Popsicles for Ashley

Ashley was coming over for a lunch date yesterday and I promised her popsicles. 

I posted the link to my Summer of Popsicles Pinterest board and asked her to weigh in on which she preferred. She gave me a few options and I decided on the mango-kiwi-raspberry ones. We had a super yummy lunch, and amid our epic chat enjoyed some delicious popsicles for dessert. We also discovered that popsicles make great fuel for cabaret discussions. Oh yes, the next one is coming. 

They were awesome. Ashley even quipped that they were like "an f-ing orgasm in [her] mouth" - I don't disagree. I tweaked the recipe a bit, subbing agave for the simple syrup and only using it in the kiwi and raspberry segments and didn't really wait as long as the recipe called for before pouring in the next fruit puree. Yes, I'm getting cocky with my popsicle making, but if these guys are any indication, I'm getting pretty freakin' good at it. 

We've both been busy and haven't had a lot of time to recharge together, so yesterday was really important to both of us. She's such a big part of my life, and when we don't see one another for a little while I feel a bit incomplete and off. She's someone I bounce ideas off of, a person who makes me laugh about the most ridiculous things, someone I can count on when I'm down and the person who goes off on tangents even worse than my own. (Yesterday it had to do with sperm whales and then sperm and whales). When she's not around I just feel disconnected and I really don't like that. 

We talked a bit about an article I had tweeted yesterday that discussed why it's harder to make friends as we grow older and it reinforced why I feel so lucky to have such an amazing group of friends like Ash, my Jessie and my Melly in my life. They've been with me through a lot, and know the back story to the back story and sometimes I feel like they know me better than I do myself. I feel so blessed to have them as a part of my life. This does not discredit the relationships that I've built and established more recently, as I am incredibly thankful for them as well (and they are awesome!), but there is something truly unique and special about those friends who have known you the longest. 

Sometimes life just calls for simple things - amazing friends (who sometimes share your name), popsicles and epic conversations in the sunroom. 

Thoughts on making friends as you grow older? What do you think the difference is (if any)? Do you feel differently about the friends that have known you for ages or the ones you've made more recently?

Rah Rah for Raw and the Crazy Sexy Diet

I love love love love LOVE this book

I’ve been a big fan of Kris Carr for a long time and the Crazy Sexy Life forums are an awesome place to be, so when I read about her latest book, I knew I wanted to get it.

February is usually a rough month for me, so rather than feel sad (especially since my show was ending too!), I decided it would be an amazing opportunity for some “Ashley time”. I read through the book, as well as Meghan’s 21 Days to Complete Health tutorial and with guidance from both was excited to start the 21 Day Adventure cleanse as documented in Crazy Sexy Diet. Every morning I start the day with a tall glass of water with lemon and cayenne followed by a huge glass of green juiceIt’s very green…

But oh-so-delicious! I feel so energetic after my green juice (which is a combination of celery, romaine, kale, cucumber, ginger and pear)

Meals include lots of (mostly) raw goodness…

huge salads (spinach, carrot, beet, broccoli with steamed tempeh & hemp seeds)

raw soups (spinach, lime & avocado)

zucchini noodle goodness (I’m not lucky enough to have a spiralizer (yet!) , but Gena’s raw peanut noodles were awesome!! I used one of the attachments on our food processor to slice the zucchini thin, but you could use a vegetable peeler too. Topped with a bit of tempeh & sesame seeds, it was a super yummy meal!)

and trips to yummy raw restaurants

Nicole and I went to Rawlicious last week where I had the rawitch and she had the taco wrap. Both were fantastic!! I opted to have a macaroon for dessert and it was the perfect end to our meal.

Between all the incredible food I’m eating (80-90% raw), the juicing, the dry brushing, meditation, physical activity and daily affirmations, I’m feeling absolutely stellar. Today is Day 11 and we were encouraged to write a love list of 10 things we love. “Love makes us radiant. Notice the love and invite it to tea”. Here goes…

Waking up minutes (even seconds) before the alarm goes off
Wearing flowers in my hair, no matter the season
Anything pink
Eating lunch in the sunroom
Finding the perfect quote to end my meetings
Walking into my room and seeing gorgeous flowers

Getting mail that isn’t a bill or paystub
Finding amazing new songs to sing
Scoring the comfy couches on tea dates with friends
Snuggling
Laughing til it hurts

Okay, so that’s 11… but I’ve never claimed that playing by the rules or math were strengths of mine. I’m invigorated and excited for the rest of the 21 days, although I feel like much of it may just be incorporated into everyday life going forward. Ah-mazing.

