Lemon and Thyme Glazed Asparagus and Tofu

It's dishes like this that make me fall in love with food and blogging all over again.  I'm not even done my meal, and I'm already on here writing to you guys because this is hands down one of the best things I have ever put into my mouth - yes, even better than the cupcakes, ice cream, bowls of oats, cookies, pineapple, cantaloupes and mangoes that I die and go to heaven every time I ingest.  Seriously that good!  This is incredible.


The sweetness from the maple syrup, tang from the lemon juice, spice from the thyme and then just the asparagus and tofu tossed in, wonderful, absolutely, hands down, on your knees begging for more amazingly incredible.


Lemon and Thyme Glazed Asparagus and Tofu


Recipe taken and slightly adapted from here

Not the greatest picture I know, I'm sorry.

Ingredients:


Rice -

• 4 cups water
• 2 cups of uncooked brown rice

Stir-fry - 

• 1 bunch of asparagus, cut into 2 inch pieces (about 4 cups chopped)
• 1 package extra firm tofu - drained
• 1 1/2 tbsp oil

Glaze - 

• 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup lemon juice - freshly squeezed
• 1 tbsp cornstach + 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 tsp thyme

Directions:

Place the water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.  Add the brown rice, bring to a boil, cover and cook for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the asparagus spears into 2 inch pieces.


Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Slice the pressed tofu into 1/2 inch slices and then diagonally to make tofu triangles.  Lay the tofu triangles down flat on a cutting board, place a clean dish towel or some paper towels over top of them and place a heavy book or two on top of the towel or paper towels to press the tofu for a few minutes until the tofu is drained.  When the oven is heated, cook tofu for 45 minutes, or until nice and crispy.


Prepare the glaze by whisking together the maple syrup, lemon juice and thyme in a small bowl. In a separate small bowl whisk together the cornstarch and cold water and add it to the rest of the glaze ingredients.


During the last ten minutes that the rice is cooking, begin the stir fry. Heat a wok on medium-high heat and add one tbsp of canola oil. Add the chopped asparagus and stir-fry 5-10 minutes, until bright green and fork tender. Next, add the glaze mixture and the browned tofu triangles. Stir and cook everything a few minutes more, until hot and the sauce boils and thickens and covers the entire stir-fry.

Serve on a bed of brown rice.

Flu bustin' shakes

I am a very fortunate person.  I'm not saying this in the sense of, I get everything handed to me, and everything always works out in my favour, or anything like that.  What I mean is, one of the traits that I got from my mom (that I actually like), unlike my lack of math skills, or the crooked teeth I had growing up, or the fact that I have been wearing glasses since grade six and will have to for the rest of my life, is that I barely ever get sick.  I can't even remember the last time I was actually sick, other than when I got H1N1 a few years ago (gross right?)  I've had some ill-fate when it comes to my health in other aspects - anxiety, depression, an eating disorder, and fibromyalgia (all which have been worked through and are not in the picture anymore), but as for illness when it comes to being sick, very, very rarely does that ever play a role in my life.

Despite the fact that my mom works sixty-seventy hours a week, is up to her ears in stress, gets only a few hours of sleep a night, she very rarely gets sick.  Thankfully, I've inherited that as well.  As for myself, I don't just embrace and turn a blind eye to the fact that I get sick so little, no, I also have my lifestyle to thank for that.  I would consider myself an active person, considering already this week I have been five times, and I eat a very healthy diet /cough, other than this week because well, mother nature decided to visit and I've been craving junk food like there is no tomorrow (too much information?  Perhaps, just a bit), oh well, it's my blog, my journal.  I snacked on some yoghurt covered raisins/chocolate covered raisins, and have been eating two homemade chocolate chip cookies since Monday (not so bad I guess though considering).

Nonetheless, the point of this blog entry is that, this week my boyfriend picked up the flu, or something.  He started off with a headache, then it worked it's way to his nose, and then it was a whole body cold it seemed.  The other day we were supposed to get together, but instead he decided to sleep (which, thankfully he did, because even with the million + hours he got, he still seemed like a zombie).  The next day we had planned to watch a movie, and the same thing happened.  This time, I decided I would pay him a visit with some homemade soup and an orange to try and liven him up a bit.  Well, he looked like he had been visited by a ghost.  Shades drawn, lights off, fetal position, congested to the max, despite how cute he looked while being in such an uneasy state, he looked to say the least a little haggard (all said with love - hence I brought soup to make him feel better).

After spending a bit of time with him, I realized that even though I have super power genes when it comes to getting sick, I still can't just rely on those genes and think I'm Superwoman and just won't get sick, that's not how it works.  Instead, I've been eating foods high in vitamin C, and getting a lot of fluids in me (apart from what I regularly focus on for my diet of course) this was just even more focused on than it usually is.  With that of course comes protein shakes, woohoooooo, my favourite!

