National Chia Day

Today March 23rd is National Chia Seed Day! This day recognizes the tiny, yet powerful chia seed that has earned a reputation for being one of the MOST nutrient-rich foods on the planet!

Per gram Chia seeds have 

8x more omega -3s than salmon
2x more potassium than bananas 🍌
6x more calcium than milk
25% more fibre than Flax seed
30% more antioxidants than blueberries

Today I'm enjoying a Table Spoon of Chia seeds in my over night oats for breakfast for ‪#‎nationalchiaday‬

I'll be filming an overnight oats tutorial tonight for my YouTube channel and will share it here as well!

The recipe I used for todays over night oats is...

1/2 cup whole oats
1 Tbsp Chia Seeds
1 Tbsp almond slivers
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Handful of organic dried cranberries
Almond milk until it covers oats (equal parts dry to wet is the key)
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

Put all dry ingredients into jar, add in almond milk, maple syrup and vanilla. If needed add in extra almond milk to ensure equal parts wet to dry for perfect consistency.

Screw on lid and place into the fridge over night.

Warm for 2 minutes in microwave if desired and serve with a scoop of natural peanut butter!

Mamma Chia has officially designated March 23rd as National Chia Day with the registrar of National Day Calendar!

Easter Weekend Blueberry Muffins

This Recipe came from my Aunty Jane.  We lost her 6 years ago and I miss her terribly still. I grew up in awe of her baking and cooking skills. And as I was older I was able to write down a few of her recipes and this is one of them. I truly wish I'd got more! 

Here is one of the recipes she made for us kids when we came up to her farm! I remember going up to the fish farm at Easter time and she would have a big batch of these made topped with sprinkled sugar.  She always made the best baked goods and I think my love of baking comes from her.  I have modified the recipe to make it more healthy but you would never know because they still taste amazing! 

At the fish farm she always put on the best Easter Egg hunts too.  She had loads of note pads, fancy pens and pencils, sticky notes (she was a teacher), hair clips, stickers, and puzzles along with all the best candy!  I've put together a list of Easter Candy Alternatives if you want to incorporate a few non candy items into your own easter egg hunt this weekend!  

I'm making a batch today for our week ahead but I'm hoping to have a few left over to take on our Easter Long Weekend camping trip too!  While I baked the boys were busy Colouring Easter Egg Wreaths to put on the window. They love going onto Pinterest with me and looking for fun colouring sheets and then printing them off.  

Fraser is finally at the age where he happy to sit in his high chair and colour or craft while I bake my heart out!!!!  I remember Asher at this age and all the activities I would do with him so I'm excited to introduce Fraser to lots of Kid Kitchen Science Activities.  

Easter Weekend Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

1/3 cup coconut oil

1 1/4 cups organic cane sugar or 3/4 cup honey

1 egg

1tsp pure almond extract

1 cup full fat Greek yogurt

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt
4-8 Tbsp milk

1 cup raspberries

Directions

• Mix together Coconut Oil, Honey, egg and extract in bowl.  
• Add to the coconut oil mixture, 1 cup of greek yogurt. Set aside. 
• Mix together all dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. 
• Add Yogurt and coconut Oil mixture into the flour mixture and stir together slightly. 
• Add in Milk to the consistency you like.  It will be thick. 
• Now add in berries of your choice and stir in being careful not to over stir.  
• Top with slivered almonds or a sprinkle of organic cane sugar. 
• Bake on 375 for 22 minutes

Blackberry Hoisin Turkey Meatball Lettuce wraps

I made these tasty meatball lettuce wraps with Blackberry sauce a while ago now using the recipe from justataste.com and everyone loved them.  So when I made the meal plan this week I added them to it.  Last time I made my own blackberry preserves on the fly with blackberries, water and honey but this time I knew I would be a little more rushed for time so I picked up some organic Blackberry Preserves from the market.  

For the boys I left out the green onion and made 4 meatballs without.  But I can tell you the green onion MAKES these meatballs!  

This batch made about 24 Turkey Meatballs but I wanted to make them fairly small as I was putting them into lettuce wraps. I also lined my muffin pan with silicon muffin cups and that made it SO easy to clean up!

Now these little guys cooked perfectly in just 15 minutes at 500 degrees.  I know 500 degrees sounds SUPER high but I promise they will cook perfectly and quickly too!  

Once cooked I let them cool slightly and then placed them on the washed lettuce leaves.  I get the live butter lettuce in the round containers in the salad section at the store and they work perfectly.  In the spring and summer I'll have LOTS of lettuce growing in the garden so I'll be able to go into the back yard and pick what I need.  But until then these live butter lettuce from the store work perfectly.  

