Changes

Hello everyone,

I've decided that I'm ready to bring my blog to the next level, and I'm happy to announce that I will now be blogging from my very own domain:

www.callieflowerkitchen.com

The site is still looking a little skeletal, but I'll be working on it in the coming weeks, and this way I can still blog while going through the transition. I've already updated with a few posts explaining the move a little more, as well as my activity for the past few days. Please update all your links, and I hope to see you on the new site! :)

-Callie

Scheduled Relaxation

This morning started off on the right foot - the boyfriend and I woke up with no help from alarm clocks, and made a nice breakfast of coffee and pumpkin pancakes.

I know he loves regular pancakes, but I always bulk them up with healthy ingredients like pumpkin, oats and protein for some added nutrition and staying power. It didn't seem like he minded too much ;)

I used the same recipe I posted last time, but I doubled it to feed both of us, and subbed in oats for half of the flour for a more nutty texture. They didn't end up looking all that beautiful, but they tasted great and now I'm ready for the day ahead.

I had 3 plates like this, topped with a little bit of natural peanut butter mixed with maple syrup, yum!

We have lots planned - including grocery shopping, a walk, errands, other shopping, etc - but it should still be a pretty low-key, relaxing day. See you later! :)

Iron Man

This morning started off great. I've recently developed an obsession with Peanut Butter Puffins, so I think Tina must've been reading my mind when she posted about her PBP Smoothie! ;)

I downsized the calories a bit, and made mine with:

• 1/3 cup soy milk
• 2/3 scoop vanilla protein
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1/2 serving Peanut Butter Puffins
• 1/2 frozen banana
• lots of ice

It was AMAZING! And it actually kept me full until lunch, which I was a little surprised about because smoothies usually don't hold me over for long.

My lunch photo was a little ugly today, but the food itself was delicious. I dug a bag of shirataki noodles out of my fridge, and cooked it up with some onion, spinach and sesame sauce, and threw a fried egg on top. The usual snacks tagged along.

I also snuck a diet coke from work, oops! I was never big on pop, but lately I've been drinking a lot of diet coke. I've been trying to cut back as part of my effort to eat more natural foods, but it's hard to resist the zero-cal sweet treat when you're bored in the office.

I prepared a special dinner for the boyfriend today: Japanese curry slow-cooked all day in the crock pot. It was my first time making curry in a crock pot, but it turned out absolutely awesome and I can't wait to have the leftovers for dinner tomorrow!

All I did was chop up the following and combine them in the crock pot:

• 1 large carrot
• 1/2 onion
• 1 large potato
• 2 chicken breasts
• 4 cubes of curry roux (can be found at most asian grocery stores)

And I left it on low for about 8 hours, and gave it a quick stir on high once I got home. I had preset the rice maker too, and it was nice to have it all ready when I got home from errands and the gym :) To make the evening even more relaxing, we shared a bottle of St. Ambroise Apricot Wheat Ale, which wasn't as light and sweet as I expected, but still very good.

Eating my dinner.

We decided to go see Iron Man 2 tonight, and got to the theatre really early because Nathan insisted it would be packed. It was actually almost completely empty when we got there, but it filled up closer to show time, so I guess it was a good thing we went a bit sooner.

I did have time to grab a frozen yogurt though, with blackberries and pineapple mixed in. Yum!

The movie was good, but the frozen yogurt stole the show for me ;) By the time we got home I was hungry again, so I ate 3 dried dates (not pictured) and one of the homemade rolls Nathan's mom made for me.

I think those were caraway seeds, and they were delicious!

We have a fun and busy day planned out for tomorrow, so I want to get my butt into bed asap. Goodnight bloggers, see you all tomorrow!

The Little Lunch That Couldn't

So the nice lunch I posted earlier today didn't end up happening. I guess the soup had been in the cupboard longer than I had thought, and the 2008 best before date made me think that maybe it wasn't the best choice. I ended up going out to Tim Hortons with some co-workers, and got some chicken noodle soup and a multigrain bagel with cream cheese. No picture though :( I also ended up eating all the snacks I had brought with my lunch other than the actual soup and ham.

When I got home I felt so hungry that I just wanted something very bulky that had a stick-to-your-ribs filling factor, so of course I went to pumpkin oats. I really bulked them up!

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 small banana
• 1 tbsp chia seeds

The bowl was huge and really filled me up. I love pumpkin oats :D

I was craving something sweet (as always) later at night, so I had the other half of the banana from my oats with some raw chocolate syrup.

It got really messy by the time I took the picture!

I kind of feel like I'm coming down with something, so I spent the night drinking tea and resting. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow, because it's almost the weekend and I want to enjoy my days off. Goodnight!

Snooze x 10

I don't know why, but I haven't been sleeping very well lately. I think it's because I find it so difficult to turn off the tv and laptop and just let myself relax. I think I need to start putting more focus into really getting rid of all distractions at night so that I can rest properly.

This morning was another late start, so I grabbed a Clif bar for a quick breakfast.



Luckily I had packed my lunch last night! I'm trying to use up all the food that's going to go bad or I've had for a really long time, just to reduce waste, because I hate throwing out food.



