Sorry I’ve been such a bad food blogger. Between settling back into routine and being very blah about food at the moment I’m trying to decide whether to keep the food blog going. I know my posts are fairly boring but don’t know if I’ve got the time to make them more interesting. Maybe I should just do more food posts (like a weekly recap) on my main blog. Please let me know what you think.
To try and play catch up I’m just going to share some meals/snacks from the week.
A red onion and chili roll from Bakers Delight. Not very good for you but VERY yummy 
.
Pita bread with cheese, mayo, tomato and homegrown sprouts.
My beloved green smoothie.
Hawaiian Stir fry – courtesy of Lisa at Bake Bike Blog. SOOOOOO delicious.
Homemade pizza – this was actually for breakfast
Cheese with plum paste on crackers.
An omelet made by Amy.
A sandwich while on an excursion with Amy.
And some of my Dad’s birthday cake
Not a bad view for a leisurely breakfast on a Sunday morning. We joined my Aunt and other family members (including the bride & groom when they surfaced) for breakfast in the hotels dining room. We were the first to arrive and the last to leave so must have really enjoyed ourselves.
I wasn’t that impressed with my first walk around the buffet. After almost 12 days of buffet breakfasts on the cruise I just wasn’t into it. However the sign by the front entrance had me a little more excited.
Eventually I decided to start with tea (can never go wrong with that) and bircher museli – which I have NEVER had before. I still don’t even know what was in in but I quite enjoyed it and ate about half.
Sometime later I decided on a chef made omelet. Mine had 2 eggs cheese and vegetables and was REALLY lovely.
Towards the end of our two hour breakfast I had another cup of tea and a raspberry muffin. This was sooooo yummy and unfortunately the last one left 
.
After checking out we headed home, stopping to buy so water as I was in desperate need of something to hydrate me.
We decided to stop for lunch at the Nan Tien Temple for a delicious vegetarian lunch.
Though it was rather cold outside (we were sitting in the shade), lunch did not dissapoint. Amy and I shared a chai tea – but I really didn’t like it much. Kevin’s chai latte was much better .
I chose the veggie chow for my lunch. So yummy. I’ve never had anything here I haven’t loved.
And I also had one of Kevin’s dumplings.
Mid afternoon included more tea and a couple of oatmeal raisen cookies.
After a lazy day dinner was an easy one of cheese on toast. So simple, yet so yummy.
Up and at ‘em today with a red carpet ready workout, followed by a green smoothie. The best way to start the day if you ask me .
Then it was time to pack and get organised for my cousin’s wedding. Amy made us both a sweet bean burrito (mine was wrapped in mountain bread instead of a tortilla) to have in the car, with my morning cup of tea.
We then drove to Manly. It took about 2 hours due to heavy traffic. I had a banana along the way and we arrived in time to join my parents (who had come up yesterday) for lunch. I had vegetarian quiche, salad and half a roll.
We chatted for a bit and then had a cup of tea. I also indugled in an anzac cookie and shortbread.
Then it was time to get ready for the wedding. You can read a full recap here.
There wasn’t much in the way of vegetarian nibblies but I did have one goats cheese tart.
The table was beautifully set.
The meal itself was very uninspired I thought. Being a lacto-ovo vegetarians there are lots of great meal options. Instead I got a salad for entree.
Pasta for the main
and fruit for desert.
It was all rather nice but nothing to rave over. I only ate about half of everything and complimented with a yummy roll.
and Kevin’s ice-cream…
Then there was the wedding cake.
I love the idea of cupcakes and how cakes are personalized these days. Too cute.
What do you think? Here’s the real bride and groom.
The cake was delicous. So fresh and light.
After some dancing I enjoyed a cup of tea and a chocolate.
Got up at 6.30am and took the dogs for a walk. So nice it’s getting warm enough for an early morning walk.
Later after dropping the girls at school I had some cruskits with spreadable cheese and a much longed for cup of tea. Hopefully next week I’ll be back in the swing of things and making proper breakfasts again.
Then it was off to the beauticians for a mani, pedi and eyelash & eyebrow tint. So good to have eyebrows again .
