The Zucchini Dilemma (+ a recipe!)

It’s that wonderful time of year when gardens are starting to come alive with delicious, fresh summer produce.

Not my garden, of course. This girl ain’t got no green thumb. Weeding is just about the last thing I want to do on a hot summer’s evening. So hence, I have no garden.

Lucky for me, my momma does. And lucky for me, she shares.

I was telling her a while back about how I wanted to try out making vegetable “noodles”. I keep seeing recipes online – especially from my favourite healthy recipe resource in Gina at Skinnytaste.com – using vegetables such as zucchini, squash, and carrots sliced julienne or spiralized to make what they call “zoodles”. A low-carb option for a pasta lover like me, and a way to get extra veggies into my diet? Right up my alley! I’ve already learned that I enjoy spaghetti squash in place of pasta, and so I’ve been wanting to get a spiralizer or mandolin to try out these other veggie-noodle options.

(Gina’s picture) 

My mom remembered this desire of mine, and thus brought me one of the very first zucchinis from her garden this year. So kind of her, right? Except that I haven’t yet purchased the spiralizer or mandolin. And aside from wanting to try out “zoodles”, I really had no desire to have anything with zucchini in it.

Confession: I actually really hate zucchini.

(Unless it comes cut into sticks, breaded, deep fried, and served with a side of creamy dip.)

I know. This is starting to make no sense. Why would a person who hates zucchini steal her mother’s first one fresh from the garden?

Well, because I thought these “zoodles” might get me back on the zucchini train. I mean, I used to like zucchini. As a kid, my mom made this stuff that she called “ratatouille” – slices of onion, zucchini, and tomato, sautéed in oil with some seasonings, and topped with melty mozzarella. I used to love it. Until I ate too much of it. We used to have it a lot. And once I got sick of it, it was the zucchini part that really made me sick. I could still just gag on the memory of it.

So, yeah, since then I’ve been more than a little leery of non-deep-fried-zucchini.

Anyways, I claimed that early gem from Mom’s garden over a week ago regardless, and it had been sitting in my fridge ever since. I didn’t have time (or money) to buy a tool to make noodles out of it, and it was starting to get a little soft, so I decided Tuesday that I had to do something with it that night. I couldn’t just let it go to waste!

Plan # 1 was to try and satisfy my chocolate & peanut butter craving-of-the-day after google turned up a recipe for “healthy” chocolate zucchini brownies with a low-fat no-sugar-added peanut butter sauce. I put “healthy” in quotes, though, because no matter how low-cal and low-fat one of those brownies might have been, we all know that isn’t so if I eat the whole pan. Zero willpower, remember? It was a very real possibility that I might just do that, so it didn’t make sense for me to tempt myself – and thus, continue to sabotage myself – in that way.

Plan # 2 = the Cream of Zucchini Soup recipe from good ol’ Gina at Skinnytaste.

I’d pinned it a while back, and while I didn’t exactly have everything I needed to make it, I figured I could improvise. And it would go well with the toasted tomato sandwich I was already planning to make for supper that night. AND there wasn’t as big a chance of me eating a whole pot of soup as there was of me eating a whole pan of brownies.

Seriously, guys. Welcome to a day inside my brain. *sigh*

You can find Gina’s original recipe here, but this is my altered version:

Creamy Zucchini & Spinach Soup

1 medium zucchini, skin on, cut in large chunks

2 large handfuls of spinach

1 small onion, quartered

3 cloves of garlic, smashed

32 oz. fat-free reduced sodium chicken broth

2 Tbsp. 0% Plain Greek Yogurt

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions: Combine zucchini, spinach, onion, garlic, and chicken broth in a medium-sized pot over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes or until zucchini is tender. Puree using an immersion blender. Add the Greek Yogurt, salt & pepper, and blend again. Serve hot.

(Gina’s picture – mine was darker green because of the spinach, I guess.  I did drizzle the olive oil over top, but skipped the cheese.)

