Good morning!

My morning started off a bit sluggish, but it was nothing a Green Monster couldn’t handle.

In the GM: 2 handfuls spinach, 1 cup almond milk, 1 scoop Vega choc-o-lot, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 frozen banana, 1/4 cup oats.

After breakfast and a bit of digesting, Eric and I headed out for a bike-run to kick off this gorgeous morning. We covered about 4 miles in 34 minutes. I love when he comes with me on the bike because he motivates me to push during my runs! He calls himself my ‘coach’. lol. I’ll take whatever I can get…

Like Kale!

I pick a bunch of kale each week and then freeze it for quick Green Monsters throughout the week (I used an old frozen mango bag to store it in- maybe it will make the kale sweet? lol)

Tomatoes are coming up all over the two plants. I finally convinced Eric to move the tomato plants to the same side as the garden beds, so watering has been a bit easier!

The cucumbers are growing like crazy!

Straight ones

Curvy ones

A family of peppers with a wee little bebe!

Banana Peppers

Beets & Carrots

More kale…muhauha.

And one huge time saver for $9.99.

We haven’t had rain in over two weeks and I just checked the forecast and we’re not supposed to get a lick of rain for the next 14 days either! This does not bode well for farmers!

Deck updates…

Eric is working on installing some patio stones that the side staircase will rest on.

It’s a tough dig & very rocky!

The middle staircase is now 100% complete with railings:

More sanding of railings

Eric is almost finished the privacy wall:

We used this kit:

We’re loving it so far. I like the visibility when it’s open, but it’s nice to be able to close it in case we are up to trouble.

Hopefully we don’t have any screws loose!

But I think you already know the answer to that…

I’m off to get ready for a lunch & hike date with Ange! Have a good one.

My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant’s point of view. 
~ H. Fred Ale

Since I started my garden the third week of May, I was sure that everything would die. Every flower or plant that I’ve tried to grow in the past has always bit the dust early on. I heard all kinds of advice imaginable and I started to think if I didn’t follow everything, my garden would be a sure failure.

But what I’ve learned over the past 6 weeks is that the process is unique for every gardener and the best tips and tricks are those learned from personal trial and error. There is no better teacher than experience and the lessons that I’ve learned will stay with me always!

Here are some lessons I’ve learned over the past 6 weeks…

1. Plants aren’t always better than seeds.

Case in point- my pea plants! The pea plants that I started from seed have grown three times the size as compared to the plants I bought in the store. Next season, I will plant more seeds now that I have more gardening confidence.

Pea plant planted from seed…huge!

2. Greens are great for beginners!

Next season, I will likely plant more varieties of greens as I’ve seen how easy they are to grow. Very low maintenance! Umm, except for that spinach failure…

3. Keep your garden within arm’s reach.

This year, I decided to put my potted tomato plants on the opposite side of the house because that’s where the most sunlight is, but honestly it’s a huge pain in the butt to water them so far away. I might move them to the other side of the house and just make sure they are in direct sunlight! When your garden is in arm’s reach, you are much more likely to water them on a regular basis. Try to keep everything as close as you can.

4. Raised garden beds are amazing!

We used this raised bed tutorial and I’m so glad we spent the extra time, money, and effort to build raised beds. Raised bed gardening is beneficial for several reasons, including better drainage, more aeration in the soil, less bending over, more control over the soil, closer plant spacing, and an earlier start to the season and later end (due to the raised bed being warmer than the ground).

5. Don’t be afraid to crowd a few plants

I followed plant spacing guidelines to a tee when I planted everything (I even measured with a ruler!!), but now that I see the growth, I know I could have spaced things closer together and still had success. Next season, I won’t be so afraid of a little crowding here and there! Also, with a raised bed, you can plant closer.

6. Chicken wire is great for keeping small animals out, but annoying when gardening.

We haven’t had any major issues with small animals eating our plants thanks to the chicken wire. However, occasionally I will see a bunny eating my KALE through the chicken wire! The bunnies are too cute to get mad at…and can you blame him? That’s good kale! I laugh when I see a leaf nibbled on next to the wire, but again, it has only happened a couple times.

