Yep, I'm alive

Holy! It's been awhile, hasn't it? I had good intentions then life started ramping up the speed a little bit:)

Things I've had to deal with been up to lately:

Fllings at the dentist - I was there for 3 hours on Tuesday. Ya, great fun!

I injured my back - Third round of What's My Name Workout and bam a shooting pain ran from my lower back down my whole leg. And being the stubborn person that I am, I stretched out the muscles a little bit until I could move with greater ease..and then I did two tabatha rounds of high knees with the jump rope. Ya, very smart I know! Let's just say this week has been a painful one!

Oddie needed care - I noticed he was acting quite odd on Saturday and was having a hard time going pee and so I looked up his symptoms and immediately thought he may have crystals in his urinary tract. So, off to the vet we went where they decided to get a urinalysis done. One of the vet techs said orange cats are more susceptible to urinary tract infections then other breeds. We got the results yesterday and nothing very serious was discovered from the testing. The vet said that some cats will have infections every so often through the year and they don't know why. So, we are putting him on antibiotics and we hopefully don't have a chronic case.

Homework - Boo!

Spring Cleaning - So, I do most of the cleaning in our house because Ry works long hours and well..I don't so I try to get most things done myself. I don't mind for the most part but sometimes doing dishes, upon dishes gets me down. Yes I have a dishwasher and it sucks!! So, to prevent myself from scrubbing endlessly, I just do them by hand.  But, sometimes Ry get's in the "mood" to organize and I don't stop him for one minute:) Usually this get's me motivated and so last week I started cleaning areas of the kitchen that I knew needed some serious TLC - My pantry and cutlery drawer! See below for some picts.

Anywho, here's a little re-cap of some eats!!

Mmmm

The lovely Katie sure does know her dips!! This Indian-Spiced Cauliflower dip was awesome!

Then I had a sudden craving for everything and anything pumpkin! I especially was craving a pumpkin pudding!

I found a basic recipe on Care 2. Then I just adjusted from there!

Perfect Pumpkin Pudding

1/2 cup cashews, soaked for a couple hours
1/4 cup maple syrup (or other sweetener of choice)
1/4 cup coconut oil ( I used coconut butter instead)
3/4 cup Carrot juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
1+ cup canned pumpkin

Start blending the cashews first (especially if you don't have a high powered blender like me) then add in the remaining ingredients until smooth. Add more pumpkin to get desired consistency.
A little maple, a little coconut, a little spice, and a little pumpkin = BLISS!
Very delicious!!

Then it was spring cleaning time! 
My poor pantry needed some structure so I organized everything into groups. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it more clean this way!

It feels good to walk in her knowing where I can find the quinoa and the garbanzo flour without searching and dropping jars everywhere!

On Sunday I picked up some of these crazy things? Any guesses?

They are milk kefir grains! I'm planning on making my own dairy and non-dairy kefir! I don't have enough grains to make just non-dairy kefir at the moment (they produce more grains after each batch, kind of like the scoby with kombucha. Once you make a batch in non-mammalian milk, they stop growing.So, I've got goat's milk kefir brewing away..in my pantry. See it on the top shelf in my pantry? I tasted the first batch and it tastes like tangy yogurt!! I can't wait to try the grains with almond milk and coconut milk!

Anyone have an experience with kefir, good or bad?

I better run! I'm about to top up my garden with a fresh batch of organic soil goodness! Some greens are already alive and cookin. More garden and kefir to come! Have a great day everyone.

Craziness!

Happy Monday everyone!

I had the most insane week with work and at home too! We decided to have a party on Saturday night for people to come see the house and to celebrate Ry's birthday. Literally every night we were doing something on the house from power washing, organizing, cleaning, placing pictures, mowing, picking up the BBQ and patio set etc etc!

Our friends bought this one but it was just too big for their townhouse patio. It's perfect and I love that it has 6 chairs! I am so ready to have a bloggie meet-up!!

It was a lot of work but it was worth it! The house looks fantastic and I'm starting to finally feel settled:) We didn't want to have the open house later on in the summer as people are just so busy on the weekends in July and August. Yet, here's the fun part....

