Well... I'm sure you have all noticed my MIA last week. It was a busy one and my nights were occupied prepping for the event Granola Girls were attending on Thursday night. It has probably been the best event for us in awhile. It was the perfect mix of people who were there to learn about health and wellness from none other than Bruce Sweeney, owner of Simply for Life. Since our bars are Simply for Life approved, members were eager to add these tasty bars to their routine. We sold out and got the word out to many people. It was a success. We actually just recently purchased new sleeves for packaging our bars and this was our first chance to put them to action. The packaging is eco friendly compostable and biodegradable... so they were the perfect match for this small green company. And the bonus is they looked fabulous! It was also great to meet some of our blog readers! So THANK YOU! It means alot to have all of your support. Today's recipe was put to the test Saturday morning. I had just got back from a long bike ride and was hungry but didn't want anything too heavy. Just then I had remembered a concept I had read on Katheats blog called a "Smoothie In A Bowl" (SIAB). The smoothie part was inspired by the SFL smoothie I posted a couple weeks ago. I changed it up a bit due to what I had in my fridge... the mixture was as follows: Blueberry Kale Smoothie - 3/4 cup Almond milk (or skim milk) - 1 cup kale - 1/2 frozen blueberries - 1/2 banana - 3 frozen strawberries - 1 scoop protein powder - 1 Tbsp ground flax - 1 Tbsp hemp hearts - 1 Tbsp chia seeds Method: 1) Put the milk and kale into your blender first and pulse. This is to make sure the kale really gets blended well. 2) Add the rest of your ingredients and blend. Pour into a bowl. 3) Then I topped it with a dollop of almond butter and in honor of the theme of today's post, I crumbled up half of a Granola Girls bar and put it on top! Not only delicious but a gorgeous dish :) I am glad to be back into a routine this week even though I am missing a certain someone :( Bella and I have been having some major bonding time which has been nice. Nothing like girl time <3 BUT I can't wait till Friday!!
Have a great Monday!! Lots of Love, Metaxia
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Hey Guys,
Sorry I have been a bit slack on the blog this week but it has been a very busy week preparing for the event taking place in Saint John this Thursday, April 7, 2011. Granola Girls will be attending the Simply For Life Motivational Event Learn. Laugh. Live. as a vendor. It is going to be a great event to learn more about clean eating and it will be a chance to hear Bruce Sweeney talk. He is the owner and founder of Simply for Life and he has a lot of great insight on this particular topic. AND it is going to be fun!!! Granola Girls will have a table there so please come and visit us! Do you read our blog?? We would love to meet you! We will be the girls in pink! :) What a beautiful week it has been! The weather is really warming up and I have made it out for 3 jogs already this week. My routine has slowly been changing... I go for a jog in the evenings and the next morning I get a "yoga" type workout in for 30 minutes. I feel that balances out my day and gives me my cardio but also some inner core strength training as well. It's been working nice for me and I hope to continue as the weather gets even warmer. Sean even joined me for a jog on Monday night, which was very nice :) This recipe is a comfort dish that your men will probably love. I always look for recipes that Sean will like.. as a meat and potatos kind of guy. BUT I have to find creative ways to get veggie's in and make it taste great! This dish was delicious! It got sooo many veggies in but with so much flavor. It's the perfect side to any complete lean protein. Cheesy Veggie Bake - 2 medium potatos, diced - 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced - 1/2 cup carrots, chopped - 1/2 cup broccoli, chopped - 1/2 cup cauliflower, chopped - 1 can organic Vegatable soup - 1/2 cup water - 1 Tbsp Mrs. dash seasoning blend - 1/3 cup nutritional yeast - 1/2 light cheese of your choice - Optional: 1 can of organic beans of your choice if your soup doesn't already have beans. Inspired by: Love Veggies and Yoga Method: 1) Layer everything in a 9" x 13" pan lined with foil. (In the order of potatos, carrots, veggies, pour over soup and water and then the seasonings) 2) Bake at 400 for 50-60 minutes or until everything is cooked. Stir every once in awhile. In the last 15 minutes, add the cheese. I served Sean's with a piece of chicken and garlic toast. However, as I have mentioned I haven't been on the meat band wagon these days. So I plated mine with some of the coconut rice dish with avocado. My protein was the chickpeas and other beans in the veggie bake. It was delicious!! I loved it.