With that being said, the chicken wire is really annoying when it comes to gardening because it’s always in the way. Unhooking it eats up time, so I usually just bend it down when I’m weeding and picking.

7. Before picking herbs, give them a rinse with the hose.

This way, you won’t have to fuss with washing them once you bring them inside!

8. There are no mistakes in gardening, only learning experiences!

The best part about gardening is that you are in the trenches learning every single day. There is no better teacher than experience! I’ve learned much more by actually doing it, than from reading a book. I will never forget about my bolted spinach and if I plant it again, I will try another variety more resistant to bolting and I will plant it earlier in the season!

9. When picking kale and lettuce leaves, pick the outer leaves and leave the inner ones

Seems logical, but I had to Google this before I did it!

10. Plant only the produce that you LOVE to eat.

Only plant produce that you get excited about. Kale is one of my favourite vegetables, so I planted the most of it- 20 plants. I’m not worried about having too much because I can always freeze it and enjoy it all winter long!

11. Nothing is better than tasting fresh peas.

Sweetest peas ever.

12. Seeing a bell pepper sprout is like Christmas morning

Happiest moment of gardening to date!

More progress pictures…

The tomatoes have surfaced

The tomato plants didn’t want to wrap around the pole and one of the plants actually fell over!! I don’t know if it was from another animal or from the wind, but I loosely wrapped a twist tie around the upper stem to support them. Seems fine now.

Peppers are growing!

This is our banana pepper plant. Long and slender.

Cucumbers! Which have little pricklies on them…..cuteness.

Our two cucumber plants have grown the most out of any of the plants in the garden.

Here they are May 28, 2011:

July 7, 2011:

BEETS! Grown from seeds (which I’m especially proud of)

Carrots sprouting ever so slowly, also grown from seeds. And a few weeds to pull out!

The peas love to hook onto things for support.

Another pea plant which was planted from seed is doing well. It managed to hook around a stick for support.

I laughed when I saw that the plant has grabbed onto this long piece of grass (below) and strangled it!

I also read that I should put string across the pea plants horizontally so they can spread out more…I’m hoping to do that this weekend.

And the best lesson of all?

13. Mother Nature knows best!

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that nature is pretty darn good at working things out for itself! While it’s important to take care of a garden, it’s equally important not to smother the plants. Like a mother sending her child off to their first day of school, sometimes you just have to let them go grow.

Initially, I was watering too much and the plants began to yellow and die. Once I backed off a bit and let it do its thing, the plants just took off with growth!

Weather means more when you have a garden.  There’s nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans.  ~Marcelene Cox

There’ s no better way to start a summer day…

Man oh man was this morning’s Green Monster good!

Guess where this kale came from?

Just my veggie garden, that’s all. No big deal. I’ve clearly advanced from a Black Thumb to a Brown Thumb.

Milli Vanilli Green Monster

Ingredients:

• ~ 1 cup kale
• Handful spinach
• 1.25 cups almond milk
• 1 tbsp Vega Vanilla Almondilla Shake & Go Protein Powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1 frozen banana
• 4 frozen mango chunks
• Handful blueberries
• 4-5 strawberries
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 ice cubes

This was absolutely delicious. And it rekindled my love for Vega Vanilla Almondilla Shake & Go! I go through protein powder phases all the time. For a while I was in love with the Vega Choc-o-lot Shake & Go and then I got sick of it. Now, I ‘m using this one and also Vega Smoothie Infusion (120 kcals and 14 grams protein per serving). This Vanilla Almondilla has 11 grams of protein per serving. You can click the picture below to enlarge.

So back to that crazy kale!

Major growth has been going down over the past couple weeks. It’s crazy that I’ve only had my garden planted for just 5 weeks now.

Kale, May 23, 2011:

Kale, June 29, 2011:

I’ve started harvesting kale this week. I can’t get over how fresh and crisp the leaves are. They also aren’t as bitter as I’m used to.

The bell pepper plants seem to be getting ready for a little pepper sprouting action!! So cute.

I HAVE PEAS!

