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Thursday, April 15, 2010

MIA!

Hey guys! Sorry I've been MIA this week! I've been crazy busy with work, school and the playoffs!! I worked on Monday and Tuesday, both 12 hour shifts. After Monday's shift I was way too exhausted to do anything after work so I basically just went home and went to bed. On Tuesday after work I went over to Mats and watched Sherlock Holmes. It was a pretty good movie! Better than I expected. Wednesday was spent doing homework and counting down the minutes until Philadelphias first playoff game! I watched the game at Mat's where I am happy to say that Philly won 2-1! It was a road game too so I am pretty pumped. Mat's team, Detroit, lost their first one last night to the Coyotes. I felt kinda bad for him. I know if Philly would've lost I probably would've been crying haha! I didn't take any pics of my eats cause they were kinda boring. I got groceries today so I'll share today's eats with you.

First off for breakfast (around 11) I had a nectarine and a banana pancake!
Nectarine and banana pancake topped with 1/2 banana, agave nectar and maple flakes

That pancake was sooo good! I was meaning to make 3 but then they kinda all went together in the pan so I just made one really big one. If you feel like going to heaven one morning here's the recipe:

Awesome banana pancake recipe:
1/4 whole wheat flour
1 egg white
1/2 smashed banana
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp soy milk
1/2 scoop protein powder (I used chocolate flavour)

Mix all wet ingredients and dry ingredients seperately. Add the two together. Make 3 smaller pancakes or one gigantic one.

After breakfast I did a load of laundry and worked on some more homework. I also cleaned up the apartment a bit and worked up enough appettite for this snack:

Cucumbers, carrots, peas, tomatoes, cauliflower, green peppers and olives with 1 Tbsp calorie-wish peppercorn ranch dip

That snack plate was awesome! And Mat made me obsessed with olives again. His are better though because they're humungous ones! The ones I have are just tiny. Anyways, after that snack plate I got to some more homework. Wow! My life is just really exciting with all this homework haha!! I also had 5 fuzzy peach rings that I picked up at Walmart a couple days ago. At 5:00 I had an online chat with my teacher and some classmates. We all meet on Skype and go around answering questions. This one was about are concerns towards instrumentation and counts. The chats are good but they usually take about an hour or so which is waaayyy too long! At least we don't have to use the video thing so I can look like a slob without anyone knowing haha! After the chat I made supper and I was very hangry!!

Grilled chicken breast, steamed brussel sprouts and baby carrots, roasted sweet potato rounds and some BBQ sauce and ketchup for dipping.

Mmmmm that was delish!! I grilled the chicken on my George Foreman grill. I made 6 so I could have some for my lunches this weekend and froze a few more for down the road. I grilled the chicken with some chicken seasoning and BBQ sauce. After making supper I also made some spaghetti squash for my lunches this weekend. It made 3 servings which is perfect for my shifts Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I better get going though because Montreal and Washington is going into overtime and I can't miss it haha!! I think tonights snack might be an apple and a sugar free chocolate Jell-O!!! Have a great night all!! And cheer for Philly tomorrow night in game 2!!!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Victory Is Ours!!

Great, great, great news!!!! Philly won in a shootout! Yep, that was probably the most stressful moment of my life haha! First New York scored in the first period. Philly hit the post 4 or 5 times and finally scored 1 in the last period. It was tied 1-1. Went into overtime and no score, so it went into a shootout. God, I absolutely hate shoot outs! They are sooooo nerve racking! I didn't watch any of the Rangers shoot just because I couldn't handle it haha. Mat even muted the TV so I wouldn't have to hear it. He let me know though if it was good or bad. And, yes it was extremely good! Philly won which means they'll be playing the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the playoffs!! I think it's a pretty good matchup. And I feel it's a team that the Flyers can beat!! The playoffs start on Wednesday. I'm still not sure if Philly starts that day but I really hope so!! I love the playoffs!

Anyways, before I went over to watch the game I picked up some beer. First attempt was a fail because I forgot my ID. Of course the lady asked for it so I had to run home and grab it. I considered just going to a store closer to Mat's place since gametime was only 20 minutes away. But then I thought, "No! The cashier will think I was underage and be thinking she busted me the entire day"! So I went back and bought the beer. She must've been surprised to see I was 24. She actually looked kinda angry about it. But whatever, I look young, too bad!! I bought Bud Light Lime for me and Guiness for Mat. I had a few of these to calm my nerves during the game. We also watched the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres game. The winner of that would be the one to play Philly. Of course New Jersey won. After all that hockey I was starving so I went home to make some dinner.
Amy's burrito topped with O Organics salsa, steamed brussel sprouts and baby carrots, sweet potato rounds and Heinz Organic Ketchup for dippage.

That was definetely a supper for champions!! After supper I took a long, hot bath and then finished up the group assignment thats due tonight. I also made tomorrow's lunch for work tomorrow. And, as I am typing I am eating a pack of Reese's snackster 100 calorie pack. Love these little things. But I'm gonna head to bed now since I gotta work sooooo early! Have a great night!

The Big Game!

Good morning!! I am as excited as a kid on Christmas morning today! Because Philly plays the Rangers in a do or die game! I'm also very nervous because if they lose that means that Philly is out (unless they lose in OT). This is the last regular season game and right now Philly is sitting in 8th place. If they lose they will be in 9th and that would be a tragedy! So, I am sitting waiting for 1:00 to come. 2 hours away. I'm already wearing my Richards jersey!
Mike Richards- Captain of the Flyers. Pretty cute too!!