Very Orange Banana Shake

The first one I made was incredibly similar to orange crush, or orange juice - I don't know.  The orange flavour was very evident and was overall just an amazing way to start the day.  I never think to use freshly squeezed orange juice rather than water when it comes to my smoothies, but in trying to protect myself I've been doing it daily and what a nice change it is with such great flavour.  Also, with the addition of the zest along with the freshly squeezed juice it gave even more flavour because of the oils released.  This was a fantastic shake, and will certainly be seeing more of this, especially come the summer.  And I can also guarantee that you will be seeing more shakes using freshly squeezed juice!  Yum!

Ingredients:

• 1 orange juiced + orange zest
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 4 ice cubes
• 1 large frozen banana
• 1/3 cup 0% vanilla Greek yoghurt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups fresh baby spinach
• 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder

Strawberry Pineapple Orange Shake

The next shake I had was an adaptation of the previous recipe, however, I added strawberries and pineapple au lieu of banana.  Between the two, I'm not sure which I preferred more.  The above one was evidently more creamy due to the banana, this one was much more liquidy, but just as delightful.  The combination of strawberries with the two citrus fruits was a very delightful union, I certainly enjoyed this and it was pure perfection after a nice work out.  Hopefully it also aids in not getting sick!

Ingredients:

• 1 orange - juiced
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 2 cups of fresh baby spinach
• 1 cup of frozen strawberries
• 1/3 cup fresh pineapple
• 1/4 cup 0% fat strawberry Greek yoghurt
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder

What precautions do you take to try and prevent sickness?

P'tit poisson.

It has been an incredibly looooooooooong time since I’ve posted any fish recipes.  Yes, it’s been almost a full year.  At this point last year, I had just begun dabbling with my vegan lifestyle.  However, as I had written a few months ago, I had considered reintegrating fish back into my diet, especially because I knew I wanted to put on weight in a healthy manner, and wanted to hire a personal trainer.  At first I didn’t think fish would be something that I would keep in my diet on a regular basis, but as I started doing more training the more I craved animal rich protein.  I hate to say that, especially since all my recipes are vegan (excluding the fact that I eat Greek yoghurt), but everything is fully vegan.

I can’t deny myself something if my body is craving it however, I did that for quite some time which later developed into an eating disorder and I’m not about to go down that road again.  With that being said, if I crave something, I will eat it, whether it’s good or bad for me, /cough those Mint Chocolate Baileys Cookies, anyone else?!

  

One of my favourite nuts are pistachios, and one of my favourite fish is tilapia, finding a recipe incorporating both of these I knew I had to try it, especially since I was given some pistachios at Christmas that I still hadn’t opened up, since I was waiting for a “special time” to use them, well that special time came for this recipe.  At first I didn’t know how the both of them would meld together but it was amazing!  This is a fish recipes that needs to be the focus of certain restaurant menus.  It was light, refreshing, crunchy, with a little bit of a zing as well as it left you with a feeling of home comfort.  This recipe made me reminisce of the summer, and it is certainly one that will be enjoyed in the summer.  It was a cinch to throw together, took barely any time at all, and the results were fantastic.  Would certainly suggest trying this out, especially if you need a new way to cook your go-to fish.

Pistachio Crusted Tilapia Filets

Ingredients:

• 2 fillets of tilapia
• 1/2 cup of finely chopped/crushed pistachios 
• 1 Meyer lemon
• 2 tbsp cold unsalted butter cut in small pieces
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and fresh pepper
• 1 bag of baby spinach

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Drizzle a little olive oil in a pot and heat it up on a medium heat.  When the pan is hot, put in the spinach and, pulling the pan off the heat, just toss it and let it wilt.  Add some salt and pepper. Set aside.

Drizzle the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil and lay the two pieces of flounder on top. Sprinkle them liberally with salt and pepper and then drizzle them with olive oil.  Press in a good coating of the crushed pistachios over each fish.  Don't skimp.  Dot with the butter, squeeze half the lemon over the fish, and bake for 10 minutes.

Put under the broiler briefly, just until the nuts get a little golden and everything is sizzling.  Watch carefully because the nuts will burn very quickly.  Serve the fish over the spinach with wedges of Meyer lemon.

Note:  You can substitute just about any fish, but I think a mild white fish like sole, tilapia, haddock or snapper would work best.  The best way to chop the nuts is in a mini food processor, it will only take 15 seconds or so.

Tropical Island Spinach Salad

Since I had a bed of wilted spinach underneath the tilapia I decided to make a side spinach salad to go along with it.  It was incredibly quick to throw together, and because the fish was reminiscent of the summer I thought I would make a salad that would also send me to that far away land.  This salad was right down my ally of course considering the tropical flavours.  This was also very easy to whip up and is very versatile don’t have any pineapple or oranges?  How about throwing in some mango, banana, coconut or even grapefruit?  The possibilities are endless and it is a great way to get some iron into you!

Ingredients:

• Large handful of spinach ~ 2 cups
• 1 tangelo minneola – chopped and segmented (or any other type of orange you have on hand)
• 1/4 cup of chopped pineapple
• 1 tbsp of pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 tbsp slivered almonds
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Freshly squeezed lime juice - dressing

Seeing as tilapia is so versatile, how do you like to enjoy it?

