The Closest I'll Get To Mexico This Year...

This week the temperatures here have been hot! It's been over 30 for the last two weeks! (Over 86F if I have any American readers!)
I love summer, I love the heat, and I love the sun! (The sun, however, does not love me, but more about that in another post!)

Even though I have been enjoying this weather to the max, nothing compares to the sun in Mexico!

beach

beer

and food

uhh..minus the cheese.

Well, I thought nothing compared to Mexican Food...until this;


Homemade Pico De Gallo

*two tomoatos
*3 slices of red onion
*juice of half of a life
*couple dashes of hot sauce
*parsley (or cillantro)


Don't forget your Slap Chop!

1. Slice the tomato and then Slap Chop it into small pices.
2. Slap Chop 2 slices of red onion
3. Slap Chop 1/4 of a green pepper (last minute addition!)
4. Put all the chopped veggies into a tupperware container (make sure you have the lid!)
5. Squeeze in the juice of a fresh lime and add a couple dashes of hot sauce.
6. Add some chopped parsley (or cillantro, if you like that instead!) and a dash of salt.
(*Sidenote* You can't reall taste the salt in the salsa, but I find that it enhances the flavour of the tomato a little bit more!)
7. Shake, shake, shake! (Kind of like Slap Chop, Chop, Chop!)
8. Put the Pico De Gallo in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour so all of the flavours can mingle!

While my flavours were all getting to know eachother in the fridge, I made a quick burrito with meatless beef tips.


Don't forget a few chips so that you can eat the extra salsa on the side!


This year, that's about as close as I am going to get to Mexico.
Unless there is a Mexico inspired area at Disney, then I'll check it out in Auguest. If not, I'll just bring my own Pico de Gallo.

The Best Thing I Ever Ate...Snack Edition

While Food Network Stars might enjoy some more elaborate meals;
Guy Fieri, Adam Gertler and Delilah Winder like bacon dishes and Duff, Tyler and Cat like dishes with noodles, salmon and broccoli, not only am I vegan, so do not eat bacon or salmon, but I am also a lot easier to please.
I like things that are plain, simple and for snack time, quick and easy to prepare.

Enter banana and granola bowl.


It's so plain and simple that it's incredibly delicious. It also takes less than 3 minutes from the time you enter the kitchen until the time you sit down to eat it.

*one banana
*1/4 cup Almond Milk (or dairy, if you choose)
*Peanut Butter Granola
*Vegan Chocolate Chips

Peanut butter, banana and chocolate? Yes, please. One of the best combinations out there.

Slice banana into a bowl and add your choice of dairy


Top with some peanut butter granola


And chocolate chips.


Sit, eat, and enjoy. Whomever though of the peanut butter, banana and chocolate combination, I am down on my knees, kissing your feet.

www.nataliedee.com

Oh, and just to prove how obsessed I am with this combination, this was my dessert last night.

Banana Soft Serve, blended with a scoop of Dark Chocolate Dreams topped with a vegan chocolate mint cookie.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about meals and cooking this week, it's like post-break up therapy, so stay tuned. I made something so good tonight, that it might be The Best Thing I Ever Ate...Dinner Edition.

xox

Oh yea, I forgot

I have a blog. I just logged in and saw that I haven't posted since Feb 21st.

I admit, I got cought up in life. Occasionally I've said "Yea, I should start blogging again" and then I forgot.
Well, my boyfriend and I broke up this week (all on my part) and even though I know, in the long run, I will be a much better person, it's difficult right now. So today I was trying to find things to do with my time, to kind of keep my mind off of it until these feelings pass.

So, here I am, back and ready to go. Except...err, well I wasn't exactly ready to blog, as I had nothing in my house to eat or blog about.

So with the top down...


Bags and latte in hand...


Off to the grocery store I went...


It was a fairly small shopping trip. I am going to try and just do these from now on, as I tend to go overboard and buy every fruit and vegetable I see, and then they go bad. By the time I got home, I was ready to eat my arm.
Instead, I took a black bean burrito out of the freezer so fast, the wrapper ended up on the floor.


