Warming up from the inside!

Lately I've been needing to add a wee bit o' heat to my breakfast with the temperature drop. Just a minute in a pot on the stove and a mix of my homemade, gluten free granola, local apple, strawberries, banana, cinnamon, a light drizzle of maple syrup, a handful of chia seeds and Manitoba Harvest hemp hearts, some extra cacao nibs for good measure and some brown rice milk and VOILA! Warm you from the inside goodness!

Another good way to heat things up is to add a big, fat chunk of fresh ginger and a dash of cayenne pepper to your smoothies! I do it for all of my smoothies, actually. Even in the summertime. I LOVE that kick it gives me! p.s. Don't be alarmed by what appears to be a bloody knife in that shot of my blender full of fruit, veg, spices and Vega Natural Protein Powder. It's just some harmless beet juice from some tasty, local beets that also make a regular appearance in my daily smoothies! I can't get enough of that earthy taste and gorgeous, purple hue!

Dinner Deluxe!

My partner referred to supper last night as our 'Deluxe Dinner'! And I have to say, he was 100% correct!
For the salad part it's mostly local veggies from my garden, St-Léon Gardens, Vita Health Fresh Market and Crampton's Market including lettuce, red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, pickles, mushrooms and strawberries. Then I warmed up a couple of my mushroom beet patties in my dehydrator to put on top. I added some pickle juice to the Hanes Hummus from Saskatoon and dolloped some on top, did a drizzle of some Nonna Pia's chili lime balsamic reduction from BC and then topped it all off with some Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods hemp hearts! It was so delish and so very summery on what was NOT a summery day!

Mighty Mushroom Beet Burgers!

I had a very fun and productive day in the kitchen yesterday making some nut butter (that almost killed my Vitamix! YIKES!), a tasty mango, grape and kiwi balsamic salad for a very special birthday celebration, double chocolate chip cookies that weren't really cookies in the end and these DELICIOUS mushroom beet burgers that were a HUGE success!

So, this latest batch of veggie burgers had beets, celery, mushrooms, tomatoes, sprouted sunflower seeds, a cayenne pepper, lemon zest and juice, spinach, miso, ground flax, hemp hearts, lots of herbs from the garden, fresh ground pepper, fresh garlic, vegan worchestershire sauce all blended in my food processor. Once it was rather pasty I dumped it into a big bowl and added in the leftover lentils and quinoa I had on hand along with some more hemp hearts. Shaped them into various patty sizes and baked them at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes on parchment paper. Chucked them in the freezer to pull out and defrost for making burgers, topping salads or just as a side dish! YUMMO! That miso really adds a ton of flavor and a good wallop of probiotics!

Seriously! How pretty are these layers?? What's not so pretty is the pink paste that results once the blades do their work.
Still, YUM!
And thanks to these tasty buggers, dinner last night was SO frickin' tasty, not to mention downright beautiful! My freshly made mushroom beet burgers on top of a massive romaine leaf topped with avocado, tomatillo, cucumber, pickles and a few dollops of a balsamic mango beet salad then drizzled with some more balsamic with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and freshly ground black pepper. Mine had some drips of Sriracha for some extra heat. Talk about flavor packed!

Dandee Eats is BACK on the scene, #Winnipeg!

As I'm sure all of you can relate to, life has been getting in the way of me keeping up with doing regular posts here on the blog and for the tiny handful of you that actually follow me here, I apologize for that. I can't promise I'll be posting all the time but I'll certainly make an effort to pop by from time to time for those of you that don't follow me on Facebook (where I post FAR more often).

ANYWAY!! The first order of business is to let you know that I'll be selling my treats at the Etsy: Made in Canada Market happening here in Winnipeg at the St. James Civic Centre at 2055 Ness is St. James on Saturday, September 27th from 10am to 4pm. You will NOT want to miss this event, I promise you that. There will be at least 40 local Etsy makers with their creations on hand and of course, I'll be there with my handmade goodies and tasty, vegan treats, too! Spread the word! Bring your friends and family! Support your local makers, people!! It's good for them, good for you, good for your wallet, good for the local economy, good for the planet, it's just a good thing all around! Pop me an email to let me know if you have any requests for what I should bring for you hungry people out there: dandeeeats@gmail.com. Stay tuned here or on my Facebook Page or Twitter Page to find out more about the event as it gets closer.