We both had to work on Saturday too (yay for a 6 day work week..but not really). My work was having an open house to view one of our current projects and so I was running around helping get things ready there. We didn't have a good turn out (don't get me started!!!) so there was so much food left over. I took a garbage bag full of produce (kale, eggplant, 3 ziplocks of salad, hot peppers, tomatoes,leek, scallions, and cabbage), two full bags of organic buns, and a huge tray of mini cupcakes that my boss' wife made. Score!! Yet, the whole time I was thinking about how much I had to do at home still!!

I got home at 5pm and people started rolling in at 6pm..ahh! Talk about go-go-go, but I really enjoy being busy so it was fun for me! We had a great time with everyone although the crowd who stayed the longest were quite a bit younger than us and so they were a bit of a handful. Nothing too crazy happened just a lot of ping beer pong, guys play wrestling, and yelling too loudly. It's funny how Ry and I were thinking next time we are going to stick to our own age group's shenanigans! Funny how your preferences for good times change! One of the rather humorous events of the evening was the cutting of the metal barrel they was left behind by our old tenant. Cutting it for what, you may ask? A fire pit of course HAHA! Yep, at 10:30pm the guys decided that it was getting cold out and we should have a fire. The "beer" logic kicked in and they decided that the barrel would be perfect and so they got out the electric saw and began cutting. HOLY it was so loud, like everyone covering their ears and moving to the other side of the yard, loud! I felt bad for my SIL's boyfriend who was holding a board over the top of the barrel to keep it sturdy. Hope you can hear today Brad:) I was a little nervous our neighbors were going to start yelling over the fence but thank goodness nobody did!! It was so awesome sitting around the fire in your OWN YARD!! I'm not sure if we are actually "allowed" to have a fire pit but it was a clear night with no wind so we went for it! I was so happy sitting around the fire as it felt like I was away camping somewhere. Will definitely be having a fire again..on a clear night lol!

Not bad for being put together by beer-drinking men! Ha!

The food wasn't too exciting and I was so busy getting everything ready during the week that I didn't have a chance to make anything myself which was a total bummer for me. Basically I did chips and salsa, party mix, veggies and dip, salad, burgers (I didn't want a burger so I didn't buy any veggie ones), mini-cupcakes from my boss' wife, and chocolate dipped strawberries (homemade by moi). I've always dreamed of having a party where I make everything but I have yet to have one of those. I just don't plan well enough in advance. There's a good goal for me to tackle this summer!! Have you ever hosted a party where you made everything yourself? Kudos to you if you have.

I drank a couple of my favorite summer beer which is an Apricot Ale. I love this stuff and on a hot day..oh so refreshing. I was a little cold and so I wasn't feeling the beer too much that night but still the taste is so smooth and delish! I used to be a huge wine lover. Pinot Noir anyone??? Yet, I just don't like how wine makes me feel during the night...and after. Ughh..not fun! So, I started drinking beer and I really like it (never thought I would say that). Although I don't drink nearly as much as I did in my late teens and early twenties. I'm just not a fan of hangovers and wasting whole days feeling gross!

On Sunday I slept in. I needed it big time and it felt so good! Yet, "no rest for the wicked", as my Mom used to say! Ry went to help his mom move and then we went to look at a chair that this friend of my MIL was giving away! We fit it into my car..but just barely! We were driving home smelling the exhaust the whole way because the trunk door was open...lovely! But the chair is awesome. The upholstry is pretty dated but the design of the chair is so cool. I'll take a picture today! We were thinking of using a fabric spray to "paint" it versus re-upholestering it. Seems like a good product but I'm still a little leary. Anyone had an experience with this kind of product?

I mentioned that I was going to be taking a raw food class but it just didn't pan out! I was too busy and so I had to cancel. I'm hoping to take one in the fall when I have more time. I'm really excited to have found her and have a class so close by!

Going back in time a little bit..I just wanted to share a couple pictures of our night out for Ry's birthday. We had Indian food and oh it was delicous!

Dinner started out with veggie samosas with potato and peas! These were really good. Yet, very deep fried haha!

This was Aloo Mutter I believe which is potato and peas tossed in a curry sauce. This was my favorite dish!! Yum. There was also a Daal Tadka which is a lentil dish with onions, tomatoes, and turmeric. Mmm.

