Summer colours in my breakfast.

Last night I went to Casey's bar and grill and was very pleasantly surprised that they too had a Gluten Free menu.  I was being spoiled and told to get the steak... so I did, but 8oz was just too much for me, in addition to the sweet potato fries and grilled zucchini, so I decided this morning I was going to use the left overs up in another egg white omlette.  It seemed we had no shortage of great summer foods here at my parents house so I added as much as I could and here is the result.  Not very pretty mind you, but I've just finished eating it... and let me tell you, it was satisfying, full of flavour and healthy.  I'm looking at the bowl of fruit and taco's thinking that I might not be able to finish this up this morning, I'll pack it for mid-morning snack.

Omelette: sweet potato, zucchini, red pepper, spinach, onion, sprinkle of havarti cheese and some italian herbs to top

Ontario peaches and strawberries and wild blueberries (that I picked yesterday).

Big Breakfast #2

Veggie omlette: spinash, red pepper, onion, broccoli and a bit of Havarti cheese (of course egg whites)

For fiber, carbs and good fats: and oatmeal smoothie (1/3 dry oatmeal, frozen berries, unsweetened almond milk and ground chia seeds)

Even Tosca Reno drinks her cup of coffee a day!  Who am I to argue that :D

Last night I finished my book and was supposed to wake up early this morning to get up and get to the gym to do a body flow class.  The phone woke me up at 7AM (ugg...dad!) and I fell back asleep and didn't wake up till 9:55!!!  OMG...  The flow class starts in 5 minutes!  So I scrapped that plan and decided that I could miss as long as I made an amazing breakfast for myself!  I happily started my new book, so now I'm on my second book.  I have plans on going out this afternoon.  I'll be visiting with an old friend of mine from up North! I do plan on making it an active visit, I want to walk the boardwalk, as long as the weather cooperates!!!

Lunch then a swim at the sand banks.

A can of low sodium salmon, some basil, dill, olive oil, onion, tomato and celery (topped with feta and cranberries) on mixed greens with organic flax and blue corn chips.   Seriously easy to make and delicious. 

From my seat in dad's new boat, we are heading to the white stuff way off in the distance.  It's actually across the lake and I haven't been there in almost 20 years because my dad's old boat couldn't make it the crossing.  It only took us 15 minutes vs the hour and half it did way back then.

The sand was gorgeous, and the water warm and shallow.

My dad's new boat (he only put it in the water for the first time last week.  Me doing tree pose behind it.

That was about as high as I could climb, because the sand was so bloody hot!  And yes I did slide down and it was sooo fun.

And I did make it to the gym!  Body pump class was great and then had a giant salad and grilled fish when I got home!  What a great day. 

Breakfast with a view.

My view this morning!

I was going to save up a bunch of pictures to post later on tonight but I couldn't help it.  I want to share the fact that free can be just as good as spending a fortune.  This was my breakfast, not much out of the ordinary.  I brought GF oats from home and made a bowl with peanut butter, banana and ground chia (topped with raspberries I picked this morning).  I also always have tons of protein with every breakfast, I made 4 boiled eggs (but fed 3 of the yokes to the neighbours dogs).  Amazing peaches, coffee and water, topped this meal for me.  You might think of this as a gargantuan amount to eat for breakfast, it isn't!  Honest I've been eating like this for over a year and half (and didn't I lose over a 100lbs), this is Tosca Reno's Eat Clean method.  It works! 

This is my Vacation.

Hello!  I am sitting here at a beautifully hand crafted hard wood table, looking out at the dizzying view: Blue skies brushed with a few white clouds, gentle breeze making the lake shimmer with texture and blowing through the open windows to cool my cheeks.  I'm eating a salad of lettuce, chicken, quinois, sweet ripe peaches and roasted almonds and fresh corn on the cob.  The music is playing in the background on the surround system, not to loud, just perfect.  And I am not hearing the sound of my kids voices, squealing or arguing.

  I've given myself a well deserved (and very cheap) vacation up North at my parents house.  Sans-famille!  The drive that normally takes at least 5 and half hours took an hour less, I was able to read a few chapters of one of my summer books, because my dad was driving.  I'm still not sure how I'm going to get home, but for now, I don't care. I don't have to cook for anyone, I don't have to supervise, play, referee, or clean up after my kids.  My plan is to recharge my batteries, read at least 2 books, and hit the gym.  Ahhhh....

I JUICED VEGGIES!!!!