Let me tell you guys…this was mmm mmm good!! As we all know, one of my favourite things to do in the kitchen is make big pots of soup, but with warmer summer temps upon us, I hadn’t done this in quite a while. It felt good to be stirring a pot of soup again! It almost made me crave fall! (almost – too soon yet, I know – haha!)

So, Gina’s recipe calls for 3 zucchinis, but of course I only had one, so that’s why I added in the fistfuls of spinach. I also used more onion & garlic than she called for because…well… I love onion and garlic. I probably could have used less chicken broth, as it made a thinner soup than I like, but if it had been all zucchini, I think it would’ve been more of the thicker consistency that I prefer. And also, she uses fat-reduced sour cream in her recipe, which I did not have, but we all know plain Greek yogurt makes a perfect substitute for sour cream, so boom… Cream of Zucchini Soup, in mah belly!

It was delish, a perfect summer soup!

I still want to try out the “zoodles” some day, but until then, at least I know of another way to enjoy zucchini in the days of fresh garden produce ahead!!

It’s like friggin’ Lent all over again.

The Six-Week Plan. Here’s how it’s been going:

The first two weeks, I was strong. REALLY strong. I didn’t waver in my steadfast vow to eat healthy each and every day hardly at all. I was a g-d powerhouse.

Weeks three & four were pretty good, too. I mean, I had a few slip-ups, but nothing major. Nothing detrimental. And I was pleased with the progress I was making. Of the 15 lbs. I’d gained since Easter, I had lost 10 of them, and I was pretty positive that I’d be able to reach my lowest weight by the end of the six weeks. Everything was going tickety-boo. I didn’t even go buy that bag of ketchup chips I was fancying last week.

Then, the weekend of Week 4 – this past weekend - happened. All I can describe it as is pure sabotage. On Saturday, I had an unexpected splurge at the restaurant Scores, where I discovered the soup, salad & fruit bar sounds healthier than it is, especially when paired up with a massive platter of food. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d halted there, but for whatever reason, Saturday evening turned into one of those binges that seem to hit me periodically.

I ate my leftovers from lunch for dinner, then moved on to a PC Blue Menu Frozen Yogurt Bar. Followed that up with a bowl of fruit, and then I scrounged around in my freezer and found two really old freezer burnt cookies to eat. I was dying for chocolate, so naturally, I ate a bag of chocolate chip & cookie pieces meant for topping sundaes (which was hiding in the back of my cupboard). Next came the spoonfuls of peanut butter and honey. And last, but certainly not least, a chocolate Santa from two Christmases ago.

He didn’t even taste right, but I still ate him.

Seriously. WTF.

I hadn’t even pin-pointed Saturday as a “problem day” on the schedule. It was Sunday that I had circled as a “be careful, be mindful, be strong” day – the day of the baby shower my friend Kerry and I had been planning.

I was anything but careful, mindful, or strong. I left Brittany’s baby shower feeling extremely stuffed. I over-ate. It was obvious to everyone around me, as my mother kept shooting me “stop eating!!” eyes, and Kerry kept hissing at me, “That’s enough! No more!” (they were trying to be helpful, not mean – trust me.)

Here’s the kicker: I had supplied the chips, dip, Party Mix, etc. for the shower, and thus brought home several bags that had been opened but still had plenty left in them. I decided Sunday evening that I couldn’t have these chips lingering around tempting me, so I ate them.

ALL of them.

Yesterday, I literally had a food hangover. I felt sluggish and thirsty and bloated and just plain ol’ gross.

Worst of all, I felt severely disappointed in myself. My weekend binge had erased a large portion of my progress over the first four weeks of the plan. And I was the one who kept saying, “Anyone can do ANYthing for six weeks!” Apparently not. *sigh*

I awoke Monday morning with new resolve, though. Two weeks left. Time to buckle down and finish strong. I can STILL do this!!

And then, yesterday, I was hit by peanut butter and chocolate cravings. Of course I was.

