Lite Week

After a weekend of on and off eating I made a decision about this week. Over the last week or so I’ve been eating quite a bit of meat and red meat at that. I’ve been trying to cut out my red meat consumption so after this weekend I really wanted to make a change for the week so I’ve decided to go a little lite on my meat consumption.

I am not a vegetarian but I do think that most of our food should be coming from plants and sometimes I lack in my veggie intake so I’m going to change that this week. My body just really needs a week of light, healthy eating. Just a little bit of a cleanse.

Monday started off very well.

Breakfast was late so quite light. A piece of whole wheat toast with some Dark Chocolate Dreams PB.

I thought this might be ok to hold me over until lunch but about 30 mins later I was hungry again so I grabbed a granola bar from the freezer.

When lunch rolled around I knew exactly what I wanted – a snack plate. Carrots, orange and yellow peppers, cucumber, tomatoes (all from the farmers market) along with some hummus, pb, brie and mozza.

Dessert was in the form of an apple with some cinnamon.

I spend the afternoon blogging, twice and uploading some pictures to facebook. I’m very behind there. I’m good at keeping my blogger friends up to date but not some of the other people in my life. I actually haven’t uploaded any photos to facebook since the wedding last year. Yesterday I was able to upload pictures on our trip to Rainbow Haven and and My Friend's Birthday/Public Gardens trip. I’m going to try to continue to upload pictures as the week goes by.

One thing I didn’t do yesterday was get to a yoga class. I’ve been going quite regularly lately but I was still a little sore from the hike on Saturday so I took the day off. I do have a yoga post planned for this week so stay tuned for that.

Dinner last night was simple: Healthy Chicken Parm along with a Strawberry Spinach Salad (strawberries, spinach, cucumber, yellow peppers and some sliced almonds).

I followed the same recipe as before but used bread crumbs instead of fibre one. I think it turned out better this time.

Well that’s all for now. I’m about to go to yoga, come home and make dinner then relax and watch The Biggest Loser.

~ Katie :)

Traveling Schedule and Healthy Recipe

We have finally worked out our schedule for our drive across the country. We had first thought we’d do it over 5 nights and 6 driving days but after looking at the map and deciding that we really only want to be on the road for approx. 8 hours a day we added an extra day to our trip.

We are leaving Halifax next Sunday (July 25th) and will arrive in Calgary on the following Saturday (July 31st). The husband doesn’t have to start work until Tuesday so it will give us a couple of days to settle in and get adjusted.

Here’s a break down of our drive (all of the following information I took from google maps):

Sunday, July 25th – Halifax to Riviere du Loup (815km) = 9.5 hours

Monday, July 26th – Riviere du Loup to Ottawa (628km) = 7 hours

Tuesday, July 27th – Ottawa to Sault Ste. Marie (787km) = 10.5 hours

Wednesday, July 28th – Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay (699km) = 9 hours

Thursday, July 29th – Thunder Bay to Winnipeg (700km) = 10 hours

Friday, July 30th – Winnipeg to Regina (570km) = 7 hours

Saturday, July 31st – Regina to Calgary (758km) = 9 hours

I’m actually looking forward to the road trip (although I’m not a fan of sitting in the car all day). It will be nice to see the whole country (well almost) and get to see some of the cities that I’ve never seen before.

We’re planning on getting up early in the morning and leaving so we can arrive at a good time each day and get a chance to actually see the city so I should have lots of pictures to post.

And don’t worry I’ll be posting each night from the hotel so I’ll be able to keep up to date and not get too far behind on the blogging.

In other news I made another awesome dinner last night! I’ve read a couple of different meatball sandwiches on the blog world recently so I decided to make my own version.

Chicken Meatball Subs

• 1 egg
• extra lean ground chicken
• 1 cup of oats
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp of fresh ginger
• 2/3 jar of pasta sauce
• Whole wheat sub buns (or any type of buns you would like)

First mix together the egg, ground chicken, oats, garlic and ginger and roll into meatballs (I made 20 from this)

Then in a pan I added enough pasta sauce just to coat the bottom of the pan and then added the meatballs.

Heat up until the sauce starts to boil, then cover and simmer for 15 – 20 mins until the meatballs are cooked all the way through. I flipped them every 5-10 mins so each side got cooked.

After the meatballs are cooked all the way through I added enough sauce so the meatballs are submerged about 1/2 way.

Cover and simmer for another 5-10 mins.

When finished I added 4 balls to my bun, a little extra sauce and some grated mozza.

