Dinner

I accomplished astoundingly little with an unplanned free morning (cancellation)...but went to work for the afternoon and then hit the gym. I finally got my new orthotics yesterday, and broke them in at the gym today, and so far no problems! I think I worked harder today than I have in a long time...I'm already weak and sore (but in a good way).

Super hungry when I got home..so I made this big bowl of yumminess:

1 oz buckwheat soba noodles (cooked, obviously).
1/2 avacado
1/2 red pepper
1 stalk of celery
1 bunch of alfalfa sprouts
olives
1 left over garbanzo patty (see last post for recipe) crumbled up
balsamic dressing (1 T mayo, some nutritional yeast, some water, and balsamic vinegar mixed together).

Very very good. I put it all in a big square white serving bowl I have...for some reason when I put things in that bowl I like them even better.

Sorry no picture!!

Now watching Bones and waiting for D. to call to say he's ready to be picked up.

Mini Break

D. and I are thankfully both healthy now, so we can enjoy our mini-break weekend! It's been a busy and tiring week, but good. I've eaten healthily and made it to the gym twice. I have been partly motivated by wanting to be able to relax and enjoy this weekend!

I worked all day yesterday with one team, then after word hit the gym and then went to pick up D. at the skytrain. I was super hungry and (oddly enough) craving these simple garbanzo bean burgers we've made once before. They totally hit the spot (I had them alongside a salad, but had them for lunch today in a sandwich). Here are the directions ( I can't remember where I found this now...it's loosely based on something...sorry I can't remember what!!):

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Garbanzo Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

1 can (2cups) garbanzo beans mashed (I mashed them in batches in a morter and pestle).
1 carrot (very finely chopped).
1 stalk celery (very finely chopped).
1 small onion (very finely chopped).
1 clove crushed garlic
1/4 whole wheat flower
2T oil (for frying)
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Mix everything together. Form the mixture into 6 patties.
2. Fry the patties on one side with 1 T oil. When you flip them add the second T oil.

These are SO simlple, but SO stinking good!!!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We slept in ridiculously late today (11am!!!) and layed in bed and read books for a while with our coffee (the perfect Saturday morning). I've finished off a bit of work I had to do, and now can start getting ready to leave for our overnight mini-break!

D.'s work party is at a fancy hotel downtown, and we're staying the night at the hotel and have arranged for late check-out so we can laze around!! We so need this little break. It's so exciting!! I bought a fantastic new dress, and can't wait to start getting ready. We'll check into the hotel a couple of hours before the party starts, so I'll have time to do most of the getting ready there.

Off I go!!

this week and today

I finally submitted the first draft of my thesis to my supervisor yesterday. I took this past week (mostly) off of work in order to complete it. Thankfully, I was able to make good use of the time and get it done!

I forgot to get bananas yesterday when I went shopping. Sad. I was so looking forward to whipped banana oatmeal this morning!

Today:
- 4-hour work meeting (likely tense - ick.).
- invoicing
- make revisions to my thesis if I have recieved feedback from my supervisor
- something fun tonight (not sure what, but something fun)

Frittata

I had a long video conference today, and forgot to eat beforehand. so, for the last 30 minutes or so I was thinking about what I would eat. I have run out of left over turkey soup...so needed something else that I would make once and eat for a couple of days while sick. I've never made Frittata's because I've never had a frying pan that can go in the oven..and all the recipes suggest this. I finally bought such a pan though, and I had all the ingredients so thought I'd give it a shot. The procedures are loosely based on a basic Frittata receipe in the Moosewood cookbook. Here's what I did:

I sauteed almost 2 cups of quartered, thinly sliced red potatoes, 1 small thinly sliced onion, a handful of washed and chopped green beans, 2-3 garlic pressed garlic cloves, 3 large sliced mushrooms, and half a red pepper in 3 T olive oil (I would reduce this in the future....this was less than the Moosewood cookbook called for, but still more than necessary I think).

While that was cooking I whisked together 8 eggs and 1 Cup of plain almond milk.

I added salt and pepper to the potato-onion-etc. mixture, poured the eggs + milk overtop and let it cook on low on the stovetop while I grated 4 oz light cheddar cheese.

I sprinkled the cheese on top and put the whole thing into the oven, uncovered. Bake for 25minutes until puffed up and golden.

I'm not a big fan of eggs that are "browned" in any way (I never order omlettes) but I really loved this! This is not a low-fat version really though. I had room in my daily points to have the higher-fat version, but you could easily substitute egg whites for some of the eggs, and probably could cut the cheese in half and still have a pretty fantastic frittata. I ate this on it's own because salad is not all that appealing when you're sick. But, it would be perfect with a salad and not much else as it's super filling!

It made 4 large servings, 6 medium servings or 8 small servings.

Making the best of it...