I took this picture in Calgary when I went to see the Flyers play the Flames. Anyways, please everyone pray for Philly to win today. I'd greatly appreciate it!!!

So last night I left off on my post with making supper. Well here is what I had.

Steamed brussel sprouts, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower on top of 1 cup spaghetti squash (which was 1 whole organic spaghetti squash) and 3/4 cup vegetarian bolognese.

I love my PC Blue Menu vegetarian bolognese. Per 1/2 cup it packs 5g of fiber and 5 g of protein!! Soooo good! I don't even think someone else could tell it doesn't have meat in it. I also had this little guy as a snack.

Mini creme egg and Reese snacksters 100 calorie pack

I ate all the cereal of the Reese pack first. Then I ate the peanut butter chips and then the Reeses Pieces. Then I ate the creme egg. I like to eat things in order from least favourite to favourite. I feel if I would've ate them in reverse order it would've left me wanting more of the chocolate goods. I also got A LOT of homework done last night. I am a lot less stressed out now. THANK GOD!!!! I went to bed around 11:30 with full intentions of waking up at 8:00 and going to the body blast class at the gym. Well that was a huge FAIL. I finally rolled out of bed at 9 and decided the gym just wasn't going to happen today. I don't want to be too tired for watching the hockey game (what an excuse, hey?!!) haha! Anyways, I had an amazing breakfast along with some raspberry-chocolate coffee.

Overnight oats: 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup soy milk, 1/2 smashed banana and sprinkling of cinnamon left all mixed up and left in the fridge overnight. In the morning I nuked it for 1 minute and 30 seconds and topped it with the remaining 1/2 banana, sliced strawberries and some Dark Chocolate PB goodness.

Dark Chocolate Dreama is the best in oatmeal. It's like I'm eating dessert, not breakfast, and I love it that way!! Soooo chewy and soooo delicious! I still really like my Baked Banana Oatmeal though so I might make a batch today that I can eat throughout the week. Especially since I'll be working it'll be easy to pack and take along. Anways, I think I'm gonna get going and work on a bit more homework (if I can possible concentrate) and then go to Mats. I think I'm gonna pick up some Guiness beer for him because he'll have to put up with my screaming and yelling at the TV haha! Hope everyone has a stupendous Sunday!!!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Start of the Search!

Hello hello everyone!! This weekend has been bussyy!!! I think I left off in yesterday's post with my afternoon snack. Sooo for dinner I had:
Sweet & Spicy Tofu stirfry on top a big bed of spinach!

I was pretty hungry when I had this so I added the spinach and also sauteed a few more green peppers and mushrooms to add in to the mix. Soo good!!! I had planned on a long night of doing homework but then my roommate got home and said she invited some of our friends over to drink and go to the bar. I was kinda P-od because how was I supposed to do homework with all my friends in the living room drinking and having fun!? So I left to go to the gym. I did 60 minutes on the eliptical while reading the newest issue of Life & Style. I planned on going to my parents to do the homework part but it was already around 10:00. Soooo, I thought they'd be going to the bar soon so I just hit up the new Wally world for some snacks and then went home. Dumb idea that was!! Of course I'll spend countless hours wandering the aisles of Wal Mart! I only bought a couple things (protein bar to fuel my workout, broccolli and cauliflower, and some 100 calorie popcorn packs from Jolly Time). I got home around 11:00 and was waaaayyy too tired to do any type of homework. I decided to just read some blogs, watch Criminal Minds and eventually called it a night around midnight.

I woke up bright and early around 8:00. I made some banana chocolate oats because I was a starvin marvin!!

1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup almond milk, 1/2 mashed banana, 1/2 sliced banana, sliced strawberries and 1 Tbsp Dark Chocolate PB

That was delicious. I then showered and got ready for my big day! My big day of meeting with the realtor that is!! I headed to my parents first because we we're all going to the meeting together. The meeting was at 11:30 and went til 2:30!!! That being said I was HANGRY!!! I stopped by the slowest Subway in the world where I picked up a 6 inch oven roasted chicken breast on whole wheat. I topped it with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, banana peppers and some honey mustard (cause they were all out of regular)! And when I say slowest I'm absolutely dead serious! It took over 20 minutes from when I walked in the door til when I left with sub in hand! And there was only 3 people ahead of me. Yep, never going there again...maybe! I finally got to my friend's house where we worked on our group assignment that's due tomorrow. We did a lot of it and only have a few minor adjustments that I'll be working on tonight.

After homework crushing I went to the gym to do 60 minutes on the eliptical. I don't know why but this has been my favourite workout the last few days. I think it's because I can still manage to text, read and watch TV all while getting some quality cardio in. I watched the Leafs vs. Canadiens game tonight while at the gym. I find watching hockey is kinda hard while on the ET though. I can't keep a good rhythm going because I always get too excited when I think someone is going to score. With only about 10 minutes left I decided it'd be a good idea to just listen to music while having the closed captioning on the TV. That worked but it took me 50 minutes to figure it out!! Oh well haha! PS- I really needed the Canadiens to lose this game and for once in my life I was cheering for the Leafs. The Canadiens lost in OT thank god!! Now, all I need is Philly to win tomorrows game! Then they'll finish 7th place and play New Jersey in the first round of the playoffs. Bad thing though, if Philly loses they won't make it to the playoffs at all and I'll be crying for a solid week at least! The game isn't on my TV again but thank god Mat invited me over to watch the game at his place! Please everyone pray Philly will win haha!!

