On my plate

Well hello!

Thanks to everyone for the lovely chats on facebook – I didn’t realize that everyone except for West Coasters were having a heat wave!  I love being able to chat with you guys! Feel free to leave notes whenever you like – especially if you have a question – because my comments don’t let me answer!

So… to say I have come up with some amazing goodies in the kitchen would be a lie.  I’ve come up with some really simple – yet satisfying goodies though!    I’ve been working hard at the fitness studio to get it ready for opening on MONDAY – so my meals have been sub par!

My breakfasts have looked like the following  -

This was tasty (weird yes – but tasty also) – Toasted bread with earth balance, nooch and asparagus…  on a paper towel .

A new to me granola from Girlnola.  It was SO tasty!! Everything was perfectly crunchy – even after an almond milk bath!  New love!  (more on this later)

I’ve also been loving the breakfast sandwich – Brown bun with tomato, mayo and an egg!

As for lunch and dinner – it’s been equally as sub par…

I’ve been eating homemade pizza like a crazy women – it’s just such a satisfying meal and makes for lots of left overs (double score).

This one was simple; hummus base, caramelized onions, fresh tomatoes and herb de providence.

YUM!!

Once I get bored with the flavours – I add a little bit of dressed salad to the top!

It just adds a bit of extra excitement!

Another thing I have been eating far too much of – which I think is just my protest against summer not being here… SMORES!

Quick, easy microwave smores!! haha 

And THEN I saw that Elizabeth made smore pops!! Are you kiddddddddddding?

Apparently I should have read the directions and not crunched up the smores so tiny – but they are awesome.

Yup, love them!!

Anywhoo – as you can see – nothing exciting has come out of my kitchen – although last night I made some almond cheese (a different recipe) so if that turns out – I’ll be sure to let you know!!

How is your summer going so far?  Have you been burning up or staying cool?

Raw Breaky…

Thank you SO much for all your suggestions regarding lunch – I highly recommend you go back and check out the suggestions!

One of my favourite suggestions was to check out City Life Eats.  I have found SO much inspiration on Valerie’s blog.  I’m trying to make my way through the whole thing!

Her blog has inspired me to have some more raw foods in my life!!  This morning I made a raw breaky!

Swiss Chard wraps

3x chard wraps

slices of red pepper

cucumber

Nut cheese (see below)

Raw Nori

Wrap it all up and nom nom nom

I used more nori than this, but it didn’t look as pretty for the picture!

Nut Cheese

1/2 cup cashews (soaked at least an hour – I did overnight)

1/2 cup almonds

2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp nutritional yeast

1 TBSP sundried tomatoes

Blend everything in food processor until desired consistency

Done!!  It made enough for about 10 wraps!! (yay left overs!!)

Love it!! I’ll see what kind of staying power it has though!! It would be good in lunches too, as the wraps wouldn't’ get soggy.

 

More Raw Goodness!

Dawn from Raw Elements.ca sent me some samples of Sun Warrior Powder!  I was SO excited as I love adding stuff to my smoothies, but I’ve been burned a few times ordering a huge jar and not liking it!

So far I have tried the vanilla and the chocolate and I have to say I REALLY like this product!!  And even better – no tummy problems!!

The vanilla I put in a smoothie with strawberries, banana and water

The taste was subtle, but nice… usually rice powder is gritty, but this stuff wasn’t at all..

I tried the chocolate in a a mango smoothie with Chia seeds

Not pretty, but what can you do?! ha

I really liked the chocolate too, but I think I would order the vanilla because it’s more plain and you can always add cacao powder if you are craving chocolate!

Overall, I really like Sun Warrior!  I still have some left and I think I might make Amazeballs!

Thank you Dawn!!

Also, make sure to check out City Life Eats for a TON of inspiration!!

Question of the day.

What’s your FAVORITE breakfast???

What I’ve been up to!!

Hey guys!

Sorry for the lack o posting!!  These last 4 weeks of school are taking over my life (plus I had the FLU! YUCK)!  I’ve been flat out reading, studying, working on projects, and hardly any time for blogging or cooking!