What’s on your love list? How do you push past the February blahs?

Much Fun With Holidays & Vegetables in a Fuchsia Dress

Happy New Year!

The last couple weeks of December flew by in such a whirlwind, I can hardly believe that it’s already January 4th!

I didn’t have the crunch of Christmas parties like many people, but did have fun attending the Biz Media holiday party with the lovely Jessie.
It was a really fun night. I especially liked meeting a variety of Twitter friends and posing with the doughnut tree. And having way too much fun taking picturesOne year to the day of last year’s event, Nicole, Meghan and I had our annual holiday dinner. Despite living with Nicole and interacting with Meghan quite regularly, it is nearly impossible for the 3 of us to coordinate our schedules. I didn’t get a picture of the three of us, but I did manage to snap some of the food!

Nicole and I were a bit disorganized in planning the menu, but managed to whip something up. We started off with a delicious butternut squash soup that Nicole made. Roast a butternut squash with 2 heads of garlic. Chop and sauté one onion. Add some ginger. Once the squash is roasted, puree with the garlic, onion, ginger and however much water you need in a Vitamix. Add water to achieve your desired consistency and voila! Nicole said that sometimes she adds roasted red pepper and it is also delicious. We topped the soup with some baked squash seeds.

For our mains, we asked Meghan to bring a salad and we decided to test out a lentil dish that we found online. After adding some more garam masala and tomato paste to the dish we ending up liking it more, but I’m not sure that it was something that we would make again. Meghan brought a raw pad thai inspired salad with zucchini noodles and a creamy sauce. It was a yummy combination of flavours with lots of variety! I think dessert was everyone’s favourite. I made Michelle & Lori’s apple pie parfaits. Holy amazing!! To save on some time I used plain Coconut Bliss along with the delicious apple filling, but overall the flavour was incredible. It was so easy to make (less than 5 minutes) and easy to prep parfait style to serve to the ladies. Just awesome. I don’t think the Pure2Raw girls can go wrong!! Meghan brought Nicole and I glass straws (so perfect for those green smoothie days) and Nicole made us body butter and lip balm from Meghan’s Natural Body Care tutorial. I love my girls, so happy to have met them in Meghan’s cooking classes!

I went to Belleville for Christmas to visit my grandmother (and if you follow me on Twitter you probably caught a few tweets about my bus debacle) I brought some food with me and asked my grandmother to stock the fridge up with fruits and veggies. I ate leftover butternut squash soup, made hot cereal in the mornings, ate giant salads and snacked on fruit between meals. For Christmas dinner I made Meghan’s orange maple tempeh and used some apricot jam in place of some of the orange juice. My uncle made sure I had lots of veggies and made me a special stir fry too. So yummy!I came back to Toronto feeling rested and rejuvenated after getting lots of sleep and relaxing. Caught up with lots of friends over the holidays and rang in the New Year with Melly. Speaking of the New Year… post on goals still to come!! 

How were your holidays? Are you feeling recharged for January?

Catching Up on Summer Foodie Goodness

I’ve realized I’ve been hoarding a lot of food photos from the summer…Lots of fruit and veggie goodness… many salads and stir fries and simple things. It’s been too hot to cook anything elaborate so I’ve kept things pretty simple. The summer has also made me pretty social, so there have been meals out at lovely places like Fresh, Live and various sushi restaurants.

This weekend I also made a couple of raw soups as a part of Meghan’s green smoothie weekend. I had a lot of fun with an abundance of green smoothie goodness, but wanted to change things up a little bit. Both recipes were from Natalie Rose’s Raw Food Life Force Energy. The first was pumpkin pie in a bowl I opted for steamed sweet potato since I don’t have a high powered blender and it turned out beautifully. It truly was like pumpkin pie in a bowl and it made me really happy.