After my workout I had some brownie batter with an apple.

Brownie batter: 1 scoop protein powder with some almond milk. Apple for dippage.

Since lunch was so late I'm finally making supper and it's almost 8:30. I'm having steamed carrots, brussel sprouts, cauliflower and brocolli. I'll top all the steamed veggies on my roasted spaghetti squash with some vegetarian bolognese. Should be done in about 20 minutes or so. I'll post the pic tomorrow. I'm gonna get to my homework though! Have a lovely Saturday night!!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Weekend!!!

Hey ladies! TGIF!! But maybe not cause I'll be super busy this weekend! Tomorrow I'm meeting with my realtor and then I'll be working on an assignment all afternoon (and maybe night if we can't get it finished). Then on Sunday I'll be watching the Flyers last regular season game. Thank god Mat has NHL center ice because the game isn't on regular TV. I'll also be studying like a mad woman during free time for Anatomy. So, I left off yesterday after lunch I believe. Well, before supper I made myself an awesome snack.
100 calorie popcorn pack with 1 Tbsp organic chocolate chips and sprinkling of maple flakes.

That was delicious. And now I don't have an excuse to have gross popcorn at the movie. I putzed around a while until supper time. I got a great idea from Gabriela's blog to have a veggie burger in a wrap. I also had some sweet potato fries.

Sweet potato fries with Heinz organic ketchup for dippage

100% whole grain wrap with Gardenburger, tomatoes, spinach, cucumbers and mushrooms drizzled with fat-free peppercorn ranch dressing

Thanks for the awesome idea Gabriela! I had a couple hours before the movie so I studied (aka watched Criminal Minds). The movie we went to was Clash of the Titans. It was really good. I love 3D movies! I always feel like I'm going to get hit with something and probably look pretty dumb but oh well lol! I sipped a Diet Coke but again, only finished maybe half. I don't even know why I get pop anymore. I never finish them! Mat got Diet Coke and some popcorn with salt n' vinegar seasoning. He put so much seasoning on that at one point I was breathing it in lol. But then some girl stepped on his popcorn. He was pretty sad. I got home around midnight and went straight to bed. I had a lot of studying to do in the morning!

I woke up bright and early at 8:25 AM! 5 minutes before my alarm was going to go off. This only happened because Mat texted me saying "Get studying"! Yes, I was angry that I got woken up 5 whole minutes early!! But I quickly got over it because I thought it was a cute text haha! Anyways, I wasn't hungry when I woke up so I didn't eat til 11:00.

Yep, you guessed it! That's baked banana oatmeal (last piece : ( ) and strawberries, pineapple, kiwi and blackberries

I also had 2 massive cups of coffee with almond milk. I studied the rest of the morning and then went to write my test. I did pretty good so I'm quite relieved!! I then headed to get my taxes done and pick up a prescription. I also found some awesome things at Shoppers that I included in this snack:

Apple with cinnamon, sugar snap peas and baby carrots. The awesome finds were Life Creme eggs on sale and sugar-free Campino candies.

I had a major sweet tooth this afternoon so I thought these little find would curve it. Sure did work!! I ate the fruit and veggies first and followed it with the little creme egg (I absolutely love these things)! Then I ate the 2 campinos very slowly. I just finished the last one. This will definetely hold me over for a while and it's already 5:00! Guess I'll be eating around 7.

So the Flyers also play tonight vs. New York Rangers. That's who they play Sunday too. They have to win at least 1 game to make it to the playoffs. If they win both they can pass a couple teams in the standings (which I'm really hoping for)! I just don't want them to have to play Pittsburgh first round of the playoffs! Anyways, games in 5 minutes so I need to go put some sweats on and get the comp set up to watch the game. Have a great Friday night everyone!!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Slloooowwww moving!

Hey fellow bloggies!!! Today has been really sllloooowww moving! Probably because last night was a blast!! Mat and I went to Beer Bros. The place had soooooo many different beer from all over the world. The first one I ordered was Wild Rose Velvet Fog from Calgary, AB. It was pretty good. I ordered it because the name was sooo pretty haha! Mat got some Double Chocolate Stout that looked waaaayyy too dark for me to even try. He likes his beer dark!! The next one I ordered was the Apricot Wheat. I forget where it came from but wow it was awesome! It kind of tasted like a beer with a cooler dumped in. Sounds gross, I know! But really it was awesome! Our waiter poured it in the glass, had me sip it and then poored the last ounce or so left in the bottle. Then he made me try it again and wow! The flavours were really brought out after he poured the last bit in! I forget what Mat ordered next. The bartender kept suggesting really dark ones for him because they both had the same beer taste. And they were both from Newfie so it was pretty much love at first sight between them haha! Anyways, next beer I had was the Tankhouse Ale. It's an amber red beer that had the flavours of honey, citrus, coffee and CHOCOLATE! Obviously had I had to order this one. Who wouldn't want chocolate flavoured beer (except Mat's earlier one though that was super dark). Not gonna lie, I was kinda tipsy by now haha. We went to the casino where I lost 5 bucks. That's all I'll spend at that money hogging place! I never win so I don't know why I even bother. Mat lost like 40 because we're really bad at pressing the spin button. I got home around 1 and immediately went to bed!!