“When the pea pods are swollen (appear round) they are ready to be picked. Pick a few pods every day or two near harvest time to determine when the peas are at the proper stage for eating. Peas are of the best quality when they are fully expanded but immature, before they become hard and starchy. Peas should be picked immediately before cooking because their quality, especially sweetness (like that of sweet corn), deteriorates rapidly.” [Source]

The two cucumber plants continue to grow like weeds…

See the little yellow flowers?

The first yellow flowers appearing on the plants are male flowers that provide pollen. These flowers normally drop off after blooming. The small cucumber is evident at the base of the female flower (even before it opens) and should develop into an edible fruit if properly pollinated. Anything that interferes with pollination of the female flowers reduces fruit set and yield, including cold temperatures and rainy weather that hamper bee activity or improper use of insecticides that kill bees. [Source] <—That would explain why there are so many bees around my garden!

The romaine is HUGE. I’m going to make a Caesar Salad tonight!

Onions! (Apparently I planted these way too close together)

An animal dug up one of my tomato plants and it died. My other two tomato plants were also disturbed, but they seem to be bouncing back with a little TLC.

In conclusion, I have no idea what the heck I’m doing and somehow it’s working out.

~~~

By the way, I have 108 recipes entered and counting!

Sunday was a great day.

Well, aside from finding out that my ‘vertically growing spinach’ had gone to seed and BOLTED! Nooooooo.

After reading up on it, I guess it is quite common. I had no idea this was a risk-factor for spinach! Gardening is a practice of trial and error I guess.

There was quality time with Mom…

The Huz.

Very successful oil-free baking…(coming soon!)

Crate & Barrel

Whole Foods Mississauga (opening in July)

Square One Mall.

[source]

Fresh Restaurant in Toronto

[source]

A belated birthday dinner courtesy of mom at my favourite vegan restaurant!

Middle Eastern Plate appetizer made up of golden falafel balls with a crunchy exterior and pillowy interior, hummus, tahini, toasted organic whole wheat pita, fresh herbs, and olives:

A DREAM to the taste buds!

I ordered the Flu Fighter juice made up of Celery, Kale, Carrot, Garlic, lemon, ginger, cayenne, and Echinacea.  It’s served hot like tea and was perfect on this chilly and cloudy day! This is one of my all-time favourite juices at Fresh.

Hot lemon tea for mom and Eric had the Lucky Charm smoothie made up of raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, and mango.

Mom had the Mushroom Onion burger with sautéed mushrooms and onions, tomato, lettuce, sprouts, cheese, and vegan mayo, along with sweet potato fries.

Eric and I both ordered the Grilled Vegetable and Pesto wrap with grilled red pepper, zucchini & sweet potato with pesto, vegan mayo, tomato, lettuce, cucumber, red onion & sprouts along with fries:

Happy bellies ensued!

It wouldn’t be complete without a vegan cupcake and brownie…

This cupcake was a BASIL and cherry flavour! The basil was very pronounced in the frosting. It was strange and we weren’t sure if we liked it, but somehow it vanished from the plate! Funny how that works…

The flavour combo reminded me of something you’d see on Cupcake Wars!

I forgot to get a picture of the vegan walnut brownie (aka: we inhaled it).

Today is the last day of mom’s stay, so we’re off to make it a good one. See you soon with a yummy oil-free sweet bread recipe! Have a fantastic start to your week!

Yesterday, the rain actually held off for most of the day which was nice. We got a lot of gardening done and hit up the nursery for some flowers.

I bought some Impatiens, Geraniums, and Bellflowers to plant in the front garden. Before this, mom and I did a lot of weeding and prepped the bed with some topsoil leftover from my veggie garden.

Things are shaping up around here! We almost seem like civilized home owners now.

Check out the spinach…it’s shooting up! I didn’t expect it to grow so vertically!

Update: Many of you have said it has gone to seed and bolted. SAD! Do you think it’s done for the summer months?

The kale grows outward and it’s getting nice and full.

Yummy lettuce…

This romaine lettuce is the biggest one so far:

Sadly, I lost two lettuce so far…they just wilted up and died. No idea why!

The 2 Spanish Onions and 1 Red Onion continue to do well.

And the cucumbers in the back are spreading fast.

Eric has been working away at the deck as usual!

