Lazy Summer Saturday July 11, 2009

This morning I started off with a juicy peach and a sweet banana.

Then I skipped my morning trip to the farmer’s market due to a brief but raging thunderstorm that passed through the city.  For lunch I enjoyed a plateful of collard wraps stuffed with tomato and dill, and dipped in hemp nut butter mixed with lemon juice.

Plus I ventured outside to collect some more delicious mulberries for dessert.

Later in the afternoon I snacked on a deconstructed Larabar, also known as a pile of almonds and dates.

Then for dinner I used up the last little bit of Bob’s Red Mill Corn Bread mix that’s been sitting in the pantry for far two long (like literally two years…but it seemed fine to me).  There was only enough to make two corn bread rolls, and I paired one with a plateful of broccoli and a President’s Choice instant vegetarian chili.  And the cornbread mix turned out quite well considering I didn’t include the little bit of egg the recipe called for after reducing it, and it was just a little bit ancient (the only thing that was wrong is they it was very crumbly).

Do The Dew June 12, 2009

So I finished my giant honeydew today. In two parts, to start the day, and to finish it. This morning I discovered a pretty awesomely fantastic green monster combo, honeydew, a few lychees, spinach and chia seeds. So, so good!

To work I brought a sald of julienned zucchini, cucumber, and carrot tossed in one of my favourite dressings that hasn’t seen the light of day in a long while, orange juice concentrate, sesame oil, salt and pepper. And a devil dawg patty on the side.

When I got home from work in the afternoon my stomach was rumbling for a snack so I filled it up with a super ripe banana, All bran and soy milk.

And this carton disappeared while I worked on finally catching up with my Google Reader.

Then for dinner I was feeling super lazy so went pantry diving for something quick I picked up a while ago from the mark-down rack because the packages were slightly dented.

I added water to the PC Instant Vegetarian Chili and microwaved with I took a peeler to a zucchini and came up with this super tasty plate for dinner. The chili was a bit spicy for me but turned surprisingly good after I added a small drizzle of molasses to take the edge off, and it can’t get any easier or faster. Plus while I do like making my own too, I do appreciate not having to eat chili now for the next week. I’m glad I have a few more of those up on the shelf.

Along side there was a couple of slices of multigrain bread nabbed from the roomie, and for dessert, the rest of the honeydew. Yum.

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.

May I have some more? April 8, 2009

Work that is…

Only one more day left this week! Which is great because I’ve been ridiculously bored at work, practically nothing to do. The thing is, the senior engineers know I have nothing to do, I’ve told them, but they are all gone in meetings all the time and don’t have anything to give me. It’s times like these I miss school… It wouldn’t be so bad, not having anything to do for 7.5 hours a day, but it’s the fact that I waste another 2.5-3 hours commuting to a different location to do nothing that really annoys me. At least there are plenty of blogs out there to entertain me, and I get paid 🙂 And there is a project that should start soon, as soon as some of us do a one-day training course, a site inspection that will involve field trips and hard hats and everything 🙂

I was starving when I woke up this morning so I fixed up a really big breakfast to fill me up. I spread strawberry, blackberry, and acai jam over TWO slices of rye bread with muesli, and topped the plateful with a slice Fuji apple. This sweet breakfast did an excellent job of making my stomach happy.

For lunch I had a salad of romaine, red and orange peppers, snow peas, and jo tsai/garlic chives. There’s whole grain dijon under the veggies, and honey mustard on top. I think I’m going on a mustard kick, it’s making such a good dressing (my mustards aren’t very spicy at all).

That was followed but a pile of carrots, celery, and delicious basa fish.

Then in the afternoon I snacked on honeydew melon and blackberries. I think this honey dew is the best one I’ve ever bought! It’s super flavourful without being too sweet or too soft. So refreshing. I’m so happy I paid the extra dollar for a honeydew instead of a cantaloupe in the grocery store last weekend!

For dinner I retrieved a serving of TVP chili from the freezer and served it over a bed of kale sauteed in olive oil and orange juice concentrate. That has to be one of my favourite was to cook kale, not bitterness left. I might have also quickly gnawed through a carrot while I was waiting for the chili to heat…

And dessert was some strawberries and half the pistachio Larabar Mark sent me for winning the Eggs BSI a couple of weeks ago. The bar was so good! It was much more moist than other Larabars I’ve had, I wonder what kind of dates they use… And later I decided I was still hungry so I had the other half too 🙂

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.

Where did the time go? March 17, 2009

Sorry for skipping posting last night.  I was lazy over the weekend and never got around to doing my laundry.  Unfortunately, doing it last night turned into a great debacle involving a price increase, a need for certain kinds of change I didn’t have, a trip to the grocery store for change, and starting loads drying at different times.  All I can say to building management is that some warning would have been nice, especially about the kinds of coins the new machines accept.  Any way, when I finally finished my laundry after many, many trips up and down 5 floors of stairs (excersize, yay!), it was getting late, and I just wanted to go to bed so I uploaded my pictures so I could post now, in the morning.

Yesterday’s breakfast was a simply but tasty mix of oat bran microwaved in water and a bit of mascarpone ice cream, and topped with dried blueberries and cranberries and a big old scoop of peanut butter.

