Archive for the ‘Snack’ Category

Party That Keeps On Giving

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

The NYE party was a good time with some oh-so funny friends.  I had a couple giggle fits which resulted in stomach pain (which is way better than stomach pain caused by eating bad things) and a sore face from laughing.  Has anyone played Apples to Apples?  It was a fun game and a great way to get to know some new peeps.

There was lots of food which translated into lots of leftovers, my favourite of which was the fruit platter that I demolished in one day.  I wish I could say there was only a few pieces of fruit left, but no, it was about half full and this. girl. loves. fruit.

I Eat

The first breakfast of 2010 was… not oatmeal.  I know, it’s almost sacrilegious to do, but my mouth wanted some waffles.

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I had 2 GF Nature’s Path waffles + fruit leftovers + cottage cheese + cinnamon + maple syrup.

A delicious start to 2010.

Yesterday I went for brunch with friends and had a tasty smoked salmon + spinach omelette with a side salad.  I like leafy stuff for brunch at restaurants.  It was good eating, great company.

This morning was sensational oatmeal.  It was sensational simply because it wasn’t made in the office microwave.

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This was a regular 1/2 c. oats + 1/2 nan + 1 c. water + cinnamon + cranberry t-mix + cacao nibs + almond butter.

I’ve been eating a lot of this lately, too:

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It’s GF banana bread and I replaced the sugar with Splenda.  I pulled out half a loaf from the freezer – and oops, it’s gone now.

Lunches have featured… sandwiches and leftover party hummus.

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That really doesn’t look appetizing, but it was good.

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I bought some new GF brown sandwich bread today, and tried to avert my eyes when the cashier rang it in at almost seven dollars.

Seven dollars.  For a mini loaf of bread.

I might as well be making sandwiches out of dollar bills.  Normally, GF bread tastes like paper anyway, so it wouldn’t be a stretch.

This bread passed the tasty test though!

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There was laughing cow cheese + toms + red onion + sprouts on this one.

Okay, this shrimp + kale + shrooms dinner was horrible, so let’s not even talk about it.

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Last night’s pasta was much, much better.

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Chicken + stuffed olives + cherry toms + rice pasta + EVOO + garlic + champagne.  Yes, this pasta dish sparkled.

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I have leftovers that I’m thinking about eating for dinner tonight.  My tummy is getting h-angry.

I miss barbecuing my dinners!  Doesn’t look like that is happening any time soon…

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Guess what that big black thing is?  Yeah.

I Move

Friday – started off the New Year at a vacant gym.  Where was everybody?!  Oh right, enjoying their holiday!  The place was dead.  I did cardio split between the treadie and the elliptical and did some core work that left me hurting the next day.

Saturdayno workout!  It was really nice to spend the day with a couple friends and go here and there around the city.  I did pick up my latest gift to self that “Santa” helped to fund…

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Here it is folks, my next sport.  I’ve decided to take up cross country skiing as an attempt to embrace winter.  As a friend puts it, we might as well live in Siberia when you look outside, and it’s not going to change, so we might as well go with it.

Back in the day, I was a downhill skier.  I had no fears about bombing down a hill, loved feeling the edge of my skis carving  freshly groomed hills and being completely in control.  When I was even more adventurous, I picked up snow blades, which is the equivalent to signing my death wish.  I loved it but moved away from the ski hill and without easy access to one, I gave it up.

I lost my daredevil side too, and the thought of strapping those things back on my feet is terrifying.  Cross country skiing seemed like more civilized choice. ;)

Sunday – I gave them a whirl!  I went out with friends to a trail near by and we skied for about an hour and a half.  At first, I was about as graceful as a donkey on ice skates.  By the end of loop, I was getting into a groove and was starting to understand how different muscles should feel during the stride.  I’m taking lessons at the end of the month so that should help… a lot.

Back to work for a full week tomorrow – really?  Already?  This was an awesome long weekend.