When did I become such a GIRL?!?! I NEVER used to crave pb & chocolate! But right now, I’d give anything for a bag of Peanut M&Ms. Or a package of Reeces Peanut Butter Cups. Or better yet, a huge slab of Café 349’s infamous Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake.

This is absolutely, 100%, exactly what happened to me during Lent. A few weeks of being a machine, a few weeks of hanging tough, then a few weeks of lunatic cravings that all involved peanut butter Easter eggs.

The thing is, this time around I swore I wasn’t going to do a post-challenge food-fest. A few treats in honour of my birthday and being on vacay, but NO $100 worth of Easter chocolate or a list of things to “reward” myself with.

Instead, I’m doing my best to block out the cravings for bad stuff. I’m focusing on re-grouping and closing out this six-week challenge as best as I can. Is the bikini going to happen? Considering this past weekend and the damage I did to the number on the scales with my indulging, all indicators are pointing to no.

But I’m no quitter. I’ve had a set-back, but I’m still determined.

Gonna giver one last shot…

A weird & twisty trip down Memory Lane…

So. Last week, after reading another blogger’s post on movies she binge-watched as a kid (an eclectic list, if I do say so myself, and this coming from a kid who binge-watched her fair share back in the day), I ended up taking a weird and twisty trip down memory lane…

Her list got me thinking of some of the movies and shows I haven’t thought about in ages. I mean, I have my old-school cheesey movie faves, as we all know, but there are some other shows and movies that have slipped through the cracks of memory. Or, had slipped through… a little random googling, and BAM! They were alllll brought back to me!

It started with me thinking about a Christian Slater movie that I remember my older sister renting & watching with her when I was little. After she rented it the first time, I probably rented it 10 times after that. I hadn’t thought about it in years, and couldn’t even remember what it was called. All I remember is that he was a cop, and at one point in the flick, he sends flowers to his girlfriend, and tells the florist to put on the card: “Love and kisses on all your pink parts.” Hmmm. It MAY not have been an appropriate movie for a little kid to be watching. But then again, that happened often with a sister six & a half years older than me, and parents who apparently didn’t supervise at ALL what we were watching.

It also got me wondering why the lady at the video store would let me rent this one repeatedly, but refused to let me rent My Girl. A mystery I may never solve…

Anyways. Couldn’t remember what it was called, so I looked up a list of all of Christian Slater’s movies, and there it was.

Kuffs. 1992.

Guess what the most recent addition is to my Amazon wishlist?!

PS – What the hell ever happened to Christian Slater?!?!

That movie got me thinking about the influence my sister Kara had over my growing up years – her likes were basically my likes, and her interests in movies, music, TV, and the posters she pinned on our bedroom walls became my interests.

In fact, it was because of her (and my) crush on the character Jake from the soap Another World that I named my dog “Jake”.

Wow. I used to think he was SO smokin’ hot.

The weird and twisty trip down memory lane didn’t stop there. Somehow, I ended up thinking of movies and shows that scared me as a kid. And there was one in particular that jumped from the crevices of my brain. Again, don’t remember much about it, other than it was on TV every now and then, and featured a kid smearing peanut butter on his head and then hair growing everywhere. Scared the bejeesus out of me. I don’t think I ever even watched the whole thing.

Google, of course did not fail me. It was called The Peanut Butter Solution. 1985.

  

And after reading the synopsis, it’s no wonder the damn movie scared the bejeesus out of me. That is one messed-up plotline for a so-called “family film”!!!!

The next movie that came to mind that used to freak me out was another one I had to google… All I remembered was a real-life kid making friends with an animated dragon. And apparently, all you have to do is type “real-life kid making friends with an animated dragon” in to the ol’ googlemachine to discover that the movie was a Disney flick called Pete’s Dragon. 1977.

 

They must’ve shown this on the Disney Family Hour on Sunday nights. All I know is that it scared me. But after reading the Wikipedia page on it, I have no idea why. An orphan boy who makes friends with a sweet cartoon dragon? A jaunty musical soundtrack? What’s to fear here, Jill?

