Cauliflower "rice"

Cauliflower Rice Stir Fry:

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1/2 spanish onion, chopped
• handful asparagus, chopped
• 1/2 can of canned chopped tomatoes (juice included)
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:
Saute the onion, asparagus, and garlic in the oil. In a food processor, process the cauliflower until it's a desired size. Add the cauliflower rice to the onion mixture and saute some more. Add the herbs,and tomato and heat. Enjoy after desired consistency is reached (about 10 minutes in total from start to finish).

I thought this might taste horrible, and it did at first, because I hadn't cooked it long enough. But once it was properly cooked it tasted awesome! A great way to get in a load of veggies!

I am extremely tired from the gym, work, and getting over this cold. So I will see you guys tomorrow :)

Vegan Macadamia White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I hate it when things don't go according to my daily plans! I rode to the Direct Energy Center today to pick up my race kit and found out the most disturbing news--> The race is on Sunday (like most races), and not on Saturday like I thought it was. I thought it was weird that the race was on Saturday, and I also thought it was weird that the road closures were for Sunday; no idea why it took me so long to clue in. Thankfully someone mentioned something or I would have showed up for 6 am tomorrow and been extremely confused. Not only does this throw me off completely with my rest-run-day schedule, but now Ryan can't come, and I will have no one cheering for me, or anyone to hold my keys or sweater. :(

I really don't know how I got the dates wrong, I'm going with their website being misleading. So after this upset my daily balance of things, I felt like my whole day was ruined. I am a very plan-oriented kind of person, and after having my plans upset, I just sat around the house in a daze, like something really terrible had happened. I finally snapped out of it when the dogs were whining to go outside. I took them outside, felt the fresh air and then was  75% back to my normal self! I figured this was nothing that some good ol' fashion baking, and cleaning couldn't fix. I cleaned all the floors, went through crap loads of bills and papers ( Ryan is a hoarder, i'm scared he's going to turn out like those creepy people in the show "Hoarders", he keeps absolutely everything. But he's also very, very un-observant, so once in a while I throw out everything, and he doesn't even notice. SCORE!). That's probably the only upside of being un-observant. Anyhow, getting the house cleaned up, and filled with the fresh smell of baking cookies made me feel loads better! Now I just have to get in some yoga, and a 30 day shred and i'll be 100%.

Vegan Macadamia White Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Adapted from "Eat, Drink, Be Vegan"


My mom loooooves the white chocolate macadamia cookies from Subway, and I think these could easily be mistaken for them. I will give her a blind tasting when she visits.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons spelt flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (I didn't have this, so I added 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar)
• 2 tablespoons succanat
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/3 cup macadamia butter (I used sunflower seed butter)
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons agave
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons rice bran oil
• 1/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 4 tablespoons white chocolate chips (I looked everywhere for these and only came upon them at the Veg fair, so if you don't have them, dark chocolate chips will work just as well!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or with silicone sheet thing. In one bowl mix the flour, powder, soda, sugar, and salt. In another bowl mix the nut butter, maple syrup, agave, oil, and vanilla. Add the wet to dry and then add in the nuts and chocolate chips. Stir just until its combined, you don't want to overdo it. Make into cookie shapes on sheet and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and put onto cooling rack!
Enjoy! But don't eat the whole recipe like I did before and then get sick!!! I promise not to be gluttonous today!

Note: Since white chocolate chips are just sugar, I wouldn't add the agave. They turned out very very sweet. And I like sweets, so if I say they're too sweet--> then they're too sweet.

Fresh out of the oven!

So soft and squishy in the middle,  with a nice crunchy outer layer!

Raw, vegan, cashew pesto!

I used to make this mean roasted red pepper, walnut, basil pesto, but I can't find the recipe anywhere, nor can I remember it. So I found a recipe in "Eat, Drink, Be Vegan", and adapted it to my tastes!

Cashew Basil Pesto:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 2 cups chopped basil
• 1-2 garlic cloves (depends on taste, I used 1.5)
• 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (I used Himalayan) 
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 4 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons water

Directions:

In a food processor, blend all ingredients! Add more liquid if you feel you need it. I served this on top of brown rice elbow noodles,with toasted pine nuts (they look burnt, but they were very good)!

This dish was very easy to make. The part that took the longest was boiling the noodles!

Onto the running front! I planned to do a 12 km run today. I started running and felt like I had all of this acidity bouncing around in my stomach (from the green juice today?) and said, "well, maybe I'll just do a fast 5k". So I picked up the pace, and then felt like I was actually going to throw up. I stopped for a second and then said, "i'll just slow it down a bit and do 10 k". After slowing it down my stomach started to feel a bit better. By the time I hit the 4 km mark, my stomach hurt three times more then it did initially, so I immediately turned around and somehow made it home. I don't remember much of the return half of the run, I just knew that I had to get home. I finished 8 km, and it was probably the worst run I've done yet. My shins didn't hurt very badly during the run, only a bit afterward. So I did a little ice-ice-baby. So my 12 km, to 5 km, to 10 km, to 8 km run didn't go as planned but I'm not going to let it bother me!

