Delicious day of food!

Hi All! So today was an extremely delicious food today! Lots of leftovers and general yumminess in my tummy!
Breakfast was the usual: 1/3 cup rolled oats boiled in 2/3 cup water. 1 medium banana, cinnamon and vanilla added in. 1/2 cup cottage cheese mixed in at the end. topped with almond butter. 2-3 cups of coffee.... i didn't really sleep well... not that it would have changed the amount of coffee i would have had.
Lunch: is what you see here! it was leftovers from last night! I cooked up 1 chicken breast in the fry pan, 1/2 orange pepper, 1 cup spinach, 2/3 cup salsa, salt, pepper, oregano, cayenne. Topped with cheddar and Rolled into a La Tortilla Sundried Tomato Wrap (i love these wraps!!) What a glorious lunch! I heated today's lunch in the toaster oven and it was all gooey and hot!

The Finished Product:

I hit the gym (deadlifted 145 3x6 again! woo hoo!) and my post workout meal was almond milk 1 cup, 1 scoop vanilla pp and 1 cup frozen blueberries. 1 hour later i was still hungry, so i had raison bread with a light spread of cashew butter (probably around 1 tbsp). This held me over until.... DINNER!

Look at that EPIC plate! Leftover turkey stuff portobello mushroom, sweet potatoe fries with ketchup (obviously), green beans and roasted red cabbage (sprayed with olive oil, salt and pepper.) I'm so full right and happy...

Tonight I'll probably eat a light snack tonight that involves eating my last yummy orange in stock! Hope you all had a great Tuesday.

Turkey Stuffed Porotbello Mushroom Lunch

Just a quick update today! I had a delicious lunch:
Lean Ground Turkey with onions, spinach and spices stuffed into a portobello mushroom! YUM!
Steam broccoli
Brown rice mixed with almond milk, .5 ounce of cashews and cinnamon.




the pictures don't really do this lunch justice! it was great and hit the spot!

hope everyone is having a nice Monday!

Getting Organized!

So, Today I had an idea! I finished off a container of protein powder. I was just going to recycle it when, I realized it would be great to put some oats in. Yahoo! Above was last weeks idea, to put spices into old jam jars! Slowly but surely, my cupboards are getting organized (you don't want to attempt to find anything in there. I know where it is, but I doubt anyone else could find stuff without making a mess!

Steel Cut Oats- they live in this plastic container!

Quick Oats- old almond butter container!

Before and after shots! So much better this way! hopefully I make less of a mess!

Here is tonight's dinner:

I had BROWN RICE! It has been SO LONG since I have had it and it made me SO HAPPY! its in there, you cant see it under the pile of veggies and shrimp. This was a great and fast dinner. I'm still full 4 hours later! (Also had two pieces of chocolate... but I don't think that has anything to do with the fullness! hehe) Happy to say I cooked a whole cup of rice, so i've got plenty for the next few days! YAHOO!!

Enjoy your weekend! Eat well! I'm thinking pancakes on Sunday!! yeah yeah!

Pumpkin Muffins

I got my ideas for these muffins from this recipe. When I made it, I didn't have all the same ingredients, so here is what I came up with!!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup ww flour
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup oat bran
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup almond milk original
1/4 cup splenda
1 egg
1/4 cup egg whites
Cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves (1 tbsp each?)

Mix all dry ingredients (except the splenda).
In another bowl, beat your egg and egg whites and sugar. Add in pumpkin and then milk. mix well.
Add the wet to the dry and stir well.
Put into 12 muffin tins (sprayed with pam)
Cook at 250 for 25 mins.

Calories:
72 cals
1 fat
13 carb
9 protein

these are quite small but a nice treat and snack. obviously you can make less muffins= bigger muffins! You could also make this into a loaf. hope you enjoy. i like mine plain or with a nut butter! YUM!

