MAY 2-4

It's not quite here yet but Victoria Day is fast approaching. I'm currently slurping up some Egg Thread Soup with Asparagus but more on that later.

Last night's dinner was a leftover and an experiment. While making food suggestions to Sean over the phone, I decided to whip up my own batch of French toast but making them completely vegan. I had all the necessary ingredients including the key one, the flax egg--consisting of 1 Tbsp of ground flax + 2 Tbsp of water. I let the mixture sit for 5 minutes and got on with the rest of my ingredients.

French Toast Sticks
adapted from Can You Stay For Dinner?

- two slices of whole grain bread (we have some weird prebiotic brand in the pantry that I used)
- 1/4 cup of milk
- 1 flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flax + 2 Tbsp water, let sit for 5 minutes)
- healthy dash of cinnamon
- roughly 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used a little more than 1/2 tsp. Who doesn't like vanilla?)
- Earth Balance to grease pan (I'm not supposed to consume soy but I wanted to keep these vegan)

Directions:

1. Slice bread into vertical stick-like pieces.
2. Mix last four ingredients together.
3. Heat up a pan and add Earth Balance.
4. Dip bread sticks into the wet mixture and then place onto pan. Cook on medium heat for about 4-5 minutes on each side. (Note: I get squiky about sogging "middles" so I like my French toast well done.)
5. Continue with remaining sticks.
6. Serve with maple syrup and fruit.

After all your hard work you can sit down to a pretty platter of vegan French toast sticks with pure organic maple syrup, pear and blackberries:
I enjoyed my French toast sticks with a side of leftover congee:
But after a couple of spoonfuls I realized it was missing something green and crispy. Kale chips to the rescue of course:So far this combo of congee and other "regular" foods is keeping my stomach in check. My stomach didn't get mad at me after this meal so I'd call it a winner!

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Today's eats started with lunch. I know, I know...not a good idea to skip breakfast but I woke up at 10:30 (have you ever noticed that you get the best sleep when you're sick?) and then did some cleaning in the kitchen and before I knew it, it was lunchtime! I wanted something quick, simple and refreshing and this is what I came up with:

A spring salad of spring mix, 1/8 watermelon, 2 strawberries, one slice of prosciutto and seared halloumi. I had a little bit leftover (what amounted to one slice about 1/2 cm thick) so I seared that in a pan until it was very brown--well, practically black. It ends up having the best "crisp" when you eat it; I think so anyway. I dressed everything with some extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and the juice of half a lemon. This salad was amazing! Definitely a winner. I'm just insanely sad that I don't have anymore halloumi left. This calls for a trip to Metro.

Along with the salad I had the other 1/8 of watermelon:
and called that a late lunch. Of course, knowing me, I got hungry again. This blog ain't called "I'm Hungry, Feed Me!" for nothing! After seeing the potato wedges on Heather's blog a couple of times now, I wanted some of my own but while talking to Sean on the phone, I absent-mindedly cut mine into cubes and accidentally poured in 1/3 of a jar of dried thyme. Along with extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and pepper, this is what my potatoes looked like, served up with a side of kale chips:Three hours later, the stomach was calling once again and I quickly whipped up a batch of this Egg Thread Soup with Asparagus following this recipe from Fitness Magazine. My tiny pasta of choice was orzo (of course!) and I used 3 eggs instead of 4 because I only used about 7 cups of organic reduced-sodium chicken broth. A word to the wise, it's a good idea to add more water to the reduced-sodium chicken broth. I find it still, way too salty.

I'd say that my soup looks just like the one on Fitness Magazine's website except that I don't have as many asparagus tips--them being high in insoluble fibre and all.

AND THE DOCTOR SAYS...

I've got a mild case of food poisoning. Pretty much what I suspected the whole time. So why did I let it the symptoms go on for so long? Well, like I said, it's a mild case and pretty much like all the other sicknesses I've felt for the past little while, I thought it would go away on its own.

I'm now on a course of electrolytes (darn no Vita Coco around):
and Gaviscon for the abdominal cramps:
Plus some prescription cream for my hand rash. Just finished off this glorious platter of strawberries:
and am digging into this bowl of egg congee with BBQ pork:My dad made it with organic chicken broth so there's a little bit more oomph than usual.

I'm catching up with all my favourite food blogs (ie: all the ones I've got bookmarked which is shockingly close to 30) and then I'm probably going to lie down and take it easy. News alert: just read the ingredients on the box of my Gastrolyte and it contains aspartame ("as sweetening agent") so I will definitely not be consuming that. I'm on the search for Gatorade which we will probably not have in this house. Oh well. I hope that the almond milk I'm downing now will help replenish my fluids.

Earlier in the day I had a small handful of kale chips (yum!) and half a banana, in the car while heading to the doctor's. I'm still getting stomach upset after I eat so I'm trying not to overdo it but I have lost about 1.5lbs overnight so I'm trying to put some of that back on. I haven't really been feeling hungry though--a miracle, for sure--so it's been slow to start.

KALE CHIPS MAKE EVERYTHING BETTER

It's a little bit before 8 in the evening and can you believe that it's 27C or 81F? That's just f'ing insane. I am not down with this weather. My cheeks are red and feel like they're burning and a heat rash that began from yesterday's chemistry prep is starting to blister. Not cool. I feel miserable. I feel completely and utterly miserable. I've felt sick all week long.

I also have a migraine. No surprise there. I don't know whether it was someone's horrendous use of perfume or what, but midway through the workday, the migraine came a callin'. UGH!!!! Frustration does not even begin to explain how I feel. From the stomach cramps to the nausea to the migraines to the overall body aches--it's just plain ridiculous now. Granted, I know I'm living on "borrowed time" but c'mon, will someone just give me a break already??

Anyway, in more awesome food news, I made kale chips tonight! I followed a mixture of Kath's recipe found here and Smitten Kitchen's recipe found here. I made two batches, baking both at 300F for 20 minutes. For the first batch I used garlic salt as the seasoning and for the second batch I used ground Parmesan cheese. I would have also used fine sea salt but I just plum forgot. Actually, it was the migraine but whatevs.

After 20 minutes, I took both pans out of the oven and let them cool slightly before popping one into my mouth. Mmmm...kale chip heaven! Then I popped another and another and another. I stopped myself before my "taste testing" got out of control and let the kale chips cool completely.

Then I stored them in my trusty Christmas tin:
And of course, I noshed on a few more before heading out with my dad to print some old photos of Sean. I'm trying to get caught up on our photo albums and am currently working on September of 2007:


Check out that chippy goodness one more time:
Seriously, these are so addictive. They're so light and airy and who the hell needs the pre-packaged, overpriced crap at Whole Foods (sorry WF), when you can make your own for $1.99 a bunch? Aaaaand, even better news, the batch that I made was only half of the bunch! So I've still got half a bunch of kale waiting in the fridge just anticipating the moment they get to be turned into yummy chips.

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Elina over at Healthy and Sane is hosting a giveaway for 1 of 5 items from CSN Stores. All you have to do to win is of course, head on over to her blog and enter the giveaway! The prizes range from a cookbook holder, a crockpot (what I'm vying for), a digital food scale, a George Foreman grill or a chip and dip bowl. All fantastic prizes and one of them could be yours. Definitely head on over to Healthy and Sane for your chance to win. Also, be sure to check out some of Elina's other blog posts as she is definitely one of my top three daily blog reads.