Dinner with Ninja…

I was lucky enough to have my friend Eric (aka Ninja) come over and cook us dinner last night!!

I have been pestering him to come do a guest post for awhile, as he is one of the best, most imaginative cooks around!     Any group gathering, Eric shows up with a box full of goodies – and deliciousness is created!!

Today was no different… he showed up ready to make us a 3 course meal! 

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On the Menu;

Arugula and Spinach Salad

Dairy Free Butter Chicken with Rice

Strawberry Sorbet

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First off the salad;

Mixture of spinach and arugula with lemon, oil, salt and pepper dressing

Topped with cranberries, avocado, pear, pumpkin seeds, green onion and his homemade smoked salmon

Perfection!!  It had the perfect mix of flavors.

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Next up Dairy Free Butter Chicken

The ingredients

Eric is just like me as far as recipes goes!  He just plays with it until it tastes good, but we tried to figure out the amounts but you may have to tweak it a bit!!

Toast up all the whole spices – approximately 1 tsp after being ground of each spice.

• Cardamom
• Cumin
• Turmeric
• Schewan Pepper
• Chilli pepper
• White pepper
• Coriander Seed

Grind all spices up in coffee grinder or mortal and pestle.

**Marinate chicken thighs in sirachi hot sauce, lime juice garlic and salt and pepper for at least an hour..

Sauté up onions until brown

Transfer into a separate bowl and brown cherry tomatoes with olive oil

Add onions and spices…

Add in 1 can of tomatoes paste + 6 cans water

Add in 1 can full fat coconut milk and chunks of kombucha squash – cook sauce until squash is soft

Cook marinated chicken in a separate pan until cooked throughout.

Add chicken to sauce and let simmer for a few mins.

Serve with basmati rice!  Topped with toasted almonds or cashews, green onion and fresh cilantro.

This was so delicious – SO DELICIOUS.  I highly recommend taking the time to make this dish!!

We talked over dinner about some Vegan/Vegetarian options for all my non meat eating readers…

Some of Eric’s suggestions

• Chickpeas
• Lentils
• Squash

I can’t wait for my left overs today!!  YUMMY

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On to the final course!!

Strawberry Sorbet

Freeze strawberries

Pop frozen strawberries into food processor with a touch of orange juice – blend in Grand Marnier until smooth.  Place into container and put into the freezer… 

Perfect end to a perfect meal!

Thanks Eric for doing this for me!!  I’m sure my blog readers will love you for it!! :)

Eric spends his time travelling the world and has the most amazing stories of random cooking adventures while exploring world!!   You never know, you might run into him one day!

Hopefully I can catch him again next time he is home for another delicious meal!

Thanks guys hope you enjoyed this post!!

Jess

ps.  Thanks Eric for some of the prep photos!! :)

First Post on Our Big Earth

Hey guys!

I decided to shift your focus to my VERY FIRST article on Our Big Earth!!    I’m so excited!!!   Please go check it out!!

 

Also don’t forget my giveaway!! :)

Send me luck today too, final exam here I come!! :)

 

Ciao for now,

Jess

Giveaway Day!!! :)

I have been SO excited to do this giveaway for awhile.  This product is something I LOVE, plus I haven’t seen a giveaway for this stuff in blog world yet!! :) 

You might remember a few months ago I was sent a sample from Just Tomatoes.

A whole box of goodies… which included dried mango, veggies, strawberry/banana mix, fruit munch, strawberry and blueberry powder!

None of them contain anything except the fruit or veg stated… super clean delicious snack!

I tried VERY hard to not eat any of it until my upcoming trip.
 Because they are so light, but filling they would have been a perfect travelling companion!!    BUT… they kept calling my name and now everything is gone!! 

My very favourite was the strawberries ‘n bananas.

It was crunchy, fruity and really satisfied my craving for something sweet!   And it’s really a no guilt snack!   Perfect!

I also really enjoyed the strawberry powder! 

It’s made from "just" strawberries and is amazing in a smoothie and I also made chocolate strawberry oatmeal!! :)  *drools*

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Now, the people at Just Tomatoes have offered to host a giveaway!! YAY!

What’s in store for you?

1 Large tub(5 oz.) of the Strawberry & Banana mix + one 4 oz powder of choice.

This, my lovely blog readers, is a VERY exciting giveaway, I’m pretty excited about it, and wish I could win!! hehe… 

Wondering what you can do to win??

(please remember, for each thing you do ENTER A SEPARATE COMMENT)

• 
  
  
  
  
  MANDATORY ENTRY – Visit the Just Tomatoes website and snoop around – come back and tell me something you learned about their delicious company!!  (They have some fun recipes too!)
• 
  
• Become a fan of JUST TOMATOES on facebook
  
• 
  
  
  - Become a fan of Dairy Free Betty on Facebook (or leave a comment if you already are)
  
• 
  
  Follow me on Twitter!
  
