Friday, July 30, 2010

Spoon Me ... is no Pinkberry


Regular readers will know that in the past I have done a couple of CSN store giveaways, and a review. For those who don't know, CSN stores is a collection of over 200 online stores, with only one checkout. They sell everything under the sun, but I obviously spend most of my time on their sites shopping for dinnerware sets and cooking tools. As a preferred blogger, I will have the opportunity to do frequent reviews and giveaways with CSN Stores. The last time I worked with them I did a giveaway, so this time I will be reviewing a product. Stay tuned in the next couple of weeks to see what product I will be reviewing. Hint: It is totally a kitchen item!

Gone to Calgary

4:30 a.m. - Got out of bed (surprisingly much easier than I expected).

5:30 a.m. - Morning fuel - Bagel with cream cheese and OJ

5:45 a.m. - On the road to Calgary

7:00 a.m. - 7:30 a.m. - The friends we were traveling were low on gas and we had to stop in a town for gas, but none of the stations there were open yet! Luckily a worker came in an hour early and opened up shop for us!! Ahhhh, nice small town people!

10:30 a.m. - Brunch


(Omelet with hashbrowns)

3:30 - Arrived in Calgary, Checked in, Hubby checked in for Sunday's race

6:45 - STARVING!! Hadn't eaten anything since 10:30. Went to Julio's Barrio for Mexican food. The hubby and I shared Tortilla soup, and then I had vegetarian enchiladas (I ate about half the plate).





After dinner we wandered around Kensington and found a Fro Yo place called "Spoon Me." I had the "Baby" size with chocolate chips, strawberries, and coconut. Baby size?? Really!? It is HUGE! I ate about 1/2.



It wasn't that great, and didn't even come close to Pinkberry ... but the napkins were cute:



What is the earliest you have ever had to wake up? What was it for? A trip? A race? Work? Do you find it more difficult to get up for work than for a flight or a race, or something exciting!!?

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Bacon Pancake!!!?? Oh no she didn't!


Oooooh yes I did.

And it was the
BEST pancake I have EVER eaten in my life. Ever.

Apple Bacon Pancake

- Make pancake batter (I used an organic whole wheat mix)
- Add cooked bacon (diced up)
- Add grated apple

Make as usual. Eat. Die a little bit because it is SO good.

I had one, and I dipped it in pure maple syrup.



I went out for lunch with some friends to a place called The Free House. I had the 1/2 pizza/salad lunch combo (Mediterranean pizza, and spinach salad):



Later in the afternoon I made a fresh juice and read a book out on my deck. My juice contained 1/2 a golden dew melon, 5 strawberries, and 1 apple:



Dinner was a yellow curry with shrimp and veggies, served on 1/2 cup sticky rice:







I had a kids size mango frozen yogurt cone for dessert.

Time for bed - I have to get up at 4 a.m. tomorrow - I will blog tomorrow night from Calgary!

Have you ever added anything to your pancake mix?
Berries? Bananas? Apples? Bacon?


When I was younger my dad used to occasionally add corn to pancakes if we had leftover corn to use up - it was NASTY. If you are reading this dad - Corn pancakes taste like vomit. I still have nightmares about them. :-) Love you.

Backyard BBQ, Homemade Hot Fudge, French Toast Sundae


F


inally I can upload pics! Ugggh, technology sometimes. I have a lot to recap from the past day and a half.

On Tuesday evening we had some friends over for a backyard BBQ.







We ate gourmet smokies (toppings included: Gruyère cheese, bacon, sauerkraut, fried onions, pickles, and condiments), Greek pasta salad, and assorted appetizers. I drank beer and wine.









Dessert was a "make-your-own-sundae" bar:









Mine:



Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce
(Recip
e Adapted from Donna Hay Magazine)

1 1/2 cups chopped chocolate (dark or milk)
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 T liquid honey
3 T unsalted butter

Put everything in a saucepan over low and stir for 4-5 minutes until melted and smooth.

Yesterday morning I saw an INSANE breakfast on Caitlin's blog. I had never been happier to have eaten breakfast yet! I made it right away.

French Toast Sundae





Essentially 2 slices of French toast (dipped only in egg, and with almond butter in between) baked in 375 oven for 20 minutes. Topped with banana "soft serve" (1 banana whipped to smithereens in food processor or Vita-Mix with 2 T almond breeze). Put the soft serve on the French toast, and drizzle with chocolate sauce. Cherry on top.

That breakfast kept me full for many hours, so I ate a really late lunch. I only had 1/2 cup of leftover risotto, and a 1/2 cup Source Vanilla yogurt with chia seeds and strawberries:





In the afternoon I went to the Doctor about my foot. He moved it all sorts of ways that didn't hurt. Only I could make it hurt by pointing my toes, or bending my foot a certain way. Since there had never been any swelling, he said I probably just had an inflamed nerve, and he gave me prescription antihistamines. I HATE taking medication, so I haven't had one yet. This morning my foot actually feels a LOT better.

