Strawberry Fields Forever….

What a fantastic day for a trip to the valley; gorgeous skies and bright, warm sunshine! Lesley, her little guy, Angie  I, plus a couple of Lesley’s other friends all met up to go berry picking at her family’s farm – Webster’s Farm.  This is how all Summer days should be – having fun and getting out with good friends.  BIG HUGE THANKS to Lesley for taking us all over the valley and making it such a great day. :)

 
This post is going to be long, loads of fun pics though!

I hopped into the car early this morning with Breakfast to go, which was another one of the fresh whole grain rolls smeared with peanut butter and a side of fresh blueberries.

 

Made it out a Lesley’s and we were soon off for our adventure.

Happy Monday!

Seriously, who’s happy on Monday?  Strangely ME!  Today was fantastic; tons of stuff accomplished at work making the day just breeze by.  LOVE it when that happens.   FYI – Today’s post is going to be a little bit of everything.

We started planning our camping trip this past weekend.  Going two weekends from now to beautiful Dollar Lake with another couple.  We’re staying 3 nights and I’m pretty excited.  The lake is AWESOME for swimming and apparently there are some hiking trails that I’m SOO checking out! Hehehe.  I’m trying to plan my meals/cooking arrangements etc.  Need to eat healthy even when on Vacay! :) Going  to bring lots of pre-cut fruits & veggies, instant oatmeal for breaky.  Definitely plan to have a ‘smore or two though!

I’ve got a little situation and would love your feedback:

I started training for my first 10K just after Christmas. I finally did it and then made plans to train for a Half Marathon.  However, since running the 10K, I haven’t really felt “into it".  I still managed to get 2-3 smaller runs/week but no big urge for the usual Sunday LSD.  Boot camp has been really fun (and a great work out!), but I feel guilty for not sticking to my half schedule.  Maybe I’m just bored of running and need a break. Anyone else every been in this type of slump?  Thoughts/ideas?

My food for the day was pretty yummy.   For breaky, I had a mix of Liberte Mediterranee Vanilla Yogurt, Kashi Crunch  fresh strawberries.

I picked up the yogurt this past weekend and was happy to discover that it now comes in 750 ml containers instead 500 ml. Mmm divine! 

 


I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is simply nothing better than a steamy cup of coffee on a Monday morning! ;)

I finally got to snack on one of those Rhubarb Cupcake/Muffins. They were good and tasted healthy.  (I did use whole wheat flour and added flax to the mix.)

 
For lunch I had the cheesy chicken orzo dish and a side of salad. 

Farmers Market Adventures

Over the past few weeks I’ve heard rumours of a Farmers Market in Musquodoboit Harbour.  The communities along the Eastern Shore seem to be finally getting on the local/organic bandwagon which makes me SO happy!  Of course, I just had to check it out and promptly got J out of bed at 730am this morning to do just that! ;) 

It’s about a 10 minute drive to “The Harbour.” (As we say around here.) I didn’t have anything to eat before we left so I rummaged around in my purse for a quick bite… I always seem to have a Larabar when in need!  Shared with with hubby.

Made a quick stop at Dobbit Bake House for a cup of my fav Just Us dark roast.  Mmm, totally hit the spot!


I felt very summery today in my cute dress and new sandals.  Too bad the weather the weather was pretty grey.

I have to admit I was pretty excited to see what my community had to offer and they did NOT disappoint!

 
I snagged tons of fresh produce including spinach, red swiss chard, beet greens, radish & rhubarb! Mmm, I tried to pick up beet greens earlier in the week but they were all out when I got to the store.  Can’t wait to have them for supper tonight!

Fun Times on a Friday Night

First off, Booty Camp starts at 6:00pm on Tuesday evening for all those asking! Clayton Park Mainland North Common. See map here.

Don’t ya just adore beautiful summer evenings?! Yesterday was our second day of SUN here in Halifax (haha, seriously though!) and it was the perfect night for a casual dinner downtown! Parking was a bit tough to find because it’s a busy weekend with the Paul McCartney show and the Atlantic Jazz Festival, but I managed and met up with J and another couple for dinner at The Fireside.

This was my first time eating there and I was pretty impressed with the atmosphere, kind of a mix between laidback and contemporary. The menu was awesome, tons of variety and for a downtown location, the food was dirt cheap.

Spending an hour at the Registry of Motor Vehicles after work on Friday definitely deserves a glass of wine, don’t you think? ;) Of course I chose a local Foch!

