Lets Start Again, Shall We?

Well, to say that I have neglected my blog duties this summer is an understatement.  With 3 slo-pitch teams and a handful of camping trips, vacations and ball tournaments, meal planning and blogging has definitely taken a backseat.  Like, the way back seat.

But now it’s September…back to life, back to reality.  There’s something about the week after Labor Day that always feels like a reset, like the time to switch gears and get back to eating better, working out more, etc.  I’ve set myself some small goals and I’m hoping that by sharing them with the inter-web, they’ll have more weight:

1. Shop and meal plan for 2 weeks at a time
2. Prep as much as I can for each week’s breakfasts, lunches and dinners on Sunday
3. Keep a food journal and move everyday
4. Eat breakfast everyday
5. Don’t throw out produce or leftovers

Sounds easy enough right?  We shall see.  I’ve been super inspired by my friend Josie’s weight loss journey and am going to make a conscious effort to stick to my own.  I can’t promise that you will get weekly posts, but I am going to try really hard.

So, in the spirit of the September reset, I did a Costco and Co-op run and spent about $250 on meat and produce.  Now, I realize that that is a lot of money, but the meat should easily last us 3 months and with my Tupperware FridgeSmarts, the produce will last a good two weeks.  Did I mention that I have a minor Tupperware addiction?  So, what did I get for $250?  Lots.

• Chicken breasts
• Chicken thighs
• Chicken Italian sausages
• Pork tenderloin
• Frozen salmon
• Frozen Haddock
• Carrots
• Celery
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Peppers
• Zucchini
• Spinach
• Kale
• Portobello Mushrooms
• Golden Beets
• Blueberries
• Raspberries
• Strawberries

And after 6 hours of washing, cutting, packing and cooking, here’s my haul:

Organized Chaos

How Do You Like My Meat?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Nice right? There is definitely something to be said about 6 hours of prep work to make my life easier through the week.  I also have veggies prepped for Monday and Tuesday’s dinners.  I made baked oatmeal for breakfast and for lunches, I cut up and bagged veggies, made dip (add ranch dressing powder to plain Greek yogurt), boiled eggs and packed up leftover Minestrone soup.  With lots of items packed and ready, I just have to grab and go in the morning.

Banana and Berry Baked Oatmeal

Veggies for Beef & Broccoli

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Okay, enough talking…let’s get down to the food story.  Here are this week’s meals, follow me on Pinterest for lots (and lots) of recipe inspiration.

• Sunday:  Minestrone Soup
• Monday:  Beef and Broccoli with Vegetable Fried Rice
• Tuesday:  Parchment Baked Salmon w/ Lemon & Herb Butter and Grilled Vegetable Salad
• Wednesday:  Leftover Minestrone Soup
• Thursday:  Parmesan Baked Chicken w/ Spicy Roasted Golden Beets and Rosemary Potato Wedges

I love soup…it’s such an easy meal in a bowl and always makes lots, so it also serves as lunch for a few days and I can freeze half the batch for another week.  I also had flank steak and salmon in the freezer that needed to be used up and I like the roasted chicken and vegetables recipe because it’s easy to throw it all in one dish and bake.

I will be back next Sunday with an update on how the week’s menu turned out and what’s on the agenda for next week.

Chow For Now,

Red

April 1 Reset

Hi Friends!  It’s been a while…my friend Courtney reminded me on Friday that I owe everyone a new post. So please forgive me, it’s been 2 weeks since my last food-fession. When we last spoke I was in the middle of the Wild Rose cleanse. Lets just say Epic Fail and move on. Life has been stressful the last month or so and when I stress, I eat. So we are looking at April 1st as a new day…no joke!

What else has been going on? I had a Tupperware party a few weeks ago and ended up receiving a ton of host credit, almost $600 to be exact.