Seven Days of Oats a la Sam

Last week I made a post for Five Days of Protein Shakes, with my daily ingestion of protein shakes also comes my daily consumption of oats (as I'm sure you all know by now).  Since I hadn't made an entry for any of these bowls last week I figured I would give you guys seven days of oats a la Sam.  Sit tight and relax, you are about to enjoy :)

Day 1 - Orange and Almond Infused Oats

I have never used orange juice as a split base for my oats, however, I had a lot of oranges left to eat before I left for my trip to British Columbia and I didn't want these precious fruits going to waste so I figured I would experiment.  I mean, it's not too different from water, just that it has a little zing to it.  I wasn't sure what flavours I wanted to go with the orange infusion, but as I was making my oats I just had a lot of ideas flowing through, as to what I've seen orange paired with on prior occasions.  The first bite I took I was a little reluctant as it had sort of an iffy taste to me, I can't really describe what it was, perhaps overkill in orange?  I'm not sure, however, once I took my second and third bite I was definitely smitten by the divinity of this bowl.  There were so many flavours that I used in this bowl, and in unison they all came together very well.  This was a really divine bowl, and it was an excellent way to begin the day.  I'm not a juice drinker, so with the orange infused in the oats it gave my morning ritual a nice little twist.  This is definitely a very versatile bowl and will certainly be enjoyed again - this would certainly be ideal in the summer, perhaps even as overnight oats and have them cold rather than warm.  I loved it, and it was certainly a great way to start a weeks worth of various bowls of oats!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/3 cup soy milk + more for topping
• 1 ripened banana
• Dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1/8 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed

Garnish:

• Cacao nibs
• Almond slivers
• Coconut flakes
• 0% fat blackberry Greek yoghurt
• Orange zest
• Maple syrup

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, orange juice, cinnamon, ginger, salt, almond and vanilla extract to a boil.  Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana.  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 soy milk, and the rest of your garnishes!

Day 2 - Almond Joy Oats

I’ve never had Almond Joy before, to be honest, I’m not even sure if we get Almond Joy chocolate bars in Canada.  However, I have seen numerous recipes online via my dear fellow bloggers of imitation recipes for this delicious looking and sounding treat.  I am a huge fan of almonds (hello Amaretto, am’I right?), and coconut we all know how in love I am with this beautiful flavor, when mixed together with a ibit of chocolate well, this is amazing.  In this case I cheated a bit, and didn’t use real chocolate since if I don’t have to have chocolate I usually opt to not have it, but carob chips I am seriously very fond of.  I remember this one time I had a friend over, and I was making “chocolate chip cookies” with carob chips instead, had the bagg open and as they were sticking their hand in the bag and gobbling up some chips behind my back they were well quite shocked to be completely honest that the taste wasn't at all what they had expected hahaha.  This oatmeal however, despite the fact that I’ve never eaten an Almond Joy, if I can use my imagination, well I think that this would be neck in neck as to what it would taste like.  This was seriously fantastic, and again, just like many of my breakfast bowls of oats resembles a healthy dessert rather than what's supposed to be a healthy breakfast, thankfully both categories work and my tummy and tastebuds get a treat as well!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oatmeal
• 1/3 cup coconut milk + more for topping
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 ripe banana
• Dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

Garnish:

• 1 tbsp carob chips
• 1 tbsp slivered almonds
• 1 tbsp coconut flakes
• 0% fat vanilla Greek yoghurt
• 1/2 tbsp hemp seeds

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, salt, almond and vanilla extract to a boil.  Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana.  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 soy milk, and the rest of your garnishes!

Day 3 - Crunchy Peanut Butter Oatmeal

I have never been one for cereal, especially cereal and milk, gross.  I was always a weird kid when it came to breakfast.  For many years I wouldn't eat breakfast, no way Jose.  Then I started eating breakfast and it wasn't your typical breakfast food, no, I would eat pasta, Mr. Noodles, ice cream, macaroni and cheese, yes I was a weird kid.  This went on for many years.  It's only the past few years, more so when I started going to University did I start to eat like a real person, and would also eat breakfast, nowadays I love it, and is by far my favourite meal of the day, and could hands down eat breakfast meals all day long.  When it comes to cereal, I am still not a fan of cereal and milk together, yes, I will do like I did when I first started incorporating cereal in my diet and have a glass of milk on the side but never together, yuckers.  My current favourite is of no surprise to me since the main flavour is peanut butter.  I eat this cereal when I'm craving something junky but don't want to feel guilty - even though I may eat a lot in one sitting uh oh, oh well, better than a bag of chips.  The other morning when I was making my oats, I knew I wanted peanut butter, then I thought of my wonderful cereal and figured hey why not throw them together in one magical unison?  Well magical unison it was.  This bowl was creamy and full of peanut butter and because of the cereal it had a nice crunchy bite to it as well.  I loved this, and will definitely keep this as a go-to if I'm not feeling motivated to think of something special to make for my breakfast bowl!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oatmeal
• 1/3 cup coconut milk + more for topping
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 ripe banana
• Dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1/4 cup peanut butter cereal crushed
• Handful of peanut butter chipits

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, salt, and vanilla extract to a boil.  Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana an peanut butter.  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 soy milk, crushed cereal and peanut butter chipits.

