Tag Archives: seafood

You know when you have pants that need hemming and shirts that need mending and you set them aside and put them off and forget about them and they pile up and get coated in a fine film of dust alongside the rarely used sewing machine?

[Is it just me or does this look a bit like some kind of torture device? Those Saw films are permanently scarring]

Maybe that’s just me. But I finally tackled that pile today! I feel like I just got a whole new wardrobe. Okay, so that might be a slight exaggeration since it was only four items and two of them were recent addictions. But one of them was a pair of jeans I bought… around the end of 2009 maybe? And they have yet to be worn since they were way too long and in desperate need of a reduced leg length for my shorty stumps. But now I can finally wear them thank you very much!

Maybe it would have been easier just to get some mad high heels to wear with them instead. But despite the fact that I put the task off for so long with the idea of sewing as a daunting and time-consuming task, I discovered that tis not so and I actually enjoyed it. And wished I had MORE repairs to make once I was done. Future career in fashion design? Mmm… doubtful.

It probably helped that I was watching some quality online television viewing at the same time.

For the first time. A little late to be jumping on this bandwagon but I have not stopped hearing about how good this show is so I finally but the bullet and did the streaming TV thang for the first few episodes of Season 1. New fav show, no doubt. Watch it, like it? If you haven’t – DO!

You know when you have a roll of Pillsbury cookie dough chillin in your fridge only to one day discover it ripped open with a big chunk of the raw dough gone MIA?

Maybe that’s only if you have a brother like mine, but this was my discovery today at lunch.

Three guesses as to what I ate once finishing up my awesomely strange bowl of greens mixed with additions of potato chunks, hummus and pickled ginger…

It wasn’t freshly baked cookies. Anyone who can resist cookie dough staring them in the face is my idol. And this is why my abs of steel lay hiding away ;)

Well not this. (and how good does that look)

But THIS. x3. Just “samples”. Ha.

You know when you eat a whole lotta sweets and just. can’t. stop? All joking aside, I’ll admit I’m pretty annoyed with my sugar/sweets consumption lately. Kinda want to kick all of the extra treats to the curb. They’re still a few things kicking around the house though that I dive into when in an especially sweet geared mindset. Like today. Which also included brownie-bit laden ice cream.

And leftover rainbow birthday cake from the freezer depths, mixed with plain yogurt. For the balance, you know…

You know when you eat awesome breakfasts? That happens practically every day. But today’s was especially delightful:

Leftover Pizzert (the origins of which I’ll showcase in a minute) stuffed with pumpkin pie hummus mixed with peanut butter and banana slices, topped with peanut butter mixed with lemon yogurt.

Epic.

You know when you discover awesome recipes on food blogs and try them out and they turn out awesomely and you’re awesomely happy because of it? I have way more recipes saved “to try” then I could ever possibly actually try but I just made a few that definitely fit into the awesome category.

The original morning of my first Breakfast Pizzert attempt. Mine was made with whole wheat flour, water and POM juice for the liquid, 2T lemon meringue yogurt (instead of the applesauce) and chopped strawberries, no extra sweetener (the yogurt was sweet). Don’t use my choices if you don’t like it doughy/gummy. I do. I probably should have cooked it a bit longer but I liked it just as it turned out.

Sliced.

And topped. Coconut butter and defrosted strawberries. Mmmm.

Now this one I was literally giggling through while making. Can you guess what it might be?

Homemade veggie burgers! Angela’s In A Jiffy Spelt Veggie Burgers to be exact.

I ate mine with guac and hummus. Holy delicious. Who needs to buy veggie burgers when you can make them this great and this easily? I omitted the onion (because despite my initial thinking, there were no onions in the house) but it was not missed. Maybe because I don’t know these any differently but I’ll be sure to try it in the next batch. And there will be a next batch.

I also made nutritional yeast queso but that’s not a new one in my kitchen. I used whole wheat flour and only 1T light margarine, though I think I’ve omitted it completely before and the results were still delicious.

Another newbie was cooking a scallops dish for the first time. Lemon scallops over sauteed spinach and balsamic whole wheat couscous. It was a hit and miss. A decent hit for me, more of a miss for my mom. You can’t please all. I think I’ll try following a more solid scallops recipe next time around though.

You know when you’re tired and want to sleep? Well folks, that’s me right now. Nighty night!

OMG We’re Back Again….

September 16, 2009

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(Shout out to the BSB?)

It’s that time again…Back to the classes.

