Snicker Snack

Thursday morning.  Coffee and the most original breakfast ever.   Actually, it seems I’ve inspired a whole bunch of you to pick up some Squirrelly Bread and get on board the PB & banana train. 

After walking the pupper around the park and back I started rummaging around the fridge for lunch.  Turns out I had just enough of everything to make one last salad before the weekend.

Getting Greek-ish in the big silver bowl: red leaf lettuce, tomatoes, yellow pepper, light feta, kalamata olives, EVOO and some seasoning.

Keeping with the theme I baked off a couple of frozen spanakopita and dipped it all in tzatziki.

Perrier time!  (Funny: I brought the remainder of this bottle to Michael’s.  It was sitting on the shelf beside the hot tub when a gust of wind blew it right into the tub.  Boooo.)

Afternoon snackypoo.  Bigass, juicy BC cherries.

Even though I had no idea what dinner would be all about I still maintained my list.  It still helps me to pay attention to what I’m stuffing in my face.

Due to after work errands and weekend packing I was absolutely starving and knew dinner was still an hour or two away so I grabbed this Almond Snickers and enjoyed every bite!

In order to facilitate heading out of town easier on the Friday before the long weekend I opted to stay at Michael’s and work from my laptop this morning.  (He lives out of downtown, which can save an hour in traffic on a busy day.)

Dinner was a reheat of a dinner his sister made for the family earlier in the week.  Chicken cacciatore, spaghetti and carrots.  Nothing like a heat and ignore meal!

We popped it in the oven, took the dog’s to the park, had a soak in the hot tub, then came in to enjoy dinner in our jammies.    I ended up giving Michael one of my pieces of chicken so I wouldn’t be too full for dessert.

Because we all know I’m not turning down homemade pie and ice cream!

Cherries picked from right out in the yard.  Rainier cherries actually.  Pie made by one of Michael’s coworkers.  Holy yum.

OK, I’ve been slacking all morning here working with my laptop and dogs on the comfy couch.  Time to get it together and get on the road.  Next stop: Mom’s house.

Spicy Sleep

Note to self (and anyone that makes the delicious Tom Yum Soup):  Don’t eat it an hour before bed.

I absolutely could not sleep last night even though I was beyond exhausted.  And it wasn’t my usual pain in the temporal lobe insomnia.  It was spicy-food-in-my-belly-awakedness.  Lesson learned.

It was sometime after 4:15am when I last glared at my clock so you can imagine just how excited I was to get out of bed at 8:45am. I may have hugged my coffee cup after dragging my flannel clad butt through the kitchen over to my desk.

Not surprisingly, the coffee pretty much made me feel worse.  I knew I needed to get some vitamins and nutrients in my body if I was going to make it through the day.

Enter the green smoothie.  Er, um, purple smoothie in this case.  Of all the days to be out of spinach! 

In the Kitchen Aid today:  frozen blueberries, frozen pineapple, fresh banana, Amazing Grass Superfood, flax, hemp, UVAB.  With extra hempy goodness on top for texture.

My body must have started absorbing the healthy love right away because I felt a zillion times better by the time I got to the bottom of that glass.

Couldn’t pass up the morning carbs though…especially with a brand new loaf of my favourite Squirrelly bread…

…and a brand new jar of more Trader Joe’s love in the form of Sunflower Seed Butter.  I’ve been holding out opening this because I don’t like having too many open jars in my cupboard at one time.

Creamy and delicious…just as expected.

A while later while waiting for lunch to reheat I couldn’t resist a flattened banana.

And of course lunch had to be leftover Tom Yum Soup…which was pretty much just as tasty as last night’s bowl(s).  Especially with the addition of more fresh cilantro and a fresh squeeze of lime.

Hopefully I ate that early enough that it doesn’t keep me awake tonight!

Dinner was a race through the kitchen while I got ready for my new weekly night class.  I slammed together two small tortillas with grated mozza and a big scoop of salsa, heated in the oven until melty, then rolled up and shovelled them into my piehole. :)

Tonight marked the first session of a 10-class Introductory Photography class I am taking with my friend Charmaine at Camosun College. 

Tonight was just a lot of getting to know the instructor, tutorials on how cameras actually work, and outlines of what we will be learning over the next couple of months.  So far so good!  I will document more about the class over at Such a Rebel if you are at all interested in hearing what I learn (or more likely…what I remember!).

I did snack on a piece of Clif Bar during the break in class, but I will have to meal plan better for Tuesdays from now on because I was pretty hungry by the time we finished.

Settled my rumbling tummy with a pear and wedge of mozzarella.  Hopefully that keeps the hunger monster at bay so I can sleep sometime before 4am tonight.

And on that note….pj time!

What I Ate

OK, so after more than a week of straying from my usual “what I ate” blogging style I am back!  Keeping a photo log of my daily eats really does help keep things on track.  Can’t have a lot of balance if all that’s being documented is the carby goodness! Sharing only decadent ooey gooey recipes with you isn’t showing the whole picture!

After a free-for-all, eat-it-all weekend it was time to get back to normal.

Coffeeeee…

A new to me Silver Hills bread…Marvelous Multi.

Chewy sprouted grain deliciousness with crunchy PB and Supercrack.

