That has been the theme of my week.
Thankfully I am almost caught up on all my orders and will be able to get the rest out by tomorrow. It is going to be crazy not being in the bakery for 2 entire weeks! I feel like I am leaving my baby or something.
I have been packing and doing laundry all week, little by little!
For us over-packers, we can’t just pack in an hour, it has to be done over the course of several days! :mrgreen: Eric on the other hand, packs in 10 minutes the night before. lol.
Yes I bring loose leaf green tea with me. Priorities, right?
PS- Lululemon bags make great beach bags! :)
My workouts have sorta fallen to the wayside this week. I have been working long days and I just have been too worn out to fit much in. That is ok with me though. Life happens, right? I am planning some awesome workouts while in Florida so I know I will be nice and rested. :) I do hope to get in a run or two before I leave on Saturday though!
I did however, make room for some healthy food of course! This brings me to my Health Tip of the day…
Health Tip #3: Play around with quick and easy recipes
One of my favourite things to do is to take a fairly complicated recipe and turn it into something very simple. The time I have to cook each day is typically less than 30 minutes for all three of my meals combined, so they need to be FAST. I don’t think that having a busy lifestyle means that I need to forgo healthy meals! Because Eric doesn’t get home until late (often 8pm!!), I am in charge of the dinners. It would be nice to have an extra pair of hands, but that has just made me more conscious of having quick things to throw together.
Once I started experimenting with recipes, I realized that I could cook things up fairly quickly if I was willing to adjust the recipe to fit my needs! My advice is to play around with recipes and have fun! Just because a recipe is 10 steps long, doesn’t mean it needs to stay that way.
I thought I would show you an example of how I do this in action!
*does kung-fu move*
I came across this wonderful looking recipe by Smitten Kitchen. After reading the recipe, I realized that not only did I not have all the ingredients, but I didn’t have the time required to make the recipe.
What’s a girl to do?!
How about change it up!
And that is just what I did…
I took a recipe that was multiple steps long and I turned it into one step. To my delight, it still came out fabulous tasting too.
Speed It Up Spinach and Chickpeas
Adapted from the ever-so-fabulous Smitten Kitchen’s Spinach and Chickpeas.
Ingredients:
- Two cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4-5 cups spinach, washed (or more but I needed my spinach for my GM’s!)
- 2 slices of bread (I used Ezekiel), toasted and cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (optional, I didn’t have any)
- Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional, I didn’t have any)
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (I used regular)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Lemon juice, to taste
- 3 tablespoons chia flour (optional, this was my addition to thicken up the sauce)
Directions: Throw all ingredients except toast into a big skillet and heat until spinach wilts. Once spinach is wilted and everything is hot, toast the bread and cut into chunks. Stir into mixture and serve immediately. Takes about 10-15 minutes from start to finish! BOOM! :) I guess that it serves about 4. You could easily cut this recipe in half too.
Chia Flour…I think this is just ground up chia seeds!
Make sure you put the toast in only just before serving so it doesn’t get all mushy.
The toast MADE this meal! Amazing. I never would have thought to be toast in a dish like this! What a lovely idea.
Yes that is another beautiful day outside in the background that I don’t have time to enjoy! I will make up for it in Florida though, don’t you worry. Apparently, I am bringing the warm weather with me as it is supposed to be in the 70’s-80’s during our stay.
This was quite possibly the easiest and most fabulous dish I have made in a long time. I’m sure it didn’t taste as good as SK’s version, but it was still kick-butt!
Like I said, the toast was key.
By the way some of you are asking if I am going to be blogging while away, and the answer is Hell yesssssssssssss. :) It is going to be FUN.
Work calls me.
You are going to have such a great time on your trip, don’t worry about us! but it will be nice to hear from you to see how your trip is going and what goodies you find on your way. I can’t wait for my trip to Minnesota, i plan to go to soo many places that we don’t have in Saskatchewan!
