My First Glo Bar

I am exhausted today - all the stress of full time and overtime work/ 2 classes at school/ GREs and finishing our basement is totally getting to me. I am having a bit of a mental breakdown right now, as I am so frustrated with my messy house, and never ending to-do list. I have always been one who can "do it all" and today, I just am not feeling it. - Sorry ... just had to vent some steam first.

On to my eats ...

This morning I needed a boost of energy, and I got to have my very first Glo Bar!! I ordered these from Angela's bakery "Glo Bakery" . I had the "Awake" bar because I needed to wake up! This bar has a great ingredient list. Check this out:

Ingredients: Oats, organic brown rice syrup, crisp rice cereal, natural peanut butter, hemp seeds, organic dark roast coffee, unsweetened coconut, ground flax seed, organic cane sugar, pure vanilla extract.

Her bars are 100% organic, and vegan! Wow! Oh, and the bar was delicious :-)

Lunch was leftover chicken noodle soup (the last of it), with ketchup in it:

And some Source vanilla yogurt with fresh blueberries on top:

After work I came home and made a quick and easy dinner - pita pizzas! I love how fast these are, and how good they taste. I loaded 2 small pitas (120 calories each) with tons of veggies, including onion, green pepper, tomato sauce, mushrooms, black olives, and pineapple. I then sprinkled some aged cheddar on top and came up with these little darlings:

10 minutes in a preheated oven at 400 degrees, and they are perfect! The hubby put meat on his, but I kept mine veggie.

After dinner I went for my 6th run/walk of the C25K program. This was the easiest so far! It blows my mind that it is getting easier :-) Next time the run time increases - I'm scurrred.

After my run I had a miniture Hawaiian Green Monster (1/2 banana, 3/4 cup milk, 2 big handfuls spinach, 1/4 cup pineapple, tsp coconut):

I am going to bed early (10:30). I need some sleep.

Sweet dreams bloggies.

7 Things You Don't Know About Me!

I would like to pass on the Kreativ Blogger award to 7 other Bloggers and thank the lovely and very stylish Taylor for giving me this award:

1) Nicci from NiftyEats
2) Kat from KatsDailyPlate
3) SimplyLife
4) Jocelyn from JocelynEatsFresh
5) Taylor from JoyOfFood
6) VeggieGirl
7) SmittenKitchen

Now, 7 things that you don't know about me:

1. I am a certified scuba diver, and have gone on dives in both the Pacific and Atlantic ocean

2. I graduated university at 21 completely debt free, and paid for my entire education by working at Dairy Queen :-)

3. I have never tried a vegetable that I don't like, and I prefer vegetables to fruit.

4. I have 2 middle names, and I go by one of them. I stopped using my first name when I was 7.

5. I got married at 21 to my high school sweetheart. We have been together for 10 years and married for 5.

6. I have never had a bleeding nose.

7. I have purchased 3 cars in my life, and all of them have been white. I will only ever buy white vehicles. They are best. I say so.

Kreaviv

I received this award from Taylor - awesome!!

Now I have to list 7 things you don't know about me and 7 more people to pass the award on to. I will do this in my evening post!

Breakfast this morning was a mishmash of things in the fridge that looked up at me telling me to eat them before they get old and need tossing. I sautéed chopped onions, broccoli, spinach, shredded potato and mushrooms, then added an egg in when the veggies were tender. I stirred it up, and this is what it looked like in the end:


I sprinkled a little cheese on it before eating:


It was good, but the veggies could have used a little more time cooking (the potato wasn't as cooked as I wanted it to be). You might think it tasted a bit like an omelet ... but it didn't. I couldn't even taste the egg or cheese when I was eating it.

Now I am going to grab a cup of java and head to work (it is dark out - blah!)

Have a great day everyone!

Creamy Mushroom Risotto

Dinner Tonight: Chicken Breasts, Mushroom Risotto, and Raw Trees.

Creamy Mushroom Risotto Recipe:

• Sauté 1 finely chopped onion and 2 cloves garlic in 1 TBSP butter (3 minutes)
  

• Stir in 1 1/4 cups Arborio rice until coated

• Stir constantly and add 1 cup finely chopped mushrooms, 1/2 cup white wine (or chicken broth) and 1/2 tsp salt

• Add a few little sprinkles of red pepper flakes (I used twice what is pictured)

• Stir until liquid is absorbed. Then add a 10 oz can of chicken broth. Stir until absorbed.
• Once absorbed, add 2 1/2 cups of water (1/2 cup at a time) until absorbed.

