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Muffins rocked my weekend

5 Sep

Hallo friends

Its a holiday Monday here in Canada called Labour Day Weekend and since i have no idea what it really means i looked it up for you (and me)

Labour Day or Labor Day is an annual holiday to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. source

Well that clears that up- i had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with working and not giving birth and i really need to get on that 8 hours of recreation, who knew?

Since this was one of my working weekends (and the last by the way) i didn’t get up to that much but here is a quick recap with requisite silly iPhone photos

Friday:  Worked till 9, came home made cookies, ate cookie dough like it was nobodys business, bed by 10 with this book

Intriguing book - i'm half way through and really want to know who dun it!

Saturday: Gained great pleasure trying to help my manager clear out a plugged ear by directing her to do ridiculous things like hop on one leg and shake her head… what? google said to do it ;)

Picked up the furry monster from my parents who were puppy sitting and borrowed an egg, my mum was quite convinced i would never get it home in one piece (being the rammy girl i am), this was my solution.... i'm glad i didn't get pulled over

Sunday: Had a fun workout that Christina and i came up with on our own for an hour because we didn’t like the instructor that showed up our 9am class then yoga for an hour, oohhhhh i love me some yoga, i felt great afterwards!  Then it was time to come home and cook cook cook, made lots of great stuff that i’m sure you will see coming up this week and then it was time for the muffins…

using multiple mats des not make it any grosser that you forgot your mat at home and had to use communal mats that multiple strangers have humped, you know during sun salutations

I keep seeing my bloggy besties making oh so tasty muffins so i finally made some of my own and  let me tell you, AHMAZING!

I researched the healthiest recipe i could find and then i wanted them to be vegan, and goodness me – they turned out to be sweet, doughy, filling and above all delicious

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

adapated from happy herbivore

Hi Sydney xox

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
2 Tbsp of ground flax
1/4 cup of sifted cocoa powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1 1/4 tsp of baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup of sugar
Sprinkle of cinnamon
1 medium banana mashed
1/2 cup of apple butter
1/4 cup of almond milk
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla
1 cup of grated zucchini

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl
3. Mix wet ingredients in medium bowl
4. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients until combined
5. Spoon into muffin tins  (made 12 muffins)
6. Bake for 24 minutes or until knife comes out clean
7. Cool and enjoy :)

Happy Monday, make these immediately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Its the little things

2 Aug

I’ve always been amused very easily

Those who know me in “real life” are nodding right now

My parents would always shake their heads and say “Its the little things”

And with the new house those little things are stacking up in awesome numbers

Before i reveal afore mentioned little things though

You have to promise you won’t laugh

Or snicker

Or roll your eyes that i turn the washing machine on and off multiple times in an hour to hear it “sing” to me

Crap, i just told you #1!

  1. Our LG washer and dryers sing little songs when you turn them on and when they are finished, just imagine the sound of the icecream truck meets a merry go round, and that is the magical tune that is played for me and only me (i refuse to believe other peoples units do the same) :)

    Sing me a little tune!

  2. Our sinks have little food catchers that we call baskets of joy, how can you not love them? We are thisclose to naming them, yes they we are lucky enough to have twins (or 2 sinks, same diff)
  3. Peanut butter jars as big as your head!  I know bloggers are supposed to love all natural almond butter but Canadas Light Kraft Peanut Butter is da bomb – i regularly attack this jar with a spoon and a smile :)

    I had on ZERO makeup here (nothing really new here on the blog lately) but i'm still playing peanut butter peekaboo

  4. A $14 glass stand from ikea with $5 worth of fruit on it, i’ve taken about 50 photos of this since we bought it, what can i say, box stores and citrus brings out the geek in me!

    Soooooo fancy except for the runt apple :)

  5. Finding my tea bags after 1 week, 4 hours and 3 minutes of looking – best cuppa tea EVER!

    i refused to buy more since there is enough tea here to last me until i'm 80 :)

  6. Having a fridge full of healthy, be-gone-tummy-you-gained-on-vacation-eating-solely-takeout snacks
  7. Loving photography again, after pretty much relying on my iPhone for a week for photos and taking some crappy ass pictures of todays Kale Chips with my DSLR i pulled a few veggies from the fridge, found a cute plate charger and remembered why i love photographing my food so much!

