Eric loves mashed potatoes.

I mean, he really loves mashed potatoes.

He has been hinting on a daily basis that mashed potatoes would be a great way to ‘use up’ our stock pile of red potatoes courtesy of our Plan B CSA.

I said, ‘Sounds good, when ya making them?’

I have successfully evaded his hints for the past few weeks as I dreamed about making another batch of Homemade Salt & Vinegar Chips. Who needs mashed potatoes when you can make chips?

It’s not that I don’t like mashed potatoes. Really I do. I just love them when they are creamy, garlicky, smooth ‘n chunky, skins and all. Buttery, salty, piled with salsa or ketchup. It is fun to dress them up.

They are total comfort food.

However, my issue is that by the time I remember to add them as a side dish, it is already too late and I don’t have enough time to cook them. I tell myself, ‘I will make them tomorrow’ and then they get buried under veggies, forgotten about for weeks. Then I start to see snake-like sprouts trying to escape from the crisper and I run in the opposite direction like a little baby.

I also never think to use potatoes as a main dish because they lack protein and staying power.

I vowed to change that by jacking up my mashed potatoes…

Watch out Eric, you better be careful of what you wish for.

High Protein Garlic Mashed Potatoes

These mashed potatoes have a delicious buttery and garlicky flavour and lots of texture from the potato skins. The boast a whopping 11 grams of protein and 11 grams of fibre per serving. Use them as a main dish by adding some cooked veggies and toppings like ketchup, salsa, BBQ sauce, or buttery spread.

Ingredients:

• 10-12 large organic red potatoes
• 3-3.5 cups cooked navy beans (2 small cans)
• 1/4 cup soy-free Earth Balance buttery spread
• 2 tbsp unsweet. almond milk
• 4-5 large cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ground paprika
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions: Wash potatoes with a potato scrubber, chop into large chunks, and toss into a large pot. I prefer to leave the skin on (they are organic potatoes!). Fill with water until potatoes are covered. Cook on medium-high heat for about 30-35 minutes until fork tender. Drain potatoes and place in a large bowl. After cooling for a few minutes, take a potato masher and mash until desired consistency is achieved. While mashing add your milk and Earth Balance. Mash some more. Add garlic to a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add drained beans, salt, 1/2 tsp paprika, and process until mostly smooth. Add bean mixture to potato mixture and mash until mixed. Sprinkle with black pepper, remaining paprika, and additional sea salt. Serve with Earth Balance, salsa, ketchup, or BBQ sauce, and a serving of cooked veggies to round out the meal.

Nutritional Info: (Serves 8). Per serving, approx: 336kcal, 7 gram fat, 11 grams fibre, 11 grams protein, 2 grams sugar.

Add some elbow grease and work out those arms!

Add almond milk…

and Earth Balance (or what you have on hand!)…

We are huge fans of leaving the skins in the mashed potatoes. It adds a great texture and more nutrients (although I wouldn’t suggest leaving the skin on if you use non-organic as potatoes are part of the dirty dozen and are high in pesticides).

Drain beans.

Process 2 cans of navy beans (3-3.5 cups), garlic, salt, and paprika in food processor until almost smooth…

The bean mixture will taste amazing. Spoon some into mouth.

Yum.

Add bean mixture to potato mixture and mash ‘em up!

Wheeeee.

Sprinkle with remaining paprika, black pepper, and more salt.

I left them a bit chunky because Eric likes them that way. It’s a texture thing when they are too smooth, I guess.

Adding navy beans to mashed potatoes is a great way to make them protein rich and sneak in some nutrition without anyone being the wiser.

They are now high in protein and delicious.

Eric and I used these potatoes as the main dish for our meal. I added some cooked veggies and stirred them in. It was delicious and very filling! Eric thought they were awesome and he had no idea they contained beans! Success.

I will see you tomorrow morning. I will be talking about what activities I did post-10k race to expedite the recovery process! Enjoy your evening.

Good Mmm-orning!

Goodness gracious it is Wednesday already. Short week!

Look what I finally hung on the weekend…

My undergraduate degree is Baccalaureate in Arts with Honours. I majored in Social Psychology and I minored in Family and Child studies. My graduate degree is a Magisteriate of Arts with Honours in Social-Personality Psychology (and a focus on Health, Eating Disorders, & Nutrition).

