Quinoa Breakfast Bowl....YUMMO

Here's a nice change from oatmeal. It's really great, and the best part? Quinoa is a complete protein. Enjoy!

I usually make 1/4 cup, but I'll post the recipe for a 1/2 then you will have enough to either share or have a larger serving for yourself :)

*1/2 cup quinoa (if it's not pre rinsed or you're not sure if it is, make sure you rinse it really well or it will be bitter)
*1 cup non-dairy milk (I like mine best with almond milk or coconut milk)
*Vanilla
*Cinnamon
*Honey (optional - if your milk is sweetened, you may not need or want the honey)

- In a pot, combine your quinoa with your non dairy milk (you can add a pinch of salt if you like). Bring to a boil with the lid off, then cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes.
- Scoop your cooked quinoa breakfast into a bowl and add a little more milk if you want. Stir in the vanilla, cinnamon and honey. Enjoy! 

Dismal, Rainy, Sleepy Day

Wow, talk about torrential rain.  Add the wind and we officially have a monsoon. Or hurricane, or typhoon, pick your favourite moniker. My three critters have the right idea for today (the third is hogging the wood stove), cuddle up and don't bother looking out the window. I, on the other hand, have big plans. Well, not so much big, but considering how unmotivated and sleepy this weather is making me, ambitious. Gonna head out to the gym and hopefully that'll energize me a little. But first, my coffee (complete with a cinnamon stick, YUM)...Then, my workout. Then home to refuel with something new and delicious. I have a thing for Raw Kelp Noodles at the moment, so a new sauce is in order, let the creating begin! I'm jumping on the raw wagon for a while as I think I've been indulging in too many heavy/cooked foods, feeling bloated. That should spur on some great new raw recipes to post. If my new sauce idea turns out as good as I'm hoping, you'll see it here :).

When Tree Sap Strikes, Here's What To Do...

Ok, this may be the one and only downside to having a wood stove; the evil sap monster...So I head outside to grab an armload of wood, in my new hoodie, of course. Why oh why would I put something grubby on to do such a quick and easy task? This is exactly why a lot of my clothes have paint stains on them...I never learn. Anyway, I dump my wood into the wood holder thingy, step back outside onto the deck and proceed to brush off bits of bark when lo and behold what do I see? A big blob of goo. At first I thought some poor little slug got smooshed on me, which was bad enough, but oooh nooo, it was worse, MUCH worse. Sap. Ugh. Slug would have been a lot easier to wash out. So, being me and not owning anything that even resembles industrial stain remover, which I highly doubt would have worked on sap anyway, I get thinking. MUST.SAVE.HOODIE. Think, think, think. Hmmm, what removes sticky, gluey messes? Rubbing alcohol. Of course, I have none of that either, but what I DO have is some old hand sanitizer (it's a miracle it somehow avoided being thrown out for this long). I squirt a blob onto the sap stain, rub it in and voila, no sap, no stick, no mess. Hoodie saved! Everyone wins and no one sees the inside of a garbage can. So if you ever have a run in with sap, whip out the ol' hand sanitizer and save your clothes!

Homemade Shampoo and Conditioning/Detangling Rinse

I've been "poo' free for over two years now and I absolutely love it. So does my scalp, my hair and my wallet. My hair is twice as thick, has tons of body and is super shiny. I never have an itchy scalp and my hair is always manageable (and I have a TON of it). It's much softer and I no longer use any kind of hair product, I don't need too. It's probably one of the biggest favours I ever did for my hair, that, and of course using henna a couple times a year. You'll find recipes below for both hair cleanser and detangler/conditioner. 


Hair and scalps that have been stripped by using commercial shampoos for years *may* go through a sort of detox/transition phase. You  may notice your hair gets oilier for a while, but once your scalp figures out it doesn't need to compensate for being stripped of ALL oils, it will settle down and regulate its oil production. I can now leave my hair unwashed for 3-4 days, sometimes longer. I typically don't, but the point is that I COULD. I had really oily hair before, and 2 days was a stretch. There are adjustment explanations included to use as a 'tweaking' guide to help you find the best ratios for your hair/skin type.


You know what else is really cool? This is a safe alternative for your pets! Next time Fido needs a bath, leave the chemical laden 'doggie shampoo' on the shelf and reach for this! I would personally leave the baking soda out when washing your hound though, unless (s)he's a smelly mutt or really oily and even then, scale it back to about 1/2 the amount. If your cat needs a bath, DO NOT USE ESSENTIAL OILS. They are toxic to cats.