Off to catch up on some blog reading,

Adi

Glee, I Love Thee

Monday, December 28th, 2009

If I was granted three wishes, I would wish:

1) Glee was a real life scenario, not a TV show.

2) I went to their high school.

3) I was part of glee club.

4) Finn wasn’t a character, but was a real person, and we got married and lived happily ever after.

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This pic and a ton of other good ones are from Fox’s website, where I’ve been browsing Glee stuff for the last half hour.

I’m listening to the soundtrack now – so good.

I Eat

Okay, I confess, I haven’t stopped eating lately.  I feel gross and will probably crave vegetables for a month after all the sweet stuff I’ve been eating.  I haven’t been eating at normal times, either, because I’m too busy snacking!

Here are a few real meals:

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Turkey sandwich!  It’s with spinach + SF cranberry sauce.

And more turkey din leftovers.

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This would be snack #2455

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Plain yogurt + balsamic strawbs + SF maple syrup + almond slices.

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Another oatless morning.  That’s a bit of real butter on GF toast.  Ooo, so good.  Also tasty was the egg + ham + nan + tea.

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More of mom’s cooking – cranberry pork tenderloin + rice + veggies.

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I could eat mom’s cooking for eternity.  It’s always healthy and tastes so good.

Compared to the snacking, those meals are teensy tiny in the scheme of my days of eats!

I Move

On the flip side, I’ve been doing well with working out over the holidays.

Saturday – yesterday, I planned on walking the dogs.  My mood told me I needed something more intense than that, so I headed to the gym and pounded out a hard treadmill run and some upper body weights.  Nothing like sweating off any mood you need to shake.

Sunday – back to my parents basement for more treadmill time.  Apparently I have a love affair with the rodent track.

I am going to go dance around the house to more Glee tunes.  First, let me leave you with one of Sue Sylvester’s too funny lines:

I’m about to projectile express myself all over your Hush Puppies.

Who writes this stuff?!  I need to meet them.

Adi

Brought To You By Breakfast

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

It’s no secret – I love breakfast.  I was looking at my food pics from the last couple of days and it’s hard to tell what I actually ate at breakfast time.

Maybe Bob’s funny little face has something to do with my breakfast love?

dec22 007 The funny thing about Mr. Bob Red Mill is that when I worked as a gardener, my boss looked exactly like this guy.  And his name was Bob.  Just replace the blue cap with a hard hat and get rid of the umm, star medallion necklace, and it’s his twin.

 

I Eat

I forgot about this bag of Scottish Oatmeal in the cupboard until I started digging around in there. 

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Scottish Oats are awesome.   Still a little lumpy, but not as bumpy as quick rolled oatmeal.

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Yummy in my tummy.

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And some more of Bob!  These were leftover GF pancakes that I reheated in the toaster oven with a side of cantaloupe + plain yogurt and tea, with a great quote:

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Okay more pancake shots…

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To shake things up a bit, some scrambled egg whites + veggies + smashed purple taters + salty edamame for dinner the other night.

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Yes, I was trying to get as many colours as possible onto one plate. :D

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More eggs for dinner tonight (even though I had two at breakfast – among other delicious eats - for our Christmas work “party”) but just egg whites instead of the real deal.

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That’s an omelette folded in half with yellow peppers and a tiny bit of light cheddar.  The orange filled the sweet quota and the little bit of bacon gave me some salty yum.

I’ve been trying to eat more protein lately so I had this snack as a way to squeeze in some more satisfying eats:

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Fat-free cottage cheese + agave syrup + cinnamon and some apple slices for dipping.

Mediocre sushi was last night’s supper.  Meh.  And of course, other eats have been enjoyed in El Cubicleo.

I Move

Sunday – beautiful, beautiful rest day.  I did get in some good walking downtown to check out the Christmas lights with a friend.  They light up the Parliament buildings and shine huge snowflakes on the front, so it’s pretty to see.

