Bits and Bites and Awesome Dairy Free Chocolate

Good Morning, Afternoon or any time this post actually posts!!  (I’m having troubles posting)

Glad you guys all enjoyed the flower post yesterday!!  Seeing flowers makes it seem like summer – although the weather is not making me feel like summer at all – moving on.

Because I don’t write down the recipes for everything I try, I find that sometimes I have a bunch of foodie pictures to show you but no directions to go along with… but I’ll show you anyways

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On the 2 days so far that we have had summer like weather – I went for my old faithful summer meal.

Salad Rolls – I LOVE them – you can stuff them with anything you like – make an amazing dip and there ya go!    Easy Peasy!

I usually stuff mine with veggies, avocado, sprouts, seaweed, and fresh herbs! YUM!

Up next… 

An interesting breakfast which I’m calling breaky Bi Bim Bap.  Raw oatmeal on the bottom, chia seeds, almonds, dates, gogi berries and sunflower seed butter.   I put on about 1/2 cup almond milk and let it sit for a few hours.   It was pretty good – although, I just don’t LOVE oatmeal

And then..

I made the “Not Egg Salad” from the Raw Rose Cookbook!   Basically a bunch of veggies, chopped up small, turmeric and spices.   It’s good!

Pad Thai – I used a boxed sauce for this – which wasn’t good at all.  But I really enjoyed a stir-fry with rice noodles – so I’ll have to try this sans’ said boxed sauce!  Anyone have any good Pad Thai recipes?

Another thing that I have been loving that you probably have NEVER seen on this blog.

Iced coffee  - but not just any iced coffee…

This is mushroom coffee – I know, it sounds gross.

The mushroom has lots of health benefits – although I’ve read lately that this coffee has minimal traces of the mushroom in it.  But I still enjoy it sometimes!  I’m not much of  a coffee drinker, but on a hot day, I love some ice cold almond milk and coffee!  

 

Lastly, I must introduce you to the newest love of my life!

The other day on twitter – I mentioned that I LOVE chocolate, but truly miss MILK chocolate.

Char tweeted back immediately and told me about these gems. I went to the health food store to see if they had them, and sure enough, they were a brand new item.

Chocolate made with RICE MILK!  Brilliant.  They are amazing! I loved the one with almonds – it was my fav (and Char’s too!), but the truffle centre one was awesome too!  These are seriously the answer to my prayers.  They seem a little expensive $3.75 each – but worth every penny.

I wasn’t given anything for this review – this is strictly all me! I paid for them out of my own pocket!

They seem like they would melt well too!!

Question of the day – Have you tried any “milk” chocolates that you like?  (dairy free of course).

Have a great Wednesday – I’m hoping the weather gets nicer so I can take the boy I am working with to the market!  (It’s not looking good yet).

A Walk in the Garden

I am LOVING garden photos lately!  Well any flower pictures!  Here are some I have been taking lately!

Can you tell I have a thing for pink?

I love the way these pictures look!!  Like they are glowing!

Ornamental Kale?

And my pretty hummingbird feeder!

I am wanting to get a 2nd lens for my camera… does anyone have any suggestions?  My camera is a Nikon D3000.   I’d like one that takes really great portrait photos and has a great zoom!!

Hope you enjoyed!!

Raw Blondies with Avocado Icing

Happy Monday to you!

I’m excited, as I start my new job doing respite care today!!  I wonder what fun things we’ll come up with to do!  

Anyways, it’s my grandma’s 87th birthday today – so last night we had a BBQ with her.  I knew they would all be having cake, and I knew I would want dessert.  I also knew that I had 1 avocado in the fridge that needed to be used!

I gave a shout out on twitter for a dessert idea using avocado and a few great ideas came up.  But the one that appealed to me most was this one.  I also remembered that I did make a yummy one in the raw foods course I did last summer!   So this is based off both of these recipes!

Overall the recipe is pretty good – there are a lot of flavours going on.  I think the crust may need to be lighter, but other than that – it turned out good!

Raw Blondies with Avocado Icing

Crust

1 cup soaked baking dates or 1 cup medjooled dates pitted

1 cup walnut/almond mix

1 TBSP coconut (next time I would use more)

1 tsp no-alcohol vanilla

Toss everything into the food processor and process until it starts to roll into a ball.  You may need to use a spatula the push everything down!

After it’s processed – form it into the shape you want.  I did a bit thicker for blondies – but you could also make it thinner so it’s more like a pie crust!

Just for size reference.

