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New ‘Do + New-To-Me Recipes
Peek-a-boo!
I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!! Mine has been pretty low-key. Exactly what I needed after a couple hectic weeks.
Instead of hitting the streets of Toronto Friday night, I opted to lay in bed and read in my flannels. I’m currently hooked on this:
Between reading blogs and fitness/nutrition literature, I’ve reintroduced myself to adult fiction (there were a few years of only young adult fiction :P ). I’ve gone through about six books since June. At this rate, I’ll blow through The Lovely Bones in just a couple more days. Highly recommended!
The plan was to go for a run as soon as I woke up Saturday morning. But my body did that “awww hell nah” thing. So I opted to wake up slowly with a big ole’ bowl of oats.
Mmmm… It’s not often I have hot oatmeal anymore!
Topped with Lori’s pear cranberry jam + peanut butter. I let it digest for a couple hours and then hit the road running. I still wasn’t feeling very motivated, but seeing as I was out of coffee, I told myself I could stop for some on my way home.
Having a Starbucks at the end of my running route could be dangerous! I’m trying to get into the habit of running on the weekends. Saturday I covered 4.5 miles in 45 minutes (I’m a solid 10-min pacer no matter what) along the lakefront trail. Unfortunately I was troubled with all kinds of pains. Knee pain during the run, hip pain lasting all day after the run. I need new running shoes!!! But I’m holding out until I get my new employee discount at the running store ;)
I came home and put a bag of frozen corn on my hip, then incorporated it into lunch.
Corn & Cheddar Omelette. Mixed up a couple whole eggs with egg whites, milk and corn kernels. Then added old cheddar and Frank’s hot sauce for the filling. Awesome combo!
Saturday’s main event was a brand new haircut!!
I feel so narcissistic for posting this :P I’d been tweeting about it though so I wanted to show the results! Nothing major in terms of length or style. But my last haircut cost me $12 and was so bad I didn’t like wearing my hair down. This new one was done by a legit big-city stylist thanks to my big sis <3 He kept calling my bangs a “fringe” and even showed me how to style it wavy without blow-drying. Most hairdressers insist I wear it straight!
On the way home I passed this scene:
I try to act all blasé about seeing TV and movie sets in Toronto. I mean, I probably come across one once every few weeks now. But the curious person in me absolutely loves it. It looked like they were filming a winter scene. Some dude was shovelling snow on the street and all extras were in winter coats. Of course, the Toronto International Film Festival has also been going on!
Seeing as Sunday promised to be a busy day, I opted to do my weekly food preparations Saturday night. First up: Janetha’s Spinach Turkey Muffins.
- 20 oz lean ground turkey breast
- 3 cups fresh spinach, chopped
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- 4 egg whites
- 1 package knorr vegetable soup mix
- 1/4 cup ground flax seed
- cumin, thyme, salt & pepper to taste (eyeballed it all)
Mix it all up and scoop into a muffin pan. I used a pound of turkey and adjusted the measurements a little. Also, I omitted the flax and added a pinch of dried garlic flakes.
Baked at 350F for 45 minutes. They came out perfectly!
Not pictured is all the ketchup that accompanied these babies. Ketchup is a must.
The veggie soup mix really gave these meat muffins a little extra sumthin’. Thanks for the awesome recipe JG!
Next up is Irish Brown Soda Bread. I found this recipe through Madeline who loves quick breads as much as I do ;)
From My Recipes
Yield: 1 loaf (about 1 3/4 lb.)
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cold butter or margarine
- 2 cups whole-wheat flour
- 1/4 cup regular or quick-cooking rolled oats
- 1 1/2 cups plain nonfat yogurt
- Milk
Preparation
1. In a bowl, mix all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture forms fine crumbs. Stir in whole-wheat flour and oats.
2. Add yogurt; stir gently. If mixture is too dry to hold together, stir in milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, just until dough holds together; it should not be sticky.
3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead gently 5 times to make a ball. Set on a lightly greased baking sheet. Pat into a 7-inch circle. With a floured knife, cut a large X on top of loaf.
4. Bake in a 375° oven until well browned, about 40 minutes. Cool on a rack. Serve warm or cool.
As far as I can tell, the only difference between brown soda bread and the regular variety is that it’s partially whole wheat with a little sugar and oatmeal added.
