I'm a rebel with a clause

Sometimes i even amuse myself with my Post Titles, I truly feel my career in banking is a waste of Tag Line talent


I spent this weekend truly rebeling against the man, well kind of, lets have the pictures show the story in true Monday Recap fashion

 ReBeL: The Easter bunny visited my office on Thursday, i might have traded the eggs i didn't like with my coworker who was out of the office, shhhh!

ClAuSe: I made sure I asked the Easter bunny's permission first

ReBeL: Played board games with friends ON the stove

ClAuSe: It was turned off

ReBeL: I played with this bunny even though i'm kinda scared of rabbits

ClAuSe: I didn't actually hold it, i just kind of petted its head due to actual immense bunny phobia

ReBeL: I took photos at the gym even though there is a strict no cell phone policy

ClAuSe: I made sure to turn it on vibrate first and there was no one within a 5 machine radius

ReBeL: I took foodie photos in front of my family

ClAuSe: I used my iPhone so nobody noticed

ReBeL: I ate icecream in -2celcius weather

ClAuSe: we had the heat turned up on high in the car

ReBeL: I fed the furry monster that lives in the back of our sedan

ClAuSe: She repaid me with sweet doodle kisses

ReBeL: I did shots with my sister at 11am in the middle of the Brantford Farmers Market

ClAuSe: The shots were made of wheat grass

ps: aren't we cute in our matching lulu hoodies?

ReBeL: I smelled the pretty Easter flowers even though i know i'm allergic to some kind of flower

ClAuSe: It's definitely not this flower, i remember now it was purple and resembled daisies

ReBeL: I ate A LOT of Easter chocolate on Sunday

ClAuSe: Its okay because i worked my ass of at the gym Friday and Saturday and its British Chocolate so if it comes from another country, the calories TOTALLY don't count

Friday: BF and I hit the gym then went to the Brown Dog in Paris, a lovely little cafe that has amazing views, (when it isn't freezing out) i had an AMAZING Gouda, Caramelized Onion and Sundried Tomato Sandwich, yummmm - only downfall to the Brown Dog chain is they don't take debit, who doesn't take debit nowadays?

Saturday: Went to Physique 57 and Zumba then perused the Farmers Market and picked up a TON of fresh produce, sooo excited to get to the market more now the weather is finally turning spring like, We went to Limeridge in Hamilton to find me a dress to wear to the wedding we are attending next week but alas i was too picky and nothing looked right, bummer! BF and i decided on a date night and went to a local Greek/Italian restaurant and had an amazing early bird special dinner and then went to see Scream 4

LRT Movie Review: Scream 4

Truly typical Scream movie material but with a good twist at the end, i did however have nightmares all night, i always feel brave until i'm sitting in the theatre and then i chicken out :oP

Sunday: We slept in (surprise, surprise), had brunch at my parents, yummmm, came home and relaxed and did laundry then had my in laws over for dinner, made tacos (super Easteree huh?) and I used turkey instead of ground beef - must show the world healthy alternatives one dinner at a time muahahahaaaa

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Sorry i've been totally MIA this weekend, no comments and no reading, bad blogger!

You see the more overwhelmed i get in life, the more i abandon all responsibilities

Selling the house and having to pack everything and live out of boxes for a month is truly stressing me out to ridiculous proportions, i really make my own stress, we didn't pack one box this weekend and as much as I know we have to get started, relaxing this weekend was soooo necessary 

BUT i'm back and i'll be blogging some great recipes for you this weekend


Until then...


ReBeL: i didnt photograph a single recipe for you this weekend
ClAuSe: i do have these photos of Angelas Vegan Lentil Loaf left over from vegan week

Review: Totally reminded me of the consistency of meatloaf however next time I will leave out the walnuts, i dont like nuts in food, i'm quirky like that!


Happy Monday everyone xox

Easter Wishes & Chocolate Dreams

Happy Easter Blog friends!

I had a cute post planned for today...

BUT

After a rowdy night of rum and board games with these friends

Im decided to cuddle with the BF and furbaby and hydrate before the gym instead

Happy Easter from my family to yours!

May it be filled with Joy, Thanks & Cadbury chocolate

xox

Do, Don't, Should

 Just because i adore something


Most definitely doesn't mean BF does
Especially when it comes to tonights dinner, but more on that later...