Monday – at the gym by 6:15 and had a fantastic treadie run.  When I’m feeling lazy when I get there, I remind myself that I just dragged myself out of bed in the dark, braved the –25 temperature at the bus stop and spent time organizing all my gear the night before… so I have to make it worth it.  It was a great work out.

Tuesday – another good sweat session, this time at the yoga studio.  I can tell I’m improving at the different postures!  And tonight, when I was in cobra pose, the teacher came over and stood on my feet.  It was like an in-class foot massage!  Except sweatier… ew… okay, but it was an awesome class.

Oh!  Guess what?…

I’m on Christmas holidays!

I’m headed home tomorrow morning so my next post will be from my cozy house, while I’m parked beside the fireplace, tea in hand.  I love going home for Christmas.

Goodnight!
Adi

Bitter ‘bout Twitter

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

I go to a somewhat unconventional church.  We’re in the midst of a series on narcissism (which happens to be the hardest word to type) and this morning, the focus was on technology.  And yes, it’s in church that I watched this awesome video clip on why Twitter is, well, a little bit messed up:

But rather than point my finger at Twitterers, I can’t ignore the finger pointing back at myself for blogging.  I mean, come on, I have a website where I post pictures about what I eat and my exercise habits and whatever else I feel like writing.  Isn’t that a bit ego-centric?  Do I really think people care about my bowl of oatmeal?

Well, not really.

Blogs are fascinating.  I took an entertainment studies course during my graduate degree and at that point, I didn’t know much about blogs.  I thought people who wrote them either, a) had really intriguing lives, or b) were incredibly self-centred… okay, or c) a combination of both.

So where am I on the spectrum?  Hard to say.  It’s quite obvious my life is far from intriguing (but believe me, I wouldn’t change it!  Being content is a beautiful thing!) and I like to hope that I’m not just that into me.  Does blogging fill some sort of void?  Sure – it fills the writing gap in my life. 

Anyway, I don’t have answers to questions and don’t really know why I blog, and I can’t assume I know why others do either, but one thing I did walk away with this morning was this paragraph from the teaching notes:

A realistic view of self allows our ego to relax.  When we see how valuable and yet how broken we are, we are freed from two destructive habits: a) the habitual pursuit of value through constant self-promotion and self-affirmation and, b) the habitual hiding of our failure from others as though brokenness and failure would be a shameful shock.

Just some food for thought.

Food for my mouth is another thing altogether.

I Eat

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Talk about a Thursday shake up.  That was an egg + bacon sammy and some orange hunks.  The sandwich hat was a bit shrunken thanks to using the bread bum.  I missed the extra inch of carbs.

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Back to basics on Friday morning with an oatmeal breakie.  The standard 1/2 c. oats + 1/2 c. almond milk + 1/2 c. water + 1/2 nan + cinnamon + flax seeds + pumpkin seeds + almonds + pumpkin seed butter knocked my socks off.

Okay, my slippers.  I wasn’t wearing socks.

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I have no pictures of Saturday’s breakfast – but I do have pictures of my table.  Oh hooray!

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These are some good looking buns.

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Couldn’t tell you how tasty they were because the sugar + wheat would have put my brunch with friends to an abrupt end.  It was great to get together with some friends I don’t see too often.  Brunch also trumps dinner any day because it’s so much more casual – and breakfast food is the best food of all! 

I made an egg casserole and have some left over so it will make a blog appearance soon.  The rest of the eats were yogurt + grapefruits + Montreal bagels and lots of beverages.  It was delicious – and a good time.

Today’s breakfast was Nature’s Path GF waffles + plain yogurt + 1/2 nan + sugar free strawberry jam + cinnamon + alien brains.  So good, eaten so fast.  Sad.

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Work lunches continue to remain unphotographed because they continue to remain boring.  … and I just can’t be bothered to take pictures of copious amounts of Tupperware. 

Saturday’s lunch was pretty much brunch, but today’s lunch sent me straight to sandwich heaven.

