Food Hog Backlog

Several weeks and several thousands of bites later, I have a photo or twenty that finally feel like making their way out into the open. I figured I’d help them along.

You know that whole Quest bar trend, and how everyone says they’re “omgbestbaryou’llevereatever!”?

Maybe not the best idea to buy an on sale, almost expired Quest bar online as your first attempt at jumping on that bandwagon. I nearly chipped two molars. These bars do not hold up well stale.

(For the record, I’ve tried a fresher variety with much better results, though not totally sold on their holy grail-ness just yet.)

This Perfect Fit Protein bar was also a new try, luckily with some easy on the teeth results. Tastes a lot like a chocolate chip Larabar.

Visible chocolate chips right in there, I’m sold.

I’ve had a few Greek salads this past month, a hardcore Kristie favourite, clearly. Minus the olives. ALWAYS minus the olives. Yet I still try to eat one every.single.time. Why? Apparently after a certain number of tries, you can learn to like a food. I’ve tried olives many many times. If it hasn’t happened by now, it ain’t gonna happen. 

Salads (non-Greek) that include pictures before I demolished them:

Sauteed kale, runny egg and squash with…. blackcurrant dijon mustard? What don’t they put in mustard these days?

Everything’s better with Greek yogurt.… except my skin. I’ve noticed a direct correlation between the state of my breakouts and the amount of yogurt I’m eating. That and throat clearing. Yep, I’m that annoying “ehem hem, HEM cough hem” person. Unfortunately this means I don’t buy it all that much anymore. Yet I still manage to crave it every day. EVERY day. Geez dairy, why you gotta be so mean?

Whey protein in smoothies seems to be hit or miss. Sometimes it destroys my stomach, sometimes it’s just dandy. So I still frequently experiment with different kinds/brands etc.

I ordered a few tasty protein samples online to try from CanadianProtein.com (Still working through them).

I also heard great things about this North Coast Naturals Whey Protein Isolate so I’ve been having that in my breakfast smoothies a lot lately. Big fan of this one and it seems to be just fine on my stomach so we’re looking at a repeat purchase from this brand.

There was also a time, a couple weeks ago, when I ate only fruit for a few days (in this case, tomatoes + avocados = fruit).

Felt nice and clean at that particular moment, but ultimately didn’t do much for me other than make me eat my weight in peanut butter and pumpkin-shaped cheeseballs mere days later.

Banana Granola Peanut Butter? Come on, Kraft, you’re killing me. No one person needs to consume this much peanut butter in two days (it almost happened). I’ve currently enabled a temporary peanut butter ban. It hurts, but so does sitting in can’tbreathtight jeans all day. And I apparently have no self-control.  Cold turkey it is!

And yes I did make a cheeseball in the shape of a pumpkin on a spider webbed plate for Halloween. Oh you fancy huh.

And now I’m working at home alongside the scents of Cider Lane while trying to stay warm in my freezing cold household and contemplating how realistic it would be to attempt a sugar cut down right before the holiday season. My sweet tooth is taking over my sanity. It’s getting bad. Like “I just ate stale marshmallows and don’t even like marshmallows” bad. Whomp whomp.

At least it’s Friday!

Festivus Turkeyvus

This weekend marked the pass of another lovely Canadian Thanksgiving and Oktoberfesting holiday. Four relaxing days filled with family, gorgeous weather, beer and your typical turkey and stuffing feast.

I regrettably can’t say I took any photos of the feasting, or the festing.

Is it crazy to say that, with the #Instagram #trending#phase, it seems as though #pointandshoots #reallifecameras#digitalphotography are becoming obsolete?! Okay, maybe not obsolete, but I feel practically ancient whenever I pull out my non cellphone camera.

Clearly I need a cell phone upgrade.

Side note over. Everyone knows what a turkey looks like anyway, right?

[Photo from here. How cute are these!]

I can show you some of the vibrant sunflowers present for decoration.

I can show you the type of sheer joy that Oktoberfest evokes. And I can say that, although there have been some years past in which this holiday hasn’t ended up being quite as lovely as I would have hoped, THIS year was a flawless treat. Made going back to the grind this morning extra tough! And also reinforced how thankful I am to have such a wonderful family :).

While I didn’t manage to have anything turkey dinner inspired to show, I do have a few other funky eats from recent days worth noting. 

The computer tech guy at work brought steamed pork and shrimp buns to share with us one Saturday afternoon, and tried to overload my stomach with these greasy, chewy pillows. He succeeded. So many delicious steamed buns were had that day.

The next weekend, I stuck to a salad. Chicken and berries complements of the grocery store produce section.

I’ve also been experimenting with some eggplant. We have some Babaganooch dip, which I hate to say I’m not sure where the recipe came from (I had it jotted down in a note in my documents), but is essentially a Baba ganoush recipe with a “cheesy” twist from the addition of nutritional yeast.

And then we have some baba ghanoush SOUP (prepped and frozen to reheat on a rainy musthavesoupnow kinda day) from Eat, Live, Run. Get it HERE.

Or how about a giant pan of pearl barley, lentils, chickpeas, onion, zucchini and cherry tomatoes, simmered in vegetable broth? Simple, bland according to my family, but delicious according to me. Guess we know who’s eating these leftovers for lunches!

Naturally I’m now buying squash at every grocery trip. Feast your eyes on this perfectly dry, crumbly specimen. They seem to be really hit and miss for me (not a fan of the mushy, watery ones) but this one below is exactly what I was aiming for.

Even though the oven has been getting a good workout, there’s still enough warmth left in the air to keep the green smoothies in regular rotation.

As long as they’re paired with hot, black coffee, of course.

