Keep Calm and Hug Your Mom

It may have just been Mother’s Day but the lady that I like to call “Mom” (most prefer Bev but I have special naming privileges) is so darn special that she gets to celebrate being awesome twice this month…

Happy Birthday Mom!

 

The birthday prep started last night with some serious squares baking.

My mom needed to bring some birthday treats into work for the staff. It’s protocol. Naturally I stepped up to the plate.

Giant pan of squares #1 = Toffee Squares. Think cake mix, toffee bits and  chocolate chips. Think deadly. The only thing that would make these better would be one big, thick drizzle of caramel.

Giant pan of squares #2 = Top Secret (ahem…meaning I forgot to take a picture. But they were strawberry cheesecake squares)

I figured, with two giant pans of ooey gooey desserts being brought in, there would be tons of leftovers trailing back home at the end of the day.

Nope…just these. And only because my mom nabbed a few to sneak back home for us. Otherwise, demolished.

And there look, evidence of the cheesecake squares.

I also baked up some Momnola (aka Mom’s Granola) since she likes to sprinkle it on her oatmeal every morning.

The label says, “No experiments. Just good old fashioned oats, butter and brown sugar. Enjoy!”

Explanation: Every time she requests granola, I try out a new recipe. Sometimes they use pumpkin, applesauce, different oils, nut butters and other random ingredients. Often times they just don’t turn out that well . The basic butter/brown sugar combo is spot on. I wouldn’t dare mess around with her birthday batch.  (Hint: It was Averie’s recipe I’ve already tried and loved)

Let me just tell you, baking giant pans of pure sugary goodness mere hours before bed is not the best idea. Obviously I had to sample (to make sure they were edible of course!) while cutting them up. I was wired. ‘Sleepy’ took a long time to kick in, and even when it did my mind was still running at top speed.

 

And then I woke up to do it all over again in order to make a Carrot Birthday Cake!

But first I took a break from the sugar-laden treats and opted for some greens.

Hello Green Liquid Breakfast. Green tea, almond milk, chocolate protein powder, cocoa powder, spinach, frozen strawberries, cinnamon, barley grass powder, vanilla stevia, ice and gums. Topped with Fibre One for good measure.

Run Run Run. Abs Abs Abs. Lunch Lunch Lunch.

THEN the baking re-ensued.

It was carrot cake. It was a beautiful process.
But the taste test had to wait until after dinner.

Swiss Chalet anyone? “Life should taste as good as Swiss Chalet.” Is this just a Canadian thing? They have the best dipping sauce.

How about some free appetizer perogies? (Gotta love coupons!)

For the actual meal, we all ordered the Quarter Chicken Dinner – mine was white meat chicken with a roll and side garden salad. I also stole a few of my mom’s fries, hence the lovely ketchup blob on the bottom of the plate.
(Spot the delish dipping sauce in the upper right corner)

 

Okay okay THEN it was Cake Time.

Drum roll please…

CARROT CAKE.

I’ve made THIS carrot cake a couple times before and it has always been a ‘this is so good I can’t help but ‘mmm’ after every bite’ hit, so it was once again a no-brainer.

We tried to get some nice, normal pre-cake portraiture (*Note the fact that my brother’s hand is almost as big as my mom’s face. Freak).

Yeah we don’t do normal. Or at least he doesn’t. Clearly he was just a little too excited for cake time.

“GIMME DE CAKEEEEEE”

Wishes.

Dig in.

Delicious.

 

Happy Birthday dearest Mom. You da Bomb!

Scooter Girl

Can someone build a gasless car and deliver it to me by the end of the week? Otherwise I’m never leaving the house again. That or I’m going to invest in one of those motorized bicycles. Or maybe a really sweet scooter. Considering I work at a motorcycle shop (Didn’t know that? Now you do :)), this idea just might be plausible. Thoughts?

I think I could rock a scooter (please excuse the hairy legs…and arms).

Seriously though, gas prices make me want to cry… along with the rest of the population since that’s all the news and anyone who drives seems to talk about lately. I just heard the prices are supposed to skyrocket even more? And I’m down to a quarter tank…sob.

 

While a scooter might not be on the agenda for this week at least, green smoothies have been. Smoothie weather has arrived!

For Breakfast…

…AND lunch.

Yes, those are three entirely different smoothies. How exciting am I, they all look the exact same and I can’t even be bothered to switch it out of a Bullet cup. That’s just another dish to wash though and the Bullet cup fits oh so nicely into the hand.

The contents of the three above smoothies vary slightly but include:
Chilled green tea, unsweetened almond milk, ice, large handful spinach, ~1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder, frozen strawberries, cinnamon, barley grass powder, xanthan gum (and maybe some guar), a bit of sweetener if needed.

