Big News

So I have some new to share with everyone. Maybe the title of the post is a little misleading but for me it’s big news!

I found out I made it on the sub list!

I’m sure some of you out there are scratching your head going, ‘big new? I don’t understand’. Well the school board that I got on (there’s a few different board around here) they only hire 150 subs for all the schools so that means I’m more likely to get work.

This is definitely good news! Now I just need to sub and work but butt off and hopefully I can get a full-time job in the near future. It’s still going to be a few weeks before I can start working (paperwork and such) but I’m really looking forward to getting back to work.

In other news it’s starting to get very chilly here in Calgary. It was –4 this morning. With all the cold weather around here I bet you can guess what I was craving for breakfast when I woke up: Oatmeal.

In today’s pot: 1/3 cup of steel cut oats, 2/3 cup of skim milk, 1 tsp of chia seeds, 1 tsp vanilla extract (unfortunately I had no banana to add to it).

Toppings included: pumpkin butter, peanut butter, pumpkin seeds, chocolate chips and a splash of milk.

I love hot oatmeal on a cool fall morning.

After breakfast I headed to the grocery store. I had no idea what was for supper. After yesterday’s post I’m still having some difficulty pleasing both the husband and myself. While at the grocery store I picked up the new Rachael Ray magazine and came up with a perfect idea for dinner. I can’t wait to share it with you all tomorrow.

I spent some time this morning doing some blog reading and lunch became inspired by Jaime’s post and made some grilled cheese.

Cheddar and seven grain bread. Nom!

I actually followed Jaime exactly and had the grilled cheese with a side of carrots.

Don’t we all just love comfort food?

Well I’ll be back tomorrow and I’ll let you know how tonight’s dinner turned out.

~ Katie :)

A Different Kind of Oatmeal

I hope everyone enjoyed my Calgary trip posts. If you missed them on the weekend you can check them out here:

• Travel Day
• Calgary Day 1
• Calgary Day 2
• Calgary Day 3

Since getting back on Monday morning not to much has been going on. I took two days off to try to get my sleeping pattern back in order and get back in the right time zones. Since I only got about 3 hours of sleep on the plane Sunday overnight most of Monday was spent catching up on sleep and starting to feel better. Yesterday was a day of rest and relaxation.

Over the past two days my food was a little of this…

Subway!

And a lot of of this…

Toasted whole wheat english muffin with spinach, mozza and turkey.

With veggies and  the new vegetable hummus I had picked up just before we left.

As you might be able to tell we were lacking in groceries so I was eating whatever I could find in the fridge. It became very repetitive over the two days.

Today is different. I’m feeling rested and ready to tackle the summer!

My morning started off getting up early, driving Matt to work and then heading to the gym.

Pre-gym fuel included a piece of mozza and a Kashi bar (I promise I’m heading to the grocery store later).

Today at the gym I decided to focus on cardio. It’s been a while so I just wanted to get back into it and I will start with weights at the beginning of next week.

Today’s workout:

1. 20 min run on the treadmill at 5.2
2. 15 mins on the stairmaster to work those butt muscles
3. Back on the treadmill for some interval training for 10 mins. My intervals looked like this:
• Run 1 min @ 6.8, walk 1 min
• Run 1 min @ 6.9, walk 1 min
• Run 1 min @ 7.0, walk 1 min
• Run 45 sec @ 7.2, walk 1.25 mins
• Run 30 sec @ 7.7, walk 1.5 mins

Overall, it was super hard and sweaty workout and I ended up burning about 490 calories in about 45 mins. It felt great to get back to the gym and I’m looking forward to a summer of some hard core workouts.

When I got home I had a quick glass of chocolate milk then hopped in the shower. Afterwards it was time for breakfast. I had spend the afternoon yesterday catching up on blogs and one recipe had caught my eye and I decided to give it a try today.

Heather @ With a Side of Sneakers made Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pancakes for breakfast the other day and I decided to give them a time. I followed her recipe and you can find that one here.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pancakes

• 1/2 c whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c rolled oats (she called for old-fashion but I used what I had on hand)
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 c UVAB
• 3 tbsp of Stonyfield Organic Vanilla Yogurt (she called for coconut yogurt but I had just picked the Stonyfield up earlier so I used that)
• 2 dashes of cinnamon
• 1 handful of chocolate chips

First I mixed all the ingredients together in bowl. I found it a little thick so I added about two more tbsp of UVAB.

Then in a heated pan on medium heat I added 3 large spoonfuls of the mixture.

I cooked it just like a regular pancake. My only problem was the I forgot to spray the pan with oil so the pancakes stuck a little. They still tasted great they just don’t look very pretty when finished.

Yummy melted chocolate in the morning.

They also turned out nice and thick which I liked.

I added just a little Nova Scotia Maple Syrup.

