What I Ate Wednesday - Veggie Love

Hiya guys! I've been really light on my posting over the past two weeks and its because I've had a lot of stuff on my plate! The most recent was a visit from one of my most favourite people....my mom!

She's on her way back home this morning :( and we are back to our regularly scheduled programming ---- not only in our routine but our eats! Oh gosh, our eats have been all over the map. I have been absolutely amazing at sticking to my clean eats goals during the week, but I've been indulging a little more than I'd like to over the weekends.

We have some vacation plans coming up, so that's the motivation I'm using to really stick with my clean eats program and I'm hoping all the veggie love shared at Peas & Crayons this month will help motivate me and give me some creative ideas on how to eat clean while keeping things interesting, and most importantly DELICIOUS!!

 

Even though I've been absent here on the blog, I've still been snapping pics and sharing my eats on Twitter and Instagram....here are some of my fave meals from the past couple of weeks (please forgive the photos - most were taken on my phone and clearly I need to use my Canon with editing to actually have a photograph that is properly centred :) :

 

Bananarama Protein Pancakes are still one of my all-time favourite breakfasts. Lately, I've been adding 1/2 a grapefruit to my first meal of the day.

 

 

 

Over the weekend, I made my mom & I some sweet potato homefries (sweet potato & sweet onion panfried in coconut oil) and baked eggs with mozza, grape tomatoes & fresh basil. I must say it was the best egg concoction I've put together in ages! My mom and I totally swooned over this breakfast.

 

 

 

I've been making a true effort to pack a healthy lunch that includes mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. Here is one from last week that included Gina`s Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili, plain non-fat Greek yogourt with mixed fruit, whole wheat crackers and roasted garlic hummus, and some of my trail mix.

  

 

 

I've also been eating a ton of kale. Yesterday, I marinated some kale in an olive oil/apple cider vinegar/dijon combo and topped it with some leftover sweet potato homefries, sweet orange pepper, raw pepitas, raw walnut pieces, goat cheese and sundried tomatoes. It was ah-mazing!

 

Dinners have been really good too. I cannot get enough of Angela's Easy BBQ Tofu. It is so good! I usually pair it with some roasted veggies - here I had roasted taters and turnip. Have I mentioned that I used to hate turnip?! I tried roasting it with a bit of coconut oil and sea salt and I have absolutely fallen in love with it. Derek and I easily eat an entire turnip in one meal!

  

 My other fave dinner of late was Lentil Veggie Mac & Cheese by Lindsay. A classic comfort food with an added punch of protein and veggies. I didn't share one bit of this with anyone; not even Derek got a bite!!!

Whew! I'm feeling a little better about my eats now that I see all the goodness I've used to fuel my body. I've had a few moments of weakness where chocolate or and wine have passed my lips, but hey "moderation is key" wouldn't you agree?!

What's the best healthy meal you've eaten this week?

When you try to follow a meal plan do you allow for some indulgence?

Have a great day my friends!

Andrea

xoxo

What I Ate Wednesday ~ Clean Eats

Good morning! Happy Wednesday.

Whew, it's been a looonnnggg time since I've come around these parts to share a day in the life of my eats. I'm sure many of you shared amazing holiday treats and sweets over the past few weeks, but I was so busy stuffing my face with said treats that I didn't read a single WIAW post or snap a single pic!

I enjoyed all of my eating indulgences over the holiday season, but I have to admit that I'm pretty happy to get back into a healthier eating routine (um.....my oh so snug pants are pretty happy too!). 

As you know, I'm really excited to be using The Eat Clean Diet and Vega's Thrive Forward program as my inspiration as I start the journey to clean eating. I've been using The Eat Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook ALOT since Christmas (thanks to my fab hubs who bought it for me!).

Here's a peek at a day in the life of my eats:

Breakfast

I made an AWESOME Baked Cinnamon Pear Steel Cut Oats casserole on Sunday and I've been enjoying leftovers every morning since. I love it topped with plain non-fat Greek yogourt and a drizzle of pure maple syrup.

*recipe for this coming VERY soon*

Lunch

Brown baggin' it is absolutely the way to go. I've been going to the gym right after work, so I bring lunch and lots of snacks to work with me. This was Monday's lunch: leftover Festive Sweet Potato Salad, clementines, two plain brown rice cakes with 1/3 of an avocado to smash ;-) on them later, 2 light Babybel cheese rounds (leftovers from Christmas) and a sample of chai guarana  tea that came with an order of  David's tea.

Dinner

These open-faced english muffin pizzas came straight out of The Eat Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook. It's fast and delish! As a side, I made some parsnip fries with dijon for dippin'.