I must say, it is nice to finally be done with exams, statistics, and papers and just be able to look at the pretty degree on the wall and read and write what I want.

For some reason we couldn’t locate Eric’s degree so I think we are going to have to order him a new one. It probably got lost in one of our moves.

And you probably didn’t read any of that because you are still in a daze at the thought of breakfast pizza! Don’t worry I won’t hold it against you.

Behold, the breakfast pizza.

Do you ever think of a recipe idea and find yourself racing to the kitchen to make it as soon as possible?

That was me last night.

I was looking at my PB & J Glo Bites and Pumpkin Spiced Glo Bites recipes and the idea of making a breakfast pizza suddenly struck me. Not just any pizza though, a peanut butter, jam, and banana breakfast pizza!

If it worked, I knew I would have a fun recipe to share with you that would be delicious, kid-friendly, and fun to throw together on the weekend.

And who doesn’t love leftover pizza for a quick weekday breakfast now and then?

Peanut Butter, Jam, & Banana Breakfast Pizza

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole grain spelt flour (or a mix of whole wheat and white flour)
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance buttery spread, warmed
• 1/4 cup Sucanat (or brown sugar might work)
• 1 large banana, sliced
• 1/4 cup Almond Milk
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 3/4 cup jam
• 1/3-1/2 cup peanut butter
• Cacao Nibs (optional)
• Coconut, to garnish (optional)

Directions: Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a pie pan. In a large bowl mix together the spelt flour, salt, sucanat, and cinnamon. Now pour in milk and warmed Earth Balance. Mix. Take batter and spread evenly with fingers into the pie pan. Now grab your jam and spread over the crust mixture. Add sliced banana and optional cacao nibs. Pop into the oven for 25 minutes at 400F. Remove and cool for 15 minutes. Pipe on peanut butter, slice and serve. You can also chill it and serve it cold or try popping it in the freezer for a cold treat (just let it defrost for about 5 minutes first)!

Note: This pizza is very sweet! If you want to make a lighter pizza, you can experiment with using less jam and peanut butter. The amounts above are just a guideline.

First, make your protein-packed 100% whole grain spelt crust! The dough tastes like a healthy sugar cookie. Yummers.

Squish the dough all in there with your fingers. Don’t worry it doesn’t have to be perfect!

Now take your jam…you could have fun experimenting with different flavours of jam.

And spread it all around…(it helps if you let it sit at room temperature to soften!)

Cover with bananas and optional cacao nibs…or if you are feeling crazy, chocolate chips.

And bake at 400F for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pan for about 15 minutes.

Now place peanut butter in a baggie, trim a small hole in the corner, and ‘pipe’ onto the pie.

Oh yes.

This is magical.

Serve warm, chilled in the fridge, OR frozen like a DQ Treatzza Pizza!

I tried it hot, warm, chilled, and frozen and my favourite way to eat it was chilled straight from the fridge! Just like leftover pizza.

Have fun trying out different kinds of nut butters too. You could even make a nut-free version using sunflower seed butter. I really want to try this with Barney Butter but we don’t have it in Canada. It is probably for the best. The last time I had some Eric kept asking me if I wanted any toast with my Barney Butter. Who needs toast when you have Barney Butter?

You could also try making a FRUIT pizza and loading it with all kinds of sliced fruit…how delicious would that be? I’m thinking mangoes, banana, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, etc.

I also want to say a huge THANK YOU for your support with the Tastespotting Portabella Playoff Challenge! My Stuffed Pizza recipe took home gold. Thanks everyone!

Several years ago I was served Muhammara at a restaurant.

It was some life changing dip, let me tell you.

My taste buds were overwhelmed with pleasure as I tasted the complex flavours of the roasted red pepper, toasted walnuts, garlic, and spices.

Since that day, I have wanted to create this dip at home and I finally took the plunge.

I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but I had to ask myself:

How could I go wrong with roasted red peppers and toasted walnuts?

I simply could not go wrong.

No, I could not.

[Short of setting the kitchen to fire while making the roasted red peppers, but I had to keep the faith in my culinary skills.]

