Foodie Penpals - April Reveal

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you enjoyed your weekend. We had really beautiful weather yesterday and I got to spend the whole day with my buddy, The Hankster.

Everytime I would move off the couch, he would scoot right up there!

He came on a roadrip with me to run some errands and then we spent the entire afternoon at home. It was pure bliss.

So here we are --- another Monday, another Foodie Penpal reveal day. Seriously, can you believe it's the end of April?! I am just amazed at how fast this year has been flying by!?

This month I was paired up with Tamara from You. Naturally.  Make sure you go check out her site...she has tons of valuable knowledge focussing primarily on health and wellness. I was so excited to be paired with her because we both belong to the same Facebook group, so I'd seen her name, but never really checked out what her site was all about until the penpal match.

She hooked me up huge this month!!! I really like being paired up with someone who lives across the country because it's awesome to get some local goodies that I've never seen around here. I also really appreciated the fact that my goodies were vegan, organic and fair-trade certified. I love being a conscious consumer!

In my package I received:

• Hungry Hemp Bar with Cranberries (LOVE - this was my fave thing so far!!!)
• Enjoy Life Double Chocolate Brownies
• Camino Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter bar (this lasted about 30 seconds after the package was opened :)
• Nori Jerky
• Westcoaster Dark Chocolate Bar with Toasted Hazelnuts & Wild Blueberries
• Dark Chocolate Easter Bunny
• Savi Seeds Karmalized in Raw Sugar Cane
• Matcha Bar
• 2 Amazing Grass Drink Powders

She did a great job of getting things that were suited to me. In fact, I've really wanted to try the Enjoy Life products and Amazing Grass powders for quite some time....and dark chocolate...well if you've followed my blog for any length of time, you know that is one way to this girl's heart <3

So thank you so much Tamara for a wonderful package! I've still got some things to try and it's taken every ounce of willpower not to rip into every single item!

My penpal matching was a little different situation. I was paired with Lisa and it turns out we live very close to one another and our offices are literally one block apart! Cah-razy! I am willing to bet that we have probably walked right past one another at some point over the years!! Here's a sneak peek of the goodies that I sent out to her.

So are you intrigued? If you're interested in participating in May's Foodie Penpal, here are the deets:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re interested in participating for May, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by May 4th as pairings will be emailed on May 5th!

Have a Happy Monday!

Andrea

xo

Meal Planning Saved Me $$$ ....

... and saving $$$ makes me a very happy girl :)

So, last week you may recall that I made a commitment to myself and to my wallet to meal plan in an effort to (a) stick to my healthy eats; and (b) stick to my weekly grocery budget.

I am happy report that my first meal planning week was successful! Usually we I spend in excess of $100/wk on groceries, and yes there are only 2 of us in this house! I've decided to put us on a budget that allows for $75/wk which I think it pretty reasonable considering we do tend to eat out at least a couple of times. Last week, I managed to stick to the $75 (it was actually easier than I expected!) and I only went to the grocery store once after work. I went because we needed water (we have well water that is not good for drinking, so water is a necessity) and I did walk out with Tempeh bacon as my only other purchase.

This week, I went over the budget by $8. I would have been under, but there were lots of great sales and I stocked up on some frozen items that Derek likes to take with him when he's working back-to-back shifts. I probably have those meals covered now for the next 2 weeks, so I think my over-spending was justified.

...and really, when you think about it, I saved us about $37 in the past 2 weeks....I know, I know....I rock ;)

With respect to the actual meal planning, I stuck to that really well too. I wasn't sure how it'd go because I tend to give in to cravings and get a little obsessive about new recipes that I find online, but I didn't have any problems at all! I didn't make a rigid list of what we were eating each night, I just listed out what we'd have for the week, which still left me with a little flexibility. It was really, really nice to know what was on the menu each night and to have all the ingredients at home...it left me with more spare time than usual each night which was awesome.

