Quesadilla Recipe!

Hi Everyone! So this is attempt # 2 to post those recipes as promised!! Hopefully it all works out now without weird HTML messages... here we go!! I hope you enjoy the first one I have for you tonight! Thanks again to Kierstin for giving them to me and as a result, me sending them on to all of you!! Hopefully over the week I can post them. It just takes a lot of time to type them all out. Let me know if you make them and what you think! I've only had the Guacamole Quesadilla so far, but I plan to make the other ones in the next few weeks!!
Here are pictures of the Quesadilla making process!!



Recipe:
4oz cream cheese, soft
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1 1/2 tbsp fresh lime juice
pinch sugar
1 tbsp minced fresh coriander
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 large avocado, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
10 8 inch flour tortillas
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
2 tbsp veg oil (approx)
salsa (optional)

Directions:
In a medium bowl, stir together cream cheese, red pepper, lime juice, sugar, coriander, jalapeno, avocado, and green onions.
Spread a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture on a tortilla. Top with an even sprinkling of shredded Mont. Jack Cheese, then cover with another tortilla. Press down a bit so the two tortillas stick together, forming the EPIC quesadilla.
In a large frying pan, heat up 1 tsp of oil. Cook quesadilla until gold on one side and then flip. Drain with paper towl. Repeat with all quesadillas.
Cut into four wedges and EAT!

Leslie's Tip: make this calorie wise by using low cal cream cheese, or even omitting it. Whole Wheat Tortillas for the extra nutrients. Use either all Low cal Monterey Jack Cheese or go half normal half low fat. Non stick pan or pam instead of oil, unless you want the healthy fats from the oil, then go for it! Either way, enjoy!!!

Adventures in Comox

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I am tardy on the latest post. I attempted one a few days ago and it was all angry at me. I was also away visiting my dear friend Tara in Comox!! TONS OF FOOD and FITNESS ADVENTURES THERE, so lets get it started! Above is a great outdoor fitness facility the towns of Comox/Courtney have. How great is this. Everything is powered by you!!! YAY! I loved it and there were other people having fun. Totally a great community endevour for a fit town! No excuses! Seems like kids really liked it too cause there were a few on the gazelle type machines (remember Tony Little???) I would like to think that Edmonton would put one of these in the River Valley! I think runners would like a break from running sometimes!

Here i am. You lift yourself up!!

Tara- she is the vision of a fit pregnant lady! woo hoo!!

Unrelated to food or fitness- OWLS!

AND GOATS!

Okay, back to food! Here is dinner we made one night! It is whole wheat pasta with deer meat pasta sauce, cheese on top! and a salad!!


SO PRETTY!

Above is a deer meat pasta sauce we made!! All it is is ground deer meat (very good for you, and lean!) with crushed and diced tomatoes and some spices. yumm!!

Happy Valentines day tea!

happy Valentines day treat- OMG the best ICE CREAM EVER! If you know me, you know that I have a weakness and that is ICE CREAM! this had vanilla ice cream, chocolate covered peanuts, peanut butter cups and fudge. yeah... pretty much heaven in your mouth!!

This was a garbage can at a smoothie place. pretty much the greatest thing ever. I wanted to steal it.

So as you can see, no reason not to be healthy while on vacation! I admit I was a little lazy while on vaca, but I got a great workout in my third day with a rowing machine and some weights my friends had in their garage! We also ate really well... except for the ice cream! It was a great trip and I feel re-energized as a result!!

Meet Mr. Cow Mug

Happy Wednesday! Here are some of my latest dinners. I really should start adding other meals into the mix! That's a goal for the next post!
All I did here was bake a chicken breast, season with salt and pepper, melted light Havarti on top and top with strawberry chutney. YUM chutney! that was the last of my farmers market stock so that may be the last of chutney in my tummy for awhile.

