And now something other than just oats.

Tonight as I went to the gym to play squash with my dad I decided that I was going to wear shorts.  The last time we played, I wore my Lululemon pants and to say the least I thought I was going to pass out.  When I do my weights with my trainer, for the most part I tend to stick with pants because it's only 66 degrees F in the gym and truthfully that's a little too chilly for my bones even after I've been sweating.  Usually it's not a problem, but the past few mornings I've been a little tired and that doesn't seem to help with my body regulation.  Nonetheless the reason for this tangent about nothing really is because of my shorts.  I haven't really looked down at my legs in a while (other than when I'm in the shower) so I haven't really noticed a change in my body.  Today however, I noticed how much personal training has really made a difference.

A few weeks ago, I went and redid my fit test after it had been a month and six days since I'd started my training.  The results to say the least were quite impressive, and definitely gave me the motivation to continue doing what I've been doing.  When I took the test, I was told my legs had gotten 2 inches bigger, yup, I've definitely noticed this, as my jeans are getting a little tighter (which is an awesome feeling).  Speaking of awesome feeling, going to the mall today, trying on some clothes and getting asked by the woman if I'm a size five NOT a zero or double zero, goodbye skinny days!  So, to say the least my physical changes have been really uplifting to me.

Yes, this just sounds like a "praise Sam" post, that's not what I'm going for at all.  It's just that lately, all I've been posting is recipes for variations of shakes and bowls of oatmeal.  When I first started making both of these things items and figuring out ways of adding in the most fats (healthy) and protein that I could possibly do I was a little afraid that this was just going to add in weight gain and not muscle, so I was a little afraid to say the least.  However, not the case.  More calories = much more energy.  More protein = bigger muscles/more muscle repair.  Fat = satisfying/more energy as well.  With that being said, I certainly have not lessened the amount of nutrients going into either of these items, in fact I've been adding much more, and I wouldn't change it for the world.  I love it and it makes me look very forward to waking up to have my oats followed by my post-work out recovery shakes.

lkfj;dslkfjsdlkfj okay, should I just get to it?  I think so.  I promise today will not just be a recipe for a fruity protein shake, or a bowl of oats (however I will be posting my latest and greatest favourite) plus a recipe for a recent meal I made, mmmm!

For starters, this mornings breakfast, holy moly.  As I've recently stated I am hooked on anything with peanut butter, in fact if I could take a peanut butter bath I probably would (should I of maybe not admitted that?  Perhaps.  Oh well.)  Seeing as I've finally stocked up on Nutella, and after making Nutella Oats, I decided that I had to make a peanut butter + Nutella bowl of oats since to me this is reminiscent of my childhood/peanut butter cups!  Yup, this bowl definitely sang peanut butter cups all over it.  So, so, so good.

This morning I woke up pretty early, around eight o'clock (this was early in the sense that, I wasn't working out until eleven, so I wouldn't be eating until ten).  As I was tossing around trying to get back to sleep I noticed that my back and legs were in a lot of pain.  This certainly didn't make me want to jump for joy at the fact that I had training in a bit since I was in a lot of pain, which I assume was from the deadlift's I did yesterday.  I sent my trainer a text and asked her if I could reschedule to tomorrow morning.  I hadn't heard from her, and I decided to still go with my plans to eat the breakfast I was planning, after enjoying each and every bite with utmost satisfaction I decided to text my trainer back and tell her that I would come in.  These oats made me forget my pain.  They gave me so much flippin' energy that I actually hopped out of the door when the time was necessary.  I loved this, and when I don't know what I want to make for breakfast/am craving something incredibly sinful/filling I certainly will not be hesitating to make this bowl of awesome.

Peanut Butter Banana Nutella Oats

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup soy milk + more for garnish
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Dash of salt
• 1 ripe banana + a few slices set aside
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tbsp nutella
• 1 tbsp chopped hazelnuts
• 1 tbsp peanut butter chips
• Vanilla 0% fat Greek yoghurt

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla to a boil.  Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana, peanut butter and Nutella.  Keep your oats on the stove until your level of "cooked" oats has been achieved (mine take about 4-5 minutes, I still like them a bit hard).  Top with additional milk, Greek yoghurt, banana slices, chopped halzenuts and peanut butter chips.

