CSN Stores Love

It feels great to be part of the CSN Stores Preferred Bloggers. They have so many wonderful sites that you can buy dining sets, cookware and even shoes.

Last time I worked with them I did a giveaway for a gift certificate to one of their many stores and this time they are giving me the opportunity to review one item from their many stores.

They have over 200 online stores with almost any idea you can imagine.

Some of my favourites include:

Should I choose a new food processor or maybe some sheets. I still haven’t decided but as soon as I do and have to product in hand be ready for my review.

While your here why don’t you show them some love and take a look around a few of their sites. I promise you won’t be sorry.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a little Thanksgiving love!

~ Katie :)

Staying Home

Matt spend last night coughing and again I got very little sleep so I didn’t end up going to work today. I was exhausted and I had a huge headache so I slept in. I really needed it.

This is going to be a short post. I burnt my hand cooking dinner tonight and it really hurts so I’m just going to write a quick post.

After I got up I headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Including low fat bran muffins. I had one for breakfast…

 

Lunch was a bagel sandwich with a whole wheat bagel, mozza, turkey and spinach…

With a side of carrots and baby tomatoes…

Dessert was a bowl of cherries that I split with Matt…

And mini-eggs. Matt’s bowl I stole three from…

I had a mid-afternoon snack. Another Kardea bar. This time is was banana nut…

This one was delicious! Tasted like banana bread!

At the grocery store I picked up this for supper…

I served it up with broccoli and a slice of Ancient Grain’s bread…

I only ate about 3/4 of the pie. A tasty vegetarian meal.

My hand is hurting so this is going to be a very short post.

Night all!

~ Katie :)

Being Healthy on a Field Trip

So I’m blogging early tonight. Dinner was finished early so I figured I’d write a quick post.

Matt is still quite sick and didn’t sleep much last night so that meant I didn’t sleep much either. I wouldn’t have gone to work today but we were taking out kids on a field trip so I didn’t have much of a choice.

This meant that this morning started with coffee. A Grande Non-Fat Hazelnut Latte to be exact…

And a Low-Fat Banana Chocolate Chip Loaf…

We were taking 16 girls to Daplex (a sports facility here in Halifax) for the morning and bowling after lunch.

I planned ahead and threw my second Kardea bar in my purse before I left. Around the middle of the morning I grabbed the bar and a bottle of water for a snack.

This one was pretty good – I liked the lemon flavour better and thought this one could have used some more cranberries but it was a great mid-morning snack.

At lunch I was craving ice-cream but I decided to go the healthy route and I went for another Hummus and Veggie wrap with a side fruit salad for dessert and a bottle of water from Healthy Way. I felt great afterwards. I’m so happy I went for the healthier choice.

On my wayt home I knew I wanted something easy and simple. I was so tired and I just couldn’t bring myself to cook. On my way home I stopped at Sobey’s and grabbed a fresh pizza from their deli.

I had two three slices…

I probably didn’t need the third slice but I was hungry and tired and gave in to the deliciousness of it.

Yesterday I picked up these…

I had a handful for dessert…

Overall, it was a pretty good day of eats. Especially being out and about with no plan.

My Water and Yoga Challenge Update:

• Water: I’ve been doing great with water. I stuck to water all day and in total I drank about 3 liters today so far. I’ve been getting in at least 2 liters a day so I’m happy with this progress. Thanks for reminders on twitter #projecthydrate #waterlogged. Keep ‘em coming!
• Yoga: I’ve only gotten in two yoga sessions since I started my challenge. Since the hubby got sick I haven’t done any yoga. I’m hopping maybe to get a session in tonight during the hockey game.

Just in case you missed it check out yesterday’s post on my Recent News. Lots of exciting things going on right now.

~ Katie

Recent News

Hey all,

So things around here have been a little crazy.

First, the husband has been quite sick and because of this there has been a lot of soup around the house for the past two days.

Last night Cream of Mushroom Soup…

With a couple of whole wheat rolls.

Tonight was Chicken Noodle Soup…

Tonight was was hungry so I made a grilled cheese sandwich with mozza to go along with it…

On Honey Oat Bread…

Love this bread!