Yummy!

I served it with some fresh veggies: carrots, snow peas and baby tomatoes.

Another healthy, yummy meal. In total this recipe made 5 servings. If you give it a try let me know. I’d love to know what you think.

I'll try to be back later with a blog post on my eats for today.

~ Katie :)

Finally…Almond Butter

So first I want to thank everyone for support lately and I hope everyone enjoyed yesterday’s post on some of my favourite blogs. Hopefully, some of you were able to find some new blogs to read and enjoy.

I did found out some horrible news today. One of our really good friends lost their baby yesterday. And the worst part is that she was 8 months pregnant so she still have to give birth and go through labour. I feel worst too because they live in Newfoundland so their not really close so I feel like there’s not really much we can do except support them and be here if they need anything.

So after that sad news…back to some healthy living blogging. So yesterday Matt and I made a stop at Costco and picked up some of this…

I finally picked up some Almond Butter.  For those of you who are new to my blog this is the first time I’ve ever bought almond butter. I knew I as soon as I got it the first thing I wanted to make was Angela’s Nut Butter Fries.

Since we also picked up some fresh boneless skinless chicken breast I decided to par it with Lemon Chicken that I got from Sophie Uliano’s The Gorgeously Green Diet: How to Live Lean and Green.

Chicken:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (the recipe called for chicken thighs)
• 2 lemons
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic - chopped
• 1 tsp celery salt
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme

First I cut the chicken into strips (I almost always do this with boneless skinless chicken breast – they cook so much faster in the oven that way).

In a bowl I mixed together the rest of the ingredients (with the lemons I squeezed all the juice out of 1.5 of them).

I dipped the chicken in the marinade and put it in a Pyrex dish. I used the last half of the lemon as garnish.

I cooked them in the oven for about 25 mins.

Nut Butter Parsnip Fries

I followed Angela’s recipe almost exactly.

• 3 parsnips
• 1 tbsp of almond butter
• 2 tbsp of peanut butter
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• a little salt

First I cut the parsnips into fry like shape.

Then mix the rest of the ingredients together and coat the parsnips in nut butter mixture (if you wear any jewellery make sure to take it off – it makes a huge mess – hehe). Place on a pan (I covered the pan with aluminum foil to help control the mess a little bit).

I cooked these in the oven for about 35 mins.

Chicken…

Fries…

Dinner is served…

NOM! This was so yummy! Thanks so much Angela for this amazing recipe. I will definitely be making these again very, very soon!

Now I’m enjoying some quiet time with the hubby and drinking some of this…

I hope everyone has a good night.

~ Katie :)

Healthy Chicken Parm

This morning I slept through the alarm. By the time I looked at the clock it said 6:05 and I need to leave for the gym at 6:00. Since that wasn’t an option anymore I re-set the alarm and went back to sleep for another hour. Gym this evening it is.

Tonight’s dinner was a healthy version of an old favourite… Chicken Parmesan

I adapted this recipe from Hungry Girl.

 

Pan-Fried Chicken Parm

Ingredients: (I had to adapt a little too because I was cooking for three and the recipe was for two)

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup of fibre one bran cereal
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp rosemary (the recipe called for italian seasoning but I didn’t have any so I used the last three spices instead)
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2/3 cup tomato sauce (I used ragu)
• 1/2 cup liquid egg whites
• 3/4 cup of shredded mozza

I had a ton of the mixture left over so you probably don’t need to add so much.

First crush the fibre one to breadcrumb consistency. I don’t have a food processor so this turned out to be difficult but I got creative and put it in a plastic bag and crushed it with a hammer – the husband loved that – hahaha. This is the second recipe in a week that has called for a food processor. I think it’s almost time to invest in one.

Then mix the fibre one with the oregano, rosemary, basil, onion powder and garlic powder.

The crushing didn’t turn out perfect but it did the trick. Then place the egg whites a separate bowl.

Dip the chicken in the egg whites then coat in the fibre one mixture and place in a non-stick pan with a little EVOO on medium heat.

The recipe called to cook the chicken on both sides for 5 mins. My chicken was really thick and would have taken a long time to cook in the pan that way so I ended cutting it up into pieces in order for it to cook faster.

Once cooked through, add the sauce and the cheese

Cover on low heat for 3-5 mins until the cheese is melted.

 

I also made a salad to go with dinner. In the ss: organic spinach, red, yellow and green pepper, cucumber, carrots and baby tomatoes.