 

Aside from smoothie binges, last night I chomped on a veggie burger on a slice of rye with dijon mustard, Laughing Cow cheese, sundried tomatoes and spinach.

Can we just focus on the faux grill lines for a second? Are they supposed to give some sense of real burger authenticity? It kind of makes me laugh…but I totally felt like I was eating a big juicy burger hot off the grill…or not quite.

It was even better that the real thing. Thumbs UP to veggie burgers.

DOUBLE thumbs up to Pita Pit. I hadn’t had a Pita Pit pita in ages but I finally had one again the other day. Isn’t it beautiful?

A babaganoush and vegetable-loaded bundle of joy: baba, romaine, red onions, pickles, hot peppers, tomatoes, green peppers, mushrooms, honey mustard.

 

Last night I was also in a baking mood so I baked granola!
Making granola is a little more like concocting than baking but it satisfied the urge and mom’s request for granola. Two birds, one stone.

I based mine off of this recipe, making a much smaller batch with the ingredients I had on hand.

My batch included:

Dry: 50 g rolled oats, 50 g quick oats, 10 g puffed rice cereal, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp sea salt
Wet: 1/4 cup applesauce , 2 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp packed brown sugar, 1/2 tbsp safflower oil, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Add-ins:1/4 cup chopped almonds and cashews, 1/4 cup chopped dried apricots, cranberries and raisins

Baked at 300 for 20 minutes without the fruit and nuts.
Then stirred and baked for another 30 minutes with the fruit and nuts.

This granola came out beautifully. Lightly sweetened, super crunchy, with some of those oh-so-coveted granola clumps in the mix.

Be sure to check out the original recipe, which breaks down all of the steps to a perfect batch of granola.

 

Still on the topic of baking, I was recently sent a bag of Emerald Forest Xyla brand Xylitol, an all-natural sugarless sweetener extracted from natural fibrous sources such as birch trees. It has the same sweetness as sugar with 40% less calories and 75% less carbs.

Considering it can be swapped 1 to 1 with sugar, I decided to try it out on a miniature batch of flourless peanut butter cookies: 1/4 cup peanut butter, 1/4 cup Xyla, 1/4 egg (this was a little tricky).

Though they’re no substitute for the real thing, the Xylitol puts an interesting flavour spin on the cookie and they’re plenty sweet. I think I’d cut down on the Xylitol a bit when using it again as a swap for sugar in baking.

That being said, I finished off the last cookie last night atop a bed of plain yogurt, banana and peanut butter. Mmm. I’ll have to see what other good uses I can come up with for the Xyla. Ever used it? Any suggestions?

 

Wow, where did the morning go? I think it’s about time I get a move on…preferably not via driving, though I now also have a nice big chip in the windshield after a rock came shooting at me off the highway the other day. Swell. So I need to go get that repaired stat.

 

Do you drive? Are you crying right now because of it? Are these rising gas prices making you change or consider changing your driving habits?

I sure am less motivated to want to go out anywhere. And I’m definitely trying to figure out how I can use bicycle transportation more often. Sadly I live in the burbs so everyone and everything is a bit of a hike out of the way. Otherwise I’d be doing a lot more walking to where I need to go! Motorized shoes perhaps?

 

*Don’t forget to enter my Tuesday Tea Giveaway!

Counteracting the Candy

Oh November. I like you but your presence is a little bittersweet. You’re a fresh month, full of new excitements and possibilities…and yet you bring with you more work crammed into 30 days than I dare want to even think about. If October is the month of midterms, November is the month of essays. Not one of my top three that’s for sure.

But I will survive, I will survive, just as long as I know how to write I know I’ll stay alive…

Unfortunately essay writing is not my forte so I’ll be surviving by a thread.

Anybody love essay writing? Better yet, anyone want to write all of mine for me? ;)

 

So that Halloween thing just happened. Who else grew a third arm from the adverse effects of chocolate overload?

Mine was only temporary. Probably because I fought it off with so many veggies.

And menacing looks.

And plenty more veggies:

Sauteed kale, slaw and brussel sprouts in balsamic with spelt veggie burger and roasted red pepper dip.

Spinach, cucumbers, rice burger, red pepper dip, mustard.

Kale chips with ketchup & Egg Beater omelette with salsa and Laughing Cow

Romaine, spinach and cucs with red pepper dip & canned salmon mixed with Laughing Cow, lemon juice and Worcestershire.

Spinach and roasted squash

Spinach, steamed broccoli, carrots, slaw, mushrooms, balsamic & chunks of vegepate. 