So, now on to the fun stuff. This week's menu looks like this:

Breakfasts & lunches will be repeats of last week: green smoothies, oatmeal, fruit, salads, veggie soup, hard-boiled eggs, etc. I'm also planning to make a peanut butter/chocolate treat (recipe to be shared soon!)

Dinners are going to look a little like this -

• Barbecue - steak & potato (Derek)/portabello 'shrooms (Andrea) with grilled asaparagus
• Pasta with meat sauce (Derek)/Spaghetti squash with marinara (Andrea) 
• Veggie Stirfry with Tofu & Quinoa
• Toasted BLTs (tempeh for moi!) with roasted butternut squash
• Barbecued Burgers (Derek)/Chickpea Burgers (Andrea) with grilled veggies
• Stuffed Acorn Squash (I didn't get to this one last week)

My groceries are bought, my meals are planned and now I'm ready for a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Being organized feels pretty awesome :)  

What are you up to today?

Do you have any of your meals planned for this coming week?

Enjoy the last few hours of your weekend,

Andrea

xoxo

High Five for Friday

Happy Friday! It's been a while since I did a High Five for Friday post,

but there's been lots of things that I've been loving lately, so I thought this

last Friday of April was the perfect day to share some of them with y'all!

Frozen PB Maple Banana Bites from Yes, I Want Cake

(I admit that I've already made 2 batches...and this is all I have left LOL!)

This 15 minute at-home workout from Fit Fab Cities for days when you're pinched for time!

The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell chronicles Carrie's life before SATC.

A new read my friend, Barb, lent me. I'm a have been a Sex & the City fan forever

and I can't wait to dive into this book!




Turquoise & Caicos nailpolish by Essie.
Perfect for Springtime toes.




PC Organics Frozen Power Fruit Blend
This awesome blend is chock full of sweet cherries, blackberries & blueberries.

This combo is ah-mazing in smoothies and in Angela's homemade berry sorbet.

 

TGIF MY FRIENDS! ENJOY YOUR DAY.

Andrea
xoxo

What I Ate Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! We are officially at the halfway point of yet another week....and in the last full week of April. Can you believe it?! Have you been keeping up with Jenn's veggie challenge this month? I've been finding it pretty easy to do and I love all the fresh and delicious eats that I've been fueling up on lately.



Breakfast
I have to leave early for work everyday this week, so I've been taking my breakie to go. I've been loving these Vita Top Cran Bran muffins with some fruit on the side. The weather's been really cold, so we've been amping up our Vitamin C by eating lots of oranges!

Lunch
I made enough Cheesy Vegetable Soup so that I would have lots of leftovers to take with me to work for lunch. Our office has been freezing cold, so I've been really grateful for my hot steamy bowls of soup. As a side, I had a toasted multigrain thin bun with a little butter. YUM!

Dinner
I am in love with this Beer BBQ Tofu. It is so freakin' delish and an awesome addition to a big ol' plate of honey dijon roasted veggies. Comfort food at its finest my friends!!! A glass of red wine capped this meal off perfectly!

I've been bringing snacks with me everyday to work, but I've been too dang busy to stop and grab them! When I do have the munchies, I've been trying to stick to raw veggies with roasted garlic hummus. Cutting your veggies up on the weekend makes for an easy grab n go snack all week. This is such an easy way to add a serving of veggies to your daily eats!

For those of you who've checked out my meal plan, notice how I'm stickin' to it like glue! I've been rockin' out this week!

If you need to change up your eats and want to find lots of veg-spiration, check out Jen's What I Ate Wednesday party for ideas from so many other awesome bloggers!

What have you been munching on today?

Have a great day!
Andrea
xoxo

Cheesy Vegetable Soup

Hiya! How are you today?? I am c-c-c-c-cold! Our temperatures have been up and down so much in the past few weeks I swear one day it feels like February and the next day you'd think it's July! Derek's been venturing out in shorts quite a bit, but I haven't been that brave yet....and then yesterday we were told that we might get some flurries?!

What. the. Heck?! No Thank You Mother Nature! Bring on the HEAT!!!