Kale and White Bean Soup


Recipe taken from here

I haven't made soup in a long, long time.  Last week as I was perusing the typical foodie blogosphere I stumbled across a kale and white kidney bean soup.  Seeing as I am incredibly in love with kale, and have recently been a convert (and obsessed) with all things beans I figured why not give it a try.  After reading the directions it gave me even more of a reason to because it was basically chop a little veggies, throw everything into a pot, allow to simmer for an hour, indulge.  And indulge I did.  I had just gobbled down a huuuuuge protein shake and didn't think I'd be hungry for an eternity so the hour wait made it even more appetizing.  By the time the thirty minute mark hit, hunger was no longer a physiological thing, it was completely psychological.  The aromas coming from my kitchen oh, there was no denying how wonderful it smelt, and my brain was definitely wanting some of it.  By the time the twenty minute mark came oh I started taking a few spoonfuls from the pot (anyone want to come over for a meal ;)? - my germs!)

... after waiting, I finally made it down to the eight minute mark, and at this point I didn't care any longer, I was spooning the soup into two bowls, one for me, and one for my friend.  After taking a bite, I decided to add quite a bit of salt, this enhanced the simple flavours even more.  This soup was delectable.  It was so simple, easy to clean, super healthy, and the perfect thing to mix with a shake after an intense work out.  After, seriously gulping down a huge bowl, I couldn't help but take another bowl full.  I loved this.  I'm not sure why, but I added "don't you think this is reminiscent of like a war-time soup?"  I'm not sure what it was, perhaps the simplicity, or the fact that there were beans in the soup, who knows, but that's what it made me think of.

I'd never had white kidney beans before, after thoroughly enjoying this soup, I am definitely a convert and cannot wait to try bean spreads with this particular legume, mmm mmm mmm.  This is seriously such an ideally perfect soup if you don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen, or it's incredibly cold out and you want to snuggle up on the couch with a warm bowl of soup, or you just want to indulge in something incredibly healthy and have that hearty comfort food feeling!


Ingredients:

• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion - diced
• 2 large garlic cloves - minced
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 8 cups of vegetable broth
• 2 cans of white kidney beans or 3 double handed scoops of dried beans you've cooked yourself
• 1 bunch of kale - deribbed and chopped

Directions:

Pour some olive oil into a large pot over medium heat. 

Add the sliced onion and minced up garlic cloves to the olive oil.  Cook until the onion is soft and translucent.  Add the vegetable broth, salt and pepper.  Add the beans and the kale, and simmer over low heat for at least an hour.

Garnish with parmesan cheese before serving (if you eat this). 

Enjoy :)

Not your traditional miso soup.

Ever since I started eating sushi, about six years ago, one of my favourite soups is now miso soup.  I love the fact that it's light, but still incredibly satisfying, especially before gorging on all-you-can-eat sushi.  Lately I've been craving sushi like there is no tomorrow, however, every time I go it's not as satisfying as it used to be; this does have something to do with the fact that I only eat vegetable sushi now.  The past few times I've gone out for sushi as well I've passed on miso soup and gone for the salads, why?  I'm not quite sure.  This afternoon however, after doing my work out,  I wanted to actually cook something.

As you all have probably noticed, seeing as it's been about a month now since I've posted on here, I've gone a little awol.  When I got back from Korea I was getting into the habit of writing up my entries as I was making the food, however, somewhere along the way that stopped.  Not only was I not writing up my posts, but the foods in which I was making were stopping, no, I did not stop eating, but I just haven't been very creative as well as just haven't been feeling very inspired when it comes to the kitchen lately.  I've been dealing with some personal things, and to say the least I just haven't been motivated in certain aspects of my life due to it.

With all that being said, even the meals I plan for the week came to a halt.  My breakfasts' haven't even been the greatest, sure they've been tasty, I love me a giant bowl of Greek yoghurt with either cereal mixed in or a giant bowl of fruit to go alongside with my yoghurt, but I haven't been doing my usual smoothies or oats.  I've been lazy, and well feeling down to be quite honest, and spending some time in the kitchen when it's not 100% necessary has not been something that's been on my mind.   

Unfortunately I was just kick starting my usual work out habits too, and I've been sort of slacking here and there.  Usually I don't take rest days, but I've been taking between 1-2 a week, that's not a bad thing at all, since your body needs rest, it's just not something I typically do, but lately it has been something I do more regularly.

Anyhow, I apologize about my absence but sometimes you just need a break from certain things.  Usually I turn to my blog/recipes for inspiration in my daily life, but I tend to notice that whenever I get anxious I just don't feel motivated in the kitchen and I stick to very simple, and quick meals.  With all that being said, I'm going to make an effort to write up posts, and get back into the kitchen and my regular routines, as I very much miss sharing the delicious meals with my readers.