Tupperware Heaven

So this weekend I’ve been organizing my kitchen with fridge containers, freezer containers, pantry containers, the list goes on and on. The yellow containers in the pic below are FridgeSmarts, they are supposed to increase the life of your produce by regulating the amount of CO2 and O2 that it is exposed to. From what I’ve heard, these containers are awesome so I will keep you posted. Tupperware makes me happy…and to top things off the Man bought me a label maker. Now that is love. If you are in need of some organization in the kitchen, let me know…I’m now an official Tupperware consultant and can hook you up.

The “After” Shot

March has also been party month…we had St.Paddy’s Day, a 1st birthday party for my cousin’s daughter, birthday dinner for one of my best girlfriends, a Rock of Ages surprise party for my BFF and a buy-out for a girlfriend from work. Needless to say, my liver needs a break.

But that’s not what we’re here to talk about. Here’s this week’s menu…

Sunday – Easter Dinner with the Man’s family

Monday – Portobello Mushroom Spaghetti … I am going to try adding spinach for some extra greens

Tuesday – Baked Salmon w/Lemon & Dill (yes, again…it’s delish), Best Roasted Broccoli and Corn on the Cob

Wednesday – Cold Shrimp & Spinach Salad

Thursday – Healthy Buffalo Chicken Tenders, Sweet Potato Fries w/Chipotle Ranch Dressing & Salad

Wish me luck…hopefully life will settle down as we coast into spring and the food thing will become easier.

Happy Easter & have a great week!!

Cleanse Day 5 Update

Well, so far the cleanse has been a bit of a miss. I am down a couple of pounds so I can’t complain, but we definitely need to do better this next week.

The Regimen

Wednesday we were supposed to have veggie soup, but I didn’t manage to get my stuff together to get the soup made so we had Baked Salmon with Lemon & Dill instead. It was delicious and ridiculously easy.

Simple & Delish!

Thursday we got free tickets to see Maroon 5 at the last minute, so we threw together a salad and a couple of eggs and called it dinner. Friday was an epic fail…greasy bacon & eggs to cure a mild Maroon 5 hangover and then a group of work friends had a night out at the Roughnecks game. We went for Indian food at Mango Shiva, seriously one of the best meals I’ve ever had…samosas, butter chicken, veggie vindaloo, shrimp curry, lamb popsicles. OMG it was so so good. If you have not been to Mango you must go immediately.

Needless to say, we are getting back on track this weekend. Saturday we had simple roasted chicken and salad and Sunday we are having black bean and corn loaf from the Wild Rose Cleanse cookbook.

Have a great week!

Wild Rose Party

Not that party! It’s a Wild Rose Cleanse party. I am prepping up a storm today getting ready to start the Wild Rose Cleanse on Wednesday. Not that I was going to leave the house today anyway…this is the view from my kitchen window. It was 12 degrees on Friday…

Welcome to Calgary

For anyone who has not tried the cleanse, it is basically a combination of a super clean diet and a pill regimen designed to clean out your system. We all know what I mean by “clean out your system”…this will be worse for some than others. I tend not to eat a whole lot of crap anyway, so it doesn’t effect me too harshly but I do know people who have said that the cleanse makes their bodies angry. Like, real angry. So there is your warning…you will poop. A lot. But that is the point…

*Disclaimer – I am in no way, shape or form trained in anything related to medicine or nutrition and in no way qualified to tell you what to eat. I just know how the cleanse makes me feel and what the pamphlet says it does for you.*

This is not a cleanse where you starve yourself and drink crazy things like lemon juice and cayenne pepper. You can still eat meat, fish, healthy grains like brown rice, quinoa, oatmeal, barley etc., domestic fruit and pretty much any vegetable you want. You can not eat dairy (causes excess mucous production), flour (forms a glue-like paste in your intestines), peanuts (they contain naturally occurring yeasts and molds), tropical fruit (too much sugar) or any fermented foods (because you are trying to eliminate yeast). Oh and NO BOOZE. Boom. This will be by far the hardest part for me. That is sad. Hello, my name is Stephanie and I may or may not be a borderline alcoholic.

Fridge Full of Healthy Deliciousness

Aaanyway…for more information on the cleanse, visit their website. Here is our 12 day cleanse meal-plan, which will start on Wednesday March 6th so that we finish the day before our weight loss challenge weigh-in. Many of the recipes will need to be altered to follow the cleanse rules, but they are a good roadmap.

