Cookies!

What a beautiful day!  It was overcast here, but the sun came out just in time for our BBQ with our friends.

I’ll rewind to this morning.. .I had a sandwich made with toast with cheese (kind of like a grilled cheese).

Cheese sandwich… meet ketchup!

I spent several hours cleaning today.  When we were all done I asked A how it takes us so long to clean??? I swear, we do keep a clean house… but when people are coming over, I take so long to clean this place.  It’s not even a huge house!

We had our BBQ and I (of course) didn’t take any food photos.  Perhaps it was the 2 SkinnyGIrl margaritas I had?  They distracted me…

Here are some photos of the food aftermath though!

Black bean and corn salad with avocado…

Roasted potatoes

and the MEAT (wings, bratwurst and chicken sausages… as well as a little wiener for the toddler)

We actually had a big bowl of different meats (off the BBQ), the guys were in heaven.

There was also pasta salad that my friend brought.  It was really good, it was a vinegar based dressing as opposed to mayo (so much better).

Then, came dessert.  I am really disappointed in everyone.  I was so sure they’d eat so much more.  I made a low fat trifle, some triple chocolate cookies, s’mores cookies and some stuffed dates.  1/3 of the trifle got eaten and 1 cookie got eaten.  Do you want to see how many cookies are left??

Good thing my parents are going to be here next weekend… my dad will be able to put some of those away (although, I don’t know how many will be left by then.  I live with a boy who has a sweet tooth and can be a cookie monster!)

Here’s what LEFT of the trifle.

Alex and I are now sitting down to watch some UFC and drink (what we refer to as) our “special drinks”.

Mine:

His:

We buy these drinks periodically and they’re something a little different than pop or water.

Overall, I am fairly happy with my portion control today.  I did eat a few too many cookies earlier in the day, but now they’re off limits. You can check out my food diary for specifics!

I’m going to do another post on the SkinnyGirl margaritas… but before tweaking it, I did have to give it a thumbs DOWN on its own.  At least I can say I’ve tried it.

Sunny Side Up

Happy Saturday!  Today’s plans fell through, so it was just the 2 of us here all day… which, was a blessing in disguise because it gave me time to prepare for a BBQ we are having tomorrow. 

My day started out with a big sunny side up smile

On weekend mornings when we have no commitments, breakfast is generally made for me.  It’s always some variation of eggs, blue menu turkey bacon, toast, hash browns, turkey/chicken sausages.  Today was no exception…

I think I did okay with portion control.  Here’s what my significant other had…

Lunch was not photographed, but it was the McCain Ultra Thin Crust mushroom pizza.  If you haven’t tried these pizzas (and like thin crust), I highly recommend it!!  We are ADDICTED to them here and have at least 1 a week.

Dinner was pretty simple and delicious as well (and once again, I did not make it!).

(Excuse the blurry picture. I forgot I had changed my camera settings)

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this… but for the past 3 or 4 weeks we have had a mommy robin build a nest and raise a family right outside our front door.

(that’s the best photo I could snap without scaring her).  The babies hatched a couple of weeks ago and today… they left the nest.  It was quite an ordeal seeing them jump out of the nest, down to the ground.  One poor little guy only made it to our front step

He required quite a bit of coaxing from his parents to jump down to the grass.  We left them alone so they’d feel comfortable getting to their next destination.  Luckily we have (literally) never seen an outside cat since moving here… so I think they’re okay.  In fact, we were sitting in the family room (at the back of the house) a couple of hours ago and heard a chirping… upon further investigation I found one of the baby birds sitting outside on our window sill!  I don’t know if it was a coincidence or not, but he was sitting right beside my bird (although, my bird is safely in his cage on this side of the window).  I hope they will be okay.  We feel like they’re OUR babies!!  We’ve watched them be born, grow up… and now leave the nest.  Tear. (heehee… okay, so I’m not sad really).

This evening was spent preparing as much food as I can for tomorrow (so that in the morning all I have to do is minimal food prep and CLEANING). I made a trifle, triple chocolate chip cookies, black bean and corn salad and I started on s’mores cookies (which have to have the chocolate coat added tomorrow).  In the morning I’ll be finishing those cookies, prepare the potatoes for roasting, marinating the wings and taking out the Bratwurst and chicken sausages to thaw.  I hope that’s enough food. I thought about making a green bean salad… but I actually couldn’t find great green beans.  (I should mention, there are only 2 adults and 1 toddler coming over tomorrow… and my friend is bringing pasta salad with her).

I’ve managed NOT to snack tonight.  Care to know how?  Watermelon gum and green apple gum!!

I also LOVE this gum lately (and even bought a case at Costco)

Happy Sunday!  Let’s hope I remember to take photos of all of this food.

PS – don’t forget you can check out my food diary for all of the details of my daily Intake.  I try to remember to record everything… but, if you look back on past days, it’s obvious I do forget sometimes.

My favourite things

I’m a little behind in blogging (again).  Oops.  Must. Not. Fall. Behind!

I decided to dedicate this post to a few of my favourite things as of late. 