I just finished up my second day of third year and have experienced all of my classes at least once. They all seem pretty decent and I like my schedule so things are looking good so far!
My earliest day is Wednesday at 8:30 but that’s only every two weeks, otherwise it starts at 10:30. Tuesdays and Thursdays start at 1:00. All of my days are over by earliest 12:30, latest 4. I have no days off but Fridays are only one 50 minute class so I can’t complain.

I haven’t picked up any of my textbooks yet though… terrible, I know. I was trying to search for some used bargains online but not a whole lotta luck on that front. It looks like I’ll be buying most full price… blah. I went to the bookstore today and there was a line all the way down the hall… I decided I’d try again tomorrow haha.

My classes this fall term:
– Physical Geography (A first year course. Didn’t quite cover all of my requirements in first year when I didn’t yet know what I wanted to major in)
– Intro to Clinical Psychology
– Communications – Image, Sound and Text
– Applied Social Psychology
– Developmental Psychology I

I have to say, I’m glad to be back. Glad to have a reason to get out of the house everyday, glad to be in an environment where there are people everywhere rather than being cooped up alone in my house with nothing to do. Glad to bring back some kind of structure, routine and purpose. And frankly just glad to have some change. I enjoy the freedom of summer… but it gets old pretty fast. Welcome back school! (My enthusiasm will most likely be significantly less by next week)

On the topic of FOOD.
My eats the past few days have been a lot more snack focused and a lot less meal focused. Wait, that’s been my entire summer. But that being said, I haven’t had a significant turn around in the way I eat these past few days. I’ve been on the nosh. Because of that I don’t have good photographic evidence of all my eats, so here’s a random schmattering.

Today

Today I have evidence of most of my eats. Score!

Breakfast was some chilly oats in a mug mixed with apple, banana, yogurt…and other stuff I can’t remember. Oh yeah, there was some PB2 in there!

And handfuls of this crap. Please don’t buy it. It’s awful. And terribly addicting. It’s my bro’s cereal of choice so it frequents our pantry shelves. Where are you willpower?!

I forgot the giant iced coffee I chugged too.

I tried to do a treadmill run while watching the last episode of disc 4 of season 1 of Gossip Girls. It was a terrible effort. For some reason my body wasn’t having it. I think it was the combo of some leftover weekend sleep deprivation combined with the earliest workout I’ve done in a while (it was before noon, not my style this summer). I still managed to crack out 35 minutes of running/high incline speed walking plus another 15ish minutes of weights/lunge/squat moves. It wasn’t a fun one though.

I showered and at an early lunch plate of sorts before heading to school.
This plate mess: wee bites of leftover savoury oats, leftover rice stir fry, tempeh, snap peas, red pepper, baby carrots, dijonnaise for dipping and a hunk of cold corn cob.

Plus some peach yogurt and frozen blueberries.

Class class class. Timmys coffee and an apple kept me fuelled.

Home home home. I was ready for dinner by hardly 5 oclock.

I cracked open the most beautiful tub you’ve ever seen. Oh Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, how I adore thee.

After some serious bread and carrot dipping, I made another snacky plate-like dinner. Steamed broccoli with marinara, a blob of mashed cauliflower, a mini chicken spinach sandwich on rye and a hunk of fresh pure white bread loaf.

Then it was time for a forever fav yogurt mess bowl (after eating handfuls of honey puffed cereal. I hate cereal, can you tell?) with plain and strawberry yogurt, banana, and a hunk of crumbled zucchini muffin + crumbled pb cookie.

I added some dried dates and prunes as an afterthought. Best afterthought ever.

I was full as full can be but when my brother came home and cooked up a frozen pizza for himself I had to have a sliver (or two) because, well, we haven’t had frozen pizza forever! Or any kind of pizza for that matter. And it used to be my favourite food. It’s been a while Pizza, it’s been a while!

Other special weekend eats included:

Chicken mixed with marinara and buffalo sauce over steamed spinach.

Scrambled egg whites with all the fixins.

Cereal. DO NOT LIKE. (Ehem.. lies)

Snack plate with all the good stuff (tuna, hummus, raw cauli, tempeh, red pepper, tomato, mushroom…mmmm)

Plain yogurt, crumbled zucchini muffin, almond butter… practically overflowing with good taste!

Whole wheat spaghetti with marinara, garlic bun, beans, salmon cooked BBQ style. Best.