The rails are now all in and he is working on the top piece of the railing.

This morning, Eric said to me that he is losing motivation to finish the deck… words that no wife ever wants to hear! I’m trying to help him when I can and bring him lots of beer. I think he is quite intimidated by the 3 staircases he has to figure out…I’m so impressed with what he’s done so far though. It will be nice to have it finished and then he can take a break with renos for a while.

After gardening, I made a huge batch of the Back on Track Salad…one of our favs!

I made a few modifications this time, using some black beans, fresh dill, more lemon juice, and red onion. It was awesome with the dill and extra kick of lemon!

I just love how versatile this salad is…you could adapt it so many ways and it’s always a crowd pleaser.

Eric picked up a Pumpkin Cranberry Loaf to go along with lunch. Sadly, it wasn’t vegan due to an egg wash!

I had a bowl of the Back on Track salad and an Ezekiel wrap with veggies, avocado, and hummus.

Unfortunately, my Aunt Jenn and family couldn’t make our dinner get together because Julia got sick with a bad stomach flu and was up all night. Poor girl!

We had a pretty low key night and relaxed with some beer and wine.

Eric BBQ’d chicken for him and my mom and I had a veggie burger. We had the Back on Track salad and Sautéed Crimini mushrooms with garlic and olive oil on the side. I picked up some mushrooms from a local mushroom farm and they were great. I really need to make Sautéed Crimini mushrooms more often…they are one of my favourite side dishes. I also loaded some onto my burger.

A delicious and filling meal!

For dessert we each had a Whole Wheat Vegan Chocolate Cupcake with Spiced Buttercream! My mom couldn’t believe they didn’t have any eggs because they are so light and fluffy. It’s magic!

By the way, they also froze very well. I froze them for 2 days and then let them sit on the counter to defrost for a couple hours. They were still fresh as can be.

Today, we’re heading out to do a little chandelier shopping (window-shopping?) and then I think my mom and I are going to bake. Sundays just don’t get any better… Enjoy your day!

There’s nothing more entertaining than a grown man wearing a pair of Crocs,

a coordinating Mastercraft tool belt,

while using power tools.

He’s a keeper, for sure. heh

We’ve been plugging away at the deck each night this week. By the time I pick up Eric from the train station and we have dinner it’s already 7:30-8pm, so we don’t have much time to work during the week. Thank goodness for the long daylight hours in the summer though!

We can work til just past 9pm right now which is great. After we finish up, we often go for a nightly walk around the neighbourhood. I love spending so much time outdoors.

Eric built this ‘bistro’ table-top that overlooks one side of the yard. We want to find some outdoor bistro chairs for this spot, but we’re having a hard time finding any in our price range. It may have to be a stand-up bistro for now!

The table top overlooks our future volleyball/badminton net!

We bought a volleyball set back in May, but we haven’t had a chance to set it up yet. It’s going to be fun for get togethers this summer. Friends can watch the game with their beer and food on the bistro table!

We also decided not to put glass in the two sections of the deck for three reasons:

• Expense- It was going to be about 10 times the price of the regular black rods!
• 2.5 weeks wait time for delivery
• Lots of upkeep/cleaning

It was a nice idea, but not very practical for us. This weekend we’re going to continue with the black rods and finish it up. Finally, the 3 sets of stairs are left! Eric says the stairs are going to be the biggest learning curve of the entire deck.

My veggies continue to thrive despite my best efforts to sabotage them…

I’m not sure what’s going on with the yellowish leaves at the bottom of my kale and spinach…?

I feel like a new mother of sextuplets worrying about her newborn babies! Ok, ok not even close but you know what I mean. Eric always laughs because I check on the plants all the time to look for new growth or ‘danger signs’.

Our conversation goes a little something like this:

Me: ‘WHOA! Look how much the kale/spinach/pepper plants have grown! They are so much bigger today.’

Eric: ‘I don’t think they are any different than yesterday…’

Men!

By the way, here is my rough garden plan if anyone is interested (click to enlarge)

I’ll let you know how it goes at the end of the summer…

Dill, anyone?

Wussy dill plant can’t handle my wrath!

