Thursday, September 30, 2010

Cobb Salad

E


ver since the hubby and I watched Julie and Julia together, we have wanted to try Cobb salad.  It only took about a year for us to finally make and try this popular salad that for some reason has eluded us throughout our lives.

Dinner last night = My first Cobb salad.


Of course, we were much less picky than Julie and her friends, and we loaded the salad up with avocado, bacon, cheese, tomato, chicken, and hard boiled egg.  All of this was placed on a mixture of romaine and iceberg lettuce, and topped with an easy red wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic, mustard powder, and pinch of sugar dressing.


Lunch yesterday was also pretty awesome.  I have never been a fan of sandwiches, because I never made GOOD sandwiches.  After a year of reading blogs, and getting ideas from other foodies, I have gotten better at coming up with sandwich ideas.  I had turkey, gruyere, lettuce, pickles, and banana peppers on rye bread with mustard.  It was excellent.  I enjoyed that sandwich with an apple, and 1/2 cup of yogurt with 1 tsp PB.

I also had an ice-cappuccino yesterday, because Wednesday is Ice-Cap day at work!!!

Breakfast this morning was a slice of "friendship loaf" and 2 scrambled eggs with hot sauce.  


Have you ever had a Cobb salad?  Have you ever made one?  
What do you have planned for the weekend?

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Potato, Onion and Gruyere Galette

I am not a big fan of cereal, but yesterday I was totally craving a bowl of corn pops - hehe!!  I don't remember how long it has been (years) since I had them before this.  They were pretty good :-)


Lunch was some cauliflower KD, 2 clementines, and yogurt with berries.  

Dinner was crusted cod fish, with a potato, onion, and gruyere galette:


Potato, Onion and Gruyere Galette
(Adapted from Donna Hay Magazine)

1 T butter
1 tsp thyme
1 yellow onion, sliced
2 large white potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 T olive oil
3/4 cup gruyere cheese
sea salt and cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.  Melt the butter in a 24cm ovenproof frying pan.  Add the onion and thyme and cook 5 minutes.  Plate all other ingredients in a bowl and toss together.  Top the onion with the potato mixture, and bake for 45 minutes - 60 minutes.  Turn out to serve.  Serves 4.


Dessert was fresh fruit.


This morning I had a VOO parfait for breakfast.


VOO
- 1/4 cup quick oats
- 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 scoop chia seeds

Mix together and refrigerate overnight.  In the morning make banana soft serve (1 frozen banana, and 1/4 cup Almond Breeze - food processed or Vita Mixed until soft serve consistency).

Do you eat cereal?  What is your favourite kind?  
What kind reminds you of your childhood?

Monday, September 27, 2010

Just Another Manic Monday

M


y Mondays have become quite manic.  It is 10:00 p.m., and I finally have a minute to sit and breathe. 

My morning started out with a Green Monster (spinach and banana smoothie):


I added in a scoop of Amazing Grass, and a scoop of Salba, as well as some ice:


Lunch was rushed, as I had work to do.  I had 5 perogies, 1 cup of sliced cucumbers, and 1 cup of sliced strawberries.  After work I snacked on 5 rice crackers and a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese:

(I must eat cheese at least once a day, or my head will pop off)

After work I stopped at Costco for a few things, then came home to make supper and read my textbook for class.  I had 10 minutes to eat my chicken Caesar salad before leaving for my night class, which I just got home from at about 9:30.  I downed a quick slice of "friendship loaf" (which is awesome ... it is cinnamon-y, and delicious warmed with some margarine), had a shower, and now am ready to settle into the couch and read some blogs.

(dinner: chicken Caesar salad)

(friendship loaf)

What is your most manic day of the week? 
What are you looking forward to this week?

I am looking forward to trying a new recipe tomorrow evening - I am excited for it!


Sunday, September 26, 2010

Easy Casserole AND Meal Planning

Although my flu is gone, I am still getting over a cold.  I woke up Friday morning with a headache and an upset stomach.  Breakfast was a quick Lara Bar and a clementine, so I could stay in bed longer:


I started to feel better once I got to work.  I went out for fish and chips with friends at lunch, and then made a very yummy chicken, potato and mushroom casserole for dinner.  I served it with corn on the cob.

Chicken, Potato, and Mushroom Casserole

1/2 bag mini potatoes
1/4 small onion, chopped
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
Pepper
1 can mushroom soup
1 can mushrooms, drained
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Panko bread crumbs

Slice the potatoes, and place them in a pan (1 layer).  Sprinkle with chopped onion.  Mix the mushrooms, soup, and spices in a bowl together, and then pour over the potatoes.  Lay the chicken breasts on top, and sprinkle with panko crumbs.  Bake @400 for approximately 1 hour.


After dinner I whipped up some "Friendship Loaf."  A friend at work gave me a "starter" about a week ago, and each day you are to either mush the ingredients in the starter bag, or add something to the bag (there are instructions that come with the starter).  Friday was the day to make the bread, and in doing so, I was left with 4 starters to pass on.  It is like chain letter bread - hehe!  I just gave one starter to my sister, and the others I will probably freeze.  The bread is really good!

