Well, I'm back!
It was a stressful couple of weeks, and I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted to, but I made it through exams and now I'm free!! Thank god for coconut ice cream. It got me through a few study sessions :)
I guess my summer has technically started, although it doesn't feel like it. It was 25 degrees on Thursday (when I was stuck inside studying for my last exam) and today it is supposed to snow and reach a high of 1 degree. What is happening??!!
I guess I will start filling you in on the past two weeks, starting with the week I spent at home last week. I went to my parents' house to pick up my brand new (old) car!! That's right, I finally got her and she's a beauty!
It's a 2009 Nissan Sentra, but it only had 65000 kms on it, so it will have good resale value at the end of the summer. I still can't believe I bought a car, I feel like such a grown-up; I have never spent that much money on one item in my life. It hurt a bit watching it leave my bank account but I'm pretty much in love with this girl. I named her Lucille 3. High five to anyone who gets the reference ;) (Her?)
Unfortunately, I got stuck in the country a little longer than I had wanted to. I was supposed to drive back to Guelph last Thursday, but I ended up getting delayed until Saturday due to some crazy weather. I was really not eager to drive Lucille 3 around in freezing rain.
I have a bit of trouble focusing and being productive when I'm at home, especially when I can't drive anywhere, so that definitely derailed my study schedule a bit, but my parents are pretty good to me, so it wasn't so bad. Since I didn't go home for Easter, I found this hiding in my room:
My mother knows me too well. I got to try some new (to me) bars and I already adore Quest and Simply bars. I was also pretty damn excited to get more chocolate probiotics.
While I was at home, I also grabbed one of my favourite kitchen tools that I hadn't used in ages. My yogurt strainer!
This thing basically allows you to make your own Greek yogurt by putting in regular yogurt and straining out the liquid. After I decided a couple of years back that I didn't eat dairy, I gave this to my mum because I had no use for it. However, now that I've come to my senses, it's back in my life!
Somehow, the stuff I make doesn't taste quite as good as Oikos, but it's soooo much cheaper! One 750g container of yogurt for $2 makes almost 500g of Greek yogurt, which usually costs $5 per tub. If anyone is interested in out of these bad boys, it's a Donvier Cuisipro Yogurt Strainer and they sell them on Amazon.
Over the last couple of weeks, I have also been working at my goal of buying foods that I don't usually buy and incorporating them into my meals. I think I told you in a previous post that I bought avocado for the first time in years, and as soon as they turned ripe, I went to town. I ate them on salads...
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| Shredded carrot and broccoli slaw with shrimp, avocado and spicy peanut sauce. |
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| Yellow pepper stuffed with salsa and avocado |
And put them on top on omelettes...
This was the best combination ever! A mushroom and turkey bacon omelette with salsa and avocado on top. I also beat in some hot sauce and liquid smoke with my eggs to give it a smokey and spicy flavour. De-freakin'-licious.
I also bought some edamame, which is something I have always loved, but never seem to buy for some reason. It makes a killer addition to stir-fries or just eaten on its own.
While I am normally a faithful buttercup girl, my mum gifted me with an organic butternut squash last week, so I have been switching it up. Butternut squash fries are a new favourite :)
The last new item I bought was a bag of hemp hearts. I have been loving these things on top of oatmeal, cold cereal or fruit. I have been trying to get as many healthy fats as possible lately, and I have really been loving these.
My only issue is that they are really expensive. I bought a pretty small bag in bulk and it was about $7! I 'm very glad I didn't take an extra scoop, it would have bankrupted me...
So now I have a week and a half to do as I please before my job starts. I plan on sleeping, running, seeing friends who have just graduated and are leaving my life soon and also visiting a very special blog friend who lives in our (my) nation's capital. Any guesses? She doesn't blog anymore, but she is a running machine, a cupcake lover and one hell of a girl ;)
Talk to you all again soon :)
What would you do with a week and a half off?
Any new foods you've incorporated into your diet recently?
