vegan

Je t’aime Montreal Day 2

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Je t’aime Montreal Day 1

Sunday morning we woke up early (per baby’s routine) and made some early morning breakfast and coffee.  Edie ate a few times and took a brief nap before heading out for brunch.

Once E woke we bundled her up and headed out for a walk while we debated between Aux Vivres and Crudessence for brunch.  We ended up deciding on Crudessence because it has been on our Montreal bucket list for year but in the past it has either not been open or we have run out of time.

We started with some beverages a shot of cold pressed espresso for Neil and the best kombucha I have ever tried for me.

As you can see E didn’t want to feel left out so she decided she needed to eat as well.

For brunch Neil and I decided to share two different items:

Öm Burger: A mixture of mushroom, sun dried tomato, flaxseed and mixed vegetables, served on chapati and garnished with fresh tomato, red onion, lettuce, homemade mustard, ketchup and our famous caper aïoli sauce with a side of salads which included greens, sauerkraut and carrot salad.

Breakfast Burrito: Sun dried tomato and corn tortilla filled with our “egg” paté, aubergine bacon, tomato, lettuce and sprouts. Garnished with avocado, crème fraîche and local microgreens

Both were good but the Breakfast Burrito was exceptional.  The “egg” paté was incredible and I really want to recreate it at home. The burger is one of the most popular items but I thought it was good but not great.  The carrot salad was wonderful and Neil loved the sauerkraut.

Neil and I had saved enough room for dessert but Miss E was getting a little fussy so we decided to grab a package of green tea spirulina macaroons to go even though we wanted the blueberry faux cheesecake. The macaroons were incredible though so we were happy.

We packed E up in the Boba carrier and took the Metro to Jean-Talon Market.

We spent a few hours wondering around the market sampling the produce, admiring the turkish sweets (a few of which we enjoyed) and sipping a wonderful coffee all while the baby slept.

We picked up a few items from the market for our dinner and headed back to the apartment to relax and cook up dinner. We spent the remainder of the rainy night eating a yummy pasta dinner and watching Netflix.

Stay tuned for part three!

{Review} Coco-Roons

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Before becoming pregnant I never really had a sweet tooth. I mean I loved dark chocolate and the occasional cupcake or bowl of coconut ice cream but it was never something I really craved. Then I became pregnant and all I wanted was fruit and coconut milk ice cream, seriously addicted. It seems that this craving has carried over past pregnancy and I have now developed a sweet tooth.

I make a good effort to limit my sweets and stick to goodies made with natural sugars rather than processed ones as well as items that are low in sugar. I recently was sent a bunch of coconut macaroons aka Coco-Roons from Wonderfully Raw and my sweet tooth has been on cloud 9.

I love that these are low in sugar and made with maple syrup. They are all super tasty but Neil and I both agree that the brownie and the lemon pie ones are our favorites.

What is your favorite sweet treat? Have you tried raw vegan macaroons? If yes, what is your favorite flavor?

Disclaimer: Wonderfully Raw provided me with their product at no cost. I was under no obligation to review them if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a giveaway. All opinions are my own.

Crazy Sexy Cleanse: Day 1

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Well we are finishing up Day 1 of the Crazy Sexy Cleanse and so far things are going well. Neil struggled a little this morning without his normal coffee ritual and to be honest I could have used a cup myself but instead with both had a mug of Infuse Your Mood Tea, a lemon water with cayenne and a big green juice (makes one quart: one bunch dino kale, half bunch curly kale, one gala apple and half a mini melon.)

As part of the cleanse and my goal of getting back to my fitness Edie and I got out for a 30 minute walk this morning.  I pushed her in the BOB which added a little something extra to the walk- sheesh it is so much tougher to walk when you have to push around a stroller, a baby and a car seat!

After our walk and nursing session I was feeling hungry so I decided to have a few slices of millet bread with avocado, a sprinkle of sea salt and nutritional yeast.

Lunch consisted of leftover quinoa salad (quinoa, cherry tomatoes, parsley, green onions, cucumber and a homemade dijon-balsamic vinaigrette), a big glob of lemon dill hummus and leftover roasted veggies.  It was tasty but not too photogenic so I decided to nix the photo.

For an afternoon snack I had a fig COCOMOJOE bar which was absolutely delicious and I am quickly becoming addicted to all of the flavors!

Dinner was the highlight of the day- I made two recipes from Crazy Sexy Diet, the teriyaki tofu and the hemp cabbage salad.  I knew that the tofu would be good but I was skeptical about the salad and to my surprise it was actually really good and the perfect pairing with the tofu.

One day down 20 more to go!

Today on Naturally Family I talk about my first official day as a stay-at-home/work-at-home mom.

Review: Pure Sweets

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Pure Sweets is an organic, gluten-free, vegan, kosher bakery in Philly.  A few months ago I contacted them about doing a review and the sent me a few items to try which include one of their crisp bars –The Ladybug, a flourless cookie- The Ape, a trio of mini macaroons- The Poodle  and a bag of trail mix- The Camel. Neil and I enjoyed everything so much that we ended up placing an order for a few more goodies for ourselves and an order of mini macaroons for our babyshower.

