Before you take your doctor's advice, read the ingredients!

Source

Recently my mother had some dental surgery. Prior to the procedure, I was talking to her on the phone and she told me she had just been out grocery shopping to get some things to eat following the surgery. She mentioned the dentist told her to get some "Boost" – a meal replacement drink.

I was appalled. I asked her on the phone to read me the ingredients.

I ask you now, what in this list of crap is nutritional?

Water, corn syrup solids, sugar, modified milk ingredients, canola oil, high oleic sunflower oil, corn oil, artificial flavour, salt, soy lecithin, carrageenan, artificial colour, soy oil, (may contain potassium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid), minerals (calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate tribasic, chromic chloride, cupric sulfate, ferric pyrophosphate, magnesium phosphate dibasic, manganese sulfate, potassium chloride, potassium citrate, potassium iodide, sodium citrate, sodium molybdate, sodium selenite and zinc sulfate), vitamins (biotin, calcium d-pantothenate, dl-α-tocopheryl acetate, folic acid, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, sodium ascorbate, thiamine hydrochloride, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin B₁₂ and vitamin D₃). 

From what I can tell, you've got the following:

• water
• sugar
• sugar
• modified milk ingredients, as defined by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency: any of the following in liquid, concentrated, dry, frozen or reconstituted form, namely, calcium-reduced skim milk (obtained by the ion-exchange process), casein, caseinates, cultured milk products, milk serum proteins, ultrafiltered milk, whey, whey butter, whey cream and any other component of milk the chemical state of which has been altered from that in which it is found in milk (Source)
• a bunch of oils, from most likely genetically-modified sources
• artificial flavour, as defined by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency: one or more substances prepared for their flavouring properties and derived in whole or in part from components obtained by chemical synthesis (Source)
• some very processed thickening agents
• artificial colour, this shouldn't be news to anyone... they are chemicals 
• a bunch of added mineral and vitamins that are poor sources and often a type that our body cannot readily absorb (calcium carbonate, for instance is a poor calcium supplement choice, we absorb very little calcium from this source)

Feel free to help a nutritionista-in-training and point out the REAL FOOD, and therefore nutrition...

Still looking... thought you might.

Instead of Boost, here's my suggestion: easy, fresh, cheap, and is full of REAL nutrition.

• 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp hemp hearts
• large handful of greens (spinach, kale, chard)
• 1 cup of mixed berries
• 1 frozen banana
• BLEND this goodness up and then DRINK this goodness up

Feel free to take it to the next level and add more nutritious superfoods using my two go-to smoothie recipes here and here.

Enjoy and be well!

DIY Spice Rack 2.0

Spice jars have been my enemy for a while... but I think I have it under control! At long last!

I enjoy organization. A great deal. I love the satisfaction it gives me. Messy spice bottles and little plastic bags in the back of a cupboard does not give me satisfaction. So when I saw this photo on Pinterest months ago, I got a little excited. Mainly because it incorporated my love for mason jars in a very cool way.

Source: thekitchn.com via Raeanne on Pinterest

So I went to the hardware store and the craft store and got my supplies. And well that attempt turned into this...

So going on a tip from a reader, I headed over to Lee Valley and got some super duper magnets. They held the jars, but unless you were very gentle at pulling them off and putting them back on the wall, you'd end up with a minimum of six jars crashing onto the counter top. Not fun. Insert a few curse words here.

I decided to abandon this great Pinterest idea. Let's face it, DIY projects don't always work out as planned.

And yes, yes, I know those little spice jars with the magnets on the back exist already. But they are expensive. And not as original and pretty as my little mason jars.

Insert this. My handy-dandy drawing of what will become the new spice holding device -- thanks to some input from my handyman-dad and a coworker.

Off to the hardware store once again (thank goodness neither project was that expensive!) to get a pine board, some 'L' hooks and some drywall wall anchors. Roughly fifteen bucks later, I'm ready to get to work!

I started with a 1 x 6 piece of pine, when milled is actually 11/16" x 5 1/2". I needed about 10ft for my project, so I got one piece 6 ft long and had it cut down the length of the board at the store (for free, I might add), so I ended up with two 6 ft boards roughly 3/4" x 2 3/4". Perfect width for my little project.

I measured out all the lengths required (two 13 3/4" sides and four 20" shelves and got to work cutting them using my mitre box saw. Handy little thing to have around (thanks Dad!). And yes, I just got to work in the middle of my dining room! Hardwood floor + deluxe vacuum = easy saw dust clean up!