Wake up call came at 8:30. I got up and just lazed around the apartment for a while. I wanted to go to the Spin and weights class at 9:30 but that just wasn't gonna happen! Instead I had some breakfast!
Baked banana oatmeal and ginormous amount of fruit!

Sorry about my breakfasts being the exact same every day this morning but this stuff is seriously good!! I only have 1 more piece left until I have to settle for a different breakfast (or maybe I'll make this again cause Im not sure I can live without it)! After breakfast I finally dragged myself to get ready and get out the door. First I had to pick up my contacts from the optometrists. The ones I've been wearing feels like they're scratching my eyes out! Then I headed to shoppers to pick up some organic canned corn, new Clean Eating mag, Lotto Max ticket (estimated $25 million which I'll obviously be winning tomorrow) and some acne stuff. I don't know why but I've been have some serious breakout issues. I used to have perfectly clear skin and now it's trying to be crazy. I ordered Proactiv and apparently I'm allergic to that stuff (just great) so I picked up some on the spot acne treatment. I'm taking a huge risk here because I'm probably allergic to that too but I think a rash is better than some gross acne because a rash comes with a good reason. I could be overexaggerating here cause it isn't really that bad. And I can use cover up so you barely notice it. But it still really bugs me! Anyways after that adventure I finally headed to the gym. It was like 11! Only 1.5 hours late! I did 60 minutes on the eliptical. I burned like 600 calories so I'm pretty proud of myself. I also texted almost the entire time. It goes by so much faster when you can text people. I'll be doing this from now on!!

After the gym I came home to this lovely lunch!

5 egg white scramble with black beans, corn, spinach, tomatoes and mushrooms drizzled with Heinz organic ketchup. Side of steamed baby carrots (That one isn't so babyish though)!

This was great! First time having black beans in my egg scramble but I love the added fiber and protein the beans provide. After lunch I read my Clean Eating mag and found quite a few recipes I'd love to try! Then I read some blogs and avoided studying at all costs. I really should be studying though. So to fuel my study session I had this huge bowl of fruit!
Blackberries, apple, pineapple and kiwi

I think I may be overloading on the fruit lately but I have so many and I don't want them to go to waste! So I'll keep enjoying my massive fruit bowls til they're sadly all gone! Tonight I'm going to Clash of the Titans movie with Mat, Kelly and Jen. Jen and I have been friends forever it seems. Her and Kelly are married and Mat works with Jen. Here's Jen and I on her wedding day
Jen looking absolutely gorgeous and me her bridesmaid!

Her wedding was actually where Mat and I met but it wan't until recently we started hanging out. Tonight should be fun except I'm not really sure about this movie. I hope its good. It's in 3D though so how could it be bad? Right? Anyways, I seriously better get studying. Have a great day all!!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Anatomy Shmatomy!

Hey there! How's everyone doing? I'm pretty great today besides my arms being pretty shaky! I went to a spin and core class this morning. Really kicked my ass! Before class I warmed up with 15 minutes on the ET. I burned 150 cals. Then we did 30 minutes of spin where I burned about 250 cals. Then came the insanely hard part!! We did a core class where he made us do like 5500000 versions of the plank and push ups!! Ok.... I'm exaggerating on the 5500000... but it was hard!! Definetely need to work on my arms to keep up with his class! We also did crunches and moves for our butts! I think I'll be sore tomorrow but I'm still planning on going to the spin and weights class in the AM. After the gym I came home showered and had some breakfast. Which was really lunch cause it was almost 11. Breakfast was just as delicious today as it was yesterday!
Pineapples, blackberries, strawberries and baked banana oatmeal; all drizzled with agave nectar!

The rest of my afternoon was pretty boring because I spent it studying. Soooo much reading to do!! And the reading isn't really interesting! I find myself having to read one paragraph 2 or 3 times until I'm actually paying attention to what I'm reading. Half the time I'm reading but really my brain is concentrating on other things. I'm almost done though! 1 more chapter! I'm hoping to finish this chapter before supper. This post is just a well deserved break from reading. I had some pretty awesome snacks during my study sesh!

2 diced organic kiwis!

Brownie protein batter with 1/2 mashed banana

This was my first attempt at this brownie batter. I used 1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder and 2 tbsp almond milk. I think I used too much milk though so it was a bit runny. That's why I smashed in 1/2 a banana. It was still pretty good! I'll be having this snack again for sure!

I better get back to studying though. My plans for dinner are my leftover Sweet and Spicy Tofy stirfry with quinoa. I also have plans to go out for drinks to a restaurant called Beer Bros. They have something like 100 different beers there. It'll be exciting. We're going out because I won a bet (this doesn't happen too often)!!! But my Philadelphia Flyers beat the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday so Mat owes me big!!!

Anyways, have a great night. I might do another post later tonight if I'm not too tired after beer drinking!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Sweet & Spicy Stirfry

Hello everyone! Hope Tuesday was awesome! Mine was pretty great! I started off my day by making this ladies Baked Banana Oatmeal. It was absolutely amazing!
4 squares of Baked Banana Oatmeal

My portion for breakfast with some sliced strawberries

You can find this recipe on Kath's blog. I altered mine a bit by using only 1 cup milk and adding in 1 tbsp of cinnamon. This had the perfect texture. Nice and chewy, the way I like it. This will be breakfast the next 3 days unless I did into it sooner (which is highly possible). After breakfast I took my taxes in. She said they should be done by tomorrow sometime. I hope I get some money back! After that I headed to Cosco where I bought the following: strawberries, blackberries, pineapple, red delicious apples, sliced mushrooms, almond butter and some bottles of Tylenol cause they were on a great sale. After that I headed over to Dad's Organic Food Market. I bought a bag of organic kiwis for $1.50!! Now that's a steal in my books! I also bought organic spaghetti squash, whey protein powder, Only Oats and some tempeh. I've never tried tempeh but I saw it there and thought I might as well try it! I think I might try out this tempeh bacon that I'm seeing on quite a few blogs. My snacking during the afternoon was an unpictured apple and banana.

