Special Find

Day One back in da kitchen.  Yaaaieeeeeee!!!

I broke one of my rules by sleeping in today but I’m letting myself off the hook since I’m trying to kick jetlag and I was legitimately exhausted.  Besides, tomorrow I have to work anyway so getting up with the alarm will be mandatory.

Because of that, I didn’t need breakfast…it was lunch time…but I’ve been thinking of a green smoothie for a week, so I made one anyway.

I just wish I had a ripe or overripe frozen banana.  Instead I had to use fresh pineapple as my sweet fruit.

In the Kitchen Aid today:  ice, pineapple, wicked good fresh farmer’s market spinach, 1/2 scoop original Amazing Meal, 2 tsp flax meal, coconut, 1 cup vanilla soy milk.

Followed with a toasted piece of that fresh oatmeal molasses bread I bought yesterday, with peanut butter and Supahcrack.  Considering I don’t even love jam, I missed that Crofters.

For dinner, I really put some thought into making something healthy and a little different than the norm.  Yesterday I bought some beautiful scallops and decided I want to grill them up…kabob style!!

Marinated the scallops simply with olive oil, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper…

Fresh veggies marinated separately with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and Greek seasoning…

Zucchini, cremini mushrooms, yellow pepper, onion.

I had intended to grill these up on the BBQ but it was soooooo windy tonight that I couldn’t get it to heat up hot enough.  And this is exactly why I love my Cuisinart Griddler.  Kabobs rescued!

Served with basmati rice spiked with a squeeze of fresh orange and tossed with the last drizzle of veggie marinade.

And something super special I found at the Farmer’s Market…kale buds!!  This amazing tender veggie required no fancy cooking or topping.  Simply steaming it brought out a deeeeeelish natural sweetness. 

So good!!  I love special finds at the market!!

Side story:  oddly enough I had never heard of kale buds, but just last weekend when Ingmarie and Alex gave me a ride to my Mom’s we stopped at a farm stand and found one last bundle of buds there.  Ingmarie bought them to see what they were all about…so when I found these here yesterday I just had to get them!

And now it’s time to see who takes home the win on Survivor.  During which I will sip yummy dessert tea…

And hug Mr. Stoopy…who really hasn’t left my side since I got home yesterday.  :)

meow.

Brewery Market

So after one last vacation cheeseburger with Tiffaney at the airport, and maybe some peanut butter M&M’s for an airplane snack…I landed in Halifax on the right healthy foot.

Since my flight arrived at 7am, Cosette and I went for a quick breakfast and then hit up the huge Farmer’s Market at the Keith’s Brewery.  I mean, after 7 hours of travel with 1 hour of sleep…what better way to start a Saturday?  :)

I had $20 in my pocket and decided to just see what fun stuff I could get…

On my list:  carrots, tender leafy spinach, baby mixed greens.

Fun finds:  fiddleheads!  kale buds!!  striped radishes!

And oatmeal molasses bread from Julien’s Bakery. 

After a hot shower and a long nap (including a major cuddle with my poor kitty that seemingly thought I wasn’t coming back!) I finished filling the fridge and pantry with fresh, healthy groceries.

 

I think that’s my favourite part of coming home. Restocking the groceries.  Nom!

Also exciting was making a yummy, healthy dinner.  It’s always nice to eat out and take a break from “having” to cook but I was happy to be back in my kitchen.

Simple BBQ’d Salmon on a Bigass Salad:

Small salmon filet, dressed with a simple marinade of: olive oil, grainy dijon mustard, drizzle of real maple syrup, dill, salt & pepper

Cooked in a loose foil tent on a med-hot BBQ grill for about 15 minutes. 

Served over a fresh and delicious salad…dressed lightly with the same marinade. 

I’m back, baby!  :)

OK, now 2010 can start!

OK, a little fumble to start of the fresh week/year.  Sorta slept through my alarm!  Actually, I predicted this last night…but was hoping that since I said it out loud it wouldn’t happen.  But it did.  I woke up about 25 minutes after it went off.  Ooooops.  So the big plan for hitting the gym before work = FAIL.

I did grab my coffee and sit at my desk for exactly 9am though, so that’s something.  In addition to healthy goals, I’m putting some work related items into play as well.  The main one being to be seated at my desk on time.  No more slacking in the morning and working late!

Now don’t go thinking that I abandoned my first workout of the New Year just because of some silly sleeping.  I tackled the major items in my Inbox and got my first few tasks of the day out of the way, and then headed off to the gym for the lunch hour.

Before I went I ate this little 100 calorie Raw Rev bar that came from Elizabeth in her care package…

Thankfully it was not toooo crazy busy at the gym with noontime resolutioners!  (Although I did get the last treadmill…phew!)

