Feels Like Home ...

It feels like summer in Regina!

Time to bring out my shorts, tanks, and sandals. I am LOVING it!

When the warm weather kicks in there is nothing I want to do more than go CAMPING! If you imagined me as a city girl, you are somewhat right ... but I am truly an outdoorsy, country girl at heart. I was born and raised on a farm in 'the middle of nowhere', Saskatchewan. My parents ran a summer camp called Ranger Lake Bible Camp, and we lived at the camp (in a house, not a cabin) :-)

There is nothing that feels more like home to me than the smell of the woods, and a roaring campfire. I never have a better sleep than the sleeps I have in a tent outside surrounded by trees, birds, and fresh air. For these reasons, camping is the holiday that I look forward to the most.

For this summer the hubby and I, along with 6-8 close friends, have 3 camping trips planned. Our first camping trip will be on the May long weekend (Victoria Day in Canada). The May camping trip is always my favourite because there are no bugs, it is not too hot, and I know it is only the beginning of a great summer to come.

On to the foodie portion of my blog ...

Breakfast was a veggie omelet with some cheddar cheese. Confession: I am TERRIBLE at making omelets. I have only successfully held them together twice. I know the secret is to use a smaller pan, and more eggs, but I keep going against that wisdom hoping it will work anyway. It never does.

The hubby, on the other hand, can make a killer omelet.



Lunch was 1 cup of vegetable soup, with 2 oranges, 1/2 cup strawberries, and a glo-bar:



Dinner was margarita pizza (courtesy of Costco):



I was craving something decadent for dessert ...


(1 square of dark Lindt chocolate with sea salt)


(2 organic figs with 2 oz goat cheese - a match made in foodie heaven)

Do you enjoy camping? Are you a tent person, or a camper/trailer person?
What kind of food do you cook when camping?

Beautiful

Breakfast (1 cup vanilla almond breeze, 1/2 cup quick oats, 1 tsp white chocolate PB, 1 strawberry and some blackberries).

Lunch was 2 leftover fajitas (apparently the fajitas are camera shy), a yogurt with a T of chocolate banana granola, 2 mini oranges.



Dinner (sweet and sour meatballs on rice).



Snack (freshly juiced cantaloupe, 2 grapefruits, 1/4 cup cucumber).

The weather - a hot, spring day!

And a beautiful award from Diana the beautiful blogger over at MyMarbleRye.



THANK YOU!

What has been beautiful in your day?

One of those Days

Yesterday was just one of those days. I had every intention of taking pictures of all of my eats, but on more than one occasion, I realized I had forgot to take the pic, after the food was gone :-)

Before I forget, Sunday night I had a banana with 1 T almond butter, and 1 T of chocolate banana granola sent to me by the lovely Diana! A very healthy snack!



On Monday I had a Green Monster (1 cup almond breeze, 1 cup spinach, 1 pack amazing grass, 1 scoop maca, hemp, cacao powder, 1 T almond butter, 1 scoop chia seeds) and a glo-bar for breakfast.





Lunch was some mac and cheese, 2 mini oranges, and a mocha yogurt (no pic).

For dinner I had 2 beef fajitas dipped in sour cream.

I went for a run last night, and my knees felt back to normal! I guess the week rest did them good.

I want to thank everyone for the well wishes regarding my Mom. I will need to go back and visit her this week.

What is your favourite healthy snack?

Dinner Party Re-Cap and Family

Sorry I haven't blogged in a couple of days. The hubby and I got a phone call Saturday morning informing us that my Mom (who has MS and lives 2 hours away) had been taken to the hospital. She had a fever, and was incoherent late Friday night. We immediately packed a bag and headed for Saskatoon. She was back to her usual self Saturday when we arrived - thank God. The doctors believe that she has pneumonia (even though she is not experiencing the usual symptoms). They will be keeping her in the hospital for the next few days at least, to run more tests, and have her meet with a neurologist about her MS. We stayed over in Saskatoon last night, and returned home this evening. I don't know if you have ever known someone with MS, but it is a very horrible, debilitating disease. There are 3 types, and my Mom has the worst type - Primary Progressive (she progressively gets worse, with no remittance). It is very hard to watch her go through it, and I just want to let everyone know what is going on in case I am away again. Please keep her in your prayers.

Friday Re-Cap

Breakfast was eggs and a glo-bar:





Lunch was an Amy's Burrito, Mocha Yogurt, and 2 mini oranges:







For dinner the hubby and I went to a dinner party at our friends Jeff and Alaina's place. We had 2 delicious appetizers. One was a flaky pastry that featured sun dried tomatoes.



The other was grilled prawns.



The next course was a mushroom soup with a lovely cheese decoration on top.
It was superb.



The main course was roast beef, sweet potatoes with a lovely dip, and vegetable skewers.



I enjoyed all the great food with plenty of red wine!