Mmm, went perfectly with my dinner, which was the Portabello sandwich. “Marinated in red wine, olive oil and herb, grilled and topped with goal cheese, euro mix, alfalfa sprouts and pesto mayo. Served with sweet potato and beet chips.”

After dinner we had a nice stroll with the sun setting and made our way over to The Westin (where we got married!) for a HILARIOUS night of comedy at YukYuks. I’d never been to a live comedy show and had a BLAST! Think I laughed nonstop for 2.5 hours straight. I had no idea what I was missing. We will be going again soon. This was one of the best nights out I’ve had in a long time!

We didn’t get home until almost mid-night and now here I am up at 5am getting ready to go berry picking with Farm Girl & Angie. (Have a feeling it’s going to be any early night.) We’re heading down to the beautiful Annapolis Valley where Farm Girl is from, and I actually spent the first 8.5 years of my life. I just LOVE it down there, one of my fav places in the entire world.

Anyways, food. Yes, the rest of my Friday was wonderful! I started off the morning with a fresh whole grain roll spread with yucky green top peanut butter. I’m all out of my PB so I had to settle for Kraft. I can’t believe the difference in taste between organic and the stuff with fillers. Crazy.

Trying to finish off the carton off organic OJ before it expires. Sorry for the crappy pic.


Had the last organic nectarine for my morning snack. It was so juicy and tasty.


For lunch I had my fav Amy’s Cheddar Burrito and a side salad.


The salad was a mix of organic greens, yellow peppers, mushrooms & cucumbers. Drizzled with french dressing.



Fresh blueberries for dessert……I just love Summer for all it’s fresh produce!


And that was my day. Think I managed well and made decent, healthy choices. Off to have some Breaky and get ready for our fun day

Blogging Live From The Patio!!

What an awesome evening; sun’s setting with a lovely warm breeze!  J is going to be late getting home tonight so I took my dinner outside and decided it was nice enough to blog out here too!

So, let see… I just finished listening to a podcast that Tara Costa (from last season’s Biggest Loser) did with Its Your Health Radio.  She touched on many things such as what her life was life before dropping the weight, the whole Biggest Loser Experience, how different people treated her once she was thin, and her plans for the future, which include a book deal – can’t wait for this!!  Tara was my fav contestant hands down and she really is such an inspiration.   Check it out for yourself here.

My day was pretty uneventful.  Work and home.  Can’t say that I don’t enjoy that routine though, because I’m still feeling pretty darn exhausted.

Going to change it up a bit and re-cap backwards today!  I wanted to make sure that I completed Amy’s 5th Challenge, which was to make a dish that featured whole grains.  Originally, I was going to make something with quinoa (in hopes that it might taste better the second time around) but then I realized that I had already used up a lot of the ingredients the recipe called for. Opps.  Instead, I made a Chicken Veggie Stir Fry over Brown Rice.  

 

This dish was pretty tasty if I do say so myself!  It featured – chicken breast,  red, green & orange bell peppers, regular & yellow zucchini, onions, carrots, green onions, a splash of OJ, some honey hoisin sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds on a bed of brown rice.

As you can see I had to use the BBQ as my table.  We threw out our old patio furniture a few weeks ago and are in desperate need of a new set.  I’m hoping (well waiting) there will be some majors sales on towards the end of the Summer.

There was no snack this afternoon as I wasn’t feeling to hot at all. 

Warning – my lunch pictures aren’t the greatest because I had to snap them in secret! ;)

Lunch was more of the left over homemade thin crust pizza.

Along with a big container of fresh farmers market veggies.  Mmm peas right out of the pod, so yummy!!  Apparently, I was paying close attention when I peeled the carrots at 530am. ;)

Dessert was a cup of defrosted strawberries.

 
The mid-morning snack was a Sticky Fruit Seed Granola square.  Mmm, these babies are so good!

 

Breaky this morning was so much fun! Why? Because I ate it on the patio as well!  There’s something so peaceful about sitting outside in the cool, beautiful morning.

I threw together an egg sammie to fill me up!    Wasn’t sure if cream cheese & egg exctly went together, but lucky for me they seemed to.  This was a toasted Ezekiel English Muffin with cream cheese, fresh chives, spinach and and egg. 

That was my day in a nutshell, I’ll be glad when I’m able to do some intense exercise again.  I’ve got a doctor’s appointment on Friday, so hopefully this will shed some light on the situation.

