Happy Halloween!

I can hardly believe it's already Halloween weekend. Last year I had a surprise visit from my love which involved us buying Halloween costumes and heading out to party. I was a cat and Dan was a tequila slinger. He was so freaking cute it's not even funny. Anyway, I will relive his cuteness while I'm celebrating this Halloween. What am I doing you ask? Oh, you're going to be so jealous.

This year, I'm going to "dress up" as none other then the precious Sleeping Beauty.

Source

Not only will I dress up as sleeping beauty, but I will be playing the part. This girl needs sleep in a big way. With school three nights each week, I've been in the groove of not going to bed until 12am (every night, whoops!), which is late for me. This week I must get my sleep and it will start tonight. Tonight's agenda - study cards and sleeping.

I hope you all have a fabulous night dressing up and celebrating this fabulously fun holiday! Stay safe!

Celebrate Organics!

Let's celebrate Organic Week!

Some of you may be wondering why on earth it's so important to eat organic foods - especially fruits and veggies! I'll tell you why!

1) One of the most obvious benefits is the fact that organic foods aren't grown with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, nor do they contain traces of chemicals so there is no negative affects on the body.

2) It tastes better! Many people may think it all tastes the same, but honestly knowing that it is produced organically, and often locally, makes it a million times more fresh tasting to me.

3) Organic food is good for the environment! Not only do I not want to ingest chemicals, but they aren't any good for our soil, air or water either. It's not safe for our generation or responsible due to the harm we're causing future generations!

4) When it comes to dairy, meat, and poultry, going organic has become a big deal to me. I am much happier when I know the animals have not been confined in a cage for their lives while eating God knows what. When explaining to anyone why I choose organic eggs, for example, I say "I like happy chickens!" And it's true - love the happy chickens.

There is a vitality in food. When a carrot, or other vegetable has to fend for itself without chemicals, it becomes stronger and offers many more nutrients for use in our bodies. There are so many elements to consider - like soil quality, location of farms, and ethical treatment of workers. It is up to each of us to decide what resonates with us and what we feel is most important.

Many families can't afford to buy all organic food, but if at all possible, focus on organic when buying the "dirty dozen" fruits and vegetables. They include: apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach, and strawberries.

What is one food item you are going to buy or eat this week that is organic?

Giving Thanks.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day in Canada, so it was a weekend filled with festive celebrations! We had family dinner both Sunday and Monday night - how fabulous! I was in charge of cooking the turkey - I took a crappy cell phone photo for you all.



Tom was a beautiful little bird. I also made stuffing and it was fantastic. I almost want to make it again this week - is it wrong to make stuffing when it isn't Thanksgiving or Christmas? Why don't we eat it more often? Hmmm, strange. Anyway, I want to share the recipe with you, but I forgot to take a photo and something about posting a recipe sans photo seems so wrong. I guess I have an excuse to make it again? It had butter and bread obviously, pine nuts, parsley, fresh sage, shallots, onions, and spices. Yum.

Since it is Thanksgiving after all, I should list some things in my life that I'm grateful for. You know, every year that passes, I just become more blessed in life, and feel an immense amount of gratitude for absolutely everything.

I am grateful for...

1. Skype - I can "see" Dan even when we can't be together for the holiday.

2. My family - immediate and extended - they are such amazing, beautiful people and I'm so blessed to be able to spend my life with them.

3. Nanny's Trifle - My mom and her parents were born in England so traditional British foods are made to perfection!

4. Opportunities - There is really nothing in life I feel held back from or feel I can't do. This past year, I went on my second adventure to Thailand, (almost) completed all of my business program, began my RHN program and love it, all while spending the majority of the past year separated from my best friend and love.

I hope all of my fellow Canadians have a fabulous holiday that gave you much to be thankful for!

Happy October!

Not to wish life away or anything, but I'm ridiculously excited that it's October. First of all, I can hardly even believe we're this far into 2011. I swear it was just the new year. I've been told that as I get older, the years will pass even more quickly which is a scary thought.

Why am I so excited for October? It means Dan will be home in two months! He's been gone three months so far and it's a great feeling being over halfway. We're both looking forward to his return and the fact he won't be leaving any time soon after!

I celebrated October 1st by spending the day in Cawston, BC with my parents. There is an organic farm, Harker's Organics, 4 hours away from home. We haul their produce into Whole Foods, so we thought it would be nice to check out the farm and support them during their annual Harvest Moon Festival. I'm so glad we went!

