Wake Up With Me

Care to know my morning routine?

6:15am – Alarm goes off

6:30am – Get out of bed and take care of some business

6:45am – Walk down the hall towards the office

Walk past the guest room. Does it look like someone uses that room?  Someone does.  A little 4-legged someone named Chicklet.  She has claimed the room as her own… particularly the bed

Then, I walk in to the office and this is what I see waiting for me

I take a seat here (after I remove the fancy law scale pillow)

I enjoy my view… watching people on my street leave early for their long drive in to Toronto for work

Usually I watch Friends on DVD (go ahead, laugh!) to pass the time while biking.  Today I actually biked later in the day (hence the sun shining!  It’s usually still dark when I’m getting on the bike these days). I wanted to bike longer and felt like watching a movie.  What was on tap?

I watched 1 hour of it (while biking!).  My butt was numb and when I stood up my legs were so tight I could barely walk.  It felt awesome.

Sun Therapy

Today required a mental health day for many reasons.

This was a great way to start the day. The sun was shining through the windows ever so brightly.  These are the days I’m thankful for our skylights.

Fresh fruit, PC Strawberry Greek yogurt, and a pumpkin scone.

How did I not take a photo of the meringues, chocolate chip cookie, Pretzel crisps, or the KD with chicken wieners I consumed throughout the day after this?  Time to hit the bike!

My Scones!

Have you had the Starbucks pumpkin scones?  Yeah… pretty damn good.

I’ve decided I don’t embrace pumpkin enough.  Apparently we’re lucky here in that we can get pumpkin all year round…. but of course, we all enjoy it more in the fall. This year I’m going to use it a lot more. 

Enter pumpkin scones.

I pretty much followed this recipe but made a couple of minor changes.

My version of pumpkin scones:

• 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp raw sugar
• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 cups becel light margarine
• 2 cups pureed pumpkin

Mix the dry ingredients (minus 2 tbsp sugar), Cut in margarine and mix until crumbly.  Add the pumpkin.  Form dough in to a ball and knead on a lightly floured surface.  When ready, form in to a shape you can cut in to 8 (or more) triangles (like pizza slices).  Sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp of raw sugar on top. Bake at 425F for 20min or until as done as you’d like!

Welcome October!

This morning the house was f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g when we got out of bed (finally… at an ungodly hour).  We actually put the fireplace on in the family room to help take the chill out of the air.  But, after lighting the pilot light and having it on for all of 2 minutes, we turned it out (including the pilot light).  We’re just not ready for the heat to be on.  Instead, we layered up and got busy doing household chores in order to warm up.

I started us off with some fall breakfast.

Just a little something I brought back from Chicago with us in the summer.

Next came chocolate chip cookies.  6 dozen to be exact.

Then I decided to make soup.  I landed on Rachael Ray's Curried Carrot Soup. It was pretty spicy, but I still enjoyed a bowl of it.

Now I have pumpkin pie meringues in the oven and crafts on the kitchen table.  Christmas crafts to be exact… I’m working on making a wreath!  Then… Christmas cards!  Hello fall!

Afternoon Delight

This afternoon I put something wondering in my mouth. 

My first ever homemade pumpkin scones.  I adapted another recipe online and despite baking it a little too long… i love the results.

Here’s a sneak peek… and the recipe will follow another day!

Also… a shot of a healthy dinner…

Happy weekend!

Easy Peasy, Extra Cheesy Lentil Loaf

I searched and searched the internet looking for a lentil loaf recipe that looked tasty but easy.  I went out on a limb one day and just decided to make my own.  I now make it weekly to take in my lunch. 

It’s not a vegan friendly recipe by any means… but it works for me.

Start by preheating the oven to 350F and boiling 2 cups of water

Add 1 cup of lentils.  Today I used red… but in all honesty, I prefer green.  I find red becomes more mushy once cooked.

Truth be told… I was also using up a bit of green lentils today too.

