super simple banana coconut smoothie

i love that this summer's been nice and cool a lot of days. cool breezes and cloudy skies... it feels more like spring than summer. the other day on my walk with a warm chai tea to warm me up i saw a bunch of fall leaves, what is going on?! that being said on the days it is hot, it's really hot! how have you been keeping cool? i've been blending up coconut banana smoothies. aya loves them and they're super simple!

1 frozen banana

1 can of chilled coconut milk or cream (use less for thicker smoothies)

blend and enjoy!

since i'm an avid chocolate lover i scoop out half for aya and add more frozen banana and a few scoops of cocoa powder to the remaining mix. the banana acts as a sweetener and it's like a vegan chocolate milkshake!

gluten free vegan pancakes

have i ever told you i eat pancakes almost everyday? they're ayas favourite! to cut down on my time i have started making a dry mix so it's almost all ready to go when i get up. here's my recipe for wheat free, gluten free vegan pancakes.

dry mix:

2 cups flour substitute (brown rice, buckwheat, quinoa, or amaranth flour are all good choices, my favourite is equal parts brown rice flour mixed with buckwheat flour)

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

mix ingredients together and put in a jar 

labels with directions

directions:

1 cup of dry mix

1 heaping teaspoon golden flax seed (ground up)

1 cup milk substitute (brown rice, almond, soy or hemp are all pretty great, my favourite is unsweetened almond milk)

1 tablespoon soy sour cream (optional)

mix together the dry mix with the flax seed. add the milk substitute stirring slowly. for thinner pancakes add more milk. the soy sour cream is optional, it will make buttermilk pancakes. heat your pan with oil and keep the pancakes small. they cook faster and better.

enjoy!

♥

saunas, juicing & matchas

jamie and i have started making it a routine in our busy lives to go to a private sauna and steam room where we can sit and do nothing. that doesn't really happen much in our culture where everything is so "go" based and it's super important...and aya gets a little quality time in with granny. we have a little dinner date afterwards. we discovered a sweet little raw food cafe tucked away in the back of an organic market eternal abundance on commercial drive which is awesome. the kind of food that makes you feel good. then we pick up organic veggies for the juicer or chocolate (whichever we happen to be in the mood for). oh yah, i got a juicer for my birthday!!! i love it:) i've been juicing everyday and even aya has been drinking her veggie juices, not much though before she scrunches her nose up and says no but a little is better than nothing. 
this morning i woke up feeling like i was getting a sore throat. i got up at 7am and knew i had to make some juice or i'd have a horrible day. i made my juice, drank it, and felt great. obviously. it's the power of food. so here's my recipe if you happen to have a juicer:

2 carrots(peeled)

1 beet including beet greens

2 kale leave

1 apple

1/4 cucumber 

wash all the veggies and try to go organic. 

another fave of ours lately is matcha lattes made with almond milk. neither of us can have dairy and we try to keep soy to a minimum so almond milk is a healthy alternative and it froths great too. we get our matcha and all our tea lately from davids tea. and nothing makes it taste better than a great mug, seriously.

❤

smoothie recipes

i get a lot of people asking me for me for recipes so im going to start posting them more often. i love smoothies in the morning, i think they're a great way to start the day. i've started adding chia too which i love. so here's my latest favorite smoothie recipe...

~spirulina, spinach, kale, blueberry, chia smoothie~
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 of an apple (peeled)
1/3 cup frozen blueberries
3 strawberries (frozen or fresh)
1 handful of spinach leaves
1 kale leaf
2 tablespoons chia mixed with 4 tablespoons of water (let it sit for a few minutes before you add it)
1/2 cup fruit juice 
1/2 cup alomond, brown rice or soy milk
2 teaspoons of liquid iron (optional)

throw everything together in your blender or food processor and blend until smooth. depending on your blender of processor you might want to chop the strawberries, kale, and banana before they're added. i have the magic bullet http://www.buythebullet.com/ which i love for quick easy smoothies. taste it and test, if you would like it sweeter add more fruit juice. i would also like to note that i only add iron because i am a breastfeeding mother that rarely eats meat (i have fish once in a while). only add it if you feel a need for extra iron or have been advised by a doctor. i like liquid iron floradix because it's made for easy absorption. also don't use fruit juice with added sugar. fruit has plenty of naturally occurring sugars in it already and is sweet enough! and try to go organic, especially with kale. non organic kale is known for having high levels of pesticides in it. same with bananas and strawberries. i hope you enjoy this recipe and if you do try it you'll feel great!
and here's a really simple smoothie, i had it for breakfast almost everyday in hawaii...

~strawberry vanilla smoothie~
1 handful of fresh or frozen strawberries
1 cup soy, brown rice or almond milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp agave syrup (optional)

mix everything in a blender. for extra sweetness add extra agave syrup and if it's too thick for your preference add more "milk".

aya likes strawberry smoothies too!

♥

chai tea

fall is a time of change and i wanted to get my kitchen painted happy colours before it's here...so i painted it pink! the colour scheme is inspired by flower tea which i love dearly.

 pink with cream accents which is also the same colours as my hair right now! my hairdresser said my hair looked like it had been dyed with flowers and tea which is fine by me.

 here is a recipe i've used for chai tea from scratch for quite a few years now. it tastes great, warms you up from the inside and makes your place smell great, i'm a little obsessed...

6 tbs honey
1 tsp ground cardamon
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp mace

pinch ground cayenne

3 tsp vanilla

3 cups water

1 tea ball of favourite tea leaves

combine everything and bring to a boil. turn burner to low and simmer 10 min. let stand and cool. strain spices and tea leaves and store in a glass jar in the fridge. shake well before serving. serve by adding 1/2 cup chai with 1/2 cup milk (i prefer almond) hot or cold. 

~HAPPY FALL~

                                                                                                             ♥

cookies

i started baking when i was about four with my mom, i loved it because i got to lick the spoons along the way & the bowl at the end...& i still love cookie dough! sometimes i have it for dinner. that's how much i love it. over the years i have been a total health "freak" on & off depending on how disciplined i'm feeling, so my recipes have been altered over the years. here is one of my favourite cookie recipes i have written:  

~gluten free vegan cookies

~1 cup peanut butter (crunchy)
~1&2/3 cups honey
~1 egg (beaten) or flax mix (refer to below)
~1&1/2 teaspoons vanilla
~1/3 cup soy butter (earth balance is good)
~1&1/3 cups flour (spelt or brown rice (or mix them together))
~1/2 teaspoon salt
~1/2 baking soda
~1 cup unsweetened carob chips or sweetened with agave syrup 

now i know i said egg in the recipe but when you think of what those eggs have been through (for the most part) eggs are kind of gross. so here's a little secret: you can replace egg with flax! just mix 1 tablespoon of ground golden flax seed with 3 tablespoons of water, beat it like you would an egg and in baking thats the equivalent to 1 egg but way healthier! 
i also sometimes replace the 1 cup carob chips with 1 cup of chopped up toblerone. i'm not going to lie, they taste way better when you do it like that, how could they not?!

~preheat the oven to 350 f
~mix the peanut butter, honey, & butter together
~stir in the egg (or flax mix) & vanilla
~mix the flour, salt & baking soda together & stir into the      peanut butter mix
~oil the cookie sheets & roll your cookies into balls
~squish them onto the baking sheet
~bake for 10~12 minutes (keep a close eye on them, honey burns  quite easily)

be careful, they are highly addictive!!

~♥~