Once that was done, a good sanding was in order. I like to do this with a sponge sander. I find it easier to get a smooth finish.

I marked where all the shelves would go as well as where the screws would go. I then pre-drilled all the holes and followed that with screws to secure the structure. Forgot to take a photo at this stage, but this photo shows how I attached the screws via the sides.

Once it was all together, I applied a bit of wood filler where some of the boards met. In a few cases there was just a little tiny space where the boards didn't come completely together. This was easily fixed with a putty knife and wood filler.

Then one last sanding to smooth out where I applied the wood filler and all over for good measure. A quick cleaning and then I was off to paint! Using some left over paint from my kitchen walls (read: leftover paint costs $0). I applied 2 light coats with a sponge brush. I got great coverage after only one coat, seen here:

After the second coat of paint has dried for a day or so, it's ready to be mounted to the wall! Simply attached four of the "L" brackets to the rack.

Mark the wall where all the screws will go and insert wall anchors into the wall. Then attach the the spice rack! Ta Daaaa!

When I made my first spice rack with the magnets (version 1.0 and 1.1), I had made little labels for the jars. But I took this to the next level as well... I recently came across Martha Stewart's Avery line of products available at Staples and well fell in love... Here's how I re-labeled my spices. So pretty... You won't be able to see the labels when the jars are on the shelves, but in my organizing ways, I arranged them all alphabetically, so I have a idea based on that plus their colour/texture from the clear jar of what each jar contains. The label just confirms!

Hopefully (fingers and toes crossed), there won't be a Spice Rack 3.0 in my future.

Love!

(Apologies for blurry/grainy photos, been meaning to take new ones for a month now... but haven't done so, and now it's dark again and well if I take some now they'll turn out the same. This blog is finally going to see the light of day, blurry or not!)

A plastic-free kitchen

I'm a bit of a plastic hater. And becoming more so more recently. We have become used to storing a lot of our food in plastic over the years, because it's convenient. But perhaps not so convenient to our health. Plastics are made of petrochemicals, which can leach into our food over time. Let's not touch the issue of putting plastic dishes in the microwave – that's a whole other story.

So I thought today I'd share with you some of my favourite reusables that take the place of plastic in the kitchen.

• Anchor Hocking Kitchen Storage – Last year some time, maybe before school started in September, these babies went on a big time sale at Loblaws in all different sizes. I think I went three times to stalk up. Always realizing that I needed more in various sizes! They are made of glass and the lids are BPA-free plastic. Fantastic for lunches and leftovers.

Source

• Klean Kanteen – beautiful stainless-steel canisters. Good for water, juice, smoothies. And they have insulated containers as well for hot food. No more line ups at the microwave at lunch – even better!

Source

• Stawesome glass straws – for Christmas, I asked for some glass straws and received a set of four! There's nothing like it. And no waste! Just wash or even throw them in the dishwasher. Smoothies and juice taste better with a glass straw.

Source

• Reusable produce bags – these babies can be found at Farm Boy in Ottawa as well as other retailers. I just love them so much. 

Source

• RuMe bags – These are by far the most beautiful reusable shopping bags around. I have one and I love it. Holds up to 50lbs, with nice wide straps that you can sling over your shoulder. Great to not only go to the grocery store with, but why not the mall! RuMe also carries all kinds of bags (small baggies to large totes)

Source

• Mason jars – These are my number one kitchen storage solution. I have so many of them, because they are so cheap. They work out to anywhere from 50 cents to a dollar each. Head over to Canadian Tire and stock up!

Source

Now if all that didn't inspire you, take two minutes and thirty seconds and watch this:



And if you want more tips on eliminating plastic from your kitchen and life in general, I recently came across a blog called My Plastic-free Life about a woman who is living plastic-free, or at least not introducing any new plastic into her life! Her story is incredibly inspiring and she has some great tips in the Plastic-free Guide.

Hope you found some inspiration to purge some of your plastic, or reuse it for corralling things other than food. Please share with me some of your great reusables.

Another wee milestone

Last we talked I was in the midst of the Fab Uplift Detox. What a game changer! The Detox started March 26, today is April 23... I've eaten so abundantly over the last month – following both the detox guide and eliminating my other food allergies – without gluten-grains, without any sort of dairy, without eggs and without animal protein (other than a bit of fish outside of the detox)! I haven't craved any of those food and I've thrived on what I have been eating, which includes lots of nuts and seeds, legumes, some fruit and lots and lots of vegetables and superfoods!

