Just Another Saturday

Yep ... it is late post today ... we were out doing very important things. You know, like playing a Napoleon Dynamite board game, and other such ridiculousness.

You would be jealous of some of the drawings.


(A dolphin/ horse)


(A fox/ monkey). Monkey? Really? Our friend Jeff is a great drawer.

Jealous? I can see if my friends will offer drawing lessons, if you are interested.

Last night I wanted a Green Monster, but had no bananas so I made a blueberry smoothie. My smoothie contained a cup of almond breeze, about 2/3 cup frozen blueberries, and a Mott's fruit cup (berry applesauce):



I enjoyed my smoothie while watching "The Proposal" with hubby. It was cute :-)



Breakfast was some lovely whole wheat pancakes with real maple syrup to dip:



And some java of course:



After a painful morning of avoiding writing my thesis, I had some Annie's Organic mac and cheese for lunch:



Later on in the afternoon I had a Christmasy Lara Bar:



Nom. Nom. Nom.

Before dinner I went for an amazing 90 minute massage. It was the BEST massage I have ever had! I was in heaven. I have had a rough couple months, and this was just what I needed. I am going back for another on Thursday!!

We enjoyed dinner out with friends this evening at a place called Viet Thai. I had the tofu, veggie sizzling hot plate, 1 fresh role, and rice on the side. I used some of hubby's green curry sauce on my rice.





After dinner we went to a friends house and played silly games all evening. I consumed 8 potato chips, 1 ounce of nasty fruit liqueur, and 1 beer throughout the course of the evening.

And now I will sleep.

How was your Saturday? What did you do? Any big plans for Sunday?

Mmmm, Cheese.

We had a GREAT time at the cheese party last night, and we were out far too late!

Before we went to the party, we had a light dinner of roasted veggies and salmon:

The salmon was so fresh, and perfectly cooked. Nom nom nom.

At the party I had a couple glasses of this:

The spread was absolutely wonderful, with many kinds of cheese, and some delicious tapas.

I had about 2 grapes from this lovely fruit platter:

One little bite size piece of this potato dish:

Probably about 10 of these tortilla chips dipped in this tasty taco dip:

2 pieces of calamari dipped in a homemade aioli:

And then I nibbled at all of this cheese (and about 5 Cheesies) throughout the night:

I had about 4 crackers and maybe 5 squares of bread:

Later on in the night I had 2 mimosas made with POM Wonderful and Henkell Trocken:

After a wonderful night with friends we came home and crashed until this morning when we were awoken by a phone call asking if we wanted to go for brunch (with my family).
Ummmmm yeah!

I had the "Wake - Up" breakfast:

I ate about 1/2 of it, and drank my weight in coffee.

I had a wonderful afternoon shopping!!!!! The hubby and I bought new drinking glasses from Costco, a leather chair for our computer desk also from Costco, a bunch of new cushions from Winners, some guest towels for our basement bathroom, and a giant piece of art for our living room. Ooooh, spending money just gives me a rush! Hehe. I need to do it more often.

I refueled with a Lara Bar this afternoon:

Now they hubby and I are playing with our nephew, then we are going to do some grocery shopping and head to hubby's parent's for dinner.

How has your Sunday been? What have you done today?

Vegetarian Meal #8 of 10

Okay ... after reading your comments to yesterday's post, I totally feel boring in the popcorn department! You guys put some crazy, yet interesting things on your popcorn! What I am wondering is, what made you want to try new flavourings for the first time?? Are you really that adventurous!? I am a chicken, and never venture beyond the butter or margarine world. Hence, my boring popcorn last night:

You know how a few weeks ago I woke up to snow ...
Well that is all gone now. It was nearly hot last weekend.
And this morning I woke up to pouring rain! This is Saskatchewan weather for ya!

So when it is pouring rain, and cool, and dark, breakfast can only be one thing ...
OATS!



(1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup oats, homemade pumpkin butter, and pumpkin seeds)

I had a mid-morning glo-bar snack:



Then for lunch I had perogies:



And the terrible two:


(old Cheddar and pears go fabulously together).

