A Case of the Mondays

Greetings from my couch! I've got the expandable pants on and am listening to nothing except for the birds outside singing and my fingers typing. It's nice to catch a bit of peace and quiet on a Monday.

Maybe it was a case of the Mondays, but I forgot my camera today! So no snack or lunch photos, but here is a photo of me and Dr. Snuggles last night. She was feeling oddly affectionate (hence the blogging with cat on arm last night) and she nestled into my neck. It was pretty cute so I had to catch it for posterity.
I am not wearing any make-up in this photo and I can't believe how clear my skin is. I don't mean to toot my own horn skin, but I really think it's those glorious Green Monsters that have done this.  Praise the Almighty GM!

For breakfast, I had my #2 favourite (#1 favourite breakfast is a GM and toast with nut butter, which I will be feasting on tomorrow). This is 1 cup of spelt, 1/2 cup of non-fat plain yogurt, 1/2 sliced banana, 2 strawberries, a few blueberries, a few raisins, pepitas, and pecans, and a spoonful of raw almond butter. It was so good! I feel like the raisins give this well-rounded cereal mess a nice texture.
For a snack, I had 1/2 cup of 1% cottage cheese with a small handful of frozen blueberries. I am pretty much out of cottage cheese now :(

For a lunch, I had a big salad. It contained the usual assortment of vegetables, as well as some avocado, three sliced figs, a few nuts, and a hard-boiled egg. I had some fig balsamic vinaigrette made by Kraft. This is probably my favourite dressing.

For an afternoon snack, I had my usual coffee and 3:30 apple.

Wow, this is freaking boring without pictures.

For dinner, I made some hummus! I made it using chickpeas I soaked the night before and then simmered in water for about 1/2 hour. I mixed about 3.5 cups of cooked chickpeas with 1/3 cup of olive oil, 1/4 lemon juice, 3 minced garlic cloves, 3 Tbsps of tahini and that's it. Writing this out, I realize I forgot to add any spices. D'oh! It still tasted good, though.
I had 1 cup of Campbell's Healthy Request Garden Vegetable soup and a sandwich with hummus, spinach, tomato and cheddar cheese on toasted whole wheat.

Then I had more of my delicious chemical chocolate! I think I feel a stomach cramp now. Meh. It'd be worth it!

Now I am going to spend the entire night rotting my brain on television. Don't be jealous!

Organic bliss where you'd least expect it!

Please excuse the time on this post. I was very clever and uploaded the photos from my camera (takes forever!) and then saved this blog draft while I went out shopping at Walmart. You would not believe the awesome deals I scored tonight! But I will save those for tomorrow's post.

This morning began with my good buddy, the Green Monster. It's getting to the point where I feel I need one of these everyday. Either one of these or a big, green salad. I think that officially makes me a health nut, doesn't it?  This GM is composed of:

• 1/2 banana
• 4 strawberries
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 scoop of hemp protein powder
• 2 big handfuls of spinach

I had it with one of my homemade blueberry scones which I had frozen from last week's batch.

I threw caution to the wind and decided to make a cup of green tea once I got to work. It wasn't cold or rainy or anything, I just felt like a little pick-me-up.
For a snack, I had some strawberries...
And a few cashews and walnuts.
For lunch, we had a pizza party at work. If you raised $25 for our annual walkathon (I work for a charity), then you got to partake. I brought a salad but had one small slice of veggie pizza. This salad is your basic mix of spinach and vegetables with some feta cheese, goji berries, raisins, and walnuts. I had a tiny bit of a sundried tomato and oregano dressing on this.
For an afternoon snack, a good old 3:30 apple. I arrived home from work to my man cooking meat in the backyard. He works best when dealing with an open flame! I did not have any of the angus burgers he was cooking. I had another one of my overly-processed yet satisfyingly delicious sweet italian "sausages" with some grilled veggies, some leftover bean salad, and two slices of whole grain bread. This filled me up and yet I had a sweet tooth I couldn't shake! I had one of these: I bought these because of the packaging. I'm being honest! "A taste of life" sounds...tasty. I want some of that.

This definitely appeals to my new age/hippie food side. The ingredient list isn't half-bad...

Although there are some weirdo words in there. It's kind of amazing how much soy is in EVERYTHING.
They aren't too bad, but I wouldn't buy them again.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow. It's my first half-day Friday at work (each summer, we get Friday afternoons off!) so I am going to hit up The Big Carrot, my favourite health food store, as well as my local farmer's market which officially begins the season! I anticipate a great day of food ahead.

Thriving

Another day, another dollar! Yep, today is pay day which is always nice, but tomorrow my first mortgage payment comes automatically out of my account. And so I begin the next 26 years of my life.

On a lighter note, I ate some good food today. Makes the "signing of one's life away" a bit more palatable.

For breakfast, I had my favourite cereal combo:

• 1 cup Spelt
• 1/2 cup plain non-fat yogurt
• 1/2 banana
• 2 strawberries
• Some pecans, walnuts, goji berries, pepitas and raisins
• Spoonful of almond butter

It was as good as it sounds...and looks!

