Double Class

Whew, today was a long day! I was up bright and early for work, and I threw together a nice mug of oats before I had to go.

In the mix:

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 small banana
• 2/3 tbsp peanut butter
• 4 pecans
• agave nectar
• cinnamon

I've made a bunch of changes to my morning oats lately - some that I think I'll keep, and others that I don't think I will.

Quick oats -> Old fashioned oats: The texture is really different and I'm not sure how I like the extra chewiness, but I have a jumbo bag so I'm sure I'll like it eventually ;)

Almond milk -> Soy milk: I'm not sure I like this change. Soy milk has far more protein, but almond milk adds a nice nutty flavour for only half the calories, so I think I'll be switching back as soon as my carton of soy milk is gone.

Sweetener -> Agave nectar: I read a lot of research about the negative effects of agave nectar and it's high fructose content, but in the end I decided that it had to be better than chemical sweeteners, so I decided to give it a go. I really like it - it kind of tastes like a less intense honey.

I wasn't very diligent today, because I forgot to take pictures of both my lunch and afternoon snack :( Neither were overly exciting - we had lunch ordered in from a nearby chinese place and my meal ended up being Bombay Chicken, which was so spicy that I barely ate any of it. I felt bad for wasting so much food, but my mouth was on FIRE! I did eat the apple I brought (as well as my entire water bottle lol), and for my afternoon snack I had some baby carrots and snap peas.

After work I had planned on going to my first BodyFlow class. I joined Goodlife Fitness this week, but I ended up hurting my shoulder/neck/back while I was moving, so I've been unable to do anything active with it for the past few days :( Today I felt well enough today to try something low impact, so I was really excited to finally get out to the gym!

BodyFlow was nice, although I think I want to check out the just-yoga class another night. I felt so good afterwards that I decided to just stay for the following Zumba class, which I had also never tried! The time did seem to fly by, although I'm not sure it lived up to the sky-high expectations I've developed after hearing everyone rave about it. If I'm not too sore tomorrow I might check out another Zumba class at a different location, and see what it's like with a different instructor :)

Dinner was a big, protein-filled salad with spinach, salmon, egg whites, asparagus, roasted broccoli and mayo+dijon dressing. Yum!

You can also see the new placemat I bought from Loblaws for only $1.97!

Pretty nice for such a low price, eh? :) I might go back tomorrow and trade my second green one for a yellow, so I have one of each colour because I'm so indecisive, and matching is overrated.

Dessert was a random mix that I threw together in my mug:

• 1/2 cup vanilla frozen yogurt
• 6 vanilla meringues
• 1 tsp chocolate chips
• 3 Lotte chocolate pie treats

It was so good! Definitely an interesting mix of textures and flavours that I would eat again. Well I'm absolutely exhausted, and I can hear bed calling me. Have a good Friday everyone!

What's your favourite way to exercise?

Colombo Cookin'

In honour of all the time I have during my week off, I decided to make a new recipe :) I was watching the Food Network this morning, and the Chicken and Coconut Colombo recipe on Ricardo & Friends caught my eye - partly because it looked delicious, and partly because I've had a can of coconut milk in my cupboard for about a year now that really needs to be used!

A trip to the grocery store later, I was all ready to get started. The recipe called for the chicken to be pan-fried, but it was beautiful outside, and things always taste better grilled anyway ;)

The grill station, complete with a beer! I followed the recipe pretty closely - the only changes I made were adding in some carrots, using a jalapeno (grocery store didn't have any habanero), and omitting the allspice (I forgot to pick some up, d'oh!).

The finished product, served with some Japanese rice. I really enjoyed it - the chicken was tender, all the veggies were great, and it had a good amount of spice to it. There are also tons of leftovers, which will make for a happy dad and boyfriend ;)

For dessert I made a delicious ice cream concoction:

S'mores Sundae

• 1/2 cup vanilla frozen yogurt
• 2 tsp chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp marshmallow fluff
• 1 graham cracker

Yum! :) Now it's time to get my stuff together and turn in early. Goodnight!

