Tag Archives: food

Try It Tuesday: Butternut Squash & Quinoa Pilaf

23 Aug

Oh Jamie Oliver,  how you tempt me!

It seems every time I go grocery shopping and am in the frozen aisle I see a Jamie Oliver product I want to try, dangerous not only to my eating plan but also to my budget lol Lucky for me I seem to spot his items when they are on sale, or maybe they are always on sale…nah, that can’t be it!

Once again I bought the item thinking it was a meal on its own and it turned out it is actually meant to be a side dish. I figured I’d try eating is as such which meant I had to cook an entire meal -the horrors!

Here is what I started with…

Sorry it isn’t in focus, I would have sworn it was when I took the picture and the box is in the recycling now so too late to try again, oops.

Like the box says, this is a butternut squash & quinoa pilaf with mixed rice, pumpkin seeds and cranberries. The box makes a point of saying how it is made with whole grains and contains no preservatives or artificial flavours, so ya know, if that matters to you, there ya go. 😉

When frozen it looks like this…

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Pretty decent huh? I chose to microwave it because (1) the box says I can do that and it’ll be fine and (2) my oven was busy cooking other things and coordinating multiple food items in the oven is not a strong skill of mine…something always ends up either burned or not fully cooked, ugh.

So yeah, this sucker got microwaved and turned out great! I paired it with some chicken from M&M Meat Shops and McCain’s Super Fries. Random? Yes. Tasty? Also yes. 🙂

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A portion is 1/3 of the package, or 125 grams. I weighed my portion out then portioned out the remainder of the package so it would be ready for when I wanted the leftovers and there is actually more in the package than three full servings. Not a big deal, just a large spoonful over but if you are really strict about portions you’ll end up having a bit left over. I may have eaten the random spoonful and pretended it didn’t count but ya know, that is me, you do you! If you follow Weight Watchers the Smart Points are 6 per serving.

It isn’t some flavour packed dish, not that I was expecting that, I mean c’mon, it is butternut squash, quinoa and rice…none of those are particularly flavourful items. Having said that, it tasted good. It isn’t covered in some sauce or trying to pretend it is anything other than what it is, which is a nice change for packaged, microwavable food lol. I did put a spoonful of salsa on the left over serving I had the next day at lunch and it took it from good to yum, but you have to keep in mind I love salsa so I’m biased. 😛

I’d put this on my buy again list, as long as it is on sale! 😉

 

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Weight Watchers Wednesday

29 Jun

Last week we talked about decluttering, we were all given the challenge of decluttering something in our world.

I started with the bathroom but found I wasn’t really getting rid of anything, just cleaning, so I moved to the kitchen and decluttered the drawers, the recycling and the fridge. It is amazing how many things I could permanently remove from the kitchen drawers, they are sooooo tidy now! No more rummaging around through all sorts of things looking for a sharp knife or a clip to hold a bag closed, its a bit amazing how much my annoyance levels while in the kitchen have dipped from that alone.

My masterpiece was the fridge, I don’t know why, and it is really weird, but I love cleaning the inside of fridges. Freezers too, but mostly fridges. I took everything out, sorted through each item, actually read the expiration dates on my condiments (I was horrified at how many were waaaay past their dates!) and put things back in an organized fashion. Proteins all in one spot, fruit and veg in another, dairy products in a third spot, you get the idea.

I’d say I did well with last weeks challenge. 🙂

However, food wise I obviously dropped the ball, sigh. I only lost 0.2 pounds this week, putting me at a total weight loss of 3 pounds in two weeks. Pathetic. 😦 The lady at the weigh-in was trying to be nice and telling me that was good an stuff but let’s be real here, 0.2 pounds down is not good, it is, well, to re-use a word, pathetic. I know what I did wrong, super early in the week I ate pie, lots of pie, I wrote about that pie and it was freakin delicious, but also super high in points (something I didn’t check on until I had eaten a lot of the pie, *rolls eyes*) and I spent the rest of the week trying to make up for that pie but obviously failing.