We arrived and immediately fell in love with all the fall décor. It provided some inspiration for me to pack up my flip flops at home. I've been having an unusually difficult time attuning to fall this year, but the festival definitely helped. They had a chef on site bbqing and creating fabulous food made with the organic produce. Along with the organic fruits, the farm owners, Troy and Sarah, use the fruits to make organic wine. It was so delicious! They have approximately 30 acres of land, but it is so inspiring when you see for yourself all that they are producing in that "small" area!

Here are some photos from the day!

Five for Friday.

1. The way your face lights up when my picture initially loads on skype.

2. Watching Dinner Party Wars with you. I can't watch it when you're not here.

3. How I have to always hang up the phone when our conversation is over because you don't like to.

4. Cuddles on the couch that turn into me falling asleep. I swear I stay up late when you're not here, it's just that your so cozy.

5. Greeting you/being greeted after a long day.

How to Procrastinate...

Anyone need help in this department? I am pretty sure I would be qualified in discussing how one goes about procrastinating. I have perfected the art.

With my new school program comes a lot of tests. A LOT, friends. As in each "course" is approximately two and a half weeks long meaning the "midterm" comes one week and the "final" comes the following week - every.single.week. Yep. I'm realizing this is my demise for the next year (actually 11 months! Woohoo!) so I better get used to handling the stress. I have a test tomorrow so the studying procrastination has begun.

First thing this morning I watched an episode of Dead Like Me. I am currently addicted to this show and have been watching it on Netflix. Then, I had to drink some Kombucha and make some breakfast. (Okay, so being well nourished might actually be important in terms of studying.) I ate a piece of Steady Eddie bread with almond butter on it. As I'm eating it, I realise I actually despise my toast with regular old almond butter - I like the chocolate stuff! (We have discussed this love previously.) When I ran out of the yummy chocolate goodness, I decided I should rotate to reduce sugar consumption and eat the plain almond butter, but I think I'd rather not eat it at all. I had already made the trip to Costco and bought the big jar of Maranatha Almond Butter before having this revelation, so I had to find a way to use it. A little search over at Pinterest gave me an idea: Flourless Sugarless Almond Butter Cookies. Sounds good, right? Well, sounds good FOR you but are they really tasty? I just had to give them a whirl.

Coming out of the oven they smelled amazing. They were quite crumbly, but taste absolutely fabulous. Who even needs chocolate almond butter now? Honestly. I have wild ideas of making this healthy treat completely unhealthy by crumbling it on vanilla ice cream. Delish.

Ingredients: (adapted from I Heart Wellness)

2 flax eggs (mix 1 Tbsp ground flax and 3 Tbsp water (or almon

d milk) PER "egg")

2 cups all natural or organic almond butter

1 Tbsp agave nectar

1/4 cup carob chips

Directions:

First, mix the flax eggs in a medium sized bowl and let them sit for 5 minutes. After the "eggs" are ready, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Once mixed, spoon mixture onto a parchment lined or greased baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. Voilà!

Well, it's almost 10am now and the procrastination must end. Excuse me while I go study. Happy Wednesday!

Wild Fermentation Workshop.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this past Wednesday I went to the Wild Fermentation Workshop, hosted by The World In A Garden and Julie Beyer of For the Love of Food. Julie actually goes to my school and has just begun the second year of the two year program to become a holistic nutritionist. I met her a few weeks ago at the Whole Foods Living Naturally Fair and was mesmerized and inspired by her knowledge!

The workshop was great. I knew next to nothing about fermenting foods before we began the session, and I left with so much knowledge. We made fermented beets, ginger carrots, kimchi, and sauerkraut. I'm not a fan of sauerkraut, especially after a bad experienced with juiced cabbage a couple months ago but I was excited about the other concoctions!

Honestly, it was a lot of work. Seriously I give people that actively ferment, can, jar - whatever you want to call it - serious props. Fermented foods are incredibly good for your digestive system and fermenting also reduces the amount of anti nutrients found on our live foods. (I will discuss anti nutrients with you soon! It's something I learned this week and previously had never even heard of!) Here are some photos from the event:

The workshop was held at Organic Lives and I highly suggest that if you live in Vancouver, BC, you take a visit! The food looks amazing and I'll be returning asap to have a wholesome and delicious dinner! Their smoothies look out of this world as well! Also, their macaroons are absolutely fabulous! It looks like some of their products can be shipped to different countries so US foodies check it out!

Photos courtesy of Alicia from The World In A Garden