Busy Bee

I didn't have much time during the day to blog, so here's a run down of how it went.

I had a Parelli session with Ginny today around noon, but I went out a bit earlier to play around with her before our lesson was scheduled to start.

We had a lot of fun and learned a lot of Parelli knowledge that will be very helpful in boosting her confidence! I'm looking forward to trying it out and taking things one baby step at a time.

I was super rushed when I got home, so I munched on some Baked! Tostitos Scoops tortilla chips and extra chunky salsa.

I like the baked chips much better than the regular fried ones. They have a much better taste and are far less greasy!

I also ate a container of Greek yogurt for protein to keep me full during work.

After I was finished work, Casey and I made up some naan bread pizzas using Reya Tandoor Baked Naan.

I topped my pizza with a bit of mozzarella cheese, red onions, and hot peppers (as usual)!

I also made up a big bowl of edamame to eat as my vegetable for dinner. Guess what? Edamame is also loaded with protein! So I got my veggies and protein in at the same time.

For dessert, I had my usual frozen mixed berries with a Nesquik Plus chocolate syrup drizzle. I just can't get enough of this combination!

After dinner, Casey and I took Zeke out for a very short walk due to the rain and also made a Costco run for some essentials. I had eaten up the last of my Greek yogurt for lunch, so I bought some more at Costco. This time, I bought Skotidakis Fat Free Greek Yogurt instead of my usual Liberte.

It was very tasty and I really enjoyed pouring the flavouring in with the rest of the plain yogurt!

Overall, I feel very good about my intake for today. I was conscious about everything I put in my body and tried my hardest to eat slowly and purposely. Although I didn't workout, I was on my feet moving around constantly and somehow the Parelli session felt like a mental and physical workout! I'll get in a solid workout tomorrow, I guarantee it.

That's all I've got for tonight. I'm exhausted, so I need to get some sleep. Have a lovely night!

Here's Something New

I opted to pass on a full first breakfast before the morning program today and grabbed a bite of unsweetened applesauce instead. I simply wasn't hungry (likely due to the massive quantity of food I consumed this weekend), but I knew I shouldn't go on a completely empty stomach.

After the program and a bit of program grocery shopping, I came home to make myself a real breakfast! My mom sent me back to my apartment with several delicious muffins that she had made. They were raisin bran muffins with coconut as well. I grabbed one of these yummy muffins and topped it with apple butter for breakfast. I also threw in a few egg whites on the side for protein and a coffee to wake me up.

On a sidenote, this Wellesley Apple Butter is a product local to my area.

I was surprised to see how incredibly healthy it is for you compared to most jams, jellies or butters. It is 100% preservative-free and fat-free, and it has no added sugar or artificial sweeteners. Essentially, it is just highly concentrated applesauce that tastes oh-so-delicious! It's very sweet due to the concentration of the sugars occurring naturally in apples, so you don't need to use a lot to get great flavour. And best yet, it has less than 50 calories per tablespoon! I'm thinking I might top some healthified French toast with cinnamon and warm apple butter. Yum!

Barbeque It Up

To end our day at my parents' house, Casey and I barbequed up some of my dad's homemade hamburgers for dinner. Well, Casey barbequed while I prepped the veggies.

The burgers were perfectly juicy and not too thick. I prefer my burgers a bit on the thin side. I ate the entire patty, but left off the top of the bun and peeled away a bit of excess bottom bun. It was a lot of bun for such a small patty!

I also had my fair share of veggies on the side. I'm quite proud of myself for how many vegetables I've consumed today! I need to keep this up.

After driving back into the city, Casey and I bought some groceries to stock up our kitchen for the week. I'm preparing myself for a much healthier week ahead! I'm also planning on purchasing a 3-month membership to a gym in our apartment complex. It is exclusive to the apartment tenants in my area and the rates are very reasonable. It has plenty of cardio machines, weight machines and free weights, a pool and hot tub. I'm buying a 3-month membership to test the waters and see whether or not I like the gym.

Fingers crossed it goes well!

Buffet Lunch

What a lovely day! Casey, Zeke, my sister and I headed out to my parents' house today for Casey's belated birthday lunch. We stopped at McDonald's on the way home to pick up some delicious iced coffees. I ordered my usual, a large sugar-free vanilla coffee make with milk.

We sipped on our coffees as we drove home.

Lunch was a delicious veggie, taco and fajita buffet. My parents had made up a beautiful platter of fresh veggies to munch on.

I ate almost all of the broccoli, plus plenty of carrots, cucumber and peas.

They had also set out a buffet for beef tacos, chicken fajitas, or refried bean burritos (all of which are Casey's favourite).

I made one chicken fajita topped with lettuce, grilled onions and peppers, tomatoes, and a bit of mozzarella cheese.