J just called, he’ll be home shortly (and with frozen yogourt!) so I’m off. Oh, and totally forgot to mention that tomorrow is my Friday! Yipppeee!!!  Extra extra long weekend due to the Holiday on Monday.

Cook Book Heaven!

I found the BEST cookbook EVER yesterday!!! 1000 Low Fat, Salt, Sugar, Cholesterol Healthy Recipes.

Got it from Value Village of all places for only $12.99! Weeee I’m just SUPER excited to try some of the fabulous-looking recipes out!  Look how thick it is:


All the pages are thick glossy color and each recipe includes the nutrition information!!
 

Some other good news, my exciting weigh in…

Current Week:  192.4
Last Week: 195.4
Result: –3.0 lbs

Whoot!!!Who woulda thought that calorie counting actually works?! LOL, yup, since I can’t do much strenuous activity I’ve been really watching my calorie intake.  This is the biggest loss I’ve had in such a long time, I can’t believe how close to the 180's I’m getting!!!!
So back tracking a bit…
I woke up yesterday morning and wanted a blueberry muffin so I opted to whip up a batch since there were some frozen organic berries still in the freezer.  These turned out to be extra special because I also incorporated an ounce of chia seeds into the recipe!  Was my first time using chia seeds and they added a nice little crunch, along with a bazillion health benefits to the muffins. 

Severed hot out of the oven with a smidge of olive oil becel, along with a side of cottage cheese and the last of the fresh berries. Oh and can’t forget the coffee!

 

I finally decided to try a bit of exercise by stretching it out with a yogadownload.com Sun Salutations Flow  session.  This was purchased awhile back but my first time trying it out.  Really liked it a lot, there was a lot of repetition but by the end of it all I felt so much all over!

Post yoga, I munched on one of Jaime’s fantastic Sticky Fruit Seed bars. So delicious!!

Lunch time arrived so I stuck on some english muffin mini pizzas.  Topped with tomato paste, spices, red, green & orange bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, old cheddar & a bit of feta. Mmmm!

  

And a froyo waffle cone for dessert.

We did head out to do a bunch of errands – bottle return, visit with my Dad and our little Value Village excursion. I was EXHAUSTED when we got home and had to lay down for a bit.  Got a late Supper on a bit later… my camera batteries died while taking the pics and I was too lazy to change them, so I have one pic from supper.

Dindin was pork loin with mushrooms & onions, organic carrots with a bit of becel and spicy sweet potato fries. 

 

I did have a bit more froyo later on.  In total my day was 1725 calories, which I am completely happy with because Saturday is always my higher cal day.

No plans for today because I REALLY want to relax and hopefully get back to work for tomorrow, even if just got 1/2 day.  Off to catch up on your blogs now!

Food Health - Natal Day Happenings

Evening everyone, hope you’ve all enjoyed this wonderful holiday weekend! What a great day I had with the fam celebrating my Dad’s B-day. We made some travel plans for next Summer that are going to be a blast, more on that later. ;)

Started out the day with a pot of yummy oats. Organic oats made with almond breeze, sliced banana and flax seed. Topped with more sliced nanner, hulled hemp seeds, shredded unsweetened coconut, mini chocolate chips, a few goji berries, a spoonful of peanut butter & a drizzle of maple syrup.

We spent the morning in cleaning mode – kitchen was sparkling, all floors done, bathroom tidied and laundry done. Plus prepped the veggies and set out the table.

It was quite humid here, so I opted to wear a skirt and flowly top. Was nice to dress up a bit, even if we were just staying home.

Food Health-Shower Fun

Evenin’ everyone.  Just relaxing for the night now, what a terrific day!  When I last left off, I was tidying up and had to get ready for Holly’s Bridal Shower.  Knowing that there would be tons of yummy temptations at the Shower, I planned to have a really filling meal before hand. 

Lunch consisted of 2 very tiny baked potatoes with 1 cup of steamed broccoli topped with homemade cheese sauce.  My belly was almost too full after this.

Shortly after, Holly arrived to drop her fiancé off to hang out with J while we spent the afternoon with all the ladies.  Posed for a quick pic before heading out.  All prettied up! ;)

Fodd Health-Wonderful Warehouse…

We started out with the Hummus - House-made puree of Chickpea, Tahini and Olive Oil with Warm Marinated Olives and Pita.

 

It was SOOOO good!  Totally hit the spot too, since we were late eating.