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Homemade GF bread + smoked ham + romaine + red onion + toms + mustard + 1/2 avocado + S n’ P = ?

It equals a party in my mouth.

It also equals food all over my pants.  This was a drippy sandwich and I was uncivilized and ate on the couch. 

Suppers have been uninspired – even with the arrival of Martha at my house.  I love you Everyday Food.

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When I don’t know what to make, I just think protein + starchy yum + veggies.

That translated into tuna + rice pasta + broccs and mushrooms.

I added extra virgin olive oil + balsamic vinegar + sea salt as a dressing and pleasantly surprised myself with something edible and tasty.  Ahh, love a good surprise.

Other suppers were fast and furious – both cooking and eating wise.

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This was the leftover cauliflower + chickpea curry with brown rice.

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Some basmati rice with frozen asian veggies + shrimpers + soy sauce + chilli flakes.  Sadly, I was pulling the tails off these guys and found one shrimp still had his last supper inside him.  Um, ick.

Normally, dessert is fruit or a strange gluten free and sugar free `treat“.  I decided to be creative the other day and made a mini apple crisp.

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I sliced up an apple, added a small handful of quick oats + cinnamon + pecans and a touch of water + Splenda and put it in the microwave for about 2 minutes.  The result?  A dessert that didn’t end in tummy trauma and tasted good.  Winner!

Not sure what tonight’s supper will be, but I’m thinking it will take no more than ten minutes to make because I’m lazy.

I Move

Thursday – just walking to and from the office.  My evening was full from the time I got off work until the time I went to bed.  Walking is good for you though, yes? :)

Friday – hit the treadie.  I realized the office gym is a bit, hmm, cult-like.  There’s some weird stuff that goes on there.  The fact that it’s a basement dungeon doesn’t help its cause, either.  It was a great run though!

Saturday – back to my favourite Jim that is not underground.  I did the elliptical and then about half an hour of upper back +  lower back weights.  I walked out of there feeling awesome.  If you’re ever stuck for motivation to get yourself to work out, ask yourself the million dollar question: Have I ever finished working out and wished I never did that?

Sunday – I’m soon going to roll out my yoga mat and stretch for a bit.  Starting out the week like Gumby can only bring good things.

Did you have a good weekend?  Sure hope you did – but enjoy what little bit is left!

Au revoir, friends.

Adi

PS – I put up a new page on Oatonomy lingo so you don’t think I’m dating a guy named Jim.

Oatonomy’s Getting Zesty-ed

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Before Friday, the coolest thing I had ever won was a keychain flashlight.  The coolest thing I’ve ever won also happens to be the saddest draw prize of all time.  Really, what am I going to do with that?

But it was free, and I won it after all, and I never win anything.  Ever.  If ninety-nine pieces of paper with my name on it were thrown into a bowl, and one piece of paper that said “Adi never wins anything” was also thrown in, guess which one would be picked?  Statistics would say there was a 99% chance my name would be drawn.

Statistics aren’t reality though, and I guarantee the “Adi never wins anything” would be drawn instead.

So imagine my sheer delight, my endless excitement, the annoying squealing that came about when I saw that I won Zesty’s blog make over contest!  I think I almost know what dying of happiness would feel like, because that’s what nearly happened.

A billion big thanks to Zesty – and after he works his bloggy magic, I hope you’ll come back and see what he’s done to Oatonomy.  I’m sure he’ll do a fantastic job.

I Eat

Lately, eating seems to be all I’ve been doing.  It’s time for me to pull in the reigns.  I’ll show you some oatmeal pictures anyways…

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Too bad all the full bowl shots are blurry.  Argh.

The other thing I’ve been doing, besides eating, is stopping nose bleeds.  Nose bleeds are never in fashion, friends, especially when you’re at work.  That’s no way to impress the boss – but it’s a sure fire way to creep him out.  I’m trying to keep the bleeding from the nose to a minimum at the office.  Today is the first day post-pig flu I haven’t had one – and here’s to hoping it stays that way.  Ick.

