November 28, 2011

Morning started with half a grapefruit. I seem to have done something to my leg, my right calf is dead sore, kind of like I had a cramp, but didn't. Odd. Had fun hobbling around all day... not! And missed gym, again.

Lunch was soup, and I have to say for healthy soup, this soup kicks butt.

I followed it with some raspberries, blackberries, pecans & flaxseed with a dash of maple syrup. Gotta keep those minerals up eh?

Dinner was chicken breast, I stuffed it with goats cheese and wrapped it in bacon. I have to say, I know I talk about bacon all the time but really don't eat it very often. It was pretty good, but... it was no prosciutto. I heart prosciutto! I roasted up some asparagus and zucchini in balsamic, and made a tomato and radish salad with spring onion. Deeeeelish, except we both agreed prosciutto is better!

A little while after dinner we demolished a small bag of peanut m&m's.

November 26 & 27 - The Weekend

Saturday started off with a slice of lemon poppyseed loaf before heading off to the craft show in Toronto with Krista. For lunch we shared some 'spicy' salmon & tuna rolls. I say 'spicy' as there wasn't any spice, not sure what happened there. I even checked and said 'these are spicy, right?' and they insisted it was. It wasn't. Still, not too bad for market food court sushi.
For dinner we were back at the McGregor's, we had hamburgers, potato salad and lettuce & goats cheese salad. Delicious meal, and left me sleepy. I even fell asleep on the couch watching a movie later on! Was a pretty tiring day, but the show was awesome.

Sunday we did something different, we went to Williams Cafe for breakfast, neither of us had been there before and both had a hankering for poached eggs and hollandaise. Don't pretend this doesn't happen to you!
It came out and they were actually fried eggs, I was a bit disappointed, but it wasn't too bad actually, and pretty cheap.

For lunch we had late afternoon pitas, we were both vegging on the couch and couldn't be motivated for much more. For dinner we had soup. And that concludes the weekend.

November 25, 2011

Half a grapefruit for breakfast then off to work. Cabbage rolls again, this time I accidentally grabbed Lee's, and they were huge. So filling!

Lee and I went for a quick pint after work, I had to do some work from home later on, so I scoffed a porkadilla, and it was gooood. Work was easy and over and done with within half an hour, we had a visitor so had a few beers and then ate some goats brie on rosemary crackers. Lush!

November 24, 2011

Half a grapefruit for breakfast, then cabbage rolls for lunch.

And that was it. Dull eh? Until dinner time. Well, before dinner I ate two chocolate covered brownie batter balls (insane) that I bought for my boss when I was in NYC. She adopted me for a few hours while Lee was playing soccer. When we got home, neither of us felt like the healthy soup I made the night before, so naturally we got pizza from our favourite pizza place. Whoops. Still, bloody delicious, just not allowed pizza for a while now, twice in one week, are we living on the edge or what?!

November 23, 2011

Half a grapefruit for lunch, which was welcomed.

Had left over pumpkin soup for lunch, lush! Even without any garlic in it, its still a winner soup:

To be honest the day sucked. A lot. And we were running out of time before Lee had to go to work, which cut into my cooking time. We stopped at Vincenzo's on the way home and picked up some smoked salmon sushi to share and an orzo salad. Both of which were pretty good.

I got back into the kitchen and made some soup and cabbage rolls, so they will serve their purpose over the next few days, and get me off the hook for not cooking much this week. I want my kitchen mojo back!

I also ate three TimTams. That is all.

November 22, 2011

Breakfast was half a grapefruit. I was meant to have some berries & nuts for a snack, and soup for lunch, but was locked in a room with IT and lunch was bought, so instead I had Cantonese style pork with rice and broccoli, and it was ok. Actually I felt a bit rank after it, but feeling off colour anyway so not sure I am allowed to blame it on lunch.

The afternoon was a long, long stretch, and I was exhausted. I had zero energy to cook, so Lee grabbed us a pita and we scoffed that before he had to go to work for the night shift. I moped on the couch for about an hour then had an early night and went to bed.

November 21, 2011

Raspberries, blackberries & pecans with some flaxseed and maple syrup for breakfast. Loving the splash of maple syrup, its rich in minerals and adds a little sweetness, but I don't over do it.

Lunch was pumpkin soup. Then I snacked on a candy in the afternoon because I was crashing. Hardly worth mentioning really.

