Chocolate, Dates & Sweet Potato

Good Morning!

I was up earlier than usual today (7am!) and laced up my runners to go for a jog. It was nice and cool out and I should have taken a sweater but figured running would keep me warm. I didn't have as much energy as I thought and ended up walking more than running but I figured it was better than still being in bed so at least that was something.

When I got home I made a chocolate smoothie milkshake. 

In a blender I put:

1 cup almond milk + 1/3 cup soy milk

1/2 banana

2 heaping tbsp of raw cacao

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 tsp tahini

1 tsp almond butter

1 tsp agave syrup

It tasted just like a milkshake, and wasn't too thick and perfectly sweet.

With it I had one two of Angela's no bake date squares, the only thing I added to this killer recipe (to make it 6 ingredients) is chia seeds to the crust. BAM amazing!

Yesterday I was in the mood for sweet potatoes, which isn't odd because I love them but I couldn't shake the craving so I was inspired by Jess's simple panini (I left out the cheese, yogurt and a few other things).  

Sweet Potatoes were sliced and seasoned with sea salt, black pepper & curry spices then went on the grill.

I loaded a pita bread with a dijon mustard & maple syrup sauce, lettuce, spinach, tomato, poppy seeds and sweet potatoes.

I folded it and put it back on the grill for a minute, then got ready to eat.

It hit the spot. Savoury and spicy, this recipe is a keeper!

Have a sweet day.

Lemonade Ice Cream with Blueberry Sauce

In honour of sweet Tooth tuesday I put a little something special together today...LEMONS and BLUEBERRIES!! This combo is delightful and refreshing and since I spent most of the day outside in the garden it was just what I craved!

I made the lemonade ice cream on the weekend but it turned out very soft so I had to throw it in the freezer for a few hours and I forgot about it until this morning. It is still more like sorbet which is fine by me :)

Here's how I made the icc cream:

1 cup of non-dairy milk (I used almond)

2 tbsp arrowroot powder

1 1/2 cups lemonade

2 cups soy creamer

1/3 cup organic cane sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Combine 1/4 cup of the non-dairy milk with the arrowroot powder in a bowl to thicken.

In a saucepan on low heat stir together the lemonade, soy creamer, remaining 3/4 of the non-dairy milk and sugar, stir until it boils then remove from heat and immediately add the arrowroot mixture. Stir and the liquid will thicken. Then add vanilla and stir, Place bowl in the fridge until completely cooled (2-3 hours). Freeze according to your ice cream maker instructions. Or if you don't have an ice cream maker put the liquid in the freezer and remove every 30-45 mins to fluff up with a fork, repeat for a couple hours until reaching a desired consistency.

And the blueberry sauce

2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries

1 tbsp water + 1 tsp cold water

2 tbsp sugar

A dash of salt

1/2 tsp carnstarch

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Combine blueberries, 1 tbsp of water, sugar and salt in a saucepan on low heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer without a lid for 5-8 minutes until the blueberry skin breaks.

In a bowl mix the cornstarch and 1 tsp cold water together and stir until smooth. Add to the blueberry sauce then bring to a boil and stir until thick (approx. 2 mins). Remove pan from heat and add lemon juice and vanilla. Allow sauce to cool then top ice cream of choice!

Have a sweet day!

TGIF!

Good Day Everyone!

I am so happy that it's friday! Why? Because it's sunny and I plan on heading outside this afternoon to bike and garden a bit. And well those things make me happy.

I had a good start to my day and wanted to share what I made.

I went out to the garden and picked this...

And turned it into this...

Then scooped it into a big ole bowl and put cheery on top!

RHUBARB & CHERRY are a nice pairing. Sweet & Sour = ♥
Then I grabbed a bottle of Kombucha to enjoy in the backyard

Rosehips & Hibiscus

I gently shook it and carefully opened it (as per the instructions), and still ended up wearing it, but the part I got in my glass I did enjoy :)

I then sorted out my bars for the week - Larabars look at em all. Nom nom nom. Now I don't have to spend time deciding what flavour to take, I just grab one from the pile because they are all deelish in their own way.

OK heading back outside.
Have a sweet day.

Chocolate Madness

Happy Sweet Tooth Tuesday!

Today was such a treat!
 I met up with Stephanie from Lunges and Lunch because I had won her giveaway for some chocolate chips and granola from Enjoy Life.

The Enjoy Life products were really good, I had a handful of the granola and envisioned myself having it with almond milk tomorrow morning. A 1/2 cup portion has 50% of your daily value of iron and is gluten-free, dairy-free and free of many other allergens/contaminants.

The chocolate chunks were hard to put down, I am looking forward to baking with those soon!

