I could find.

Three cheers for mayo, pasta, cheese and ham.  Yum.

The sunset provided the perfect backdrop for chocolate covered almonds, pyjama pants, and Crazytown (also known in your TV Guide as Bachelor Pad).

Happy Monday kids!

Bits of Weekend

Right behind Michael’s house is this lovely green space…perfect for doggie walking (and Saturday morning coffee sipping).

Saturday brunch: egg puff/omelette with corn and ham. Oddly delicious combo.

Impromptu family BBQ.  Perfect excuse for leftover fancy cheeses and such.

Super sunny day.  Breaking in my Greece travelin’ hat and cuddlin’ my pupper.

Hot day quencher.

Rumblin’ tummy filler.

Smart aleck family cheeseballs.  :)

Super late Sunday brunch a la Kitty’s.  Oatmeal appetizer.

2-2-2-2…apparently the kitchen can’t count French Toast.  Win!

Massive breakfast burrito.  This doubled as Monday breakfast as well.

Brunch companions.

Clearly when your Harley’s gear shifter thingamajig goes kaplooey on the drive home you use your girlfriend’s hair elastic to fix it.  Apparently he was a boy scout in a previous life.

After a rough afternoon of sunbathing, book reading, and dog petting a comfort food dinner seemed the way to go.

Salad by her.  Stroganoff by him.

Bye bye weekend, we’ll miss you.

Love from Austin

What a lovely way to start my weekend.  On Friday I popped over to the post office to pick up a package I had missed delivery of.  I just knew it was a much anticipated package from Janna!

Lookie here…another Starbucks City Mug for my ever expanding collection!  (My cupboard is totally overflowing!!)

She also tracked down the Carrot Cake Larabars for me because apparently new flavours take a bazillion years to come to Canada.  (If anyone has the elusive Blueberry Pie Larabars, pleeeeeeaze hook a girl up!)

Literary Love!  I had been tweeting my little heart out about how I cannot get The Help for my Kindle (yet another weird Canadian phenom) and the library waiting list is like six years long.  So instead of trotting out to buy the paperback Janna sent me her copy (which I will then pass along when I’m done) and also Little Bee because she’s certain I will love it.  :)

I’m already on chapter 6 of The Help…loving it…and will probably plow through the entire book this week.

As if that wasn’t enough already she also threw in this totally adorable ceramic travel mug from World Market.  I already sipped my Saturday morning coffee from it while walking the dogs with Michael.  In fact, it’s so cheery maybe I’ll make it my permanent dog walking mug.  :)

Thanks Janna girl!!  Love everything.  You are a sweetheart.  xox