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.
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.
I cooked a few times this week and what I made turned out really good! The photo above is the Black Bean Mole and Salsa from the Speedy Bosh! cookbook. It was a really unique recipe with some ingedients I didn’t expect (like chocolate and oranges). It was good too! The recipes in the book look really interesting and not so typical. I’m really looking forward to trying more of them.
This next dish, I used a sesame sauce recipe from The Complete Book of Sauces with broccoli, zucchini and rice. It was also a success! It was also a quick make and that is something I can use in my life. Our routines are all upturned after expanding our family with the two dogs and quick and easy is what I’m looking for.
For this egg and sweet potato dish, I went off roading. I based this creation roughly off this recipe here. I left the bacon out and used different veggies. I cooked everything in my air fryer except for the egg, which I did in a pan. It was also good. I loved the ease of “set it and forget it” using the airfryer. I love that appliance.
Three successes! I’m still terrible about getting takeout instead of cooking during the work week. It’s my planning that’s causing me problems. I need to set aside the time to know what I want to cook, get the ingredients and prepare it. Otherwise, I’m going to keep eating unhealthy. These three dishes I was super proud of. If I could keep cooking this way, I think I would be doing myself a huge favour.
I went on a tear at bookoutlet.ca shopping for cookbooks. I love this store. I heard about it from Shannon’s Bookish Musings on YouTube. It’s a lovely store that sells books at discounted prices. I’ve ordered from there several times and each time the shipping was fast and the books in perfect condition. I love it.
This time it was a cookbook spree (I keep hoping From A Buick 8 by Stephen King, will pop up in there one day. I lost my copy in a move and I want to read it again. Stephen King is one of those authors I love to reread. What happened to that book??). Anyway, cookbooks. It was all about cookbooks. I’m not sure where that came from, I don’t buy them super often.
I’m not sure what exactly I was looking for, mostly quick and easy by the looks of it (and clearly cheesecake too. I love cheesecake). I’ve gotten back into bad habits of not cooking and getting takeout all the time. The new rescue dog is home from Turkey now and we’ve been focusing all our time and energy on the dogs. This is probably going to continue until we get our routines established and puppers has settled a little more. I’m feeling a little shell shocked (probably not as much as the dog!). I need to start cooking. For awhile I was making really fantastic, healthy breakfasts. That stopped after the second dog came home. I don’t recall cooking at all except once in the last week. All takeout! It’s terrible..
Something I’m really guilty for when buying cookbooks, is spending hours browsing through them… and then never making anything. What IS that all about? A lot of these cookbooks are hopefully going to check all the boxes, quick and light on dishes. I’ve got a recipe picked out for the sauce recipe book, tonight. I was going to chuck some veggies into the airfryer, add some pumpkin seeds and soba noodles and the top it with one of the sauce recipes. That sounds pretty easy.
This last recipe book Speedy Bosh, has fantastic sounding recipes. I hope they are as quick as it implies. I’m looking forward to trying them (possibly the cheesecake book will come in handy this weekend). I’ll post an unboxing video below, if you are into that sort of thing
Shark week has begun and I am getting cravings. I want cookies! I am trying my best to ignore them. Last night I got take out at the Pita Pit – a small halloumi pita. I finished the whole thing. In the future I’m hoping to cut that down. I’m not sure how many calories are in a pita, the small size is pretty big. I’m hoping to shrink my portion sizes down and polishing the whole thing off isn’t helping. I recall not being able to finish one back when I was 20lbs lighter. I’m sure I’ll be getting pitas again in the near future.
When I got home from work I went for a jog on the treadmill. My speed was 3.7 again and I went a little further on the distance and for a longer duration. My goal on the treadmill is to keep it at around 30 minutes, but to increase the speed. My legs are tired, but so far my hip muscles aren’t bothering me like last time. I think that’s pretty fantastic, but I usually feel the previous days workout in the evening the next day, so I might still be in for some more discomfort.
I was sweaty. I snacked on a banana before I went to bed and had some sparkling water. I would have had more water, but I didn’t want to be up all night peeing. I need to improve my water intake. I’m pretty sure I live in a constant state of dehydration. I don’t seem to care to drink anything unless it’s coffee or alcohol. I never seem to be thirsty.
Breakfast started with a smoothie bowl and coffee. For lunch I had a can of Campbell’s Moroccan Chickpea soup. I’ll be going out for sushi after work today and I’m really not sure how I’m going to make that healthy. It’s a buffet. I’ll have to make up for it by eating healthier on Friday and the weekend.
Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional
Sunday started with “Epic Breakfast” (that’s what I call the big breakfast I cook on Sundays. There’s no restrictions). It was air fried potatoes with salt and a bit of avocado oil, a croissant, two fried eggs, and coffee. I massacred those eggs. Sunny side up was not happening this day.
Here I am taking the kayaks for a walk. It was going to be another scorcher today, so we went for a paddle on the river. We tried out the new kayak racks. They worked very well, but the tie downs that came with them were crappy and kept slipping. I tied the tails to the boat seat and that helped a lot.
I saw some pretty things and cool creatures along the way. There are tons of clams in the river. Don’t worry, this one was put back in the river after a quick snap shot.
There was a clear spot that is a little deeper further up the river. We were super hot and decided to take a quick swim to cool off. It was very refreshing but I don’t know if there are any leaches or craapy things in the river, so I made it quick. I must have snapped this pic before I got crispy fried. I don’t know why I always assume I’m not going to burn. I did. A lot. My spouse was putting aloe all over my face and neck when I got home and calling me his cherry tomato.
Lunch was a bowl of leftover green curry and for dinner I had a 6inch veggie sub. Between lunch and dinner I managed to have a bottle of a vanilla mudslide (the boozy kind), and a strawberry banana Palm Bay. The mudslide was amazing and I want to drink a million of them.
I also had these cookies with the sub. Later I had a slice of pie and a glass of wine too. It was a decadent day. Because I went kayaking, I counted that as my workout for the day. I was planning to do the stretching video, but I was burnt and didn’t feel like it.
Time to see my results after a week:
I’m down 0.2lbs… That’s it. After all these really tough workouts. I am annoyed. Apparently, my cheat days include too much cheating. I was very irritated with the results when I got on the scale this morning. I had planned to make a green smoothie bowl for breakfast but I was in a foul mood and didn’t make anything. I ended up stopping in at Tim Hortons for an egg and cheese sandwich on the homestyle biscuit and a coffee. I had a bowl of soup for lunch today and plan to have a healthy dinner, but no idea what that is yet.
Even though I’m down in some spots, that could be a measuring error, so I’m not counting it as a win yet, plus my chest is up an inch. Overall I’m pretty unhappy with the results. I’m going to have to do less cheating on cheat days and reduce the amount I’m eating. I didn’t see the results I was hoping for, which would have been a loss of a couple pounds. I’m grumpy.
Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional.
Every Saturday, my spouse and I go to the Stone Town Cafe. We go every week, it’s a tradition we started back when our dog was still alive. The three of us would get egg and cheese sandwiches. The owner of the café always had a couple cookies for her, sometimes a few of the café regulars too. She was stuffed by the time we went home. I miss her a lot. She loved her Saturday morning treats.
We’ve kept with the tradition, and still go every Saturday. Lately, I’ve been having a lot of eggs at home and have wanted something different. I’ve been getting the Mediterranean wrap. It’s healthy with lots of veggies and light on the cheese. I get it with a coffee.
On the way home from breakfast, I went to Kitchen Smidgen for some sweet treats. They had one of my favourites, custard tarts. One for both of us and a meringue to split. One bite each lol. It’s probably lucky for me that the bakery is only open Fridays and Saturdays. I feel it’s okay to splurge on weekends.
Lunch I made an attempt at green curry without a recipe. It was okay. It had tofu, green curry paste, coconut milk, and veggies. I served it over brown rice. I did some weeding today and I just sat on my butt in the garden to do it. My thighs are still burning like crazy from the Start It Up workout I did two days ago. I’m making sounds when I sit down and stand. You know… huhhhhhhh what did I do to myself groany sounds… Every time I sit or stand. I did the Slim In 6 Ab workout. That’s all my legs would allow. I wanted to save the stretching video for tomorrow.
This was dinner this evening. Avocado and egg on a whole wheat bun, a piece of cheese. I’m still craving this non stop. No signs of getting sick of it anytime soon. I had a slice of pie this evening and a glass of red wine. I forgot to take a picture of the pie. It was strawberry rhubarb pie with a sugar crumble topping, homemade. I’m going to be splurging a little tomorrow too. Sunday is big breakfast day. Once it cools down a little I’d like to spend some more time outside. It’s still very hot here in Ontario.
Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional.
Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional.
Here we are again, avocado and an egg on an English muffin, served with coffee. I love this breakfast. I could eat this every day, multiple times over and over and over again. Just talking about it, I want to eat it again.
I didn’t bring my lunch to work today, I was going to make something when I got home. My snack box from Vegan Cuts came in and I dug into it on the way home.
I split this rice krispie square with my spouse. Then novelty of having rice Krispy squares again was wonderful, the square was okay.
