Herb Overload June 3, 2009

I started my day with something a little bit different this morning. Pizza! My breakfast pizza featured an egg white crust, a little jarred pasta sauce, fresh sage, and a piece of Balderson 2 year old cheddar. It was very tasty after I removed some sage, that fresh stuff sure is strong!

Accompanying my pizza was a small bowl of Kashi Flakes and Granola cereal with soy milk and banana.

For lunch I fixed up a salad mess with celery, carrot, red pepper, black beans, yogurt, chives, and parsley. And I managed to assualt my taste buds again with a little too much parsley combined with the strongly flavoured outer ribs of a bunch of celery. Whoa! Along side the crunchy salad was a pita.

Lunch dessert was a repeat from yesterday, cherries and cukes.

In the afternoon my tastebuds recovered from a savoury overload with an awesometastic Coconut Cream Pie Larabar. I’ve never seen this flavour in stores before, so when I noticed it I grabbed one based on many other blogger’s raves about it. OH MY WORD it is GOOD! So soft and creamy and coconutty!

For dinner I didn’t feel like cooking, and went a super simple route. Peanut butter, banana, and honey pita sandwich.  And I felt like a kid again.  Vegetables, what are those?

Way, Way Up North May 31, 2009

You learn something new every day. Today I learned that Hudson’s (and James) Bay is considered part of Nunavut, and therefore Ontario and Nunavut share borders. I wouldn’t have guessed that off the top of my head had someone asked me yesterday. Though in my defense, Nunavut had only just become a territory when I was in elementary school, so our geography books were slightly outdated. Now why was I looking at Google Maps of the northern reaches of Quebec, that’s the last item on the agenda today, you have to wait and see.

Let’s start with breakfast. Twas simple, a Starbucks Raspberry Peach Yogurt Parfait. But it served me well on a shopping expedition with the roomie through the windy streets of Toronto.

Just before leaving I had a few dates as well. I took said roomie to Whole Foods for the first time, and made him fall in love a little. Though he did an excellent job of making me spend a small fortune on tea, and I only got one box! We also enjoyed a few samples, but were stuck by the oddity of providing mustard samples on slices of hot dog in a semi-health food store that sells ample vegetarian products. I was expecting the lovely saleswoman to pull out a bag of pretzel sticks, and instead she surprised me by taking the lid off of a crock pot revealing an overflowing bowl of wieners!

When we finally arrived back at the apartment for lunch I fixed up a mexican fiesta dipping bowl. In the dip went black beans, corn, red pepper, avocado, yogurt, lime juice, and pineapple salsa. And the dipping vessels of choice were zucchini slices.

I tries to take and action shot but my camera was being uncooperative and refusing to focus, and I was hungry so I gave up trying.

Then for dinner I stuffed a pita with spring mix, pickles, the last of the tofurkey, mustard and ketchup. And my sides were the last cheesy dinosaurs and a few juicy sweet apricots.

Then there was dessert. I’d noticed a new kind of tea at Whole Foods a while ago, and while I was very intrigued, it was pretty expensive so I’ve been leaving it on the shelf. Today the roomie managed to convince my to buy it because a) there was a flavour sampler box, and b) it not THAT expensive if you compare it to buying a cup of tea in a coffee shop (which I rarely do, but that’s besides the point). In the end I’m happy I did because at least the flavour I tried tonight is pretty amazing. And it was $9 for the box if you’re curious, I usually pay $2.50, maybe $3 for a box of 20 bags of Stash or Yogi or other teas.

The tea is Northern Delight from Inukjuak, Quebec. They use plants from the arctic tundra to make traditional Inuit herbal teas.

We randomly drew flavours tonight, I got Cloudberry, which was fantastic. It reminded me a lot of Teopia’s Matecchino (ironically enough, considering Krista’s recent purchase), except it’s even better than what I remember Teopia’s tea tasting like when I had it several years ago. The roomie drew Arctic Blend, and he really enjoyed it too.

Now to head to bed for the start of a new work week.