And on a final note..my garden is going strong! I have so much lettuce that needs to be used up. I better start making smoothies 24/7 haha!

Love that purple lettuce! The green variety is some type of butter lettuce.

PS the lovely Nelly is having a fabulous CSN store giveaway. Head on over to her amazing blog and enter! Ends Tuesday July 6th.

PPS The lovely Averie is having a great chocolate giveaway. So head on over to her fantastic blog to enter. The contest ends on Wednesday June 30th

Have a lovely Monday!!

Home wrecker plus garden picts!

Happy Tuesday!!

The whirlwind continues in my neck of the woods!! I'm car-less and I work in an area that has no bus stops so Ry has been dropping me off. Today his boss asked him to be at work for 6AM..that meant I was at work at 5:30 (I usually start at 7)..eek! I am looking at this as a positive thing though because that means that I get off at 1:30..wahoo!! Anywho, things are coming together...slowly...at the house. I didn't take any time off so I've had to organize after work and, well, sometimes it just doesn't happen. The hubs is working this weekend so I am planning on spending a lot of time in the closets..ha..jk..more likely the garage which looks like a battle zone right now with boxes, tools, gardening stuff etc! As for time in the kitchie....ya...umm...it hasn't really happened. I've been eating on auto-pilot: salad with avocado, pickled beets, carrots, cauliflower, parsley, cilantro, cabbage..etc etc! I really need to stock up my pantry and haven't had a chance to make it to the ONE health food store that I can get to by walking. I was searching meetup.com and found an organic food buying group in my area so I'm going to be in contact with them soon!

Okay so you are probably at the edge of your seat wondering why I would admit to being a home wrecker? Ha...well I didn't even know I was one. What? Let me explain. On Sunday I was outside almost all day in the garden and didn't take my phone with me. When I finally looked at it at 5pm, there were 9 missed calls from this weird number. One time the caller left a message saying her name was Cindy and if I could give her a call. I don't know a Cindy so I thought it was probably a wrong number. Then on Monday morning..literally 7Am on the dot.. I get another call from her and she flat out comes out and says if I'm with "her man" that I should tell her so she came kick him to the curb (apparently this man works with me in some way or another). I tell her I'm married...and am not with her man but she still doesn't really believe me. I'm in total shock at this point and aggitated. I can't believe I get a call like this at 7AM. I finally tell her in a firm voice that I'm not with her man (she still hadn't said his name) and so she doesn't need to worry. She hangs up and I'm immediately in contact with Kelly..AKA office gossip lover..and so she tells Tommy who is the boss of all the guys working here. He phones her up and she admits her name isn't even Cindy and she was assuming because "her man" had a post-it with my address and phone number that he was up to funny business. Well, I found out her man was the guy who dropped off my soil on Saturday and so he needed the post-it to know my address!!! Crazy hey? She was really embarassed and even called me to apologize.Made for good Monday chit chat at least lol!

Onto something a bit more..classy, shall we say? My garden is in and 90% planted...wahoo!

It was quite the adventure as we were making raised beds vs an in-ground garden. I didn't have the time to rent a rotatiller and do all that. It was pretty awesome too because the previous owners of the house left some wood behind which was just enough to make my two beds. I love it when things like that happen in life, don't you? I was pretty lucky too that Ry and his buddy were there to help me. Although working with two "construction" guys has its own challenges..LOL! No, they were fantastic and the beds look fabulous as a result.

First off, I needed to start the day off right so I made a PURPLE MONSTER!!

Don't fall over...fast food joints are not serving smoothies now..wouldn't that be the day! Don't worry I don't eat here either...the hubs.."attained" this mug when he was really young and its perfect for large purple monsters. This monster had romaine, banana, frozen blueberries, Chai Vanilla Vega, cinnamon. Sooo delish! I thoroughly enjoyed sipping on this in the morning sunshine:)

Look at all those bubbles! I have to admit that I haven't been eating too many of these monsters lately. I really need to get into it again and I know I will be for sure especially when berry season strikes the coast!!

This is how Nemo started his morning. You think he likes it here? Oh ya, baby! He loves being around people no matter what they are doing. The hubs had the saw going and he was sitting on the table nearby just checking out the scene..love him!


