Yay for Friday!

I got totally distracted last night and forgot about posting. Sorry about that.

So, when last I left y’all, we were getting ready for a whole lotta snow. It was all stormy and blizzard-y from the time we got home until I went to bed. Then overnight it warmed up and turned to rain so by morning you wouldn’t even know it had been snowing like crazy. Gotta love the Maritimes.

Yesterday’s eats:

 

Today it was cold! Mostly because of the wind I think. It was…ah…bracing.

Husband had a doctor’s appointment at 8 am so we were in a bit of a rush this morning. I had a glass of Bolthouse Perfectly Protein before heading out.

When we got to Java Moose for our morning tea/coffee, Husband suggested breakfast sandwich. Couldn’t say not to a warm breakfast on such a chilly morning!

I had brought lunch, but after that breakfast I didn’t get hungry. Lunch had been sitting on my desk all morning, but it was still frozen at lunch time so I put it in the freezer at work for another day. Around mid-afternoon I had an apple and a Kashi granola bar.

We had the usual Friday dinner – takeout from Thai Hut. And after all this time of complaining about my camera when taking photos in low light, I actually looked at the settings – imagine that.

Before:

After:

Amazing what happens when you actually  look at what settings you have available.

I had some couch time with Frank:

And had a cookie and some tea.

Now I’m relaxing and watching Dollhouse.

I love Fridays.

Heavy Snowfall Warning

Thirty centimetres coming our way apparently. Winter appears to be making up for lost time.

Fairly uneventful day. Actually, the past two days I’ve had major problems with concentration. Hope my brain starts working again soon. Work to get done!

I did not want to get out of my warm, comfy bed this morning. Brr! Husband seemed to think I should get up and go to work though. Sheesh.

Breakfast

I had a glass of Bolthouse Vanilla Chai at home, which I forgot to take a photo of.

At work:

 

Two Super Charge Me cookies and coffee.

Lunch & Snack

For lunch I had Sweet Potato & Black Bean Mole which I also apparently forgot to photograph. I’m telling ya – brain not working.

For snacks – an apple & almonds.

Late afternoon I noticed the snow had started, and a short time later Husband messaged me that he wanted to head home. When I went out to the front doors I was surprised how much snow was coming down already.

We made a quick stop at the Superstore on the way home. I snapped this with my iPhone when we got back out to the car.

Not nice at all.

Dinner

When we got home I did my workout – Circuit workout today. I repeated the circuit 3 times which took about 20 minutes, then did a 20 minute walk on the treadmill.

After my workout I had a glass of Bolthouse Vanilla Chai. Zappa was checking it out. I gave him some milk.

Dinner was easy – leftover Chicken & Lentils from last night with President’s Choice Garlic Naan.

And dessert. I just can’t stay out of the cookies.

With Peppermint tea.

Time for Glee!

New Recipe #2 – A Success!

Just a Tuesday…Nothing to exciting to report. Breakfast was a repeat.

Lunch was Bean Balls with Brown Rice. Yum!

Snack was supposed to be an apple…

Ahem.

Plus there may have been a few handfuls of chocolate covered almonds. No self control at all today; the chocolate just kept finding it’s way into my mouth.

After work I did intervals on the treadmill. I was feeling less than energetic when I started, so I decided to do shorter intervals of running, but I also kept the walking intervals shorter. It felt like I was running more, but at the same time it felt easier. I did 30 minutes of intervals and a 10 minute walk to cool down.

Dinner – Indian Spiced Lentils & Chicken – was in the slow cooker. I was planning to steam some broccoli, but while I was on the treadmill I thought maybe I could throw it in the slow cooker and avoid another dirty pot.

So, when I got off the treadmill, I prepped the broccoli and threw it in the slow cooker. I went and had a shower, then came out to dinner. The broccoli was still a little crisp, I can live with that.

We also finished off the last of the Basmati Rice from Sunday night.