Life has been ridiculously busy these last few weeks too, but I've still managed to find some lunch to take with me every single day. And sometimes dinner, too, on school nights! It's a lifestyle. Some may cringe and turn their heads at my lovely green/brown smoothies, but I thrive as I know all this goodness is doing so much for me and tastes amazing too, I might add.

About a year ago I guess, I hit a big milestone of losing 20 lbs since slowing getting on this bandwagon back in the summer of 2010, when I saw a number on the scale I never want to see again. Now I can say that I've lost 31 lbs! I think the Fab Detox pushed me over as I had been hovering at 28 lbs for months. Anyway, this is just another little checkmark in my mind. Even though it took a year to lose another 10 lbs, I know I've gained lean muscle mass in the process as my body has continued to change (in a good way!). All this meaning that the total fat loss is likely more than this 11 lbs I see on the scale.

Yay for being healthy the real way – by eating REAL food.

A lengthy list

Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about how I conquered my allergies? Well I should have knocked on a lot of wood after I wrote that, because a couple days later the uncontrollable sneezing came back and never left. After one particular bad night where I couldn't sleep and then woke up in the middle of the night all congested and sneezing up a storm, I thought it best to seek some more help.

So once again, not wanting to just deal with suppressing symptoms, I made another appointment with my Naturopathic Doctor to see if she had any wise wisdom to share. To be honest, we thought we were dealing with a dust and mold allergy -- but I was doing everything possible to address that issue. So next on the list was food. She suggested I take a food intolerance test. It was a bit of a financial commitment, as it cost over $300, but we were both pretty sure it would reveal something that would be very hard to pinpoint on my own through elimination diets.

On Friday, I had an appointment to go over the results. And it was a doozy. I'm pretty much intolerant to most of the common food allergens. This doesn't mean anaphylactic shock, it just means by body is attacking itself in a way in response to these foods that it sees as foreign, because my digestive tract isn't processing them properly. Which all means that my digestive tract is somehow compromised and needs some healing time.

So the main culprits I am to avoid (in no particular order) are:

• gluten grains (I was already aware of this one)
• eggs
• dairy (cow, goat, sheep)
• potatoes
• yeasts
• almonds
• peanuts
• corn
• peas
• leeks
• mussels

Yikes, right! Actually, it's ok. I can deal. Believe it or not, my issue isn't so much the eggs and dairy, it's the almonds! No almonds, almond milk, almond butter or almond flour/meal. The flour/meal part is especially sad because it can be a key ingredient in gluten-free baking. Oh well, I'll be experimenting with some other nut flours such as hazelnut, walnut and pecan, in addition to all the other gluten-free flours.

I'm trying to stay really positive about it all. I mean there's no point getting angry or pitying myself. I already eat along these lines, so just a few adjustments to make and hopefully in a few weeks I'll start noticing changes in my body.

My dinner tonight: Thai Green Curry with Sprouted Tofu, totally made from scratch! A good weekend meal as it requires lots and lots of prep. But totally worth it, so yummy and so good for me (and you too!)

A new go-to smoothie

Last summer I wrote a post about my "go-to" smoothie at the time. Well things have changed and I've mixed things up a bit and I have a new "go-to" smoothie that packs an even BIGGER superfoods punch. Try it and let me know how it goes. I made this a few times and the colour changed from purple to brown... don't worry about the colour – it depends on the quantities of the food you put in. I never measure, which drives my scientist-brained bf a little mad. It should taste chocolate-y with a hint of sweetness no matter the colour.

"Check me out, I'm a lovely shade of poo.
But I taste A-maz-ing!"

Raeanne's go-to smoothie (2nd edition)

• 1 cup almond milk (or 1/2 almond milk, 1/2 water)
• 1 heaping tbsp of my seed mix
• 1 scoop of protein powder, I use Genuine Health Vegan Protein+ Vanilla
• 1 tsp maca powder (a superfood, great for stamina, fatigue and helps you adapt to different environmental factors)
• 1 tbsp raw cacao powder (the best antioxidant there is)
• 1 heaping tbsp of goji berries (another superfood/amazing antioxidant)
• 1 tbsp raw honey (full of good for you enzymes)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil (some good fat!)
• 1 tbsp of prepared Irish moss (information on how to prepare Irish moss)
• 1-2 handfuls of greens (usually spinach, but whatever you've got)
• 1/4 cup of frozen berries
• 1/2 or whole banana (frozen is good, but not necessary)

Put everything into a blender and let it go! If you'd like it nice and cold, pulse in some ice cubes after the initial blend. This recipe can result in a pretty thick smoothie, so get out a glass straw or spoon and slurp it up. 