Today's apple is the Cripps Pink :) I plan on stirring the chopped ham into the Soup at Hand, which should be pretty healthy (except for the massive amount of sodium).

Have a great day!

"Me" Day

I slept in a little today, so breakfast was on the go. I packed myself my last freezer bagel with nutella, and some "tropical fruit salad", aka mango + banana + coconut. There was supposed to be some pineapple in there too, but it had been in the fridge for a questionable amount of time and smelled a little off, so I decided to pass.

The fruit salad was awesome! I wish I had more mango left so I could make more, but unfortunately it was my last as well.

Lunch was round two of the lunch I had brought the day before. Work ended up ordering in chinese, but I stuck with my salad instead. (Note - I ate the dark chocolate coconut Kashi bar yesterday - today was actually a chocolate raspberry one.)

I ended up eating my whole lunch at noon, so by the time I got home I was starving! Didn't plan that out very well :S I had some carrot sticks to tide me over until dinner.

I also finally dug my teapot out of the pile of stuff I still haven't bothered to unpack after my move, so I've been sipping some nice green tea all night.

I missed my teapot ♥

I feel like I'm always on the go - out shopping, at the gym, working, running errands - and my muscles are really aching from my workout on Monday, so I decided to take a "me" day. A day where I come straight home after work and do nothing. What better way to have a me day than to have chocolate pudding for dinner?

It may look like just a bowl of granola and strawberries (there were a ton of berries), but there was some pudding hidden in there!

It wasn't actually a real chocolate pudding, more of a mad science yogurt mix. I basically combined the following in a saucepan:

• 200g vanilla yogurt
• 1 piece Lindt dark chocolate
• 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 packets Truvia
• sprinkle of gelatin

And then threw it in the freezer for about half an hour, because I'm impatient and wanted to eat it NOW. It thickened up really nicely, and I was actually a little surprised that it worked out so well. It tasted a little more tart than regular pudding (probably because of the yogurt), but it was still really delicious.

After dinner my sweet tooth still wasn't satisfied, so I had a couple pieces of the Lindt chocolate, and a scoop of peanut butter on a spoon. Just one of those "I want to eat everything" kind of days, you know?

Now I'm on a tea-only diet until bed, which will hopefully be sooner than later. I want to be completely rested tomorrow from my relaxing night!

What do you do to relax?

Also, look out for some big changes on my blog in what will hopefully be the near future! ;)

Ohmmm

I have so many nut butters now, I barely even know what to do with them. I think I have more nut butters than any single person really needs. I have peanut butter (2 jars!), chocolate peanut butter, almond butter, macadamia nut butter, nutella, tahini and coconut butter. Oh my gosh! How did I end up with so much? I'm on a nut butter-buying ban until some of these jars disappear, no matter how delicious it looks in the store!

I decided to dip into an old favourite - nutella - for breakfast today.

I had it on a bagel that's been in my freezer for ages now, with some strawberries. I always forget how much I love nutella until I have it again! I remember when I was a child my mom would very rarely buy it because I would just sit and eat it with a spoon from the jar. Pure heaven.

I had a very busy day at work, and even though I brought my lunch I ended up eating a quarter chicken meal from Swiss Chalet. I still ate the apple and Kashi bar I brought as a snack, but the picture of the whole thing will have to wait until tomorrow!

I ended up going shopping after work because I was in desperate need of tank tops for the gym (I picked up 4 for about $20!), and got home later than expected. I knew I wouldn't have time to cook anything before yoga, so I had a bowl of strawberries to tide me over.

Yoga was just okay - the regular instructor still wasn't back due to an injury, and I'm not a big fan of her substitute. It was more like an hour of very light stretching and meditation, which I wasn't too worried about because I'm still so sore from yesterday.

Dinner was butter-lemon spaghetti with shrimp, and I bulked it up with some cherry tomatoes.

It was good - not the best dinner I've ever made, but still pretty tasty. Now I'm just tired, and can't wait to curl up in bed with my book, and some chocolate and tea.

Goodnight bloggies!

What kind of nut butter do you like best?

A Family of Apples

Today I wasn't really feeling in the mood to cook, so I decided to just stick with leftovers for dinner. I heated up the last of my Squash Gratin with some tofu crumbles mixed in, and stuck some spinach in underneath the warmed dish so it would wilt. Very filling and delicious for such a quick dinner! I need to start batch cooking more often.

I ended up pouring out the diet ginger ale because it hadn't been refrigerated for very long, and just wasn't hitting the spot. After dinner I had a little "incident" - I was eyeing the leftovers from my baking yesterday, and it basically ended in me eating:

X 1million

And some butterscotch chips.

X 2

:(

Such is life.

I was determined to turn my night around, though - with my very first BodyPump class! I was a little nervous because it's a little intimidating watching everyone with all of the equipment, but the instructor was really nice and helped me get set up, and made sure I was able to follow the class okay.

I absolutely loved it, and can't wait to go back again! I felt so strong when I left, and it completely lifted my mood. I'm not sure I'll be able to go back for a while, though, because I already have that jell-o feeling in my muscles that means I'm gonna be reeeally sore tomorrow.

