Foraging For Lilacs With Old Man Oats

Lilac flowers are abundant in my area. Last year I had my heart set on making lilac syrup and ice cream, but I missed my window (lilac season is over in the blink of an eye). If you don’t have lilacs in your area, just know, they smell incredible! The scent is strong, the flowers are pretty, and there is a ton of them nearby.

Now was my chance, prime lilac season! We decided to take Old Man Oats foraging and Oliver to the puppy park. As you can see from the above photo, Oaty is a lazy bear skin rug, but he loves his walks. He’s super calm and Oliver is still young and bouncy. We haven’t got him leashed trained enough to take him foraging, yet. Hence, Oaty went hunting for lilac flowers, and Oliver to the puppy park when we returned.

Here is the haul we came back with. We picked them from a few different trees to avoid over-picking. There were so many flowers, that it likely would have been fine, but I want to forage responsibly.

It took HOURS to pluck all the flowers off the stems (the stems are apparently bitter, or I wouldn’t have bothered).

The recipe I started with was for lilac syrup. First, you start heating sugar and water.

Add a ton of lilacs and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Then let it steep for 3-8 hours (I left it overnight).

The next recipe I made was ice cream (looks pretty eh?). The recipe I chose didn’t add the lilacs until the recipe had cooled. I didn’t want chunks of flowers in my ice cream so I dumped them in to flavour the ice cream this way (like lavender ice cream which I love!). The flowers did turn brown after being exposed to heat, so I see why the recipe creator didn’t add them at this step). I had lots of leftover flowers, so I threw the rest in the pot and let the mixture steep for a few hours.

I strained out the flowers and put the batter in the fridge to cool.

Because I made this into a double batch of ice cream the ice cream maker couldn’t handle it. It didn’t freeze at all. I threw the whole thing in the freezer overnight until it froze solid and then ran the ice cream maker again. Terrible idea. I ran it a really long time, but the texture stayed icy instead of creamy.

Here’s how the syrup turned out after being strained. It was more green than lilac. I was really hoping for a pretty pale purple colour.

All this hard work was for Epic Sunday Breakfast. Sunday breakfast is a big deal for us. You have to go the extra mile and it’s for all of us (pups included). I chose to make waffles with the lilac recipes and have mimosas too. I did not put the lilac syrup in the mimosas, but maybe I should have? Missed opportunity. How did I like the lilac recipes? Sadly, they were meh. Not awful, but not great. I wanted to love them. I didn’t. They were just okay. The lilac flavour didn’t come through very much, even though I added extra flowers and steeped longer than mentioned in the recipes. The ice cream was mostly my fault, I didn’t follow the recipe and I messed up processing it in the ice cream maker, but the lilac flavour wasn’t there. In the future lilacs will be a garnish only.

Oliver impatiently waiting for his waffle.

As for the pups, they didn’t get any of the lilac recipes because I have no idea if lilacs are toxic for dogs. They got waffles with blueberries and maple syrup.

Secret Mission Three: The Beer Igloo

Secret mission number three of giving my spouse a Winter he loves was a dinner date at The Village Biergarten in St Jacobs.

For only $10 extra you can rent a heated outdoor igloo on the patio. The fee is incredibly low and you can rent the tent for up to eight people for around two hours.

To start, we ordered a tray of mac and cheese croquettes – they were okay. For drinks, Mr. Lobster Shorts ordered a beer and I a white wine sangria – yum!

We both ordered vegetarian burgers for the entree, which were really good. I would definitely go back if I was craving a burger, we both loved them. For a non-veg restaurant with a fairly small menu, it was really fantastic to see two veggie burger options. I got the falafel burger and he the portabello burger. We are both wearing our coats in these photos, but the igloo was pretty warm and toasty. I was not cold. There were only two of us and we were there for under an hour. You can see a lot of condensation on the inside of the igloo(we are full of hot air). When we were ready to leave, the condensation was beginning to drop down. It was starting to rain indoors. If you were a larger group and were planning to stay in the igloo for the entire time you rented it, you might get a little damp.
It was a fun experience and for only $10 extra it was defiitely worth it. I would do it again.

The town of St Jacobs is an incredible place to visit. The whole town looked like it was a movie set for a Christmas movie. I loved it. While we were there we picked up some hot sauces from Taste The 4th Sense, to do a spicy sauce challenge. I posted the video above if you want to watch us challenge ourselves to some spicy delights.