Who doesn’t love chocolate and maple syrup in the mornings?

I really enjoyed these. It was very similar to having a bowl of oatmeal in the morning. They were thick, gooey, delicious and very filling. I won’t need lunch for a while now.

Now that I’m on summer vacation I might try to blog twice a day (we’ll see). I don’t want my posts to get too long and boring. I have a yummy shrimp dinner planned for tonight so hopefully I’ll be back later with it.

Enjoy your Wednesday everyone!

~ Katie :)

The Times They are a Changin’

TGIF

So it’s been a while since I last posted. I’d like to say I’ve been too busy but my eats lately haven’t been very exciting and I’ve been spending some quality time with the hubby.

I’m going to give some highlights of my eats over the past few days and then go over my new exercise goals.

Tuesday evening Matt and I grabbed a pizza. I got ham and pineapple on mine. I love pineapple on my pizza. Wednesday I wasn’t feeling like much so I made some oats and a protein green smoothie.

Oats:

• 1/3 cup of rolled oats
• 3/4 cup of UVAB
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp of flaxmeal

In the bowl:

Toppings:

• 1/2 banana
• blueberries

I promise there are oats under there.

Coconut Banana Protein Green Monster

In the blender:

• 2 handfuls of organic spinach
• 1 organic banana
• 1 tbsp of coconut
• 1/2 cup of UVAB
• 1/2 coconut milk
• 1 scoop of Lean Whey
• ice

So bright, fresh and green!

While at the grocery store Matt and I picked up a box of Skinny Cow ice-cream sandwiches. Only 130 calories and they taste just like the ones you use to have when we were kids. So good.

Last night was a healthy version of tacos.

Tacos were made from extra lean ground turkey.

Tacos Seasoning:

• 2 tsp of onion salt
• 1 tsp of chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp of oregano
• 1/2 tsp of garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp of cumin

This seasoning was awesome. Not too spicy but just spicy enough.

Topped with mozza, organic spinach, red pepper and yellow peppers on a whole wheat wrap.

I had two!

Today when I got home from work I had a bowl of organic carrots.

With some roasted garlic hummus.

Dinner tonight was subway – 6 inch turkey on cheesy bread.

*******************************************************************************

So last night Matt and I sat down to have a serious discussion about our workout/exercise goals. Lately we haven’t been very good with getting to the gym and I think I figured out the problem(s).

We have two.

First: we are over planning – making crazy workout schedules (working out at least 2 times a day) that are unrealistic with our current schedules. We are setting ourselves up for failure and so when we are not able to accomplish them we feel frustrated and disappointed and just stop going to the gym all together.

Second: we keep making goals like – lets run a 5 km this time or run a 10 km at this point. This one is especially not good for me. I get very stressed over running outside. I love to run on the treadmill inside but I just haven’t figured out the outside running thing yet and whenever I start thinking about it I get stressed and think of any excuse not to go.

So here's our new plan. Go to the gym – 5-6 times a week. Three days of cardio, three days a weight training.

Simple. Affective. Realistic.

We are going to focus on just getting back to enjoying working out again. I already feel less stressed and more excited about going back to the gym.

This morning at 5:30 am was our first day back. Our goal is to do weight training Monday, Wednesday, Friday and cardio Tuesday, Thursday and one day of the weekend.

Today was a weight session. I started with a 5 min warm-up on the treadmill then hit the weigh room.

Since next week is our first full week back and I have a plan for the start of next week I just decided to do one more day of Winter Shape Up Week 3 with a few added exercises. My weight session looked like this:

Plie and Bicep Curls	16lbs	12 reps
Bend-Over Row with Kickback	16lbs	12 reps
Ballerina Plie	15lbs	12 reps
Chest Fly and Reverse Crunch	16lbs	12 reps
Lunge and Lateral Raise	10lbs	8 reps per side
Oblique Crunch with Dumbell	12lbs	12 reps
Swimming Back Extension		15 reps
Plank		30 secs
Push-ups		6 reps
Weighted Crunch	12 lbs	12 reps

 

It was a great workout and I’m glad to get back. I have a cardio session planned for tomorrow afternoon so I’ll let you all know how that goes to.

 

I now have the house to myself so I’m going to catch up on Glee (I’m a few weeks behind and can’t wait for the Lady Gaga episode) and do some blog reading and maybe watch a girlie movie. As you can tell I have big plans.

 

Night all!

 

~ Katie :)

Warm Apple Oatmeal

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and a great Mother’s Day. Spending some quality time with our mom’s is always important :)

I don’t have much to say about the weekend except for the yummy, delicious breakfast I found on Caitlin’s blog!

Warm Apple Oatmeal

It’s like apple pie for breakfast.