Day 4 - Chai Spiced Banana Oats

Okay, looking at the ingredient list, this definitely wouldn't look like a recipe I would want to make early in the morning, I mean, it looks like the list is as long as The Great Wall of China, but it's not really, there are just a lot of spices.  Chai has got to be my favourite spice combination, it incorporates all the fall flavours that I love so much, and it's just so warming and aromatic.  Especially when paired with oats, it gives you such a warm, home comfort feeling.  This bowl of oats was the perfect thing to wake up to and have for breakfast.  I loved it, and it was certainly a great pick-me up on a day where I certainly wasn't feeling like going to the gym and working out.  This truthfully didn't take any longer than my regular oats that I make, and was certainly worth taking out the few extra spices to add a little zing to my morning.  If you're not a big fan of ginger, I would almost suggest putting a little less than suggested and adding more cinnamon, all depends on how spicy you want it to be (however, with the added coconut, maple syrup and carob chips it adds a hint of sweetness)!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup soy milk
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 ripe banana
• Dash of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp of nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp of cloves
• 1 tbsp flax
• Maple syrup - to garnish
• 1 tbsp carob chips 
• 1 tbsp pecans 
• 1 tbsp flaked coconut

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, salt, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, flaxseed and vanilla extract to a boil.  Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana an peanut butter.  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 soy milk, maple syrup, carob chips, pecans and flaked coconut.


Day 5 - Blueberries and Cream Oats

Recipe inspired from here

Hmmm, as I mentioned the other day, my mom bought me twelve bags of frozen fruits, and well, the blueberries needed to get gobbled up since out of all fruits, these are basically my least favourite.  However, I've come to appreciate them when it comes to having them with warm oats as they seem to ooze all over the place and create the perfect flavour to oats (Blueberry Cobbler Oatmeal) also when paired with cinnamon and banana (Blueberry Pie Smoothie).  The other day as I was stumbling upon the foodie blogs I came across for a blueberry breakfast that actually looked quite delicious.  At first I was contemplating using raspberries instead of blueberries and thought what the heck I might as well give it a shot.  I'm glad I did.  I'm still not fully converted to blueberries, but I'm beginning to appreciate those little buggers a teeny bit more.  This oatmeal was luxurious, and definitely in the lines of a dessert as opposed to a breakfast (you really do feel like you're doing the body harm when eating this - but you are by no means doing so).  I loved this, and will certainly be trying it again, and perhaps trying it as I initially wanted to with raspberries.  I loved eating this because not only was it so tasty and good for me, it was darn right beautiful to look at, now that's a bonus right?

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup coconut milk + 1 tbsp + more for topping
• 1/3 cup water
• Dash of salt
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp slivered almonds 

Directions:

In a small pot add blueberries, maple syrup, vanilla and 1 tbsp of coconut milk.  Heat over low heat until the blueberries are heated through - make sure not to boil the coconut milk.

Make your oats as you typically make them.  Then top with your blueberry compote, slivered almonds, additional coconut milk and maple syrup!

Day 6 - Tropical Oats

Do I even need to write a little tidbit for this next bowl?  I really don't think so, and I'm not going to.  Instead I'm going to head downstairs and clean up after my cats, because by now, we all know how amazing tropical flavours are, how well they meld together, and how delightful they are with oats especially for breakfast when the weather isn't as warm as it's going to be for the rest of the day and you want to feel as though you're in the Caribbean somewhere drinking slurping back on a gigantic Pina Colada.  All I'm going to say is, do yourself a favour, and make this - you know what to do.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup coconut milk + 1 tbsp + more for topping
• 1/3 cup water
• Dash of salt
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp chopped cashews
• 1/4 cup chopped pineapple
• 1/4 cup cubed mango
• 1 heaping tbsp coconut flakes
• 0% fat vanilla Greek yoghurt
• 1 tbsp hemp seeds

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, salt, and vanilla to a boil.  Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana.  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 soy milk, Greek yoghurt, mango, pineapple, cashews, coconut flakes, and hemp seeds.