**Your shampoo will be watery, not thick like the commercial stuff, that's why I recommend using a squirt bottle (condiment bottles from the dollar store work well and a lot of them have measurements on them). It will also have no foaming action due to the lack of detergents and sulfates. It's more of a cleansing rinse than a traditional shampoo, but you don't need the foam to get clean hair :). It may take some getting used to, but it's so worth it!


Shampoo

In a squeeze bottle (even an old shampoo bottle) use approximately 8 oz of either black tea, herbal tea, soapnuts liquid or water and add 2 TBS or so of baking soda and any essential oils (if you want). The baking soda will cleanse all build up and oils out of your hair, it's too base to just leave so be sure to follow up with an apple cider vinegar rinse. This is what I use as the post shampoo rinse, it smooths/conditions the hair cuticle, acts as a shine enhancer and restores proper pH to both hair and scalp.

Saturate your hair, massage into scalp, you can leave it for a couple minutes if you like, then rinse.


Rinse or Conditioner 

Mix approx 6 ounces of water and 2 ounces of cider vinegar in a squeeze bottle and add essential oils of  your choice if  you like. You WILL NOT smell like vinegar once your hair is dry :).

Apply rinse to hair, you can leave on for a few minutes or just rinse out.

If your hair is really fly away, use less baking soda in your 'shampoo' or go heavier on the rinse (add more ACV). if you hair still seems oily, use more baking soda in your shampoo or ease up with the vinegar blend :) May take a little trial and error, but I'd NEVER go back to regular shampoo and the "natural" ones are SO overpriced. You're still paying mostly for water. And most of the 'natural' ones are NOT chemical free.

All of this is SUPER gentle on the scalp. I add essential oils to my rinse only. Mostly peppermint and rosemary. Sometimes Lemongrass, so nice!

Photos to accompany recipes?

Is anyone interested in 'seeing' the recipes once made? I can post photos if you like : )

Wanna know the cure for a cranky body? Hit the gym and follow it up with a delicious dinner!

Today when I woke up my body decided it was cranky. CRANKYYY. So, I headed out to the gym to teach it that there's no room for cranky. A little hard work deserves a reward, no? Of course it does! So the reward is a super yummy dinner consisting of flourless cornbread and spicy black bean soup. Mmmmmm, talk about comfort food, without the guilt! And oodles of complete protein (that doesn't come from our furry friends). Such an amazing, satisfying late lunch/dinner. I added a small vegan ceasar salad as an appie, 'cause who doesn't love a good appie?

Here's the Black Bean Soup Recipe (soup is kind of individual, so use this as a guideline and adjust to your taste):


*Approximately 1 litre of veggie broth (either homemade or store bought)
*1/2 bunch fresh cilantro chopped into very small pieces, stems and all (or more if you love cilantro, like me...I also garnished the top of my soup with fresh cilantro once is was in the bowl, yummo!)
*1/2 a can stewed tomatoes or two small fresh tomatoes diced up
*Approximately 1 1/2 cups black beans (either canned or home prepared)
*One can corn kernels (Try to use organic corn products when possible. Anything non organic is GMO)
*1 fresh jalapeno, finely chopped (you can use a hotter pepper if you wish, I would have if I had known I'd bought a dud jalapeno....How can you call yourself a jalapeno if you have no heat?)
*Salt (to taste, I don't like putting amounts for salt, everyone's different)
*2 tsp cumin (more if you LOVE cumin, like I do)
*1 tsp Coriander (optional)

Put everything into a pot, except the canned corn and black beans then bring to a boil and simmer about 15 minutes or so. Taste your soup, adjust seasonings to your liking. Add the black beans and simmer another 10 minutes. If your soup seems to watery and not chunky enough for you after you add your black beans (don't forget you're going to be adding a whole can of corn), feel free to simmer with the lid off and reduce your soup a little. Reduce heat to low and when it's just off a boil, add your canned corn (you don't want to boil the corn, just heat it, or it'll get all mooshy). Continue to cook until your corn is warmed through.

Serve with warm cornbread. I'd post the recipe I used, but it's not mine. I'll see if I can get permission to link the site from here if anyone's interested.

A quick, yummy, revamped childhood snack.