• When done, stir in some grated Parmesan cheese and voila - Risotto (I didn't have any parm, so I had to forgo it today).

I served it with chicken breasts that were marinated with Dijon mustard and spices, and a side of raw broccoli:








This was an excellent supper! This risotto is a fave of hubby and I. When we first got married, I used to make it once a week, but now that life is a little busier, I often only have time for something really quick.

Shoppers Drug Mart

Alright, now on to my next 100 posts :-)

My breakfast kept me full all the way until lunch, so I didn't need a mid-morning snack. Lunch was leftover chicken noodle soup:


Source Vanilla yogurt (best nutritional stats of any vanilla yogurt I have seen - very low sugar, and no fake stuff) with blueberries on top:


And a piece of cheese:


After a very l-o-n-g day at work (is it a full moon??) I went to one of my favorite stores to pick up a few necessities ... SHOPPER'S Drug Mart!! No, they don't pay me to say that, and I have no affiliation with the company - I just love shopping there.

They have brought in a lot of organic products lately, which makes me smile. I bought 3 today:

(Walnuts, Oats, Chicken Broth)

I also bought some onions ... and they gave me a free magazine at the counter! Sweet!


Stay tuned for my dinner post ... featuring creamy mushroom risotto (recipe included)!
I will be back in about an hour!

100th Post

Mornin'! This post is my 100th post! I am pretty excited about this because I have tried to start blogs before ... and every time I gave up after maybe 15 days max. I guess I found my passion when it comes to blogging! Thanks to all my readers for sticking with me and commenting! I appreciate you ALL!

In honour of my hundredth post, I want to tell you 10 things I love about blogging:
1) "Meeting" other food/ nutrition bloggers
2) Being able to have a visual of what I eat each day
3) This blog makes me want to be more creative with my food choices, so that it is not *as* boring for readers - I know my almost daily Green Monster is still pretty boring!
4) This blog encourages me to eat healthier, since I know everyone is going to see what I eat! - and I am 100% honest with you all.
5) I love the free loot in the mail :-)
6) I love having a project to do, each day.
7) I love how encouraging people are when I burn dinner, or am trying to learn to run
8) This blog chronicles important events in my life (like a diary - and I have never been able to keep a diary).
9) This blog motivates me to cook more dinner more often, and go out to restaurants less (i.e. save money).
10) I just LOVE it because it is FUN!

Breakfast this morning was 2 whole wheat pancakes:


And a mini Green Monster:


Since I started drinking Green Monsters, I go through a BIG bag of spinach each week (all to myself)!! How awesome is that!!?

I would love to get to know some of my readers a little bit better! If you want, leave a comment and answer the following:

• Name
• Where you are from
• How long you have been reading
• Favorite Food
• What you would like to see more of on this blog

Have a great day everyone!

Cool Weather Running

Hey everyone - hope you all had a great day! I spent the day at a conference, and the best part about it was lunch :-) The food was catered by a great company called Global Catering. It was black bean and rice enchiladas and a lovely salad with homemade dressing. I had 1 enchilada (cut in half) and a helping of the salad (which by the way had cilantro in it :-)

This was the first time I had to snap a food pic at a table in front of complete strangers - luckily only one person saw me, and I quickly told them why I was doing it - they didn't seem to think it was that weird (At least not that they let on).

After the conference I went to the fresh fish shop in my city and bought some wild salmon. I came home and marinated it in 3/4 cup pure maple syrup and 1/4 cup soy sauce. Hubby then came home and pepper crusted it, and BBQ'd it until perfectly cooked:


On the side we had baked sweet potato fries:


Altogether now:


And to dip the fries I made a lovely mustard mayo dip (recipe courtesy of my LOVELY friend Alaina!!):

It is a mixture of light mayo, grainy mustard, fresh squeezed lime, and some curry powder (I didn't measure any of it - just tossed it together). It was perfect with the sweet potato fries.

After dinner the hubby and I went to Chapters/ Starbucks. I had 1/2 of this small java chip frap blended light:

I like the taste of these, but after a few sips the sweetness gets to me ... that is why I could only drink half.