I love that idea!! I can’t wait to try it- simple, delicious, clean, green, and gluten-free!
i am SO EXCITED for y’all…there’s nothing like going somewhere tropical at the tail end of winter! i think it’ll be fun to follow along while you’re in Florida…have fuN!
That dish looks delicious!! You always give me such great ideas for veggie meals :-)
ahh i wish I was going! love thait recipe its so simple and easy! is that bowl from urban outfitters?!? i SO saw it there, I think :) so pretty!!!
Have a great trip! Can’t wait to read all about it.
That dish looks amazing Angela! I HAVE to try it out!
xxoo
Heather
omg! i pack just like you do! it takes me a week and i have so much my suitcase is stuffed and a mess. the bf packs like eric, the day of and in less than 10 min. and his suitcase is so orderly and neat! hahahaha.
i was wondering what to make for dinner when I saw the recipe today. I just happened to cook some chickpeas today so it was perfect. I didn’t have any spinach so i used some collard greens and it was delicious!! Thanks
I still have yet to make my home-made croutons, i finally bought my avocado though for the Chocolate pudding recipe, is there anything I can replace the agave syrup for? JW
Oh wow, this meal looks great! I have never had chia flour, though I have ground chia seeds every morning…so maybe I HAVE had it! LOL! I love how you make everything look so picture-perfect before you eat it…it really helps you to enjoy a meal and savor it, don’t you think? I also took my time to make a pretty meal today…FOR ONCE! Haha! Need to do it more often! Have a great vacation!
Hi Angela-
You are such a delight, and you have such wonderful ideas. I am a Californian mom, yoga teacher, and veterinary technician and I really appreciate your kind support of animals. This is VERY off the subject-but-I see that Canada is about to start their annual seal slaughter and about 350,000 seals are slated to die. I also saw that the Canadian Parliment just had a seal meat dinner to kick off their seal season. I can only guess your feelings on this as a Canadian. I can understand the virtue of keep your blog “politics” free, especially since it also promotes your bakery. However, you are a powerful woman, and you have a great big soapbox to stand on in this blog. I am wondering if you would ever consider using your blog to bring awareness to this holocaust, and possible organize some sort of email campaign against this terrible tradition. I am not affiliated with anybody-I just am heartbroken by this massive lack of compassion, and wondered-what in the world could I, and people who feel the same as i do-possibly do to bring about some awareness and change here. Thank you for listening-and keep glo-ing!
Clare
I pack half of my thinks like, a week in advance.. then the rest the night before… this usually means I forget some things! ah :(
xox!
Vera
Heck, it usually takes me a week at least to pack. I always start off packing light (I think), and still end up taking stuff out. And I always travel with food — and tea.
Thanks for sharing that recipe. I have all the ingredients, and was wondering what to make for lunch . . . (I even happen to have the smoked paprika).
Have a fabulous trip!
My husband’s the same way!! I’ll haggle him the whole week I’m packing, and he’ll just respond, “nope, I haven’t started with. But I’ll have it done, don’t you worry.”
Then all the sudden, I’ll do something for 15 minutes, like take a shower, and when I get done, his suitcase is packed and by the door LOL So it always ends up I’m the last one packing.
I can’t wait to hear about your FL adventures. You TOTALLY deserve this vacay, Ange!
I have to pack in stages…….so like you it takes a few days!
Love you chickpea dinner idea :)
Do not worry about your workouts-you have been busy and yes life happens :)
During the week, fast meals are crucial! I love how you adapted this recipe :)
mmm definitely just made that spinach/chickpea dish. Yum. I live off 10 min meals. I don’t have the time or patience to devote much more time than that in the kitchen. That would have to be one of the things I love most about going veg, many more opportunities for quick meals!
i made my version of your version of the spinach and chickpeas for dinner tonight…thanks for the great idea!! i can’t help it…i always tweak recipes, no matter what. mine turned out yummy too…and i made enough to take to work tomorrow. yay! thanks again!
Topped it with spicy hummus and crushed mary’s crackers instead of bread. I just ate the whole pan. :)