Oliver’s First Birthday And The Weekend

This weekend we celebrated our puppy’s first birthday and the weather turned towards real Winter. It’s still technically Fall here, but November is usually when the real cold starts. It was -5 today, which is not bad, but it’s also windy, making it feel colder.

I had a cavity repaired on Saturday which brought us to the city, and we decided to go shopping for Winter coats. Sport Chek was having a huge sale and I got the coat I wanted for 40%-45% off! I was so happy and it is so warm. Mr Lobster Shorts found one too.

I was in the mood for warm and hearty when we arrived back home. I made soup from yellow lentils (moong dal), potatoes, cauliflower, vegetable soup cubes, potatoes, spinach, and a heaping scoop of curry powder. It was my intention to put a can of coconut milk in the soup, but it was fine without it. It was delicious. I turned off the lights, lit the candelabra, and loved how cozy it made the table. The bread was a multigrain loaf from the grocery store and it was delightful. It was a romantic, cozy ending to the day. We curled up on the couch together to watch a movie but were both falling asleep before it ended.

Sunday started with this super simple, delicious breakfast made with sweet potatoes, I got the recipe here. It was yummy and easy! We made one for the dogs too (minus the blueberries for Otis. He gets explosive diarrhea from blueberries. Although I’m pretty sure after all the sweet potatoes and cupcakes, we’re going to be waking up to something horrible tomorrow morning). Sunday is usually pancake day for the whole family and the dogs love it. They circle the table and kitchen like sharks until it’s their turn. They are not patient. Today we had something a little different. We all loved it, puppies too. Aren’t blueberries and sweet potatoes such a pretty mix of colour?

After breakfast, we took the dogs for a trek through the woods and tested out the new Winter coats. They did really well! We were both toasty warm. Otis still fit in last year’s boots thank goodness. For a street dog, he’s got sensitive little toes! Oliver doesn’t need them unless there is a lot of salt. The pups had fun in all the snow and didn’t seem bothered by the cold at all. I figured Otis would be okay, with his thick golden retriever fur, but Oliver is half-spaniel and his coat isn’t very thick. No coat, no shoes, no problem. He wasn’t cold at all.

Lunch was the leftovers from last night’s dinner (minus the candlelight). Isn’t soup always better the next day?

Oliver was wondering why we weren’t sharing lunch with him! He IS the birthday boy.

Doesn’t Otis look adorable in a birthday hat? This only lasted long enough to snap the photo, then he pawed it off his head.

Oliver was less chill about the hat. His expression here says it all. He took off running with the hat in his mouth after the photo. We had to chase him down before he ate it. Good times little buddy!

Birthday shenanigans ended with mini vanilla cupcakes (from the grocery store) and a new toy. Both dogs are currently having a late afternoon nap sleeping off their treats and morning walk. I’m sitting in a beam of sunlight enjoying a hot cup of tea, content.

Monday Week Two Of Calorie Counting

Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet/nutritional advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional.

It’s the start of a new week and I did really good today. As per usual, I had an English muffin with egg and avocado for breakfast, with coffee. Lunch was chili and lots of tea and later a snack of apple sauce. All the Hello Fresh meals were gone and I wanted a Harvey’s veggie burger.

The calories for a Harvey’s veggie burger are awesome! 310 calories! I thought that must be for the patty only, but I checked and the patty is only 150 calories. Yes, please! I love their veggie burgers. Since this likely didn’t have any toppings calculated in, I just guessed my toppings were around 150 calories. For toppings, I always order “everything” which is ketchup, mustard, relish, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion. They messed up my order and instead of putting on the sauces I asked for, they put chipotle on my burger. Good enough, I didn’t go in and exchange the burger. It was still good, but I definitely prefer my menagerie of toppings. The messier a burger, the yummier.

My spouse likes to order fries with his meal and I pretend I don’t and eat his fries lol. He is also trying to lose a few pounds and opted just for the burger. I wanted to get some extra veggies into my diet and ordered a garden salad with balsamic dressing. I ate the salad while we waited for the burgers. I wasn’t able to eat the last bite of my burger. This is a pretty good strategy for me, eat the salad first. I ended up being over full because I liked the burger. That is another issue I have with food. If I really like something, I end up eating more than is comfortable for me. I’ve been pretty good about not over-stuffing myself lately, but I did end up doing that with the burger.