• Day 1: Slowcooker Vegetable Soup
• Day 2: Roasted Garlic Sweet Potato with Poached Eggs and Roasted Broccoli
• Day 3: We are going to see the Calgary Roughnecks in action, Day 3 = Fail
• Day 4: Lemon Garlic Chicken Kabobs and Cucumber & Chickpea Salad
• Day 5: Black Bean & Corn Loaf – this is a recipe from the Wild Rose Cleanse Cookbook, please comment below if you would like the recipe
• Day 6: Vegetable Quiche with Sweet Potato Crust – from Rebecca Garland’s Nourish
• Day 7: Corn Salsa over Grilled Salmon, Grilled Zucchini and Roasted Cauliflower with Red Chile, Cilantro & Lime
• Day 8: Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
• Day 9: Baked Haddock, Salad & Lemon Garlic Green Beans
• Day 10: Turkey Burgers & Kale Chips
• Day 11: Mexican Baked Eggs
• Day 12: Baked Salmon with Lemon & Dill and Clean Out the Fridge Roasted Veggies (ie. cook whatever veg we have left)

Breakfast will likely consist of oatmeal & berries and for lunches it will be a whole lot of veggies & hummus, tuna or salmon salad, hard boiled eggs, leftovers and salads. You are also supposed to limit your coffee intake and drink it black, so I will be switching to green tea for the next 2 weeks because black tea is fermented (and therefore not allowed) and black coffee is gross. Period.

What’s on your menu this week? Is anybody else cleansing? Check me out on Pinterest for these recipes and more.

Wish me luck!!

A Modest Improvement

For those that don’t remember (apparently I did not remember), the goal this past week was to get back on track with healthier eating. I would be lying if I said it was a 100% improvement, but it was better-ish. Baby steps. Last week’s meal plan looked like this:

• Sunday – Vietnamese BBQ Shrimp Vermicelli
• Monday – Turkey Chili Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
• Tuesday – Spaghetti with Asparagus, Mushrooms & a Poached Egg
• Wednesday – Pan Seared Scallops & Spinach Salad
• Thursday – Grilled Buffalo Chicken, Lemon & Parmesan Broccoli & Kale Chips

What we actually ate looked more like this:

• Sunday – late lunch at Fergus & Bix (chicken wings & a Montreal smoked meat sammie to share) and a bowl of cereal and berries before my soccer game. Fail.
• Monday –  Vietnamese BBQ Shrimp Vermicelli – this was SO good and relatively easy to put together. I used a mandolin to cut up the veggies quickly and all uniform-like

Yum!

• Tuesday – after an extremely long, draining day at work it was dinner at Fergus & Bix (yes, again)…this time a burger for me and pork ribs for him, the meal was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.
• Wednesday – Turkey Chili Stuffed Sweet Potatoes – I had leftover turkey chili in the freezer, so we baked a couple of sweet potatoes and stuffed them with chili. Top with greek yogurt (instead of sour cream), cheese, cilantro, salsa, etc and enjoy. Delicious!

Easy Peasy

• Thursday – was a marathon shopping trip to Costco to prep for the Wild Rose Cleanse next week (more on that to come) and dinner out (again), this time at Brewsters. Fish and chips for him and meatloaf with mac & cheese for me.
• Friday – Pan Seared Scallops & Spinach Salad – I didn’t make the sauce, but the scallops were awesome. This was my first attempt at making scallops at home and I will definitely try these again.

Needless to say, the eating out killed us this week. But with just 16 days left in our weightloss challenge at work, we are kicking it into high gear with the Wild Rose Cleanse starting Wednesday. I have meals planned for the full 12 days of cleansing plus a couple extra to get us through to the weigh-in on the 18th. Will post our meal plan shortly…has anyone else tried the cleanse? This is my third or fourth time and I always lose at least 5 pounds, so fingers crossed that I get the same result this time around.

