Squash, Gym, and Tags, OH MY!

Started the day early for a Sunday...8am. I blame the cat...as usual! The kitten just doesn't want us sleeping if HE isn't sleeping! We really should have gotten a couple of pet rocks.

Went out and did a bit of grocery shopping this morning...it was nice to be at the store when it wasn't too busy. Got my supplies for my lunch item for the week...I made Bacon's Famous Pasta Salad! Ok, it's not famous...I actually just created it yesterday and today was the first time making it. It COULD be famous...someday! Anyway, here's a picture:

Here's what went into the bowl:

• tri-colour pasta


• cucumber


• tomato


• chick peas


• feta


• kalamata olives


• balsamic vinegar


• EVOO

I believe that's all. Tasted pretty good. Hopefully it will be yummy for lunch tomorrow! I packed a few Kashi crackers (which I LOVE with my soups) to add some crunch. This bowl may look like one or two servings, but it's actually a BIG bowl that will get me through the week. I really should have added something to the picture for scale. Oh well!

The other item I made (for supper this time) was some acorn squash. Thank you to Kath for the tutorial on how to cook it! It was pretty yummy (see picture!). I made my better half a grilled cheese sandwich (forgot to take a picture)...she wasn't wanting any part of the acorn squash, lol. I added butter and brown sugar, yum!

Oh yes, I almost forgot...I went to the gym, yay!! I had a pretty good workout! I'd been thinking of trying to run on the treadmill for a good while now, but haven't wanted to do it while many people were there. I used to run quite a bit a few years back, but then I stopped working out, etc. Anyway, in the spring of this year I did something to my knee and haven't even been able to run across the street while trying to catch a light at the crosswalk. It's been quite painful, so that's part of the reason I haven't wanted to even try running on the treadmill. Anyway, the gym was pretty dead, so I gave it a shot! The first little bit hurt, but then I was able to find a rhythm that minimized any discomfort and didn't make me look like I was all gimpy. I only ran for 5 minutes, but I was so proud of myself. The cardio part of it wasn't a problem, since I've been doing the elliptical, so I was able to pay attention to how I was running and making sure my knee didn't do anything weird. Very proud. :-)

So, I have been tagged by Krista at Krista's Kravings!! How exciting! Been a few years since I've played tag...let's see how I do!

Here are the rules:

1. Link back to the blog that originally tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Tell your readers 6 random things about you
4. Tag 6 other blogs and link back to their sites
5. Leave a comment on your chosen blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged
6. Let your tagger know when you’ve posted your entry

Here are the "oh so exciting" random things about ME!

1. I have an iPhone and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!
2. My favourite dish in the whole world is something that my Mom used to make. It's called Macaroni and Cheese Casserole. So freakin good!
3. I have several favourite movies (I know this is a random list, not a favourite list...sue me! LOL!) - Office Space, Top Gun, The American President.
4. I have experienced -52 degrees Celsius (that is -62 F)...no one should be THAT cold!
5. I have driven from the top of the USA to the bottom...and would do it again...just for the Cracklins and Boudin!
6. When I was in elementary school, we would take an old knee high or some panty hose, stick a tennis ball in there and bounce it off of the outside of the school. We didn't have video game consoles in those days (OMG, I sound SOOOO freakin old!!).

Ok, I think I am done with the craziness that is me!

Here are my tags (sorry if you've been tagged already!):

• Around the World in 340 Days
• Carrots 'N' Cake
• follow my weigh
• Winning Friends with Salad
• No Book Left Behind
• Kath Eats Real Food

I'm off to bed! My workout and my cooking have made me sleepy! Have a great night all!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!

I soooo admire all of you who blog every day! I am just so tired during the week, I just can't seem to do it. Work's been crazy and I've been working late fairly often, so by the time I get home, have some supper, organize my lunch and snacks for the next day, and have a shower, I'm super tired! I think I'm going to challenge myself to blog at least once during the week (in addition to my at least once on the weekend post).

I WENT TO THE GYM TODAY, YAY!!! I've been MIA from the gym for at least a week or two, so I'm so glad I finally went. It felt really good. :-)

At the gym (pronounced "guy-m" for those of you who enjoy the Simpsons...which are on right now, incidentally), I did:

• 5 minute walking warm-up on the treadmill
• 15 minutes on the elliptical - alternating my speed each minute between normal and fast
• 10 minutes walking on a 3.5 incline on the treadmill
• 30 minutes of weight machines and free weights

Food today included the following:

• tomato, feta, mushroom omelet, a couple of bites of potatoes, and a 1.5 slices of whole wheat toast with a bit of jam
• apple
• almond butter
• shake n' bake porkchop with herb and garlic roasted potatoes

On weekends I seem to forget to eat fruit, but today I was able to fit in most of an apple...my better half ate part of one and gave me the rest. Win win situation!