The funny thing is everyone had a slightly different variation of the same dinner.  Asher still enjoyed the Lettuce wraps but had no green onion and Frasers meatballs were cup up and I gave him cucumber slices and whole wheat nann bread instead of lettuce leaves.  Then Gord and I enjoyed these beautiful little lettuce wraps dripping with blackberry Hoisin sauce. So good!!!  

Blackberry Hoisin Turkey Meatball Lettuce Wraps

Yield: About 24 meatballs

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Ingredients

1/4 cup almond milk (or other milk of choice)
1/4 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey or chicken
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
1 Tablespoon minced garlic (or 1 tsp powdered)
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger (or 1 tsp powdered)
2 Tablespoons braggs liquid aminos or soy sauce
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup blackberry preserves
1 head live butter lettuce, leaves separated and washed

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 500ºF.  Oil a mini-muffin pan or baking dish or line with silicon muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the milk and breadcrumbs and let them sit for 5 minutes.
3. Add the ground chicken, green onion, garlic, ginger, braggs liquid aminos and egg to the bowl with the breadcrumbs. Use your hands or a large spoon to mix the ingredients just until combined. 
4. Shape the meat mixture into balls using about 3 tablespoons of meat per meatball. Place the shaped meatballs into the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes, or until the meatballs are fully cooked.
5. While the meatballs are baking, whisk together the hoisin sauce and blackberry jam in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
6. Remove the meatballs from the oven. Place one or two meatballs in each leaf of lettuce, drizzle with Blackberry sauce and top with green onions to serve.  

Whole Wheat Waffles with Caramelized Apples and Peanut Butter

Whole Wheat Waffles with Caramelized Apples and Peanut Butter

Whole Wheat Waffles

Ingredients

2 large eggs
1 ¾ cups Almond or coconut milk
¼ cup Olive Oil
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat your waffle iron.
In a large mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, almond milk, olive oil and honey until well combined.

In a separate bowl mix together the cinnamon, baking soda, flour, baking powder, and salt. 

Add wet mixture to the dry and whisk together just until the large lumps disappear.

When the waffle iron is hot, dab it with a little olive oil and then ladle some batter onto the center of the iron. Follow the instructions that came with your waffle maker to know how long it should be cooked (mine takes about 3 - 4 minutes each).

Keep waffles warm until you finish cooking all of them.

Top with Caramelized apples and a scoop of peanut butter!

Caramelized Apples

Ingredients

• 2 Apples sliced thin
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1 Tbsp Pure Maple Syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Add coconut oil to small frying pan and let melt.  

Add apples, cinnamon and maple syrup to coconut oil and allow apples to cook and brown in the pan, stirring frequently until soft.  

Remove from heat and let sit until read to serve. 

Vegetable Egg Cups

This week I'm trying to switch things up a little bit with my meal plan.  Gord and I are trying to reduce our dairy consumption so rather than Greek Yogurt and berries for breakfast we needed to find another protein filled breakfast option for the week.  Eggs are the easy option however our mornings are already rushed so making eggs up every morning isn't really gonna work!  Just too much going on.  Plus I'm not usually ready to eat until I get into work.  So we decided to give Vegetable Egg Cups from the Fixate cookbook a try!  

We have been using the cookbook for several dinner recipes and have loved every recipe we have tried so far. But I am honestly not a huge Egg eater so I wasn't too sure how these would go over.  

Luckily I have a toaster oven in the office which made it possible to reheat them for a few minutes.  I also topped them with pesto to help things along.  (not perfect but better than cheese which is usually how I can get through eggs).  

In the end I quite enjoyed my little breakfast and might even consider going pesto free next time!  

21 Day Fix Cookbook FIXATE - Vegetable Egg Cups

Serves: 6

21 Day fix portions: 1 Red (2 egg cups)

Ingredients

• 12 Large Eggs
• 1 Cup Chopped Bell Peppers
• 1 Cup Chopped Mushrooms
• Sea Salt and Pepper to Taste
• 2 Green Onions, Thinly Sliced
• 12 Tbsp. Homemade Salsa
• *These are the ingredients as listed in the book. I omitted the green onions as we didn't have any on hand and topped mine with a bit of pesto instead of salsa. 

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375.
2. Crack eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisk until fully combined.
3. Add mushrooms, bell pepper and onions to the eggs and mix well.
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste (optional).
5. Coat the muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. (I used silicon muffin cups which made the egg cups slide right out!)
6. Evenly divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cups.
7. Bake for 15 minutes - 20 minutes (a toothpick inserted into the muffin should come out clean) (Mine took about 22 minutes)
8. Top each egg cup with 1 tablespoon of Homemade Salsa (pg. 85 of Fixate Cookbook)

Mixed Berry Morning Muffins

Yesterday morning was eggs for breakfast and we used up every last one!  So this morning when I started a batch of muffins for breakfast I realized that I would need to borrow an egg.  Luckily we have awesome neighbours and they even delivered before I could send Asher next door!  