The rest of the herbs are doing well in their new spacious pots. I also planted some basil seeds in the 5th pot. Nothing beats fresh basil!

Oh and the squirrels continue to break into my compost bin! I’m going to have to put some chicken wire around it this weekend I think…

For breakfast this morning, Eric and I enjoyed Blueberry Banana Pie Vegan Overnight Oats! I made a big batch last night, mixed it together, and breakfast was waiting for us when we came downstairs. Eric is hooked on vegan overnight oats lately. It took him a while to get over the strange texture, but now he’s cool with it. Adding crunchy granola and nuts really helps with the texture for him.

This is so insanely delicious! It reminded me a bit like Blueberry Pie. Eric demolished about half of this casserole dish.

I have a lot of bakery orders to catch up on today, so I best get cracking. Canada Post also went on strike this week so I have a few shipping issues to sort out. Doh! The weather is cloudy and cool today (clearing in the late afternoon), so best to spend it inside getting things done.

Thankfully we have a fun BBQ gathering to look forward to tonight, so the day isn’t a complete wash.

As for Sunday, I’ll be waiting for the sun and 25C weather forecast.

My hat is ready.

If you asked me what a perfect day would look like, yesterday was certainly it.

My day started off with a 3 mile run followed by some core work, push-ups, and at-home yoga. I didn’t have much time, but I cranked out this well-rounded workout in 40 minutes.

After showering and breakfast, Eric and I headed to the always fun Aberfoyle Antique market. It was supposed to rain all day, but it held off all morning. I love pleasant surprises with the forecast.

This antique market is huge and it has some great finds. Tons of gorgeous hand-crafted furniture, that is out of our budget right now!

I was on the hunt for photography props and I came home with a bag full.

I got a bag of things for just $20!

We ran some errands after that- Home Depot & Home Hardware for a couple tools for Eric and Whole Foods for groceries, lunch, and organic gardening seeds.

I had basically every vegan protein salad from Whole Foods that I could cram into my box. It was wonderful!

Non-tripod, shaky-hand, fuzzy pictures ensued.

Eric had a tomato & cheese pizza pie. It looked a bit weak to me!

Mentionable purchases from Whole Foods:

• Dried Mango (yessssss)
• Live granola (will be making this on the blog soon)
• Organic kale
• Frozen pitted sour cherries (they don’t have frozen sweet cherries…why?)
• Epsom salts
• purple garlic
• 360 Woven wheat crackers
• Full of Fruit Coconut Popsicles
• Mason D’Orphee organic delicate EVOO

After that we hit up another nursery to finish getting the plants & pots I needed. The kale and such are not ‘certified organic’, but I was told the local grower doesn’t use pesticides.

On the way home, the sun came out to reveal a beautiful, warm day! What a great long weekend this has turned out to be.

And then it was time to plant the veggie garden…it was G-day or bust.

I got my trusty garden plan that I drew out after consulting Wiki’s info on Companion Planting. I tried to plant everything near other companion plants so they would have the best chance of surviving my black thumb!!

My plan is all mucked up right now, but I hope to re-draw it and post it on the blog soon.

Thanks to Karly, I had these wonderful stakes to use!

The first thing I did was set the plants and bags of seeds directly onto the soil so I could visualize where everything was going to be on the two beds.

I previously looked up the spacing requirements for each plant, so after I did this I got a ruler and roughly measured the spacing for each. It took me so much longer than I anticipated to lay everything out.

At this point, our lovely neighbours came over and gave us a big barrel of local Mushroom compost! I moved the plants off, added some in, and then tilled the soil to mix it in.

They also gave us that curly pole that we will use for our tomato plant. Apparently you can buy these at Dollarstore for much cheaper than Home Depot.

We had lots of triple mix leftover which was a great thing because we needed it for the potted plants.

Initially, we were going to put the 3 tomato plants in the beds, but we ran out of room (thanks to my little kale obsession). We moved the pots to a sunny area by the other side of the house.

I checked and double checked my plan and tried to squeeze everything in! We had to place a few things closer together than we wanted to, but I’m sure it will work out just fine…or not.

