PHAB Lifestyle A blog dedicated to a healthy balance

That is what is lurking in my dehydrator at the moment.  Plus for the last little bit I keep putting my hand in there and taking a few.  They are almost done but not just yet.  They can still  crisp up a bit but they are so good!

I pulled this batch together this morning after breakfast.  I got the recipe off the web a while ago and have been making them ever since.  However, it has been a while.  The hubby was requesting them so I full filled his request!

They are super easy to make.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of raw cashews soaked in water (I soaked mine overnight)
• 1 red bell pepper chopped
• 3 tbsp of Nutritional Yeast
• 2 tbsp of lemon juice (about 1/2 a lemon)
• 1/2 tsp of sea salt
• fresh cracked black pepper to taste
• splash of water if the mixture is too thick to process

Blend all these ingredients together  in your Vita-Mix, Blendtec, or food processor.  My blender is a Blendtec.  You want a blender that is really good at processing if not use a food processor.  Blend until it is nice a smooth.

I always use two heads of curly kale for this recipe.

Washed and torn into chip size pieces.  Place them into a LARGE bowl.

Next all you have to do it add the sauce to the Kale and use your hands to mix it up.

Make sure that all the leaves get a nice coating of the “cheezy” sauce.

The most tedious part is placing them onto the drying racks for the dehydrator.

Inserting…

Now we have a very large commercial grade dehydrator because that is what the hubby bought.  He does a lot of smoking of meat and jerking making in the summer months which is what he uses it for.  It is a little loud but works pretty darn good.

The hardest part is waiting for them to crisp up so we can eat them!

Now onward…a little someone wants a snack and some attention from Mommy!

I wanted something easy for breakfast this morning that took no thinking on my part.  So last night I decided to make overnight oats.  I have not made this in a while since really I like to make this in the warmer months not when it is minus whatever it is today!  Mmmm….minus 9!  Wow..that is warmer that it has been in while!

Anyway back to the oats.  Last night I prepped my bowl.

Ingredients:

~ 1/3 cup Bob’s Red Mill Muesli (love this stuff)

~ 2 tbsp or rolled oats

~ 1 tbsp of chia seeds

~ 4 oz of plain greek yogurt

~ 1 tsp or to taste of cinnamon

~ 2/3 cup of Almond Milk

~ splash of vanilla

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.  Cover and set in the fridge overnight.  So easy!

When I woke up this morning I could not wait to dig in.  But first I added a few toppings to make it perfect.

1/2 a banana sliced, a big dollop of apple butter, 2 tbsp of walnuts crushed and a sprinkling of buckwheat granola.

The best thing about photographing this breakfast was not having to worry about it getting cold! HA!

Insert hot cup of coffee.

I forgot how GOOD this breakfast is.  Plus since my throat was sore this morning I actually liked the coolness of the oats.  Yum.

Right now I have a yummy snack “cooking” in the dehydrator..what could it be??

Hello!  I have been missing from my blog.  So I thought I would catch up!  We have had a bad cold running through our house.  First J got it then the Hubs got it.  Now unfortunately I think I have it too.  My throat is sore today but that is it.  I hope it does not get any worse!  I have still been keeping up with my workouts just not doing them as intense as I would normally.

My meals for the last couple of days went something like this:

BREAKFAST

Both Thursday and Friday morning I had egg muffins and a piece of toast with fruit for breakfast.  I made a dozen of the egg muffins at the beginning of the week and needed to eat them up.

Fast and delicious.  I like topping mine with a little fresh tomato.

I made my egg muffins with:

• 4 whole eggs
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• chopped up deli ham
• chopped spinach of kale
• green, red or yellow pepper chopped
• salt & pepper
• parm cheese on top before baking

I layer the filling into a muffin pan that bakes 12 muffins.  I then pour the egg mixture overtop and top with the cheese.  Then I bake them at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or so until they are set and not giggling anymore.  You can choose pretty much any filling you would like the possibilities are endless.  I keep them in the fridge for the week.  It makes a fast breakfast you just need to pop them in the microwave to heat them up.

