Tag Archives: tuna

Here’s some more. No sentiments, just pics.

Breakfast Time

Fibre One cereal with frozen banana, cocoa powder and almond milk

Strawberry smoothie

Strawberry cocoa smoothie with Chocolate Cheerios and red toes

Strawberry spinach smoothie

Coffee cocoa spinach strawberry smoothie in a peanut butter jar

And since this peanut butter jar is clearly now empty, I am out of peanut butter. How to solve such a dilemma? Take the easy route and buy another jar? Or…

Make a fresh batch of almond butter –>Better plan.

This smoothie got coned. And then the cone got…smoothied? Smoothies are about 1.3x more fun when eaten out of a cone.

Greens and Misc Garb

Raw veg and cold potato morning snack with salsa ranch dressing and the end of Eat, Pray, Love

Greens salad topped with potoato bites, salsa, crumbled turkey burger and hummus

Spinach and slaw salad topped with sundried tomato tuna

Another random pile of vegetable junk.

Kale Salad Oh She Glows style

Turkcauli burgers with mustard, baked potatoes, greek salad

Baked potato stuffed with hummus, spinach, melty cheddar, and topped with sour cream

Sweet and white potatoes and broccoli roasted in sundried tomato vinaigrette

Couscous and mixed bean salad with red onion, red pepper, cucumber and the same sundried tomato vinaigrette as I roasted the above potatoes in. (I was using up the bottle since it was a little gag-worthy on top of salads but worked significantly better when tossed among other more substantial foods.)

Some of those earlier roasted potatoes on top of some kale dressed in balsamic vinegar.

Grilled chicken Petita from Pita Pit stuffed with a garden of veggies and honey mustard (I usually get baba ghanoush but I find it doesn’t hold me over very long so I thought chicken might do a better job. It didn’t really, and I missed my baba.)

Veggie burger salad: cabbage slaw, tomatoes and pickles topped with a grilled veggie burger and grilled potatoes, all of which were topped with ketchup and mustard latticework.

Raspberry almond butter cookies based off of Lauren’s cashew blueberry recipe. (like my appealing bitten and battered display?)

Aforementioned cookies with apple slices and black coffee

And to end it all on a simple summer note: a popsicle

Good times.

Back to slightly more regular/less giant food recap style posting…soon? As long as this food relationship of mine starts becoming a little less abusive. Food and I are really going through a rough patch right now. I’m very resentful of him and his taunting ways. Time to start laying down the law!

Or…something. I think a baking hiatus is in order. All of my half assed, half delicious attempts that no one else cares to touch are doing nothing more than finding their way into the garbage disposal that is my stomach, their then crushed and condensed remains housing themselves snuggly onto my thighs. And along a similar note, a sugar hiatus would also be very helpful, though likely less plausible. A sugar decrease, however, is not an entirely crazy idea.

(weheartit)

**Recommendations for a desperate food addict needing to tone the insatiable sugar cravings down? Aside from a kick in the bum and a hefty dose of willpower, those are (sad) works in progress.

I can’t stop complaining about this relationship until Food and I are finally on the same page again, what can I say. It’s an arranged marriage with divorce as a non-option so somehow we’re gonna have to make it work.

Plethora of Pictures: Plates Edition Part 1

July 11, 2011

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The other day I left off feeling an irritated stress over an overabundance of unused food pictures. I unloaded a few in the first edition of the (very short) Plethora of Pictures series (I don’t predict this one to be a box office hit) featuring a random mess of products but have since neglected to empty out the rest. So I’m doing that now…

The PLATES – a random selection from the last 10+ days. In multiple parts. Here is the first smattering.

And GO!

Plates

Vegetable-based Platters

Salad with taco topper

Spinach with honey mustard and roasted squash

Greek salad with leftover roasted squash and cottage cheese

Raw veggie and turkey dipping platter

Another raw veggie dipping platter with corn and bean salad

Spinach and cucumber salad with tuna topper (mixed with light sour cream, dijon, wasabi) and a side of pasta salad

More of the spinach and tuna combo

Vermicelli noodles topped with chicken and vegetables stir fried in a teriyaki sauce (made from a powdered mix I randomly found in the cupboard. Would not buy again)

Veggie burger on multigrain with spinach, dijon, sundried tomatoes and goat cheese