I enjoy changing recipes up to make them more appealing to my and BF's palate


(Am i the only one that finds palate to be an odd word? Makes me think i'm talking about stacks of wood instead of taste bud preferences, and now i just spent 10 minutes googling which is the correct way to spell it, i'm still a little confused, lets just move on!)


So i've made a list


Oh you know i did, i just love my lists


What i Do love to eat
What i Don't like to eat
What i Should eat but don't because i'm stubborn like that

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But first i have to remember Thirsty Thursday!


This week is a little different


Cause you see its FREEZING outside


And i didn't want a smoothie


So i decided to share something else


Something that makes me sigh, smile, then giggle


Maybe you should try this recipe at home? ;o)

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Ch-ch-ch-changes in FOOD preferences

What i Do love to eat now
Chia seeds
Apple butter
Wheatberrys
Old fashioned oatmeal

What i Refuse to eat
Dill
Almond essence
Peanut butter in Oatmeal
Cilantro 
Nuts in food (nuts alone? totally cool, nuts in food? ick!)

What i Should eat but don't because i'm stubborn like that
Mushrooms, ewwwww - i still can't bring myself to eat them!  One of my earliest foodie memories is at the Beefeater Steak House in England where i would eat the battered mushroom caps my parents would always order but first i had to pull the mushroom out, make some kind of gross noise and then eat the coating!  Even now the fact that the mushroom had touched (and infected) the batter makes me want to gag!

Yummm this is tasty, thanks for dropping all this salt and vinegar kale mum!

This is what Sydney will eat.... Anything!  I sometimes refer to her as my personal cleanup crew, i bet she would die of happiness if i let her up on the kitchen counters to clean up the mess i make, especially the red pepper left overs, red peppers are her most favourite food!

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Recipe Addition time

Take one longing look at the salad bar in Zehrs

+

One giant bowl of a new-to-me grain

+

7 Fabulous mixings

+ 

Sprinkle with some magic (aka citrus) dressing

= 

Donnas Citrus Wheatberry Salad

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Lookie Lookie, we have ummmm wood wall thingees in our hole

Man, there were so many things WRONG with that sentence!

Happy Thursday, its the WEEKEND in 9 hours 

I'm really behind on my google reader, I can't wait to catch up this weekend!


What is everyone up to for Easter?

I like that its shiny

So BF and I are starting the hunt for kitchen appliances

This is my dream Kitchenaid kitchen, if its wrong
to dream about appliances, i don't want
to be right!

This is where you start imagining me in hot camo gear stalking the aisles of Lowes and Home Depot

*Is there such a thing as hot camo gear?*

Oops, sidetracked yet again!

Okay, so BF won't let me pick appliances because they are either a) VERY shiny! or b) Have cute knobs - bahahaaa so many places i could go with that but i'm a behaving blogger today (don't want to push the limits since you are already putting up with my camoflauge)

Since he insists on doing things like research, i've totally got sidetracked and decided to show you the 6 items in my kitchen i love the most!

Its a What I love in my Kitchen Wednesday!

(If you click the picture of the food shown, it will take you to the recipe)

Dehydrator - because it makes KALE chips
I have the Salton version for $39 from Walmart and no it doesn't cook evenly but if you leave it in there long enough it does it's job and will have to do till i can beg and plead my case for an excalibur with BF

Griddler - because it makes perfect PANCAKES and PANINIS
I have the Cuisinart Griddler that is a panini press and grill all in one, its pretty magical and i have had no problems with it at all!

Silpat - because it makes my COOKIES cook perfectly!
Okay, i don't have the "real" version, i can't find it anywhere, till then this cheapie PC version will do

Food processor - because it makes nut butter that i haven't blogged about yet and BANANA SOFTSERVE!
I have the KitchenAid 7 cup processor that I bought at Walmart a few weeks ago and i'm in love! It only took me about 36 hours to figure out how to use it and now we are besties!

Blender - because it makes all kinds of crazy green monster SMOOTHIES
My KitchenAid blender came into my life last year for my birthday - BF bought it for me and while some mind find that an odd choice for birthday #1 together i was beyond excited to see those red letters peeking up at me from under the wrapping paper!

Scraper - it ensures i get every last drop of batter out the bowl and nut butter out the jar!
Now while i'm sure "scraper" isn't the technical term and i'm also sure its not really a kitchen appliance i love my scraper all the same!  There are times where i pull my cookie dough out of the bowl, pop my cookies in the oven and only then do i use my scraper on the bowl!  Can't let dough go to waste my friends and i always "forget" to do it until after the cookies are in the oven :o)

Note i didn't put my Kitchen Aid Mixer on the list? Thats because i don't usually use it to cook, it just sits there and looks pretty and SHINY!