LUNCH

Thursday…

Good old chicken noodle soup

Two rice thins topped with avocado and fresh tomato.

 

Friday…

Minestrone soup from a can.  It was the healthy kind but not very good.  I have to make another batch of my own.

A very yummy veggie sandwich!  This was two pcs sprouted grain bread filled with: avocado, tomatoes, cucumber and spinach.  Delish!

Of course Friday night was Pizza Friday!

I made a special trip to the Italian market to get salami, fresh tomato sauce and mozzarella.  It did not disappoint!  It made for a great pizza.

They make the tomato sauce fresh everyday.  It tasted wonderfully homemade!

Ready for the oven.

Crispy and cheesy! YUM!

Cooking my pizza on the stone makes such a big difference.  I will never cook it again in a pan!

My portion…I did go back for a third piece.  It was so darn good.  We finished the whole pizza.

I also added a little hot sauce to the top.  I am loving spicy lately!

I don’t want this post to drag on forever so to be continued.

Today I was flipping through one of my favourite cookbooks and came across something I just needed to make.

I love Terry Walters cookbooks.  This is her newest one called Clean Start.  There is a brownie recipe in it.  I also had all the ingredients for it! So I had to make them.

They were a snap to make and tasted pretty great as well. 

I think this is the healthiest brownie I have ever had.  They were chocolaty, moist and gooey.  Just how I like my brownies.

The perfect pairing with a glass of ice cold milk.

Now there is only half a pan left!  Guess we like them.

I never got around to posting yesterday.  I was a little busy doing house stuff plus running after a sick little boy with one very runny nose!  It was a holiday day here in Canada yesterday so the whole family was home.

I got up early before anyone else and had a green smoothie and then did my Resistance Training before J was awake.

I made us a healthy breakfast to start out day.

Protein Pancakes.

I topped mine with Cinnamon Vanilla Sunflower Butter and banana. Yum!

J getting ready to dig into his pancake…looks like he got a head start.  Breakfast was delicious!

So was Lunch.

I had a big salad topped with some leftover grilled salmon and about 1 oz of goat cheese.

I have been loving my greens for lunch lately.

To tame my sweet tooth after lunch I had some pineapple chucks with pom seeds and a dollop of greek yogurt.

For supper I fired up the bbq since is was pretty mild outside.

I made some burgers.  I had mine with no bun “nakid”. 

I did however top it with some mustard, pickles and a tomato.

I also had some sweet potato fries and roasted asparagus. 

Tuesday

Today I woke up to more snow and cold temps!  When will it stop!  With J’s cold I decided that staying home today was required.

I started my day out early with a green smoothie and throwing in a load of laundry that I did not get to yesterday.  When J woke up I made us some eggs for breakfast.

I had two pieces of sprouted grain bread topped with Cinnamon Vanilla Sunflower Butter along with some scrambled eggs (1 whole egg, 3 egg whites) I topped it with a little fresh tomato.

This filled me up nicely!  Kept me full for hours actually.

I was excited for lunch today.  Not sure why all I had was a freezer stash of Turkey Chilli.

I love this chilli it is so good.

I also had a side salad at the last minute I decided to throw a few mozzarella pearls on it.

My lunch was so good and full of flavour!

Cup of green tea for sipping.

Pineapple chucks for dessert.

Lunch was lovely and I loved that the sun decided to shine through the windows while I ate.  It was unexpected since sun was NOT part of our forecast for today.

Now I need to get my butt in gear.  I am meeting a girlfriend for a drink and some chit chat tonight and I have yet to have a shower!

Oh I forgot to mention my snacks today.  This morning I had a Chocolate Chip Larabar and this afternoon I had a bowl of cooked red quinoa with a whole grapefruit cut into segments.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.  We are enjoying our long weekend so far.  It was my morning to sleep in and I did till 9am.  I love my sleep mask so much!  Keeps it dark and I can sleep peacefully.

When I got up this morning I was craving eggs.

