What I Ate Wednesday #13

Well It's time for What I Ate Wednesday. A day where bloggers from all over post what they ate for a day! Click the link below to check it out

  Alot of you were celebrating Memorial Day and had a long weekend on my day of eats. We had our long weekend last weekend and I had one again this week. Not because I wanted one or because it was an actual long weekend but it's because one of my babies has tonsillitis! Oh man he would be so mad if he knew I wrote one of my babies, he is 10 you know! So I stayed home and took him to the doctor.  Wanna know what happened on Monday that made me very happy? Dan Brown's new book, Inferno, came in at the library for me...YAY! Last week the new Iris Johansen book, Taking Eve, came in and I had just finished it Sunday night, perfect timing! Anyways here is what I ate Breakfast

 

2 little 100gram containers of full fat yogurt

1 tbsp chia seeds

1tbsp ground flax seeds

about 1/2 cup raspberries

3-4 tbsp plain granola

I love having this for breakfest, I was supposed to have hard boiled eggs and toast, but I forgot to boil the eggs Sunday night

I also had a BIG coffee with my breakfest!

Snack

I had to boil my eggs for the week so I just figured I would eat some

I also had another coffee!

Lunch

 Tuna Salad with Garlic Naan

3 cans of flaked light tuna

2 celery stalks, finely minced

1/4 red onion, finely minced

2 tbsp chopped dill

1/2 tsp salt

a few turns of the pepper mill

4 tbsp fat free plain greek yogurt

This makes 3 servings

Supper

Mustard Rubbed Pork Ribs with Apple Butter Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce (Recipe will be posted Sunday!)

lots of grilled asparagus

3/4 of Lipton Sidekick- Broccoli and White Cheddar

That's it!

Grilled Pork Belly and Pork Patties with Vermicelli and herbs or Bun Cha

This is one of my favourite BBQ'd dishes! The kids love it, so there's no complaints. It is super easy to do, it does take time to marinate the meat but it's worth it. 

 Marinade 

4 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1/2 onion, finely minced

1/2 cup oyster sauce

2 tbsp sugar

1 Slab of fresh pork belly, not cured

1 lb ground pork

For the Noodles

1 pack of vermicelli

Herbs

1 head of green lettuce

1 bunch of cilantro

As much mint and basil as you like

Fish Sauce

4 cups of boiling water

juice from 1-2 limes

3/4 cup of sugar

1/4 of fish sauce

 3-5 cloves of garlic, finely minced

2 chili peppers, minced

Night Before

Mix all of the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Separate into two portions. Thinly slice the pork belly, as thin as you can get it. Mix the marinade with the pork belly and the ground pork. Keep the two meats separate. Keep it in the fridge overnight.

4-6 hours before your ready to cook, soak the vermicelli noodles in cool water. Leave them to soak until your ready to cook.

Wash and pick separate the herbs, dry them as much as possible.

Boil water then cook noodles according to package directions. It won't take long to cook them. Drain and rinse them. Leave them aside.

Heat your grill. I use charcoal.

Combine all the ingredients for the fish sauce. Let it sit.

Form your ground pork into patties that are the size of sliders.

Grill your patties, a few minutes per side. 

I have a thing that looks like this

I have no idea what it's called

I use this for the pork belly. Place the pieces of pork belly onto this contraption in a single layer. Close it and grill a few minutes per side. I suppose you could also skewer it.

Let everyone assemble their own bowls. Put noodles, any herbs you like, the meat and top with as much fish sauce as you would like. My boys also like to wrap it all up in a rice paper roll and dip it into the fish sauce.

 

 

 

Grilled Catfish with a Lemon Garlic Marinade

I'm always looking for ways to cook fish. I love fish and so does everyone else in the family, especially my youngest two children. I cook fish the same way all the time and was looking for something new that didn't involve a sauce. This is a very simple marinade but has a lot of flavour. The charcoal adds a smokiness that I just don't think I could do without. We just had caesar salad and garlic bread with the fish. Something quick and easy for a hot day during the week. Enjoy!

Grilled Catfish with Lemon Garlic Marinade

Juice from 1 lemon

4 cloves of garlic

1 onion chopped

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

5 catfish fillets

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl or large freezer bag. Add the catfish. Marinate in the fridge for 40 minutes to 1 hour.  Heat up your grill. I used charcoal. Place the fish on the grill. Discard the marinade. Grill 5-7 minutes per side, depending on thickness.

What I Ate Wednesday #12

 
It's time for another What I Ate Wednesday! Thanks to Jenn at Peas and Crayons for hosting another WIAW, check out the link to see what everyone else is eating!