In other news. I found a new addiction. Stacey’s Cinnamon Sugar Pita chips.

I’m addicted!!!

Second, I just found out that Matt and I are going to Calgary in two and a half weeks for his work. It’s exciting. I haven’t been on a plane in 6 years and I’m really looking forward to getting away (even if it is only for 4 days). I’m also missing the last day of school to go. It’s ‘fun day’ so I really won’t be missing too much but I feel a little guilty for it.

We are also going to get to see my step-brother, his wife and my niece and nephew. I don’t get to see them that often so it will be nice to spend some time with them.

Don’t worry, I’ll be bring my computer so I can do some blogging on the road. When it gets closer to the date I’ll be looking for some of your travel tips for healthy eating.

Third, looked what arrived at the end of last week…

My first product to review. Kardea Nutrition Bar. Nancy the wonderful lady at Kardea send me four flavours – Lemon Ginger, Chic Spice, Banana Nut and Cranberry Almond.

Of course the first one I had to try was Lemon Ginger…

Good Ingredients…

Good Nutrition Info…

Very tasty…

I definitely enjoyed this flavour. I will be giving a full review later this week when I’ve tried all the flavours but overall I really enjoyed this first one.

I’d better go look after the husband. Here’s hoping he’s feeling better tomorrow.

~ Katie :)

Reader’s Advice

Once you get through all my dinner eats I’d love some advice on some products that I listed at the end of my post.

So after last night’s post I had very good intentions of having a a great dinner and then hitting the gym but unfortunately that didn’t happen.

Matt didn’t finish doing my mom’s taxes until late so by the time they were done we were starving, at my mom’s and looking for supper. We ended up at Durty Nelly’s in downtown Halifax.

Since I was already breaking one of my May Goal’s already (no eating out) I decided I might as well eat something healthy. I chose the Veggie Wrap with taters. “Grilled Vegetable Wrap of zucchini, red onion, red pepper, tomato, mozza cheddar blend”. I got it with no red onion. I will say the wrap was just ok. It was cold and I was expecting it to be warm and the veggies we a little too mushy for my liking. But it was huge and I could only eat half the wrap and about 5 of the taters.

After dinner since we didn’t make it to the gym we decided to walk around downtown for a while. It was so beautiful out yesterday we just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to enjoy the weather and at least we got a little physical activity in, right?

After missing the gym yesterday Matt and I got our butts out of bed early this morning and made our way to the gym for an interval run. Walk/Run for 20 mins.

My running started out at 6.4 and I ended at 7.5. I was so sweaty by the end. I really felt great to get out and get that workout in even if it was short. I think we are going to do our intervals at the gym from now on. It is easier to control your speed and I think I push myself more there then outside.

Tonight there was no stopping me. We were eating healthy tonight. Ironically, tonight’s menu was gilled chicken and veggie wraps as well.

I adapted this recipe from Hungry Girl’s “Hungry Girl 1-2-3: The Easiest, Most Delicious, Guilt-Free Recipes on the Planet”. I made four wraps with the following ingredients (with lots of leftovers):

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (not in her recipe)
• 1 zucchini
• 1 eggplant
• 1 red pepper
• 2 portabella mushroom caps
• 6 tbsp greek yogurt (the recipe calls for regular greek yogurt)
• 1/2 tbsp fresh basil
• 1/2 tsp of fresh grated garlic
• 4 whole wheat tortillas

First cut all the veggies and chicken up (half’s maybe) so they can be grilled. Grilled on the BBQ for about 5 mins on each side (the chicken will have to be longer).

While that is grilling mix together the greek yogurt, basil and garlic.

When the veggies are done all you have to do is cut them up into strips so they can be put in a wrap.

We had the wraps with a salad. In the ss: organic spinach, carrots, peppers (red, yellow, green), baby tomatoes, cucumber.

Served with dried cranberries and lemon juice. The salad…

Wrap…

All together…

Overall, this dinner was really good and filling. I have never had portabella mushrooms before and didn’t really like the flavour of them. I ended up not eating them but overall, I really enjoyed dinner tonight.