For ourselves we ordered:

  • The Kitty: Organic citrus cardamom cookies made with organic citrus fruit. We both really loved the flavor of these cookies but unfortunately they didn’t travel so well and ended up having a strange consistency.  I blame the heat and humidity we have been having here.
  • The Kid:  Organic brown rice crisp bar topped with organic peanut butter, organic blackberry preserves from Italy and organic single-origin dark chocolate. After loving The Ladybug we had to order another crisp bar and let me tell you that this one was even better! Neil and I both wished we had ordered two because it was really hard to share (we fought over the last bite).
  • The Bat: Organic single-origin chocolate macaroons peppered with organic cayenne. This was one of my favorite macaroons.  It was chocolately with just a mild hit of spice.
  • The Sphinx:  Organic rosewater cardamom macaroons. These macaroons were really great, such an interesting flavor.  We both really liked them but after trying a number of other flavors at the shower they ddin’t end up being a favorite of ours.  Tip: Crumble and add to vanilla coconut yogurt with sliced strawberries- so good!
   
   

For the shower we ordered:

  • The Sphinx:  Organic rosewater cardamom macaroons.
  • The Elephant: Organic cashew butter macaroons with organic caramelized nuts. This was my favorite of all the macaroons that I tried.  The caramelized nuts really made this so delicious.  I plan on ordering more of these soon!
  • The Owl: Organic salted almond vanilla bean macaroons. This one was good but you can get it dipped in chocolate and I think that would have made it even better.
  • The Panda: Organic single-origin chocolate chunk macaroons. I didn’t actually get to try this one (sad face) but Neil did and he absolutely loved it!
  • The Poodle: Organic lemon lavender macaroons.(I just checked my order and this one must have been snuck in by the good people at Pure Sweets) These are my second favorite ( The Elephant being my first) of all the macaroons. The lemon and lavender is such a great combination.
Pure Sweets photo shoot at our baby shower featuring father-to-be Neil and our friend Laura
   

Other things I love about Pure Sweets:

  • They donate 5% of their profits to charity.
  • The “bonus” details that are included with their products–> example The Poodle: Bonus: immune booster, 60 calories per macaroon.
  • Their products are organic, vegan, gluten free and kosher.
  • They have an amazing and personable staff to work with.
  • I also love that they offer gift boxes and wedding and other favors.
Disclosure: I purchased the reviewed items from Pure Sweets. All opinions are honest and my own.
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If you haven’t stop over to our family blog, Naturally Family, then head over now and Meet The Family.  We have been discussing this weeks pregnancy ups and downs, our baby bucket list and my labor and deliver fears.

Recipe(s) of the Week: Memorial Day Round-Up

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This upcoming weekend is a big weekend for Memorial Day BBQ’s and Parties so I have rounded up a few of my favorite recipes that would work really well for this weekend!

What are your plans for the weekend? Neil is running  the two person relay of  the Vermont City Marathon and then we are going to spend Monday celebrating our anniversary (a few days early) with massages at The Essex.

 

Recipe of The Week: Arugula Pesto Chickpea Spread

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This past weekend we celebrated Mother’s Day at Shelburne Museum. Since the food choices are limited at the cafe there I made us a picnic lunch which included delicious veggie sandwiches with arugula pesto chickpea spread. I love how it turned out so I am sharing it with you!

  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 cup raw walnuts
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 2 cups lightly packed baby arugula
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 15-oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2 heaping tablespoons vegenaise (or you could use more olive oil if you would like)
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Place the garlic, walnut and nutritional yeast in the base of a food processor and process until crumbly, about 20-30 seconds.  Add the arugula and process for 30 seconds and then slowly pour the olive oil through the feed tube and process until smooth. Add the chickpeas, vegenaise, salt and pepper to the processor and process just until combined.  If you would like it smoother feel free to process longer, I preferred to make mine a little chunky. 

Serve: spread onto your favorite veggie sandwich (I made ours with roasted mushrooms, zucchini, fresh arugula and slices of tomato), stuff this spread into tomatoes <– amazing, enjoy with veggies, on top of a salad or in a wrap.

Recipe Of The Week: Avocado Hummus & Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms

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Avocado Hummus & Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms

This past weekend was so busy for us that I decided to keep things simple and yet tasty in the kitchen. I had picked up a few portobello mushroom caps at the market on Friday with the intention of making portobello “burgers” but we ended up not having the other fixings (buns, lettuce, large tomatoes, ect) to really make a good burger so I decided to stuff them.  The stuffing is a mish-mash of a bunch of things we had in the fridge and in the end this turned out to be a really tasty dish.  I made these as entree sized portions but the stuffing would also be great in small button mushrooms as an appetizer.

Serves 2-4 (depending on how much stuffing you want in each)

  • 2-4 large portobello caps, stems removed
  • 1 avocado
  • 1/3 cup hummus of your choice (I used a roasted red pepper and jalapeno)
  • 1/2 cup of dry quinoa, cooked according to package directions
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • Cherry Tomato Sauce:
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
    • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
    • 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
    • Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375F. Cook the quinoa. While the quinoa is cooking mash together the avocado and the hummus in a medium sized bowl and place the portobellos on a lined baking sheet cap side down. Add the quinoa to the avocado hummus and season with salt and pepper to taste. Fill the portobello mushrooms with the quinoa filling. Drizzle the stuffed mushrooms with a little olive oil and place in the oven to cook for 15-20 minutes, until the mushroom is tender and the filling has set. While the mushrooms bake,  heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat.  Add the tomatoes and garlic and cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes release their juices.  Add the nutritional yeast, salt and pepper.  Once the mushrooms are done top with a big spoonful of the tomato sauce. ENJOY!