Muhammara Roasted Red Pepper & Walnut Dip with Spiced Tortilla chips

Inspired by Epicurious Muhammara.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup + 1/3 cup toasted walnuts
• 2 pieces Ezekiel bread, toasted
• 2 garlic cloves
• 6 curved bull’s horn red peppers* (made 2 cups roasted peppers)
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground paprika
• 1.5 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• For heat: Try Aleppo pepper flakes or hot sauce, to taste (I didn’t add any)

Directions: Preheat oven to medium broiler setting. Wash and slice peppers and remove seeds. Take 1/2 tbsp of olive oil and spread onto baking sheet. Place peppers on top and broil on medium for about 10 minutes watching carefully. Once they are slightly charred, remove from oven and use a spoon to place them in a bowl. Cover bowl with a tea towel and allow to cool. Meanwhile, toast the walnuts in 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat until golden. Remove from heat. Toast 2 slices of bread until moderately browned and firm. In a food processor process the walnuts, garlic, paprika, toasted bread, cumin, sea salt, and tomato paste. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary. Once the peppers are cooled, remove tea towel and carefully remove the skin of the pepper. Discard the skin of the peppers and take the ‘meat’ of the pepper and process it with the rest of the dip until thoroughly combined. Serve with easy homemade tortilla chips (see below).

Makes 1.5-2 cups. Can be used as a dip or spread.

Notes: You can use regular red bell peppers. You might only need 4-5 as they are a bit larger. Also, I did not use any hot spices because Eric isn’t a fan of spicy food. You might want to add some, although it is already very flavourful without any at all! It is quite garlicky so if you are not a garlic fan you might want to cut the amount in half or more.

We got these sweet red peppers from our CSA last week (I think they are called ‘Curved Bull’s Horn’?). They are delicious.

and perfect to roast.

and walnuts are perfect to toast.

Feel free to shove a few walnuts in your mouth. They should not be resisted…ever. Don’t even try because you will fail.

Easy Homemade Spiced Tortilla Chips

Ingredients:

• 2 Ezekiel tortilla wraps
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1-1.5 tbsp Earth Balance buttery spread
• 2 tiny pinches of sea salt

Directions: Preheat oven to 425F. Take tortilla wrap and spread with butter. Now sprinkle on paprika and sea salt. Cut into tortilla triangles. Place on baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes at 425F (no longer!). Remove from oven and immediately transfer to a plate to cool. Makes about 25 chips.

I loved using the Food For Life Ezekiel wraps because they are thick wraps! The chips were also crispy on the outside but still chewy and flavourful on the inside. I adore these!! If you use other tortilla wraps you might have to bake them for less time.

They were prepared in just a couple minutes and ready in 5!

They are delicious with the dip. I highly recommend you make both at the same time!

This is a wicked appetizer that would be a hit at any party.

Be careful though, it won’t last long!  

Good morning!

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments in my 10k race recap!

Surprisingly, my body isn’t too sore this morning. I attribute this to the ice bath (brrr!) I had shortly after getting home, oodles of chocolate (hell yea!), stretching, and of course some healthy eats.

I ended up having a great day yesterday! I think I was running on endorphins all day long (and copious amounts of green tea!). I finally got around to designing my OSG business card. My new cards will have Glo bakery on one side and OSG on the other side. I ordered them from Print 100. I have been using Print 100 for the past year and I am super happy with their service, free shipping, turnaround (2 weeks), and quality.

For dinner, I whipped up an avocado and tomato salad with mixed greens…

and my Better than Bottled Balsamic Vinaigrette.

And for the main I tried my hand at making roasted apple and acorn squash soup. It sounded delicious and I had a CSA acorn squash to use up!

Mmmm!

Roasted Apple and Acorn Squash Soup

Adapted from B.C. Tree Fruits

Ingredients:

• 2 small apples, cored, cut into pieces
• 1 acorn squash, cut in half, seeds removed
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• salt & pepper, to taste
• Parsley, to garnish
• Few sprigs rosemary, chopped finely

Directions: See this post for directions.

It’s squash season!!

Mmm squash flesh.

After pureeing the rest of the ingredients, I added the chopped squash and mixed:

This soup was good, but it wasn’t my absolute favourite. If I were to make this again, I would use less apple and more garlic. The apple taste was a bit too pronounced for my liking.

I really enjoyed the chunks of squash in it though. Instead of blending the entire soup, I blended everything except the squash and then I just chopped the squash and mixed it in. It had a great, chunky texture!!

I also added a bit of rosemary and that was a nice flavour in there too.

After dinner I polished off this entire box of Vosges Naga Mango (Dried Mango + sweet curry + dark chocolate). Oh my gosh was this ever delicious! Whoever thought to pair sweet curry, mango, and chocolate together is a genius!

