Tag Archive | Breakfast

Hello October 🎃

Some days it’s really hard to fight the urge to count calories. Even tho I’ve made a conscious decision to sway away from that, focus on moving my body daily and eating what makes me feel good! I think it’s going to take a long time to break the habit of counting calories and judging food in the “healthy/un healthy” category’s.

I had to fight through the urge over breakfast to look up all the reasons why that 1/2 avocado was “too Much” or “unhealthy”. I reminded myself that I enjoy avocado and it keeps me full for a long time!

I think unlearning old habits is often harder then forming new habits!

Thankful Thursday Week 13/52

It’s been a long week for all of us! I don’t have much to say today but I will share one of the things im thankful for today. I’m thankful for all the logistics staff, farmers, truck drivers, grocery store staff etc working through this terrifying time to maintain our food supply.

Without these integral workers things would be much harder than they already are! So thank you to you and everyone on the front lines. ❤️

Homemade Tater Tots

So as you know I like to try to eat healthy as often as possible. To me eating healthy doesn’t just mean eating lots of fruits and veggies. Eating healthy means cooking at home and knowing what’s in my food. I often cringe when I read labels and realize despite my wide knowledge of health, food, ingredients I often have no idea what the heck some of those unpronounceable additives are!!!

Whenever possible I like to make things from scratch and when hubby said he was craving tater tots I figured why not give home made a try!! These little tater gems of yumminess turned out better then I could have ever hoped for! They are quick, easy , and much healthier then their store bought companions!

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Ingredients
3 cups of shredded potatoes (I used simply potatoes but frozen hash brown shreds or hand shredded would be fine)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (any shredded cheese will work)
1/4 finely chopped onion
12 crushed soda crackers
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

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Method
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. I used my hands to make sure everything was well incorporated.

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Spray a mini muffin tin very well with cooking spray and pack a scoop into each muffin hole. This recipe makes 24 exactly. Conveniently that’s how many holes was on my muffin tin 😉

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Bake in preheated oven 425 degree oven for 30 minutes.

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After removing from the oven I ran a butter knife around each tot to make removal from the pan a little easier.

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These little treats are delicious and come out of the oven nice and crispy! I served them for breakfast with egg muffins in place of hash-brown. I think these would make a perfect side dish for any meal!

I promise they are quick and easy, give them a try!

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Feels More Like October

Good morning blog friends, real life friends….and yes you too!

So it’s my first day off and I let myself sleep in until I woke up naturally! Woot 9:15 am….I really thought I would have slept longer! Oh well, I was up and decided to make myself breakfast. I remembered I had a box of Trader Joes pumpkin pancake/waffle mix in the pantry and figured why not. It feels enough like mid fall around these parts may as well enjoy the flavours.

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I sprinkled a little coconut on top and a touch of maple syrup. They were wonderful! I really wish Trader Joes stocked their pumpkin line all year because I have a serious craving for their pumpkin Greek yogurt.

Well I don’t have much else to post about as honestly I haven’t hot that far into my day. However the birds outside my window are doing a fine job informing me that it is time to fill the feeders!

Hope everyone enjoys their Thursday!

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Food Porn – Breakfast Edition

I woke up this morning with a serious sweet tooth! This almost never happens to me in the morning, afternoon all the time. I wasn’t about to dive face first into a sugar laden donut or cookie for breakfast, despite my urge to! Instead I changed up my oatmeal/ancient grain bowl toppings!

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I started out with the usual oats,quinoa,kamut mixture and the usual peanut butter/chopped banana topping. This is where I got crazy friends!!! I traded my usual tablespoon of hemp hearts for a tablespoon of dark chocolate chips and a sprinkle of coconut. Freaking heavenly! It was sweet without being sickeningly sweet. The chocolate chips got warm and melty and it was pretty much the most amazing bowl of oats I’ve eaten in a while!

It is nice to change up your breakfast routine once in a while and after yesterdays fail this was indeed a welcome change! Yesterday along with my hemp hearts I tossed in a tablespoon of golden flax. Guess who isn’t a flax fan apparently!!!! You guessed it, this girl!

Live and learn friends!!

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“What do you mean we aren’t sharing breakfast mom?!!!?”

I See You There

This is what i contend with at every meal.

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This adorable face who has made it her life’s work to be sure that I remember sharing is in fact caring. How do you say no to that face? No really please teach me as I cannot seem to do it.