Note: all the superfoods are optional as you may not have them all lurking in your cupboard as some of them can be expensive. Try to buy a new one every month to add to your pantry. That's what I'm doing as I know I still have a few more to add. Spirulina, you're next on my list! 

"I've overdosed on berries. Help!
Thank goodness I have a matching straw!"

Starting the new year off right

Now that the holidays are over, I'm trying to put little things back into my routine and nourish my body with lots of nutrients that I know were missing over the holidays -- but damn those M&M peanuts are good! Upward and onward to 2012!

Here's how I've started off the last two days:

First thing when I got up I downed a big glass of lemon water. This is super alkalizing for the body and detoxes the liver when drunk first thing in the morning.

Super simple to do. Squeeze half a lemon add it to a glass, fill the glass 2/3 to 3/4 with cold water and then top it off with with some boiling water to make the water warm. Drink it back with a glass straw -- really there isn't anything better and more fun than eco-friendly straws.

Once that's down, I got out my new blender (How I love! Thank you Mom & Dad), and whipped up a green monster, courtesy of Oh She Glows' Classic Green Monster recipe. I followed it more or less to a tee. I used my seed mix instead of only chia seeds, in one case I only used half a banana (and it wasn't frozen), and I did add my vegan vanilla protein powder from Genuine Health.

Simple, add stuff to a blender and blend.

And then pour and drink (again with glass straw).

Now I'm ready to be somewhat productive on my last day of vacation. It's still vacation after all... can't be too busy.

I won a giveaway!

I won my first blog giveaway! From one of my most favourite blogs!

A few weeks ago, Meghan Telpner from Making Love in the Kitchen held a giveaway for a great gift basket from Prana.

Prana is a fabulous little Canadian gem of a company, based in Montreal, that make great snacks (sweet and savory) from healthy and organic nuts, seeds and fruits.

I found out about the 'win' on a Monday, and by Tuesday my package had arrived. Now in my usual excitedness about getting packages in the mail, I tore it open before I even thought to take photos. I tried to stuff all my goodies back into the basket to take a photo but I couldn't do it justice; so just pretend everything is in the basket and it's all wrapped up in cellophane and some pretty ribbon. You'll also have to imagine I took nicer photos where I've taken care to make sure the background is clear of say Dyson vacuums. But at the time I didn't care about the quality of the photo, I wanted to EAT these goodies!

My loot!

Included were:

Sumsuma Sesame Squares
Ignore that the bag has already been
ripped opened in this photo

Chia Oil
.
.

White Mulberries
Brown Manuka Raisins
Raw Walnuts

Sundried Tomatoes
Dried Apple Rings
Dried Cherries
Pumpkin Seeds

They also included a lovely note and a coupon for 20% off an order from their online store.

 

What a lovely gift! Let's just say the sesame squares were gone by the next morning. So good, but full of sugar, which is not good for maintaining a steady blood sugar, which then leads to cravings... So these will only be a treat.

The chia oil is lovely. Lighter in colour and taste than a flax oil, but both are very high in Omega 3 fatty acids (an essential fatty acid that the body does not produce on it's own). I used most of it in my morning smoothies, but I also made a salad dressing with it and it was lovely.

The rest of the loot (all the seeds, nuts and dried fruit) got poured into a big jar and shook up! Instant trail mix! I've been picking away at it for a few weeks. It nice when you get home from work and are hungry and need a little something to satisfy you while dinner is cooking. Due to the fact that there's a good blend of all three macronutrients (fat, protein and carbohydrate), it sustains and doesn't make you reach back for more and more. And plain and simple it's so darn good together. The different textures and flavours blend so wonderfully. One thing to watch for when purchasing dried fruits is that they are often loaded with sulfites to preserve them. Sulfites can trigger asthma and allergies in certain people. It's always best to eat the cleanest, most natural foods available. Prana delivers on this with all organic products.

I've been really impressed with the pumpkin seeds as well as the raisins and dried cherries. I think my discount coupon will be spent on stocking up on those.

Check them out and maybe order some items for yourself! Or find their products at a store near you.