Dinner was early - 5:30pm - poached eggs & steamed asparagus on a toasted roll, with a smidge of grated parmesan. Delicious!

I was pretty hungry two hours later, so I ate a few spoons of baked beans. As you do.

November 20, 2011

So after the Christmas party we had a sleep in, skipped breakfast, then head out to Boston Pizza for breakfast pizza and a pint, and also some sneaky cactus cut chips. Mmmm.

For dinner I made pumpkin soup, which was thick and delicious. Mmmm.

And that was it for Sunday. A little uneventful, and half way between unhealthy and healthy. Happy medium eh? At least I have pumpkin soup for lunches this week!

November 19, 2011

Had half a grapefruit for breakfast again, which was good, as I think I was still full from the steak the night before.

For lunch Lee and I went to Sakura Island for some sushi action. I had something different this time, the Golden Dragon, which was basically spicy salmon, avocado, prawn & crab. We did end up sharing though, Lee got the Red Bull (the beef one). Both of which were really good.

It was the work 'holiday' party, they had buffet. I am not a fan of buffet but I guess it was ok. Salads and roast beef, and a bread roll. Nothing really to write home about, and I forgot to take a picture. I decided to bypass the dessert table, but Lee braved it. And that wraps up our Saturday!

November 18, 2011

Breakfast was half a grapefruit, and then that was it until lunch. Whoops.

Lunch was at the mall food court, as I had some last minute shopping things for the work 'holiday' party. Still gotta get used to that, people get offended with religious holidays here. Didn't stop them from playing Christmas music with religious references at the party though... moving on....

Lee and I went out for steak for dinner, and it was bloody sensational. I had beef tartar with a raw quail egg for starters, and it was beautiful. My steak was a tenderloin cooked to utter perfection, with horseradish and red wine jus. Had a baked potato on the side, and we shared some creamed spinach (which I gracefully stuffed into my potato....). Delicious!

November 17, 2011

Shivers, another game of catch up, I blinked and all of a sudden its four days later.

So, breakfast was from Starbucks, as we didn't get to the supermarket. Had a yogurt with granola & honey, and a black coffee.

Lunch was out with the team, I had a steak salad with goats cheese. It was pretty good actually, but the cherry tomatoes were a bit rank. Tried too, decided to leave the rest...

Dinner was meant to be home cooked but Lee finished shift at 7:30pm and I was at a foodbank meeting, so we ate out. I had a wild mushroom quesadilla. And it was good.

Finished off the evening with half a piece of maple fudge (Lee ate the other half). And that was Thursday done.

November 12 - 16, 2011

And what a big few days it was in New York City.

Lets see, where to start.... Ok, Saturday November 12, 2011.

We bought a box of muesli bars from Walmart in Buffalo the night before, so I had one for breakfast. They offered us a snack on the plane, which I declined (way too early for sea salt chips), and landed safely at JFK at 9:30am (ish).

We waited for our mates to arrive from London, we head out to Buba Gumps for some shrimp action as a late lunch, where I had the coconut shimp (called Dumb Luck).

For dinner we had.....nothing, and then quite a few (too many) beers. Ouch.

Sunday November 13, 2011

We went for the hotel breakfast, which was pretty ridiculous really, not a whole lot on offer and a bit on the pricey side. I had a bagel with cream cheese. Yep. Cliche eh? We then had a hotdog around 11am. They were pretty small so I am not too fussed about that.

Lunch was pizza, and it was huge. The table next to us had to big blokes so I thought 'that pizza they are sharing must be a large', so we ordered two large between us. Then the waitress came along and served another table... with a bigger pizza. Uh oh.... So this is what we ended up with:

Safe to say we didn't finish it, and we could have had one to share...

We went to Applebees for a knock of drink and stayed for dinner, I had a steak salad, and it was pretty good, didn't finish it though.

Monday November 14, 2011

Skipped the breakfast at the hotel, ended up going out for lunch at a really cool local. We started with some oysters, I managed two but called it a day. I then had a burger that would knock your socks off, definitely what Lee and I call a Marshall Burger (he had one too), and we shared a side of sweet potato fries. Had a few beers, listened to some local conversations and then head out again.

Dinner was Chinese in China Town. Seemed pretty dead but I guess it was a Monday night. Too much food on the table, I went the Ma Po Tofu, which I adored, Lee got some sesame beef which rocked, and we shared some dumplings and some of the other dishes on the table. Naturally we over ordered, and left a lot behind.

