M.I.A...

Hey guys,
I'm going to be M.I.A for a few days... computerless yay!! 

Will give you details when I am back!

Ciao!

A post with no pictures!!

So I made the tortillas.  I found the recipe on Ohsheglows (of course)  They worked out fantastic... here they are...

Ingredients:

- 2 cups Spelt Flour (can also use whole wheat or white flour)

- 1/2 teaspoon half salt

- 1/2 tsp. baking soda

- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil

- 3/4 cup hot water

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix all ingredients well.
Cover and let sit in a warm place for 20 minutes.

2. Divide into 8 equal parts and let sit,
covered, another 20 minutes.

3.Preheat a skillet on medium high heat.
Roll each ball out to a 6- or 7-inch circle shape.
 I’ve found it helps to flatten each ball with your
 hand. Then take the rolling pin and roll from the
center outwards, back and forth a few times as you go
around the circle. When it starts to get thinner, take your
left hand (if you’re right handed) and turn the tortilla a couple
inches. Use your right hand to use the rolling pin (holding in the middle)
and roll from the center outwards. Keep turning and rolling until it is paper thin.
 Then toss into heated pan, and cook about 1 min per side.

then I put them on a wet paper towel and put paper towel in between each tortilla... They were delicious! 
Even the boss liked them  *winks*

We put refried beans, seasoned ground beef, salsa and spinach...  pictures to come tomorrow!!

That's all I got for right now...  I'm watching Twilight and then My Sister's keeper!!!!!!!!    I love movie nights!
Thanks for reading... 

DFB xo

Rain rain... go away!!

Another day perfect for a cozy day inside!! (even though I went out this morning haha)

It was so dreary and nasty out this morning for breaky I made a hawiian ispired green monster and it was delish'  
1/4 frozen nanner, some canned pineapple with juice, a wee bit of coconut milk, spinach and soy milk!!  It was so yummy.  I also had a rasin english muffin...  yum!  Oh yah, and I took a picture of it with some of the coloring sheets I was given last night at work to put on my fridge!!

Then I headed off into the rain for a coffee date with my dear friend Wendy (who reads my blog!! yay Wendy) we played at Starbucks... I had a venti peppermint tea (my tummy was a wee bit upset)  Then I headed home for lunch - whole wheat bagel with hummus, avacado and cucumber.. it was so good!!    Now I'm baking away in the kitchen making pumpkin seeds (I stole all the seeds from 5 pumpkins last night at work!)  and peanut butter cookies... Once I am done baking a blogging, I'm going to sit down for some RR and have a soy chai (homeade) with a peanut butter coookie!

Hope you all have a cozy afternoon... I never ended up making those tortilla, but I think I will tonight....so we can have burritos for dinner!!   Here is a picture of my beautiful flowers this summer... in memory of sunshine! :)

DFB xo 

An hour that changed my life and pumkin photos from last night!

So while doing my career research today, I called Aids Vancouver Island (AVI), expecting to do my 10 min conversation and be done with it.   Instead I had one of the most interested conversations ever, followed by an hour visit to our local AVI location.   So after speaking to this guy for a few mins, and him telling me he just graduated from the same program in June, he invited me down to chat in person.  So I walk into this very sketchy building, not sure what to expect.   He meets me with a huge smile and invites me into his office.   We spent nearly and hour talking about the program and his work, all the while their clients coming in to do needle exchanges, to get personal care items and to come to a safe haven*sigh*  it's something the average person never experiences.    One lady walked past the door, eyes sunken in, skinny as ever (and a few more details I don't want to share)  I honestly had to close my eyes and take a deep breath and remind myself that addiction is something that can happen to anyone.  Many people have other theories on this one, but I honestly believe it can happen to any of us.   Anyways, it just made me so grateful  to be where I am, and reassured me that I want to help people... maybe not as deep in the trenches as AVI... but something along those lines. 
ANYWAYs.. eek.. that was dark and deep...  I swear I am not that person, but I felt like I needed to share that experience.   Also if you live in our town, they are always accepting donations for clothing, most of their clients are living on the street... Contact me if you have stuff and I will come pick it up and donate it. 