In the meantime, FOOD! Here's what I've been eating lately. What's been on your plate this summer with all the local bounty we've got at our fingertips?? I'd love to hear all about your discoveries and delicious kitchen successes!

Been changing things up again in my Lunch Time Mason Jar of Goodness lately! Ontario peaches, local wild blueberries, figs, a scoop of my cranberry cherry granola, a scoop of some vanilla Vega protein powder, cinnamon and some organic brown rice milk. I make it the night before and give it a good shake. Once I eat it the next day it's all creamy and delicious and very filling!

This bowl of delight was the salad I brought to the W.E.S.T. Winnipeg Etsy Street Team Summer Picnic on Sunday and what a lovely picnic it was thanks to Milena of Just the Goods, Ruth of Periwinkle Designs and Marlene of Magination! The salad had the MOST BEAUTIFUL local candy cane beets, mango, local cucumber and fresh figs with a cinnamon pear balsamic dressing for extra yumminess, topped off with some Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods hemp hearts!

Some raw-ish local zucchini pasta with some local kale, local mushrooms, some tomatoes and my first harvest of my ground cherry tomatoes, organic corn and some of my garlicy mixed local beans. I steamed it all for about two minutes to soften it a bit. Then for the sauce, I chopped up some local red onion, basil, oregano and thyme from my garden, some lemon juice, Frescolio, Inc. wild mushroom olive oil, chili lime balsamic reduction that I picked up in BC, fresh ground pepper and a pinch of Himalayan salt. It was a flavor EXPLOSION!!

Your chance to load up on Dandee Eats, #Winnipeg!

I'm SO very proud and excited to donate some of my Dandee Eats treats to this weekend's Vegan Bake Sale Fundraiser for C.A.R.E. Winnipeg and Before The Bridge K9 Rescue going on at Boon Burger on Bannatyne from 2pm to 5pm on Saturday. You won't want to miss this epic event! I know I'll be taking home a TON of vegan goodies myself so come early in case I end up buying it all! They sold out early in the day at their December sale so be sure to mark your calendars and bring a BIG bag! Just make sure to leave some room for a Boon burger, too.

Fresh Rawsta and my Spiralizer!

One of my favorite kitchen tools to use since exploring a raw, vegan diet has been my Spiralizer. It turns all kinds of fruits and veggies into the most delightful strings and ribbons replacing things like noodles with a fresh, raw version. You can spiralize beets, carrots, potatoes, yams, apples, pears, jicama, parsnips, rutabaga, melons, cucumber, pumpkin and all kinds of squash. The options are almost limitless! Just check out this Pinterest page for some tips and ideas. The results are SO darn pretty! I found mine online on Upaya Natural's website. They're based out of Ontario and have all kinds of raw foods and kitchen tools to choose from AND they offer free shipping for order over $100.

After our trip to Gardening Saturday, I had some delectable balsamic vinegar from Prairie Oils and Vinegars that I just had to try out on one of my all time favorite dishes. So, out came the spiralizer and zucchini to make some Rawsta with Basil Balsamic sauce!

After Spiralizing some zucchini and chopping some mushrooms and bell peppers, I made up a delicious dressing. In my mini food processor went fresh basil, roasted garlic, Prairie Oils and Vinegars traditional balsamic vinegar, evoo, fresh ground pepper, lemon zest and juice, fresh tomato and a pinch of Himalayan salt. Topped it all with some cashews and basil leaves! Bellisimo! The only thing that would've made this dish pure perfection would have been if I had picked the tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and basil from my own back yard. In due time. In due time.

Fresh, organic delivery from My Farmer's Market Inc.!

