There is nothing more soothing to my soul than a long weekend trip to the west coast of Vancouver Island to explore the ruggedly beautiful beaches.
After a fun day exploring the PNW, sweet potato “fries” hit the spot.
Method
Enjoy
I’m in full summer beach bum mode and thoroughly enjoying our current heatwave.
The only negative thing about this weather is that it makes cooking feel like you’re actually in the oven yourself.
Luckily I’ve discovered raw vegan cheesecakes to help cool me down this summer in the most delicious, and healthful way. Here is a recipe for one of my faves:
Place crust in food processor, then place on bottom of a springform pan. Next process filling and spoon on top of crust. Freeze for at least 3 hours. Serve.
Every spring I chase cherry blossoms around the city, so if you aren’t a cherry blossom lover, stop reading now.
The insane beauty of the city exploding on petals ranged from soft pink to fuschia fills me with awe every year.
Chasing all of these blossoms works up an appetite so here is a recipe for delicious little energy balls to take with you when you’re on the go. There’s a lot of high level nutrition packed into these little balls:
Mix ingredients together, form into balls, chill, serve.
Throwing it back this Thursday to last summer’s beach yoga. Practicing barefoot in the mud during low tide took me right back to happily playing in the mud when I was a child.
And what is summer all about if not keeping your inner child happy?
Another thing that keeps my inner child happy is chocolate. Here’s a grown-up, healthy and vegan chocolate snack that will make your inner child smile and do your body good:
Choco Energy Balls
A hike up a mountain is one of my favourite things to do. Especially if there is a waterfall involved.
As I get a bit older though, I realize that how I fuel my body before, during and after a hike becomes more and more important.
I’ve found the hydrating qualities of fruit and veggies to be the perfect fuel for an active body, especially during the hot summer months.
One of my favourite pre~hike recipes is my berry smoothie bowl. This powerhouse recipe has hydrating, antioxidant and fibre filled berries (did you know that raspberries have the most fibre of any fruit?) and creamy coconut milk to provide the kind of fat that will do your body good.
Add a couple of dates for iron and healthy sugars to fuel my body as I trek up that mountain and I’ve got a body loving bowl of goodness.
Here’s the recipe:
Blend together, top with fresh raspberries and unsweetened coconut and you have a beautiful, nourishing smoothie bowl.
I’ve been eating only local foods lately for two reasons ~ first, fresh BC foods taste so incredibly good and second, our beautiful province is in a state of emergency again because of global warming (and human) induced forest fires. We have over 600 fires burning in total right now and I need, for my own happiness, positivity and mental health, to be part of the global warming solution.
I already have what some would consider an extremely green lifestyle ~ live in a small space, don’t have a car, don’t love being a consumer so keep my possessions to a minimum…but, with dark smoke hanging in our skies and beautiful BC being choked by smoke and fire, I need to do more.
So, I’ve been educating myself lately about the huge carbon footprint created by transporting our food across the world. Did you know that Canada ships farmed salmon to China for processing and then the fish are shipped back here for our consumption. Ugh, the madness has to stop. And what kind of chemicals and preservatives does our food have to be laced with to stay “fresh” during the many miles covered to get to our plate? As someone who grew up with a big backyard garden that fed the family, what is now happening with global food transport seems so unnatural and is clearly taking its toll on the planet.
To bring a more natural, eco friendly way of eating back into my life, I’m rediscovering the 100 Mile Diet. The last time I did this challenge a few years ago I felt amazing and eating close to home helps our beautiful planet that is currently in crisis. It might seem like we don’t have a lot of personal power in saving the earth but as David Suzuki says, if several million people made even small changes to their lives the result would be astronomical!
Last but not least, local food tastes so amazing. In fact it’s bursting with flavour. An imported papaya from the other side of the world just doesn’t compare to fresh, beautiful BC fruit!
And, to get you inspired to love local, here’s a yummy, healthy recipe that features BC berries:
Wholesome Blueberry Muffins
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the dry ingredients together, then whisk the wet ingredients together and add to dry, folding in blueberries last. Put in lined muffins cups and bake for 25 minutes. Then enjoy the goodness!
