Summertime Lunch

Oh sunny day - I hope the weather is as glorious where you are as it is here in Southwestern Ontario. It is sunny and gorgeous with just a slight breeze to keep the temperature comfortable. I am LOVING this day!

Today's forecast in my neck of the woods - awesome!!

Someone forgot to mention to my poochies that today was Sunday, which means sleeping in. I had wet noses in my face just after 6 a.m. and obviously they both had ants in their pants because they wouldn't stop squirming around until I finally got up and let them out. At first I was unimpressed, but once I was up and moving I thought I'd take advantage of my early start and get all my 'chores' done early, so the rest of the day could be mine to enjoy. I had a quick breakie,  folded laundry, washed our bedding, cleaned the bathroom, fed the dogs, went to the grocery store and the bank all before hitting the gym for a 10 a.m. circuit class followed by some weights. How productive am I?

When I got home, I was ravenous. I went to a local farmer's market yesterday and I knew exactly what I was going to whip up for my lunch. I've been seeing so many amazing meal ideas from my fellow bloggers and these two have stuck with me since I saw them earlier this week. 

First I made an amazingly delicious iced coffee. I got the inspiration from Leanne at Healthful Pursuit. I used one cup of chilled brewed coffee, one cup of unsweetened soy milk, not quite 1 tablespoon of cocoa and a squirt of agave nectar to sweeten it up. I threw all of the ingredients into my Magic Bullet and whipped it up. I added the sweetener slowly because I don't like my iced coffees too sweet. Then, using my pink cup of course :-), I poured the coffee mixture over lots of ice. It was AMAZING! I will being having these every single weekend this summer! 

Then, it was on to lunch. I made myself a whole wheat veggie wrap. First I mashed up 1/3 of an avocado and mixed it with a tablespoon of salsa and some nutritional yeast (you could use cheese). I spread that onto the tortilla followed by some baby spinach leaves. Then I lightly steamed some asparagus, green onion, yellow pepper and portobello mushrooms and added that to the wrap. I rolled 'er up and went to town. It was fantabulous! I am really loving mashed avocado on everything lately! This idea was courtesy of Kris at i heart wellness and all I did was change it up slightly to suit my tastes.

So now my belly is very happy and satisfied, all my chores are done and I have nothing left that has to be done. I think I'm going to head outside to plant a few tomato plants I bought and play with the dogs. It would be a sin to let this day slip by without soaking in at least a little Vitamin D!

Derek is finally on his way home from his weekend away and I can't wait for him to get here. I am feeling a teensy weensy bit lonely without him --- we haven't seen much of each other this week! I think it's safe to say dinner is going to be something on the barbecue. I have a couple of ideas and alot of fresh produce, so it's sure to be something utterly fabulous! Keep an eye on Wednesday to see the recap of our creations.

What does your 'perfect day' look like?

Do you love wraps as much as me? Favourite fillings?

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday,

Andrea

Day #1 of Cleanse & Tasty Veggie Wrap

Hello all! Welcome to the first day of my cleanse. I must say so far, so good. I was up bright & early this morning (thanks to my hubby who is away and thought he'd call and say "good morning") and ready to get my 'cleanse' on. So, I got busy making my green juice.

What an amazing, healthy breakfast to feed to your body. 

In the juice, I put baby spinach, kale, celery, pear, green apple, broccoli stems and ginger. Once everything was juiced I added a shot of wheatgrass juice. It was good....but not great. I liked the juice immediately after I finished the juicing, but I had another glass with my lunch and I literally had to choke it down. It did not taste good at all. My juicer is not the best one out there, so I found that it took alot of time, had a lot of waste (I strained out a few extra ounces of juice from the pulp) and my kitchen still looks like a green veggie bomb exploded!

I have a problem when I'm in the kitchen...I am messy and this project was really messy!!

At the end of the day, I did drink about 30 oz of juice, but tomorrow I think I am going to go back to my tried and trusted green smoothies ~ for those of you who are foreign to the green smoothie movement, stay tuned; I will be posting some of my favourite recipes in the days to come. 

Even though I got an early start today, I didn't get out the door to get groceries and run some errands until 11 a.m. By the time I got home and got everything put away, I was starving. I wanted something easy and satisfying...and I wanted it fast!!  

So I pulled out something new I just bought that I was super-excited to try. Food for Life brown rice tortillas.