Thank you Prana for your gift. I thoroughly enjoyed and am continuing to enjoy it!

Pumpkins aren't just for Halloween

Until this year, I'd never cooked a pumpkin. But so far this fall, I've cooked two! And my oh my they are one delicious vegetable. I picked up my latest one at the Ottawa Organic Farmers' Market on Saturday.

Cooking pumpkin or any kind of squash is so unbelievably simple:

• Cut in two with a large knife (be careful, they're hard!)
• Scoop out the "innards"
• Lay face down in a baking dish with a bit of water (1/4 to 1/2 inch)
• Bake at 350F for 45 minutes or so (depends on the size) until it's soft

Roasted pumpkin. Ready to peel.

• Let it cool for a quick bit and peel off the skin
• There you have it, amazing, delicious, nutrient-dense pumpkin!

Depending on what you're using it for, the instructions can change here. I like mine pureed, so I cut the peeled, roasted pumpkin up into large chunks, and tossed it in the food processor to puree.

Pureed pumpkin.
Keeps in the fridge for a few days, or freeze it for later use.

Pumpkin is a great source of fiber, very low in sugar, an amazing source of vitamin A due to it's rich colour and full of lots of other nutrients that are oh so good for the bod, including vitamin C, iron, and B vitamins.

So now what do you do with your pumpkin... Well a few ideas for you. Some tried and tested, some recipes to come this week, to use up that gorgeous bowl of orange goodness.

Here's how they look. They taste AMAZING.

Chia Pumpkin Muffins! Mmm tasty. A few changes to the recipe, as I have a slightly different paper version:

• I used 2 tablespoons of ground chia, instead of one.
• I used 1/2 cup brown rice flour and 1/2 cup of quinoa flour to make up the 1 cup of flour.
• I used arrowroot flour instead of tapioca and only 1/4 cup.
• I substituted the agave for raw honey, still at 1/2 cup.
• I lowered the amount of maple syrup to just 1/4 cup.

 
Other great ideas for pumpkin (that I have tried or will be trying):

• Pumpkin soup, this is on my meal plan list for this week.
• Pumpkin pie overnight oats, these are so easy to make the night before.
• Pumpkin pie oatmeal, amazing for cold mornings.
• Butternut squash brownies, these are SO GOOD, just sub the butternut squash for pumpkin (or any squash really!)

Have you any creative and good ideas for using the very stellar pumpkin?

21 days (plus a few more) later...

In my last post, I went on raving about Meghan Telpner's 21 Days To Health. Well the 21 days have ended and what have I took away from it? Lots! Let's recap.

So as a refresher the premise of the 21 days is to incorporate one new change each day and build until the 21 days are complete. This is based on the idea that it takes 3 weeks (21 days) to form new habits.

Now it's pretty hard to incorporate all of them, but I'm doing my best and I know many of the changes I have made have stuck so that in itself is something to be proud of. I'm not going to go through the full list of 21 changes, but I will touch upon some of the things I have incorporated and maybe bring a little inspiration to you!

My new habits!

• Drinking lemon water first thing every morning. This was the very first point in the book. Drinking warm water with a couple tablespoons of fresh lemon juice (i.e. from lemons, not squeeze bottles) is a great cleanse for the liver. Meaning it flushes out the liver and gets rid of all the toxins that the liver works so hard at removing from the body.