What Have You Learned?

[image source]

Seeing as today is the first day back to school in our neck of the woods, I thought it would be a great time to reflect on what we have learned during our journey to health!

Here are some things I have learned along my journey:

• I should strive to be a Size Healthy and not a specific number
• If I honour my hunger signals and cravings, I won’t feel an urge to binge
• There is no point to compare myself with others. It is much more fun if I strive to improve based on my previous accomplishments.
• If I am not happy in my career, I will always have a big piece of my happiness missing and my heart will feel a void.
• My body is not the worthless piece of junk I thought it was, in fact, it is capable of so much more than I thought!
• Use quotes to inspire when you need motivation.
• Eating a vegan diet makes me feel at peace
• Take a chance on YOU. What have you got to lose?
• The goal weight I had set for myself previously was NOT my happy weight
• A ‘Happy Weight’ is probably not going to be the size of a magazine model for most people. Finding your happy weight may mean that you have to accept the size your body was meant to be at.
• Some days will truly suck. There is no way of avoiding this and it is totally normal. There will be days you overeat and feel crappy, fall off the exercise wagon & lose motivation, or have personal health problems to deal with. When I accepted that these experiences were part of the normal ebb and flow of life, I was able to move on quicker and not beat myself up for it.
• Sometimes chocolate is always the answer (like last night!)
• You only get one body and one life, make sure you treat it well and make it a happy one
• Recovering from years of disordered eating took much longer than I thought and is always an on-going process
• Surround yourself with POSITIVITY, good friends, and family. Read uplifting things.
• There are many potholes along the road to recovery. If you trip up, dust yourself off, put on a band-aid, and keep going FORWARD!

What have you learned along your journey to health?

Thank you for your good luck wishes this morning.

We arrived almost an hour early to the race this morning and we were treated with a gorgeous sunrise along Lakeshore.

It was breathtaking.

Possibly the most gorgeous sunrise I have ever seen!

The lake displayed a rainbow of colours.

A great start to the race I would say!

At 7:30am, the 10km got underway. I was feeling a bit nervous at the start line!

I was thinking, ‘Hrmm. This one could hurt.’

I was also cold, hence the pants and jacket!

We were off like a herd of turtles!

The first km is always so fun! Fast, fast, fast. Adrenaline x 100.

You say to yourself, ‘I LOVE RUNNING!’ Wheeeeee.

Then the honeymoon period ends and you start to get tired!

I started to get tired around the 3km mark. My pace was fast and I was breathless. I cranked the tunes and decided to run for the ‘5km’ marker. Once I got to the 5km, I knew it was just another 5km and then I would be done.

This is the beauty of a 10km race! It is just two 5km runs.

Whohoo I made it.

Eric raced to the 5km spot to meet me! He was so proud of himself for getting there in time to see me. It was cute.

But where was I?

He spotted me! It was so fun to see him at the half-way mark.

I was neck and neck with the woman in front of me and the woman behind me for the entire race (and a few men). We kept picking each other off…falling back, moving ahead, falling back, moving ahead for the entire 10km. It was some friendly competition! I love that about races.

In a race, I always try to find people just ahead of me and make it my goal to stay close to them for the entire race. I ended up passing the woman ahead of me around 9km and the woman behind me (pink) passed me in the last 200 metres! I was like ‘oh no you didn’t!’ but I just didn’t have the strength to pass her again. She came up to me after the race and was so sweet and said ‘thank you for motivating me!’ I said the same to her!

My 5km time was around 25:15 mins., which is where I wanted it to be to achieve a negative split in the second half.

I was trying really hard to pace myself and not burn out too soon, although I admit, I was already feeling quite tired by the 5km. Perhaps I was going out too hard, I wondered.

Eric ran with me for about 0.5km along the sidewalk. I was sure he was going to take a horrible spill and smash the SLR. Luckily that did not happen!

Then it was time to part ways so Eric could make it back to the finish line.

Off I went with just 5km to go!

At the 7km marker, I knew I was almost in the home stretch!

‘Just a 3km run left’ I told myself. I was pushing hard and my last 3 kms were fast with a pace of around 4:55-5 min/km (which is around a 7:50-7:55 min/mile).

At the 9km marker I started to lose steam and it was a huge struggle to keep increasing my speed. I told myself ‘you are so much stronger than you think’ to defeat the negative thoughts in my mind.

