An Additional Side

My lunch consisted of my usual gigantic Southwestern salad, this time without the parmasean cheese, but I included a small quinoa salad on the side.

It was delicious and I'm not ashamed to say I gobbled it all up in less than 10 minutes.

...ok, maybe that was a little quick!

A Healthy Start

First of all, I'd like to say...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I wanted to start today off as healthily as I could because I know it won't end that way. My friend group has always met Halloween night to watch scary movies and this year is nothing different. Along with friends, movies and a special occassion comes not-so-healthy foods. That being said, it's Halloween and you can always bend the healthy rules on Halloween!

Zeke and I went for our 45 minute walk this morning without anything really eventful happening. It was a relaxing walk like any other. When I got home, I threw the last bit of my steel cut oats with egg whites in the microwave. I added in a hint of skim milk and agave once it was at the perfect temperature. I didn't think the small amount of oatmeal left would quite keep my hunger away until 2:30pm, so I also blended up a strawberry smoothie using a cup of frozen strawberries, water, and a tiny splash of skim milk.

I'm off to work for the day. Have a spooky Halloween!

M.I.A.

Hello everyone!

Sorry for being M.I.A. yesterday. I ended up going home to my parent's place just to get away for a while. I also worked a late shift last night, then headed out for some Halloween fun. The night was a lot of fun, but ended early when I stepped on a piece of glass and couldn't get it out of my foot. Casey and I spent a good hour driving around the city--chatting and munching on some undisclosed fast food--to find a 24 hour pharmacy where we could pick up some peroxide and/or Polysporin. Despite the accident, we had a lot of fun! I hope the rest of Halloween will bring everyone just as much spooky fun.

I had plain old boring pancakes for breakfast/lunch today. I call it breakfast and lunch because it's already 10am. We slept in later than we have in a long time...9am!!! Yes, laugh it up. That's late for us. I didn't take any pictures, but I do want to share with you some yummy Halloween treats I've collected over the past few days. Enjoy!

Courtesy of Blisfully Domestic

Courtesy of Green Vaccine

Courtesy of Cafe Zupas

Courtesy of Very Culinary

Another 2-in-1

That's right, I forgot to post about lunch again today! Here it is...

Iced coffee made with nonfat milk from Starbucks on the way home from running errands.

Organic baked tortilla chips with extra chunky salsa and sugar snap peas for lunch.

Over easy eggs with cracked wheat toast and margarine for dinner.

I hope to get in some extra veggies before the night's done. Perhaps some baby carrots with hummus? Sounds yummy!

That's all for today, folks!

A Frosty Morning

I have the morning off today, but I don't have much of a chance to relax. I have a lot of errands to run and things to accomplish. On today's to-do list, I have to gather up supplies for our Halloween costumes, buy a few odds and ends for around the apartment, pick up some milk, and the list goes on. It's going to be a busy day!

It was so cold last night that there was still frost on the ground by the time Zeke and I went for our walk. We even slept in later than normal, but the frost still hadn't melted by the time we made it outside. Brrr!

I wasn't very hungry when we got back to the apartment, but I'm not one to miss breakfast. I convinced myself to eat some steel cut oats with peanut butter mixed in. I had about half the oatmeal, but a small breakfast is better than no breakfast!

It may not be the most visually appealing breakfast I've photographed, but it did the trick!

Dinner Alone

Tonight I ate dinner alone because Casey is out picking up our BRAND NEW COUCH! We were just so tired of the futon and our inability to lounge on it. Fortunately, a store nearby had a big sale with couches up to 50% off. We scored a great deal on one that would work perfectly in our apartment! I can't wait to show you pictures when he gets home.

Dinner was a bowl of homemade chili. Thanks Casey! I can't take credit for this one. It was super tasty!

I also snagged a small bowl of cereal with melted peanut butter on top for dessert. It's been so long since I've had melted peanut butter on cereal, I just couldn't resist!

Squeezing in Some Veggies

Yet another gigantic salad for lunch...

...I will never tire of them!