Other odds and ends…

First - I’ve been sent some coupons (thanks Wendy) from Silver Hill’s Bakery to try and review their bread. I’ve been to Planet Organic several times in the past two weeks and every time I’m there they are out. I definitely want to try this bread and as soon as I pick some up I’ll let you all know.

Second - While looking around Planet Organic today I realized there are a lot of items that I would really like to try but I’m just not sure if it’s worth the money. So I’m looking for your help. Of the following products which do you think is worth the money and which do you think I should just pass on. Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

I’m wondering about the following products:

• Almond butter (and if so – what brand?)
• Coconut milk
• Coconut oil
• Goji Berries
• Agave Nectar
• Ezekiel bread
• Hemp Seeds
• Protein Powder (I actually would like to get some protein powder but I have no idea what brand – does anyone have any suggestion?)

Thanks guys. If anyone has any thoughts on the above listed products or even with another product that you love I’d love to hear about it.

~ Katie :)

Saltscapes Expo Review

Hey All,

Sorry I’ve been MIA lately. Since I decided to take the week off from exercise I have just been relaxing and hanging out with the husband the past couple of days. Food wise hasn’t been too bad. We did indulge last night with a night of pub food, wine, beer and board games with the family.

Today is my last day of no exercise and then I’m back at it tomorrow. Matt and I decided to hit up the Saltscapes Expo today so I thought I’d post a little review of our experience.

Saltscapes  - Truly the BEST of Atlantic Canada under one roof for one spectacular weekend! – 2010 Official Program

As you can tell it’s basically an expo of all thing Atlantic Canada. It’s based on the Saltscapes Magazine. We received a copy of the magazine when we arrived.

We knew there was a healthy living/local food section to the expo that that’s what drew us there in the first place. They also had a tourism (featuring each Atlantic province and Maine), home cottage garden and unique retail marketplace sections.

When we arrived on the the first things we noticed was that the entire expo was being powered by Bullfrog Power with 100% green electricity. I thought that was pretty cool.

For a while we just wondered around for a little while looking at all the booths, tasting some of the foods/drinks and checking out some of the stages. They had five stages set up throughout the expo. These stages were: Experience New Brunswick Stage, Saltscapes Magazine Stage, Home Cottage Garden Stage, Healthy Living in Atlantic Canada Stage and the Culinary Stage. I definitely wanted to see the Culinary Stage. This featured some of the best chefs in Atlantic Canada.

We stayed and watched two presentations on the Culinary Stage. The first was Chef Alan Crosby who is the Chef at White Point Beach Resort.

He was making some pasta ravioli dish. We were a few mins late for this presentation so I’m not sure the name of the exact dish but it looked very yummy. He also has some great tips about using fresh herbs and how to cook pasta. He had some great ideas that we will be using the future.

After he was done we walked around some more and picked up some local blueberry juice.

Van Dyk Wild Blueberry Juice to be exact. This stuff is awesome tasting and if you look at the ingredients list there is only one ingredient.

No Sweeteners, preservatives or additives. Also, you only need to drink 1/3 of a cup at a time. It’s not made to drink large amounts unlike orange juice. I think it’s going to be really good on its own or even added to smoothies. It’s a great source of antioxidants.

“One-half cup of blueberries delivers as much antioxidant power as five servings of other fruits and vegetables.” ~ Dr. Prior, Director of the USDA research studies

We also enjoyed some local music.

And I had a small scoop of Raspberry Gelato from FoxHill Cheese House. This was a great, sweet treat.

We then headed back to the Culinary Stage to watch the Culinary Competition between Alan Crosby (who we had saw earlier) and Renee Lavallee who is the chef at Five Fisherman in Halifax (she won this competition last year).