After my shopping trip I headed home to cleeeaaannn!!! The apartment was a bit messy and I can't study when it's messy!! So I cleaned up the kitched and living room until it was spotless. Then I went out for a rollerblade. I haven't been rollerblading in soooo long and I forgot how much fun it is! I rollerbladed all the way to my parents which is about 5 miles (totally guessing). I played with my dog a bit and ate my banana. Then I headed back home. I didn't think it was much of a workout cause I felt I wasn't really sweating very much but when I got home out of the wind I noticed I had sweat a lot haha. Gross! But that's a sign to me that it was a decent workout!

After the rollerblade it was about supper time so I made my Sweet and Spicy stirfry. I usually make this with chicken but today I wanted to try it with tofu and it was delish!!

Sweet and spicy tofu stirfry over 1/4 cup quinoa

Stirfry recipe:
1 block extra firm tofu (pressed) or 1 lb chicken breast
3/4 cup Kraft Catalina dressing (I use low-calorie)
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
Crushed red peppers (I put a lot of this on for extra spicyness but put as much or as little as you want)
1 clove garlic
Bag of mixed veggies (I used fresh this time but feel free to use frozen)
I also added mushrooms and spinach in this mix

Add the dressing, soy sauce, garlic and peppers to the tofu (or chicken) to marinate. I let it marinate for about 15 minutes. Add that mixture to pan on medium heat. Let it cook about 10 minutes and then add the veggies. Fry until the veggies are of desired tenderness. I like mine to be a little crisp still. Serve over quinoa, brown rice, noodles or eat it plain. It's delicious!!

After dinner I began studying. I have a midterm on Friday in my Surgical Equipment class. I'll be studying alllll week. Ugh!! I also snacked on a handful of unpictured jelly beans and this:

Rice cake topped with organic chocolate chips and microwaved for 30 seconds. Drizzled with agave nectar!

Well I'm off to bed. Going to go to a Spin and Core class tomorrow morning. Hopefully it'll kick my butt!! Goodnight!!!
Put tofu (or chicken)

Monday, April 5, 2010

Happily House Hunting!

Sooooo...big news... I got pre-approved for a mortgage this afternoon!!!! This means I can search my heart out for the perfect house for me! I'm soooo excited! I have 90 days to find one but I think that's do-able. There's quite a few on the market that's in my price range and the area I like. Tomorrow I'm going to call a realtor and discuss what I am looking for so they can be on the look out too. My parents are the most amazing people ever and are helping me out like crazy. They're paying my down payment of 20%! I didn't even know they were going to do that! It was such a surprise at the bank! Anyways, I'll keep you updated on my house searching.

Last night at work was ridiculous. It was honestly the busiest night I've ever worked. We had a very sick patient and another patient that almost crashed. We barely sat down! I was sooooo relieved when 7:15 came and I could go home. Now I'm off for a whole week!! But I think I'll try and pick up some overtime for the weekend. For the week though I'll be studying like crazy!! I have a midterm this week and a final next week! I also have an assignment due on Sunday. Wow!! Writing that all down makes me kind of nervous but at least I have all week to get it all together!

Today's eats weren't all that exciting. I had some left over spaghetti squash with steamed broccoli and cauliflower. I had to run and get some of my fav pasta sauce- PC Blue Menu vegetarian bolognese. It is absolutely the best sauce ever!!! And it's sooo cheap at only $2.99! It has 5 g protein and 5 g fiber per 1/2 cup serving!
I recycled an old pic so todays didn't have carrots or parmesan but it was equally delish!

After supper of course I searched some more on MLS and let my food digest. Then I headed out for a 30 minute run on the trails behind my apartment. I also wanted to check out a house that was just a couple blocks away. It looks promising from the outside but I'll need to see what the inside looks like. I think the most important thing to me in the house search is the kitchen! I want it to be perfect for all my baking/cooking needs! When I got home from my run I mapped it out on http://www.mapmyrun.com/! Great site! It's all free (you can pay more for premium stuff but I just got the basics). My run was 3.5 miles! I love this mapping thing. I don't have a Garmin (but I really want one) so until then I can use this site to see how far I've ran.

After my run I came home, had a hot bath and did some blog reading. I don't know about anyone else, but I always get hungry reading blogs. Everyone posts such great looking food. I know I'm not hungry though so I just chug water to trick my brain! I did eventually give in to a snack though:

Baby carrots and 100 calorie popcorn pack with about 1 tsp maple flakes (this is amazing on popcorn)!!

I read some more blogs and searched for more houses. Then I began watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. If you haven't seen this show yet I highly reccommend it!! I just watched it on Youtube. I watched the first 2 episodes and I'm saving the other one for tomorrow. It's really eye-opening, educational and sad all at once. I love it!! I also snacked on this:

Apple and strawberries topped with cinnamon and Dark Chocolate PB!