FIlling

Zeke and I made it on our long walk this morning. It took even longer than usual with me slowing us down. I managed to hobble my way along our route with Zeke glued to my side the entire time. What a sweetheart!

I prepped some steel cut oats last night so I could quickly heat them up in the microwave this morning. I used egg whites in the mix for extra protein, and added some skim milk and a hint of brown sugar after heating it up.

Zeke is a little sad that I'm leaving him to go to work for the day. Poor guy! These puppy eyes go right to my heart.

Oh well, he'll survive! Off to work...

Here's to Friendship!

Sometimes spending time with a dear friend trumps what you eat while spending that time. I ordered a Greek salad and a hot apple cider...and was disappointed by both. The Greek salad was weak and the dressing was cream-based (have you ever heard of a cream-based Greek dressing?). The hot apple cider was practically hot apple juice.

It was all worth it to spend a few hours with a friend!

Recovery Lunch

I munched on some Crispy Mini rice crisps while watching movies in bed this morning, so I wasn't ready to eat a big lunch even though it was 2:00pm. I put together a quick lunch of big, juicy grapes and a light Babybel cheese snack.

I think that will be sufficient enough to sustain me at work this afternoon. I'm meeting one of my best friends afterward for coffee and possibly dinner. I can't wait to see her again!

It looks like it's about time to get off my behind and hobble my way to the shower and get dressed for work. Have a great afternoon!

An Eventful Evening

Last night was quite the eventful evening! I didn't have the time or ability to post about dinner yesterday because a) I didn't have any dinner, and b) I was kicked by a horse during lessons. Ouch! I was definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time when the frustrated horse decided to release some negitive energy. I was hit in the thigh, so I don't think any damage was done. I'm slowly able to put weight on it, but walking is still a challenge. It looks like I'll be relaxing on the couch for the majority of today! Lukily, I only work at the school today and I can sit for the majority of that shift.

I slept in this morning and felt like having a smoothie for breakfast. I put together a handful of frozen strawberries, a small orange, half a cup of milk and half a cup of water. I blended it all together and ended up with an incredibly delicious smoothie!

I'm off to rest up and relax for the day. Hopefully Zeke stays asleep and doesn't want to go for a walk any time soon!

Modified Chicken Caesar Salad

Light caesar vinaigrette dressing instead of the creamy kind. Left out the parmasean cheese. White chicken breast for added protein. Half the amount of croutons. And voila! One delicious meal sized salad...

Sneezy

My wheels have been turning ever since I was adopted into the Dreamnlive.com family last night as the newest blogging intern. I have so many ideas and I can't wait to start putting them out there! I hope to talk about everything from food to fitness, and from physical health to psychological well-being. I can't wait to start!

Breakfast was a quick one. Zeke hasn't been feeling well lately, so our long walk took even longer with his slower pace. He's been sneezing a lot and a bit lethargic compared to his normal energetic self. I think he just has a cold and nothing too serious, but I still want to keep a close eye on him.

By the time we made it home from our walk, I didn't have much time to make breakfast. I threw together a mixed bowl of cereal--Great Grains Nut Medley and Great Grains Raisins, Dates & Pecans to be exact.

It was delicious, but now it's time to run out the door! I work a full day today, then I'm teaching riding lessons all night. Busy, busy, busy!

Have a wonderful morning. It may be cold, but it's beautiful outside!

Breaking News!

I didn't take any dinner photos tonight because I was a bit scattered and dinner was not eaten sitting down. Why, you may ask? Because I had an interview right after work this evening for a blogging internship at Dreamnlive.com. In a nutshell, DNL is...

 

An inspirational and innovative brand that was established as an outlet for the ideas, expressions, thoughts, and actions of its creators, with the hopes of positively influencing popular culture [...] We recently expanded to an inspirational lifestyle blog to inspire youth to realize their potential and live their dreams.

