Mixed Bag

First, a giant shout out and sincere *C*O*N*G*R*A*T*U*L*A*T*I*O*N*S* to my lovely, fit, fabulous blog friend Jess!  Many of you probably know she has literally been working her azz off this past year to audition for the next Booty Camp Fit DVD and today she found out she got the spot!  If you don’t follow her blog or YouTube channel, you should!  She is cute, funny, inspirational and supportive.  Yay Jess!!!

Congratulations Comments

** Have I ever told you guys about #Pouteam?  Yep, that is what you think it is.  A Poutine Team.  Formed on Twitter.  How very Canadian of us, eh?  I joined a little late, but I have now been on three poutine eating adventures with this group of Victorians and look forward to eventually tasting all of the poutine Victoria has to offer.

Today:  Ferris’ Grill for Pulled Pork Poutine with slow roasted pork shoulder, cheese curds, and rosemary whiskey gravy over their Chicago-style fries.  That is some delicious gravy.

Previously:  Sizzling Tandoor for Butter Chicken Poutine.  So amazing.  Yes, Butter Chicken and cheese curds do indeed go together.

Also: Lady Marmalade for Good Morning Poutine.  Breakfast hash browns with white cheddar and three choices of ‘gravy’.  My word.

Please note that some Victoria restaurants serve poutine in bowls the size of a baby bear’s head.  In those cases I have enlisted my friend Ingmarie to share the carbfest as well as a side salad.  Balance is the word. Word.

** Another #CanadianBloggerSeries post is up over on Heidi’s blog.  This week’s Canadian pride comes from Axel the Iron Rogue and he tells us about living healthy in the suburbs.  All of these patriotic posts make me want to do another cross-country road trip!

** No big Easter dinner for me this year (not all that unusual really) but we will be attending a family brunch and Easter Egg hunt with Michael’s family.  I offered to bake something and can’t decide between going with a basic tried and true favourite, or guinnea pigging the fam on some new real Easter creation.

[Pinterest]

Italian Easter Bread anyone?  What’s your go-to Easter baking favourite?

Back to It

Shortly after we last met I laced up my shoes and headed outside for a quick jog.  I was pressed for time so decided to make the most of my time by…um…running a hill.  Ouch.  There is a shortish paved path that connects my street with the street above…I ran up and down it five times.  Only took about 11 minutes…I walked twice…and thought my lungs were going to burn out of my chest.  Sure doesn’t take much to drive my heart rate through the roof!

When I got back to the house I popped in my Booty Camp DVD and did the Booty Booster routine.  Owwwwwwieeeee!  I would have thought all of the yoga I have been doing lately would have helped maintain my stamina with these workouts, but apparently I’ve been neglecting my buns! 

Snacked on the above pictured Wasa with PB & banana to hold me over until dinner.

For dinner I wanted to BBQ a tiny little feast for my houseguest, so I grilled up a couple of extra lean herbed turkey sausages…

I had intended to grill the potatoes in a foil pack on the BBQ but realized I was out of tin foil!  So instead I steamed the bite sized yellow potato pieces, then dried them in a kitchen towel.  Tossed with a drizzle of EVOO, paprika, salt & pepper, minced garlic and a small chopped onion…then roasted in a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes (tossing part way through).

 

Crispy and deeeelish.  Probably better than if I’d done the foil pack!

With a side of spinach salad…including baby cukes, Roma tomatoes, carrots, and yellow peppers…

Served at the actual dinner table!

Dessert was a serving of Nanaimo Bar Fro-Yo jazzed up with a couple of smashed up Eggies.  I figured if I got in a planned dessert I’d be less likely to want to drag a bowl of those Eggies to bed with me tonight.  :)

Fun moment of the day:  Waving at Lex from my deck while she and Dave had their new house inspected.  They are buying the house directly behind mine!  Sadly, I’ll be gone by the time they move in…but it was still cool to see them there!!  :)

PS:  I want Cheetos. 

Bring the Crazy

I don’t know what possessed me but I am watching the season premiere of ANTM.  This show is one of the worst things on TV.  Train Wreck.  I really shouldn’t be left in charge of the remote.

Before I lost my mind, there was the rest of the day.

Coffee…

I finally thawed out the loaf of Silver Hills Squirrelly Bread that I carried home all the way from BC at Christmas.  I love this bread!  And for some unknown reason I can’t buy it here.

(um, although I just looked at the website and apparently PO carries it here.  I’ve looked before.  I guess I better look again!)

One slice with PB and banana…

and another with PB and Crofters Supercrack…

I stared longingly at the sun out the window, but alas it’s conference call day so I had to stay tethered to my computer.  :(

Lunch was a couple of mini-meals.

Grapes with probiotic light cheddar…

Chocolate Brownie Clif Kids Zbar…

Nom!!

Veggies, tortilla chips, and hummus.  Seriously having trouble with portion control of this hummus!  Soooo creamy and deeelish.  I’m sad that when it’s gone I have a different brand in the fridge to eat before I can buy more Sabra. 

Being Wednesday, my afternoon schedule got away from me and I ended up working until around 6:30.  I had planned a make-up gym session today, but I really needed to eat first.

Leftover Coconut Chicken Strips on top of a bigass salad…

I’m loving the Mache Greens.  So tender and delicious!!