I had two runny eggs on top of 1 pc of sprouted grain toast with wilted spinach and a big dollop of salsa.  Yum!

I also had a hot cup of coffee.

The sun was shining bright all day today but boy oh boy was it cold!  The wind was the worst!  I ran a few errands before lunch today.  Before I went out the door I had a little snack to tie me over till I got home again.

One of my homemade Larabars.  This one tasted pretty darn good!  It is the Spice flavour.  The hubs said “it looked like a big terd”!  Whatever!

While I was out driving around I was thinking about how I need some extra immune boosting vitamins right now since little J has another cold!  His nose is running like a faucet and his little face is all red.  No fever at all he just gets red cheeks and nose when he has a cold.  Poor thing.

So I made a special drink to have with lunch a fresh juice.  I made enough for me and the hubs.

I juiced 4 organic carrots, 3 organic granny smith apples, a nub of ginger, 1/4 of a lime and a 1/4 of a lemon.  I love this combination…so good!

I had it along with a freezer stash of Turkey Chilli.

Crispy red grapes for dessert.

Lunch was epic!

I wasted away a bit of my afternoon by watching a movie and cuddling with J on the couch.  When my afternoon hunger hit I had a small bowl of greek yogurt.

I topped it with pom seeds, fibre one and quinoa crunch that I still had.  I love pom seeds in my greek yogurt.  We found them at Costco this weekend.

Supper

Tonight was a lazy meal as in take-out.  But nothing really bad for you the hubs went and picked up sushi for us.

We LOVE sushi!  We have it at least 2-3 times per month sometimes more.

The hubs can pack away the sushi!  J likes it too.  I had a California roll, yam roll and what they call a Fitness Roll, it was all veggies with avocado.  I did not finish it all.  But the hubs polished off all of what was left besides two pcs.

After supper I dug into my tea stash for something dessert like to calm my sweet tooth!

I decided on Coco Caramel Rooibos…this one tastes like chocolate with a hint of caramel very good.

 

It was yummy and just what I needed after supper.  Plus it warmed me up nicely.

Before I settled down to write this post I also prepped some veggies for the week.

I cut up broccoli, cauliflower and red, green and yellow peppers.  I like the convenience that they are all ready to use.  So no excuses to not eat up the veggies.  Plus I put them into the hubs lunches for the week.

Well even though tomorrow is a holiday I think I am still going to get into bed early and maybe read for a bit.  Night!

I popped awake this morning at 7am.  I can sleep longer than that on a Saturday if I wanted to but I was wide awake so I got out of bed.  The house was freezing!  So what did I do…have a COLD Green Smoothie.  Got to have my smoothie to start my day.

After the ice cold smoothie I of course was freezing.  So I had some hot water with lemon.  The house was still really quiet since my boys were still sleeping.  I inspected the furnace to try and get it to come on.  I jacked up the thermostat and hoped for the best!  I grabbed a big blanket and curled up on the couch and snoozed a little more while I waited for J to wake up.  I also heard the furnace come on…thank goodness!  Going to have to get that looked at.

He finally got up just before 9am and I discovered that he once again has a cold!  Shoot!  Ah well what are going to do.  Well I made us a healthy breakfast of French Toast.

This was the bomb!

I mixed together 2 eggs, 1 small mashed banana, splash of almond milk, wheat germ, chia seeds, cinnamon and vanilla.  Then I dunked sprouted grain bread into it.  Griddled it up and sat down to a scrumptious breakfast!

I had 2 pcs with fresh blueberries and a tiny drizzle of agave nectar.  J had one pc with blueberries and maple syrup…we enjoyed our breakfast a lot!

A little while after breakfast I did my cardio intervals and then had a refreshing snack afterwards.

It’s a repeat!  I had this yesterday too but today I added a few blackberries to my bowl.  I am really loving this stuff!

The stuff being: 1/2 cup cooked red quinoa, about 1/2 a grapefruit, 5 blackberries and 1 tbsp of pecans.  YUM!

LUNCH

I was craving a veggie sandwich so that is exactly what I had.