Tuesday November 15, 2011

Skipped breakfast again, went to Bloomingdales with Helyn and had a bite of her blueberry muffin which was kinda rank. Met the guys for lunch, I had a beef & avocado wrap, and only ate half of it, and about three chips. I guess we were all still full of Chinese food?

Dinner was at Quality Meats, it was Helyn's birthday so we celebrated in style and had some steaks. Some mighty fine steaks, I gotta say! I went a filet on the bone, which came with bone marrow. Had some potatoes, asparagus, mushroom & creamed spinach as sides, which all were delicious. Oh, and we also had some baked oysters, which were better than the raw ones, but I am still new at this game so don't quote me on that. I would love to go back to this place, it was lovely.

Wednesday November 16, 2011

Skipped breakfast again, went back to Buba Gumps for an early lunch. I had a caesar salad, which was pretty good. We then had to haul ass back to the hotel then off to JFK for our return to Buffalo. At the airport we got snacky so we shared this amazing pastrami sandwich on rye, was good that it was an amazing sanga as the muppet that made it was a complete bitch! She was rude, she threw my sandwich at me, and basically hissed when I said 'is that mine?!'. Some people are not meant to be in hospitality....

Anyway, I ate a small cookie on the plane, then Lee and I hauled ass back over the boarder and were home by 8:30pm. We had no food in the house, so it was pita time, again. Time for a trip to the supermarket me thinks, though its a big weekend of being out of the house. Will update again later.... xx

November 11, 2012

A quick post - had berries and mango for breakfast, had quinoa salad with chicken and tomatoes for lunch, then left early to hit the road and drive to Buffalo. Dinner was calorific, a buffalo beef roll with buffalo wings. Didn't finish it though.
Currently in New York having a blast, will update again soon!

November 10, 2011

Ok, so last night husbandman cooked me up some dinner - steak, steamed asparagus & 4 bean salad. Ok, to be fair, I did the asparagus, and he bought the salad, but he still did the steak and my input was minimal :)
Was great. Horseradish mustard is the shizzle, as is husbandman.

Breakfast was blueberries & raspberries with pecans, flax seed & a drizzle of my good friend maple syrup. Maple syrup is actually quite healthy, full of minerals. Which apparently I need more of, says my naturopath. More on that later...

Lunch was a pita, we had some lastminute.com things to acheive before our trip to NYC, so chicken pitas were easy, cheap, and the closest thing to healthy we could get on the go. I guess. Maybe we are just lazy too...

Dinner was 'meant' to be chicken, but after I got my haircut, Lee picked me up which was after his soccer match and he wanted a pint, so we went to Ethel's. A porkadilla and two pints later, we were back home, packing and getting ourselves ready for our mini holiday.

As for the naturopath, well, it was interesting. My biggest dairy allergy is whey. My first reaction was 'what the hell... what is that even in?!'. As it turns out, just about everything. From breads to store bought pastries, crackers to condiments, even Hershey's chocolate. While my exposure to most of the above is limited, it got me thinking... shit, I am going to have to follow this closely, eh? More label reading for me. Joy. My other two big players in my dairy allergy are cottage cheese and yogurt. *sigh* try to go the healthier option, and bam, that's what you get. Good news is Swiss cheese is right down. Yeah baby!The garlic allergy is something that I am still bothered by but its actually not too bad, so I don't have to cut it out completely. Thankfully, as garlic is also in everything. *coughs* everything good *coughs*.

Will update hopefully from NYC. Catch yall later! xx

November 9, 2011

Happy Birthday Joan!

Breakfast was the same as yesterday - blueberries, raspberries, ground flax seed, and some almonds, this time with a drizzle of maple syrup.

Lunch was soup, again. It's the gift that just keeps giving. I also had some dried fruit with some pecans:

Lee came to get me, I need to go to the chemist, both of us were snacky and uninspired. Shame on us, we got some chicken nuggets to share, and they were actually pretty good.

Appointment with the naturopath tonight, then I think its steak for dinner. The same steak we were meant to have last night, but didn't. No idea what we will have it with just yet, will work that out before my appointment. Looking forward to finding out more about this garlic allergy. I need to know how severe it is, and what impact it has before making any rash cuttings from my diet. I mean, cmon, garlic! I am having a hard time coming to terms with this one, obviously. Will update later on....