Day 7 - Strawberry Nutella Oats

Okay, okay, Nutella and strawberries are absolutely amazing.  Clearly I’ve had peanut butter and Nutella are amazing together, as are bananas and Nutella.  As we all know, chocolate and strawberries are matches made in heaven, but with the addition of hazelnuts, holy moly it’s a whole other world.  This oatmeal was incredibly creamy, luxurious, sinful, perfectly sweet, packed full of protein, and was incredibly filling and a perfect way to start a work out.  I made this a few times before I decided that I need to photograph it because this is certainly one bowl that needs to be shared with the rest of you, pure perfection in a bowl.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oatmeal
• 1/3 cup coconut milk + more for topping
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 ripe banana
• Dash of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 medium sized strawberries – quartered than cut in half
• 1 tbsp Nutella
• 1 tbsp hemp seeds
• 0% fat strawberry Greek yoghurt

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, salt, and vanilla to a boil.  Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana 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, strawberry slices, and hemp seeds.

What are some ideas you use to spruce up your morning oats?

Green cookies?

I am currently sitting in my living room, procrastinating on packing the last of my things for beautiful British Columbia.  Heeeyy, don't look at me like that!  I'm 95% done, I just have to pack the last of the things for my carry-on, do a quick tidy and then wait for my dad to pick me up so we can head to the airport.  I figured I might as well kill a few minutes by writing a quick entry for ya'll (oh yeah I did) before I head out right?

This week I surely won't be cooking anything fancy.  We are staying at a chalet, and will have a full kitchen, but my priority this week isn't to be in the kitchen, absolutely not, no I want to take full advantage of the snow, the slopes and the beautiful scenery that this province has to offer.  I will however still be posting if I have time, as I always have recipes that I can share (I really do get backed up when it comes to posting, but I mean, how could you not with all the delicious meals you eat in one day?  They add up!)

Today, I'm going to post you my third and last post for St-Patrick's Day.  Again, to my delight these turned out brilliantly, as I was a little afraid at first they wouldn't or that they'd alter the taste but thankfully they did not, and they still kept their beautiful bright green colour, woohoo!

Over the Christmas break I made one of the darn right most amazing cookies I had ever had in my life.  When it comes to alcohol I'm a pansy, and I looooove anything that is creamy and or insanely high in sugar, anyone seen those Caramilk Cream Coolers?  Now that's what I'm talking about!  My absolute favourite, hands down, hey, it even get's the guys excited when they seem them!  Anywho, with all that being said, Baileys is one of my absolute favourites, plus, it's alcohol that people don't give you shifty eyes when you drink some no matter how early or how late it is in the day, that is always a bonus right? When incorporating Baileys and cookies together, well hot dang, you have yourself probably the most sinful cookie ever.  Yes, I've seen some crazy cookie concoctions, but to me, this is crazy, and is definitely my favourite without a doubt.

I didn't take any pictures of these cookies when I initially made them because well... they went waaayyyy too quickly.  This time however, because I also spruced up the recipe I needed to make sure to snag some pictures before they go (because well, they're already going quickly!)  I decided to split the batch in half and make two kinds.  Between the two I'm not sure which one I liked more, because both of them have some of my favourite ingredients.

In the first batch, the one that I got the idea to spruce up while I was trying to go to sleep (such an awful idea to get a cookie idea, because I seriously contemplated making these cookies, and it was two in the morning, and it was clearly distracting me from actually getting to bed...) nonetheless, I waited until the next day to make them.  I decided that, I would like to add in some natural green colour to these cookies, especially because I really am not a huge fan of using artificial colouring.  So, that is what I did, and thankfully just like my Tropical Green Pancakes the colours didn't fade and the spinach wasn't known to the tastebuds either, absolutely love it.

Next, I decided to not use Mint Chocolate Baileys, but instead use the original version and chop up my all time favourite chocolate bar EVER Cookies n' Cream (hey, it's white chocolate, I'm a huuuuuge sucker!)  These came out soooooooo well!  My boyfriend eats one, "you are something else, you know that?" - yeah, that's what I like to hear!

What I love about these cookies is that, they are puffy, with crispy outsides yet ooey-gooey soft centres, the dark brown sugar gives them a darkness and you get certain salty bites that's just delightful.  Regardless of which cookie between the two, you are sure to have your socks knocked right off, they are downright sinful and seriously need to be labelled so, because these could certainly kill a diet that's for sure!

Mint Chocolate Chip Baileys Cookies

Recipe inspired from here

Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup plus 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tbsp ground flaxseed + 1 1/2 tbsp water
• 1/8 cup Mint Chocolate Baileys
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp fleur de sel (or other salt)
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips 
• 1 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl mix together your flaxseed and water.  Allow to sit for five or so minutes until it has turned into an almost like gel state - set aside.

In the bowl of your food processor add your spinach and Baileys until spinach chunks disappear.