This should hold me over til the morning. I know I didn't eat much today but coming off of night shifts is difficult. If I worked tonight I would eat lunch around 2 am, but I don't work tonight so I'll be sleeping (hopefully) around that time. I'll compensate with a big breakfast. I'm planning on making some baked oatmeal that I found on a blog. I'll share it tomorrow! I'm off to bed though to dream about houses and puppies! Goodnight!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Frustrated!

So I'm very frustrated right now becaue I am trying to upload some pics for my blog but it's just not working! Since I'm too busy tomorrow during the day to write I'm just going to have to post with no pictures! Sorry!!! So as you know, I'm working nights this weekend. I brought my Easter cupcakes to work last night and everyone was soooooo happy! That makes me happy that someone else enjoys my baking. Yesterdays eats during the day weren't too exciting but for supper.... now that was amazing!!! I tried PB Fingers  spaghetti squash recipe! Wow sooooo delicious! I just put the squash in the microwave for a minute and then cut it in half (which was kind of difficult but I did it) and then roasted it in the oven at 400 for about 35 minutes. It made a lot of spaghetti squash which is awesome! I put about 1 cup mixed with steamed brocolli, cauliflowe and carrots into a bowl and topped it off with 1.2 cup veggie bolognese. Sprinkled that with a bit of parmesan and dug in!!!! Love this stuff! Great replacement for pasta!

At work I snacked on some fruits (apple and banana) and a mini cupcake before midnight. For lunch (around 1:30 or so) I had chicken stirfry with veggies and shirataki noodles. I made this about 3 weeks ago and froze it in individual portions. It was delicious! I also had some strawberries, pineapple and kiwi. Last night was sooo rough! I was soo tired but tonight seems to be a lot better. I slept until about 4 today which was great! I usually can only sleep until about 2 at the latest. For my breakfast around 5 I made some awesome protein packed pancakes. I got the recipe from this months Oxygen. I really wish I could show the pic because they were like heaven! I'm sure I'll be having these again soon though so I'll make sure to post extra pics then. I made them with 2 tbsp cottage cheese, 2 egg whites, 1 scoop protein powder and about 1 tsp cocoa powder. I topped them with a drizzling of agave, some maple flakes and sliced bananas and strawberries. I also had a few whole strawberries on the side. I'm drooling just writing about them! After those I got ready for work. I headed out the door to get a cup of joe and off to work. Work tonight was a bit hectic but when is it not!!?? I snacked on a Clif bar (in chocolate chip) around 10! For lunch around 1 was leftover spaghetti squash. Same as the night before but still absolutely amazing! I also had an apple. I'm going to be having some strawberries, kiwi and pineapple pretty soon cause I'm starting to get a bit hungry again. I also have some crudites as a hunger attack back-up. Seems like when I work nights I'm hungrier than normal. Not sure if it's because my body is trying to stay awake or if I'm just bored. Whatever it is, I like to have healthy snacks around so I don't find myself lurking around the vending machines at 4 am!!!

Now I'm pretty mad at myself with exercise this week. I haven't been to the gym much. I think twice. I did go for a run on Wednesday but I just keep making excuses. Now tomorrow I won't have any time but I think I might get a gym membership for the gym at work here. It's open almost 24 hours so I won't have any excuses. It'll also be nice that I can go on my breaks when I work nights. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it as soon as tomorrow night but one can only hope right? Anyways, hopefully I get back on track soon. I really want to do my first half-marathon coming up in September so I really need to push myself to get there!

Well I better get off of here and do some work (ie. homework). I have a busy day tomorrow. In between sleep I need to watch my Flyers play the Red Wings in a match for.... case of beer of course!! My friend loves the Wings and I love the Flyers so we've had a little wager going on for a month! Philly better win! Not only cause of the beer but because they are sitting in 8th place right now and if they don't make the playoffs I'll be the saddest girl in Canada!! I also have to go to my parents for Easter dinner tomorrow. I made a special request for my mom's wicked brussel sprouts! Can't wait! Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!! Happy Easter!

PS- Averie @ Love Veggies and Yoga is having a wicked giveaway! Check this out to win a Mini Cuisinart Stainless Steel Food Processor! Thanks Averie!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Easter Treats!



Hey hey! Today was an awesome day!!! I woke up around 11 (didn't get to sleep til 3:30 am...stupid nights) and got a text to go for a lunch date. Mat made me pick where to go! I hate picking restaurants! I'm the worst at it and always feel like what I pick will be horrible. Well this time it was true! We went to Applebees. I ordered the Asian Crunch salad from the under 550 calorie menu. I think it was 340 calories.

                                          
Asian Crunch Salad (picture taken from http://www.applebees.com/)

I was very dissapointed with this salad . It was a grilled chicken breast served over greens, roasted red peppers and cucumbers with an Asian vinagrette dressing. Well the menu also said it would have sugar snap peas and sliced almonds which mine didn't have. The dressing was super salty and waaaaayyyy too much of it. I think it also had a lot of cilantro in it which was not very good. I basically ate the chicken breast and a few pieces of lettuce and called it a day. Mat got the Asiago Peppercorn Steak also from the Under 550 menu. He said his steak was really salty too. His veggies looked good though. We thought that ya, the meals are low calories, but the sodium content is out of this world!! Anyways, prob won't be eating there again! After lunch we headed over to Chapters and Starbucks. I got a Chai Tea Latte (although I just asked for a Chai tea...no latte... oh well I guess God wanted me to have it haha) and Mat got the Dark Cherry Mocha. His looked delicious but I bet mine was better : )! We browsed around Chapters for a bit and then Mat had to go back to work so we parted ways. This was our 3rd date by the way : )!

