Rolls be gone

I'm going to lay it all out for you


In perpendicular lines of course because i'm OCD like that


I have developed some rolls


Have a little extra poundage


My jeans have developed muffin spill overage


In other words

Donna has gained some weight

I love organic eating and a whole food approach to eating

But its made a few pounds creep on

All thanks to late night powwows with my good friends cookies and chocolate

Now the jeans i bought when Dave and i started dating 2 years ago still fit

But let me tell you they are a heck of a lot tighter

Visions of sausages dance in my head (yes i said sausages and not sugar plums) as i pull them up

I'm definitely not overweight or underweight

But some toning definitely needs to start happening

I don't know how many pounds i've gained

Because the thought of stepping on a scale makes my chest start to constrict

I'm not being overly dramatic here

Even though i love being overly dramatic

But i'm going to save it later this week for when i am bound to drop yet another mug

Scales are just not for me

The issue with my normal plans is that i drop weight quickly

I'm lucky like that

Please don't hate me

Its just that i then reward myself with eating crap and not working out 


Thus  starting the vicious cycle all over again

I need to break my binge and purge behaviour

I AM NOT that girl anymore

I'm 100% okay with weighing more then i did 2 years ago

Look at me

Are you looking?

I'm happy now, i'm in a healthy relationship and i'm in lluuurrrvvvveeeee

So a few extra pounds are acceptable as i'm no longer miserable and able to survive on grilled cheese sandwiches alone

Mmmm grilled cheese

But i do need to stop feeling uncomfortable with how i look in my clothes and feel happy about my abs again

So here is a list of what I'm doing to Kick Start my tushie

1. Eat Vegan: I always feel SO good when we cut dairy and meat from our diets

2. Makes meals ahead of time: This explains why i spent 8 hours in the kitchen yesterday

3. Focus on strength training: I'm heading to TRX tomorrow, can't wait!

4. No running till i'm 100% healed: i mentioned yesterday that i was having issues, well running 20 km in 1 week after hardly running all winter was NOT, i repeat NOT a good idea!

5. Lots of extra fruit and veggies: i love using a colourful approach to eating but i want to kick it up a notch

Donnas Simplified Plan to Success

- Lots and lots of water and then when i think i've drunk enough, i'm going to drink more water

- Work out at least 5 times a week 

- No eating late at night, this one is soooo hard

- Treats on the weekend ONLY (unless i'm PMSee then you just try to keep me away from chocolate, just try)

Now part of holding myself accountable will be sharing some of my daily eats and i WANT your opinions, did i eat too much, not enough? Let me know puhlease?


Todays Eats are


Breakfast: Spelt Pancakes - want more details??? Stay tuned for the end of the post
Snack: Smoothie featuring unsweetened chocolate almond milk with instant coffee, blueberries and spinach
Lunch: Left over vegan mac and cheese with asparagus
Snack: Carrot sticks
Dinner: Multigrain flatbread with garlic butter topped with tomato chili lentil sauce
Snack: Peanut butter ball
Snack #2: Orange and mango
Snack #3: Almond milk smoothie with spinach and blueberries

_____________________________

Okay so thats enough nattering from Donna today


Ready for a recipe?


Nahhhh


That wasn't loud enough


Are you ready??????


Okay, here you go


*CURTSY*

Squirrels vs. Monkeys vs. Bees 

aka: Spelt Pancakes with Peanut Butter, Bananas and Honey

Serves 2

Or 1 with leftovers if your BF falls asleep in the bath and is running crazy late for work and misses out

Ingredients
1 Cup of Spelt Flour
2 tsps of Baking Powder
1 Cup of almond milk
Dash of Cinnamon
Half a Banana
1 Tbsp of Peanut Butter

Directions
1. Mix all dry ingredients and add in almond milk
2. Cook over griddler for until bubbles appear, flip and cook for 2 more minutes on the other side
3. Layer with peanut butter and bananas
4. Drizzle the top with honey or agave nectar (if you do use agave nectar i would have to rename the recipe Squirrels vs. Monkeys vs. Plants and that doesn't work quite as well!)
5. Admit to your blog readers you used agave nectar
6. Hang head in incorrect recipe title shame

Thanks for listening to my plans and lists friends!


Tell me what you do to kick start yourself after a little too much self indulging?

The Dangers of Blogging

This was NOT our weather this weekend, we had
snow in Ontario!