  

Now to finish what I was saying before I went into a tangent.  After my work out I didn't want anything heavy, and I didn't want anything that would take a long time to make, so I decided on soup, miso soup to be exact.  Before I went on my boredom streak in the kitchen I of course mapped out my meals for the week, one of the meals being miso soup.  This soup has been on my mind for quite some time and I figured what better time to make it then today, especially when I was feeling motivated to actually cook.

This soup isn't your regular Japanese miso soup that you would get when you go out for sushi.  In fact, it's very different, the only thing I think it shares in common to be completely honest is the miso paste haha.  I would call this a kitchen-sink miso soup.  Honestly though, this may be one of the best miso soups I've ever had, but it's because it was an actual meal and not just a little appetizer so it's a little hard to compare the two.

This was a cinch to throw together, and it used up a lot of the vegetables we had laying around in the fridge.  It was perfect, especially because I thought I was going to have to make a side dish but in throwing all the vegetables I had laying around it was actually a really great portion and surprisingly filling.  I would certainly make this again, especially in the winter, yum!

Chinese Five Spice Miso Soup

Recipe inspired from here

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp EVOO
• 2 cups shiitake mushrooms, chopped
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 tsp garlic, minsed
• 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
• 1 cup frozen unshelled edamame
• 1 large bunch of kale, chopped
• 1/4 cup broccolini, chopped
• 1 bunch of bok choy
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup water
• 4 tbsp white miso paste

Directions:

Heat EVOO over medium high heat, cook onion until translucent, about five minutes; add Chinese five spice, mushrooms, edamame, kale, bok choy, broccolini and garlic and cook an additional five minutes.

Pour vegetable brother and water into your pot, bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and stir in the miso paste.

 

Have you ever tried to re-make your favourite restaurant soup?

Thanksgiving dinner in Korea

As you all know, as I mentioned yesterday I am still in Korea.  I also mentioned that, being in Korea meant that we were to have Thanksgiving in a little bit of a not-so traditional way. 

First off, prepping a Thanksgiving dinner without an oven makes for a bit of a challenge.  Let’s talk about what was on our menu:

·      Kabocha squash juk

·      Chicken

·      Stuffing

·      Pumpkin & sesame bread

The bread we purchased from a local bakery called Paris Baguette.  It was alright, at best.  This is the first store-bought bread I’ve eaten in almost two years.  What did it make me realize?  I’m a heck of a cook/baker.  This bread was alright, but it was nothing to ride home about, and I certainly like my bread a lot more.  But for 2000 won (a little less than two dollars Canadian), it would do, seeing as no oven, no ingredients, blah, blah, blah it makes it a little difficult, impossible to make bread.

The chicken, now that wasn’t for me of course, but as Jordan said, Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving without any turkey, or meat for that matter.  I agree… regardless of my views on eating the turkey.  Nonetheless we had no oven to cook the chicken in, (we couldn’t find turkey), so he looked up a way to cook a chicken without using an oven.  To our surprise, and his delight he was still able to get his chicken!  It turns out you can make chicken in a rice cooker!  Who knew?  I’ve made oatmeal, stir-fries, other random little things in a rice cooker, but a chicken?  Wow.

We went and got his chicken.  Bought spices.  He bought sausage to stuff to stuff the chicken with.  Marinated it in soy sauce.  Can you say this was an Asian chicken or what?  How did the chicken turn out?  He ate it like a beast.  I swear if I hadn’t reminded him we were having our Thanksgiving “dinner” the next day I think he would of eaten the whole thing right then and there while cutting it.  It looked really moist, which is pretty cool.  It’s nice to know that even when you don't have your everyday kitchen appliances you can still manage to get by without them.

Now stuffing… I’m not sure why either of us couldn’t remember how to make stuffing, or even better, what goes in stuffing but we couldn't.  Yes, I’m aware of the tool called the internet, however, using unprotected internet makes loading pages a little difficult.  We tried and failed.

 

We threw together ideas of how our families make stuffing.  Truthfully I couldn’t really remember because it’s been years since I’ve eaten stuffing.  I have never been a fan of stuffing.  It’s either too dry, too bready, too soggy, too bluh, I just never liked stuffing.  When I heard about the things that his family put in their stuffing, then also learnt their stuffing wasn’t made in the turkey I was flabbergasted.  In the end, Jordan ended up tossing some oil in the pan, added cubed pumpkin & sesame bread, dried cranberries, raisins, apple cubes, and cinnamon.  It certainly was not traditional stuffing, nor was it, er stuffing at all, but he enjoyed it with his chicken and juk so it was all good.