When I got back at 12pm I made a salad with a lentil pattie.
It was rather cold today so my afternoon snack was a warm bowl of veggie soup.
Dinner tonight was a family favourite – sweet bean burritos. I cheated and used an old photo.
Kevin and I ate dinner watching TV, while the girls sat outside on our driveway (in the cold) with the neighbours. Crazy!!!
Definitely had a good nights sleep so felt a lot better this morning. We were running rather behind this morning so I didn’t get my breakfast until after dropping the girls at school. On the menu today – banana on toast and a cup of tea.
I spent the morning getting the house all tidied and organised and in between worked on uploading photos to snapfish. Morning tea was tea and a couple of oatmeal and raisen cookies.
Lunch was a salad featuring egg.
Amy and I had to go into town this afternoon to buy dresses for my cousin’s wedding on Saturday – nothing like leaving it to the last minute. We were successful and stopped by Gloria Jeans on the way home where I got a Iced Chocolate.
When we got home my order from Doorstep Organics had arrived.
This will restock the fridge for sure.
Dinner tonight- pumpkin lasagne (dug out of the freezer) with corn, potato and cauliflower. Hmm.. it all looks very yellow .
Supper was a cup of tea and some ginger cream biscuits from the UK.
Oh dear, I woke up at 2am this morning and wasn’t successful in getting back to sleep. I got up for a while, went back to bed, still couldn’t sleep and eventually gave up at 6.15. So I got dressed and did a red carpet ready workout. Felt good and I was surprised to discover I haven’t lost any upper body strength – not bad with no proper exercise for 6 weeks.
Post workout I had a much longed for green smoothie. Oh, how I have missed them.
Cheers.
I opened the Uniform Shop up at school this morning and while there kept on having to hitch up my jeans. When I got home I decided to try on other jeans (the ones that didn’t fit before my trip) just to see if they were any closer to fitting. And guess what? They fit!!!!! Yay!!!
My mid-morning snack was some cruskits with spreadable cheese and tea.
I spent the morning putting our souveniers away and working on the ironing pile. Then lunch – another yummy salad. This one featured egg and pinenuts. I’m having to use cream dressings as I haven’t made up an hummus yet.
Afternoon snack – a repeat of yesterdays lunch – pita bread with cheese, tomato and spouts. I used to have this for lunch nearly every day when I was at Uni.
Since we didn’t get home from drama until after 6pm I put together an easy dinner of nachos – made with TVP.
I had planned to have a couple of the oatmeal cookies I’d made this afternoon but with my early start to the day I started to fall asleep watching TV at 8pm so headed up to bed. I’m pretty sure I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
The lovely Caitlin of Healthy Tipping Point and Operation Beautiful has just released her book and to celebrate she has challenged her readers to write about “changing the way you see not the way you look”. To me this comes down to what we say to ourselves about our bodies. For far too many years I would continually put myself down – I was too fat, had too many freckles, etc. Sure it might have true but by focusing on the negative it became harder and harder to find the positive and therefore strive towards the life I wanted. And while to could to control (or in my case, not control) my weight I was totally powerless in regard to my freckles.
I’m still on my journey to find my ideal healthy body but with losing a substantial amount of weight and getting a whole lot fitter my attitude has shifted and I really believe that’s the key to reaching our optimal healthy body. While I’m far from thin I know I am healthy because I fuel my body with the right foods and I know I’m reasonably fit because I make time to do some kind of activity every day (and I love it). But the biggest change has been how I talk to myself. The fat talk has ended. These days I feel comfortable in my own skin (most of the time). Sure it still needs a lot of work but I can see the positives. I have lovely red hair, clear skin, fit comfortably into my clothes, have defined muscles in my arms and legs, can ride my bike and, at nearly 40 years old, feel in the best shape of my life. And I can even laugh about my different sized legs (due to a blood clot), saggy skin (due to weight loss) and stretch marks (due to babies). After all we are so much more than how we look. And that’s the biggest thing to realized in learning to love yourself. These days I eat and exercise before it makes me feel good! And that in turn makes me look good – in my own eyes at least. And I find the better the feel about myself, the better I treat myself, the better I talk to myself, and it keeps going round.
