I love making bean salads because they make great lunches and side dishes for all things grilled. My (current) favourite dressing is one my mum shared with me. Super delicious over chick peas or black beans with diced peppers & green onion, feta and a handful of toasted nuts (usually slivered almonds).
1/8 cup oil (I use olive but you could use anything)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 - 1 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp cumin
So good.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Fatty Train!
So, the diet train completely derailed after my last post on the 10th and I'm basically hanging by a finger off the caboose (or maybe I am the caboose?)... needless to say, I gave up. Again.
Whatever.
I've been slacking with the meal planning lately and we basically ended up eating out or grabbing take-out way too much over the last few weeks. It tends to be a January thing for us. All that eating and meal preparation over Christmas & NYE leads to laziness and general slacking during the first few weeks of the new year.
My plans to do a true grocery shop were thwarted by a last minute guest on Sunday so I ran out to a few local shops and grabbed some essentials. I threw together a quick meal plan in my head and so far, we've enjoyed good meals at home for 4 nights in a row plus lunches for work. This is a pretty big deal! As I type this, water is boiling on the stove and I'm about to cook some pasta to use up with left over meat sauce (from our spaghetti squash dinner last night... more on that later) and we'll have a pasta/veggie bake with salad tomorrow night.
So what have we eaten this week?
Black sea bass with arugula & sprout salad on Sunday. Monday was Welsh rarebit with salad tossed in D's avocado dressing (my favourite!). Tuesday? Meat sauce on spaghetti squash. Perogies (alright, a freezer cheat) with beet salad. Tomorrow will be the pasta bake and I've got grilled chicken breasts with a goat cheese, dried fruit & nut salad on the menu for Friday. Add in a chickpea salad (already gone) and a black bean salad and leftovers with bean salad lunches are done.
Back to the squash...
I don't think I ever tried squash until I met D. No really. We were so not a squash family and to be honest, the thought repulsed me. I've since come to love butternut squash soup (so easy, cheap & makes great leftovers/lunches) and just this week, I made spaghetti squash for the first time. Loved it. Will do it again as M inhaled his pasta alternate no questions asked.
I'd read that I had to bake it for a good 45 minutes before shredding but after a bit of googling, I found out I could make it in the microwave. I NEVER cook with the microwave but we were late getting home & D was working late. Basically, slice it lengthwise in half, seed & clean it out and put one half in a snug microwave-friendly dish (so it can't fall over). Add 1/2 cup or so of water to the cavity and top with the other half. Throw it in the microwave for 10 minutes (maybe more if it's a big one) and then it is done. Seriously. Amazing. In that 10 minutes, I reheated the meat sauce I'd made the night before. Dinner was ready in no time!
No point to this post other than to remind myself that meal planning works. It's controlled what we've eaten and what we've spent. Both pretty good things.
Whatever.
I've been slacking with the meal planning lately and we basically ended up eating out or grabbing take-out way too much over the last few weeks. It tends to be a January thing for us. All that eating and meal preparation over Christmas & NYE leads to laziness and general slacking during the first few weeks of the new year.
My plans to do a true grocery shop were thwarted by a last minute guest on Sunday so I ran out to a few local shops and grabbed some essentials. I threw together a quick meal plan in my head and so far, we've enjoyed good meals at home for 4 nights in a row plus lunches for work. This is a pretty big deal! As I type this, water is boiling on the stove and I'm about to cook some pasta to use up with left over meat sauce (from our spaghetti squash dinner last night... more on that later) and we'll have a pasta/veggie bake with salad tomorrow night.
So what have we eaten this week?
Black sea bass with arugula & sprout salad on Sunday. Monday was Welsh rarebit with salad tossed in D's avocado dressing (my favourite!). Tuesday? Meat sauce on spaghetti squash. Perogies (alright, a freezer cheat) with beet salad. Tomorrow will be the pasta bake and I've got grilled chicken breasts with a goat cheese, dried fruit & nut salad on the menu for Friday. Add in a chickpea salad (already gone) and a black bean salad and leftovers with bean salad lunches are done.
Back to the squash...
I don't think I ever tried squash until I met D. No really. We were so not a squash family and to be honest, the thought repulsed me. I've since come to love butternut squash soup (so easy, cheap & makes great leftovers/lunches) and just this week, I made spaghetti squash for the first time. Loved it. Will do it again as M inhaled his pasta alternate no questions asked.
I'd read that I had to bake it for a good 45 minutes before shredding but after a bit of googling, I found out I could make it in the microwave. I NEVER cook with the microwave but we were late getting home & D was working late. Basically, slice it lengthwise in half, seed & clean it out and put one half in a snug microwave-friendly dish (so it can't fall over). Add 1/2 cup or so of water to the cavity and top with the other half. Throw it in the microwave for 10 minutes (maybe more if it's a big one) and then it is done. Seriously. Amazing. In that 10 minutes, I reheated the meat sauce I'd made the night before. Dinner was ready in no time!
No point to this post other than to remind myself that meal planning works. It's controlled what we've eaten and what we've spent. Both pretty good things.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Whoa! Cheat.
I lasted 4.5 days before blowing the diet. We went to the Raptors game last night and met friends at Jack Astors beforehand (side note: I will forever be boggled that people pay to eat their overpriced and revolting food) where D & I shared nachos.
Fail #1: Nachos. Cheesy nachos. With sour cream. And guacamole. Lots of nachos.
Got to the game and went for the 9oz red wine.
Fail #2: Wine.
Ordered a beer before last quarter.
Fail #3: Beer. 12oz.
Came home and ate some leftover popcorn.
Fail #4: Stale popcorn. Maybe 3 cups?
Drank two vodka sodas.
