5.11.11

November motivation

When the snow starts to fall that usually means comfort food and less exercise. Not this girl!

I always like to stay motivated by thinking of winter vacations to Mexico, quieter mornings at the gym, and all those photos my mom takes at Christmas. Why are you exercising this November?

Some exercise goals:
cardio 2 days/ week & strength 4 days/ week
weekly hot yoga classes
more morning workouts to have my evenings free
more tea, less lattes
no candy!

4.11.11

InstaFriday

Welcome to my last week... photo style!

The view from my office. Isn't it beautiful? It is much nicer when the trees are still green... but we're not seeing snow yet! I will take this weather any day. It has not been sunny lately but when it is, I love to stare out the window and take a photo or two. Some days when my desktop computer does not cooperate, I threaten to throw it out this window... yeah, I do not think IT would be too happy with me.

 
The view from my front window at our condo. I love the colors of fall sunsets here.  The exposure of this photo turned out really cool, yes I planned it. Kidding. It was a fluke but I will take the credit where I can.

Run like a girl. Embrace your inner femininity, but do not forget to run... or workout. Its good for your health and your mind.

Adult mac n cheese with crumbled black bean meatballs -  before. Notice the Sophie dishes?
Want the recipe? Go to NY Times + Peas & Thank You. I use pumpernickel breadcrumbs. So much better than regular and easy to make. Watch for pumpernickel bread in the sale section, freeze it, pulse in food processor, store in containers in freezers. This also makes a  great gift as lots of people appreciate a gourmet item but will not make it themselves.

 Adult mac n cheese with crumbled black bean meatballs - after! Still obsessed with Sophie Conran.

Breakfast = toasted bagel thin, almond butter, banana slices, chia seeds. Delish!

 Enough said. Premier status is the love of my life (after B, of course)... and all mine... for the next 14 months! Wanna fly somewhere?

Was at a conference this week and loved the glow of the chandelier. Notice the slide being presented... "awareness activities". I am aware of sparkly things. Probably should be more aware of the presentation.

Speaking of premier status...


I use instagram on my iPod to take my photos. I highly recommend it.

3.11.11

Baking bee

Sunday morning I woke up wanting something healthy but freshly baked. I have been trying to use up various ingredients in my house, specifically lots of rye flour and tons of saskatoon berries and blueberries. The easiest and most appealing thing I could think of was scones.

Saskatoon Rye Scones:
1c white flour
1c rye flour
3T sugar
1T baking powder
3/4t salt
1/2 c hard butter
1 1/2 c bleuberries
2/3 c skim milk

mix together dry ingredients
blend in hard butter with pastry blender
stir in blueberries
mix in milk
pat out into circle, cut into wedges, place on cookie sheet
bake for approx. 20 minutes at 375 degrees

The vision for my scones came from Martha Stewart and my classic cone recipe. B loves his with honey, I ate mine plain. Once again foolproof and delicious. I imagine I will be making these again very soon!

2.11.11

Vegetarian for a day

As you may know, we try to eat vegetarian at least one day per week for two reasons:
1. its healthy, you do not need meat products everyday, just make sure you get your protein from other sources
2. it saves us money because meat is expensive!

The other night, we decided to try a new soup recipe from Peas & Thank You. The recipe is from her cookbook so you will need to go buy it to get it. Your welcome in advance. This book has some amazing recipes that may even become a staple in your household... like black bean meatballs and the crack wrap! <--- those are our faves

The soup we made was Carrot Ginger Cashew soup. It was a simple, one pot meal, with tons of flavor (ok at times it was slightly too spicy for me, but B loved it). Doesn't it  look amazing? We love our immersion blender when making soups!

With it I made parmesan scones from a classic recipe given to me by E. The scones helped with the spiciness of the soup so it was the prefect  combo for me.
These scones never get old at our house. We never get sick of them and they are usually devoured within 24 hours. I can make these from start to finish in about 22 minutes (including baking time) while everything else is cooking! Here is the recipe:

Cabin Scones:
1 c flour (I mix half white and half whole wheat)
1/4 t salt
1+1/2 t baking powder
1/4 c hard butter
mixins of your choice, I usually use grated cheese or herbs
1/3 c milk

mix together dry ingredients
cut in butter with pastry blender
stir in mixins
combine with milk to make dough
pat into shape of choice on floured counter, cut into shapes
bake on cookie sheet at 350C for 12-15 minutes

I highly recommend trying these scones. They are fool-proof, I promise. I used to be scared of baking breads but every recipe given to me by E (originally from her mom) has been simple and have always turned out. That reminds me, I should probably make onion dill bread sometime soon. That would have been a great accompaniment to this soup too.

1.11.11

October recap

October was another busy month for us, then again, what month has not been busy for us in the past year? In October I took 3 trips:
Ottawa for Canadian Stroke Congress
Illinois for our second wedding reception
Banff for a quick vacation with friends

Okay, so the trip to Banff happened for another reason too. We got a gift certificate at our wedding from Williams & Sonoma which happens to be in Calgary. When looking for a hotel for the weekend, a deal came out from Living Social Escapes for The Fox in Banff. It was cheaper than staying in the city, and we love Banff, so we changed our plans slightly. We went through Calgary on our way home and bought this with our gift certificate:

Isn't it beautiful? It is enamel coated and made of cast iron. It can be used on the stove top, in the oven, or on a BBQ! I cannot wait to make something in this, like soup or stew!

Other successes of October:
it did not snow!
we did some major house cleaning and organizing
our workout schedule was the most consistent we have ever been (despite 3 vacations) and we started going in the morning more often

Goals for November:
make some new adjustments to my workout plan so I do not get stuck in a workout rut
organize our closets and donate some old clothes
finish buying Christmas gifts (we bought quite a few in France this summer!)
post some wedding photos!
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