A face only a mother could love

Happy Thursday everyone!

I've been busy since I got home from my little vacay so sorry about the absence! When I get home from being away for awhile, it seems like there is so much more house work to do than before I left. Even though I thought I took care of everything!! So is life:)

My vacation was good, not great. We did a lot of fun things but there was also some big miscommunications between Ry and I. Yes, I'm human and I get mad and have arguments with the hubby! Unfortunately it had to happen over the weekend! But we worked it out and we learned a lot about what we each were thinking and how to prevent that miscommunication in the future. Anyways, enough marital therapy for today, here are a few picts from the weekend!

Parade time! It was Peach Festival time (yes, my home town has a festival dedicated to that lovely fruit:) and so every year there is a great big parade. I haven't seen it in years so it was fun to be there again.

Gotta love the bagpipes!

The clan! My sister-in-law Sheena and her boyfriend Brad. I think you know that last two peeps:)

Ahh..my favorite place! The market was a bustling with the most amazing produce. It was unfortunate that I was going to be walking around so I couldn't buy more great eats. I did pick up some peaches (which I dropped on the beach later on because the bag broke:( and some AMAZING nectarines!

It's a cow...no, a horse!! HAHA Actually just a HUGE Newfoundland!

My mom gave Nemo some smoked trout and so he decided to wait on the table for more LOL!

This is yerba mate (you have have seen yerba in the tea aisle) but instead of steeping it like tea, we added lemonade.

It is SO amazing and quenches your thirst greater than any beer will ever do!

That straw is called a bombilla and its stainless steel with some other metal at the top which prevents bacteria from thriving. In my mom's country of Paraguay this tea was passed around in a circle and this was the time when the grown-ups got to socialize about their day.

I love how purple and yellow we both are!! Not planned by the way!

I've actually been busy in the kitchie this week too! I saw the video tutorials by Meredith and her hubby of The Raw Seed on using rejuvelec for making raw nut cheeses and raw cheesecake. I picked up some organic barley and it's sprouting as we speak!! I can't wait to try it out. More about this later when I have the goodness made! One thing I noticed was that Brigitte Mars in her book Rawsome said to not rinse the grains and just leave them to sprout, while Ani Phyo in her new book Raw Food Essentials, says to rinse them for the few days that they are sprouting. Any thoughts on this? I'm rinsing them just because I feel more comfortable with that method.

I also have some wheat that I'm soaking for starting my first batch of wheatgrass!!! Wahoo! I'm going to be planting them today and so hopefully all goes well.

I was reading Angela's blog, Oh She Glows, and I saw here recipe for black bean and summer squash enchiladas and I instantly knew what I was making for dinner!! I added in some kale to the mix but kept pretty much to her recipe. I ended up making Nikki's amazing sun-dried tomato hummus which I used to make Mae's humnut cheese sauce. For the enchilada sauce I made my own using the PPK's enchilada chile sauce. Again, as this was a last minute dinner decision and I was too stubborn to buy anything store bought, so this took awhile to get everything together. I made quite the mess during this process too!! I'm glad I don't do the dishes. WAIT??...I did do the dishes that night. Boo!

Ready to go in the oven!!

Ready to devour!! These were really good and worth the effort! I just wish there was more enchilada sauce to go around! I will double the batch next time. I looked everywhere for Ezekiel wraps and nobody had them where I went so I chose ancient grain wrappers which were the healthiest I could find. I finally found some Ezekiel wraps yesterday and I bought them so I'm ready for my next enchilada attack!!


I don't know if you remember what I found on Craigslist last week..but I picked it up yesterday!! Here are a few hints to trigger your memory. It involves the following pieces of equipment...

green tea plus big glass containers

Maybe some black tea for a little more flavor! Plus another jar

Some super wicked old-school Grolsch beer bottles

Aren't these awesome? And do you know what's going in them?

