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

Hiya and Good Morning to you!

Here we are at the beginning of yet another new month, which around these parts means a new What I Ate Wednesday theme. This month we're going to focus on setting goals and keeping/creating good habits as the seasons change.

Our weather has been absolutely beeea-uuutiful and my garden is still producing tons of produce, so even though it feels like we're heading into Fall, it's been really easy for me to load up each of my meals with lots of fresh produce.

My goal as the weather changes is to keep bulking up my meals with lots and lots of veggies. I absolutely adore rich, warm, carb-heavy casseroles as the weather turns chilly and this year I want to remain mindful of making sure each of those delicious dishes is packed full of veggie goodness.

Here's a little peek into what I munched on yesterday:

Breakfast

Okay, so the slow cooked steel cut oats obsessions continues, but I thought I'd change it up yesterday with an egg white scramble. This one had sweet onion, zucchini, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes and goat cheese! I really do love this breakfast!!

Lunch
On the weekend I made a spin off of Angela's Speedy Three Bean Salad and Courtney's Healthy Roasted Potato and Veggie Salad. I had leftovers of both, so I made myself a little salad plate for lunch yesterday. It was filling and delish!! Both had dijon-based dressings that were to die for!

Snackage
Derek loves to munch on raw veggies for snacks. That or pork rinds. {insert a great big "ew" here} He's been a good influence on me because I've been munching on veggies right along side him. There has definitely been a lot of raw zucchini, green beans and cherry tomatoes comsumed. He likes to eat his veggies naked, but being the dip lover that I am, I've been loving a little tzatziki with mine ~ haha, you didn't think he was naked while he ate his veggies did ya?! 

Dinner
I had absolutely NO idea what I was going to make for dinner last night when I got home from work. Derek had a baseball practice and wasn't going to be home until late, so all I had to worry about was myself.

This is what I ended up with:

~ Tortilla Pizza with caramelized onion, portabello mushrooms, zucchini, basil & goat cheese.

YUMMY!

Thank you as always to Miss Jenn for hosting this weekly foodie shindig and for continuing to encourage all of us to be healthy and stay healthy!

What do you pack for lunch on the go? Give me some new ideas; packable lunches just aren't for the kiddos you know :-D !!

What goals are you going to set as we enter the Fall season?

Have a great day!

Andrea
xoxo

What I Ate Wednesday

Good Morning and welcome to the 2nd day of May, 2012! Just one more month and we'll be halfway through the year --- isn't that crazy?! My friend, Natasha, and I were talking about our fitness and running goals last week and our plan to look smokin' as the summer months approach. Reality has set in that it's crunch time and if we're going to eat clean and get those muscles toned and sexy the time is NOW!

So, with that being said, my What I Ate Wednesday eats continue to be clean,
healthy meals full of fresh (and sometimes local yay!) produce.

 

Breakfast

For some reason, being on time this week has been a bit of a struggle, so breakfast has had to be on the fly. My absolute love right now is taking 1/2 cup of plain non-fat Greek yogourt and mixing it with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a 1/2 tsp of stevia (or any other natural sweetener) --- I swear to you this combo tastes just like cheesecake! I top mine with a mix of frozen berries.

Cheesecake for Breakfast = MAJOR WIN

Lunch

I'm proud to say that I have become a habitual salad eater!! This salad combo has been making several appearances this week because I went a little overboard when making quinoa on the weekend. I used baby greens topped with quinoa, sundried tomatoes, grape tomatoes, red pepper, green onion and goat cheese and then I smothered the whole thing with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. It was delicious!

 

Snacks

I've been trying to stick to fruit for a mid-afternoon snack. Yesterday, I treated myself to some Karmalized  SaviSeeds (thank you foodie penpal!!). They were so good and I had no idea that 1 oz contained 5000 mg of Omega 3. I got this little package from my foodie penpal and it's now my mission to find some more of these tasty little seeds!

Dinner

This is actually Sunday night's dinner. It was soooooo good that I just had to share! Luckily I had enough leftovers for dinner on Monday night before I headed out to my zumba class. Barbecue basted tofu with stifried veggies in a honey/soya sauce and quinoa. Filling, healthy, awesome & oh so satisfying.

I've also been trying to cut my coffee down to 2 cups per day and be more conscious of my water consumption; making sure I get at least 6 to 8 cups in each day.

Thank you so much to Jenn from Peas & Crayons for continuing to host this weekly eats party.
Head over and check out her WIAW page for lots more meal inspiration.

What protein source do you love to add to your veggie stirfries?

Have you started making plans for your summer vacations?

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Andrea
xo

What I Ate Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! We are officially at the halfway point of yet another week....and in the last full week of April. Can you believe it?! Have you been keeping up with Jenn's veggie challenge this month? I've been finding it pretty easy to do and I love all the fresh and delicious eats that I've been fueling up on lately.