Friday night I had my first (but certainly not my last) order of fresh produce delivered to my door from My Farmer's Market Inc. They're a new, local business offering produce, groceries, pet food and other household items available for delivery (FREE if you spend $50+) with a focus on sourcing their items locally. They even now carry Just the Goods products! It all came in a reusable tote that I paid a $10 refundable deposit for and they even threw in some free stuff like an extra cucumber, local butter lettuce and a dozen free range eggs! Needless to say, the service and quality from this first order has certainly got me wanting more and highly recommending them to YOU! Check out their website as their list of products they offer is continually growing and they're always looking for suggestions.

This time around I got some local, fresh basil, organic cucumbers, local organic beets and onions, organic tomatoes, organic bananas (they're working on getting some from Unlimited Organics Fair Trade which would be AWESOME!), organic limes, organic corn grits, organic yams and organic kale.

Plenty of my produce from my food order made it's way into several of my weekend meals including my Saturday morning's sunny breakfast bowl of goodness!

A smoothie base topped with a couple scoops of my homemade granola, cacao nibs, hemp hearts, banana and pomegranate.

Another tasty breakfast bowl on Sunday morning! I never tire of the vibrant color a beet and blueberries gives my smoothies! This smoothie had more goodies from my My Farmers' Market Inc order that was delivered Friday night. Local beets, celery, blueberries, cucumber, kale, Vega protein powder, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, apple, banana and filtered water. Then I topped it with some chia seeds, homemade granola, cacao nibs, Manitoba Harvest hemp hearts and fresh kiwi and pomegranate.

Just a wee reminder that I'm much more active on my Dandee Eats Facebook page, if that's your thing. Come find me there and hit 'like' or comment here and there to make sure I keep showing up in your feed. Your food feed. teehee

Granola Goodness!

I finally used up the frozen Carrot Cake Granola wet mix from a while back in this super goodness packed batch of granola. It's been a while since I've made granola and my honey was asking for some so I took the time to make it happen. I try to go easy on grains, even gluten free as it can be a bit hard on my guts and I've got the bloated tummy this week to prove I need to take it easy once again. But it's just SO DARN YUMMY!

Let's see if I can remember what I put into this bin of crunchy yums. The wet ingredients were carrots, dates, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, cloves, banana and coconut oil blended until smooth.

In a GIANT Pyrex bowl (like this one that I have and LOVE!) I added a bunch of sprouted buckwheat groats, gf oats, Manitoba Harvest hemp hearts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cacao nibs, dried cranberries and raisins and chia seeds. I think that's it!

So I mixed all the dry ingredients up and then poured on about 1/2 to 1 cup of the wet mix, mixing to make sure every bit is a bit wet. Then I spread it all onto a few dehydrator sheets and dehydrated it overnight at about 118 degrees until it was crisp and dry. If you don't have a dehydrator, you can bake it in the oven on a low temperature keeping a close eye on it so it doesn't burn.

This will keep indefinitely in a sealed container in the cupboard or fridge. It's such a versatile recipe so feel free to throw whatever you want into the mix!

I threw some of my granola in my Super Snack Mason Jar of Goodness today along with some hemp hearts, cacao nibs, blueberries, banana, peanuts, chia seeds, cinnamon and some brown rice milk. You can also add any kind of milk to the granola in a covered container or jar in the fridge overnight and warm it up in the morning for a toasty, powerhouse breakfast! Or blend up some frozen bananas and top with some granola. Or mix the granola with some fresh fruit for a bedtime snack. Or just grab a spoon and scarf that tasty stuff down any time of day! SO many ways to enjoy this energy packed snack!

Gettin' my sprouts on!

It's time to start another couple batches of sprouted sunflower seeds! After soaking them in a big bowl overnight with some filtered water, I rinsed them in the morning and spread them in a colander sitting over a bowl and left them covered on the counter to start their sprouting process. I'll rinse them once in the morning and again before bed until they start to show some little tails. Then I dehydrate them in my dehydrator until they're totally dry and ready to eat! Easy peasy!

