What I Ate for Dinner Wednesday

Hello Wednesday - you sure did come back quick. Where the heck is the time going?! It's already January 18th for goodness sake!

My WIAW post this week is focusing on my dinners because they have been absolutely stellar lately. The sugar cravings are raging less and less and finally my body is starting to feel normal again. I find myself grabbing for an apple or some raw almonds instead of a Toblerone bar or box of Ferrero Rocher.

Welcome back healthy eating machine --- my waistline has missed you!

I've been sticking to the same breakies and lunches, but like I said my dinners have been rockin' the house! I've been whipping up some really quick and easy meals that are super healthy, super delish and really filling.

Here are a few of my fave dinners from this past week:

As you know I made a great big pot of vegetarian chili on Sunday. I love a homemade meal like this that is ready to be heated and served. As a side, I had whole grain goldfish crackers. I will never be too old to enjoy these little cheddar fishies!

There is seriously more snow on the placemat in this pic than what Southwestern Ontario has received this winter so far!! It's been crazy weird weather here.

I'm also totally loving veggie scrambles (this isn't just a breakfast food my friends). All I do is scramble 2 eggs with some unsweetened original almond milk. Add in some of your favourite chopped veggies and scramble away. For me, no scramble is complete without cheese. Usually I reach for goat cheese, but for this one I used some shredded monterey jack. As a side, I had a huge helping of roasted cauliflower poppers. I wish you could see the size of this plate --- my dinner was absolutely massive and I ate every single delicious bite!

The other dinner this week that was  too die for was whole wheat spaghettini tossed with a whopping 3 cups of diced veggies, 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, crushed red peppers, Italian seasoning and a sprinkling of freshly grated parm. Momma Mia - this meal was amazing!

Look at the rainbow of vegetables --- this was soooo gooood!

So there are some of my favourite eats of the week,  what's been on your plate lately? If you're looking for some more meal inspiration visit my girl, Jenn, over at Peas & Crayons. Her weekly eats party is HUGE and there are tons and tons of awesome foodie ideas each and every Wednesday!!!



Have a great day!

Andrea

What I Ate Wednesday

Happy Wednesday once again!

I'm so glad we've finally hit mid-week because this work week has been so loo-ooong already! I don't know what's going on with me but the minute I step foot into work, I feel exhausted and I can't seem to shake it until the minute I walk back out the door that afternoon. I think part of my problem is that Derek and I have lots of fun plans in the coming weeks and the last thing I want to do is work! I want to skip the work week and head straight for the fun!!! If only!!!

My eats have reflected my lack of motivation. I've focused on easy, filling meals. Check it out.





For breakie I've been LOVING Michelle's Chocolate Steel-Cut Oatmeal. I topped mine with some blueberries and fresh mint from my herb garden. This breakfast tastes absolutely divine!!

As you know, I have been loving my zucchini lately, so for lunch I whipped up an old family favourite. My dad's version of Goulash. There are so many variations of this, but ours is really simple. Melt a little Earth Balance in a skillet and stirfry some zucchini, tomatoes, sweet onion, garlic and 'shrooms. All of the veggies were local and this had such a fresh summery taste to it! Usually I would top it off with some parmesan or nutritional yeast, but since I'm out of both I settled from some shredded cheddar. Mmmmm.

For dinner, I had me some baked sweet potato fries and a burrito stuffed with refried beans, sweet onion, portobello mushrooms and you guessed it....zucchini!! Oh and of course we had to add a bit of cheese to the mix! This dinner took 10 minutes to make, 25 minutes to bake and about 2 minutes to consume. It was awesome!

Snackages this week have been lots and lots of local fruit and maybe a few slices of the best zucchini bread ever. I actually had to put half the loaf into the freezer because I could not keep my fingers out of it!! If you haven't made this yet, I'm begging you to go do it Right.Now. You will thank me for being so bossy :-)

Peaches, watermelon and plumcots (plum/apricot hybrid) have also been some of my faves this week! Sadly I'm out of blueberries, but a little birdie told me that my grandma's sending home a new supply with my hubster tonight - can't wait!!!!

So that's my eats in a nutshell. What have you been enjoying this week? For more inspiration head on over and visit Jenn to see what all her other bloggie buds have been whipping up.