Time: 45:30
Distance: 8.01 km
Max HR: 165
Average HR: 156
Calories: 488

I took a few hours to rest up, ate a clementine, red pepper with hummus, and a piece of yesterdays cornbread. I got up and did day 7 of the 30 day shred on level 2. I thought it might get easier everyday I do it, but it really doesn't. I had to stop once or twice!  And because I was feeling a little bit too ambitious, I followed this up with Jillian Michaels Shred It With Weights (Kettle-bell). It was intense.

So now Im just going to bask in the fullness that the pesto gave me, do some dishes, then maybe make some spelt crackers.

:)

Complete rest day with a bit of cornbread!

For the whole year I haven't had a problem with my shins. I almost always get shin splints when I increase my mileage. But I didn't get them yet, because i've been doing a lot of cross training and strength work. But lo and behold, the week where I hardly run, I start to feel that little bit of pain in my lower shin. So, before it can get any worse, I've taken the whole day off! No 30 day shred, nothing. I'm hoping that this will help. Icing and stretching have pretty much been my best friends all day.

Here's to hoping that when September 25th rolls around, my shins won't hurt. I'll run on them anyways, but it would be nice to be pain free.

I finally bought a blender today. I brought it home, unwrapped it, and instantly made a smoothie. It was the most energizing smoothie I have ever had. I drank it, and then instantly felt like I had drunk 10 cups of coffee. I'm hoping to plan some sort of a smoothie party where I can blend tonnes of different smoothie concoctions!

Spinach, papaya chunks, ginger, lemon, parsley, avocado, almond milk

I've been extremely tired today so I didn't feel like cooking up a feast. I opted for an Ezekiel wrap with everything in the fridge on it, and some homemade cornbread.

Hummus, salsa, tomato, red onion, asparagus, red pepper, tomato, spinach, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, celery, cucumber, carrot.

The cornbread was very delicious and very easy to make!

Vegan Jalapeno Cornbread: 
This recipe was adapted from "Blue Ribbon Vegan Cornbread" 

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons ground flax/chia powder
• 6 tablespoons of water
• 1/2 jalapeno, chopped
• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup organic raw sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup rice bran oil

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to middle position and pre-heat oven to 425. Oil an 8 inch rectangular baking dish. Bring the water to a boil and add in the flax/chia powder. Bring to a simmer, and stir until it gets thick and gloopy (1.5 minutes). In a bowl, mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and sea salt. Add in the flax mixture, almond milk, jalapeno, and oil. Stir until smooth. Put into baking pan and bake for 25 minutes. Make sure to do the toothpick test! Feel free to add other things to the recipe, like whole kernels of corn, onion, bell peppers, etc!

Cool on rack for 20 minute and enjoy! (I love adding vegan butter or jam to it)

Wet + dry ingredients.

Delicious vegan cornbread fresh out of the oven!

Just watching some Top Chef right now and I think I'll do a bit more stretching. I'm definitely rearing to go tomorrow for a long and great run!

The vegan pizza story

Step 1: Crust

I took the easy way out and bought a spelt crust. I'm sure it is very easy to make your own spelt crust, and I will definitely try that next time.

Step 2: Add your sauce

I used Ryan's homemade tomato sauce from yesterday.

Step 3: Add your cashew cheese 

(recipe to follow)

Step 4: Add your veggies

I added sweet red pepper, asparagus, spinach, and red onion.

Step 5: Bake and Enjoy!

Baked at 350 for 15 minutes.

Cashew Cheese:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw cashews (soaked in water for at least 1 hour)
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 teaspoon rice bran oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeeze lemon juice

Directions:

Put all ingredients into food processor and mix together! Scrape the sides occasionally. Enjoy! It won't be perfectly smooth, it should have some texture to it.

Vegan pizza portobellos!

Pure delight!!!
But I can't find the correct spelling of portobellos anywhere!

This recipe was adapted from Ohsheglows recipe and they were so amazingly delicious. I don't even like mushrooms and I ate three of these in no time at all.

They had great tomato, garlic, cheese and basil flavour. It was so delicious, i'm lost for words.

Vegan Pizza Portobello's:
As adapted from "ohsheglows"

Ingredients:

• 6 portobello mushroom caps
• 1 cup tomato/pasta sauce
• 1 cup of chopped red pepper and yellow pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped vidalia onion
• 6 basil leaves
• 1 tablespoon red chili flakes
• 1 cup raw cashews (soaked in water for atleast an hour)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp rice bran oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions:
Make the vegan cashew cheese ( puree the raw cashews, sea salt, rice bran oil, 2 leaves of basil, garlic clove, nutritional yeast, and lemon juice) and set aside. Now, preheat the oven to a broiler setting. Put parchment paper on a baking sheet. Wash mushroom caps and place with the concave part facing up (so you can fill it). Make sure to remove stems. Put 2-3 tablespoons of your tomato sauce into each mushroom and follow with the vegan cashew cheese. Put as much cheese as you want! I put a lot and it was soooo good! Next, add your chopped vegies, then top with minced basil and chili flakes. Broil in the oven for 15-20 minutes, just make sure to watch it. My oven broils at a very low temperature so it took a bit longer.
Enjoy!!!