After BodyPump I decided to grab some apples on my way out of the store, because I had my last one for lunch today. I'm a little bit of an apple freak, so I hate not having any at home! Seriously, is there any better fruit than an apple? You can grab them and go, peel them, slice them, dip them, bake them, they come in a million different varieties and they're always available.

Royal gala is my favourite kind of apple, but every once in a while I change it up a bit, just to keep things interesting. Today a bunch of different varieties caught my eye, so I bought an entire little family of apples as well as my regular bag of royal gala.

Ambrosia, crispin, braeburn and cripps pink. Fuji and golden delicious fell out of the bag and got bruised :'(

All my RGs :) I know it would probably be cheaper to buy the pre-bagged ones, but I like hand-choosing my own from the display to make sure every one will be delicious (I HATE surprise mushy apples!).

I'm ready to settle down with my book and the braeburn, but laundry is calling.

What's your favourite kind of apple?

Fish for Breakfast

Not really, I just love my fishy bowl ;)



In the mix:

• 3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
• 8 large strawberries
• 1/2 cup Kashi GoLean Crunch
• scoop of almond butter

For lunch, I packed some of the leftover Squash Gratin on a bed of spinach with an apple, some sugar snap peas and a Kashi Pumpkin Pie bar.



I also packed some Brown Butter Blondies to bring in and share with my co-workers.



Have a good day!

Back From the Dead

Wow, it's been a while since I last blogged! My internet unexpectedly died, and it took me all week to get it sorted out. I'm still not sure that everything is fully resolved, but at least it works for now.

I started off my morning with a complimentary yoga class at Lululemon (which I hope will become a routine that I can speak more about), and when I got home I refuelled with a chocolate banana protein shake that had one frozen banana, one scoop of chocolate protein powder and one cup of almond milk in it. Yum!

After I got ready for the day, I had a real breakfast of eggs and toast with some peanut butter, which really hit the spot. I'd been craving eggs for a while so it was nice to finally have some!

My day was spent out and about, and I stopped at Starbucks in the afternoon for an iced coffee and some free wifi ;) I also had my apple with vanilla yogurt + cinnamon to snack on.

I've been wanting to make a recipe I saw on television a while ago, Squash Gratin from Ricardo and Friends, so I finally decided that today was the day. I went to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients, and it must've been meant to be:

I got the very last butternut squash! What are the odds? By the time I got home from shopping I was already starving but I knew the recipe would take at least an hour and a half to make, so I snacked on some crackers (that I ate before I could get anywhere near a camera), and some strawberries in a cute fish bowl I got from Target on my trip to Buffalo.

The strawberries were amazingly sweet and juicy! This made me excited for all the wonderful summer fruits to come in season again :) My snack held me over well until dinner, which I also enjoyed in my fish bowl.

After two hours of waiting and cooking, the end result was just okay. I think that roasting the squash with some butter and brown sugar would be a lot easier (and possibly tastier), but I'm still glad I got to try the recipe out.

Because I haven't baked anything in a while, I also decided to go for another recipe that I saw: Brown Butter Blondies. I knew this one would be delicious, because Michael Smith is my kitchen hero and has never steered me wrong before ;) I don't think anything that went into the batter was very healthy - brown butter, brown sugar, butterscotch chips ... definitely a delicious combination, though! Ready to go in the oven:

And ready to go into my stomach:

It was sooo delicious and sweet and buttery, oh my gosh! Even just thinking about it now makes me want one. I ended up eating two squares, plus a bunch of crumbs from the pan while I was cutting up the remainder, and a few butterscotch chips might've found their way out of the bag as well. Oops! :$

The rest is packed up to take into work tomorrow or in the freezer to eat some other time, so I should be safe for now. Anyway, it's getting late and I have a date with a book. Good night! ♥

I Heart Supermarkets

I love grocery shopping. It might even be an addiction, that's how much I love it! There's something relaxing about browsing the aisles, finding foods you've never tried before, and comparing brands. I could spend hours in a grocery store.

Isn't the produce section pretty from above?

I recently joined a gym that shares a space with a grocery store, and it's basically the perfect combination for me. I go to the grocery store and the gym's right there, so I feel like I might as well get a workout in too ;) And then I'm still on my endorphin high from my workout when I'm choosing my food, so I tend to shop healthier. Today I picked up enough produce to feed a small army:

For a pretty reasonable price :)

By the time I got home I was starving, so I ate a date (plus a few more) while dinner was cooking.

I also had a little of the wine from last night.

The coconut shrimp from last night was so good that I made the same thing tonight! This time I served it with some cheesy mustard cauliflower and some wilted spinach (needed to use up my old supply to make room for the new container), and it was just as delicious.

I kept up the tropical theme for dessert, and had some non-fat yogurt with pineapple and caramel sauce.

Mmm, caramel sauce :)

I was still craving something a little chocolatey after my dessert, so I made a mug of chocolate spice tea and had a square of dark chocolate with it.

I never know where my time goes at night! One minute I'm finishing work, and the next it's already after 11:00. I feel ready for bed but I still have a bunch of things that need to be done. Hopefully I won't be up too late!

Do you like grocery shopping?