Have a great day!

Andrea

Greek Style Bruschetta Sammies

Can you believe that we are still in the middle of this loooooonnnnggg heat wave? Right now as I type this our temperature is 35C, feels like 46C. For you Americans that's 97F, feels like 107F. The radio DJs this morning said that we are hotter than Havana, Cuba, Jamaica or Kandahar. What the heck?! That is way too hot for this Canadian gal! I don't mind the heat, but I really wish the humidity would take a hike!

Tonight I came straight home from work to let the dogs out. They're nice and cool in their crates while we're away, but I want to make sure that they're getting lots and lots of water to avoid any issues with dehydration. This weather can be deadly for pets, so please make sure that they have lots of cold fresh water and somewhere they can go that is out of the sun!

I had plans to hit the gym ~ because I am just dying to sweat a little more ~ so I whipped up my favourite pre-workout snack: a brown rice cake smeared with my new love, sunflower seed butter. I could  have eaten this stuff with a spoon. Hands down this is my fave nut butter of all time.

After the gym I had a repeat dinner from my WIAW post. It was something I made on the fly when I was feeling extrememly lazy and it turned out to be delicious, so I  knew I had to share. I prepped the veggies before I left for the gym and then I put it all together and had a delicious dinner within about 15 minutes after getting home.

Greek Style Bruschetta Sammies

Makes 2 open-faced toasts (which for me feeds 1 ;-)

2 pieces of bread (I used Weight Watcher bread to keep my portions small)
1 tsp Earth Balance or butter

1 - 1 1/4 c chopped veggies (I used grape tomatoes, sweet onion, zucchini & black olives - marinated artichokes would be an amazing addition too!)
1 clove of garlic minced
1/3 c shredded cheese (I used a mix of feta & mozza)
1 small fresh basil leaf, minced

Turn your oven to broil.

Heat a small frying pan on medium heat. Add the Earth Balance.

Once melted, add your veggies and garlic. Stirfry until the onions and the zucchini begin to soften.

While the veggies are cooking, toast your bread either in the toaster or by putting it under the broiler for just a few short minutes.

Place toast in a shallow oven safe dish. Top with the veggie mixture followed by the cheese. Sprinkle the basil on top.

I like to load my toasts up!!

Fresh basil straight from my herb garden --- so fresh and delicious!

Place the toasts under the broiler for 4 - 5 minutes. I like the cheese to be melty and for me it's done when the tops start to turn a gorgeous golden brown :-)

Remove from the oven and let sit for 2 or 3 minutes. Watch those tomatoes they are tongue burnin' hot when they first come out of the oven.

Serve & enjoy!

I like to have this as a lonely girl dinner when Derek's left me to my own devices. This could easily be turned into a fun appetizer by topping slices of a baguette instead of the toasts.

What's your favourite lonely girl/boy meal?

Have a great night. Stay cool...and if you live somewhere cool, please send a little my way!!

Andrea

What I Ate Wednesday

Woot! Woot! Woot! It's Wednesday once again and we all know what that means....it's time for WHAT I ATE WEDNESDAY!






This week my eats are super easy and do not require much kitchen or cooking time. It is WAAYYY to hot in Southern Ontario and using the oven or stove for more than just a few minutes at a time is a big no-no these days! Even standing out at the barbecue in the blazing sunshine is almost unbearable. Derek's managed to grill one steak over the past few days, but lately our meals have been all about sandwiches, fruit and ice cold refreshing bevies.

Check out some of my fave meals from the past week.
One of the best veggie burgers I have made to date. Check out Angela's recipe here. I made 8 burgers and have been enjoying them every day at work for lunch. They are delish with a huge smear of Dad's Amazing Barbecue Sauce and some melted Daiya mozza shreds. On the side, I had a fresh, LOCAL peach. Mmmm.....

Another one of my fave sandwiches have been a TLT (tempeh bacon, lettuce and tomato). Thanks Miss Jenn @ Peas & Crayons for this idea last week. I am loving this tempeh bacon. I have to tell you I never thought I'd enjoy a slice of bacon again after turning vegetarian but this stuff is the bomb!  On the side, I had some Bush's Vegetarian beans. These are the best canned beans I've ever had ~ I've been loving them chilled and served on the side of just about any meal!