For supper yesterday we had to eat up some stuff in our fridge and freezer. I had 1 veggie pita pizza, with some cauliflower, and about 1/4 cup of pasta salad:





Dessert was a fudgesicle:



Tomorrow morning we will be up at 4:00 am, as we are heading out on the road at 5:00 to go to Calgary for the hubby's Half Ironman. He has been training A LOT. He has done Olympic triathlons and half marathons, and the training for those seems like nothing now that I have seen him train for this! I am so excited for him - it will be a HUGE accomplishment.

What are your plans for the weekend?
What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment (fitness or otherwise)?

I always ask you questions ... if you have one for me, you can ask it anonymously here!
I will post another Q and A one of these days.


Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Broken Blogger


After trying, unsuccessfully, to upload my pictures for the past hour and a half, I am giving up and going to bed. I will try again in the morning.

Sweet dreams bloggies.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010


G

ood morning peeps!

I have been getting up earlier lately and have been feeling great. If I get out of bed when I am still a little tired and could easily stay in bed longer, I actually feel better all day. Today I was up at 8:15 - pretty good for being on holidays I think!

I made a beautiful breakfast this morning - brownie batter, berry soft serve VOO.

Brownie Batter VOO (smaller batch)

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

Mix together in a bowl and put in fridge overnight (or for a couple hours)

Berry Soft Serve

- 1 frozen banana
- 1/4 cup frozen berries
- 2 T Almond Breeze (more as need to reach consistency)

Mix in Vita-Mix or Food Processor









My breakfast yesterday was baked eggs with veggies and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice:





Lunch yesterday was a Green Monster (2 handfuls spinach, 1 cup almond breeze, 1 pack amazing grass, 1 banana, 1 T PB):



Later in the afternoon I had some yogurt with pineapple, coconut, hazelnuts, and choc. chips:



Dinner was salmon and mushroom risotto:





The risotto was SO good!! I am going to have the leftovers for lunch today.

This evening we are having some friends over for a BBQ. I am going to spend the day shopping for food, and preparing things for tonight. I will blog about it tomorrow morning.

Other things on the agenda for this week:

Wednesday - Major office organization and CD organization
Thursday - Organize recipes and pack
Friday - Off to Calgary for the weekend!
Sunday - HUBBY DOING HALF-IRONMAN race in Calgary!!!!

What is on your agenda for the week?

Check out Kat's blog - She is doing a $40 CSN Store Giveaway!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Family Meals, and Hurt Foot/ Ankle


Thank you all for the anniversary wishes!


On Saturday morning the hubby and I were up bright and early, as we were heading to Saskatoon to visit my mom. I had a bagel and OJ for breakfast before we left:



In Saskatoon we had lunch at a Coffee shop/ Korean restaurant. I had Bee Bim Bap:



All stirred up with lots of hot sauce:



We spent the day visiting with my mom, and then found out that "Taste of Saskatchewan" was happening in the city. It is a festival with different restaurant booths set up. You buy tickets and can sample foods from different restaurants throughout the city. We went there for dinner, and shared a bunch of foods.

This looks like a lot, but I only had a few bites of each thing. We actually ended up wasting a lot of food because we had tickets to use up, so we just tried a taste of some of the things.

Pasta



Enchilada



Green Curry



Butter Tart Flambe. This was INSANE.



Deep Fried Ice Cream



Deep Fried Mars Bar



We left happy :-) And full.

This morning we had my family over for breakfast.





We had mimosas, waffles, mini fritattas, and bacon:



This was my plate (1/2 waffle with strawberries and whip, 2 mini fritattas, 2 slices bacon):



Our mimosas were made with sparkling wine and POM Juice. The kind people at POM Wonderful sent me some free POM to try. I have had the regular POM juice, and so today I tried the Mango POM:





This juice was excellent in the mimosas, but also great by itself. I prefer it to the regular POM as it is a little less tart. It has a slight sweet flavour. The mango flavour doesn't stand out, but it does taste different than the regular POM juice.

The regular POM juice has only ONE ingredient - Pomegranate juice.

This mango POM has only TWO ingredients - Pomegranate juice and mango juice.

It is loaded with antioxidants, and is 100% pure.

Many other companies purport to have 100% pomegranate juice, however if you check their labels you will see that this is not what you are getting.

This juice is expensive, at approximately $5 for 473 ml and it is perishable (good for 14 days after opening) - but keeping the ingredient list in mind, I think it is a fair price to pay!

This evening we had the hubby's family over for a hotdog roast :-)









Yes, I went from 100% pure, natural juice ... to hot dogs. Hehe.

Dessert was a strawberry rhubarb crumble.

Before:





After:



I had a small portion of the crumble with 1/2 cup ice cream, and a s'more:



I forgot to mention that I hurt my ankle/ foot about a week ago. While dancing last Friday I must have jammed something in my foot, or pulled something, because it felt funny all week. It is still hurting when I move my foot a certain way, or when I walk too long on it. It is not excruciating, just uncomfortable. I am going to have it looked at tomorrow if it is not better.

What did you do on the weekend? What was the highlight? Do you ever sit around a fire pit and roast hot dogs/ veggie dogs, marshmallows etc.?