Perfect Saturday Morning

Afternoon everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your Saturday.

I had such a great morning/early afternoon today I figured I’d write a blog post about it since I’m going out tonight and probably won’t blog when I get home.

I woke up this morning to some beautiful sun…

Then looked down and saw this…

Snow! WTF! Last weekend it was 18 degrees. This morning it was -10 with a windchill of –19. Gross.

I should tell you that I love sleeping in. Matt is always up before me and I just love to lay in bed on the weekend and relax. This morning was a little different. I was up with tons of energy and ready to get the day started by 8:50 this morning (that’s early for me on the weekends).

Yesterday I picked up that delicious Crofter’s Superfruit and this morning I knew I wanted to try some on my oats.

The problem is that I’ve actually only made oats once before and it was Chocolate Coconut Oats. Not just plain old oats so I needed some help. Twitter to the rescue. Lynn gave me this wonderful recipe.

In the pot: 1/3 cup of oats, 3/4 UVAB, 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract and 1 tbsp of ground flaxseed.

I burnt the first batch because I was writing an email and not paying attention so this was my second attempt.

She also suggested to add the Superfruit and pb to the top but I just decided to go with a splash of Almond Breeze and the Crofters. I devoured the whole thing. So good.

I also enjoyed them with a cup of African Rooibos Tea…

After I enjoyed a relaxing morning I heading out to pick up my jeans from the tailor (yes I have very short legs) and meet a couple of my friends for coffee. We hit up Second Cup and I got a medium non-fat vanilla bean latte. I find the coffee at Second Cup so much sweeter then Starbucks. I couldn’t even finish it.

Afterwards it was time to hit the gym. I did a five min warm up on the elliptical and then it was Gina’s Winter Shape Up Week 3. After looking the workout over I decided to do the advanced workout. I really liked all the compound exercises that she had incorporated into the workout. It is actually quite a short workout but it worked so many body parts I know I am going to feel the burn tomorrow. The only change I made to this week is I added three planks at the end of the workout.

Here’s a break down of my workout.

Bent-Over Row and Kickback	16lbs	12 reps
Plie and Bicep Curl	20lbs	12 reps
Ballerina Plie	15lbs	15 reps
Chest Fly and Reverse Crunch	16lbs	12 reps
Lunge and Lateral Raise	10lbs	8 reps per side
Oblique Crunch with Dumbell	10lbs	12 reps
Swimming Back Extension		12 reps
Plank		25 secs.

I really enjoyed today’s workout. It’s been my favourite week so far.

When I got home I was starving. Bagel sandwich it was:

Now I’m sitting here eating some Multigrain Tostitos and Roasted Garlic Hummus.

Tonight I’m meeting my sister’s boyfriend for the first time. We are going out for Thai. Should be an interesting experience.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday night.

~ Katie :)

Twitter name change?

Happy Hump Day Everyone!

More on the twitter name change later. First some food porn…

Got up this morning and we were running a little late so breakfast this morning was on the go. Banana and cheese string. Not the best breakfast but got a little protein and and some natural sugars and fibre.

During the day I snacked on Gala apple, cheese string and a Cherry and Dark Chocolate Kashi bar. I actually wasn’t too hungry by the time lunch arrived. My random food seemed to tide me over for more of the day.

 

Lunch was the last of the leftover pasta and some carrots. I love carrots. They are healthy and so filling.

After I picked up Matt from work we decided to do Jillian Michael's Yoga Meltdown. I’m going to try to do a more in-depth review of this DVD this weekend but right now I’m loving this workout. I love the yoga moves combined with some cardio and strength training. I’m going to feel the burn tomorrow.

Before yoga we split a bagel and had a glass of chocolate milk…

Dinner was a scallop stir-fry. In the wok: scallops, green, yellow and red peppers, carrots and red pepper flakes. All in a little teriyaki sauce…

I will admit Matt did most of the cooking tonight but doesn’t it look delicious!!!

Served with a small amount a rice. Oh so good…

Today I also picked up a few new cook books from the library. I can’t wait to go through them and find some new recipes.

I love getting some new recipes to try. I’m loving the library now. I’m not great at creating my own but I love to adapt recipes from books to meet whatever I have around the house.

So I have a dilemma. I am just wondering about my twitter name. I have noticed that most people’s twitter user names reflect their blog titles. So the question is Should I change my twitter user name to reflect my blog? All opinions and thoughts are welcome. I’m very torn on this issue and would love some insight from the twitter/blog world.

Thanks.

~ Katie :)

Oh Starbucks how I love thee…

Just went out to grab a coffee so I could have one while blogging. Grande, non-fat, extra-hot Vanilla Latte.

 

Yes, that’s right I have an espresso maker in the background and I still get my coffee from starbucks. I use to make my own all the time but I’ve become very lazy. Maybe I’ll make my own tomorrow –I’m actually pretty good. Hmmm… 

This morning I woke up knowing I needed to eat more protein today so I figured I’d start with breakfast. As I looked through the cupboards I realized that I had nothing. So again I had my staple breakfast. Greek Yogurt, granola, chia seeds and this time I added some fresh pineapple. The sweetness of pineapple was a great contrast to the greek yogurt.

As I was getting ready for the gym I was still a little hungry so I grabbed a granola bar from the freezer. I love these!!!

I just wanted to do a quick 20 min interval run when I went to the gym. I had a massage in the afternoon and I didn’t want over work. As I was leaving for the gym I was even able to convince Matt to come with me.

At the gym I did a 20 min interval run – running between 6.2-7.2 for one min and walking at 3.6 for a min. I was really pushing myself. Usually I walk at 3.4 and run between 5.8-6.5.

After I got home and was cleaned up and showered I started to feel really queasy. I didn’t feel like eating even though I knew I probably should. So what does a girl do in this situation. She goes to twitter. Amy, Scott and Jaime all told me to eat something (carbs and protein).

I decided to take their advice and I made myself some lunch. Bagel sandwich with whole wheat bagel, turkey, cheddar cheese and spinach and a green smoothie. Green smoothie consisted of spinach, more fresh pineapple, flaxmeal, UVAB and ice. The lunch was a little large but I felt so much better. Thanks so much guys, you were right :)

I then hydrated before my massage and headed out.

This was my massage. It hurt but felt great. I think I’m going to need to keep going to be able to get all the knots out of my back.

On my way home I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some oats and peanut butter and I ended up finding some yummy looking organic tea.

Organic Rooibos tea of South Africa. I can’t wait to try it.

When I got home I hydrated some more and had another granola bar (I’m addicted)

By the time dinner came I had no idea what I was going to make. I decided to take some chicken out of the freezer. I looked through my cookbooks and found a recipe in Eat, Shrink and Be Merry that I thought I looked good but I didn’t have all the ingredients. Oh well, I improvised. Hickey BBQ Sauce, lemon, chill power and some fresh ginger. Mixed it all up, dipped in the chicken (cut up in strips) and put in the over for 20 mins. Served with roasted brussel sprouts, and the last of the leftover pasta. Yummy and filling.

Now I’m sipping on my coffee and watching American Idol. I think I’m also going to make a repeat of my dessert from last night yogurt and mini eggs. Hope everyone is having a great evening.

~ Katie :)

Dont’ forget about some great giveaways going on at: Embracing Balance, Life Health Fit and Dairy Free Betty.