The second was the pineapple’s just peachy soup with pineapple, berries, spinach, mint and some sweet Ontario peaches. I fed some of this to one of my roommate’s and he inquired what made it a soup and not a smoothie? I said it was because I opted to eat it out of a bowl with a spoon rather than from a glass. I guess it could be a smoothie too, although I might add some additional liquid. I loved the fresh flavour and really enjoyed the pineapple and peach combo.

I’m hoping to get back to the farmer’s market today to pick up some more delicious summer-y goodies while they’re still fresh and delicious!

What are your summer staple foods? Are you looking forward to any particular fall foods?

The Day The Universe Wanted Me To Slow Down

Last week the universe sent me signs that I needed to slow down and I was happy to take them!

While absolutely amazing, Fringe was incredibly busy and hectic. I spent a lot of time seeing other shows (11 in fact!) and spent a lot of time with old (and new) friends at the beer tent. In the midst of all this I was still going to work and school and trying to eat, sleep and breathe!

On Wednesday I headed up to school to start my new class, Sports & Fitness nutrition. I had just finished an assignment for our previous class and was looking forward to starting something fresh for the summer. I arrived in class right at 10 and there was no teacher in sight. 5 minutes went by and still nothing. 10:10, 10:15 passed and we all started to get a little anxious. Someone finally went to speak with our administrator and a phone call to our teacher revealed he had gotten the dates for our class wrong! There were a lot of groans in the class, but I was happy to take advantage of the beautiful, sunny, day!!

So I did. With a picnic in the park with the lovely Ashley. Super fresh salad with spinach, romaine, avocado, green beans, cucumber, red pepper, sunflower seeds and marinated tofu cubes (tamari & apple cider vinegar) topped with flax oil and balsamic. We followed the salad with some amazing watermelon, raspberries, strawberries & blueberries.

It was a gorgeous day and Ashley and I had a lot of fun laughing and eating and taking advantage of the sunshine!

Later in the day I was supposed to work, but that ended up getting cancelled too. Once again, I was angry or upset, just happy to enjoy the day! I checked out the Farmer’s Market at Queen’s Quay and picked up some amazing rainbow chard and summer squashes which I turned into a stir fry  Simple sautéed summer squash and rainbow chard with millet and tempeh. Once fuelled I headed back to Fringe madness where I spent time with some amazing people including another lovely Ashley. Now some people would have been frustrated that everything had been cancelled in their day – not me!! I took the hint from the universe and I loved having the opportunity to see some beautiful friends, eat delightful food and take advantage of a free day!

Have you had any free time to frolick in the sunshine? Have you found anything delightful at a farmer’s market this season?

The Words That Dominated My Weekend

No, not absolutely, brilliant, incredible, amazing, fantastic and awesome because I use those way too much every weekend. I’m talkin’ superfoods, smoothies, raw, and cherry blossoms.

Last week I had the pleasure of taking part in Meghan’s 5 Days Superfoods and then following it up with the 3 Day Green Smoothie challenge. Maybe you’re asking yourself why I participated in these two events (aside from my adoration for all thing Meghan) Well to be honest, I’ve been struggling lately. Ever since January, I’ve been at odds with my weight, my body and eating. My weight has fluctuated (it went down significantly and then went back up again) and lately I’ve been trying to come to terms with how I feel in my skin. I try not to be ruled by the number on the scale, but often that is easier said than done. I’ve been falling into old habits and felt that participating in the two events would rejuvenate my relationship with food, give my system a bit of a break and fill my tummy up with lots of goodness.

Mission accomplished. Summer museli with a sliced banana, applesauce and lots of cinnamon
Kale pesto with brown rice pasta and a mixed salad with sprouts & beets 
Spinach salad with tamari & cider vinegar marinated mushrooms and sunflower seed pate

And lots of smoothies…

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Meghan’s smoothie recipes are pretty awesome and the tutorial is chock full of amazing information. I think my favourite was the green mojito – so delicious! I will definitely be enjoying smoothies as a part of my regular breakfast and/or lunch routine going forward as they left me feeling satisfied and energized without weighing me down. I guess haircut could have been one of the words too… My new bangs make me happy! And the money I paid for the cut went to the Parkinson’s Society as a part of the 2010 Cut-a-thon.

