Merry Christmas!!

Hello all,

        Just wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas from our family.....

....to yours LOL!!

It's chocolate time!!

Happy Thursday everyone!

          Anyone still out there? I hope you are almost off work or are spending some quality time with your family.

My mom arrived yesterday so we got together for some shopping and we also visited my grandma. She was recently put in a care home so it was a bittersweet visit. Leaving your loved ones in the care of strangers is a very difficult thing to do but it was the right decision. My grandma has Alzheimer's disease but she is still pretty witty. With this progressive disease, she no longer speaks English, it's all low German.  As my mom is fluent it was helpful that she was there and it was a happy, laugh filled visit. Although very difficult to leaver her there:( We talked to the staff and they said that we were allowed to bring pets into her room for a visit so her dog Goldie is heading there today. I plan on bringing Oddie there as well in the near future. She actually asked me about him during our visit, referring to him as my baby:)

Going back in time a little bit. I forgot to share with you about my Christmas party at work. It was a blast!! We had a limo bus to a place called Giggle Dam. Its a comedy dinner theatre. I was a little nervous as they pick people from the crowd to take part in certain skits but luckily I just got to enjoy the show:)

I was laughing the entire time! The serving staff are awesome and they remembered your name from the minute you walk through the doors. Here are some pictures so get what I'm talking about...

The grandma in the above picture did an Elvis tribute at the end of the show. He picked an older lady from the crowd and they danced on stage together. Oh man, so hilarious!!


 Now for some chocolate!!

Some mishaped vegan peanut butter cups!! These are mighty addicting..mmm! I followed Angela's recipe and used some of my homemade graham crackers:)

Creepy Santa Claus chocolates were made. I simply melted some chocolate bars and poured it into the mold. Simple! The green Santa was white chocolate with some food coloring added. 

No words!!! These vegan Nanaimo bars are so awesome!! You will never miss the dairy-filled version!! 

Thank you Angela for allowing me to devour my all time favorite dessert:)

Toffee Cappuccino Bark inspired by the recipe in Chatelaine Magazine. This stuff is SO good. I gave some to my assistant and she raved about it! So easy to make too. So, if you are in a pinch and need to bring something to Christmas dinner..make these!

The underside!! White and dark chocolate swirls:) Reminds me I need to make more for tomorrow!

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve!! I'm cleaning the house and about to go grab some groceries for dinner tonight with my mom. Talk about last minute Larry over here ha! 

I'll be back tonight with some holiday wishes!!

The holiday baking begins!

Hello all,

        This week is going faster than I expected! It's been a fun week and a half as my boss and I are off wooing clients and taking them for lunch:)

I am still finding myself not head-over-heels into the Christmas season which I usually am. I really need to slow down and take everything in as it's one of my favorite times of the year. Although I am definitely into the spirit of holiday baking:)

I found these cute Christmas cookie cutters at the dollar store and they came in handy for making Angela's Graham Crackers.I haven't made a roll-out cookie in a long time so this was super fun!

They actually tasted like the real graham crackers!! I left mine in the oven a bit too long so they were nice and crunchy but the flavor still rocked!

They even come in ninja shapes!!

I didn't just make these for snacking..they are going to become part of my favorite dessert..more on that tomorrow:)

Then it was raw cookie time!! Carrots in cookies? Trust me on this one:)

I was browsing Food Gawker (love that site!) and found these Carrot Cake Cookies from Cate's World Kitchen.

These are one of the best raw cookies I've had. If you love carrot cake, these are for you!! Super healthy and great to have around the holiday treat table. You could even make a healthy icing for them..now we're talking!!

I have so much more to share with you so stay tuned for the next episode that is all things CHOCOLATE!!

These may or may not have been involved:)

On Saturday night we watched The Fighter. AWESOME movie! Mark Wahlberg was really great but Christian Bale was absolutely incredible. It's a great movie about family, never giving up, and overcoming huge challenges.




Then Sunday rolled around and it was off to the mall for a little more shopping and the hubby had an eye exam. This was a Christmas present unto itself because he has really bad vision but I could never get him to go see the doc about it. Until now:) Surprisingly his eyes aren't too bad but the real problem is astigmatism.

Then Sunday night we had a friend over and so we had fajita night and watched the A-Team lol!

 Oh the goodness!

The filling platter!! There were fried onions, sauteed peppers,sauteed mushrooms, homemade salsa, homemade guacamole, and goat cheese. Add in Ezekiel sprouted tortilla shells and you've got dinner:)

I'll be chatting more tomorrow! Hope you are having fun with family and friends. And for the working crowd..Friday is almost here!!