I had a work appointment at 8am this morning. After getting up at 5:30, running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to pull together everything (work stuff, gym stuff, lunch) I'd need for the next 14 hours (big break between 2 appointments close together then a WW meeting in the evening), dropping D. off at the bus, and getting about 1/4 of the way to the appointment, I got a text message saying it was canceled! Arg!

I fought the urg to go back home and go to bed (also feeling a need to do SOMETHING out of the house first thing, since I got up so early) and went to the gym. After the gym I went grocery shopping and came home and put ingredients for a turkey-fennel-squash-white-bean type soup/chili/I'm not sure what to call it into the slow cooker. Now I have a couple of hours to work from home before I have to leave for my afternoon appointment. So, at least we now have a healthy, warm, comforting meal for dinner, and grocery shopping is done. I just know I would have ended up going shopping after my WW meeting tonight and then wold have been grumpy, hungry, and tired when I got home and have no idea what to make still.

Though, bed is still looking like a mighty good place to spend the next 2 hours. I will resist.

Gift basket!

The other day, I got a call from a health food and vitamin store saying I'd won a gift basket. Initially I was confused....I wasn't sure I'd been there or entered any contest. Then I vaguely remembered needing oil of oregano (GOOD oil of oregano) when I was sick, and stumbling upon a health food store locally. I must have entered a contest when I bought the O of O. So I picked up the basket, and as it turns out it is a fantastic basket of goodness! Here are some highlights:

"Tart is Smart" cherry juice concentrate....full of antioxidants and other good stuff...

A natural cold and flu remedy/pill, natural motion sickness pills and dental products that apparently strengthen your teeth like flouride (without the flouride of course).
Fabric softener, and Redmond clay - which apparently can be used as a facial mask, as a poultice for any number of ailments or ingested for digestive health? I think I'll stick to using it as a face mask, given the stared note on the back: "This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA..."
Bath and body product galore!

Hazelnut Agave nectar, and two types of specialty salts! I didn't even know hazelnut agave existed. I use agave fairly regularly, but this hazelnut agave is out of this world!! I wish you could smell and taste it...but you can't. I will definately be purchasing this again! I decided to break in the hazelnut agave nectar drizzled on top of pumpkin oats! I made some for both D. and I this morning. Pumpkin oats recipe as on Kath's blog, but with pecans, balken yogurt, coconut (on top instead of inside) and the hazelnut agave drizzled on top. Heavenly breakfast. And, believe it or not - still healthy and full of goodness!!

Fall-tastic

I managed to hit up the market yesterday, and they have wonderful crisp yummy apples now. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with giddiness about fall. When I was growing up, I think Halloween (and "fall" in general) was my favorite time of year. We to have a bon fire and make caramel apples, and have fire works every halloween. My mom would make a big pot of chili and hot dogs and we'd have these when we returned home from trick-or-treating. I just love the cool crispness of fall, and that smell the air gets....I'm not sure what it is...rotting leaves maybe? It's just great. For an easy dinner last night I had a cut up apple, left over quinoa stew and a tortilla (amazing 12g of fibre tortillas from Ralph's) with the last of some basil-avacado dip spread on it and some parmesan cheese. I heated it in a frying pan for a bit so the cheese would melt.
MMMmmm......It was a good dinner. And easy. Which is pretty darn important these days. I'm going to pick up some pumpkin and make a pumpkin porcini soup from the moosewood book for dinner tonight I think.

I'm working from home till about 2:30 today....and have a really long to-do list to get through. We'll see how far I can get. I'd better get showered and moving if I hope to have any chance at getting through it!

Peruvian Quinoa Stew

(The picture is a little dark...it's dark out :). Today was a long work day, and I didn't get home till about 8pm. I managed to stop for the essential groceries for this recipe (pretty simple) between work and my WW meeting. When I got home cooked this, ate it, and cleaned as much as I could in about 20 minutes, all while watching the first episode of Glee (which I love by the way). This is from the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home Cookbook.

Peruvian Quinoa Stew

1/2 C quinoa
1 C water

2 Cups chopped onions
2garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 T vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 carrot, cut on the diagonal into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 bell pepper (I used red), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup cubed zucchini
2 cups undrained chopped fresh or canned tomatoes (I used canned)
1 cup water or vegetable stock (I used water)
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tsp ground coriander
pinch of cayenne
2 tsp fresh oregano (1 tsp dried)
salt to taste

Optional toppings: Cilantro, grated cheddar or monteray jack cheese (I used 1 oz part skim mozarella).

Cook the quinoa and set aside. Saute the onions and garlic in the oil for about 5-min. Add the carrots and celery and saute for another 5-min. Add everything else but the quinoa, salt and toppings and simmer till the veggies are cooked. Add the quinoa, season with salt and serve with topped with cilantro and/or cheese.