Ok, so peanut butter and peanut products never find their way into my home. There is something (in my opinion) seriously wrong with them. As a kid NOT ONE kid I knew had peanut allergies. None, zero, zilch. And now, it's an epidemic. And the allergies are insanely severe. Very scary. I blame this on improper storage of the nuts (actually, peanuts are legumes) which allows toxic molds to grow on them. Many people are extremely allergic to these molds. YUCK. So peanuts and peanut products are a no go for me. I bet if the peanuts were stored properly and not old/rancid by the time they reach the grocery store, there would be a far lesser problem with them. Walnuts are another biggie for being rancid by the time you buy them. Ever tried a fresh one? I thought I HATED walnuts until I tried fresh ones. Mmm, they are so good. Ok, enough of the nut rant and on to the food :).

Remember 'ants on a log'? Yep, celery topped with peanut butter and raisins.....I used to love that. A super quick, easy snack. Well, here's a safe, super yummy version for all you "Ants on a Log" lovers. Here are the changes (and delicious ones at that):

*Instead of peanut butter I topped the celery with Sunflower Seed Butter (made solely from dry roasted sunflower seeds, organic, of course) and currants (only because I'm not a huge raisin fan, I much prefer currants). You could top your celery with any type of nut or seed butter or even try Tahini for something different. But I have to say, Sunflower Seed Butter seems to be the tastiest of the ones I've tried so far (I find almond butter incredibly bland). You could make a sweet nut/seed butter by blending it with a bit of healthy sweetener such as dates, honey, coconut sugar etc. and then top with cocoa nibs instead of currants or raisins. YUM!

Something a little different....

I thought it was time to post a new recipe. A NON food related recipe. Yup, you heard right....No food here. Although, this recipe is in fact comprised of completely edible food stuffs, though I'm not sure eating it would be all that enjoyable. Intrigued yet? Keep reading.

I've had quite a few people ask me for my homemade toothpaste recipe recently, so I thought I'd post it here. It's super simple, chemical, fluoride, artificial sweetener and Sodium Laurel Sulphate free. Be warned, it does NOT foam (due to the lack of sodium laurel sulphate, which is a commercial degreaser and I recommend keeping it away from your mouth (and body)). It may take a little time to get used to but it's so worth it. Your teeth, gums and body will be happy!! Did I mention it actually builds dentin (so it will make sensitive teeth less sensitive and stronger) and wards off cavities? There are no strict measurements, just blend according to your taste and texture preferences.

*3-4 parts organic coconut oil (anti microbial and anti bacterial)
*1-2 parts baking soda (or more, depends on how you like your toothpaste)
*1-2 parts Xylitol (again, according to your texture and taste preferences. Xylitol comes in granulated form) Xylitol tastes sweet, but it is a sugar alcohol, so it has no effect on blood sugar and doesn't rot teeth. In fact, it strengthens teeth and has been proven to ward off cavities much more effectively than fluoride.
*Essential oils of choice (optional). I like to use peppermint, tea tree or naiouli and spearmint combined :). Myrrh is great for gum health.

In a bowl, cream/mix the baking soda with the coconut oil using a spoon or fork or whatever works for you. Add the Xylitol and mix well. Finally, add the essential oils (if you choose to use them) and blend well. Your toothpaste should be a pastey consistency, not crumbly. If it's crumbly, cream in some more coconut oil. Store in a clean/sterilized container with a lid. You can use a popsicle stick or something similar to scoop out what you need onto your toothbrush.

A quick note: At warmer temperatures coconut oil liquifies, so I suggest keeping this somewhere a little cooler in the summer months, depending on how warm your house gets. If your toothpaste DOES melt, not to worry, just pop it in the fridge or freezer briefly until it solidifies again. If it gets too cold, it'll be pretty hard to scoop out of your container, but you can warm it gently to soften it up. DO NOT introduce water to your toothpaste or it will spoil on you.

More food. Yeah, I know, it's an obsession.

Not too long ago I discovered Socca. There is nothing you can't do with this amazing flat bread. You can  pour a small amount of the batter into a pan and swirl the same way you make crepes and use it for wraps (or even dessert crepes, so unbelievably good), you can add veggies/herbs to the batter and make savory pancakes (batter adjustments are needed, but I will post those with the recipes), you can cut the traditional Socca into triangles and serve it with dips or hummus, use it as bread for a sandwich and even use it as gluten free, yeast free, highly nutritious pizza crust (it'll be thin crust style). I think it's the most versatile food I've ever come across and it's absolutely delicious. Simple and quick to make, gluten and grain free and packed with healthy goodness. Socca is served in France at street vendors as a snack. YUM. I will post the insanely easy recipe soon.