Heated it, and had it with some plain soy yogurt on the side for dippage. I promise steamed broccoli made it onto the plate as well.
It hit the spot.

I have told myself that it is okay to sit at home alone this weekend and sulk/pamper myself, so I am off to watch Dear John and eat a freshly baked Vegan Blueberry Strusel Muffin from Mama Pea.

Tomorrow I have to teach for a bit, then I am off to watch some of my dance student's in competition.
On the to-do list for tomorrow as well;
*remember I have a blog.

Until then...

Missing Persons...?

That's what I've felt like from the blog world lately. It's been quite the busy could weeks over her in Becki'land. Today will be a pretty quick drive by post, so let's play catch up!
Last week was my 25th Birthday. I had dinner with a bunch of girlfriends.. (and the boyfriend)

and my bestest 3 year old friend, Alyssa.

After dinner the boyfriend and I headed to my mom's up north for some birthday bonding time. My younger brother and I are only 10 day's apart, so we usually try and get together at birthday time.
My mom told me that she didn't sleep for 3 night's before we came because she was so worried about what to feed me. My mom is still a total mom, and likes the spoil her children greatly. I told her not to worry, we would go grocery shopping once I got up there, and just to plan everyone else's meals, and I would be okay with my own. Well, of course she wouldn't have it.
On the first night, it was just her, the boyfriend and myself. She cooked them steaks. Let me tell you, these stakes were SO big that they didn't fit on dinner plates. It was insane.
She made me pasta, as I told her that pasta is basically the easiest, vegan friendly thing for me to eat. I didn't want to bother her with all sorts of crazy foods and recipies, and getting creative. So she just chopped up a ton of peppers, pan friend them with some garlic and 1/4 piece of chopped tofu, and threw it together with some spaghetti noodles and olive oil. It was super good.
The next day was birthday dinner. She had made the worlds LARGEST lasagna for our family. (My mom likes to make LOTS of food. You wouldn't beleive how tiny she is, though. She doesn't really eat it) She made me...pasta again. a lasagna type dish, I guess. It was just noodles with vegan bolognase sauce and baked. It was pretty good. The noodles dried up quite a bit though. I filled my plate with salad.
We had birthday cake after dinner.

It was amazing.

My mom's friend makes cakes out of her house. She challenged her friend to make me a vegan chocolate birthday cake. I didn't ask her what went into it, but she ASSURED me (like it was a life or death situation, really) that it was 100% vegan.

The rest of my family got a "regular" birthday cake, in their words. They are all very supportive of my going vegan, and the reasons behind it, but they like to enjoy their own things. And I am okay with that too. Life is about choices, and we all make our own. We live in a free country.

It was my brother's 23rd birthday, but the cake decorator at the store neglected to add the "23"
On to my presents! :) Because I'm a spoiled girl.
My mom got me this beautiful white gold diamond ring. She went away last year and asked what I wanted her to bring me back, and I told her that I would like a ring that I could have forever. Something that I could pass on to my children (one day) and what not. When she came back, I got a sweatshirt. I thought maybe she forgot about it, which I was okay with too. We are busy people. Nope, she was saving it, because she thought that my 25th birthday would be the best time.


Pretty, eh?
My older brother, sister-in-law, and nephew got me this beautiful Sworvski (sp?) Crystal necklace. I cried. It's so beautiful, and I never expected anything like this.

There's so many instructions that come with this thing!

The boyfriend got me a few joke/fun gift's including my own (pink) drum stick's for Rockband (we are obsessed), a Slap Chop (YAY!) and a gift card to Chapters. I have been wanting to read The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone for quite sometime now, but since she was on Oprah, the book has been sold out everywhere. (Should have bought it last time I saw it!) BUT! I did find the book just yesterday, so I was excited about that. I read through the first 100 pages lastnight. I'll review it at a later time.
My girlfriend's got my a $100 gift card to Lulu Lemon (I'm pretty easy to shop for. Lulu makes my life!) So, the boyfriend and I went on Tuesday to see what I could find. I walked into the store, and on the pile of wonderful Scuba Hoodies was this beauty.