MY SCOBY!!! Well, more like fermented goodness my scobies are going to make! I'm doing the giddy dance wahoo!! I went to pick up my scoby children from the lady who emailed me last week. What a doll she was!! She let me taste her kombucha (my first taste ever!) and OMG so delicious:) She gave me a heap of scobies plus she sold me those cute beer bottles. She gave me lots of advice too which I really appreciated. I love people who take a little time to teach others how to do new things! As I have to say, I am a little intimidated by the whole process. But I really want to learn so I went with what she told me and some additional directions from Ani Phyo in Raw Food Essentials.

Check out this tea I bought from my local health food store! I was told not to buy tea that had beramot (not sure if that's the right spelling) oils in it. I found this ONE package that said it didn't have it listed so hopefully it's not in there. Check out their packaging and their moto!! I love that quote and am thinking about getting it as a tattoo:)

I boiled 4 liters of water and then turned the heat off. Placed the loose leaf tea in the pot and added a cup of sugar.

I got this honkin' bag of sugar from a friend and I didn't know how I would ever use it up because I don't use cane sugar anymore. Now, I'm hooked up for many a kombucha-making sessions!

I let the tea cool down overnight and then I placed my scobies into tea/sugar in my huge jars. I was scared to seperated the scobies so I just put all of them in there. Hopefully it will be okay! My little kombucha maker is happily resting in my pantry! Can't wait to taste it in a week or so!!

MY scoby is smiling at me..I think it likes it's new mom:)

I also wanted to share with you guys and gals a site that I think is really awesome! It's called G Living. They talk about all things green including fashion, architecture, food, and celebrities! Some of your favorite people are over there including Sarma Melngailis, Brendan Brazier, Heathy, and so many more! You can sigh up for their newsletter (called Monkey Mail) which is always filled with amazing info and you can also sign up for their forums. If you take me word for it and sign up for the amazing forums, you have to become a member of my group dark, cool, and green blogging so that you can talk about your blog and share it with the other members! Just a suggestion anyways:)

Alright you awesome people, I'm outta here!! Have a great rest of your day and what kitchen adventures are you up to these days? Have you seen Russell's new video for spicy BBQ kale chips? Oh yum!

Weekend Fun plus a little poll

Hello lovelies!!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend.I sure did!! I went to my home town and official tourist hot spot in BC. We have two lakes, a channel to float down, golf, wine....which basically equals lots and lots of tourists. Which was lots of fun as a teenager, but I've grown out of that stage a long time ago and prefer a less drinking, more sleeping,healthy eating, but still a good party, kind of weekend(Does that make sense?? LOL!)


Before we left on Friday I watered my garden as much as I could because there would be nobody to water it on Saturday and it was supposed to be scorching all weekend. That's when it hit me as to how much lettuce was ready and needed to be picked. So, I grabbed handfuls at a time and still it looked like I hadn't picked any at all.

Yumm!! A mixture of butter lettuce, romaine, and leaf lettuce:) If you live in the Fraser Valley and want some lettuce, message me and I will gladly give you some of mine!!

Then I just happened to see this lovely creature hanging out on my sunflower plant!

Thankfully when we left it wasn't so hot because that would be a little hard on Nemo. Yes, Nemo is loving the adventures!! He especially loves hanging out in Grandma's yard:) We made it there safe and sound. I count my blessings every trip because driving the highways in Summer aren't exactly the safest times. Friday night was a write off as were both crazy exhausted.

Saturday morning I did some intervals on the treadmill mixed in with some bodyweight exercises. What a great way to start the day!! For Breakie I had a green monster with frozen blueberries, a half a banana, cinnamon, and loads of greens. I ran out of Vega right before we left so for my added protein I had a piece of sprouted toast with almond butter..yum! After that we were off to the market! Boy oh boy it was busy and with more vendors than the last time I was there.