 

I may have also eaten an entire batch of Pumpkin Spice Granola… all by myself… over the course of several days or course…uh yeah.

I also discovered I may never need to buy Deep Chocolate Vitatops again?!

Katie’s Triple Chocolate Chunk Muffins really are truly a genius Vitamuffin replacement. I only used a few small packets of Stevia instead of the Splenda so mine were a little bitter but otherwise, definitely making these again.

Let’s not forget the sushi fix – Green Dragon roll! This one was long overdue.

Or the new hummus discovery – Masala Hummus. If you have access to the PC brand and like Indian food… you need to try this hummus. Couldn’t get enough.

And then of course the best meal of the day should never be forgotten – BREAKFAST.

Whole wheat waffle topped with plain yogurt/sugar free maple syrup mix + flax + banana

Oats & Notes – oats cooked stovetop style, topped with a dollop of orange-y yogurt mixed with peanut butter.

Giant cereal bowls with puffed rice, All Bran, strawberry yogurt, vanilla protein powder sprinkle, frozen banana slices and skim milk. Seriously, cereal never gets t.

And then we have the winner…

Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin Bread FRENCH TOAST (dipped in a mixture of egg whites, almond milk, cinnamon and stevia) with a spread of red pepper jelly.

Oh my lanta.

 

But forget breakfast. We’re past supper now and the only thing left to do is school work. I’m not too sure how I’m going to go about this one…

On second thought, I think I’ll go get some bubble tea first. I need some Boba fuel! Except I now order mine with the newly offered aloe jellies. Defreakinglicious.

(weheartit)

Happy Humpday!

Minimal Labour

How was everyone’s fine long Labour Day weekend… aka basically the final weekend of summer?!

Shock gasp horror

 
(weheartit)

I still can’t get over the fact that it’s already September… and a week in already at that.

And that I start back to classes in a week. Welcome Fourth and Final Year oh boy. I think I’m ready for it though… bring it on books.

 
(Source)

 

My weekend wasn’t terribly adventurous.

It involved chilly and peaceful mornings.

Accompanied by warm and comforting breakfasts.

Simple stovetop banana oats with peanut butter and raspberries

 

Soft and chewy whole wheat pbjb waffles with fresh cantaloupe

 

The weekend was actually quite laden with peanut butter.

As well as vast amounts of roasted buttercup squash. I just can’t get enough, I just can’t get enough. I cooked up a big sucker yesterday… and not a trace remains.

It was less laden with other vegetables, though I tried to stomach them where I could. I think I’m in a vegetable rut. I’m just not loving them as much lately. Sigh!

  

 

There was a bit of shopping (along with some sweet deal scores!) that happened.

I found this Living Raw Food book in the book section of an antique marketplace at our farmer’s market. Perfection condition $12. Done! I’m clearly not a raw foodist but I find it to be an interesting way of eating and this book seems to have some great recipes as well as a whole slew of good clean food information, so I couldn’t pass it by.

Not so raw but an equally good deal, Designer Whey Double Chocolate Protein Powder for $8 on clearance. I love Winners.

And a retro bar night of drinks and 80s tunes probably happened last night. Black Sunday, busiest night of the year at this particular hole in the wall bar. Can’t miss it.

(weheartit)

 

And of course, a little recipe testing had to happen as well.

Vegan with a Vengeance (which first introduced me to TVP) delivered my TVP-filled dinner tonight in the form of TVP Veggie Burgers.

This probably would have been much more successful with tiny TVP chunks (mine were the large ones) and much more finely diced vegetables. They barely held together so the whole “burger” concept was basically shot.

I managed to get one lone burger to stay together.

(The left white blob is mashed potato and the right white blob is mashed cauliflower mixed with laughing cow, dijon mustard and ff sour cream… mmm)

The taste is still, well… tasty, so the remainders shall be eaten fork style. Or maybe wrap style! Endless possibilities. Ish.

 

I also had a request for da mom for fresh baked granola. So of course I delivered. And this batch got a standing ovation.

Welcome home Averie’s Vegan Gluten & Soy-Free Granola.

I completely de-veganized it by using normal butter. That is what we’ve got. And I threw in a handful of pumpkin seeds and raisins. Cooked it for 15 minutes.
And I halved it. You know, just in case it didn’t turn out…

What was I thinking? This one took over first place as favourite homemade granola recipe so far!

 

Perfectly crunchy, satisfyingly sweet.

How do you spruce up your veggies and make them more exciting when you’re just not feeling them?

Highlight of your long weekend?

 

              Have a terrific

                        !