Weekend swag and goals!

Hello all!!

        Hope you have had a great week so far! I'm smokin' busy this time of year as this is when we experience our big orders at work. Days are flying by which is nice:)

But I wanted to share with you the experience and swag I received at The Wellness Show on Sunday. I was quite impressed by the show! Lots of great vendors and even better, lots of samples! I didn't take any photos. It was super busy and I was focused...on sampling lol!

Some of my faves were :

Larabar, Choices Market, Vega, Mumm's sprouting Seeds, Manitoba Harvest, Denman Island Chocolate, Salba Seed, and Hemp Bliss. 

Some interesting products/companies were: 

Grounding technology, naturopathic spa company, vibrating fitness equipment, and chia seed oil

Do you like attending big tradeshows with a bunch of vendors under one roof? I love seeing the public exposed to plant-based foods and natural products that they would not likely buy on their own. Products that can really help people become healthier!!

So what did I pick up? sprouting seeds and chocolate:)

 I learned from the mumm's representative that I was soaking my broccoli sprouts for too long and that's why I wasn't getting the full growth out of them. 4 hours max for those little guys!! Want some more info on broccoli sprouts and sprouting in general? Check out an older post here. I LOVE sprouts.

Super easy, super cheap, super nutritious. What more could you ask for?

These are lentil sprouts that I'm "greening" on my window sill. When I say "greening" I mean exposing the sprouts to the sun which will help these little guys develop chlorophyll. It just means more nutrition for me:) Yipee!

Now it's chocolate time...

Denman Island Chocolate is amazing stuff. I've tried their chocolate before and really love it. Denman Island is one of the Gulf Islands located between the mainland and Vancouver Island. So, it's pretty local!! 

At the show we tried their raspberry and rosemary varieties. I thought the rosemary and chocolate combo  wasn't too bad. I think it's a flavor that would actually grow on me the more I tried it. The raspberry was awesome. We ended up buying a raspberry and a mint bar. I simply can't pass up a mint chocolate bar it is my weakness favorite.

What's the strangest chocolate flavor you have tried?

Some of the swag from the show!

Salba Seed, Sunbutter Sunflower seed butter, organic shampoo and conditioner. Products like the Old Dutch potato chips, chicken stock, and the Et Tu Caesar pack aren't really health foods in my books. Yet you can't be choosy with sway bags unfortunately!

All in all, I had a great time at the show.

I was able to sample some new products too which is always a great!

I feel it's really important for me to keep up on what's new and exciting in the field of health and wellness.

I will soon enough be emerged in the field and want to be able to pass along the info to my future patients:)

Goal for this week

I am setting mini-challenges for myself and this week's challenge is to complete one week of bodyrock.tv workouts and exercise challenges! I already goofed up and started on an exercise challenge day when it should have been a full workout day. Oops. Today was the Quantum of Sweat workout. Awesome!! This mini-challenges are not just challenges on their own, they are part of a bigger goal to see my abs by August! I think it's more fun and more motivating to break up a big goal into smaller "bites." This way you feel like you have achieved something amazing every week.

Anyone have a goal this week??

Have a great night!! I'm off to finish watching Biggest Loser. I know, great television, right?

cheesy chili nachos with homemade gaucamole (and salsa!!!)

Happy Tuesday,

               Sorry I haven't been around too much in the sphere as I'm busy training a new girl at work, my boss is away, and homework has been creeping up on me!!

Good news is I'm halfway through the course as so that's keeping me motivated! I'm doing much better than I did in university too so that has me feeling pretty good. I really just needed to believe in myself and not let fear get the best of me.

You really CAN do anything you put your mind to!!

So, now that we can do anything, why not a home workout with a broomstick and some 2x4's?

Yep, I really wanted to do Zuzana's Sexy Beast workout but I didn't have a dip station so a broomstick, a table, and a couple of 2x4's did the trick.

How can you tell my hubby works with wood? Ha!

It's a little scary pulling yourself up on that thin, plastic rod as all you can think about is it breaking and you crashing to the ground! But it held up and I was able to do the workout! It felt good to do some "pulling" exercises as lately I've been doing a lot of "pushing" exercises (push ups, dive bombers etc)

After that good sweat session, I made a delicious juice with fresh cranberries

 Mmm local cranberries!! Love that deep red!

add in some celery, cucumber, carrot, beet tops, beets, and you've got yourself some amazing plant blood!!!

This juice packs a punch, both flavor and nutrient wise!! 
The cranberries alone have some amazing benefits, according to WHFoods:

Good source of Vitamin C

antioxidant

anti-inflammatory

anti-cancer

protection against urinary tract infections

optimizes the balance of bacteria in digestive tract

Yesterday I was at Silver Hills picking up some sprouted bread and since I haven't been in there for a while I cruised the other food stuffs they were selling. It was then that the corner of my eye caught this....

YES!!! I found it. I couldn't believe it! I thought I was going to have to go to Vancouver to pick some up but now I only have a 10 minute drive. I'm excited to have this option available as the soy cheese is pretty gross ( in my opinion). I won't be stocking my fridge every week with it but I'll definitely be picking some up as a treat.

Mmmm!! I actually really like it. It's a little greasy but the flavor is the best of the fake cheeses I've tried so far!

Have you tried Daiya? What's your favorite?

Since I already have some amazing homemade salsa, it wasn't too hard to put together some tasty nachos!
I love LOADED nachos so I decided to make some chili spiced beans to layer in!

Spicy chili beans
I can kidney beans
1 cup pureed tomatoes
2 tbs chili powder
pinch cayenne
salt as desired

Add all ingredients in a pot and cook until the pureed tomatoes reduces down a bit. Adjust spice as desired!

In my opinion, nachos just aren't complete without some delicious guacamole!

Spice it up guacamole

3 very ripe avocados
2 tomatoes
1 small onion
Juice from 2 limes
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Pinch cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste


But before we get to the main attraction, you have to make sure you get in a good serving of veggies!

Kale, tomato, yellow bell pepper, cabbage, green onion, and cucumber salad with figgy balsamic dressing

Alright it's layering time!

 

Start with a good base of chips. Then add some of the spiced chili beans and top that with some Daiya!

 

Then add some jalapeno peppers (take the seeds out!!), tomatoes, and green onions. 

Then add another layer of chips and repeat the toppings

 

Stick the plate in the oven at 350 degrees on broil. 

When all the cheese looks melted take the plate out as the cheese will burn pretty quickly after this point

Then start dipping! The cheese actually melted pretty well and it maintained it's flavor too. 

Next time I would add more veggies and probably more beans too as they added great flavor!

What a great way to end a Monday!! Then to top it off we caught up on the latest Dexter. 

Oh they are so good at keeping the suspense..love it! 

PS did you know that the guy who plays Dexter is married to the girl who plays his sister (Deb) on the show? Just found that out at the latest family dinner. Crazy!

Speaking of crazy! Check out the harvest we collected today at my work garden...

There is rosemary, a couple varieties of lettuce, beets, turnips, kale, parsley, chard, celery, and beans (drying them out to save the seeds). Amazing for the middle of November!!

Have yourself a great night!!