Finally, the finish line was in sight and I was relieved! I saw the time on the clock and realized that I could make it in under 50 minutes if I booted it hard, so I sprinted hard with all of my might.

Once I saw the time on the clock it was GAME ON.

I was all business.

All my tiredness went out the window and it was just me against the clock. I sprinted harder than I think I ever have in a race before with my pace getting up to a 5:16 min/mile.

Almost there!!

I was SO out of breath. My lungs were in my throat. I could not breathe.

Wheeeeeee!!!

I was so exhausted and out of breath I couldn’t bring myself to smile as I crossed the finish line, but I can assure you I was VERY happy!

I was kind of in a daze for a minute after crossing.

What a rush!

Here are my Garmin stats:

The official stats:

• Distance: 10km
• Chip time: 49:50 mins
• Avg. Pace: 5 min/km or 7:58 min/mile
• 3rd place in my division out of 17 women ages (25-29) 
• 19th place out of 201 women overall
• 81th place out of 364 runners
• I smashed my 10k PR (56:57) by 7 minutes

This race proves to me what a year of training & proper rest and nutrition can do. One thing is for sure, I never would be able to achieve these athletic accomplishments if I was still struggling with my eating disorder, starving myself, and over-training. My body used to be weak & hungry all the time and now it is strong and healthy and happy.

No PR could ever top that feeling.

I know a lot of you reading this are currently struggling with disordered eating and I want to tell you that the fight for recovery is worth every second.

You never know what you are capable of until you treat your body right.

We got home at 9:30am and I promptly mowed down on a burger.

A delicious Lentil-Walnut Burger! I am hooked and already planning my next batch! The garlic and toasted walnuts give this burger a WOW factor.

This gal is off to get some R & R. After 4 hours of sleep, I am pooped! I am more sore from this 10km race than I was for my 3 half marathons…funny how speed work does that!

Enjoy your day.

Happy Labour Day! I hope you are enjoying a lovely day off and are sleeping in right now!

I like to spend my holidays by getting up at 4:15am. I am sick like that.

Let me rewind to last night…

The Dizzy Bizzy Board was stressing me out a bit. Actually, it was giving me the spins and I decided it had to go ASAP.

Really, this was just an excuse for another Michaels trip…

I emerged with new scrapbooking paper and the will to make a less dizzy & bizzy vision board.

I decided that I would use a solid background colour (orange) and then accent with prints. Problem solved.

I have been using these double-sided photo stickers and they work like a charm!

They come right off with no tearing. I also used a photo glue stick for a couple sections when necessary.

Here is the new vision board:

Much more easy on the eyes.

I think it actually matches better with the warm colours + wood!

Side by side:

Some close ups…

I like the ‘Trust’ over the heart!

What a fun project!

Eric also hung this frame in a new spot (it used to be above my desk before the Mykonos painting went up).

The bookcase is still a work in progress, but it is getting there!

Then I went through all my personal and business files.

When I was done, I moved my new 2010 file to an easily accessible spot by the fax/scanner. If it is out in the open I am much more likely to use it!

Then I operated on our printer that all of a sudden decided to stop working this week! Hrmph.

I got it to print black ink, but it is still rejecting the magenta ink that we installed. Very strange. I think we might have to get it serviced. Luckily it is still under warranty.

~~

This morning, I stumbled downstairs at 4:15am and ate some delicious vegan overnight oats that were waiting for me. It made getting up for the race a bit easier.

Pre-Race Hydrating Mango & Strawberry Vegan Overnight Oats

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 2.5 tbsp chia seeds <– lots of chia seeds because they are great for runners & very hydrating
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1/2 mango, cubed
• 3 strawberries, chopped

Here it is last night when I mixed them up. The mango was so good in this.

I better get on the road so I am not late!

Just a reminder that today is the final day that you can vote in the Portabella Playoff! Thanks for your support everyone.

It’s time for me to run like the wind….Eeeeee.

Oh dear me.

Do I have a recipe I am super excited to tell you about!

These delicious Lentil-Walnut Burgers are perhaps the best tasting burgers to ever cross my lips. They give the In a Jiffy Curry Chickpea Burgers some stiff competition! I think they are both tied for 1st place.