I following Caitlin’s recipe almost exactly except for I didn’t have any whole wheat pancake mix so I just used and organic pancake mix instead and no pecans. I almost chopped up some almonds instead but then got lazy and didn’t bother. You can check out the rest of the ingredients on her blog.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Placed the ingredients in the bowl – microwave for 1.5 mins. Then put in Pyrex dish.

Top with remaining apple. Bake for 20 mins. Take it out and top with brown sugar and a little cinnamon.

Broil for 2-3 mins.

Serve.

NOM! This was excellent. My only complaint is I don’t think I added quite enough spices (cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves). When I make it again I’ll definitely add a little more. I was a great way to wake up on Saturday morning.

Other then that, most of my meals for the weekend were pretty boring.

Some Annie’s Mac and Cheese for lunch on Saturday.

With some added broccoli.

I wasn’t feeling well Saturday afternoon so I slept most of the afternoon and didn’t make it to the gym. So dinner was simple some cheesy pasta.

Sunday was Mother’s Day so breakfast was just a bagel, lunch was leftover cheesy pasta and dinner we took my mom out for supper. I had a chicken sandwich with fries at Swiss Chalet.

Sunday also included grocery shopping, visiting Matt’s mom and visiting my mom before dinner so another day without the gym. That’s ok I’ll be back into my gym routine this week.

If you read my post on the weekend you might have noticed that I’m trying to find out your current favourite workout song. I need some new music for the gym so I’d love your input. My current favourite is Your Love is my Drug by Ke$ha. What’s yours? Please leave me a comment below. I can’t wait get some new songs onto my ipod. Thanks!

~ Katie :)

Exercising Again and May Goals

So today was the day. After over a week off from exercising today was the day to get back at it.

This morning started off with oat. Since I don’t have time for oats on the weekdays I’ve been trying to have them once on the weekend. It’s a nice change.

In the pot: rolled oats, UVAB, flaxmeal and vanilla extract.

Topped with a tbsp of pj and a tsp of chocolate chips.

I ended up eating about 2/3’s of the dish. I just couldn’t finish it.

After breakfast Matt and I headed out to get some groceries. I went through my recipe books and found 5 new recipes I’m going to try this week. Hopefully, I’ll have lots on interesting posts for you to read over the course of the week :)

After we got home I really just wanted some veggies for lunch (I’ve been craving veggies for a couple of days now) but I also wanted to use up the last of the progeries in the freezer so I decided to through them in the pot to boil.

Lunch ended up being carrots…

Cucumber…

Progeries…

After lunch it was time to get back to exercising. Today’s plan: a distance run.

I haven’t run in about a week and a half and I will admit I was scared. Matt wanted us to run 4km but I just wasn’t sure I can do it. If you’ve read my blog before you know I have a mental block when it comes to running. I still haven’t quite got past it but I’m really working on it.

Today we headed out. I ran the first 2 km without too many problems but once I reached the 2km mark it really started to hurt. During the run I fought with Matt (twice) and I almost quit. I really didn’t think I could do it but I pushed through the pain and ended up completing 4.2km.

That is another running accomplishment for me. I really want to thank my husband for pushing me and believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. We have another distance run planned for Wednesday so hopefully this one is a little easier then today’s :P

After my shower I made us both green smoothies. In the blender: organic spinach, banana, pineapple, UVAB, the last of my vanilla greek yogurt, flaxmeal and ice.

Another good one :)

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April Recap May Goals

I’ve decided against doing a recap for April. Really, there’s not much to say. I didn’t workout that much ( I took a total of 2 weeks off in April) and I ate out a little way too much.

Since it’s a new month I decided instead of getting upset or depressed about April I’d focus on the positive and look at my goals for May.

Nutrition:

• Eat a salad at least 3 times a week. I’ve been lacking in the veggie department lately and I've been craving them so hopefully this will help.
• Cook with fresh herbs as much as possible. I learned quite a bit about this yesterday at the Saltscapes Expo and you can read about my review of the expo here.
• No eating out. At all! This is going to be the tough one. We’ve been really bad this month and that has to change so our goal is to not eat out for the entire month.

Exercise:

• Matt and I set up a workout schedule we’d like to start following. It includes at least some form of exercise 7 days a week. That is a large goal but some days are pretty light so I think it’s possible. If we feel it’s getting too much then we might take a day off as needed but we just want to do some form of physical activity everyday. With the weather getting nicer at least a walk or a short run should be possible.
• Right now I’d like to do weights 3 times a week, running 3-4 times a week (mixing between interval and distance running), yoga once a week and maybe throw in a difference cardio workout here or there when I have time.

I know I have pretty big goals for the month. To start off the month off right we spent some time today cleaning out the fridge and the cupboards to get rid of any junk/unhealthy food that was in there. It went well and I don’t think I will actually miss anything we threw out.

I will let you all know how things are progressing as the month goes on. Have a great evening all!

~ 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 :)