MondayCalories
english muffin140
egg78
avocado160
chili400
apple sauce45
garden salad40
salad dress90
veggie burger310
burger toppings150
wine200
popcorn160
total calories1773

I did really good today and stuck with my goal – 1800 calories or less. I did get hungry later in the day and split a bag of popcorn with Jay. I also had a glass of wine while I worked on a puzzle. It all fit into my calorie budget and I’m happy with how the day went.

What I Ate Today Sunday And Week Results

Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet/nutritional advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional.

I made berry crisp for breakfast this morning. I cut up rhubarb from the garden, and then strawberries and blueberries from the grocery store. I added a half tablespoon of sugar and cornstarch.

I topped it with oats, whole wheat flour, butter, brown sugar, and some salt. I didn’t add a lot of butter and it was still delicious. The calorie count for one was 520 calories. It was really nice with black coffee.

I snacked on cherries and a couple of chocolate crackers and had a salad with avocado for lunch. My spouse wanted to surprise me with dessert today.

He spent all day making me coconut cream pie (I had mentioned I had been craving it) and I had a really big piece.

Dinner was a portabello burger (the mushroom cap was the burger patty) from Hello Fresh with a side salad.

I overdid the calories again today.

SundayCalories
berry crisp520
coffee0
chococrackers x260
salad325
Cherries 2 cups154
coconut cream pie429
hello fresh burger
burger and sald620
coconut cream pie200
Calorie Totals2308

Sunday is supposed to be the only day I go over 1800 calories. I didn’t do very well this week. My average daily calorie intake was 2141 a day, but I was down a pound. Monday morning I was just a hair under 176lbs.

Saturday – Calorie Overload And Fun At The Beach

Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet/nutritional advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional.

Saturday morning, my spouse and took the pups in for a weigh-in. The puppy is now 75lbs and his older brother, Otis is 82lbs. After five months, Otis is at a really good weight. He doesn’t need to gain anymore. Both the dogs are healthy and doing well.

As per usual, Saturday morning Jay and I went to The Stonetown Cafe for breakfast. Sometimes we bring the doggos, but the two of them can be a handful, so we went ourselves. I was a little hungover from Friday and had orange juice instead of coffee. I had an egg sandwich on a bagel with a slice of cheddar cheese. I really like their iced coffee in the summer, but I was too thirsty.

Jay and I headed to the beach at noon and I got the Harvest Sandwich at Tim Hortons for lunch. I seem to be having a lot of these lately. Jay wanted one too, but there was only one left. Being the sweetheart he is he let me have it and opted for something else. He’s such a gentleman.

We had a super fun day at the beach. The water was warm bath water. I loved it. I brought a little underwater metal detector that I found on Aliexpress with us. I didn’t have much hope for it, but it actually worked! It takes a 9-volt battery and it’s really small and discreet. I don’t know why, but I feel really silly using a metal detector around people. This thing definitely flew under the radar and guess what… It’s waterproof! We went snorkeling with it and I’m in love with this little thing. Jay even found something in the water!

Aaaand we found a dog shock collar. No, we will not be keeping it or using it. I wish we had found something a little less… shocking. The summer is just starting there will be a lot more fun beach days with this gadget. I’m so excited to use it again.

Jay made us dinner with Hello Fresh. It was absolutely delicious, but the calorie count was HUGE. The bag was 810 calories per serving, but the tortellini noodles were separate. The noodles were around 400 calories. Knowing the last time, they didn’t include the items separate from the bag into the meal calories, this meant this was massively high in calories. Even though I ate less than the serving size, I still had quite a lot of it. I adjusted the calories so they would more reflect what I ate. I also had popcorn and snacks this day, bringing my calorie count for the day to a whopping 2789 calories! YIKES.

SaturdayCalories
bagel250
egg78
slice of cheese113
orange juice111
Strawberries 318
latte160
harvest sandwich – Tims391
granula bar160
apple sauce45
tortelini pasta400
hello fresh pasta bag790
popcorn213
chococrackers x260
Total Calories2789

Friday Fun Day

Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet/nutritional advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional.