This was my Tuesday which was like Monday because it was Victoria Day here so I was a little off. I forgot to take a picture of my lunch but that's okay, it wasn't anything special. 

It is super hot here and it makes so lazy. I don't want to move because it's so hot. It's going to cool down to more spring like temperatures later in the week, I am looking forward to it.

Before moving on to WIAW I have to say my heart is so sad for everyone that has lost everything and lost people they love in the tornadoes in Oklahoma, I hope everyone finds peace one day and that they can rebuild their lives and that a tornado this powerful doesn't happen again. Although I'm sure it will I hope that more lessons can be learned from this and the next time there are no fatalities. I think it's amazing that the number was so low for the power that this tornado had but 1 life lost is too many.


Breakfast

2 Hard boiled eggs, a peach, coffee, and 1 piece of whole wheat toast with strawberry jam

Post Workout

A chocolate whey protein shake

Today I did cardio, 30 minutes of hills on the treadmill, 30 min on the stationary bike doing intervals

Lunch

No Picture, I had a sandwich with oven roasted turkey sandwich meat with ,mustard and provolone cheese, 1 small thing of full fat vanilla yogurt and 1/4 cup blueberries

Snack

A Banana Brownie Protein Muffin

Supper

 

BBQ Chicken breast, Spanish rice and green and yellow beans, I also felt like a pop so I had a diet Pepsi and had a Tim Hortons coffee after supper

Since I didn't take a picture of what I ate for lunch I took a picture of what 2 of my 3 kids have for their lunch tomorrow. I pack lunches the night before to save time in the morning.

Grapes, half of a poppy seed bagel (one has strawberry cream cheese, one regular), summer sausage, old and medium cheddar cheese, cucumber slices, 1/2 Belgian waffle

What I Ate Wednesday #11

So I was able to try some of the foods that I prepared on Sunday and I have to say, I have enjoyed all of it! I will make all of those things again. As I said in that post, it's been a while since I prepared my food ahead of time and wanted to get back on track again. It has definitely made my week easier. I'm done the Live Fit trainer so I'm doing my own thing at the gym right now and I'm really enjoying it. I really like having a plan but after 3 months of it, I'm ready for a break. I have captured what I ate on Monday, which was my leg day. Here's what I did:

3sx20r leg extensions at 40lbs for a warm up

4sx8r leg press @ 170lbs

3sx20r seated calf press @130lbs

3sx10r each leg glute kickback machine @ 70lbs

3sx10r each leg barbell step ups @40lbs

20 wide stance barbell squats @40lbs, 20 narrow barbell squats @40lbs, 20 plie squats @15lb dumbbell (did 3 sets of this)

3sx10r stiff legged deadlifts @40lb barbell

3sx20r standing calf raises @40lb barbell 

I finished it off with 10 minutes of stretching

It was a great workout!

So let's get back to what I ate on Monday

Breakfast

Here's the Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Oat Pancakes that I prepped on Sunday, I had 2 with E.D. Smith no sugar added syrup and a hard boiled egg, oh and of course coffee!

 After my workout I had a protein shake

Lunch

Chicken with Mango Salsa and baked tortilla chips, this was so yummy! You have to try it! Oh I also had a Danone Creamy field berry yogurt!

Snack

Banana Brownie Protein Muffin, this was good but I didn't use a really ripe banana. I'm sure it would have been so much better if I did.

Supper

A ginormous bowl of Pho!

Bedtime Snack

A Danone Creamy vanilla yogurt mixed with peanut butter chocolate swirl casein protein and thinned with a little unsweetened almond milk, yum!

That's it! Check out Peas and Crayons to see what 200+ other bloggers are eating!

Sunday Food Prep #5 and Baked Tortilla Chips

I haven't prepped my food for the week for quite a while now, I guess I was being a bit lazy. I decided that I was going to do it again this week since it really does help me stay on track. I don't prep my suppers ahead of time, I like to eat whatever I make for the family with them, not something different. I do prep my breakfasts, snacks and lunches though. The only recipe that I have tried is the Cinnamon Chocolate Pancakes and they are delicious. The rest I haven't tried, so I hope they are good.

So here we have Chocolate Protein Oat Bran, Banana Brownie Protein Muffins, Cinnamon Chocolate Pancakes, Chicken and Mango Salsa, Baked Whole Wheat Tortilla Chips

I also boiled eggs for  breakfast

I will be having the pancakes and oat bran for breakfast during the week as well, the muffins are a snack and the chicken lunch.