• Meditating or sitting quietly for at least 15 minutes each morning. This is to stop the fidgeting and to bring calm to yourself and just focus on the breath. I was having a hard time at this one, but recently put together a little morning routine so that I made time for it in the morning. I now have put 15 minutes aside each morning to do this. I also drink my lemon water while doing this (always a multitasker!)
• Flossing - every time I brush my teeth. I've always flossed my teeth, but never with any regularity. I'd be really good for a few days and then slack off. But I can honestly say that in over a month I have flossed each and every day. I'm now working on doing twice per day -- morning and night. My dentist is going to be oh so pleased, I almost can't wait for my next visit!
• Getting to bed 15 minutes early. My old bedtime was around 11:00 p.m. and now I make sure I'm getting ready for bed by 10:30 so that I'm actually in my bed by 10:45. The extra sleep helps with getting up earlier for my quiet time.
• Brown bagging. I'm doing a much better job at bringing my lunch to work. I like how this affects my bank account.
• No more going for seconds. I now make a mental note to not eat a second plate of food no matter how good it is. One serving is all my body needs. The goodness can be saved for my brown bag.
• Cutting out all the refined sugar. I'm super aware of this now. By making your own food, this is super easy to do.
• Cutting out some toxic body products. I recently posted about my soap-making endeavours, but I've also recently changed my toothpaste, deodorant and have stopped using body creams and replaced them with edible oils, like coconut oil. Because anything that goes on the skin should also go in the mouth because it's all the same... either way it ends up in the bloodstream.
• Drink more H2O. I've been making a conscious effort to drink more water and herbal teas. Since doing so, I get a headache in the evenings when I don't drink enough water. Your body tells you everything you need to know if you listen closely enough.
• Meal planning! So important. But I had a head start on that one, I've been doing it for a while!
• Cut out the booze. I've drunk alcohol very sparingly for the last year -- just the odd glass of wine or cider here and there -- but it's a treat! And since going gluten-free I haven't had any beer. So check mark here too.
• Dry skin brushing. This practice is new to me -- I've only become familiar with it recently, but I'm doing it! So good for the skin and for the lymph. More to come on this in a future post, because it's an easy thing to do that I gather most people know nothing about. So stay tuned for that!

I'm pretty proud of what I managed to incorporate in just a few short weeks. Think about how much healthier a society we would be if we all just adopted one or two of these things!

What changes have you made recently to improve your health?

21 days to health

I'm a bit of a healthy living, nutrition blog nut follower. I admit it. Back in January, I came across Meghan Telpner's blog - and fell in love. I love her style, food philosophy, how she cured herself of an 'incurable' disease through nutrition, and how she turned her knowledge and passion for nutrition and food into an amazing and growing business. She's kind of my nutritionista idol, if you will.

A couple of weeks ago she started a 21 days to health challenge based on one of her e-books, appropriately named, 21 Days To Health.

,

Source

She describes the program as follows:

21 Days To Health is about incorporating very simple changes everyday for 21 days. By the end of those short three weeks, you will have tried out and gradually added more healthy living practices than you ever thought possible- and done so with virtually no stress and minimal effort. You will have broken old habits and established new ones.

This program has nothing to do with whether you should eat organic or not, or what’s the best kind of fish oil you should take. This is about 21 simple transitions that cover off the 20% of the effort that will give you 80% of the results. This is the important stuff. The changes in this book are not rocket science, they are things we inherently know we should do, but for whatever reason, don’t do.

So, spurred on by her challenge and my wanting to incorporating more healthy living tips into my routine, I'm participating (if you follow me on Twitter, hopefully now my most recent tweets make more sense). And it's awesome!

I've found that a few of her tips I had already incorporated into my routine, including meal planning and shopping with a list, and incorporating more natural body care products. However, I've begun new ones as well that I've been committed to, such as flossing daily (if not twice a day), drinking a large glass of lemon water each morning first thing to help cleanse the liver, alkalize the body and stimulate the acid in the stomach, getting to bed 15 minutes earlier each night and more.

It's a really great book, filled with lots of great recipes and ideas, all with one goal in mind. I'm hoping to get to Toronto one weekend soon to take in some of her amazing cooking classes too... I just can't get enough!

I'm a bit obsessed, but I'm ok with that.

My go-to morning smoothie

I've been asked a lot by friends and family what I eat for breakfast. I've never been a morning person, so breakfast, especially on weekdays was always difficult, as it was hard to make time. But I know the importance of eating in the morning now and have become addicted to smoothies for two reasons -- fast and delicious!
 
Raeanne's go-to smoothie

• 1 cup almond milk
• 2-3 tsp flax oil
• 1 tbsp (heaping) seed mix (see 'recipe' below)
• 1 scoop of protein powder, I use Genuine Health Vegan Protein+ Vanilla
• 3 1-inch chunks of banana -- fresh or frozen
• 1/4 cup of berries -- fresh or frozen, I use a combination of blackberries, blueberries and raspberries or whatever I have on hand
• 1 handful (or 2!) of spinach leaves

Put all ingredients into a large magic bullet cup or a blender and pulverize it! Drink it! And say YUM!

Notes:

• I would make sure you put in something frozen (berries or banana) as it will chill the smoothie and I find it tastes a lot better. Otherwise I would likely throw in some ice.
• All amounts are approximate. I never measure -- no time for that!

Seed mix

• 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup raw sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup chia seeds
• 1/2 cup flax seeds
• 1/2 cup hemp hearts

Pour all the seeds into a large glass jar (3-cup), put the cover on and SHAKE! Store in the refrigerator.