PS Contagious Health just had it's first Birthday!!

I'll be having a giveaway soon to celebrate:)



Off to do some more wooing!!! Have an AWESOME day:)

Liquid Gold

Happy Friday all,

            Wahoo the weekend is here! Can you believe Christmas is a week away? I'm so not ready in all areas - baking, shopping, wrapping, decorating etc etc! I plan on doing some serious time in the kitchie this weekend so hopefully my baking to-do list will have a few big check marks on it. what is on my baking list, you ask? Well I'll give you some hints.

1. This dish was created by a lady in a Vancouver Island town.

2. These treats bring together the two most amazing ingredients: chocolate and.....

3. Something traditional that Lori wants to make too

4. Something you have to make with a mold

It's going to be a delicious weekend:)

Tonight is also my work Christmas dinner. We are headed downtown ( in a limo wahoo!!) to a dinner comedy theatre which should be a lot of fun. Sometimes you even get pulled on stage and they dress you in some crazy costume:)

The receptionist has even made some festive jello shooters.
Maybe my ambitious Saturday should be moved to Sunday lol!

I'm finally feeling the end is near with this cold. I've been juicing a lot, especially with ginger!

It even has it's own glass with a black bat on it! Cool! No, there was no extra cheer in my juice:)

The other day I got home at 8pm so it was a packaged dinner. Ya i know it's shunned upon not the greatest to eat food from a bag but I think in this case my choice wasn't too shocking.

This was okay. I would have liked more beans and veggies in there (duh). Isn't that always the case with food from a package? That's why it's only in desperate situations that I eat it.

Do you guys have your go-to packaged food if you are desperate?

I've been thinking about ways to jazz up my salad and then Torri mentioned Averie's taco meat.  I actually had everything on hand to make it. Love it when that happens.

I used 1/2 cup almonds, 1/4 cup cashews, and 1/4 cup sunflower seeds. I wanted to see what kind of consistency this combo would give. It tasted amazing but it didn't really stick together. I don't really care if it sticks together or not as long as it brings a good flavour to the dish...and it did:)





I used it on my salad last night..along with musclun salad mix, broccoli, kohlrabi, pickled beets, and nooch. Weird combo, yes, but a delicious one at that!! I topped the veggies with a healthy serving of miso-ginger dressing. Simply add equal parts tahini and miso, grate in some ginger, add in some fresh lemon juice, sprinkle in some S&P, and voila a delish dressing.

My favorite!

This was an awesome dinner! Lot's of flavors and textures which surprisingly melded well together.  I'm repeating this for lunch today.

Switching gears for a second..Let's talk hair.

My hair can handle most shampoos. I try to stick to the organic brands but if I'm away I will use whatever is available.

But that has changed...

I bought a different, expensive shampoo and my hair looked like I just rubbed oil through it. Horrible!

I had to get a different brand because I couldn't handle it anymore...fail again.

Could the chemistry of my hair change? Have you ever had this happen before? I'm stumped.

I was desperate and looking for any shampoo, chemicals and all, then I found this...



Look closely...it actually says vegan formula on the FRONT text. How cool is that? 

You do indeed vote with your dollar..and this company is listening!

And it actually works with my hair!! Hallelujah!!! I'm excited that some of the regular shampoo companies are providing healthier versions that still work.

I'm off to eat lunch and prepare for the Christmas party...stories coming Monday:) Have a great weekend!!

Fail

Howdy folks!!

          How are you all doing? I'm okay but rather humble today. More on that later in the post. But let's get started, shall we?

FAIL #1

You remember this...

My backyard a couple weeks ago!

Well, it was beautiful but crazy cold too! When I say crazy cold...I'm talking -15 Celsius. Yes, that's cold for us. Let me have my moment please:). Anyways, I had my beautiful squash that I got from here...

***sigh***

and they ALL froze in my shed. My Turks turban, kubocha, acorn, and one butternut squash are now feeding the microbes in my compost bin:( The cats and I had a brief second of mourning each time I tossed a squash in the bin. I picked up some more squash at the store the other day but it definitely is not the same.

Oh well, lesson learned.

FAIL #2

I missed the fight with this hunk....

Oh Mr. St. Pierre!! How I missed thee. Now I'm not a huge MMA/UFC fan but I like watching GSP fight. Do I need to explain why? LOL. I missed this fight because I'm still battling this cold. It's transitioning right now from a head cold to a cough..fun!!