Once we were fueled..the digging began! I didn't know exactly how it was going to work when you put a garden bed above turf so I did a quick search and found a source that said you need to dig up the turf. I later read ,after all the pain-staking work was done, that there are easier ways..oh well.

Before!!!

After!! The hubs and his good buddy dug up the first bed but I did most of the second bed because they had to go pick up more supplies and I wasn't going to sit around waiting for them. I loved it! It was really hard work (everything was sore the next day..including the thumb muscles..ha ha) but I loved feeling the earth and seeing all the wormies in there. Man, there were some HUGE worms, some like small snakes! I take that as a good sign that my soil is pretty good ( more worms mean your soil is bacteria-driven). Next year I'm going to get a full soil analysis done to make sure I don't have any contaminants in there because more likely I will only be using the raised beds for this growing season.

I call this area operation central!! As you can see by the sawdust below the hubs was cutting a lot of wood that day. I am very appreciative to have a handy hubby who loves doing new projects:)

The boys had a few levelling issues with the beds, so while they were busy creating solutions for that I started filling the planters. My work garden had so much lettuce that they said I could take some home for my own garden..and I was the only one who took any..oh well more salads and green monsters for me:) I just learned a couple days before doing my own garden how fragile plants are, especially frail types like lettuces, when they transplant them. Once you dig them out of the ground they need to spend the least amount of time as possible out of the dirt. I thought they could survive at least a 1/2 hour but its literally minutes. The large leafed plant right in front is a member of the mustard family...oooh she is spicy! I also planted other pots but I forgot to take a picture:( There was re-potted sage, rosemary, and lavender, a pot with parsley, another with purslane ( techinically a weed that has large amounts of omega 3), and one with a tangy lettuce mix that contains cilantro, arugula, and other leafy goodness.

The first bed! Tomatoes, holy basil, spinach, beans, carrots, beeets, and more lettuce.

My carrots that I grew from seed! They are a bit "stringy" right now but I hope that this new, rich soil will help them out:)

The second bed! More lettuce, kale, mustard greens, collard greens, swiss chard. I had the hardest time with my kale and collard seedlings and so I'm not sure how well they will do but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt! Ryan's great uncles wife bought me the fully grown kale..so sweet! She also gave us a ton of garden tools and even a practically new BBQ!!

Thank you so much Alinne, you are one of a kind!

Those boards on the right hand side are my "walk-through" because immediately to the right of the picture the hubs is putting in a compost..yay! I love "recycling" my food scrapes.

The other end of bed #2. From the left: lettuce (varities of butter), swiss chard, kale.

My lovely zucchini hump..haha..I mean hills!


A swiss chard baby!

I also planted some sunflowers and pumpkins. I have a quarter of a bed left. Any suggestions on some veggies I should be planting? Since this is the first time I was planting a veggie garden on my own, I felt like I needed a little back-up! I purchased The Moosewood Restaurant Kitchen Garden by David Hirsch from a thrift store ages ago mainly for the recipes in the back of the book. Moosewood Restaurant is vegetarian restaurant that focuses on local and organic foods located in Ithaca, NY. I'de heard great things about their cookbooks and so I scooped this one up the second I found it:) It turned out to be an amazing reference for my first garden.

Doesn't the cover just make you want to get your green thumb on!


It had great ideas for a variety of different garden designs. I went with this one that was basically for a raised bed garden. I didn't follow it exactly but it really helped with learning which varities of vegetables thrive together.


Another great reference was the "beneficial companions" page. It showed which veggies and herbs like each other and it also shared pairings that are bad.

The book when through every veggie you ever wanted to plant (well almost) and explained how they should be planted and what they need nutrient wise. The also went over ways to use each veggie-steaming,baking, raw etc!





I know there are a lot of bloggies out there who have a green thumb like Kelli, Lori, Pen, Lauren, Aletheia, and Katie. (If I missed you give me a link to your garden post, I'de love to see:) Even if you just grow sprouts or wheatgrass...that's AWESOME!

Anywho, back to work for me! Even though I'de rather be doing this...

Have a great day everyone! I've missed you all and feel pretty out of the loop:( I've got a lot of posting to catch up on so watch out for my post 10 million posts coming your way!!

