WIAW and Thinking Out Loud Combo 13/02/2014

Well hello there!  And hello Thursday 😀  I have had a pretty busy work day on Wednesday i.e. it is currently 7:45 pm and I am still working (at home).  Le sigh…..  So how is your week going?  I personally am shocked that we are one day from Friday WHOOP!  Does anyone have any plans for Valentines Day?  I will address our plans in todays combo of…

AND

Thank you to both Jenn and Amanda for hosting these fantastic link ups!  I am going to try and combine these two fantastic days into one post!Okay well here is my first random thought… 1) Why is wordpress centring all my text?  Frustrating…..2) I am so proud of how Canada is doing in the Olympics!  We are putting up a really good showing for these games 😀  I can’t wait to watch some more events!Now how about some eats from Tuesday!Breakfast!  Overnight oats with PB, black berries, and strawberries.  All topped off with some milk and a hot coffee on the side.  Perfect start to the day!SnackA really good apple!  I also had another cup of coffee.  And then the saddest part of the day happened…the last sip of coffee 😦Thinking out loud 3) I really like milk in my coffee but not cream because I don’t like the taste.  People always look at me funny if I say they offer a coffee and if they only have cream and no milk that I will take it black.  And then I always feel judged….Thought 4) I am pretty sure I also ate a banana in there as well.  Until a couple of years ago I used to HATE bananas, as in they made me gag.  Now I eat at least one a day, but only if they are ripe and getting little brown spots on the peelLunchNot very exciting, but in the wrap was tuna, cheese, some veggies, and mustard.  I always heat them up so that the cheese gets melty.  On the side were some veggies, Food Should Taste Good chips, and hummus.  Thought 5) I love salads but I can’t even try to think about having one for lunch these days.  It’s just too cold for me to crave cold food.  I even have to warm up sandwiches for the to seem appealing.Thought 6) Even thought it’s been -26oC every morning this week John and I have biked in.  I can’t even describe how much better it is than paying $12 each per day and cramming onto the train.  Plus it gets the blood pumping in the morning.Afternoon SnackA triple chocolate chunks ahoy cookie (or two ;)) and a cold glass of grapefruit juice mixed with soda water.  Perfect for an afternoon pick me up!  I am pretty sure I snacked on a few more chips as well.Thought 7) How do early birds catch the worms in the morning on freezing winter mornings when the ground is frozen?  It is this thought that makes me think we should all get up as late as possible in the winter.  Because the early bird starves to death in the cold.Thought 8) My blog celebrated it’s first birthday last weekend.  I am so happy that I have been consistent with it.  It’s been so much fun and I have met so many neat people 😀  It really is a bright spot of my day to sit down and blog.

Dinner

Dinner was an awesome chicken burger on a whole wheat bun.  On the side was a sweet potato with salsa and greek yogurt. I also had a big side salad for some greens.

Thought 9) I love ending my nights with tea.  I think I have tried all of Davids Tea desert teas!

Thought 10) John is now showing off his karate skills… makes me laugh.  Love him!

Bedtime snackA home made granola bar!

Well that 10 thoughts and my eats!  I hope you have a great week day 😀

Questions:

1) Tell me one random fact about yourself.

2) Do you have a favourite olympic event?

 

 

WIAW 22/01/2014 and Oh the Injury!

As I was writing the title of my post I almost fell out of my chair, how can it possibly be Jan 22 already?  It felt like Christmas and New Years were just last week!  Time flies when you’re having fun eh?

I haven’t mentioned it yet, but I have been battling some really bad IT band issues this past week or so.  It was getting so bad that it was actually hurting just walking down the street.  I am putting it down to overuse and not a lot of muscle/band TLC.  I think I have it on the mend now but I have been really missing the running.  I have been on the spin bikes quite a bit the last few days and I am just so glad for my iPad and Netflix.  I am running out of training ideas though.  I am getting board of core/upper body workouts 😦  I guess if I look on the bright side, I am still able to do those!  But I am still a little frustrated…

But lets move on to more important things, like FOOD!  HAPPY WIAW Sunday!  Thanks for  hosting Jenn!!

Well now, I love posting my weekend eats once in a while.  I always love my food a little more when I put a little more effort into it.

Breakfast

John made pancakes… I ate pancakes!  These ones are so good.  They are made with mashed banana and whole wheat flour among some other tasty ingredients.  While they were cooking I plopped in some blueberries.  I topped mine with peanut butter, a little maple syrup, coconut, and chia seeds.  On this side I seared apples slices dusted with cinnamon.  I wish all mornings could start like this.

These actually held me over until Lunch!

