Waiting game

I have never been a very patient person… it’s just not in my nature (my poor poor un born child! thankfully the man friend has more patience than anyone I know- Balance! it’s important).

Any who, waiting of any kind- let alone the life changing kind- has never been my strong suit. The only way I can survive is by keeping myself busy with odd jobs here and there. Everyone keeps telling me to rest and relax while I can but I honestly find keeping busy more relaxing then sitting around like a bump on a log.

Todays ‘job’ was to prep some make ahead breakfast foods for the crazy moments ahead of me and I came up with a totally delicious ‘kitchen sink’ granola. You are going to want to make some of this- SO GOOD!

Measurements are a little hazy as I did a little of this a little of that but i’ll share anyways 🙂

4 cups gluten free oats

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/2 cup chopped raw peanuts

1/2 cup chopped raw almonds

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 cup chopped raw pecans

1 cup dried cranberries

1/4-1/2 cup coconut flakes

1/4 cup chia seeds

1/4 cup- 1/2 cup flax seed (whole)

1.5 teaspoons cinnamon

6 tablespoons of melted coconut oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

Preheat to 325 degrees.

Stir all dry ingredients together. Add wet and stir to combine.

Pour out on parchment lined baking sheets (I needed 3) and bake for 30 minutes- stirring half way. Allow to cool completely before storing. I like to keep granola in glass jars in my freezer :).

I just threw in whatever nuts and seeds I had on hand- just use whatever you have and adjust your liquid ingredients as needed.

This granola is great on its own, with a little almond milk, on top of a smoothie, mixed with a little yogurt etc.,

That’s it. Easy peasy! Hope you enjoy 🙂

 

 

 

Oodles of Noodles

The count down is on! Less than 3 weeks to go till my due date. At this point bubs can make his/her appearance any day now (i’m not so silently praying its sooner than later). I’m off work at the moment enjoying my last moments of rest, relaxation and freedom! I feel extremely blessed to have this time to myself and the weather is really helping me enjoy it.

I’ve been spending lots of time on our deck and hanging at the river with my favourite little lady :). At first I was worried I would get bored not working- NOPE! loving every moment over here. I’m ready for retirement 😉

It hasn’t been all lazing around.

Nesting is in full force. I’ve done tons of meal prep for those first few hectic weeks, lots of cleaning and organizing every drawer and every room. It feels so good to get everything in place (even though it won’t stay that way for long).

Our deep freeze could not be more full and I couldn’t be happier :).

That garbage bag is FULL of organic grass fed beef ready to hit the grill mmmmm. I love grilling season.

Okay, i’ll get to the point now. The last few weeks I have definitely been craving more carby meals- AKA lots of noodles. I always try and incorporate lots of veggies in all of my meals so I thought I’d share 2 easy delicious recipes that are well balanced (in my opinion).

First up

Tomato basil pasta 

4 organic field tomatoes chopped

4 cloves of garlic minced

1 large onion diced

1 bunch of basil julienned

avocado oil for cooking and finishing

salt and pepper to taste

1 package of gluten free pasta

Cook onion over medium high heat in a touch of avocado oil. Once translucent (a few minutes) throw in the garlic and sauté until fragrant (another few mins). Add in tomatoes and let cook until nice and juicy. Add in half the bunch of basil, salt and pepper to your liking. While cooking up the ‘sauce’, cook the pasta until el dente. Toss pasta with ‘sauce’ and sprinkle with remaining basil. This pasta is perfect with a grilled chicken breast or some grilled prawns. Super easy to put together and really delicious.

Summer is a great time to make this dish because all of the ingredients are so fresh and can be found at your local farmers market.

Next up

Pad Thai

1 red pepper thinly sliced

1/2 cup snow peas thinly sliced

4 green onions chopped

1 bunch cilantro diced

2 cups bean sprouts

4 cloves of garlic diced

1 egg whisked

protein of choice (tofu, shrimp, chicken…)

1/4 cup chopped peanuts

1 package of stick rice noodles

Sauce:

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons of soy aminos

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

A dash of sweet chili sauce

 

1 lime for finishing

Prep everything ahead- this meal comes together extremely fast!

Prepare noodles and put aside. Cook whisked egg and put aside. Put together sauce and put aside. Cook protein up and put aside.

In a large stir fry pan saute garlic in a little cooking oil (I use coconut oil). Add in green onions and red peppers. Stir until combined. Add in cooked noodles. Pour sauce in and turn heat off. Stir until combined. Add in egg, protein, bean sprouts, snow peas and cilantro. Toss until everything is coated in sauce.

Sprinkle chopped peanuts and squeeze lime over dish and serve it up.

Super easy but very yummy and flavourful. This isn’t a super saucy dish-the man friend and I prefer it to be more subtle. If you would like a deeper flavour just double the sauce recipe. Easy peasy.

Hope you enjoy!!

 

 

Fresh herbs

Good afternoon/evening.

I can’t believe how spoiled we are on the west coast right now- Spring has officially sprung and it is so glorious! It always shocks me how much my mood is affected by the weather- I have a very hard time being grumpy when the sun is out.

I’ve been taking advantage of the sun as much as I can! Working outside ( a perk of working from home), daily hikes with taffy, working in the garden and taking nice evening strolls around the neighbourhood after dinner. You really can not beat this time of year.

Spring is the best 🙂

Any who… another reason I love spring is getting out in the garden. This year i’m going to keep things fairly low key- I have a feeling i’ll have my hands full!!- but I’m definitely going to make sure to have tons of fresh herbs to keep my meals interesting. Not only are fresh herbs ridiculously nutritious but they really turn up a meal. In the winter I rely on my frozen herb and oil cubes that I prepare at the end of summer but it’s just not the same as being able to go grab a handful of sage, rosemary, parsley, cilantro etc., to add to a dish.