With your paddle attachment on high, mix together the brown sugar and oil until well incorporated.  Add flaxegg, Baileys, and vanilla extract.  Mix well.  In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add to the wet ingredients and stir until everything is moistened.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

Scoop tablespoon-sized dollops onto your cookie sheet, spacing about two inches apart.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, until golden.  Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Cookies n' Cream Baileys Cookies

Recipe inspired from here

Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup plus 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tbsp ground flaxseed + 1 1/2 tbsp water
• 1/8 cup original Baileys
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp fleur de sel (or other salt)
• 1 1/2 Cookies n' Cream bars ~ 1/2 cup

Directions:

Same directions as above, only there is no processing of spinach, and change the Baileys from Mint Chocolate to original and use Cookies n' Cream chocolate instead of dark chocolate!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Recipe taken from here

The last cookie that I have for you guys is one of my recent favourites.  I am not one to make the same recipes over and over again - however, both the Baileys cookies and these are an exception.  I have never been the biggest fan of peanut butter cookies to be honest, but it is my mom's favourite cookie.  A few months ago, as I was doing my thing, and looking through recipes I stumbled across a peanut butter recipe that actually sounded very good.  I figured that if I didn't like them, then at least my mom would eat them.  However, this is also when my peanut butter craze started, actually these could possible be the thing to blame as to why my peanut butter obsession has lasted so long.

These cookies are soft, with the perfect amount of peanut butter, if you add salt on top of the cookie before it bakes, it takes it's already perfect self to a whole new level.  The first time I made these, I sandwiched two cookies together with some raspberry jam before baking them, and it tasted like a sinful peanut butter and jam sandwich.  I love these cookies, and they are so incredibly versatile.  This recipe is definitely my go-to peanut butter cookie for now on.  The maple syrup also creates the perfect sweetness that to me, is what separates these peanut butter cookies from the rest.  Go on, and give them a try.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp fleur de sel (or other salt)
• 1 cup natural creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)
• 3-4 tbsp canola oil (or extra virgin olive oil)
• Raw sugar & sea salt for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick mat.

Stir the peanut butter, maple syrup, optional olive oil, and vanilla until combined in a large mixing bowl. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt over the top and stir until just combined. If the dough is hard to work with, chill in the fridge or freezer for 15-30 minutes or until easy to shape.

Shape into balls (I like to use a teaspoon) and gently flatten with a fork. If the dough sticks, sometimes moistening your fingers or the fork helps. Sprinkle the tops with salt and raw sugar. 

Bake for 11 minutes until set.

Happy St-Patrick's Day!

How are you celebrating?

St-Patrick's Day Inspiration.

I am not one that usually celebrates St-Patrick's Day; I am not Irish, nor am I a big drinker.  Even when I was in University, St-Patties wasn't really a day I looked forward to unlike most of the people whom I was surrounded with.  To me, it's just another day, especially because it isn't a day for my heritage.  If I want to drink with my friends, I will drink, I don't need a day that means nothing to me to have an excuse to drink. Now I know that sounds cynical, but it's just not my thing, I do however really enjoy dressing in green and seeing what people come up with for kooky costume ideas - that to me is very fun.  This year I won't even be in Ontario for St-Patrick's so, I won't even have the option of drinking with my friends, even if this year I wanted to.

For Christmas, I was surprised with a flight ticket for British Columbia.  My dad, brother and I, along with my dad's girlfriend, and two of her kids will be spending seven days at Big White Ski Resort, which I am very much looking forward to.  It hadn't really sunk in that I was going skiing for a week until last night.  With that being said, the weather in Ontario this past week has been nothing short of beautiful.  Every single day it's been at least fourteen degrees Celsius, and as much as I am looking forward to this trip, going from the beautiful warm weather, to a cold snowy environment is sending chills down my spine.  I know however when I go there, and I see the beautiful mountains, and the abundance of white (in which we lacked here in my part of the province), that I will forget all about the cold and will not be able to contain myself.

Shamrock Shake Version 2.0

Now, as I said, I am not one to celebrate St-Patty's, however, I really love the colour green, and well, one of my latest favourite ingredients to incorporate into my meals is spinach, which is a beautiful, vibrant green as we all know.  This time last year, I had come up with a delicious and healthy Shamrock Smoothie, despite the fact that there wasn't anything bad for me in it, I wanted to make a new and improved version.  At this time last year, despite the fact that I was "working out" (for me to look back on last year in comparison to now, I don't believe what I was doing was really working out.  Not only that, I was incredibly ignorant to protein all together so it really wasn't a focus of mine).  This year however, especially now that I know how to lift weights properly, and how to get my heart working like a mad man without your "stereotypical" cardio i.e. running or biking, I now focus a lot of my attention on how to get protein into my diet.

Shamrock Shake Version 2.0 - is still just as delicious, if I'm to be quite honest, it taste practically the same, except it is substantially higher in protein versus the one I made last year, seeing as last years didn't have any, other than what is in the soy milk, oi.  So here we have it, if I had to choose between the two, clearly version two is much better suited for the needs of my diet!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 1 large frozen banana
• 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup 0% vanilla Greek yoghurt
• 1 tsp cacao powder
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• Cacao nibs - to garnish

Tropical Green Pancakes

Next on my St-Patrick's Day list of goodies, is something that I am a huuuuuge fan of and wanted to healthify even more (yes, I know that's not a word).  At first I was a little skeptical as to how these would turn out, but nevertheless to my surprise they turned out amazingly.  When I woke up this morning, I really wasn't in the mood to have a protein shake, instead I was really craving some pancakes, probably because I'm beginning to get in vacation mode, and pancakes are always a nice comfort food and reminds me of vacation.  However, I'm not on vacation, and even when I do go to British Columbia I will still be maintaining a healthy diet via exercise and food consumption of course.  Despite the fact that I wanted pancakes, I wanted to add a bit more nutrition to them as well, so I decided that I would try making some green pancakes - because I wanted to be healthy of course, but as well so I did have a delicious entry to post.