I hope you guys are enjoying your week. This weekend and next are going to be very busy for me so I hope to keep my eating clean! I will keep you updated :) Lots of love, Metaxia Happy Wednesday guys!! LOL this skit is hilarious! I saw it this morning on KathEats blog and had to share it with you guys! And even though it is sooo far fetched, it brings up a good point of us knowing where our meats are coming from and the importance of buying local. If you are in the Saint John area.. one good source for buying local meat is Farmers Bundles. Anyways, ok on with the show! lol enjoy! Happy Monday!! I had a very relaxing weekend. Sean was working so I really didn't do much. Come to think of it, I think I spent ALL morning on Sunday laying in the bedroom watching TV. It's fun doing that kind of stuff when you usually don't get a chance because your weekend are so busy. I also got out for a jog yesterday when I eventually got out of bed. It was a lot chillier than it looked but felt great to get out. Saturday night Sean and I had a date night :) Those are my favorites. As I mentioned in a post last week, going out and partying at the bars isn't really in our routine anymore. So... it is just that much more special when we get out for a nice meal, a drink or two and the chance to get all dressed up! I loved it. As I have mentioned many times before, it is nice to have clean snacks around the house so when you do feel like reaching for something... you have it! And you don't get your hands on something you will regret later. These bars are another great option to always have in your fridge! And they are soooo easy. [No Bake] Chocolate Peanut Butter & Oat Energy Bars - 1/2 cup Natural Peanut Butter - 1/2 cup dark Chocolate chips (or broken up pieces of a 70% cocoa choc bar that equals 1/2 cup) - 1 Tbsp organic Chia Seeds - 1 tsp pure organic Vanilla extract - 2 Tbsp Hemp milk (or almond/skim milk) - 1.5 cups of Organic rolled oats Method 1) Put the peanut butter, chocolate chips, vanilla and hemp milk all into a microwave safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds increments until everything has melted together. It only took mine two rounds. 2) Add the oats & Chia seeds. Stir well. Mixture should be well moistened, but somewhat crumbly. 3) Then coat the 8 x 8 inch pan with some plastic wrap. Pour in the mixture . . . and use another piece of plastic wrap over your hand to press mixture until it's even. 4) Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Then cut into bars. I cut down the middle once and then I think got 6 from each side. So 12 in total. Wrap them up in saran wrap and put them in the fridge to grab when you are on the go and need some energy. Inspired by: NeverHome Maker Hope you guys are all doing well with your workouts. i got a wonderful 30 min workout in this morning to start my day off. I am really hoping the weather really starts to warm up very soon so I can start to jog in the mornings before work. Nothing beats a jog on a crisp weekday morning... I love it. Sean and I might be participating in the Saint John airport 5km run coming up. Here is some info if you are interested.
Have a great day!! Lots of Love, Metaxia Ok, so Sean and I were laying on the couch the other night and he joked about wanting to go to Dairy Queen for a blizzard because he was craving ice cream. We had just finished a beautiful clean supper, but he still wanted that something sweet. Then it dawned on me... I had remembered seeing a recipe on The Gracious Pantry the other day and couldn't wait to try it. Have you guessed what it is yet !?!?!? Yup!! Homemade [clean] chocolate ice cream!!! Everyone has to realize what a gem this is. I have been eating clean for quite a while now and I could never quite come up with anything that resembled chocolate ice cream like this does. And it is sooooo simple!! [Clean] Chocolate Banana Ice Cream - 2 frozen bananas - 1/2 cup of Almond or Hemp milk (or skim milk) - 1 Tbsp Organic Cocoa Powder - 1 Tbsp Organic Honey 1) The night before (or at all times) chop up two bananas and put them into a freezer bag and in the freezer. 2) Then, place the 2 frozen bananas into your food processor along with all of the other ingredients. 3) Blend! Just make sure you incorporate all the bananas so there are no chunks, but don't over blend. You will be surprised how nicely it turns into a soft serve chocolate ice cream - banana flavored. Serve it in your best martini dish with a cute little spoon. Your family will think you are a miracle worker. Serves 2. Just double the recipe for 4/5 people. EnjoY!! Sean gave this recipe two thumbs up!!!! Even Bella loved it :) OH and by the way... I am LOVE LOVE lovin the book I introduced to you guys the other day "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone. Just leting you know. I am far from finished. I told you... I am a slow reader :)
