About Pop/Soda

About 6 months ago I decided to start eating a better and trying to cut out a lot of sugar from my diet.  The first thing to go was pop, iced tea, and any other really sugary drinks.  I’ll be the first to admit that I do still have a coffee (half hot chocolate) from tim hortons at least once a week, but that’s better then what it was.  I’ve mostly been drinking water with crystal light singles (Aspertame is bad I know!!) or tea.  I’ve gotten a lot better about just drinking water at restaurants and water with some lemon is good too.  I was a bad, bad girl today and ordered a dr. pepper with my lunch.  I can’t finish it.  It’s far too sweet and has a funny taste to it, and I’m not liking the burpy-ness that results from the carbonat…ion.  I feel gross and bloated, it’s not much fun.  At least I’ve kicked one bad habit…only about 100 to go, lol. 

Next goal is to cut back on my portion size and try to eat slower.  This includes snacks and meals.  I also need to learn to stop eating when I feel full.  I do need to lose weight, and I haven’t really lost anything but that isn’t exactly the goal…I find if I focus on weight loss as a goal I get very frustrated and start to obsess about it, which doesn’t help.  I also know that I would actually need to start getting off my butt and actually going out and doing stuff.  Adrian and I have both said that if we lived together we wouldnt’ be on the computer nearly as much and would be going out, but that’s not possible right now and I hate doing things beyond going to work by myself.  One of these days I’ll hafta just get over it I guess.

Lemons? In Manitoba??

I’ve been reading a bunch of vegetarian and eco-focused blogs lately and have been inspired!  I want to grow citrus trees in my apartment.  My bedroom is the only room that has south windows, and I’m thinking about moving my desk out to the livingroom once my current roommate moves out so that I have more room in my bedroom for plants and other things (dirty laundry mostly I bet).  So far the easiest and most common indoor citrus tree seems to be the Meyer Lemon.  Other fruits that are mentioned are usually key limes, dwarf grapefruits, kumquats, dwarf oranges, or Calamondin.  I figure I’ll start with something easy…ish and see how that goes.  Considering my first attempt at growing herbs from seeds ended disasterously, I’m hopeful but not overly so.  First issue I have to deal with is finding a greenhouse that actually carries meyer lemon trees!  I emailed Screimer’s greenhouse a little while ago and am just waiting for a response.

Leek and Potato Soup

This weekend I was determined to make soup and can it for lunches this week.  I made the most amazing leek and potato soup EVER, it was a little bit spicy, just the right amount of salt, and full of flavor.  It was also cheap and very very easy to make, even with having to puree it.  My only problem came when I canned it in 3 pint jars and one larger jar.  They all seemed to seal, so I left them on the counter (no dairy in the soup) since there’s no room in the fridge.  Well, I went to pack my lunch yesterday and one of the pint jars and the large jar apparently un-sealed themselves and it went bad.  😦  I guess the potatos went rancid or something, I’m not quite sure but it smelled pretty bad.  The jars that sealed properly are fine, but I squished them into the fridge…just to be safe.

 

Leek and Potato Soup

 

1/4 cup margarine

2 leeks, white parts only, sliced thin and washed

1 onion, sliced

4 potatoes, small dice

6 cups vegetable stock

1 tsp pepper

 

1. melt margarine in a medium stock pot or pan, add onion, leek and potatoes.  Cook on medium for 5 minutes, or untill soft but not browned.

2. Add stock and pepper.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes or untill potatoes are cooked through. 

3. Puree in batches in a blender, leaving it somewhat chunky.

 

Ta-da!  Delicious, homemade, vegetarian soup!

My somewhat green thumb

This winter was quite odd for me in general, I was working at a bookstore part time and found myself taking up interest in hobbies that I never had before.  One of these interests has actually become something that I can handle…plants!  I’ve been reading quite a bit about growing herbs indoors as I love to use fresh herbs when I cook and since I live in an apartment, I don’t have any kind of outdoor space I can use.

About 6 weeks ago I went to wal-mart and decided that I had the money to get some plants and supplies.  I picked up some potting soil and cactus soil, and three plants: a moses in the cradle, an english ivy and some kind of cactus.  I transplanted all three as soon as I got them home as they were all horribly root bound, the cactus was the worst. 

I didn’t know much about the moses in the cradle, and it wasn’t in any of the books I had at home from work so I went online and tried to find some information about it.  The information I found was interesting, you’re basically supposed to treat it as a succulent, water it sparingly and give it lots and lots of sun.  The bloody thing is growing like a weed!  It’s gained probably about 3-4 inches of height and probably 10 new leaves.  The purple colour on the underside of the leaves isn’t as dark on the new leaves as it is on the old ones, and it just leeeeeans towards the sun as much as possible.  I transplanted it to a much larger pot the other day and it still seems to be doing well, although I need to find a new place for it, I put my air conditioner in and it blocks most of the sun.  Once my current roommate moves out and I can actually put stuff outside of my bedroom it’ll be easier as my apartment gets a ton of light.  I can’t wait!

Can anybody hear me?

This is the little bit about myself thing that I’m going to use to start off this blog since I’ve never really had a “public” journal or blog before. 

This blog will probably be a mishmash of topics, everything from cooking to work stuff, gaming to pets, world of warcraft to long distance relationship crap, etc.  I am hoping to find a specific topic I can focus on as it develops but we’ll see if I can keep it up.

Let’s see, a little bit about me, I’m 26 years old and I currently live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.   I work full time for a large canadian investment company as an internal technical support rep, as well as part time at a book store (Chapters for you canadians who will know what I’m talking about).  I’m currently in a long distance relationship and have been for the last 2 years, he lives in Boise, ID and is helping his sister out with her 3 kids since she is out of town for work a lot. 

I have a variety of hobbies, I’ve started gathering a nice collection of plants and planted some herb seeds this weekend because I love using fresh herbs in practically everything…which brings me to my next hobby: cooking and baking!  I am attempting to eat and cook more vegetarian/vegan/organic foods and desserts, I’m not going completely vegetarian but am trying to make at least 2-3 vegetarian meals a week, and most of my baking is vegetarian as I only buy soymilk and use egg substitutes.  Smoothies have also been a big part of my menu lately as I’m trying to cut back on refined sugars and sweets.  The other hobby I have is more of an addiction and a bigger time waster then anything else (lol)…it’s World of Warcraft.  The boy and I play together, so it’s something that we can do together no matter where we are on the globe.

I really hate doing these intro posts, but here it is and I think I shall call it done!  Oh, and I really need a different title for this thing…hmm…