The most dangerous dessert ever… peach crumb pudding. I practically had to beg my mother not to make this. It clearly didn’t work. I can’t have this in the house. Literally CANNOT. I could literally eat it all. In one sitting. My stomach would probably murder me shortly after but it takes every ounce of restraint in me not to eat this until I pass out from sugar coma.

I ate a bunch of other stuff that was just ugly. Or that I was just too lazy to plate. :)

Alright. It’s hardly 10 at night but I think I’m just about ready to drift off. Gotta get up earlyish for class tomorrow anyway.
Night!

Eats and Sweets

July 19, 2009

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One of these days I’ll start trying to update more than once a week.
My eating isn’t exactly worthy of recognition lately anyway.

That being said… here’s an insider peek at some food related highlights of the past week.

I bought two food-related books this week: The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Julie & Julie. I take forever to get around to reading the books I own but I’m hoping to get around to these asap. I already cracked open Julie & Julia. Is this movie out yet? The book seems like it’ll be a goodie.

I also spotted (and immediately grabbed) a brand new Almond Butter. Blue Diamond Baby! I first saw this gem brand of AB via Miss SnackFace but never imagined I would see it on my own grocery store shelves. I was pretty darn excited. It wasn’t crazy cheap here though. Sigh.

This week’s mail delivered me some Nutella sample packets (as well as Fitness magazine and a paycheque – Booya) Danger Ranger! I haven’t had Nutella in years. I might have to Nutellafy a bowl of oatmeal at some point in my near future.

One night this week my friend invited me over for a seafood dinner. I’ll admit I was a little nervous since her regular meal choices include chocolate bars, Skittles and Spinach Dip but I sucked it up, figured how can you possibly make seafood that unhealthy and tried to anticipate the worst.

I arrived to her cooking up a pan of scallops in a pool of oil, along with some shell pasta in a thick alfredo sauce and some battered shrimp cakes heating up in the oven. Great. At least she threw a little broccoli into the mix…
… and then proceeded split the entire large pot of pasta between our two plates.

The whole meal was washed down with a Caramel Drumstick.

I’m not going to lie, the whole thing was delicious and I did enjoy every bite.
But I’m also not going to lie and say that I was feeling good about myself after it all. Obviously one unhealthy night of eating is not a big deal in the least. However, my general eating lately has involved much too much snacking, sugar and unhealthy white things and my body is definitely showing it. Working at a job where I sit 7-8 hours a day doesn’t help either. So even though I’m still exercising everyday, it’s just not quite enough right now and I need to snap out of the junk trap I’ve been stuck in lately.

But speaking of junk, I made these Butterscotch Pecan Cookies the other day. I forgot to take a picture but they are amazing so I suggest you make them. I made them for someone else so I only sampled a taste, however I probably ate my weight in chocolate chips in the process – yet another example of why I don’t want to blog about my eating lately.

Examples of other foods of the week:

Fresh fruit with yogurt and flax

Egg white salsa feta spinach omelette on half an english muffin

Kashi Honey Puffed Cereal with dried apricots, yogurt mixed with Chocolate PB2 and carob chips

Yogurt with flax and a crumbled banana muffin

More fruit and yogurt

Salad (with white pasta…)

Fresh and amazing corn on the cob with freshly de-podded peas, fish and potatoes.

Egg whites with salsa and tomato, cottage cheese and bread with hummus.

White pasta with scallops, shrimp and diced tomatoes over steamed broccoli, topped with feta.

Giant fridge-clearing salad.

Note the abundance of sweet-based foods and white pasta and bread. In my defense, some of my healthier eats such as my fruit and salad-based lunches and veggie snacks don’t get photographed. My eating still needs some work though.

Yesterday’s lunch was pretty decent. It included a big container of raw veggies to snack on, plus half of a leftover grilled vegetable wrap from a restaurant I ate at the other night, an unpictured apple and half of a Cinnamon Raisin Raw Organic Food Bar (delicious).

To end on a non-food foot:
Back to the Age of Innocence. Ah the simple days.

Eat All Day, Study All Night…

April 6, 2009

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…Let’s get it poppin… I’m in Miami Trick?
I wish I were in Miami right about now. Please try not to judge (too hard) the fact that this is my new favourite song.

Weekend highlights included: work, study, eat, sleep, study, eat, treadmill, study.

I promise I won’t be such a complainer in just over a week’s time.