You can do the same thing with buckwheat groats, too! This is a shot of a batch I let get super sprouted. If you've never soaked and sprouted buckwheat groats before, be warned. They get.... well, snotty after being soaked. Just be sure to rinse, rinse, rinse until the slimy consistency is gone. Once they're dehydrated, be it in a dehydrator or on a very low setting in your oven under close watch, they can be used in any recipe like granola, stir fry, salads or use your coffee grinder to make buckwheat flour. And that's just the tip of the buckwheat ice burg for recipe uses! And keep in mind, despite the name, they are indeed gluten and wheat free and you can buy locally grown, organic buckwheat groats from DeRuyck Farms through the Harvest Moon Society or in the bulk section at Vita Health.

I use sprouted buckwheat in my Pumpkin You Up Granola and sprouted sunflower seeds in my How You Like Dem Apples Granola! And I've even sprouted chickpeas and lentils to make hummus and patties. I've got a sensitivity to both legumes but I love them too much not to try to find a way to enjoy them fully. Sprouting seemed to do the trick!

To educate yourself on all the things you can sprout and how to do it, check out this great chart by Better Raw. And to find out all the amazing benefits and reasons to sprout your grains, nuts and seeds, check this page out.

The Papaya Experiment

Well, the verdict is in. I'm not a huge fan of papaya. At least not the variety I tried last night. First of all, I wasn't prepared for the smell upon cutting said fruit open. It was a cross between barf and dirty socks. Not exactly appetizing. So of course I Googled it and turns out that's normal. It tastes NOTHING like it smells which was a relief. But that being said, the salad I made was yummy but I won't be rushing out to buy this kind of papaya again. I do want to try the smaller variety though and see what I think of those. Live and learn!

Papaya salad with carrot, radish, tomatoes, jalapeno and avocado topped with lemon zest and grated frozen fresh ginger and dressed with a mix of coconut marinade, Sriracha hot sauce, lemon juice, fresh ground pepper and a clove of garlic. LOTS of flavor and very refreshing but alas, not a huge fan of the Papaya. Worth a try though!

This is the papaya I bought from Superstore to try. It's pretty huge and is the Formosa variety. I threw half into my salad and the other half into a smoothie with some mango, a big hunk of ginger, banana, mixed greens, Vega One natural protein powder and some mixed berries and cherries along with some filtered water. Again, wasn't my favorite with the papaya flavor being rather noticeable. Lesson learned! On to the next new fruit/vegetable!

Various Kitchen Adventures!

I finally took the time (which wasn't long at all) to slice up some of my big bags of Harvest Moon Society beets and carrots into a tasty slaw. This is so easy and has so many variations and lasts so long AND can be thrown into pretty much any dish or eaten on it's own. This is the lovely, overflowing blow of beauty before I dressed it with a zingy dressing.

So with this batch I ended up zesting and juicing a big, fat lemon and added some apple cider vinegar, fresh ginger, Sriracha sauce, Himalayan salt, tumeric and fresh ground pepper. It added a great deal of extra flavor and zing! Tossed it all together, covered it and threw it in the fridge for a week's worth of lunches and dinners! I just had a jar full topped with some raisins and sunflower seeds for lunch!

Dinner (for Mac) the other night was some of my slaw topped with some celery and raisins along with a wrap using up the leftovers from our weekend's roasted veggies and cashew sauce wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla with some mixed greens and some coconut amino seasoned mixed beans, lentils and brown rice. My dinner was everything in the wrap and slaw minus the wrap to make it gluten free.

Another tasty smoothie filled with an extra amount of mixed greens, celery, pear, ginger, some frozen berries, a scoop of Vega and some cinnamon and cayenne pepper. It was great mixed with some of my leftover Smoothie Booster Mix as a dessert! BONUS!

Testing out some new protein powder.

Vita Health Fresh Market has their Garden of Life Raw Protein powder on sale this week so I thought I'd try out the natural flavor in my smoothies for a while. I'm a HUGE fan of their Cacao Bliss Raw Meal powder but didn't want to have chocolate for breakfast everyday. Well, who DOESN'T want chocolate for breakfast everyday but you know what I mean. I save that one for treats and only buy it in the small packet size. Plus the Raw Meal is SUPER filling compared to their Raw Protein powders, I find.
So far, I like this new protein powder in my shakes but I don't love it. I'm not sure if it's the powder or the fact that I might be using more greens this week but the consistency has certainly changed in my smoothies. It's not bad. Just different. But if I had to decide, I think my vote is still for the Vega One Natural protein powder for my smoothies. Good thing I loaded up on it during Vita's last sale!
P.S. Thanks HUGE to my awesome Ma who sent me that amazing, ceramic knife as part of my Valentine's Day care package! It's AMAZEBALLS!