A quick note: You can either cook traditional Socca in the oven OR you can cook in on the stove top in a cast iron skillet. It's totally up to you :)

Dinner and Dessert

Not feeling hungry lately makes me a very picky eater who doesn't think of food when she's not hungry. That, along with zero idea of what I might want to eat, inspired me to create two super delicious new things this evening. One for dinner. One for dessert.  The ideas had to: Be quick (to keep me from deciding to just bag the whole idea of dinner all together), healthy and really tasty (so I'd actually EAT the food...Not having much of an appetite really makes the quality and taste of what you do eat very obvious. It's really easy to get turned off a meal). This is what materialized.
One: Vegan Ceasar Salad Dressing. The great thing about this little beauty is how ridiculously easy it is to make. I tossed a mix of baby greens and romaine in this and topped it with Roasted Chickpea Snacks in place of the croutons. SO good.
Two: Banana Topped With Raw Vegan Chocolate Pudding and Cocoa Nibs. Wow. That's it. Just wow. And easy. So easy this could become a frequent snack around here. Chocolate and Bananas.....YUM.
If anyone's interested in the recipes for these, let me know and I'll be sure to post them :)

Roasted Chickpea Snacks

Wow, these things are incredible. A great replacement for fat filled, greasy, empty calorie potato chips. These also make a delicious addition to any salad.

*Canned or home prepared chickpeas (as many as you like)
*Enough Grapeseed, Coconut or any other heat stable oil to VERY lightly coat the chickpeas
*Sea Salt (to taste)
*Pepper (to taste)
*Garlic Powder (to taste)

Rinse and drain your canned chickpeas, or use your home cooked chickpeas. Dry them on a towel. Put all your chickpeas into a bowl and drizzle a tiny amount of oil onto them, just enough to very lightly coat them, and stir. Add all of your seasonings and stir to evenly disperse the spices. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for approx. 40 minutes tossing them every ten minutes to ensure they don't burn.

Feel free to mix up the seasonings. You can use anything you like: Cumin, Curry, Paprika, Cayenne, Nutritional Yeast, Sage, Rosemary or even try something sweet like Cinnamon, Allspice, etc. I would like to try them with wasabi powder, kind of like wasabi peas. YUM!

Chocolate, of course!

My life would be so terribly empty if it weren't for chocolate. To be clear, cheap chocolate can stay happily in it's package on the shelf. I'm a chocolate snob. BIG TIME. It's gotta be good. It's gotta be refined sugar free and it's gotta be decadent. So, I recently decided to try out Organic Cocoa Nibs. These are NOT sweet at all. They are basically cocoa beans smashed up into little tiny pieces. Real chocolate chips. They are my new love. My new obsession. I use them anytime I can on anything they will go with. I've topped vegan sugar free chocolate pudding, added them to delicious chocolate truffle-esque balls that I seriously LIVE on, and am going to try adding them to raw fudge, raw ice cream and every other raw dessert recipe I can come up with. They are amazing, they are a superfood, they are packed with antioxidants. EVERYONE should have these. They are unadulterated chocolate. YUM! They are pricey, but SO worth it.

Vegan Creamy Pesto Cheeze Sauce

Here's the first recipe addition. It's vegan and it's RAW! All I can say is YUM! This is a versatile creamy cheeze sauce suitable for pasta, salad dressing or anything that requires something cheesy and yummy! I've used it on Raw Kelp Noodles and for a dressing on shredded cabbage and carrots, DELISH! It's so rich you'd never guess it wasn't laden with dairy!

Makes 1 Serving: (super easy to double, triple or quadruple the recipe)
1/2 a ripe avocado
1 tsp nutritional yeast
pink or sea salt to taste
1 tsp basil (triple if using fresh)
1 small clove garlic
1/2 - 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar (or more - to taste)

Place all ingredients into a small food processor, magic bullet or something similar. Process until smooth.
**if you've added the cider vinegar to taste and your sauce is too thick, you can thin it with water if you like**

For a plain cheeze sauce, omit the basil and garlic.