Who knows. But I hated that damn movie. Worst Sunday night ever when it was on. And I’d have to eat STEAK on top of that. Ugh.

From there, my brain took another shift to something that was extremely vague in my memories. So vague, in fact, that I wasn’t sure if it was even real. I thought maybe it was all just a figment of my imagination.

But it was something I thought I might’ve seen on TV when I was really little. And it had a name. And that name was “Fuzzbucket”.

I literally typed it into google, expecting it to come back and say, “You are crazy. This means nothing.”

But instead, the first search result turned up a 1986 TV movie called Fuzzbucket.

It’s a real thing, guys. A real thing that my childhood nightmares were made of.

A little boy who has a very fuzzy imaginary friend, who turns out to not be imaginary at all. I mean… just LOOK at that thing. Who the hell thought up these ideas for kids?!

No wonder I was so frigging scared of Fuzzbucket!!!!

Anyone else have weird childhood memories of movies and TV shows like I do? Trust me, if you don’t remember specifics, google will help you out! ;)

Man, I REALLY want to watch Kuffs now!!!

But still a definite no to Fuzzbucket.

A Tale of Two Jillians

Alright. I think I’m ready to move on from the Ketchup Chips now. (but thank you all for granting me the moment to share in that weakness…)

I’m ready to tell you guys all about Jillian Michaels, and how I’ve finally made peace with her.

As some of you may recall, a few years back I bought her 30-Day Shred DVD, and hung all my hopes on it to somehow magically take me from 230 lbs. to 120 lbs. in 30 days with a daily 20 minute workout.

There’s a *slight* chance that my expectations were a teensy bit too high.

I started on Day 1 with Level 1, and pretty near died. Right there on my living room floor. And it really pissed me off that at the exact moment that I just lay down on the floor, soaking in sweat, deciding to completely give up, that she was yelling something like, “C’MON! YOU WANT RESULTS IN 30 DAYS? YOU HAVE TO GIVE ME 110%! YOU CAN’T JUST LIE DOWN AND QUIT!!!!”

What a bitchface.

I hated her. Loathed her. Absolutely detested her. “Sure, J.Michaels, it’s easy for you, you scrawny little rig, you! But I.CAN’T.DO.IT!!! AND STOP YELLING AT ME!!! URGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!”

To say we didn’t quite hit it off would be a bit of an understatement. We didn’t mesh well, we Jillians. Not one little bit.

For the next couple of months, I’d occasionally pop the DVD in (definitely not every day for 30 days, though), and give ‘er a go. Every time, I failed. Every time, I thought to myself, How do people put up with this woman? Why does everyone recommend this damned DVD? I literally can’t stand her!!! And how can she possibly make 20 minutes feel like an ETERNITY???

Eventually, I gave it up completely, and that 30-Day Shred DVD started collecting dust on my shelf, with me no further ahead in the weight loss game than when I started.

Fast forward a year or so, to January 2013, and there I am, ready to embark on a new “health & fitness journey”. I had been encouraged by my friend/co-worker Jared (who became my Beachbody coach) to give TurboFire a try. I was skeptical. Extremely skeptical. But I really wanted to give it a good go this time, so I invested – money and time – into a program that came highly recommended.

And may I just say, right here and now, God bless Chalene Johnson and her awesome upbeat tunes and fun dancey moves? TurboFire made me realize that I could actually enjoy exercise. It made me realize that I could actually have a little bit of fun with it. It made me realize that I didn’t have to dread each time I popped one of the DVD’s in.

After a year and a half of working out on a regular basis, 5-7 days a week, it is one of the biggest keys that I tell people who wonder how it can be done: Find an exercise program or activity that you enjoy.

It makes the world of difference.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t love working out. I DO love the way I feel when I’m done, but there are still many days that I have to give myself a pep talk to get ‘er done. There are still many days when my eyes keep drifting to the timer in the bottom corner of the screen, praying the minutes pass faster.