 

Saturday I had no appetite, so I only had an apple with PB and a slice of friendship loaf for breakfast/lunch:


Dinner was 1/2 a hamburger, and 1 ear of corn.  We went over to a friend's place in the evening just to hang out, watch TV, and visit.  I had an ice cappuccino, and a small chocolate chip cookie.


As usual, Sunday was a family day for us.  My dad took the family out for brunch:

(Mushroom and bacon omelet, with toast and hash browns.  I ate none of the toast, and half the rest)


In the afternoon we went on a road trip to set my mom's room up in her new home.  Lunch was a snack size Booster Juice, and dinner was Thai chicken curry:


I had a skinny, decaf, 1/2 sweet pumpkin spice latte on the drive home.

Meal Planning

The hubby and I used to meal plan all the time.  We would make a list of each what we were going to have for supper each day of the week, and then make a grocery list according to that plan.  It has been a while since we have done this, but we decided that now with me back at school, and work in full swing, it would be a good idea to have a plan.  We are trying a few new recipes this week that I am really looking forward to, with easier things on the days I have class.

Do you meal plan?  
Do you have days that have to be "easy" meal days because of your schedule?

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Thankful Thursday

I was home sick on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday with the flu, but thankfully I went back to work today, and I am feeling much better.  Thanks for all the well wishes!
My fever is gone, and now I just have a cough. 

I didn't eat much yesterday.  This was the extent of it:

(I only ate 1 slice of this French toast)

(Bowl of canned mushroom soup with 6 crackers)

(2 eggs scrambled with veggies)

This morning I had a vegan overnight oat/ banana soft serve parfait:


Lunch was leftover pineapple chicken, a clementine and an iced cappuccino.  We have no groceries because I have been too sick to go grocery shopping, so we had to go out for supper.  We went to a small coffee house that serves fresh, vegetarian meals.  I had a guacamole and veggie wrap with a small bowl of Indian Vegetable Curry Soup.

This evening I received news that a room at a long-term care home is now available for my mom.  She has been in the hospital for over 5 months now, so I am thankful that she will be able to settle into a permanent home starting on Monday.  It has been a tough 5 months with hospital changes, and room changes, etc., and I hope the transition into the home goes well.  

What are you thankful for today?

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Cooking is Sexy ... The Flu? Not so Much.

Y


esterday was the last day of summer, but if you came to my house you wouldn't have known it.  It was a gloomy day - windy, rainy, and cold, and I was home with a fever.  I had major chills that made my bones cold, and they didn't subside all day.  I felt tired, and weak.  Surprisingly, I still had an appetite ... or I thought I did.

Breakfast was baked eggs with 1 tomato, 1/2 yellow pepper, green onions, herbs, 2 whole eggs, 1 white, and some cheese:


My flu eyes were bigger than my flu stomach, because I couldn't finish this dish, nor anything else I ate over the past 2 days.  Lunch was about 1/2 of this plate of the hubby's leftovers from Sunday:


In the afternoon I snacked on a grapefruit.

For dinner last night I through some stuff together for spaghetti and meatballs, then zonked out on the couch and let the hubby finish because I was too exhausted and cold.  

 
(Meatball Mixture: Organic Ground Beef, Garlic, 1 egg, 1/2 cup oatmeal, Italian Spice from my "Sexy Gourmet" spices, oregano, salt and pepper)


After cooking the meatballs in the oven for about 30 minutes (too tired to fry them), the hubby tossed them with whole wheat spaghettini, and this gourmet pasta sauce we bought at Sunterra in Calgary.


I ate about 3 bites, and put the rest away in the fridge.  I had lost my appetite, and wanted nothing more than to hibernate and find some way to warm up.  I shivered my way through a hot shower, and chattered my teeth in a steaming bath.  I then ventured out into the cold to plan for a sub for today too.  The hardest part about being sick when it comes to my job, is that someone else has to do my job when I am away!

I woke up feeling just as awful and cold on this first day of fall as I did yesterday.

I tried to warm myself up with some comforting oats.

Apple Pie Oats

 

- 1 cup unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze
- 1/2 cup quick oats
- 1 grated apple
- 1 tsp brown sugar (or more)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of nutmeg
- 2 Nilla Wafers
- 1 tsp cinnamon raisin PB&Co. (optional - to taste)

Bring liquid to a boil.  Add oats and apple, and cook 1 minute.  Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 1-2 minutes.  Top with sugar and spices, and Nilla Wafers.

 (grated apple)

 (brown sugar and cinnamon)

(nutmeg)

 (Nilla Wafers)


I didn't eat lunch.  Too cold to move.

Dinner this evening was pineapple chicken (that was in my freezer from when I did the BIG COOK) served over chow mein, with roasted fennel (tossed in olive oil and balsamic).


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I went into work tonight for our meet the teacher evening.  I felt really weak, and extremely warm for the first time - too warm.  I am back to being cold again.  Off to bed.

How was your week been going?  What are you looking forward to in the next few days?
Do you still have an appetite when you are sick?  

I am looking forward to feeling better!