Vegan Lentil-Walnut Burgers

Adapted from Martha’s Great Food Fast Cookbook.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed
• 3/4 cup walnuts, toasted
• 1 piece bread, toasted OR 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 chia/flax egg (1 tbsp ground chia or flax + 1/4 cup water)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. In a small bowl make the chia or flax egg and set aside. Place lentils in a small pot and add a couple cups of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 25 minutes. Remove and rinse in colander. While the lentils are cooking, toast the walnuts by placing the walnuts on a baking sheet and cooking at 350F for about 12 minutes until golden brown and delicious. Let cool. In a food processor, process the garlic, walnuts, toasted bread OR breadcrumbs, garlic, spices & seasonings until combined. Now add oil and lentils and pulse until coarsely chopped (some lentils should be visible and left chunky). Add the flax or chia egg and pulse a bit more until combined. Now shape 4 patties with hands and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a non-stick mat. Bake at 350F for 20-22 minutes on each side for a total of 40-45 mins. bake time. Makes 4 patties.

The burger ‘batter’ is insanely good. As a result, the burgers below are a bit smaller than they should be…

After baking they are golden, slightly crispy and the house smells incredible. You will be salivating.

I had it served up in a bun with lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard, S & P. I also had a patty just plain on the side because they are to die for.

These were so easy to make…I will be adding these to the veggie burger rotation for sure. I’m sure they could be BBQ’d too if you are gentle with them.

I am off to gather my running things for the 10k race tomorrow. The race is almost an hour away and begins at 7:30am, so I have to leave the house by 5:50am sharp. Ick. I’ve got the pre-race butterflies!

Have a great night!

Good morning!

I had a lovely 9 hour sleep last night and didn’t get myself out of bed until 8:45am. It was pure bliss. Need to rest up for my 10k race tomorrow!

I raced downstairs for this lovely breakfast that was waiting for me. How nice of that lovely girl to make me breakfast last night!

Raisin Pumpkin Spice Vegan Overnight Oats

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1.5 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 cup pumpkin
• 2 tbsp chopped walnuts
• 1/3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 tbsp Eden’s Apple Butter
• Raisins, to garnish
• Coconut, to garnish

Directions: In a medium sized bowl mix the oats, chia seeds, pumpkin pie spice. Now add the milk, maple syrup, and pumpkin and whisk. Place in fridge for at least 30 minutes. When ready, sprinkle with raisins and coconut. I also used some apple butter for a fun change.

I love getting in another veggie in the morning!

So we went a bit crazy on Saturday…

I don’t know about you, but whenever September 1st strikes Eric and I go into an organizational tailspin for about 36 hours. After a summer of fun, most of our rooms look like they have been hit by a tornado.

And then we crash and burn. Hard. Never wanting to organize so much as a desk drawer for the rest of our lives.

Over the next 363.5 days, we slowly but surely return the clutter to where it came from.

It’s the circle of life, folks.

I thought I would entertain you this morning with a few before and afters…

As you can see, the shelves were a bit cluttered and messy…(and dusty!):

(That is Eric’s desk- we share the office)

This is ‘my’ side of the shelf below:

Old university textbooks on top (not sure what I am keeping these for? Kindling?)

And a TV that is not in use because we don’t have cable.

Minor detail.

We like to pretend we have cable. Sometimes I turn it on and just stare at the blue screen.

My side AFTER:

Boom, right?

Side by side:

Much better.

Then I decided to turn my boring old bulletin board into a Vision Board.

I bought some scrapbooking things at Michaels (OSGMOM will be so proud!).

Scrapbooking paper..note, girly prints.

I bought several of each print because I couldn’t choose.

And now for the finished product….

Unfortunately as I was making it, I didn’t step back and look at the entire board and it ended up VERY busy looking. I’m actually not that happy with it overall…

It shall now be known as the Dizzy & Bizzy Board!

I would not suggest using such a busy print like I did.

The ‘I’m A Quitter’ by Natalie Dee print is one of my favourite things in the world. It is an inside joke in my family that goes way back and when I came across it I knew it was special. I want to buy the t-shirt too. [I also LOVE this one too.]

When I showed the board to Eric he said, ‘Umm it’s a bit busy….’ trailing off and eyes glazing over as he looked at it.

Then he added with a wink, ‘But I think it fits your personality. I wouldn’t expect it any other way or less complex looking.’

Hrmm. I have to agree. If you opened my mind and put it on paper it is probably quite dizzying!