Moo Berry Magic May 29, 2009

Breakfast this moring was a crunchy bowl of All Bran cereal with soy milk and a Fuji apple with a spoonful of deliciously crunchy peanut butter. (No blended greens, I know, crazy!)

For lunch I brought with me a giant salad filled with spring mix, carrot, cucumber, red pepper, Tofurkey, dino cheese, and BBBV.  I loved the way the smoky tofurkey flavour spread itself all over the salad, it was quite wonderful.

Plus I enjoyed an Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Clif bar on the long and windy journey home.  Just like a cookie.

When I finally did get home I happily dug into a bowl of yogurt filled with black, blue, and rasp berries.  The magical bit was an amazingly moist and flavourful dried pineapple ring.  Nothing like those hard hunks I’ve had before in trail mixes.

And finally for dinner I made a quick and tasty tomato soup using canned tomato, italian herbs, massamun chili paste, and sweetened with the perfect choice, molasses.  I was pretty happy with that bowl.  Along side was a pit for dipping, and lovely raw asparagus.

There’s a Toe in My Furkey May 27, 2009

The sun was being incredibly uncooperative this morning. As in it was too busy hiding behind rain clouds to shed natural light on my breakfast and lunch. It brought me back to the dark days of winter, alas.

In order to brighten things up a bit I went tropical with my green monster. Kale, chia seeds, banana, and mango. Plus lots of ice since I took it with me to work to sip through the morning.

At home I did have a Zucchini Spelt Muffin.

For lunch I packed a wrap stuffed with Tofurkey, red pepper, spring mix, dino cheese, and lots of mustard. I had also packed a salad but ended up having it for dinner instead.

In the afternoon I snacked on a giant Honeycrisp apple and some cucmber slices.

For dinner I had the salad I made for lunch, zucchini, red pepper, carrot, and aspargus with BBBV (Back to Basics Balsamic Vinegrette) except I proteinfied it with scallops sauteed in an extra splash of balsamic vinegar.

And finally dessert was a handful of raisins and craisins. Plus a camera shy spoonful of crunchy PB.

Dinosaurs for Lunch May 25, 2009

This morning’s breakfast was going to be a green monster. But then I saw the roomie brought home some yogurts last night, so I nabbed myself one of those instead. Except instead of the granola it came with, I sprinkled on top a crumbled Zucchini Spelt muffin, and added a bit of plain yogurt to up the volume/reduce the sweetness.

For lunch I packed myself a giant salad containing romaine, cucumber, carrot, red pepper, and asparagus along with some Back to Basics Balsamic Vinegrette.

Plus a sandwich of Tofurkey, spring mix, cheese dinos, and Big Bull steak sauce on half a multigrain roll (the top half). I liked the tofurkey, this was the first time I’ve tried it and it makes a really good sandwich. It makes me want to make another batch of my own seitan using my new liquid smoke, and maybe adding the steak sauce directly to the “meat”?.

I also brought along some watermelon, strawberries, and the rest of the peach for afternoon snacking.

Then when I got home I made a rather extravagant dinner. Extravagant due to the price of the raw materials! I was in a spendy sort of mood when I went in search of kabocha at whole foods this weekend, and while they failed me in the squash department, I made out with with a package of Beretta Farms extra lean ground beef. Organic, grass fed, and local, yes please! $12/lb….um, once in a while, sure (but don’t tell my mom, she taught me to never pay more than $4/lb for meat)!

I saved part the meat for the freezer, and mixed some with parsley, roasted garlic, salt and pepper. Then shaped it into a giant burger, cooked up up, and ate half sandwiched on part of the remaining bun from lunch. My burger toppings were simple, more parsley and stone ground mustard. Absolutely delicious, I’m in love with parsley.

I thoroughly enjoyed it with leftover salad from lunch.

Like a Hippie May 23, 2009

I felt like such a hippie buying this yesterday.

Check out that protein!

In order to truely try out this new food for the first time, I ate some straight up for breakfast.

I have to say Raw Hemp Nut Butter is okay.  I’m not crazy about it plain, but I can see it being good mixed into things.  It smells a bit peanutty, but the flavour is very earthy and creamy.  It seems like it’s well suited to savoury applications like tahini.  I’m looking forward to experimenting with it at least.