For the oat bran, I didn't use stevia, I used 2 tsp of sugar and doubled the recipe and didn't use psyillum husk. I also used dark chocolate chips for the pancakes instead of bittersweet and didn't make the topping, I am using sugar free pancake syrup. I didn't want my chicken and mango salsa in a tortilla bowl because it would get soggy sitting around all morning, so tortilla chips it is. Here's the links for all the recipes

Chocolate Protein Oat Bran

Banana Brownie Protein Muffin

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Chicken and Mango Salsa

Baked Tortilla Chips

1 pack of Whole Wheat Tortillas, I used small tortillas

1/4 cup of oil, you won't use it all

2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350

Pour the oil into a bowl or keep it in the measuring cup

Stack the tortillas, using a pastry brush, brush oil on one side of each tortilla, it doesn't need to be soaked with oil, just enough to cover the entire surface.

Stack them as you go. Cut the tortillas into 8 triangles. Place them on a baking sheet. I did 2 batches,  and sprinkle with salt. I used 1 tsp per batch. If you want to add any other seasonings go ahead and do it. Bake for about 10 min, until they are brown and crispy.

Homemade Taco Seasoning

I used to buy the packaged taco seasoning all the time but for the past couple of years I have been making my own I expected the kids to notice a difference when I started making my own and start complaining that it tastes different, because that what they do! But...that didn't happen! They have never noticed the difference between the two. For me knowing that it doesn't have the amount of sodium that they package does or any added ingredients that it doesn't need is enough for me to make my own, never mind the difference in price. I make a batch of this and it lasts about 4 meals, depending on how much ground meat I have. It's so simple and quick to throw together! You definitely have to try making your own taco seasoning.

Taco Seasoning

4 tbsp chili powder

3 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp oregano

1/2 tbsp cumin

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

Mix it all together. Store in a tightly sealed container.

When your ready to use it, brown your meat, add 2tbsp of seasoning per pound of meat, add 1/2 cup of water. Cook the meat until all the liquid is evaporated.

What I Ate Wednesday - 10

  So here goes another What I Ate Wednesday and little bit of a rant. So...I was so so sick on the weekend, I wasn`t able to get out out bed, my fever was so high I just laid in the dark for hours with my eyes closed and not sleeping. My weekends usually consist of meal planning and grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning the house, and cooking. This weekend I also wanted to get the yards cleaned up and I was supposed to take my daughter to the store to exchange sandals that I bought her..oh and we were going to take the train to the market. I didn`t do any of that! Luckily, I had most of the laundry done during the week so my husband finished it...first I had to tell him how much laundry detergent to use then discovered after all the laundry was done and baskets brought upstairs that he didn`t fold a single item! Ahhh! The house was not cleaned, my floors are a mess, the kids did their usual daily cleaning and that`s it. I made a very very small and specific (I`m talking location of items, brand of item and quantity) grocery list for my husband to take to the store to buy only what we needed for two days until I would feel human enough to go myself. He came back with almost everything wrong and spent half of what I do for a week of groceries. I tell him a small wheel of double cream brie, he comes back with brie spread, I have never even heard of brie spread before! Oh and the cooking, we ate McDonalds on Saturday and fried rice on Sunday! It`s a good thing I don`t get that sick very often, I`m not sure how this house would keep going....okay I`m done!
So Monday came and I was still sick but I remembered to take pictures but not until after I ate breakfast!
Breakfast: I attempted to eat a bowl of plain Greek yogurt with honey and blueberries, I was supposed to get vanilla yogurt from the store, he came home with plain...it was so gross, I didn`t eat it. So I had a bowl of Oatmeal Crisp cereal and a coffee   Lunch: This grilled cheese was soooo good. I`m not sure why I have never tried this before but I will be making this again! Oh I also had some blackberries and kiwi with it

Turkey Ranch Grilled Cheese 2 slices of bread, buttered on one side only 8 thin slices of old cheddar cheese about 50g of oven roasted turkey breast thinly sliced onion (as much as you like), I used white onion about 1 tbsp ranch dressing
Layer: Bread, butter side down in pan, 4 slices cheese, half the ranch squirted over the cheese, onion, turkey, ranch, 4 slices of cheese, bread buttered side up
Pan fry over medium low heat for a few minutes on one side, until golden brown, flip carefully, squish the bread a little with the spatula and brown on that side for a few minutes!
After lunch I had a nice long nap!
Supper: Jambalaya from Barefoot Contessa: Foolproof Recipes This was good but the kids didn`t eat it, so I put alot of work into prepping this and alot of it went to the garbage, I probably won`t make it again. I only ate half of this bowl!

 

After supper I had another coffee and some frozen yogurt! 

  This is not typically how I eat everyday. My appetite is still not very good, what I ate on this day was more than I ate in the 3 days I had a fever, I`m sure it will take a bit of time to get my appetite back.
Don`t forget to check out Peas and Crayons to see what other bloggers are eating!