Recipe of the week challenge

So this past week I started my Recipe a week challenge. I am going to make at least one real recipe every week! This can be baking or cooking, simple or complicated! I think it will be fun!! I've got recipe #1 for you all right now. and some yummy pictures to go along with it! woo hoo!
This is a Rachael Ray recipe that is quite yummy. I realize looking at the picture that it just looks like mush, but it really is quite good. And if you've ever had RR you would know this anyway! haha.

Anyway, here is a link to it. But i'll also copy it here for you, with my tips to make it a little bit healthier at the bottom!

Ingredients

• 2 cups French lentils
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, plus some for drizzling
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 to 4 small ribs celery from heart, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 can diced tomatoes or fire-roasted diced tomatoes, drained or 1 large ripe tomato, seeded and chopped
  
• A couple of pinches ground cloves
• A pinch of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 pounds hot sausage – large spiral to roast or links to braise

Preparation

Place lentils in a pot and cover with stock and at least 1 inch of water, then add bay leaves. Bring the lentils to a boil, reduce heat a bit and cook at a low boil, about 40 minutes until tender. Drain and remove bay leaf.

About 10-15 minute before lentils finish cooking place a skillet on stove and add EVOO, 2 tablespoons, 2 turns of the pan, and heat over medium-high heat. Add carrot, celery, onions, and season with salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes then add garlic and cook a couple of minutes more. Stir in tomatoes, season with cloves, cinnamon and red pepper flakes. Deglaze the vegetables with white wine, stir in parsley and lentils. Then adjust the salt and pepper.

The sausages can be prepared in 2 ways. When I buy a large, thin rope sausage I coat the casing in a drizzle of EVOO and set the sausage up on top of a rack over a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 400 ˚F and roast sausage 20-25 minutes until firm and cooked through.

Link sausages can be braised in a skillet. Fill pan with water to submerge the links by half, about 3/4 inch. Add a drizzle of EVOO to the skillet and place pan over heat. Bring water up to a boil and reduce heat a bit to medium-high. Cook water away completely, turning occasionally, about 15 minutes. The oil will then brown casings up, 2 minutes.

Serve lentils in shallow bowls topped with sausage.


Leslie's Tips: Use a turkey sausage or lower fat version of sausage to cut the calorie content of this recipe. Also use low sodium chicken broth! Enjoy!

Tourtiere Meat Pie- a Canadian Tradition and Celebration!

This blog post is in celebration of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics wrapping up yesterday! Not to mention Team Canada's Gold Medal Win in Men's Hockey! YAY! I chose to pull out of my freezer one of my mom's individual homemade tourtiere! Don't know what that is? Well you shall learn!

I like to top my with ketchup... this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that knows me... I wish I would have made it look like a maple leaf, but that was an after thought!

After a few bites... YUM! it was gone pretty quickly!

Now I don't have my mom's recipe here, so I'v googled some recipes that might be a good choice if you so choose. (Note, this is certainly not a calorie wise option, but some days you just have to indulge!) This is a pork and potato filled pie at its base. I know it sounds strange, but believe me, it is LOVED by many. If you are Canadian (and especially if you are French Canadian) and have never had this, you better get baking!
Toutiere Recipe From All Recipes
Food Network Tourtiere Recipe

Also CHECK out this CBC Archive all about Canadian food! I heart CBC... and food.


Now onto something completely different (but ALMOST as delicious!)

Acorn Squash stuffed with balsamic chicken and veggies!

CHOMP

Heres what I did:
Baked my acorn squash as usual (400F for 40 mins) but I cut it so one side was larger than the other.
In a skillet: cook chicken breast. Remove
Cook up onion and mushrooms.
Add Balsamic Vinegar.
Add back in chicken.
Once Acorn Squash is cooked, put in chicken mix and warm up for a few mins longer.
CONSUME!
(I didn't actually finish this all. i have leftover squash for tomorrow! yay!)

Salad- I always have a veggie salad with dinner!

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!!!