Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Giveaway Winner!

The winner of my $40 CSN Store Giveaway (chosen randomly) is ...

True Random Number Generator 1 46 14 

Faith from LovelyAsCharged

Congratulations Faith!   I will send you an email with your promo-code tomorrow!

I am in the process of writing my last final exam of the semester (a take-home paper), so I will leave you with a few wordless pics of some recent eats.  Regular posts will resume shortly!


December 1st tomorrow - Can you believe it?  
Have you started your Christmas shopping? 

Oh yeah, and disappointing episode of Glee tonight - where was Sue!!!!?? 

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Cake Pop Christmas Tree

On Friday morning I enjoyed a yogurt mess for breakfast before going to work for the day to do parent-teacher-student conferences.  It is hard to believe that we are already done 1/3 of the school year - I feel like I just finished my summer holidays!


We ordered Chinese food into work for lunch.  I came home to spend the evening snuggling with the hubby, while we ate some warm, comforting chili for dinner.


I was up early on Saturday morning to do homework with a friend.  I had 2 eggs, 1 slice of toast and a latte for breakfast.  Lunch was sushi with the hubby.

Cake Pop Tree

The hubby's work Christmas party was Saturday night, and he had a fun idea to make a Christmas tree cake pop stand.  He pulled out his jigsaw, some wood, paint and a drill, and spent the afternoon on his project.  He is so creative :-)


I made the cake pops in green, blue, red and yellow (for the star) and then bagged them and tied them with pretty festive ribbon.  It was fun!



We took them to the Christmas party where we bowled, enjoyed pizza and other goodies, and visited with Chris's coworkers and their spouses.  It was a good night.


I ate leftover chili today, wrote a paper, and then grabbed some pizza and am currently watching the Grey Cup!  My province's team - The Saskatchewan Roughriders are playing this evening against Montreal in Canada's biggest sporting event (this is our Superbowl).


We are losing 18 to 21.  There are 3 minutes left.  
All of Saskatchewan has their fingers crossed.

Things I am looking forward to this week:

- Setting up the Christmas trees and putting out all of our decorations
- Finishing my final paper for the semester
- My work Christmas party of Friday
- A friend's 30th b-day party on Saturday
- Christmas shopping!

What are you looking forward to this week?  
When do you put up your Christmas decorations?

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Egg in a Hole

Since starting my blog about a year and a half ago, I have developed a love of breakfast that I had never had before.  I learned to be more creative with breakfast, instead of just popping frozen waffles in the toaster everyday for a month ...

Yesterday I had a beautiful bowl of mocha coconut oats (made with chocolate Almond breeze, coffee, quick oats, 1 tsp choc. chips and 1 tsp shredded coconut).


My other eats yesterday included a roast beef sandwich, a pear, yogurt, iced cappuccino, soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.  My snack last night was celery with plastic Cheese Whiz:


Real foodies eat Cheese Whiz.  It's the law.
This morning I had egg in a hole, an old favourite from my childhood camping days with my family.

Egg in a Hole

Step 1: Tear a hole out of 2 slices of bread (and toss or eat)
Step 2: Butter both sides of each slice
Step 3: Heat up a pan or grill
Step 4: Toss the bread on until sizzling


Step 5: Crack an egg into the hole


Step 6: After about a minute, flip carefully and quickly! 


Step 7: Once the second side is cooked, serve immediately.


Step 8: For ultimate eating pleasure, make sure they are runny!!


HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all my American Friends!!!!!!!

This evening the hubby and I, and about 20 others went to a friends house for a turkey dinner.  There were a couple appetizers, and then a traditional Thanksgiving feast.


If you are celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend what are you doing to celebrate? 
Have you ever had egg in a hole?

Don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already!


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Giveaway Announcement

The lovely people at CSN Stores contacted me recently, and offered to do another giveaway with my readers.  In case you don't know, CSN Stores is a collection of over 200 on-line stores that carry all sorts of products.  I typically review kitchen products from CSN Stores, but they also carry BMX Bikes, World Globes, sling backpacks, and all sorts of other things that might help you with your Christmas shopping.

Read to the end of the post to see the details.

On to the food ...

Yesterday I loaded up on greens in the morning with an Amazing Grass smoothie (1 cup unsweetened chocolate Almond Breeze, 1 pack Amazing Grass, 1 scoop hemp seeds, 1 banana):


Lunch was a sandwich, yogurt and a pear:


Since I had class last night I needed something quick for supper.  I picked up a lobster and shrimp pasta from Costco.  It was pretty good.


It didn't keep me full very long, so I had an apple with Dark Chocolate Dreams PB after class:


This morning I had eggs and toast:


Lunch was leftover pasta, and dinner was a chicken breast with curried veggies.

I have also been nibbling on Pot of Gold Chocolates, and BabyBel cheese here and there :-)  
The holiday season is here!

CSN Stores $40 Giveaway

(Winner will be chosen randomly, and will be given a one time use $40 promo-code that can be used toward a purchase at any of CSN Stores, but cannot be used for international fees).

Open to US and Canadian Readers only.