My first favourite thing? My childhood friend, Tara, is back to blogging!  Please go check her out!!  I’m so excited to have her back!

Favourite treats as of late…

Waffles with cream cheese and jam…

Chocolate cheesecake waffles – waffles with light cream cheese mixed with a little bit of chocolate syrup (Alex buys a kind with less sugar)

Sugar free banana/oatmeal/apple bread topped with banana mashed with PB.  SO GOOD.

And finally… chocolate cherry banana soft serve.  Frozen banana, frozen (pitted) cherries and cocoa powder.  When a certain cohabitant is eating his ice cream, I am eating this now.

 

Favourite snacks:

raw broccoli dipped in fat free ranch dressing with Frank’s buffalo wing sauce

Salsa, hummus and cheese in a wrap.  Specifically Penny’s Pico De Gallo salsa (thanks to Angie for introducing me to it!) – holy goodness.  I eat it with Sabra hummus.

 

Favourite pasta sauce… my late grandmother’s top secret recipe.  She literally left it for my mom in her will (she’s so funny).  I wish I could share it with you, but my grandma would NOT be happy with me.  I made it for the first time the other night… it was a hit!

 

Favourite summer meal… BBQ!!

 

Favourite crazy dinner of the summer so far… lobster, cooked by me for the first time!

 

I can’t end this post without sending my heartfelt best wishes to Susan. Her story is a reminder that life isn’t fair, but she will prove to all of us that Cancer can be beaten.

Loser!

We have a loss! I was down 3.4lbs on Friday when I weighed in. Let's hope I can keep up this momentum (although, I know it's not necessarily realistic).

The weekend was busy between work and domestic duties. I may have indulged more than I would have liked. Today it's back to the full time job, back to routine, and back to restricting myself a little.

I heart food

I love food so much.  It really does make me happy.  I see people on shows like The Biggest Loser and they’ve gained weight because they’ve had loss or trauma in their life or they’re really depressed.  I am none of those things.  I've had (and continue to have) a wonderful life.  I am not depressed.  I just love food.  I don’t eat when I’m stressed (I feel sick when I’m stressed), I don’t eat for comfort.  I eat when I’m bored.  I crave things when I’m PMS’ing and I don’t have willpower to resist.

I love food… and I don’t even have a problem with the fact that I love it.

Last night’s dinner was BBQ… it was pretty darn good. I tried the President’s Choice Splendido Butternut Squash Risotto.  Really yummy!

Today’s breakfast was simple  PB&B

Today also included more fruit salad

And I finally took a photo of my fake blueberry cheesecake (1/2c fat free cottage cheese, 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1/2c frozen blueberries and a package of splenda)

Last night was also spent doing this… (and now I shall figure out what I want to bake with it this weekend!)

Tomorrow is weigh in day.  Wish me luck!

Chick Pea Love

Did you already check out my food diary for today?

There are definite perks to cohabitating with an Indian boy.  One of those perks is definitely his family.  His family are some of the kindest and most generous people ever.  His loving mother loves to cook for us… and I love when she does.  At least once or twice a month we get at least 1 dinner and 1 lunch out of the cooking she sends to us many wonderful dishes, but my favourite is her chick peas.  Today I enjoyed some of her chick peas and a couple of chapatis for lunch.  Mmmmmm.

Is your mouth watering? 

Dinner was simple.  A leftover Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchilada.

Rewind to breakfast yesterday… just because I happen to have a photo of it.  Homemade waffle, PB & banana.

 

When we first looked at this house (and when we bought it) I thought I wanted to rip up the patio stones and build a deck. 

The walkout we have now:

The patio:

I have since changed my mind about that plan.  I have realized having a patio provides much more privacy than a deck would.  When your back yard is like a cell surrounded by everyone else’s backyard cells, you need a certain amount of privacy (thanks to that fence).  So, instead I will focus on trying to make our grass greener and building nice flower beds.  Hopefully the flowers I transplanted survive and I have beautiful blooms one day!

Strawberry Cheesecake Waffles

Today I woke up and decided to make some waffles.  In fact, I gave A two of them, had 1 for myself… and made extras to heat up for breakfasts for the week.  Think I made enough?

I put some light cream cheese and strawberry rhubarb jam on mine to make it a cheesecake breakfast!

I left from breakfast and went to my parents’ house, then went to Costco with my mom.  I couldn’t help but buy a couple of things at Angie’s recommendation.

I’ve already tasted them… and I have to admit, every WORD Angie says about them is correct.  The combo (which she calls “hummus de gallo” I believe) is nothing short of divine.

My mom bought a case of gum and gave me a pack to try

I bought a case of this (I didn’t know I would like this flavour… but it’s so nice and refreshing!)

I came home by dinner and we tackled building a flower bed in the back yard.  I took on the task of shovelling the grass (I wanted to SWEAT and burn some cals!).  What a workout!  Pics of the back yard to come another time… but I will leave you with a new pic of my rhododendron. I think it’s beautiful.  And on this, the 2nd anniversary of the day I lost my grandmother… I can’t help but think how much she would love this flower.  It’s her favourite colour ever.

Miss you Grandma Pearl