Do not be fooled by my smile, I have no idea what I’m doing!!

Here’s what I planted in the 2 beds:

• Carrots (seed)
• beets (seed)
• peas (seed)
• Scallion (seed)
• 3 bell pepper plants
• 1 banana pepper plant
• 2 Spanish onion plants
• 1 red onion plant
• 20 kale plants
• 10 romaine plants
• 12 spinach plants
• 4 sugar snap pea plants
• a few garlic cloves

Do you think I will kill everything? I sure hope not!

Last night we had a brief thunderstorm and pouring rain and I sat up in bed and said, ‘MY POOR PLANTS!’

I checked on them first thing this morning, and they survived.

Herbs!

In pots:

• 2 Beefsteak tomato plants
• 1 roma tomato plant
• Curley parsley
• flat parsley
• Mint
• Rosemary
• Dill
• Basil (need to get another pot first!)

I’m actually worried that these pots won’t be big enough for the herbs! What do you think?

The gardening took a solid 3 hours with a couple what-have-i-gotten-myself-into moments.

I also planted these Lilies in the front garden that were birthday gifts from Eric.

Eric and the guys also finished the entire base of the deck on Saturday.

I’m so impressed! There are 3 sets of stairs and all the railings left. Still lots of work yet, but it is coming along wonderfully.

Around 8pm, we finally came in famished for dinner. I had no idea what to make, so I decided to just throw a bunch of things in a skillet and see where it took me. The best kind of meal, I say.

Appetizer was roasted red pepper hummus and Baked Woven thins (just whole wheat and salt as the ingredients).

The first thing I did was cook a grain because that takes the longest. I cooked up about 3/4 cup of speltberries on the stovetop.

Based on what I had in my kitchen, I decided to make a Speltberry chickpea veggie stirfry, infused with lemon, Thyme, and Rosemary.

Check out the fun shot we got using the GOLD reflector disc. Eric held the gold disc to reflect the sun and it made for a cool picture in an otherwise dark kitchen.

I didn’t measure anything, so the recipe below is a rough estimate of what I made.

In under 30 minutes, I had whipped up a great meal. I wasn’t expecting much from this, but we both loved it. The lemon, Thyme, and rosemary combo was lovely.

On today’s agenda, we have more yard work to accomplish (I still need to weed the front and back flower beds) and we’re going to put some chicken wire around the garden beds so all our cute little bunnies around here don’t eat all my KALE!! Luckily, it looks like the weather will hold up again today. Tonight, we have a BBQ with a few friends to end the long weekend. It should be a good one.

If you are enjoying the holiday Monday, Happy Victoria Day to you!

Check out what arrived this week…

2.5 cubic yards of triple mix soil for the veggie garden. Thrilling, I know.

After weeks of looking at different types of soils, I went with a triple mix from Van Beek’s. It’s made from composted manure, black loam, and sandy topsoil. I couldn’t find ‘certified’ organic anywhere, but the owner said it is organic and assured me that they do not add any chemicals or fertilizers to it. That will have to do!

We used this soil calculator to determine how much soil we needed:

Take the Length (ft) of the area to be covered x Width (ft) x Depth (inches) divided by 12, then again divided by 27 and you have your cubic measurement!

For two 4 foot by 8 foot beds, I calculated our soil need to be about 2.37 cubic yards, so we ordered 2.5.

[We used this step by step tutorial to build the beds.]

When we filled up the beds it was raining (of course!) and shoveling the soil was like shoveling bricks. What a workout! At least I know that the soil is nice and moist for planting.

The rain sure has made our lawn green though!

I’m going to the nursery tonight to check out the new organic plants that just came in and figure out what I need to buy. So far, I have sketched out a rough plan for both of the beds using this Companion Planting info to guide me. I’m trying to plant veggies with their companion plants, figure out specific spacing/planting requirements, and also how many of each plant I will need.

I also put a compost bin and gardening tools on my Birthday list. How cool am I?

Meet: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cereal- a new breakfast and snack infatuation.

In the cookie bowl: Nature’s Path Spelt cereal, chopped banana, 1 tsp chia seeds, 8-10 mini Chocolate chip cookie dough balls, and non-dairy milk.

It tastes like you are eating a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough for breakfast!

Another breakfast I’ve been rocking this week…The Mango Banana Green Monster.

