This crazy amazing weather has got me all grill happy! ok, i’ll be honest, the number of meals i have made in the past 2 weeks has been pitiful…i can’t openly say the number. i just can’t. Me and our schedule are so on the outs.

But this past weekend, we got together with family to celebrate my niece’s birthday (birthday hugs, Jada!) and had ourselves a grillin’ meal. I wanted to add a salad that wasn’t traditional..so cyber-trolling i went.  I love the Sprouted Kitchen website..if you haven’t visited, really..do yourself a favor and go on over! The photos are glorious..the recent pics from a vacation to Europe are frame-worthy, and Sara’s recipes are equally as beautiful. If you love veggies, clean cooking, natural ingredients, and incorporating seasonal foods into your kitchen, you will be bookmarking this site. STAT. Her love of eating food in it’s purest form makes this farmer’s wife happy (did i just call myself a farmer’s wife?? i guess he is so i guess i am..eeks!)!

The Pasilla Chile and Lime Cabbage Slaw (click here for the recipe) was an incredibly tasty addition to our birthday meal and i have a feeling i’ll be making it often this summer! The addition of toasted macadamia nuts and fresh mango add the perfect texture and flavour. Mango just happens to be one of my favorite fruits. I also like that it can be made with greek yogurt versus mayo. I think it gives a lighter feel to it, and though there is still fat in greek yogurt, it is a healthier choice.

 

 

The addition of lime zest and juice lends a truly fresh flavour to this slaw. The ancho chile powder gives it a little kick. Additional ingredients include honey, sea salt, olive oil, and greek yogurt.

 

Thinly sliced green cabbage, mixed with fresh chopped cilantro and finely diced red onion compose the salad.

Mix it together and let it rest for at least 15 minutes for all that awesome flavour to blend.

 

Make this a complete meal, by adding some grilled meat, chicken or prawns. Delish!

 

 

 

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Instagram had me drooling a couple of nights ago!  Friends of my daughters posted pics of a crazy good looking recipe….I caught that it involved oreos, cookie dough and brownies…you can’t go wrong with that trifecta!  So I asked their mom about the recipe.  She made it in a 9′ x 13′, but I decided to try my own twist and use muffin tins.  So…put aside your guilt about clean eating, the Paleo diet, what you can gather and hunt, and run to your local grocery store for a few packaged ingredients and indulge and enjoy….
Oreo Cookie Dough Brownie Treats

makes 16

1 468g package Pillsbury Cookies Chocolatey Chunk cookie dough (or use your own fave cookie dough recipe)

1 bag Double Stuf Oreos

1 package Betty Crocker Chocolate Chunk Brownies

16 Paper Chef Culinary Parchment Large Baking Cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put parchment baking cups in muffin tins.  Fill any unused muffin tins with water so they do not become scorched.  Prepare brownie mix according to package instructions.  Cut cookie dough roll into 16 pieces and put one slice in the bottom of each baking cup.  Push an Oreo into the cookie dough of each cup.  Spoon mixed brownie batter over top.  Bake for 20-25 min.  Remove from muffin tins and place on cooling rack.

 

Use parchment baking cups in the muffins tins and add the cookie dough. Then press an Oreo into each one.

 

 

Prepare the brownie batter according to the package instructions and spoon over Oreos. They are ready for the oven!

 

They can be enjoyed on their own…

I brought these as is to dance for Berkeley’s birthday this week and they seriously vanished!

 

Or while still warm, remove the baking liner, plate, add some vanilla bean ice cream, drizzle with chocolate and caramel sauce for a dessert!!!  Your guests will love it!   Oh, and creds to Nicky!!!!

Can you see the Oreo inside?? Yummer!

 

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With Mother’s Day approaching, i start to hear people getting that panic in their voice… what do you get to sufficiently say thank you to the woman who raised you, who sacrificed for you, who would give the world to you if she could???  That can get a little daunting, yes? To me, the answer is not to look for the biggest gift you can possibly purchase, but rather to honor your mom with gifts of the heart. To celebrate them by giving a token of your appreciation…something your mom (or wife!) will remember you chose knowing they would get a sparkle in their eye when they saw it. Isn’t that moment the best?

 

Here are the deets:

1 Chapters Bundle  ~ Buy the Heather’s Pick novel “The Spark” by Kristine Barnett and add a monogrammed mug for $22 (online)

2 Teavana Perfect Teamaker Watch your tea brew and then, hold over your cup to watch as the maker strains the leaves and gives you the perfect cup of tea..magic! $19.50 Add this modern tea canister that would look good sitting on any kitchen counter $14.95

3 Ethel Snakeskin Gardening Gloves $20 – ok, follow me here. Gloves made specifically to fit the contours of a woman’s hand paired with the durability of it’s parent company, Mechanix Wear, known for outfitting Nascar pit crews. Long gloves for rose gardeners, waterproof palms, machine washable..these are a serious gardener’s glove.

4 Personalized Dear Mom Throw Pillow Cover starting at $29.99.  What mama wouldn’t love this message of love from her kids?

This is a little unusual of me, but i have to say that Anthropologie won my heart with so many of their perfect mom treasures…i couldn’t narrow it down, so guess what? i included my 3 favourites!

