The Food I Brought Home

Happy Monday! Or, I hope it was a happy one for you :) I didn’t mention this on the blog last week, but after returning from California, I was bed ridden for two days with a fever. I had to cancel all my clients on Thursday and call in sick to the running store. The last thing I wanted to do was sit in a nutrition course aaaallll weekend as I felt like junk. But today I woke up feeling mysteriously better! And I worked out for the first time in five days. Good times. Depending on your perspective.

In all of my San Francisco recaps, I spoke a lot about the food I ate in San Francisco. But I have yet to talk about the food I brought back from San Fran!

Remember this photo of me elated inside of a Trader Joe’s?

Well here are the goods:

 

Almond Butter with Roasted Flaxseeds (crunchy & salted) + Sunflower Seed Butter (aka sunflower seed crack)

I’ve been eating these by using one of my favourite ways to eat nut butter… on oatmeal!

Cathy was gracious enough to send me to California with samples of Simply Bars. Including their new protein oatmeal. Instant oatmeal with a light strawberry flavouring, bulked up with their signature protein-packed puffed soy.

First I ate it hot. With yogurt stirred in and topped with TJ’s almond butter and maple syrup.

I must say, I do not like this almond butter as much as Naturally More. It can do better.

Next up is the sunflower seed butter.

I ate this with the Simply Bar raw oatmeal, stirred in with cold yogurt, cinnamon and grapes.

My heart will always belong to TJs sunflower seed butter. So smooth and creamy, with the perfect amount of salt and sweet to cut off the bitter edge of sunflower seeds. Yumm-o.

Next up, I got some 21 Seasoning Salute per the recommendations of Janetha and Danica.

I roasted a chicken last week, seasoned with this stuff, as well as sprinkling it on the roast veggies.

A picture of how I utilized some of the leftovers – in a pita of course!

For fun, I added another TJs goody to the sandwich.

I love this salsa! Because of my pineapple allergy, I can’t eat a lot of fruit salsas. But this stuff is pineapple-free. I’ve been eating it with carrots too, and the sweet undertones of the salsa pair perfectly with the sweet raw carrots.

I of course had to pick up a couple of my favourite bars ever.

 

Yup, Clif Mojo in Peanut Butter Pretzel is my favourite tasting bar ever!

I used to be addicted to those “Sweet n’ Salty” bars. Well this is like those, but a million times better. Real hunks of pretzel, peanut butter chips and peanut chunks to make the flavour pop. The texture is the perfect mix of crispy and chewy. I’m glad I only bought two of these, as I’m pretty sure I could find an excuse to eat one with every meal :P

Speaking of which…

Don’t buy these.

Peanut butter filled pretzels are no good.

And by “no good” I mean “so delicious” that you won’t be able to stop eating them until the bag is gone. Ohmy. You’ve been warned.

I didn’t leave San Francisco with just Trader Joe’s goodies! My bloggie friends hooked me up too!

At Friday night’s welcoming reception, we all participated in a foodie gift exchange. I totally copped out by giving away a jar of maple butter. I immediately felt bad once I was paired up with a local San Franciscan who hooked me up.

Peet’s Coffee holiday blend because Peet’s started in San Fran.

Then a cone and filters to make my coffee with!

Easiest process of making coffee yet. All you gotta do is heat water until just boiling. Add your coffee to the paper filter, and pour the water over top to let it drain through.

Voila. Delicious coffee almost instantly. Apparently this is the best way to have it. I can’t judge yet because the Peet’s coffee is so much better than the cheap stuff I usually buy!

My roommies in San Fran were also quite generous. Janetha brought us all homemade trail mix including her mom’s homemade dried apples. Also included almonds, cranberries, rolled dates and dark chocolate chips.

I gobbled this up. Such a good mix and flavour combo! Props to Momma B for her dehydrating skillz ;)

We also got some reeeeally good dried fruit in our swag bags.

I didn’t quite get why everyone was raving about the Frog Hollow pears that were available all weekend. But these dried peaches are top notch. A million times better than any ole’ dried apricot.