Friday starts with “Epic Breakfast”. Epic breakfast has lattes from the Snapping Turtle and Harvest Sandwiches from Tim Hortons.

I was going out for dinner with friends this evening. Knowing that I had the option to take a train or walk home earlier that afternoon. It was a pretty hot day and I wanted to burn some extra calories before dinner. For the same reason, I wanted to have a light lunch.

I stopped off at the grocery store and you can see what I bought in the photo above. The strawberries smelled so wonderful I had to get them. I was pretty thirsty, so I also got watermelon. There were two slices of watermelon, but one of them didn’t make it home. It was SO GOOD! It got all over me it was juicy and delicious. YUM! I had half the garden salad for lunch with avocado and balsamic dressing. I forgot to take a photo of it. I got really hungry before I went out for dinner and had a chocolate cracker.

Dinner started with a cocktail at the Braai House in Stratford. I’ve been there a few times now and always enjoy the food.

I didn’t order appetizers. I rarely do. I don’t think I’ve ever had a problem with being hungry with just the entree, so I skip it. I ordered a pizza to share with my spouse.

I had two slices of pizza and two cocktails. I will stick with one drink next time. Two drinks hit me like a brick and I left that restaurant pretty tipsy. I’m pretty sure I was still tipsy when I went to bed that night. One is enough lol.

FridayCalories
Tim’s Harvest Sandwich391
latte160
Apple sauce45
M&Ms100
Watermelon 2” slice87
Strawberries 1/2 cup25
garden salad130
Avocado 1/2160
Dressing 1/8 cup90
Watermelon 2” slice87
chococracker30
2 cocktails500
Pizza 2 slices740
Total Calories2545

I was trying to keep the calories down at lunch to come closer to 1800 calories, but as you can see, I went WAY over. I should have stayed away from those M&Ms at least. I didn’t have a calorie count on the pizza, so I used the same as it would be for a pizza chain for a large pizza and used that. I also used a tequila sunrise to guess how many calories were in the cocktails I had. I’m hoping there were less in what I had! I went over and it’s going to happen sometimes. I still want to be able to enjoy restaurants with friends and I’m not going to beat myself up about it and move on.

The Monotony Of Counting Calories and What I Ate Today – July 12 2022

Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet/nutritional advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional.

I’ve tried tons of diets. If they include a vegetarian lifestyle (even if they don’t I can usually adapt it to one), I’ve probably tried it. I’ve even tried Keto, which I did notice increased my libido. I’m taking a guess here and assuming that means my everyday diet includes too much sugar/carbs. Keto was not a diet I was able to stick with, even with the unexpected benefits. Like every other diet I’ve tried, it was quickly cast aside and any benefits I gained were quickly lost, or it just didn’t work. I’m sad to say, there is no miracle solution to weight loss for me.

I really dislike counting calories. It’s monotonous, tedious, and annoying, but I need to do it. For the last few weeks, I assumed I was eating pretty well with fewer calories, but I didn’t lose any weight. It was time to figure out where I was going wrong and have a better understanding of how much I was eating. I knew I was doing a couple things wrong. I was eating too much junk food and portioning out the same amount of food as my spouse, who is a male. I do not require the same amount of calories as a grown man, therefore I really shouldn’t be eating the same portion sizes as one. I cut my portion size down to about 75% of what he was eating, yet still didn’t notice any weight loss.

I started a spreadsheet chart and am aiming to eat around 1800 calories a day. Sundays I’ll be a little more lax. I’ll post the results of what I ate on July 11/2022.

MondayCalories
Avocado eggs benny563
coffee0
tea0
chilli400
m&ms100
granola bar160
apple sauce45
strawberries18
cola – a couple sips from my spouse10
curry680
Totals1976

As you can see I went over my 1800-calorie goal on my first day.

Tuesday I had an egg sandwich with avocado for breakfast.

For lunch, I had a can of vegetarian chili I got at Costco: Sprague. They are great for lunch – heat and eat. Although this photo does NOT look appetizing, the chili is actually really good, with a slight hint of heat. I really like it and plan on having it for lunch during the work week, until I eventually want something else.

