What Dandee Eats at home!

It was another great Sunday in the kitchen this weekend! It's my happy place where I make happy filled food. Here's what made it into our bellies and some of which will continue to feed us all week long!

My weekend smoothie this time around consisted of banana, romaine lettuce, parsley, lemon, beet, apple, hemp hearts, cinnamon, a scoop of Vega Natural protein powder and some filtered alkalized water. My Vitamix made short work of this combo and it was super tasty. I love that gorgeous hue of purple the beet gives my smoothies.

On Saturday I used my smoothie as a base for some extra yummies to throw on top of. I've got some peanuts, Andorah's Feast How You Like Dem Apples Granola, cacao nibs and some chia seeds. Some serious fuel to help me spend the day energized with my 6 year old twin nieces!

Saturday we went out of dinner for the first time in a dang long time and I'm SO happy we did! After many positive recommendations, we ended up at Thida's Thai Restaurant on Donald just off Broadway downtown here in Winnipeg. We shared a papaya salad, vegan pad thai and the green curry soup. It was all fantastic and we'll be sure to go back again. Once we were back home, Mac was munching on his Theo's milk chocolate bar for a sweet finish to dinner so I decided to make my own chocolatey dessert. So in the NutriBullet went some frozen banana, cacao nibs, a dash of cinnamon and a wee bit of maple syrup.

The NutriBullet isn't as powerful and smoothifying as the Vitamix but still this turned out great! Crunchy with the cacao nibs and creamy sweet from the bananas and touch of maple syrup. Who needs Ben and Jerry's, am I right?? Especially when this dessert probably cost me about $1.50 if that.

After walking in the winter squalls of Winnipeg Sunday afternoon, I figured I deserved a savory snack. Out came the Nutri Bullet again to make some avocado dip to go with my black pepper Mary's Gone Crackers. Avocado, lemon zest, balsamic vinegar, fresh ground pepper, Sriracha sauce, coconut aminos, some cherry tomatoes and a handful of sprouted sunflower seeds.

As much as I LOVE Mary's Gone Crackers, I know from experience to go easy on them as that flax can do a number on me. But they're SO good especially with a creamy avocado dip like this.

The fly by the seat of my pants recipe of soups continue! This weather has really got me veering away from my mostly raw diet and I'm okay with that. Gotta get warm however we can and I truly feel I'm still getting a ton load of goodness from loading up on all these tasty veggies, cooked or raw. This time, after being inspired by Mac's obsession with the roasted vegetable soup from The Rogue Gallery (I think it was??), I chopped up some local acorn squash, potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic, tossed it all with some dried herbs from my garden, tumeric, salt free Spike and some fresh ground pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

As I scooped out the seeds from my locally grown acorn squash, I muttered under my breath, 'Eff you, Monsanto! I'm KEEPING my seeds!' Here's hoping after washing and drying these babies they're grow into some squashy goodness in my backyard this summer.

While the veggies were roasting and the homemade broth was defrosting, I whisked some green curry paste, Sriracha sauce and fresh ginger into a can of coconut milk to give the soup a slightly creamy and spicy kick of flavor.

Near the end of the cooking time for the soup, I pulled out my kitchen scissors and rinsed some organic kale (that I found at Superstore on St. Anne's!) and cut it into small, bite sized pieces and chucked it into the soup. Gotta get those greens!

Nothing beats homemade soup and crackers on a cold winter day! I forgot to mention I threw in a bit of Cavena Nuda into the soup too. A Canadian grown, gluten free grain that I am IN LOVE with. Some Andorah's Feast Open Sesame Flaxers were the perfect dipper for this spicy, warming soup. I'll be having this combo for dinner the next few nights and I'm sure it'll be perfect to come home to after walking in this bitter ass cold.

You'll quickly realize that I'm a dessert person. I need something dessert after every meal. Especially dinner. My sister in law had just made some apple crisp before we got to her place on Saturday and the smell was SO intoxicating that I knew apple crisp would have to made asap. I pulled out the sliced, frozen apples I had in the freezer since the summer, defrosted them and tossed them with some cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and a drizzle of maple syrup. For the topping I tossed some melted coconut oil with some gf oats, pecans, currants, shredded coconut and a bit more cinnamon. I'm a fan of cinnamon, as I'm sure you can tell by now. I threw it all into the dehydrator to warm it up a bit.

And I always need the chocolate content in my dessert so I topped my serving up with some. It was AWESOME!! A dollop of freshly blended banana soft serve on top would've been just too much goodness for me to handle. But I may have to try it anyway.

Mac's super charged granola bars for this week's lunch! Another chuck-it-all-into-the-food-processor recipe. This one had a few bananas, sesame seeds, peanuts, cranberries, hemp hearts, buckwheat groats, cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut oil, chia seeds and some puffed rice. I spread it out nice and thick on a Teflex sheet and put them in my dehydrator for most of the day. They turned out amazing and I wanted to eat them all on the spot. Alas, they're now in the freezer to be pulled out as needed. Which might be as soon as I get home from work tonight.