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  • Tag: Cooking

    • Vegan eats.

      Posted at 9:12 AM by morningdaydreams, on January 29, 2016

      I have always been a fan of stir fry and making them is nothing new, but I finally found what makes them great! Sesame oil!

      Tofu and Vegetable Stir Fry 

      • Extra firm tofu
      • Broccoli
      • Bok choy
      • Carrots
      • Onion
      • Brown rice
      • Soy sauce
      • Sesame oil

      Following the instructions on your rice of choice, boil and cook rice in a pan. Cube tofu and cut vegetables to bite size pieces. In a large frying pan or wok heat sesame oil and soy sauce. Add onion, carrots and broccoli cover and heat on medium.  Add extra soy sauce as needed.

      In a separate frying pan heat sesame oil and soy sauce, add tofu cubes. Cook until heated through or lightly fried. When tofu is heated and the vegetables are cooked, add bok choy to the vegetable frying pan. Steam for 1-2 minutes or until bright green.

      Layer rice, tofu and vegetables in a bowl and serve. Optional: if you like spicy, add chilli flakes/oil or saracha to taste.

      Enjoy!

      Until next time day dreamers!


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      Posted in Life-General, Vegan Eats | 0 Comments | Tagged Canada, Cooking, Easy Vegan, Health, home, Stir Fry, Tofu, Toronto, Vegan, Vegan Eats
    • Festive Food.

      Posted at 10:36 AM by morningdaydreams, on December 30, 2013

      As I mentioned in my previous post, Christmas was hosted at our house this year. D’s side of the family came down for a day of presents, food, and good cheer! So being the organized person that I am I created a nice festive menu! Instead of a big lunch on Christmas day I decided that some apps would get us through until the big turkey dinner!

      IMG_0659

      The appetizer menu included:

      • Granny Smith Apple & Cabbage Coleslaw
      • Homemade Garlic Hummus & Crackers
      • Cold plate: Pickles, Beets, Spicy Beans, Stuffed Jalapeños & Mixed Olives
      • Fig Jam & Brie Bites on a Baguette

      DSC_2511_2

      The fig & brie bites were a huge hit and super easy to make!

      All you need is:

      • Jar of fig jam
      • 1 baguette
      • 1 wheel of brie
      • Olive oil

      Brush bread on both sides with olive oil, broil in the oven for 3-5 minutes (until brown). Cut brie into bite sized pieces, add to bread, spread on a bit of fig jam. If desired place back in the oven for 2 minutes then serve on a super cute plate ;)

      DSC_2512_2

      For dinner  I went a little crazy with the veggies. I saw too many festive recipes that looked fantastic! But here is what we went with:

      • Turkey/ Tofu (for me!)
      • Mashed Turnips
      • Smashed Parsnips & Potatoes with Thyme
      • Mashed Carrots & Honey
      • Sprint Vegetable Ragout
      • Homemade Stuffing

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      DSC_2522

      Below are 3 dishes that I tried out on my guests and I think all of them where a hit! In order from left to right the recipes are listed below!

      DSC_2523

      Smashed Parsnips & Potatoes with Thyme

      • 1/2 pound Parsnips
      • 1 1/2 pound Potatoes
      • 1/4 cup Olive Oil
      • 2 1/2 tablespoon Fresh Thyme

      Heat olive oil and add parsnips in a sauce pan for about 5 minutes. Add potatoes, cover with water and bring to a boil. When tender drain and return to sauce pan, add in olive oil and thyme and stir. Mash and season with salt and pepper and serve.

      Mashed Carrots & Honey

      • 1 1/2 pound Carrots
      • 1 tablespoon Butter
      • 2 teaspoons Honey
      • 1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder

      Steam carrots until tender, transfer to a bowl and add honey, butter and chili powder. Mash carrots add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

      Spring Vegetable Ragout

      • 3 Leeks
      • 1 bunch of asparagus
      • 1 package Sugar Snap Peas
      • 8 Radishes
      • 1 tablespoon Chives
      • 1 tablespoon Olive oil
      • 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
      • 1 tablespoon Butter
      • 1 cup Water

      Heat olive oil on medium high, add in leeks and cook until soft. Add asparagus & water, cover and simmer for 2 minutes. and snap peas and radish, cover and continue to simmer. When all vegetables are tender stir in Dijon, butter and chives and serve.

