Sad Smoothie

This face is the reason I just got back from a 3 mile dash of a walk on the creek path .

So pitiful Lily .

Rather than fix myself up at my vanity when I came back , I threw some laundry in, threw some consumables together and am now throwing this blog together :)

Yesterday there were veggies.
Wait.
When are there not veggies?

On my CSN bamboo cutting board, leftover chopped onions from Taco night , broccoli, carrot and some dirty mushrooms.

.

Choppe and cleaned and slightly softened them in a skillet with some sunflower oil . I added a bit of chicken broth , fat free cream cheese and some pre cooked bow tie pasta.

Yum.

I love dishes that are filling and delicious but don't leave me feeling bloated and heavy . Especially in this heat.

After the dash, I thought a smoothie was in order. Thought being the key word here people.

Whole Food Vega Smoothie Mix ( I used probably 1 tbsp of the package)

Maranatha's Organic Smooth Peanut Butter ( 1 tbsp) YEY for my fav peanut butter being back in stock .

1/4 cup of 2 % Milk

1 frozen and unpictured banana

1/4 cup of chopped strawberries also unpictured

couple handfuls of baby spinach

I was surprised that what appeared to be about 1/4 of a blender full , filled up my sbux cup and a club glass.

I was also surprised that while this mix tasted amazing it made me feel very phelm-y . Perhaps it was the milk or combo of milk AND banana . I couldn't drink more than the club glass .



Ready to gnaw off my hand at this point, I grabbed the quickest thing . A cheddar and herb bagel from Superstore's bakery section, and smeared half of it with herb and garlic cream cheese.

I paired it with a homemade iced coffee in yet another starbucks cup ( I have all the cute ones ) because I need fuel and it's too hot for, hot coffee.

What's your favorite smoothie mix ?

What items do you hate in your smoothie ?

Scorcher and Killing Birds

Today was another scorcher and I immediatly grabbed an Iced Coffee when I got home from class. I didn't have much of the crack that is hazelnut coffeemate liquid,so I used milk instead and a drizzle of President's Choice Dulce De Leche .

Bliss.

I am in love with the re-usable plastic Sbux cups. It took me forever to find them as I thought the baskets full of them at my local Sbux were just decorative disposable ones ! Definately worth the 14 bucks :)

Apologies for the dark pictures but the weather was all kinds of wacky today. Sun one minute, then dark and cloudy , then earthquake!

Really!

In an attempt to prove a friend that pillowy , lush mashed potatoes could be had without all the fat, I made these.

At the time I thought I also killed two birds with one stone so to speak . Thinking it could be a Fat Swap , but alas, they want you to use fruit puree and such or one of their sample recipes ( at least to my knowledge ) so I will try again.

At least I showed my friend AND got mashed potatoes which are a big favorite of mine.


I used 4 large Smart Spud potatoes

They apparently have fewer carbs than other potatoes but I buy them mostly because they come in a mesh bag rather than a paper one.

2 1/2 tbsp of Becel Light
1 1/2 tbsp of Fat Free Sour Cream
2 tbsp of Fat Free Philadelphia Cream cheese

Add ,mash . Add salt and pepper and voila . Yummy, creamy , full of flavor but doesn't have half and half or butter.

What do you do to make old favorites a bit healthier?

Your favorite way to have potatoes?

Up To Speed

wooo. I'm not sure where I left off but Thursday sounds good to me, so we'll go with that.

Thursday brought pseudo BBQ-d Chicken , giant penne with garlic and old canadian cheddar and peaches and cream corn on the cob.

Pseudo BBQ because I baked them in the oven ;)

And now that I've perfected my Iced Coffee, there was some of that too.

Friday there was a farmer on the way to the cottage .

Of course corn was purchased because summer means corn , corn all the time to my bf .

Teensy asparagus and cherries !

I was kind of surprised at the size of the asparagus because it seems to be ginormous everywhere else.

It was a beautiful day outside so there was deck sitting with Harken and Lily.

Lily's on an extremely long rope from a sailboat sail so she can wander with Harken .

Lily's new bling :)

Saturday I spent the day not feeling well but I got this photo of Lily and her stick .

Which brings us to now, Sunday . Am finally home and relaxing . Doing laundry and cooking a fresh and delicious dinner.

What vegetables do you love in the summer?

A Cool Sleep In

I didn't want to get out of bed this morning .

It was another scorcher yesterday ( and today again ) and even though we finally installed the air conditioner , it didn't actually get cool in here until this morning.

I tossed and turned all night and felt like I woke up every ten minutes. Of course this caused me to sleep in and by the time I woke up I could have made it to class but chose the newly cooled apartment instead.

I wasn't in the mood for hot coffee but was a bit leery of making iced coffee , even though I've seen it all over the blogosphere. Mine never tasted right. It either tasted old or weak or just too sweet.

I know . I know. Who am I ? Goldilocks?

I followed Tina's directions and took a mug of brewed Tim Hortons and put it in the freezer while I took Lily for a walk. Came back and added a couple ice cubes, sugar free Hazelnut creamer and some sweetener.

DELICIOUS!

So wished I would have put more coffee in the fridge .

I didn't have breakfast so I was hungry for lunch early.

I made a can of tuna with light mayo and chopped dill pickles and spread some on whole wheat bread.

Not the prettiest picture but it was tasty.

And of course 'tis the season.

Strawberries with a hidden glob of peanut butter. I'm obsessed.

Do you like iced coffee? How do you make your iced drinks?

-A