Strawberries are on sale right now, 2 lbs for $3.77 so I have stocked up. I had some more berries for a morning snack.

You will never in a million years guess what I had for lunch! Ok, I am not placing money on that bet, because I ended up having more of the curried eggplant dish. I think there is one serving left in my fridge but I'm not touching it. Either the hubs eats it or I have to throw it out. This was a tasty dish, but I have definitely OD'd on it. I am looking forward to a salad tomorrow!

This afternoon, I munched on this little container filled with every seed, dried fruit and nut product I currently have in my pantry (except for dates! I like to enjoy those on their own). This contains pepitas, raisins, goji berries, walnuts, cashews and pecans. I am constantly impressed by how filling nuts are. Are they a "superfood"? I am going to say yes.

Dinner contained no curry or eggplant, praise the Lord. 

This is one of my go-to meals. We have here a baked sweet potato topped with non-fat plain yogurt (I had yogurt at all three meals today!); some steamed asparagus and zucchini; and baked beans with chopped up veggie italian sausage in it.

The sausage was Yves brand, probably the most common brand for veggie meat delights in Canada. I think I enjoy their veggie ground meat at least once a week.

As I become more educated about food, I realize that I want to decrease my intake of soy, especially highly processed soy products like this. The ingredient list is pretty complex with many scary, Frankenstein words. But then I look at the nutrition facts and I shed a tear. 22 grams of protein!?  Come to mama! <--?

   This dinner stuffed me full. I haven't felt this full since I began eating healthier early last month. I am going to listen to my body and forego a snack this evening. I am sticking to some lemon green tea, my expandable pants, and this book I picked up at the library after work: The Thrive Diet: the whole foods way to losing weight, reducing stress, and staying healthy for life.  Just looking at the Table of Contents gets me excited.  It is going to be a scintillating night.

Food is what makes the ride worthwhile

Since the hubs tried his first Green Monster, I had to capture the experience on film. This was taken about 40 seconds after he got out of bed. I am a GREAT wife (yes, he is drinking it out of a Corona bottle that was blown into a glass!)

This was taken pre-taste. Post-taste was a bit too difficult to get on camera because there was too much Green Monster Action.

So another Monday has come and another Monday has almost gone. I am looking forward to an evening of reality television (Intervention is one of my favourite shows!).

I started the week off right with a Breakfast Cookie.  This one contained:

• 1/3 cup quick oats
• 1/2 banana
• 1 Tbsp milk
• 1 spoonful of flax meal
• 1 spoonful of peanut butter
• 1 Tbsp pepitas
• 1/2 Tbsp unsweetened dessicated coconut

Good stuff when paired with a bowl of strawberries.

For a snack, I tapped into a new container of cottage cheese topped with frozen blueberries.

For lunch, I had some leftover bean salad with some spinach and tomato. Whenever I make a batch of bean salad, I feel like it lasts for days and I have some at every meal. Beans beans the magical fruit, the more you eat, I am going to stop right there :)

(I also had two slices of ezekiel bread with lunch)

My afternoon snack was a good old-fashioned apple.  It was kind of on the small side.  I did not approve of this!

For dinner, I made the curried eggplant dish.  It turned out very good!  I subbed in a can of diced tomatoes and I didn't have fresh basil on hand so I used dried, but overall it was very tasty.  My only complaint is that it wasn't filling enough.  I had 1/2 cup of quinoa which I thought would be enough (it is a super grain, after all), but nope.  So I had another spoonful of the eggplant mixture which helped a tiny bit.
And to finish off the day, I had a cup of lemon green tea with a ginger molasses cookie (one of the ones I baked on Friday that did NOT get burned) and a strawberry. With the flower I received at the bridal shower, this makes for a rather quaint photo op.

This is a very sweet quote, although I find it equally as sweet if you replace "love" with "food"!

So much Internet, so little time!

A few days away from my beloved Macbook and I am trying to catch up on my favourite livejournals, health food blogs, and - out of pure necessity -  the celebrity gossip!  Without the Internet, cable, telephone or really even clocks around to tell the time, I've been able to keep productive and focussed.  I was up, dressed, had breakfast, swept the floor, and baked a batch of scones all before 10:30 am.  This is VERY out of character.  No worries, though, because now that I am re-connected to the outside world, I will be sure to stop productivity altogether!

Today was another "good" day, in terms of healthy eating.  Having the day off from work definitely helps with that.  For breakfast, I had 3/4 cup spelt flakes with 1/2 cup plain non-fat yogurt, one sliced banana, and some raw trail mix on top.  It was a very satisfying breakfast.  It was my first time trying spelt but not my last!  Oh no.  Not my last.

We had the cable/phone/Internet installed and then went out to run errands, so I didn't really have a proper lunch.  For my first snack, I had an apple and almond butter (polished off that jar, onto the next!)

For my second snack, I was stuck in a car so I was forced against my will to eat a delicious Larabar.  It had chili and cocoa in it.  I approve of this combination.