Now the juk.  I cannot remember if I mentioned or not, my plan was to attempt to make a traditional Korean soup called juk.  From Wikipedia:

“ In Korea, the dish goes by the name juk 죽 ([tɕuk]) derived from the Chinese language in which juk [jook] means the same thing. There are more than forty varieties of juk mentioned in old documents.^[5] Depending on the ingredients and consistency, juk can be considered as a food for recuperation (much like chicken soup in modern American culture), a delicacy, or food during famine and war.^[5]

The most general form of juk is simply called heen juk (흰죽, white juk), which is made from plain white rice. Other varieties include different ingredients, such as milk, vegetables, seafood, nuts and other grains. Being largely unflavored, it is served with a number of more flavorful side dishes, such as jeotgal, various types of kimchi, pickled cuttlefish, spicy octopus, and other side dishes.

Notable varieties include jatjuk made from finely-ground pine nuts, jeonbokjuk made with abalones, yulmujuk made from Job's tears, and patjuk made from red beans.

Juk is considered the ideal choice of food for babies,^[6] the ill or elderly as it is easily eaten and digested. It is sold commercially by many chain stores in South Korea, and is a common takeout dish.^[7] ”

Since being in Korea, juk and bibimbap have been my favourite meals by far.  The first one I tried was a sweet pumpkin version, it was incredibly delicious.  Jordan was a sweetheart and ordered a veg version as well so I could try his, and he ordered red bean, which was also super delicious.  I also tried a vegetable one which was incredibly filling and super tasty.

I knew when I first tried juk that I wanted to attempt to make it myself.  After reading a few different versions, I knew that this would be a perfect thing to make for our Thanksgiving, since it could be done on the element, didn’t take too much time (… shouldn’t of taken too much time at least), was orange, and resembled Thanksgiving.

Let’s begin our story with this.  Remember how I mentioned when I first arrived and looked in Jordan’s kitchen and was greeted with four large 1 kg tubs of oats, and about 7 1l milks?  Well, I also forgot to mention that as for kitchen tools, there was a pot, small skillet, wooden spatula, two sets of chop sticks, two sets of spoons, and two bowls (think cat bowls, size and material).  The second week I was going through blogger withdrawal so I went and bought some plates, bowls and a pot.  Thank heavens, because… if I hadn’t the soup certainly wouldn’t of happened, or it would of taken forever to make.

First off the pot I bought was far too small, so I also had to use his small pot.  This was troublesome to say the least but it worked out.  We let the squash boil (since we couldn’t cook the squash in the oven).  Using a chop stick to test it’s readiness we let them sit to cool down.  Scraped out their insides and let them sit in the fridge overnight.

The next morning I started the soup.  The amount of water I put was… to the say the least far too much.  We only have the 1/4 cup measuring cup I brought, and I think I miscalculated.  After a lot of, temper tantrums from my side he suggested dumping some water.  We did so.  We let the water boil for a lot longer than suggested but we let the water reduce.

I was still freaking at this point, because silly me, I didn’t think to buy a potato masher.  We had no food processor or blender, and I was just really nervous that this soup wasn’t going to turn out.  Thankfully Jordan is a very patient, calm and rational being.  He moved me aside and said the soup would turn out.  After a bit of mashing with the aforementioned wooden spatula, and the water reduction we got our soup!

We added in the glutinous rice (we cheated and bought them).  Topped with pumpkin seeds and walnuts.  At first I was a little, ehhh, the broth was still a little thin.  But as I ate more, I really enjoyed it.  However, the second bowl I went for, about ten minutes later had really thickened up and it tasted like the original juk I had tried!

In the end it turned out great.  It was a nice lunch.  It was spent with great company.  We made our best efforts to make it as Thanksgiving-ey as possible away from home, and it worked out.  There might have been a little bit, a lot of stress from my part, but, we, okay, okay, I got over it, and it was really great!

I hope you all enjoyed your meal as well, and that it was spent with lots of food, family, friends, love, everything!

Hobakjuk - Sweet Squash Juk

Recipe taken from here

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sized kombucha squash (the only ones available to us)
• Water
• Salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Sweet rice flour (unless you want to cheat like we did, and just buy the ready made glutinous rice cakes)

Directions:

Squash -

Wash the exterior of the squashes in cold water.  Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and stringy stuff with a spoon.