My original plan was to post a pasta recipe today, but I've been freezin' my buns off and I thought this soup recipe was much more appropriate. It's packed full of lots of healthy veggies and feels decadent with a creamy and cheesy broth....meat eaters and vegetarians alike will love this! If you want to make this vegan, switch out the cheddar for some Daiya shreds and you're good to go!

Cheesy Vegetable Soup

Serves 4

5c finely chopped veggies (I used carrots, onion, potato, brocolli & cauliflower)

plus 1c baby spinach, sliced
2 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp coconut oil (canola oil would work)

5 1/2 c vegetable broth

1/4 c all-purpose flour

1 c unsweetened original almond milk

1 1/2 c shredded cheese (the sharper the cheese, the better the flava')

1 tbsp spicy Mrs. Dash (optional)
fresh ground pepper
pinch sea salt

Melt the coconut oil in a large soup pot. Add your onion & garlic and saute for 5 minutes over medium high heat. Do not let the onion and garlic brown ~ you just want them to start to soften. Add your other veggies (except for the spinach) and saute for an additional 3 - 4 minutes.

Add your vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and allow it to simmer for approximately 7 - 8 minutes. Add your spicy Mrs. Dash and sea salt.

In a small bowl, combine the flour and almond milk and stir until the flour is completely dissolved. Add to your soup and continue cooking until the broth becomes thickened - another 7 to 10 minutes.

Remove your pot from the stovetop. Stir in your spinach and add your cheese. Stir until the cheese has melted.

Veggies...lots and lots of veggies.

Use Mrs. Dash to add a bit of pizazz to your soup.

Adding greens is always a good thing ;)

...and the star of the show....CHEDDAR :)

Serve topped with fresh ground pepper.

Yum! This certainly will warm you from head to toe. Serve with some toast or fresh multigrain bread.

Hubba hubba - this is a perfect meal for the last (I hope!) of our cold days.

How do you keep warm when you get some unexpected blasts of cold in the Spring?

What is your favourite type of soup to make from scratch?

Have a fabulous day,

Andrea

xoxo

Meal Planning Monday

Happy Monday! So how was your weekend? Ours was yet another whirlwind. Derek was working a ton and somehow mine seemed to be filled with the normal errands, cleaning the house and catching up on laundry, yoga, trying to catch up on some work,...and meal planning.

Lately I've been feeling like this alot.....

source

Two days off just don't seem like enough! By the time I get all the everyday stuff done, I barely have time to squeeze in some fun and some R&R! I'm thinking that we need to start a petition for 3 day weekends. Whaddya think? Are you in?!

I actually spent a great deal of time this weekend working out a meal plan for the next week to week and a half. I've been wanting to do this forever, but I never sit down and do it and then stick to it. Lately, I've been finding myself at the grocery store ALOT. I'm spending WAY too much each week on groceries. My problem is that I have a rough idea of what meals we're going to make each week, but then I see a recipe online or a friend tells me about something new they've tried and I can't get it out of my mind, so I just make it. The result is food being wasted because it spoils before I use it and a pantry that is so stuffed full of unused things that I can barely move a can without something falling out! I'm telling you, I am totally out of control.

My dad is waiting to get a date for a surgery he has to have and as soon as we know when, I'm going to be taking off to Nashville to spend a few days with him and my mom....so I tried to keep that in mind when I was planning our meals. Derek is busy and doesn't take time to cook for himself, so I'm planning to make big batches of things I can freeze and I bought things like chicken and burgers, so that he could easily barbecue himself some healthy foods while I'm away instead of picking up fast food every day (that's the idea anyways LOL)!

