Archive for February, 2011
The Oscar Bowl
Even though I don’t consider myself a true cinephile, I love to watch the Oscars! I consider it my Super Bowl.
I love:
1. The red carpet fashions
2. The opening monologue/song-and-dance routine
3. The emotional speeches
4. Watching people experience their most intense dreams come true
5. Staying up late on a Sunday night!
I hate:
1. The long, boring speeches
2. The boring categories (although I think most of these have been moved to a pre-Oscars show)
3. The boring commercial breaks (I am now used to watching TV through PVR. Not being able to fast forward through commercials is just a ridiculous way to live life!) (I am such a snob).
4. Already pretty much knowing who is going to win the main categories (Best Actor – Colin Firth; Best Actress – Natalie Portman; Best Movie – Inception or Social Network).
5. Waking up the next morning and not remembering (or caring) who won each category
But it’s still totally worth it.
I’ve got three different kinds of potato chips (with my very favourite — Zesty Doritos — in attendance! This ain’t no time for kale chips), dark chocolate-covered almonds, my hubby with a Film degree (excellent for informative commentary), my son who is going to experience his very Oscars telecast (that is, if he isn’t in the midst of his evening meltdown), and my expandable pants on a cold, wintery night. I AM READY. In the words of Charlie Sheen, “Bring it!”.
Have you had your oats today?
Since I’ve been home this winter, taking care of this little guy…
I’ve been able to make delicious oatmeal for breakfast almost every day. I’ve made Carrot Cake Oatmeal, Apple Cake Oatmeal, and, now, Banana Bread Oatmeal (my current obsession!).
1 cup of almond milk or 1/2 cup soy milk and 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 ripe banana, mashed
Handful of walnut pieces
Sprinkle of shredded coconut
Have I mentioned that I’ve been buying TWO bunches of bananas at the grocery store each week to feed my Green Monster and now Banana Bread Oatmeal habits? Someone call Dr. Drew!
I love hot oatmeal, especially since I now know the trick is to cook them in milk rather than water. Oats are so disturbingly healthy for you and so cheap! I think I should appoint oatmeal as the official grain of the Frugal ‘n’ Fit blog.
1/3rd cup of oats contain:
102 calories
2 grams of fat
3 grams of fibre
4 grams of protein
49% of your Daily Value of manganese. Mmmmmm…manganese
Along with small amounts of many other vitamins and minerals as well
I’ve seen oatmeal at Starbucks for a while now, although have never tried it. I have a hard time buying a processed food that I can easily “process” myself for much cheaper. But if I travelled more or lived a more expensive lifestyle, I’m sure I’d appreciate having it as a breakfast option. When wanting a quick breakfast when you’re out and about, usually the only option is a muffin that will leave you hungry one hour later or an egg-and-cheese sandwich that will sit in your stomach like a rock.
I recently read an article by Mr. Foodie himself, Mark Bittman, about how McDonalds now offers an oatmeal option (turn your speakers down before clicking on this link)! McDonalds describes their oatmeal like this: ”We take delicious 100% natural, whole-grain oats and combine them with brown sugar and a touch of cream. Then we get fruity, with diced fresh apples, dried cranberries and two kinds of raisins.” Sounds like this breakfast has six ingredients: oats, cream, brown sugar, apples, dried cranberries and raisins. But, as Bittman points out, “A more accurate description than “100% natural whole-grain oats,” “plump raisins,” “sweet cranberries” and “crisp fresh apples” would be “oats, sugar, sweetened dried fruit, cream and 11 weird ingredients you would never keep in your kitchen.”
Without a doubt, making your own oatmeal is the healthiest, cheapest option available. But when out and about and needing a quick, delicious breakfast, I’m still glad that Starbucks and McDonalds offer these not-as-healthy-but-still-better-than-egg-and-cheese options. Now we just need Tim Hortons to get in on the oatmeal love and we’ll be all set.