As you can tell from my last few posts i’m really into bulk preparation, mainly large salads of some sort to carry me through the busy week. Although the ingredients in my salads don’t always change week to week I do try to change up my dressing to keep things interesting.

This week’s salad is brought to you by the delicious herb parsley. I LOVE parsley. It complements just about every meal out there and I always make sure to have some on hand to sprinkle on almost every dish. Parsley is also amazing to throw into a refreshing green smoothie or fresh juice- it just makes everything taste extra fresh.

Parsley is a real super house of nutrition! It is full of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients- specifically high in vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C as well as iron and calcium. Parsley is known to help neutralize particular types of carcinogens, such as those that are found in cigarette smoke and charcoal smoke, as well as prevent free radical damage to your cells.

Sounds like a pretty fantastic little herb! if you haven’t tried growing your own, get on it! I do not have a green thumb at all and I manage to keep my parsley alive almost year round 🙂

Okay enough babble… onto the recipe.

Veggie quinoa salad with a parsley vinaigrette 

Salad:

1 cup dried quinoa- cooked

1 bunch kale chopped

1 red pepper (organic) diced

1 tomato (organic) diced

1/2 red onion diced

2 carrots (organic) diced

4 small roasted beets diced

1 apple (organic) diced

1/2 cup fresh parsley chopped

1 avocado diced

Throw everything in a big ol bowl and mix it well.

Parsley vinaigrette: 

1 tbsp dijon mustard

2-3 tbsp organic extra virgin oil

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp warm water

1 clove of garlic minced

1 splash of maple syrup

1/4 cup fresh parsley

Throw everything in a blender and whip it up! If you would prefer it to be a little runnier just add a little more olive oil.

Top salad with dressing and toss it all together! Couldn’t be easier!

When serving the salad I like to add a handful of  walnuts and about half a cup of beans (my favourite being chickpeas). This salad is also great along side some grilled fish or chicken 🙂

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Kale pesto quinoa salad

Wow it’s been a while…

My food choices lately have not been blog worthy. Lots and lots of eggs on toast, porridge and soup- pretty boring and very repetitive.

After a deliciously indulgent Easter long weekend I decided it was time to push myself to pick up the variety in my diet and include some more fresh vegetables now that Spring has finally sprung!

On Monday night I prepped a giant salad for us to graze on throughout the week. It’s a goodie and I will definitely be making it more often!

Kale pesto quinoa salad

1 cup dried quinoa- prepared and cooled

1 diced organic tomato

1 diced organic red pepper

1/2 diced red onion

1 head of parsley chopped

1 can of chickpeas rinsed

Mix veggies well with cooled quinoa and set aside while making sauce.

Creamy Kale pesto sauce

1 head of organic kale cleaned and chopped

1 package of fresh basil pulled off the stem

1 ripe avocado

1 clove of garlic diced

1 handful of walnuts (probably a heaping 1/4 cup)

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

2-4  tablespoons of water

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Pinch of salt

Whip everything together in the food processor until its nice and creamy.

Stir sauce into quinoa salad and you’re good to go!

Super easy to whip up and it will keep in the fridge for a few days. I love salads like this. They perfectly compliment grilled chicken, grilled fish, a nice steak… OR, they are perfect on their own.

With the baby on it’s way soon I’m trying to build up my arson of easy, healthy, delicious and quick meals and this salad definitely fits the bill.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do 🙂

 

 

 

Cravings

Lets cut straight to the chase… pregnancy cravings are like no other cravings I have ever had before. It’s not like your normal food pull, it’s a can’t think, can’t sleep, can’t do anything until you eat it. Luckily I haven’t had too weird ones so far- but there’s still time.

Let’s re-cap. So far the past 6 months I’ve had a real hankering for:

• Bacon cheese burgers- that lasted about 2 weeks;
• Salted ruffle chips- that lasted a week or so;
• Toasted bagels with butter- that lasted those first few months;
• Mandarine oranges every day all day for the month of December;
• Cucumber avocado sushi-that lasted for quite a few months;
• Chickpeas- plain with a little salt, in salad, mashed with avocado, in pasta…;
• Boom chica pop- Still in regular rotation;
• Post dinner dark chocolate squares;
• Amy’s gluten free, vegan bean and rice burrito’s- literally every day for about a month; and finally
• Green smoothies- kale, banana, cinnamon, hemp hearts, chia seeds, nut butter and almond milk- So good!;
• Eggs and Bacon- so many eggs on toast with crispy bacon!

I’m still deep deep in the eggs and bacon phase so tonights dinner needed a little bit of both! The man friend couldn’t tolerate another breakfast for dinner so I had to get creative…

Dairy free Pasta Carbonara 

1 small-medium onion diced

2 cloves of garlic smashed but kept whole

4 slices of bacon chopped up

1/4 cup chopped parsley

2 whole eggs and 1 egg yoke whisked with salt and pepper

1 package of brown rice pasta

Salt and Pepper to taste

Put a big pot of water on the stove and bring to boil- add pasta.

While pasta is cooking, fry up the onions, bacon and garlic together until crispy- throw out the garlic cloves.

Once the pasta is cooked toss in the bacon onion mixture and then stir in the whisked egg mixture. Stir rapidly until noodles are coated. Add in chopped parsley, salt and pepper to taste and you’re done! So easy, so delicious!!

I love that it has a creamy decadent feel to it without using cream, butter and cheese- bonus!

We are not doing dairy in our house at the moment, but if you’re not against a little dairy some shredded parm would be a really yummy addition to this meal.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did 🙂

Now i’m off to enjoy my post dinner dark chocolate treatie. Have a great night!