      Everything turned out great and no one went to bed hungry! I would make all of this again, especially the Spring Vegetable Ragout, however it should have been the very last thing to cook as it is easy to over cook when waiting for other items to finish!

      I hope everyone had just as much delicious food as we did!!

      Until next time day dreamers!

      Posted in Food/Drinks, Life-General | 0 Comments | Tagged Canada, Carrots, Christmas, Cooking, Events, family, Festive, Food, Food&Drink, Granny Smith, Holiday, Leeks, Ontario, Parsnip, Potato, Recipes, Root Vegetables, Tofu, Toronto, Turkey, wine
    • On being vegetarian.

      Posted at 4:43 PM by morningdaydreams, on November 27, 2013

      MmmMmm vegetables!

      I just did the calculations and I realized I have been a vegetarian for 7 years!! I think I always tell people 5… I guess I was wrong! While in university, as I began my undergrad in Environmental Studies (later changing to Forest Conservation), I first contemplated going vegetarian. Unlike a lot vegetarians, my main reason for ‘converting’ was to be environmentally conscious. Producing livestock on the large-scale that we currently do is not sustainable. All of the resources (water/vegetables/grains) that we use to keep livestock reduces the resources available for our 7 billion people to eat! When you consider something like 1/3 of those 7 billion have meat in their daily diet. Also the sheer number of animals (cows especially) contribute to emissions (cows=methane gas). So as a budding student I felt I should do my part. If I was going to attempt to be sustainable, going vegetarian was a great step.

      Then came the movie Food Inc., if you are thinking about becoming a vegetarian/vegan a movie such as this would most definitely be your swaying point. It is actually only in my later years that animal rights and just the idea of eating animals has come into play for my reasons for continuing to be a vegetarian. I follow a few vegan sites on Facebook & in the blogging world. I also have a few vegan friends. Their reasons (most of which are animal rights based) are now more relatable with me, then they were 5 or 6 years ago. I have always been pro animal rights, but like I mentioned I had other factors motivating my decisions. However, the idea of eating an animal just feels wrong after 7 years of not doing it and I truly cannot get past the difference between eating a pig & a domesticated animal. Yet many meat-eaters will get their backs up about dog/cat/horse/dolphin/shark meat found in food. If eating a dog upsets you, then why do you eat bacon? Pigs are also domesticated animals…and are more intelligent than any other traditional house pet. I suppose it makes me wonder what makes my cat so different from a cow or a pig or a rabbit? If you are going to eat one, why do we have these strong feelings not to eat the other? Just seems a little hypocritical to me.

      Food for thought I suppose.

      I have been thinking about my vegetarianism lately and the sustainability of my diet. I started writing this post to talk about vegetarian cooking, but I think why I am a vegetarian is a good start. I am trying to lower my soy product intake (I am bad for buying frozen premade vegetarian proteins), I want to start doing more of my own cooking. In the next few weeks, watch out for some recipes & vegetarian/vegan info. Hopefully they will help you with your own vegetarian cooking!

      *After writing this post a friend of mine posted this on Facebook. I think it perfectly explains why I became a vegetarian in the first place and really helps to put meat-eating  in perspective. Please take a few minutes to watch and let me know your thoughts.*

      Until next time day dreamers!

      Posted in Life-General | 1 Comment | Tagged Animal rights, Canada, Cooking, Environment, Environmental Studies, Food, Lifestyle, Soybean, Toronto, Vegan, Vegetarian Cooking, Vegetarianism
    • Monday motivation.

      Posted at 8:06 AM by morningdaydreams, on July 23, 2013

      Good day all!

      After a good year of fitness ups, the past few months fitness has been the last thing on my mind, until now. I woke up on Monday hell-bent and determined to start my new fitness and healthy eating regime. Two days later (and a pound and a half lighter) I am still going strong. My goal is to work up the courage to try on my bridesmaids dress (which I MUST fit into by October), when I bought it during a fitness kick I was about 10-12 pounds lighter…this can make a bit of a difference with how dresses fit!!

      So here is my plan!

      Fitness Goal: Run/walk home from work Monday to Friday. That is about 5 km per day, 25 km per week and approximately 2000 calories burnt! Sounds like a great step above couch potato to me. Once I am home I do some yoga to stretch out and I work on my abs, you always have to work on your abs!

