Spinach, spinach everywhere!

Planting the Garden - May '10

First of all, yay! Today I was at 153.0 lbs!  Things are finally working! Turns out portion control (through calorie counting) and exercise does really work!

Secondly, my garden is out of control! I didn't realize I had so much spinach and kale! My newest love - the kale smoothie - is taking care of some of that baby kale but as for the spinach? It is time to ramp up on the salad front! Apparently you have to thin spinach to 6 inches apart or else it bolts to seed (surprise, surprise, mine is going to seed - in JUNE!) So I have decided that less plants are more and trimmed 'em back and have lots of salad to eat this weekend! 

This is by far, my favorite ever yummiest spinach salad recipe. The dressing is so amazing and the fruit used in the salad is in season so they are extra juicy and nutritious. If you don't dig the fruit in your salad, just try it. You won't be disappointed! 

Homemade Granola

Weight: 153.2 lbs

I have been lazy as of late! It is mostly because of all the girl's night out drinking I have been doing the last couple of weekends. But I have put an end to that. I am finally back down to my last week's weight. This is the problem I have run into the last 4 weeks actaully. Everything is fine, I lose weight and then one bad night ends up with 3 - 4 days of rehab to get back down. I had a night out (ending a donair...) and today I am back to my weight on Saturday morning. This is no good and I am going NO WHERE with this up and down-ness. I am beyond frusterated but determined so not do it anymore. Even if I go out... I can control myself... right?

Skinny Mushroom Caps

Weight: Don't wanna know

So, the thing about the Iwaskow/Olson house is that my birthday is March 2nd and Bevan's (the boyfriend) birthday is March 4th. Which also means that March 3rd is family dinner time for both of us and the actaul birthday's are just for us to celebrate together with friends. In the end it works out to be a whole week of crazy "It's a celebrate so it doesn't matter" eat extravaganza! I think my weight is somewhere around 154.. I have been checking on and off but I just don't want to be discouraged, so I don't wanna know just yet.... (wow I make a lot of excuses eh?!)

I am officially on Spring break (early this year but yay for the Arctic Winter Games coming to GP!) So I am going to bust my rear during the break. It's just been a very... off.. time. I haven't been working out, been very active or really even cooking lately. I just looked and the last time I calorie counted a full day was February 28th! Yikes. That was the wake-up call I needed. I am back in, full swing!

The Perfect Loaf of Banana Bread

Weight: 153.6 (down .6 lbs or 6.4 lbs from the beginning!)


I don't know about you but I love banana bread, I mean I LOVE banana bread. For the last couple of years I have been desperately searching for a healthy recipe that does not sacrifice taste. Ladies and gentlemen, I think I have found the perfect loaf of banana bread!

This blueberry banana bread will blow you away. It is so moist, delicious, filling and get this... not one drop of butter or oil in it! It's whole wheat, it's flax-y, it's low-calorie, it's low-fat, it's high fiber, it's healthy, it's amazing!


Since I have discovered this recipe about a month ago, I have been poping 2 piece in the toaster every morning for breakfast and having it with 1/2 a cup of yogurt and I can honestly say it keeps me full until lunch... a good 4 hours!

Bust out those old, bruised bananas and eat your heart out people!

Four-Cheese Baked Pasta

Weight: 154.6 lbs

Who doesn't love a nice dish of creamy, cheesy, delicious baked pasta? How about creamy, low-fat, high fiber, cheesy goodness? Yes my friends, it is possible! Guilt-free, healthy comfort food - here we come!

Four-Cheese Baked Pasta

Kinda, sorta from this recipe

Perfect Lunch

I worked out at a gym yesterday (I haven't been to one in awhile, I love stay home in my humble abode to work on my fitness) but I enjoyed it! My girlfriend and I worked HARD and we are both happy to be feeling it today! I also went to a movie on the weekend and refrained from allowing anything harsh to enter my body! Yay for will power!

Today's recipe: Roasted Onion and Garlic Bisque with Whole Wheat Garlic Knots (can we all say 'yum' together?!)

Don't only enjoy this meal to ward off vampires - garlic is full of calcium, potassium and vitamin C. Parsley is an herb that is chalked full of vitamin A, C and K, as well as folic acid. Onions support cardiovascular health, especially because

The Master Dough!

