Friday Fiver

Testing…Testing… Is this thing on?

Ehem…

Hello!

It’s Friday. It’s a Long Weekend. It’s the end of the month. It’s Been TEN Days since I was here last.

So let’s keep it sweet and simple with a Random Friday Fiver.

 

1. The Dress

Thanks knowledgeable Fashionistas for the wedding guest dress ideas and examples. I ended up finding a fairly simple yet fancy enough dress  (Thanks Winners) that I’m likely going to doll up in. It’s not quite as summery, flowy or colourful as might be ideal for a summer wedding but I like it.

 

2. Quiznos Honey Bourbon Chicken on Whole Wheat

Is delicious. Even moreso when you get it basically free because you had a WagJag coupon hanging out in your wallet. You bought it forever ago and it was expiring this week. Lunchtime! And even moreso when you haven’t had Quiznos in what is likely years now. I missed this sandwich.

 

3. The Diamond’s Demise

Sayonara Sucker. Apologies to Blue Diamond lovers but I did not like this almond butter. Obviously I tolerated it since I made it through the jar (a large chunk of that went into mediocre baking attempts that ended up getting the ol’ heave ho, though) but I won’t be buying it again. I need some good old fashioned peanut butter back in my life.

The end bits tasted pretty good in overnight oats mixed with Liberte Mango Orange Greek yogurt and strawberries though.

 

4. Job

And the fact that I finally got one!
Well, another one since I DO spend a wee bit of my time every week pretending I’m a badass biker chick while actually just sitting in an office entering information très important at zee motorcycle shop.

But I needed something else to supplement and fill my time until I figure out what this “real life” thing is all about and how to do it.
[Can I just say I kind of miss school already? All of the school supplies are popping up in stores already. It’s sad to think I’ll never really have to buy those (for myself at least) again. At least not for their intended (pencil case) purpose. But you can never have enough pens, highlighters and notebooks on hand. I love school writing creativity(!) supplies.]

Anyway, tangent over. Back to the job – This one is pretty neat. I’m sure some of you would agree. Cryptic Hint:

(weheartit)

I haven’t officially started yet (tomorrow morning) but I’ve gone through most of the beginning training over the past several days. More on this later!

 

5. Crafty Cravings

I used to be obsessed with crafting when I was younger. I’d spend hours pouring over craft sites, t-shirt reconstruction journals, CRAFTSTER (<3!). Yet though I was obsessed with crafts in theory, I never carried through with many of them. Any I did try to do were always a little less than perfect… I guess I hadn’t quite taken into account the whole “practice makes perfect” concept.

[I was always a big fan of collages, though. You should SEE the stack of magazine pages I have hoarded in boxes under my bed. Madness, I tell you. I make quite a few reconstructed/homemade cards too. Any birthdays coming up? ;)]

Lately the crafting bug has been biting again. Pinterest has been helping that along a bit. I’m not quite sure where to start or what I want to make but I just want to MAKE. DO. Create. Rerrange. Paint. Decorate. Get crafty.

Cute AND thrifty (source)

 

 

Any Creative Craftsters in the house?

The Fatty Bases

Heatless, Carless, Classless.

For real. All at once.

Heatless: Our hot water tank stopped working for some reason or another and now we have zero hot water. I experienced the coldest shower of my life this morning. It lasted for two seconds before I opted for ice cold sponge bath instead. I did wash my hair underneath the freezing cold tap water but there was no way I was going to stand under a stream of liquid ice. Brrrrr.

 
(weheartit)

Carless: Yesterday morning – drove to class, drove home, no problems. Yesterday afternoon – rushed out the door, hopped in the car to head to my next class… nothing. My car would NOT start. It wasn’t dead since the light still came on, but nothing else. So I had to get it towed to the garage down the street. Thank you CAA. It’s fixed now but I still have to go pick it up. Hopefully it was just the starter or something equally simple…

 
(weheartit)

Classless: The only positive one of the bunch. My morning class was cancelled today! What a treat. Except for the fact that I drove all the way to school (borrowing ma’s car), late already, had to park 100 miles away since my school is overcrowded and I couldn’t find anywhere close by, hoofed it until my legs practically fell off, only to see the pathetic little piece of paper taped to the door once I got there. They really need to email this info to students beforehand. Though not that I checked my school email this morning anyway… Umm… okay so I checked the email. And there, right at the top of the inbox: 9:05 am – CS315A cancelled. I just cursed very loudly. My brother just called me an idiot. :(

 
(vi.sulize.us)

If only I’d checked that darn email earlier, I wouldn’t have had to rush as much through my lovely breakfast.