This is is the stash my mom and I picked up! Beautiful local produce! Everything from beets to chard to tomatoes to patty pan squash and mulberries

Mulberries look like a blackberry but are more gel-like and have a less sweet flavor. I really liked them. According to the lady selling them they are very good for your heart and your eyes.

Patty pan squash! One of my favorites!


Then we bought three different flavors of organic popcorn! Chipotle, lemon dil, and Masala! Yum! She even placed the ingredients on the bag so I will try to make it at home (for significantly cheaper I'm sure:) My fave was the masala flavor! Something else really cool about the bags is that they are compostable, even the label!!!

Check out all that seasoning goodness!!

There was this booth set up as well and I signed the petition to support Bill 474 to stop GM crops from further advancement! If you see this booth at your market sign up!! Canada is thinking about allowing GM wheat and alfalfa and we simply cannot allow that to happen.

I also found a new raw food stand which was a company selling bars and raw energy balls etc! When all of a sudden this guy asks me if I know who he is. It's one of the guys I graduated high school with AND he never spoke to me in high school so I was taken aback why he was doing so now. He was working with the folks at the raw food booth! He himself was a raw foodie. I was so shocked because this guy was in the "popular" crowd and was kind of arrogant and closed-in back in the day. Holy, what a change! He gave me a huge hug (and my mom too!) and told me that him and his coworkers are actually in the midst of opening a raw food restaurant in town. I could barely contain myself I was so excited!! I think they said September would be the opening so I am anxiously awaiting for that to happen:) In the meantime, we bought a little bag of chia crackers with a dip ( I'm thinking a raw hummus, I forgot to ask.

For $4 it was a little steep! So I won't be buying these again but I sure want to learn how to make them:)

When we got home from the market I made a quick lunch with some cooked quinoa, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, dijon, and some salsa.

Such a refreshing salad!

It was then time for the beach!! My first beach trip is always fun because the water is usually a little on the cold side so I have to slowly inch myself in, about 1/2 hour later I will be swimming and will have forgotten why I was hyperventilating when I exposed my "sensitive" areas to the cold water lol!

Ahhh my favorite lake!! I was so relaxed sitting in the sun that I fell asleep (as did Ryan). Luckily I don't burn so I was alright, Ryan, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. He got pretty red and so I've been on aloe duty every night lol!


Another view! Lots of sunbathing action happening, as well as seadooing and boating! In a couple of weeks there will be about a foot of space between you and your neighbor..jam-packed!

After the beach it was time for dinner and since my mom was dog sitting we went over to where she was taking care of a little cutie named Sandy! Plus two bunnies, but they were camera shy.

This is the dog of my old massager. She is THE best masseuse. I feel like I have a new body after she does her magic!

Her house has an amazing view of the valley. You can just see the lake where Ry and I were at:)

Her hubby is a architect so the house is full of very cool designs and unique furnishings.

I just love this sofa!



And this!! Have you ever gone in one of these contraptions before? Apparently its supposed to decompress your spine. Feels pretty cool, except the head rush isn't fun:)

My latest drink obsession is San Pallegrino sparkling spring water.

With a touch of lemon! Who needs beer?

Dinner was market fresh and so delicious!

Bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, onion, tomato, cucumber, vinegar, and S&P salad, chicken and salmon for the omnivores, cooked chard, quinoa salad roasted veggies, and watermelon.

Oh yum! onions, beets, potatoes, squash, zucchini, and peppers


patty pan anyone?


On Sunday mom and I went and picked 40lbs of cherries!! 30lbs of which were mine! I love being in the orchard picking fruit. It's something my mom and me have done since I was really young so its a special time:)

Then I bought a cherry pitter because I want to freeze some of them and possibly try to dry some too.

A pitted cherry outside in the sun!

So, I've been eating cherries non-stop (don't worry my stomach can handle it!) Yum! Plus I know Angela , Aimee, and Oh She Glow's Angela have some cherry recipes that I really want to try. If you have any cherry recipes that you love, let me know!