And finally this was what I  had last night. I hummed and hawed because I had no desire to make anything to eat and finally by about 8 p.m. I decided to just open the fridge and pull the first things I saw out. What I got was grape tomatoes, sweet onion and zucchini. I ended up with greek-style brushetta open-faced sandwich (whew! that's a mouthful!). Yes, it did require the broiler, but just for a few short minutes. A recipe for this will be coming in the very near future. Promise!!!

And of course, I have to give a shout out to the best snack ever.

Fresh local cherries. HEAVEN!!! So juicy and sweet; I almost shed a tear as I ate the last one.

And last, but certainly not least, I tried a brand new bevie this week that I loved it! It was a nice change from the usual water and smoothies. Steaz zero calorie raspberry iced green tea. It's made from 100% pure green tea and sweetened by stevia. It has zero calories, fat, carbs and sugar. It's light and refreshing with just the right amount of sweetness. I will definitely be picking up more of these bad boys on my next grocery run.

So here is yet another recap of my fave eats this week. For more inspiration head on over to Peas & Crayons to check out what many more bloggers have been enjoying!

What is your favourite summertime sandwich? Fave bevie?

Have a great day,

Andrea

What I Ate Wednesday

Yahoo! I'm very happy to be celebrating Wednesday this week because I only have one and a half days of work left and then I'm off to see George Canyon, Montgomery Gentry and Trace Adkins with one my good friends at a huge outdoor concert event. There is nothing like a fine lookin' cowboy to make me a very happy girl ~ well in my case 4 very fine lookin' cowboys!! We have VIP tickets and will be very close to the action and I am so super duper excited!

Ok, ok enough of my bragging! It's Wednesday and we all know what that means....you get to see a day in the life of my good eats! As I was thinking about this post and what I was going to share, I quickly came to realize that I haven't snapped pics of anything fabulous to share with you today. So, you really are going to get a day in the life view of what I eat on a normal, boring ol' day.





If you like what you see, make sure you pop on over and visit Jenn at Peas & Crayons where you can find over a hundred more amazing meal ideas!

Breakie
Lots and lots of fruit salad. Ever since our brunch I can't get enough fresh fruit!

 Lunch
My fridge was full of stuff, so I decided to use up some leftovers. I heated up a mixture of quinoa, grape tomatoes, black olives, mozza cheese and some balsamic vinagrette. It looks messy, but it was goo-ood! In fact, I had this for lunch 2 days in a row.

Dinner
One of my go-to dinners lately have been a tortilla pizza. This pizza was on a 6" whole wheat tortilla and it's topped with barbecue sauce, mushrooms, red onion, grape tomatoes and cheddar cheese. Yum!

Snacks
I need to send a big shout out to Cait at Beyond Bananas for introducing me to the wonderful world of chocolate covered sunflower seeds! Hey girl, these rock!

Bevies
Well you`ve already heard about our beer consumption this weekend. I don`t know what it is about the summer, but the ice cold ones just go down so well :-) I`ve also been enjoying a nice cold glass of pinot grigio on the patio with dinner. Usually I`m a red wine kinda gal, but these hot temperatures have made me jump ship and join the white wine bandwagon for now.

So there you have it. Another Wednesday, another great day of eats. I must admit I eat well all the time whether it`s an exciting event or just another day in the life......

What`s your favourite summertime bevie?

Have a happy Wednesday!

Andrea

Barbecue Pizza on a Whole Wheat Tortilla

Why do Mondays always come so fast? I wish we could have a giant pause button at our disposal to stop time on Sunday afternoons.

source

I could bask in a lazy Sunday afternoon for eternity. But alas, this is just my little pipe dream and Mondays are always comin' around spoiling our weekend fun.

When I got home from work today, I was starving and I wanted to have something ready and on my plate without much effort. Can you tell I'm feeling a wee bit lazy ;-) I was on my own for dinner tonight, so I just opened up the fridge and grabbed everything that called to me, including some Amazing Dad's Barbecue Sauce that keeps calling my name everytime I get a hunger on!