Rather than consume solely smoothies all weekend, I decided that I would just go raw with a smoothie focus. This led to a lovely excursion on Friday with Ashley. We started off by heading to High Park to see the cherry blossoms Why didn’t I know that this happens every year in High Park? We had such a nice walk and enjoyed the absolute beauty of the cherry blossoms in bloom. After a long walk, we made our way to Rawlicious Rawlicious is a raw, vegan cafe located in the heart of the Junction, which is a neighbourhood that I lived in from 2001-2006. When I lived there there was nothing like this! I loved the beautiful artwork, laid-back vibe (including super cozy chairs), and amazing food! Ash and I shared the taco wrap (Nut-loaf, guacamole, chopped tomatoes, red onion, shredded romaine, salsa and nut cheese in a collard wrap) and raw Pad Thai (Raw kelp noodles, shredded romaine, carrots, peppers, zucchini noodles mixed in a tangy cashew sesame Thai sauce topped with crumbled cashews & green onions) The wrap was great and really solidified my love for collards as a wrapping device. I also discovered that I have nothing to fear of kelp noodles! They were really nice mixed with the zucchini spirals and the Pad Thai as a whole was light and delicious. I can’t wait to head back to Rawlicious again!

Because clearly one raw restaurant in a weekend is not enough, I took a trip to Live on Saturday night. It was jam-packed! 

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Unfortunately my pictures came out pretty dark, but I can assure you that everything was delicious including my absolute favourite kale salad, hemp bruschetta and a few bites of delicious raw cacao cake for dessert.

So how do I feel now?

I feel great. Lindsay and I did some emailing over the weekend and helped to keep one another on track. It was great to have a supportive buddy who was facing similar challenges and to have someone to stay accountable to. I will be transitioning back to cooked food later today but plan to incorporate more smoothies and superfoods into my usual eating routine. I feel more in touch with good portion sizes and my body is thanking me for all the goodness I consumed over the last 8 days. I feel healthy, strong and comfortable in my body and I want to keep rocking this good good feeling going forward!

Coming up later this week – my thoughts on long term weight maintenance and another FIT CHICK Friday!

Did anyone else participate in the Superfood or Smoothie Challenge? Did anyone get to High Park to see the Cherry Blossoms? How was YOUR weekend?

 

F is for Fruits & Veggies

Often when I tell people that I’m gluten free and vegan, I am asked the question “so what do you eat?” At the top of my list is always fruits and vegetables and I am not ashamed of that fact!

I love fruits and vegetables and try to include a wide variety of them on a daily basis. We talked a lot about them this summer during the 4 weeks to 5 servings challenge and I also touched down on some of their benefits in my apple post. I separate our grocery list by where I’m going to get the items, and the list for the fruit and veggie stand is always the longest!!

I do try to buy organic whenever possible, but that is a personal preference. While there’s been much debate over whether organic produce is better for you, I try to avoid putting extra stuff in my body, so I don’t like the idea of pesticides going in! I also find that organic produce just tastes better than it’s conventional friends (or enemies)

Here’s my fruit and veggie tally from yesterday:
banana (morning snack)
tomatoes, zucchini, sweet potato & green beans in my curry (lunch)
carrots in my soup (dinner)
spinach, cucumber, peppers and green onions in my salad (dinner)1 c. grapes (evening snack)

Everything I ate yesterday was delicious, colourful and so filling. I tweeted last night “Just had the BEST supper - you know the ones where you're making sounds because it's so good?!?” – I love that feeling!!

If I had to choose a favourite fruit and vegetable… I would have to say mango and Brussels sprouts, both full of vitamin C and fiber (although strawberries, kale, broccoli, avocados would be very close in the running!)

What is your favourite fruit and veggie? How to you maximize their presence throughout the day? 

 

Fun, fun, fun till your landlord takes your oven away...