Of course, I returned back to Canada with pounds of Ghirardelli chocolate.

I’m a pretty faithful Lindt or Ritter Sport girl, but this Luxe Milk Almond may convert me.

I have half a square left. I think I have to eat it after looking at this picture.

Danica hooked me up with a plethora of Annie’s goodies. I haven’t come close to eating my way through them yet, but I am really enjoying them! We don’t get a lot of Annie’s products here.

I’m a candy fiend, so these Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks are perfectly portioned to nip that sweet tooth, without all the crummy ingredients of the other stuff.

Was most excited to try the Annie’s Shells.

Their take on Kraft Dinner. Which Kraft just calls “Macaroni & Cheese” in the States. Weird. Anyways, while I’m not a huge pasta fan, I grew up eating Kraft Dinner and will always have a soft spot for this comfort food!

I cooked it using almond milk. Plumped it up with a couple cans of tuna and frozen veggies. As well as a small handful of shredded mozzarella for added cheesiness.

LOVED. Plain and simple. The end.

 

I do believe that is enough food for one evening. If you don’t mind, there’s a half square of Ghirardelli in the fridge calling my name ;)

 

Question of the Day: What is your most favourite recent food buy? Pretty sure all of mine are displayed here :)

Doggone It

Happy Saturday friends!! This is my last weekend as a working woman. Or, at least until I become an employed Torontonian. <—that word looks silly

I was thisclose to calling it a rest day today, but I got my butt out of bed and managed to stay pretty active!

I passed out at the usual time last night and was up at the usual workweek time. My body likes to stick to a schedule, what can I say.

I’ve actually been going through nut butter faster than I can eat oats out of them! Not today though. I’ve been saving this baby ;)

I savoured this so slowly that it actually got cold by the end. Something that never happens in the insulated jar. Maranatha should just sell near-empty jars ;)

That held me over for a while because there was probably a quarter cup’s worth of almond butter in there (exaggeration, maybe). Grabbed a “treat” for a snack to power me through kickboxing.

I want to like this flavour, as in my head it should taste like a chocolate chip cookie (probably my favourite food on the whole planet).

 
But I think I rather just eat a buttery cookie. Still a decent bar though – Maple Nut is the best!

Body Combat was not as tough this week! It’s a new “release,” which means the songs and moves have all changed. A lot less jumping around, and a lot more punching. Meant my heart rate was lower, and my already sore biceps are now super angry at me. Incline curls kill them every single time.

The forecast called for rain today, but it hadn’t started yet by the time I got home. Archie was aalll over me to go for a walk, so I tempted fate and took him. Ten minutes in the sun came out and it was beautiful!! Ended up taking him along the river, for just over an hour. Archie was a total rockstar and made friends with everyone we met. People are never that friendly when it’s just me ;)

I also did a lot of observing of my fellow dog walkers – it’s true that people and their pets resemble each other.

It was almost 3pm by the time I sat down for lunch and I was starved.

 
Nothing fancy, just food in my belly as quickly as I could get it there.

Hummus, laughing cow, tuna and tomato sandwich.

Lemon yogurt mixed with plain (to cut back on the sweetness) and some All Bran Buds for crunch.

 
This was crazy delicious. It was probably part hunger, but definitely a satisfying meal :)

Archie had something to eat too, and then passed out from exhaustion.

Poor fella, he was really struggling to keep up towards the end of the walk! He definitely doesn’t have the same energy he did 13 years ago…

Dinner was a quick and simple stir-fry.

 
Shrimp and chicken breast with a plethora of frozen veggies (Europe’s Best Imperial Blend) sesame oil, Bragg’s and a drizzle of teriyaki.

And just so we’re clear, I had a piece of chocolate after every single meal today ;)

After dinner, I went out for another walk with a friend! 90 minutes in and all around downtown. T’was fun, but my feet are hurting after being on them all day. Going to spend the rest of the evening curled up, finishing Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: The Pioneer Woman’s true life Harlequin romance story . Love her.