Mixed with matchstick carrots, yellow peppers, and red onion…

Then topped with a bit of avocado, Greek yogurt and Trader Jose’s spicy salsa and stirred up…

After I ate that there was no way I was going to the gym.  Full tummy plus gym equals bad. 

Never fear!  Booty Camp Fit DVD to the rescue! 

I waited an appropriate 20 minutes or so for dinner to settle, then rolled out my home gym (ie: yoga mat on office floor) and fired up the DVD.  Booty Booster and Ab-Solute torture completed.  :)

I can haz sticker!!

Then I didn’t feel all too bad about curling up with my blankie, tea and evening treat…

I got these interesting Canadian organic chocolate bars a while ago and decided to try one tonight. 

Good dark chocolate with dried apples, maple syrup and smoked salt.  Decadent and AMAZING. 

Plus they are made back home on Van Isle.  Represent!!

So I guess it’s back to hour two of these crazy model wannabes.  Somebody stop me.

Formspring Friday

I mentioned a couple of times last week that I had decided to join the formspring along with a bunch of other bloggers.  I was skeptical that it would be fun, but I now admit I’m totally addicted.  :)  Go check out my page and ask me something…I won’t say anything because obviously some stuff is off limits, but have at it!

It’s a good distraction between work tasks!  As is lunch…

Just leftovers…it’s seriously mother hubbard’s cupboard around here…

This was the roasted veggie/navy bean concoction from earlier this week…with a scoop of hummus just for fun.

Early afternoon I got hungry again.  This is what happens when I don’t have oats for breakfast.  Smoothies are delicious and nutritious but they don’t have sticking power.

I was hunting for chips, but ate this bosc pear instead. 

And drank a lot of water, which only made me hungrier.  Yes, water makes me hungry!  It’s that quasi-ulcer type situation I have…water works in reverse on me.

So I ate the last serving of Eggies…

Good.  Now they are gone! 

Worked a bit late but nothing too major. My aching back can’t take sitting there that long.  I ended up not making it to the gym due to weather, work and back pain…but I wanted to do something so I popped in the Booty Camp Fit DVD and did the Booty Booster.  Love that 14 minutes of pain! 

I wanted to do abs too, but my back wasn’t having any part of it.  I am sooooooo over this injury.  Make it stop.  Pleeeeeeease.

When I opened the fridge I realized dinner was going to be a challenge.  The shelves are pretty much bare.  I guess my plan not to buy groceries this week worked!  I did spy some broccoli so I pulled some chicken from the freezer and a box from the cupboard and make quick work of a tasty meal.

Chicken, broccoli and risotto.  Deeeeelish.

Cheater risotto…

Chicken breast marinated with EVOO, balsamic, garlic, Italian Seasoning and s&p…grilled on the Griddler.

All this fanciness cooked up and eaten while FH waited for a pizza.  Silly boy missed out!! 

I saved half the chicken for tomorrow.  And had a glass of milk because I’ve been slacking on the dairy this week…

So now I have my Magic Bag, hot tea, a Kashi cookie and I’m just waiting for the men’s Olympic hockey game to start.  Twitter peeps convinced me to watch women’s curling and the minute I turned in they lost the Gold.  Damn.  Silver’s good too though!

Hockey time… Go Canada Go!!

Date with Myself

630am: drive FH to work

700-900am: drink coffee, check email/Twitter, setup uTorrent finally, blog

900-1000am: dishes, clean & tidy kitchen, dust & polish living room furniture

1000-noon: clean downstairs bathroom, vacuum main floor, strip beds and start laundry

noon: make pancakes!

Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pancakes to be exact.

(using UVAB instead of milk and a drizzle of canola oil instead of melted butter)

Topped with real maple syrup and caramelized bananas…

With a scrambled egg on the side…

12:30-100pm: fiddle on the internet, realize torrents take VERY long time

100-300pm: wash breakfast dishes, clean upstairs bathroom, scrubby the tubby, vacuum upstairs, swap laundry

300: make smoothie!

Very Berry Smoothie to be exact.

In the blender: 1/2 cup frozen raspberries, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, 1/2 frozen banana, Amazing Grass Wild Berry Kidz Superfood, 1 cup UVAB, water to thin

315-330pm: make self presentable for public (ie: blush and jeans)

330-530pm: get groceries, run errands, get take-out sushi!

530-630pm: commence sushi coma

With edamame…

Spicy tuna roll…

California roll…

630pm: smile contently, wish for more sushi to appear

630-730pm: vegetate and hope for something on TV, doomed by Superbowl Sunday, realize HIMYM is not downloading for tonight, start another torrent and cross fingers

730-830pm: finish puttering, put groceries away, polish kitchen table, arrange new centerpiece, swap laundry, fold towels, remake bed

830-900pm: Booty Camp Fit DVD Ab-Solute Abs!, pack gym bag for tomorrow morning, wonder how I’m going to drag my butt outta bed without FH here

900-945pm: make batch of Chocolate Cranberry Almond Granola Bars

945-1000pm: wash baking dishes, fluff new pink Snuggie in dryer

1000pm-now: cuddle up in previously mentioned Snuggie, realize plans for HIMYM are not going to happen, watch mindless TV (Modern Family anyone?), blog

1100pm: stare at TV for hour

midnight: collapse with cat in gloriously clean and comfy bed, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz