Strata Chatter

For those of you that were sitting on the edges of your seats wondering… I did indeed make it through bedtime without a snack last night! ;) First success out of umpteen attempts…weeeha!

My morning started off a bit rough. I slept in. My internet connection was eluding me. I broke a nail.  Blueberries made it better…

Blended up into a smoothie to match yesterday’s.

Afterwards I apparently photographed an ad for Starbucks. Water and coffee spiked with light egg nog.

Pre-gym fuel…

Cardio reading…

Today’s gym adventure involved a whole 30 minutes on the treadmill (I know, you are super jealous of my power walking abilities) followed by 10 minutes on the bike. My hips are definitely a bit sore so that’s a sign that 30 minutes is my max on any one cardio machine for now. My back tells me it’s angry by giving me sore hips.

I was super hungry when I finished at the gym, but forced myself to drive right past Starbucks and head straight home.  Leftovers from last night…soooo good!

And Mary’s crackers with crack hummus to finish the meal.

Today’s sweet bit… I haven’t a clue what this is supposed to be??

Tonight was my building’s Strata AGM which I wanted to attend so dinner was another quick soup reheat. I still have to post a recipe for this amazing Chicken Veggie and Kale soup I put together.

The meeting wasn’t too terribly interesting but there were a few good discussions and I finally got to see who some of my neighbours are.  A few good discussions were had and I almost got nominated for council…I think because I was one of the only people that said a peep.  LOL.  I high tailed it out of there after that.

The weather has turned cold and blustery so a hot cup of tea hit the spot.  This was paired with a couple of cookies while I caught up on a few things then set to starting my Christmas baking.  

First batch of treats is setting in the fridge. Maybe I will taste test one tomorrow…because I will NOT be having a bedtime snack! ;)

Deep Freeze

Holy, how is it almost 11pm already?  It’s been go go go since I last posted!

As the afternoon ran away from me I snacked on a few banana chips and a small handful of chocolate covered edamame…

I did not get outside for a walk, but I did get to wear flip flops on my way to the gym!  This made me a little happy, I’ll admit!  It also made me feel like paying for a pedicure because I’ve yet to give myself one.  I think it’s pink toenail season FINALLY!

Today’s workout was a combo of Day One & Two of Intro to Iron, plus some extra ab work.

• Treadmill warm up – 10 minute run
• Overhead press
• Lunge & Lift
• Tricep Dips
• Toe Touch crunches
• Planks
• Lateral Raises
• Hamstring Curls on the ball
• Leg Lifts with the ball
• Crunches with feet on the ball

Whew!  Probably should have done a little more cardio, but I had to meet a friend tonight and had been there longer than planned already.

I did re-learn that my treadmill running speed is 4.8 mph.  Yesterday I was trying to run at 5 mph and it was a hot mess.  Random intervals and I never got past 5 minutes of running.  Today I dropped my speed and ran almost effortlessly for 10 minutes straight…and could have gone longer had I needed to.

Soooo anyway… dinner was a bit of a non-event.

I actually reached into the freezer and grabbed this random Sheppard’s Pie that I had bought for $1 on sale like month’s ago. 

I didn’t read the ingredients but I did check to make sure I wasn’t about to ingest something with a bazillion calories.  Only 200.  :)

Surprisingly, it was actually pretty tasty.  I guess some fake smashed taters on top of mystery meat can be good sometimes.  haha.

Served with steamed broccoli for some semblance of nutrition.

After dinner I raced to get ready and then ran off for coffee with my friend Joanne.  Off to Starbucks.  Shocking I know. LOL.

She treated me a to a grande non-fat half-sweet Vanilla Rooibos Tea Latte…which I did not take a picture of…ooooops.

Now I’m snug as a bug with a heat pack, water, a dish of Easter jelly beans (!) and Parenthood.  Yay for the return of Gilmore Mom. ha!

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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. 

50mm Dinner

So I figured after all my hootin’ and hollerin’ this morning about my way-fun new camera I should use it for at least an entire meal’s worth of food porn.  :)

I still have the 50mm lens on from puttering around last night so I went with it.  So far, the only thing I’ve learned is not to leave it on auto for food pictures as it constantly forces the flash on which is the #1 no-no for food pics.

For dinner I thawed out a couple of pre-made homemade turkey burger patties…

We only have little dinner buns on hand so I reworked one of the patties into two smaller ones to make myself a couple of ‘sliders’…

FH ate his with sammich-style with toast instead of a bun.

Baked up some frozen fries to go with the burgers…

And I added a small salad to my plate…

In the mix:  Dole Sassy Greens, tomatoes, yellow peppers & cauliflower with Fig Balsamic.

After dinner I grabbed two Hershey’s Kisses.  And that’s it!!  I still didn’t bake cookies and it’s going to drive me nuts until I do.  Ha!  But until then, it’s a good test of willpower. 

Just waiting on some tea to steep while keeping bundled with my heat pack and a big blankie.  At least FH said he’s cold this evening…and he’s never cold…so I know I’m not a total sissy.  :)

So I like the blurry background effect created by this lens…now I just need to work with it to get the bright salad colors I know and love.

What are you doing to keep warm?

Hungry Hungry, um Girl!

I’m a bottomless pit today! 

Working out more, getting up earlier, and returning to portion control is making me hungry!

In the continuing attempt to use up the food on hand, I concocted a croissammich for lunch today.  Croissant sandwich for those of you that don’t speak Jaime.  :)

Croissant toasted in the oven…with a little light mayo, sliced tomatoes, and salami…

With a chopped kiwi…

For those of you that asked…NO, I don’t eat the skin.  Ewwww.  Yesterday I was in a hurry so I didn’t bother peeling them…I just ate them like orange wedges.  I don’t recommend that though because the skin can “burn” your tongue.

A little while later I reheated some coffee and looked through the pantry for an afternoon snack.  I spied this Caramel Macchiato Biscotti my Mom put in my stocking.

Holy deeeelish.  Angie has mentioned these before but I didn’t realize they have a little icing on them.  Super yummy treat!  Only 160 calories. 

I spent the better part of the afternoon tackling a big work project.  Not too hard but lots of staring at the computer so I took a little break a couple of hours in.  I felt hungry AGAIN, but figure it’s probably because I’m a bit dehydrated. 

Not really feeling the love of plain old water, so I decided to mix up a cranberry-soda cocktail…fancy! ha!

And a little handful of Almond Nut-Thins just for the snack factor…

Gee, blog posts are a lot more boring when we’re back to work eh?  The rest of my afternoon was spent finishing that project and working about an hour late.  Didn’t get to run my errands yet AGAIN.  Ah well, it felt great to cross that project off my to-do list…it was bugging me that I was behind on it.

Instead of trying to wrangle up a time-consuming dinner, we went the simple route.  FH ate up some leftover spaghetti from the freezer and I made myself a bigass salad…

Baby spinach, grape tomatoes, carrots, yellow pepper, & mini cucumber…

Dressed with a scoop of hummus, drizzles of olive oil and balsamic, and s&p…

Served with a few spanakopita and tzatziki…

So deeelish!!  I love those little things.  Lucky for me FH isn’t a fan.  More for me!  haha.

I randomly grabbed another croissant shortly after dinner too.  Didn’t even stop to take a picture.  *gulp*

Dessert was this crazy little white chocolate Santa that came in the Christmas bag my friend Mel gave me.  There’s something to be said for really good chocolate…

Told you…bottomless pit!!

I curled up with my heat pack…back to gym = stiff bad shoulder…and promptly dozed off on the couch for an hour.  oooops.

We’re now drinking tea and I’m avoiding the open bag of chocolate covered almonds (well, trying!).  Hopefully I finally sleep solidly tonight.  Not a super early morning tomorrow since FH drives himself on Wednesdays.  Nice.

Nighty night y’all!

Happy Christmas Eve!!

*insert festive music here*

Well, since my family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve I thought I should get this one last post in so I’m all caught up and can relax.  Tonight we’ll partake in snacks, gifts, chatter, laughter and probably a few loud family arguments.  :)  I’m in charge of prepping all of the snacks so for the rest of the day I’ll be up to my elbows in onion dip, slicing cheese, and chopping veggies.

My cold is getting better.  I’ve been doubling up on the Tylenol Cold & Flu pills and they are working.  At least I won’t be blowing my nose all over the family tonight.  (I know, lovely image right?)

The last couple of days have been “OK” foodwise, but like I said yesterday I don’t like to compromise at Christmas so the lack of exercise is being accepted and instead I’ll just be OK with a small gain when I get home.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get at least a couple of walks in over the coming days…we shall see.

Anywho…

If you are going to have a fast food burger…a Mama burger with cheese never disappoints. haha.

We found these super cute mini pineapples at the supermarket.  $6 each though so we didn’t buy one.

Last night I met my Nanaimo girlfriends Melinda and Christy for dinner at Gina’s Mexican Cafe.  I’ve been going there for years, but just last year I discovered their fish tacos.  Holy yum!!!  I ate the two halibut tacos with guacamole but left pretty much all of the beans/rice/corn.  Mel and I sat there with our water for like an hour after dinner just catching up and chatting.  Thanks to Gina’s for not kicking us out for hogging up a table!

 

Melinda brought me a treat from her favorite chocolate store too!

Got all of my wrapping done last night so today’s all about the food prep.  Can’t wait to sit down and see the family tonight.  Tomorrow Mom and I just chill out and watch movies, and our turkey dinner will be on Boxing Day.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!!!