This is my second post today, but I was so excited about the results of my first juicing experience that I had to blog about it.  I bought the juicer two days ago, and it sat in the car for that length of time because Mark was trying to convince me to return it, he said it was the biggest waste of money, that it wasn't economical, blah blah blah... and was I really going to drink the stuff?   You would think he doesn't know me: the who has been adding Kale and spinach to smoothies and muffins for years. So back to the juicer, I decided that I didn't want to spend a ton of money on the machine (in case it was a total waste and I never used it).  I got it at XS Cargo for 40$, it is called the Blenderpro Elite.  I have no clue if that is even a real appliance brand.  Oh well!  I took out some veggies and a bit of fruit, read the directions, washed the machine up and here are the pictures...

I used 2 celery stalks, about 7 leafs (I can't remember what that green is called), half a cucumber, a nectarine (and a last minute addition of strawberries)

Working its magic, it is really fast (and no I didn't use the watermelon or beans in this juice - but the beans are from our garden!).

After I tasted it with only the peach, it was a little too green for me so I added 4 strawberries!  Served over ice...

Leftover for tomorrow morning! 

In case you are wondering what in the world gave me this idea... I stumbled across a Netflix documentary called Fat,Sick and Nearly Dead and loved it.  I do not plan on actually doing the juice fast.  I do however plan on adding as much green juice to my diet as I can.  And the kids too!

How To: Homemade Ice Tea

My new addiction is homemade ice tea.  I can't stand how sweet store bought ones are, and who can afford Starbucks iced tazo tea (unsweetened is actually pretty good though).  So I won't let my kids drink juice or ice tea from a store but I'm totally ok with letting them have some of my homemade stuff.  It's easy enough to make, but it does have to be prepared ahead of time so that it has time to cool properly.  I do lightly sweeten it with agave and a bit of natural fruit juice but we are talking a few tsp of agave and about an ounce or two of juice per pot of ice tea.  My kids and Mark's favorite is a bit of a special whole leaf herbal blend.  It's a mix of berry berry (currants, blueberries and cranberries)  and bublegum (this has strawberry,apple and orange flavours).  I buy is from a local tea shop. 

I mix in 2 tsp of agave while the tea is hot, and I put the whole pot and tea mixture in the fridge for a few hours.  Eventually when it cools down I add a bit of fruit juice (this batch I used pomegranate juice).  

Add ice and a bit of water (if you want)  and enjoy.

Since I can't have booze, I made this drink in honour of one of my favorite summer beverages.

 The Mojito!  I added 2 tsp of agave to the hot tea, let it cool off in the fridge and when I wanted some I took out the tea bags, poured the tea mixture over ice, added a splash of lemon juice and some water.  Voila!

I am currently working on a sangria version...  using a "ice wine tea" blend that I found locally and some white grape juice.   I'll let you know how it turns out.

What is your favorite way to make ice tea?  secret ingredients?

Getting back to the Gym.

Last week I took the whole week off working out.  I was tired, cranky, hot, fighting off a silly infection (the kind us momma's get while pregnant) and was extremely motivationally challenged when it came to going to the gym.  But this week is different, I've decided workout vacation is over, it's back to a regular schedule.  So yesterday I did body attack (sports inspired cadio boot camp style) and today I did body combat (martial arts inspired cardio) followed by body pump (weights/resistance training).  I honestly thought being back after a week would be way worse.  But not really, I could still do everything I was doing 2 weeks ago.  I managed all the plyometric lunges in attack and most if not all the push-ups on my knees (as opposed to boxed in).  Tonight I had a big supper about 45 minutes before class and packed a snack for between classes.  The cardio aspect was good but when it came to doing the plank crab walk, I was hurting!  Around the world, I think it's called.  In the plank on elbows and toes.  Feet wider than shoulder, keeping your body straight: right leg touches out, then in, left does the same, right hand reaches out and in, same for left... and repeat... a million times... Or so it seemed tonight.  My belly is nearly touching the ground and I'm trying to keep my body flat without rocking it from side to side... Wholly love!  Hard stuff.  I had to drop my knees (sadly) for a few but when we finished, man on man was I proud of what I did.  Six months prego and I was on my feet longer than some of the skinny girls in the class.

In case you are wondering what the secret is:  eat healthy food before a workout!  It is your fuel, plus add a bit of stubborn determination and success is always within reach!   I also think that you shouldn't listened to your brain when it comes to "how far you can push yourself".  Your brain will try to talk you out of all the juicy workout moves, even thought your body is fully capable.  My yoga instructor (guru) calls it: drama, because it's fictional, it doesn't exist until you create it .." you think something is going to hurt, you limit yourself, you think you can't stand one more nanosecond of this torture....but this is just your mind creating drama.." breath to ignore it, just do what you have to do without thinking about it."    Namaste!  

