What We Ate This Week [12]

It’s crunch time! The week right before I leave for any trip, I get really preoccupied with things that need to be done. Laundry and other household stuff, menus that clean out the fridge, packing, getting stuff together to take the dogs to the kennel… Hmm. Not so sure I like this whole being an adult gig!

Anyway, here’s what I ate this week!

Monday: Leftover vegan chili on a baked potato. The chili was based on this recipe (I didn’t use TVP, I just added an extra can of beans).

Tuesday: More leftovers! I love leftovers. I had the same meals as Monday.

Wednesday: I made some pasta sauce with canned tomato sauce, ground turkey, onion and garlic and served it with some spaghetti and spinach. Yum!

Thursday: I had gone for a 6km walk and did not feel like making dinner, whatsoever. I saw a sign on my walk about a community BBQ so I went over there and had a couple hot dogs and ended up running into friends.

Friday: Cauliflower crust mini pizza. This was my first time making cauliflower crust and it actually turned out well. Here is the recipe. I added roasted red pepper, spinach and Daiya.

I also did a couple of crafts this week. Come back and check them out!

 

 

 

What We Ate This Week [11]

I will keep this short and sweet! Confession: there are no pics. My mind is so preoccupied with my upcoming trip and my husband’s return… I need to start making lists so I don’t forget anything else! Anyway, here is what we munched on for dinner last week.

Monday: Quinoa salad with avocado

Tuesday: Leftover quinoa salad

Wednesday: Spinach and avocado salald with chicken breast

Thursday: I got dressed up on Thursday! And went out! The high school where I coach cheerleading was having their athletics banquet (I’m in photo 3 of this slideshow, clearly in my own happy little world) so all of the teams and coaches from the school were there for a dinner and award presentations. The food was not that bueno for me (had to skip the buns and the Caesar salad), and I ended up with corn, potatoes that were probably loaded with milk and butter, and some kind of beefy slab on my plate. I kind of figured this would happen, so I got over it pretty quickly!

Friday: Hardboiled eggs with a simple salad

Are you forgetful when you’re preoccupied?

Goals for June! (+ Tiny Garden Update)

I went out to see what my garden has been up to these past few days. My pea plants are getting HUGE and guess what else… I see tiny Cilantro shoots coming up as well! So dainty looking. Can’t wait to eat them!

Let’s see how I did with last month’s goals!

1. Make more of an effort to eat well when Chris isn’t home. I think I’ve done pretty well! I try to still eat vegetarian meals. I even eat more eggs when he’s not home because he doesn’t really like them as a meal. I also try to make big batches of healthy stuff and try to make sure I’m making smart snack decisions. 

2. Focus more on being active outside. Ok, so this was kind of a fail for May. But in June I DID start running outside!

3. CRUNCH THAT GROCERY BUDGET! NO. NO NO NO. Stupid grocery bill. I WILL tame you this summer!

4. Keep up with the housework a smidgen better. I try to do some work here and there when I notice it’s dirty and that’s been helpful. As in, I will clean the tub after we get home from the farm because it’ll have a nasty brown ring around it haha and I sweep every day as well! Dishes still get done… Ok… I need to wipe the couch more often with all the doggie dust but it’s a work in progress!

So for JUNE…

1. Continue eating well!

2. Find something that motivates me to work out daily now that my HIIT challenge is over.

3. Run! I installed RunKeeper on my iPhone to track my runs. I set a goal of 10km to run before I leave for a wedding in New Brunswick…

4. Grocery. Bill. Yeah.

There we go! And here I go!

Beginner DIY Garden Project

So, I’ve been blogging for a couple of months now. Sadly, I keep breaking the cardinal rule of blogging, which seems to be: Take Photos of EVERY Step on EVERY project! Oops. I got kind of carried away with this one because it was so hot out and I had a baby strapped to my back…

Anyway, this summer, we are participating in the local CSA project by working the garden to pay off our share of veggies. I also decided that I’d like to start my very first small backyard garden to see if I’m capable at all of growing my own food. Since Chris wasn’t able to dig my little garden for me, I decided to try something else.

I found this post about a DIY pallet garden. It seemed pretty straightforward so off we went to Canadian Tire to pick up our supplies! Canadian Tire (our local one, anyway) gives away plain wooden pallets to anyone who wants to pick them up.

I also grabbed some pea gravel, organic potting soil, landscape fabric and some organic pea seeds to get me started.

The only thing I’m worried about, is that my slats seem much closer together than the pallet in the original blog. I’m hoping my little plants will still get enough sunlight once they poke through. I tried to place the pallet on a very sunny part of the yard. Oh, hi Danger!

