My first attempt at Granola

I've always heard it was super easy to make granola so I finally took the plunge.  As my coating I used coconut oil (melted) and agave. What ever you decide to coat in the liquid is completely up to you, I just used what I had available in my pantry. I just added dry ingredients till the liquid didn't seem to be able to coat the mixture.

Ingredients (aprox measurements**as usual!!  I am terrible at paying attention when I'm baking)

- 2 tbsp coconut oil melted
- 2-3 tbsp agave (or maple syrup if you prefer)
- 2 cups rice puffs (GF)
- 1 cup of GF oats
- 1 cup of mixed seeds and nuts (some dried currents and raisins too)
 - 1/2 cup chia seeds

Bake at 400F for about 10min or until edges begin to turn brown.
(note... it will not be crunchy or solid until after it cools off, so don't panic (like I did... thinking I made a dud batch... it turned out.. )

Was so delicious.  I also put it on my oatmeal the next day!

Day 14 - The End

Well this is it for my valiant attempt at a vegan cooler 1.  Instead of drinking the big glass of red wine that I've been craving,  I went shopping today for some new clothes.  And I fully intend on getting rid of the two pairs of pre-baby jeans that I just can't fit into.  For now I'll just be "good"!  I'm happy with my job, I'm happy with Mark being home, I'm happy with my life!  Joy is a choice and I'm choosing it! 


Breakfast -oatmeal and a smoothie

1/2 cup GF oats
1/2 apple
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp almond butter
unsweetened almond milk
water
decaf coffee with soy

1 banana
3 tbsp natural peanut butter
1 scoop unsweetened protein powder
ice
unsweetened almond milk

Lunch - salad

2/3 can of Eden chickpeas
1 tomato -diced
1/2 orange pepper-cut
2 leaves of kale - finely chopped
(dressing of olive oil/ balsamic/apple cider vinegar/1tsp honey mustard)
basil

1/4 of an english cucumber
apple
water

snack-
roasted chestnuts (about 5)

Diner - lazy tuna casserole

can of tuna (low sodium)
3tbsp salsa
2 cups steamed broccoli
1 orange pepper
olive oil
couple sundried tomatoes
water

snack - popcorn and tea

1/3cup corn kernels
1.5tbsp coconut oil
chili powder
sesame+nutritional yeast (blended in bullet mix)

rooibos and herbal tea mix with almond milk

Day 10- Reinventing Shepard's pie

 

So this was my version of tonight's diner!  Vegan, clean, veggiful and colourful!

As you can see my hungry family chowing down on "regular Shepard's" pie, or as it's known in our house as paté chinois. This is how I made my vegan clean friendly version.

 

 

This is lentils, garlic, onions and tempeh mixed with some chili seasoning (I know it's weird, but it's what our family is used too, because I refuse to allow Mark to use the packages for Shepard's pie or even use gravy since it has too much salt) mixed with the water from the boiled sweet potatoes.

 

 

 

Mashed sweet potatoes with just some of the water and some onions.

 

 

Athletes (Cooking Greens) mixed with a bit of frozen corn.

 

 

Assemble and bake at 375F for 30mins (or so).

 

 

 

Enjoy!

Today's eats:

 

Breakfast (same as yesterday)

 

snack

1.5 cups of tomato tempeh soup

water

decaf tea with unsweetened almond milk

 

Lunch

can of low sodium tuna

a head of romaine lettuce

1/4 cup salsa sauce

1/4 cucumber

2 tbsp olive oil

water

 

snack

 

a large handful of veggie chips (the ones from bulk barn with probably too much oil)

water

about 3 sun dried tomatoes in olive oil (while I was making my diner)

 

Diner





a serving of my version of Shepard's pie

water

 

After diner snack...

 

a pot of herbal tea  (Caramel Almond Amaretti) and some vanilla almond milk (yes I know the sweetened kind... ) But this is desert!!!

 

 

 









Day 9- The best part of cooler 1 in the fall is the SOUP!!!

Well I am happy to report that apparently ranting to the universe pays off because this morning when I got on my scale FINALLY I lost some weight! Thus began a great day :)  Well pretty much nothing can tarnish Wednesdays in my view since I only teach 2 periods in the morning (yes I am only 68%) so that means I do have time off school.  Today after school I rushed to the yoga studio and did a hot class, then browsed the Chapters looking for some cute Halloween books for my kids, then it was back home for some lunch. After a very late lunch I got to go on a fantastic bike ride because the weather was absolutely perfect for it!  I rode up North of my place and the fall leaves are just stunning, yes the route north is uphill, but damn if it isn't worth the ride to see the sights. Plus what goes up must come down, my ride back home was easy-peasy.  Did I mention the temp was in the 20's!!!! So yes today was awesome!  So anyway here are my eats...