I’ve already promised myself that this week I will do better.

ill do better

So now for this weeks meeting, we talked about two things, being encouraging and planning.

Create a support system for yourself, make sure you have people that are encouraging and also, be encouraging to yourself. I don’t know about you but I tend to be super mean to myself, waaaay meaner than I would ever be to somebody else, and that is something I guess I should work on. So, next time you are engaging in mean self-talk or putting yourself down in some way, stop it! Find a positive thing about yourself to say to yourself. Which yeah, ok, I know sounds way easier to do than it actually is. And sure, it will probably take a while because if you are like me I bet you think negative thoughts about yourself without even being consciously aware of it. But try, make a little goal for yourself this week, when you catch yourself being mean to yourself take a moment, breathe deeply, maybe close your eyes so you can focus, and flip that thought around.

 

Something that got brought up was one lady said how she had a bunch of clothes in her closet from when she was skinnier and while she was decluttering she decided to get rid of them. She found it hard because she was emotionally attached to some of the pieces but she was quite a bit larger than any of those articles of clothing and if she was being realistic, there was no point in keeping them. Then a second lady chimed in, said she had gone through something similar but while she was getting rid of her smaller sized clothes months ago she realized that when she loses the weight and gets down to the size of those clothes she will have earned new clothes.

I never really thought of that before, earning clothes. I, like most people who struggle with weight, have clothes from when I was thinner that I’d like to get back in to. I always saw keeping them as a way to motivate myself, or at least track my progress. But what this lady said resonated with me. Sure, maybe keep a couple items but not all of them. When you’ve put in all the work needed to get down one, two, ten sizes you have damn well earned the right to buy new clothes and not settle for all the old ones that you stuffed in the back of your closet!

The second topic was about planning. Specifically planning for parties, get togethers, trips, things like that. The upcoming long weekend, yay Canada Day!, is what seems to be prompting this weeks topic, apparently a lot of people party in the summer, shocking! 😉

Sooooooo there are a couple of ways to plan for upcoming social events. One lady said she saves up all her weekly points so she can use them at the party. That is definitely one way to go about it.

Other suggestions for how to plan were more focused on using your planning to prevent you from going crazy with the food and drinks at the parties.

Suggestions were:

  • bring your own food (if appropriate) so you know the exact points of what you are eating. This is easy if it is a potluck type thing but can also be done with pretty much any gathering being held at a person’s home, maybe check with the host in advance though just to make sure they are ok with this.
  • if it is a potluck or buffet type of deal walk the entire length of the table first, see all the offerings, and decide what items you are willing to eat that are high in points and find ways to minimize their effect on you. So say you really want that slice of cake, then maybe take a larger portion of salad and a smaller portion of foods with points for your entree.
  • once you have seen the foods being offered pull out your Pocket Guide or your WW app and look up the points of the foods that you are thinking about. If you are leaning towards eating the potato salad checking the app and seeing that one serving is 9 points might deter you from that choice, or at least help you to take a smaller portion.
  • focus on the fun, not the food. Instead of going to parties and focusing on what foods you are going to eat or how good things taste or how much wine you might indulge in focus on the friends you get to hang out with, the games you get to play, the time you are giving yourself to enjoy life. Don’t just sit at a table and chat with whomever is willing to sit near you, get up, walk around, the simple act of walking around and chatting with people will burn more calories than sitting in one spot chatting and it will help you feel more engaged in the party, more a part of the fun.

Our final thought of the day was Don’t Give Up! Maybe this week wasn’t a great weigh-in but forget about it. Last week is done, it is over, there is nothing you can do about it. Don’t wallow in the number on the scale, don’t keep thinking how you wanted to do better, don’t think there is no point to continuing with the program.

Don’t. Give. Up.