I have seen various green pancakes on the web, but none of them have ever really drawn a lot of attention to my tastebuds, so I figured why not get in the kitchen.  These pancakes took a little longer to make than usual (first because I'd never made them before, so wasn't quite sure what to do), as well as because I had to use the blender and take out some few extra bowls.  I was in the kitchen for quite a while, but it was seriously worth it.  It was worth it for the flavour of course, tropical, what else could I ask for, but the beautiful green!  At first I wasn't so sure that the green would still be as prominent after cooked, but I'm assuming because it was natural versus an artificial colour i.e. food colouring this is some of the reason behind it, I'm not a scientist, but this makes sense to me haha.  

From now on, I'm going to try and use spinach in a lot more of my foods.  When blended in you seriously don't even know that there is spinach other than the colour.  I love this, and it is such a sneaky way of adding in a lot of greens to your diet.  The thing that's awesome about spinach too is that when it is combined with fruits the iron absorption is greater, win-win-win situation!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/2 very ripe banana
• 1 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp flaxseed + 1 1/2 tbsp water
• 1/2 cup freshly chopped pineapple
• 1 tbsp flaked coconut

Garnish:

• 1/2 banana
• Carob chips
• 0% fat Greek yoghurt (flavour of choice)
• Coconut flakes
• 1 1/2 tsp maple syrup

Directions:

In a teeny tiny bowl, mix your flaxseed and water.  Allow to sit for a few minutes until it becomes almost gelly like (about five minutes).

In a small bowl combine your flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and coconut flakes.  Leave this to the side.

In a blender, add your milk, banana, pineapple, and spinach until there are no visible chunks of spinach.  Add in your flaxegg.  Pour your green mixture in with the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Preheat a griddle on medium low. Using a 1/4 measuring cup, drop batter onto the griddle. Cook until the tops are bubbly and edges are dry. Flip and cook another minute.

Mash the remaining banana and maple syrup together.  Top your pancakes with your banana mixture, yoghurt, coconut flakes and carob chips.  

Devour.

How do you try to sneak greens into your diet?

Have you ever tried sneaking spinach into anything other than smoothies/shakes?

Five days of protein shakes.

The other day my mom had to go to Costco and pick up another tub of protein powder.  This is the first time since I've been using protein powder that I've actually finished a tub practically by myself (my mom has made protein shakes here and there after her work outs, not being as vigilant as me after a work out) so a good 5/6 of the tub was consumed by me.  That to me is nuts.  Whenever I used to walk to school and it was garbage/recycling day I always had a tendency to walk a little slower than normal and stare into people's bins.  It's not that I would stop and rummage through them gross, but I would make mental notes, healthy, unhealthy, unhealthy, unhealthy, super healthy, etc... It was kind of a bad habit to have because well it's rude, and I shouldn't judge other peoples lifestyles as I don't know what kind of lives they lead.  Regardless, whenever I would see tubs of protein in recycling bins I always thought to myself "hooooooly, who finishes those tubs?!?!?!" - now, I am, and it feels incredible.

I've gone over this tenfold of times now, but I love my shakes, and I especially love them after a well deserved hard work out.  Lately, I've been consuming them like crazy, and coming up with some really incredible combinations.  My favourite, which has been my go-to for a few weeks now when I don't feel like brainstorming interesting combinations I throw in 1/2 cup frozen mango, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup soy milk, 1/2 cup water, huuuuuge handful of spinach, 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder - it is wonderful.  For those days when I'm not lazy and feel like using my brain to come up with something I try things like this -

Here's my last week in protein shakes!

Day 1 - 

Tropical Green Smoothie

By now you all know I'm a fan of the tropics.  Doesn't matter the shape, size  (however, preferably as huge as I can get so I can get a huge dose of these flavours!), texture, or consistency.  I love all tropical fruits, and will always have a special place in my heart.  One of my recent favourites is a tropical green shake, think Pina Colada's only without the added sugar and alcohol.  You have yourself an incredibly healthy protein packed, iron rich shake that is sure to fill you for hours and bound to heal your muscles after a tough work out!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1 cup pineapple (frozen if you have)
• 1 freshly cut mango
• 1 orange juiced - my favourite is Tangelo Minneola 
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup 0% vanilla Greek yoghurt
• 2 cups of spinach
• 1 scoop of protein powder