Saturday

Breakfast was one of those ‘little bite of this, little bite of that’ things. I was throwing together my lunch for work and ended up snacking on raw veggies and squash in the process. I was going to make myself a bowl of oats but the veggers triggered the savoury buds so instead I threw some leftover tuna into half a pita and a somewhat structured brekkie was born.

Want a bite?

Dipped in coffee perhaps?

No? Okay, moving on then.

For a work snack I tried this Chocolate Coconut Raw Organic Food Bar that I bought the other day.

Stats:

The first tiny bite I tried tasted a wee bit strange. But the second bite was perfection, and every bite after that was ever-growing perfection. This bar is amazing. It has chocolate chips in it.

I am only disappointed in the fact that I’ve only ever seen these at one small health food store. I need to try more of these asap. They have a chocolatey chocolate chip flavour!

For lunch I had a raw veg/squash/baked tofu bowl. Why do people find it so strange to eat mushrooms raw? They’re rawesome! Hardy har har.

I also had an apple and my brother’s pizza crust. It was oh so doughy.

Dinner was Chinese.

Blah. Definitely not my choice. I had a pre-sodium-fest plate of healthier fare:
Squash, tomato, baked tofu.

As for the grease feast, I had a bit of rice and then just picked veggies out of the various dishes. I tried to stick mainly with the awesome garlic broccoli. I may have accidentally dug into the lemon chicken container a couple times. Sometimes my hands just work at their own free will!

And then there was night. And studying and lots of ranting and maybe a tear or two because sometimes that just needs to be done, and then I was into bed at a half decent time because that sometimes really just needs to be done.

Sunday

Breakfast was shared with the lovely morning sunlight after a good long sleep (which I desperately needed). I had a small bowl of blended oat bran made with liquid whey (strained from some plain yogurt), unsweetened chocolate almond breeze and banana, topped off with a chunk of PB2 mixed with SF maple syrup as per Erin’s suggestion. Deeelish.

I finally managed to get in a good treadmill run. I had done nearly nothing in terms of exercise Friday or Saturday and my mood and body were definitely missing it. I just didn’t have the energy for it though. It was one of those “Exercise? Not a chance” kinda times. I did go for a long and ranty walk on Saturday night with my mom though, which was much needed, and I did my 100 reps both days. I’m continuing them into the month of April since I just love em so darn much (sometimes…).

Anyway, I spent my Sunday studying (whoopie) with plenty of breaks for food and nail filing in between.

During lunch study break I made a big giant salad topped with leftover chinese veggies and some tempeh. This salad was just a little too fiberific though. My tummy wasn’t diggin it.

For dinner I was feeling fish, so we made some Parmesan-breaded Sole, inspired by Bobbi’s recipe.
These were sole fillets coated in lemon juice and a mixture of whole wheat cracker crumbs, garlic powder, Mrs Dash and parmesan cheese. So easy, so good. I had seconds.

Later on during my study sesh I had an iced coffee. But then I felt actual hunger (not ‘I’m studying and want to procrastinate’ snacky hunger) so I had a bowl of pumpkin, cinnamon and vanilla soy protein powder.

Then my friend contacted me last minute and decided I should break from my studying to go to Sunday night Retro at our local sketch bar. Hmm…Studying all weekend… didn’t go out Friday or Saturday… sick and tired of sitting… no classes Monday…I couldn’t refuse.

Unfortunately when we finally made our way to the bar (around midnight), there was a huge line up. When that bar has a line up it means it’s at capacity and there is not a chance of us getting in anytime soon. So instead we booked it over to a jam-packed little Irish pub down the way and listened to live music while munching on greasy poutine and drinking beer. I didn’t do much of either of the last two activities since I was driving and wasn’t hungry. Of course I had to try a few fries though. My pumpkin bowl was tastier. I also did some good old people watching ;) Then my friends decided they were bored about an hour later and wanted to go back to my one friend’s house. Short attention spans, geez. So we went and chatted there for another hour or so until I finally got home and rolled on into my own bed around 3. It was actually a pretty decent way to end a weekend of lameo studying so the weekend didn’t turn out completely dull.

Today, however, I woke up to snow.
Then I double checked the calendar to make sure it was actually April instead of February. It was. I was miffed. I made thought about making multiple harassing calls to the weather man. Because clearly he’s to blame.
I will admit though, this IS perfect stuck-inside-studying weather. Speaking of which, I guess I should get back to it now!

PS – If you’re a pistachio lover and concerned about the recent recall, check out PistachioRecall.org for a list of safe pistachio brands.