I keep forgetting to mention...I tried the Coconut Cream Pie LaraBar and I LOVED it! It was so very tasty! I'll buy that one again, for sure! I also tried the Cashew Cookie LaraBar...it was actually a bit dry for my tastes. It only had cashews and dates, so that could be why. All of the other ones that I've tried so far have had a bit more moisture to them. This is the first one that I've had with only two ingredients...the rest have had three or four. I have several more LaraBars that are sitting in the pantry that I need to try...I think the next one I'm going for has something to do with cocoa...anything with cocoa can't be all THAT bad, so I'm hopeful!

On a non-food related note...we got a Wii!!!!! YAY!!! We have Wii Play, Wii Sports, and the Wii Fit...all pretty fun! I just finished the running portion on the Wii Fit...we did the 2 person run, so we had a laughing good time doing that...passing each other AND cheating may have been involved. I wasn't the cheater...guess who it was! LOL! In all fairness, I had been sitting on the couch for about 15 minutes watching her do the other things like balance, yoga, strengthening, etc. So, I was nice and fresh when we started our "run"...so, while I was running, she was standing in place, moving the Wii remote up and down to make it THINK she was running! I know...cheater!

I seem to have quite a bit to say...I really should try to blog more often!

Ok, I've been meaning to post pictures of the damn animals...I say damn because they are all pains in the butt, but are also all damn cute...it's a love/hate relationship really. Ok, mostly love.

Ok, I really need to take the dog out, so I can come back in and sit on the couch again! Night all!

Bacon's Famous Minestrone Soup!

Another week, another dollar...another 50 cents after tax, if you want to get technical. It was a busy busy busy week at work, as usual. I'm trying to blog more than just on the weekends, but that's proving easier said than done, I'm afraid. Something to work on...I'm a work in progress! :-)

We had a nice outing yesterday (if you don't count my better half little incident with the white porcelain throne. Not in the good drunken way, but in the sick, not feeling good kind of way. :-( She's been taking an anti-biotic for bronchitis and I think that's the culprit.

Anyway, we headed out to St. Jacob's Farmers' Market on Saturday morning and left there with a REALLY yummy haul!

The first picture is the whole kit and caboodle (I have NO idea where that came from...who SAYS that anymore???!).

Moving left to right...sticky buns (aka cinnamon buns), garlic bread (standing up behind the first item), garlic red pepper jelly, regular red pepper jelly, Empire apples, acorn squash, butternut squash...

...Royal Gala apples, mini red potatoes, honey butter, apple cider, beeswax tea lights.

Wow, quite the spread! Except for the vomiting, good fun was had by all! To end our Saturday, we had a NAP! I LOVE weekend naps! I slept for 3 or so hours, but I let my better half sleep for a couple of hours longer, since she wasn't feeling well. We had half of the garlic bread for supper, with some Classico Tomato and Basil pasta sauce. YUM!!!

This morning I had some of my Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal with some brown sugar and milk. Last night I put some into the crockpot (as suggested on the company's website), so it was ready for my consumption this morning. It was pretty good, as usual, but REALLY hard to clean out of the crockpot. The reason I did it in the first place was so that I could have some already made to bring to work for breakfast. I'll see tomorrow how it is warmed up in the microwave.

Today we met up for lunch with one of our friends that we hadn't seen in a good while. We headed to the Pickle Barrel and had a pretty tasty lunch. I had a chicken wrap with hummus etc. and some veggie soup. I took home the other half of the wrap to have with tomorrow's lunch.

Which brings me to tomorrow's lunch (and lunch for the rest of the week, as a matter of fact). I made...guess...just try to guess what I made. It rhymes with POOP, GOOP, BOOP, COOP, HOOP, LOOP...get it yet? You're right!!! SOUP!!!!! I'm thinking of calling this blog, "Bacon's Soup". It seems like that's ALL I make. Anyway, on to the soup...

Here is a before heat and after heat shot of my famous (first time making this) "Bacon's Minestrone Soup"!

I'm actually quite proud of myself. I looked at a couple of recipes, didn't really see anything that I totally liked, so I created my own! Here's a list of the ingredients:

• diced tomatoes
• white beans
• orzo pasta
• carrots
• celery
• kale
• garlic
• EVOO
• beef broth
• beef bullion cube
• veggie broth
• water
• oregano
• basil
• S&P

I think that was it. I have it written down, but am just too tired to get my butt up to have a look. It made enough for the week, and then some! Oh and let me just say...I felt like a real chef when I was cutting up the kale! I don't know why, but I felt like I actually KNEW what I was doing! LOL!

Tonight for supper we had the other half of the garlic bread with the rest of the pasta sauce. So good! We'll be buying some more of that next time we go, for sure. We don't go as often as we'd like...it's about a 45 minute drive away and we always end up spending a good bit of cash. Good stuff though. Totally worth it!

I think that's about it for the weekend. It was pretty busy...didn't get in a workout...haven't really gone in awhile. I plan on going in the morning, so hopefully the extra hour of sleep will facilitate that. Anyway, have a great week everyone! I'll be enjoying my soup!