• 
  
  Tweet about it, including a link to the giveaway! "I WANT TO WIN YUMMY GOODNESS @dairyfreebetty
  http://www.dairyfreebetty.com/2010/04/giveaway-day.html"
  
• 
  
• 
  
  Blogging about it will get you 2x entries 
  (remember to leave 2 separate comments for this!)

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Good luck!!  Contest will end MONDAY, April 26th!!

Weekend Recap!

Hey guys!

The weekend is over again!  Amazing how quickly it whizzes by!! :)

We had a pretty mellow weekend…  went out for Thai food with some good friends on Friday night!!   Here’s a photo of the left overs!  YUMMY! Lemongrass chicken, red thai curry and another savoury curry all over coconut rice!! 

Saturday morning started off with a breakfast cookie!!! 

Then we heading down to the market to visit my favourite Vegan Baker!!   We were super late (I had the times wrong) but we still got some yummy goodies… (and I took the worlds worst photo with my phone!   This was delicious, but I don’t remember what it was called!! haha :) 

We also picked up some orange/basil fresh pasta with dairy free pesto…

  And a bunch of cucumbers… because of my silly time mix up, there wasn’t much left… so we’ll have to go another weekend!!

Then I (dragged) convinced D to go to the smoothie/raw/juice bar to escape the blustery weather…

Here is his excited face…

He got a pear, apple, lemon and ginger juice!

And I got a mango smoothie…

Love this place… it’s dangerous!  They had RAW, VEGAN turtles chocolates… but I’d already spent too much $$!!!

Later that day we headed to a newer restaurant and I had the “VEGINATOR”  (sorry phone pic again)

It was huge and good… until I realized that the “rice cheese” contains dairy…  BOO!! (after I had eaten it) It didn’t bother me too much, thank goodness – I’m assuming that there wasn’t much dairy in it. 

That’s our Saturday in a nutshell!!

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Sunday was a mellow studying type day!!

I made something delicious to share with you all though!!

Salmon Cakes!!

I took a can of salmon, added some mayo, cajun spice, panko an an egg

Mixed it all together and pan fried it… 

I made some mini ones just for fun, served on a Mary’s Cracker with a pesto topping

So cute!!  Then I served the bigger salmon cakes over sautéed kale.

Yummy they were good!!  Next time I would add some green onion!! The left overs are great too!!

That was pretty much our Sunday, unless you want to hear about Therapy or Psychological Disorders!!   Which is what I was studying!! :)

Hope you had a fabulous weekend!!!!!!! 

Ciao for now!

Jess

Busy weekend!

Hey guys,

You’ll have to excuse me again today for not blogging!  I have my final exam coming up on Wednesdays for Psychology , plus we are house shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you are having a great weekend!!  Have you done anything fun???

I should hopefully have a good post for you tomorrow!!

xo

Jess

Wedding detail update…

Hey guys,

I really don’t tons to update you on, but I’ve been getting messages about an update, so I can write what is new!

I got my wedding band, it’s the same width as my engagement ring with 10 square diamonds…  it looks something like this, but a bit of a thicker band…  I love it, plus we got it 50% off because  the store was closing out!!

(source)

I still haven’t found my dress…I am looking for something pretty with a sweetheart neckline (I have a picture, but I don’t want D. to see!!)

As for bridesmaids dresses, I realized while trying on dresses I really have to choose my dress first!  But these are a few that I love!

This one is pretty formal, but I love it, and LOVE the color!

 This is my other favourite dress – much more casual!!  Picture it in brown though!

I want my hair something like this…. but with a veil not a flower!!

 

I am getting my veil made from ETSY this lady makes beautiful stuff!  I am again waiting for my dress to figure this all out!!

As most of you know… we are getting married on this beach

and hoping it will look something like these

As for other details.  I have 4 bridesmaids – and one “bridesman” that is standing on Dave’s side.  Dave has 2 groomsmen, because the other 2 cannot make it.     So far we have 11 people who are coming 100%…   so it’s all getting very exciting!!

We have had some pretty negative feedback about having a destination wedding, but are trying to let it roll off our shoulders, because it’s OUR day… and getting married on a white sandy beach with my toes, with palm tree’s overhead… has been my dream since I was a little girl!    Hard to make everyone happy I suppose!!!