Took the advice to cut of squash and roast it. I baked it at 400 for about 35 mins. Put some balsamic on top about half way through. Roasted some yellow pepper and green beans (balsamic on top of that too... do you see a trend here?? haha). Then leftover salmon from Costco that I had at my parents- this one is a maple chili marinade. Probably not the most healthy way, but I'm not declining free food from the parents!

This is Mr. Cow Mug. He comes in a set of three. There are other farm animals will make their appearance soon!

Inside my tea pot is a mango black Ceylon tea. LOVELY! This is a nightly ritual of mine. (Also that candle is lovely- Vanilla Caramel from Bath and Body.)

***Be on the lookout in the next few days for some great recipes I'll post on here from a lovely friend. You won't be disappointed!***

Gym Rant

So I went to the gym yesterday, not overly energized for the workout, but knowing that once I got into it I would be full of energy in no time!!
The way my workout is set up is through supersets (or alternating sets.) I alternate between 2 exercises for 3 sets. This means that I am not always using machines and in the sake of good gym etiquette I don't hog them. I don't see why we can't all share! Apparently this is not a common feeling among gym goers, at least not yesterday!
I was doing a cable woodchop (youtube video doesn't have great ones, otherwise I would show you.) followed by a plank for one minute. I did the plank in front of the cable machine. While i was planking, this guy switched my cable stuff and changed the grip. That's fine, but when I mentioned I was also using that and if we could work around each other, he looked at me like I was nuts. I told him I was honestly half way through and just needed it for 2 more sets. He said fine but seemed extremely annoyed....
Whatever... I did my thing and moved on.

Next occurance: I was doing 1 leg deadlifts and chin ups (on the machine, because gee whiz if you can believe it all the pull up bars on the squat racks were being hogged... usually I do negative chin ups but today it was machine chin ups, which is okay!) So i would go back and forth between exercises. On my last set, I walk up to the chin up machine and this man was like, "EXCUSE ME I WAS USING THAT!" And I said, "oh, so was I. I've already done two sets. I just have one left." He said, "well I've done three, where have you been??" I said, "I'm supersetting, so I was working my legs and resting over there... Honestly, I just need to do 6 chin ups and then you can have the machine for the rest of the day if you so choose. Do you want to go first or can I go? It doesn't matter to me (asshole...)" He let me go ahead.
I couldn't believe that i had two rude hogging instances in one workout! I love the gym and have a hard time working out at home (check out Bee Knees Life for a great post on the pros and cons of home and gym workouts and figuring out which is best for you.) I just don't have the space for a decent amount of workout stuff as it is, and I love my squat rack. Sorry, there isn't any room for that in my condo!!
This is why I like the gym when its quiet........ arg.

Not trying to scare anyone that doesn't workout from going to the gym. Its a great place and usually people are very nice. Maybe yesterday I had some kind of target on my back... haha.

Today for my workout: Belly dance (1.5 hours.) and Curling (I've never been so it should be fun!!)

Dinner Round-up

So my pictures are all screwed up tonight. I have an awful time loading them, every time! I'm no good at formatting. haha. Anyway here are some of my latest eats!
This is a Peanut Butter Finger from Purdy's Chocolate. I got a bag of them for my bday- 100 calories each and completely real chocolate! SO GOOD! FROZEN- EVEN BETTER! haha. (Angela- there are those earrings you got me making a blog appearance!)

Here is some quinoa cooking up in a pot! takes about 15 minutes to cook! I love it!!

Over the 1/2 cup quinoa I stir fried up yellow pepper, mushrooms, spinach and garlic. Added some of that roasted chicken and salt and pepper. Such a yummy dinner. I LOVE MY GARLIC!!

Here is tonight's dinner: Buttercup Squash with 1 tsp becel and brown sugar. I gotta find new ways to cook these squash. I have an acorn one to eat sometime this week. I usually do the same thing as above, but if you have any new ways to cook it, let me know!! Also: Turkey Meatloaf. This was leftover meatloaf from my parent's last night. My mom made it Rachael Ray Style. I think she left out the breadcrumbs, but I gotta say, I love the incorporation of marmalade into it. Nice change!!