Not too shabby, right?!

What have you been munching on now that the holidays are behind us?

If you're looking for more healthy meal inspiration as we jump feet first into 2013, make sure you head on over to Peas & Crayons to see what other bloggers have been feasting on.

Have a GREAT day!

Andrea

xoxo

What I Ate Wednesday

Good morning guys! How's your week been so far?! This week has been so busy for me. My lunch bag has come home with food still in it because I've been too busy to stop for a snack....missed snacks never happen to me!! 

Even though I've missed a couple of snacks over the past few days, I've still managed to eat some pretty awesome meals. Here's a peek at yesterday's eats:



Breakfast
I ate these pumpkin spice pancakes for breakie on Sunday, Monday & Tuesday. I hated to eat the last bite; these are that good!!

Lunch
My lunch yesterday was delicious! If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you would have seen this HUGE bunch of kale that my grandpa dropped off to me on Sunday.

I ended up making a massaged kale salad that included avocado, dried cranberries, walnut pieces, cucumbers, celery and feta. The dressing was an apple cider vinegar/dijon combo.

As snacks, I took some clementines, a pear and some Tazo green tea k-cups.

Dinner
Last Friday, my grandma and I went out for lunch to a restaurant across the street from my office. I ordered the cheese & onion tart and it was ah-maze-ing!!! I really want to recreate this amazing tart at home and last night was my first attempt.

I caramelized some onions in butter & red wine, added some aged cheddar, and then folded them into my grandma's famous pie crust. It was good, but the crust wasn't quite right. I promise that I'll keep working on it and hopefully perfect a recipe to share with you in the very near future!!

So that's my eats in a nutshell. What was your favourite meal from yesterday?? If you're looking for more meal inspiration, check out Jenn's What I Ate Wednesday page and I promise you that you'll find a ton of awesome eats!!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Andrea

xoxo

What I Ate Wednesday

Howdy! How has your week been treating you so far??

I've been extremely busy with a little project over the past few days. Some exciting things have been happening around here and I can't wait to share......next week ;-) !!!!!!

No matter how busy I am, I always have time for a What I Ate Wednesday post. It makes me take time to stop and reflect on my eats for the week and to keep me in check as I work towards my goal of maintaining a healthy, CLEAN diet.

Breakfast

I couldn't resist Julie's Honey Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes any longer! I finally caved and made them. My advice: make a big batch on Sunday and toast up the leftovers for weekday breakies.

Lunch

Just call me the  brown baggin' lady. After going out day after day last week for birthday lunches, I'm committed to making lunches for both Derek and I every day this week. Now, if only I could plan ahead and make them the night before, so I could leave for work on time for once!

Yesterday, I took 2 clementines and an egg white/goat cheese/veggie scramble that I stuffed into a multigrain flatbread.

Dinner

I made this on Sunday and have eaten it twice since. I used to LOVE pad thai, but it's difficult to find a vegetarian version that doesn't contain fish sauce. Mama Pea's Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai is sooooo yummy!! I wasn't sure I'd love the spaghetti squash 'noodles', but they soaked the sauce right up and tasted fabulous! The only thing I need to figure out is what I can substitute for the hoisin sauce because it does have some sugar and I'm trying to avoid 'the white stuff' right now.

Do you have any suggestions???

Snack

I am addicted to Lindsay's Baked Apple Packets. I've been baking up a few pockets at a time, so I have something to satisfy my sweet tooth when it comes a knockin'. Yesterday, I made them with pears instead of apples and they were just as delicious! Topping them with honey-flavoured Greek Yogourt puts them over the edge!!

As you can see, I've still been eating well despite the chaos that is my life. My attitude has really shifted over the past couple of years. I cannot sacrifice quality for convenience anymore and my body thanks me for it :-)

If you'd like to see what other  bloggers have been munching on, head on over to Peas & Crayons and check it out.

Have you ever health-i-fied one of your favourite dishes?

What's the best thing you've eaten in the last 24 hours?

Have a great day,

Andrea

xoxo

What I Ate {on my birthday} Wednesday

Good morning! How are ya?!

Yesterday was my birthday and I had an absolutely great day. Derek and I celebrated over the weekend with a special dinner, some shopping and a movie, so yesterday was pretty much an ordinary day except for the fact that I received so many birthday wishes and lots of love from the people who mean the most to me in this world.

Birthday flowers:

I feel extremely blessed to have so many amazing people ~ friends & family ~ in my life!!