I guess the filling was shy and didn’t want to be seen!  In the wrap was tuna, cheese, mustard, tomato, pickle, and spinach.  I decided to grill the wrap and get the cheese all melty inside.  I also had some leftover salad on the side.  This made for a really filling lunch but I was still ready for a mid afternoon Snack

A nice hot cup of tea and on of these home made granola bars (x2).  Seriously like I’ve said before, these things are addictive.  I think I will need to make a new batch in the near future.

Before I knew it the day was almost done and it was time to sit down to Dinner

For tonights meal I made black bean burgers topped with brie cheese and served in a whole wheat bun.  These things are really pretty tasty and I had to go back for another patty.  We also had sweet potato and salad.  And I can’t finish a day without some form of Dessert

Home made chocolate that John made on Saturday.  He is really turning out to be quite the chef!

Questions

1) Have you ever had an IT band injury?  What did you find helped it to heal faster?

2) What was the best thing you ate this last week?

WIAW 15/01/2014 With a Little Extra Thrown In

How is the week half way through already!?  I feel like I just woke up and it was Monday.  I know I love weekends but I don’t really enjoy when the weekdays go by in a blur.  In an interesting note today I have had the opportunity to take up horse back riding lessons again.  I used to ride and compete back in Jr. High through to University but had to give it up as it became a huge financial commitment.  I think that if I start again, I will make sure that it’s very casual (in formality that is) at least starting out.  To be honest I have missed it like crazy so hopefully I can be back up in the saddle again 🙂

Well seeing as it is Wednesday there should be a little focus on the eats of Wednesday Tuesday.  Thanks Jenn at Peas and Crayons and all who participate for making WIAW such a success!

Breakfast

Before I left for work I did snack on a handful of cereal as I put my actual breakfast together that I eat at work.  That breakfast was coffee followed by a yogurt, fruit, and cereal bowl.  I only had half the banana in the bowl so I saved the other half for a little way into the morning.  It was very satisfying and kept me full until it was snack time.

(old pictures because I was to hungry to remember to take any this morning)

Snack

The morning snack today was a large apple

(file footage again)

followed by some leftover cold pizza that John made on the weekend

(first actual picture of the day. Looks appetizing doesn’t it 😉

Seeing as this WIAW involves fitness as well as food I will include my workout.  Around lunch time I headed to the gym to hit up the treadmill for a 10km run.  I just have to mention again how awesome the ipad mini is and how amazing Netflix is.  It made the run fly by!  But I really can’t wait to get outside running again.

By the time I got back to the office I was more than ready for…

LunchIt sorta fell apart but in the wrap is leftover salmon from Monday nights dinner along with some cheese, veggies and mustard.  On the side were some veggies, hummus, and some Food Should Taste Good Chips (love ’em).

That kept me going for most of the afternoon aside from half a granola bar that I had but didn’t really like, hence only eating half.  It was a Fibre One bar I found in the office kitchen but it tasted kind of chemically and artificial.

After a packed train ride home and a really busy work day I was able to get a little creative in the kitchen and whipped up a chicken Masala from a recipe I had found in my Quinoa Revolution Cookbook —> highly recommend this book for nutritious and quick dinners.

DinnerIn the bowl is the Chicken Masala with Quinoa underneath and a side salad.

hmmmm wasn’t fun part of this WIAW button?  hmmmmmmmmm does taking down the Christmas tree count?  No, I didn’t think so either but it had to get done.  Bye bye tree

I am writing this Tuesday night but I am thinking that the night will end with a little TV/Tea/Snacking time.

Have a great Wednesday!

Questions

1) Have you ever tried Quinoa?  Do you like it?  I have to say I LOVE it!

2) When do you take down your Christmas tree?

3) How do you usually end your nights?

WIAW 01/08/2014

Hi there an happy hump day!  How was your Tuesday?  Mine was pretty average aside from a very early wake up call (5 am and I are not friends).  I have to say that this first week back after Christmas break is DRAAAAAAAAGING and I already can’t wait for the weekend.

Well it sure feels like a long time since I was able to partake in a food filled WIAW!  And to be honest I really missed them, so here we go!  P.S. thanks to Jenn over at peas and crayons for hosting and all the other bloggers that participate!

Breakfast

The best meal of the day in my opinion started out with a coffee (uhhhhh where are the red cups!?) and was quickly followed by…

A big bowl of overnight oats that I topped with raspberries, blackberries, peanut butter, a little granola for crunch, and some almond milk.

I was feeling a little hungry still after that so munched on a banana.  Although this one looks a little green (to me) it was actually really sweet and tasty!

I worked through the morning until my stomach started grumbling around 11am so I grabbed my massive apple!  Envious of my Envy apple?

After working another hour I hit the gym for a 20min elliptical followed by an a shoulder and arm workout on the NTC app that were about 15min long each and had me working up a good sweat.

After a super quick shower I got back to the office and immediately warmed up my….