Thats all for today friends, can't believe its Wednesday already! 

One more day at work after today and then 3 day weekend, sooo excited!

Better lay out my cutest camo gear, i found this on google, what do you think? Yeah i thought it was too modest as well!

What is your favourite kitchen appliance you can't live without?

Ring, Ring... GOAL!

Okay, totally random post title?


Nope


I've decided to reveal my location


Kinda like a wheres waldo


Only i'm not in stripes, i'm in lululemon


Until now i've kept where i live to kind of a vague "Southwestern Ontario"


But thats all about to change


Here are a few hints...

I live where the inventor of the telephone came from

Hey, Alex, whats up?

I live where the great one came from

#99 Anyone?

I live where the biggest road hockey tournament in the world takes place, but more importantly where the annual hockeyfest concert 

I live in....

Brantford, Ontario!

After moving to Canada my family settled in Paris, Ontario which is about 10 minutes from Brantford, I grew up knowing i would NEVER want to live there


Yeah well thats changed, BF owned a house in an area called West Brant and i'm really learning to love Brown Town as its affectionatly known as - it helps that my area has a Starbucks (woot woot), trails and is only about ten minutes from my parents in Paris


So the reason i'm sharing where i live? Because i want to reveiw a healthy/vegetarian/vegan cafe in our Downtown that i LOVE and want to encourage more people to visit!

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Stir it up review

Located on Dalhousie street Stir it up looking a little run of the mill from the outside but inside its a little bit of healthy eating heaven


This is the kind of place i figure i have to travel to Hamilton, London or Toronto to find


The way I found Stir It Up was googling Wonder Kombucha, i know i've mentioned Kombucha on the blog before so i thought I would share why i was SO in love with it and a wee bit obsessed

Kombucha is a living health drink which has been used for thousands of years to help stimulate the metabolism and maintain a healthy immune system. Recently, Kombucha has become even more well-known for its ability to increase the effectiveness of natural detoxification processes and replenish vital organic acids and enzymes required by the body for optimal health. SOURCE

Get in my tummy!!!

Anyway back to the cafe, i had the Vegan Caeser salad, Vegetarian French Onion Soup with Garlic Bread on the side, BF had the Thai Chicken Rice Bowl

All i can say is YUMMMM, the Soup was divine, the Garlic Bread tasted SO fresh, the Salad was so-so but it was Vegan so i wasn't expecting creamy parmesan dressing!  Boyfriend likd his rice bowl but he picked out the broccoli since he wasn't a fan and i gladly ate it up


Now is not super cheap but it rivals the prices you would find somewhere like Williams Fresh Cafe and everything on the menu is using fresh, organic and local ingredients!

The owner is incredibly sweet, very helpful, not pushy and every time i visit, i never feel rushed and its really relaxing to just listen to the mellow music and enjoy the art on the walls, Stir it Up is an Art Gallery as well!

To find Stir it Up, visit their Facebook page


So recipe for the day is Ashleys Buckwheat Bake, now its pretty impossible to find raw buckwheat groats in Ontario BUT i did find Buckwheat flour in the Bulk Barn so other then the Tbsp of whole groats she has in the recipe, mine is prety much the same as what you would make with Groats - this is sooooo good, you must make it immediately!  This recipe serves 2 or 1 REALLY hungry blonde!

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Pumpkin Raisin Spice Buckwheat Bake

adapted from Edible Perspective

Ingredients

Missing banana from photo, oops!

• 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp of buckwheat flour
• 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
• 1 Splenda
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 banana
• 1/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1 egg white (or 1 flax egg)
• 1 Tbsp of chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp of raisins
• 2 Tbsp almond milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a small bowl mash banana until egg-like.
3. Mix in almond milk, pumpkin, egg white
4. Mix in buckwheat, buckwheat groats, spices, baking powder, splenda and chia seeds
5. Lightly grease 2 ramkin dishes and pour mixture in
6. Cook for 35 minutes
7. Use knife to loosen edges and Bake should just pop out
8. Top with desidred ingredients, I used pumpkin, pumkin seeds and agave nectar
9. Enjoy!!!

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I will leave you with  few photos i have taken out and about in Brantford
Enjoy your Tuesday, its only a 3 day work week for me, YAY!  Sorry i'm just totally rubbing it in ;o)

xox