We went out to eat several times over the weekend, so all I wanted yesterday was some good, CLEAN homecookin'. You know that I started my 'clean eating' journey on Monday and I really wanted to stick to it! My plan is for clean eats to become my lifestyle, it's not just some temporary diet that I'm going to follow. I need to figure out how to maintain my clean eating habits over holidays and special occasions, so I decided that my birthday was a great way to challenge myself to make a healthy, clean and delicious birthday dinner.

Here's a recap of my meals from the big day!

  Birthday Breakfast   I made one of my faves: Pumpkin Pie Slow Cooked Steel Cut Oats   

   It's a decadent way to start any morning!   In order to clean the recipe up, I submitted honey for the brown sugar. The flavour was just as delish!     Lunch   Being the good girl that I am ;-), I brown bagged it and spent my lunch break walking around the downtown with my good friend, Lisa. Afterwards, I ate my lunch at the office.   Roasted Sweet Potato Salad Clementines Pumpkin Amazeballs  

    Birthday Dinner   Plant Power Pumpkin Alfredo with brown rice pasta and a Greek salad  

  Dessert: An Edible Arrangement that my parents had delivered to me at work!  

{oy, please excuse my very messy office!}

   Thank you, as always, to Miss Jenn for continuing to host our weekly Wednesday party.  

Do you like to go out or eat in on your birthday?

 

Enjoy your day!

 

Andrea

xoxo

 

 

   

What I Ate Wednesday

Howdy! Happy Wednesday....and Happy Halloween!!

So here we are at the last day of October. Isn't it crazy how fast the time has flown by?!

....and speaking of crazy, were you affected by Hurricane Sandy? Monday night was cold, rainy and very windy. There was alot of hype about Southern Ontario being hit by Frankenstorm, but all we got was a typical autumn storm. We were very lucky.

*If you were affected by the Hurricane,

please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family*

Here`s a peek at my eats from yesterday:

Breakfast

Oy! I woke up an hour late yesterday, which was not good considering that it's my week to drive in our carpool. I had to be ready to go lickity split, but I did manage to find 5 minutes to whip together a quick breakfast of honey-flavoured Greek yogourt, pumpkin puree and harvest granola. It was good, but didn't keep me as full as I would've liked. I was starving by lunchtime.

Lunch

Speaking of lunch, I just realized now as I was writing that last sentence that I totally forgot to take a picture! I didn't have time to make lunches for Derek and I this morning, so I ended up with a ginormous slice of veggie pizza. Think mozza cheese, fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, green peppers and red onion. Not as healthy as I would've had if I'd made my lunch, but it was pretty darn tasty!

Snack

On Monday night, I made the Fitnessista's pumpkin amazeballs. Holy delicious!! They taste just like pumpkin pie. I packed one in my gym bag as a pre-workout snack. IN LOVE

Dinner

On the weekend I made Lindsay's Crockpot Lentil Veggie Lasagna. I made a few changes: I baked mine in the oven, used fresh spinach and used cottage cheese instead of ricotta. This is delicious!! As a side, we had roasted honey dijon brussel sprouts. I really love carb-heavy dishes like lasagna and I find that having a big side of healthy veggies discourages me from over-eating....plus, these sprouts are the bomb-digity of roasted veggies!!!

Now tonight is going to be a true test to my willpower because all that candy sitting on my kitchen table has been calling my name. So far, I've stayed out of it and tomorrow I'm planning to take any leftovers to work for my co-workers to enjoy. I don't mind having a couple of treats tonight, but I don't want all the little goodies to stick around too long!!

How do you resist the temptation of all that leftover candy and chocolate?

What was the best costume that you wore as a kid?

Have a fun and safe night my friends,

Andrea
xoxo

What I Ate Wednesday

Hi friends! Happy humpity hump day!!

So, my original plan this week was to share all of my fave Hallowe'en treats with you, but I've kinda gotten sidetracked with my love affair for pumpkin. I roasted a sugar pumpkin on Sunday afternoon, made my own puree and pretty much every meal since has contained pumpkin in some shape or form.

I seem to be a wee bit addicted.

So....I will try to share some of my fave Hallowe'en treats before the big day but until then, you are going to be subjected to all things pumpkiny. I sure hope y'all don't mind :)

 

Breakfast

Hands down, this is the best slow cooker oatmeal recipe that I have ever made. Creamy pumpkiny steel cut oats topped with some crunchy raw walnuts. Absolutely divine!  

If you take anything away from this post, I beg you to try this recipe!!

  

Snack
Honey Greek Yogourt parfait with pumpkin puree and granola. Yummers!