Dinner I have been making Hello Fresh for a couple weeks now and I LOVE IT!!! They have about 6 vegetarian meals to choose from every week. I just noticed that they have the calories for each meal listed on the bag. SUPER helpful. Even though it’s pretty expensive it keeps me from getting takeout on the commute home. That was a huge problem for me. I have been having granola bars on the ride home which isn’t great, but I notice the dogs get a better walk when we get home if I’m not starving, as they are always walked before dinner. I tend to become a homebody after dinner and prefer to walk them beforehand. That usually means we eat really late at night, but so far that’s how it’s going for us.

Last night was fatoush salad from Hello Fresh and was one of the lower calorie items: only 480 calories per serving! I usually divide the dinner into three as Hello Fresh usually has generous portion sizes, giving my spouse lunch to take to work the next day, but because the calories were so low, I only divided it in two (I did not dole out a smaller portion size than my spouse this time lol). It was really good. I loved it. I’ll post the results of the calories I ate for the whole day:

TuesdayCalories
english muffin140
egg78
Avocado 1/2160
black coffee0
Lemondade 1 cup100
bite of a scone30
tea0
Chilli 1 can400
m&ms 1/8 cup100
tea0
apple sauce45
granola160
raspberries65
fatoush salad480
chocolate cracker30
Total1788

That chocolate cracker was had late at night and right before bed. It wasn’t necessary, but since I would stay within my allotted calorie count for the day, I ate it. Not exactly the precedence I want to set. These little things add up and could interfere with my goals.

Overall I think I did really good yesterday and hope to keep it up. My intentions usually fall apart and instead of picking myself up and continuing, I scrap the whole process. I’d like to stop doing that and figure out a way to stick with it carrying on with my goals. It’s something I need to work on in myself and learn to figure out.

Lackadaisical Breakfasts And A Dad’s Memorial To His Daughter

It was a rare weekday morning that my spouse and I got to enjoy a slower pace in the morning. Mornings are usually rushed between dogs, cooking breakfast, and getting ready for the commute to work. This particular morning was a different experience, one I would even describe as serene.

While I was picking up lattes from The Snapping Turtle (I love them so much!), my handsome fella was picking up breakfast sandwiches from Tim Hortons. We love the Harvest Sandwich made with vegetarian sausage. It’s one of my favourite things from Tim Hortons, I hope they keep making them.

It was a beautiful day and we wanted to be outside. We picked “The Nicole Bench”. This bench was set up recently in my town and I was curious what the “N” or “Z” meant. A man was tending the spot while we were out walking, we stopped and chatted for a bit. It was a memorial for his daughter, taken too soon. She loved to sit out there and watch the water. He made this tranquil spot in her honor and faced the bench in her favourite direction. It was heartbreaking really.

We enjoyed the view that morning while we sat and ate our breakfast, enjoying each other’s company, loving that we had this quiet peaceful morning together. Very rare and so much appreciated. These small moments mean so much because you just never know.

Birthdays and Baking Fails

It was my spouse’s birthday and I wanted to make his day all the better with a decadent breakfast and birthday cake. I made him eggs benny for breakfast and that turned out… pretty well. I did overcook the poached eggs so they were solid in the middle. That’s how I like my eggs. I would rather have eggs dryer than the Sahara Desert than have snotty eggs. My spouse on the other hand likes a runny center in his egg, so that’s the first cooking fail of the day. It was tasty and I used a hollandaise sauce packet so it was pretty easy. I did not put anywhere near the amount of butter they were asking for in the sauce. It was way too much butter. I used half the butter they were asking for and made the rest up in yogurt. It was still really good. I froze the rest. I’m not sure how that will work out, but I love eggs benny and looking forward to trying it.

My second failure was attempting a cake decoration. I saw a Youtube video of cake decorating hacks and one of the hacks used stamps for wax seals in chocolate to make really cool chocolate buttons.

I had a bunch of different seals to try and they all failed. The weight of the seal sank all the way through the chocolate.

Even when I froze them I couldn’t separate them the chocolate broke off. I have no idea how they managed to do it, but mine failed and I’m not going to try again.

My third fail of the day was this cheesecake, although delicious, developed huge cracks while cooking. I didn’t read the blog post (the irony of having a blog and skipping through the writing to get to the recipe. Blogger karma?) so the fault could have been mine in something I missed. I know sometimes you are supposed to add water to the oven while it bakes. Either way, it didn’t look pretty, but it tasted amazing.

Overall my spouse enjoyed his big day and although it didn’t look pretty, the cake was delicious.