Breakfast
I have to leave early for work everyday this week, so I've been taking my breakie to go. I've been loving these Vita Top Cran Bran muffins with some fruit on the side. The weather's been really cold, so we've been amping up our Vitamin C by eating lots of oranges!

Lunch
I made enough Cheesy Vegetable Soup so that I would have lots of leftovers to take with me to work for lunch. Our office has been freezing cold, so I've been really grateful for my hot steamy bowls of soup. As a side, I had a toasted multigrain thin bun with a little butter. YUM!

Dinner
I am in love with this Beer BBQ Tofu. It is so freakin' delish and an awesome addition to a big ol' plate of honey dijon roasted veggies. Comfort food at its finest my friends!!! A glass of red wine capped this meal off perfectly!

I've been bringing snacks with me everyday to work, but I've been too dang busy to stop and grab them! When I do have the munchies, I've been trying to stick to raw veggies with roasted garlic hummus. Cutting your veggies up on the weekend makes for an easy grab n go snack all week. This is such an easy way to add a serving of veggies to your daily eats!

For those of you who've checked out my meal plan, notice how I'm stickin' to it like glue! I've been rockin' out this week!

If you need to change up your eats and want to find lots of veg-spiration, check out Jen's What I Ate Wednesday party for ideas from so many other awesome bloggers!

What have you been munching on today?

Have a great day!
Andrea
xoxo

What I Ate Wednesday ~ Eating Up Leftovers

Happy Wednesday!

Quick - what was the last veggie that you ate?

Have you been trying to add more veggies to your daily eats? The Spring and Summer months make eating veggies so much easier to do - even here in Ontario, Canada, I find it's getting easier and easier to get fresh local produce because of all the unusually warm weather that we've been having. I am SO looking forward to the arrival of fresh strawberries, which I expect should be anytime now :)

On Saturday night, we had a surprise dinner for Derek's birthday. There were tons of leftovers and we've been trying to incorporate them into our normal daily eats, so that nothing goes to waste.

Breakfast

Well as much as I'd love to eat leftover cookies for breakfast, I've opted for something a little healthier :) My recent go-to breakie has been plain Greek yogourt topped with a frozen mix of cherries, blueberries and blackberries and some of my chewy no-bake trail mix squares crumbled on top. This is an absolutely decadent combo!

Lunch

A ginormous salad of romaine and chopped veggies. I topped it with black olives and roasted chickpeas and instead of salad dressing, I used a big ol' scoop of leftover nacho dip. Ah-mazing!

Snack

I went a little bit overboard on the desserts. We had a mini red velvet cake with cream cheese icing leftover --- I should have given it away because I keep having these little tiny slivers and soon the cake is going to be G.O.N.E. :)

Dinner

One of Derek's fave salads is Caprese. We had just a little left, so I made open-faced Caprese melts (balsamic vinegar, sliced tomatoes, mozza and fresh basil). As a side, I served stirfried broccoli slaw.  Can you say YUM?!

Thanks again to Jenn for encouraging us all to eat our rainbow of veggies each day. If you'd like to find even more meal inspiration, head on over and check out her WIAW page. There are tons and tons of ideas from other fabulous bloggers!

What do you do with all the leftovers that you have from a party or family dinner?

What is your fave salad to take to a potluck or family dinner?

I hope you have the best day ever,

Andrea
xoxo

What I Ate Wednesday

Welcome to Wednesday! It's come especially fast for me because Monday was  Family Day and I was lucky enough to have the day off. I love long weekends, don't you?!

Thank you once again to Jenn for hosting our What I Ate Wednesday shindig week after week. It's become a tradition that I love forward to each and every Wednesday.





We've been loving our veggies this month and as usual I've had absolutely no problems filling my meals with lots of produce. I even got a little crazy this week with a little 'restaurant recreation'.

Check out my eats:

Breakfast
I've been really sticking to my warm lemon water ritual every single morning. It's a nice clean way to start my morning and get my system revving for the day.

Instead of the usual green smoothie, I made myself a chocolate banana one for a change. 1 1/2 cups of original unsweetened almond milk, one large banana, 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa and a Body by Vi smoothie mix all went into the blender for a sinfully sweet and delish breakfast!

Yay! It's the return of my pink travel cup :)

Lunch
Ah...now here is where my restaurant recreation comes in. Last week my friend, Lisa, and I met at a fabulous little lunch place that's about halfway between our two offices. I was planning to go for a salad, but I couldn't turn down their soup of the day: Sweet Potato with Kale. It was a strange-sounding combo, but somehow these two veggies went together perfectly.