Back to food...  Eek I'm not sure how to follow that, but I felt the need to say it.

*Sigh*

So...


haha..

I went grocery shopping today... 
Here is what was in the cart...
For dinner;  extra lean beef (they were out of chicken),  taco seasoning, refried beans and avacado! YUM!!  I am going to try to make tortillas from scratch. 

Also on the list; For green monsters - peach slices, pineapples, spinach and cranberries??  (Maybe)

And for lunch, subway - roasted chicken, no cheese, no sauce just veggie love... and then I added a scoop of vegetable hummus, some avacado and a squirt of honey mustard (They always put on WAY too much sauce, even when you beg them not too)

As for my soy milk review... here's the culprit (and my green monster from this morning)...  Silk Light...

  It was ok...  I'm not a huge fan of soy milk, I would take  the Unsweettend vanilla almond breeze any day.     The taste was alright... the 3rd ingredient was sugar... it was only 70 calories per cup, which is pretty good (Almond Breeze unsweetened is only 40 cal/cup)  It tasted like soy with a tiny vanilla flavor.  The texture is smooth and light, so that was nice... That's my hugest pet peeve about soy milk is the texture.    I will try it in a soy chai tonight and see... 


Ok... last but not least.. PUMPKIN pictures yay!!  I was very surprised to find out that Dave had never carved a pumpkin before... He did a great job, even though 1/2 his pumpkin was rotton!! 

Yay for fun pumpkins!!

                         Cute hey???

              Big Mama and her scary boyfriend
                               
                   It's really hard taking picture in the     dark... this was the best I could do!!!

Anywhoo.. I'm outta here!   Off to work for me...  Halloween Party Yehaw!! :)   Good night crew...
                                                                                                                                

OMG... Oh My Gawd!!!!!!!

"To whom it may concern,
Please accept my package for the Human Service Worker Programer. "
WHAT THE BLEEEEEP...  Am I  really doing this... I sure hope it's the right decision!! :)
Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Anyways, I feel the need to give credit where credit it due...   If you have not checked out healthy balance butter, now is your chance.. Click here for the linkThis stuff is amazing.   I have just tried out the orginal natural butter spread ( I must try other flavors)  and I used it on everything; popcorn, toast, baking.  
It's Vegan AKA  No cow juice!!
I highly suggest it for vegans and meat eaters alike!!

I even suggested it to my butter lovin parents and they tested it out on fish and said it was "delish".   Dave's mom who is a wonderful "Newfie cook" used it for everything while she was visiting this summer and said it worked pefect in all her recipes.   So I feel like they deserve all the kudos in the world!!        
Earth Balance, I would be lost without you!!  

So I am feeling pretty stressed today, this school thing is SUPER stressful for me... Plus I'm still dealing with EI, and trying to convince them they should help paying for my schooling... which is almost like having a full time job!!   Oh well...  I need to do something to "de-stress" today.   A walk most likely,  and a green monster in a very fancy glass to make me feel "swanky!!"   Probably going to concoct? (is that a word?) something simple like;  Spinach (the leafy green of the God's) frozen banana, PB, hemp seeds and some new light soy milk from Superstore!! (Review to come later)   I am patiently (it's been 9 days) awaiting the arrival of my Amazzzzzzzzing Grass Chocolate Green Superfood Powder...  That will make green monsters so much more fun. 


Anywhoo... so far this morning I made 2 eggs with toast and guess what else.... EARTH BALANCE!!!! 
and I'm off to make my green monster for my morning snack.  


Have a super fantastic day, 
And of course share this blog with everyone you know!! :)  ... Please :) 


Jessica!!!!!!!!




 

And the summer stuff is gone....

What a sad day :(   We officially put away all the summer furniture.  I love summer, and fall... and spring...  Winter on the other hand no thank you!!  I could easily live somewhere that was warm all the time, and i'd go visit the rainy/snowy places when I felt the need! haha 

Oh a happier note Dave and I went for SUSHIIIIIIIIII for lunch.  Have I ever told you how much I love sushi??

