HAPPY FRIDAY!

I am so glad that Friday has come.  Work felt dreadful this week, and I really just want to be at home to hang out with The Shepherd, the dogs and sheep.  I want to do some cooking, that I missed out on last week, hit up Lululemon and maybe watch a couple episodes of 18 to Life.  With Family Day being on Monday, I'm sure I'll have time to accomplish all of that.

Breakfast today was a FABULOUS bowl of Dorset muesli, blueberries and skim milk.  Have I said this cereal is my absolute favourite?  I love it.  It's the best I've ever had.

Sunny Day, Sunny Snack.

Lunch was leftover fajita mix from the other night.  Some cheese was melted in as well.  It tasted a lot better than it looked.

Went to the gym after work, which for me is the YMCA. I didn't run as much this week as usual, but tonight I did a good 45 min on the treadmill.  Since it's Friday, I stopped there.

Dinner was once again wg spaghetti, sauce with ground chicken and lots-a sauteed veggies.

Tomorrow I'm going to do a huge load of shopping at the grocery store, go to Lululuemon...I'd like a long sleeve shirt, I get cold after running, and probably some shoes.  The mall I'm going to has FABULOUS shoe stores.

Jezzabelle

Longing for Summer

This morning was rushed, I laid in bed for as long as could...so only had time for this gorgeous bowl of Dorset Muesli, blueberries and skim milk. ;)

I had an orange half way through the morning, and I cannot figure out why it keeps coming up sideways. It definitely is not this way on my camera or in my photo file. hmmm...

Lunch was tasty! I had 1/2 a leftover salmon fillet, some ww couscous and broccoli. I added some soy sauce to it all, then heated it up. Delish.

My days in the office are long lately. I'm dreaming of summer and my garden. Longing to feel my hands in the soil, to greet the worms and bees, to smell summer fresh produce....ahhh...

This apple was enjoyed mid-afternoon.

Went to the gym and did a TOUGH 40 min on the elliptical, as well as my usual arm and upper body weights.  The Sheppard had called me early to see if I wanted to go out to dinner.  I raced home, munched on some of Chocolate Covered Katie's Baby's and then went out to dinner. 

No photo, but I had a blackened chicken breast, sweet potato fries and a house salad.  A mineral water with lime - so fresh.  I had a few more babies when I got home. :)

I need to force myself to get more guts taking photos of food when I'm not at home.  How did you overcome this?

Jezzabelle

Not Boring (to me) Breakfasts

I need to find a new way of introducing breakfast as it's basically the same every day.

BLUEBERRIES, DORSET MUESLI AND SKIM MILK!!!!

I had an apple mid morning to tie me over to lunch.

Lunch was Sashimi lunch. YUMMY! A sort of boring salad, but the mystery dressing makes it oh so good!

Afternoon snack was a navel orange. Are they in season? They are so good right now.

After work I went to the gym. Usual 45 on the elliptical, and Core Control class. I came home, ate a few of http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/ babies, then made some dinner.
It was fajita night. I had 2 small ww tortillas, with fried beef strips, red and yellow pepper, onion, mushroom, lots of salsa mixed with chili pepper and cumin. Topped with more salsa, nf sour cream, cheddar and hot sauce! YUMMY! I filled these up too full and ended up eating them with a knife and fork rather than as a wrap.


And that's a wrap!
Jezzabelle

Introducing, Miss Annie

My kitty is called "Miss Annie" a lot of the time. Because she is a lady. I love her, I tell her so each day and that she is my smallest best friend. She's part of our family.

I was living in a different city and one evening when I came home, she was in my front yard. Skinny, dirty, so friendly. She was not a full grown cat, but not a helpless kitten either. I decided to bring her in the apartment. She drank a full bowl of water and slept for almost 2 days straight. It took a week before she felt like any kitty play. So, I looked around the neighborhood for lost cat signs, checked the local paper and didn't ever see an ad that resembled Miss Annie. I decided to keep her in the house, and never let her back out, without supervision. Now on the farm, she goes outside, but due to her years of being kept in, she rarely strays farther than 20 meters from the house. Unless I'm in the garden, then she hangs out there with me, in what must seem like a jungle to her!

Introducing, Miss Annie.


I had a great morning. The Sheppard was home for a short bit - after a solid 9 hours of sleep! YAY! I do blame the cat for him waking so early, not my alarm clock.

I switched up the almond milk in my cereal for skim milk. Only because the expiry date was yesterday and I didn't want to waste it. This is a nice pic without the milk.

I had yesterday's banana for a snack. Bananas are so filling.

I was however, starving by lunch! Last nights barn work really took a hit to me! I was tired all morning, it was more of a workout than I thought! Lunch was similar to yesterday, and it may be for a while, I'm quite enjoying these PC thins. Today I added a Baby Bell cheese to the mix, that I ate, before I took the picture.