But for me, not working out is not an option. I make myself do it. If it’s on the schedule, at has to happen. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. No excuses. I’m the queen of excuses, so it’s taken a lot of work to get to this place right now.

Chalene was the right kind of trainer for me. And after her, I followed it up with Dan and Rach from Les Mills Combat – not quite the same, but still enjoyable. I didn’t dislike them, and that was very important. I needed to be OK with taking 30 minutes to an hour to work out every day.

So, how did Jillian Michaels get back into the game after I declared her a monster, you ask?

As it turns out, after losing 75 lbs. and becoming a little stronger, her workout isn’t quite as intolerable – insufferable - to me anymore.

I discovered that last fall/winter when my DVD player decided it was allergic to my Turbo DVDs. Until I got my replacement DVDs (and, eventually, a new DVD player), I had to sub with some of the other DVD’s I had kicking around. JM’s 30-Day Shred was one of them. The first time I did it, I thought to myself, “Hmm…this isn’t as hard as I remember it being…” Coincidentally, Jillian wasn’t as big of a pain in the ass either.

Then I picked up her 6-Week 6-Pack and Yoga Meltdown DVD’s because they were on sale on Amazon for $3.99 each one day. (I figured at that price, it couldn’t hurt, in case I ever needed a change-up). I now have both of those in regular rotation, along with some of my favourite Turbo and Combat workouts, in a schedule I developed myself for my Six-Week Plan.

That’s right. I’m spending time with Jillian Michaels four times a week now.

And I no longer have the urge to shoot laser beams of death at her out of my eyeballs.

Kind of a miracle, actually.

Now, whether Jillian’s workouts are actually going to be effective for me remains to be seen. I’m doing 6-Week 6-Pack 3 times a week (in conjuction with Turbo Upper & Lower workouts), and Yoga Meltdown once a week, with Les Mills Combat and Tubo high-intensity cardio workouts on the other three days. My main goal right now is to try and blast away the layer of fat lingering on my biggest trouble spot: the tummy.

I can FEEL my core getting stronger each time I do 6-Week 6-Pack. I KNOW it’s definitely doing something.

But we’re far from bikini-ready yet, my friends.

I’m giving Jillian these six weeks. I’m considering it an experiment. Combined with extremely healthy eating and the other workouts, I know it’s definitely going to be beneficial.

But will it do the trick 100%? Will it get me in that damn bikini by July 28^th?

I’m still very unsure.

The good news is, I don’t dread pushing play anymore on the J.Michaels DVDs. I don’t cringe at the sound of her voice. I don’t want to scream obscenities at her anymore.

I’ve made peace with Jillian Michaels.

She and I are finally OK.

Ketchup Chips

I had a plan for today’s blog post. I was going to tell you all about how I’ve made peace with the other Jillian.

Yes. Jillian Michaels. Ol’ bitchface herself. (really. She and I are OK now, believe it or not)

But I didn’t get that post written when I was in the right frame of mind. And instead, now all I can think about are Ketchup Chips.

I’d give my right arm for a gaddamn Ketchup Chip right now!!!!!!

*sigh* I knew this would happen. I just knew it.

At the beginning of The Six-Week Plan, I was all “rah-rah-sis-boom-bah I’m gonna do this and it’s gonna be awesome and I am a freakin’ ROCKSTAR!!!!”

But that just couldn’t last for six whole frigging weeks, dudes.

Much like I did during sugar-free lent, I’ve hit the rut. The part of the process that sucks. All of that mojo from the beginning has faded, and now I’m stuck in the middle of it, and all I can think about is food. And NOT healthy food.

Here’s part of the problem: I got a big taste of the bad stuff on the weekend. I strayed from my meal plan, my willpower wavered, and I succumbed to temptation. Especially on Friday evening when I was at a function that featured my biggest nemesis, the ever-delicious Costco vanilla cream-filled cake. (I avoided it at Canada Day, but just couldn’t resist it on Friday night. I tried not to look at it all evening, but then JUST before I left, I snaffled on to a piece of it.  Seriously.  I suck.) And especially on Sunday, when I was hit with one of those “I need to eat EVERYTHING. NOW.” phases and literally hopped around my mom’s house woofing down Triscuit crackers and Kraft Singles and frozen yogurt and fruit and popsicles and lordonlyknowswhatelse.