Place the butternut squash in a large pot. Pour 3 cups of water over them and bring to a boil over medium high heat for 30 minutes, until the contents become soft.

Turn off the heat and let it cool down.  When it’s cooled down, scrape the cooked insides out with a spoon.

Place 3 cups of the cooked squash insides into a large pot and add 4 or 5 cups of water and boil

Rice Cake Balls:

Boil some water.

Make rice cake dough by mixing 2 cups of sweet rice flour, 1/4 tsp salt, and 3/4 cup of hot water. Mix it up with a wooden spoon at first, and then knead it for a few minutes with your hand after it cools down.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and set it aside for about 20-30 minutes.

Put about 3 tbsp of sweet rice flour into a large bowl (this will prevent the rice cake balls from sticking together).

Take a bit of dough and roll a rice cake ball (the size should be a little larger than soy bean). Put it into the bowl with the sweet rice flour.riceballs

*Tip: to prevent the dough from getting dried out, always wrap the dough in plastic wrap while you are making the rice cake balls

Porridge - 

When the mixture of squash and water starts boiling, add the rice cake balls to the pot. Stir it with a wooden spoon and cook it for a few more minutes.

*Tip: when it’s cooked, all the rice cake balls will be floating on the surface of the porridge.

Turn off the heat and add 1 tsp salt and 1/4 cup of sugar and stir it for a few seconds before serving.

 How did you spend your Thanksgiving?

What did you eat?

What did you do?

Welcome to Warner Brothers.

As I had mentioned last week, as of February 14th, today, I began my new job working for a pilot of something of Edgar Allan Poe's for Warner Brothers. Well, I've taken the initiative to begin this job on a good foot and by making my lunches so that I don't fall into old habits, and eating unhealthy catered food. Since I won't have much time at night to make my meals, I think I'm going to start showing you guys snipits of what I will be putting in my lunch. This, as I can safely assume is going to consist of a lot of simple meals, so we shall see how this goes, as for my first day of work this is what was packed into my lunch!

Gingerbread Pumpkin Vegan Overnight Oats

Recipe slightly adapted from here

The day started off fantastic. With a huuuge bowl of overnight Gingerbread Pumpkin Vegan Overnight Oats. I could not wait to wake up (even if it was at five in the morning) to dig into this bowl. While I was putting everything together I couldn't help but take a couple bites here and there. I had to be careful not to eat it all, because I used the last of my pure pumpkin and I wanted to wake up on my first day with something very special! Special indeed. It was the perfect thing to wake up to. Honestly, I felt so good. I had done my work out, tried very hard to make myself look as decent as possible (my mother warned me that the runner was incredibly cute AND bakes, so of course I wanted to look as good as possible haha. Once I walked upstairs and opened the fridge to that beautiful orange bowl of goodness I knew I was in for a treat. It was spectacular. Honestly, this was the best bowl of overnight oats I've had up to date. I will hands down be making this again as soon as I buy some more pure pumpkin. Honestly having this for breakfast was like having non-sinful pumpkin pie. I changed it just a bit, but oh goodness, I can imagine Angela's version with the banana soft serve would be so fantastic... when I buy the pumpkin I will definitely be trying it with the soft serve! This is definitely one of the best breakfasts I've had and that's hard to say considering most of my breakfasts are usually a 4 1/2 star anyways, yes I'm just that good ;) Kidding... but still.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup regular rolled oats
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/16th tsp sea salt (aka: a tiny pinch)
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
  
• 1 tbsp blackstrap molasses
• 1/4 cup pumpkin
• 1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup, to taste
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  

Directions:

In a medium sized bowl mix the oats, chia seeds, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir. Now add coconut milk and whisk. Next add molasses, pumpkin, maple syrup, and vanilla and whisk until fully mixed. Place in fridge for 1.5 hours or overnight.

The other day when I had made my Coriander and Kale Mixed Nut Pesto, I had mentioned that I was going to show you guys what I was using my pesto for. Well, what I ended up using it for was to roll it in a loaf of bread. This bread was utterly delicious. The bread itself was super moist with a little bit of crunch from the pine nuts, and the crust of the bread was definitely crunch-worthy and wholesome. Added with the pesto on the inside, ugh, it made for such a perfect snack, especially dipped in some olive oil. I loved this bread, and what I used half of my loaf of it on were these super simple, delicious and vegan burgers. I had found a recipe for bean burgers last week, and even though I am not a huge fan of beans (excluding green beans) I put it to the test.