The queen of all things healthy fat, a Heather breakfast inspired my bowl of blended avocado oat bran this morning:

1/4 cup oat bran, 1/4 cup wheat bran, 3/4 cup water, 1/4 cup vanilla soy milk, 1 packet stevia, 1.5 Tbsp SF maple syrup, 1 tsp cocoa powder and 50g avocado cooked up on the stove then blended with a hand blender and topped with a dollop of cocoa peanut butter.

 

And still on the topic of oat bran, I was having a little fun the other day with a container of light silken tofu that needed to be used up, so I made myself an overnight oat bran breakfast for the books.

Java Me Up Oat Bran

Blend up: 100g light silken tofu, 1/4 cup cooled coffee, stevia and vanilla.

Cook up: 1/4 cup oat bran, 1/2 cup water, and the blended tofu/coffee mix. Plus a splash of fat free hazelnut creamer for a really decadent coffee experience.

Put the cooked oat bran mixture into a jar of almost empty peanut butter (or a jar of jam that you had stored peanut butter in). 

 

And then (if you can resist eating it right then and there) put the lid on and stick in the fridge overnight.

You’ll wake up to one really darn good breakfast the next morning.

 

I blended the rest of that silken tofu into a version of Cheesecake Mousse: 1 Laughing Cow cheese wedge, 60g light silken tofu, ~1 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp vanilla, stevia.

Then stuffed it burrito-style into a “slice” of Nearly No-Carb Sandwich Bread with a smidge of cocoa pb. Next time I’m going to try not to burn it.

Lots of oat bran, lots of silken tofu, lots of HUMMUS.

Hummus on salads!

Hummus on sandwiches! with avocado + tomato

Hummus on broccoli and mushrooms! mixed with marinara sauce

Looks like I’m hitting a lot of fatty bases this week. Avocado, hummus, peanut butter, oh my! Maybe it’s an innate attempt to store up on body insulation for the soon to be coming COLD winter months. Oh how I definitely can wait.

 

What’s your #1 favourite healthy fat?
I’m thinking hummus is pretty high up there. And nut butter. Avocado’s climbing the ladder pretty quickly.

A Weekend and a Meh Monday

Oh hay Monday (night that is). Kinda glad that you’re over, you were not very special to me. Not terrible, but far from special.

AM munchin was a deceptively small bowl of muesli with banana, a spoonful of strawberry and plain yogurt and a splash of almond milk. It was in a wee bowl but this stuff packs a serious punch to the gut. I was uncomfortably full after this, although I’m sure the coffee, grape handful and unmentionable cereal handful helped with that too. I don’t wanna talk about it.

I went to school only to discover that the streets were lined up many already occupied curbs that I could therefore not park alongside (I handed in my request for uni parking late, doh, and am now stuck on a waiting list…) so I ended up having to park on a street quite a trek away from the school. This normally would have been just peachy had the skies not decided to dump a hard drizzle right as I had to exit my vehicle. Needless to say, the next couple hours of class were a little chilly and a lot soggy.

During an hour break I grabbed a nice hot coffee, trekked back to the car (at least by now the rain had stopped) and went for a brief tool around town to kill some time since I had to move my car before the next class started anyway. Three hour street parking time limits… pfft.

When I finally finished up my classes and got home, I promptly changed into some completely dry and unsoggy sweats and made some snackers to tide me over til dinner.

Cottage cheese, baby carrots, mushrooms, steamed broccoli with marinara plus dijonnaise and Sabra Baba for dipping. Unpictured half rye slice was also eaten.

Then I sat around on the computer and avoided starting school readings. I’m alright once I get going but BOY is it tough to get going sometimes.

When dinner rolled around I was pretty hungry but promptly returned my stomach to an even worse state of discomfort than the after breakfast state once I finished up this heavy chilly weather dish.

Chicken cacciatore with whole wheat + white pasta over steamed spinach, broccoli and green beans, plus a hunk of garlic bun.

Die.

I ate a handful of grapes and a spoonful of yogurt out of after dinner sweet routine but that’s all my poor stomach could handle. I really pushed its limits these past few days, I’ve been uncomfortably full a few too many times. Not so nice.

