Brain Food

Now there’s something you’ve all been waiting for.  The return of cereal!

Kashi Honey Almond Flax is truly my favourite cereal ever.  Well since I grew past the age of Fruit Loops anyway.  With vanilla soy milk and blueberries it might just surpass my love of AB & banana toast.

For lunch I took a trip down to the waterfront with my friend Christy and her darling little boy Cameron.  They were visiting from Nanaimo for the day and I had hoped to take them to Red Fish Blue Fish but the line was like an hour long, so we opted for The Flying Otter instead.

I had the one piece halibut fish and chips…with half chips and half salad.

Look at those blue eyes!  Can you say heart breaker?

We had parked the car right outside of Picnic Coffee so we decided it was a sign that we should grab some coffees and enjoy some more chitchat at one of their little sidewalk tables.  I had a coupon for a free Americano which the guys turned into an iced bevvie for me.  Yum.

This needs to be the next downtown Victoria eatery I try for lunch!

Christy left me with a gift bag which had this lovely TJ’s crack butter treat inside!  Geeeeze, people think I like this stuff or something!!  :)

I snacked on fake popcorn cakes to tide me over until dinner.

For dinner I had Michael over to help me eat of the leftovers from my taco dinner with Tiffaney.  We started out with those deeeelish Lime Tostitos dipped in this FF Spicy Black Bean Dip that Alecia put in my TJ’s treat bag a couple of months ago. 

Of course we had beers.  Sadly the beer selection at my house isn’t as good as what we usually have at his place.

But I made up for my poor beer choices by serving up delicious, crispy, colourful taco salads!  Lettuce, tomato chunks, cucumber, carrots, red onion and avocado topped with shredded cheddar and a mixture of the leftover seasoned black beans and ground beef.

After the photo shoot we slathered on salsa and sour cream as dressing and used more chips and scoops for our meals.  I heart taco salad.

After dinner we sat side by side with our laptops.  He worked diligently on his work projects and I worked diligently at catching up on Google Reader and eventually remembering I was supposed to be booking our campsite for the upcoming long weekend.  A couple of PB cups may have helped kick start my brain for that.  Chocolate is brain food you know.

I need a night off!

I’m still posting a day behind…so sue me!  I just could not face the computer when I got home last night.  One of these nights I’m going to actually score some couch time with the dog!

Kashi cereals were on a good sale the other day so I grabbed a couple of boxes.  Honey Sunshine is basically like Corn Bran but doesn’t cut up my mouth as badly!

I sprinkled some on top of my fruit salad and Vanilla Field berry yogurt.

For lunch I put the leftover tuna salad to use…using a pita and some shredded old cheddar to make a tuna melt!

Apple slices and celery sticks on the side.

Chibi and I had a car riding adventure to Petcetera during our afternoon.  She needed a new bag of food, a quick manicure and some socializing. 

I needed an extra coffee.  Grande non-fat half-sweet hazelnut bold coffee misto, thank you very much.

After finishing work for the day I raced around to tame my mane and get ready for dinner with Bachelor #5.  (Date #2…in case you missed it…we had coffee on Saturday morning). 

I was a little grumpy because he called at the last minute to tell me he was running half an hour behind but I sucked it up because I know how these things can happen.

And he arrived with flowers so that’s a pretty good apology, no? :)

We had a DELICIOUS sushi dinner (yay for boys that eat sushi!).

It’s highly possible he will discover my blog fairly easily so I shall leave it at that. 

For those keeping track, we are down to Bach #1, #3 and #5.  I guess odd numbers are my friend. #2 dissed me and I dissed #4.

I’m exhausted. ha!

Alternate Proteins

Twas a good food day today!  I created two fun meals, used an ingredient I don’t often work with, included healthy protein in every meal, enjoyed some leafy greens, and fit in a good (although late) workout.

Some days just come together!

For lunch I created a light version of Salmon Salad on Rye!

When making dinner last night I baked off an extra piece of marinated salmon (it’s some sort of wine and herb).  It was easy to flake apart after chilling in the fridge overnight…

I mixed it with a big scoop of Liberte Greek yogurt, a healthy spoonful of capers, and a chopped green onion…and served it on Light Rye Wasa crackers…

With a side of baby carrots…

The meal could stand a few more calories, so I added a Kashi cookie!  Booohoooo, my last one.  I hope we get these in Canada soon (you hear me Kashi??).

I wasn’t letting another planned workout get away from me, so after work I changed into my gym gear and headed out.  The cardio machines were all pretty busy so I had to alter my plan a bit but I still got my hour in and my sweat on.

• Treadmill: 23 minute run, 2 miles (yes Amy, miles!)
• Core/Abs: crunches, reverse crunches, toe touches, bicycle crunches (3 x 12 of each)
• Recumbent Bike: 15 minutes, random hills, 3 miles

After which I was starving (especially because I made a very sweaty stop at Walmart for TP on the way home!). 

Since I bought a gigantor tub of organic greens on sale this weekend, there’s going to be a lot of bigass salads around here.  :)

Tonight’s creation also involves that block of extra firm tofu I picked up for last week’s stirfry.

I remembered that Marisa once did a guest post about baked tofu for me and thought that would be a good way to go.  The BBQ sauce inspired a Southwest Style Tofu Salad!