      Diet: Bye bye pasta and bread. I am attempting to go mostly carb free. Here is a sample day for me.

      • Breakfast: Fruit smoothy (mixed berries, half a banana, 1 cup 1% milk, 1 Tbsp flaxseed) (depending on my mood maybe a bit of peanut butter too!)
      • Lunch: 1 cup tofu with bbq sauce (or any lean protein), large salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, balsamic vinegar
      • Dinner: 1/2 zucchini and 1 cup mushrooms sautéed with olive oil and spices (to taste), veggie burger (or any lean protein)
      • Snack: if needed I bought crispy minis for a small snack. Also if you are ever desperate for a snack have a piece of cheese and a pickle (or anything pickled). The full fat cheese it is higher in fat, but low in carbs so it burns as energy and who doesn’t love cheese and pickles together!
      • Drink: Water, tea, coffee, and at night with dinner have sparkling water for something fizzy!

      Day three is coming to a close and I am feeling way better than I did last week. My energy level is up and I am feeling much less moody (yay all good things for D!). I will keep you posted as I progress in the next few weeks. In the mean time wish me luck!

      Until next time day dreamers!

       

      Posted in Fitness, Food/Drinks | 0 Comments | Tagged Bridesmaid, Cooking, Diet, Fitness, Food, Food&Drink, Friday, Health, Low Carb, Monday, Motivation, Physical fitness, Snack, Toronto, Vegetarian, Veggie burger, Wedding, Weight loss
    • Veggin’ out

      Posted at 5:18 PM by morningdaydreams, on June 17, 2013

      I am a creature of routine. This means I often cook the same things or a combination of the same things, over and over and over!! So to get in some different lean proteins I am going the bean route for some of my summer dishes. Here is my latest simple creation, enjoy!

      Chickpea & kale salad.

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      • 1 can chickpeas
      • 1 cup baby kale
      • 1/2 cup mushrooms chopped
      • 1/2 cup cucumber chopped
      • 2 tablespoons olive oil
      • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
      • dash of pepper
      • dash of dried hot peppers
      • generous amount of Italiano spice
      • dash of tarragon
      • dash of thyme

      Mix all together in a salad bowl and serve.

      Until next time day dreamers.

      Posted in Fitness, Food/Drinks, Health | 0 Comments | Tagged Chickpea, Cook, Cooking, Food, Food&Drink, Health, home, Kale, Salad, Summer, Vegan, Vegetarian, Weight loss
    • Lifestyle & Health.

      Posted at 2:27 PM by morningdaydreams, on December 11, 2012

      Despite being extremely busy with work, family, and the holiday’s, I have still been going strong with my boot camp and I have been trying my best to stay on track with my healthy eating! I am sure you all have plenty of holiday parties to attend in the coming weeks, and I know as much as the next person how tough it is to stay on track! Here are a few tricks I follow to help myself not go overboard, but still enjoy in all of the festivities.

      • Don’t stop your regular workouts, YES I know you are busy, so am I. If you are moving the affects of having a holiday treat or two will not be horrendous!!
      • Let yourself “cheat“. Don’t go to a party and stare down the baked goods from across the room all night, HAVE ONE! If you let yourself indulge a little you won’t go overboard later. (this lesson has been learned the hard way!)
      • Holiday spreads= AMAZING. People love to feed you at parties, my best advice avoid the puff pastries and heavy foods and opt for veggies, pure protein (shrimp rings are amazing, chicken, beef etc) and then to help fill you up have some cheese with a cracker or two, and skip the breads. It is easy to fill up, just fill up with the better choices that are in front of you!
      • Drinking. We all love it, but it really adds up, especially in combination with lots of food. Skip the mixed drinks with pop, try something lighter (Vodka-water-lemon juice is one of my go-to drinks) OR limit in take just have one glass of wine. My general rule lately has been to avoid beer as it is often the equivalent of eating a loaf of bread! Also drink water or club soda in between drinks, this helps you slow down and it will fill you up!
      • Don’t go hungry. If I am starving and see a mountain of food, you bet your tushy I am going to be all over that! So be sure to eat before you got to a party with munchies so that when you arrive you don’t feel as if you could eat an entire water buffalo!
      • My final words of advice. If you know an evening of indulgence is on your agenda, eat healthy that day. Don’t have a huge breakfast and greasy lunch, follow your healthy eating plan then allow yourself a cheat dinner and get right back on track the next day!