Weekend Getaway Feast!

My honey and I finally made it back to our winter escape from back in the day, Barrier Bay Resort in the Whiteshell near Seven Sisters Falls. We used to go every winter for a couple nights but haven't been for almost five years so we were due.

The night before, getting ready for our getaway, I made up what I'm now calling my Smoothie Booster Mix in a large mason jar. Once shaken up, you just toss some on top of your smoothie, mix it up and let it sit a bit (or not) and you've got some extra energy boosters and highly good for you treats to munch on with your smoothie as the main feature. This mix had gluten free oats, sprouted sunflower seeds and buckwheat groats, pumpkin seeds, cacao nibs, chia seeds, goji berries, cinnamon, coconut and some almonds.

Our breakfast out at the cabin included a green smoothie base with some of my Smoothie Booster Mix tossed with some fresh pomegranate. Just what we needed to fuel our two hour snowshoe trek out to Opapiskaw Camp Ground.

And dang, this is pretty as all get out, don't ya think??

We were totally wiped yet refreshed from our trek and needed a monster fruit salad to fill our bellies. This was SO effing good, I can't even tell you. Apple, kiwi, banana, raspberries, pear and pomegranate. Perfection!

Dinner was brown rice and wakame noodles topped with slow, low temperature roasted portobello, red pepper and broccoli marinated in olive oil, coconut aminos, balsamic vinegar, Himalayan salt and fresh ground pepper and Sriracha sauce. The sauce on top with the lentil patties had cashews, garlic, sundried tomatoes, coconut marinade, apple cider vinegar and fresh ground pepper. It was all kinds of tasty. I'll certainly try these noodles again. You can find them at Vita Health.

Despite taking a wrong turn resulting in an extra 45 minutes of driving to get there, the thick, gross bacon saturated air in the cabin and the scary highway conditions on the drive home, we had a great day Sunday out snowshoeing and enjoying the peace and quiet and downtime we needed. I would certainly recommend Barrier Bay for a nice, romantic, peaceful escape from the city.

Friday night eats!

The night before heading out for a little winter getaway to Barrier Bay Resort in the Whiteshell with my honey, I chowed down on some green salad goodness! Avocado, mixed organic greens, broccoli, cucumber, homemade sauerkraut, Manitoba Harvest hemp hearts, dried cranberries and a sprinkling of raw peanuts. The dressing was some lemon zest and juice with a dash of coconut seasoning sauce and some Sriracha for a little KICK!

As per usual, I needed a bedtime snack. Bedtime snack = organic apple cut up with a sprinkle of cinnamon, some cacao nibs and some peanuts. YUMMO!
Next I'll fill you in on the feasts we had while at our long weekend away that really wasn't long enough at all. It never is. *sigh*

A year of FOOD in the Dandee Eats kitchen!

So, until I figure out how to move all of the food photos and recipes I shared over this past year on my personal Facebook page, I've got the link that anyone, whether you're on Facebook or not, can check out! I have to tell you, it sure does make me pine for my garden and seeing green instead of white. It can't be much longer, right!?!? In the meantime, drool over these pictures and find some inspiration to at least feast on some summery themed eats on your plate. Just don't look outside unless you're looking up at this beautiful, bright, blue sky!

Confessions of an overindulger.

Today's confession/lesson: If it's in my house, I'll eat it. And I'll eat it all. At once. No matter how full I already am.