Lunch
Admittedly, my lunches the past 2 days have been pretty plain jane. I have a ton of tomatoes from the garden to use up, so I've had toasted tomato sammies for lunch. Usually, I spend my lunch at my desk perusing my fave blogs and working on some future posts. Lately, I've had the urge to get up and get away from the computer, so I've been lunching with some co-workers. We laugh and carry on and I totally forgot about snapping a pic. Oh well, sometimes fun trumps blogger duties :-)

Dinner

I could eat a quesadilla every single day for the rest of my life and I would die a happy woman. My pumpkin & caramelized  veggie quesadilla made its return this week. I forgot how much I loved this!!

Even Dora & Hank got in on the pumpkin action this week. We had a party on Saturday night and the pups got more than their fair share of people food. I've been giving them each a big scoop of pumpkin on top of their food to make sure their tummies are feeling 100%. They LOVE it....as you can see by the Hankster sitting and waiting patiently for his dinner.

What a GOOD boy!

If you're looking for some more meal inspiration or perhaps some spook-tastic treat ideas for your Halloween parties this weekend, head on over to Peas & Crayons to see what other people have been brewing up this week!

What do you love to stuff your quesadillas with?

What treat do your pets love the most??

Have a great day,

Andrea

xoxo

What I Ate (Since My Last Post) Wednesday

I have been an absent little blogger this past week. That pesky cold that I'd been battling came roaring back with a vengeance and I couldn't breathe or taste for days upon days! Then my mom & dad came for a quick weekend visit and I was just too darn busy having fun to get online. Our laptop didn't see the light of day from Thursday of last week until last night ---- that's never happened before! Dare I say it's feeling a wee bit neglected?!

When my parents come to town, they're in high demand and other than a quick coffee at home, we didn't eat in once. We were out with family and friends for every meal, which was great, but I admit that it also feels great to get back into a normal, healthy eating routine.



Here's a peek at yesterday's eats...

Breakfast
Peach-passionfruit Greek yogourt with granola.

Dunkin' Donuts Pumpkin coffee with milk. L<3VE (thank you DAD)!!!!

Lunch
Leftover roasted veggie thin crust pizza, a Honeycrisp apple and a Sparkling Ice ~ Pink Grapefruit.

Snack
Homemade crockpot applesauce. In this batch, I used Honeycrisp and Cortland apples.

Dinner
I was craving comfort food yesterday. I haven't felt like cooking since I came down with this cold, so most of my meals have been quick and random. Finally, last night I felt like putting together a real meal. We had cheese tortellini with veggies in a rose sauce and Caesar salad. It was so good!

What meal do you crave most once you get your appetite back?
What's your fave pasta sauce?

If you're looking for more meal ideas or some spook-tastic Hallowe'en treat inspiration, check out all the link love over at Peas & Crayons. 

Have a fabulous day!

Andrea

xoxo

What I Ate Wednesday

Good morning! How are you on this lovely Wednesday?!

I'm totally not following Jenn's October theme for this WIAW post, because I swear I'm still stuffed from all the great food I ate over this past weekend. It was the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend and I managed to score dinner invites on Sunday & Monday! Derek was away and I'm lucky enough to have an awesome family that didn't want me to feel left out, so I was included in absolutely everything {I loved it!!!} Great big traditional Thanksgiving dinners were served both nights and I stuffed myself to the max. The company was lively, the wine was flowing and the food was absolutely fantastic!

I was so uncomfortable by the time I got home each night that I could barely sit still. You'd assume I'd learn the first time, but no, not this gal....I had to go and do it again the very next night!!

Needless to say, my body was kinda confused yesterday. I woke up and couldn't decide if my stretched out belly was starving for more food or if I still felt ill from over-eating. 

I decided to play it safe with a really light breakie.  

 mixed fruit, cottage cheese & coffee

Lunch was pretty light and healthy too.

salad plate: cottage cheese (again!), bean salad and some leftover healthy autumn salad

I was planning to only allow myself an apple as a snack, but I caved to some co-worker pressure and had a rice krispie square as well!

Dinner was pretty light too.

roasted veggies with rice

I couldn't find room for even a tea the past couple of nights and I was dying for a chammomile vanilla - I managed to fit one in last night --- I've been loving this tea as a nightcap each night before bed.

If you're looking for more meal inspiration or perhaps some spooktacular snacks in anticipation of Halloween, head on over to Peas & Crayons to see what other bloggers have been cooking up!

How do you avoid over-indulging during the holidays?

Fave thing you ate yesterday?

Have a great day,

Andrea

xoxo