Uh-mazing. Because it’s a soda bread, it has a taste reminiscent of biscuits or scones. The crusty exterior is the best part though. Ohmy.
I had a piece immediately out of the oven slathered in butter. It’s the one rule to making your own bread at home.
I was stoked to have more of the bread for breakfast this morning. But I couldn’t decide what to top my toast with…
On one side of the ring we have more of Lori’s cranberry pear jam.
On the other side was butter + vegemite.
The bread was even more amazing toasted because it’s so crumbly. Both toppings were winners!
Of course, what’s a Sunday morning without a little bacon and eggs ;)
From breakfast I went on to a free Vinyasa Yoga class at Lululemon which was amazing per usual. Then it was off to my first shift at my new job! I’m still personal training full-time, but now I’m working in a specialty running store 2-3 shifts a week as well. A little extra money, a way to meet people, and something to keep me out of trouble. I already learned so much about running gaits and how running shoes are constructed. Expect a post on it once I finish my training!
And with that, I am off to prepare my meals for my 15 hour work day tomorrow. Yes. You read that right. I’m looney tunes.
!!Don’t forget Project Food Blog voting opens on Monday! Click here if you would like to vote for me. You can check out my contestant profile here. Or read my first challenge entry: Ready, Set, Blog! I’ll be annoying you about this daily – thank you for any and all support!
Question of the Day: What’s your favourite thing to eat on toast? Mine is soft poached eggs. Although I supposed it’s something I dip my toast into ;)
The Cat, The ‘Hood and The Goals
Remember that elusive cat I mentioned in yesterday’s post? Well, I went to bed armed with my camera last night ready for when he made his appearance.
He’s fast, getting this shot was not easy.
You see, my roommates and I have been cat-sitting for a couple weeks now. Mew Mew (the furry one’s given name) has thus far taken refuge in my roommate’s bedroom. But they are both out of town this weekend, which brought Mew Mew wandering into mine.
Mew Mew does not cuddle or purr. No. He will walk right up to you and aggressively start head-butting you in the face.
Do not be fooled. This is not “cute.” That is one thick-skulled feline. At one point my eyes starting watering because he conked me right in the nose.
Jerk.
I love all of God’s creatures, but dogs totally rule ;)
Before being attacked, I was reading my current book of choice:
The first in the Stieg Larsson series, thanks to the several recommendations I got for it in this post. (psst, click on that link and read the comments for tons of great summer books to read!)
Woke up after a glorious 8 hours of sleep with flapjacks on my mind, it’s Pancake Sunday after all ;)
My protein pancake batter consisted of:
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup unflavoured soy protein powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp flaked coconut
- 1/4 cup egg whites
- 1/2 cup almond milk
For my dipping sauce, I mixed sugar-free syrup with mixed berry jam. Omg. Why don’t I do this more often??
I really want to make a pun using the word “berry” right now, but I will refrain. Instead, I will just tell you to try this :)
All big plans I had for the day went out the window once it started raining. That paired with it being a Sunday made me want to stay in and tackle some chores!
When my family visited a few weeks ago, they brought all my stuff from New Brunswick (I only arrived in Toronto with three suitcases). The stuff has been piled in my closets untouched since then. Today, I created rightful spots for everything and my room is beginning to feel a whole lot “roomier.”
Broke for some Bbq Chicken Pita Pizza. Aka bbq marinated chicken breast on top of a pita with sauce, veggies, cheese, and stuck in the toaster oven for 15 minutes.
Fact: I have not used the oven since moving to Toronto. It’s too damn hot.
I started to get a little stir crazy after a while and wanted to do something after the rain cleared. In this ginormous new city of mine, that can mean a million things. Out of all the parts of the city I’ve so far explored, ironically I haven’t spent much time in my own neighbourhood!
I took a couple hours wandering up and down Queen Street East poking my head into antique shops, clothing shops, ice cream shops (not buying, but ya know, scoping out the goods), butchers, cheese shops and bakeries.
I found this one cute little bakery just off Queen on Logan Ave called Brick Street Bread. They had a million different kinds of artisan loaves, as well as some tasty looking sweets. They are expensive – $5 to $6 per loaf. But they provided samples for many so I knew what I was getting into first. Plus, why can’t a gal treat herself to a loaf of carbs once in a while? ;)
The girl at the counter said their Organic Basil & Parsley bread is their best seller – but I tried a taste of this Organic European Rye and knew it was mine.
