Starbucks Card WINNER!!!!!!! And 2 Day Re-Cap

id you miss my 24, 24, 24 Dinner Re-Cap?
Check Here!

$25 Dollar Starbucks Card Giveaway WINNER:

True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 50 Result: 6

The winner is: AMBER (Girl with the Red Hair)!! Please contact me with your mailing address and I will get the gift card to you right away!!

Sunday Re-Cap:

Breakfast/ Lunch - 2 scrambled eggs with Sriracha hot sauce, and a glo-bar:





Dinner at In-Laws - Perogies, sausage, potatoes, pickle, cheese:





With a glass of Icetea:



Snack Sunday night - Grapefruit:



Monday Re-Cap:

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day!! Spring has definitely sprung in Regina. It was about 14C.
I started my day with a bowl of banana maple walnut oats:


(1/2 cup maple coffee, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 t maple flakes, 1/2 banana, 1 tsp walnuts).



Lunch was leftover bison and Saskatoon berry ragout on rice, with an orange and a yogurt:



Dinner was a veggie burger and a salad with mixed greens, tomato, cucumbers, Gruyere, bacon bits, and Saskatoon berry vinaigrette:





I went for a run this evening. I am pretty crappy. I can only run about a quarter mile at a time, and then I am huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf. BUT, I have improved (yes, I used to be worse!) When I started I could barely run a minute. You should have seen me. I was pathetic. Still am, but at least I am improving!

My next run on the C25K plan is about a quarter mile MORE than what I am doing now. I don't know how I will run a half mile straight ... then walk a couple minutes, then do it again. I am scurrrrrrrrrrred!

On Friday morning the hubby and I will be leaving for NYC! We will be there for a week.

Are any NY bloggers interested in a blogger meet-up?
Let me know!!

What do you have planned for the Easter weekend?

This will be the first time my hubby and I won't be with family over Easter. We will have to check out the Easter Parade in NY, and see what else is happening! We will also be there for the hubby's 29th B-Day which is on April 6th!

Confession

may or may not LOVE Lil Wayne. Don't judge :-)




I also love Green Monsters. I made one for breakfast today.
(1 cup spinach, 1 cup almond breeze, 2 packs of Amazing Grass, and 1 T of Twister Power):







I also had a glo-bar with my coffee on the way to work:



Lunch was leftover tofu curry from last night, as well as a grapefruit.

For dinner this evening we had veggie burgers (from Costco), raw veggies, and potato slices baked with spices and cheese on top.



These veggie burgers we bought from Costco are AMAZING. They taste JUST like a real burger, but they are made with portobello mushrooms. Even my hubby loved them!

When I was younger and lived at home, I always used to trick my mom and sister into eating veggie burgers. They would never have wanted them if they had known!! Hehe. My sister used to say how good they were, and I only told her years later that they were not the real deal.

Would your family eat a veggie burger? Tofu?





Dessert was my favourite Easter treat, a Cream Egg.



This egg will satisfy my Easter chocolate craving until next year. I can't eat them more often that that because they are just toooooooo sweet. I am sweet enough.

Okay, now you confess a SECRET/ bizarre crush?

And, what is your favourite Easter treat?

Blogger Award

o, grapefruits = not too popular!

My hubby doesn't like them either. I still love 'em.

I had the worst sleep last night. It took me hours to fall asleep, and then I tossed and turned all night, waking up multiple times. I kept hitting the snooze button and didn't roll out of bed until 8:00. I was out the door by 8:15. I can be pretty quick when I need to be! I didn't have time to sit down and eat breakfast, so I had half a Glo-bar on the way to work. I had every intention of eating the other half at work, but got completely distracted.



Oh well. Crappy breakfast day.

Lunch was leftover veggie pizza:



Olives on pizza = Awesome. Crust on pizza = disgusting.

I was away from my classroom this afternoon at a workshop. I had an oatmeal cookie for an afternoon snack along with this tea:



I want to thank Jessica over at DairyFreeBetty for the tea! It was one of the goodies I received as the winner of her "Random Acts of Kindness" giveaway.

Do you remember those cards I sent out randomly a while back?
Well, she chose me as her winner because of them!! How nice!!

I got all this loot in the mail the other day!!



Every item is something I haven't tried, so I am pretty excited!!

After work I coached my boys b-ball team - we won our fifth game in a row, so now we are 5-0!! I was very hungry when I got home, so I had some cheese and about 4 rice crackers while supper was cooking:



Dinner tonight was a saucy chicken with polenta:



This was my first time trying polenta, and I wasn't a huge fan.

Any tips for making polenta taste good?

My snack this evening was a grapefruit :-) And some edamame with soy sauce. I had the munchies this evening (I blame it on my unsubstantial breakfast):





I also need to thank Diana at MyMarbleRye for this lovely award she gave me:



To accept this award I have to come up with 6 outrageous LIES about myself, and 1 TRUTH, and you need to guess what the truth is.