BUT I am here today to give a wee update on what’s been in my kitchen lately!

Let’s see…

I’m SO GLAD it’s getting light out earlier now, most of my pictures were taken in dark places so they aren’t so good!!  WARNING – SOME CRAPPY/DARK PHOTOS AHEAD

This was amazing – bread, spread with refried beans and a bit of daiya “cheese” popped under the broiler, and then topped with avocado and cilantro!! *love*  such a quick meal too!

Last night for dinner, we had the 1st BBQ of the season!!   YAHOO!!  I had BBQ veggies with sautéed kale and shrimp!   I also had a big ole’ slice of bread to go with this – dipped in balsamic and oil! (YUM!)

I love veggies cooked on the BBQ

There has been A LOT of Starbucks in my last 2 days!  I’ve gone about 6 months as a starving student not having starbucks and then one of my BFF’s came to town – she’s brought me Starbucks 2x’s and Dave got me one yesterday  - Gotta love them!

My drinks of choice -  this is a shaken green tea lemonade (YUM), I’ve also had my 2 other favourites – shaken passion lemonade and a steamed soy milk with toffee nut syrup!!

I also got a lovely knock on the door the other day with a sample pack from the people at Artisana! (HOLY YUM!)

Seriously?   when they said they would send some samples,

I thought maybe a wee bit, but this was a serious haul!!

So far I have been LOVING this stuff…

Almond butter on rice cakes = delicious!  This almond butter is the SWEETEST (non sweetened) almond butter I’ve tasted!!  Them are some sweet almonds!  SO GOOD!

And yesterday for breaky I tested out the Macadamia Butter

No joke,  this stuff should be illegal

When I see a jar of this, it’s all mine!!  (Obviously my favourite so far!)

Anywhoo… I’ll get back to you guys, and review the other flavors as I test them out!!

As I mentioned a few weeks ago we hosted a Mexican Fiesta dinner party!!

Good times!   My recap is coming soon (with recipes!) I promise!

Anyways, here’s to the ending of the worlds most random post!!

2 questions for you?

Anything FABULOUS I need to pick up at Costco tomorrow?  It’s my birthday tomorrow, and Dave’s taking me SHOPPING and then we’re heading to Costco (YAY!) – oh and then to SUSHI with 6 of my favorite people!!

What’s your Starbucks drink of choice? 

I love hearing all the wacky drink orders out there – mine USED to be – Tall, soy, 1/2 sweet peppermint latte – easy on the foam…

Have an AWESOME MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS… FUN STUFF – Lance was featured on BLOG DOGS!! Go check it out and if you click his name it takes you too a silly video of his Lancey-ness!

Mushroom & Kale Quinoa Risotto

Ok ok,

I’ve been promising this recipe for awhile!!  It’s SO tasty!! Enjoy

Ingredients  *everything is approximate I just threw everything together.

3/4 cup dry quinoa (rinsed)

1 – 2 cups sliced mushrooms (I just used white ones)

as much kale as you like

1/4 cup walnuts – chopped

1/4 white onion chopped

1 tsp dried savoury or herb of choice

2+ cups broth (I used chicken)

 

Sauté onions and mushrooms until onions are translucent.

Add in quinoa and 1/2 cup broth

Simmer on medium until all broth is sucked up (yes that’s a technical term)

Add another 1/2 cup of broth stirring until broth is gone again… continue in 1/2 cup

Add in kale, walnuts and savoury  - stir until combined and kale is slightly steamed

Add in salt and pepper to taste!

Serve warm or also is great as a cold left over!

So creamy and delicious!!

This was such a fantastic meal!!! Hearty and filling!!

 

I think next time I might use these…

And use the water from soaking them as the broth!! (YUM! and so nutritious!)

 

As I have mentioned a few times, this recipe came as an inspiration from someone elses blog, so if this was yours, please let me know, so I can give you kudos!!

 

Have a great day today – are you up to anything fun??

I’m doing homework, a few wedding things and then hopefully ZUMBA!