Between to pieces of sprouted grain bread I stuffed: Tomato, spinach, cucumber and 1/2 a small avocado for the spread.  Sooo good!

I had it with my last serving of minestrone soup from my freezer stash.

I enjoyed every bite of my lunch today.  I love warm soup on a cold day!

In the afternoon we went out to do our Costco shop.  I love that place.  However, we never get out of there without spending a fortune!  But you should have seen the look on my face when I found these!

I was doing a happy dance in the isle!  I LOVE..LOVE these two flavours of Larabar.  But the Chocolate Chocolate Chip is my really my fav!  It almost tastes like a chocolate bar but you don’t have to feel guilty about eating it.  I was almost tempted to by two boxes.  But I just stuck with one.

SUPPER

Tonight I dug into the fridge to see what I could use to make up supper.  I found at the back from last week the Kale pesto I made.  It was still fine so I made some Kale pesto and pasta.

I added some cooked chicken breast and mushrooms to the mixture to beef it up a little.  The pesto got a little thick from sitting in the fridge so I used some of the pasta water to thin it out.  It worked great.

It was pretty darn yummy!  What you don’t see in this picture is the hot sauce I added to the top at the last minute.  I have been loving the hot stuff lately.

Now I think I am going to make myself a hot Chia Tea Latte and curl up on the couch with the hubs to watch a movie.  I think I will throw on the fireplace too…it is starting to get cold in here!

I started my day out bright and early this morning.  I needed to get my workout in before I started my day since that would be the only time I had.  I got up at 5:30 had a pre-workout drink and then got started.

J had school today so it was a bit of a rushed morning as they usually are.  We had breakfast I made J hot oatmeal and banana and I had a bowl of Quinoa.

I mixed together a 1/2 cup of cooked red quinoa with grapefruit segments and some crushed pecans.

It was yummy and refreshing!  I picked up another grapefruit to have more this weekend.

While J was at pre-school I ran around and did a few errands.  When we got home it was time for lunch.  Boy I was hungry for lunch today!

I had another salad today the combination was:  Mixed greens of arugula and spinach, fresh tomato, fresh bocconcini pearls, torn fresh basil and a cut up piece of bison meatloaf with little dollops of mustard on top.  I know mustard?  But I love mustard on my meatloaf.  I picked up the piece of meatloaf at the salad bar counter at Planet Organic.  They have a great selection of Organic ready to eat meals and salads.  I Love it…not exactly like Whole Foods but close enough for me.  I also drizzled a little balsamic on top!  It was so darn yummy!

I am loving my salads lately.

SUPPER…Pizza Friday is back this week!

Tonight’s toppings are at the hubby’s request.  Meat with little veggies…ahhh..yes!

It turned out wonderful.  The whole pizza was eaten.  Mostly by the hubs. 

I had two pieces and ummmm and…a third.  But this was one of my treat meals for the week.

I had a side salad to make up for the lack of veggies and a tall glass of water.

I love pizza Friday’s they are worth the work…pizza is one of my FAVOURITE meals!

Now I am going to curl up on the couch with the fireplace on and watch a movie!

Night!

This morning I slept in till 6:30am and took my time getting up.  Today was more of a quiet day.  I like days like today.  J even slept in today until 8:30am.

I had a Green smoothie as soon as I woke up.  This is a great kick start to my day.  I do this almost every single day.  It gives me great energy!

BREAKFAST

I had pancakes on the brain today.

So I whipped up my favourite protein pancakes for J and I.  Super easy and super yummy.

Golden Protein Pancakes

1/2 cup of quick oats

1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese

3 egg whites

1 tbsp ground flaxseed

Dash of Cinnamon

Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.  This will make one large pancake or a few small ones.

I always love to top my pancake with nut butter, banana and a drizzle of agave.  Yum!  J loves these pancakes too!

I also had a hot cup of coffee with a splash of almond milk.

LUNCH

Big yummy salad!

I bought a salad blend of arugula and spinach and topped it with the leftover turkey sausage and peppers from last night.  I also added some fresh chopped tomato on top.