And dessert with mint tea:

Dinner was based on this recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking. I used two chicken breasts, but halved everything else in the recipe (actually I used a little less that 3 cups of chicken broth and no water). I thought that 2 cups of lentils would be a lot and if I wanted Husband to be happy, there would need to be a decent ratio of chicken to lentils. I added some fresh ginger and garam masala to the mix, and when we got home from work I added some light coconut milk (what was leftover from the can I opened on Sunday night).

Then, as I mentioned, I added the broccoli and served with Basmati Rice. I really enjoyed this dish. Husband had two servings and said it was “Spectacularly good.” How’s that for a review?

Husband has had quite the week – I fed him fish and lentils and he liked both. It might be time to feed him pizza or something; just so this doesn’t get too weird.  :)

Wintery Monday

I had a dream last night that the snow was all gone, but when I woke up this morning it was still here. It suddenly looks and feels like winter – though it may not last as we are supposed to get rain later in the week.

At least enough time had gone by for the roads to be clear so it was a normal drive to work this morning. It was a very pretty drive actually - all the trees and shrubs were coated in snow, it looked like frosting. Very pretty in the sun.

Guess what I had for breakfast?

Yep, I had cookies. I know, I know…That’s not what they are meant for…but it was tasty and it kept me going until lunch. Which I totally forgot to take a picture of until after I was finished eating. Oops! It was Sweet Potato & Black Bean Mole with Quinoa; if you scroll back to last week I’m sure you can find a picture…

It was a busy day, but I did make time to walk up to the City Market and hit Pete’s Frootique for some Honeycrisp apples. I also snagged an afternoon snack while I was there…

I also ended up getting a second coffee – I found it chilly in the office today.

We also came home to a chilly house, and I have to tell you the idea of changing into my workout clothes was not appealing, but I did it. Then I went down to my chilly basement and quickly warmed up doing the December Circuit A workout. I did the circuit 3 times and felt about ready to collapse when I was done.

Fortunately, dinner was easy.

We finished off the bag of broccoli slaw, with some Asian Sesame dressing.

Then had leftover Indian Spiced Haddock and Basmati Rice.

Then, to warm up, I had a cup of Peppermint tea and some cookies.

Well okay, the cookies didn’t necessarily warm me up but I enjoyed them – two Walkers Shortbread cookies (next best thing to homemade) and one more Super Charge Me cookie.

Now I’m ready to crawl in to bed and read for a while. Night folks!

INDIAN SPICED HADDOCK

(serves 4)

1 1/2 lb thick pieces of haddock fillet, skinned

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

pinch of cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 small onion, sliced

1-in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 fresh green chili, cored, seeded and finely chopped

1 small cauliflower, cut into florets

2 potatoes, diced

1 large green pepper, cored, seeded and cut into strips

2/3 cup water

black pepper

plain yogurt to serve

Directions:

1. Cut the haddock into 2-in squares and put them into a bowl.

2. Crush the spices and salt.

Sprinkle the mixture over the haddock, stir to coat evenly, cover and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

3. Heat half of the oil in a skillet, add the onion, and cook over high heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the ginger and chili and cook for 2 minutes. Add the cauliflower, potatoes, and green pepper and cook for 5-7 minutes. Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and set aside.

4. Heat the remaining oil, add the haddock and brown lightly all over. Add the cooked vegetables and measured water and simmer for 10 minutes or until the fish is cooked and the vegetables are tender. Taste for seasoning. Serve at once with the yogurt.

As usual, I did not entirely follow the recipe…

* I used 1 potato and 1 sweet potato.

* I used about half a head of cauliflower, and that seemed like plenty; it was probably more of a medium-large size than small size head of cauliflower.

* I was quite generous with the ginger and I didn’t have a fresh chili, so I used dried chili flakes.

* I used a red bell pepper because Husband doesn’t like green peppers.

* I used coconut oil – I’d guess this could really be the oil of your choice.

