Trip to Halifax

Two weekends ago, I took a trip to Halifax to visit my BFF. I flew over on Friday morning, we got to have lunch together at her place, then went out to see some ocean views. We picked up her daughter at school, and once her husband was home from work, her and I left to have dinner together. We checked out a store first, which she bought some haskpa juice so I could try it. They have a berry called haskpa, you can tell it's a berry, but it's more intense then the other berries, I really liked it.

We then went to a vegan restaurant called enVie, we both had the same thing, a grill cheese with a poutine, and it was delicious! Since it's vegan, it's not your typical grill cheese and poutine, so it was different, but very good! For desert, I had the raw chocolate torte which was also amazing, and my friend had the chocolate peanut butter pie. We went back to her place to change, so we can go tour around, she brought me to a few places that lead to an ocean view. I love the sound of water crashing around, birds, and the smell of the ocean. It's so calming and beautiful. Saturday we went to downtown Halifax to go to an indoor market, and mostly everything in there is local and homemade. It was amazing and wish we had something like that in Ottawa. I actually did a search the other day and found out we do have an indoor market, but when it's nice they move it outside, so I'll check it out and write a post on it. We got thirsty so went to a place that makes drinks, and got a fruit and vegetable drink, homemade with fresh ingredients, it was delicious! We then went to another indoor market, which had the Alexander Keith's brewery, so I was sure to get a souvenir for my hubby. We shared a Pad Thai for our lunch then made our way to a hotel to meet others for a food tour. Never done that before but it was a lot of fun and got to try a lot of amazing food. Our tour guide was from Ottawa, and she told me I should try the food tour in Ottawa, so I looked it up, and will do that at some point, and will write about it. Never heard about food tours, but it is good to know and can't wait to see what new places I will learn about in Ottawa. To get the details of our tour, you can visit my friend's blog, she wrote out a lot of details for the tour, her blog is called Eat Real Being Real. We walked a different way back to the car after, and she took me through Public Gardens, it's so beautiful there!

We walked a lot that day, she has a fit bit, and it tracked that we walked about 16 km that day. We still took the time to cook up supper though which was pizza! We bought the dough at a local pizza place, and we added tomato sauce, bacon, asparagus, beet greens and goat cheese, it was delicious! For desert, we had a vegan cheese cake that we picked up downtown. Sunday her and I drove about an hour away from her place and along the way, stopped to see this amazing view...

We drove up to Cape split for a 16 km hike. It was the most amazing hike! Half way, there was an amazing view, but of course a picture isn't as good as actually being there, it took my breath away

We stopped to rest a while and had some lunch, which we made eggs sandwiches, along with a banana, and local homemade bars. We hiked back, and here's a view along our hike...

This hike took us 3 hours, but really didn't feel that long, it went by so fast. I love hiking so I hope to do more this year. After our hike we stopped for some gelato, and stopped at a few shops including a vineyard. I brought home a bottle of red wine for my hubby and I to try out. When we got back to her house we made one delicious supper. Had salmon, with bacon, asparagus risotto and a garden salad, which the salad dressing was one that she bought in the market, it was really good. We even had white wine with our supper, she picked it up at the vineyard we went to. It really was an amazing trip. I got to try so much amazing food, and see a lot of beautiful things. I don't see my friend as often, so that extra long weekend with her was great.

This trip gave me some new ideas on what to make for meals. I'm also going to try to explore Ottawa more to see what I'm missing out on. If you know of any great places around Ottawa, please let me know.

Salads

One thing I do love eating, especially during the summer months is salads. You can put together a salad in no time, and dressings are so easy as well. They do sell so many different salad dressings in stores but they often have sugar and other ingredients that are not so health for us. Today I made my own healthy quinoa salad. Salads don't always have to be just vegetables, you can add nuts/seeds, beans, and grains. Last night I soaked my quinoa and chickpeas overnight in water, you don't have to do this, but it does help reduce the cooking time. Here's my recipe:

1/3 cup quinoa, rinsed
1/3 cup chickpeas
4 radishes, sliced
1 cup of broccoli, cut into bit size pieces
1 cup of cucumbers, cut into bit size pieces
1 red pepper, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
A handful of toasted pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp of fresh parsley, minced
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp agave syrup
Salt & Pepper

In a pot, cook the quinoa and chickpeas, let it cool. Prepare all your vegetables, and in a large bowl mix everything together, add some pepper, and a touch of salt, then add your olive oil, balsamic vinegar and agave syrup and mix. This made 4 lunch servings.

When it comes to a salad, I often don't follow a recipe. It's a great way to use up whatever vegetables you have in your fridge, and it's a great way to have a nice healthy lunch for work. Quinoa is a complete protein, but any mix of grains, beans and vegetables also creates a complete protein, just make sure to add a healthy grain, like brown rice, quinoa, millet, barley, buckwheat, amaranth and wild rice. You can also put together a garden salad, and add some meat/fish, or even some hard boiled eggs. There are so many different ways you can put a salad together, and make it healthy and delicious. Another ingredient I sometimes add to my salad is feta or goat cheese. As for dressings, you can use different vinegars, like apple cider vinegar, and red wine vinegar. For added zing, you can use the juice of a lemon or lime. There are even other healthy oils out there that you can also use, like flax seed oil, and hemp seed oil. You can even create your own creamy dressing by using an avocado, plain yogurt, mayonnaise, and you can even add some Dijon mustard. There are also a lot of herbs and spices out there to add flavor to your salads.

I also had a bit more fun in the kitchen by making more of the crispy almond butter chocolate chip cookies, which was requested by my hubby. I also tried another new recipe from the cook with kindness cookbook, I made the peanut butter cups, which were so easy to make and there was just 4 ingredients! They are delicious and so much healthier then the store bought ones.