The way it worked is they gave each chef 4 or 5 local ingredients and they had 45 mins to make a dish from those ingredients and they would be judged by both the judges and the audience. Today the ingredients they had were scallops, cabbage, a local syrup (I can’t remember the name), organic local honey and summer savoury. Both chefs also got a sous-chef from the audience to help them. During the time they had the chefs discuss their meals, give hints about cooking, have the audience ask questions and have other local venders talk about their products. It was pretty entertaining and very cool to see the chefs had to come up with some interesting and tasty meals on the spot. Unfortunately, my back really started to hurt so we had to leave a few mins early so I can’t tell you who won.

In general, it was a really good expo but I just had two complaints:

First, since the expo was suppose to be local I was pretty disappointed with some of the ‘unique venders’. Some were local but there were a few venders selling things like Guess bags. I can tell you those are definitely not made locally.

Second, most of the food section was selections of jam and maple syrup. I understand that we here in Nova Scotia like our jams and maple syrup but I would have really like to see a little more variety.

Overall, I really enjoyed myself and would go back again next year. My favourite part was definitely the Culinary Stage. I love to hear from chefs and listening to their tips on new and different ways to make cooking and eating exciting.

Thanks Saltscapes for the great experience!

~ Katie :)

Is There Such a Thing at as Too Spicy?

OMG…YES!!!

So I haven’t been around much. The past two days have been busy and I haven’t got too much done. Haven’t been to the gym, yoga or really been eating too healthy. Overall, not a really good couple of days.

Haven’t had my camera on me either so it hasn’t been great overall.

Here are a few pics that I have taken over the past two days…

Other then that, yesterday when I picked up Matt from work he hadn’t had the best day and really just wanted to go out, sit down and talk. I agreed and we ended up at Your Father’s Moustache downtown. Since I had been craving Fish and Chips for a few days now I figured this would be a great time to get them. I will say now, I love the Moustache’s wings and some of their other food but their fish and chips were nothing but grease. I must say I just wasn’t impressed. I would definitely not order them again.

I woke up this morning with great plans to get another run in this morning, healthy eating today and yoga tonight. The healthy eating went ok but exercise not so much.

I set the alarm this morning to get up to run and after I woke up I realized that my gym clothes were in the washing machine soaking wet!!! CRAP!!!! So no run for me :(

My eating went pretty well. Breakfast – Greek yogurt, granola and dried cranberries. Lunch – random: apple, pb, carrots, kashi bar and yogurt cup.

Dinner tonight was going to be Jaime’s Coconut Shrimp. I had ever intention of following the recipe except use EVOO instead of Coconut Oil and I didn’t want to use the flour. As I was getting the ingredients out I didn’t have any paprika – I swear I thought I had some. This was the first of my many problems tonight. I subbed the paprika for red pepper flakes and continued on.

I started mixing everything up and since Jaime didn’t put down how much paprika and cayenne she used I figured 2 tsps were enough of each for 3 people. I also used two eggs not egg whites – mostly because I such at separating eggs and I got the yoke in the bowl as well so I just figured I’d go with it. 

Then the husband got involved with the cooking. He got me to coat the shrimp while he cooked them. He decided that he should just stir fry them in the wok so he just poured them all in and started mixing them around. While doing them the coconut mixture started to fall off. I’m not sure if it’s because the lack on the flour or the fact that he was mixing them up or a bit of both but most of the mixture fell off during the cooking process. I figured – no big deal just serve on top and should still be good.

Served dinner with roasted asparagus and some brown rice…

 

Looked pretty good right, wrong? Way too SPICY!

I was actually only able to eat about 6 of my 9 shrimp. Way too much cayenne. I guess I need to learn a little more about how much spice should go in a meal. Practice makes perfect right?. I’m not going to say dinner was a complete fail but it definitely didn’t go as planned.

Since dinner took a while I missed yoga tonight as well. I missed yoga on Monday too. Apparently, I’m not a very good yoga buddy to Jaime. I’m hoping to hit up a class on Saturday so I can keep up my goal of getting to at least one yoga class a week.

I do have some good new to leave you with. One of my best friends in the whole world is coming home for a week and a half tomorrow. She lives in Connecticut and I only see her once or twice a year. I’m so excited and she made my day yesterday when she told me.

~ Katie :)