Served with lemon juice and dried cranberries.

All together…

The whole meal was less then 350 calories and tasted delicious. I will definitely be making this again.

After dinner I hit up the gym for a quick interval run. Running started at 6.4 and ended at 7.5. It was tough tonight. I could still feel supper in the belly and it made it very heavy. I pushed through and felt awesome when I was finished.

Question of the Day: What is your current favourite song to work out to? I’m really loving everything from Ke$ha right now – especially Your Love Is My Drug. I’m a little obsessed with that song right now.

Have a good night!

~ Katie :)

Running in the Snow and Rain

Ahhhh…the weekend is just about over. It’s 8:30 on Sunday evening and just about to go to bed before starting a new work day tomorrow.

Here’s a quick recap of my weekend.

Saturday started with Oatmeal. In the pot: 2/3 cup of oats, 2 tbsp of flaxmeal, 1 1/2 c of UCAB (Unsweetened Chocolate Almond Breeze), and 2 tsp of vanilla extract. This served two.

Topped with 1/2 a banana, a spash of UCAB and a scoop of white chocolate wonderful pb.

After breakfast I did a little running around by myself trying to find some of Prairie Natural Lean Whey. I checked Planet Organic, GNC and The Healthy Bug. All listed on their website saying that they carry their products. They all do just not the lean whey. Very frustrating. I am looking for something that is low in calories but high in protein. After I checked Halifax I picked up Matt and we had some errands to do across the bridge at Mic Mac so I decided to check GNC there too. No luck. There’s a store in Bedford that lists their products so I’m going to check them out this week. Maybe I’ll luck out.

We also grabbed lunch at the mall too. We decided to try to do as healthy a lunch as you can get in the food court and went with Jugo Juice. I got the Greek Veggie Wrap: hummus, zucchini, green peppers and red onion all in a whole wheat wrap.

 

Along with a mini smoothie: Mini Mango – mango, OJ and tropical nector.

I’m very proud of this meal for two reasons. First, I wanted chinese as soon as we walked in but I opted for the healthy choice and second I am not usually up to trying new things. I’d never had hummus in a wrap or a wrap/sandwich without meat and I really enjoyed it. Yay!

After lunch Matt and I got some groceries and then I dropped him off back at home and I decided to do some shopping. I picked up two dresses for the summer. I can’t wait until it gets nicer out so I’m able to wear some of them. I’ll post pics this week.

By the time I got home I was tired and hungry so we grabbed some pizza and sat on the couch and wached the first movie and a half of Lord of the Rings – Matt just bought them on Blue Ray and he couldn’t want to see how good they looked.

Breakfast this morning was whole wheat French Toast – 2 eggs, 1 c of UVAB (unsweetened vanilla almond breeze) and 1 tbsp of cinnamon. Topped with peaches and maple syrup.

Since we got up so late we didn’t eat breakfast until about 11:30. I spend most of the rest of the early afternoon catching up on Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl. Around 2 I was hungry again. I boiled some progries and served with carrots and cucumber. Since I am out of greek yogurt I had some light caesar dressing for dipping.

After lunch I was getting restless and although it looked like this outside…

I talked Matt into going for a run with me. We did Week 3 of C25K. Run for 90 secs, walk for 90 sec, run for 3 mins, walk for 3 mins – times two. By the time we got back we were freezing and wet but I felt great.

That’s water from the rain on Matt’s shirt and my pants. I’m so glad we got out even if it was a little nuts. After my shower I had a green smoothie to tide me over until dinner. In the blender: 2 huge handful of organic spinach, 1 organic banana, 2 tbsp of flaxmeal, 1 c of UVAB and ice. Yum!

I also snacked on some of Stacy’s Pita Chips.

I did a little cleaning and made some more granola bars. I used my recipe from before except I used syrup instead of honey (I find they hold together better that way.

In the pan to head into the freezer

Dinner was a variation on a picture I found on Heather’s (Hungry Pants) blog the other day: Choices.

Chicken Teriyaki Bowl:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• broccoli
• pineapple
• brown rice
• teriyaki sauce

Cut the chicken into small pieces and cook in wok.

Add broccoli and cook for 3-4 mins and then add pineapple and cook for another 1 min. Then add rice and sauce and cook for 3-5 mins until everything is mixed well.

 

Serve in bowl with nice cold glass of milk.

Yummy and easy.

Now I’m going to enjoy my evening with my husband and relax.

Night all!

~ Katie :)