Well, these burgers definitely aced the test. I served these to a friend who... certainly isn't a vegan and he really enjoyed it. I enjoyed them so much that on Monday it was my forth day in a row of eating them. I love these burgers. They are so filling and everything that's in these burgers you can feel good about. No preservatives, no animals, healthy fats, deliciousness, crunch, greens, ugh it was so so good. The funny thing is, when the beans are mashed, and with the added greens and everything else you would almost think it's a meat patty with some hidden vegetables, however, you would be quite wrong. This is definitely something I will be making again, as they are perfect to freeze and unthaw on another day, so especially with this job it makes for a simple meal to pack in my lunch

Rainbow Chard Veggie Burger

Recipe slightly adapted from here

Ingredients:

• 1 15oz can of black beans, rinsed
• 2 tsp canola oil
• 1 bunch chard
• 1 onion, diced finely
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup walnut pieces
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt, to taste
• 1/2 Panko bread crumbs
• Canola oil spray

Directions:

In a large bowl, mash the black beans. Some larger chunks are okay.

Wash the chard, remove the stalks from the leaves. Finely dice the stalks and chop the leaves, keeping separate. Over medium heat, saute 1/2 cup of the diced stalks in 1 tsp of oil for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the chopped leaves and saute an additional 10 minutes, until the leaves wilted. Add to the beans.

Add the second tsp of oil and saute the onion for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the minced garlic and cook an additional 1-2 minutes. Add to bean and chard mixture.

Grind the walnuts in a food processor. Some larger chunks are okay, as they will add texture. Add to the bean mixture.

Mix the soy sauce, lemon juice, oregano, and thyme into the bean mixture. Add the salt and pepper to taste. Add 1/2 cup of bread crumbs. You want the mixture to clump, not be too wet, and have the burgers to form into firm patties. If needed add the additional bread crumbs.

Take 1/3 cup of the mixture and press into a patty between your hands. Spray a pre-heated skillet, and cook the patties over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, flipping half way through. Patties should brown nicely, do not let them burn.


Spiral Pesto Bread

Recipe taken from here

Ingredients:

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp (1 package) instant yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 cups flour (I used 2 cups whole wheat + 1/2 cup AP flour)
• 1/4 cup pine nuts, extra for garnish
• 1/2-3/4 cup pesto

Directions:

Proof the yeast: Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm water, and let stand for 5-10 minutes until mixture is frothy.

Add in salt, olive oil, 1/4 cup of pine nuts (or extra if you want more texture in your bread) and 2 cups of flour.

Mix the dough by hand. Once the dough is sticking together and slightly tacky turn out onto floured surface and begin kneading it, adding the remaining 1 cup of flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough is smooth and not sticky. (I used about 2 1/2 cups of flour in total.) Knead for 5-10 minutes until dough is elastic.

Place the dough in a large lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm spot for 1-1.5 hours until doubled. Check to see if dough is done rising: push into it with two fingers, 1″ deep. If the dough springs back it isn’t done rising, if it essentially stays indented then it is done.

Shape the dough: roll the dough out into approximately a 9″ x 13″ rectangle. Spread the pesto in a thin layer over the dough. You can sprinkle some more pine nuts here if you would like to have more texture. Roll the dough along the short-edge to get a roll that is about 9″ long.

Preheat the oven to 350 ºF, bake for 30-40 minutes until the crust is a golden brown.

Pumpkin Apple Soup

Recipe taken from here

For dinner, I had this beautiful aromatic and flavourful soup. I have long been a fan of pumpkin. I can remember back in the day, at Hallowe'en the nanny we had and I would cut some pumpkin and eat it just like that, uncooked. Years and years later I heard you're not supposed to actually eat raw pumpkin, whether that's true or not I'm not sure. Since I had a can of pumpkin open, I figured why not make something that I am going to really enjoy? I decided to do just that, and make this beautiful soup. For starters, the colour, it just feels so healthy to be eating something of that colour. Then you take your first bite and your senses are just so happy. From the cumin, to the pumpkin, to the cinnamon, just everything. This soup was perfect, it was flavourful, had spice, and literally took less than ten minutes to whip together start to finish, I mean really, could it be much simpler? What I loved about this soup is that it didn't feel like winter, no, it reminded me of fall when the weather is first beginning to cool down. Nonetheless, simply divine.

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 4-5 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
• 2 cans (15 ounces) real pumpkin
• 1/2 cup apple sauce, unsweetened
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3 tbsp lime juice, optional
• Thyme sprigs for garnish

Directions:

Heat oil in a large pot and cook onions until translucent - about five minutes. Add cinnamon, paprika, and cumin. Stir for 30 seconds or until fragrant (do not burn!). Add all remainng ingredients.

