It’s Okay. Really.

Posted on by
Reply

I have a confession, folks.

I’ve been holding out on you. Yes, that’s right, holding out.  I’ve been cooking and eating, eating and cooking – all without you – and boy do I feel terrible! Sort of.

I’ve also been struggling a bit with eating, exercising and managing stress.  Yes, like the rest of the world.  But! Here I am, coming clean, and I even have a message to boot.  A message I need to repeat to myself on a daily basis.

Eating healthy is a choice.  It is a choice that we make repeatedly throughout the day, over and over.  This means that when we slip up, really, we can make it better the next time we have the opportunity to either feed our bodies nutritiously, feed our minds or feed our sugar addiction. (Which is exactly what I’ve been doing.)  We’ve all been there, and will probably be there again, but it’s okay.  It really is.  There is no reason to beat yourself up for having three servings of cookies, rather than one.  Just make a better choice next time.  I’m not saying you should gorge on cake every day and say, “But I ate spinach for lunch!” but, give yourself a break.  Be easy on yourself. Your body. Your mind. Your heart.   Learn to love choosing the healthier option for how it makes your body FEEL.

Living life in moderation is so much healthier for you, inside and out, rather than restricting and stressing over every bite that goes into your mouth.

So folks, remember. It’s okay.  I promise.

And with that, I leave you with a bit of my eats over the Winter and Spring.  I’ll be back a bit more often, with more of a “Here is my day” type format.  I hope you’ll hang around and enjoy life with me.

I celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with some Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread…

..and provided homemade pizza for friends on Tuesday’s “Glee Night”.

Mimosas were definitely had at brunch…

…and my “Smileage” Card has gotten plenty of use.

I had healthy breakfasts of protein oats, mounded with berries and greek yogurt…

…and bowls of healthy strawberry protein pudding!

I made this stirfry over, and over and over…

..and ate a few meals in the car.  Sushi is harder than it looks!

I became obsessed with “BLT” salads, using Tempeh Bacon, and Katie’s vegan ranch…

..and of course, plenty of the most delicious decaf soy lattes EVER.  My beloved, JJ Bean.

And since you made it this far, check out my Pinterest boards for more of what I’ve been up to!

De-Guilting

Posted on by
7

Ever heard the old idiom, “Better late than never?”  Really, this should be my motto.  I apologize in advance for this.

However in this case I really do think it’s the truth.  Being “Home” for the holidays with my in-laws has reminded me of what I’ve been missing while doing Christmas and Thanksgiving on our own.

Baking.  Holy Mother of Buddah. (And eating)

I have ingested an inordinate amount of butter, white flour, white sugar and chocolate in the last week – with no signs of stopping.  Moderation? Shmoderation.  I quickly (within 2 days of arrival) realized why I do not bake ‘normally’ anymore.

I. Will. Eat. It. All.

I have a distinct lack of ability to moderate my intake of sweets and it dawned on me, that is why I do what I do.  Swapping sweeteners. Experimenting with alternative flours.  Adding protein.  Replacing ingredients.  It also dawned on me, that many of you may like the idea of “healthier” treats but probably have no idea where to start.  Never fear!

Even Flour can be Confusing!

In the future, I’m going to do my best to give you my best tips and tricks to “De-Guilt” your baking, to add some nutritional value and to truly remove all the guilt (or at least a decent portion of it) for you.  I promise!  Unfortunately, you’ll still have to exercise SOME self control, but that’s life, folks.

I do need a little help from you though.  I want your recipes.  Your baking ideas. Things you love but feel guilty when you eat them.  Link here.  Email me.  Tweet them.  Smoke Signals. Whatever it takes – I want them!

Shoe Cookies? Seriously? Only way they could be better - Leopard Print.

SO! Go forth and Social Network! I mean…dig up your recipes and get them to me so I can post again…but healthier! The de-guilting process begins now.

Obsessive Compulsive

Posted on by
2

One thing you will quickly learn about me is that there is never enough nutrition in anything I’m eating. Well, according to me there isn’t anyway. I will find ways to cram just one more vegetable into my chili, tuck a little whole wheat flour into my baking or perhaps swap out some flour for protein powder to increase the protein in a given dish.  This compulsion might be considered borderline obsessive, but really, there could be worse things to be obsessed with than added nutrition.  Like heroin.

One of my favourite ways to get a boost of vitamins and minerals is the green smoothie.  Behold the Vitamin-K-Iron-Enriched beauty!

I promise, it tastes way better than it looks.  Unless you think it looks amazing, in which case it tastes exactly as good as it looks. This concept has been roaming around the blog world forever, tried and true.  Angela over at Oh She Glows has the Green Monster Movement if you would like to check out her recipes and other readers’ recipes for the energy boosting shakes!

I wish I had some fancy recipe for you, but I honestly don’t as I rarely use one for smoothies. Often this turns out in my favour but other times…well, let’s just say it’s a good thing I have a high tolerance for “added nutrition”.  I did however do a photo shoot of today’s smoothie for you. I loved it so much that I had to recreate it, and you reap the benefits!