The rest of my breakfast was a tasty smooth green monster.  This fruity mix included kale, chia seeds, banana,  pineapple, and a lime.  I love the lime addition every time I do it.

For lunch I was a bit flummoxed as to what I wanted, so I started out with a fruit salad.  In the bowl is strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peach, and watermelon.  I can’t believe I paid $4/lb for a peach.  But I was craving new summery fruit, and at least it was organic, from the States as opposed to Chile, and tasted awesome!  I love drupes.

After that sweet mix I decided I wanted oatmeal, so I cooked up a serving with water and topped it with more sweetness, Danone Activia Red Fruits and Cereals yogurt. Mmmm…

In the afternoon I snacked on some highly amusing cheese.  Someone ripped a bag open in the grocery store so the individual packets were marked down for super cheap.

For dinner I fished out a serving of Coconut Curry Shepard’s Pie from the freezer.  It doesn’t look very pretty, but it still tasted good.

And I finished off the night with another sweet note, a bowlful of wonderful watermelon.

Spoiled April 16, 2009

I’m loving the beautiful spring like weather outside.  I just wish I could actually spend more time outside during the day instead of being cooped up at work.  I suppose that’s what weekends are for….and summer hours, I did enjoy those Friday afternoons when I started my coop back in September.

Anyways this morning started out with a first for me.  A delicious Fitnessista breakfast cookie!  I used oats, Kaizen chocolate whey protein powder, almond butter, unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, and dried blueberries.  The cookie was a little too wet when I took it out of the fridge this morning (note to self, reduce liquids next time) so I stuck it in the microwave for a few minutes, and when it came out, I could actually lift the cookie off the plate, and eat it like…a real cookie!  It even had the same texture of an oatmeal cookie, I was quite pleased.

While I was enjoying my cookie I packed up some lunch to take to work.  First there was a fruit side, honeydew melon, strawberries and the last of the mango.

Then there was a veggies and protein side, snow peas, cucumber, carrot, red pepper, and roasted pork tenderloin.

And finally there was a Cob’s bakery hot cross bun with Balderson Vinter’s cheddar.  This is where I was spoiled by the roomie again, he’s been giving me so many treats lately.  I was especially surprised by the fact that the bun contained choclate chips instead of raisins, obviously I didn’t look too closely at it before packing!  I think the bag must have contained a mix because I looked at one of the other buns and it definitely contained the usual raisins.

When I got home I fixed up something I was planning to make yesterday before the surprise dinner.  I had been thinking about this combination anyways, but when I saw it on Oh She Glows, I had to go for it.  I fixed up a green monster with kale, Liberty Vanilla yogurt (I’ll save the cranberry granola for later), a big spoonful of orange juice concentrate, and water.

A sweet and creamy combination.

And for something solid I ate another hunk of pork, a dill pickle (yes, I might be slightly obessessed, the 2L jar in the fridge isn’t helping), and a spread of mustard on some Finncrisp Rye crackers.  A lovely salty, savoury contrast to the sweet smoothie.

Sweet Satisfaction April 15, 2009

This morning got off to wonderful start with a bowl of Health Valley Spelt Flakes with cranberries and unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, and a pile of sweet honeydew melon.

Late in the morning I dug into a Fuji apple and atualfo mango. The mango is a bit over-ripe, which makes it delicious, but I’m starting to get concerned it might go bad. But I should be fine if I finish it tomorrow, which is no hardship on my part 🙂

For lunch I started out with some carrot, grape tomatoes, and steamed broccoli.

The veggie goodness was followed by a hunk of roasted pork tenderloin, and couple of tiny sweet potatos that took a trip to the microwave before consumption.

When I got home I was greated by a surprise treat.  My roomie and a friend were making a fancy dinner and they invited my to join in.  I had a delicious bowl of leek and potato soup.

Followed by a piece of bread with a slice of Camembert and some Balderson Vinter’s Red Wine Cheddar  (aka some of the best cheddar I’ve ever had, and this wasn’t the first time).