The act of trying counts. The act of working towards a goal counts. Sure maybe not every week will be easy, not every week will give you the results you want but remember the non scale victories. Remember that you feel better about yourself when you are trying. Remember that this whole being healthier thing is a journey and its up to you to make that journey positive. Remember that one week doesn’t represent the entire process, you started for a reason, probably for a lot of reasons, when you find yourself faltering remember those reasons and why they are important to you. And whatever you do, don’t give up! 🙂

dont give up

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Try It Tuesday: Chipotle Black Beans

28 Jun

I missed last weeks Try It Tuesday, not because I didn’t have something to write about but because time was not on my side. Lets get back on track shall we? 🙂

Jamie Oliver’s Brazilian-style Chipotle Black Beans- it is a stew with chunks of sweet potato and sweet red peppers. Lemme tell ya, none of the “sweet” veg took away from the spicy which maybe I would have clued in to ahead of time if I had noticed the two little jalapenos on the bottom area of the front of the box. Apparently Jamie has a warning system that I didn’t notice, oops!

This is a side dish, something else I also didn’t notice and according to Jamie is best served with “crispy griddled chicken thighs, brown rice, fresh greens and a spicy tomato salsa or in a fluffy baked potato with grated strong cheddar and a dollop of soured cream”. Despite Jamie’s so thoughtful suggestions I went my own way and ate it as a stand alone stew – I’m such a rebel! 😉 lol

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It heats up the same way all frozen meals do, take the tray out of the box, puncture the plastic top, pop in the oven for a while and boom! Food that took no effort on my part! This one takes 40-45 minutes at 350F. I could have microwaved it but I am already cheating by heating up a frozen meal, putting it in the microwave is just taking this whole lazy “cooking” thing too far.

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Not the prettiest thing when frozen, and I kinda failed at the whole piercing the plastic thing but meh, it all worked out in the end, shrug.

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I don’t know about you but I think that looks goooooood! Maybe it is because I am a sucker for sweet potatos, and stew, and easy cooking…who knows? After it is pulled out of the oven you are supposed to let it sit for a couple minutes and that helps it thicken up a bit. I left it a little longer than the box suggested because I like stews to be quite thick and it worked, it also made it so I didn’t have to blow on the spoon before every bite which was nice cause ya know, burning my mouth is not a thing I enjoy.

2016-06-13 18.46.05

It however lost some of its charming, yummy look once put in to a bowl, sigh. Now it looks like green mush, or slime, or something icky. It tastes way better than it looks, honest!

I tried some of it on its own and it was too spicy for me, sadness. I like spice but there has to be flavour along with the spice, not juuuust spice. So I added some ranch dressing to it, weird yes, but it works, lol, and it helped. If I had cheese in the apartment I would have topped it with that and I bet that would have cut down just enough on the spice while adding flavour and take it up that extra notch.

The entire package fit in to one of my small bowls so if you are eating it on your own it is a good size to be a meal by itself but if you are sharing it you’ll definitely need something else to go with it -perhaps one of Jamie’s suggestions?

 

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Try It Tuesday:Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

14 Jun

So obviously this isn’t the first time I have eaten Strawberry Rhubarb pie, it is just the first time I have eaten this particular pie. It is from M&M Meat Shops and currently costs $9.99. If I remember correctly mine was on sale so it cost a bit less, who doesn’t like a sale? 😉

First off, the finished product does not look nearly as good as the one on the package, the filling doesn’t hold its shape nearly that well. The filling is less chunky and more pureed, if that makes any sense? There is a lattice topping with the pastry but it is pretty lackluster, I mean c’mon, not like it is that hard to make the pie look pretty, this just looked lazy. Or maybe I am too harsh about the presentation of pies, meh, who knows? lol

To bake it you bring your oven to 350C, take the plastic wrapping off the pie, put the pie on a cookie sheet and pop it in to the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, then take it out and let it sit for 20 minutes. I am not certain why it needs such a long cooling down period, maybe they are worried about people being burned? lol Nah. I think it is most likely to give the filling time to solidify enough that it doesn’t completely ooze out when you cut a slice.