I planned on doing a 12 km run this morning before work--> It didn't happen. I woke up at 7, ate my overnight oats, then went back to bed :(   . I went to work feeling so horrible that I didn't run. But I remembered that quote from Jillian Michaels, and when I got home I did the run. And I killed it!

Distance:  12.01 km
Time: 1:06:19
Calories: 714
Average Pace: 5:31 min/ km
Average HR: 158
Max HR: 171

My last km was done in 5:02 ! Yaii! At the end of the run though, my stomach was really starting to ache. I think it had to do with my stomach bouncing up and down for so long. But I just had to keep running because I was still so far from home. I've really been feeling a lot better during my runs (except for this sore stomach) , my spirit is up, and I am starting to enjoy the run, and the peacefulness and alone time it gives me. I hope it can stay like this :)

Now for some core power yoga!

I'm officially a cook!

Ryan says that i'm officially a cook now because I burnt and cut my fingers while cooking today! Even though it was for something stupid (grabbing a hot skillet with my bare hands, and prying open the top of a can) its like a right of passage! Hahah.

But I made a sort of quesadilla tonight and HE LOVED IT! So much so, that he had 3 servings! They were incredibly easy to make too, about 5 minutes in total (including prep and cook time).

Hummus is really great on everything! It's good on fruit, vegetables, bread, everything! Yes, I said fruit!

Incredibly Easy Hummus Quesadillas:

Ingredients:

• 2 Ezekiel tortilla wraps
• 3 tablespoons hummus
• 1/2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 3 tablespoons salsa
• 1 tablespoon chives, chopped
• 1/2 cup black beans, drained and washed

Directions:
Spread the hummus, nutritional yeast, salsa, chives and beans onto one tortilla. Add the other tortilla on top and place on frying pan (I used olive oil to fry it) on medium heat for 1-2 minutes on each side. Slice up into little triangles and enjoy!!!

Something that I forgot to add which I would have liked to is spinach! So if you make this, add about 1/2 cup of spinach, it will taste oh so yummy!


Breakfast this morning was overnight oats again! I changed it up a little though; I took 1 cup of my homemade granola (which i'm making more of tonight) and then 1.5 cups of almond milk with 1 tablespoon chia seeds and 2 tablespoons Vega Chocolate Protein Powder! It tasted amazing in the morning! Yum yum!

Totally delicious!

This morning I did a 60 min power yoga glow class from yogadownload.com and it was sooo hard! I was sweating quite a bit! But it made me nice and loosened up for my big day at work today!
I hope everyone is having a great  labour day! It seems like everyone is out and about tonight instead of staying at home and cooking their own dinners :)

Mediterranean Yummy Wrap!

Mediterranean Yummy Wrap:

Ingredients:

• 1 Ezekiel wrap or any other kind of wrap

• 2-3 tablespoons hummus (more or less depending on preference)
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 cucumber, skin on, chopped
• 1/2 tomato, chopped
• 1 peeled carrot, grated
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds (adds a nice crunch)

Mix it all up and enjoy! You can add lettuce, olives, etc. if you want, but my wraps couldn't fit anything else!

I've been looking everywhere for dried mango (I love mango) without added sugars, and I finally found some!

So delicious, I could eat the whole thing in a sitting. Thanks Noah's for carrying it!

Little snack for Ryan and I before work!

I've been listening to Katy Perry's new album! It's addicting!

The EX

Ryan, my mother, and I decided that we wanted to go to the Exhibition Place. I packed us some nice and healthy lunches! Chickpea salad sandwiches on whole grain bread, and a bowl of fruit (grapes, blackberries and apple slices). Once we got to the transfer point for our streetcar route it started to rain. I checked the forecast on my phone and it said we could expect showers all day. So we decided to just walk home and eat our sandwiches on the corner next to a corner store (haha). It was a great lunch :~) And it hasn't rained yet.

Chickpea salad sandwiches:

Ingredients:

•  1 can chickpeas, washed and drained
• 1/2 medium vidalia onion, chopped
• 1/2 cucumber, chopped, keep skin on
• 1/2 sweet pepper (I used red), chopped
• 2 tablespoons hummus
• 1.5 tablespoons tahini
• 1.5 tablespoons mustart
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 garlic cloves, minced

Directions:
Cut up the vegetables into chunks that would be easily eaten on a sandwich. Mash the chickpeas. Add to cut vegetables and add the hummus, tahini, mustard and salt & pepper. Mix well and serve on toasted bread with lettuce! Yummmm! I use toasted bread because it gets too soggy on non-toasted bread. Feel free to add any other vegetables, like celery or radishes! I used to make this with vegan mayonaise in place of the hummus and tahini, but found this way better because it cuts out all of the oils and fakeness of the mayo.

This onion was one of the sharpest onions i've ever encountered.

The vegetables are mixed with the mashed chickpeas.