I also made myself a bean burrito using refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes and salsa. They were super delicious and the bean burrito really took me back to my backpacking trip to Central America. I ate my fair share of them while I was down there!

My parents had also made Casey some red velvet cupcakes to celebrate.

Happy birthday to Casey!!!

I had one cupcake for dessert after lunch and a second for an afternoon snack. Shhh! They were incredibly moist and super tasty...I just couldn't resist!

After lunch, we took Zeke on a long one-hour walk about the town and took him out in the backyard to play.

We're still chilling at my parents house, watching television and relaxing. I think we will stay here for dinner before heading back to the big city. We need to get groceries tonight, so we won't be staying here too much longer.

Mein Street & Kiwi Kraze

Last night, I went out to dinner with a group of fellow therapeutic riding instructors. We started at Mein Street Asian Fusion restaurant where I ordered the Shrimp Fresh Roll and starter-size Mein Salad.

The fresh roll was pretty good. It didn't have a lot of flavour to it and was filled primarily with vermicelli noodles. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't stuffed full with veggies. As you can see, it consisted of a bit of shrimp, one lettuce leaf, and vermicelli noodles. It was served with peanut sauce, of which I'm not a huge fan, so I couldn't even dip my fresh rolls in sauce to give them a bit more flavour.

The salad was a little better. It was full of veggies and even a few roasted peanuts, but it was a bit on the bland side as well. I'm not even positive there was any salad dressing on the salad, to be honest. If there was, I couldn't taste it!

After dinner, we all headed across the street to Kiwi Kraze self-serve frozen yogurt bar.

This more than made up for a tasteless dinner! I poured myself a heaping bowl of blueberry cheesecake frozen yogurt and topped it with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and white chocolate chips. I also added a few chocolate-covered raisins, mini Rolos, and chocolate peanut butter cup pieces on the side.

Oh my goodness, this was the best frozen yogurt I have ever tasted! The yogurt tasted like real cheesecake. I wouldn't be surprised if it was made with real cream cheese. It was so delicious! The toppings were really fresh and plentiful.

After our frozen yogurt, we headed out for a night on the town filled with fun and dancing. I had a blast and my thighs are paying for it this morning! Thank you dancing for being such a great workout.

I did some late night snacking last night after the bar, so I wasn't hungry for breakfast this morning. I had a tiny bowl of applesauce, but I'm going to wait until we get home to my parents' place to have lunch. We will finally be celebrating Casey's birthday with my parents with a birthday lunch at their house. As a matter of fact, I should hop in the shower now so we aren't late!

Have a lovely morning!

Sweet Tooth Rampage

Man, my sweet tooth has been on a rampage today! Some times when it gets to a certain point in the month, I just go crazy for sweetness. Not always, but every once and a while it happens. I started off by snacking on three dried dates to quench my sweet cravings.

They were super sweet and tasty, and definitely curbed the craving for the time being.

I tried to drink as much water as humanly possible to keep the craving at bay. It seemed to work for a little while.

For lunch, I pumped up the protein and made myself a chicken breast dipped in Frank's Red Hot Sauce. It was pretty tasty, I have to admit!

Due to all of my extra water intake, this single chicken breast filled me to the brim. That was all I had for lunch.

A few hours after I had the chicken breast, my sweet craving was back. I decided to satisfy it again in a healthy manner and made up a bowl of mixed frozen berries topped with a bit of Nesquik Plus Chocolate Syrup.

I'm not going to lie, I totally went back for seconds! I know the syrup and berries are high in sugar; however, the berries are also very high in many other vitamins and antioxidants. The syrup is also fortified with loads and loads of nutrients as well, so I'm going to write this one down as a win!

Did you notice anything about my food intake today so far? Absolutely, positively NO vegetables! Yikes!! Don't fret, my friends! I've already skimmed through the online menu for the restaurant we will be going to tonight and I've picked out some very veggie-ful options to make up for lost vegetables.

I have a few more minutes to relax on the couch with this cutie-pie before I have to go pick Casey up from work.

If I don't have time to blog after tonight's festivities, I'll see you in the morning!

Sleep-In Saturday

Good morning folks! I hope you're all excited for the weekend ahead. I know I am! This is the first real weekend I've had in a long time. Typically, I've had to work at least one day of the weekend, but this time I have both days off. Yay!

I slept in pretty late this morning. By the time I woke up, I was starving and craving peanut butter. I poured myself a bowl of Great Grains cereal and topped it with almond milk and melted peanut butter.

What a delicios way to start the weekend!

I also had half of a tall skinny vanilla latte leftover from last night, so I threw in a few ice cubes and turned it into an iced latte. It was even better than in it's original form!

I have some big plans tonight. Not a whole lot going on during the day, but then I have dinner plans with the other therapeutic riding instructors before we head out for a night on the town. It should be a fun night!

Until then, I'll see you back here for lunch.