Raspberries.... cheap!

This morning we knew we couldn't keep the kids out for a long time but we did want to get them outside for some fresh air so we opted to bring them to a pick your own raspberry farm.  Little did we know how bloody cheap they would actually end up costing.  We filled 3 pints and the grand total was $3,50.  The farm was about 15 minutes from our house, Uncle Scott's Raspberry Farm. I couldn't resist snapping some shots of my youngest, clearly enjoying the loot!

When you are TOO HOT to COOK...

 Salad!  Summer's best friend.  Just dig through your fridge and look for leftovers, pile it on top of lovely lettuce (I was lucky enough to still have some picked and washed from yesterday's harvest), add some dressing and VOILA!  Diner a la summer.   To keep a full feeling try to make sure you have some good lean sources of protein and a healthy fats: note: sorry most salad dressings don't count as a healthy fat unless you are making it yourself with some EV olive oil or another type of nut/avocado oil.  I had an egg white and pressed no fat cottage cheese for protein and my healthy fat were the walnuts.  I won't be hungry in an hour that's for sure!

It just looks hot doesn't it!  I had a late diner because Mark was still at work and I had put the kids to bed early since they were tired from missing naps.

Summer salad: lettuce, snap peas, walnuts, nectarine, pressed cottage cheese, boiled egg white and some sesame salad dressing.  Desert: water melon and a book!

This next picture had nothing to do with summer salad but it was so gorgeous out and the grape vines are doing famously, I snapped a shot of some baby concord grapes. 

What is a Staycation???

Ok, so I just read the various definitions on Urban Dictionary, quite humorous, you'll just have to find out what definitions  5 and 6 are on your own time!  But my primary idea that it was a vacation you spend at home was about right.  But really how much is my 5 year old, not to mention 3 and 2 year old's actually going to remember whether I spend 200$ for a day trip too Marineland or 10$ for the day at Bronte Swimming pool.   I'm not sure why I'm thinking about this now, we had an amazing morning out, must be my internal demons creeping up and telling me that I need to take my kids to "theme parks" that they need to experience a "real vacation" a night away.  But really my kids are happy, I'm pretty sure when they get older they won't hold it against me that it was a crime that they didn't see the whales and dolphins at Marineland or the lion's from the Aftrican Lion Safari, when they were preschoolers.  I'm not saying we won't ever take them "out there" when they get a bit older, but screw you media (or the man... or the nasty voice in my head), I don't need to feel pressured to spend hundreds of dollars on "an experience" that my kids are too young to remember anyway!  Here are our morning's pictures.  We spent 10$! 

Oh sorry!!!  10$ plus 1.05$ for the ice coffee (Black, unsweetened)

We borrowed life jackets from the pool (FREE)

My paparazzi shot!  (thanks Mark!)

School is cool.... (especially in July)

This year Mark's school planted a super awesome veggie garden and the job of watering and tending to it was divided up between some of the willing teachers.  This was our week to take care of the garden and so we brought the kids to enjoy the morning and the gardening. 

Patrick inspecting the ever-bearing strawberries.

The boys sharing there loot.

Proud to pick and then chow down on the first pepper of the garden!

Mark had some teacher stuff to do in the building so the kids tagged along and were in heaven playing with the chart paper and pens.  Who needs expensive toys!!!!  Just big paper...

Yes... he really was concentrating that hard on his work! 

Annaliese was delighted to find a pink marker!

Luke explained how this wasn't just a "happy face", It was his monster with giant curling up arms.

Time to go!  Saying good bye to the garden.  The collards look like they need to be picked soon too! 

Summer Adventures

Yikes, it's been a few day's since I posted.  I've been extremely tiered these last few days.  Going out in this heat saps all my energy, then add it workouts and taking care of everything... eeekkk... Ok so here are some pictures of a great splash pad I found in the Hammer!  After searching locally for kiddy pools and splash pads, and giving up because you have to pay for them, I started looking to our neighbours.  And wow do they ever have great FREE parks! 

Mark was working so I recruited my brother's help with the kidlets at Dundas Park in Hamilton.

Splash pad...wading pool.. shaded pavilions (with BBQ's)...3 different kids parks...

Patrick eating apple sauce.

Having a snack! apple sauce and GF muffins.

Me chillin with a green smoothy!