One thing that Operation Beautiful has taught me is that so women don’t see themselves the same way that we see them and even hate their bodies. I never realized it was quite so previlent in our society. It’s just so sad. Us women spend far too much time and energy not loving ourselves but thanks to Operation Beautiful I hope that will change and women, esp. young girls, will learn to love themselves however they look.
Another good nights sleep. Woke just after 7am. Still a bit tired and groggy but almost back to normal. I couldn’t decide what I wanted for breakfast and in fact, didn’t have it until 9am after I’d driven the girls to school (in my PJs since it started raining at the last minute). In the end I decided on a repeat of yesterdays lunch – pita bread with cheese, tomato and sprouts.
Since I’d had a late breakfast I didn’t both with a morning snack. I unpacked the rest of the suitcases and now just have to sort out my souveniers. Before lunch I took the dogs on a walk. Felt good to be out moving again after two days indoors. We left in sunshine and while out saw a rainbow over the lake. Made it back before the rain came which was good. I then made a much longed for salad for lunch – starring the leftover roast veggies heated up. Yum!
I had to smile when I looked out the loungeroom window as I was eating lunch.
Afternoon snack was a banana while Amy was at singing lessons. I took a photo with my phone but the computer is FULL and won’t let me download any more photos (I’m using my laptop to get ones off my camera)
I was starving when we got home so had a couple of cruskits with spreadable cheese while we waited for Kevin to come from work.
Dinner was an easy one tonight – falafel wraps. Sorry about the photo – I’d already eaten half before I remembered to take a photo .
And tonights treat bought back from the UK. LOVE these – good thing I can’t buy them here
Tomorrow I plan to make some oatmeal cookies and hummus!
Resumption of normal eating (and blogging)
Posted by: Libby Withnall
August 2nd, 2010 >> Daily food, Recipe
HI everyone. Hope you read my travels and saw what yummy foods I was eating on vacation. We tried to have local foods wherever possible and I’m going to do a post soon highlighting my favourites. But in the meantime it’s back to normal eating. While I think I did eat pretty well and chose healthy foods most of the time I have been missing my normal favourites like my salads and, of course, green smoothies.
I woke around 6am after a very goods nights sleep in my own bed. First up was tea and some orange cookies.
This morning I was faced with a pretty empty fridge.
Luckily Kevin had bought some bread (oh, how I missed my Bakers Delight Country Grain) and milk so I was able to have grilled cheese on toast with pineapple (no sliced so had to use crushed!).
I started with the unpacking, chatted with Mum & Dad and had a choc nut bar before heading off to get some groceries. Ah, that looks better.
Back home I got some lazy vegetable soup on the go. Simply open 2 packets of precut veggies, add water and chicken stock.
Boil until cooked. Blend and stir through a small tin of evaporated skim milk. Easy and delicious.
After that I prepared lunch. Pita bread stuffed with mayo, cheese, tomato and sprouts (I missed sprouts!)
A little later this was consumed.
Surprisingly I didn’t think about food again until I got hungry at 4pm. I had some cruskits and spreadable cheese (missed these too) and a bowl of veggie soup.
You’ll notice that over the next few days I’ll be eating all the foods I missed during the last 6 weeks. So it’s not surprising that tonights dinner featured roast vegetables. I cheated and bought a veggie pack (since my organic delivery isn’t until Thurs). So I just cut everything up, except for the pumpkin, and baked with a vegetable snitzel which I shared with Kevin.
It was delicious.
A few hours later I finished the day the same way it started – with tea and some orange biscuits! Much I have loved my holidays it’s nice to have access to my regular food. Oh, and the best news, I actually managed to lose 2-3kg on holidays. I intend to keep it off and work on losing the next 10kg before Christmas!
No more green smoothies for 6 whole weeks.
Just wanted to let you know there will no further posts on this blog while we are on vacation in the UK. I will however be blogging whenever possible and will be sure to share LOTS of great food over at Life is Journey, Not a Destination. Hope to see you there.