Wanna see what made my week EXTRA special?

Yes, that's my oven out on the street. Why you ask?

Our oven has been acting up the past few weeks and our landlord needed to replace a part. So on Sunday evening I was left without use of my oven or the burners for an undetermined amount of time. Raw food anyone?

Rice paper wraps with sunflower seed pate & veggies with spinach salad (with pecans and cranberries) with a few potatoes from the Carrot take away counter. It was good! Joey said the potatoes were his favourite part, and then felt bad when he realized I didn't make them.

Here's my lunch from the following day - spinach, orange pepper slices, cucumber slices, avocado with sunflower seed pate and some blueberries for snacking.

We ended up getting a whole new oven on Wednesday, which meant I was able to try out some recipes from my new cookbook, La Dolce Vegan. I started with black bean soup with tomato avocado salsa.

Amazing. I've made a couple of black bean soups in the past that were just okay, but this one was seriously great. Not very spicy (I like that, but Joey said he might add some Tabasco next time), really creamy and the tomato avocado salsa added a really nice touch. The soup part of the recipe makes two good sized servings, so next time I will double the recipe to have for lunches the next day. This is a keeper.

Next up, banana-pecan pancakes.

I replaced the flour in the recipe with Bob's gluten free flour mix, and added a tsp of xanthan gum for good measure. I liked these. They didn't burn like my last attempt at pancakes which was good, but they weren't particularly sweet. I think my banana was to blame (it wasn't very ripe) but I solved that with some maple syrup. Overall, this made for a really satisfying start to my day.

I finally checked out Camros Organic Eatery and it was amazing!! I love that their motto is "Taste & Health in every wholesome meal"- that is right up my alley!! I could eat nearly everything, which meant I had quite a few choices.

I went with a lentil patty, kale salad, navy bean stew and millet salad. Everything was delicious, I don't even know if I could choose my favourite dish. I was interested in trying millet, since it is a gluten free grain. It was nice in the salad. I also enjoyed the kale salad a lot! I don't eat a lot of raw kale, but after having this salad I think I need to start incorporating it. The tahini dressing was a nice touch. Everything is organic and made with lots of love and the prices are incredibly reasonable. I loved every bite and cannot wait to return.

On Friday night Joey and I headed to the Green Eggplant, which was so yummy as usual!

I opted for the grilled chicken and veggie salad sans chicken, with avocado and dressing on the side (could I be any more complicated??) First of all, it was gigantic! I feel like I ate a whole bag of lettuce. Secondly, I need to start roasting or grilling veggies for my salads, because the grilled veggies made it so exciting! My only gripe is that I wish there had been more than 2 asparagus spears. Still a great salad and a fun night with Joey.

Last week's mission in the 4 Weeks to 5 Servings Challenge was to try a new fruit or vegetable. I tried a yellow plum this morning.

First bite was gross and bitter. I persevered and every bite after that was sweet and juicy! Isn't it funny how the first bite of fruit can be so different from the others? I picked up a bunch of plums and peaches from the Farmers Market on Thursday and having one each day has been delightful. Did you try any new fruits or veggies this week? Next week's challenge is to get in at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies each day.

Tonight we had a couple friends over for a BBQ.

I enjoyed a veggie burger, a potato and a cucumber/tomato/avocado salad Lori brought over. So summery and fresh. I christened my new oven with a blueberry/strawberry crumble.

It was amazing! Our friend Jeff was upset that there was no ice cream, but made do without. I loved the blueberries in the crumble! They became very juicy and it was a great combination with the strawberries and crumble topping. I used a 1/2 tsp of ginger and nutmeg in place of the all spice. I think I will enjoy leftovers as part of my breakfast tomorrow...

We've since spent the evening out back with guitars,

bongos,

and Beatles tunes.

Joey is such a talented musician. It's so nice to hear him play guitar and sing with him when I can!

I'm looking forward to getting back to normal (aka the ability to use my stove) this week with a proper grocery trip tomorrow. I will also be posting my July activity results! If you would like me to include your results in the recap, be sure to send me an email (wwleaderashley@gmail.com)

I hope you're all having an amazing weekend so far!