PS - The lovely Bitt is having a great giveaway for Jennifer Cornbleet's new book Raw for Dessert plus a flirty apron. So go check out her amazing blog! You have until Saturday June 12 at noon pacific to enter!

Green Week picts and books on tape

Happy Wednesday folks!

How is your Earth Week going? Are you helping Mother Earth take a much needed load of her stressful shoulders. I hope so, and I hope you don't stop once Sunday rolls around. Just remember that every little change makes a difference! And you know what? Saving the planet can be delicious. You think we eat "rabbit food" and that it's plain and tasteless? Check out my blogroll and you will be pleasantly surprised at how delicious and creative food can really be. We have to change our mindset people! We need to think outside the box and to not go with the flow of society. Going with the flow means...fake emotions, fast food, being someone you aren't, being pumped with drugs that don't work, and on and on. We need people to break away from this mold and to be who they are deep down inside and to connect with nature once again. Do your dig me? Okay, I'm off my soap box now...let's talk about some food.

As you may already know, Meghan Telpner's tutorial 5 Days Healing with Everyday Superfoods is taking place this week. As I am the lucky owner of this tutorial, I've been reading and following along with a few of her amazing recipes. After my morning TT workout yesterday (anyone love burpees?...ya, 8 rounds of these bad boys and I hate them! which means I really love them after its all said and done:) I made Meghan's Super-powered Breakfast smoothie, which she so kindly posted about here. It was delish and a new experience for me as I usually am very plain-jane when it comes to my smoothies -greens, fruit, cinnamon, and Vega. It was really good and had me filled right up! I made a few changes to include what I had on hand. I didn't have any goji's, I used almond butter instead of almonds, and I used cacao powder instead of nibs.

Beautiful color and so nutritionally dense...mmm!

A little proof for the Green Week Challenge that I actually drank my green monster:)

Later on in the morning I made Meghan's Superhero Balls. Oh boy! These were so rich and delicious.

Check out those white chia seeds and the rich cacao..yum!


RICH..in 15 minutes:)

For Lunch I had a lovely salad with avocado and sprouts. I made Kelli's Sweet Lime Cilantro Dressing. You have to make this..sooo good!

Ingredients ready to become dressing goodness!

Just a little bit left.I devoured most of it:)

Green power, baby!

I am also chugging along in my study of The Language of medicine. I'm trying to get an edge for when I get into ND school:) It felt so good to read and feel the hot sun..ahh. I also drank some ginger tea.

Terminology anyone? The first chapter was all about suffixes and combining terms. A lot of info but I feel like I learned a lot already!

I also wanted to show you how the veggie babies are doing. I love watching them grow everyday:)


Can't wait to plant these babies in the garden! I hope my green thumb stays green..lol!

I finally made it to Breaking Dawn in the Twilight Saga. I read New Moon like mad fire and was so excited to get Breaking Dawn from the library but someone had already taken it out...boo! As I didn't want to go buy it or wait for the person to return it, I decided to get it on audio somewhere. It's definitely a different experience. I'm not sure if I will do it again as I find I try to do other things when the voices are talking. When I have to read the words for myself, I need to concentrate hard so I can get the "feel" of the book and its characters. It's fun at the same time though as I am flying through the chapters:) Do you ever get books on tape? I'm thinking they would be great if I had a long bus or car trip to go on.

Have a great day!

PS Averie is having a beautiful giveaway of a custom necklace. So head on over to her site and enter! This giveaway ends tomorrow!

My Wish List

Hello all!!

Did you are enjoy your weekend! It's been absolutely gorgeous in Nelson during the day but once the sun goes down WHOA does it get cold!! This is so typical of a BC Spring, yes I said Spring! You know when you can just tell that Winter is saying its last goodbyes and Spring is, well, sprung? That is what it feels like and I'm getting quite excited for warmer weather as I'm sure you all are. Although its still weird to be wearing light clothing in February...in the Kootenays. I grew up in a city located very close to a desert (Osoyoos) and the city where I was living before moving to Nelson is basically a temperate rainforest. Heat and rain are the two staples in my weather vocabulary. Anyways, whatever weather you have, make the most out of it and adapt to it. Snow can be fun even if you don't ski or snowboard. I'm thinking you must have a crazy carpet and a sweet hill somewhere near you:) No snow is even better (in my opinion) and so get outside and soak up that vitamin D. Seriously, you need it! So enough about the weather..sorry BC'rs love weather talk, its in our blood!