Kale Chips
Last week, I bought some kale for 99 cents with the intention of making kale chips. Perhaps you’ve heard of kale chips? They are all the rage with those wacky, health conscious foodies! Basically, you take a bunch of fresh kale, remove the stems, tear the leaves into bite size pieces, “massage” with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, and spread them out on a baking sheet. You then roast them in a 350F oven for 15 minutes.
I made the mistake of storing my large bunch of kale at the back of the bottom shelf of the fridge. Unless the jar of almond butter has migrated back there, I never venture to that area. My mainstays (almond milk, nut butters, jam, vegetables) are kept at the front of the fridge. Rarely do I need to bend over (the horror!). So it was surprising to me today that when looking for something (probably almond butter), I saw my wilting bunch of poor, forgotten kale inching ever closer to a compost-bin demise!
Motivated, I decided right then and there to make some kale chips! Luckily, Henry was napping and a baked pasta was just about to go in the oven for dinner. 99 cent kale plus an already-heated oven makes this recipe FRUGAL and FIT.
Booyeah.
Kale, revitalized with a sense of purpose and a large drizzling of olive oil!
Roasted and ready to be consumed while watching Oprah
Of course these chips are not as tasty as potato chips. These have nothing on the splendor that is Sour Cream and Onion Ruffles! But these also have nothing on the calorie or fat content of Ruffles either. These are freaking tasty! I pretty much ate this entire bowl which means I pretty much ate two giant bunches of kale in one sitting flat. My blood is probably now a light shade of green. But green is good! Better than brown from too much chocolate or coffee, y’know?
You know when you get in a mood where you just want to snack? You want food that takes a long time to eat? (That must be a psychological/comfort food thing.) Well this is your food! Sure, it’s a bit of pain to get the kale ready, but it pays off in the end. You get a salty, crispy snack, but don’t get weighed down by 2500 calories of fried potato.
Win-win.
Where there’s a will, there’s a walk
Today I had this very profound thought: The only predictable thing about a baby is his/her unpredictability. Pretty deep, eh? This comes after one very long, very difficult night. I should have known that his early bedtime yesterday was too good to be true! He was consistently up from the time I hit “Publish” to 10:30 pm. Then he was up consistently between midnight and 2:30 am. He slept solidly until 5:00 am when a new cycle of non-sleeping began. One of my new favourite hobbies is cataloguing Henry’s sleep times and then reflecting on the great amounts of self-pity and exhaustion I now feel.
Henry is now asleep, but I am not jinxing anything by even entertaining the thought he’ll be asleep for a few solid hours. Because of this realization, I am currently drinking a glass of wine.
Can you buy wine in bulk?
Today the weather finally warmed up enough to go for a walk! I’ve mentioned this before, but my day is greatly improved when I get a nice, one-hour long walk in there! Hubby comes with me and we take turns pushing the stroller. We stopped in for lunch at the Jacket Potato Cafe, a restaurant that specializes in jacket potatoes (aka “baked potatoes”). Hubby had one and he said it was just “ok”. I had the red lentil soup. The service was great, but I wasn’t too impressed.
We also noticed a new bakery that opened in our ‘hood! This is incredibly exciting since this is the first bakery that is within walking distance. Oh, fresh-baked carbs. I love you more than wine! We bought two Creamcheese brownies (vegan? vegan who?) and brought them home to enjoy with freshly brewed coffee. Perfection!
Being able to get out and about gets me VERY excited for spring and summer. Henry loves to go for walks and I am fortunate enough to live in an area with many interesting places to go. I wonder what other (carb-focused) adventures we will get up to this year?
Will walk for carbs (especially if they look like these).
Steak for dinner
Tonight we had steak for dinner!
And by steak, I mean Spicy Chocolate Tofu that looks peculiarly like steak (or so says Husband! I think he tried to convince himself he was really eating steak with a sweet barbecue sauce on it, but I’m not sure how successful this trick of conscience worked out for him).