I stapled the landscape fabric to the underside of the pallet and layered in the gravel and soil, just like the original plan stated. I then gave it a good watering and told myself I’d plant the seeds the next day. I soaked the seeds overnight in some water and they had begun to sprout a little so hopefully they’ll grow ok! We just had a good bit of rain so we’ll see. I’ll do an update once I get the rest of my seeds. Wish me luck!

 

Hmm, What is This #Blend2013 You Speak Of?

I used to follow lots of celebrities on Twitter. Then I started blogging, and I thought… what benefit is this to me, aside from a little pre-bedtime amusement? Well, that’s a stretch – it was more like mindless blathering most of the time. So I did a mass unfollowing and started fresh with a couple of blogs that I had previously read;  then I went to their following/follower lists and picked a few here and a few there. Currently, I follow 309 people and/or blogs.

I started out with 11 followers, myself. Now, since I have started this blog, that number is sitting at 90! I think that’s pretty good, for not really putting forth a ton of effort to get more followers.

Since most of the people I follow, follow each other, I noticed a #trend lately: #blend2013. Hmmm… what is this?

So I visited the website. Blend Retreat is a weekend get-together (blog + friend = blend) for bloggers across the US and Canada – this year it’s in Utah. It’s sponsored by a bunch of great companies and focuses on health (natural healthy food being served), fitness (boot camps and hiking are included in the ticket price) and networking with a whole gaggle of awesome, blogging, like-minded women! Plus the prices are pretty reasonable.

Anyway, I think I want to add attendance to a future Blend Retreat to my long-term goals. I will keep blogging and instagramming and tweeting… I will get there!

It Feels Like Spring!

Double digit weather! Yes! The sun was shining and there was a bit of a breeze. Perfect cloth diaper-drying weather!

I love using my clothesline. The sun gets the stains out (mamas, you know what stains I’m talking about…), they get a nice fresh smell, and our gas bill is SO LOW once I cut down on using the dryer. Oh, and it’s good for the environment, too! Win!

We all went out today and let little B walk around in the grass. It kind of freaks him out. He doesn’t like to touch it – I think it’s because it’s still kind of dry and crunchy. He’ll come around! And seeing as it was May the 4th, he decided to participate in the Star Wars festivities.

May the Fourth be with you! I hope your day was as beautiful as ours!

 

 

Goal Setting and Evaluation!

The weather! Oh, the weather! Is finally… not crummy! Actually, today was sunny and beautiful. Still a little chilly at only +6 but I was still able to wash both cars and take B for a walk around the block in his stroller. Tomorrow and the next day are supposed to be even nicer.

I was thinking today about what I was going to be blogging and remembered about the goals I had set at the beginning of April. Uh oh! Does that mean I forgot all about them? Um, maybe a little. Like any good habit, it takes a while to get into it regularly.

So let’s revisit last month’s goals and see where I’m at –

1. Cutting down sugar: I haven’t bought white sugar since writing that post. I have been using brown sugar to bake and in my oatmeal. I also use honey, maple syrup and dates to sweeten most of my food. I find that I have a horrible sugar crash if I go a whole day without something sweet. That should be my motivation but unfortunately, I’m not there yet.

2. More outdoor exercise while continuing my HIITs at home: I have been doing lots of HIIT at home. At least 4x a week. Which I think is pretty great! Today I went for a walk outside, but today was also the first day that it was warm enough to really enjoy it! I will try to start jogging a little now that’s nicer (I have a jogging stroller for when Chris isn’t home to watch B… there, I said it! No excuses).

3. Cut down the grocery bill: FAIL. Big fat fail. Will try again.

4. Be more positive and trusting: I think this one has been going well! I have been trying to gently nudge him into thinking about what is going to be happening in the next six months and I think he is getting my ‘sense of urgency’ a little more now.

Ok! Onto May’s goals. Which are really just continuations of April’s goals 🙂

1. Make more of an effort to eat well when Chris isn’t home. I have a green smoothie every morning but I need to make more of an effort through the WHOLE day. I have noticed a slight gain in my middle. Gotta keep that in check! It doesn’t help that we’ve all been feeling a little under the weather since we got home from Jasper.

2. Focus more on being active outside. Now that the weather is better, why not?! Plus it’s pretty easy to throw in a 15 minute HIIT routine at any point during the day, so that part’s not a problem.

3. CRUNCH THAT GROCERY BUDGET! The bane of my existence. This month will be kind of cheating though (next month, too) because Chris will be away! It will give me a chance to pare down the pantry though.