Using a hand blender, carefully puree soup. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Garnish dishes with thyme sprigs.

Vegan Coconut, Banana, Pear, Raspberry Jam Bran Muffins

Recipe adapted from here

Yesterday I had made some WONDERFUL Bran Muffins. These are by far the most amazing muffins I have ever tasted. I love, love, love bran so already I knew these were going to be good. I adapted the recipe slightly... okay a little more than slightly, and they were fab, they totally hit the spot... more than one, more than twice, more than three times, more than four times. I made them late in the afternoon... made a half batch, who was I kidding that was certainly not enough. By the end of the night there was one, single, lonely muffin. I might have eaten some of my feelings away since I knew what the next day i.e. today held in store. I think my friend did the same thing. Started with nine muffins, and only one left. Needless to say, I quickly saran wrapped it and hit in my lunch box. I didn't want to risk eating it before work =\. Yup these were vegan, had very little sugar in them, excluding the raspberry jam and the natural sugars from the fruit, loaded with fiber, and were simply out of this world. I ended up using the rest of my wheat bran, so I will have to go buy some more because I am already craving them, this was definitely a perfect pick me up snack though during the day! Ugh... they were so good, it was such a beautiful combination of fruit, and with the ooey-gooey warmed jam in the center oh, it had me singing for more!

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 6 tbsp water
• 2 cups wheat bran
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/3 cup canola oil
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 chopped pear
• 1 mashed banana
  
• 1/2 cup raspberry preserves
• Coconut flakes for garnish
  

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Whip the flaxseed and water to make your "flax egg".

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients : flour, wheat bran, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt.

In a small bowl combine the wet: milk, vanilla, banana, oil, flax "egg" mixture. Stir the pears into the wet mixture, then combine wet with dry, stirring until just combined.

Take out your muffin tins and either grease or apply muffin cups. Fill cups halfway with muffin batter. Using a 1/2 tsp, scoop out a dollop of jam (about 1 tsp). Nestle the jam in the batter, then cover the jam with another spoonful of batter.

Bake 15-20 minutes. I took mine out around 18 minutes.

Well it was definitely a successful day. But I sure am glad to be home. What are some work meals that you take to work?

WHOO-HA.

This past weekend my mom and her boyfriend went snowmobiling, and I stayed home, since well, I don't take part in that activity. However, being the end of the week and we do our groceries on Sunday mornings we didn't have much food in the fridge. I was scared to see if I would even be able to find any food for breakfast let alone the whole day. My mom however, being the Saint she is left me $50.00. I was supposed to ask my brother to take me however work called him in early so I was unable to. I then asked my dad and he said he would, but I was really feeling under the weather. I woke up with a really sore neck, nausea, chills, and all around lethargy. I ended calling my dad back and saying that I would just work with what I've got since I really didn't feel up to getting dressed and out of bed.

Cherry Chip Cake Batter Pancakes

Recipe adapted from here

For breakfast I was able to whip something up quite easily. I had really wanted oatmeal, but I am now hooked on mixing banana into my oats since that's what all the recipes I've been following have been doing. The banana gives the oatmeal such a perfect fluff I feel like with out the banana there would be a lack of fluff and a lack of sweet flavour. Then I was going to make a smoothie, but we were all out of fruit, excluding apples, oranges and frozen peaches... and I wasn't in the mood for any of that. I then remembered seeing a recipe for pancakes the other day. However, these aren't just any pancakes. No my friends. This is the heavens gift to the world, or... more like Jessica's gift from How Sweet It Is. Regardless, it's a gift nonetheless, and a perfect gift at that.

This recipe is for pancakes yes, we have already gone over that. But, it's with something I could only dream of having in my pancakes; cake batter! Woooooooo, I can't hear you! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Oh yes, I was so insanely excited when I saw this. I have had a box of cherry chip cake mix sitting in my cupboards for ages. I'm not sure why it's been sitting there forever since I absolutely love them but this was the perfect opportunity to use them. I pretty much followed the recipe except for a couple things. The outcome? Scrumptious. Oh my goodness. I absolutely adored them. I reduced the recipe by more than half since I was only making it for me. I ended up with three cute, but filling pancakes. They were perfect. Cupcake batter flavour + pancake batter density = match made in heaven. I decided to top the pancakes with some healthy plain yoghurt mixed with hazelnut agave nectar sprinkled with cutesy pink and white hearts. It was such a great way to start a sick-feeling morning.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cherry chip cake mix
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 6 tbsp water
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 cups soy milk

Yoghurt Topping:

• 1/4 cup plain yoghurt
• 1 tsp hazelnut agave nectar
• Pink and white heart sprinkles
  

Directions:

In a bowl combine ground flaxseed and water. Let sit for about five minutes until it thickens.