Since Ryan went to watch the fight and I was alone for the night..it was chick flick time! I don't know if I've told you but I grew up with one of those old school record players. The big boxy ones that has a tape player and a tuner in it too. I've told my mom to never get rid of it and if she runs out of space, I'll take it. Records are cool, my friends. The one record that I listened to a TON of was Abba. To this day I still love their songs. So it was rather sad that I had yet to see the movie/musical featuring only Abba songs...Mamma Mia.

The movie was a lot of fun and took my attention away from the fact that I have to breathe with my mouth open.

Have you seen this movie? Are you a musical movie fan?

I'm way more in love with musicals since watching Glee. I know that sounds cheesy but it's true.
PS did you know the guy that plays Puck is a classically trained pianist? Don't ask me how I know that.


FAIL # 3

  I made the amazing leek and potato soup from Laury of  The Fitness Dish. So,so good! Thanks for sharing Laury!! I was planning on having it for dinner last night and so I began heating it up in a pot. Well, the hubby decided on an impromptu movie night and so we were in a mad dash out the door and guess what I left on?  So after came home from watching the new Harry Potter (really great, by the way!) the house was full of smoke! Initially we thought it was the Christmas tree..but alas, the rest of the soup and my pot are toast and my house now smells like burnt popcorn. It was so bad that we slept with all the windows and the even the sliding door in our bedroom open. Yes, we thought about burglars but having the stench leave the house was more important. Besides,we do have a crowbar and two guard cats just in case:)

It could have been much worse if we were gone for longer so I'm very thankful for that. Now, I think I'm going to have to bake batches of cookies to make the house smell like a home again.

Anyone have any experience dealing with burnt popcorn smell?



But my day sure is better than this guys! So things are looking up!
 
Have a great day everyone!!!

Excuses and hummus!

Happy Thursday all!!

      Holy have I been a bad blogger! But wait I've got a boat load of excuses for my absence. I was travelling for work. Heidi and Bitt too bad I didn't have more time for a visit as I was in your neck of the woods! I got sick..again!! So frustrating I must say. I should have armed myself better, right Laury? The hubby caught a bug from work and he so kindly passed it on to me. That's love isn't it? Plus my class is getting pretty complicated and is requiring more brain cells than normal.

That's enough of my pity party, wouldn't you say?

Moving on to more exciting things...I got an interview for school!!! Not everyone who puts in an application gets an interview so I'm so excited I advanced to the next step. I've never had an interview to enter school before so it should be interesting. All I know is that I will be interviewed by 5 or 6 different people in separate rooms. I'm glad it's separate versus having a panel of people. Now that's intimidating! My interview is on January 6th so I'll be sure to update you all on how it goes!!


Now for some festiveness!! We finally got our tree. Every year a reality business provides a Christmas tree to their customers. Our friend's mom received the coupon for the tree but she lives in a condo and they aren't allowed real trees (sad, I know!) so they gave it to us:) Thank you Cam and Danise!

She's a beauty too:)

Are you a fake tree lover or does it have to be real?

I don't think I could ever have a fake tree. Growing up they were always real so it's all I know. Although those trees with pre-strung lights are tempting at times. The next picture will explain why...

How many guys does it take to add lights to a tree? Apparently more than this as Danise and I took down the lights and strung them up again..in a minute:)

This year is a silver and red theme!

 But there is always room for some classics on the tree!!

These are from Ryan's childhood:)

Some more decorations! That tree is an ancient thing that I got from my aunt..but I love it!! It really is like a festive light-bright. All those colorful pieces fit into holes on the ceramic tree. Place a light bulb underneath the tree and voila! a light-bright tree!!!

I still have a lot to decorate so I'll show you the final product soon:)

Now for some eats! I made a first over the weekend..almond milk. I always thought that it was going to take too many almonds to make it worth it. They ain't cheap in B.C.! But I was way wrong. I followed Ani's instructions for vanilla almond mylk which only used 1/2 cup soaked almonds.

Nice and plump!

Pulp! I'm thinking of making some kind of cookie with it. Any ideas?

So good!! I didn't add as many dates as Ani recommended so it wasn't too sweet.

The hubby loved it and this jar was gone within a day:) He was quite the milk lover as a teenager.

I will definitely make almond mylk again! I want to experiment with other varieties of nuts.

Maybe even make a chocolate mylk.

In other news, I finally found some dry chickpeas. I looked in multiple big grocery stores and none of them had the dry version. I think the city has gone hummus crazy!!. Luckily my local health food store keeps rations for times like these:)

I had a serious craving for some hummus so I went ahead and made two versions, classic and roasted pepper. As it turned out, Angela just posted a recipe called The Hummus That Changed Everything.

 How could I resist?

Mmm..love all that paprika!

This was really delish! Thanks Angela!