Then I finally got down to the school work business and got through a bit of textbook reading and note-taking. Emphasis on a bit but it’s a start.
And now I’m about ready for bed but before that happens I’ll finish this up with a recap of my weekend eats.

 

Saturday

Woke up early to go to work. Was up late Friday night possibly by reason of clubbing. I scored a free Jagermeister tank top though so the night was a total win. But anyway. Not so hungry in the am.

The countless grapes I ate furthered that no-so-hungry feeling. Seriously, grapes in my fridge = grapes in my stomach. With every single opening of the fridge door.

Lunch was SUBWAY. This may not seem that exciting to some but you know what? This was all kinds of thrilling to me. Do you KNOW how long it’s been since I’ve had a Subway sub? No? I don’t either, that’s how long it’s been. This veggermeister, loaded with 90% of the veggie selection + honey mustard changed me from sub-deprived to sub-satisfied.

Eventually I came home and satisfied a desire for more veg-loaded meals with a salad topped with a plop of amazing refried bean slop, microwave heated with salsa, buffalo sauce and garlic powder for an intensely flavourful dish. My rice cracker side dish included toppings of Sabra Baba, hummus and salsa.

Sweet eats = mini bowl of Kashi honey puffed cereal, strawberries, yogurt, DCD PB.

I got dragged out Saturday night to accompany a friend in need to a bar to meet up with another friend of ours who has been long lost and MIA, and who continued to be long lost and MIA by never showing up that night. So the night was kind of a bust although otherwise I would have been at home alone just chillin so I didn’t mind too much. I got to watch intoxicated people dance like fools so I had my entertainment for the night.

I may have lonely feasted when I got home though and it wasn’t the prettiest of sights so I didn’t get any pictures. Not that night feasts ever get pictures.

 

Sunday

I woke up too early for having gone to bed too late, but I miraculously managed to fall back to sleep (a near impossibility for me I swear) until a more decent hour of tenish?

Though not yet hungry from my night feast, I chilled in bed for a while longer and finished up the last couple episodes of Gossip Girl Season 1! Now I just need to watch my way through Season 2 and I’ll be all caught up. I borrowed Season 1 from my friend on DVD though so I think I need to track down Season 2 online, it should be available online somewhere right? What TV show isn’t nowadays?

Eventually I got hungry enough and was strangely craving just simple egg whites. Mmm.

Then I loaded myself up with some more morning liquids (water and iced coffee) and went back upstairs for the last bites of GG.

Apres GG I did some treadmill running. Then I headed off to a backyard BBQ for some tunes, rays, drinks and circles of chicken on a bun with baby oiled macho men and guys wearing fake afro wigs. It was a solid Sunday evening.

Moving onto the night, I did a friend a favour and accompanied her heartbroken self to the bar for Sunday night retro since she was apparently in need of a drink or two. I love my retro nights though so I was really the one benefitting. Except a drink or two was more like ten so it’s probably wise that I opted to drive since I don’t think I would have trusted her to get home okay on her own…

My poor broski also had some excitement (or much less than excitement) of his own this weekend when he had to go in last night for an emergency surgery that I won’t get into. Poor guy. He’s just fine but homebound for a few days and in all kinds of unpleasant pain. I don’t know how he toughs out half the stuff he does but he’s quite the trooper.

 

So that would be the weekend and now I’m much due for some sleep so that is where I am headed.
Have a good one!

 

 

Ps – Make sure to check out Chocolate Covered Katie’s Chocolate SuperFood Giveaway!

The Power of Pancakes

Gum chewing, Julie & Julia reading, blog writing, Gossip Girl watching and body resting – I swear I’m incapable of not multitasking.

However, I think at this current moment I’m overdoing it. Something needs to be cut. *Spits gum out*
Alright I think that about solves it. The gum was stale anyway. I may also have put the book down. Writing, reading and tv watching all at once use a bit of competing senses.

 

Hey Janetha, I ate your pancakes!
Pancake to be exact. Protein pancake to be more exact.

One protein packed plate of deliciousness, topped with fridge-chilled banana slices, a blob of PB2 and a spread of homemade jam. This was a breakfast with no bites left behind.

What better way to fill the last lazy Friday morning of the summer than with some episodes of Gossip Girl, a big iced coffee and a sweaty sprint interval and incline power walking session on the treadmill?

 

After the workout and much needed showering, it was time for some lunch. Romaine, cabbage slaw, baby tomatoes, baby carrots, mushrooms, baked tofu, tempeh, a great big blog of roasted red pepper hummus, all topped with balsamic vinaigrette to complete the mix.