To Enter: Leave a comment telling me something on your wish-list!

Extra Entry: Blog about the contest and leave an extra comment telling me that you did.
Extra Entry: Tweet about the contest and leave an extra comment telling me that you did.
The contest closes Tuesday November 30th at 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Baby Summer Squash

It is hard to ignore the -33 temperatures, the blistering winds, and the knee high snow ... but bright, summery veggies sure help!


I came across these little cuties in Costco on Friday, and I had to try them.  They are easy to make - you blanch them for 1 minute, toss them in an ice-bath to cool, then saute for 5 minutes and toss with garlic and herbs.  You eat the whole thing, skin and all. They are tender, and have a mild, pleasant squash flavour.  I enjoyed them with chipotle spiced chicken on Friday for dinner.


I haven't been keeping track/ photographing my eats as usual because my blogging schedule has been off due to classes, and my trip to San Fran.  I plan to resume regular blogging in December once the semester is over.

My eats were pretty uneventful last week ... sandwiches, yogurt, eggs.  Nothing special.


On Saturday morning I made a loaded bowl of oatmeal with chocolate almond breeze, PB, cocoa bliss, maple flakes and a few walnuts.  It was a perfect breakfast for a piercingly cold morning.

On Saturday evening the hubby and I met up with some friends at a Belizean restaurant.  It is a really cool place because the owner takes all the orders, and then goes into the kitchen and makes all the food from scratch, with no salt or added fat, or artificial anything.  It takes hours to get your food, but you know you are getting traditional, "home-cooked" Belizean food.  The owner is the only waitress, and only cook.  Her husband helps out a bit too, but she pretty much does it all.

We started with samosas (baked) and spring rolls.


My meal was curried chicken with veggie rice, and coleslaw.  


I had a very relaxing weekend, watching TV with the hubby, going for a massage, and wandering around malls browsing for Christmas gifts.  It was nice to not have homework to worry about for a change.  I only have 2 papers and 1 presentation left to do, and none need to be done right away. It feels good.  

This week I am looking forward to an "American Thanksgiving Dinner" with friends!!!  Canada's Thanksgiving was in October, but we are celebrating the American Thanksgiving this year too :-)

On Saturday we have our first Christmas party of the season!  

Another thing I am looking forward to is the Grey Cup on Sunday!  The Grey Cup is Canada's Super Bowl, and my provinces team (The Roughriders) just won our play-off game today, and will be playing in the Grey Cup against Montreal.  It is a BIG deal!

What are you looking forward to?

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Snowed In

We got loaded down with snow today.  I drank up the Wheat Grass this morning for breakfast (Almond Breeze, Banana, Wheat Grass).  Lunch was a sandwich, pear, Babybel cheese and some yogurt.

 

Dinner was chicken sausage, roasted potatoes and beets.


Tonight I have no homework to do, and no place to go because there is too much snow.  I am curling up on the coach, and spending some quality time with the hubby and our PVR.

G'night!

What is the weather like where you are?
What do you have planned for the weekend?


Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Friday Night Dinner Party and Foodie Finds

On Friday evening the hubby and I had two other couples over for a dinner party.  I spent the day prepping and baking, and getting ready for an evening full of good eats and good company.


We started the evening off nibbling some mushroom crostini (unpictured) and goat cheese tarts.


Next we tasted beet and goat cheese cream puffs, with a bit of arugula blended in.

 

For the next course we savoured camembert tarts with bacon.

Camembert Tarts with Bacon

1 sheet puff pastry
1 onion, thinly sliced and caramelized
Camembert cheese, cubed
10-12 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 eggs
3/4 cup whipping cream
Pepper

Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease 8 tart forms and line each with a layer of puff pastry.  Spoon the onion and bacon evenly into the tarts.  Cover with cheese.  Mix eggs with cream and pepper and pour over.  Bake for 25-30 minutes - until puffy and golden.


We grazed on a butternut squash salad.  Adapted from the recipe here.


We slurped curried lentil soup.  Find the recipe here.


We dined on crown pork with apple sauce, and mushroom risotto.  The hubby rubbed the crown pork with a rub I was got in my FoodBuzz Festival swag bag.  The mushroom risotto recipe is here.


Finally, we indulged.  There were many desserts including a selection from the goodies I made the day before, a chocolate vanilla bean pear crisp that I came up with a while ago, and Angela's pumpkin gingerbread with spiced buttercream (which is SO insanely good).


I also pulled out a treat that I brought home from San Fransisco, and I made all my friends try it.  

They were hesitant at first, but they loved it.  How could they not?

Mo's Bacon Bar (Basically chocolate with sea salt and bacon in it) - That's how I roll ...
Bacon + Chocolate = Hot Steamy Love.

Do you want to know what else goes great with chocolate?

Coconut.

I also bought this in San Fransisco:


I enjoyed it on my oatmeal on Saturday morning.


Both of these products are things I had been dying to try, and they were well worth the wait.

Are there any foodie item(s) you are dying to try, but haven't because you can't buy them where you live etc.?  What are they?