Happy monday FRIENDS


*She says in a super perky voice* 


Obviously i have the day off today otherwise i would be using my Monday doom and gloom voice, its pretty obvious via blog, no?


So its Monday Recap! I tried to have a little fun and of course got up to some mischeif and blonde like antics!


Friday: I went to bootcamp first thing in the morning with a work friend and totally got my butt handed to me by a crazy fit romanian lady who i can't wait to pay a lot of money to do it 3 times a week when the next session starts!  I also managed to leave the lights on my car draining the battery (bad blonde move on my part) and had to call BF to boost me at work, he wanted to know if any of my coworkers had booster cables and i laughed at him and said, we are a bunch of female bankers, the dirtiest our hands get is replacing the toner cartridge in our printers and i don't even like doing that - he would have better luck searching the depths of the garage looking for our cables, lol! 


Saturday: Got to work with my friend Nic for his last shift at the bank EVER, he is an awesome teacher and he is going to change students lives with his awesomeness!  A few of us had a goodbye photoshoot - it was kind of a slow day
I also made KILLER baked beans from scratch, i mean they were legendary, i didn't properly photograph them for the blog since i like to try a recipe before i blog about it but oh my gosh, i couldn't stop myself from sneaking spoonfuls from the pot, BF and I are leaking some lethal fumes today, teeheheeee


Sunday: Was crazy, not sure what got into me but i woke up, went for a run, came home, went to Physique 57 and then yoga, i'm now answering only to donna the-exercise-machine-please-bow-before-me :o) Then it was off to work for 4 hours and finally, I came home to a big arse glass of wine!  Too bad it really aggravated my headache but i forced myself to drink some coconut water and it really helped!  I'm starting to be a coconut water fan, this stuff works miracles 

________________________________

So lets talk about the hazards of blogging because its not all sunshine, rainbows and high stats you know, its pretty harrowing stuff


First there are the injuries - Graters don't just grate your cheese and lemon rind, they also take pretty huge chunks out of your hand as well, makes it pretty damn painful to squeeze a lemon i tell you!

My booboo

Then there is the chocolate addiction, did you know there is a website called Chocomize where you can pick your favourite chocolate favourite and choose from a ridiculous amount of fillings like bacon, potato chips and 24 karat gold flakes?  No wonder some of us are obsessed!

As a blogger you also have the urge to share ridiculous photos of yourself that really shouldn't be publicly aired - in the picture below i'm stretching out my toosmallforme flats with my fluffiest of winter socks, yeah, i'm totally rocking the look too

Sexy Bitch

One major concern for food bloggers is our bank accounts, i mean do you know how expensive basil and vanilla beans are?  I'm one Whole Foods and Crate & Barrel trip away from ending up in the poor house 

Now this is serious danger, let me start off by saying: I am now a kale lover, oh its bad, me and kale are likethis, so Sunday at work one of my clients (i work in a bank) actually asked me if I had weed in a baggie on my desk, yeah, ummm no!  Its Kale Chips, i started to explain the health benefits and they just laughed and looked a little dissapointed it wasn't pot and it wasn't going to be shared, Lets hope no one official comes across my snack, I think until Kale becomes a world wide phenomenon i might just refrain from taking it on public transportation

These are just a few of the dangers,  bloggers really should receive hazard pay!

________________________________

Vegan Week Recap

• So i did it, no animal crackers were harmed during vegan week!
• I really feel like the key to eating vegan was planning ahead, i was never left with that oh god there is nothing to eat, lets just grab anything feeling
• We only drank water for the whole week and even though it was a bit boring, we both found we were craving water by the end of the week, YAY for increased water consumption
• Now while BF did cheat a bit, he was really good and is totally on board for more vegan meals in the future - this is huge!
• BF's official vegan week review: Good, i enjoyed how i felt eating so clean, look at my abs babe.... 
• ... Okay, i'm back, got a little distracted there ;o)
• Most of my recipes for the week have been or will be seen on the blog but my 2 biggest inspiration for vegan eating are Mama Pea & Oh She Glows, they make it look SO easy!
• The one thing i really missed wasn't cheese like i thought it would be, but milk in my tea in the mornings, i subbed it with almond milk and have grown to enjoy it!  
• In summary I have to say that eating vegan is like going through a cleanse, it made my body feel empty and clean inside, that probably doesn't make sense but its the best description i can come up with right now!
• BF and I are not going 100% vegan at this time but there will be  a lot more vegan weeks in our future - next week is vegetarian, we are introducing dairy and eggs back into our diets, wish us luck!