Throw it in the boiling water.  Let cook, uncovered and on low temperature for 25min (or so)

In a separate bowl combine:

• 1c quick oats
• 1/2c salsa (I use Penny’s Pico De Gallo of course!)
• 1 egg
• 3/4c shredded light cheese (I use old cheddar)
• 1/2c nutritional yeast (this is what makes it extra cheesy!)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp onion powder
• basil, oregano and black pepper to taste

Mix it all up

Once the lentils are cooked, mash them up and add them to this mixture.

Put it all in a greased loaf pan.

Add ketchup on top (for fun) if you want… if you love ketchup like I do (I use the PC blue menu ketchup actually).

Bake, uncovered, at 350F for 35 to 40 minutes.

 

Voila!

I entered all of the ingredients in to My Fitness Pal and 1/8 of the loaf is 125 calories, 3g of fat, 8g of protein, 3g of fibre and 18g of carbs.

I like to eat 1 or 2 servings a day on a bed of baby spinach, drizzled in

Technorati Tags: Lentil Loaf,easy,lentils,nutritional yeast. vegetarian

Mmmm sauce.  Delightful.

My favourite lunch

I have a new favourite lunch.  It’s a combination of a salad and a hearty meal… with a kick.

It’s simple.  A bed of baby spinach, some homemade lentil loaf… topped with Mmmm sauce.  Have you visited Mama Pea?  If not… I highly recommend her.  I do believe her cookbook will be added to my birthday/Christmas wish list.

There’s the spinach bed with lentil loaf.  It’s my own recipe for the lentil loaf.  I’m going to do a whole post on it another time.

Throw on some mmmm sauce and we have perfection.

You don’t understand my love affair with this sauce.  Last month, instead of sweets… I craved this stuff.  I ate it for lunch, came home from work… and ate it by the spoonful still.

Love

I have to go.  I need to make more of it.

In closing… just for fun… here’s a birthday cake I made a couple of weeks ago.  It’s supposed to be a dump truck.  Does it look like one?

Smooth Operator

The naturopath I went to this summer suggested I start each day with a smoothie.  I have managed to do just that (5 days a week) since July.  After only 2 weeks of doing this new routine I went for a follow up and found out I had gained 1lb of muscle.  More muscle = better able to burn fat.  Yay. 

My smoothies generally consist of:

• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2c frozen fruit (cherries, strawberries, or mango)
• big spoonful of plain Greek Liberte
• Unsweetened Almond Breeze
• 1tbsp chia seeds
• Chocolate amazing grass
• Vanilla protein powder
• Stevia
• Spinach (sometimes)

Here’s the photo highlight…

Pumpkin

It’s no surprise to me that people use “pumpkin” as a term of endearment (although, we don’t use it in this house).  What’s not to love about pumpkin?  It’s one of the things we have to look forward to with the arrival of fall.

The other day I decided to make my first bowl of pumpkin oats.  I documented it.

 

Challenge:

I have decided to challenge myself.  Remember my food diary?  Yeah, I don’t always remember it either.  From here on out, I vow to track my food every day through until Christmas.  I won’t miss a day or meal.  If I miss a dinner (which is what I tend to do), I will go back the next day and still document it.

Fall. A Time for Change.

Welcome fall

The season is changing.  Beautiful scenery is imminent.

I don’t know where the time has gone.  I feel like the summer got away from me.  Wasn’t this only yesterday?

(A beautiful summer day at Navy Pier in Chicago)

Fall is a time for change.  Nights change from hot to cool, evenings change from bright to dark, breakfasts change from cool smoothies to hot oats, and leaves change from pretty green to a beautiful array of colours.

My life is not immune to change either.  I was fortunate enough to be offered a different job at my office.  It’s covering a mat leave (which is good.  I don’t know that I’m ready to leave my job permanently).  It’s going to be a challenge, but I think I’m ready for one.  It’s also going to mean flexible hours.  I fully intend on taking advantage of that flexibility and working out more.  I also plan on using my flexibility to blog more!  I hope you’ll join me