Power Bars

I will be blogging from a hotel room this weekend.

Let me give you a tour ...

Nothing special, but the hotel itself (the Westin) is quite nice.  

We are in Calgary for the hubby's 1/2 Ironman race.

Yesterday before we left I made him some granola bars to help fuel over the weekend.  I got the idea from Simply Life.  Gina made chewy cherry almond bars.  I took the base idea, and switched it up a bit to use ingredients that we had on hand.

Power Bars

Adapted from: Simply Life

1 2/3 cup quick oats

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups add ins (I used dried apricot, chia seeds, hemp seeds and pecans)

1/3 cup PB

1 tsp vanilla

6 T melted butter

1 T water

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix dry ingredients.  Mix wet ingredients and add to dry.  Press into a square pan that has been lined with parchment paper.  Bake 30 minutes.  Allow to cool (in fridge even) completely before cutting into pieces.

This evening we ate supper at a restaurant in Calgary called Pulcinella.  It is an authentic Napolenta pizza restaurant.  We shared the calamari, and then tried the pepperoni and mushroom pizzas.

Tomorrow we are going to a street fair, and then on Sunday the hubby races.

What are you up to this weekend?  Is it a long weekend for you?

New Tabs

Slowly but surely I'm checking things off my summer to-do list ...

• Cleaned and organized all the kitchen cupboards
• Cleaned and organized our office
• Went through my closet and filled 2 garbage bags with donations
• Updated my resume
• And FINALLY added a few tabs to my blog - if you check out the top of my blog, just under the banner, you will see that I have added tabs for recipes, entertaining and travel.

My recipe tab has the link to my perfect scrambled eggs, which I had this morning.

And the shrimp and bacon orzo that I made for dinner this evening.

It also has a link to the recipe for cake pops - mmmmmm!

If you are more interested in my adventures in the Dominican ...

I am in the green skirt.

I am that one --------------->

Or you forgot the name of that cool hidden hotdog joint in NY ...

Check out my travel tab.

And, if you are wondering what I would serve for dessert for an Irish dinner party, head on over to the entertaining tab.

I feel a lot more organized with these.  After almost 2 years of blogging, and close to 600 posts, it is about time I organize them in some way that may be helpful.

What things have you checked off your summer to-do list?  

What things do you still hope to get done this summer?

Gratitude

I am absolutely humbled and blown away by the generosity of the blogging community.  

Today was our fundraiser/auction for Susan.  

To say it was a success is an understatement.  

Healthy living/food bloggers united today to raise $26, 432 for Susan's cancer medication and other expenses.  I feel so blessed to be a member of such a loving and giving community of people, and am grateful to have been a part of this effort. When I first received an email from Janetha asking for help, I never imagined that it would be this big of a success.  I don't think any one did.  It just goes to show you what people can do when they band together. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the auction, bid on items, donated or supported this great cause in any way.  You can listen to Susan's radio interview here, or read the Fitness magazine article about the fundraiser here.  

...

I am also grateful for the beautiful summer we are having and this past Sunday that I got to spend with my adorable nephew.  We had a picnic in the park, tried to fly a kite, and splashed at the spray park.

 

 

And, because this is a food blog ... I am also grateful for the goodies that the people at Artisana generously sent me to try out.  I had some of the pecan butter on my oatmeal this morning.

 

What are you thankful for today?

The Great Fundraising Act

A bunch of bloggers, including myself, have pulled together to put on a great fundraiser for Susan.

For those who don't know, Susan is a blogger at The Great Balancing Act.  I met her in November at the Foodbuzz Festival in San Fransisco.  

Susan was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma.  

She is currently hospitalized, and the bills are piling up.  

Here are some of the posts she has done recently.

(This amazing woman is even posting from the hospital):

A Long Hard Road

Cancer - Day 1 

How to Make the Sick Sicker

You are What You Eat

Some Cancer Questions Answered

Lymphoma Explained

Susan usually works as a personal trainer, however being in the hospital, she is unable to work and therefore unable to make money to cover her expenses.  Janetha, the wonderful soul that she is, contacted every blogger she knew, reaching out to us to do something to help Susan.

The Great Fundraising Act 

A Blogger Auction and Bake Sale that will take place Monday, July 25 from 8 am (EST) with staggered closing times.  Please note individual item closing times.

There are some pretty sweet items up for bid, and you can see them all here in their respective categories:

BLOGGER AUCTION  

(Monday July 25th - 8am start)

The rules etc. are on the linked page as well.

DIRECT DONATION

You can use PayPal, a bank account or any major credit card to donate directly to The Great Fundraising Act. 

 

ALL proceeds and monetary donations will go directly to Susan.  

Let's make this a huge success!