I recently discovered that President’s Choice sells frozen mango chunks. I haven’t had the best experience with some frozen fruit mixes, but this frozen mango is super fresh and sweet. You can nibble on it straight from the bag. It is great to keep in the freezer for quick and easy smoothies.

This week’s favourite mix: 1 cup frozen kale, 1 ripe banana, 1/2-2/3 cup frozen mango chunks, 1.25 cup almond milk, 1/2 scoop wheatgrass powder, 1 tbsp chia seeds.

So refreshing.

Have a wonderful Friday!

“We are all functioning at a small fraction of our capacity to live fully in its total meaning of loving, caring, creating and adventuring. Consequently, the actual­izing of our potential can become the most exciting adventure of our lifetime.” – Herbert Ottto

Before we get to this amazing dinner that we enjoyed last night, I thought I would update you on my vegetable garden progress!

Eric and I built the first of two raised beds for the veggie garden. Each bed is 4 feet by 8 feet.  We used this step-by-step tutorial for a raised bed.

Our growing season doesn’t officially begin until Victoria Day Weekend (around May 20th), which is when most gardeners deem the risk of frost to be over. Some gardeners will plant before this date and then use a frost cover if there is a warning though.

Things I still need to figure out:

• Where to buy a 100% organic topsoil (do they exist?)
• Read up on Lasagna gardening method
• Build or buy a compost bin- research options/methods
• Make a list of what I will grow
• Read up on companion planting
• Draw a plan/diagram of where I will plant everything in boxes
• How to get rid of my black thumb!!!

Right now I am thinking about planting the following:

• Onions
• Lettuce
• Kale
• Zucchini/Squash
• Garlic
• Peas
• Beets
• Carrots
• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Cucumber
• Herbs!
• Some type of berry (strawberries or blackberries probably)

What do you experienced gardeners think of this list? Is it too much for a 1st garden? Any tips?

In other news, my Mexican food kick rages on!

As does our cold and snowy weather…

When you can’t get warm, make spicy Mexican food, I say.

I bought some frozen Cilantro cubes as a more economical way to buy herbs (I hope to grow some in the summer though). I wasn’t overly impressed when I added a couple Cilantro cubes into the skillet. The aroma was not the same! Maybe I didn’t use enough? I can’t wait until I can pluck some from the garden!

Cook your onion and garlic until translucent.

Add in your seasonings, frozen corn, and tomato paste.

Stir in the can of tomatoes and Cilantro.

When the beans are cooked, drain and rinse, and then stir into the chili.

Simmer on low for about 10-15 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.

Meanwhile, make your nacho cheeze sauce!

Now stir in a heaping 1/4 cup of the cheeze sauce into the chili! It makes the Taco Chili sooo creamy and delicious.

I topped a bed of romaine greens with a huge scoop of the Taco chili and garnished it with a spoonful of cheeze sauce, crumbled tortilla chips, and Daiya cheese. I prefer the cheeze sauce a bit warm so I heated it in the microwave for 15-20 seconds. It doesn’t heat very well though and it got a bit hard on the sides. It was nothing a good stir couldn’t fix though!

The Taco Chili turned out fantastic! A little spicy, a little creamy, and a ton of amazing flavours.

It was husband approved too…Eric gave it two thumbs up.

I’m so COLD this morning…need more tea!

Finally SUMMER has arrived in Ontario!!!

I’d like to thank mother nature for waking up and getting this show on the road!

My gosh it is so hot out there today. Our thermometer reads 34C/93F out there! Still no A/C on though…! We are doing good with our no AC challenge! But man oh man this house is HOT! I have the fan blowing on me now.

I found a new food I am addicted to…

BOOM BOOM POW!

BLACK EYED PEAS!

I soaked them overnight in the fridge and then I cooked them on low-medium on the stovetop for about 40 minutes. It was my first time ever having BEP and I loved them!

Nutritional profile:

Black-eyed peas, 1 cup (boiled)
Calories: 160
Protein: 5.23g
Carbohydrate: 33.5g
Total Fat: 0.63g
Fiber: 8.2g
*Excellent source of: Calcium (211mg), Folate (209mcg), and Vitamin A (1,305 IU)

[Source]

I am obsessed with this mixture now!!!

• 1 cup cooked Black Eyed Peas
• 1 cup Tomato Sauce
• 1/2 avocado

Heat in microwave covered with a paper towel for 1-2 minutes on high. It is honestly so quick and easy. I have been doing so much baking the past few weeks that I have had no time or motivation to turn on the oven for dinner! This meal took me all of 3 minutes to throw together and it is super healthy!