I have a folder in my email with all sorts of emails I’ve sent myself over the years with links to recipes I’ve wanted to try. This one has been kicking around since August 9th, 2010, but only now am I making it! Other recipes in this folder include “Homemade Almond Milk”, “Greek Watermelon Barley Salad”, and “Cinnamon Walnut Bread”. Sounds good, no?
I highly recommend this tofu recipe. It is quite sweet so I recommend pairing it with veggies. I served it with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed carrots and broccoli.
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Today was another sunny day, but too cold to go for a walk. I was bummed because a walk (especially to Starbucks!) really brightens the day up. By the time we are home, it’s time to make dinner and then get Henry ready for bed soon after.
He’s in bed as I type this. It’s 7:09 pm and this is the earliest he’s ever gone to bed! I was trying to watch The Business of Being Born on Netflix (we just signed up yesterday and I am on my third documentary already!), but he was just too fussy to stand it. He wasn’t hungry, he wouldn’t sit in his bouncy chair, he wouldn’t nibble on his ringley, and he wouldn’t lay on his back and kick his legs. When all else fails, I either strip him naked and let him hang out on the floor (my little nudist!) (let’s hope this is temporary!) or I do the bath/nursing/bed routine and hope he falls asleep. So far, so good. I should probably knock on wood, though.
Speaking of Henry, he has the same swing as Celine Dion’s twin boys! I noticed this while participating in my favourite Stay-At-Home-Mom activity, that is, watching Oprah.
Fisher Price: The Great Democratizer
I figure if they are good enough for multi-million dollar, world-renowned Celine Dion then I suppose they are good enough for my little boy. Now if only our identical swings also matched our identical houses…
A lot of people are critical of Celine Dion, but I think she is amazing.
How amazing? Just check out this video to see.
Today’s Inspiration
I love to hear stories about people 65+ years of age who defy expectations about what senior citizens are “supposed” to be like. Stories of people earning college degrees, traveling the world, getting married etc. well into their 80s and 90s are completely inspiring. For a bit of inspiration, I invite you to watch this short news clip of a 95-year old female sprinter who took up the sport of running at the age of 67.
This gives me hope that I will take up running one of these days. I’ve got 38 years or so to make up my mind! 
A Better Day
Well, our plumbing problem was easily (temporarily) fixed. The plumber guy just plunged one of the pipes from outside and managed to clear the back-up that was causing all of the flooding. But he says that we should replace the exit pipe from our house since it’s old and outdated (shaped like a U?) with a newer one (with a straight shape). Cost? About $1700. Man oh man! This home ownership thing can be the pits. However, because we successfully completed an energy audit and should be getting about $3000 back from the government, it won’t be as much of a strain on the wallet (Still bites, though!). And so it goes…
But I am writing this morning because:
1. Henry slept great! I made a conscience effort to make sure he ate a good, double-sided (if you know what I mean!), 20-minute meal every time he woke up, so he slept in three hour intervals and didn’t fuss after I put him down each time. There is such a huge difference between sleeping every 2 hours and sleeping every 3! He gets up every morning around 7 am, regardless of how much sleep he gets, but he just laid there cooing to himself. When I looked into his bassinet, I got a huge smile. And that, my friends, is why I had a kid! lol
2. I am drinking caffeinated coffee. Oh, glorious and wonderful caffeinated coffee.
3. I had a mango for breakfast! Is there anything better in life than a perfectly ripe, fresh mango?
I had it along with a slice of Vegan Banana Bread. I highly recommend this recipe! I made the following substitutions:
- I replaced 1/2 a cup of all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour
- I used 1/2 a cup of granulated sugar instead of 3/4 cup
Next time I’ll try replacing a full cup with whole wheat flour and maybe using even less sugar.