7th Anniversary

Seven years ago today was a pretty amazing day.  

I married the love of my life in an adorable little church with all of our friends and family there to celebrate with us. 

We went out for lunch today and the hubby wanted Indian food:

 

He then took me out for dinner to a nice restaurant in the city called The Willow.  

The amouse bouche was a little salad.

For an appetizer we had the duck ravioli.  

My meal was a maple bourbon glazed chicken breast on cheddar jalapeno waffles, with bacon chipotle butter and rosemary beet syrup.

Happy 7th anniversary Chris!  

If you are married or dating, when is your anniversary?

Let the Summer Draaaaag On!

I have had a couple of pretty awesome breakfasts lately ... like this gigantic Denver sandwich, which I could only finish half of.  The runny egg was so good in it though.

I also have been having breakfast platters with fruit and yogurt.  The other day I had blueberries, a plum, an apricot and vanilla yogurt with PB.  

I still believe that vanilla yogurt and PB are a match made in heaven.  

You must try it.  Source vanilla yogurt is the best (I think).

Dinner this evening was something I remember eating as a kid.  

Meatballs in mushroom sauce on rice.  I served it with roasted zucchini.

In other news ...

Yesterday I did my last presentation and handed in my last paper for my summer class.  I had to show up today to watch others do their presentations, and same for Monday, but I am done all the work and can now relax.  This book can go onto the shelf until at least the fall:

No work + no school + no babies yet = 

No responsibilities for the rest of the summer.

Some things on the agenda for the rest of July and August include:

• Celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary
• Going on a road weekend road trip for the hubby to compete in another 1/2 Ironman (we will also shop, visit friends)
• A Folk Festival (weekend long music festival) in our city
• My sister's wedding
• 10 days of camping with the hubby and a bunch of our closest friends

I hope the days draaaaaaag on!

What fun things are still on your agenda for the summer?

What happens at the Bachelorette Party ...

Stays at the bachelorette party.

And that is why I will only share 5 little things that I have learned lately:

1) All nights out should be as fun as my sister's bachelorette party was.  It is the new standard by which I will judge all other nights on the town.

2) Bachelortte parties call for wine that suits the occasion.

3) And cute cups, and Pink Lemonade Vodka to spike the pink lemonade punch.

4) When nothing on the menu sounds good, skip dinner and order the Creme Brulee.  

Burnt sugar can never be wrong.

5) A bachelorette party is not over until the bride makes a mustache with her bridesmaid's hair extensions.  While wearing her sunglasses.  At night.  In the house.

When was the last time you had a really fabulous, laughed until it hurt, danced until your feet blistered, night on the town?

Pancake Cupcakes with Maple Bacon Buttercream

If I am an expert in anything, I am an expert in procrastinating.

These cupcakes seemed like a pretty good way to procrastinate last week.  

Don't worry, I do always get my homework done on time.

Do you procrastinate?  

Are you practicing procrastination right now like I am by chance?

Hehe - I should totally be writing a 15 page paper right now ... oops.

My friend Vanessa procrastinates too.  It even says so under her blog title. 

Check out the facebook message she left me last night:

"I feel compelled to tell you that I am writing a blog post instead of my mini paper."

Bahahaha!  Great minds.

Eating in the Summer & Chipotle Lime Butter

Check out my basil!!

It is growing so well, and it tasted wonderful in my spaghetti bolognese that I made the other night.

I thought my cilantro was growing well, but then Christina informed me that the flowers it had sprouted were not actually a good thing ... oops!  I trimmed it waaaaay down, and am hoping for the best.  Thanks Christina!  I did get some good leaves from it to make this chipotle lime butter:

Chipotle Lime Butter

Juice of 1 lime

1/4 cup of butter

1 tsp chipotle butter

lots of chopped cilantro

Let the butter soften at room temperature then mix all the other ingredients in.

I used it on some fish and mashed potatoes.

It has been REALLY hot lately and being home all day I have noticed that I haven't really felt like eating lunch.  I get up a little bit later than I would if I was going to work, and have a leisurely breakfast.  

I then do my readings for class outside, work on homework, and run errands.  I have been snacking on fruit, veggies, and yogurt throughout the day, because it is just too hot to make lunch.  Today for instance, I had 3/4 of a cucumber, and about 1/4 of a bag of snap peas - hehe!

I go to class from 2:00-4:40 (only 5 more days of it - thankfully), and then come home to make supper.  Some of the dinners I made this week were spaghetti bolognese, pita pizzas and ham and perogies.  

We haven't had a lot of time for anything fancy because the hubby is training like crazy for his upcoming Half Ironman race.  I am very excited for him!

I am off to get a good nights sleep because tomorrow evening is my sister's bachelorette party!!

What do you have planned for the weekend?