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! 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 (at the end of Summer) Wednesday

Howdy! And welcome to the last What I Ate Wednesday of summer! Okay, okay I know it's not technically the last day of summer, but the end of August means cooler nights, shorter days and sending the kiddos back to their regular school routine.

It also means that my body is a hot mess of cravings: I'm trying to make the most of the few precious weeks we have left of fresh, local produce, but my belly is CRAVING comfort food in a really bad way! So far I've managed a pretty good balance of the two, but if I'm being really honest, I have to admit that I can't wait for the aroma of veggies roasting in the oven or of baked casseroles on a Sunday afternoon

{excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin}

Here's a peek of my eats from yesterday:

Breakfast

Monica's Banana & Coconut Steel Cut Oats (another slow cooker recipe!)

Lunch

Half a toasted tomato sandwich with a side of cottage cheese and Baked Lays creamy dill chips. One of my co-workers is always tempting me with tasty treats and snacks. I took one bite of these chips and now I'm hooked. She brought me some in today and I inhaled them ;-) I've promised myself that I shall not buy a bag to bring home because it will be G.O.N.E. before I get in the door!

Dinner

One of Jenn's Triple Bean Veggie Burgers (go make these right now!!) dressed up with a little tzaztiki and some baked sweet potato rounds. This meal was amazing!

I didn't catch pics of yesterday's snacks, but all I ate was a peach in the morning and that was it! 

What was your favourite meal from yesterday? If you have foodie-block and need some  meal inspiration, head on over and check out Jenn's What I Ate Wednesday page for tons and tons of ideas!!

Are you still in summer eating mode or have you started to crave the warm, savoury comfort food of Fall?

Have a great day,

Andrea

xoxo

What I Ate Wednesday - LiveFit Trainer Continues On...

 Happy Wednesday!

Are you surviving the heat?? Yesterday set new records here in Southwestern Ontario --- I'm told (& I really hope) that it is expected to be the hottest day of the year! It was SO HOT! Don't hate me for saying this, but I am really looking forward to the arrival of Fall -- warm days and cool nights is my favourite kind of weather! 

I know some people don't have a big appetite when the temperatures spike, but heat won't keep this gal down. In fact, I really can't think of any type of circumstance that stops me from wanting to eat!

 

I can't believe I'm already in the middle of Week 3 of Jamie Eason's 12 Week LiveFit Trainer. I'm really starting to notice a difference in the way my body feels since I started eating clean 17 days ago. I always ate fairly healthily, but my nighttime snacking has definitely been cut way back and I have really reduced the amount of processed food that I eat on a daily basis.

Let's have a peek at what I've been noshing on this week:

Breakfast

I've been eating lots of protein pancakes and egg white scrambles for breakfast. A couple of days ago, I decided to stuff a tortilla with the egg white scramble and then added some mashed avocado to create my version of a breakfast quesadilla. It was pretty freakin' yummy! I mixed a little taco seasoning with some non-fat plain Greek Yogourt as my sauce on the side.

After my workout is done, it's off to work I go. A large coffee with milk is my morning drug :-)

 

Snack

My snacks have mainly consisted of some sort of conction that involves non-fat Greek Yogourt. I recently won some granola from Boulder Granola (new fave!!), so I've been mixing in a bit of that together with a peach chopped up into chunks.
We got some local peaches on the weekend and they are scrumptiuous!

 

I've also been eating raspberry cheesecake protein popsicles like crazy.

*Teaser - I have a new popsicle recipe coming for all you chocaholics out there! Stay tuned....  ;-)

Lunch

Most of my veggies are consumed at lunch. Large salads and boatloads of water are the norm.

This salad was awesome--I combined a baby arugula/spinach mix with broccoli slaw, raw almonds, shredded carrots, yellow pepper & marinated tofu and then added some light spicy peanut dressing.

{drool}

Dinner

I actually had time to put together a nice dinner for Derek & I on Sunday --- it was nice to relax and have a leisurely meal together! I had marinated kabobs loaded with veggies & tofu, some whole grain brown rice and a side of roasted beets from our garden. Ok, so they're from Derek's uncle's side of our garden, but we're family, so we share so he won't mind that I scooped some while no one was there on Sunday morning hehe ;-)

Fitness

My workout plan has increased from 4 days per week to 5. We still have 2 weeks of no cardio, but I've really started enjoying the weight training and I'm not missing the cardio as much as I did in the beginning. We've also increased the weight from 60% of our maximum to 80%. Let's just say that my body hurts. Most of it is a good muscle hurt, but yesterday I couldn't raise my arms above shoulder level without some serious effort!

If all goes according to plan, my workout schedule this week is going to look a little like this:

Monday - Chest & Triceps
Tuesday - Legs
Wednesday - Back & Biceps
Thursday - Shoulders & Abs
Friday - Chest & Triceps
Saturday - Yoga
Sunday - Rest

My upper body is definitely where my weaknesses lie, so instead of doubling up on the legs workouts, I've decided to double up on chest & triceps this week and then maybe back & biceps next week.