Happy Saturday!!

Train Wreck

That’s right, trainwreck. Our healthy eating went right off the deep end this week due to stressful days at work and a Costco trip that took longer than expected (shocker).

We did make my veggie quiches, they were really good…not to toot my own horn or anything, but Toot! Check out Rebecca’s cookbook, Nourish, at www.elanperformance.com. There are lots of really yummy, clean-eating recipes that are easy to make and don’t call for any crazy ingredients, plus there are pictures for every recipe (the key to a good cookbook in my opinion). The crust didn’t quite work out on the minis like it does for a full size quiche, but the sweet potato was still a good addition.

*Apologies for the shadowy iPhone pictures, I have not yet gathered the strength to figure out how to use the Man’s fancy camera*

Yum!

Tuesday we had Spaghetti with Tomatoes, Spinach & Goat Cheese. This one was a keeper, for sure. It took literally 10 minutes to make and was delicious. The only thing I changed was instead of putting the goat cheese directly into the pasta, I crumbled it up in a separate bowl, added about a 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water and a sprinkle of pepper, then tossed the mixture with the pasta. Makes for a creamy sauce instead of semi-melted goat cheese.

Easy & Delicious

After that, the meal plan went right out the window. Wednesday I was in Wainwright for work and exhausted when I got home, so we headed to Famoso Neapolitan Pizza. I had bought a Groupon for Famoso last summer and it was due to expire on the 28th, so we figured we would give it a try. I am SO glad we did. It was Wine Wednesday so we got a free appetizer (Artichoke Tapenade) with my glass of wine and we tried the Prosciutto Wrapped Mozza Balls as well. Then we shared a couple of mini pizzas – Pepperoni & Mushroom and classic Margherita. It was crispy, the sauce was delicious and the toppings were plentiful, to say the least. For dessert, we had Dolce & Banana (carmelized bananas with vanilla bean gelato) and Tiramisu (nuff said). I have to say it was probably one of the best pizza dinners I’ve ever had. It was inexpensive (our whole meal was $60 for beer, wine, 2 appies, 2 pizzas AND dessert), it was fast, the service was top notch and again, it was DELICIOUS. We will go back for sure. If there is a Famoso near you, GO NOW!

Thursday we grabbed a quick bite at Edo Japan (sushi & Udon soup) after an hour long Costco trip, Friday was pizza night with the parents, and tonight we are off to a Mexican themed UFC night with friends. Needless to say, next week’s meal plan will be focused on getting us back on track:

• Sunday – Vietnamese BBQ Shrimp Vermicelli
• Monday – Turkey Chili Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
• Tuesday – Spaghetti with Asparagus, Mushrooms & a Poached Egg
• Wednesday – Pan Seared Scallops & Spinach Salad
• Thursday – Grilled Buffalo Chicken, Lemon & Parmesan Broccoli & Kale Chips

Fingers crossed that this week goes better than last. Any tips for getting back on track after a diet train wreck? What are you guys planning this week? Chow for now, have a fab week!

What’s For Dinner: Feb 17 – 21

What’s for dinner this week? I’ve got a bunch of veggies and a container of chili in the freezer that needs to be used up so its gonna be an easy week. Seriously, my grocery list was milk and eggs. Apologies for the delay, it’s a long weekend so I’ve been maxin’ and relaxin’.

• Sunday – Grilled Chicken & Shrimp (with PC Memories of Argentina Chimichurri sauce), Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
• Monday – Mini Vegetable Quiches with a Sweet Potato Crust (I created this recipe for my friend Rebecca Garland’s clean-eating cookbook, Nourish)
• Tuesday – Spaghetti with Grape Tomatoes, Spinach & Goat Cheese
• Wednesday – Salmon in a Bag, Parmesan Green Beans & Brown Rice
• Thursday – Leftover Turkey Chili Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

So that’s it, check out my Pinterest page to see ideas for breakfast and lunch. Have a great week!

Last Week’s Wrap-Up

I was behind the ball last weekend in posting my meal plan at the beginning of the week. Going forward, I am going to try to post on the weekend and will do a quick review of what we ate at the end of the week.