I was accepted to become a member of the DNL blogging team! Essentially, I will be posting several articles each week regarding healthy living, fitness and overall well-being. Every article I post at DNL will also be linked here, so you will have the chance to read my work over at Dreamnlive.com. I can't wait to get started and I hope you like reading my blog entries at DNL as much as you do here!

Snack Attack!

I had a shorter shift than usual this morning, so I get a good two hours at home instead of only one. Good thing because it's finally sunny and Zeke could really use a walk!

We bought groceries yesterday, so there was so much to choose from for lunch! I couldn't decide, so I ended up throwing together a snack plate of sorts. It included baby carrots, pumpernickle flatbread crackers with Mexicala dip, and blueberry Greek yogurt by Okios.

These new flatbread crackers we discovered yesterday are incredible! I can't get over how good they are, especially with the Mexicala dip or hummus. In moderation, this is a very tasty snack!

Back into the Routine

I really need to get back into the routine of regular blogging. It should help now that I'm back to work, but my posting was getting a little sporadic over the weekend. Here's to routine!

I wasn't feeling well last night, so I hit the hay early. I was asleep by 9:30pm and when my alarm rang at 6:30am this morning, I still had a hard time pulling myself out of bed. I woke myself up and within minutes realized I don't feel sick anymore. I went from feeling great yesterday, to feeling like I had a bad cold and a fever last night, to fine again this morning. How weird is that?

I suited up, called Zekey out of bed and we headed out for our walk. Silly me forgot to check the weather outside before we went downstairs...turns out it's been raining cats and dogs all morning! I let Zeke go for a pee, but he started shivering uncontrollably due to the wet and the cold, so we headed back inside. Poor guy! He sat shaking at the front door as I towelled him off as best as I could. Now he's curled up under the blankets in the bedroom.

I had a big helping of Great Greats Raisins, Dates and Pecans cereal when I finally had Zeke all dried off. I'm telling you, this cereal is perfect for the fall. All of the flavours remind me of an autumn's day and all the yummy granola makes this cereal super filling.

That's about all for now. Enjoy your morning and try to stay dry!

My Trip Home

Zeke and I visited my parents' at their home for the majority of the day. They fed me lunch and dinner before I had to head to a mandatory training session at work. I wasn't super hungry for lunch, but I did manage to eat some of dad's homemade apple sauce and one of these bad boys...

For dinner, I had some herb chicken, roasted potatoes and cauliflower with cheese. I had a small second helping of roasted potatoes because they were so yummy. I also had half a slice of chocolate chip banana bread which evaded photographing.

Somehow during the training lesson, I've fallen ill. My nose is stuffed up, my eyes are watery, I keep sneezing and I feel like I'm getting a fever. Looks like it's off to be early for me again. Hopefully I don't get sick again, the second time in two weeks.

Hot Breakfast

This morning, I ate up the rest of the steel cut oats I made earlier this week. With a little bit of added egg whites, this protein packed breakfast really hit the spot. I also included a splash of skim milk and a packet of brown sugar for sweetness.

Now it's time to get groceries, then the three of us are off to our parent's houses--me to mine and Casey to his--for the day!

Pizza Fail

It's never fun to work on the weekend, especially right in the middle of your Saturday. The weather was relatively beautiful compared to all the rain we've had this week, but I was stuck inside from 1:30 to 6:30pm. Oh well, I have most of tomorrow off and then a three hour training session. That's almost a day off, right?

Since I had my breakfast so late this morning and grabbed an extra foamy skinny vanilla latte on our walk with Zeke, I missed lunch. I ate a granola bar during work and chugged water during my shift. I was pretty hungry by the time I got home! Casey threw a goat cheese and vegetable pizza in the oven for me so it would be ready when I walked in the door. How sweet of him! I ate one small slice of the pizza, but couldn't finish the rest. The goat cheese was so strong, it completely overwhelmed the entire pizza. It's all I could taste.

Casey didn't like the pizza either, so we chucked it and I ate five boneless buffalo chicken wings...my obsession. I only have two wings left, then that's that. I also had some carrots throughout the evening to conclude my day of sporadic eating. Here's to a healthier tomorrow!