Have a great Wednesday!! Lots of love, Metaxia What a great weekend! The weather is really warming up these days and it just makes everything so much better. Saturday night I had the pleasure of seeing a ton of friends at a bachelorette party that I hadn't seen in a long time. As part of my clean eating journey, drinking has also taken a back seat. I had my days of partying and having fun, but I knew that if I was going to make a commitment, I was going to do it right. Don't get me wrong, I still have the a drink every once in awhile, but they are few and far between. So, having the chance to get out with friends I haven't seen in over a year just made it that much more special. We had an amazing night and I felt good in my little black dress ;) Today when Sean and I were at Costco, I was browsing the books and found this book by Alicia Silverstone called "The Kind Diet". It looked very interesting and I bought it. I am very excited to get into this and I will let you know how it is. I am only on page 10 and so far so good. Ok, so now onto the recipe. This one if inspired by LoveVeggiesAndYoga. It kind of reminds me sort of a thai dish with the coconut milk. It is different than what I would normally make but I just love it so much. It's kind of weird because I am really eating less and less meat these days. I haven't actually eaten any in weeks and I incorporate protein into my diet using differant non-meat foods. It's been great. I feel great. I feel healthier and I feel like this is something I could continue. I am not calling myself a vegetarian or a vegan... I would say vegan[ish]. Coconut Rice with Chickpeas & Veggies - 1 cup Brown rice (I used Uncle ben's whole grain 10 min rice) - 1 can Organic Coconut milk - 1/4 cup Vegan butter (you can find in the organic aisle in the fridge at Superstore) (or normal butter) - 1 Tbsp ground ginger - 2 Tbsp Mrs. Dash Caribbean citrus blend (If you don't have this, just play around with your favorite spices) - Salt & Pepper to taste 1) Combine all ingredients into a sauce pan and cook about 10 minutes until the rice is cooked. Then I added - 1 can of organic chickpeas - 1 cup of chopped asparagus - 2 Tbsp natural peanut butter Stir to combine and then serve. I served mine with kale chips and avocado slices for me and Sean got the rice dish with a piece of chicken and kale chips. Very satisfying dinner. Aaaand this is what happens when I read LOL. I couldn't wait to jump into my new book, so as soon as we got back from running errands I started reading. I thought I would get a few pages in before starting supper. Well apparently I was out cold in no time and Bella decided to join me. She looks like she is up to no good by this picture though lol. Well that's it for today. I have an AH-MAZING recipe for you that you won't even believe for Wednesday. Seriously... if this isn't a good cliffhanger, I dont know what is!! lol
Lots of love, Metaxia Kale. Kale. And more Kale. Tonight's class at Simply for Life Quispamsis was great, as always! We all know Kale is one of those Superfoods that we should incorporate into our diet... but what the heck do we do with it?! Well tonight, Nela showed us four delicious recipes using kale and taught us how we cook with it. On the menu tonight: 1) Kale chips 2) Blueberry & Kale Smoothie 3) Kale & Avocado Salad 4) Veggie/Kale stir fry My favorite... Kale & Avocado salad!!! Don't get me wrong, I loved all of them and I have been addicted to kale chips for the past couple weeks, but the salad was amazing. I love learning new things and this salad was a first for me. It's simple. Clean. But just one of those new recipes that I will be putting on my plate alot in the near future. I am going to let the photos speak for themselves!! Beautiful food = amazing photos. Recipes Below... Kale Chips [Above] - Blueberry Kale Smoothie [Below] Kale & Avocado Salad Veggie/Kale Stirfry Well it's no suprise that we all had empty bowls!! :) YUM! Well that's it for today guys. If you dont already, be sure to follow Simply for Life facebook and they always update it with their upcoming cooking classes! Lots of Love, Metaxia [Blueberry and Kale] smoothie
3/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice (or hemp milk) 1/2 cup kale, chopped 1 banana (fresh or frozen) 1/2 cup blueberries (frozen makes a nice thick smoothie) 1/2 cup Greek yogurt 1 Tbsp freshly ground flax Optional: other fruit such as strawberries, raspberries, kiwi (about ½ cup), unsweetened coconut (1oz), olive oil or omega-3 oil (1tsp). Add the pineapple juice and chopped kale to the blender and blend until all the kale is incorporated smoothly into the juice. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend. Makes 1 serving. Simple [Kale and Avocado] Salad - Kale, about 4 cups after chopped - 1 Tbsp olive oil - Pinch of sea salt - 1 ripe avocado, chopped - 10 cherry tomatoes, halved - 2 green onions, sliced - 1/2 lemon, juiced Pull the leaves from the kale stems (avoid using the hard, bitter stem) and chop into very small pieces. Add olive oil and salt and massage it to soften the kale leaves. Add the chopped avocado, tomatoes, green onion, lemon juice and toss. [Veggie] stir fry - 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce - 1 tsp sesame oil - 1 tsp honey - Canola oil - 4-6 cups of sliced, chopped or julienned vegetables such as: *mushrooms *carrots *red onion *celery *green/yellow beans *snow peas *red/green/orange pepper *bok choy *kale - 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger - 3 garlic cloves, minced In a bowl, mix the soy sauce, sesame oil and honey and set aside. Place wok over medium-high heat. Once hot, add about 1 Tbsp of canola oil and sauté mushrooms for about 3 minutes. Add carrots, onion, celery and/or peppers and continue to