Last Week’s Plan:

• Sunday – Turkey Italian Sausage & Ricotta Lasagna Roll-Ups
• Monday – Superfood Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
• Tuesday – Spicy Beans over Sweet Potato Hash
• Wednesday – Asian Salmon, Green Bean & Quinoa Salad
• Thursday – Valentines Day Dinner @ Charcut Restaurant

Well, as usual, the plans changed slightly…and that’s okay.  The menu plan is meant to give you an idea of what to eat all week, but that doesn’t mean that plans don’t change or you can’t come home and feel like eating something else.  So, the meal plan for the week ended up looking like this:

• Sunday – Breakfast Sausages & Perogies with Spinach Salad (my version of salad = Spinach + Dressing)
• Monday – Turkey Sausage Lasagna
• Tuesday – Baked Salmon, Spicy Sichuan Green Beans & Kale Chips
• Wednesday – Shrimp & Steamed Green Beans
• Thursday – Best. Dinner. Ever. @ Charcut

I had great intentions for Sunday night, but I was hungover (from a Tupperware party) and didn’t feel like cooking so breakfast sausages and perogies it was. We decided to make the lasagna roll-ups on Monday, but I am a knob and bought no-boil lasagna noodles. No-boil brown rice lasagna noodles. Not exactly roll-up friendly. Fail. So I made all the components and attempted to build a lasagna instead (it made 2 in the little disposable lasagna tins, one for Monday and one for the freezer). Turned out pretty good, like an 8/10. I didn’t use nearly enough marinara on the layers so the noodles were a little “chewy” but the lasagna components were really good so I will definitely try the roll-ups again. Tuesday we decided to have salmon because it is quick & easy to make. The spicy sichuan beans were SO good. I swapped the red pepper flakes for sriracha sauce (buy this sauce now!) and made a batch of kale chips for some crunch. Kale chips…easiest snack ever. Wash & dry kale, spread out on a parchment lined baking sheet, spray lightly with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 12 minutes at 300 degrees, toss the chips around and bake for another 10 minutes or so until the chips are crisp. Keep your eyes on them – they get bitter if you burn them. Wednesday was a totally lazy day…cold shrimp and cocktail sauce with steamed green beans.

And then there was our fabulous Valentine’s Day meal at Charcut. It was a fixed menu (which meant none of their amazing house made mortadella, sadness) but it was still amazing. We decided to order one of each of the choices so we could try everything…first course was shrimp bouillabaisse and raw oysters, second course was a scallop with bacon jam and blood sausage and roasted beets with house made goat cheese and arugula. Main course was a 24oz. steak. That’s right, 24 ounces.

And for dessert, chocolate cake and lemon tiramisu. Probably one of the best meals we’ve ever had. If you have not yet been to Charcut, I hiiiighly recommend it. The mortadella is to die for, as is the rest of their house made charcuterie. If you are a Top Chef Canada fan, you will recognize their head chef Connie DeSouza and if you are a food truck fan, you absolutely MUST eat at the Charcut food truck, Alley Burger.

Planning & Shopping

Meal planning seems like a total hassle, and sometimes it is, but most of the time it turns out that a few hours of effort on the weekend results in free hours during the week…after a long day at work…and the commute home on Calgary transit.

I will start off by saying that I am a food nerd. It is constantly on my brain. I sign out cookbooks from the library, buy food magazines and now, with the explosion of our dear friend Pinterest, it seems that inspiration is never far away. Since starting my account in December 2012, I have managed to pin around 750-800 recipes, so it’s obviously time to stop pinning and start cooking. I tend to use recipes more as inspiration than an actual list of instructions, but I still like to have them. Lots of them. If you have not yet discovered Pinterest, you must. Immediately.