(couldn’t do that at my own house, because my fridge and cupboards are only stocked with pieces of bark and meager berries, of course.)

I got back on track on Monday and thankfully didn’t do too much damage to my progress thus far, but that feeling of empowerment that I had three weeks ago when I started eating strictly healthy foods again and following a 7-day-a-week workout regimen seems to have gone the way of the do-do bird.

Last night, I had an unexpected sleepover with my 8-year-old nephew Caden. My sister dropped him off around 7, and she wasn’t hardly out the door until he was requesting a snack. Because that’s what you do when you spend the night at Auntie Jilly’s – you get showered with wonderful junky snacks!!!

You can imagine his deep disappointment when, instead of suggesting a trip to the treat store, as per usual, I instead marched him over to the fridge, opened the door, scanned the skimpy contents, and offered him yogurt or grapes.

He looked at me with the same look of disdain of someone who’d just been offered fried farts & onions.

I scoured a little deeper, and found a bunch of little freezies in my freezer, of which he ate four or five. I know, a little freezie wouldn’t have done me much harm, but I had already eaten my allocated calories for the day, and one of my rules is to not allow myself to be swayed further once I’ve hit that mark. Even if it is just a 15 calorie mini freezie.

But worse than depriving myself of a stinkin’ little freezie was sitting there on the couch, torturing myself with thoughts of what he and I could be enjoying if I’d just give in and take him to the store for a treat. I should be getting him an ice cream treat, and letting him pick out a bag of chips – he’d probably go for the Doritos. He loves Swedish Berries, I should be getting him a bag of those too.  Oooooh and Peanut M&M’s!!!!

I wonder if he likes ketchup chips?

Haven’t been able to stop thinking about them since.

Chips are one of my biggest cravings, and I go through different stages of flavor cravings. Some days it’s Wavy Lays with dill pickle dip. Some days it’s Sour Cream & Onion. All Dressed Ruffles. Salt & Vinegar. Cool Ranch Doritos. Dill Pickle.  Cheesies – especially the ones at the bottom of the bag that have soaked up all the grease. mmmmm. 

They all have their day in the sun.

But last night (and today), it’s definitely Ketchup. Old Dutch brand, to be specific.

Instead, I made myself a cup of tea, and found him a packet of hot chocolate. (You can tell times are tough when the treats are mini freezies and a packet of old hot chocolate. The only good news is that it was a rainy, dreary summer night, so tea and hot chocolate were sorta semi-appropriate.)

I know I’ll feel good about standing firm on this decision some day. But right now, it just hurts.

Now I’m just trying to force the thoughts of ketchup chips from my brain. One of my biggest goals in all of this is to not reach the end and then over-indulge, as I did after Lent. That just sent me on a huge out-of-control spiral that I was unable to recover from.

I mean, it will be my birthday, and then I’ll be going on vacation, so of course there will be a few treats in the days following the conclusion of The Six-Week Plan. But I’m doing my very best to stop myself from listing all the things I’m going to treat myself with when this is over.

The objective is not to think of it as being “over”. Because, as I’ve said a million times, this really and truly will never be over.

I can’t reach a goal and then let myself go all willy-nilly. It just doesn’t make sense. It just cancels out all the good I’ve done for myself in the weeks leading up to it.

All that being said…the first thing I might very well do after I get into that bikini (ha!) is march down to the store and buy a bag of ketchup chips.

Just a little bag.

Now if that’s not gonna be a show for the people on main street in Quyon, I don’t know what is.

Fave Summer Treats

July is here, and it’s finally starting to feel like summer around here! It’s taken longer than usual – after a long, cold winter that seemed to drag well into the spring, I know there were a lot of folks in this neck of the woods wondering if summer would ever come. I mean, I went almost the whole month of June without even turning on my AC (very unusual).