When we got home from we immediately got our running gear on and went for the 5th run of my C25K program. I have to say, much to my surprise, it is getting easier! The last 2 runs have been the easiest out of the 5, even though they have had the increased run time. Bizarre hey! But, they may have been easier because the weather has been cooler. I find the heat really hard to handle, and running in the heat is torture. For the last 2 runs it has been pretty cool outside, and I think that has made a big difference for me.

I feel so good right now after a nice brisk run/walk in the cool, dark evening. Great way to start the week off! Last week I only got 1 of my 3 runs in, so this week I have to do 5 to make up for it. Let's see if I can do it!

Sandwich for Breakfast??? I think so!

This morning I woke up craving a toasted tomato sandwich! I used to eat them as a kid all the time, and I guess I am still on the comfort food kick, because that is all I wanted. I made a half a sandwich and put a tiny bit of light mayo on it.


I also had a Green Monster with some almond butter thrown in:


Today I have to "work" but not at school and not with the students ... I am going to a conference all day. It will be a nice way to start the week.

What is your favorite "comfort food"?

Comfort Food and a Gloomy Day

Sorry no morning post today - I was slept in and wasn't up until around 11. I had a good time at my friends 70s party last night. Last night I consumed and forgot to snap a picture of:
- 1 small slice of pizza
- a few chips
- 3 glasses red wine and a couple other drinks over the course of the night

This morning (or more like afternoon) ... I drank a Nestea Vitao (Red Tea) drink:

This was probably my favorite of the 3 flavors that I got in the mail. Hubby likes this one the best too. It has the most flavor - the acai blueberry taste was really evident (and natural).

Today it was SO windy that I could hear the wind beating against my house. It was also cool and rainy, and just plain gloomy. All that I wanted to eat was warm comfort food, as I snuggled up on the couch with the hubby and watched TV :-)

For lunch I had good ol' mac and cheese:


In the later afternoon I snacked on 1 slice of turkey meat, and 1 pickle:


For dinner I made some homemade chicken noodle soup. I made the stock a while ago and stuck it in my freezer. Today I just defrosted it, brought it to a boil, and added the noodles. It was JUST perfect!




The hubby asked if I could make some biscuits to go with it, and I said "sure!!"



This is my serving of soup (with some ketchup added in before eating - I know it sounds gross, but it is actually VERY good! It gives the broth a nice tomato flavor. When I met hubby this is what he did, and I thought he was a weirdo - until I tried it!!)



I also had two little biscuits with some margarine:


Delicious comfort food for a cool, rainy day :-)

I was only able to get 1 out of my 3 runs in this week - so I will have to do extra runs this week.

G'nite everyone!

Disgusting Breakfast ... and a GRE test.

This morning I woke up at 7:30 a.m. and the hubby and I headed to Humpty's for breakfast before my GRE test. The food was TERRIBLE! I won't be going back to Humpty's anytime soon.

I wanted a filling breakfast with lots of protein since I would be writing my test from 10 - 2, and this early breakfast would have to keep me going until I was done. I ordered the Coyboy's breakfast (2 eggs, sausage, ham, bacon, hash browns, and toast). I ate the 2 eggs, 1 slice of toast, and the bacon. The ham and sausage looked GROSS and was SUPER greasy. No thanks.




I also had a few cups of Joe:


Since I ate such a pitiful amount of my lame breakfast, I stopped to get a bar to fill me up a bit more before my exam. I had this:


I got to my exam center early and registered, and then got started on what was the longest, most boring, and stressful exam I have taken in a long time. It wasn't the questions that were stressing me out, it was the fact that I had to be in this little cubicle from 9:45 - 1:30 with no water, and if I wanted a washroom break the time would keep running on the test (which was almost impossible to finish under the time constraints as it was). We got one 10 minute break in the middle of the test (thank God) ... and that was it. I ate this during the 10 minute break:


I have no idea how I did on the test because they mail the results ... but at this point I am just ecstatic that it is DONE!! Now time to study for my subject GRE (Psychology) ... after a few days break anyway :-)

After the test we immediately drove the 2 hours home.

I had a bit of a strange supper ... 5 perogies:


And a Green Monster: (not as green as usual because we were low on spinach)


Tonight the hubby and I are headed to our friends "1 Year House Warming" (because he kinda forgot to have a housewarming party). It is a 70s themed event, so I am off to put on my bell bottoms :-)

Have an awesome Saturday night everyone!

Anyone have big plans for tonight?