I have had more of an appetite than usual today, and by 3:30 I was haaaaaangry!
I had my 2nd LARA Bar:



This one was even more delicious than the last. I am so happy I finally tried these bars.
They are a little on the sweet side, and since I don't have a sweet tooth, I can only eat about 1/2 at a time - but I do love 'em.

Dinner was Vegetarian Meal #8 of 10

Red Tofu and Bean Chili

Ingredients:

- 2 t olive oil
- 3 cups chopped onion
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 3 cups veggie stock
- 1 can kidney beans, drained
- 1 can black beans, drained
- 1 can chopped tomatoes, drained
- 1 can mushrooms
- 1/2 block extra firm tofu
- Cheddar cheese to sprinkle on before serving

Directions:

• Heat oil, add onion, saute 5 min.
• Add spices, and saute 30 seconds
• Add stock, beans, tomatoes, bring to a boil
• Add tofu and mushrooms
• Simmer about 45 min. or 1 hr.
• Sprinkle shredded cheese on top before serving

I just realized that I didn't eat very many fruits/ veggies today. Guess that means I should have a GM tomorrow morning.

I really try to get my veggies in everyday, but some days (like today) I realize that it just didn't happen. No sweat. I will just have more tomorrow :-)

How do you maintain balance in your diet? Do you strive for a certain # of servings of the different food groups, or just eat what you feel like eating?

Vegetarian Meal #7 of 10, and a LARA bar!!

Good evening! I hope everyone had a good Monday, back at the daily grind! Mine was pretty good - it was nice outside, so that was something to smile about.

Before I forget, last night I ate 2 scrambled eggs with hot sauce on them. I was craving eggs for some reason, so I think it meant I needed protein:

Here are my eats from today ...

Breakfast:

• Blueberry/ Banana smoothie (1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1 banana, 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze).
• Glo-bar

I didn't have any thing to pack for lunch, so I had to run out. I went to Extreme Pita, and got a pita pizza with black olives, bruschetta mix, mushrooms, and mozzarella:

I also had about 4 pita chips with hummus:

After work I had to run to the university to do some work. I ate my VERY FIRST Lara bar on the way!! I tried the pecan pie flavour:

Now, I am not one to eat a lot of store bought bars ... typically because the ingredient list scares me. I always read the labels of products, and I try to find foods that have the least amount of ingredients with most, if not all of them, recognizable to me. The ingredient list on the back of this Lara Bar blew-my-mind in 1 millions ways. Check this out:

In case you can't read that ... it says "Ingredients - Dates, Pecans, Almonds."
That is insane. And amazing. LOVE it! Now that is a "whole food" bar. I am officially a fan!

It tasted great too :-)

Dinner today was Vegetarian Recipe #7 of 10.

Indian Curry with Chickpeas and Mango

This is seriously the easiest curry dish I have ever made. And it was delicious.

Ingredients:
1 - 14 oz can of chickpeas, drained
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped (or 1 - 14 oz can)
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup coconut milk
2 T red curry paste (Patak's mild curry)
1 mango, chopped
1 T oil



Directions:

• Heat the oil in a large, deep pan
• Add the onions and simmer until translucent

• Add the curry paste and simmer for 1 minute

• Add the coconut milk and chickpeas and simmer for a couple minutes

• Then add the cucumber and tomatoes and simmer another couple minutes

• Add the mango and let simmer until the mango is warm

Serve over rice and enjoy!

My portion:

I cannot remember where I found this recipe - it might have been a blog ... if this is from your blog, please let me know and I will give you credit! I printed it, and now I don't know where I got it. The paper says vegweb.com, so it must have originally come from there.

The hubby is nagging me to come watch TV with him ... he wants to try out my new popcorn maker that I won, and I told him he was to wait for me so that he can share with me :-) I think we will make a small batch with some yummy butter!!!

What do you put on your popcorn?