cook, stirring. Next, add beans or peas. Finally add bok choy and/or kale, garlic and ginger. Stir-fry vegetables until desired texture. Stir and add the soy sauce mixture. Serve immediately over brown basmati rice or quinoa. Kale chips - 1 bunch kale - Drizzle olive or canola oil - Pinch salt and pepper Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. With a knife carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes. Thursday already! Wow, did I say that last week? I have been enjoying how spring has slowly been showing its face these days. The rain isn't so fun but it helps reveal the green beneath and I've even goten some jogs in! Today I have two recipes for you! Yes two! This one is a goodie and even though there are many different variations this one was fun to try. Part one of the recipe is a 5 Minute Naan bread. Naan bread is delicious! And like most oher breads it usually takes a few hours to bake... BUT I have found a 5 minute version that I found was very interesting and tasted great! The best part about it is how few ingredients it has. After I baked it, I couldn't help but make it into a pizza! Yum! 5 Minute Naan - 1 cup bread flour (I used whole wheat Speerville) - 1/2 tsp baking powder - A pinch of salt - 2/3 cup water - extra flour for rolling Inspired by: Never Home] Maker Method: 1) Whisk the bread flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. 2) Slowly add the water and stir. Then you can start to knead with your hands. If it is a bit too sticky, add a bit more flour. 3) Divide into 4 balls. 4) Roll out each ball to about 5-6 inches in diameter in the shape of naan bread. 5) Spritz a pan with olive oil and heat on medium. Add one of the naan dough's to the hot pan and press down with a spatula. Cook until golden. Flip and repeat. 6) repeat with the other 3 balls of dough. It's so easy and naan bread is perfect to cut into 4 pieces and have with hummus or any other type of clean dips. Then I thought... Well it's supper time.. What else can I do to this. Pizza!! So I dressed the naan bread up with the following: Naan Pizza - Salsa (as the base) - Spinach, chopped - Peppers, chopped - Chickpeas (crazy I know, but they were delicious) - Kale, chopped - Feta Cheese - Sprinkle of Cheddar cheese Then I put them into the oven for about 10 minutes. Until cheese is melted. Another option for your own quick homemade pizza would be whole wheat pita bread! I am famous for my pita pizzas. They are quick, easy and soooo yummy.
This week I will be trying a "Socca". I hadn't heard of these before but it is a pizza crust base made of chickpea flour. It is very dense but it looks delicious and I definitely want to give it a try. Of course, I will keep you updated. Well I hope you guys have a great day. This week has been amazing for my energy and getting my morning workouts in. This morning I even finished off with a few yoga poses and breathing techniques to give me lots of positive energy for the day. Tonight (Thursday night) I am attending Simply for Life's cooking class out in Quispamsis with Keith and Nela again. Tonight's topic: Cooking with Kale!! If you are interested in attending, I am sure they would love to have you if they have any spots left. Call to enquire at 849-8809 or their facebook page is here. Lots of love! Metaxia Hey there! Well, I had a busy but very productive weekend. As I mentioned last week, I attended a days full of Organic workshops in Fredericton, NB. All in all I was very happy with it. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical but thought I would give it a try since it would be a great networking opportunity for Granola Girls. The workshops I attended were: 1) Eating Organic on a Budget with Debbie Russell 2) Growing Organic Apples with Mike Hutton (My highschool teacher!! ) 3) Canning 101 with Ecology Action Centre’s Food Action Committee of Nova Scotia 4) Home Sprouting with Leah Anstis They were all about 45 minutes long which was perfect. It was long enough to learn something but not too long and made you want to fall asleep. Debbie Russell is the owner of True Food Organics, a little organic shop in Fredericton. I had the pleasure of stopping there before I headed home and was in heaven. It was almost like a tiny little Whole Foods. Made me realize how great it would be to have something like that in Saint John. Leah also did a great job teaching her audience about growing your own sprouts at home... and I even left with a new little sprout growing kit that I bought from her. I currently have broccolli and alfalfa sprouts growing in my kitchen. :) Here is a few pictures from my day at the conference including two tables of my favorite exhibitors Speerville and Shaklee. Last night's supper just had to be talked about. I was by myself, as Sean was working and thought I would put together a quick meal. Well, I had just cooked a pot of organic quinoa and I had picked up some organic kale at True Food Organics. Sooooo... I had quinoa, some slices of avocado, chickpeas and kale chips! The first time I made kale chips I was up in the air about them... but I tell ya, second time was a charm. This meal was beyond delicious AND nutritious! Take a look! I Hope you all have a great day! I will be back tomorrow with a new recipe.
*Thoughts & Prayers to all of those in Japan. Lots of Love, Metaxia |