I split this cookie from the snack box too. I don’t want to dump on a product, but this was really gross. We both took only a bite and didn’t want anymore. It tasted really plastic like.
We tried these Snacklins and I really liked them. Lots of snacks, right… well there’s more.
I stopped in at the Snapping Turtle again for a dreamy latte and a cookie. This time the cookie was MY idea. I had forgotten I hadn’t had lunch yet. They didn’t have my favourite peanut butter cookie, but they had these chocolate covered coffee bean shaped ones and they left the café with me. One for each of us.
I didn’t really need lunch at this point, but still wanted something else, so I tried the new cheese from the Cheese Of The Month Club from the local cheese shop. I’m not sure what kind of cheese it is, but it has chili peppers in it and super good with a wonderful nip to it.
To make my day even healthier, I had pizza for dinner with wine, again. It was tasty.
I got everything I needed to do today done around 8:00pm and I really wasn’t feeling up to a workout. My legs were still really sore from yesterday and I just didn’t have it in me. I am trying to form a habit, (don’t they say it takes around 30 days?) of daily exercise and I didn’t want to start slacking off before I’d even hit a week. No days off. So I did this arm workout again. I didn’t do well. I had to put my arms down constantly and give them a shake many many times. I was doing push ups (very very modified push ups) yesterday with Slim In 6 and I don’t think my arms had recovered enough for this one. It was probably the day I should have done stretching, but I really wasn’t in the mood to set up the DVD player and change my clothes.
It wasn’t my best day, but I was saving Friday to Sunday for cheat days. I didn’t want to eat quite this badly on Friday, but I’m not going to beat myself up about it. I’m hungry, so I’m going to snack on some pickles before bed.
Which turned into a slice of strawberry rhubarb pie
Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional.
This morning for breakfast I had an English muffin with an egg and 1/2 an avocado with a coffee. I love this breakfast, it’s so tasty and satisfying. I want two eggs, but have stuck with one cut in half for each side because I know it’s enough. I want the second egg because I like how tasty it is, but I don’t need it, I just want it.
For lunch I had a can of Campbell’s Moroccan Chickpea Soup and snacked on cherry tomatoes. I made another pit stop to the Snapping Turtle with my spouse again, but this time I told him no cookies, just the latte. I still had a bite of his, because the peanut butter cookies there are magical. Just a bite though.
My spouse surprised me with dinner while I was playing in my craft room. It was wine and a frozen pizza. He cooks them really well. The crust was wonderfully crunchy. It wasn’t the healthiest meal, but it was nice not to have to cook. I had some pickles and a chunk of cheese before dinner. I was hungry.
My hips were still super sore in the morning from jogging a couple days ago, but they were fine enough by the evening to get out the Slim In 6 tape again. I did the Start It Up workout again and it left me sweaty and breathless. I had to modify a small section of the arm part (most of that is from yesterday’s torture in the gym), but I did most of it. I did manage to get through the rest of it.
Here’s my post workout face for your viewing pleasure.
Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional.
Breakfast today was made by my spouse, an English muffin with a fried egg, and cheese. I snacked on more cherry tomatoes during the morning while I was at work.
This… this was my lunch today. I must admit, it was magical. I do love my cookies and lattes. It wasn’t my intention to get a cookie, the plan was just to get a latte and make lunch when I got home. My spouse was the one to go into the Snapping Turtle on the way home from work (it was only a half day for me today) and he came back with lattes and cookies. I COULD have said no… but I love these cookies, they’re so good. I was still going to make a lunch when I got home, but I was full, so I waited for dinner to eat again.
It appears I am still on a halloumi kick, I had salad with the leftover farro and halloumi from a couple days ago. This time I used a commercially prepared balsamic vinaigrette for the dressing. It was a huge plateful and I didn’t finish it all in one go. The plate was close by (I had dinner on the couch watching a movie) and I ended up finishing the salad by the time the movie ended. I had a glass of wine with it.
My hips (hip muscles) are pretty sore today from yesterdays jog on the treadmill and I didn’t feel like doing anything overly sweaty today. I remembered this arm workout a friend sent me awhile ago. It’s a short arm workout and it’s HARD. Quick and intense, is an accurate description! I had to put my arms down A LOT during this video and eight minutes isn’t that long. It’s easy and simple in that you can do it anywhere, even at work at your desk! I did it with my spouse and we were laugh crying it was so hard. We made it to the end and did as much as we could. I liked this one a lot and plan on doing it often. It’s perfect for when you’re looking for something quick and you don’t want to sweat buckets.
Lobster Shorts 