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frozen still wrapped in plastic

 

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fresh from the oven

The flavour was nice, had a stronger strawberry flavour than rhubarb and the strawberry seemed to more closely resemble jam rather than freshly chopped strawberries. Hell, I would have settled for frozen strawberries, thawed and cut, before being put in the filling but I guess I am asking too much from a commercially mass produced pie.

Even with the 20 minute cooling off period the pie was still warm-ish so I topped my piece with some ice cream and settled down to enjoy. 🙂

It’s not that it wasn’t an okay pie, but I wouldn’t really recommend paying the ten bucks for it when you can find a better quality pie at a bakery or one of those stands that pop up with fresh home made pies for sale at completely reasonable prices. Or hell, you could always make one. Not to boast but I have made a better strawberry rhubarb pie from scratch wiiiiiith a more complex lattice top and if I can do it so can you!

In a pinch I guess it will suffice but you can find better so my advice to you is to keep searching! 🙂

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Try It Tuesday:Ancient Grains with Millet

7 Jun

I found something new at M&M Meat Shops, well new to me anyways, people who shop there often probably found this ages ago. It is a two serving dish of Ancient Grains with Millet and Vegetable Blend in Tomato Sauce…long enough name? Eesh. lol

It is a microwaveable dish, you just put this frozen squat tube shaped thing that doesn’t really look like food in the microwave and cook it on high for 3 minutes, then you squish it around with a spoon, microwave for 2 more minutes, stir, and let sit for 2 minutes. Easy peasy.

It costs $2.99 and contains millet, steel-cut oats, brown rice, red and white quinoa with carrots, kale and onions in a tomato and roasted garlic sauce.

I bought this before I went low carb so it has been sitting in my freezer for a little while. I wasn’t feeling great today, not sick, just sorta “off” and I couldn’t face my normal food, all that protein, ugh, not today thanks. So I went searching for something that would most likely be gentle on my tummy and came across this.

I forgot to take a pic to show you the unattractive frozen blob it is prior to being popped in the microwave so here it is after the first 3 minutes…

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Aaaaaaand here it is once it is cooked and covered in salsa…

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Now yes, I realize I should have taken a picture before the salsa got put on top so you can see how it actually looks but I was only intending to put a small amount of salsa on so it shouldn’t have been a problem. However, I maaaay have gotten distracted and tilted the salsa jar too far and boom! salsa all over the ancient grains and millet hence ancient grains with millet and vegetable blend in tomato sauce covered in salsa…its like my own version of the dish! lol

It is quite bland, so the salsa made it tasty, you definitely need to put some sort of sauce or topping on this.

Nutrition wise it isn’t horrible but it isn’t great. Depending on what type of meal plan you follow this may or may not work for you. I would have expected it to have a higher fibre content considering all the grains and oats and whatnot that is in it but what do I know? I expected it to have an actual tomato sauce and it didn’t have that…advertising lies! 😉

If you are okay with eating carbs and want to add some grains to your meal plan it would probably be a good side for you, I bet it would be nice paired with some salmon or even a seasoned chicken breast. 🙂 For me though I probably won’t buy it again, too many carbs, not enough protein, and too bland for my taste. Not that I mind adding salsa or other condiments to things but I would prefer not to so I can save my calories for something more interesting…like cake! lol 😉

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Another New Plan

9 May

I feel like I am always coming up with new plans that never work out. New plans to eat healthier, work out more, lose weight, get stronger, blah blah blah.

I know I am not alone with this, this random stage where ideas are hatched, plans are formed and possibly even followed through for a while but then discarded for all sorts of “reasons” only to leave room for regret because follow through was once again not your thing. I read other peoples’ blogs, I’ve read this story many times over. And each time I feel for that person, because it is a sucky stage. Every time I start the cycle over again, and then fail, I get more demoralized and convinced I will never lose this weight…I’m pretty sure others feel the same.