I headed over to Michaels to pick up some supplies to make some Easter cupcakes. I just got the cupcake liners. Then I headed to Home Outfitters just to browse around and picked up 2 cute little dipping dishes. They're going to be perfect for my ketchup addiction (which by the way, I forgot to mention I found Heinz Organic ketchup)!!!! After that I headed to London drugs. These places are all side by side just to let you know... you may think I drove all around the city!! I found some brown rice crisps (sea salt flavour) and the Clif bars were 3 for $3.00! I picked up 6. One of every flavour. Since I was still hungry from lunch I had the Cool Mint Chocolate flavour! Sooooo good! I also made one last stop to Bulk Barn to get some mini eggs (when actually there were some other kind of chocolate eggs that fooled me) and some agave nectar. Headed home to get on the baking!

I made vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting. This may be the most unhealthy thing ever! But the people I work with keep complaining that I haven't made cupcakes in a while. I made Saskatchewan Roughrider ones for our Grey Cup party. I made some for halloween and some for a co-workers birthday. Now everytime a holiday passes I get in trouble that I didn't make any haha! So I figured Easter couldn't be missed!
Vanilla cupcake batter (in new mixer I got from my parents and a birthday gift)!
Cupcake liners in regular and mini! Fun easter colours!
Chillin' in the oven for 15 minutes!

All done and ready for some decorating!! I made 12 mini cupcakes and 18 regular ones!

Here's the recipe for the vanilla cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk (I used skim)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, softened (I used margarine)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin cups with liners.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Combine milk, oil, and vanilla in a small bowl.
3. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until light and flufft, about 3 minutes.
4. Add eggs, one at a time. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture alternately with the milk mixture in batches.
5. Spoon batter into ziploc bag. Snip a 1/4 inch corner from the bag and fill liners 2/3 full. Bake until golen and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 15-20 minutes.

Next up comes the buttercream icing! This is the best icing ever hands down!!!
Buttercream icing mixed with Kelly Green icing colour (Wilton brand)

Buttercream icing recipe:

2 sticks butter (I used margarine again)
3 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp boiled, hot water
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Beat butter until soft and fluffy.
2. Add remaining ingredients and beat until pale and creamy.
3. Add desired coloring.

Now for the fun part... decorating!!!! I made grass using Wilton's tip #233. You can find instructions on http://www.wilton.com/ for various decorating ideas and instructions on how to make grass. I topped each regular sized cupcake with 3 chocolate eggs and a few easter sprinkles. I put 1 egg on the mini cupcakes along with some sprinkles.

And the finished product....
My camera is horrible and doesn't really do these any justice!!

I brought 6 regulars and 2 minis over to my parents. They love my cupcakes too!! I think the best ones I've ever made are these cookie monster ones! My mom saved one just to show people! It's rock hard but she just thinks it's too cute to throw away (crazy moms haha)!!
Cookie monster cupcake : )

Regretfully the rest of the days eats were not as exciting as cupcakes. I had a buffalo chicken pita from Extreme Pita. It was a whole-wheat pita filled with, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, carrots, broccoli, light mayo and the buffalo chicken. I was really craving a pita for the last couple weeks and wanted something fast so I could get on decorating the cupcakes. I also had a mini cupcake for myself. I'll probably have a snack in a bit before I go to bed... just not sure what though.

When I dropped the cupcakes off at my parents my mom and I spent the rest of the evening searching the MLS for houses. We found a really nice one. It's in a nice neighbourhood and the upstairs has been nicely renovated. The downstairs has a kitchenette, bathroom and bedroom which is perfect for renting it out. That will cover a lot of the mortgage so it'd be a great house. I think we might schedule a viewing of the home for next week so I'll let you know how that goes. Anyways, I'm going to do a bit of homework before heading to bed. Goodnight!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Glorious Finds!

Hey there! So I'm pretty excited about a couple new purchases! This evening I went to Wally world where I bought some fruit and veggies, found sandwich thins (been looking everywhere for these, and they were the last whole wheat package) and got some canned beans and lentils. Then the exciting part! I went to Winners/Home Sense and found this:

Cutest ever "Not a Paper Cup" mug
 
And Chocolate Raspberry coffee!

So ya, it is a bit weird that I'm so excited about this combo. But I have been eyeing these mugs for months and they're all over 20 bucks! This one was $7.99!!! How could I not buy it! And obviously if I'm buying a mug I need some cool coffee to go in it. I made a cup of this when I got home and it is sooooooo good! Tastes like a chocolate bar. Love it :)

While drinking coffee I did some more blog reading (yep I think I'm officially addicted) and munched on these:

Carrot sticks, cucumbers, yellow bell peppers, sugar snap peas (hiding at the bottom) and some grape tomatoes! Had it with 1 Tbsp low-cal peppercorn ranch!

Anyways, I just wanted to share my exciting Wednesday night! Now I'm off to do some homework!

Days off! Yay!!!