Combine flour, cake mix, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and mix. Add 1 cup of milk, your flax mixture, vanilla extract and stir until smoothe. You want the batter to look like regular pancake batter; not too thin, not too thick. This will vary greatly on the brand of cake mix you use. Start with 1 cup of milk and add more if needed.

Preheat a skillet on medium heat. Pour batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto skillet and let cook until bubbles form on top, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for 1 minute more. Serve with yoghurt topping and sprinkles.

Tomato Spinach Soup

Recipe adapted from here

Next was time for lunch. The other night I had made a beautiful tomato and spinach soup, thankfully I had some leftover because I’m not quite sure what I would have scraped together. The other night when I had made this I was so overcome with joy. Before this I had only had one other tomato soup, and that was the one I had made in the summer. At the time I really enjoyed that tomato soup. However, after having this one, I would say that that one had nothing on this bad boy. I really enjoyed this soup, it reminded me of when I was younger and my mom would make tomato sauce. She would put the stove on before she went to bed, and would let it simmer all night. With the hours of the tomatoes simmering, by the time we’d awake in the morning the house smelt so ripe and luxurious. I used to love waking up to those warm scents. When I made this all those feelings rushed through me again.

This was chunky, hearty, and overall delightful. We all gobbled this down. With the added homemade bread and cheese it was incredibly pleasurable. I was so glad when I remembered there were leftovers. We never really have many leftovers so today was perfect. However, today I had my soup with a side of cinnamon raisin oatmeal bread oh it was so satisfying.

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 - 28 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes
• 1 - 14 oz. can of whole tomatoes
• 2 cups of vegetable stock
  
• 1 tsp of sea salt
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1/2 tsp of fresh ground black pepper8 spinach nuggets - equal to about 2 cups chopped spinach
• 2 tsp oregano
• 3 pieces of bread - toasted
• Parmesan cheese (I used vegan cheese on mine, Parmesan on the others)

Directions:

In a saucepan, saute garlic in olive oil on medium heat for 1 minute - being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the crushed tomatoes. Add the whole tomatoes one at a time, squeezing them into the pan to break them up. Add the juice from the whole tomatoes, as well. Add chicken stock, salt, pepper and sugar. Add the spinach. Cook the soup on medium at a simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve topped with crusty, toasted bread and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Avocado Soft-Serve

Recipe by me.

For dinner I had the last of the frozen tilapia. I had an orange, and then I had some vegetables. There really wasn’t any food so that’s what I had. At this point it was about 6:15 pm, and I still hadn’t done my work out. I really wanted to do my work out but I was worried as to what I was going to eat for my protein. I had no bananas, and I love having my banana soft serve with protein powder, or mixing yoghurt with protein powder but I just wasn’t in the mood for that. What I really was craving was my banana soft serve but as mentioned there were no bananas. I had however remembered that the other I had frozen a large avocado. I was thinking what I could do with that avocado and my protein powder. Seeing as avocados are creamy, and once you process the banana it becomes creamy I figured why not try making avocado soft-serve, there was nothing to lose.

I grabbed my food process, grabbed my ingredients, and set out. This was… I’m not even sure how to describe it. I love my banana soft serve but this seriously gave the banana soft-serve a run for it’s money. It was so creamy, so delicious, and just overall gratifying. Next time I make my work out and I have to choose between avocado or banana soft-serve I’m not sure which one I will pick, maybe I will make a combination as I did with the banana and strawberries. It was incredibly delightful and I definitely recommend making this, plus the colour was simply stunning. The colour didn't really come through well in the picture since I took this at about 7:30 pm but it was a beautiful peppermint-green, ahhhh. This was definitely the highlight of my day... even more so than the pancakes, scrumptious.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 avocado, frozen
• 1 tbsp soy milk
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1/4 cup plain yoghurt
• 2 tsp minced ginger

Directions:

In the bowl of your food processor start with your avocado and soy milk. Once an “ice cream” consistency begins to form add in your ginger, yoghurt and protein powder. Process until well mixed and creamy.

I'm curious what kind of meals do you tend to make when there is "nothing" left in the house to eat?