Breakfast
1/2 cup GF oats
3 tbsp hemp hearts
1tbps almond butter
1 tbsp ground flax
4 strawberries
unsweetened almond milk
water
decaf coffee with soy milk (because that's what they have at Strabucks- I know I'm working towards quitting)

Snack
3/4 of an orange pepper
2 cups of carrot ginger chick pea soup
water

Lunch: (this was slightly warmed up)
can of tuna (low sodium)
1/2 cup of salsa
1 large tomato diced
water
decaf coffee with unsweetened almond milk

snack (before bike ride)
brown rice cake (lundenburg)
water

Diner:
tomato tempeh soup drizzled with olive oil
green juice (collards, zucchini, 1/2 lemon, 1/2 apple, 2 carrots, 3 green tomatoes and mint)
water
tea with almond milk

Ok so yes tomato soup with tempeh is strange... but it worked because it's all blended up together!  And come on who doesn't like, tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil???? 

I sort of just threw a bunch of tomatoes from our garden about 7 or 8 in a pot
with a jar of Mark's tomato's sauce
lots of garlic
1 onion
1 carrot
some broccoli stems
about 2/3 of a pack of tempeh (plain, no salt, no flavour)
some dried basil and parsley
a dash of cinnamon
water

Day 6- really that's it?

Honestly I feel like I haven't had a refined carb in sooo long! I miss the crunch of rice chips, the warm crust on my little GF vegan diner rolls...umm with their soft chewy centers...ahhhhh  Oh and scoops of natural peanut butter right out of the jar...ohhhh  And the worst part is I think I'm not going to lose any weight!  This morning the scale told me I went up???  really!! Come on... I've only been cheating a bit, but I wonder if because I'm feeling so hungry I'm in fact eating more calories? sigh** I guess I'll keep going and give it a few more days before actually throwing my hands up in defeat.  So here's what I had to eat today! 

Breakfast:
1/2cup GF oats
4 strawberries
1 tbsp raw almond butter
3tbsp hemp hearts
1 tbsp chia seeds
unsweetened almond milk
water
decaf coffee with soy milk (I know..I know I have to give this up!)

snack:
- 1 cup of sweet potato curry humus
- 5-6 stalks of celery
-1/3 cucumber
- 1 roma tomato
-water

Lunch:
-pack of Norri (seaweed paper)
- med. apple
- cup of carrot/chick pea ginger soup (see pic)
- decaf tea and water

snack: (or second lunch)
- 4 kale leaves (chopped)
- 4 romaine leaves (chopped)
- 1/4 cup salsa sauce
- can of tuna
- 2 tbsp of humus
-decaf tea and water

Diner: (see pics)
- asparagus stalks (about 8)
- broccoli florets (about 5)
- small onion
- garlic
- 3 slices of tempeh
-sauce made of 2 tbsp carrot soup and 2 tbsp humus
-decaf tea and water

So here are the pics for the carrot ginger chick pea soup...

 

Just your basic carrot soup recipe: simmer till soft then add chick peas and ginger and blend!
1.5 lbs of carrots
couple of stalks of celery
an onion
a clove or two of garlic
1/2 sweet potato
1/4 zucchini (bc it was left over from the other day)

These aren't organic and they probably have BPA in them but they have no salt and were available in a pinch!



The chick peas make this soups so thick!  It's amazing.

 

 It was amazing outside today so I had this on the back deck, with my book and hot tea!

And for diner because I'm obsessed with this humus and can't stop eating it with nearly every meal, I found a way to add it to my soup and used it as a sauce for my "power bowl" 



 

Day 4... the day I cheated.. or treated myself...

Friday are never easy when you are on a strict diet plan.  I figured if I could just make it till night time and then I would reward myself with a small treat.  I wasn't sure what I was planning yet but I did manage well all day! 

Breakfast
1/2 cup GF oats
1/3 cup strawberries
3 tbsp hemp hearts
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp raw almond butter
unsweetened almond milk
water
decaf coffee with unsweetened almond milk

snack
leftover homemade hummus
orange pepper
cucumbers
sundried tomatoes in olive oil
water
decaf tea with unsweetened almond milk

lunch
2 cup spinach leaves
can of tuna
1 tbsp olive oil
1tsp apple cider vinegar
garden tomato
raw zucchini
water
decaf tea with unsweetened almond milk

snack:
couple handfuls of dried peas
a small handful of dried veggies
protein shake:unsweetened almond milk, handful of strawberries, veg.protein powder, wheat grass powder, 1000mg vitamin C, probiotics (acidopholous) and ice

diner (apple curry stir fry)
athletes mix (about 1 cup)
serving of tempeh (is about 18g of protein)
curry sauce
an onion
a garden tomato (fist size)
an apple diced (actually made this really savory)
water
decaf pumpkin spice tea with almond milk

My reward for making it till today! 
 a grande decaf soy misto with a pump of pumpkin spice!  (Mark bought it for me as a "romantic gesture") I couldn't possibly tell him to bring me home a bunch of asparagus. 