And a really good glass of wine, just a little sweet the way I like it.  I even went back afterwards to take a picture of the bottle for future reference.

And for dessert I had some sweet and satisfying maple glazed almonds.  A wonderful humpday treat.

Are you going to Scarborough Fair Bluffs? April 12, 2009

Today was a fun adventure to Scarborough Bluffs (33+ km > 3/4 marathon!). I’ve heard of them before, but never seen them, and going there has been on my todo list for a while.

But first breakfast, Peanut Toffee oats again. I cooked oat bran in unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, then topped it with peanut butter and toffee sprinkles. As delicious as ever.

I passed by these.  They don’t seem to have been adversely affected by the snow and cold since last weekend…

I timed the affair so I would get to Bluffer’s Park around lunch time.

I brought along some highly portable sustenance, a Raw Revolution Spirulina and Cashew bar, and a couple small bottle of water. The bar was delicous, but it a bit oily on the fingers. I especially liked the whole almonds and cashews hiding in it.

Then I had fun taking some pictures.

This little guy didn’t seem to mind that I was kneeling a couple feet away from him.

He was much more interested in eating his grassy lunch.

It’s not exactly yachting season yet…

But there were a few people around.

One of the nicer views of downtown TO on the way home from the Prince Edward Viaduct.

By the time I got home I was starving for some early dinner, and luckily my roomie was just finishing a huge pot of stuff, and offered to share (aka he made way too much and wanted help eating it up). I know there’s rice, lentils, parsnips, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, and soy sauce involved.

I also snacked on a plateful of snow peas, celery, and carrot along with a dollop of hummus.

Later in the evening I was hungry again for a snack, and realized I might have gotten a bit of a sunburn on my face from being outside for >7 hours (oops), so I went in search of a source of antioxidants, figuring they could only help.

My eyes landed upon a box of acai berry juice that’s being hanging out in the pantry for a while. This was the first time I tried this, and the juice was really good, but I was a bit put off by the layer of brown/green fat on top of it (that’s supposed to be there, right?). I’m not sick now so I suppose it is. And if the antioxidants are fat-soluble, then they are now on my lips, which I can only suppose will help with the burn.

I enjoyed the juice along with a piece of microwaved sweet potato with nutmeg, and a slice of Balderson 2 year old cheddar cheese.

And now I’m ready for bed, good night!

Rain, rain, go away April 3, 2009

Come again on a week night or day?  At least it looks like Saturday afternoon and Sunday will be alright.

Breakfast was a cheerful affair.  I had a slice of Rye bread with muesli spread with peanut butter, a banana, and some clumpy dried blueberries.

The slice of bread is huge, I cut it into 2.  It has a really strong tangy rye flavour that’s good with something spread on it, but I’m not a hug fan of it plain.  The bread is quite dense and a bit crumbly, it made a good PB&B sandwich for breakfast.

For lunch I had a head of romaine topped with TVP chili, literally sliced off the block from the freezer.  I’m happy to report the lettuce touching the cold chili did not wilt before the chili melted.

In the afternoon I snacked on a red delicious apple, an ataulfo mango, and the rest of the blackberries.  Love that mango.

And for dinner I had broccoli tacos!  There were two small WellnessFoods.com whole wheat tortillas, steamed broccoli, whole grain dijon mustard, red and yellow pepper, jo tsai/garlic chives, and Galaxy Nutritional Foods Veggie cheddar flavour soy cheese.  The tacos/wraps were really good.  The cheese was given to me by my roomie who after eating part of the block decided he didn’t really care for it.  It definitely wasn’t very cheese-like, but I think it went pretty well with the broccoli and large amounts of dijon in the taco.  Personally, not being a vegetarian, let alone vegan, if I wanted cheese, I would just buy the real stuff.  My roomie thinks the same way.  I can’t say there’s anything particularly bad about the veggie cheese, it’s just not real cheese.  I don’t plan on buying it myself anytime soon, but won’t reject it if given to me.  And now that I think about it, it is better than Kraft Singles in the flavour department.