What I Ate Wednesday & What My Poochies Ate Too!

Happy Hump Day - so we meet here yet again!

It's been hot, sunny and absolutely beautiful this week, so I've been enjoying light, delicious summery meals. There's nothing better and I have to say it's about darn time :-). I am loving barbecue season after the long, cold winter we've had!

I know you're dying to get outside to soak up some of that wonderful Vitamin D, so I'll be quick and get right to it.

I've been starting most days off with one of my iced coffee creations. I was going to limit myself to weekends only, but they're so darn good I just can't resist making them whenever I have time!

For breakie, I've been loving Greek Yogourt with Honey, mixed with some of biggest sweetest blackberries ever and some Summer Berry Kashi Granola. This is so filling and satisfying after an early morning workout and I have to say the creamy yogourt mixed with honey is awesome!

For lunches, I've been bringing a Chickpea and Summer Veggie Salad to work with me. The recipe came from a new cookbook that I won in a giveaway hosted by Lauren at the spiced plate ~ thanks Lauren, you're the best girl!  It's Amy Green's Simply Sugar & Gluten Free. I have read this cookbook from cover to cover (I'm weird like that) and I have a ton of recipes bookmarked to try out. This was the first one I made and it certainly did not disappoint. I served my salad on a bed of baby spinach. Healthy and delish! I promise I'll give a proper review of this book once I've had a chance to really try it out :-)

For dinner, we were all about the grill. Grilled corn on the cob (it wasn't fresh, so it was ok but we are definitely stoked for fresh corn later this summer), a grilled balsamic mushroom with swiss and a warm Asparagus and Potato Salad, by Angela. I followed her recipe exactly except that I grilled my taters and asparagus spears in a wok on the barbie instead of roasting in the oven. Mouthwatering. Delicious. So glad there's leftovers.

And because the weather has been so darn hot, I wanted to share a nice cool treat that I give to my dogs to help them cool down. Being big, black and furry doesn't work out so well during the hot summer months. Meet the frozen stuffed Kong. Looks gross to us, but it is absolutely delectable to our canine friends. I stuff the Kongs with all sorts of goodies and today I used mashed sweet potato mixed with an organic chicken and vegetable baby food. I stuffed the Kong, froze it overnight and voila! Cheap, cool and keeps the dogs busy for over an hour!

So what if there's dog slobber all over my floor - I'm just happy they have something that

makes them happy and helps to cool them down in this HOT, HUMID weather!

So there you have it. As you can see I'm back on track and rockin' some healthy eats. I'm determined to lose the excess weight I've gained over the winter. One significant change you might notice is that there are no snacks; especially late night snacks! And so far, I don't miss them one bit!

If you're looking for some more inspiration, check out Jenn's site at peas & crayons.

I know I  have lots of pet lovers that follow me. What's your favourite summertime treat to feed your furry friends? 

Favourite meal of the day? 

On a side note, my bloggie friend, Cait @ beyond bananas, is hosting a Baking for Boobies bake sale over at her site. All funds raised will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation to help fund community programs to support those who are suffering from breast cancer and to help find a cure.The bake sale ends tomorrow at 11:59 p.m., so pop over and check out all the baked goodies and other items and bid!! A little can go a long way ~ we can all make a difference!
Happy Wednesday!!

Andrea

What I Ate Wednesday

I've been totally loving Wednesdays lately! I love sharing my good eats, but I really love seeing and reading about what everyone else eats as well! Sometimes it is so easy to fall into the rut of having the same meals week after week and I'm constantly finding inspiration from my friends for new and exciting meals. Hopefully you'll get some inspiration from me to  make easy and healthy meals as well!

I've been having some awesome eats lately. Check it out.






Of course, being the creature of habit that I am, I start my day off drinking a warm glass of lemon water with a dash of cayenne pepper.

On mornings when I go to the gym before work, I've been laying off the green smoothies because that requires the blender, which creates a whole lotta doggie chaos at 5:30 a.m. My dogs love the kitchen and are always lurking around hoping that I'll drop something. If they hear the blender come on, they both come running. The problem is, they are in our bedroom and Derek doesn't exactly appreciate being woken up jumped on by 2 rottweilers at that time in the morning :-)

So, instead of a green smoothie, I make myself and quick and easy breakfast of strawberry-flavoured greek yogourt with some chocolate coconut granola. Soooo delicious!

For my mid-morning snack, I've been sticking to fresh fruit. Pears have been my fruit of choice lately.

So sweet, so juicy....I CANNOT wait until we start getting some fresh, local fruit!

For lunch, I had some of the super-filling energy boosting protein salad I made on Sunday. I still am totally loving this salad ~ it's awesome because it keeps me satisfied until dinnertime.

For dinner, it was a honey veggie stirfry with a piece of panfried teriyaki tofu.

This was soooo good!! I used to think I always needed to have some sort of grain (rice, pasta, etc.) with stirfry, but this was delicious and satisfying all on its own!

I was late eating dinner because I went to a 6 p.m. spin class right after work, so I didn't even have a snack before bed!

Have I made you jealous?? I had some seriously good and healthy eats lately!! Believe me, if I could, I would come and cook for each and every one of you :-) At the very least, I hope I've motivated you with some healthy meal ideas. Check out Jenn's WIAW page for even more motivation!

What was your fave meal of the day??

Happy Hump Day!

Andrea