In the big silver bowl tonight:  organic leafy greens, matchstick carrots, sliced mushrooms, yellow peppers, grape tomatoes…

Dressed with 1 tsp of BBQ sauce mixed with 1 tsp of Ranch dressing and tossed with 1/2 oz of Probiotic Light Cheddar and a big scoop of corn heated in the microwave…

For the tofu:  I just sliced off four strips and pressed with a paper towel.  Then coated in BBQ sauce and baked on a sprayed sheet at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (flipped at about 12 minutes).

Placed on top of salad and sprinkled with last few shreds of cheese.

So yum!!!  Second tofu attempt WIN!! It was really filling too.  For the first time in a long time I didn’t finish the bigass salad.  Lunch for tomorrow.  :)

Of course, being full doesn’t mean that I don’t have room for dessert.  I didn’t quite make it past the Easter display at Wally World tonight.  Somehow a marshmallow egg made it into my basket…

tee hee!

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Don’t miss my Super Giveaway of yummy Crofter’s Supercrackfood Spreads!  Click here for this morning’s post.

And while you’re in giveaway mode, make sure you visit Dairy Free Betty and enter to win her Coconut Peanut Butter.  Drool. 

Late Riser

After work I headed to the gym for my cardio day.  Definitely need to work on doing this in the mornings.  Cardio and I aren’t good friends at the best of times, but doing it at the end of the day is just plain sucky.

I managed only 5 minutes on the rowing machine because my lower back pain decided to resurface…and ended up doing a power walk on the treadmill.  That was OK, but I really wanted to run.  I barely made 4 minutes of running…my body just wasn’t having it.  So 25 minutes of fast-paced increasing inclines instead. 

Still sweaty but just not what it should have been.  Oh well.  I still got an activity sticker!!

When I got home I snacked on some more crack hummus and some baby carrots…

For dinner I wanted to use up the other half of the sweet potato that was still hanging out in the fridge, so I made another version of hash…

Sweet potato sauteed with onion and yellow peppers, sprinkled with homemade Mexican seasoning.  Mixed with a scrambled egg and some of this Trader Jose’s Habanero & Lime Salsa that I received from Elizabeth months ago…

 

A nice little kick!  With the Greek yogurt and sliced avocado a meal was born.  :)

After dinner I wanted a little breakfast-dessert, so toast with PB and Crofters it was…

After some laundry and a bit more tidying around the house, it was tea time!  With a Kashi cookie.  I only have one left and it’s sad…these are really tasty and hearty cookies!!

I love Castle.  That is all.  :)

Carnivore

Congratulations to Ashleigh McIvor!!  GOLD in x-skiing!!  Now just share that with the men’s hockey team and you’ll have some super happy Canadians!

Today’s headache hung around most of the afternoon.  Gah.  Finally, after I picked FH up from work I let my ponytail down and that totally helped!  I forgot how heavy my hair gets when I grow it out.  I’ve got A LOT of hair!

Afternoon snack was another deeeelish Kashi cookie…

and a bosc pear…

After slogging through some afternoon work I asked FH if he would mind going out for a burger.  I had a craving something fierce!  I actually think that this craving might be what was making me all snacky yesterday.  I knew I wanted something but wasn’t sure what.  Turns out it was a big juicy burger.  Hello protein!!

We hit up The Armview…

And went all out on the “feed the beast” craving.  Shared mozzarella sticks…

I had the Classic burger with ketchup, mustard and fried onions.  To which I added bacon and cheddar…

With crispy fries (and yes, that is a side of mayo!)…

 

I ate the whole thing!!  Funny enough I’m not even all that full.  Bottomless pit, anyone?l

Now hopefully I’ve got that out of my system!!  It’s not often I eat beef and even more rare that I crave it.  Sometimes you just gotta!

Good thing I have a make-up cardio session with the girls tomorrow night!!

Now to take in the Canada vs Germany hockey game where our boys are going to make up for that sad showing vs USA! 

Go Canada Go!

Snackypants

Pretty quiet afternoon/evening. 

After picking FH up from work I was ready for an afternoon pick-me-up.  I grabbed a couple of my Valentine’s peanut butter cups…

Um…confession…I sorta ate the rest of the tube.  Seven of those little buggers.  Ah well!

While deciding what to make for dinner I decided to bust open these Snapea Crisps that Krista sent me…

Curious little munchies.  Reasonable ingredient list.  A bit high on fat and calories considering they are essentially baked peas…

 

But tasty!  in an odd sort of way.  I think they are puffed or popped somewhat like a popchip. I dunno. 

Dinner was a bit weird…but it was one of those stand in front of the open fridge and stare kind of days.  I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted.  Not really hungry for a meal, but in need of more than puffed peas!

I decided veggies were the way to go and grabbed a variety for roasting.  Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and cabbage.

Roughly chopped and tossed with EVOO, balsamic, maple syrup and s&p. Roasted in a 425 degree oven for 25 minutes (stirred part way through).

With five minutes left I sprinkled on some navy beans we had in the fridge…maybe 1/2 cup or so…

It was actually pretty yummy!  Got in a couple of veggie servings, some protein, and have a dish of leftovers.  Nice.

While sipping Rooibos tea I decided to add to the already fairly snackerific day and opened up the box of Kashi Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Cookies…

Soooooo deeeeeelish!  Soft, chewy, hearty, chocolately, oatmealy goodness!  nom.  :)  A little small for the 130 calories per cookie, but as long as I don’t sit down with the whole box, I can handle it.

Ohhh, I think that’s a challenge!