I lovelovelove rye bread, especially with some good cheese and meat. Sliced it up into quarters and froze it when I got home. That way I can defrost it just a bit at a time.
I stumbled into a cheese shop, but I just could not open my wallet to the high-end prices. I did however find some good sausage.
Rowe Farms has tons of local, organic, free-from-all-the-bad-stuff meat. Most of it was horrendously priced, but if you looked hard enough, you could find something decent. These four Italian sausages cost me $5.
I continued on to the grocery store where I found my favourite kind of deal…
Expires on August 19?? Pfft, no problem ;)
I came home hungry after exploring my ‘hood all afternoon, so I whipped up something quick.
Into a frying pan went:
- 1 chopped Italian sausage
- 1 cup cubed butternut squash
- 1/4 head of green cabbage
- sliced onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 a zucchini
- 2 tbsp pizza sauce
- oregano, basil, parsley
All topped with cheddar cheese. Solid meal. Loved the sausage.
Weekly Goal Check-In!
Ahhh, yes, ‘tis that time of the week already. Let’s see how I’m doing one week into this month’s goals…
1. Eat out twice a week, at no more than $15 a meal. Technically, I only ate out twice. I spent $9 on a Freshii salad on Friday and $14 at the Greek fair on Saturday. However, I also spent $5 on a beer on Thursday and $5 on frozen yogurt on Friday. Does beer and dessert count? I sure hope not :P
2. Read more. I spent close to two hours reading a day this week. I spend a lot of time on public transit reading, then always for a bit before bed. Making progress on that Larsson book!
3. Do at least one outdoor activity a week. All I’ve done is tons of walking, which I’m going to say counts. A few times, I ditched the streetcar or bus and just took the extra 20-30 minutes to walk where I was going.
4. Look for part-time work and volunteer work. Thumbs down!! This week, promise!
5. Update my blog pages. Nope :( But I did get catch up on getting my content up on Healthbuzz.
6. Lose weight. I am by no means back normal, but I’m starting to feel better in skin. Progress. Honestly, I think this past week was my first week in two months where I didn’t eat a meal out every day. That alone made me feel a lot less puffy and better in my clothes. However, the battle still rages on! :P
You’re turn!! How did everyone else do on their goals this week??
Working Girl
Before we even get into things, I have to address several comments I got in my last post that deeply concerned me.
Some of you do not know what marshmallow fluff is!!
Marshmallow fluff my friends, is made up of sugary pillows sent straight from the heavens.
In all reality, it’s a lot like spreadable marshmallows. Fabulous with anything peanut butter or chocolate related.
I typically only ever use a tablespoon at a time, which only sets me back 24 calories.
So there you have it! I typically don’t allow sweets like cookies or pastries in my pantry, but dark chocolate and marshmallow fluff are the two exceptions that must always be made :)
You may have noticed that I was MIA again yesterday – and with good reason! I’ve been working! After 2.5 months of being unemployed “between opportunities,” it’s nice to get up and have a job to go to. My days have a sense of purpose again. Plus, I was starting run out of things to complain about ;)
Monday had a late start, so I took my time preparing my new protein waffle/pancake recipe.
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup unflavoured soy protein powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- several shakes cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup egg whites
- 1/3 cup skim milk (it seems skim milk produces a different consistency than almond, before I used 1/2 cup almond milk)
These weren’t any ordinary pancakes, ohno.
I also added a tablespoon each of flaked coconut, walnut pieces and chopped dates.
Made better only by the presence of iced coffee.
In these troubling humid times, iced coffee is a must.
Now, y’all know I am not about fancy or complicated recipes. To me, the idea of simple food pairings is tasty enough. On Monday, I got to put together a pairing I’ve been dyyyying to try.
Watermelon + feta cheese. It was delightful!! I love pairing berries with cottage cheese, or apples with cheddar cheese, and this combo was just as tasty. Watermelon is very sweet and juicy, which paired wonderfully with the saltiness of the feta. Thumbs up!!
I then proceeded to spend the rest of the day training clients at the gym! My very first client that I trained last week was back in and said she already felt a giant increase in energy and gained a ton of confidence at work. After a week! I was brimming with pride for her :D
T’was close to my bedtime by the time I made it home, so I opted for a light and simple dinner.