 

Where you able to get into the kitchen this weekend? If so, what did you make?

Mother's Day weekend

To all the mom's out there, hope you had a wonderful Mother's day. This is my first mother's day without my mom, and wish she was here with me. My mom loved cooking and baking, so that's what I did this weekend, I had some fun in the kitchen.

Yesterday, my mother in law came over for supper. I got busy cleaning, and I also took some time to make some Crispy Almond butter chocolate chip cookies, they turned out really good! My hubby ate 4 of them, and I had 2 of them not long after they came out of the oven. You can find the recipe on the oh she glows website, check it out here.

 The recipe on that link is peanut butter, but the recipe in her cookbook says peanut butter or almond butter, so I tried almond butter and they were delicious. For our supper, we had burgers on the BBQ, and to accompany that, we had some vegetables and dip.

Today I had more fun in the kitchen and tried another recipe from the oh she glows cookbook, the classic glo bar, which a friend of mine told me I had to try, and she's right, they are very good!

 I also boiled a few eggs, to make a delicious egg salad sandwich for lunch tomorrow, and I also cooked up some ground bison with chili powder and a bit of cumin to make a taco salad, again for a lunch this week. My taco salads include romaine lettuce, red onion, red pepper, tomatoes, salsa, and guacamole. For our supper tonight I cooked up some chicken, with asparagus, and a homemade scallop potatoes, which turned out really good.

Now I'm all set for the week, I have healthy snacks on hand and a few lunches on hand. I always have a great time in the kitchen, it's relaxing. I'm very grateful to my grandma and mom for their love of being in the kitchen. I really do miss their cooking! Happy Mother's day!

Great books

I celebrated my birthday about a week ago, and my dad got me a gift card from Chapters, therefore I went a few days after, and got the below books

 I heard about Oh she glows cookbook from my friend's blog and knew I had to have it. I tried one recipe yesterday, which was the brownie, and they are so good!  She also told me I have to make the glo bars, which I plan on trying that very soon. I have browsed through the cookbook and I know there's many more recipes I will try out.

As for the Slimming book my Julie Daniluk, I have her first book, which has really great recipes, and she also had a show on TV for a while, but I can't seem to find it anymore, but really great recipes and can't wait to try them out.

I wasn't planning on buying the honest life, but while I was in line, it caught my eye because I really do love Jessica Alba, she's a great actress, and I know she has a line of healthy products, so while I waited in line I browsed through the book quickly, it has information about nutrition, including a few recipes, it also has information on products, and since it was on sale for $7.99 I thought it's a great deal so I bought it. Looking forward to reading through it.

I've been doing some spring cleaning, and some organizing. Making me feel a lot better to have less clutter and an even cleaner home. I haven't been as experimental in the kitchen, but starting to get back into that, especially since I have new books. I will post a new recipe soon.

Taking care of ourselves

I haven't done any posts in a while because my family has not had such a good past 9 months. Which brings me to talk about how important it is to take good care of ourselves and to take some time to do that. Since my mom passed away at the end of June, we have had 4 more deaths in the family, all my mom's side. It's time like these that it's even more important to take care of ourselves so we can be there for each other, and so we stay healthy and strong.

For me, it's been really hard, but I am taking action on my own health. How I will get through this is by eating healthy, exercising, and to also go through the emotions. For those that are going through a hard time, and even those that aren't, we all need time to take care of ourselves. Even if it means spending a few short minutes.

Some great ideas which work for me, is reading, going for a hike, going out for a run, taking a warm bath, and one that you might find odd is going to Chapters. I love to read and love books, and when I go to Chapters I always feel so happy and relaxed. Other things that might also help is meditating, doing yoga, even just stepping outside or stopping for a minute to take 3 deep breaths (breath in for 4 counts and out for 8 counts). Something else that also gets my mind off of things and makes me happy is being in the kitchen cooking/baking something healthy. Whatever it is that helps you relax and feel happy, then please take time to do that, if not every day, do it as often as you can.

I know how hard it is to find time for yourself, and we do live in a fast paced world, but you are very important. Think of what you love doing and make sure you take some time for that. Every little bit does count and your body will thank you. Especially if you can treat yourself to a massage, pedicure/manicure... =)

What do you love doing to relax and have fun?

Endometriosis Awareness Month

I recently got an email reminding me that March is Endometriosis Awareness Month, therefore today I'm wearing my bracelet that they sent me when I made a donation. It's important to spread the word about Endometriosis as it effects the lives of more then 89 million women and girls worldwide.

I recently went for an ultrasound and although it's not to bad right now, my endometriosis is spreading again. I have some along the right side of my colon, and some surrounding my ovary. I do get some pain, but still very manageable right now.

If you think your all alone in this fight, your wrong, there are many groups out there, online or in person, and it really helps to talk to others that are going through the same thing. Wear a yellow ribbon if you can, and please spread the word!

Eggs

My hubby found this really interesting link about eggs. They talk about how there isn't much of a difference between brown and white eggs, and I never really thought much about the color of the eggs, but it was a very good read. One thing I do go for is organic free-range eggs.

Eggs supply all essential amino acids (a source of complete protein), and provide several vitamins and minerals, including retinol (vitamin A), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid (vitamin B9), vitamin B6 and B12, choline, iron, calcium, phosphorus and potassium.

The reason why I chose organic free-range eggs, is because I love that the chickens get to eat what they are meant to eat, which is being outside and picking their food from the ground, rather then being in tight indoor conditions and fed some sort of corn feed. Like us, chickens need room, fresh air, sunlight, and healthy food.

I'm also a none believer that eggs pose a risk to cholesterol. I think we should all eat the whole egg, they are good for us and a great source of protein.

What are your thoughts on eggs?