This lunch was scrumptious!

Afternoon Project:

I saw a recipe on Daily Garnish that I thought would be great for lunches in a hurry and could be frozen in individual portions.

Sweet Potato and Carrot Curried Lentils

I had all the ingredients in my pantry so it took no time to throw it together.  When following a recipe I always gather all my ingredients and have it ready to go before I start.  Makes it go way faster.

I love curry and this dish smelt amazing as it was cooking.  After it was finished I let it cool while I did my interval training.

Then I portioned it into 1 cup servings for the freezer.  Quick and easy lunches at the ready!

SUPPER

Stir-fry: Pork Tenderloin, frozen kale, celery, mushrooms and green onions.  I sautéed the meat and veggies in a little coconut oil and then added Bragg Liquid Aminos for a little flavour.

I added a little steamed brussel sprouts on the side and some crispy cucumber. 

Tomorrow is Friday already!!  It will be a busy day.  So my workout will be in the morning.  Better get to bed soon!

Since the weather was a tad ugly and very cold.  It was the perfect day to stay inside.  I like to putter around in my kitchen and that is what I did making some healthy snacks.

My plan was to make Larabars and roasted chickpeas.  First I worked on the Larabars.  I made two versions.

Spiced Bars: dates, raisins, cashews and cinnamon

Almond Coconut Bars: chopped dried apricots, dates, almonds, unsweetened coconut

They were super easy to make and fun.  They are in the fridge waiting for me to snack on one tomorrow.

Which one should I try first…hmmmm.

Then I made some roasted chickpeas.  I have been wanting to make this recipe since on saw it on Mama Pea’s Blog a long time ago.

I gathered my ingredients.  Then mixed it all up together in a bowl.  Easy!

I dumped them on a greased cookie sheet and baked them at 425 degrees for about 40 minutes.

They turned out pretty darn good.

I love the flavours.

I think next time I will maybe bake them a little longer to get a bit crunchier.  I was worried they were going to burn so I may have taken them out of the oven a little early.

Pumpkin Spice Roasted Chickpeas

(courtesy of www.peasandthankyou.com)

1 can of chickpeas, rinsed, drained and patted dry

2 T. maple syrup

1 t. canola oil (or oil of your choice)

1 t. apple cider vinegar

1/8 t. salt

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/4 t. ginger

3/4 t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 425.  Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl until evenly coated.  Spread chickpeas on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake for 25 40-45 minutes.  Stir chickpeas every ten minutes to ensure even crisping.

I changed the oven temperature and baking time since my oven is a little different.

I tried a handful after they were baked and boy they were yummy! 

After all my kitchen activities I was hungry for lunch!  Plus a had a little boy letting me know that he was hungry too!

Since it was cold outside I dug into my freezer for some of my homemade Minestrone soup.  A hearty bowl of soup tasted great on a cold day.

I also had two thin rice cakes spread with avocado and topped with tomato on the side.  Love this combo.

After lunch I did my Resistance Training workout.  I did 4 sets of the Tri-set workout.  I was a little sweaty afterwards.  So I promptly made my post-workout shake of Prograde workout.

2 scoops, water and lots of ice! 

I also did some serious stretching afterwards.

It felt great!  I did a bunch of sun salutations and a few other stretches.  It does a body good! 

SUPPER

Quick and easy was the theme tonight.

I grilled some turkey sausages on the Griddler, sautéed some onion and peppers together with a little coconut oil and roasted some asparagus.  I also threw a little corn on there too.

That is mustard drizzled across my sausage..I love mustard on my sausages!  This supper was delish!

After supper I took a trip to the post office to pick up a package…..

My Naturally Nutty ordered arrived.  I LOVE their nut butters they are the best!  I of course had to have some!  I toasted a piece of sprouted grain bread and spread a little of the Cinnamon Sunflower Butter on it…OMG…YUM!  I have my stash of nut butters once again.  I am a happy girl!

Well this happy girl to heading to bed!  Boy this was a long post.  I have turned into a chatter box lately.