Plus, it must be super boring to come here to see what I wrote about only to read about yet another Great Plan but a couple weeks later realize I haven’t commented on my new Great Plan in a while.

I firmly believe to be successful at any weight loss plan you have to hit your breaking point, or as a friend calls it, have your “a-ha!” moment. I had that back when I initially lost all my weight but this time around, with all these different plans, and ideas, and attempts I hadn’t had it. I don’t know why I hadn’t had it, it’s not like I didn’t want to succeed, shrug, but for whatever reason it just hadn’t happened.

Yesterday though, it happened.

Gotta say, it was pretty awesome. 🙂

I’d been toying with actually signing up for Weight Watchers, starting next month, cause I can’t afford it this month, if only to get me started. But for some reason that idea wasn’t inspiring me.

I toyed with trying to find the money to get a personal trainer for however many sessions to get me in to a routine and force me to be less lazy. But the cost of a trainer didn’t appeal to me and again, something about it didn’t feel right.

Then out of nowhere I thought about the old meal plan I used to follow, the high protein, high healthy fat, low carb meal plan combined with daily exercise. It was hard core, hard to maintain even when I was super dedicated, and kind of miserable at times because I was eating almost the exact same thing every day. Plus, the plan has you tracking your micro-nutrients and the amount of carbs I was allowed was soooooo low and I love carbs soooooo much, it was kinda sucky at times lol.

But…it worked!

When I started that plan I had already lost over 30 pounds, I was trying to get that last 5-10 pounds and tighten up. This means I was already in the mind set of watching what I ate, and working out often, and was used to following a healthy life routine. Plus, I was starting all that exercise when I was in better shape than I am now so while it was a challenge it was do-able.

This time I am starting farther away from my goal and I am trying to be realistic about what I can handle so I don’t end up quitting.

I don’t want to eat the exact same foods, in the same order, 7 days a week. I don’t want to never splurge. I don’t want to order salad with no dressing topped with a grilled chicken breast every single time I eat out because that is the only “safe” meal I can find on a menu.

I know to hit my goal I will need to make sacrifices and I am ok with that. I won’t get where I want to be without stopping habits I have formed and routinely doing things I haven’t been doing.

But I can’t just half-ass this. I need a plan, a detailed, written out plan that I can refer back to when my brain blanks on day 2 and I can’t remember what the hell I am supposed to be doing for breakfast lol

So I wrote down all the foods I ate on that plan, then I tweaked a bit. Instead of only eating chicken and tuna for my protein I added lean beef burger patties, fish steaks, hard boiled eggs, maybe quinoa (I’m currently researching to decide if the protein I’ll get from quinoa is worth the carbs).

I decided that I’d be allowed 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of dressing on my salads. I might even let myself have cheese every now and then…crazy huh? 😉

Then, after thinking of little tweaks I wrote down what I will eat and where (at work or at home) on the different days of the week. This might seem strange but I did it because three days of the week I have no structure decided by work. Two days of the week I work 3p-9p and 2 days of the week I work 7a-3p. When I started this job the transition to my odd work schedule threw me off, because this meal plan was not only food specific but very structured for how far apart the different meals were eaten and where in the day you exercised in relation to your meals. I couldn’t make every day the same anymore and I quickly spiraled in to not following a plan because I couldn’t follow my plan perfectly.

I’m hoping by being a bit more relaxed with the timing, and being willing to switch things up a bit, I can make it work.

For instance, I am supposed to start my day with 1/2 an apple and a simple protein shake. Then a half hour to 45 minutes later have one egg, 2 slices of turkey bacon and the other half of the apple. Well sure, that is fine on my days off and my days where I start work at 3pm but the days I work at 7am? Uh yeah, not gonna happen. So, the days I start at 7am I will have 1/2 cup of oatmeal for breakfast when I am at work.