I love the ‘You Hold The Key’- this phrase is so meaningful to me. It reminds me of the quote I love from The Eagles song called ‘Already Gone’

“Well I know it wasn’t you who held me down
Heaven knows it wasn’t you who set me free
So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key…”

I have the key to live the life I want to live and you hold the key to living the life you want to live. We have the power within us. Not our partner, family, friends, mentor…once we take responsibility of our own lives things start to fall into place. I firmly believe in this way of life. Realizing that I held the key to my happiness has allowed me to be where I am today.

The dizzy board all together…

The Vision Board made Sketchie dizzy too…

A comparison:

I must say things are looking up.

I decorated the red magazine holder (far left) with floral scrapbooking paper. It added a fun & girly touch!

The yellow basket on my desk holds my favourite cookbooks and yellow basket on the shelf holds my health books!

Eric’s side is looking great too! He packed up a ton of DVD’s and is donating them.

We bought all the baskets you see above from an awesome organizational store called Solutions. How I didn’t know this store existed until last month is beyond me. It is my DREAM store.

Today’s goal: Organize this shelf and expand my business file box from one box to two. gulp.

Does September 1st inspire you to start organizing your space? Will you be going back to school or starting something new this September?

Even though I am no longer a ‘professional student’ (as my family used to joke when I was in university for 7 long years!), I still get that back-to-school feeling every September, along with the urge for a fresh start. This is one of my favourite times of the year.

See you tonight for lentil walnut burgers!

Happy Birthday Dan The Man!

Dan got lots of foodie birthday loot!

We had a fun night…just out too late as always. We didn’t get home until 2am. I only had 2 Organic Mill Street brews and I felt like I was hit by a truck this morning when I got up.

Read: Getting old.

I don’t know what it is but whenever I have alcohol in me I toss and turn all night. It can be 1 beer or 5 and I still find my sleep is always disrupted!

Eric was the DD last night so he slept like a baby.

Steve and Jesse…they are single and looking for love, ladies.

Euchre was played!

Note: Not my hands.

Eric and I had fun playing with Phoenix, the 85 pound & only 6 month old English Mastiff!

Soooo…back to feeling hit by a truck this morning…

It was nothing a huge Green Monster and some baking couldn’t fix.

I cannot even tell you how much better I felt after this Green Monster. A new lease on life, I had.

It contained = 2 cups kale, 1 cup almond milk, 1 frozen banana, 1 tbsp almond butter, 1 tbsp Vega chocolate powder, 1 tsp raw maca, 1 scoop Amazing Grass Wheatgrass powder, ice.

Anniversary flowers from the in-laws.

Then it was time to get down to business.

Today’s weather called for some Fall-inspired baking…it was a chilly 14C/57F this morning. The wind was blowing, it was raining, and there were new leaves on the ground. Yup, that would be Fall-like.

Pumpkin Scones it was. *evil cackle*

Savoury Pumpkin Scones in a Pumpkin Spiced Glaze

Inspired by Starbucks Pumpkin Scones. See baking notes below before baking.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole grain spelt flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• Optional sugar- I would add 2-3 tbsp next time!
• 8 tablespoons Earth Balance butter
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 3 tablespoons almond milk
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 chia/flax egg (1 tbsp ground chia/flax + 4 tbsp water)
• Turbinado sugar, to garnish

Vegan Egg Wash

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 water

Spiced Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1.5-2 tablespoons almond milk
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 tsp cinnamon and a pinch of ginger and nutmeg)

Directions: 1) Preheat the oven to 425F and line a baking sheet with parchment of a non-stick mat. 2) In a small bowl mix the chia/flax egg. Set aside. 3) In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger). 4) Take the cold Earth Balance butter cut butter into dry ingredients until crumbly. 5) In a medium sized bowl, mix the pumpkin, chia/flax egg, and almond milk. 6) Add wet to dry and mix until a ball forms. I got down and dirty and mixed with my hands! 7) On a flour surface place the ball of dough and kneed a few times with your hands. 8.) Shape the dough into a circle and then cut into 8 triangles. 9) Now mix your vegan egg wash by mixing cornstarch and water and heating in microwave for 30 seconds. Stir well. 10) With a pastry brush, brush on the glaze onto each scone. 11) Sprinkle with turbinado sugar generously and bake for 14 minutes. 12) Cool for 10-15 minutes. 16) While cooling, make your spiced glaze by beating 1 cup powdered sugar with milk and spice until smooth. 17) When scones are cool ice the scones and serve with a cup of tea or coffee!