Hey there! Happy Wednesday! I just worked 2 nights, have 2 off and then I work 3. And then... week off!!! Yay!!! Every month I get 1 week off after my night shifts. Best thing about working shift work! I usually don't have a whole week off because I pick up overtime but I love it! Anyways, last nights shift was good. Before heading to work I couldn't decide on french toast, pancakes or oats. So I went with the quickest and easiest... Oats!
1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup skim milk and 1/2 smashed banana topped with PB & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams, 1/2 sliced banana and about tbsp chia seeds

This really hit the spot! Soooooo good! I mixed everything together so the PB would melt in! Before heading to work I stopped at Chapters to pick up the new hungry girl book and I got a chai tea latte from Starbucks. This was my first latte and wow!!! Soooo good! Little did I know though this thing had like 250 calories or something. Oh well I can have a treat once in a while! I flipped through the book while at work and found some pretty rockin recipes! Can't wait to try some! I also worked on some homework and did some blog reading. Work was pretty good last night. Not a lot of call bells which is pretty unusual! I hope the weekend is like that!

I woke up around 3 this afternoon (well first it was 1:00 but I went back to sleep for a bit). I read some blogs and then went for a run/walk around the trail behind my apartment. I checked the weather first and it said 12 degrees celsius. I thought "Oh this is perfect for running"! Then I got outside and was nearly blown over by the wind. One negative about Saskatchewan: WINDY!!!!! The open prairies are horrible for the wind to just come on in and wreck a nice day!! Oh well! I ran against the wind for a bit but it was pretty hard so I walked in between. On the way back I ran though! There was quite a few people out walking their dogs. Made me jealous cause I want one sooooo bad!!! Hopefully as soon as I get a house I can get a puppy! My mom said she booked an appointment with the bank for Monday! I'm sooooo excited! I've been searching houses a lot online and keep finding quite a few promising ones. Can't wait to get a realtor and get out there house hunting!!!

For supper (aka breakfast) I made a wonderful banini. My inspiration was this lady! I also had fresh pineapple and an apple.



Whole grains tortilla filled with sliced banana, tbsp PB and cinnamon then topped off with 1/2 tbsp honey. Mmmmmmm best thing ever!!!

Now that I'm all fueled up for the night I think I'm going to head out to Walmart. Not sure what I'm gonna buy but I'm sure I'll find something!!! Have a great evening!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Master Chef!

       

Ok so maybe not so much a master chef... but I did make my first ever roasted chicken yesterday! Sooooo proud of myself! I'll share the intimate details later but first of all I'll tell you about the rest of my yesterday! After breakfast I continued studying and scarfed down leftover butternut squash lasagna for lunch!

Mmmmmm delicious!! I made this about a week ago and froze individual portions for quick microwave meals!

I sped to the campus and wrote my test in record time. Like 15 minutes. But it was only 40 questions and was multiple choice. It was harder than I expected but I still did good on it. It's only worth 20% of the class and I think we get quite a bit of "free" marks on these peer exams we make. Anyways, glad that's over with. Now I have another one next week. Ugh. Good thing I'm working nights this week! I seem to get a lot more studying in!! After the midterm I went to pick up a few groceries and the latest Oxygen magazine (which I haven't even had time to read yet)!! Then I went to the gym to run on the tready (while ooggling an extremely good looking guy haha) and did some abs and arms exercises. Then I just ran into Shoppers where I found my organic garbanzo beans and Amy's soups were still half price (YAY)!!!! Picked up those and went home to begin my chicken roasting adventure! So I called my mom and had her explain the directions to me (only for the 3rd time in less than 24 hours)! I started by washing the chicken and looking for the bag of giblets (gross!!) Turns out my chicken didn't come with that (thank god)!! I put it in the roasting pan (I just picked up a cheap foil one) and salt and peppered the crap out of it! Then I sprinkled some chicken seasoning on it. And by sprinkling I mean showered! Then I popped it in the oven at 350 degrees and some the time for 1 hr 15 min. When the timer went off I added in some brussel sprouts, potatoes and carrots. I let it roast another hour and then added some mushrooms. Then another 20 minutes went by. I took the chicken out to let it rest before digging into it and let the veggies roast another 20 minutes. Here is my finished product!!! :)

                                                      
                                                    

                                             
            

Ok I think this is by far the best thing I've ever made!! It was soooo tender and juicy! And the veggies were amazing! I have sooo many leftovers I'll be in leftover heaven all week! I had my chicken breast with some barbecue sauce! The brussel sprouts were by far my fav thing out of the veggies but the mushrooms were close! Since I don't really like dark meat too much I think I'm going to give it to my dad and my brother before work tonight. I know they'll appreciate it!

So after my amazing chef experience I dreadingly got ready for work and off I went. Looooooonnggg night shift! I was so tired by the time I got home I had been up for almost 24 hours. I was a bit hungry but I couldn't even keep my eyes open so I just went straight to bed. I snacked at work but nothing too exciting. I just brought along some yogurt and berries, apple, banana and some baby carrots. I bring a lot of snacky food to work night shifts so I'm not tempted to get a bag of chips or chocolate from the vending machines. Carrots are the best to keep me awake during a night shift!!

So I slept from about 7:30 to 1:30 this afternoon. I wish I could've slept longer but oh well. This is my last night before a couple days off. Right now I'm trying to decide on what to have for breakfast. Maybe a bowl of oats? French toast? Pancakes? I'm craving it all right now. When that happens I usually just go with a trusty bowl of cereal but I'll let you know what I decide! I'm also roasting my garbanzo beans right now so I have some snackage for work.

And... today is March 30th which means Hungry Girl has a new book out!!

You can buy the book here on Amazon! I'm going straight to Chapters before work to get this baby! I've been waiting forever for it to come out!! Yay!! Finally here!

Anyways, I'm going to start slowly getting ready for work. Have a goodnight!