I took advantage of our holiday Monday and did a little bit of experimenting. What I came up with was a thick and creamy Roasted Sweet Potato & Kale soup that was delicious! I topped it with shredded coconut - DEE--VINE!!!! I promise that the recipe will be posted very, very soon.

Snack
As you know, I have been tasting and testing a variety of Pure Bars. I have been in love with Pure's Superfruit Nutty Crunch bar. How can you resist something so fabulous looking! You can literally see every nut, dried fruit and even the odd chia seed. IN LOVE. It was the perfect mid-afternoon snack before my evening workout.

Dinner
I've been satisfying my love of dijon alot lately by adding it to some veggies (along with some EVOO and a little unpasteurized honey) and roasting them in the oven. It doesn't seem to matter what veggies I have on hand because this  is a combo that tastes amazing on everything! In addition to my veggies, I treated myself to some VeggiePatch Spinach Bites with Cheese. These are a treat that I only buy while on sale. They are a GREAT addition to any veggie-filled meal.

So how'd I do?? I think I do a pretty great job at incorporating fruits and veggies into every meal.

Do you like to amp up the amount of veggies you consume at each meal?
What was the best thing you ate last week?

Make sure you stop over at Peas & Crayons to get lots more veggie-filled inspiration.

I hope your day is fabulous,
Andrea

P.S. - Make sure you enter my Pure Bar giveaway. Entries close on Saturday.

What I Ate Wednesday - Veggie-fied

Who am I kidding? It's always a veggie-fied party over here :)

Happy What I Ate Wednesday! There's been a lot of talk about love and V-Day and spoiling your sweetie, but I think it's important that we also remember how important it is to love ourselves. One thing we can do to show our bods a little love and respect is to eat lots and lots of fresh  fruits and veggies.  I try to fuel myself with lots of fresh and delicious produce, so this month's "Love Your Veggies" theme has been pretty darn easy to follow!

Check out my eats from Monday: Breakfast I've been staying true to my green smoothie ritual every morning. I make a batch that lasts for 2 days and store it in the fridge in a mason jar. This beauty contains baby spinach, celery, apple, pear, banana and lemon.  It's as good as it is green ;-)  

 Lunch I`ve been craving fresh salads alot lately, so that`s what I often pack for lunch at work. Baby spinach, olives, grape tomatoes, mushrooms, and a crumbled quinoa veggie patty was on the menu Monday. I top the salad with an olive oil and balsamic mix - and of course you`ve gotta add some dijon! This was amazingly delish! 

 Snackage Snacks are a must in the afternoon. Most of the time I reach for an apple or a banana and we`ve also been loving pineapple lately - only $2 for a peeled and cored beaut!  

 I also had a mini raspberry cheesecake before I gave the rest away. Hmmm....it looks like someone else really wanted a bite of that cheesecake!!! (Look very carefully for a cute little puppy dog face) 

 And I also had to taste test my fresh baked banana bread before I posted the recipe yesterday! Add a wee bit of organic butter and you have a swoon-worthy snack. It`s so good that I ate it up before I could even get a pic!   Dinner I`m still eating alot of lonely girl dinners - veggie scrambles (1 egg and a splash of almond milk scrambled up with some sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, goat cheese, baby spinach and green onions) and roasted butternut squash can often be found on the menu.  I know you`ve seen this type of meal before, but I absolutely love it and the fact that it`s quick and easy makes it perfect for those nights when I`m cooking for one.  

 I think I`ve packed as much veggies as I can into one day of meals wouldn`t you agree :-) If you`re looking for more veg-tastic meal ideas, head on over to Peas & Crayons and check out what other bloggers have been eating this week.
Have a great day --- and go make yourself a green smoothie right now! Please, try one just for me and let me know how much you love it!

How do you incorporate more veggies into your meals.
Tell me the best thing you`ve eaten today.

Andrea

It's What I Ate Wednesday!!

Happy Wednesday - and how are you on this unseasonably fabulous day?!

Life is moving along at warp speed and I'm just trying to keep up these days! Derek's still working 2 jobs, which means I'm having lots and lots of lonely girl meals. The good thing about cooking for one???? I get to eat whatever I want including stuff that Derek wouldn't touch- yay me!!!

This month Jenn has challenged us to veg-ify our meal posts - that's pretty easy for this vegetarian chickee!!!

I'm back into the routine of having a warm lemon water to start my day off, followed by a green smoothie. I've been following Kimberly Snyder's recipe that includes water, spinach, romaine, apple, celery, pear and banana. It's delish and look how many fabulous greens are packed into this one powerful drink! I make enough for 2 days, so I only have to pull the blender out 3 times a week.

