A fabulous day off- Part 2

Part 2 of my fabulous day off was a little lunch date and shopping with Julie and baby Stephanie.

Here are the girls posing for me. It's a monumental moment, Stephanie's first time in the Erin Mills Town Centre.

Look where we got to park!!!

Julie is a healthy eater by nature and by the way... see how great she looks, she had a baby only 3 months ago!!!! So anyways, we went to the food court looking for a healthy alternative. I had seen this place before, but never tried it. Fit for Life it was to be for our very special lunch date.

It's a Mediterranean place, so we tried chicken Schwarmas, we like it, but a little too much garlic for these girls. Check out the side of carrots and water!

Julie enjoying her first bite, Stephanie enjoying her first food court experience.... but wait, there's me too... enjoying my first food court experience because I can finally fit into the chairs and tables (they don't move, and before this day- I hadn't fit into them for about 15 years!)

Hey look, Stephanie woke up... so excited to be in the big mall!!

It was so funny right.... your mom forgot she had to use elevator and she was headed for the stairs!

And this one is for Melanie, an epic moment in a girl's life... her first time inside Aeropostale.

Longo's Panini Lunch- Healthy Alternative

My healthy living journey is not lived in a bubble. Meaning.... real life happens. So on weekends I still have to run and around and do errands and go here and there and everywhere and sometimes you can pack your lunch or your snacks, but sometimes you need to eat out and making healthy choices out there in this 'fast food world' can be a challenge. Now in the past, the answer would have been a quick McDonald's or some other unhealthy 'crap'. 
All that has changed... now I look for healthier, whole food options. Less processed with natural ingredients. Well recently we ended up at Longo's and had to have lunch, so we were floored by all the choices they had. Fresh salad bar, fresh sushi, fresh hot dishes, fresh made pizza and my personal favorite- Panini sandwhich.

I chose a delicious combination of turkey, roasted tomatoes, provolone and lettuce. Not your average everyday sandwhich. Visit their website http://www.longos.com/ and you can actually view their recipes and even their magazines online. I already know what I want to make next- Whole wheat pumkin scones.

Washed it down with this beverage- Fuze Shape- only 20 calories. Tasted like a kind of Fruitopia.

I guess it's know for it's vitamins and minerals. Vitamin C and Chromium to be exact. I know that it contains sucralose- an artificial sweetener- and I am trying to stay away from the chemicals. But it was something I just wanted to try. Next time, I'll choose water.

Melanie chose her favorite. Arthur's Smoothies in Verry-Berry.

Check out the ingredients. Completely natural, no additives or preservatives. A mom likes that!



Teach your children well...

Well, over the past 4 months Melanie has been with me, side by side, making this lifestyle change, getting to know what foods are good for you and how to make sure to eat from all the food groups.  Since I was going to be very busy last weekend beading away for the big Wedding Show this weekend, I told Melanie and Brent that I was gonna hang up my cooking hat this weekend (well almost, I baked 2 dozen banana dark chocolate muffins for my booth babes this weekend) and that they would be in charge of the meals.  Brent made some chicken and some soup which was very lovely. But he's used to cooking and all that. But what surprised me the most was that Melanie wanted to make lunch for us.

She took the new cookbook she got for Christmas and started looking through, flipping pages and putting little flags on the recipes she was interested in. She asked if we had the ingredients she needed and got a little help for the cooking part (Turkey Bacon) and she presented us with this-

Turkey Club Sandwich

She took whole wheat bread, put some light mayonnaise (I just love the she pronounces mayonnaise), she put some romaine lettuce, some deli turkey and some turkey bacon slices. She then put a toothpick on top of the sandwich to hold it all together. But the BEST, was the piece of turkey, rolled up on the side of the plate with it's own toothpick... so gourmet! Then she cut up a pear and put it around the side of the plate and also put a little yogurt -already opened for my convenience- and a spoon.

I was floored, so touched by how thoughfully she plated our lunch and even more- how she included all the food group. I was a proud mama for sure. And by the way, it was delicious!

Delicious Visit

I had the great surprise visit from my girlfriend Sam (the one who sent me the teas in the mail) this past weekend. We met up for lunch at this great place in Oakville called Stoney's

She is one of my oldest and dearest friends and it was wonderful to see her and catch up over a very long and lingering lunches (yup, my butt was soar- 2 hours +++)

Here she is with her ever-famous hand sanitizer, everytime she eats in a restaurant she puts the stuff on.

She brought me up a couple of boxes of tea and I let her pick one of her favourite coco mado pieces.

We decided to share a couple of dishes (the food is amazing there!). She is a vegetarian so we chose a delicious Greek Salad- we didn't even touch the crouton because....

We shared this tiny little Margherita Pizza.... check out the cheese factory... in our minds it would be a thin crust pizza with lots of tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzerella. But this is what came... I was only going to have one slice and save the rest... But you know, someone once told me that to lose weight, you should eat like a 'thin' person eats... well, this thin person sitting across from me was eating the second piece...so when in Rome... Needless to say, I had a small dinner full of veggies!