My lab assistant was talking about her roasted red pepper hummus all week and she had me drooling! I didn't have red peppers on hand, but I did have orange ones!

Such a great flavor!! My hummus craving has been deliciously satisfied!

Since I had some leftover cooked chickpeas, I went for a sweet treat from Averie.

Cinnamon sugar peanut buttery chickpea peanuts

I actually just noticed that I forgot to add the flour. They were still great anyways:)

A great treat to have on the table if guests are over. Are there chickpeas in Aruba, Averie?

I'm getting the itch to do some Christmas baking.

 I love shortbread, ginger cookies, and all the chocolate and nut buttery treats!!

I just received an email from Heidi of 101 cookbook's Christmas cookie recipes. I'm sure to find some goodies in there! 

 Do you bake/un-bake your favorites each year?

I usually do a plate of different goodies, some for us, lots for family!

 We shall see what makes the cut this year:)

Have a great night everyone!!

Confessions

Happy Friday all!

           I know I promised a more regular blogging pattern but to be honest I haven't been up to much lately and then I lose my blogging mojo. But today I want to get a bit personal and share with you some struggles I have been dealing with lately.

Every time fall hits, heartier meals are more predominant on my table. No surprise there, right? I love soups ,stews, and meals that make you all warm inside when the weather is depressing. I also love to bake so I've been getting my bake on in the kitchie.

But lately I've been feeling more guilt. The guilt for eating cookies and chocolate over my one-cheat-meal-a-weak goal. This initial guilt spread to all my meals....

I should only have one piece of toast for breakfast...but I ate two

I should only eat whats on my plate..but I go back for a couple more spoonfuls

I shouldn't ask for anything if the hubby is going to get a treat for him...but I do anyways.

I am also looking in the mirror more often and am judging my body. This feels like the disordered eating dragon is rearing its ugly head and breathing its nasty fire. I have to stop it and not let it do anymore damage.

Here are some strategies I'm implementing to bring me back to balance...

Be prepared

I haven't been very good at bringing enough veggies for my day. As a result, I turn to the candy bowl and the guilt cycle begins. I am going to buy more staples like carrots, celery, cucumber, greens etc and make them ready the night before. I used to do this all the time but I've been slacking. I also want to buy veggies I haven't tried before or that I've avoided just to keep things interesting.

Green Smoothie for breakfast

I was doing this everyday in the summer and I loved it so much. I felt so amazing too:) I guess the fact that it's a cold breakfast isn't as appealing right now. But after touring Angela's Green Monster Movement site, I've got the itch to begin blending again:) Also we have used up all the fruit I froze from the summer so I better start getting creative with the seasonal stuff. I could also go the frozen fruit route but it gets pricey. Maybe I could alternate between the frozen and fresh?

Eat for myself

This is a big one for me. Just because the hubby, friend, mom, or blogger makes/eat ________(insert food) doesn't mean I have to make/eat it. The hubby can eat till he's blue every day and it doesn't faze him. I need to lose the mindset that if he eats something I should join him. Also, I'm surrounded by so many amazing eats from bloggers. I need to learn when to make their recipes that suits ME.  It's almost like I have purposely been disconnecting from the body in order to satisfy the ego. Sorry ego...you are going to the back of the class!!

Love myself more

I beat myself up too much. It's sad, but true. I should be grateful for a fully functioning body, instead I focus on it's flaws. In the last couple of weeks something that keeps entering my thoughts is meditation. So, I've decided to start out my mornings with a small meditation so that I can set the tone for the rest of the day.I'm going  to start using Gabrielle's meditation podcasts for now. I'm really excited to include this in my morning ritual.

Enjoy my food

 Every day the kitchen is a blank slate and I have the power to make anything I want. I don't want this place to become "the regret zone". I want this place to portray excitement, deliciousness, and endless possibilities.  I love food, that's never going to change! I just need to figure out a balance. I want to bake my cookies, and eat some too!! Also, I need to make healthy food that I LOVE. For some reason I've been straying from this basic concept and this could be part of the reason why the candy bowl is so tempting.  This is a biggie and probably a life long quest.

So all you food bloggers, how do you keep the balance?

With the holiday season upon us, there are dinner parties and treats on every turn. This year I've decided to respect myself and my body. I am still going to have a rum ball, or two, but I won't have them everyday and nor will I beat myself up for it. I want to enjoy the holidays and remember the laughs,embarrassing moments, and love. Isn't that what it's all about anyways? Oh ya, and winning the contest of who has watched National Lampoon's Christmas vacation the most:) Mele Kalikimaka !!! Have a great weekend:)