Does it follow the rules of the plan exactly? No. Is it something I can actually do, that is relatively healthy, and maintainable? Yup.

I have to be ok with these little changes. And sure, maybe I’ll get more hard core as I really get in to things and revert back to how it was last time I followed this plan but I have to ease in to that level of dedication, re-drink the kool-aid so to speak lol

keep-calm-and-drink-the-kool-aid-8

I am so psyched to start this new plan but I won’t be following it properly until Saturday because I have to wait for Friday to be able to buy groceries so until then I will make do with what foods I already have. I can increase my protein since I already have protein rich foods. I can work on the timing of my meals, so I get used to that structure again. I can start to cut out unnecessary carbs (sadness 😦 ) and I’ve already got my grocery list written and ready to be filled.

Maybe this lull before I can start this plan full time is a good thing, it will allow me to prep and plan and psych myself up even more. 🙂

meal plan

This is an example of my meal plans for the different types of days I have. It isn’t exact or set in stone. The proteins can be swapped out and moved from one day to the next. For ease of making the document I put in mostly chicken but I have another page written up with other meal ideas that are high protein, low carb, high healthy fat. Plus, I’ll have to work on the timing, figure out where my exercise fits in to each day and maneuver some meals around that – my large protein shake for instance will best benefit me if I have it after I exercise. So I will probably end up moving that to when I am home after my 3p-9p shift because I tend to work out after that shift rather than prior. But it is a framework for me to move within, which is what I know I need to succeed.

So ok, sorry to bore you with the food portion of my “Great Plan”. But writing this and putting it out in to the world helps me, it helps me stay committed to the plan (theoretically) and helps me believe I can make it work.

I feel I should warn you my next post will probably be about the exercising portion of my new plan, especially since I’ve already started the workouts lol

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Chocolate Cake In A Mug

7 Feb

I was having a chocolate cake craving and reverted back to primate level thinking…I neeeeed chocolate. Find chocolate. Kill for chocolate. Chocolate is vital for survival.

Stuff like that… 😉

My only options were:

(1) go to the store and buy a cake, which I am too lazy to do

(2) make a cake, which I have the ingredients for but am so not gonna do just to satisfy a craving

(3) google and hope for a better answer

Damn internet, it makes things too easy sometimes!

So I googled chocolate cake in a mug. I don’t know why I did it, over the years I have tried a couple different chocolate cake in mug recipes and they always suck. This time though my googling brought me to this…

http://www.tablefortwoblog.com/the-moistest-chocolate-mug-cake/

The blog post swore this chocolate cake in a mug recipe would be moist, and delicious, and better than any of the others I may have tried.

It is simple enough of a recipe so I figured why not give it a go. If it sucks it isn’t too many ingredients wasted and I will have learned my lesson – no more cake in mug recipes!

Well, happy news, the author was correct and it is a deeeeeelicious cake in a mug! As in, so good it easily competes with a full sized home made chocolate cake or a cake bought from the store. I don’t know why this particular combination of ingredients somehow combined to create cake magic but they did and I am oh so grateful for it…while also being aware this is a very dangerous thing I have come across.

With great power comes great responsibility and now that I know I can have an easy serving of chocolate cake whenever I want, well damn, I’m gonna have to use willpower to over ride the cravings and be a good little healthy-lifestyle type of person. Ugh. Not looking forward to that but since it is a problem for another day lets forget about it for now! 😉

I was going to post the recipe here but I think it would be better if you follow the above link and check out the blog I found the recipe from, the Chef deserves the visits to her blog after all.