________________________________

Talking about yummy Vegan recipes, this one was one of our favourites!

Easy Creamy Tomato Barley Risotto

adapted from: Oh She Glows

Ingredients

1 cup of pot barley
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 Tbsp of minced garlic
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1 cup almond milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (I buy mine at Bulk Barn)
1/2 tbsp miso mixed with 1/2 Tbsp water (I bought my Miso at Bulk Barn as well)
1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions

1. Rinse pot barley in a strainer and place into medium sized pot that has a lid

2. Add olive oil, basil, and oregano and stir well until barley is coated with oil

3. Turn heat to medium until barley begins to sizzle, then add in the minced garlic and reduce heat to low-medium

4. Cook for 1 minute and then add in the tomatoes, milk, water, nutritional yeast, miso, and salt and stir well till it comes to a gentle boil and then cover and reduce heat to low

5. Let a little air escape from the lid and cook for 30 minutes stirring frequently

6. When ready the mixture should be creamy not runny and the barley will be chewy

7. ENJOY!

________________________________

I'll leave you with yet another photo that SHOULD NOT be shared but i'm gonna do it anyway, because i'm a blogger and thats how i roll ;o)

Question of the day: What crazy thing do you do as a blogger?

Retro Wednesday

Well if we want to rhyme with Wednesday it should be Wetro Wednesday but seriously, everything old is new again - including me!

Let me explain.

Not quite this retro!

This last weekend BF and i spent a lot of time just cuddled up in our house enjoying each others company and taking long walks around the neighbourhood and for once I wasn't jonesing to go shopping or visit 9 million people, i was just happy to have a quiet weekend in

And then i realized...




I'm getting old



Let me give you an example




You know when your mum shops with you and points out that she used to have that specific skirt(The exact one Donna!!!) When she was younger...

Well thats how i'm feeling lately, Retro.

Nothing makes me happier then padding around our kitchen in bare feet cooking for my man - what am i a 1950's housewife?

I find myself smiling at songs on the radio from my youth  (yeah that would be the 1990's) the way my parents smile at songs by some guy named Chris De Burgh -> That was your cue to start humming "Lady In Red", i know i am!


I bought a food processor and posed for photos with it


Where did the days go when all i wanted was those jeans with the zipper up the side - oh wait, i can get those at the mall they are in fashion again, (hear that mum? I get to say that now too!!!)

But doing these things makes me happy, i still love going out and seeing friends, enjoying restaurants but i've come to peace with the fact that it's okay to enjoy a quiet night in and make black bean brownies at 6pm on a Saturday night (hasn't happened yet, but it might!)

It results in a newer, happy and serene Donna vs. you know, a spazzy stressed out Donna, and i know which version everyone prefers! 

BUT you know what isn't old? This brand new Thai Wrap recipe (i know this segue way is lame but its all i got right now, must remind my old brain to come back and edit this to be a WAY funnier segue way), I made it up while i was browsing my grocery store looking for inspiration in the aisles that I do so adore and I created it all by myself

Thai Wraps

Ingredients

Chinese noodles

Veggies of your choice (i used broccoli slaw, peppers, green onions)

2 Tbsp of Peanut butter

1/4 cup of Coconut milk

Juice of 1 Lime

2 Tbsp of Soya sauce

2 Tbsp of Rice Wine Vinegar
Dash of Red Pepper Flakes

Directions

1. Mix Peanut butter, milk, juice, soya sauce all in a bowl till mixed

2. Add in vegetables

3. Put in centre of wrap

4. Wrap

5. Force yourself to wait till 11am to eat it because even though you got up at 5:15, 10:30 is not an acceptable time to eat lunch!

Super tasty recipe, it looks like you can teach an old dog new tricks ;o)

Talking about dogs, my furry niece passed her surgery with flying colours and is now sporting a super fashionable neck piece! 

The cone looks familiar, i bet if Sydney could see her she would say wuff, i had one of those once, back in the day and then she would shake her head, sigh and eat some chocolate...


Oh wait, never mind... that was me!


Vegan Update!


2nd day was a lot better then day 1, still hungry but handling it better today, still upping my water consumption and i went on a 25 minute run this morning followed by an hour at Physique 57, my body is a-hurtin! 