Now for a little fun! I've been running this blog since December and I want to know what you would like to see in the future. If you wouldn't mind taking a minute to vote on some of the topics, I would greatly appreciate it. The poll is on the side bar and I apologize for the light text in some areas. I don't know how to change it:( And if you have any other ideas please feel free to email me (its on the side bar now too!) or comment. Thank you!

Hope you have a wonderful day!! I'm busy getting ready for my best friend's wedding in a couple of weeks. My bridesmaid dress should be arriving shortly..wahoo! I am also organizing the stagette and I'm making them something for the big day but I have to keep it a secret!! Sorry Ky if you are reading this:)

Mail find, scape crazy, and lid-less blender!

Hello everyone!!

How are you doing this hump day? Wait!! What's that in the sky? NOTHING...but the sun:)

It is officially summer here in BC. Seriously, it's about time. It literally went from 17-20 degrees to 28-30 degrees overnight! It's crazy hot but I'm loving it! I love getting my tan on in the summer. Yet, Ontario is in a major heat wave right now so I feel for you guys. Hope you get relief soon:)

I was so lucky to receive a package in the mail the other day that was just so full of love!

I was one of the lucky winners of the giveaway from the gorgeous Nelly!! I've heard such great things about this book and so I'm super excited to try it all!! I've been reading it from the beginning because I don't want to miss anything. Let's face it, I'm a newbie and Ani's a super pro raw foodie, so she has a lot to teach me! Ry has already eyed the pancakes and I've eyed the quinoa pilaf..yet, every recipe sounds amazing. Maybe I should just start making the recipes in order?? I would be eating amazing raw food FOREVER!! Ahh..bliss! I've only read the intro section and it feels like she is talking to a friend. She speaks so humbly and with such gratitude that it really made me realize we are so lucky over here in the Americas.

Thank you Nelly:) PS she is having another amazing giveaway so check out her super blog!

This week my work had to harvest the garlic scapes in order to force the garlic to put more nutrients into the bulbs:) (PS we are trialing some organic soils so we have a huge veggie garden..I know its pretty amazing!) So, that meant I got to take a bunch home to play around with in the kitchie! I happen to know another lovely lady is scape crazy too! So, I took some inspiration from her and fried up the scapes

I had the quinoa already cooked so I just fried the scapes for a couple minutes in some coconut oil. Then I added some sea salt and pepper. They were super yummy! I want to try Angela's approach and chop up the skapes in a processor and add them to vegetable broth and cook it along with the quinoa. I loved Angela's scape photo's so I decided to join in and take a few of my own!

I call this the "scape"-tooth!!

I love this photo. I'm no pro photo taker so when a pictures turns out so clear it makes me want to know how I did it HAHA! Oh well, the experimentation continues!

Have you used garlic scapes before? What did you make? I find the flavor is a lot milder compared to the bulbs. So if you find garlic too powerful this may be just for you!

Lately for lunch I've been making a green smoothie. During the holiday last week I took my blender home and made smoothies over the weekend. Well, I was in a hurry on Monday and I put all the blender parts in a bag and rushed out the door. I got to work and discovered I missed a vital part of the whole smoothie equation - the lid! Now, because I only brought alone ingredients for a smoothie I was determined to make it work so I wouldn't have to skip lunch. I first thought putting just a simple lid across it would be alright but oh boy was I wrong. I splattered semi-processed spinach everywhere -the carpet, drawers, microwave. Not fun! Then my brain finally clicked in and put this contraption together:

A simple ziplock bag with some elastics.

A rather ugly looking contraption but it kept my smoothie IN the blender and that's all that mattered.

Have you had a lid-less blender experience? Do tell!

Have a wonderful day!! I'm going to check out my local farmer's market and hopefully I'll pick up some interesting goodies:)

Question of the Day

Do you spend a set amount of money at the market? Or do you take out $100 and see what happens? I would love to be the latter but I have other responsibilities besides food (bummer!) and so its $20 spending money for me!