We really liked this- it is filling and nutritious and VERY tasty. An added bonus is that the ingredients are simple, easily on hand, and inexpensive. It will make great lunches too I think!

Thankful

For:

A new car that has LOW gas consumption, a sunroof and On Star. You really can just press a button and they are right there asking you how they can help? And they don't get mad if you call to introduce your parents to them. I'm thinking we should only do that once though. It's free for the first year, and we'll see at the end of that if we want to continue.

Discovering yummy oatmeal. Today it is bananna-flax-cottage cheese oats with a fig, peach and almond-hazelnut butter on top. Hopefully this will keep me full for a while - I have about 1.5 hours of travel to my first appointment and that doesn't end till about 2pm.

My husband. He's sick now, poor guy. I hope he gets better fast. He usually does bounce back pretty quickly.

Lots of work. I am trying to be thankful for this. Things are really busy and overwhelming right now...but I have a job I love (most of the time - though it's hard to remember this at this time of year!), and plenty of work.

That it is Friday. Though, this will be a busy weekend. I feel like I could sleep for days right now!

It's like pumpkin pie for breakfast

This is a slightly modified version of Kath's pumkin oatmeal. It is seriously, astonishingly good!! Mine included the following:

• 1/3 Cup oats
• 1/3 Cup water
• 1/3 Cup 1% milk

I heated this up till the oats were about 1/2-3/4 of the way cooked. Then I stirred in:

• 1/3 C pumpkin
• some nutmeg and ginger
• pinch of salt
• some splenda (not sure how much)
• 1 T coconut

Continued cooking, then at the end stirred in vanilla and 1/2 T ground flax. I topped it with 1/3 cup balken yogurt and 3 chopped pecan halves. Seriously - it's like eating pumpkin pie in a bowl!!! And 5 WW points in total.

Today so far...

Breakfast 1: 1/3 C balken yogurt, 1/2 C Kashi honey-almond-flax cereal, 1 banana
Then: Gym + picked up a few groceries.
Breakfast 2: 1/2 Cobs cape seed roll (high fat but sooo good and high in fibre and protein as well), turkey, tomato, spinach, grainy mustard + mayo.

Now: To face the thesis work and work-work I have to complete today. Today is my only (mostly) full work at home day this week, so I have to get everything done!

Later: I found Money's mushroom burgers at Superstore! I LOVE these, but haven't been able to find them anywhere lately, but SS had them in 4 and 16 packs! And when I did the calculations when I got home I realized they are only 1 WW point each. Score! I'll have one for lunch I think.

I found fresh figs at the market yesterday, so I'll be making a goat cheese and fig pizza I found here (or one loosely based on this one). The figs were pricy (3 for $4.00!) so I only bought 3, and will just make 1 pizza for D. and I to share. Well I should say D. and I will make...as we'll both be relatively late today. If I can put the dough on in the bread maker before work that will help.

K. Off I go.

Saturday Morning

• Sleeping in
  
• Good coffee
• Bananna oatmeal with raspberries, pear and almond butter
• Bacon
  

Soon the morning will be done and we have to get to work. We were going to go car shopping today, but both have work to do so I'm not sure if that will happen. We'll see.

Breakfast

Pioneer Woman's post about Quesedillas made me crave one. So today's breakfast was:

Quesedilla: 1 scrambled egg, 4 T grated cheddar, 2 T grated parmesan, 1 tomato sliced, salt and pepper, hot sauce in a tortilla, fried.

Mmmmm good. And I found these tortillas at Ralph's produce (in Langley) that have 12 g of fibre and only 90 calories....so there's room for the cheese :)

Sorry, no picture :( Too early.

Today:
Work
Supervision meeting
Uploading and scoring video/Thesis work
Make dinner
Work at home.

My First Ikea Hack!

I have two big Expedit bookshelves in my office (that our landlord nicely left for us). I love this system as it can be used as a room divider or bookshelf. Additionally there are a number of baskets and boxes made to fit the cubes that you can hide things away in. You can also purchase drawers and cupboard doors to add to it.

The one thing I have not been able to do with it yet is figure out a good way to use it for hanging files. I can fit filing boxes into the cubes, but they don't look very nice, and it's a hassle to have to pull them all the way out and open the lids to access files.

Then, when I was at Ikea on Saturday (before my nasty cold fortified itself and made a second attack) I found they have a new box designed to fit into the Expedit. This is it. Bonus: It's only 6.99 (compared to 16-24 dollars for all the other boxes/baskets that fit the cubes). Bonus #2: It comes in pretty colors. So, I bought 3 of the turquoise colored ones.

I discussed the need for a better hanging file set up (and my unwillingness to pay $300-600 for ugly filing cabinets), and D. suggested just putting a file frame into the box! Brilliant husband I have.