It's very possible it's on my top 10 favorite things in this world.    I had a spicy scallop roll (my fav) and a dynamite roll (spicy tempura prawn)  smokin hot!!    I also stole Dave's miso soup that came with his meal! YUM!  - I didn't take any pictures because I'm still a little shy about whipping out my camera in a restarant!  hehe

Then we went for a walk with the D.O.G. in the trails.   I forgot my camera but I took these pictures awhile ago. Soo beautiful hey?  This trail is about 2 min walk from our house.

Then off to Superstore for reglar Superstore adventures (ie; terrible drivers, grumpy people and line jumpers)  I had to just laugh it off... people take grocery shopping SOOOO seriously sometimes!  Gotta love those people!

For dinner, we tried to relive our summer and made burgers on the BBQ.   It was sooo good!! 

We had so many BBQ's this summer as  we had Newfoundland family here for the whole month of July.

And we snapped a few but chilly pictures.

I'm happy Dave is home,

can you tell?

Anyways, I'm off to visit with some friends!!  Feel free to comment, it makes my day (and I updated it so anyone can comment!!) 

Oh... better forget my 2 stars and a wish!

*I'm sure you can guess this one... do I even need to say???

*That the sun was shinning again!!!  I love the sun... yahoo for Vitamin D!!

Wish - that I get my to do list done tomorrow... it's a big one!!

Sweet dreams

DFB

Lance's Dance and my favorite beauty tricks!

Good morning!

I am so grateful for the positive feedback on this blog!! I'm having so much fun writing it!!

Anyways, I woke up to the sun shinning and Lance being a total nut... he chases his back leg when he is bored and he's been doing it all morning. Here is the video of him doing it a few weeks ago... you have to watch the whole thing, it keeps getting better!! (and excuse the gigglehaha) Click here to see Lance's Dance
Anyways. I'm excited because Dave comes home today!!!!!!! YAY!!!! He should be here in a few hours which means I have lots to do. He loves having a clean house, I'm not a clean freak by any means so when he's gone for a few days I slack off for sure!! EEK...

I told you last night I'd let you know about my natural body stuff. It's all super easy and gives me the best success out of anything I've tried!!

~Crystallized honey - put about a teaspoon on your face, and use it as an exfoliater, and then leave it on... your face will never feel this soft. (Sensitive faced people beware, might not be the best for you!)


~Brown sugar + oil (olive, almond, baby) mix equal parts together so you get a somewhat thick paste. Jump into the shower - (don't actually jump, I don't want to get sued!!haha) DON'T TURN THE SHOWER ON... And start scrubbing away from the bottom up!! (every where but your face) After you are all done... rinse off with warm water and then pat to dry. Your skin will be sooooooo soft. You don't need cream after this at all.

These are the most wonderful spa treatments ever!! Also... a Ohsheglows tip too, use coconut oil for a moisturizer. It is amazing!!! Your skin will be super soft, unfortunately I bought some cheap stuff, and it doesn't smell like coconut.. boo... next time I'll spend some extra $$ for sure!

Not much food stuff to report yet... I had 2 pieces of toast with earth balance butter and a green (purple) monster. I added some berries in today and it turned out the weirdest color... it was good though just a little different!!

Anyways, must go get extra beautiful for my hunny's return (and clean the house!!)

Have a great day

Two stars and a wish!

Another day almost gone!! It's been a productive day!!

I got pretty much everything on my to do list done!! Lance is feeling better yay!! I had fun in the garden today, I didn't realize how many green tomatoes I had left. I put a plea out on facebook to see who wanted some, when my friend Eric (who is an amazing chef) said he did, I had to find out what their future looked like... "Fried green tomatoes, chutney and something else I can't remember" Well that was it, I decided to make fried green tomatoes for the first time ever. At first bite I didn't like it AT ALL! But after that I really started enjoying them and that was it, I was a happy camper!

Then I was off to the police station to get my criminal record check done! I figured it was my last easy step for my application - NOPE... because I lived in Alberta I have to submit my Alberta check first before they will issue my BC one!! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Now my criminal record check will cost almost $100 EEK...

