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!

Date Night!

The boyfriend and I enjoyed a night in, and cooked up a new recipe that turned out great :) We made Coconut Breaded Shrimp, and the recipe can be found here. I was craving some good coconut shrimp (I'm just throwing coconut into everything lately, aren't I?), so I took the fried version and "healthified" it by baking it in the oven, and only using egg whites in the breading process. We served it with some roasted broccoli.

There was also some shiraz involved ;)

Nathan's mom baked me a rhubarb pie because she knows I like rhubarb (so nice of her!), but apparently his dad got into it so she ended up just sending me a piece of the pie haha. My wonderful boyfriend brought me the piece in bed with some vanilla frozen yogurt, and I ate it as I wound down for the night. Is there anything better than pie in bed? ;)

Good night, hope you all had a good start to the week and are ready to take on Monday!

Lazy Morning

Today was supposed to be productive, but it just didn't end up happening. I enjoyed a nice morning of doing absolutely nothing useful, which is necessary sometimes. For breakfast I had a bowl of oatmeal:

• 1/3 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup soy milk
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 banana
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 spoonfuls non-fat yogurt
• 1 1/3 tbsp macadamia nut butter
• squirt of agave nectar

I really liked the chia seeds in the mix - it made the oats nice and fluffy. I also had a side of grapefruit, which was so juicy I needed to eat it over the sink.

Yesterday I picked up a new kind of tea from Whole Foods - Four O' Clock Chocolate Spice. I love chocolate, so I figured it was worth a try. I brewed the tea last night, and made a latte with it this morning. I really liked the chocolate spice taste, but it was very week, even after brewing all night. I think two teabags are necessary, but because they were so expensive I'm not sure this would be a regular product for me.

Last night I also made some Coconut Curry Hummus, modified a little from Kath's recipe. It was amazing! I'm not really a fan of store-bought hummus, which I find kind of strange because I love chickpeas, so I think it's the flavouring manufacturers use. I'll definitely be making my own hummus from now on. The recipe for the way I made it can be found here.

I enjoyed some for lunch today with multigrain pretzel twists and some veggies. Yum!

The boyfriend came over in the afternoon, and we went out to do some shopping. While we were checking out furniture at Ikea, I got one of their frozen yogurts (which are delicious!).

Nathan got a little more than me.

I was craving frozen yogurt all day, so it really hit the spot.

Right now we're just waiting for some shrimp to defrost so we can cook a nice dinner together. See you all after some good food and wine ;)

To get ready for my last day of studying, I fuelled up with an iced coffee!

I love Starbucks, but my budget is a little too tight to afford $5 iced lattes everyday. Instead, I wash out the cups after I'm done with them, and reuse them when I make iced drinks at home. That way I can save some money, and still feel fancy ;)

Lunch today was an omuraisu, or Japanese "rice omelet", which is ketchup-flavoured rice wrapped in a thin layer of egg. Very quick and easy, and a great way to use up leftover rice!

Omuraisu

• 1 egg
• 1/2-1 cup leftover Japanese rice
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp mirin
• Extras (ham, bacon, peas, spinach, etc.)

Beat the egg and pan fry in a thin layer, like a crepe. Remove from pan and set aside. Mix rice, soy sauce, mirin, half of ketchup and any extras in the pan, and cook just until heated through. Pour into egg wrapping, and fold so that fillings are covered. Decorate the top with remaining ketchup (I like the classic squiggle :) ). I chose to add some grilled chicken and peas to my omuraisu today.

For my afternoon snack, I had some homemade Vanilla Nut & Cranberry Mix, as well as some grapes (that I didn't photograph because I ate them too fast!).

I wasn't feeling very well all afternoon, possibly because my body didn't like all the caffeine in my iced coffee earlier. I ended up having the salad I had planned for dinner anyway, because I knew I would likely want it once it was made and sitting in front of me.

Easy Southwestern Salad

• 1 cup mixed greens
• 1/2 cup grilled chicken strips (coated in taco seasoning)
• 6 sweet potato tortilla chips
• 1/2 oz grated cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cubed avocado
• 2 tbsp "chipotle sour cream" aka. sour cream + taco seasoning [Note: I never buy sour cream because I don't use enough, so I always sub in plain yogurt. Tastes just as good!]
• 2 tbsp salsa

A little low on veggies because I haven't wanted to keep a large variety as I'm going to be moving soon, but normally I would add some tomatoes and scallions as well. It was good, but my stomach still felt a little uneasy after :(

For dessert I mixed some Cointreau liqueur chocolates and chopped ginger into 1/2 cup of vanilla frozen yogurt. Yum! :)

You can see the liqueur inside oozing out into the frozen yogurt. Very decadent! I ate dessert out of my new polka dot mug that I'm completely obsessed with now. Home Sense has the best stuff! ;)

First Entry~

This is my first attempt at keeping a food blog. I'm not sure how consistently I'll be updating this - I may blog my daily food, or I might just post interesting recipe attempts or general food-related themes, but I'll do my best to share the ups and downs of my kitchen with you! :)

I'm a little intimidated by the blogging world, because all of the amazing blogs I've read so far (like Carrots N Cake and Kath Eats). They have such amazing pictures and unique recipes that I feel like I can't compare! I don't even have a real camera at the moment (my digital camera broke a few months ago), so right now all I have is my iPhone. Hopefully it will do for now, and I'll be able to get a new camera sometime soon in the future :)

Right now I'm in the middle of an exam period for school, so my days are spent cooking and studying.

For breakfast today, I was inspired by the previously-mentioned blogs to get creative with my oats! I haven't really been much of an oatmeal person lately because I've been trying to get more protein, but now I'm really excited to start making new combinations in the morning.

This bowl contains:

• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1/4 cup nonfat yogurt
• large handful blueberries
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• sprinkling of sweetener

Lunch was kind of rushed because I lost track of time, so I had a cherry Larabar with peanut butter on top, and a small salad with avocado.

Dinner ended up being late as well, but it was definitely delicious! I had a fillet of mahi-mahi with a pesto cheese sauce, baked sweet potato fries and asparagus.

I made the sauce by mixing together:

• 1/3 oz part skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/5 cup nonfat yogurt
• 1/2 tsp basil pesto

The sauce was delicious, but next time I think I'd wait a little longer before putting it on the fish, because it really reduced a lot on the oven and it would've been nicer if it was a bit creamer.

Now I'm off to study, but not before I enjoy a bowl of vanilla frozen yogurt with green tea egg roll cookies! :) I love egg roll cookies because they're so crumbly that they practically melt in your mouth. Mmm~