I know right... enough bread already! Let me explain, I was typing up a post on this amazing soup and garlic knot bun type things I made yesterday and remembered that I haven't written anything about the Master Recipe dough from the cookbook Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I also realized that I made the garlic knots with that master dough. So for you to make the next recipe you have to make the master dough. Thus, this post!

My favorite new recipe book (discovered at our lovely public library!) is Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I am so excited about this way of cooking! I have posted other recipes from this cookbook (Guacamole Bread & Simple Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread) and now I am posting the Master Recipe (that will keep for 14 days!)

The idea is that you make the dough (no kneading necessary) and store it in your refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Whenever you need to make a loaf of bread, you grab some dough, let it rest and pop it in the oven. Seems too easy to be so good,

Another Day

Weight: 156.8 lbs (up 1.2 lbs!)

Huh... up in lbs eh? I know what the problem is at least! Does everyone have a problem behaving themselves on the weekend? I know that I do for sure! Calorie counting goes out the window, I guesstimate my caloric intake, working out doesn't happen... it's all together, not so good! Next weekend will be different now that I see what 2 little days can do.

I read somewhere that people who weigh themselves daily were more successful at losing weight than people who stepped on the scale less frequently and I have to say, I believe it. You think about your choice more because of the number you seen that morning and remember that you will be doing it again the next morning.

I am keeping up on my EA Active. That program really makes you work! I went downstairs to my heavy bag yesterday and had no ambition to work out so I went upstairs and tried EA Active. I ended up working out for a tough 30 minutes. I was really sweating by the end and burned 142 calories in the process!

Okay! Now for the good stuff....

More Fresh Bread

I am definitely not a no-carb kind of person. I believe in a complete and balanced diet - carbs INCLUDED! As long as you count it in your daily calories, there is nothing wrong with a little carbs in your life.

If you like crispy Artisan bread, you are going to L-O-V-E this recipe! I tried it because I had an excess of avocados in the house but what came out the oven what a very pleasant surprise! Yum!

What is so perfect about this recipe is that you prepare the dough and store it for up to 5 days! Just rip some off and bake it!

Fresh and Simple Bread

If you haven't read or heard of Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food, I suggest you run to your local library or book store and grab a copy. It changed my life by completely re-vamping the way I eat. One of Pollan's eating suggestions that really changed me was:

Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. Imagine your great grandmother at your side as you shop. You are at the dairy case and she picks up Go-Gurt Yogurt tube - and has no idea what this could possibly be. Is it food or toothpaste? If she wouldn't think it was edible, don't put it in your cart! Let's consider bread now... your grandmother would tell you that bread is made using a remarkably small number of ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and a pinch of salt will do. But industrial breads have become much more complicated. Here's is a complete list of ingredients in Sara Lee's Soft & Smooth Whole Grain White Bread.

Pizza, pizza!

Mmmm I love pizza night at the Olson/Iwaskow household!

I found this recipe about 3 years ago and have never gone back. It is from the lovely cookbook Eat, Shrink & Be Merry. This is by far, the best whole-wheat dough you will ever encounter and it really is so easy!

Here we go...

As I was driving to work today, listening to CBC radio (I know... I'm old...) I heard a couple U of A student talking about blogging while losing weight. What better way to make you more accountable then telling the whole interweb about every victorious pound gone (or every annoying pound up...)

If you think you can only eat chicken breast and broccoli while losing weight... THINK AGAIN! I love, LOVE to cook (and eat...) I strive to make clean (meaning not from a box) & healthy meals daily. Why not tell you all about the yummy things I cook up while loosing the pounds that I gained over Christmas.

Oh, that part I said about gaining weight over Christmas... not entirely true. I did gain weight over Christmas but I kinda stopped working out and generally caring about my weight in August. You see, when you train for the Death Race (24km mountain run!) harder than you have trained for anything and some bitch from Edmonton was placed on your team and took pictures of the race instead of RUNNING the race and you don't make the time cut off so you do not even get to run the flipping race... in your defeated stupor you might be inclined to quit working out completely... yea, that was in August.