My recent favourite smoothie is based off a “Merry Mandarin” shake from a local smoothie joint which combines mango, orange juice, egg nog and frozen yogurt.  To make it a bit healthier, I used mango, orange juice, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, banana, protein powder and some water along with the magic ingredient – SPINACH!  Really folks, trust me, you won’t even taste the spinach as long as it gets blended up well.  If you have chunks, I encourage you to get a new blender pronto before attempting a green smoothie.

Put the spinach on the bottom, and weigh it down with the frozen fruit and protein powder before pouring all your liquids in, it will help your blender whizz up the greens without having to use the end of a wooden spoon and risk life and limb.

Your other option, should your blender be on its last legs, is to blend the spinach and liquids first before adding the frozen fruit.  I like this method as it is assures a chunk-free smoothie which is key to enjoying this green obsession of mine.

Pulse a few times to get it going, and don’t be afraid to add water to help it blend.  I used vanilla whey protein this time. As much as I dislike dairy, I like the creamy-factor that it gives to a smoothie like this, so it was worth it.

Blend blend blend, and taste.  Spice it as much as you like, they’re all good for your circulation and health, so go for it!

I never really measure, but add ingredients to taste. You may need more orange juice, or a little lemon juice to balance out the sweetness.  This often results in an odd amount of smoothie.

Mix it up and try out other ingredients!  Yogurt, berries, cranberry juice, soy milk – the sky is the limit here and I experiment a lot.  If one doesn’t work, don’t give up and try again.

I seem to forget about these beauties but everytime I return to them, I get…you guessed it…obsessive.

Well Hello There!

Posted on by
19

So. You found me.  Now what?

You click the “Follow” button above me here, or subscribe by email to the right. Go ahead. No really, I’ll wait.   Done that? Perfect!  Thank you!  NOW – on with the show.

For years, I’ve been stewing, cooking and boiling up this obsession I have with food.  Admitting you have a problem is the first step right?  I’ve changed the stock, I’ve adjusted the seasonings, I’ve taken away the animal protein (for the most part anyway…) and I’ve honed my knife skills all leading to today.  What you’ll find here, is a smattering of healthy recipes (for the most part anyway…)  that do not sacrifice amazing taste, as well as a good helping of love from me to you! Well, the transfer medium is food, but that’s the sentiment I assure you.  Isn’t food a language spoken across the world? It certainly is for me.  I can also assure you that if I’m posting a recipe, my husband  ate it and enjoyed it and as a “reformed-meat-eater-gone-pescatarian-who-scrutinizes-food-for-green-bits”, that’s saying something.  I am by no means an expert, but I’ve finally found what works for me and allows me to indulge in my life’s passion.  Food.

Please, ask questions, throw me comments, feed my food to your family and friends, and above all – please, love what you’re cooking and get excited about it!

It makes a difference. Trust me.

Campfire cooking at its best!

See? How can you not love this and get excited? I can’t.   This was our first breakfast camping this summer – grilled salmon, yam, cauliflower and mushroom hash and grilled tomatoes on the side.  Campfire cooking for me, is even easier than cooking on my stove.  For one I have more room and secondly there are far less expectations of grandeur when you have one knife, a grate, one flimsy pan, whatever spices you thought to stick in airtight containers and some tin foil.   Spice mixes come in handy here, not going to lie.

I’ve collected photos of my cooking for various reasons, mostly because I’m just so damned proud of them and have to brag to family and friends.  However, often if I don’t have a photo I won’t remember what I cooked since I rarely use a recipe from start to finish.  Apparently grainy, iPod photos help me to remember this?   In sharing a few of the ones that don’t look like I took them in a bathroom full of steam, perhaps I can give you a bit of an idea of what kind of food I’ll be blogging about.

My favourite dessert of the summer!

Like this!  While I won’t say this is the healthiest thing you could be eating, I’m a huge fan of dessert.  I’m also a “Let’s eat dessert first!” kind of gal.  I figure, if it has berries in it, that counts for something!  I still cut the sugar in this recipe almost in half, used all whole wheat flour and cut the butter requirements and it was DELICIOUS.  If you were me, you’d serve this berry cobbler with a homemade vanilla bean whipped cream, but it’s not a necessity. (Yes it is. I swear.)

Raw Zucchini "Noodles" with a Cheezy Raw Sauce

Sometimes, I even dabble with the raw.  I’m no raw foodist by far, but I certainly love a good salad or crunchy vegetable, and as long as it tastes great and makes my body feel good – I’m in!  This just happened to be a quick lunch but was packed with enzymes, nutrients and complete protein thanks to hemp seeds!  Who needs a boring salad when you could munch on this fun pile of spiraly goodness?

Now, we all know nothing in life is free, well almost nothing.  So I ask a favour of you.  (Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day…)  In the spirit of sharing of course – I’d love to hear what sorts of things that you’d like to see, eat and read about.  I’ll be changing the appearance bit by bit as I settle in here, who I am and what I’m about will hopefully become more clear as time goes on, but in the meantime, please let me know!

Here’s to a beautiful friendship and healthy relationship with food!