 

Question of the Day: If you could get any (additional) pet, what would it be? This is something else I think about a lot, because I reallyreally want a dog someday. Probably the only thing that makes me desire settling down. Depending on where I live, I want either a basset hound or a cavalier king charles spaniel. Both of which probably resemble me in some way ;)

‘Til The End

It was another bee-yoo-tiful day here!! It felt like summer, I got to wear a tank-top and shorts! It was 7C this morning when I woke up, so I knew a run before lunch was in my cards ;)

Took a page from Caitlin’s book (hey, she really does have a book!) and made her peanut butter french toast. Except, I used almond butter to mix up in the egg whites with cinnamon.

I swear that’s not a shot of whiskey in that Crown Royal glass, it’s syrup! Really, I swear. Although, I am not above whiskey for breakfast.

 
Oh yeah, and I inserted raisins into the bread too :) The almond butter created a nice outer crust. Nomnom.

Today would have been a perfect day to take my bike out – but I’m having a little bike anxiety. It’s been months and I’m getting flashbacks to all the times I fell off learning how to use clipless pedals last year. I don’t want to re-learn!

Anyways, I did the least anxiety-inducing activity I could think of – I RAN!

But not without a snack first. PB + banana, vanilla cottage cheese + raisins + cinnamon. Someone (I can’t remember who!) asked me if the cottage cheese is artificially sweetened/flavoured, the answer is no. Plain ole’ sugar and natural vanilla flavour.

So happy I chose to run because it was glooooorious. Last year, I ran with a Nike + all summer so I knew how fast/far I was going. But this year, I don’t really give a damn! I wore my heart rate monitor to make sure my heart was working hard enough, but besides that I just did what felt good. Think it was 5-ish miles in 50 minutes. Saw tons of friendly people on the trail, listened to a great playlist on my iPod, and honestly enjoyed every minute :D

The song “’Til The End” by The Living End came on during my last half mile and it was perfect. Go listen to it and add it to your list, it rocked my socks :)

Came home and iced to keep the pain away (something I always do after longer runs) while eating a ginormous ham and cheese salad.

 
Just because I’m not having Easter dinner this weekend, doesn’t mean I can’t still have ham! It’s just cold cubed ham with lots of veggies – including pickles. Topped with old cheddar cheese.

For the dressing I mixed up two laughing cow cheeses + 1 tsp honey mustard and thinned it out with a little water for drizzling. It was delicious!! Would have been better with a boiled egg, but my tummy did not want to wait the extra 10 minutes for that to happen.

I went to the clinic today to get my skin looked at, but I got turned away :( Too many people were there! I may try again tomorrow.

Instead, I went downtown to soak in the warm air, including retrieving my latest work of pottery art.

I used a stencil on this and it still looks like a child did it!! Aaahhahaha. Oh well. Will make for a fun yogurt dish at least :)

Then I hit up Second Cup for some personal training studying.

Cell phone picture. Left the baby at home. Sipped on a sugar-free raspberry Italian soda (ie club soda and aspartame) with a s’mores Luna.

I stayed there all afternoon until my tummy told me it was time to come back home for dinner. And by dinner, I mean leftovers eaten out of a tupperware container.

Turkey goulash, fourth and final round. Loved every bite!

The rest of my evening has been pretty laid back, and included a lot more studying. This time doing the online theory.

 
I’m just reviewing everything over a million times, hoping that it sticks. I think I’ll be going to the gym this coming week with a couple girls from work to show them the strength training equipment, so that should help me feel more comfortable with the practical aspect. It’s getting clooooose!!!

On tap for Sunday:
~2 hour group fitness medley: spin, body attack, body pump and body flow. Bring it on.
~Another attempt at the medical clinic
~Do taxes
~Clean apartment
~More personal trainer studying

I just typed that out to hold myself accountable for it all. The only thing I really want to do on that list is the group exercise bonanza. Honestly, I’m looking forward for this weekend to be over – I kinda miss work!

 

Question of the Day: What’s your favourite genre of music to workout to? I realized the other day while running to Rancid, that I lovelovelove working out to punk music. It gets me the most pumped up!