Morning and afternoon snacks were a sugary hunk of baked sweet potato, red pepper strips, a golden delicious apple, and delicious fresh figs.

For lunch I had chili again (there’s only one more meal’s worth, I swear!)

For dinner I chopped up some red cabbage and collard greens,  sauteed them with Big Bull steak sauce, and topped with the pile with a dollop of garlic almond hummus (HUMBEQUE?).  It was a pretty good flavour combination, then again Big Bull can make just about anything taste good.

And I finished off the night with another slice of strawberry pie.  You have to love pie you can eat with your hands.

More pie, anyone? March 14, 2009

I had fun playing with my food before dinner for the sake of Pi Day.  I  shaped some of my veggie-ful chili and baked sweet potato in to sheppard’s pie.  And it was delicious.

And I finished the day with another slice of strawberry pie.  It’s too good to resist.  Good thing the roomie will be back tomorrow to help me eat them.

All Day Breakfast March 13, 2009

This wonderful morning start off with delightful CHOCOLATE! I had a bowl of oat bran made with unsweetened chocolate almond breeze, a spoonful of mascarpone ice cream, and topping with crunchy chia seeds and walnuts.

Lunch time was a chili-licious experience.

Along with a carrot and blackberries.

I also had a Kashi Trail Mix bar later in the afternoon.

And when I got home I grabbed a handful of Sahale Snacks Socorro Macadamia Nuts.

For dinner I was craving breakfast food, so I whipped up a fluffly omlette using 1 egg and 3 whites, topped with some parmesan cheese. And I filled the plate with strawberries, sweet fresh figs, and a kiwi.

And dessert was more fruity breakfast! A sliced banana topped with Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal, dried cranberries, and the last of the chocolate almond breeze. I should go get some more of that stuff, it is very tasty.

Bringing back the chili March 12, 2009

Apparently some bus drivers don’t deal well with disrupted routines.  There was an accident this morning near the entrance into a big, multi platform, off road, bus stop this morning, which caused all the busses which needed to get to the terminal to have to drive through a parking lot detour to get to the platforms.  My bus driver simply ending up providing a bumpy ride by driving over some curbstones (I don’t think the parking lot was designed for long buses).  However, my cubicle-mate’s bus driver went in the wrong direction when he was leaving the terminal!  And to make matters worse (for the people on the bus trying to get to work) the next stop in the opposite direction is a 12 minute bus ride away (according to google maps, 5 km with lots of left turns in morning traffic on major roads), and the bus driver didn’t want to attempt to turn around anywhere else!  Let’s just say, she arrived quite late.

Anyway, this morning started out with a nice bowl of peanut butter goop, a.k.a Alpen cereal, with unsweetened vanilla almond breeze and some PB2.

I had a repeat of yesterday’s sandwich for lunch, ezekiel bread, romaine, chicken, hummus and dried cranberries.  It is very good.  There was also a baked sweet potato involved, as a side, it didn’t make its way into the sandwich.

For snacks I brought a red delicious apple, a carrot, and half a red pepper.

And at the last minute I grabbed the last half of my Ruth’s Chocolate Raspberry Hemp Power bar.  I’m glad I did too because my cereal bowl wasn’t very big and I got hungry again well before lunch time.

For dinner I decided to reintroduce the chili that’s been patiently waiting in the fridge for me to eat.  I also had some of the smaller collard green leaves for dipping since I’ve noticed a lack of green over the last couple days.

And now I’m enjoying a hot cup of Tazo Berry Blossom White Tea.

Mighty Green Mango March 10, 2009

This morning started off with a wonderful bowlful of oat bran.  I mixed in a spoonful of mascarpone ice cream, and sprinkled the oats with a handful of President’s Choice Berry Blend Sweetened Dried Fruit, and half a Ruth’s Hemp Power Chocolate Raspberry bar.

The dried berries (cranberries, cherries, and blueberries) were given to me, I probably wouldn’t have bought them myself given that they’re sweetened with sugar and corn syrup, but I’m glad I tried them because they are really good, nice and plump with lots of blueberries.  Though, I’m still not likely to buy them next time I run out of dried fruit….

The bar was really good too.  It has a nice raspberry flavour, and the chocolate wasn’t too overpowering (it’s not dark chocolate).  And there are nice big pieces of nuts.  The texture is like a typical granola bar.

Through the morning I sipped on Breakfast part 2, the other half of last night’s spinach/collard/mango/banana green monster.  I am pleased to report it held up quite well in the fridge overnight.  I detected no difference (though I’m not really sure why I thought there would be).

For lunch and snacks, I brought along an apple with black berries, a container of celery, carrot, and grape tomatos, some hummus, and chili.

I wasn’t really feeling the chili once I got around to lunch at work, so I ate the other stuff, and before leaving I dug out the last 2/3rds of an All Fruit Original Elevate Me! bar which I munched on while walking to the bus stop.  Here’s the evidence.

Come dinner time I didn’t really know what I wanted so I figured I might as well finish my lunch.  I also had two broken up whole wheat matzo crackers for chili dipping.

Now to come up with something for tomorrow’s lunch…I’m thinking not chili…