With wraps, there are no recipes or rules - personally, I use the following steps:

1.  Get "saucy" ;-)

Choose your favourite dressing, condiment or sauce. My all-time favourite is hummus. But, today I thought I'd step outside the box and try something different. I used 1/3 of a large avocado and mashed it in a small bowl. I added a squirt of lemon juice and some Extra Spicy Mrs. Dash.

 2. Pick your favourite filling.
I packed mine full of veggies. Any veggies will do - I used red pepper, carrots, cucumber, crimini mushrooms, alfalfa sprouts and sweet pea sprouts.

Olives also taste amazing in veggie wraps when you are using hummus!

3. Build your wrap.
I first heated my tortilla in the microwave for 5 - 10 seconds. Then you slather on your sauce.

Next, add your veggies.



I am a lover of salt, so I added a sprinkling of spicy Herbamare (sea salt) at this point. I think with the avocado it would have been bland without, but you can spice your wrap up with whatever you love.

4. Wrap and enjoy.

Mmmmm.....so good.

Now if you are a blogger and you are planning to do a post about your lunch, this is where you would insert a picture of  the final product - a gorgeous wrap with ends tucked in and veggies all snuggly inside. Well, that would have been a nice idea and I would have loved to share that with you, but I was so darn hungry that I dug in before I ever thought of getting a final shot. Oops ~ better luck next time ~ I promise next time I will practice a little self control ;-)

Well, it's now the middle of the afternoon and I've got to find some elbow grease and tackle the green beast that is my kitchen. By then it will be time for dinner and I am not sure what exciting recipe I am going to try, but I promise if it is something good, I will get a good shot of it to share with you :-) 

What are favourite sandwich/wrap fillings?

What are your favourite green smoothie combos?

I hope you're having a fun-filled Saturday!

Andrea

The Perfect Friday Night Dinner: Vegetarian Chili in the Slower Cooker

Whew, it certainly has been busy in our household this week. I must say that I am utterly exhausted! Work has been really busy and I've been working away at a bunch of chores around the house each night. My exhaustion might also have something to do with the fact that I stayed up past my bedtime to catch the latest episode of Jersey Shore. I don't know what it is about these 8 people that keep me so enthralled, but I love watching their antics week after week. Derek used to make fun of me everytime he caught me watching it, but last night I caught him watching a rerun of it in bed and he was giggling away to himself throughout the entire episode ~ he also keeps stealing my favourite sunglasses so he can channel the Snooks <sigh> we are a sad pair and we have no excuse for ourselves, but please don't judge :-)

I am super excited to finish this workday and get home because my mom is coming for a visit and she arrives tonight! My family lives 12 hours away, so I don't get to see them often and I very rarely ever get to wow them with my "culinary talents." My mom is my best guest because she always likes everything I make even if I end up serving a disaster...last time she came I decided to try a butternut squash and rice casserole. We didn't end up eating until after 9 p.m. and the meal was dry and not very good at all. She never admitted it wasn't good (Derek was vocal enough for the 3 of us because he was starving by this point) and she ate it like it was my best meal ever - what a great mom!

This visit, I have a bunch of recipes that I am planning to whip up, most of them have been tested and tweaked, so I am not anticipating any flops. Tonight I decided to cook up a vegetarian chili in the crockpot. That way we will have a delicious dinner ready to eat regardless of what time she arrives. I have been working on this recipe for a while and I think I am close to perfecting it. You'll have to try it out and let me know what you think!

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 orange pepper, chopped
1 c. sliced mushrooms (I used crimini)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 19 oz cans of black beans, drained & rinsed
1 19 oz can of white kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 19 oz can of red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 14 oz can of vegetarian baked beans in tomato sauce
1 28 oz can of tomatoes
2 tsp salt (I used spicy Herbamare)
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp cumin
4 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp crushed chili peppers
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add onions. Cook the onions for 5 minutes until they are starting to soften. Add the peppers, garlic and mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes.

Pour the beans and tomatoes into the slow cooker and mix well.

Add the vegetables and mix well.

Add all of the spices, chili peppers and vinegar and mix well.

Cook on low in slow cooker for 6 - 8 hours.

Just before you're ready to eat, add the brown sugar and stir it in so that it dissolves into the chili. I did this once when I made the chili too hot and I loved the subtle change it made to the flavours. For me, the brown sugar mellows out the flavours and I love the end result!

And when you get home, you'll have a delicious home-cooked meal ready to eat!

Serve & enjoy!

Do you have any guilty pleasures like our Jersey Shore addiction??

What is your favourite slow cooker recipe??

Wishing all my Canadian peeps a fabulous start to your long Family Day weekend,

Andrea