A small chunky salad tossed in cottage cheese, feta & hummus. Looks gross, but I assure you, it was awesome.
Before I knew it, my alarm was blaring at 4:30am to get up and ready to hit the gym once again. It was eerily familiar to the days when I worked the morning shift as a radio newscaster.
My years of getting up at 4am have turned me into a pro for these early mornings. I had these overnight oats and iced coffee waiting for me in the fridge. For the oats, I just mixed up some yogurt with a dash of milk, scoop of oats, raisins, fresh apricot, cinnamon, maple syrup and a dollop of almond butter. The measurements here don’t seem to matter, as I’ve noticed the outcome is always different for everyone. Experiment! :)
Today, I was shadowing one of our best trainers at the gym. He specializes in functional training, something I’m not overly familiar with, so it was really fun and interesting to watch! It’s not something I can see myself specializing in, but I really appreciate aspects of it, and would love to start incorporating more of it into my programs.
Even though I kinda wanted to go back home and pass out, I stuck around the gym for a workout of my own. Full-body:
Straight set x1:
One arm dumbbell snatch 12 x 20 lbsAlternating sets x3:
One arm dumbbell row 12 x 25 lbs
Plie squat 12 x 25 lbsStraight set x1:
Alternating Step-up w/ forward knee lift for 1 min
Alternating Step-up w/ back leg lift for 1 minAlternating sets x3:
Standing one arm cable chest press 12 x 25 lbs
Bulgarian split squat 12 x 10 lbsStraight set x1:
Mountain climber for 1 minAlternating sets x3:
Barbell upright row 12 x 30 lbs
Good morning 12 x 45 lbsStraight set x1:
Reverse lunge w/ forward kick 20 each legAlternating sets x2:
Skull crusher 12 x 30 lbs
Barbell curl 12 x 30 lbsStraight sets x 2:
Plank 60 sec
Whole thing with 15 minutes warm-up on the treadmill and 5 minutes cool-down stretching took me 65 minutes and burned 450 calories. It also left me unable to run up and down the stairs in the subway station without my legs wobbling ;)
After the workout, I was ready to come home and nap. I closed my eyes and fell asleep for what felt like an hour, only to find 10 minutes had passed. I claimed defeat and made lunch.
Giant kale salad topped with shrimp, egg whites, and a dressing made of pesto/laughing cow/lemon juice. The egg whites were an afterthought, and a delicious one at that! I just zapped half a cup in the microwave and added the bits to the salad. Such an easy and delicious way to add protein.
I also polished off this Chakra Bar that I hate half of on Monday.
I purposely left the price tag on because $2.99 is pretty frickin’ steep for a granola bar. But if you look closely, there are two servings, which sort of justifies it. And in all honesty, the full bar is kinda huge (110g).
Not gonna lie, I was attracted to this bar because of the ingredients:
See that?? The first ingredient is love!! Not any kind of love, but organic love!! I’m such a sucker.
The spirulina is what makes it green. According to the Chakra Bar website, spirulina is “a blue-green algae and is known as a green "superfood". It has over 60% digestible vegetable protein, is jam-packed with vitamins and minerals and is a great source of chlorophyll (antioxidant).”
Taste-wise it had that “grassy green” taste to it, but I don’t mind it. It was a little sticky from the syrup, but I liked the additions of the seeds. I probably won’t buy it again because it’s $$$. But it was fun to try!
It is approximately here where I dropped off the face of the planet for three hours.
I read the final Harry Potter book when it first came out, and forgot completely what happened!! It was like reading a new book all over again. But now I’m depressed it’s all over. Anyone else ever suffer from post-book depression? I think I may stick with this theme and re-read the final books in the Twilight and Golden Compass series. I love children’s fantasy novels, I cannot deny it. Plus, it is summertime and I want something that won’t make me think too hard ;)
I did eventually stumble out of my room, disoriented, to make a quick dinner.
That would be grilled pork in a mesquite flavouring with a microwaved sweet potato slathered in Heinz BBQ beans. Classy :)
Now it is time to get my things ready for another 4am wake-up call. But I’m excited for my morning client. He wants to bulk up, which means some old-school heavy weightlifting, my favourite!!
Question of the Day: What’s on your summer reading list? Any recommendations for the class? As Holly would say, sharing is caring!!