Speaking of Kale Chips… Here is your totally awkward yet fabulous transition to todays recipe

Spicy BBQ Kale Chips

Inspired by The Raw Chef 

Ingredients

1 bunch of kale torn into chip size pieces
2 tsps of chipotle hot sauce
1 cup of water
1 cup of pitted dates
1 cup of sun dried tomatoes
2 Tbsps of extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsps of tamari or soya sauce
2 Tbsps of apple cider vinegar
1 tsp of paprika
2 tsps of cumin
1 tsp of garlic powder
Dash of cayenne

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients in high speed blender, add water as necessary to get a thick, yet moveable paste
2. Pour on top of large bowl full of kale and massage till each “chip” is coated
3. Spread on dehydrator till crispy (approx 5 hours) – mine is still crisping, i just snagged a few for photos ;)


Last but not least, i was nominated by the lovely Kristen over at Not So Domesticated to take part in the blogger fun that is 7 Links!

The Goal: 

To unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of old, but not forgotten, blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.
The Rules:

1. Blogger is nominated to participate.
2. Blogger publishes his/her 7 links–1 link for each category.
3. Blogger nominates 5 more bloggers to participate.

Most Beautiful
I would say my most beautiful would be How I met Dave, its more cute then anything but that guy makes me feel beautiful every single second of every day!

Most Popular
That would be my Twitter Trauma” href=”http://lifeofahappyblonde.com/2011/05/06/twitter-trauma/”>Twitter Trauma Post, because the lovely Heather at Kiss My Broccoli made one of my Chocolate Blueberry Breakfast Cookies and linked back to me which then got put up on Tumblr and i still get crazy hits to this day from it – thanks again Heather xox

Most Controversial
I’m really not a controversial kinda gal but i was nervous putting up the Look at me, I’m a Pear post, it talked about body shape and image but it also had a really helful link to how to dress to your body type which it has taken me 32 years to finally figure out that aline skirts rock my legs and skinny jeans really are not my friend ;)

Most Helpful
My Superfood to the rescue post, it really introduced a lot of my friends and family to accessible foods that are amazing for you and can be found in our local bulk foods store

Post whos success surprised you
The Replacements, a post that showed the food i used to eat and what i now consume!

Post that did not get the attention it deserved
Really any attention that any of my posts get cause me to clap my hand in glee (remember the seal clap?)
I appreciate all comments and readers and i’m so proud that i’ve managed to move my blog and rename it and still stay connected with my previous readers and my make new blog friends along the way!  So even if a post doesn’t get crazy stats or lots of comments i’m still proud of it and i know i had a blast writing it :)

Post you are most proud of
Rolls be gone, a post where i acknowledged i had gained some weight and the smart way i was going to lose the weight and not resort to my ED habits again and my inability to ever set foot on a set of scales again and how i came to peace with them

Now I get to do the nominating!!!

Katie from Real Food Katies Way
Hilary from Hungry Healthy Hilary
Helen from Helen Naturally
Hannah from Culture Connoisseur
Steph from Lunges and Lunch

If you have already been nominated girls (which you probably all have), my bad – i’ve been a little mia :P
Seeya tomorrow for WIAW xox

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Catchup Saturday 07/23/11

23 Jul

 

Don't worry it will make more sense next week!

I’ve renamed recap Saturday because, well, it was truly the most boring post name ever! Nothing as classic as my sweaty mc sweat a lot post title
It’s now Catchup Saturday!
Get it?
Yup, I’m lame and I’m proud!
Right now I’m probably stomping my foot in the middle of a never ending pile of boxes
And you get to catch up on what happened this week on Lifeofhappyblonde.com
Can I be you please? J

Posts RECAP

 

Sunday: Sydney graced you with some more words of wisdom
Monday: I wrote a Dear Weekend post, and debuted the yummiest greek wraps to ever grace my lips!
Tuesday:Was all about the chips, the good kind and the bad kind and dip for the best kind
Wednesday: I put a Greek spin on What I Ate Wednesday
Thursday: I drank a Berry Good Time
Friday: My dog invaded my blog and showed you some new Lulu!
Saturday: Well that’s kind of this post now isn’t it? :)

 

Workout Shenanigans

 

Saturday: 7km run at a vvvvveeerrrryyyyy slow pace
Sunday: Walked about 40 minutes and Swam for 20
Monday: Zumba fun!
Tuesday: Physique 57 with my favourite teacher!
Wednesday: Skipped work out
Thursday: Weird leg pain resulting in limp, hmmm maybe I won’t have to help move tomorrow?
Friday: MOVING (limp didn’t work, I still had to help)

I love this picture, it was on a hike of cinque terre in Italy :)

 

Link Love

 

Helen created a breakfast pizza that I’m itching to make!
One of my favourite healthy bloggers Caitlin listed her top 7 posts
How Sweet It Is: made what is soon to be my newest smores obsession

Have a lovely Saturday and seeya tomorrow xox


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Did I Really Do That?