By the time I got home, it was almost 3:00 pm and I was STARVING (caps necessary).  I had one of the blueberry scones I baked earlier in the day.  I used my favourite scone recipe from the cookbook Vegan with a Vengeance but I attempted to health-ify the recipe.  I substituted 1.5 cups of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat, and subbed 1/6th of the oil with apple sauce.  They were pretty good for being health-ified!  I had one along with the last of the chickpea and olive salad.

I was still hungry, so I finished off some pasta salad too.  I probably didn't need this, but I wanted it.

For dinner, I tried out some new recipes.  Since I've forfeited the idea of kale in Green Monsters, I decided to cook it with some lemon and garlic.  I added too much lemon juice and it was SOUR.  I made this Greek Frittata from a recipe in a recent issue of Women's Health.  Only 206 calories per serving and I get to eat eggs and feta cheese?  Sign me up.  It was really delicious.  And, lastly, I had a simple baked sweet potato topped with some non-fat plain yogurt and cinnamon.  Triple deliciousness.

Now I am just drinking some lemon green tea and eagerly anticipating the premiere of Jon and Kate Plus 8.  Or should that be Jon Plus 4 and Kate Plus 4?  I have to admit, I am a sucker for other people's drama.  It is even better when it is televised.

The first post

Greetings Internet!

Welcome to my food blog! I've been reading other food blogs for a while (beginning with Self Magazine's Eat Like Me) but only now am I embarking on one of my own. My intention is to write about my journey towards utter and complete health, happiness, and enlightenment, but in all likelihood I will just rave about the wonders of oatmeal (Steel Cut vs. Quick: The Untold Tale)

I hope to write about more than just the record of my food intake. As fascinating as it is to know how many almonds I ate in one day, I'd like to branch out a bit, test out my writing skills, and see if I can learn (and teach?) about health and nutrition. For today, though, I write about what I ate. Put on your seat belts, because I am going to BLOW YOUR MIND (or not).


This is what I had for breakfast today! This is called a "Breakfast Cookie", one of those secret recipes you really only get to hear about if you are privy to the food blog world. This is an ingenious idea. Last night, I mixed 1/3rd cup of oatmeal with 1 Tbsp of almond butter (the superior of the nut butters!), 1 Tbsp of milk, 1/2 mashed banana, and some cinnamon and a few raisins. I mixed this all up in a bowl and then spread it out on a little plate using the back of my spoon. I put it in the fridge to set overnight and voila, this was the end product. It was even tastier than I was expecting and will definitely become a mainstay in my breakfast repertoire. I had this with a few strawberries and a cup of coffee.

For a snack, I had an apple and a cheese string.


For lunch, I had a classic salad made with spinach, pepper, broccoli, and tomato. For protein, I added a lump of homemade hummus and a few almonds. For pep, I also added some chopped dried apricot. I had this with balsamic vinaigrette. I love balsamic vinaigrette because it really accents the flavour of vegetables instead of masking it.

Without fail, I have a coffee from Starbucks after lunch everyday. I live in a Starbucks-dense area, so how can I resist? A human impossibility. The secret is to use a grande sized travel mug. I order a "Tall" coffee every day, but with the discount with the travel mug (10 cents), the barista usually just fills it to the top. Not bad for $1.68. There are worse addictions out there.

For an afternoon snack, I had a couple of medjool dates, a few cashews, some almonds, and a few goji berries. It was the poor man's trail mix, although with the price of dates, cashews, and goji berries, it really isn't the poor man's trail mix. More like the inventive man's trail mix.


I was STARVING when I got home tonight. I shouldn't complain, since I get home before 5:00 pm (for one day longer!). I had some pizza! For those that don't speak Italian, this translates to "four cheese pizza" (are you impressed with my translating skills?) In the olden days, I would have eaten this entire pizza in one sitting. It's a thin crust, so what do you expect? In an attempt to be healthy, I had 1/3rd of it. I have to say, it was difficult not to go back for seconds!


(I am new to this thing and have no idea how to flip this picture. Baby steps).And this horrible looking thing is The Green Monster, made famous on http://ohsheglows.com/. Colour aside, I have kind of fallen in love with these things. There is something about drinking kale that is so wrong, it's right. This monster was made with:
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1/2 cup coconut water
- 1/2 cup canned peaches
- 1/2 cup grapes
- 1/2 banana
- Wow, there are a lot of halves in this monster
- 1 Tbsp flax meal
- 3 leaves of kale

It was delicious, although somewhat...chunky. Need to mix longer next time!


Ta da!


As tasty as this was, I was STILL hungry, so I had 3/4 cup of baked beans in tomato sauce from the night before. It hit the spot. Beans always do! <-- Not sure what I really mean by that.

I can already feel the positive effects of keeping an online food journal. I was pretty tempted by that pizza, but staying accountable via this journal kept me on track. Having the beans instead of seconds on the pizza was a healthier option. I deserve some sort of gold star for that.

Or maybe some cake? :)