Anyways, I don’t know if you know this or not but walking down a hill covered in black ice is a treacherous adventure! Walking back up the hill is never a picnic, but you know what they say…whatever doesn’t kill you!!!!! I have to admit it was a beautiful day here, considerably nicer then the foggy afternoon yesterday.

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Yesterday’s foggy walk compared to today’s clear skies.

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The area I work is great for midday walks. Lots of flat areas and hilly areas depending on how I’m feeling. I actually felt decent today. Which is a change from the last little while, so we did a quick mile walk mostly hills. I like this area because it is very much city life but still close to nature and the country.

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I’ve been in a cooking mood lately and this morning was no different. For breakfast I chopped up an apple added some water,sugar, and cinnamon to a pot and cooked it just long enough for the apple to soften. I drained the water mixture and was left with amazingly flavourful, sweet cinnamon infused goodness. I added half my creation to a bowl of oats and peanut butter, perfect for a cold morning. The other half found itself mixed with a few little cheddar cheese squares ad my afternoon snack. I’ve been reading that cinnamon has some serious health benefits, so I sneak it in where I can.

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I was lucky enough to have Kevin bring me lunch today. He stopped on the way here and grabbed us both Quiznos. I can’t even remember the last time I had a sandwich from there, but it was very good. Mine was some turkey, guacamole, veggie concoction, and while it was far from pretty it was satisfying. I looked up the nutritional value on their website and it wasn’t half bad other then the sodium content.

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Kevin hasn’t been feeling great either so it was nice we got to hang out over lunch while I’m at work. I know a lot of our friends are sick right now and I really don’t want to catch it!

My need to be in the kitchen proved successful at dinner time as I made a quinoa salad for my boss and I. I love quinoa, such a great source of protein and so versatile. I don’t make it at home often unless its for my sister in law or dad and I as it is on Kevin’s will not eat list. Actually a good portion of the salads ingredients are on his will not eat list!!!! Though he will straight face tell you he isn’t fussy! I guess I still love him. Anyways the salad consists of quinoa and a mix of chopped onion, peppers, cucumber, tomato, feta cheese, avocado, and beans of choice. I used chick peas because I love them and that is what was in the pantry here! I used fig balsamic vinegar as dressing but Greek dressing is also good on it. My boss and I had the salad with some lemon garlic chicken breast pieces, so good.

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I guess I should get back to work, I have another hour before my weekend officially starts. Hope everyone is enjoying this wintery Wednesday.

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Happy New Year!

I for one can’t believe the year is already upon us! No one told how fast time and life would move once I became an adult! I hope everyone had a fun night and didn’t wake up feeling too rough this morning!! My night was pretty dark and low key..Muffin and I spent the final hours of 2012 at work doing next to nothing thanks to a power outage. Not exactly how I ended to say farewell to the year. Oh well, just one of those things in life that remind me how little control we really have sometimes .

I woke up this morning and threw together a yummy breakfast consisting of ancient grains hot cereal, a scoop of peanut butter, and a banana. It was delicious and filling. The Starbucks skinny peppermint mocha wasn’t to shabby either!

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After breakfast I did my typical work duties until it was time to conquer lunch. I decided to make a hearty salad consisting of mixed baby greens, avocado, cucumber, pineapple, pecans, cashews, feta and a few crispy onions for some crunch! I sprinkled the whole thing with a little fig balsamic vinegar. This is where I wish I had stopped but alas live and learn! I added the garlic salmon burger patty I had cooked as my protein source and learned quickly it was a bad choice. I like to try to buy local, so on a recent trip to Choices Market I picked up a box of Ella’s Finest Garlic Ginger Salmon Burgers.

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I think I paid about $6 for the two pack and cooked them according to box directions. They smelled decent enough while cooking but first bite proved other wise. I actually ended up picking it back out of my salad after trying two bites. I am sorry to report in my opinion it maybe the worst salmon I’ve ever had! It was very dry and flavourless, not at all what I was expecting. Once I removed the salmon the salad wasn’t half bad, tho I’m sure I will be looking for a snack sooner then usual thanks to my protein void lunch. Ya can’t win ’em all my friends!

I think I’m going to bundle up and take Muffin for a walk around the neighbour hood. It is cold and crisp but not snowing or raining! So I figure we both could benefit from a little fresh air and a break from “work”! Incase you’re curious this is what Muff’s Work day has looked like thus far today …

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“Just checking Facebook mom!”

But mostly this…

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Life is hard people!!!!
Have a great day!