Whew, I've written quite the WIAW post this week! If you have any questions or want any more information about my experience with the LiveFit trainer, my clean eats or workouts, please feel free to email me anytime. If you're looking for more food & fitness inspiration, head on over to visit Jenn at Peas & Crayons and see what other bloggers have been up to this week.

What is your fave body part to work out at the gym?

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Andrea
xoxo



What I Ate on this "Green" Wednesday

Hi and welcome to the first What I Ate Wednesday of March. Jen has declared that we are going GREEN in March, so I've challenged myself to see just how much green I can fit into my daily eats. It really isn't hard to do as you can see from my eats below!

My breakfasts have been pretty predictable. I've been all about the smoothies....you can up the 'green factor' in any smoothie by adding a great big handful of baby spinach. It blends in smoothly and you can't taste it over your fruit or other mix-ins. So healthy and surprisingly filling :)

Ok, so I'm officially addicted to wonton cups and conveniently they work for any meal of the day!!! These are my newest obsession and I just can't get enough of them because the combo possibilities are limitless.  I press my wontons wrappers into mini muffin tins and then fill them up with a scrambled eggs, cheese and any veggie that is lurking in my fridge.  Then they get baked up into some golden-y goodness. For lunch, I had some broccoli and cheese quiche wonton cups. Delish!

I've been trying to snack responsibly. Chopped veggies with hummus have definitely been on my menu this week. I like a rainbow of veggies - peppers, cauliflower, brocolli (I've been totally enjoying my little green "trees" this week!) and baby carrots were in this bag.

Derek has had absolutely no appetite since he was sick last week, so I've made a ton of lonely girl meals even though he's been around. Since my meat eater hasn't been in the mood for food, I've been making the most of it by making veggie-loaded meals for l'il ol' me :) Last night I had honey dijon parsnip fries paired with cheesy spinach and quinoa patties. Those patties are ah-mazing and I promise that I'll be posting the recipe tomorrow --- cross my heart <3

Instead of reaching for food after dinner, I've been treating myself to a tea instead. Green Tea with Pomegranate has been one of my faves lately.

So it looks like I've done a pretty good job of incorporating greens into each of my meals --- how many times do you eat your greens per day?? If you're looking for some 'green' inspiration, head on over and visit Peas & Crayons  to see what other bloggers have been munchin' on.

What has been the best thing you've eaten today?

Have a great day --- make the most of it as we climb the hump and head towards the weekend!

Ciao,

Andrea
xo

What I Ate Wednesday!

My love affair with What I Ate Wednesday continues!

I love sharing my eats with you guys and I have gotten so many awesome meal ideas from other bloggers participating. I think I could eat a new and different meal for an entire year without any repeats!!

I'm trying to stay on track and get toned and tightened up as we come into tank top and bikini weather, so we've been having heatlthy eats at home as much as possible. The theme of this WIAW is 'simplicity'. None of these meals took much time to whip together, they are all healthy, satisfying and very easy even for the most novice of cooks.

I'm back on track with the water, so I try to start every morning off with a glass of lemon water. I've been craving cold water after the heat wave we had last week, so I've shelved my warm water habit for the time being.

For breakie, I have been LOVING the Breakfast Cookie!!! And by loving, I mean eating it almost every single morning and when I'm not eating it, I'm wishing I was. Today, I substituted cocoa powder for the vanilla protein powder and used Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter. It was a mix between a choco banana cookie and a macaroon. It was AWESOME!

My fave lunch this week was a mixed green salad with shredded asiago cheese, sunflower seeds and multigrain croutons and dressed with a light herb vinagrette. I paired the salad with a mushroom and rice veggie burger topped with baby spinach and a wee bit of mayo. I also had a glass of orginal V8 Juice. I can't get enough of V8, especially when it's all glammed up in a wine glass :-)  I was in heaven after this meal!

For dinner, I pulled every single vegetable out of my fridge and whipped up a veggie stirfry using a splash of olive oil, a pinch of sea salt and some Cajun spice. I added quinoa on the side. Luckily I had enough left over to take to work for lunch ~ I love when that happens!!

So there you have it ~ another Wednesday, another great food recap! Stay tuned next week because I'm home alone for yet another weekend and I'm thinking I should share my "home alone eats" to give some ideas to the single guys and gals out there. It could go one of two ways - either I eat super healthy and try some awesome recipes I've been eyeing up OR I grab an XL veggie pizza and eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I guess you'll just have to check back next week to see what I do :-)

Until then, pop on over to visit Jenn at Peas and Crayons to see what some other great bloggers have been munching on this week!

What's your fave meal when you're cooking for one?

Have a Happy Hump Day - we're on the down swing to yet another weekend my friends!! 

Andrea