I did however nab a picture from her post so you can see what it looks like, after all, a picture is worth a thousand words! Just remember, it is her picture, and her cake, all I did was copy exactly what she said to do and made chocolate cake magic, Mmm!

chocolate-mug-cake-tablefortwoblog-4

 

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Cooking With A Chef

6 Feb

On Wednesday a friend of mine and I got together for lunch. She did me an awesome favour a couple weeks ago and I wanted to treat her for lunch as a thank you. She suggested we get together and cook something instead and since it was her thank you I said yup.

We went back and forth for a while on what to make and eventually settled on my brother’s Black Bean Stew recipe which omg, amazing! My brother cooks as a hobby but he puts a lot of time and attention in to it, and it helps he is brilliant at everything he attempts, so when he comes up with something it is always good. 🙂

Christmas of 2007 he brought over a pot of this black bean stew for Christmas Eve dinner and I loved it so much he gave me the recipe. Well ok, I badgered him for it, but let’s not get all picky about things k?

I’ve made it a couple times and it always turns out great.

I bought enough ingredients to double the recipe so we’d each have some for lunch and then left overs for freezing…or in her case left overs to feed her family.

She is a Chef, and an awesome one at that, so while I wasn’t nervous about cooking with her, I was certain she’d be amused and or irritated with how I am in a kitchen. She is one of those amazingly efficient human beings that always make me look like a clumsy incompetent person but oh well, shrug. She actually took over the chopping of the onions because (1) I am a slow chopper and (2) they were making my eyes water so much I couldn’t see through the tears lol

We followed the recipe to the letter but then added some additional seasoning at the end because it was a bit bland, I think I didn’t put in enough tobasco sauce…maybe? I dunno. It is the first time it has come out bland but her additional seasonings made it all better. She gave me some random cooking tips while we went along but for the most part let me run the show. We worked well as a team. 🙂

While we were cooking she said nobody every cooks for her or really invites her over for a meal because she is a Chef and people get intimidated by that. I find that sad. Food is such an integral part of society and social gatherings and nobody ever invites her over for a home cooked meal or brings her something home made to eat? What’s wrong with people!

Having said that, I’ve never brought her anything home made either. Partly because I don’t really cook and also because I figure anything I can make she can make so much better why insult her palate with my paltry offerings?

I’m gonna change that right now!

We had so much fun cooking and hanging out, more fun than I think we would have had if we went out. And she doesn’t care that I’m not a professional cook, she was legit grateful for someone else working in the kitchen…even if she did have to take over the chopping of the onions lol

Next time we are going to make lasagna! Mmm!

The above shows the black bean stew before I covered it with toppings, and then my bowl with all the toppings. As you can see I like sour cream and cheese and avocado lol Usually I eat this with sour cream and maybe the cheese, depending what I have. She happened to have avocado as well and as it was near death we decided to each take half so as not to waste it. Cause a wasted avocado is a sad sad thing.

 

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Subway’s Prime Rib Swiss Melt

5 Feb

On Tuesday I treated myself to Subway. It was actually more of a compromise to myself. I would have given almost anything for something at McDonald’s lol since I couldn’t pinpoint my McD’s craving down to one specific food item I wouldn’t let myself go there but I knew nothing at home would satisfy me so I stopped at Subway. I really like Subway and I am horrendously boring and order almost the exact same thing every time I go. The 6″ turkey on 9-grain whole wheat with more veggies than can comfortably fit on the bun then I top with the light mayo and either mustard or honey mustard, depending on my mood.

The most exciting option there? No. But I like how it tastes and it is a respectable amount of calories so no guilt. 🙂

For some reason, that Tuesday, I decided to try something different. The new sandwich there is the Prime Rib Swiss Melt and the advertising picture looks like this…

subway prime rib swiss melt

Pretty decent huh?

I thought why not, it looks yum and it is good to switch things up a bit.

In a nut shell, my review of the sandwich can be described in three words…

Don’t. Do. It.

Ugh. Seriously, just…don’t. It isn’t worth the money or the trauma you will be putting your taste buds through.

Here is what mine looked like…

2016-02-02 14.54.12

Ok granted, not the best picture but I really wanted you to be able to see the meat.