11 Jul

Remember urkel?

I hated that tv character with a burning passion

He had an annoying voice and nerdy ways

Not that nerdy isn’t cool, it totally is, he just made it uncool

The catch phrase obnoxiously repeated over and over was “did I do that”?

Well urkel, I now own that phrase after this weekend!

And your response bloggie friends to the stupid things i did?

Well it shall be – “oh no she di-int” Just because I enjoy how ridiculous I sound when I say it, if you are lucky you might sound just as ridiculous as me

So here goes…

First of all I dropped my passwords for work in the toilet, don’t worry, the bowl was still clean (pre-pee) but still extremely GROSS, did I seriously do that? and more importantly am I seriously telling you about it?

I drank 3 cups of tea and 1 huge iced coffee and NO water on Saturday – if my workers needed me they knew to check the ceiling cause I was probably bouncing around up there, that or I was telling someone else that I dropped my passwords in the loo (trying to prevent others from getting slippery bank card failure)

I dressed my dog up in lululemon because I’m a horrible dog mummy who dreams of putting Syd in a doggie beauty pageant – Syd says she would prefer I put her in a “dogs who roll in smelly things” contest

I ate half a bag of chips on the car ride home Saturday due to imminent death by lack of sustenance (other then caffeine) during a work day – I survived… The bag of chips sadly did not

I contributed to the house I’m squatting in by sitting on the deck drinking beer with a book and demanding sips of Rum & Coke, I’m pretty sure my parents are ready to see the back of me!

I’ve developed a tan line the exact length of my 4 pairs of lululemon crops, this is not an attractive look when you wear a skirt to work about 3/5 days in a week – to emphasize ridiculousness try to develop a flip flop tan line as well to divert attention from line mid leg – OR maybe you just realize your BF is right and you wear WAY too much lululemon :P

Sunday I drove over an hour round trip to get a good whiff of baby and to play Mr. Potato Head, I would drive infinite hours if I needed to for a visit with my BFF and her adorabletastic boys

AND after a particularly ugly Indian food dinner that showed up in the pictures as varying shades of a hideous brown (but tasted ahmazing) I decided to make my familys classic crumble dessert and photograph it in the garden that is a bloggers dream

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L Family Peach Crumble (the healthified version)
Serves 2

Ingredients

2 peaches (or nectarines, not too sure which these are, blogging fail) cut up
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour (you can use whatever kind you wish) 1/4 cup of organic sugar
1/4 cup of vegan margarine (you can use butter but I actually prefer margarine)

Directions

1. Place peaches in a oven proof bowl
2. Combine flour, sugar and margarine till crumbly
3. Sprinkle crumble mixture over peaches
4. Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees
5. Add some vanilla frozen yogurt and traipse around your parents backyard till you get the right shot or are eaten alive by mosquitos, same thing :)

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Good news!!! I updated the recipe page and added all the missing recipes from the last 3 months!
I’ll post it here but you can alway link to the recipes from the home page

RECIPES

Links to all the recipes i have posted for you my blog reading friends
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Breakkie Fuel – aka: Breakfast Recipes

Basic Breakfast Cookie here
Pimped out Apple Breakfast Cookie here 
Maple Apple Breakfast Cookie here PB&J Breakfast Cookie here 
Chocolate Blueberry Breakfast Cookie here 
Cherry Chocolate Breakfast Cookie here 
Nutty Raspberry Chocolate Breakfast Cookie here 
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal here
Kitchen Sink Toast here 
Chocolate Orange Steel Cut Oats here Pumpkin Pie Oatbran here 
Ginger Clementine Cake Oatmeal here
Blueberry & Apple Spelt Pancakes here 
Squirrels vs. Monkeys vs. Bees pancakes here 
Pancakes for One – Coconut Berry edition here 
Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes with Blueberry Puree here 
Protein Pancakes here 
Pumpkin Raisin Spice Buckwheat Bake here 
Strawberry Banana Buckwheat Bake here 
Peanut Butter Banana Breakfast Wrap here 
Home Made Granola Goodness here
Blueberry Vanilla Breakfast Rice Pudding here