And you may ask, what is in the foil package above? Well Steph was so sweet she gave me a piece of her Chocolate Zucchini Bread, see the recipe here. Then gather all ingredients and make this.

It was so good I almost didn't want to put it down to take a pic but I did want to show you so you could see just how chocolatey and divine this was! Then I proceeded to eat it up. All of it. It was delicious!

After dinner I split a chocolate cupcake with the bf, falling further into my chocolate coma.

Once it cooled down outside (10PMish) I went for an hour + walk/jog so I can wake up tomorrow and repeat the chocolate craze.

Have a sweet one!

A Sweet Monday

Summer has arrived in Toronto!

And I kicked the day off with a bang.
Apple pie for breakfast, yes siree I did. Oh and a mango smoothie too.

After picking up a mini pie yesterday from Apiecalypse Now! at the Distillery Market I was eager to try it because well I think I haven't had pie since last summer.A shame I know.
Look how cute the pie is!

So how did it taste?? Well the crust was nice and flaky while the filling was sweet and cinnamon-y. A very good combo with local and organic apples - perfect! Try this pie and other goodies, they are selling on Sundays!

I paired it with a mango smoothie (6 frozen mango cubes, 1/3 cup almond milk. 1/3 cup orange juice. 1 scoop of Vega Tropical Tango, 1 tbsp chia seeds) to round out this breakfast.

Feeling energized I set out biking to Port Credit, took some photos of the lake.

Rested on a park bench, had a snack also from Apiecalypse Now, Lemon Loaf slice (we bought the whole loaf but Jim was taking it to work this week for a snack, so I stole some first!) it was very refreshing, I absolutely love lemon zest in loaf cakes. it gave me the boost I needed to head home.

Arrived back home almost 2 hours later at a much slower pace than I originally set out, sadly and accidentally crushed a snail with my bike (stupid bike), then finally finished the backyard garden with plants and seeds sown. Planted in here are: tomatoes, carrots, beets, lettuce, bell peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, celery and watermelon. We'll see what happens!

Green Beans are growing. Out of the first 6 seeds I planted 3 weeks ago, only 1 took off so then I tried again with 5 more seeds about a week and a half ago. Obvious which one got the head start. 

Edamame, 5 seeds were sown, 5 plants are growing (planted 3 weeks ago)!

Now off to bed, I am still sad about the snail...but otherwise it was a sweet day.
How was your Monday?

Have a sweet day!

A Perfect Weekend

Today was my sister's birthday, but we celebrated yesterday with dinner and a cake, I didn't want to feel left out so I went to Kindfood for some vegan cupcakes.

I knew I would love the coconut one - I love coconut everything! I gave my sis the chocolate mint - because that's her type of thing.

Today was a pretty great day, the weather held up so Jim and I went downtown.

To start off the day we headed down to the Distillery District to check out the Sunday Market.

We popped into the Cube Works Studio that featured some neat art like these completely made out of rubik's cubes. I really liked pac man.

Then I hunted down the Apiecalypse Now booth for some vegan treats. I love supporting local vegan bakers!

I got me a mini apple pie and Jim the lemon loaf, and we split a slice of banana bread!

 We ate the slice of banana bread right away (yummy!) and saved the pie and loaf until later.

Back in about January I had seen a preview for the movie Forks Over Knives and I couldn't wait until it came out to see it. I had planned to go on opening night here in Toronto but something else came up so I had to wait a bit longer. I finally saw it today and it was great! I loved the China Study when I read it two years ago and was impressed to see it come to life on screen. I strongly believe if people see this movie it will change their minds, and open them up to a whole new perspective and lifestyle. I hope more people opt to prevent disease instead of waiting to go the route of a bandaid fix when it's too late.

My favourite quote that sums it all up: "The answer isn't another pill, the answer is spinach"

Following the movie, we headed over to Rawlicious to take advantage of their special for a smoothie, wrap and side salad for $15 (with a Forks Over Knives movie stub).

This time I tried the caesar wrap because I had heard it was amazing, and indeed it was fantastic! I had it with the Raspberry Bliss Smoothie and a side salad with balsamic dressing.

Jim chose the taco wrap (I loved it last time I was here) and he really enjoyed it as well. He had the strawberry milkshake which was heavenly and a side salad with balsamic dressing.

For dessert I had the brownie.

Jim had the cheesecake (today it was chocolate banana).

By the time I got back home I was too stuffed to try the pie and loaf - I'm looking forward to trying them at breakfast tomorrow!

Have you seen or are you planning on seeing Forks Over Knives? It's not in theatres for very long so if you haven't seen it go soon!
Have you tried Apiecalypse Now baked goods? They are at the Sunday Market all summer in Toronto's Distillery District - check them out if you can :)

Have a sweet day!