So all is well for me, however... I found this on the kitchen counter Tuesday night!  No matter how much he tries to convince me otherwise Chocolate Buttons are NOT vegan and BF has officially failed the Vegan challenge, little bugger, I however am still on board and he is getting dirty dirty looks because dirty looks never get old xox


Question of the Day: What are your fashion regrets from your younger days? My worst was the black spandex shorts with the neon yellow stripe down the side, i loved those shorts!

Leggo my Eggo

Gosh DARN it all to heck - since i apparently can't bring myself to swear on my blog this is all i have to relay my feeling about this.......

I was sooo proud of myself yesterday, i said no to feta cheese while out to dinner with my bestest girl friends, but as i was snuggled up on the couch with BF watching "Get Him To The Greek" (he is on a Russell Brand kick since he starting reading his autobiography, quality reading people, quality) I paused mid animal cracker mouth massecre to consult the ingrediant list and low and behold, there was EGG!!!!!!!!! Oh the horror, it was organic egg but it was still frickin egg

Soooo instead of throwing them aside and attacking something that contained both meat and dairy, i pouted and then went to bed - i was too tired for more theatrical angst over my epic fail to be a vegan

Back at it today, I am planning on letting in some dairy on the weekend (visualize me worshiping the cheese aisle in Zehrs here)

But until then...I have a yummy snacking recipe for you all today - get excited cause it doesn't have egg and they taste REALLY good

Roasted salt and vinegar CHICK PEAS

AKA Crack Peas in my house, they taste THAT good!
adapted from: oh she glows

1. Take a can of chick peas and drain and rinse them (i use PC organic)
2. Bring a pot of white vinegar to boil (usually about 3 cups will do), add the chick peas and boil for 2 minutes on high
3. Watch the chick peas dance for you and try not to put your face directly over the pot, it won't turn out good, it will end up with you squinting in a suspicious way for at least an hour
4. Turn the heat off and let chick peas sit in the vinegar for at least 30 minutes (mini chick pea vacation before they meet their doom - your stomach)
5. Drain the chick peas and spread them out on a cookie sheet and leave to dry (leave them/forget about them when you go to work, same thing) i usually put tin foil down first to help roast and honestly to make cleaning up easier
6. Preheat oven to 425
7. Once dry sprinkle extra virgin olive oil (about 1 tablespoon but its up to you), sea salt, and ground pepper
8. Put in oven for 20 minutes, shaking the pan every now and then, once they start to brown and get crispy get them out!   The original recipe calls for 40 minutes which works if they aren't entirely dry, i dried mine for about 9 hours (literally while i was at work) and they were cooked in 20 minutes - key to this is keep an eye on them (hopefully your eyes will have recovered from staring directly into the boiling pot because you know you are going to try it!)
9. ENJOY! The first couple will taste kind of meh, but beleive me eat a few more and you will have to stop yourself from eating the whole pan, or not, totally up to you!

Yummy crackpea goodness

Ps: is it me or are those animal crackers in my first picture mocking me on the box? 
Pps: yes i did draw mustaches on some of them, i am that immature

Vegan schmegan

First off here is a teaser of Aruba

Are you done drooling? I know i'm not and i was just there.... (pause - i had to go and cry to dave i wanna go back but he is not agreeing, something about having jobs and being responsible, blah blah blah) 


Second, i've managed to eat Vegan for 2 days now!  Tomorrow i will post some recipes for our favourite healthy eats around our house including dessert hummus - take my word its AMAZING!


Off to eat something soy :oP

I smell pretty - A valentine day recap

Layer 1: dairy milk cream cheese frosting
Layer 2: straight melted dairy milk
Layer 3: hershey hug
i know i cross contaminated brands of
chocolate,
bf doesn't mind

I took the picture pre oven to show shape
formation, post oven it just looked kind
of oval shaped!

Still no Aruba blog and pics, i promise to get to them soon!
Yesterday consisted of Unpacking, laundry, grocery shoppping and making BF a valentines feast
First there was the heart shaped pizza, then the triple layer (count em, 3 layers!) rice krispie treats and then BF surprised me with perfume - our plan WAS to buy something together since we didn't have time to pick something up before our trip, so i was mucho surprised to receive a present, now when i get annoyed with BF i start telling him off and each time his response is "you smell pretty" to which i bat my eyelashes and say really? gosh i love this perfume honey and totally forget why i was annoyed, sneaky bugger!

Had to go back to work today (insert sad face here)
I'm planning to go till Friday as a vegan, i'll keep you updated!

I smell pretty, oh so pretty: name the movie!.... dirty dancing people, that was a hard one :o)