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Goodness in a bowl – aka: Salad Recipes

Citrus Sunshine Salad here
Buffalo Chicken Salad here

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DinDin – aka: Dinner Recipes

Baked Chicken Fajitas here
Vegetarian Shepards Pie here
Bean Burritos with Mexican Rice here
Healthy Nachos here
Asian Turkey Meatballs with Lime Sesame Dressing here
Strawberry Bacon Orzo Salad here
Turkey and Havarti Panini here
Turkey and Havarti Sandwiches with Basil and Sun Dried Tomatoes here
Healthy Chinese Fried Rice here
Thai Wraps here
Creamy Tomato Barley Risotto here
Tuna Melt Pizza here
Salt and Vinegar Chip Coated Fish here
Spicy Turkey Chili here
Vegan BLT here
Sloppy Spicy Lentil Sandwiches here
Mexican Layers Pie here
Curried Away Chicken Salad here
Crispy Parmesan Vegetables here
Mango Mint Salsa here
Cheezy Creamy Vegan Sauce here

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Green Monsters – aka: Healthy Smoothies

Basic Green Monster Smoothie here 
Cafe Mocha Green Monster Smoothie here  
Tropical Green Monster here 
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Green Monster here 
Minty Green Monster here 
Apple Pie Green Monster here
Her Royal Highness Monster here 
Liquid Sunshine Green Monster here 
Daquiri Green Monster here 
Breakfast Blues Green Monster here 
Raspberry Chocolate Green Monster here

Beverages of the Non-Monster variety – aka: Drinks
Oatmeal Cookie Smoothie here 
L Family Lemonade here 
Starbucks be Damned Iced Coffee here

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Pudding – aka: Desserts

Ginger Molasses Cookies here
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars hereSnicker Doodle hummus here
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls here
Lemon Pudding Cake here 
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls here 
Strawberry Oat Bars here 
Mang-ana Soft Serve here
Healthy Chocolate Pudding here 
Apple Breakfast Crumble here 
Banana-ana-ana Bread here 
Mint Chocolate Soft Serve here 
Ginger Beanie Brownies here 
Indoor Smores here
Bestest Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies here 
Salty Chocolate Lime Cookies here

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Salty Munchies - aka: Savoury Snacks
Roasted Salt & Vinegar chick peas here 
Cheezy Kale Chips here

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Well BF and I have today off so we are T dot bound (that would be Toronto for all you non Ontarians) (Ontarians = people who live in Ontario) I think I should just delete this whole paragraph and replace it with I’m going to Toronto! :D

Wish us luck picking out some cool stuff for the new house – only 12 days left (insert squeal here!!!!!)

>One of those days

24 Feb

>

This is seriously the face i’m making as i write
Its part confused/part sad/part startled/part irritated but still kinda cute :o )


 Yesterday was just one of those days, you know the kind i mean…

  • Where you dislike everyone for no real reason – a neighbour glanced my way while i was waiting for the car to heat up and i just felt him judging me for not scraping and just waiting for the car de-scrape itself, and honestly he probably just had a neck spazm
  • Everything makes you want to cry – not just sappy commercials because those ALWAYS make me cry, but being out of paperclips? cue the tears
  • Nothing goes right – BF was not a fan of the morning oatmeal and i felt like a big failure no matter how many hugs i got
  • You feel completely out of control of everything in your life - cue the violins, i’m going to vent… 

I will be honest and say a lot of this stems from it being my “unreasonable time” of the month, the other part is my unhappiness in my job, i need to make a change but its hard, i’m a grown up now and i have to make grown up decisions like recently saying no to a dream job because of the drop in income and it being a contract position (it would halt our entire plan to build a house), but saying no to that job has spurred me into trying to make a change beause i don’t want to wake up and realize i’ve wasted away months/years of my life wishing time away - i know you don’t have to love your job especially if it makes you a good income but you do have to not feel dread at the start of every work day and thats how i feel right now, so no more excuses, changes will be a comin (cue “chchchanges, turn and face the strain”- are you swaying with me or are you thinking i got the words wrong because i actually googled them and thats the real words, those are definitely not what i have been singing the last 31 years?)