I had planned an easy 2km run…but forgot to check how many miles that was, so guesstimated and ended up running 2.86km.  Not near as difficult as I thought.  Including walking warm up, cool down, and one break I did this in 25 minutes.

Followed up with lower body strength exercises of various squats and lunges, and some core work of mainly twists and planks.

It seemed relatively easy at the time, but admittedly I’m pretty pooped now!  But so glad I did it.  I missed the sweat.

Due to the scheduling change, I delayed my breakfast until after my workout so I was famished!  Came home and cracked open a brand new bag of Scottish Oats.  The other Jamie made these while I was staying with her, and they were super creamy and delicious so I wanted to try them out here at home.

They did not disappoint!  I like the smaller, coarser texture of the ground oats.  Once cooked they are quite creamy and the granules have a bit of a chew to them.  I described them similar to quinoa.

Simply cooked with water and a few raisins and then topped with a smidge of dark brown sugar and a splash of unsweetened Almond Breeze.

Yum!

Chopped up a couple of kiwis on the side…

Time is ticking along.  Must reign this day back in!!

Mindful Month Ahead!

Another new month, another fresh start!  With Christmas and year end fast approaching, I’ve started noticing a lot of goal setting, project planning, and organizing going on around the blogosphere.  I am soooo harnessing some of that positive energy and putting it to use for myself!

In this post I hinted at something I referred to as Project Energize.  At the time I had just made that up, but after thinking about it I’m going to stick with it.  Energize covers a wide array of things…it can mean whatever you want it to mean.  I’m going to use it to cover general well-being and overall personal health…

• fitness: set and meet realistic workout goals
• diet: mindful meal planning and eating
• work: regain focus and commitment
• home: create comfort
• relationship: live, love, learn
• finances: stress-free budgeting
• health: treat body with the respect it deserves

Obviously these little notes might seem slightly vague out of context, but like I said this can mean whatever YOU want it to mean.  These are the goals that will hopefully work for ME.  Throughout the next couple of weeks I will work on more detailed descriptions to help keep me on the right path.

What are your November goals?  Are you looking to focus on something specific?  Or tackling your overall lifestyle?

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Yesterday got the month off to a great start, so I decided to make sure to keep on going by writing my to-do list and meal plan last night.  Planning is key to my success.

Fresh half-caf brewed and waiting for me upon wake-up (which was ON TIME this morning!)…

Wheat toast with natural PB & sliced banana…

(FYI:  that trick about keeping your natural PB upsidedown in the fridge totally works!)

A healthy shot of antioxidant superpower…POM original…with club soda…

Post-run hit of natural goodness…Amazing Grass Green Superfood mixed with vanilla Almond Breeze… yummy!!

**ENERGIZE!!**

The One with the “Horse”

Did you notice?  I totally forgot to do a Friends-style title on my evening post last night.  I was too busy sulking about being alone again!!  waaaaahhhhhhh. :(

Day One – Back on the Horse – SUCCESS!  (not that I’ve ever actually been on the horse, but it seems a good title for my current plan…lol)

Coffeeeeee with egg noggy goodness…

Breakfast: Applesauce Oats

In the pot: 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup oats, Mott’s unsweetened apple sauce cup, cinnamon, a few raisins & a handful of Honeycrisp apple chunks.

Topped with a little leftover apple sauce, apple chunks, and a sprinkle of brown sugar.

Lunch:  Bejewelled salad!  and turkey & cheese quesadilla!

Salad: mixed baby lettuces, sliced beet, pomegranate bits, honey, EVOO and s&p.

Quesadilla:  lean deli turkey & dill havarti on a small ancient grains tortilla…melty and smooooshed together.  Yum!

Afternoon pick me up: skim milk and a couple of Love Cookies

Post-gym snackeroo:  hummus with last baguette slice and FSTG chips (turns out I like these chips with hummus, just not with salsa!)

Din-Din:  roasted zucchini & carrots with maple BBQ salmon

Zucchini and carrots simply tossed with EVOO, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

I love healthy comfort food!  Deeeeeelish.

Gym:  check!

Ran 2 miles on the treadmill in about 22 minutes.  This included 3 minute walking warm-up and 2 minute cool down.  Ran 4:1 intervals.  I have to ask Amy if we are supposed to be running the full 5km, or just 20 minutes?    The gym was INSANELY busy tonight so I couldn’t have kept my treadmill any longer anyway…stupid time constraints!

Also added some moves to make my legs like jello…

• squats, plie squats, one-legged squats, lunges, reverse lunges, wall sit
• crunches, reverse crunches, bicycle crunches, planks, back extensions

Much stretching ensued. Then my stupid ice pack had to make an appearance for my stupid neck pain.  Stupid. 

Now I think it’s tea time. Wow, 10:00 and I’m all done everything for the evening.  Crazy talk.  Whatever shall I do with myself?

Maybe actually go to bed early!  bwahahahahaha :)