What's on your wish list? Person, place, or thing; What are you hoping, praying, or saving for? I think I can speak for every person out there that this list is really endless. New items are popping up daily and the list is forever being adapted. So, let's hop to it or I'll never publish this post lol! In no particular order, here is my current wish list (big and small):


Dog- Ryan and I are "big" dog people. Little dogs are cute and all that but they don't fit into our lifestyle. I want to run, hike, and camp with my dog. I also like the protection that they provide. Although some of those little guys sound like they could take you down lol! We like the look and temperment of the rottie but we shall see what gems our local shelter has. As we are in transition right now I don't think this is the best time to bring a dog into the mix. So, once we are settled and a little more relaxed, we will start researching!


Infrared Sauna- This obviously falls into the BIG category, but I think they are totally awesome! The health benefits are truly amazing and I think a great benefit to anyone. In the meantime, I might get a punch-pass to a spa that has one and go every once and awhile.


Shower head water filter- I filter the water that I drink but I don't filter the water that hits my skin. The skin is the biggest organ and it needs protecting. Also, showering is where most people absorb and inhale the most chlorine. I'm not sure which brand to get to if you have any suggestions let me know.


Dehydrator- There are just so many recipes that I pass by because I don't have a dehydrator. I know there are ways to use your stove as a make-shift dehydrator by turning the heat on and then shutting it off but I see this getting old really fast. I'm thinking a 4 tray Excalibur but let me know your thoughts on this brand and others.


Vita-Mix - Yep, me and the entire world want one of these bad-ass blenders. I need a new food processor and my blender is okay but not sufficient for my needs. So instead of getting two new appliances, I thought I would get the appliance that does it all! Again, on the BIG list....but my birthday is coming up:)


Raw Foods Class - I would love to take a class and learn more techniques on how to encorporate more awesome raw foods into my diet. There is a raw food teaching facility in Vancouver called Raw Foundation Culinary Art Institute. Their classes sound so awesome and once I get back I'll be saving my pennies for one or two classes:)


My Garden- I currently live in an apartment but will be moving back to the house that Ry and I own some time in the summer. As the tenants have not told us the exact month they are leaving, I'm not sure how much of a garden I'm going to have. So, I'm either going to have a container garden like what I had last year or a totally awesome yard garden. I'm hoping for the latter but either way I cannot wait to grow my own produce. It feels so natural and the taste of something you picked five minutes before you eat it just doesn't compare to something that was picked weeks before. And if you think you don't have the space, you do! A large pot can supply you with a huge variety of herbs or you can plant greens (kale, lettuce, collards etc) or even tomatoes. I think this year I'm going to start from the beginning and grow my own seedlings. I'm definitely welcoming spring with open arms:)

Home Air Filtration System - I know there are those stand-alone units that you can move around your home which seem pretty cool. There are also ones that get installed in your home and are a bit more powerful. I didn't build the house we bought and so I don't know what chemicals are looming and so I want to be breathing in as few of these chemicals as possible. I haven't done too much research on brands but I will be soon once we are all moved into our new house. If you have any experience with these systems drop me a comment !

Food Co-op/Buying Group- This is a new one to my wish list. I want to eat organic and raw as much as possible and the prices of some products really hinder my ability to do so. I saw on Robyn's blog that she started a buying group and that got the wheels turning in my head. There are a bunch of buying groups in Vancouver but I couldn't find any in the Fraser Valley so I'm going to be doing a ton of research on possibly starting a buying group in my area so that I can get the great products for my semi-raw lifestyle at a more affordable price. This really has me excited and so I will keep you posted on the process!

Okay I'm going to stop there. I really could go on and on! What's on your wish list these days? I think its good to have a wish list as it provides motivation to save your extra pennies. My bank even has automatic deposit to your savings account every month so you don't have to worry about spending the $5, $10, $20, or more you want to put aside. So here's to wishing and saving!!!