      I plan to stay on track over the holiday’s and get right back to my boot camp in early January. If you are working full-time and still have time to work out, then you can totally find the time over the holiday’s!!!!!

      Good luck!

      blog-xmas

      Until next time day dreamers

      Posted in Events, Food/Drinks, Life-General | 0 Comments | Tagged Baking, Beer, Canada, Christmas, Cooking, Events, family, Food, Food&Drink, Friends, Health, Holiday, home, Relationships, Toronto, Travel, Vacation, Weight loss, wine, Winter
    • Life lately.

      Posted at 8:32 AM by morningdaydreams, on October 25, 2012

      1. Barque birthday dinner- my bro and I and yummy foods. 2. lovely cow decor at barque. 3. cranfestin’ straw hat guitar playing. 4. the beautiful birthday girl- at barque. 5. RUSH concert!

      All and all it has been a busy but a great October thus far, just a few days to go. But that means it is Halloween time!!! Yippee! Happy October everyone!

      Until next time day dreamers!

      Posted in Food/Drinks, Life-General | 0 Comments | Tagged Beer, Birthday, Canada, Cooking, Cottage, Fall, family, Food, Food&Drink, Friends, Halloween, Holidays, home, Muskoka, Party, Toronto, wine
    • Lifestyle & Health.

      Posted at 8:43 AM by morningdaydreams, on October 24, 2012

      Remember when I had time to cook myself yummy meals all day? Yeah me either! I have been pretty busy with work and with working out, that by the time I get home I just want to make something quick. Last night though I thought I would do a little Mexican cooking!

      “Chicken” Fajita Plate

      • 1 soy chicken breast or real chicken if that floats your boat!
      • yellow and red peppers
      • half a yellow onion
      • half an avocado chopped
      • half a tomato chopped
      • fajita mix
      • 1 dollop sour cream
      • 1 large dollop spicy salsa
      • (add fajita mix and water to both the peppers and the chicken)

      I am currently trying to keep my diet lower carb so I skipped the tortilla and put together a plate full of veggies and vegetarian friendly ‘chicken’ ! I then treated myself with some 5% Sour cream, a must have for fajitas! There you have it a Mexican feast!! All this dinner was missing was a margarita!

      Enjoy!

      Until next time day dreamers!

      Posted in Food/Drinks, Life-General | 1 Comment | Tagged Canada, Cooking, Dinner, Fajita, Fall, Food, Food&Drink, home, Stress, Toronto, Weight loss, Work
    • Thanksgiving.

      Posted at 8:30 AM by morningdaydreams, on October 16, 2012

      Oh hi there!

      I meant to post these right after Thanksgiving, but I had one busy week. Better late than never I suppose! I sure was glad to have some time to slow down and relax with my family. Here are just a few pictures from our lovely long weekend up in Muskoka. Happy late (Canadian) Thanksgiving!!!

      Enjoy!!

      Until next time day dreamers!

      Posted in Food/Drinks, Life-General | 0 Comments | Tagged Beer, Canada, Cooking, Cottage, Fall, family, Food&Drink, Friends, Health, Holiday, home, Muskoka, Pets, Relationships, Thanksgiving, wine
    • September blues?

      Posted at 8:50 AM by morningdaydreams, on September 7, 2012

      I don’t know about you, but September has always been the time of year for new beginnings. You are heading back to school, new opportunities are coming your way, you say goodbye to summer–which for me has meant goodbye to the cottage,  my summer job, and to cottage friends.

      I graduated from University a few years ago, but last September I went back to school for Event Management. So again this is a September of transitions. No going back to school, just staying at work. So I don’t know what it is but my energy has been super low, I am struggling to get out of bed, to get to the gym, it is so brutal!

      It most likely all boils down to the fact that I hate changes and being a grown up that doesn’t have the safety net of going back to school is definitely a change, once again! I am hoping things will pick up again soon, because the longer I don’t get to the gym the harder everything in my life is going to be!!

      Am I the only one feeling like this? Or is it something in the crisp September air that is making us all a bit sluggish? Shouldn’t cool air make us more awake and lively?? Hm might just be me!

      Until next time daydreamers.

      Posted in Life-General, School, Work | 0 Comments | Tagged Cooking, Employment, Events, Fall, Fitness, home, Motivation, New Year, School, September, Summer, Work
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