 You'll probably be seeing alot of link love in my future posts because I'm planning to try some recipes that I've bookmarked from some of my fave bloggers. Here is the meal plan that I came up with:

Breakfasts
Chocolate Greek Yogourt
Vita Top Cranberry Bran Muffins
Green Smoothies
Berry Smoothies
Oatmeal

Lunches
Salads
Veggie Sandwiches with Hummus
PB & J for Derek
Soup
Leftovers

Snacks
Microwave Popcorn
Raw Veggies with Hummus (Ranch for Derek)
Hard Boiled Eggs
Fruit: Kiwis, Oranges, Bananas
Plain Greek Yogourt with Fruit
Girl Guide Cookies (Derek bought 'em, so he's gotta eat 'em up!)
Lindt 70% Dark Chocolate

Dinners
Stuffed Acorn Squash
Barbecue Burgers (for Derek)/Chickpea Burgers (for moi) with Veggies on the Barbie
Marinated Tofu w/ Steamed Sweet Tater (for moi)/Marinated Chicken with Baked Tater (for Derek) & Veggies
Grilled Cheese & Homemade Tomato Soup
Pasta with Artichokes, Black Olives & Tomatoes (recipe coming!)
Eggs and Toast
Veggie Stirfry with Rice

I did a huge grocery shop on Sunday and now I have most of the stuff I'll need to make every single thing on this list. I also took the time to wash and cut up some veggies so we have lots of healthy food ready at our fingertips.

I hoping that meal planning will help me to stay within a budget and I feel that it will help me stick to a healthy eating plan ---- I've given myself lots of healthy options, which will help us to stay on track and away from not-so-healthy munchies that have been finding their way into our fingers now and again.

Someday I would love for my fridge to look like this:

Source: Pinterest via Shannon Laullin

A girl can dream can't she??

Now that you know what I'll be eating, tell me a couple of meals that you have planned for your family in this coming week?

Do you find your weekends fly by right before your eyes or do you manage to carve out some time to stop & smell the roses?

I hope you have a fabulous day! Let's start this week off right, okay?!

Andrea
xoxo

What I Ate Wednesday ~ Eating Up Leftovers

Happy Wednesday!

Quick - what was the last veggie that you ate?

Have you been trying to add more veggies to your daily eats? The Spring and Summer months make eating veggies so much easier to do - even here in Ontario, Canada, I find it's getting easier and easier to get fresh local produce because of all the unusually warm weather that we've been having. I am SO looking forward to the arrival of fresh strawberries, which I expect should be anytime now :)

On Saturday night, we had a surprise dinner for Derek's birthday. There were tons of leftovers and we've been trying to incorporate them into our normal daily eats, so that nothing goes to waste.

Breakfast

Well as much as I'd love to eat leftover cookies for breakfast, I've opted for something a little healthier :) My recent go-to breakie has been plain Greek yogourt topped with a frozen mix of cherries, blueberries and blackberries and some of my chewy no-bake trail mix squares crumbled on top. This is an absolutely decadent combo!

Lunch

A ginormous salad of romaine and chopped veggies. I topped it with black olives and roasted chickpeas and instead of salad dressing, I used a big ol' scoop of leftover nacho dip. Ah-mazing!

Snack

I went a little bit overboard on the desserts. We had a mini red velvet cake with cream cheese icing leftover --- I should have given it away because I keep having these little tiny slivers and soon the cake is going to be G.O.N.E. :)

Dinner

One of Derek's fave salads is Caprese. We had just a little left, so I made open-faced Caprese melts (balsamic vinegar, sliced tomatoes, mozza and fresh basil). As a side, I served stirfried broccoli slaw.  Can you say YUM?!

Thanks again to Jenn for encouraging us all to eat our rainbow of veggies each day. If you'd like to find even more meal inspiration, head on over and check out her WIAW page. There are tons and tons of ideas from other fabulous bloggers!

What do you do with all the leftovers that you have from a party or family dinner?

What is your fave salad to take to a potluck or family dinner?

I hope you have the best day ever,

Andrea
xoxo

Running Update & A Twist on Broccoli Slaw

Good Morning!

I hope your morning has started off fabulously! Yesterday was super warm and super windy, but the temperatures have dropped overnight and we are supposed to have a much cooler day today. I fit in a 30 minute run yesterday after work, but my right knee has been bothering me since a power spin class last Thursday, so I'm thinking this cool day would be a great day to take as a rest day.