I haven’t been following my dairy-free stint very well. You know that bag of Smart Food popcorn that husband bought for the Super Bowl but was left uneaten? Um, I can verify with 100% confidence that it is no longer uneaten. Oops! There is also cream in my cup of coffee this morning. I really need to get some soy creamer! BABY STEPS.
We are off to visit friends this afternoon and Hubby’s side of the family this evening. A busy day, but I’m excited to get out of the house! Plus I like to show off my cute kid.
Blogcation
Life has been, uh, different this past week!
1. Henry is teething. I am so glad he is going to have teeth to enjoy the world’s bounty of delicious food, but dang does it ever suck!
2. We’ve been hit with a gorgeous week of temperate weather (which you saw I benefitted from!) but this has also meant a back-up of glorious-smelling sewage water from our basement drain. We’ve got an emergency plumber coming in an hour with an initial fee of $300. Who knows what other fees will be racked on top of that!?
3. I had decaf this morning instead of my regular coffee and I am disturbed by how much this has affected my day’s temperament. Teething baby and backed-up basement drain aside, I just don’t feel like my usual contented self. I have had some caffeinated coffee since then, but I think it was too little, too late!
Because of these reasons, I haven’t been my usual blogging self. Hopefully I will be back soon! Thank you for your patience 
Future Plumber
The Great Escape
Sorry I never wrote yesterday! I just haven’t been much in the blogging mood as usual. Now that my Week of Vegan Eating is over, I don’t feel like I have much to talk about! However, today was the first day that we put Henry in his stroller and went for a walk. We’re at the beginning of a stream of temperate weather (for February in Toronto, anyway!) so I wanted to take advantage.
It was WONDERFUL.
We were just going to go for a short jaunt, but Henry fell asleep so we decided to keep going. We live about a 20 minute walk away from Starbucks, so that became our ultimate destination.
If you know anything about me, you know that I love Starbucks! It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, if you see a Starbucks you can depend on a delicious cup of coffee. During our honeymoon in France, I had a memorable cup of Starbucks coffee before going into Versailles! I also remember a particularly delicious cup experienced at the airport in Glasgow, Scotland. As frugal as I am, during all my years of working in mid-town Toronto, rarely a day went by that I didn’t order a Tall Bold!
To be able to walk to Starbucks with a happy Henry was huge! I love that I can walk since we are a one-car family. That Henry was happy and loves his stroller is another bonus. It was a good day!
Henry likes to sit back with a cup of coffee and catch up on his cloth books
I ordered an Americano from Starbs because I think I am going to lay off the dairy for a while. I didn’t think my Week of Vegan Eating really affected Henry, but now that I’m back on the dairy, I recognize a difference. For one, the redness on his tushy disappeared last week for the first time in weeks and weeks, only to return yesterday! For two, even though he wakes every 2.5 hours, he always fell right back to sleep last week after eating. Since Monday, he has been more finicky, waking up 10 or 15 minutes after I put him down (and have just reached that delicious point when I am ALMOST asleep). So I will finish this week without consuming dairy and see how his butt does. I have never changed my diet to affect someone’s butt! Wait, that is a lie. I have often changed my diet to decrease the size of MY butt, but have never been successful
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Hubby and I don’t put much thought or effort into Valentine’s Day. I had a coworker who once said that she and her husband never did anything for Valentine’s Day because every day felt like Valentine’s Day. After throwing up a little bit, I decided I would never say anything like that. However, I get what she means about not doing anything for Valentine’s Day because gifts of affection and words of endearment are never in short supply.
Today, though, has been a memorable V-day because:
1. Henry slept for SIX STRAIGHT HOURS, something that has never occurred before!
I always love him, but I love him extra when he lets me sleep!
2. Hubby took me out for lunch buffet!
To say I went crazy is an understatement
3. I survived my Week of Vegan Eating and am back to eating cheese, glorious cheese.
And one of the best parts of Valentine’s Day is that this means the Easter chocolate is coming soon!