Then I got "the" phone call ... your EI claim has still not been processed... this is week 8. :) Which also means I cannot move forward with my school application yet either... *sigh*

So then I decided I needed salt and chocolate to make myself feel much better... so I made a bowl of popcorn with hot sauce and earth balance vegan butter (that is delicious FYI, I highly recommend it, even for dairy lovers, it's healthier than margarine and butter!! ... and some dark chocolate (dairy free thank the lord, I miss chocolate) from rocky mountain chocolate YUM ...

After all that snacking today, I moved onto dinner which was my lentil soup from yesterday and 2 pieces of toast with Earth Balance butter! How can you tell Dave isn't home.. haha... NO MEAT in this meal... or in the whole day for that matter! Don't get me wrong I could never be a veggie or a vegan, but I enjoy meat free meals!!

As for the title of my post... I have used 2 stars and a wish forever with kids I work with, and my mom and I do it every night through email (which I love) ...

You have to state 2 good things that happened in your day and a wish for tomorrow... Here are mine;
*The sun was shinning and it was a beautiful day.
* I got lots done which included moving my treadmill into my house (you would have laughed... )

Wish - that I can go for a lonnnnnnnng walk tomorrow and tomorrow is the day they are supposed to approve my EI so here's hopin....

What are your 2* and a wish?

Anyways, I decided to have my very own girls night... well girl night... time to get extra beautiful. I will write about my fantastic all natural products I use for this!!!

Speaking of beautiful you HAVE to check out this blog and get on posting stuff everywhere you go!! OPERATION BEAUTIFUL

Sweet dreams and remember you are beautiful just the way you are... now believe it!!
xo

Yay for a bright sunny morning!!

The sun is shinning and it's a beautiful day!! I'm excited to get outside today.
I spent half the night up with Lance, apparently he ate half of his blanket and his stomach didn't like it much?? Ick... So it's a tired morning, but the sun makes it all better!!

I have lots on my to do list today, but I think I may get side tracked with doing yard work outside in the sunshine... in my gum boots!! (there has been lots of rain lately) and I have to take my sick puppy for a walk.

Started my morning off good with a green monster yum... this one had steamed spinach, 1/2 a frozen banana, a TBSP hemp seeds, ice cubes and almond milk, it was good, but not as good as yesterdays!! I also had the left over potatoes from yesterday.

Anyways, must get my day started... Here is a small sneak peak of my to-do list today.
Walk to D O G
clean up the kitchen
put away clothes in the bedroom (I must have missed the hurricane)
Wash all the icky blankets from Lance's festive evening
Go to the police station to get my criminal record check done
Work on school application
And do some yard clean up!!

Sounds like fun hey?

I will leave you with a picture of Lance this morning, on top of the hot tub, loving his life... And our backyard before the wind blew them all away!!

Talk soon,
DFB

3 posts in one day!! aahhhh

Well I figured since this is a food blog, I should maybe let you know what was on my plate today!
I can't believe I am fessing up to the crazy random food I ate today, especially after claiming I am a healthy eater! haha.. but... that being said, let me set the mood of the day.

I woke up to a rainy, drizzly, dark morning. When I got up, Dave had already gone to work, and Lance the dog was crashed out on his couch. When he got up to go outside, he took one look at the day, groaned and walked back to his bed. I haven't seen him much since today!

I started my day with a "green monster" Check it out green monster movement they are soooo good!!!!

Mine had 2 cups spinach, 1/2 a frozen banana, peanut butter, ice cubes, almond milk and a wee little bit of sweetener. It was good, and I like getting a bunch of my greens done right off the bat!! Especially since I didn't eat anymore all day... by accident of course *winks*

I also snacked on a few pumpkin seeds that I made yesterday after carving my pumpkin! Is'nt she lovely... I named her big mama!! Lance had to check out what I was doing!

Then I made oatmeal, coconut, cranberry "healthy" cookies - I might have let a few slip into my mouth, they were really good!!

Lunch was chilli I made last night... very good. Sorry I don't have any pictures, I'm not much of a food blogger yet am I :) I scooped up the chili with a few taco chips! I love crunch!