I thought, because the advertising picture showed it with a gravy/sauce on it that for some reason the meat would be sitting in an industrial version of a crockpot or slow cooker, ya know, the meat would be sitting in its sauce just waiting to be put on the bread.

Nope.

Not even close.

The lady took a little cardboard container filled with grey meat from the display case (grey meat people!) and plopped that on my sandwich. Right there I should have called it off and gone back to the turkey but nope, I stayed with the prime rib option because…well…because it would have been rude to change at that point, I was committed. sigh.

I got it toasted with the swiss cheese and put some random veggies on it. I was trying to copy the picture but it only showed lettuce and tomato and what kind of heathen only puts two veggies on a sandwich when there are so many more to choose from? I also chose cucumber and banana peppers…I wanted more but was worried I’d somehow mess with the balance of the sandwich since I have nooooo idea what goes with prime rib.

There was no sauce. I didn’t realize it until I got home with the sub but yeah…no sauce. There is sauce in the picture! But none on my sub. I don’t know if I was supposed to specify that I wanted the prime rib sauce or what. I guess since I still had the idea that it was supposed to be simmering in its sauce that it would be saucy when put on the sandwich and when it was grabbed, cold and grey, from the display case, I didn’t clue in I was gonna have to figure out the sauce situation on my own.

You’d think the lady would have offered sauce, or at least condiments, but she didn’t. So while I accept the lack of sauce as my own fault I think she should shoulder a teeny bit of the blame since theoretically she knows better than I what should be on that sandwich.

Sadly, I regret my sandwich choice from that Tuesday. I don’t have a lot of money so when I spend even a small amount of it I want it to be worth it and that sandwich sooooo wasn’t worth my $7. 😦

Ah well, even though I didn’t like it I still stand by the idea of trying things outside your comfort zone. After all, if I hadn’t tried it I wouldn’t know if I liked it or not and I could be missing out on something awesome. It didn’t work out this time but that’s ok, it will other times. 🙂

 

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I Adulted

3 Feb

I was so proud on Saturday night. I worked until 9pm and before I left work I took a look at the menu for the next day. On Sunday I would be working the day shift, so eating lunch at work, and lunch on Sundays tends to be more brunch like – so pancakes or waffles or some such thing. Which is tasty but is soooooo not healthy and definitely not something to indulge in every-freakin-Sunday.

Lo and behold Sunday’s lunch was eggs benedict with Canadian back bacon and some veggies grilled and covered in cheese, sigh.

So here is where the adulting came in…

I got home from work around 9:45pm and promptly started cooking. The cat thought I was nuts lol

I popped a honey garlic glazed chicken breast in the oven and while that did its thing the rice cooked in the rice cooker, the sweet potato got sliced and popped in the microwave so I could steam it and while waiting for things to cook I chopped up a bunch of veggies because when I am not super lazy I like to ingredient prep.

In the end I ended up with a freakishly healthy lunch for Sunday!

It got packed in to one of my Disney’s Frozen tupperware, cause hey, I can’t be tooooo grown-up lol and I took some salsa with me to put on top of the rice. When I was putting my lunch on a plate at work and heating it up the chef said I should take some of the veggies they had made cause they were super delish and who am I to turn up more veggies? So here is what I ended up eating…

lunch

Before you think I am a weirdo for having my chicken cut up I did that to make sure it was heated all the way through. 😛

Now don’t fret that I am acting all grown-up all the time, I assure you, I am not. I think I manage it about once a month if lucky? lol

To prove that, my dinner on Monday was this…

2016-02-01 16.59.11

Yup, that’s right, it was marble cake. Sadly, it was not good…and yet…I ate it…*rolls eyes* I didn’t even get the expected sugar rush that would have gotten me through the next couple hours, nope, I ate it and promptly had a nap…cementing my place as the world’s oldest toddler teehee

 

 

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