This is packed with well over 20g of protein, good carbohydrates, fiber, and lots of good fats (Omega3s a plenty!). It easily keeps me full for 3 to 4 hours. Obviously there are tonnes of variations, and I change it up with what I've got on hand, but when I'm half asleep in the kitchen, this is most often what gets made!

If you try it let me know! Enjoy!

Getting the most out of my food and my grocery bill

I'm an organized person, I think I've alluded to this before. I get a wonderful high from my house being in order and things having a place to call home. With school, I'm an über-nut, I won't even go into how I organize myself for school, because you'll roll your eyes and think I'm crazy.

I've recently redone my spare bedroom/home office to work better for me. I got so into doing it that I forgot to take some key photos before and after, but I'll post about it soon. My main bathroom is also undergoing a organization renovation, it still needs to be decorated and then photos will follow. My next task will be my kitchen, my tiny townhouse kitchen... drives me insane. My I've got a project up my sleeve to tackle that one.

The kitchen brings me to my subject for today. For about a year now, I've completely changed the way I approach food, which has brought some great results. One way I have done this is to treat food as essential fuel for my body, not as a comfort or something brought upon by boredom. Once you see food in this different light, you'll be amazed at what you will stop putting in your mouth... I roll my eyes with disgust at things I ate without question just over a year ago -- and it has MUCH more to do with the ingredient list than it does with the nutritional value chart.

You hear regularly people complain about the high prices for good food, REAL food. My solution is quite simple. I put my organization skills to use and I plan. I will NOT go to the grocery store without having a plan in hand. So before my weekly trip, I find out what I've got on hand, perhaps go through the amazing box of goodies that was recently delivered and come up with a meal plan - meals for at least 5-6 days (which leaves some flexibility) and that uses everything I buy so little goes to waste. I go to the store with a plan and I know what's in my refrigerator -- awesome for my health and my budget.

It has worked awesome. No more "what are we going to have for dinner?" questions when getting home from work, the answer is on a piece of paper on the refrigerator. The real question becomes, which of these awesome meals am I going to eat today.

The results are in (partly)

In my last post, I described going gluten- and dairy-free for ten days. Last Thursday was day 11, so I opted to reintroduce gluten into my diet that day. My naturopath told me to eat a lot of it to ensure symptoms showed. So my day went like this:

• Breakfast: My usual protein shake, but with it two small slices of spelt bread toasted
• Lunch: A wrap (whole wheat) sandwich with veggies
• Dinner: I kind of had two since I was traveling to Vancouver and my day was quite long. When I got to the airport I got a small dish of penne pasta with a simple tomato sauce and then while on the plane I got a veggie sandwich (which was not very good and I didn't eat all of it, but it was the only thing that didn't have cheese on it!)

And the verdict – symptoms returned! So obviously not good news. But I have a still a few experiments to do before declaring myself anything and permanently changing my diet.

First, because I cheated a bit while on my travels this week (not much mind you, but maybe a tiny bit of cheese and bread here and there) I'm going totally gluten- and dairy-free again for three days. Today is day 2. On Friday I will reintroduce dairy and see how I feel. Saturday, I will continue eating gluten-free, and possibly dairy-free as well if I have symptoms following my reintroduction the day before. Finally, on Sunday, my plan is to eat lots of gluten grains, but not wheat grains. So I'll be loading up on spelt, kamut, barley, and rye in hopes that maybe, just maybe it's only wheat that's affecting me.

More to come...

Holy Crap!

I'm a big fan of the show Dragons' Den on the good ole CBC. Last year the Dragons heard a pitch from a small company in British Columbia that sold a healthy breakfast cereal. The company = HapiFoods Group. The product = Holy Crap.

The Dragons loved it and bought into the company.

Recently my boss, another Dragon's fan, was talking about it at work. She had ordered some a while ago but recently ran out. So we decided to share an order. If you order 6 bags or more, the shipping is free – so we split and bought 3 each.

I had my first taste this morning. It tastes amazing! So delicious and chock full of goodness in the form of dried fruit, hemp hearts, chia seeds, buckwheat and cinnamon (that's it folks, that's all the ingredients!). The directions say to add one tablespoon to some yogurt or two tablespoons to some type of milk. I added it to my overnight oats and it added a wonderful sweet nutty flavour. So, so good. Tomorrow I'm going to try it on it's own.