November 8, 2011

So I found out something interesting, have my food test results back. The dairy piece is confirmed, definitely an allergy, the good news is I don't seem to have a problem with wheat (hoorah!), but there is a huge downside. And by huge, I mean massive. Turns out I am allergic to... GARLIC. What the...? I find out more about it on tomorrow.

So for breakfast I had just the berries with the flax seed, and some almonds. No more greek yogurt. *cries*

Lunch was healthy soup, again, and it was delicious, again.

I made some additional foods as I really do get hungry during the day. I made a tomato and olive salad:

When I made it I reached for the pickles but realised, they are garlic pickles. What?! *cries*. Do you know how many things have garlic in it? Like... just about everything.

Also had some more berries with some pecans in the afternoon. Kinda ate them more for the sake of eating them than hungry. Never mind.

Dinner was meant to be steak but turned out to be a chicken quesadilla. Cos that's how we roll in the de Souza household, always keeping it real. Anyway...

November 7, 2011

Again with the catch up, I seem to have little mojo for anything lately, including (or even, especially) blogging.

Breakfast was yogurt & berries. With a spoon of ground flaxseed. And a coffee.

Lunch was soup - so good, I cant believe its only 77 calories a serve. Deeeelicious, and healthy! Win win.

For we had left over turkey burgers. And they were good, but not really filling. I ended up having some chicken later on, with some bbq sauce, and there *may* have been a thin bun involved....

Still feeling rank after the weekend, something wiped me out, and the time change hasn't helped either. Hope to be back on track soon....

November 6, 2011

Slept in and missed double spin, I am still feeling on the rank side. I still made the pre gym breakfast though, poached eggs on toast with goats cheese and sliced tomato, and cracked pepper.

Kind of an eggy weekend really, totally goes against my two eggs per week rule. Still, I love a poached egg, still not very good at them but they taste like poached eggs so who cares right?

Made soup for lunch, and for lunches this week. Leek & ginger, with a few other veggies from the fridge thrown in there for good measure.

I know I said I would try to cook something interesting this week but its been a bit of a nightmare. Energies low, a feeling of 'meh' in the air, and Lee and I have been feeling a bit lazy and overwhelmed so it didn't really happen.  This week will be a bit boring too I think, freezer food & left overs, then its off to New York for four days of big apple shenanigans. No doubt a detox when we get back, and then I think I will kick the cooking up a notch before heading to Australia in December.

We had a snack (or as we call it, a sneck) in the afternoon whilst oot and aboot, chipotle dip with pita bread. It was cheesy, but it was actually pretty good. I love it when Lee says things like 'yeah, I like it, but you could make better'. Best husbandman ever.

Roast beef for dinner, I had a sirloin tip in the freezer so why not eh? Its Sunday after all. Managed to create some magical yorkies too, it was my first shot at them and they were sensational! Will add photos later...

November 5, 2011

Woke up earlier than I wanted to, hugely annoying on a Saturday morning really. Had half a grapefruit for breakfast before my 2 hour driving lesson.

After my lesson Lee and I had eggs for lunch, mine in the form of a greek omelette with some potatoes. Bit random really.

We snacked on some tzatziki and pita bread in the arvo, and when I announced that I had the biggest hankering for chocolate, my awesome husband bought out the 'secret stash' from the fridge. Kinder Buenos. Geez. That's the shit!

For dinner my awesome husband made turkey burgers. We had them on a thin bun each, with tomato & lettuce. I was knackered and feeling rather rank, so I went to bed and read. What a Saturday night eh? Party on!

Nov 4 cont...

So we got drawn into something called Sausage Fest at our fav. bar, Ethels. Well, what would you do?! We both had a polish sausage in a bun, I had sauerkraut on mine (happy camper!) with swiss cheese. It came with potato salad & coleslaw, didn't get through it all but that wasn't from a lack of trying.

There was a sausage on the menu called The Angry German. It was nearly worth ordering that purely because of the name! It was chock full of bacon and fried onions etc, so I gave it a miss. Plus I dunno, how many people like an Angry German?!

November 4, 2011

The knock on effect continues. Woke up, grapefruit & coffee, then off to work with no lunch, because we didn't cook last night means no lunch today. Terrific.

So, in the car on the way to work, I realise I haven't taken anything out of the freezer for dinner tonight. What the?? See what happens when you make one bad decision?! It changes the rest of the weeks plans!