I haven't updated you on my running progress for the past few weeks because I've hit a few snags in the road and things are going a little slower than I originally planned. First I came down with a brutal flu that turned into a chest cold overnight. That set me back for a couple of weeks and just as I was feeling better, I went to a spin class which was really, really challenging and my right knee hasn't been 100% since. It's been aching alot especially when I go from a squat position to a stand. I've run a bit through all of this, but I'm trying to be patient and take things easy because I don't want to set myself back even further by injuring myself seriously. It's a bummer when you get sidelined unexpectedly isn't it?!

We had originally planned to run our first 5K on May 13, 2012, but we've decided to push back our first race until mid-June. My friend, Natasha, who is planning to run with us broke her wrist about a month ago. Unfortunately, she had to have surgery right before Easter Weekend, so her training has also been delayed. None of us want to push our training too hard and commit to a race before we're ready. We'd rather give ourselves time to properly prepare so we can have positive results at that first race!

The good news is that each run is easier than the last and I am still really excited and really motivated. I'm keeping my eye on the prize and on imagining that feeling I'm going to have when I run that first 5K and cross the finish line.

Source: Pinterest

Okay, so now that we're all motivated and ready to keep on truckin', we need to talk a little about  food. Derek;s birthday was last week and our friend, Jeff, and I decided to throw him a little surprise dinner to celebrate his special day and to give him a little break from all of his work, work, work.

Planning and sneaking around to get dinner ready for 16 people without Derek noticing was no easy feat. We have a few friends who aren't too terribly adventurous with their tastebuds and I am the only vegetarian in our crowd, so planning a menu to please everyone was definitely a challenge.

We ended up going with pulled pork sandwiches, several salads, dips, munchies and lots of sweets. One of the salads I made was something I often make for Derek and I, but I've never made it for a big group. It's easily customizable for meat eaters, vegetarians or vegans and it tastes delish!  

To  me, coleslaw goes with pulled pork sandwiches. However, I couldn't just go with plain ol' coleslaw. I wanted to put my spin on it by using a broccoli slaw. We can get pre-made slaw in our grocery store that's a mix of broccoli, red cabbage and carrots. I used 500g of broccoli slaw and mixed it with 1 cup of shredded cheddar, 2 diced apples (I like using apples with a red skin to give that extra pop of colour), 2 thinly sliced green onions and some Three Cheese Ranch salad dressing. This combo is DELICIOUS!!!  It was a huge hit! If you're making this salad for a crowd of meat eaters, you can add some shredded chicken. For the vegans in your crowd, cheddar Daiya cheese works wonderfully and this recipe for a vegan Ranch dressing would be a perfect subsitution for the store bought variety that I used.

The nice thing about this salad is that you can whip it together in about 15 minutes flat. I made mine about 3 hours in advance and the dressing helps to prevent the apples from browning. It's absolutely perfect for a potluck dinner or casual dinner with friends wouldn't you agree? 

How do you handle your frustration when your workouts/training are sidelined by an injury/illness?

Do you like to host big birthday shindigs or do you prefer a quiet night in?

Have a wonderful day,

Andrea

xoxo



Chewy No-Bake Trail Mix Squares

Hiya! Happy Friday the 13th!! To me it's just another day, but I have to give a shout out to all my buds heading out on their bikes today! Drive safe & have fun my friends!!!

Because I had Monday off, this week has absolutely flown by - short work weeks are the best :)

Lately I've been reading alot of posts about meal planning, food prep and make-ahead lunches. I always have great intentions of planning ahead and buying only the groceries I need for the meals that I plan, but I always stray. I really need to start doing this because I know that I would save SO much money each week rather than heading to the grocery store to pick up random items several times per week. It's shameful really because my fridge and pantry are busting at the seams. We have so much food here, we could probably last a month without ever setting foot in the grocery store if we put our minds to it! Another reason I'd love to do some food prep each weekend for the upcoming week is that I much prefer whole, homemade meals and treats to the store bought alternatives. I like to know where my food is coming from and what it contains.