On my plate…

I’m so glad you guys enjoyed our engagement story!!  It was a good day!!

Yesterday on my facebook page – I let everyone know that we were making perogies for dinner!! I got a bunch of inquiring messages regarding these delicious doughy goodness!!

Warning, the pictures ARE NOT pretty – because it was so dark, I had to use what light I could find.

I followed Meg’s recipe that she tweeted to me!   But for the filling I did potatoes with roasted garlic, pepper and nooch!  And Dave did potatoes with cheese and bacon.

I made BIG MASSIVE ones and tiny little  wee ones

I fried them up and ate them as is… nothing fancy, nothing exciting but they were AMAZING!!

Totally worth the effort,  although I’m glad we made 2 batches, so I have a ton of left overs!

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Up next,  I’ve had a MAJOR craving for Caesar salad.

Funny, because I never liked it before going dairy free – but now I crave it!!

CAESAR SALAD Dressing (Raw?/Vegan)

makes 2 servings

For the dressing – I tossed all this into the Vitamix;

3 Tbsp cashews

1 tbsp Nooch (nutritional yeast)

1 clove garlic

1/2 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tbsp braggs

1tbsp evoo

2 tbsp water

salt to taste.

Blend up and toss with salad…

I added some extra nooch on top, and some homemade croutons

It was VERY garlicly and VERY good!!  I will be making it again for sure.

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Ok… what’s next?   Oooh I still haven’t given you my mushroom risotto  - I guess you’ll have to wait again!

I also made some of “Almost as good as Nan’s” Pea Soup! 

topped with some of my new favorite snack

So good!  SO addicting!

Ok your turn… what did you eat that was good this weekend?

How do you cook your perogies? 

Have you tried a raw/vegan salad dressing before?

Hope your week is fantabulous! (funny that didn’t come up in spell check)!

 

 

Oh and PS…  my new favorite thought…

Yum in my Tum…

 

Just for the record.  I LOVE you guys! I got some of the best/sweetest emails yesterday, while you guys were sending me your addresses for the giveaway!! I appreciate them so much!!  I love blogging, so I love it when you guys love what I’m writing!!  

As for the sample giveaway HOLY WOW – I went to an hour of Zumba and I came back to over 25 emails!  Even some my lovely US readers send me an email just to say hi!!  Seriously, I felt the LOVE

Just a quick post from me today,  it’s my 9 ugly hours of classes today – but the good news is – When I get home DAVE WILL BE HOME!!  I haven’t mentioned it on my blog (hello creepers) but Dave has been gone for 9 days!! I missed him SO SO SO MUCH!!!

I love him… he’s my lobster! xo

Anyways, enough smush (better get used to it with all the wedding pictures coming, just sayin) a few “what I’ve been eating, when the meat eater has been gone…” FOOD

 

Pear with Granola and Soy Yogurt.

Every once in awhile, I CRAVE PEARS – this was one of those weeks.  For this dish, I sliced it up and sautéed it, so it was creamy and warm.  Then topped it off with some vanilla soy yogurt and some dairy free granola from the farmers market this summer.   It was awesome and kept me full for a long time!

It was perfect because it was a warm breakfast – perfect for this weather…

Seriously yuck… so glad it’s gone!!    The  dog loves it though…

Hi Lance!! 

Mmmm… and I also made some chow mein.

I cooked up some onions, shredded carrots, zucchini, bean sprouts and kale and then tossed it with steam fried chow mein noodles!   This has become one of my favorite QUICK dinners – it takes under 10 mins!

Note to self… add WAY more kale next time.   I need a bumper sticker I <3 Kale!

And lastly…  There was an AMAZING new recipe!   As I said yesterday, I saw a recipe similar to this on someone’s blog – so if it was you, let me know so I can give you kudos!!

Mushroom and Kale Quinoa Risotto

OMG – this was heaven in a bowl…

                                             … you’ll have to stay tuned for the recipe though…

                                                                                                         …muah ha ha……………

I know you wont’ be mad, becausebI know you guys all love me, cuz you told me!! hehe