* I did not have plain yogurt, so I reduced the amount of water to about a half cup, and added about a half cup of light coconut milk.This created a bit of a sauce for the dish.

The recipe says 4 servings and serving with salad and rice we did get 2 meals out of this.

Eek!

This is what we woke up to this morning…

Yesterday it was raining and the grass was still green; today it was a winter wonderland.

We are not amused.

But Frank did go out.

He came in wearing snowballs.

That was the best picture I could get – he wouldn’t stay still.

So. I don’t have the usual food blogging for you today, but I do have some reviews. First up…

Pancakes in a Can

I’ve noticed the Batter Blaster in the organic section a few times. My reaction? Pancakes in a can just can’t be good. But then Angie tried them and survived the experience, so I decided to give them a try.

They are certainly easy. Squirt some batter in the pan…

and the next thing you know you have pancakes.

It is fast, and if you don’t want to make a whole batch of pancakes (like yesterday when I got home from grocery shopping) it’s quite convenient. They are light and airy.

I did think they had a slightly odd flavor – a little bit of a sour taste. But it’s not a strong taste and aside from that they were not bad.

Husband said: “Your pancakes are way better”

Why thank you very much!

He also felt that they didn’t have much substance – it was like eating air.

We’ll finish off the can, but I don’t think I would buy it again. It was kind of a fun experiment though.

Next up…

Cookies!

I decided to try the Super Charge Me cookies from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan.

They call for Flax Meal, which I don’t have, but I do have Flax Seeds. So I toasted them up and then ground them up in my little mini processor.

I have had this little chopper for probably 10 years and it still works great. Handy little gadget.

I also used dried cranberries instead of raisins, and crunchy almond butter instead of smooth because that’s what I had. I wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but I figured I’d give it a shot.

Ready to go in the oven…

And all done – these were pretty quick to make and none of the ingredients were extremely far out.

I tried one while they were still warm, since that’s usually when I like cookies the best. I have to say, I thought it was kind of blah. But, I had another one after supper and I liked it a lot more the second time around; I guess these are better when they’ve had a bit of time to sit.

I don’t see this replacing my favourite [way less healthy] chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I don’t think I’ll have any trouble finishing these off either. I probably will make them again.

And finally…

Indian Spiced Haddock

I keep trying to find ways to cook fish so that Husband and I will enjoy eating it at home. So far my attempts have not been met with a lot of enthusiasm.

My sister sent me this recipe quite a while back, and I finally got around to making it today.

I made a spice mix…

Which went on the Haddock, and then the fish went back in the fridge to marinate…

While I puttered around doing some other things. Laundry, vacuuming, you know – fun weekend stuff.

I was vacuuming the stairs, and managed to knock a set of tea light holders off the little table that I have in the entry way and broke two of them. I’m hoping I can fix them with glue, but for for now I replaced them with a little festive decoration.

I was intending to do my intervals on the treadmill – I had my workout clothes and sneakers on while I was cleaning even – but my foot was bothering me, so I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. Then my Mom called and we gabbed for a while, and by the time I got off the phone it was time to make supper anyway.

At this point, things started flying in the kitchen and I didn’t stop to take pictures. First, I made a spiced Basmati Rice recipe that is a favourite of ours (the recipe is just called Basmati Rice which I think makes it kind of confusing, but it tastes really good).

Once the rice was going, I finished making the Indian Spiced Haddock. Husband came out and did a bit of chopping to help me out. I could tell he was not exactly excited by the prospect of me feeding him fish again.

Here is my plate, with some broccoli slaw for some extra veggies:

The verdict? We both really liked this and we would make it again. It did take a bit of time, because the fish had to marinate, and there was a bit of chopping involved with all the veggies. But it was really nicely flavoured and I enjoyed it a lot. If anyone is interested in the recipe, let me know and I will post it.

So that was my day – more or less – almost time for Monday again.