I found a no-bake granola bar recipe by Lindsay earlier this week and I've been thinking about making it because I think it'd be a great treat to take to work each day. I've tried a couple granola bar recipes in the past, but I haven't found something that I'm absolutely in love with....that is until now! Taste-wise my granola bars turned out to be something fantastic; the only problem is when it comes to being adhesive, I had an epic fail. No matter how long I left them in the fridge to set, the little suckers would not come out of the pan without being crumbly. Luckily, I had some plain Greek yogourt to eat up, so I took one of my crumbly squares, put it onto a plate and topped with some yogourt. Hello Dolly! This was freakin' delicious. The tart yogourt is a perfect compliment to this sweet and nutty square.

I love it when a fail turns into an unexpected success :)

The original granola bar recipe can be found here. Of course, like granola, you can add any add-in imaginable to make a creation that is perfect for tickling your own tastebuds :)

Chewy No-Bake Trail Mix Squares
Makes 18 - 24 squares

These bars turned out to be phenomenal! I love that we now have some homemade bars to snack on that are full of raw nuts, dried fruit and delicious, healthy  ingredients. I also love that I was able to use up some things in my pantry that otherwise may have gone to waste. They are so healthy, but when you top them with a dollop of yogourt, they transform into something truly decadent.

2 1/4 c large flake oats
2 tbsp flax seed
1/4 c chia seeds
1/3 c raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1/4 c raw sunflower seeds
1/2 c chopped raw almonds
1/3 c large shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 c carob chips
1/3 c dried cranberries
1/4 c dried blueberries
2/3 c creamy peanut butter (I used regular, but all-natural would definitely be my preference)
1/3 - 1/2 c pure maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Add all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.

In a small bowl, combine your peanut butter and maple syrup. Microwave for 1 - 1 1/2 minutes until the peanut butter has melted. Mix well. Stir in the vanilla.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry and mix well.

Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper. Press your granola mixture into the pan. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours.

Remove from the fridge and cut into squares. I like mine served with plain or vanilla Greek yogourt. Your family can eat these all week as a filling and delicious breakfast, dessert or snack! I'm also planning to freeze a few squares so that I have some pre-made treats in the weeks to come. 

The dry ingredients.

Mix the wet & dry ingredients together.

Use your hands to tightly press the mixture into your pan.

Carefully cut into squares.

Notice how you can see each and every ingredient?

Voila! Transformed into a decadent dessert.

Enjoy!

What is your must-have ingredient in granola? Mine is peanut butter & coconut!

Do you have any superstitions about Friday the 13th? 

Enjoy your day,

Andrea
xoxo

What I Ate (after Easter) Wednesday

Hiya there! I don't know about you, but I did a wee bit of indulging over the Easter Weekend, so this week it's even more important than ever to get right back to adding lots of extra veggies to my meals. I find that I can fall off the wagon during a holiday or special occasion as long as I get back on track right away. If I don't, then it's trouble. The sugar and carb cravings come roaring back and the longer I give in, the harder it is to get back to my normal healthier way of eating. Don't get me wrong because if I could live off of Creme Eggs and stuffing, I would, but the sad reality is that all the sugar and carbohydrates just don't 'do it' for me anymore.

There really couldn't be a better time to get some inspiration on how to add more veggies to our daily meals, so thanks to Jenn for encouraging us all to add at least a cup more veggies per day to our eats. Trust me, your body will thank you because it's going to look great AND feel great!






Here's what I've been eating this week to get back on track.

Breakfast

Smoothies. Green smoothies, fruit smoothies, apple/banana smoothies. It really doesn't matter to me as long as it's packed full of "healthy." Yesterday I had to drop my car off for an oil change before work, which meant I had to leave home super early. Instead of messing around with my Magic Bullet, I decided to have a Vega Shake N Go Smoothie in Vanilla Almondilla flavour. Two heaping teaspoons are equal to two servings of vegetables. It also packs an awesome punch of Omega 3, 6 & 9, 11g of protein and 1 billion probiotics.  It's a great breakie for days when you're on the run.