So I'm not really expecting much from the scale tomorrow.  I was happy with what I did read today, so yes partially I'm doing this to lose the last couple of lbs, but I am doing this because I just needed to force a REBOOT!  You know, I was feeling sick and frumpy!  I'm already feeling much better. Headaches are gone, I'm not feeling nearly as sick as I was and no dizzyness or shaky feeling today! However that could be because I added strawberries this morning (extra sugar) and clearly ate more!

Day 3: surviving...

The third day of any cleans always seems to suck, it's the day that I try to drink more water.  My headache wasn't as bad but I did notice that I got shaky a couple of hours after eating breakfast, so that was my cue to eat asap.  So anyway here are my eats.  No gym today for me!  I am going to bed super duper early because I still want too fend off this cold that is plaguing me.

Breakfast

1/2 cup GF oats
1tbps chia seeds
1/4 cup strawberries
unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp bee pollen
water

scoop vegetarian protein powder
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
ice
unsweetened almond milk
2 tsp wheat grass powder

decaf americano with some soy milk

First lunch

1.5 cups of athletes mix
serving of tempeh
1/4 cup curry sauce
water

Second lunch

mug of roasted red pepper soup
3 tbsp of hemp hearts
water

pre-diner snack

a couple of handfuls of roasted peas (from bulk barn) and a few dehydrated veggie chips

Diner

homemade humus (chick peas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic powder and a bit of basil)
kale leaves
sun dried tomatoes in olive oil
yellow pepper
water

evening tea... I found a decaf pumpkin spice black tea at Bulk barn by Stash.  I'm on my second mug!!!

Well as you know, or not, meh either way.... Tosca Reno does not include humus in her cooler 1 plan, however since I didn't eat any sweet potato today I thought I would get my starch-like carbs and protein from chick peas! 

Post Thanksgiving DETOX!!! Ouch...

Oy!!!!  So game on.  I had my fun, ate my gluten free diner rolls, had perhaps too much apple cider (the alcoholic kind) and red wine.  I indulged in sweet salad dressings, had syrup added to my decaf americano's,  and overall let my "white poison" philosophy slide a bit!  Ok well alot... I haven't actually gained any weight (well nothing significant) about a pound or two. But I feel terrible!!!  I've been sick for a week and a bit now, I haven't workout nearly enough and I feel frumpy! And so let the cleansing begin. 

Day 1:   headaches, shaking, foggy mind, I just felt crappy all day but... I did a 90 minute deep flow hot yoga class and then felt much better!

Breakfast:
1/2 cup GF oats
3 tbsp hemp hearts
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp raw almond butter
1/4 cup strawberries (I know not really cooler 1)
with unsweetened almond milk poured over
water

Lunch:
can of tuna with olive oil
a tomato from my garden
1 cup of athletes mix with some tomato/onion curry sauce - see picture below(athletes mix has mostly greens, a bit of red pepper and a bit of white beans) - see picture below
water

Snack:
pear

Diner: (this was eaten in 2 phases - part at 4:30 and the rest at 6:00)
a can of salmon with flax seed oil
2 cups of athlete mix
a giant tomato diced
1/4 cup of the tomato/onion curry sauce
1 cup of mixed string beans 
(the above 4 ingredients were heated with extra water and were like a soup)
water

rooibos tea with unsweetened almond milk

No I don't use it on chicken, but I'm sure it would be good! I buy it at Longo's it's about 5$ for the jar.  But  check out these ingredients and nutrition label.

Sometimes all I want is cookie dough!

And so I make it and eat it..

With these 6 ingredients. 

1 cup soaked dates
1 cup of natural peanut butter
a can of chick peas
a cup of oats (more if you need to thicken it up)
a couple of tbsp of chia seeds (for nutrients and to lower the GI of this treat)
a dash of cinnnamon
and a few drops of water if your food processor can't cope with the above 3 ingredients.

Process... and process... and process....

 And then eat!  Nom nom nom... and of course you can always bake them into cookies if you can part with the dough.

