Category Archives: Dinner

There’s a Shark in my House

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Duuun Duunn ..

Duunn Dunnn…

Dun dun dun dun dun DUN!

Remote controlled FLYING shark in my house. It’s normal.

I kind of wish we had a remote controlled dinosaur so I could just play the Jaws theme song and the Jurassic Park theme song over and over again. My house would be awesome. 

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Just a little note: If you’re not a fan of haul-style posts, don’t read on. I like haul-style posts because I get shopping inspiration from them. I understand they can come across as showy, and that’s not my intention. 

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It’s been a while! And it’s 2012 now, so I figured I’d list some things that I have become attached to (or stayed attached to) for the new year. I’m also excited to start some new projects! I want to go into full-out DIY mode and design/build some stuff, hopefully successfully.

Here’s what I’m loving (mostly from Christmas)… Sweet brewed coffee heavens, I am in love with this machine (although not the first machine I fell in love with, *cough* Mac). I need a place to store all my K-Cups (many of them dark/milk hot chocolate — obsessed), but I also bought a reusable K-Cup to save waste and to be able to make precious Dunkin’ Donuts vanilla coffee, mmm.

My next 2012 love is a perfume… It’s sweet, light and a bit citrus-y. The Express perfume is honestly the best perfume I’ve smelled in a while, and I normally shy away from clothing store perfumes, but maybe that’s a psychological thing since I pass out when I pass by an Abercrombie store.

In other scent-related things… The Scentsy is perfect for me because I am a candle addict. I have to admit that the Bath & Body Works candles smell amazing, but when I burn them for too long, the scent becomes sickly-sweet and causes me to have a headache. I can leave the Scentsy on all day because it’s just a light bulb that warms up the wax and it always smells fresh.

Tech-related love … This is my new iPhone case from Cellairis. It’s from the Elle & Blair collection (they’re beauty gurus on YouTube) and I love it because it’s nautical and reminds me of summer. It fits my 4S perfectly. I needed a new case because — I wasn’t aware of this — but the 4S mute switch is slightly lower than the 4, rendering my other cases ill-fitting #firstworldproblems. This one does the job! And food related … Skinny Cow ice cream will always be my first love, but the Weight Watchers brand has mint chocolate cups and mint chocolate ice cream is my favourite. The ice cream sandwich is chocolate peanut butter and this is my first time trying it. It’s ridiculous.

I tweeted Skinny Cow, since I’m probably one of their number one customers ;) and asked if 2012 could bring a new Skinny Cow cup, preferably mint chocolate brownie. This makes me “eeeeeeee” :D

I’m also addicted to vegetable bowls, covered in pasta sauce and topped with baked chicken breast. I’ll spare you from a picture of it.

And lastly, media wise, I’m loving:

This song: We are Young – Fun

This TV show: The Big Bang Theory. Adam and I just started from season 1 and it’s hilarious!

What are some new things you’re loving for 2012?

Layla’s First Christmas

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Allo Bonjour!

The tree is up!!

The tree’s a bit tall to put a star at the top, so we’re still figuring out what to put up there. And now that I look at it, there seems to be a bulb imbalance on the right side…. oh well.

We’ve all been a little hesitant to decorate for Christmas and put presents under the tree because this is Layla’s first Christmas. How she behaves around most things on the floor or on the wall or anywhere or anyone is an indication that she’s probably going to destroy the tree and eat the presents. So far, we are 19 hours in and she has only sniffed a few of the bulbs. We might wrap a fake present just to see her reaction to it.

She’s a year old now and she might be maturing from her puppy days. I think she’s a teenager now because she came into my room and stole money yesterday. When I confronted her, she slurped it up and pretended like she had nothing. Sneaky, sneaky. So, besides exams, the only other exciting thing going on is that I had my hair re-blonded at the salon. Ack… dry lips.

I’m hoping to conquer some more Christmas shopping before the weekend is over. Why is it that when we were kids, Christmas felt like it was forever away? Now it’s coming up so fast and I’m totally unprepared.

And remember when I said I wanted to lose 5 pounds? Well, I have. The only thing that sucks is that I haven’t had time to exercise at all because of a crazy school schedule. I rely on my eats and my job, which keeps me on my feet all night, to maintain the weight loss for now.