This luscious smoothie is full of vitamins, antioxidants and enzymes to nourish and energize.
Serves 2 smoothie-loving people.
I’m doing a chakra clearing meditation today. And any meditation is better when you’re getting a little healing tree energy at the same time.
Here’s what you do to clear and balance your first chakra:
Get grounded into nature ~ actually being in nature is best but you can do this at home too.
Tune into your 1st chakra at the base of your tailbone and imagine the bottom of your chakra opening up and a cord going deep into the earth from your 1st chakra. Now take a deep breath and think about all the old, stagnant energy that may be around this chakra that needs to go.
The first chakra is all about safety and security, so think of all of your fears around these areas, along with any old memories or painful feelings that surface, and imagine them leaving your body and going into the beautiful earth to be transformed. Keep going, imagining all of this old energy and old fear and sadness draining out of your body.
Make sure to honour any memories that come up in this process and stay with them as long as you need to. Don’t rush it. Let everything flow, knowing you can come back to this another day if you’re feeling a lot of emotion.
When the meditation is done, imagine the cord filling you up with energy from the earth. Then imagine closing the chakra and take three deep breaths to close the meditation, breathing in the new and sighing out the old.
This meditation could be done once or could be done every day for months, depending on how many issues come up for you. Repeat the meditation daily until there is nothing left to clear and then move on to do the same meditation with your second chakra, then third, then fourth etc. Expect amazing things to happen along the way.
And, after the meditation, I made a vegan, earth friendly snack that’s nutritious and delicious.
Blend together and top everything with coconut dusted blackberries.
This rich, yummy bowl is full of good fat from the avo, anti-aging antioxidants from the berries and good carbs, minerals and vitamins from the bananas.
Happy Earth Day
The Abbotsford Tulip Festival started this week and, lured by online photos of gorgeous rows of brilliantly coloured tulips, a friend and I journeyed out to the country to tour wineries and walk through rows of pretty tulips. When we finally arrived at our destination we were sad to find out that vineyard bistros are only open a few days a week this time of year. Then, when we got to the tulip festival, well, only one flower had braved the weeks of rain and actually managed to kind of bloom.
As my friend and I drove around searching for a place to have lunch I said to her “isn’t it crazy how different real life is from the perfect images we see online?”
The reality though, is that although real life isn’t perfect, in a lot of ways it’s way better. Ok, we didn’t get to hang out at a fancy winery but we did find an amazing little bistro with reasonable, delicious food and funny, friendly servers. We laughed a lot and swore a lot at our misadventures (dropping a bunch of f~bombs can be incredibly therapeutic) and, although we didn’t have any social media worthy photo~ops of rows and rows of breathtaking flowers, that one little pink tulip that was almost blooming looked incredibly beautiful in the endless green fields.
So, I guess that our trip to the tulip festival was a fun reminder that the imperfections and surprises in life are actually where all of the sweet moments live.
So don’t fight it when things aren’t quite what you expected. Go with the flow and enjoy every single moment. Everything is probably going to turn out way better than you could have imagined anyway.
And, after a fun, muddy day running around the raindrop filled fields of Abbottsford, I cocooned in my cozy, little apartment and made these:
Combine:
Pulse everything in a food processor, roll into balls and refrigerate.
Not super sweet but very chocolatey and coconuty when you’re feeling like a snack. These balls are full of good fat so will fill you up and are also very low in carbs so won’t cause any nasty blood sugar spikes.
Enjoy.
I made snow angels, ran through snow banks with wolves (aka. off leash Kitsilano dogs), looked in wonder at the heavy, snow laden boughs on the neighborhood trees, stuck my tongue out and caught snowflakes on it and just, in general, marveled at the beauty of nature.
“Maybe after journeying through all of these years, occasionally having to jump through rings of fire, now is the time to gather all of the joyful things back into my life. To notice and remember every day all of the things, big and small that give me joy.”
And now for some nourishing food:
Blend together and top with Love Crunch chocolate granola and dark chocolate sauce.
Mind Body Soul 