But at long last, a heat wave hit towards the end of the month and carried through Canada Day. We got a bit of reprieve yesterday, but overall, the summer “feel” is finally here, and with it comes my desire to enjoy seasonal summer treats!

Oh, don’t worry – I haven’t forgotten about the Six-Week Plan. I’m still strictly monitoring my food intake and resisting most indulgences as I attempt to shed the pounds I’ve put back on in recent months, and in the hopes of being able to wear a bikini on July 28th. (It’s going really well so far, by the way – but that’s a post for another day!) But just because I’m being extra careful about food right now doesn’t mean I can’t still find some treats within my self-imposed parameters!

Here are some of the treats that I’ve been enjoying lately that simply sing “summer” to me:

Strawberries

Confession: When I was a kid, I loathed strawberry picking. It was the most dreaded summer activity ever. I haven’t had an opportunity to pick in years, but I’m lucky that my mom picked me a basket last week, and it was soooo nice to have fresh berries in the fridge to snack on! I also froze some to have for shakes. I eat berries all year round, but nothing beats a fresh strawberry picked straight from the patch!

PC Blue Menu Frozen Smoothie Bars

These are new to me this year. Truth is, I adore ice cream. One of my favourite things to do in the summer is go to the store to buy a Drumstick, or go to one of the local ice cream shops for a soft vanilla cone or sundae. Unfortunately, the Six-Week Plan doesn’t permit for ice cream cheating. :( I just couldn’t give up frozen summer treats completely, though! I decided to try out the PC Blue Menu Frozen Fudge Smoothie bars a few weeks ago, and it was definitely a great way to satisfy my ice cream cravings at much less calories. The following week, I tried out the PC Blue Menu Frozen Greek Yogurt Mango Smooth Bars, and they were equally yum. These little frozen treats will definitely get me through the next couple of weeks! (but I WILL treat myself to a real cone after that!)

Greek Veggie Salad

I make several variations of this Greek salad during the summer, and it is one of my summer staples. Sometimes I toss cucs, tomatoes, peppers, red onion, black olives, and a bit of feta cheese in the Renee’s Mediterranean Vinaigrette or my own homemade Green vinaigrette; sometimes I add quinoa to make it more like a pasta salad. Either way, it is delicious and full of fresh summer flavours!

Avocado

OK, I eat avocado all year long, too. But for some reason, it’s even better tasting during the hot summer months. I love it on a grilled Panini with tomato and cheese, or diced on top of nachos, chopped up in a salad, or of course turned into guacamole! Mmmmm I loooove avocado!

Toasted Tomato Sandwiches

Thankfully I’ve discovered several options for low-cal bread, so toasted tomato sandwiches are still possible!! Right now, it’s Weight Watchers White Whole Grain Bread that I have in my freezer, but I also enjoy the Bon Matin No Fat No Sugar Added Whole Wheat Bread. Toast up the bread, put a bit of low-fat mayo on it, and then thick slices of tomato with a dash of salt and pepper. Drooling just thinking about it, I swear. A REAL treat is when it’s made with cracked wheat bread (just like Grandma used to make!) – but for now, I’ll stick to my low-cal options.

Timothy’s Sweet & Creamy Iced Coffee K-Cups

I admit, when I first tried these last year, I wasn’t a huge fan. They tell you to brew it over ice, but the coffee comes out so hot that it melts the ice instantly. When you add more ice, it melts it quickly too. And then you end up with a severely watered-down iced coffee beverage. I’ve since learned to brew the iced coffee in advance (NOT over ice), then put it in the fridge for a few hours to chill it completely before adding the ice and drinking it. MUCH more enjoyable. A longer process, and it takes some planning ahead, but at 80 cals, it’s often the perfect summer treat!

Watermelon

I’ve become quite a watermelon fan in my old age. It was another one of those that I could take or leave when I was a kid, but there’s nothing I enjoy more now that a dish full of diced, juicy, sweet, seedless watermelon. So good, so fresh, and SO summery!!