Lunch

A recycled photo but it was basically my black bean chilli with quinoa and a wrap on the side.

After working a few more hours I broke for a snack break

First up was a delicious orange and some veggies with humus (not pictured) I was still hungry so I put some yogurt and milk into a mug and topped it with some more granola (I am beginning to realize that I eat a lot of oats everyday).

This saw me to the end of the work day and through to dinner (which was really only a couple of hours away)

Dinner

I love a quick dinner and enjoy them even more when they are packed with veggies and shrimp!  I thought together a fast stir fry of a multitude of veggies I had sitting in our fridge along with a heaping helping of brown rice.  It turned out really really well!

Bedtime Snack

I love having a good snack before bed.  If I don’t have one I wake up absolutely starving!  This time while watching a little breaking bad I had another massive apple with peanut butter and a hot cup of this tea (I am in love with it by the way!).  If you like chocolate and coconut please try it!

Questions:

1) Do you still have the red cups at your Starbucks?

2) What is you favourite flavour(s) of tea?

 

My Better Late Than Never WIAW 18/12/2013

Well as I promised I am back with my official WIAW with eats actually from Wednesday.  Thank you to Jenn over at peas and crayons for hosting this lovely link up!

So waking up today we found to our surprise (this is to sounds as sarcastic as possible) snow…. and cold… and more snow… sigh….  I really shouldn’t complain because I want a white Christmas but I really just wish the roads would clear up so I could ride my bike to work again!

Any who….

Pre-breakfast… 

An old photo but I had a Christmas orange and a handful of homemade granola (recipe coming your way soon!)  

After braving the weather I decided I deserved a Starbucks… a Blonde Roast coffee topped with Cinnamon  

Which accompanied my Breakfast…

overnight oats topped with apple, pomegranate seeds, peanut butter, milk, and more homemade granola.

This was shortly followed by a massive banana

Appetizing no?

That held me over pretty good until about 11.  So I thought I should have a substantial snack since I was hitting the gym at lunch.

Morning Snack…Plain yogurt, plain greek yogurt, and ricotta cheese.  I topped that with more pomegranate seeds, frozen fruit (thawed) and more granola HA I love the stuff!

After a good workout (5km run in 25min and a NTC arms workout) it was time for…

Lunch

Left over Black Bean soup, some pita crackers, whole wheat toast topped with hummus and an apple.  I also had a few handfuls of veggies in our office kitchen.  I was then craving something sweet…

A cherry caramel chocolate from Purdy’s and a couple dried apricots.  I later went back to the kitchen to munch on some peanut brittle.  That seemed to tame the sweet tooth.

We were let out of work early do to the snow storm so I shuffled my way to the mall to do some Christmas shopping before heading home.  It was semi successful.

I threw together a quick Brinner!

On the plate was a 1egg and 3? egg white omelette stuffed with sautéed veggies and cheese, toast with peanut butter and banana, and a side salad.  This was good but I am still have the munchies.  There will likely be some more food consumed this evening in the form of cookies or milk and cereal.

Well that’s my day of eats.  I hope everyone else had some pretty tasty food!

Questions:

1) Brinner (breakfast for dinner) yay or nay?

2) Favourite pre/post workout fuel?

3) Do you get munchie at night time?

WIAW 11/12/2013 Done a Little Different

Hello all!  How is everyone today?  I can’t wait to share my eats the last couple of days with you.  I have been really bad at taking consistent pictures of an entire day of eats, so this WIAW (thanks again to Jenn for hosting!) is going to be s buffet of what I have been enjoying lately.  I really want to focus this post around dinner last night as it was amazingly good!  So here we go…

Breakfast…

Has typically been of the overnight oat verity, which you can find on my recipe page, and coffee.  These oats had coco powder in the mix topped with some frozen strawberries and fresh banana.  The berries are so far out of season here that the ones we do get taste like water so I am know opting for the frozen berries.

Snacks…

On the snacking front I have devouring fresh fruit.  Apples, bananas, Christmas Oranges… you name it and I’ve been loving it.

Lunch…

 Lunch this week has been left over vegetable and bean soup I made on the weekend.  I usually pair this with a nice thick slice of bread or rice noodles to make it a little more hearty.

Okay I wanted to rush through those meals to get to last nights dinner at UNA Pizza and Wine where we went for John’s birthday dinner.

Dinner…

Was AMAZING as it always is there.  UNA doesn’t take reservations and is really popular so we were planning on heading to Ox and Angela (UNA’s sister restaurant) for a drink as we assumed there would be over a half an hour wait.  As it turned out they could seat us in 10 minutes at the bar, for tables for 3 or more you were looking at a 40 min to get a table.  This was our first time sitting at the bar and it was great and so much fun to watch them cook as they have a half open kitchen concept.