This is a lesson I continue to struggle with learning. And learning to STOP eating when I'm full or even just before I'm full. You'd think that with how shitty (literally) it makes me feel to overindulge, I'd have learned my lesson by now. Clearly, I have yet to catch on. Needless to say, Mac and I have committed to only bringing fruits and veggies to our weekend getaway this long weekend. Here's hoping we stick to that plan! *sigh*

Before I scarfed down all those chips and chocolate last night, I had the most delicious soup with some Mary's Gone Crackers! Again, it was a throw-it-all-in-the-pot kind of soup that included some organic local beets, celery, onion, corn, local peas, broccoli, garlic, ginger, paprika, cayenne pepper, fresh ground pepper, some of my homemade veggie broth, a can of coconut milk and a scoop of sprouted brown rice and sprouted bean mix. The rice and bean mix are both from Costco and they're AWESOME! Great dry goods to keep on hand and they both cook rather quickly, too. I just added some extra liquid to the pot for the beans and grains to soak up. DEEEEELISH and it freezes well too!

The Gluten Free Muffin Mission

Since I went off of wheat and gluten a little over a year ago, for a long time I tried to find a suitable recipe for a gluten free, vegan muffin recipe that was equally as delicious and fluffy as the vegan ones I used to make. Although I've found a handful that taste great, don't call for eight different kinds of flour and are very muffiny, I've realized that sticking to more fruit and veg snacks over baked 'bready' snacks is much more tummy friendly. I still feel a bit heavy after eating gluten free baked goods which is sometimes worth it if I'm really craving a muffin for a snack. But for the most part, if I do bake muffins, it's for my honey or for other loved ones as was this new batch I tried over the weekend.

This recipe was inspired by the Just Banana Muffin recipe I found on the Forks Over Knives website. I made some changes and here's what I came up with.

Blunana Muffs
Pre-heat your oven to 350 F.
1 cup Gluten Free Oat Flour (GF oats thrown into your NutriBullet or coffee grinder)
1 cup quinoa flour (Try Norquin grown in the Prairies)
1/4 cup Manitoba Harvest Organic Hemp Hearts
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp ground flaxseed (again, bust out that coffee grinder)
1/2 tbsp aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 tsp gluten free baking soda (Find this and the baking powder at Vita Health or Bulk Barn)
Whisk dry ingredients together and set aside. Feel free to throw in any other spices you like such as nutmeg, ginger, cloves, etc.

In a blender or food processor, whiz up:
4 ripe bananas (Frozen, defrosted, ripe bananas are PERFECT in recipes like this)
1 small pear, cored
1 apple, cored
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup organic, unsweetened apple juice or John Boy Farms Manitoba Apple Cider
1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/3 to 1/2 cup blueberries or any other berry/fruit, fresh, frozen or dried

Blend until smooth and pour into dry mix. I like to add my fresh or frozen berries to the dry mix before mixing it all together. Stir until there are no dry bits left but don't over mix. Use some softened or melted coconut oil to oil your muffin tins. I don't recommend using muffin liners as they often tend to stick and they're a bit wasteful and unnecessary, don't ya think?

Bake them at 350 degree F for about 28-32 minutes. Do the toothpick test after 28 minutes and if it comes out wet, stick them back in for a few minutes at a time. Let them cool for about 5 minutes and then use a spoon or knife to pull them away from the sides of the muffin tins and tilt them to let them cool a bit quicker. This recipe should make 12 large muffins.
These muffins freeze really well and that's how we keep them in our house. Just grab one and throw it in a container or wrap it in an Abeego (Generation Green carries these and they're AWESOME!) and by lunch time it's nicely defrosted and ready for gobbling! These would also be divine with some flora & farmer jam!

Now, did you notice that there is no salt, oil or sugar in these bad boys? Those awesome bananas, pears, apples and juice all add plenty of sweetness that you won't even miss it. I promise! Other ways to add some natural sweetness to this recipe, throw in a handful of organic, unsweetened raisins, currants or cranberries. Or like I suggested, smear on a bit of local jam. The multi fruit jam from Jeanne Berard Gardens that you can order through Harvest Moon is AMAZEBALLS if you're looking for a new jam to try out.
Give these a try and get creative! I'd love to hear what you come up with so come on over to my Facebook page and post some feedback and pics of your muffs!