Day 2 - 

Peanut Butter and Jam Banana Shake

I'm not the biggest fan of jam other than my beloved raspberry or jam, or this lemon mango jam that I stumbled across last summer as I was working in Montreal and decided to go to a Farmer's Market.  I'm not sure what it is about jam, it's not that the consistency freaks me out or anything, it's just I think when it comes down to it I rather eat the fruit in it's natural form, instead of a mashed up pureed form.  As I said though, raspberry jam, I loooooove, especially when it's melded together with its soulmate peanut butter.  If I've already had a huge bowl of oats for breakfast, I sometimes don't like to come home from a work out and have my shake along with more carbs, so instead I'll substitute what I'm craving carbs wise (in this case a peanut butter and jam banana sandwich), and I'll transform it into a protein shake.  This was amazing.  It was oh so creamy, it was rich, but not too rich, each flavour definitely shared the spotlight and none were left out.  It was incredibly satiating and it gave me a ton of energy for the rest of the afternoon, would surely make this again!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup frozen raspberries
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1 heaping tbsp peanut butter
• 1/3 cup 0% fat vanilla Greek yoghurt
• 1/4 cup soy milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 scoop peanut butter protein powder (or substitute for what you have chocolate/vanilla)

Day 3 - 

Blueberry Avocado Shake

Recipe inspired from here

Now, this was a really interesting combination of flavours for me.  I really, really, really am not the biggest fan blueberries.  I mean, unless they are topped in whipped cream, or are melded with our berries and topped with some fresh lime juice I don't go bizerk for blueberries, nor will you ever really catch me eating just a bowl of blueberries unless we are really out of fruit.  When I stumbled across a recipe for a blueberry and avocado combination this actually sounded really good to me.  When I took the first sip, I was actually a little repulsed, I'm not sure what it was exactly, or if it was because the first sip was the last of what was in the blender and it just wasn't mixed properly - I don't know, but it was gross.  At first I was debating not even taking a picture, but then I took another sip and it was heaven.  The whole time I was gobbling this down like a monkey I couldn't help think that I was eating a blueberry pie (I don't even like pie let alone blueberry pie for that matter), but for some reason this was good.  Oh, oh, now that I think about it, maybe it's not blueberry pie that it was reminiscent of, but blueberry cheesecake!  Ah yes, now that makes more sense because of the creamy hues from the blueberries!  After the second sip, it had truly been transformed, and it was incredible.   When it was done, I seriously contemplated making another mini version because it truly was satisfying.  Thank heaven I had frozen some avocado in the freezer because without the banana I'm always skeptical of the consistency that the shake is going to result in, but frozen avocado to me is the same as a frozen banana and gives you different nutrients to feed your body!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 frozen avocado
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tbsp chopped walnuts
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 2 cups fresh spinach

Day 4 - 

Orange Date and Coconut Shake

Now, when it comes to adding oranges into my shakes I'm a little skeptical, as even when segment the orange I find that sometimes the texture doesn't blend well.  When it came to this shake however, I didn't notice the orange texture at all, it had blended amazingly, and the orange flavour was thoroughly noticed.    This is one of those shakes that you can chew, which... isn't any different for me, since I even chew my water (it's incredibly weird I know, and I don't tell people this because well, it's really strange.  I had told my boyfriend this, and thought I was telling him something new, and he was like yeah I noticed that... well that's embarrassing hahaha).  Nonetheless, if you're not like me, and you actually drink your drinks as they are intended, this will definitely be a shake/smoothie that you will chew.  This is certainly great if you're feeling a little under the weather and want a pick me up.  The zesty orange, tropical coconut, and sweet dates are melded so wonderfully together and create such a punch of flavours, highly recommended.  

Ingredients:

• 1 orange
• 5 dates
• 1/4 cup boiling water
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/3 cup 0% fat free vanilla Greek yoghurt
• 2 tbsp coconut milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp unsweetened shredded coconut, to garnish

Directions:

Soak the dates in the boiling water for 5-10 minutes to soften them up.

Peel the orange with a knife and cut it into 8-10 pieces.

Add all ingredients, except shredded coconut, to your food processor and process until smooth, about one minute.

Transfer to drinking glass, garnish with shredded coconut.

Blueberry Peanut Butter Shake

I've noted previously, and above as well, that I am not a huge fan of blueberries.  However, when your mom leaves for six weeks and buys you twelve bags of frozen fruits, two of them being blueberry you eat through them.  When I first made this shake, I wasn't feeling motivated because well it was blueberry so I figured this was just a shake that I would drink and bare.  However, as I thought of the flavours that go well with blueberries, peanut butter was something I thought went well (blueberry jam and peanut butter?) - maybe, I'm not quite sure, but this shake was fantastic.  It wasn't just something I had to chalk up and drink through unbearably, it was incredible.  It was creamy, rich, the perfect amount of sweetness, and just all around yummy.  Would definitely make again, surprisingly.


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 2 cups spinach
• 1/3 cup 0% fat Vanilla Greek yoghurt
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 scoop of peanut butter protein powder (or vanilla if you don't have peanut butter)

What's your favourite way to get your protein in you via shakes?