John and I decided we needed something to start to we opted to go for the muscles, a glass of red for me, and a beer for John.

The muscles were fabulous and so fresh!  The broth they were cooked in was so tasty.  I think it had some coconut milk in it along with corn, tomatoes, fennel, and topped with a little toasted bread.  John finished the broth like a soup at the end.

For our mains we decided to go for a pizza each (you only live once!)John had the pizza on the top.  It was loaded with cremini mushrooms, arugula, and Asiago cheese.  He also decided to add some prosciutto to his creation which in my opinion and the barman’s was a great choice!

I had the pizza on the bottom called the Tiki

It was topped with shaved pineapple, prosciutto, and a jalapeno oil.  I have had this pizza twice now and have loved it every time!

John completely finished his pizza and I polished off 3/4 of mine and boxed up the rest to enjoy today!  We were both so stuffed that we couldn’t even look at a dessert menu but they ones they were serving to other tables looked delectable… next time!

We had a great night and will be back again and again and again

Questions:

1) What has been the best thing you’ve eaten this week?

2) Do you ever get stuck on a certain food and need it all the time?

3) What are your favorite pizza toppings?

WIAW #4

Happy Wednesday everyone!  So I was wondering if you only have a 4 day work week, when does hump day fall?  So as I mentioned last week, I wanted to post my eats from a weekend day for my WIAW this week.  So below are my eats from Sunday!  Thanks to Jenn for hosting!

Enjoy…

A BIG BREAKFAST

1 egg and 2 egg white scramble, half a giant apple, a slice of toast with peanut butter and banana, some yogurt with fruit and cereal, a grapefruit (didn’t have room for it), and my coffee on the side.  Maybe a little excessive haha

A very light bike ride and read session

LUNCH

Lunch came in various phases, carrots (why is my hand the same colour?), a salmon salad wrap with avocado, tomato, spinach, mustard and goat cheese, and of course some salsa on the side.  I also rummaged around the fridge and found some left over salad that I drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

SNACK

A cup of movie night tea from David’s Tea, and a sliced apple with peanut butter

DINNER

And now we come to the amazing part of the day for eats!  John cooked up a beer can chicken that was SO moist and delicious.  He also made the most amazing rice salad and grilled pepper.  Where did this boy come from 😉 ?

Well that concludes my day of eats!  I hope yours were just as tasty!

Questions:

1) what is your favorite way to eat chicken?  I think mine is roasted or in burger form.

2) Do you ever go to the gym to read? I find it really makes a work out fly by PLUS I get my reading done

3) What is your favorite weekend meal?  I am torn between dinner and breakfast!  But really I love them all

XXOO

MY FIRST WIAW…FROM TUESDAY

Well happy Hump Day!  Usually I am not super gung-ho on a Wednesday but EEEEEK I’m not going to lie, I have been waiting for today for a while now!  Want to know why????

IT’S MY FIRST WIAW and I am just going to jump into it….

BREAKFAST-My favorite meal of the day

Breakfast this morning was a bowl of overnight oats with sliced pear.  On top I added some dried coconut, peanut butter and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  On the side I had an orange and my first cup of coffee for the day.  No, the pencil crayons were not part of the spread 😉

Snack

I really do love my snacks!  A nice cold gala apple with Kashi crakers and a hand full of Annie’s Graham bunnies.

Over the lunch hour I had to run to the bank with John to get him joined up to my bank account.  We have only tried to do this about 6 times now!  So by the time I sat down to eat lunch I was STARVING!

Lunch

On the menu a bowl of black bean soup (I ran out of black beans and had to use Kidney beans, still tasted good!) topped with more Kashi crackers and another apple.  If an apple a day keep the Dr. away I should be good for a while!

I got the munchies again around 3pm.  Enter snack number 2

Snack 2

Some farmers market carrots, zucchini coins and a few green grapes.  To my sadness I discovered I was out of humus so the veggies were a little lonely.

So as I said yesterday, I was feeling a little uninspired for…

dinner yesterday.  In the end I just defrosted some pasta sauce I had in the freezer, whipped up some whole wheat spaghattini and made a salad.  Not too shabby, but friends I did drop the ball and forgot to take a photo of dinner 😦  Oh well, one missed meal isn’t too bad for my first WIAW eh?

After dinner John and I went for a lovely evening walk.  It was pretty dark but there was a lovely sunset remnant.  I will be sad when the time change comes next month and it gets dark at 5pm.

After we got back from the walk I worked a little on formatting my blog, adding a recipe (check it out!) and then crashed in front of the TV with some cereal and milk and a hot cup of tea.

What a great WIAW.

Questions:

What is your favorite meal of the day?

Do you like time changes?

XXOO