So, off to staples and I bough three of these:
Actually, as it turns out I bought 6 of them, because I didn't realize there were 2 per box. Each box of 2 was about $12.00 - not bad :). Then, I set up the file frames - using the smallest length (14 inches) and put them into the boxes: Perfect! They slide easily in and out of the bookshelf and hold about as much as a large filing box. My only concern is longevity - the boxes are cloth on a cardboard frame (the type that pop up and zip together), so they may give out after a period of use. I'll let you know though. But hey, the whole thing cost me about 40.00 for the boxes and file systems, so I won't complain! I kept them all on the bottom of the bookshelf, as I think they would be a bit awkward on a higher shelf. This would be perfect if you were using the Expedit as a room divider, as the boxes look nice from both sides and have handles on both sides. And I think this looks MUCH better than a stinky metal filing cabinet!

Cherry & Bulgur Salad

I made this the other night...I had cherries and goat cheese and wanted an excuse to put them together :). Here's the recipe:

I started with 2 cups of cooked bulger. I think in the future I would use less bulger and/or more cherries. The salad was a little heavy on the grains.

I added 2 cups of pitted cherries.

I added 1/2 an avacado.

Finally, I added goat cheese.

I added a dressing made from the juice of 1 lime, some (I think it was 1-2 tsp) olive oil, salt and pepper and mixed it all up. We had this in our lunches all week, it was a super easy and yummy, and filling lunch.

Breakfast

I opened the fridge this morning to try to come up with a breakfast that would use up the many left-overs in the fridge and came up with this. It's a hash of some sort. Left over cooked yam (1C), left over grilled veggies (eggplant, red pepper, mushrooms), left over home made vegan sausage, grainy mustard and a sprinkling of balsamic all fried up. I topped it off with some ricotta cheese. It was SUPER filling..I should be good till dinner ;) Tasty too.

Happy Anniversary

Monday was our sixth wedding anniversary. Time has flown by! We decided to have a special dinner at home rather than go out. Since the cooking is half the fun for me, this was sort of part of my present. D. returned home with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, and we had a lovely dinner. This is, by the way the first time we've eaten in the formal dining room, and the first time I've used my grandmother's china. I made this Zucchini ricotta cheesecake. If you have zucchini to use up, I implore you, make this. It is so very good. Breakfast, lunch or dinner :)


I also made this Orzo supper salad. It was very tasty with orzo (of course), asparagus, broccoli, cucumber, almonds, feta, and a yummy lemon olive oil and garlic dressing.


I also made these yummy sweet potato falafals. I couldn't find chick pea flour, so I substituted 1/2 chick peas and 1/2 whole wheat flour and it seemed to work - these were super yummy, and are really healthy! I had them cold the next day for lunch and they were just as good. Here's the table all set up - look at the beautiful flowers! It was a yummy dinner, and we still have left-overs! I think next time I'm going to make a double or tripple recipe of the falafels and freeze them!

Processing ways of eating.

Found this site/article today. Like it :). Great nutritional suggestions for fasting.

Made this recipe the other day. So lovely. If you have lots of Basil, as I do, this is a very nutritious, creamy recipe, that has a bit more substance than pesto or a traditional "dip." Why do I buy salt and preservative laden dips at the grocery store, when tasty ones like this are so easy to make and yummy? I've converted myself completely to making salsa at home always, and most often make hummus at home. I think that will be my mini-goal in trying to eliminate some processed foods; I will try, from now on never to buy "dips" or "spreads" at the store. Salsa, hummus and this yummy basil recipe are all easy to make at home, so there is no excuse!

New Favorites

Blog: Sprouted Kitchen

Web Browser: Firefox

Email program: Thunderbird.

I'm playing around with Sunbird, Mozilla's scheduling tool. I'm not sure I can make the switch to a digital planner. But, loosing my planner for a few days a couple of weeks ago has made me feel like I at least need to try :).

I also just downloaded Google Desktop. My favorite thing about it (besides the searches) is the nifty pop up to do list and other handy add-ons you can download.

Mom and Dad's

We went to Kamloops last weekend. My parents have a wonderful back yard, gardens and outdoor living area...I love sitting on the patio all evening talking, over dinner, over wine. Here are some of my favorite sights. Beginning with my mom's amazing basil patch (this is one of two). Doesn't it make you just want to dive in and roll around in it?

One of the veggie patches. I liked that these were nicely arranged in groups of three (though I'm sure that was accidental).

Three pots on the patio. More herbs.

I took this from the livingroom, looking out the patio doors. Those are hops on the latticework. They blanket it.


Appletree.

Hanging basket.

Dinner on the first night. This was a late night dinner after we arrived on Friday. For the record, those quesadillas are peach, goat cheese and basil. SO good.
Dinner on the second night. Grilled chicken, corn, and grilled vegetable salad. Homemade peach-mango salsa (mom's!) with tortillas.

So, you can see why I like going to Kamloops.