Bake at 350F for aprox 18 minutes or until bottoms are golden and tops are getting crispy.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys a good batch of cookie dough from time to stressful time.  I can't say I'm exactly stressed but my life is certainly different.  I'm a working mom, my handy fix it husband keeps taking on projects in our house (because now he is the stay at home parent) BUT... the casualties of his "handyness" is a persitant messy house.  I'm also struggling with getting to the gym as much.  When I was home with the kids full time it was easy to run out the door when Mark got home to workout, but now I'm suffering from  severe mommy guilt when I leave the house in the evenings.  And I have never been a morning person, but that is nothing but a big fat excuse and I will have to start working out in the AM before school.  Wish me luck!

Vegan Update

In 2 days I will have been vegan for two full weeks.  I think I passed the ultimate test this past week.  Saying no to both bacon and GF non-vegan treats.  Actually I truly don't miss the meat.  I've been eating so many new dishes because I'm being forced out of my comfort zone.  I realized that if I really wanted bacon, I could make it from young coconut.  Or just go to the Naked Sprout, they have a vegan BLT!

 Anyway I wanted to share with you that being vegan in a house of meat eaters isn't that hard.  Last night I made nacho's for 5 of us.  Mine was vegan, Patrick's was dairy free, Luke's didn't have tomatoes, Mark's had no peppers... you get the point right.  Everyone likes their food just a little different from the other.  Sooo this is what it looks like in my kitchen on a typical diner!

Right: ground chicken with garlic and chili powder... Left can of aduki beans, mushrooms, chili powder and garlic

I heated it until the mushrooms wilted and turned dark.

The assembly station. 

In the oven at 350F for 20 minutes. 

So just for the record, I didn't go vegan because I have any animal right's issues.  I've gone vegan to try to clean out my system.  I want my body to run as efficiently as possible and from everything I read meat as a source of protein just isn't what I want.  I am amazed at how much my training has improved over these last few weeks.  In fact I can't even remember the last day that I took off training.  I've done something every single day and doing it well at that.  I biked 52km yesterday and today ran 7km.  Tomorrow I've got a 25k planned and a short run. Tuesday is power yoga and tri-training with the club, Wednesday is swim/bike....you get the picture!

 I'm eating tons of seasonal fruit (I love that I can do that) I am not hungry because I eat often and really well, my body is shedding the extra weight it gained in July, I am able to run further, bike further/faster, swim faster, with less rest needed between, and all while keeping a lower heart rate!  All in all, not to bad.  I've also been reading Brandon Brazier's The Thrive Diet book and learning tons of fun new tips.  Like how yummy nutritional yeast is, but to boost it's already awesome nutritional content, put it in the coffee grinder with raw sesame seeds, place in a shaker and add as a "cheesy" topping!

 Tonight I made air popcorn, melted coconut butter over it, and used my new topping (plus a dash of salt)... wow it was amazing! I also put a bit of chili powder on it to see if I would like them together... Duh! of course they went well together, chili cheese popcorn!  Clean and healthy!

Quinoa burgers

Tomorrow we are having friends over for a BBQ and I asked Mark to pick up some veggie burgers.  Guess what the 3rd ingredient is???  Wheat gluten!  Go figure.  So I decided to give quinoa burgers a try. I made quinoa the other day and had some left over. I should or could have looked up a recipe, but you know me... They never completely suit my needs so better to just improvise with what I had on hand (or in the garden, as it may be).

  So I contemplated what I would need to make the quinoa "stick together"... like an egg in some hamburgers, but since I'm nearly vegan I thought I would try something else.  I added ground flax seeds instead, as a binder.  Then I added a bit of extra water so the flax could actually bind and create a jelly (not like I could see this happening) But I figure I'll just go through my thought process.  So base done; now to add flavour, I grated up some red onion (from garden), zucchini(from garden) and sweet potato(I've been told we can't grow these... too bad).   Added some seasonings  (I used garlic powder and oregano), they smelled amazing at this point.  But something was missing, I still didn't think these would actually hold so I added about 2 tbsp of coconut flour.

 Now for these I fried the bottom in coconut oil in my cast iron pan, then transferred them into 400F oven for 25minutes.  I ate 2 tonight, couldn't help myself... They are crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside. 

The brown top is from the coconut oil in the cast iron!  (ok so slightly labour intensive but sooo yummy!)

They stick!!!!! (together I mean... not to the pan or baking sheet)

Ready to toss on the grill to re-heat tomorrow! 

The food I ate today!

The food I eat in a day... are you curious?  I hope I can remember everything I ate actually.  Today was a long day. 