Dessert was a homemade ice-cream (none of my pics turned out :-( ) with one of these pretty cake like things that I don't know the name of!



The whole meal was wonderfully prepared and presented, and I enjoyed every bite!
It is always fun to enjoy a great meal with great friends!

Saturday Re-Cap

The next morning we got the call about my Mom and I quickly downed a Green Monster, grabbed a glo-bar and headed out the door.





We ate lunch in Saskatoon, but I could only eat a few bites of my pasta. I was feeling dizzy. My vertigo still hasn't gone away completely (it has been over a week now).



We ate dinner in the mall. I had a beef and rice dish from Edo Japan.

This morning we had breakfast in our hotel. I had 1/2 of this western Benedict.
It wasn't good.



Lunch was a chicken and veggie pita:



We drove home this evening and went to the hubby's parent's place for dinner. We had cream chicken with rice.



Do you know anyone with Multiple Sclerosis?

It is very common in my province. I know many people who's parent's or family members have it. I don't know anyone besides my Mom who has the primary progressive diagnosis however.

Maple Madness

Maple Madness Oatmeal (1/2 cup maple flavoured coffee, 1/2 cup vanilla Almond Breeze, 1/2 cup quick oats, 1 tsp maple flakes, 1 package of maple almond butter, 1/2 banana).



Lunch was a tuna sandwich, vanilla yogurt and an orange:



I came home from work to find a surprise package in the mail from Diana (MyMarbleRye)!!! She sent me some samples of granola (6 different kinds) and a Lara Bar (a flavour that I have never tried before!!) I was so excited!! THANK YOU DIANA!!

Dinner was a sweet potato and bean burrito. You can find the recipe here. This is one of my favourite vegetarian meals:



For dessert I juiced 2 mini oranges, 1 grapefruit, and 1/2 a cantaloupe:



Mmmm, refreshing!

Tomorrow (Friday) the hubby and I are going to our friends' house for a dinner party. I will re-cap Saturday!

What are your Friday plans?

Listen to Your Body

I am frustrated. I tried running this evening. After my 5 minute warm-up walk (where I felt great) I started into a jog. Immediately I knew my knees felt "off." They didn't hurt, but they felt strange. I did an insane amount of walking last week, and probably did a number on my legs which are not used to walking obscene distances daily. I just thought that I would be ready to run today. My knees kind of felt like they had air in them, if that makes sense. I didn't want to risk an injury, and it felt so weird (I felt like I was leaning forward a lot while running) so I stopped.

I am a little worried now because I am behind on my training and if I don't start running soon, I will be running every single day until my race! I am going to take another couple days off and try again on the weekend. :-( EatMoveLove gave me some good advice in her comment on my last post: "Rest your legs girl!!! Walking does way more than you think..." I am going to listen to her and my body, and rest my legs.

I listened to my body this morning when it told me it was craving protein.

I had 2 eggs with hot sauce, and 1 slice of toast:



I had no leftovers to take for lunch, so I put together a pitiful mishmosh lunch. I had some edamame, 2 pieces of toast, an apple, orange, and yogurt with granola:





For dinner I made a very healthy and delicious curried lentil soup:



Check this post for the recipe (and some info on how I puke a lot ... in case you are interested :-))

How do you know when you need a rest either physically, emotionally, or mentally?

I knew after last semester, I needed a MAJOR rest before I completely broke down mentally and emotionally. I was going non-stop, leaving work at the end of the day to go to the university to run my experiment, then coming home to do homework, write my thesis and study for the GRE tests until I went to bed. I was exhausted, and unhappy. Two week-long vacations later and a semester off, and I am finally well rested mentally and emotionally.

Rainy Days and Freezies

ainy mornings call for a bowl of warm oatmeal, with loads of toppings of course.


(1 cup vanilla almond breeze, 1/2 cup quick oats, 1/2 banana, 4 strawberries, 1 t coconut, 1 T White Chocolate Dream PB).

In a continued effort to re-fill my body with nutrients after a carb-laden vacation, I ate a bunch of veggies at lunch:



Along with leftover stir fry:



An orange:



And some yogurt and granola:



I haven't been able to run the last 2 days (although my training plan called for it) because all the walking I did in NY has finally kicked in. I need to give my legs a little rest. I should be good to go by tomorrow. I need to be. I have a 5k race on May 30th, and a long way to go!

Dinner this evening was a half a falafel pita (4 falafels, cucumber, tomato, tzatziki, hummus, and a sprinkle of cheese) with a spinach salad on the side.





Dessert was a grapefruit and a FREEZIE!!! Many of you do not know what a freezie is! Once you see the pic, I am sure you will know. I think the term "Freezie" is a Canadian word, as Wikipedia informed me, the most popular brand of this treat in Canada is called "Mr. Freeze."





So, if not a freezie, what do you call it?

We had a major thunderstorm today in Regina. I LOVED it. What is your view on thunderstorms? Love 'em or hate 'em?