I have a new office mate at work. We have our own office, with 2 desks/workstations. I quite like her and am happy for the change. I'm pretty good with change, embrace it, go with it, someone else has made the change and I can't change it back anyway.

I didn't need an afternoon snack I find these buns very filling. With the added cheese, I felt really full all afternoon.

I got home, changed and went out to the barns to help the Sheppard. What a mess he was in! Not really, just a lot of lambs again, a lot. Believe it or not, we worked steady until 6am - yes, in the morning! Lambs were being born all night! We did take an hour break to escape to the Sheppard's parents for a spaghetti dinner. No photo as I didn't know we were going there, and I'm not sure I'd actually take food pictures at their house yet...but I'm sure y'all know what spaghetti looks like. ...but...white noodles, white bun, lots of butter, no veggies. haha...it was super.

Finally the weekend. I'm tired after last night, I only manage 3 hours of sleep before the sun decided I should stay up. Thank fully, the Sheppard is still sleeping. I'm trying to be as quite as possible and keep Miss Annie from meowing too much - she talks more than any cat I've met.

Jezzabelle

Glorious Day!

It's sunny outside! What a glorious day! It's about -2, but the sun makes it feel like 10 after long weeks of chilly-chilly-chillyness! For breakfast I decided to mix it up and had Dorset muesli, almond milk and blueberries. ;)

Mid morning, this sunny, happy apple came into my life.

I was stewing all morning, wanting to call the Sheppard, but not risking it, maybe he's finally asleep......

Lunch was super as well. A PC ww thin bun, with hummus, sprouts, some lettuce I stole from the salad (with red peppers and sprouts) and a couple pieces of smoked turkey.

In the afternoon, I ate the other half of yesterdays Luna bar. I also had a banana staring at me, but the chocolate was oh-so-much-more tempting.

I headed home right after work, skipping the gym again, but got my workout helping the Sheppard. I did a good 3 hours of work for him, and my shoulders are feeling it today! SORE!, but in a good way. We're over 300 lambs now, probably closer to 400. It looks great out there. The puppies have still not opened their eyes! I'm willing them to open, I ask them nicely everyday.

Dinner was omelette's and toast. I had a 2 egg omelet with spinach, red pepper, mushrooms and cheddar. Toast was 1 piece of Dempsters Healthy Way multi grain. It's ok bread, but I prefer the Dempsters Ancient Grains.

It's almost Friday! HOORAY!! Which means a weekend of farm work for me, and that's ok.

That's why they call it the "Family Farm".


Jezzabelle

Counting Sheep

Seeing what I eat for breakfast everyday in pictures makes me realize I'm not very creative in the morning. See Dorset muesli, almond milk, blueberries.


I have a 'recipe' to combine yogurt, pumpkin and granola...but in the morning I like my routine and haven't tried it, though I have bought the pumpkin, and always have yogurt and granola on hand anyway.

I broke a promise to myself - I had sashimi again. Even though I ate it twice last week. Anyway, it was delicious and supremely satisfying. I had a few bites before I remembered to take the picture.


Through the afternoon I felt full, but before I left work I had half of this S'MORES Luna bar. Very tasty and filling! It cures a sweet craving, that's for sure! Plus, I love the taste of marshmallows! I don't see any marshmallows, but it does taste like them.

I usually go to the gym on Wednesdays, but The Sheppard is busy at home so I decided to go home and work with him for a few hours - it's still a GREAT workout! I bedded down pens that are full of lambs and their mothers, and filled their water jugs. To give you an idea of the mass amount of lambs being born, on Tuesday, 70 were born! 70!

For dinner we had lamb chops, green beans and potatoes. A pretty regular dinner, but super tasty anyway. For the lamb chops, I just sprinkle no salt added steak spice on them and broil for 6-7 min on each side. Perfect medium chops. I ate one chop, a potato with some butter and a huge helping of beans. After dinner I finished off the bean brownies I made on the weekend. Even though they were refrigerated, they were starting to taste a little dry. It's hard to eat them all so fast, maybe next time I'll try freeze half.

The Sheppard didn't come to bed last night, he worked all night. I hope he can rest today a little. I will go to the gym on Thursday night, but I'll head home straight after to do my chores and help out.

By the way...LOST! WTF????!!!! I LOVE IT! But SO confused! Is the 'living' John Lock not really John? I don't get it? If someone does, please comment and fill me in.

Jezzabelle

Day 5 (of 7)

I have decided to give myself a 7 day trial period to see how this blog goes.

I was up really early this morning. My husband was in the barn all night delivering lambs and we had the alarm set for him for 5am, but since he hadn't come in it woke me up. Sheppard came to bed around 6am and I laid there for about a half hour and got up at 6:30am. I don't know why, but lambs seems to be born a lot in the night rather than the day time.