Lee came by to get me at lunch and delivered me a chicken pita, we didn't have enough time to go to the supermarket, so we are going to have to go after gym tonight. Seriously, we are useless. I will try to make something interesting this weekend though. And will update on what the go is for dinner tonight later on.... *sigh*
This is what happens when you cut out rice and pasta from your diet. You cant just have 'whatever'.

November 3, 2011

Grapefruit for breakfast, and a coffee, after a sleep in and totally missing early morning spin. Whoops.

Because we ate at the pub the night before, we didn't have left overs for lunch. Here lies the first of the knock on affect of our bad Wednesday night decision. So Lee picked me up, we went off and did some lunch time shopping, which was naturally rushed. Neither of us had lunchspiration, so I called our fav. sushi place for pick up. Well, that was a big mistake. The sushi was smaller than usual, and didn't come with all the sides (like the noodle salad etc) but still cost the same... what?! It was still really good, but I dunno, I felt ripped off.

So we get home, exhausted and annoyed for some reason. Lee did about 1000 dishes before going to cook dinner. Anyway, so he goes to make rissoles (Lee's rissoles really kick ass), and bam, the meat that we defrosted two days ago that we were meant to have the day before - off. Thats right, brown, smelly and manky. OFF.
This threw us completely, and we spent the next hour trying to work out dinner. When you are annoyed, in your comfy trackies, and tired, your options are slim pickins.

So we went with something dirty. Harvey's. Well, its least dirty in the dirty category, grilled chicken burgers, but still at the end of the day, a burger is a burger. And I gotta say, it was goooood. Shame on us.

It really got us thinking about how easy it was to pick up something on the go in London thats healthy. We really miss Marks & Spencer in particular for this, if we were tired, annoyed, and anti-social, we could pick up a salad & wrap from M&S and call it a day. There are limited options here for 'healthy' quick foods. Pitas are about the closest I guess. Some of the 'healthier' options on take away foods here is a joke, like turkey wraps or salads, normally stuffed with fatty bacon (and have more calories than a pepperoni pizza). I guess at the end of the day, the bottom line is, I need to cook more, its that simple.

Two maple cookies later, and the day was done. Seeing a trend here? Hopefully I can pick up my game for the weekend...

November 2, 2011

Wow I am a bit behind, time for some catch up... Let's see..

Ok, so Wednesday was an interesting day, it threw the rest of the week right off, and here's why...
Breakfast as usual, this time the grapefruit was pretty sour and really didn't rate on the enjoyment scale. By the time lunch came around I was starving. Had the final lot of the soup:

Was delicious, but was a bit over it, after three days in a row.

Snacked on some of those loud pita snacks again in the afternoon, then cancelled gym as neither of us really felt like it. Instead we went for a pint. The pint turned into a quesadilla as neither of us were inspired by the hunk of mince meat I defrosted. This is what ruined the rest of week actually, but more about that later.

Two maple cookies in the evening, and we were done.

November 1, 2011

Wow, look at that, only two months to go. Who would have thought?

I have decided to kick start the last two months with some planning around some meals that I would have liked to have made, but didn't for whatever reason, including the losers from the challenges throughout the year. Stay tuned, more of that to come...

So breakfast was half a grapefruit, yawn, then off to early morning spin class.

Lunch was soba noodle soup, again. After lunch I was still really hungry so I convinced Lee to swing by and we both trundled off to the supermarket together. I bought some pita crisps, which were actually pretty good. A little on the addictive side to be honest, and actually quite noisy to eat, especially in the new office where its quiet enough to hear a stomach rumble at 11:45am. For anyone who watches How I Met Your Mother, it sounded a lot like Lily eating....
I also ate a starburst, post halloween left overs. Hardly worth mentioning really, but it is a blog about everything I eat for a whole year, so there you have it.

Dinner had little inspiration. We had chicken fillets. So I thought 'home made pitas' might be fun, and a way to satisfy my tzatziki craving. And I have to say, they were pretty good! Stuffed with lettuce, tomato, pickles, goats cheese & chicken, with a mound of tzatziki. Delicious. Lee went off for work beers, and I moped around the house, managed to stuff two maple cookies in my mouth at once (no, not really, but the visuals would be pretty funny) before curling up in bed with a book.

All in all, an ok Tuesday really....