Everyday eats include:

Breakfast — Egg Sandwich & sliced apple (whole egg or egg whites)

Snack — more fruit and maybe a little bit of cereal or a vitatop

Lunch — whatever I can get my hands on. Yesterday it was pita chips with melted mozzarella

Dinner — usually this stir fry 

Dessert is always Skinny Cow Ice Cream <3 Yes, I eat processed food. Sorry I’m not sorry. To be 100% honest, and I know I’m back-pedalling here, but eating a diet consisting of whole foods only was just not working for me. When I was craving a caramel cone Skinny Cow Ice Cream, I’d eat everything except the ice cream, when I could have saved 100s of calories by just eating the damn f*cking ice cream. Or a cookie. Or anything. My point is that if you’re obsessive about how healthy you’re eating, it may hurt you in the end because all you’re doing is eating around what you want instead of just eating what you really want and then stopping.

Mellow Monday

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Hello!

Hope you’re all having a wonderful start to the week. Everything is quiet over here, and I actually have a night to do whatever I want to because I finished my assignment this morning instead of leaving it until tonight.

I spent some time with Layla in the living room and read my book, the official biography of Steve Jobs. I could only get through three chapters because Layla was snoring too loudly. 

Let me take you on a journey back in time (OK this is not an exciting story at all, just FYI) to probably the first healthy meal that I “came up with” and subsequently fell in love with. I was 17 at the time and this dish was the catalyst that made me appreciate pretty much every vegetable out there.

Oh, and it’s wicked easy too. It’s pretty much like making a frozen skillet meal.

Here’s what you need:

  • a skillet (obviously)
  • 1 boneless skinless chicken breast (fully cooked)
  • any kind of frozen vegetables you like and as much as you like (I combine three different bags of frozen vegetables: an asian vegetable variety, frozen corn and something with frozen asparagus, green beans and peppers. Again, feel free to use any kinds of frozen vegetables you like.)
  • 2 tblsp of your favourite salad dressing (not a creamy variety)
Start by tossing around your frozen vegetables in the skillet until they’re cooked through. Add in chopped chicken breast and cook until the liquid from the frozen vegetables cooks off. This dish tastes much better when the vegetables are ever so slightly charred, not watery. Add in the salad dressing and toss around for about 30 seconds or so and it’s done!

My favourite dressing for this dish

Veggie Lovin'

It’s not a groundbreaking dish, but it tastes awesome and the fact that it comes together in about 8 minutes just makes it fantastic.

I’m going for a walk now, just because I feel like soaking up the last hour before it becomes dark outside. I’m trying to avoid seasonal depression disorder, jokingly and seriously. I’m taking Vitamin D pills to hopefully appease the drama queen in me who whines when it gets dark at 4.

Time Saver or Time Waster?

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This will be a new category on my blog, simply because I’ve recently ran into some intriguing kitchen tools that could either make eating healthy easier or be a time-suck.

The first item I’m reviewing is a Microwave Steamer. I don’t even remember the brand of this, as I threw out the box, but I believe it was purchased at Walmart and there are many duplicates available anyways.

It comes with three pieces: a bottom (for filling with 2 inches of water), a middle (for placing items to be steamed) and a vented lid (for liddage). I tested it out with one of my favourite go-to dinners: salmon and steamed carrots. Note: Salmon is frozen.

I put the lid on and microwaved it for 5 minutes (the recommended time). When I took it out, I could see that the salmon was not cooked through and was a little slushy. I put it back in for another 1.5 minutes and it came out like this: It was perfectly flakey and the carrots were soft but not mushy.

To sum it up, I will give this product two thumbs up, but I won’t use it all the time. I don’t know how healthy it is to microwave meals in a plastic container, but it is a great option if I don’t have a lot of time to make a good meal.

Normally, making salmon and steamed carrots takes 25 minutes for me and this cut it down to 6.5 minutes. It would also make it easy to make broccoli and cauliflower with cheese (an amazing side dish), so I think I’ll be trying that today.

Next up for review: I am actually really excited to try this one out. Hopefully I’ll get that review up today or tomorrow!