My incurable hunger was not quite satisfied though, so I needed to fend the last bit off with some plain yogurt, banana, cinnamon a sprinkle of vanilla soy protein powder. One of these days I’ll learn that “wait 20 minutes” trick but for now my patience just isn’t quite there.

Not an hour later my stomach wasn’t quite loving the fiberful lunch bowl so I was lying down for a bit. Then suddenly my hunger came back with a vengeance? I don’t quite understand but half of a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar solved that little problem… for now. I feel like the hunger will be back soon though so I think an early dinner tonight is in order. After finishing up some more Gossip Girl episodes of course.

 

Since I’m a couple days behind here, a quick recap:

Wednesday

A very unconventional breakfast of leftovers was what I was craving. This happens every once in a while when the leftovers are overflowing from the fridge. And when there’s leftover squash, because when that’s the case I basically want to eat it at every meal.

Cabbage slaw topped with Rawsta a la Rawdka, half a corn cob, squash, baked tofu and a baby potato with a hummus blob.  The sunshine schmear really made it special.

I must have been in leftovers mode on Wednesday because I decided to use up some old frozen pasta leftovers as well in my lunch.

Spinach, cauliflower, ravioli mixed with some more rawdka sauce, and a splash of honey mustard dressing shaken, not stirred.

Post lunch I had an Iced Coffee because it’s my addiction and my treat and I’ve gotta get them in before summer’s over and it’s told cold to think about anything involving ice. Let’s hope that’s not for a little while yet…

Of course I had to keep up the using food scraps trend for dinner as I made a tasty chicken sandwich that involved one of two of the last pieces of a loaf of very old and very freezer burnt bread (I really don’t like throwing food away!). Toasting helped to make this fairly tasty with only a hint of freezer burn flavour.

Roasted chicken, spinach, roasted red pepper hummus, dijonnaise

 

Thursday

Lately I haven’t been eating much cereal… what is that about?! Though our pantry is down to the boring cereals and I’ve been avoiding buying anything new and exciting because that’s when the addiction really kicks in, when the fresh new boxes are sitting there just waiting to be dipped into.

Thursday was a cereal kinda morning though so I cracked out the Kashi Honey Puffed and Special K Red Berries, doused them in strawberry yogurt, banana, blueberries and almond milk and enjoyed every last bite of my deliciously overdue cereal-based breakfast.

Later on that morning I got a call from Future Shop telling me I could go in to pick up my new camera! My old carry-around camera (not the one I take most of my food pics with) stopped working a few weeks ago for no reason. It was a year and a half old but luckily we had bought the extended warranty so they had to repair or replace it for free. Guess repairing wasn’t an option because I got a brand new model – the Canon PowerShot SD890 IS, a step up from the last one I had.

What a beauty :)

In the aft I got a text request for sushi lunch. You can bet there was no way I was going to refuse that one.

I got the Spicy Roll Lunch Combo, which included miso soup:

And clockwise from top left: tempura potatoes, garden salad, some kind of noodles, spicy california roll and spicy salmon roll. I love spicy rolls.

After some clothes shopping (I bought a dress and flats), Starbucks iced coffee (I got a small with a pump of pumpkin pie spice syrup) and health food shopping (I bought basil tempeh) I came home, chilled out on the computer and then had finally some dinner.

Here’s an example of why it’s good to use small plates. My dinner plate is not very large but it looks like I have a ton of food. Okay so I did load it up quite a bit but how satisfying is it to have a plate overflowing with food? Had I used the same size dinner plates as the rest of my fam, I would have had to take twice as much food to make it look as full. And it’s kind of fun to have it look hearty and loaded. So I’ll take the small plates. Haha.

Anyway, this plate includes tilapia, salad, a giant pile of mashed cauliflower with salsa and half a cabbage roll.

After dinner I used up the last bits of chocomole and mixed it up with strawberry yogurt and blueberries. SO good. So good. I ate some dates too. I dunno where they went…shh.

Okay so now I’m getting hungry again. What shall I have for dinner? Perhaps I should dig into the depths of the freezer for some more great leftovers finds?

Oh and just for the record, I ended up eventually pausing Gossip Girl a little while ago instead of continuing to watch while writing this. The drama is just too thrilling to only watch with half attention.

TGIF. Enjoy the weekend!