Busy Un-Busy Day

Now that school is over, I feel like I don't know what to do with myself. When I had to study all the time I just wanted to be able to sit and do nothing, and now that I have nothing to do I want to be busy! I guess the grass is just always greener on the other side, eh?

For breakfast I cut up the strawberries I had that were getting a little old, and topped them with some nonfat yogurt and that amazing granola I bought yesterday! I also used up the last of my iced coffee and milk.

Doesn't that look delicious!? I basically spent the rest of the morning packing boxes and doing laundry and showering and making myself presentable enough to venture into public, with breaks about every 5 minutes. I'm surprised I had enough focus to whip up some chicken salad for lunch! I added some carrots and scallion for a little extra veggie power, and put it on a bed of spinach with some honey-multigrain pretzels on the side.

After lunch I was still hungry, so I had a banana.

And then after some more housework (and breaks), I was still hungry so I had a smoothie with milk, frozen mango and vanilla protein powder.

And then while I was driving around doing some errands, I munched on some of the green beans from the market, but didn't take a picture :( I was craving some fries around dinnertime, so I cut up my last sweet potato and baked it in the oven with some canola oil, with some pesto mayo to dip the fries in.

Usually this is one of my favourites, but today the fries turned out just okay. I think it's because I normally peel sweet potatoes, but today I was feeling lazy and left the skin on, which made them a little tough. Oh well, lesson learned!

I don't know what's up with me today, but I'm feeling so hungry. I just want to eat the world! I had some chocolate peanut butter ice cream for dessert:

And then a second dessert of a banana with peanut butter, and the rest of the mini Lindt eggs. Aaaand my spoon might've found it's way back into the peanut butter jar...

Today's just a peanut buttery day ;) I'm going to make myself a cup of tea or chew some cinnamon gum before the whole jar disappears, and hopefully have a relaxing end to the evening. Good night everyone ♥

End of Term

Breakfast this morning was a little rushed because I got up early to cram last-minute for my statistics exam, which is my last of the term!

I had a Crunchy Peanut Butter Clif Bar, which was a little disappointing :( I really enjoyed the Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Almond Fudge flavours, but I found that this one had the same funny aftertaste that the Oatmeal Raisin Walnut bar did. Guess I just have to keep going by trial-and-error.

After our (last!) exam, one of my roommates and I went to get some bubble tea to celebrate :) We went to the go-to bubble tea establishment in the plaza next to the university.

I got a small Jasmine Coconut milk tea with tapioca pearls. I found it disappointing too! Guess I'm just not having a good food day today :( The girl that took my order seemed new, so I think that maybe she missed the "jasmine" part, because I could only taste the coconut. It was still good, but I was looking forward to trying a new flavour combo. At least my roommate enjoyed her Almond Icy Swirls!

My lunch was all over the place - I wasn't sure what I wanted, and I was really hungry after my post-exam run (which surprisingly didn't hurt my stomach after the bubble tea). I ended up just throwing something quick on a plate before devouring it.

I didn't get much accomplished today, but I was a good girlfriend and made Nathan some Japanese fried rice with leftovers I had lying around to help him get through his next exams. I'll be bringing it over to him tonight, but shhh, it's a secret! ;)

While I was cooking I started feeling snacky, so I had half a banana with some chocolate chips stuck into it. Yum!

For dinner I used up the last of my spaghetti sauce with some spaghettini noodles, sliced zucchini, breaded chicken breast and mozzarella cheese. I was so hungry by the time it was ready that I almost didn't want to wait long enough to take a photograph of it. I don't know why I'm so hungry today!

Dinner was followed by a cold beer.

I got the Molson Canadian 67 to try as a more "calorie-friendly" option for when I'm out, but I'm still not sure what I think of it. The flavour is very light (bordering on weak) and it feels like it doesn't have enough body to satisfy me. I enjoyed my glass today though, maybe because I haven't had beer in a while.

Both of my roommates moved out today, so I'm feeling very lonely and sad. I can't believe that the term is already over! I might get out some of the chocolate ice cream my roommate left in the freezer to keep me company ;)

[Edit]: Definitely dug into the ice cream!

Had two spoonfuls like this, plus a little straight out of the carton ;) Mmm, heaven on a spoon!