I served mine in a high protein pita along with 2 dollops of Unsweetened Soy Yogurt:

This was off the HOOK delicious!!!

I ate the leftovers in the bowl and had it with an Amazing Grass Green Monster!

I don’t know why it is, but when it is this hot I have ZERO appetite! All I have been doing is drinking green juice to stay hydrated!

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Aunt Bun’s flowers are doing well!! They have made the transition to outdoors!

Last night my mother in law goes: “I think you have a new tree growing on the porch.”

We looked out to find this WEED the size of a bush!!!

I think my poor mother in law almost had a heart attack!!!! LOL!

Let’s zoom in shall we…

I felt like I had let the amazing gardener herself down. I vowed I would get to the gardening this week now that life has returned to normalcy (that was before I took on 4 more orders this week!!!). The weeds are truly embarrassing though and I will be weeding (I just wrote wedding!) this week! How disgraceful! lol.

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Inspiring email of the day:

“Hi Angela,

I’ve been meaning to email you for a while and thank you for doing such wonderful things with your blog.  I’ve been so inspired by your honesty and story.  When I first began reading food blogs last year, I was entrenched in in very disordered eating and dangerous amounts of exercise.  I was addicted to the scale, the lists of foods that were off limits to me were practically a mile long, and my portions sizes were just absurdly small.  Blogs showed me what a normal amount of food and exercise was, and eventually (and slowly), I was able to apply that to my own life. 

But, I really don’t think I could have made that transition without reading blogs like yours, which made me realize I am not alone in any of those struggles.  I am so grateful for the support you provide simply by writing and believing in your values so strongly.  The fact that you have recovered and are living so freely made me realize that it is both possible and worth it to stop the obsession.  The more I read your thoughts, the more I was able to start making actual strides in my own life.  It still shocks me how much progress I’ve made, how free I feel today versus a year ago.  Every time I feel a struggle come on (and that happens less and less), I find myself so much more capable of trusting my decisions and believing that health is more important than anything.

I wrote a post today that was inspired by all the positivity from bloggers like you and Caitlin.  I’d love if you read it!  http://thewholeplate.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/beautiful/

Really and truly, thank you again for leaving such a positive mark on the world.

I’ll be reading for as long as you are writing!
Leslie

Leslie, you are one amazing woman!!! I feel so inspired by your story and I thank you so much for sharing.

I wanted to encourage all of my readers to please read Leslie’s post called Beautiful…it gave me CHILLS!!! She tells a very heart breaking story about the fashion industry in which she had first hand experience with.

I got Order #3 done today and I have order #4 tomorrow. man was it hot in the kitchen today with no AC!!!

I am still waiting to hear about regulations for me to ship goodies to the US.

As a side note, my Canadian orders are now going in full swing, so order away! The website is being updated on a continual basis with my new products. You may notice that some products have received the BOOT for now. That is because my NEW food processor is broken (LONG story!) so I have had to remove a few of those things for now. Shoot your orders to globakery@gmail.com !

I believe Eric and I are going Biking tonight. Should be some fun X-training for a change. We certainly have MUCH better weather than last time!

Coming up Wednesday Morning:

See you tomorrow morning for some never seen before Wedding Rehearsal and wedding pictures!!! I will be showing you the venue, the people, the decor, and the outdoor ceremony spot!

Tonight’s Question:

Have you ever tried Cliff Shots or other energy gels/drinks when working out? I have read that it is a good idea to take these with workouts longer than 1 hour. I have been thinking of trying some out but I wanted to get some opinions first! Are any of them vegan or all natural too?

PS- The Liquor stores could be striking in the tonight at midnight (probably) and there is utter madness around town….90 minute line ups ate the LCBO!!!