Avocado Icing (enough for icing on brownies, but if doing it pie style – double the recipe)

1 TBSP raw cacao

1/2 TBSP raw tahini

1 ripe avocado

2 TBSP maple syrup + added 1 tsp later

2 TSP melted coconut oil

Mix all these ingredients together until avocado is smooth. You can also do this in the food processor.

Top the blondies or pie with icing and put into freezer until about 10 minutes before you want to eat it!   Freezing it really adds to the textures!

I made sure to make myself a mini for a taste test!

Sprinkle with coconut to make it prettier!

It would also be awesome with banana slices!

I think next time I would do it pie style (aka thinner crust – more icing!) but overall I enjoyed it.

Everyone else tried it too and though it was either awesome or “interesting” haha  

Have you tried any raw desserts?  I know this one isn’t technically 100% raw because of the maple syrup – you could sub agave for this if needed!

Have a great Monday!!

Super Easy Flourless Oatmeal Pancakes

Thank you all so much for my grad post!!  It’s so exciting that it’s all over!  I learned a lot and met amazing people on that 10 month journey!  Kudos to anyone and everyone that has done more than 1 year of school! Phewf, it’s a lot of work!

Moving on!

So you know when I said I don’t like oatmeal on my ABC’s?

I lied.

I LOVE oatmeal when it’s in the form of pancakes!

A few years back when I did Body for Life – I found this pancake recipe.  I don’t think it’s the exact one I used to use – but it’s close and it’s good!

Super Easy Flourless Oatmeal Pancakes

Serves 1.

1/2 cup oats (not instant)

1 tsp baking powder

1 TBSP protein powder of choice (I used Vanilla Sun Warrior) – Optional

1 egg

1/4 cup water or milk of choice

Splash of vanilla.

That’s all folks!  Mix it together in a bowl and then cook in a pan!  Makes 2 pancakes!

Because there is no sugar – it’s nice to add something sweet to them – you could easily exclude the vanilla and make these savoury as well!

These ones are topped with Sunflower Seed Butter, Maple Syrup and Dried Cherries!

So awesome – so easy!

Do you have a super easy breakfast recipe?

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On another note – because the blogger community is so awesome I know you’ll head over to Susan’s blog and send her some love, prayers and support for her recent news.  I think the more people on her side sending her healthy vibes the better – so send her as much love and support as possible.

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Hope you have a wonderful Saturday! 

Grad 2011

Well, it’s official!

Woooooooooooooooo

I’m Edumacated and Graduated!  

Human Services Education Assistant/Community Support Graduation 2011!!

Coming to a school near you (well not all of you) in September 2011!

(Good photos courtesy of Stefanie Plestcher, crappy photos courtesy of my camera!)

Super Easy Tabbouleh

So, a little back story – when I was a nanny in Calgary – I cooked A LOT – and it was so much fun!  I went through recipes, wrote a shopping list and then the food magically appeared over night while I was sleeping or I was given a HUGE delicious food budget to feed everyone!

I cooked a lot for the family.  Lambs, roasts, pasta etc.  It was an amazing experience for me, especially since they enjoyed eating healthy, as did I.

I remember one morning when I showed up, the mom mentioned that she wanted tabbouleh for dinner.  I had NO idea what it was. I found a recipe in a cookbook and it became a dish I made regularly!  I’ve always played around with it a bit for different flavours.  Last night I created a super easy – user friendly tabbouleh recipe! 

Quick and Easy Tabbouleh

1 cup bulgur (I only use Bob’s Red Mills)

Boil about 1.5 cups of hot water and pour over bulgur – let it sit until liquid is absorbed.

1 bunch of parsley

2x tomatoes (or 1.5 cup cherry tomatoes)

2 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar (traditional is using lemon juice)

1 TBSP Oil

Salt and Pepper

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After liquid in the bulgur is absorbed, add in parsley, tomatoes, ACV, oil and salt and pepper..

Stir and let sit!!  Best if you let it sit for a bit to absorb the flavours.

Great add in’s:

Feta (for the non dairy free crew)

Balsamic Vinegar

Fresh mint

Lemon juice

Cucumber

There ya have it folks – super easy and super healthy tabbouleh – remember if you are gluten free you can always sub in a different grain for the bulgur – think Quinoa!

This is so easy, and can be done in under 20 minutes if needed!  Also is AWESOME the next day.

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I served it over salad, with some Goddess Dressing Drizzled over!!

With grilled corn and trout!

Have you tried tabbouleh before?  Thoughts?

PS. Tomorrow is grad day, so I’m not sure if I’ll post or not, but we’ll see!!