*Side note – did you know that a Calgary public library card costs only $12 and they have everything from books to blu-rays and DVDs to magazines to CDs? If you are busy (read: lazy) like me, you can even go to their website, put items on hold and have them delivered to your closest branch. Saves you time & the hassle of your branch not having a copy of the book you want. Like I said, I am a nerd. http://www.calgarypubliclibrary.com

Now that you know what you want to eat, it’s time to start the plan. Do a quick inventory of what is in your fridge and needs to be used up and check what is on sale at your grocery store. I plan for at least one meatless meal, a couple of seafood and a meat or chicken and I try to mix up my “genres”…like a pasta dish, Asian or Mexican dish etc. I also plan meals that are a bit more labor intensive for Sunday and meals that have items that can be prepped ahead (ie. cut up veggies, marinate meat, cook rice or quinoa etc.) for A Case Of The Mondays. I tend to make larger meals on Sunday so that I have leftovers that can be used up in a different dish on Tuesday or Wednesday.

For the planning itself, there are a ton of apps, website etc. that can help. I do a rough, rough draft on paper and then use the Pepperplate app for planning and making a shopping list. Pepperplate has become my 2nd best friend (behind the other big P, obviously). It is a recipe box, a menu planner and a grocery list, all in one little app. There are a ton of websites that Pepperplate is linked to that you can import recipes from (copy the URL, paste into Import Recipe). Once you find a recipe, it can be added to your menu planner and the ingredients can be added to your shopping list. You can also write your own recipes or just use the planner and shopping list if you save your recipes elsewhere (like…on Pinterest). Easy Peasy. This is just what works for me…please, use whatever method works for you.

On to the shopping. I don’t coupon (yet), I just check the flyers from our local grocery stores and head for the place that has at least a few things on sale that I already know I need. In a perfect world, I would have some sort of price tracking system that tells me where to shop. Baby steps. I tend to default to Superstore if there is nothing that stands out in the flyers…groceries AND clothes in one store? Yes please. But that’s just personal preference, shop where you want. I looove grocery shopping. If you don’t like it, give me your list and your wallet and I will do it for you. Seriously. I was buying produce at Costco but have realized that it is impossible to get through the exit at that place without at least $150 worth of stuff in your cart. Impossible. Even when you think you are going to be sneaky and not take a cart, you just end up walking around trying to balance a dozen items in your arms. Needless to say, that gets pricey. So I have vowed to shop at regular grocery stores as much as possible and limit Costco trips to once every couple of months.

So, there you go. Now you have recipes and a plan and a list. So go forth, plan and shop.

The First of Many…I Hope

Pinterest. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

It has been suggested that I should start a blog about my cooking adventures. I am not at all trained and not at all Martha Stewart, I just like food.  I have recently become obsessed with Pinterest (I know I’m not the only one) and decided that instead of just pinning, I should cook.

First, this is in no way promoted, sponsored or paid for by Pinterest or anyone else. I am just hooked on Pinterest and like to cook. Second, I can not take credit for the idea of “stop pinning and start doing”. I saw it on a blog. Sherry (from Young House Love) and her friend Katie (from Bower Power) – ya, we’re on a first name basis – decided to host their own Pinterest challenge, but with DIY stuff and crafts.  I am not crafty but I do like to cook.

*Side Note: do you read Young House Love? Sherry and John are awesome. They are DIY masters. Bower Power rocks too, but I don’t get to read it as much because the pictures don’t show up at work and I do most of my reading at work (ha). Just for like 10 minutes, while I put on my shoes and eat my breakfast…swear. YHL and MODG blog (also, amazing) are the 2 that I read religiously. I went back and read MODG from the beginning, she is hilarious.

Back to The Point. Every week I will pin our planned meals on my “What’s For Dinner” Pinterest board and throughout the week I will try to let you know how each meal went. I don’t know anything about dieting or nutrition, I am just trying to eat “healthier” which to me means more fruits and veggies, less crap and hopefully some really yummy food. This is 100% my first attempt at a blog, so there will be hiccups. Please bear with me and hopefully it turns out to be as easy as the internet tells me it is.

Hop on over to Pinterest.com to get started. Or download the App. Go. You won’t regret it. Please follow me on Pinterest and we’ll start turning those pins into something delicious.