Okay, enough of the serious stuff  -  on those days where nothing will make me feel better i make comfort food – here are the results

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Donnas Shephards Pie
my healthy spin on an old classic aka: the healthified version



My relationship with shephards pie goes wwwaaayyyy back – we are totally buds – it was always a welcomed dinner in the L family household (unlike say liver, shudder!), this is one of those hodge podge meals you can just throw anything in – except the kitchen sink, you need that to do the dishes (but who am i kidding i put everything in the dishwasher)


Ingredients

  • Lean ground beef, pork, turkey or my choice soy beef
  • Shallots
  • Your choice of vegetables – today i was feeling the corn/greenbean/tomato combo
  • Potato topping – i used a mix of cauliflower and sweet potato
  • Seasoning – i usually go with a ketchup/bbq sauce combo but today i’m venturing into organic spice mix territory
  • Cheese, cheese glorious cheese



Directions

  1. Steam/microwave/boil your potatoes (i steamed my chopped cauliflower and sweet potatoes in the microwave)
  2. Mash your potatos, or if you are lazy like me use the immersion blender, then add in a little greek yoghurt, garlic, and butter to make it creamy
  3. Add a little olive oil to a frying pan and toss in some chopped up shallots (best way to explain shallots would be for you to imagine that garlic and onions had a baby and since they thought apple was a dumb name and gwyenth had already used it they called it shallot – not to be confused with shiloh)
  4. Add in your meat
  5. Cook until your meat is browned – i don’t want anyone getting food poisoning on my watch! (if its soy it will only take a couple of minutes to heat up)
  6. Add your spinach, seasoning, corn and green beans
  7. Once the spinach is wilted remove from heat
  8. Layer your potatos onto the meat and spread evenly
  9. Sprinkle with cheese
  10. Broil in the oven on low for approx 5 minutes, make sure you watch it and don’t get distracted playing spin for a treat with your doodle because that would make you have to come up with vveerryy creative ways to photograph dinner without showing unphotogenic brown spot on the top!
RESULT: This was super tasty, we had enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow and BF didn’t even notice the cauliflower mixed in to the sweet potatoes, this recipe is definitely a keeper


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The rest of the evening was spent being imaginative with migraine solving solutions: i drank wine, took tylenol, and last but not least created (not just made: i created it sounds fancier) home made ginger molasses cookies, and then proceeded to eat my weight in cookies – don’t worry i’m not just being a tease, the recipe will come tomorrow!

Until then i’m going to put my perky hat on (yes yes its size small and i look ridonkulous in it) and i’m GOING to have a better day, i’m usually only “unreasonable” for one day a month, i just feel bad for all the glasses of wine and ginger molasses cookies i hurt during those 24 hours

Bye friends, i’m off to figure out how to dethaw my car without running into THE neighbour and find some more damn paperclips or its just going to be niagara falls all over again!

Have a great day xox

>I dream of pantrys: My weekend in pictures

17 Jan

>

Nice 3 day weekend for me this week!  Fridays date night rocked, thai food and “The Fighter” great movie even if it was hubbys pick and i might have put up a bit of a fight

Saturday i hit up zumba and got all sweaty then we headed to Toronto so the boys could enjoy the Leafs game while the GF and i hit up several restaurants and planned our next trip over drinks at each location (the boys weren’t impressed and told us we can’t plan till we come home from Aruba, ppffttt!!!)

Sunday we did the following… 
Shopped for new homes, wheeeeeee this one had a huge walk in kitchen pantry, i’m totally gunning for this house!

Went to blockbuster where we rent one movie and scope out the new releases to download when we get home, teehehe

Tried my first green monster smoothie while checking out golden globe fashion, sooo fricking delicious why haven’t i tried them before?
2 cups spinach
1 natura vanilla soy milk drinking box
1/2 tbsp of almond butter
1/4 cup of frozen blueberries
1/2 frozen banana
BLEND!

Tried to strip the sheets from the bed but furbaby looked sad so made up for it with soft blanket, she looks impressed no?

Made roasted garbonzo beans, again – why haven’t i tried this before?

Received my new snorkel special edition cool racer back, will post review and pic of me wearing it tomorrow

Hope everyone had a great weekend :o )
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