I have been wanting/waiting for one since they came out months BEFORE the Olympics even started. Of course, every time I go there, they are sold out.

I am so excited. I've had the sweater all week, and haven't worn it. It's been waiting to be debuted tonight when Canada plays the USA. We are meeting my boyfriend's sister (in her matching sweater that we bought for her!) at a Brewery/Pub downtown for the game. Should be FUN times. Kind of sad that I have to work at 8am, because I'm sure more than one beer will be consumed tonight. I haven't drank since New Years...


GO CANADA GO!

My 2 best friend's also had babies this week.
Welcome baby Joshua Fredrick Douglas on Feb 17th at 8:28am and baby Aubrey Grace on February 19th at 12:42am.
Heather and I were supposed to go visit Lorie and baby Josha on Thursday at 1:00. At noon my phone rang and the conversation went like this
H: Bee, you shold probably go see Lorie and Joshua on your own...
Me: Umm..why?
H: Because I think I am in labour....
Me: You think?...
H: No, (scream) I am definatly in labour, we are going to the hospital now. Come later.
Me: Um, okay! Good luck..Love you guys..

Lazy Sunday!

I hope you are all enjoying your Sunday. I spent the most part of the morning lounging around and enjoying some whole wheat vegan pancakes.


*1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
*1/2 tbsp. sugar
*1 tbsp. baking powder
*pinch of salt
*1/2 Cup soy milk
*dark chocolate chips

Next time I'll add a touch more soy milk. The batter was fairly thick and I had trouble pouring it into two different pancakes. The result was one super thick pancake which took a little bit longer to cook, so it was a tad bit crispy out the outside. Served with 5 sliced strawberries.

The pancake made me pretty full and I had a hard time moving after. After a quick Twitter arse kicking from Jaime

I made it off the couch and into cleaning mode. I dusted, vaccumed and wiped down the living room, kitchen and bedroom. The bathroom will have to wait. I then went out and cleaned the inside and outside of my Jeep. It's a beautiful afternoon.

Came home and was starving. Lunch was leftover's from lastnight curtosy of Mr. Dumpling.
Schezuan Tofu with white sticky rice. (I cave for sticky rice. Whole wheat just isn't the same)

I gave my boyfriend the fortune cookie, but I had to share the fortune with you all.

Umm, thanks? True, I guess.

Superbowl tonight! We are going over to a friend's for the first half, but are going to come home for dinner and watch the second half. Stuffed peppers and steamed broccoli are on the menu. Yum!

Are you a Superbowl watcher? What's your favourite part?
I enjoy youtubing all the American commercials the next morning. It blows my mind how much money people pay for Superbowl advertising!

Let's Try This Again..

Hello everyone...(if you are still out there) *chirp chirp* Oh, there's the cricket's!

Well, I started 2010 with a goal to blog my life as a new vegan. As you can most likely tell, it failed. Almost everyday I say to myself "Becki, you need to start blogging, you used to really enjoy it" and then the boyfriend and I start watching TV, play a bit of Rockband and then it's bed time. So, another day bit the dust with no blog.
Well, that's about to change. Lastnight I made a solid commitment to myself that I am going to blog. I am really enjoying my life as a vegan, and enjoy reading about all of you, so I am back. I will start taking pictures again, tracking my meals on here, and just generally talking.

So, I woke up this morning with the best intentions. After my shower, I made my breakfast, and took a picture.