My usual breakfast: Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Joy, Dorset muesli, blueberries. Along with the recent clean eating mag and a few cups of java.


After breakfast I went in to town to do some grocery shopping. Then home to see the puppies! Jazz was letting me hold them and take better pictures today! SO CUTE!

For lunch I made a quesadilla - spinach, leftover chicken, cheddar and mushrooms, with a hefty helping of salsa.

Then I decided to make some Chicken Tikka Masala as I had the time. Of course, got so excited about eating, I forgot photos, but here is one from the cookbook: THE COMPLETE BOOK OF INDIAN COOKING. http://www.suneetavaswani.com/books.htm I really like this cookbook, easy, step by step, outlines where in the country the dish comes from, I learn a lot from it, not just the recipe.

I also made some bean brownies, pretty good! I can't remember where I got the recipe, but you can see they are good by looking at the dent I put in them 10 minutes after being pulled from the oven.

I had more too.

I love these weekends where I don't have any real plans. It's not that I relax, it's just I enjoy the freedom to relax if I really wanted to.

Jezzabelle

Day 4

Today I started with a very usual breakfast: Unsweetened Vanilla Almond milk, Dorset muesli, blueberries.

I always weigh my cereal or measure it. This way I'm not eating 2 portions. I always look at the bowl and wonder how I'm full, or how I last so long without eating again, but it does last!

Snack time was the rest of yesterdays carrot cake Cliff bar and an apple. I had an unexpected phone call from the Sheppard and he updated me on the lambs that were born overnight and how the puppies are doing. All is well.

I FORGOT MY LUNCH AT HOME! AH! It was going to be sooo good too. Leftover broc. soup, a big chicken salad...such is life. So, I went for sashimi again. I know I have to watch my Mercury levels...too much fish...etc...so next week I'm not going to have sushi at all, and aim to bring my lunch everyday. I love eating out so it may be tough.


cMy afternoon snack was an apple.

Dinner was crock pot. I'm not sure what to call it - on the bottom are cut up chicken breasts, white wine, water, oregano, pepper, parsley, then covered with mushrooms. I left it on low from about 7am to 6pm. With it, my husband had some potatoes and we both had a salad

I didn't take a photo after it was cooked. This weekend my mission is to remember to take dinner photos!

After dinner and a few glasses of wine, I had a hand full - or three of chocolate chips.

Off to the winter farmers market in the morning!

Jezzabelle

Day 3

Yesterday the greatest thing happened at our house - our dog Jazz had 6 AMAZING little puppies! Beautiful. I haven't picked them up yet, I like to wait until they are a few days old and mamma feels more comfortable. She's resting nicely in the warm hay loft and she seems so proud. In about a week their eyes will open and then it's time to play! Here's a great shot of puppies that were born last spring, they are 3.5 weeks in this pic.My breakfasts tend to be similar each day. I'll eat something until I exhaust it, eat something else until I exhaust it, then move back to the previous breakfast. The one thing that does not usually change are berries. Blueberries mostly. I try to eat locally, especially in the summer, but berries are something I do not live without.

Today's breakfast - Dorset muesli, skim milk, blueberries.

I buy coffee in the morning maybe once a week from Country Style, but most days I make my own and bring along my Tim Horton's travel mug. I'm not so much of Tim's fan, but this mug works great with the easy sliding lid.

Mid morning snack was canned pineapple. It's not something I eat usually but we were out of fruit, other than berries, and I found this little can in the cupboard.

Then, before lunch I had a sweet tooth, so I had just a bite of this carrot cake Cliff bar. I find the carrot cake flavour to be ok, but they were on sale last week so I thought I'd pick up a few.

Lunch was a beautiful salad - mixed greens, shaved carrot, cherry tomatoes, sprouts, left over chicken and Renees Japanese Ginger dressing. On the side (dipped in dressing on the plate) I had 1/2 ww tortilla.

During my lunch break I hit up the grocery store. Glad I did because around 3pm this apple was needed! I'm a Royal Gala or Ambrosia apple fan.

Dinner was camera shy - I totally forget to take photos! When I got home I noticed some broccoli getting a little limp in the fridge. I mixed it with some chicken stock, water, bay leaf and an onion and let it simmer for about 30 min. Then added some thyme and pepper, a bit of soft tofu, and blended it up with the immersion blender to make a great looking soup! With the soup we had gourmet grilled cheese. WW bread, real cheddar, spinach and some chicken breast baked with balsamic vinegar - delish! I was feeling munchi, and ate a good handful of chocolate chips in the evening.

Here are some not so great shots of mamma dog with her pups. She's pretty protective right now, in a few days I'll be able to get some better shots. Good night!

Jezzabelle