Oh, and it's named Holy Crap for a reason... hemp hearts will make you regular... :)

You can order it via their site or recently I was in Rainbow Foods in Ottawa's west end and found it there in the granola/cereal aisle! By buying 6 bags directly from the company I paid $10.95 per bag. Rainbow's price, if I remember correctly, was $11 and change. However, to save from buying in bulk and waiting two weeks for it to arrive by post, it might be worth it to buy it at Rainbow.

P.S. Sorry about all the food posts lately, but that's what's on my mind!! Good, healthy, fresh food! Yum!

Overnight oats

So maybe I'm new to the party, but I just discovered overnight oats, thanks in large part to Angela at Oh She Glows. What a yummy, easy morning breakfast routine!

You can check out the recipe over on her site, but the gist of it is this:

• 1/3 cup of oats
• 3/4 cup almond milk (I'm on a real almond milk kick these days but I suppose you could use milk of any kind)
• a small banana (I freeze all my banana in chunks to use in smoothies, so I tossed in a few of those and it was fine)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract (again ran out of vanilla over the weekend, so had none to add... still tasted ok -- mental note to self: add vanilla to shopping list)
• 2 tbsp chia seeds 

Here's the before shot:

Wake up the next morning and it's formed a nice gloopy bowl full of deliciousness. Add some sweet to it in the form of a nut butter and maple syrup for maximum deliciousness!

After the overnight hours in the fridge, magic gloopyness occurs. It's hard to see the difference in the photo, but believe me, the liquid has all been absorbed into the oats and the chia seeds are all plumped up.

Try it! It's yum and requires little to no effort, which is of the utmost importance for my morning routine.

Brunch with the ladies

This past Sunday I had some of my favourite Ottawa gals over to my place for a special brunch. All but one wasn't aware of my plan of going back to school and thus I prepared a menu to help tell them my plans.

What a great day! I was so happy with how everything turned out. If you know me well enough, you'll know that I love to entertain! So the night before I set my table and found a neat new way to fold my napkins.

The menu was served as follows:

• Homemade hummus with fresh veggies (cucumber, grape tomatoes, celery and carrots)
• Green monsters
• Shots of wild blueberry juice
• Fresh squeezed oranges mixed with sparkling mineral water and sweetened with agave nectar
• Granola over agave sweetened plain organic yogurt with blueberries
• Smoked salmon on brown rice cakes with dill sauce and capers
• Gluten-free pancakes
• Strawberries dipped in dark chocolate and hemp hearts
• Vegan no-bake peanut butter chocolate crispies with PB fudge  

Here are a few pics that I captured of some of the dishes. I have to get better at taking more photos. When I went to find my camera to take these the previous photos on the camera were from over a year ago... terrible, I know!

Suffice to say that everyone went home happy, full and healthy! And in return I got the support of my some of my favourite and closest friends for my new endeavour of becoming a Registered Holistic Nutritionist.

Bonus for all!

Organic groceries - Delivered!

For those of you in Ottawa, I found this little gem of a business quite a few months ago, but only started using it about 6-8 weeks ago. Ottawa Organics & Natural Food is a grocery delivery service that offers largely organic produce but they also carry organic dairy, baked good and some other grocery items.

I'm currently receiving the small fruit and vegetable box (a variety of fruits and vegetables), a dozen eggs, a litre of milk and a loaf of bread every two weeks. The quality is fantastic! They source local foods before importing and they let you know what is local (100 miles), regional (Ontario/Quebec outside the 100 miles), and imported from outside Ontario or Quebec (rest of Canada and other countries).

Receiving certain fruits and/or vegetables that you wouldn't normally buy on a regular basis has forced us to be creative with our meals, which has been great! A nice little touch is that they include a one-page newsletter-type flyer in each delivery. Included, among other things, are recipes for some of the produce included in the box. For example, last week we received a bag of Belgian endives. Instead of having to look up a recipe online or in my cookbooks, I looked no further than the flyer to find 3 different ways to prepare them.

The best thing is, I order from my computer and it's delivered to my door! Mind you, I still have to make trips to the grocery store for a few other items, but we really try and base our meals on what is included in the veggie box. The level of customer service has also been excellent. The owner, Matt, has also been very quick in responding to my requests.

We won't be receiving our box this week because we'll be away for the holidays and won't have a chance to eat all the goodies before they spoil, but I'll post a photo of our next box, which will arrive in the new year.

A great business success. Check it out!