Fail #5: Vodka. Sigh.
Went to work this morning and ate my lunch at 7:30am. Who eats chickpea salad at that time? Ugh. Ate my veggies and ignored my fruit. Had co-worker pick up some onion rings on his lunch run.
Fail #6: Onion rings. MASSIVE portion.
Seriously, 6 fails in less than 24 hours. I'm starving now and not in the mood to cook. I want snacks! Chips! Junk! Sigh. I do not want to get on that scale tomorrow. I'll have to though... punishment.
Fail #1: Nachos. Cheesy nachos. With sour cream. And guacamole. Lots of nachos.
Got to the game and went for the 9oz red wine.
Fail #2: Wine.
Ordered a beer before last quarter.
Fail #3: Beer. 12oz.
Came home and ate some leftover popcorn.
Fail #4: Stale popcorn. Maybe 3 cups?
Drank two vodka sodas.
Fail #5: Vodka. Sigh.
Went to work this morning and ate my lunch at 7:30am. Who eats chickpea salad at that time? Ugh. Ate my veggies and ignored my fruit. Had co-worker pick up some onion rings on his lunch run.
Fail #6: Onion rings. MASSIVE portion.
Seriously, 6 fails in less than 24 hours. I'm starving now and not in the mood to cook. I want snacks! Chips! Junk! Sigh. I do not want to get on that scale tomorrow. I'll have to though... punishment.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Desperate Times = Desperate Measures?
Sort of. But not really.
On Friday night, I signed up for 3 months of Weight Watchers. What?! I wasn't even drunk! Anyway, I had to guess my weight because at 9pm on a Friday, there was no way I was getting on a scale so I entered 150lbs. On Sunday, I hesitantly stepped on the scale and found that I *only* weighed 138lbs. Phew.
My ultimate goal? 125lbs. My realistic goal? 130lbs. God, I'd love to be (and STAY) under 130lbs but I just don't know how realistic that is for me.
I created a new amazeballs 100 track running playlist to motivate me to get out and pound the pavement. Tonight, I did just that and went for a brisk 4.5km. I hate winter running so I'm not going to set a minimum amount of kilometers to run but I will aim to get out twice a week. Reasonable.
This Friday is my next weigh in and I'm not expecting miracles but I am expecting some sort of give. Anything. I'll take what I can get. For true. I know the last 10lbs is supposed to be hard so I know it's not just going to fall off. If I could be around 134lbs by my birthday at the end of this month, I'd be happy. My next milestone would be 128lbs by M's birthday in early April. 125lbs by June? Yes, please!
Anyway, counting points is sort of addictive and I'm digging the fact that I can still eat things like popcorn with butter (salted... yum!) and have wine & beer. I am (as usual) starting my new year off by scaling back (waaaaaay back) and cutting out the alcohol for a bit or really limiting myself to when out with friends or for a special occasion. You know, keeping it clean. Or attempted to anyway.
So? Stay tuned. I'll post a weigh in update on Friday. Fingers crossed it's a positive one.
On Friday night, I signed up for 3 months of Weight Watchers. What?! I wasn't even drunk! Anyway, I had to guess my weight because at 9pm on a Friday, there was no way I was getting on a scale so I entered 150lbs. On Sunday, I hesitantly stepped on the scale and found that I *only* weighed 138lbs. Phew.
My ultimate goal? 125lbs. My realistic goal? 130lbs. God, I'd love to be (and STAY) under 130lbs but I just don't know how realistic that is for me.
I created a new amazeballs 100 track running playlist to motivate me to get out and pound the pavement. Tonight, I did just that and went for a brisk 4.5km. I hate winter running so I'm not going to set a minimum amount of kilometers to run but I will aim to get out twice a week. Reasonable.
This Friday is my next weigh in and I'm not expecting miracles but I am expecting some sort of give. Anything. I'll take what I can get. For true. I know the last 10lbs is supposed to be hard so I know it's not just going to fall off. If I could be around 134lbs by my birthday at the end of this month, I'd be happy. My next milestone would be 128lbs by M's birthday in early April. 125lbs by June? Yes, please!
Anyway, counting points is sort of addictive and I'm digging the fact that I can still eat things like popcorn with butter (salted... yum!) and have wine & beer. I am (as usual) starting my new year off by scaling back (waaaaaay back) and cutting out the alcohol for a bit or really limiting myself to when out with friends or for a special occasion. You know, keeping it clean. Or attempted to anyway.
So? Stay tuned. I'll post a weigh in update on Friday. Fingers crossed it's a positive one.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Resolutions 2013 - Kitchen Edition
Panna cotta. Perfect panna cotta.
Beef Wellington. Sans mushrooms because mushrooms are gross.
Butternut squash & goat cheese lasagne.
A turkey. By myself.
Meal planning. Weekly. Again.
Beef Wellington. Sans mushrooms because mushrooms are gross.
Butternut squash & goat cheese lasagne.
A turkey. By myself.
Meal planning. Weekly. Again.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Resolutions 2013 - Home Edition
Purge. A lot.
Complete M's 'big boy' bedroom. Finally.
Redo our bedroom. New bed, custom wall unit, paint... the works.
New siding & windows.
Replace basement carpet & repaint that area.
Finish the downstairs bathroom. Towels, art, paint touch-ups... all of it.
Professionally clean the carpets on the stairs.
Entry table at front door.
Console & art for dining area.
Purge some more.
Resolutions 2013
Eat less.
Run more.
Purge the clutter.
Clear my mind.
Improve my relationship.
Be a better mum.
Work on ME.
Run more.
Purge the clutter.
Clear my mind.
Improve my relationship.
Be a better mum.
Work on ME.
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