That being said, their status has been slowly bumped down from daily staple, and oatmeal is starting to make an appearance. The fact that I ran out protein powder probably had something to do with this as well.

And one final food winner of the week? These sweet & salty popchips. I waited patiently enough to spot these in stores, and nabbed them at first sight. Worth it. 

And there we have it – Some noteworthy eats, an especially noteworthy holiday weekend… and a shortened week ahead. Woop!

Happy (belated) (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

What’s So Special About That?

Well well well. What do we have here?

“Alright, it’s a Clif bar. And?”

Just note the ‘NEW’. And the flavour name – Coconut Chocolate Chip. THAT…that is special.

THIS Vega Vanilla Almondilla protein powder? $10 bucks off at Rexall with an in-store coupon. Savvy shopping (or good in-store sign reading) ForTheWin.

THIS was my first roasted kabocha/buttercup (I’ll never truly figure out the difference between the two) of the Fall season. Massacred and thrown on top of a spinach bed. And boy, was it good.

THIS is just a plate of steamed broccoli and spinach, sweet potato and egg sautéed in coconut oil. However, it was my first time sautéing in coconut oil and that makes this an extra special dish.

THIS is a smoothie. But not just any smoothie, a smoothie made with… Frozen strawberries, red bell pepper, apple, lemon and a pinch of cayenne.

I get the green/vegetable juice thing, and the green juice with fruit added thing. That’s not new, and as much as the body might love it, it’s not really that special. But something about strawberries + red pepper seemed extra strange. And in this glass, strange is special. We like strawberry and red pepper strange. Strawberry and red pepper is a refreshing, good strange.

THIS? This is a wrap. But not just any wrap. (Aside from the fact that it looks like a murder scene…) It’s a wrap that contains egg whites, salsa, sriracha and “cheese”. But not just any cheese (I feel like I’m getting repetitive…), nacho-flavoured fake cheese made from tofu! I’d never dabbled in the faux vegan cheese world before, but when it hits me in the face with a bright pink 50% sticker, I will take the plunge, expiry date looming or not.

And the taste? Quite like a firm, cheesy flavoured tofu? It’s interesting, but I’m kinda digging it.

It was also made on these new-to-me Joseph’s Flax, Oat Bran and Whole Wheat Tortillas. For a good-sized tortilla with only 70 calories a pop, I’d buy these on the regular if they were sold in grocery stores (But alas, they are not, and I ordered them online).

And that was the Monday edition of special eats, sure not to become a repeat Monday special, but special enough for this particular Monday.

What’s on the menu for tomorrow?
A big, heaping plate of fresh OCTOBER! #newmonthlove

Bring on the Fall

Fall is just around the corner. I can feel it! (As can the thermometer). And I’m into it. I’ve just never been much of a summer girl. Bring on the Fall!

My only quip so far… with Fall comes the back to school traffic. This city is so nice and peaceful in the summer. And that means my drive to work is speedy. I’m totally being a whiner because, let’s be honest, it’s not a far drive. But since I’m no longer a part of the Back to School Club and totally forgot about the fact that that would be a “thing” again in the 8:00 AM morning drive world, I got a nice surprise during my drive at the beginning of this week. #patienceisnotmyvirtue

Just because I’m not going back to school, though, doesn’t mean I’m not suckered in by the back to school supplies. Notebooks, pens, highlighters – so much good stuff!

I picked myself up some pens and things. I’m kinda into neon.

And some….”textbooks”. These are the first trashy read magazines I’ve bought in ages. I had a craving!

On the eating front, this seasonal transition period makes salads still a-okay, but the oh-so-warm roasted squash and mugs of tea are becoming more and more appealing. Obviously squash is never not appealing, but the cold weather just takes it to a whole new level, no?

[Mixed greens, steamed broccoli, blobs of hummus, drizzles of balsamic vinaigrette]

[Same deal, add goat cheese and chicken, voila!]

[Butternut squash fries dipped in “ranch” (light sour cream mixed with a packet of ranch seasoning) and ketchup]

[My cup’s a bluffer, that ain’t no cappuccino. Steeping the last bits of my Toasted Walnut Green Tea.]

There also seems to be something about the beginning of fall that makes me want to shop. Maybe it’s the back to school frenzy in the air, maybe it’s the wardrobe transition that is soon to take place. But whatever it is, my wallet is quivering.

That being said, so far I’ve mainly stuck to food shopping.

Exhibit A? Pre-cut coconut chunks. What?!

Maybe this isn’t a new thing, but I’ve sure never seen ’em like this before. Yeah okay okay, I’ve seen whole coconuts. But I don’t own a machete and I prefer my fingers attached to my hands. So I’ve never bought one, nor ever tried fresh coconut meat. Until someone did the work for me and sold it to Walmart’s grocery department so that I could buy it!

I’m so into this! Next step, buy machete to hack open fresh whole coconuts all by myself. Then maybe after that…a coconut tree.

I also indulged in a little bit of online food shopping. I don’t do this too often, preferring to torture myself with window (umm…browser window?) shopping and noncommittal virtual shopping carts filled with more goods than I could ever really need. But combine the fall shopping itch with online end of summer sales that include some of those elusive foodie products that the whole food blog world seems to be stuffing themselves with and all hell shopping heaven breaks loose.

Needless to say, a lovely brown box arrived in the mailbox yesterday and I have myself some sampling to do. That is to come…

And I’ll leave you with a final happy thought courtesy of my mother. I was having a few downer days recently and my mom brought home a little pop of cheer to brighten me up.

Now every time I look at my keys, I’m reminded to “Think Happy. Be Happy.”

:)

Along a similar vein, who else carries around a 5 lb keychain? Anyone? So much Canada pride.

Happy (almost) Fall Friday!