Breakfast:
1/2 GF Oats
1tbs raw almond butter
small peach (cut into chuncks)
a dash of cinnamon for flavour
2 tsp chia seeds

coffee
water

and because I wasn't satisfied with this I made some turkey sausages on the bbq, and made a salad. 

Snack1 - salad
1.5 turkey sausages
a handful of cherry tomatoes (my cute daughter picked them for me)
cucumber cubed
herbs from the garden (basil/parsley/oregano)
flax seed oil
apple cider vinegar

water
coffee with almond milk and ice

Lunch- stir fry
tempeh
green beans
broccoli
spinach
onions
a splash of curry sauce (no salt added)

Snack
vega chocolate smoothy in unsweetened almond milk
water with electrolyte pack (I'm using Nuun right now, mostly just because I have them)

I did a 90minute hot yoga at this point so I had another nuun water

Post workout snack (not healthy but I felt like I earned a treat)
Bumblebee bar
apple

Diner
sliced browned tempeh (with a tiny bit of coconut oil in my cast iron pan)
giant spinach salad
onions
cucumbers
1/4 apple sliced in it
a handful of GF Food Should Taste Good Chips (the multi-grain ones)
2 tbsp hemp hearts
dressing: 1/2 pack of vega tropical smoothy mixed with apple cider vinegar, flax seed oil and water
a handful of grapes for desert

water
1 can of Growers dry apple cider

snack-
1/3 cup popcorn (made a-la brown paper bag method)
1tbsp melted coconut cream (it is less refined than the oil and has a stronger coconut/sweet taste)
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tsp of chili powder 
a pinch of salt (some good stuff because I rarely use it) = mix the oils, chili powder and salt together first then drizzle over popcorn -then mix it up to coat

more water

ps. every time I write water I am consuming about 700ml of water (it's the 20oz (venti) starbucks water bottle)

All in all not a bad day for eating clean, I did watch Forks Over Knives today and am wondering if I'm getting bloated because of the meat I'm eating.  Otherwise I feel amazing! I basically eat like this most days, I'm getting most of my protein from vegetable sources (either tempeh/vegetarian protein powder/vega -One or smoothy/lentils/legumes).  But I do still have poultry in my diet and fish.  I've cut out completely gluten (that's been a while) eggs, red meats and dairy.  Interesting to note, my mom has an egg intolerance. ???  And now I have discovered that my son breaks out into a rash when he has dairy.  We had him off for a while and the rash cleared up but this week he stole some ice cream out of the freezer when we weren't looking and hoovered a ton of it and Voila rash on his face is back!  Well we have since found the freezer key and looked the freezer.  Casein...  I must really do some more research on this protein! 

From Market to Table!

Yup most of the strawberries were eaten on the way home.

Friday means farmer's market day (well so does Wednesday and Saturday morning) but I love doing it Friday morning because my favorite farmer "Ray" is at the booth and he is so wonderful. Taking the time to answer all my OCD questions.  "What do you do about rabbits?How do you get rid of slugs? When do you pick your garlic? Where do you plant the kale?" etc.... I really do pester him that much.  But lets me honest, he loves it!  The poor man spends all day (except friday in the field) from sun up to sun down! And so does his poor wife!  They both love their days at the Market!  I got my eggs, peas, tomatoes and strawberries from him today!  Salsa, kettle corn and bagels from others!  I made an omelet (or frittata, what ever you want to call it)!

Here are the pics.  I also used my own garden produce to make these!

The guy who makes this sells it :) fun!

The owner of this company is soooo sweet!  she knows me (ok well I go every week for my bag of sweet and salty) and she gives me double stamps on my cards sometimes :)

Random shot! Our garlic is almost ready to be picked!  Some of them are the size of baseballs already!!!

A little red onion that I pulled out accidentally when weeding, so it will go in my omelet!

I just thought everyone should see what asparagus looks like (during the off season), that tall wispy plant in the middle of this shot is what an asparagus sprig turns into. 

Very fern like, it needs to go into this "flower" phase to regenerate the roots so that next spring we can get a whole new batch of wonderful asparagus!

My super awesome herb garden!  Random tree growing in it (I didn't plant it, it was a seed planted by an animal and I let it grow).  For my omelet I picked kale, oregano, parsley and basil! and chives for the garnish!

Goes on the bottom of my frying pan! (or skillet, not really sure what to call it)

I used a tiny bit of this grated!

All the ingredients were chopped up, mixed and and cooked on the stove (med-low heat) till the bottom started to bubble, then I put it under the broil and added the salsa and cheese!

It did in fact come off the pan that easy!

Added the goats milk yogourt and chives!

Delicious!!!