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Ah yes, oats in the almond butter jar.  Is there anything more divine?  If the stars collide, pigs fly and money starts growing on a tree in the backyard – all in the same day – and I end up getting married, I think an oatmeal buffet served in old nut butter jars is a must at a reception.  A wedding for the books!  (Okay, maybe people wouldn’t be saying positive things about it, but they’d remember it…)

One of the best things about a weekend is weekend lunches.  Lunches that aren’t eaten out of Tupperware containers, not at a desk, and not partially heated through from a rotten office microwave, are a good thing.

This was a seriously good turkey + lettuce + tom + red onion + Miracle Whip sandwich and an apple, to keep the doctor away.  I don’t really want to go see her again.

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I’ve been eating lots of these GF banana-blueberry muffins lately.  By “lots” I mean about fifteen pounds worth of them.

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I’m on my way to becoming Veronica Salt from Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.  I’ll turn into a blueberry and just roll around the rest of my life.  I think she was pretty happy when she met her demise though, so it wouldn’t be all that bad.  Right?

Today’s lunch was good too…

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Some eggers on some bread.  Didn’t say it was exciting!  I ate muchos watermelon after this.  It’s a balmy 16 degrees here today and I wanted to pretend it’s summer.

Ooo, almost forgot this morning’s breakfast.  I ate this pink sludge at the tech booth at church.  It was overnight oats made with 1/2 c. oats + 1/2 c. plain yogurt + 1/2 c. pomegranate applesauce + cinnamon + honey + pecans.

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It hung out in the fridge last night and made for a tasty breakfast while I pretended like I knew what I was doing with an audio mixing board.  Unfortunately, I fooled no one.

In a couple of weeks, the teaching pastor is going to be speaking about – gasp! – blogs.  Well, blogging and Facebook and twitter and all those fun things.  It’s part of a series called “Get Over Yourself” – ha!  Maybe if he loved oatmeal he would understand the need to blog about it…

Suppers have been excellent – because I didn’t make them!  A friend dropped by some yummy soups that I’ve been loving.  The first was a chicken ginger soup that I ate with some raw veggies + hummus + awful “biscuit”.

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The other soup was a ham + leek + broccs soup that I had with toast.

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Definitely loved them both!  Know what I also love?  Sushi.  I ate some serious raw fish + rice with my roommates tonight.  It’s been too long, my sushi, too long.  Did I eat too much?  Yes.  Did we end up hiding sushi in our purses to avoid paying their eyes-are-bigger-than-your-tummy fee?  Absolutely.  Does my bag smell like wasabi?  No comment.

I Move

Not exercising makes me feel yucky.  I’ve been itching to get back into a workout routine since I’ve been sick.

Friday – back to the gym for some ellipticalling + bit of lower body weights.  Oh, Jim, I missed you so.

Saturday – laced up the runners and did a breezy 5k in the neighbourhood.  I ran through a park that has been overtaken by Canada geese.  No, I didn’t see any geese, but they left evidence behind.  I had to dodge their poop all over the running path.  I felt like I was doing tire conditioning, not running.  Other than that, a pretty uneventful run.

Sunday – time to enjoy the spring-ish weather!  I did a 9.5k run along the canal.  One thing I love about Ottawa is how active the city is.  There were lots of people out running and biking, all ages, some alone and some with families or friends.  I saw one guy doing the cross country “skiing” on skate shoes, too.  It’s easy to get out there and get going in this city and I don’t take that for granted.

And because I wanted to feel like I was 8 years old and my bike allows that to happen every time I ride it, I biked to the grocery store.  It takes me three minutes, so it’s not exactly taxing, but it was fun.  J’adore ma bicyclette!

Is it really Monday tomorrow?  Feels like I have lots to tackle at work, so maybe the day will go by quickly…

Hope all is well at your corner of the globe!

Adi