What are YOUR favourite summer treats?! I’m looking forward to enjoying some of these this weekend!

Happy Friday, gang! :)

Canada Day & The Aftermath in pictures

Holy cow… IT’S JULY, you guys!!!!

Anyone who has been following my blog for any length of time knows how much I love Canada Day.  Our little town celebrates big the day before, with a BBQ, parade, flag raising ceremony, entertainment for the kids at the park, a huge legendary fireworks display at dusk, and a party that goes on pretty much all night long.  I’m so proud of our committee for pulling off yet another legendary Canada Day in Quyon, and so thankful to everyone who came out to celebrate with us!

Here are some of the pics from this year’s festivities…

Our Committee always ends the parade by carrying our massive flag through town to the pole for the flag raising ceremony

Gives me goosebumps seeing it go up the pole and waving in the wind!

I think we say it every year, but… best fireworks everrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

Ricky, Brenda, Sue & Wayne working the bar

I just loved Lynn’s vintage chapeau!!!

Good times…

Good friends…

Good people!!

When the band packs up and vacates the stage, that just means more room for dancing. ;)

Morgan, Mitchel and Hollie in the Shooter Station

With two of my besties, Sue & Brenda

Celebratin’!!!

With my Godson – and one of my all-round fave dudes – Cowan :)

The next morning at clean-up, Brenda, Sue & I discovered something rather interesting in the men’s washroom…

Yes. Those are inspirational messages on the wall above the urinals.  There are no such inspirational messages in the women’s washroom.  We are confused.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!

On Canada Day in the afternoon, our area fell under a tornado watch.  I admit that I didn’t pay much attention to the reports.  In the past few years, we’ve had several tornado warnings during the summers and it never ends up resulting in much.  I’ve always chalked it up to weathermen and their hype.  I don’t ever remember hearing tornado warnings around here all my life, but suddenly in the past few years, they like to scare us with them.

But this time, it would appear they knew what they were talking about.  After the storm hit, my Facebook & Twitter feeds were full of reports and photos of damage done by the crazy wind storm.  In town we were spared, but there was all kinds of damage done to properties between Quyon and Luskville.  We went for a tour to see it for ourselves after supper, and ended up down near my cousin Donna’s.  We went just to turn in their yard, only to discover their place was one of the hardest hit:

Their camper trailer flipped over at least 70 ft. from where it had been parked

A tree landed on the truck

Almost all of the trees on the property were damaged and mangled.  Fortunately, the house was mostly left unscathed.

This is a piece of tin off their neighbour’s barn.  The whole roof was gone from the barn.

There were lots of cottages badly beaten up along the river, and we passed another home that had its barn completely flattened.  We even saw a canoe up in a tree in one spot.  Many areas are still without power.  They’re now saying it was not a tornado, but a microburst – if that wasn’t a tornado, I don’t want to see what one of them would do!!  It was pretty crazy.

The good news is that there were no injuries reported, thank God!

As if the storm weren’t enough…this is what happened to the highway near our town yesterday morning:

Yep.  You’re seeing things correctly.  That is a massive sinkhole on the main highway leading into our town.  Due to the heavy rain storms we’ve had in the past few weeks, it completely washed out.  This isn’t the first time this has happened in recent years.  This time, however, it’s in a spot where there are no nearby roads to detour on.  The highway was closed and the many folks who live in our area and commute to the city for work had to take crazy-long alternate routes home.  It was just no fun for anyone.

Again…thankful no one was injured.  It sends shivers down my spine to think of the people who crossed over that part of the highway on their way to work in the morning.  It’s right near the ball park in Luskville, and that’s where my mom and I turned around on our ventures the night before.  Eeeek!!

So…to say the past few days have been eventful would be a bit of an understatement!!  I just hope the bad luck for the people around here is over, as it sure has put a damper on the celebratory feel we had going just a few short days ago!