Now I just need to pick my dress!!  I want something really pretty but not formal or too much – keep it simple!!   That’s our motto for the whole wedding!! :)

Hope you enjoyed this!!    Now tell me about your wedding or your thoughts on your wedding if you are getting married…

What were your colors?  Favourite parts of the wedding?  Things you would have  changed?   etc…   I look forward to hearing your thoughts!!

Cheese!!!!!!

I bet you never expected to see that as my title!!  I am just excited because last night I made “Macaroni and Cheese” and it totally couldn’t have come at the right time, I was totally craving comfort food!

Hello ooooohy… goeey goodness!

I have been looking for a good recipe forever!!  And I think I found it here…  I almost followed the recipe to a T – except I left off the topping and I added about a TBSP of turmeric!! 

Now if you didn’t go to the link – it’s a vegan mac and cheese!!

No dairy!!   My only suggestion is don’t make the whole recipe (it makes alot of cheese) and add extra onion – that was my fav part!

Continuing on with the comfort food today (I wasn’t feeling so good yesterday) I made banana soft serve and covered it with smore toppings!

Yummy!! (and healthy!!)

I ate things yesterday that were colorful too.. I promise!! haha  These were just my highlights!

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I have been trying really hard to at least do 30 mins (or more) of exercise per day and I have been doing really well…  Lots of Zumba (classes and videos) and hiking, and I found this workout on Lesley Lifting Life.  It’s a bridal boot camp that will kick your butt!!  It doesn’t look very hard until you try it!!   Check it out here!!  (PS it has Tommy Euro in it;))  It’s a great workout even if you aren’t getting married!!

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Well back to cleaning the house for this girl.  Amazing how quickly it get’s messy hey???

Question of the day – what is your favourite tea?

I am sipping on Yerba Mate today – very earthy, but one of my favourite teas!!

ciao,

Jess

Chickpea & Stuff Salad

Hey guys!

I feel like I have been holding out with you guys on this recipe!  Although I usually only make it when the sun starts shining!!  Because it’s a perfect lunch to pack up an go!!  Plus it get’s better the longer it sits…

Introducing my Chickpea & Stuff Salad.

Dice up whatever veggies you have… I used tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, carrots.  Add in 1 clove of finely minced garlic, a handful of sunflower seeds and a can of rinsed chickpeas!!

Then add spices – I used Zatar (from my exchange with Robyn)… some salt and pepper.   Chop up as much fresh herbs as possible and toss in… I used parsley! (YUM)  Then drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar!!

I topped mine with some home grown peppery sprouts!  I serve this with crackers – Mary’s are my fav!!

Green onions, artichoke hearts, chopped olives or sundried tomatoes would make this even better!!

Do you make any salad’s like this??  Remember the longer it sits the better!!

Gotta keep this short today. 

I will be back tomorrow after my trial run with a Macaroni and Cheeze dinner!   FUN!!

Ciao,

Jess

The Perfect Weekend!

Well I’m happy to say the sun was shining ALL weekend! And it was amazing!   My weekend started off with an awesome Zumba class (I love Zumba!) if anyone in CR wants to come, she offered free first class to anyone that is interested!   Let me know!

After a great sleep I woke up Saturday morning and made some (not so good, but pretty) pancakes!

and some fresh juice… (that’s pineapple core in the baggie)

Yum!!  Just for the record… I purchased some Glass Dharma straws awhile back and I think they are the best thing since sliced bread!!  Click here to find out more.

In case you didn’t read it this weekend.  Saturday was D and my 2 year anniversary – read the story here.

We decided to head out for a great hike, since the sun was shining.

It was a good one… about 8km.  With lots of up hill!!  We hiked all the way to the rock bluffs from the you are here!

We were not a lone on the trail though – EEK!

FRESH Elk foot prints the size of my hand!  We didn’t run into any though – thank goodness!! 

The trail is beautiful

 

At the rock bluffs – check out the whirl pools!!

I had a delicious snack – My favourite Larabar flavour by far!

It took us 4 hours – due to lots of “enjoying the scenery” moments, snack/water breaks and one silly detour (that ended in us climbing up a mossy rock face! haha )

We came home and decided to have a hot dog/smore roast on our new firepit!

Lance was pooped.. we didn’t hear a word from him all night…

We invited some friends over and ate some hot dogs (with Guinness fried onions), smores and decided to crack open a bottle of wine…  The whole day was perfection!

Enter Sunday -  we attacked all of our yard work.   Phewff…  It was a lot of work, but we got the front yard looking good!!

After all that work… lunch was a delicious BBQ

Amy’s burger, veggies, hummus and kombucha! Delish

Another great day!  We finished off the night with dinner at my parents house – yummy pork roast and sauerkraut!

A fabulous weekend indeed!! :)

 

How was your weekend?!?!?!