Lunch

Creamy veggie cheddar soup. This is so freakin' delish! It's packed full of brocolli, red pepper, carrots, onion, corn and peas. Delicious for days like yesterday when it was gray and cool. I'll try to recreate this soup and share a recipe with you soon because I LOVED IT :)

Dinner

Well I had one dinner planned and ended up making something completely different. Yesterday afternoon while I was catching up with some of my favourite bloggers, I found Jenn's recipe for Creamy Pumpkin Alfredo. I couldn't shake it from my mind, so I changed my dinner plans and whipped it up. Creamy pumpkin paired with a lowfat alfredo and some fresh sage and baby spinach. Muah - ah-freakin-mazing!!!!! This was one of the best pastas I have EVER HAD.

What hints do you have for getting back on track after the holidays?

Do you eat pumpkin all year round or just seasonally?

If you're looking for more veg-spiration head on over to Peas & Crayons for lots and lots of meal ideas.

Have a great Wednesday!

Andrea
xoxoxo

Easter Sweet Treats ~ Link Love

How are you doing on this lovely Good Friday afternoon?! I am feeling just awesome! Today is the first day of a four-day long weekend for me and I'm really looking forward to 4 fabulous days! This morning we woke up to some gorgeous sunshine --- the temperature is a tad on the cool side, but there isn't a cloud in the sky. I hear that`s what we can expect all weekend long ---- sah-weet!!!! 

All week, I've continued to battle my chest cold, but I made the decision earlier this week that regardless of how I was feeling, I was going to get myself out for a run today. I got up, got dressed and got myself out the door bright and early before I could talk myself out of it. I did an interval run where I did run/walk intervals for 28 minutes. I was planning to do a 50 minute run, but my lungs just couldn't handle it. My legs felt great, but I was definitely winded quickly. Even though it was tough and I'm definitely not feeling 100%, it felt really great to get out there and get active after 10 days of sitting around waiting to feel better.

Later this afternoon, Derek and I are heading over to spend the day and evening at our friends' place. It's going to be a relaxing night filled with good friends, lots of good food and probably a couple of lip-licking bevies.

We were told that we didn't have to bring anything, but I could never show up empty-handed! I`m a food blogger for goodness sakes and I have like a trillion recipes I want to try! Get togethers are a great excuse to make some of the sinful treats that I love so much, but can`t be trusted with when left on my own. I like to make and then give away :) 

I knew what I was going to make right away because I`ve drooling over them for ages. If you haven`t planned out your sweet treats and desserts for Easter, then I hope to inspire you with 3 fabulous recipes that are absolutely to die for.

Easter Creme Egg Fudge

This tastes EXACTLY like a Cadbury Creme Egg!

It`s really sticky and messy, but it is soooo perfect for Easter!

Next time I think I`ll try making it into eggs because you almost have to eat it with a spoon.

(Not that that`s a bad thing wink wink)

Chocolate Pudding Cookies with Easter M&Ms

The softest, awesomest cookies ever.

It`s hard to find a chewy cookie that`s as good as a pudding cookie!

These are super cute and would be fun to make with your kids.

Skor Bar Trifle

Ok, so this is one of mine, but I made it last year and

it`s been requested again this year and it`s too freakin`awesome not to mention.

If you`re feeding a crowd, this is the crowd-pleaser that you want to end your dinner with!

Trust me, I would never lead you astray ;)

So now I better be off! Derek wants me to whip up a spicy barbecue marinade for some shrimp (eek! I`ve never eaten shrimp in my life so I`m not really sure what concoction we`ll end up with!) and then we`ve gotta move our booties to get ready to go.

Do you make any sweet treats for Easter. If you`ve posted any of your fave recipes link up so I can check it out!

Is this a long weekend for you. How many days off are you lucky enough to get. Only some people in Canada get Easter Monday off and I am fortunate to be one of the lucky few :)

I hope you`re having a fabulous day and I wish you a warm and wonderful weekend spent with all those who are near and dear to you!

Andrea

xoxo