5 Anthropologie’s Persica Loungers $48 …. comfy and pretty..

6 Anthropologie’s Spice Market Infinity Scarf $48 add some “spice” with this beautifully hued scarf.

7 Anthropologie’s Royal Apothetic Eau de Parfum  $32 Pick your mom’s scent…floral, fresh or spice. Personally, the bottle had me at HELLO!

8 Uncommon Goods Sari Bag $35 This boho chic bag has added value. Handcrafted in India from recycled saris, it not only is one of a kind, but it will colorfuly tote mom’s “stuff” around

9 Square Lanterns from Restoration Hardware..starting at $30. Get mom excited for summer nights with a lantern or two.

 

For a splurge item, i can’t not include Maya Brenner’s initial necklaces (starting at $220).. i LOVE these and have been eying them forEVER! They are incredibly dainty..and simple. Add mom’s initial (s) or you and your siblings…love.

 

Lastly, gift your mom with a shared experience. Are you both foodies? Take a cooking class together! For us local sisters, spend an evening at Lepp Farm Market or downtown Vancouver at the Dirty Apron learning to create culinary yumminess TOGETHER!

Pause for a moment and think what your mom/wife loves…and go for it!

 

 

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In our household, the coming of spring signals competition season for volleyball, dance and hockey. Time where we are running around like headless chickies. Making good choices with what we are eating would be the easiest thing to let slip during these months! And in past years, we have slipped BIG TIME…

Thankfully over the past year and a bit, we have been way more conscious about what we’re shoving in our mouths! This week, i dropped in at one of my favorite stops for healthy foods, Silver Hills Bakery.  I came across the Way Better Tortilla Chips…they caught my eye because our middle daughter, Melina, is a tortilla chip hound i tell you. So, i bought 3 different varieties and came home to do the taste test with the master herself! The verdict? We both loved em.  They are really good!

Made with sprouted grains, they are a way better choice than their nutritionally vacant counterparts: vegan, gluten free, peanut free, no artificial colours/flavors or preservatives all describe Way Better Snacks. Simply put, it’ll be hard to find a healthier chip out there (ok, i always thought healthy and chip didn’t belong in the same sentence!!) Chia seeds, quinoa, flax, diakon radishes and broccoli seeds are some of the ingredients in the different chip varieties. Not bad, hey?? This doesn’t replace eating your veggies, people, but pair the chips with some hummus or homemade salsa and you can release some of the guilt.

We tried the Simply Sweeet Potato, Simply Unbeatable Blues, and the Simply Beyond Black Bean Tortilla Chips. yum! The only one we missed out on was the Sweet Chili which is supposed to be a crowd favourite.. next time!

Beyond packing these for my kid’s snacks, they’ll be a perfect munchie to serve to guests, too. I know i’m probably the only one who thinks that the 3 colours actually look pretty together, but hey, BONUS!!

 For you locals, head over to Silver Hills Bakery… And for those further away, visit your local Whole Foods, Choices Market or click here to find your nearest retailer.

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While we were away in Phoenix for Spring Break, Lo and I would spend hours trolling Pinterest boards after the kids and hubsters had gone to bed! Lo came across a pin for Birthday Cake Popcorn and since we were there for Dylan’s 12th birthday, I thought I’d try to make it for her birthday celebration there. This recipe comes from a blog called The Endless Meal (click here for the recipe link).

Birthday Cake Popcorn

From The Endless Meal

Ingredients

• 6 cups popped popcorn
• ½ bag of marshmallows
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2-4 tablespoons milk (I used almond milk but regular milk would work too)
• ¾ cup vanilla cake mix
• Optional: sprinkles

Instructions

1. Place popped popcorn in a large bowl and remove any un-popped kernels.
2. Place marshmallows in a medium sized saucepan over medium low heat. Stir frequently until marshmallows have melted. Add cake mix and stir till well combined. Stir in vanilla then stir in milk 1 tablespoon at a time until are a pouring (but not runny) consistency.
3. Pour melted marshmallows over popcorn and stir to combine.
4. Top with sprinkles.

Makes 6 cups (Just go ahead and double it!! This stuff disappears!)

1. Mix marshmallow mixture with popped popcorn.
2. Once mixed well, add sprinkles.
3. Stir up quickly and form into popcorn balls.

Notes

To make into popcorn balls: wet hands lightly and scoop up a small amount of popcorn. Gently form into the shape of a ball. Re-wet hands between each popcorn ball to prevent the popcorn from sticking to your hands.

Here’s a sweet tip:  Spray your hands with cooking spray to form balls and place in parchment baking cups or colorful muffin liners.

The house we were renting in Phoenix wasn’t very well equipped, so I had to improvise a bit! I opted to omit the vanilla as it seemed a bit of a waste to buy it for just that. We didn’t have an air popper, so we bought Orville Redenbacher Natural Simple Salted 50% Less Fat microwave popcorn and used that.  It worked in a pinch (sweet and salty does work together!) Berkeley made it this past weekend with air popped popcorn and vanilla and made it into popcorn balls.  She used flat sprinkles…they work much better than the sugary type or small sprinkles that tend to almost melt.  You can buy the flat confetti sprinkles through Amazon.com (click here) or locally at Scoop n Save (click here).  They were cute and delish!  This recipe is definitely best made into balls….in Phoenix I didn’t and it was a bit tough to break pieces of the popcorn off and was a bit messy (but still got devoured!).

Photo courtesy of The Endless Meal

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