BC grown nectarine.  I’ve been loving the pitted fruits lately (even if I do have to ripen them up for a day or two in a brown bag!).

Cheesy Pasta leftover goodness for lunch.  Reheated in the oven…giving it a crispy cheesy crust.  Oh my lordy!

PB & J Larabar to tide me over through Group Training.  It’s been a long time since I had a PB & J!

Tonight was our final group training session. After discussing how we all had sore calves for three days after those stairs we tackled upper body and abs.  I suspect my core will hate me tomorrow.  Hurts so good, right?

This pear has been hanging out in the produce drawer for about a week now.  Before it grows legs I decided to put it to use in a way-fun salad!

What goes with a pear?  Cheeeeese!  But this time I opted for stinky cheese. Gorgonzola to be exact.

Originally planned to be mixed with arugula but sadly the unopened package went bad over the long weekend.  Bummer.  A quick trip to the store brought me home with a red leaf lettuce instead.  Mixed with snipped green onions and one of my favourite greens…sunflower sprouts!

Tossed with simple Honey Balsamic Dressing:

• 1 part balsamic vinegar
• 1 part honey
• sprinkle coarse salt
• sprinkle ground pepper
• 2-3 parts olive oil

All together now!  Pear and Gorgonzola Salad.

Sprinkled with pecans…

The grand struggle is still the evening snacking.  I’m trying to wait as long as possible for dessert… dates stuffed with light Laughing Cow cheese…

But since I’m up quite late watching Friday Night Lights marathons I go for midnight cereal snacks too.  Kashi is my bedtime friend.

Day in the Life

Today felt much more like a normal day in the life of Jaime.  My apartment still looks like a cyclone went through it but thanks to a few good comments and some discussions with my Mom and friends I’ve decided to just let it go.  It will be done when it’s bloody well done.  :)

What do I normally do when I get up?  (Besides shuffling bleary eyed to the potty…).  I drink coffee.  In this lovely smartass mug from my mother…

Sweet right?  Riiiiight.  But see this heart…well, it’s one of those dealios where when you add a hot beverage words appear…

Mhmmmmm.  Some gift, eh!?  haha, thanks Mom!

After sufficient caffeination it’s time for breaky.  Blueberries, strawberries, organic vanilla yogurt…sprinkled with hemp hearts…

After a litre of water and working for the morning it’s time to make lunch!  A Squirrelly sammich!

Toasted Squirrelly bread, crack hummus, fat-free roast turkey, local yellow tomatoes, and baby spinach…

Served with pickles.  Oh it’s nice to have options in the fridge again!

What have I not done for a month that I did today?

… wait for it …

I went to the gym!!  That’s right.  I worked solidly through the afternoon and at 4:30 I got my gear on, hopped in my car and headed over to see what the Goodlife here in Victoria was all about.

I’ll save my review of the gym for later in the week after I’ve had a few visits but I will say I’m not completely sold on it yet. 

Since it has been a while since I’ve worked out, and since I have no idea what is causing my glute/hip/leg pain I decided just to do an easy cardio day and upper body strength training.

Treadmill:  20 minutes incline power walk

Strength:  3 x 12

• overhead press
• tricep dips
• lateral raises
• hammer curls
• overhead tricep lift
• bicep curls (with barbell)

I had to drop to less weight than usual but hopefully it will only take me a week or two to get back up to where I was. 

Finished with 3 x 30 second planks mixed with 3 sets of easy crunches and lots of stretching.  My glute didn’t bother me too much until I got to the floor work.  I’m honestly really starting to think it’s actually stemming from my hip joint. 

After the gym I came straight home for a snack and a shower.  Lynn mentioned dates on her blog the other day so I was on the lookout for them when I shopped.  She stuffs hers with cream cheese…I stuff mine with peanut butter. 

Dinner was supposed to be a yummy White Bean & Chicken Salad I found in a magazine, but even though I took the chicken out of the freezer yesterday…it was still frozen!  So, tune in tomorrow for that one.

Instead I made a simple Shrimpy Salad on Wasa crackers…and didn’t miss that salad at all.  I love me some fresh West Coast shrimp!

With celery, green onion, olive oil mayo, dijon and s&p.  Normally I would add dill but I haven’t fully restocked my spice rack yet.

With veggie sticks to fill the salad void.

The rest of my evening was spent doing my first load of apartment building laundry (yes I gave up in suite laundry…but I shall survive…we have a very nice and properly priced laundry room here), talking on the phone, and finishing off my effing desk.

Seriously people.  They apparently expect She-Ra or He-Man to be assembling this freaking thing.  Because it’s MDF it weighs a zillion pounds, and there were literally like 75 pieces.  I know it doesn’t look it but geeeeesh.  I deserve a Girl Scout patch or something!

See…even the manufacturers knew that it wasn’t really easy to assemble…

See that winky face?!!  Someone there thinks they are VERY funny.  Rotten buggers. 

Anyway…it’s done!  Tomorrow I can set up my desktop computer and will have a real little office space to call my own.

While I worked at it I snacked on the last of my local cherries.  Must.get.more. 

Now it’s off to bed to catch up on True Blood…and maybe Entourage if I’m still awake.  I just realized last night that it had started up again while I was travelling so I have a few episodes to watch. Yay!

Now THAT is what a day in the life of Jaime should be like.