Sweeter Side

Fruit plate with strained yogurt

Banana topped with yogurt mixed with peanut butter and a side of dates

A blend of frozen banana, cocoa powder, coconut flour, almonds, sweetener

The morning green smoothie with a side of green tea and Peanut Butter Puffins

Shreddies and apple chunks topped with a splash of almond milk, cinnamon and strained yogurt

Apple chunks heated and topped with a mix of light sour cream, cinnamon and vanilla stevia drops

Cocoa smoothie frozen and stirred every 5-10 minutes about 3x until reaching icy ice cream-like consistency for maximal snacking satisfaction

Sweet tortilla chips – tortillas dipped in cinnamon butter mixed with almond milk, baked at 400 for 8-10 minutes, flipping half way

The rest coming soon…

Happy Monday!

Positivity Among Epic Failures

June 23, 2011

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The quest to de-snug my shorts has not had the most successful of beginnings these past couple days. One could even say it has been nothing short of an epic fail.

But I’m avoiding the Negative Nancy syndrome and trying to embrace a mentality of positivity and “every day is a new day.” Even these “epic fail” days have their good moments and mini lessons to be learned.

For example:

Ordering a tuna salad plate for lunch.

Common nutritional knowledge says that tuna salad is not one of the most waist-friendly meals you could choose (snug shorts say what?). But in my defense, the tuna pile looked small and non-threatening in the picture.

Lesson: Don’t trust the picture.
Positive: Got the olive oil dressing on the side. Definitely not even needed. The tuna mountain was the dressing.
Positive #2: It tasted good!
Positive #3: There was enough tuna for TWO lunches. Economical!
BONUS Positive: They forgot to give me the side of panini bread. I had half a mind to ask for it (Hey, it’s supposed to be there!) but secretly my shorts were pretty relieved with that accidental omission (The tuna was plenty filling).

Continuing along with the so-called “epic failures” of the last couple days, our fridge and cupboards are looking pretty bare, leading me to do some major digging.

I accidentally dug up this gem – Yakisoba Four Cheese Flavour instant noodles.

Common nutritional knowledge says, “Put it down and step far, far away.”
Kristie says, “Hmm…this has been hiding in here for a while. No one is ever going to eat it. I better make sure it doesn’t feel neglected.”

I’m pretty sure it would have been just fine without me. Actually, it probably would have been even better in the trash. But alas, I tried some over spinach with Frank’s and then put the rest away.

Lesson: Four cheeses in powder form taste like plastic. Cheesy salty plastic.
Positive: I satisfied the curiousity that has gotten peaked every time I’ve seen that darn package sitting in the cupboard and now I’ll never have to be tempted by it again.

While noting the short food supply of my kitchen, the baking bug kicked in. Now my shorts were getting pretty irritated with me.

Banana Bread “light” style – made with stevia baking blend among other “healthier” (aka lower fat) ingredients.

Lesson: I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that faux sugar baking blends just can’t replace the real thing in baking classics. And banana bread should never be cheapened with faux sugar. It doesn’t work.
Positive: I won’t be inhaling this loaf all by myself in the next three days.

Among my kitchen escapades, I did manage to whip up a couple more palatable things, such as this peanut buttery chickpea dip: 1/2 cup chickpeas, 1/4 cup applesauce, 2 T sugar free maple syrup, 1 T peanut flour, splash almond milk.

I didn’t really expect much out of this but it was Good.
Lesson: Chickpeas are perfect. Always.

And when I discovered a jar of peanut butter that was on its way down to empty… well clearly I had to make flourless peanut butter cookies out of the remainders (my shorts continued to be very upset with me at this point).

Positive: Umm… I managed to walk away without eating the whole batch?

So you see, I may not have started out with the spryest of feet in my quest to hunker down on my snacking habits and questionable food choices (there were several more than pictured), but there are positives that can be dug up in any situation, and there’s always the next day, the next hour, and even the next moment to do it better.

And at the end of the day, when you feel like you’ve hit your peak of “epic failures”, hunker down, throw in some Jillian Michaels’s No More Trouble Zones and sweat it out until your arms turn to jelly. Then wind down and enjoy a hot and bubbly evening bath to wash away your sweat and troubles (This was my first in months. Might need to become a routine ritual).