Note the little spout.

Perfect for squeezing a bit out onto your finger when you need to get your barbecue sauce fix ;-)

Barbecue Pizza on a Whole Wheat Tortilla
Makes 1 pizza

1 large tortilla (I used whole wheat - you can use your fave)
2 - 3 tbsp of your favourite barbecue sauce
approx 1 c. your fave veggies, chopped (I used tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, onion, yellow pepper)
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tsp Cajun spice mix
1/2 c. shredded cheese

Preheat your oven to broil. Get out your favourite round pizza pan.

Heat up a small skillet over medium heat and spray with non-stick spray. Add your chopped veggies, garlic and spice mix. I did not add the tomatoes until assembling my pizza because I like my tomatoes to be firm and just warmed. You want to cook your veggies until softened ~ approximately 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place your tortilla onto the pizza pan and put into the oven for just a minute or two. I brown the bottom side of my tortilla, so that it is crispy and firm. There's nothing worse than a floppy tortilla as the base of your pizza. Can you say messy?! I do not need any help in getting barbecue stains on my clothing thank you very  much :-)

Remember that your oven is on broil, so browning the tortilla will not take long. Don't let it burn!

Once one side of the tortilla is golden brown, remove it from the oven and flip it over. Spread the barbecue sauce all over the tortilla followed by the veggies and of course your cheese.

Return to the oven until the cheese is melted and the edges of the tortilla are starting to brown. Again, keep a close eye on this because it does not take long.

Remove your pizza from the oven and let it sit for a couple of minutes.

Cut into wedges, serve and enjoy!

This is such a quick, easy and tasty dinner. I love this on nights when I'm home alone and feeling lazy because it literally comes together within 10 minutes flat and it satisfies my constant pizza craving!

Again, this is one of those recipes that can be customized in so many ways to suit your tastes. You could easily swap pizza sauce for the barbecue sauce and add some shredded chicken or pepperoni if you're a meat-eater. I'm thinking that next time I'm going to try pesto as the sauce with some fresh tomatoes and goat cheese -- yummm....if I wasn't feeling so lazy, I'd run to the store and pick up my supplies right now!

What is your go-to meal when you want something quick & easy?

Have a wonderful Monday night!

Andrea

What I Ate Wednesday

Can you believe it's Wednesday again already?! I've said it before, but I'll say it again...I just LOVE short work weeks :-)





I've gotten back on track and "Operation Kill the Cream Egg Calories" is going quite well :-)

Check out my good eats.

Of couse, as usual I start with my warm lemon water with cayenne.

And then my plan is to have one of these every morning.

I just love green smoothies, especially now that the weather is starting to warm up. This smoothie has frozen banana, 1 scoop of Vega Vanilla Almondilla, frozen fruit (strawberries, peaches and pineapple), spinach and distilled water. It was awesome!

For lunches this week, I'm sticking to my leftover Southwestern Veggie Soup. I think this soup is getting better with age; the flavour just keeps getting better and better! This is the perfect lunch for a week that calls for rain and storms every day.

If I get the munchies in the afternoon, I've been trying to make wiser snack choices. Lately I've been loving raw veggies with some form of dip. Here I have a light Ranch, but I've been eating massive amounts of hummus  and roasted red pepper dip too! It's amazing how a little dip can jazz up your snacks!

 

For dinner, I had 20 Minute Roasted Tomato Pasta from Jessica at How Sweet It Is. I used brown rice spaghetti and sprinkled it with nutritional yeast in place of the cheese. Instead of having a huge plate of pasta, which is usually how I roll, I also roasted some butternut squash. One of my all-time favourite vegetable sides - it was sticky and sweet and oh so amazing!

This meal got a great big "thumbs up" from Derek!

Is your mouth watering with all of my delicious meal ideas? All of these are super easy, can be whipped up in a snap and are absolutely delish!!  Did you notice that I used clean, whole foods and that my meals lately have been completely vegan (except the ranch dip of course!). I'm feeling awesome and healthy and proud for getting myself back on track after a few days of indulgence.

For more amazing meal and snack ideas, check out Jenn's website for some inspiration.

What was you favourite meal today?

Happy Hump Day!!

Andrea