4. Keep up with the housework a smidgen better. I make the bed every day, do the dishes every night, and the laundry is always kept up. However, cleaning the floors and bathrooms have been thrown to the wayside lately. I need to get back on track with my Monday cleaning routine!

Wish me luck this month!

Jasper Trip, Day 4

Well, the conference is over.

Chris didn’t feel like getting out of bed to go for brunch so he let me use his meal ticket. OH MY GOODNESS! The room was FULL of food! He has been eating like royalty this whole time and I have been eating homemade quinoa salad out of a hotel glass! They had fruit, eggs, waffles, chicken, desserts… random, I know. They even had a table just for vegans! Which is a nice idea even though all it had one it was cut fruit, granola and soy milk. Still, it’s the thought that counts.

So I took some of the granola with soy milk and a bowl of fruit. And then I thought, “I can’t ‘just’ eat that with all this other food around!” So I grabbed a scoop of Saskatoon berry bread pudding and a mini lemon meringue tart. The pudding was amazing! The tart was a little too sweet for me, however. I washed everything down with a cup of coffee and decided I’d better leave before I make myself sick eating all the delicious food!

Back at the room, I started packing up all our things. We were ready to check out at 11, a whole HOUR before check out time! Which is miraculous for us.

After check out we finally got to head up to the Tramway!

At 7,500ft, Jasper looks even more amazing! Though after we got up there it started snowing pretty hard… it was cold up there!

We ate lunch at the restaurant at the top of the Tramway. It was a good price and was hot and yummy. I really wanted the locally-raised lamb burger, but of course that was the only thing on the menu that they didn’t have! They had just opened that weekend and were still getting everything sorted out.

Then we took the Tram back down, jumped in the car, and drove home! After a quick stop in Edmonton for some sushi at dinner time, we were on the road again. We made it home at around 9:30pm, just in time for bed!

Thanks to Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and the Alberta Library Association for a fun event. What a great weekend. I’m so glad I finally got to see the Rockies.

Jasper Trip, Day 3

Today was kind of a relaxed day. Chris had lots of seminars, so after lunch, Braeden and I went back into town for a little bit. It was windy and cold so we didn’t stay too long. I was DETERMINED to get a coffee from the SnowDome, so I got some cash and down into the laundromat we went. Yes, this coffee bar is inside a laundromat.

This is the top of Braeden’s head, posing with my delicious decaf almond milk vanilla latte. OH GOSH. Better than Starbucks, hands down. It was sweet, foamy, rich and a delicious.

Braeden and I went down to the Kids Club after we got back. What a great idea! It was a huge room filled with tons of toys. They even had an XBox 360 with the dance game playing. I don’t know what it’s called but it was fun! I tried to get a video of Chris dancing to Baby, One More Time but he caught me and deleted it.

Then we went for our last outdoor swim. The health club attendant was so sweet during our whole stay. She has a nephew named Braiden so she always made sure to say hi. She brought him a little toy dinosaur to play with in the pool as well. Braeden loved it!

After our swim, Chris went to his special Black and White dinner. Braeden had a nap when we got back to the room. Then, all three of us went to the dance for the conference. They had a photobooth set up that printed out free pictures. Ours didn’t turn out perfectly and I wanted to go back but I forgot!

For being a grey and drizzly day, it turned out pretty fun!

Jasper Trip, Day 2

Today was pretty low-key. Chris had a bunch of seminars and sessions to attend for his conference so Braeden and I hung out together for most of the day.

After we ate some of the oatmeal I had brought, we got dressed and ventured out into the Jasper townsite. I loved the backdrop of the mountains, and the trains moving through the hills. Today was grey but the rain managed to keep away for our purposes. I took Braeden around in the stroller and we checked out all of the shops and clothing stores on the main drag. I got a super adorable necklace and one for my niece. Plus fudge. You can’t walk by fresh fudge and not buy some. You just can’t. I also grabbed a few groceries for our hotel room.

I stopped into one cafe that I was really looking forward to checking out. They do gluten free muffins and apparently have the best coffee in Jasper! They also make their coffees with soy OR almond milk! Awesome! Except for one thing. They only take cash. And I had MAYBE 30 cents in my wallet. I will grab some cash from Chris and maybe try again tomorrow if the rain isn’t too bad.

We were supposed to do the Jasper Tramway ride today as well, but Chris ended up having an extra meeting that we didn’t account for so we will do it sometime before we leave!

He has my phone at his social event tonight so he could maybe snap a picture of himself with one of his favourite authors. Chris has been chatting him up tonight and went back to have a drink with him, so I’ll have to add my photos later! Cross your fingers for ‘ok’ weather tomorrow…