The BEST Mac and Cheese (Vegan & Gluten free)

Happy Friday!

I recently made Chef Chloe's recipe for the BEST Vegan Mac N' Cheese, and this is seriously good stuff. It can be as creamy as you like just by adding more non-dairy milk. I got thumbs up on this one.

Here's the recipe, I didn't follow it to a T and it still was phenomenal. I didn't have broccoli but I've had it with green beans one day and with cauliflower another.

I also used rice pasta and garbanzo bean flour to keep this gluten-free!

What I really love is how versatile this "cheese" is. It can be used as a veggie dip, poured over nachos with all the fixings, or drizzle on a veggie burger, lasagne and anywhere you want to substitute for cheddar cheese.

A bonus is that this recipe uses nutritional yeast that is very good for you.
Nutritional yeast is a low-fat, low-sodium, kosher, non-GMO food that contains no added sugars or preservatives. The cane and beet molasses used in the growing process does not make nutritional yeast sweet and is not a source of simple sugars. It does not contain active yeast and 1 tbsp contains 4 grams of fibre, 8 grams of protein and 130% of your daily value of vitamin B12!
source: http://www.bestnaturalfoods.com/nutritional_yeast.html

Delicious & Nutritious!
Do you have a mac and cheese recipe that you follow? what else do you use the "cheese" on?

Have a sweet day!

Dinner at Raw Aura

Last night I met up with a vegan friend to have dinner at Raw Aura, the only raw restaurant in Mississauga.

I really like eating there because the food makes you feel really good and energized, I need to go there more often!

I ordered the Big Salad which is actually a HUGE salad, as the server said "that salad is quite the commitment"  and it's true! In it was: kale and romaine lettuce, avocado, cucumber, tomato, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, red pepper, onions and hummus and live breadsticks! I'm not sure what the dressing on it was, but it was perfect with sesame seeds sprinkled on top.

It was massive and delicious, took me about an hour but I finished it!

My friend ordered the Sweet and Sour Noodles which was amazing (and spicy) with the zucchini noodles and almond sauce and veggies.

For dessert I got the Apple Crumble. I loved the cinnamon zing.

My friend got the Brownie which was stellar, I need to make a raw brownie like that!

This restaurant is ridiculously close to my home so I need to eat here more often especially because their menu is so drool-worthy it's hard for me to decide on anything!

Have you been to Raw Aura? If so what is your fav thing on the menu? I love their kale chips but didn't have room this time :(

Have a sweet day!

Girls Weekend in Ottawa

"Each human being is expected to be a soulful ambassador of good-

will to improve the standard of mankind." - Sri Chinmoy

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend. It turned out pretty nice weather-wise so I was glad to have spent the time in Canada's capital. My friend is moving out west so we thought we'd take advantage of the east while she's still here.

For the 4 hour drive I made some Peanut Butter Rice Crisp Squares. (Chocolate Chips in 2/3 of the batch).

 

I had a destination on my list (a vegan one) so first thing we did upon arrival was to venture out to find Auntie Loo's Treats (bakery) to pick up some cupcakes and whatever other goodies we saw. Good thing my travel buddies were up for the hike, this place was a bit out of the main area where we were staying and closed at 3:00 on Saturday (closed Sunday and Monday) so it really was now or never.

We made it 45 mins before closing!

Our purchase...

Strawberry Lemonade Cake (other purchases included Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcake, Earl Grey Lemon Cupcake, Pineapple Upside down cake and coffee cake).

Then a stop for a bite at Jak's Kitchen where I had a tofu wrap with greens and yam chips. Delicious!

After sight-seeing at Parliament Hill, and a river sunset cruise, we headed to the Byward Market for dinner saturday night, and ended up at Shafali Fine Indian. If you've never been to Byward Market, it is one of Canada's oldest and largest public markets (dating back to 1826) approx 4 square blocks consisting of museums, cafes, pubs, specialty food stores, boutiques, galleries, salons and it is very pedestrian friendly!

Back to dinner, this is Shafali's:

We ordered: Dal, Naan, Stuffed Naan, Aloo Gobi, Rice, Coconut Curry. Very tasty and a fun dining experience!

Sunday morning we went back to the Byward Market so I could check out a veggie cafe called Peace Garden Cafe. 

 

I had a thai sweet potato soup, samosa and a mango raspberry smoothie.

This cafe has artwork by Sri Chinmoy (spiritual teacher) with many inspirational messages, like this one. Love it!

Overall it was a fun trip, exhausting because we did so much and I really like Ottawa, especially Byward Market. I will be coming back soon. There were other veggie/vegan restaurants so I have plenty to visit next time!

What did you do for the May long weekend?
Have you been to Ottawa?

Have a sweet day!