On Sunday, I cooked up a big ol' pot of quinoa and I've been making up a bunch of different meals with it. For lunch, I've been loving this quinoa salad, which includes wilted baby spinach, sweet onion, yellow pepper, sundried tomatoes and goat cheese....mmm, life is better with goat cheese....and lots of veggies :)

For afternoon snackages, I've been eating lots of fruit. Oranges, apples, strawberries or pineapple have been my fruit of choice lately. These strawberries are surprisingly sweet for February!!!

We've also been loving some homemade banana bread. Recipe to come soon :)



For dinner, I had a grilled veggie wrap with goat cheese (of course!) and some butternut squash fries. Delish! Grilled and roasted veggies are my fave way to go in the winter months, so this dinner is pretty much perfect if you ask me!

As a night cap, I've been snuggling up with some good TV and a warm glass of water with fresh ginger, lemon juice and a dash of Truvia. It's tasty and cleansing!

Another week, another fabulous eats post! Are you inspired??? If you're looking for more foodie inspiration head on over and visit Jenn at Peas & Crayons. There are meal ideas for everyone.

What's been your favourite meal this week?

Andrea 

PS - don't forget to enter my blogiversary giveaway. You've got until tomorrow night to enter!!!

Fast and Simple Weekday Dinner

Sometimes all we need is a fast and simple dinner after a long and tiring day. Derek and I've had a lot on our plates recently and we've been on the go almost everyday from morning 'til night. By the time I get home at night I am whipped!!! Last night was one of those nights. I worked all day, had an appointment after work and then I had to hitch a ride home from my grandma (yep, still no vehicle!).

By the time I got home, let the dogs out and got them fed, I was in no mood for a big elaborate dinner. It was a perfect night for something easy, but I didn't want to sacrifice health for ease. Lucky for me, I found a kick-butt deal on avocados this weekend and got 5 for $3.29. I'd also picked up a guacamole mix by Simply Organic.

All I needed was 2 cups of chopped avocados, which I mashed with the seasoning. The result was incredible - I absolutely loved the flavour of this guacamole and the fact that the ingredients are organic is definitely an added bonus.

While the guac was 'resting' in the fridge, I stirfried up a bunch of veggies - I used sweet onion, peppers, zucchini, garlic, crimini mushrooms, celery and a tomato. I stirfried my veggies with some chili powder, cumin, sea salt and some crushed chili peppers. I served the veggie mixture on top of 1/2 a cup of brown rice and finished it off with a big ol' scoop of guacamole.

Oh my gosh, this meal was fast and simple and absolutely delicious!

Do you love guacamole - do you buy store bought, a mix or make yours from scratch?

What's your favourite easy weekday meal?

Have a great day my friends,

Andrea

What I Ate Wednesday - Repeats

Happy Wednesday!

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been more adventuresome in the kitchen and have come up with a bunch of delicious little meals that have been uber successful on the very first attempt. A couple of my recipes from this past week are going to peek their lovely little heads out in this WIAW post, because I frankly loved them so much that I can't stop eating them!

For breakfast, I'm back on the green smoothie train. I recently read The Beauty Detox by Kimberly Snyder and I've been using her recipe for my early morning eats. I've been loving this recipe and my morning energy has been absolutely through the roof!!!! I've also found that I'm not hungry for snacks in the morning, which is very unusual because my normal routine is to have a mid-morning and a mid-afternoon snack every day!

I haven't snapped pics of too many lunches this week. I've mainly been eating lots of vegetable soup and veggie chili. My last batch of chili made enough for a bazillion lunches so it's been easy to pull a bowl out of the freezer each morning!

My afternoon snacks have consisted primarily of fruit. Navel oranges have been on sale for the past couple of weeks and now that we've gotten a taste of them, we crave them all the time - I guess it's a good time of year to be amping up our Vitamin C! If I'm craving something a little more decadent, I've been chopping up an apple, adding a pinch of cinnamon and Truvia and nuking it in the microwave for about 2 minutes. It's like the inside guts of an apple pie - pure comfort in under 5 minutes!!!

For dinner, I am absolutely in love with pumpkin & roasted veggie quesadillas and my veggie quinoa pilaf. I can't get enough of them and I keep eating and eating and eating them!!!!

...and one last sweet treat that's repeat from Jenn, not me. I am LOVING these Red Velvet Cake Cookies! I saw them and decided that I was going to make them for V-Day. By the end of last weekend, a batch was cooling on my kitchen counter ;-) They are fantabulous --- so much so, that I ended up sending most of them with Derek to work because I just couldn't keep my sticky little fingers out of them!

So I've shown you mine and now it's your turn! What's the best thing you've eaten all day?!

If you're looking for more meal & snack inspiration head on over and say howdy to Jenn and check out all the fabulous posts that have been linked up for this week!

Have an awesome day!

Andrea