This batch made 12 regular sized muffins and 16 mini muffins for the kids.  I've used my Aunty Janes crackle berry muffin recipe as the base for a few of my recipes and just tweaked it to make it healthier by using coconut oil, honey and whole wheat flour in place of white sugar, white flour and butter.  But they always turn out amazing and you would never know they were "healthier" than the original.  

The batter is nice and thick so use your judgement and add in extra milk as needed to smooth it out while stirring.  

Mixed Berry Muffins

Ingredients 

1/3 cup coconut oil

3/4 cup honey

1 egg

1 tsp pure almond extract

8 Tbsp milk

1 cup full fat Greek yogurt

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup raspberries

1/2 cup blueberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 375

1. Mix together coconut oil, honey, egg, almond extract, milk and yogurt pressing the coconut oil on the side of the bowl to smooth out or you can soften it in the microwave before adding in the honey. 

2. In a medium bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt.  Mix until combined. 

3. Add dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir until combined.  Don't over stir. 

4. Add in berries and mix in. 

5. Grease muffin tin or line with silicon muffin cups.  

6. Fill muffin cups with batter and bake for 20-22 minutes. 

Fudgy Avocado Brownies

Not only do avocados add a boost of healthy fats, they also intensify the flavor of chocolate and make these brownies ultra rich, and decadent. These gluten-free treats are so fudgy and moist, you won’t even remember how healthy they are!

Did you know know there was a difference between "CocOA" and "CacAO"?

Yep there totally is and for a long time I've been a bit confused about the difference in the spelling and wondered what if any difference there actually was between the two.  

So heres the deal...

Even though CocOA and CacAO come from the same bean there is a fairly big difference between the two and how they are processed. 

Basically one is the Raw version of the other.... CacAO is Raw and CocOA is Roasted.  

CacAO (pronounced: kuh-KOW) is the purest and rawest form of a cocoa bean.  

Cacao is not roasted.  CacAO is made from removing the cacAO beans from their pods (which grow on cacAO trees), and then fermenting them.

The beans are then cold-pressed to remove the cocao butter or fat from the beans and then dried.  

Cacao powder does look almost exactly the same as cocoa powder, but none of the nutrients, antioxidants, and enzymes have been cooked out, therefor the overall nutrition of the cocoa bean remains intact in Cacao powder.  

CocOA takes it a step further – it gets roasted at really high temperatures. Keep in mind heating any plants kills a lot of living enzymes (ie. minerals/vitamins/healthy stuff) in the plants, just think about what an over cooked broccoli looks like when it's been steamed way too long..... This means that cocOA has much less of a nutritional value than the raw cacAO stuff does.

Of course CacAO is the healthier and therefor more expensive choice but just like anything else once you understand the value in paying a little bit more and getting a better product it becomes a no brainer to choose the nutrient dense option!  Right?  Right!

Ok back to these Gooey Brownies......

Blend up your Avocado in the food process or you can mash it in a bowl, whatever works for you!  I recently acquired a ninja blender, food processor and I'm telling you it makes baking a breeze!  Loving it!

Now add in your CacAO mixture and just look at that batter!  I can tell you I scraped that bowl it was SO good!!!  Pretty sure I'd make the batter on it's own minus the egg and just eat it with a spoon..... it was that good!

Now after you bake it in the oven and it's nice an hot you can either leave it as is or top it with a few dark chocolate or dairy free chips.  Let them sit for 3-5 minutes and then spread them over the top of your brownie.  

Look and that beauty!  Now the hard part.... you have to wait for it to cool before you cut into it.... well at least wait 30 minutes to let it settle a little bit.  

Fudgy Avocado Brownies

Cooking Time: 36 min.

Yield: 16 servings, 1 brownie each

Ingredients

1 medium ripe avocado, mashed

¼ cup extra-virgin coconut oil

1 large egg

½ cup pure maple syrup

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

¾ cup cacao powder

½ tsp. Himalayan sea salt

¼ cup almond flour

⅓ cup dark chocolate chips (optional to top with)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.

2. Grease a 8 x 8-inch baking pan with coconut oil. Set aside.

3. Combine avocado, coconut oil, egg, maple syrup, and vanilla extract in a food processor; mix well. Set aside.

4. Combine cacao powder, sea salt, and Almond flour in a medium bowl; mix well.

5. Add cacao powder mixture to avocado mixture; blend in food processor until combined. 

6. Scrape batter into prepared pan; spread to make even.

7. Bake for 33 to 36 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

8. Once baked top hot brownie with chocolate chips and let melt 3-5 minutes, spread with icing spatula until smooth. 

9. Cool for an hour before removing from pan. Cut into 16 squares.

21 Day Fix Portions: 1/2 Yellow 2 Spoons