Baking Notes: I forgot to add sugar to the recipe, so my scones turned into savoury scones! However, with the spiced icing glaze I found they were just perfect. Eric did too. If you prefer a sweeter scone I suggest you add some sugar (see original recipe). You may also have to add more almond milk. if I was not going to have icing on them I would definitely add some sugar to it.

These were really easy to make despite the long directions…it only took me about 25 minutes to prep I believe. That includes photography too!

Mix dry ingredients!

Cut in 1/2 cup Earth Balance Butter..

Note: That is only 1/4 cup pictured above.

until crumbly…

Mix wet ingredients (including chia/flax egg)…

Add wet to dry and form into a ball. Do not overmix the dough!

Flour surface…

Knead dough a few times and then shape into a circle…

I added a tiny splash of almond milk to the dough as it was a bit dry.

With a pizza slicer or a knife cut into 8 triangles..

Lay on baking sheet…

Spread with the Vegan egg wash!

This part is fun…no egg required and it turns out just as nice looking!!!

Vegan eggwash (1 tbsp cornstarch and 1/2 cup water mixed and heated for 30 secs.)- that’s it!

A gel forms…then spread each scone lightly with it. It looks gross, but hey, so do raw eggs.

Bake 14 minutes at 425F. Note the bottom scones were glazed and the top ones were not.

Glaze = a much prettier scone! I would not skip this step. It also gave the Turbinado sugar something to adhere to.

Now spread that pumpkin spiced glaze on and decorate however you wish! I added some walnuts.

Mmmmmm…

Awesome. I was so happy with how they turned out.

Next time I would probably experiment with adding some chopped pecans and raisins to the scones. That would be wonderful!

Enjoy with your favourite tea…

Mmmmm.

Fall you ain’t so bad after all.

Happy Long Weekend!

I kicked off the long weekend with something I haven’t had in a long time…cheesy savoury oats. These are one of my all-time favourite quick, healthy, and easy meals. For some reason my stomach has been nauseous all day long and this is the only thing I felt like for dinner. Weird I know, but these oats comfort me!

For the recipe, see this post.

The best part of loaded oats = going crazy and loading on toppings!

• Nacho chips
• 1/2 avocado, sliced
• Leftover homemade tomato sauce
• Hummus
• Tomato paste
• Ground black pepper
• Herbamare 

So good and filling.

So many textures too. I love getting a little bite of everything.

For dessert I broke into my Vosges Creole Expresso bar all the way from Chicago!

I like my chocolate intense, deep, dark, slightly bitter, smooth, and creamy. This was no exception. After two squares I was done like dinner.

I also did some much needed speed organizing tonight. If you are anything like me, a cluttered space equals a cluttered mind.

An organized space equals free-flowing creativity and a decrease in stress!

BEFORE:

That is a small business battleground right there. It has pretty much been like this for months.

The beautiful and zen-inspiring AFTER (in just 20 mins)!

I sorted through all my papers, cleared off unnecessary papers on my bulletin board, and I put a new organizer to use with pens (that I can never find!) mail, and pending orders:

I also spent a while putting Gmail’s new Priority Inbox to good use and I organized ALL of my emails. Is anyone else using the Priority Inbox yet? It is awesome.

Can you believe I had 27,000+ non-archived emails in my inbox? Horrifying, I know. I archived all but 5 of them. I also created a couple new labels- 1) Green Monster submissions (I’m almost caught up!), and 2) Recipe spottings. Then, I deleted about 15 labels that I was no longer using. This made for a very short and quick drop down menu.

I feel like a new woman. A great way to start the weekend.

What is your computer space like right now? Cluttered, organized, Type-A, messy, chaotic, like a page out of Martha Stewart magazine? Do you have any plans to change your work space or decorate?

I have more goals for decorating and organizing my space down the road. First, I need a better storage system. Right now I just dump everything into one tiny plastic file (that is busting at the seams) or the deep-set cabinets. It is a bit chaotic. I also want to make my space look more feminine as it is a bit masculine. I could use some frills, polka-dots, ribbon trim, and flower prints right about now.

Right now, this is the only girly touch I have at my desk- A ‘Believe’ sign from Dollarstore. Some moments, during times of chaos, I glance up at that sign and it gives me hope.