Here goes:

1) Brushing my teeth with warm water disgusts me.
2) I have issues with people touching my hair.
3) I have never baked a cake in my life.
4) I have never thrown up.
5) Onions don't make me cry.
6) I can write equally well with both hands.
7) I had an extra toe when I was born.

ONLY one is true. Which is it?

I would like to pass this award on to:

DairyFreeBetty
GirlWithTheRedHair
GreensAndJeans
JocelynEatsFresh
DailyModeration
BurpAndSlurp
LowAndBehold

Have a good night peeps!!

Don't forget to enter my SkinMD Natural Shielding Lotion Giveaway!

A Perfect Morning

A perfect morning for me has a lot to do with smells.

The smell of coffee brewing. The smell of bacon frying. The smell of freshly squeezed orange juice, just waiting to be drunk.

A perfect morning must fall on the weekend, when one can sip the fresh brewed coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice slowly, savouring each mouthful.

A perfect morning is cuddling on the couch with the one you love, enjoying a perfect homemade breakfast.

This was a perfect morning.

Bacon and Gruyere Baked Eggs

- Fry 6 slices of thick cut bacon
- Wrap the bacon around the inside of 2 oven proof dishes
- Sprinkle diced onion, red pepper, pepper, and salt in the bottom of the dish
- Crack 2 eggs in each dish
- Top with Gruyere cheese
- Bake 20 minutes at 400F

Serve with a couple slices of bacon, fresh orange juice, and coffee.







I took the day off from blogging yesterday, but I have a recap for you ...

Saturday morning I was up at 7:00. I grabbed a glo-bar and a coffee and stumbled out into the cold. I picked up my friend, and headed to work where 4 of us ladies were going to embark on The BIG Cook. We had picked up $1400 worth of groceries the day before, and were in for an adventure. 128 meals to be made. 32 each.

We chopped, minced, diced, and laughed. We stirred, measured, and spilled. In the end ... we were exhausted.







Six hours and 128 meals later, all bagged and ready to be frozen, we didn't want to look at food again for a while. All the meals smelled SO good as we were putting them into the bags. I cannot wait to try each and every one. I have 32 in total, 16 different recipes (2 of each).





Each bag has SO much food in it that it will last my hubby and I for 3 meals! The terriyaki chicken bag, for example, has about 6 or 7 chicken breasts in it! At $350 for 32 meals, we are paying just under $11/ meal.

I got home around 2:30 and still had only eaten a glo-bar all day! I was haaaangry! I had a bowl of Annie's Mac and Cheese:



Of course last night I had to try one of the dishes we had spent the day making. We opted for the Mexican Casserole:



I topped my serving with some hot sauce and sour cream. It was excellent.



I cannot wait to enjoy the leftovers.

What would your perfect morning be like?

A Quick and Easy Soup, and "Seeing Red" Juice

leep is my best friend.

Hence, Breakfast on the run this morning:

It was so cold today. On days like today I just want to hibernate.

Another day with very few kids at school. The bus and taxi services were canceled again today, and they will be tomorrow too!

You should see the snow on the residential streets - it is ridiculous! When I walk through the path in my backyard the snow is piled up on either side of me to almost my height.

I honestly have never seen anything like it in my life. These are some pics from around the city (source: Leader Post Website):









Crazy hey!!!!

Those photos should explain why 1/2 my class was not at school this week!!

Okay, back to the food Jolene.

Lunch:







I wanted something warm and comforting for dinner, so I made an easy soup.

Garlicky Tortellini, Spinach and Tomato Soup
(Source: Flavours Magazine)

1) Saute 6-8 chopped cloves of garlic in 2 T butter for 2 minutes (trust me, use all the garlic)



2) Add 4 cups of chicken broth and bring to a boil (or veggie)



3) Add 170 g of fresh cheese tortellini and cook about 4 minutes (I used half this pack)





4) Add a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes (including the liquid)



5) Simmer about 2 minutes, then add an entire 10 oz (300g) bag of baby spinach (no need to chop - just toss it all in). Stir until wilted.



6) Serve it up with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese (I used Romano b/c that's what I had) and toss some basil in too.

Bon Appetit!









I enjoyed a few little pieces of baguette with mine.



You really must try this soup - it is SO EASY, yet healthy and delicious.

For a snack this evening I made a juice! I am really loving my juicer - I am SO glad I bought it.

I call this juice "Seeing Red."

It included:

- 1 Apple
- 1 Ruby Red Grapefruit
- 1 Red Pepper
- 1 Roma Tomato



Yummmmmmmm!

Imagine your perfect juice ... what would you put in it?

I am still experimenting to find my favourite combo!