(weheartit)

Think about a negative or annoying moment that you had today. Got it?
Okay now twist it and find something positive about it. Just for fun. You’ll suddenly and magically feel better about it, I promise.

Food ‘tude: A Transition

June 5, 2011

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When I was wee, I had ‘tude.

Attitude, yes.

But also FOOD ‘tude.

When I was little, I was also a little picky…

I didn’t like most real meat (aka steak, pork, ham…you get the picture. And I picked it apart meticulously. No fat or gristle would get near these chops. But hey, not like that’s a bad thing.)
I couldn’t do cheese overload (big stringy bites of excess cheese on pizza made me gag. McDonald’s pizza? Traumatizing)
I did not eat bananas. OR peanut butter (who was I?!)
Tuna? Forget it, I was all about the canned salmon sandwiches.
Restaurants? Give me chicken fingers. ALWAYS chicken fingers (though nuggets were best). With sweet and sour sauce.
Kraft Dinner all the way. Who needs real cheese when you can eat neon orange powdered cheese? (But not if it was mixed the wrong way. Only my parents knew how to make it right. Friends’ parents made it clumpy and weird. Yep, I gagged)
Bologna. Yep, I said it. And ate it. Lots of it. Always on white bread with mustard :)

“Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Weiner…”

I’ve been through many a taste bud transition over the years. My palette has expanded. My pickiness has nearly disappeared (though I still don’t like most real meat. And please do not pass the olives).

I eat more non-meat (veggie burgers, tofu, hummus, beans) than meat, though I’m not a vegetarian – so far.
Cheese? Yes PLEASE. Cheddar, mozzarella, goat, feta – I like it all.
Bananas and Peanut Butter are daily staples. I can’t imagine living without them.
I still like canned salmon on occasion but I love canned tuna. Any any fish is fair game when it comes in sushi form.
I haven’t eaten a chicken finger in years. YEARS. My chicken is usually a little less battered and deep fried these days.
Umm… Kraft Dinner is still beautiful in all its radioactive orange glory, though I haven’t had some real deal KD in a while. These days any form of mac & cheese fits the bill though.
Bologna…no thanks. Thinly sliced deli turkey? You bet. Usually eaten straight up, but still with the good ol’ mustard.

My food has also become significantly more fresh and green. Many of my today foods are similar to those of yesteryear, just with a little reconstruction (and a lot more vegetables). I’m pretty sure this is a transition many of us bologna sandwich kids can relate to.

Instead of bologna and mustard on white bread, how about tofu and mustard on spring mix greens? (Though the white bread is still kickin’ around on the side :))

(source)

Instead of nuggets with a side of fries, I’ll take my salad with a side of fries.

(weheartit)

Though want to do it one better? How about a side of Holy Moly Guacamole (aka the best protein-packed guacamole ever) and a Crystal Light Froster?

My pasta plates are usually more green than orange (though sometimes you just gotta go with the plain old mac&cheese).

(weheartit)

My canned fish lies more often on leaves than bread.

(source)

Even my sweets have been switched up.

Instead of bright goopy Gushers, I’m more into bright goopy jams (It’s rhubarb! It’s homemade. It’s delicious. Though I’ll admit, so are Gushers…even though I’m pretty sure their “real fruit” isn’t quite as real as the rhubarb in my jam)

(google)

Twinkies in my lunch? Naw, today I’ll take some Genisoy multigrain Cinnamon Streusel Sweet Crisps instead (which are insanely delicious FYI).

(source)

I’m also pretty content with yogurt and berries. Perhaps with a cookie on the side.

I may no longer eat mad amounts of bologna or drive ‘Lamborghinis’ but I still have plenty of ‘tude.

Don’t mess with the muscles! (I only wish I were tough)

And definitely don’t mess with the meals. They pack some POWER.

Side note: I let my mom try my Great Greens breakfast smoothie the other day.

Her reaction?

Cough, gag, *face remarkably similar to that of someone having just taken a hefty dose of Buckley’s*

“I think…it’s an acquired taste…”

I swear green smoothies CAN taste good. I just like them nice and earthy. Guess I should have eased her in with much one heavier on the fruit and much lighter on the straight cocoa powder, barley grass powder and thick handfuls of collard greens. Oops. Next time, Mom.

What food did you HATE as a child that you LOVE now?
What food did you LOVE as a child that you HATE now?