While Lance and I visited my parents, we both had a yummy peanut butter cookie!! My mom makes great peanut butter cookies and they are sooo easy. 1 cup PB, 1/2 cup sugar and an egg, that's it!! Soooooooooooo good!! My mom made one special for Lance, he was more than in love!!

When I got home, I was feeling like comfort food, I was going to make one of my favorite dinners, eggs and roasted potatoes, but I ended up just having the potatoes!! (oops..) I boiled them and then tossed them in a hot pan with coconut oil and spices... Again, not the best choice, but remember, it's a comfort food day!! haha

Now it's about 8:00pm and I had a sudden urge to make lentil soup. (and drink tons of red wine!!) I don't think I'm going to eat any, as I'm full after all my crap food today!! (and for some reason all the red wine has disappeared from my kitchen, which is probably a good thing!!) It smells sooo good though!! Here is the place I found it. Click here for the yummy soup recipe!
(Ok the recipe is for pea soup, but I didn't have any peas, so I did the same thing but with lentils, I also added 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder and 1/2 an apple... I have no idea why the picture is sideways!!

Anyways, I was hoping I'd get a chance to watch some fantastic chick flick on tv, but every movie that is on is a thriller... eek... no thank you, not for this chick!!

Good night, sweet dreams............. :)
DFB

A little bit more about me!!

Ok. I figured now that I got the "why I am here" stuff out of the way, I can tell you a little bit more about me!

I'm 29 years old, and I live in my home town on Vancouver Island (the most beautiful place in the world) I am totally in love with a fantastic man named Dave, we have been together for a year and a half and he's amazing. We live in a cute little rancher with a beautiful backyard. We have spent the last year or so renovating and making it ours.

We adopted a crazy (but wonderful) dog named Lance about 2 months ago from the SPCA, he's our joy and our constant frustration, he is still a puppy, and 80 pound puppy that loves to chew everything!!

I recently lost my job, which was heart breaking as I loved what I did, so now I am doing some part time work with special needs adults and teaching some classes for some lower income schools in our town. I also decided that this was a good time to give back so I have volunteered to be a youth grief counselor with the hospice society. I haven't started this yet, but I am so excited to become apart of such a great organization.

I am also working with a career counselor to go back to school! What a scary thing to go back after all these years. I am excited/nervous for the adventure.

I am also constantly trying to inspire myself to get back into shape. I've had a hard time, because I spent so much time feeling so terrible and concerned that I would feel sick when I went out, that I almost completely let go of all the activities that I enjoy (running, indoor rock climbing) It's a battle that I fight all the time. I eat healthy, but without the sweating part of it all, it's hard to be in shape ;)

Anyways, I hope you enjoy my blog, I will try to post anytime something interesting happens, or whenever I find a great new dairy free recipe!!!

The initial post!

Well here I am. After spending countless hours being inspired by www.ohsheglows.com, I decided to start my own blog on living life dairy free and all the other fun stuff life brings!! I am excited, nervous and of course wondering if I will get the chance to inspire others as Angela from the above website has inspired me!!

Here is my "dairy free" story. April of 2008 I started having terrible stomach pains (plus a bunch of other "unmentionables" sometimes I would end up in the fetal position wondering if I should get someone to drive me to emergency, because I felt like my stomach was going to explode.

After going to the doctor a few times per week, and getting prescriptions for drugs that had side effects that were just as bad as what was happening to me. I had doctors telling me it was everything from a parasite, to IBS to crones disease, they were trying to convice me to do every test I could imagine and take all these crazy drugs. I couldn't do it. I couldn't imagine putting steroids and every other drug imaginable into my body to make it "better"

I finally decided to go to a naturopath, her first suggestion "Take dairy out of you diet 100% and you will feel much better" Sure enough, within a week of being 100% dairy free and taking daily doses of probiotics I started feeling much much better. So now I spend time looking for and cooking great dairy free foods which are healthy and provide my body with nutrients that it needs to stay healthy. I feel like I should promote the naturopath I used, she's awesome and her website has great recipes!! http://www.drpincott.com/recipes.htm

I figured I could start a blog to share the silly stories of my life, pictures and delicious food finds!!

Enjoy.