I chose a light main course, the Warm Mushroom - Roasted Mushrooms, Baby Spinach, Pancetta Crisps, Feta, with a Lemon-Thyme Vinaigrette. Terrific and just the prefect amount!


 

The rest of my day was pretty normal, except for one thing.  I was busy and found that my meals held me over well so there was no snacking.  Weird huh?

Wanted to share this pic of the beautiful roses on my desk – aren’t they just gorgeous? Love the colors.

 
So, food…
Thursdays I always have Subway for lunch.  My standard 6” Veggie on whole wheat w/ cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, banana peppers, a small squire of chipotle sauce and pepper.


Breaky was 2 slices of Ezekiel toast with organic peanut butter and Nova Scotia honey. 


Side of fresh Nova Scotia Blueberries.  These babies were fantastic!! Mmm, love fresh berries.

  
So that’s all I got for ya! I know I’m in desperate need of a good long catch up session on all of your blogs and I will definitely get to it soon.  I’ve been reading though, just haven’t had the chance to post comments.

Food Health-Natural Routine…

Apparently there are some routines that my body won’t let go of, even on weekends.  The 5:15 internal alarm clock being one of them. Guess it gives me time to blog, get caught up and then prepare for the day.

Today is the big community event my work is co-sponsoring.  I spent a lot of time getting stuff prepped and running around yesterday.  Looks like everything should go off without a hitch.  I’ll let you know how it all goes!

Didn’t do anything too crazy last night, just relaxed.  After hearing about Ang & her hubby hitting up the tennis courts, I thought it might be fun to pick up some gear for J & I.  We went up to the courts around 8pm and played for 45 mins or so. The area was lit up but it was getting pretty dark out.  We had a blast and I was sweating like crazy.  (Probably cuz it was still a zillion degrees out!)  We sucked big time though, LOL.  I think we managed to keep the ball going back and forth about 3 or 4 times in total.  The rest of the time we spent running after (and missing) the ball ;)

After tennis I plunked down in front of the TV and watched the movie One Week.  I really like the it, is totally different then anything else that’s out right now. Plus it’s all set right here in beautiful Canada!

”When confronted with his mortality, Ben Tyler (Joshua Jackson) impulsively buys a vintage motorcycle and sets off on a road trip that starts in Toronto and ends up on Vancouver Island in the town of Tofino. Humourous, profound and extremely moving, One Week uses the great Canadian landscape as the backdrop to the story of a man and his life’s journey. In the search for himself, he finds out what makes this country, and his life, so beautiful.”
My Weigh-In:
I’m just rocking it since signing up for WWs Online again! This morning Mr. Scale shows me down 3.4 lbs to 189.2 lbs.  I’m almost back to my lowest of 188.8 lbs, should be able to pass that next week!  Oh and lost another point, which puts me at 25 points/day.

Food wise, yesterday was pretty fantastic!  Breaky was a Peachy Parfait. (Another Angie-inspired idea, lol!)   


I picked up a tub of Liberte Svelte Peach Yogourt at Planet Organic the other day.  I’d never seen this flavour before and was excited to taste it!  I had a serving topped with a fresh sliced peach, 1/2c Kashi Go Lean Crunch and 2 tsps of hemp seeds.  Delish!  This combo held me over for 5 hours, impressive.

Late morning I pulled out one of my fav treats of all time to snack on – a Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar!  These are soooo freaking good, I can’t wait for the new PB & Jelly one to arrive in Halifax.


Along with the salad I had some spicy hummus & Flatbread Factory Organic Black Pepper dippers.

 

The afternoon was hectic and crazy hot… by the time I got off work I drove straight for the ice cream stand to indulge in a small cotton candy cone.  Unfortunately, I was hot and irritated (The AC in my car isn’t working at all. :( Any ideas what this could be?) and couldn’t be bothered to snap a pic. 

Supper was a quick and simple veggie omelette with a side of organic whole wheat toast.  Sorry, these pics are oddly dark, not sure what happened.

 

Omelette was made of free range eggs & whites, organic red, green & yellow peppers, organic onion, old cheddar & a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. 

 
I may have cracked open the bag of Guiltless Gourmet Chipotle Tortillas for an evening munch.  Was my first time having this flavour; I thought they were pretty tasty, quite spicy.  J LOVED em!


Anyways, off to get ready for the day.  COFFEE time. :) Hope all the Halibloggers are enjoying this beautiful sunshine we finally have! Happy weekend everyone!