Into the pot went:
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup vanilla soy milk
1/3 cup of oats
Pinch cinnamon
Pinch brown sugar
A small drizzle of reduced sugar maple syrup

Well, let me tell you, this was my first time making oats on the stove top. I've always been the lazy, microwave type of gal.
Well, I walked away from the stove and went to put my hair up and next thing I knew..yup, over boil in my kitchen!!
So I tossed it, and started again. Same things in the pot, this time I paid attention to it. Much better result's.
I topped my oats with
1/2 cup of diced strawberries
1/4 (or so) of vegan chocolate chips
I love when the chocolate get's melty in my oatmeal. I am trying to try new things with my oatmeal. I've recently tried flax, but something was off. I'm not sure if it was the taste, or the texture, I just didn't enjoy it.

Well, then the day went on. And by the time I had eaten my first snack (cucumber and spicy hummus) my lunch (left over Vegan Sheppard's pie from lastnight with steamed broccoli) and my afternoon snack (2 clemintines and 1 cup of cantelope) I ended up with no picture's. I always remembered after I finished eating. And I'm sure you don't want to see picture's of my empty plate. It's just not that interesting.
Hopefully remembering to take picture's is something that comes with time?

Once I got home from work today I migrated from the couch. And did.not.move. for an hour and a half. I am so tired today. Late night lastnight, I guess.
The boyfriend had his son tonight so they went to visit grandpa (I finished work too late) so I was on my own. It was starting to get late and I just wanted something quick, easy and filling.
Enter pasta. My quick, easy, go-to.

I had 1cup of noodles (2 types so that I could finish off a box in the pantry) and "beefed" it up with peas, carrots and corn that were left over from dinner lastnight. All tossed together with red sauce and served with a quickly toasted slice of whole wheat bread with Earth Balance butter.
Not the healthiest of meals, but at least I didn't stop for the Harvey's Veggie Burger and fries that I was thinking would be just as easy.

So, hopefully, going forward, I will be able to see all of you lovely people on a more consistant basis, and with more picture's. I'm off to have a Pumpkin Spice Tea with a couple more vegan chocolate chips and watch Supernatural. Then it's bed time for me.

Was taking picture's and blogging regularly something that you just did from day 1? Or did the habit take time? Apparently, habit's can take approximatly 21 day's to form.

Holy, fly by!

These last couple weeks have gone by SO quickly.

I've spent the last week taking care of a sick boyfriend. He had the flu, HARD. It was a week full of no sleep, rushing through work, no workouts. Yea, I'll admit it! I was a total fail!

Being around someone who was very sick, I thought that I would get it...? We were both very surprised that I didn't get down, once. The boyfriend said that it was maybe because of the foods that I eat. I thought about it, and my diet mostly consists of the following:

Breakfasts: some type of light carb (usually oatmeal or quinoa) with fresh fruit. Weekly I buy:
*apples
*bananas
*oranges
*grapes
*a pineapple
*kiwi
*and raspberries. I learnt a long time ago, that no matter how expensive raspberries are at different times of the year, I must buy them. When I don't feel like eating any fruit, the raspberries always catch my eye.

Lunches are always salad's. If you had read my old blog, you know that I despised salad. I very rarely ate them, and when I did, I always said that I didn't enjoy it and had to eat something else after. Since I've been buying so many more fruits and vegetables lately (who would have thought a vegan buys so many!?? haha) I have found many salad's that I enjoy. The boyfriend even took a salad to work one day last week. (One day is a good start, I think)
I didn't like salad's before because I don't like lettuce. I don't like fruits or vegetables that don't have much taste, and I think that lettuce and spinach are the two most tasteless foods out there. Instead, I have started using kale, bean sprouts and pre-cut coleslaw mix. The coleslaw mix has to be my favourite. I don't know why I didn't think of it before.
Do you use a lettuce/spinach alternative?

There will be another post very soon (I promise that I will start posting more, with pictures, showcasing all the deliciousness that I have been filling my body with on a regular basis.) The boyfriend has been asleep for the last hour (I think he's finally feeling better, so I am taking advantage of the quiet night on the couch, and catch up on all the girl shows that I taped this week. The Bachelor, here I come! This show is so corny and catty and embarassing really, but..alas, I love it)