Tag Archives: healthy eating
Raspberry Picking!
u-pick raspberries
The sky was beautiful and bright! I swear the raspberries were ripening as we picked. Picking isn’t even the right word – these berries fell into my hands as I went to touch them – the really ripe, rich red ones – the ones that were ready! I imagined that one could just walk along with a bucket held below the bushes and collect plenty! Behind every leaf there was another cluster of delicious juicy berries ready to eat. Picking 25 lbs certainly didn’t take long. I’d pick and move down the bush, when I turned back to survey the ground I’d covered – there were several more ripe and ready – either the sun was ripening them faster than I could pick, or there were simply more berries than my eyes could take in at once. Bliss.
There’s something deeply satisfying about berry picking for me. This particular trip I left the kids with hubby. I wanted some time away. Berry picking is almost meditative for me. Doing something so simple, so primitive, it brings about a sense of well being for me. I went with my brother and we enjoyed each others company, but we also enjoyed the solitude. It was refreshing and nourishing in so many ways!
I worried briefly that the boys might be upset they weren’t involved in the picking, but when they saw what I brought home they were just filled with excitement!
Posted in Motherhood, Uncategorized
Also tagged back to nature, natural food, raspberries
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Adjusting to Life with Baby – Meal Planning
When you are preparing to bring a new baby into your life, one thing that will be increasingly important is be getting a meal on the table. Eating enough healthy meals can be a challenge in the beginning, a nursing mom needs to consume an extra 500 calories a day, and find the time to do it! Eating needs to be a priority to ensure adequate milk supply and energy for you and your family. If you’re not eating properly you cannot function and meet the needs of your baby. Planning ahead will make the transition of life with your baby smoother one!
Even if you’re not a “planner” spending 15 minutes a week mapping out the week’s meals will save you a lot of time and hassle. If you’re preparing for the arrival of your baby plan a few weeks (even a month) in advance. Here are a few tips I have found that have made meal time one less thing to stress over.
- In a note book write down the days of the week ( or do it right on your calendar where everyone can see it) and decide according to the day what you will have for dinner. On days where I am busy I plan quick easy meals that can be thrown together. If you are planning for life with a new baby make all the meals simple and easy to prepare.
- Sit down with your cook books, favourite websites or weekly store fliers for inspiration. On a separate list jot down what groceries you’ll need to pick up. keep this list on the fridge so you can write down things you’re running out of. I write my meal plans in a note book so I can look back to previous weeks for meal inspiration.
- Ask your family for suggestions. If you have older kids, they will be more likely to eat their dinner if they came up with the idea. I have my partner chose a few meals he would like to prepare for the week.
- Once or twice a week I try to make something I can make lots of so I have enough left over to put in the freezer. This frees up a lot of time. If you start doing this a few weeks before your baby arrives you have a good stash once the baby comes.
- Crock pot! In the morning or while I’m cooking dinner the night before, I prepare the ingredients for a delicious crock pot meal. Plug it in and forget about it!
- Don’t forget lots of healthy snacks. Easy to grab snakes like fruit and nuts are essential while trying to stay nourished when nursing a baby. Think of a few things you would like to have on hand and add it to your grocery list. Grazing throughout the day is less time consuming that making three big meals.
Your plan doesn’t have to be written in stone, don’t get down on yourself if you order in a few times in those first weeks with your new family. Enjoy the time with your infant without worrying that you’re not able to do it all. Feed yourself, get rest where you can and you’ll slowly settle into your new routine.
Posted in Uncategorized
Also tagged meal planning, nursing and eating, nursing burning calories, nursing mom, postpartum period
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Spring Salad
· Romaine lettuce
· Avacado
· Feta cheese
· Cucumber
· Salad nuts – sesame seeds, soy nuts, sunflower seeds
· Bolthouse Farms – Creamy Yogourt Dressing OR any dressing of your choice 
The combination of the feta cheese, avacado and nuts in this salad make such a satisfying flavour!
Posted in Motherhood, Recipes
Also tagged avacado, feta cheese, filling salad, salad, spring foods, vegetarian meal
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Pineapple Green Curry with Pistachios
- 3 cups Broccoli
- 1 can pineapple
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 cup pistachios
- 2 tbsp green curry paste
- 4 cloves fresh garlic
- 1.5 fresh inches ginger
- Half cup fresh cilantro
Sauté finely chopped garlic and ginger with broccoli. Add coconut milk and pineapple, simmer until broccoli is cooked. Add shelled pistachios and cilantro.
Serve over basmati rice.
Posted in Motherhood, Recipes, Uncategorized
Also tagged curry, easy meals, pineapple pistachio curry, vegan curry, vegan recipe
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yummy vegan dip
I love using this dip / sauce for dipping yam fries, pouring over falafel wraps or taco wraps, or even mixing with some mashed potatoes!
As with most of my recipes – this makes a whole lot of dip, so just adjust to your needs. If you can prepare this 2 hours ahead of using it tastes even better if you refrigerate it for a couple of hours.
1 c soy yogourt
1/2 c vegan mayonaise
3 cloves garlic grated / pressed
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp fresh, chopped dill (or replace with other favourite herb!)
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
mix it up, refrigerate, and enjoy!
Posted in Motherhood, Recipes
Also tagged vegan dip, vegan recipe, yam fries dip
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Vegan mac ‘n “cheese”
Let me start off by saying I never thought I would become vegan – I used to love meat, and love, love, love cheese. The funny thing is I didn’t really wake up one day and think ‘I’m going to make a conscious effort to become vegan because I don’t agree with…”. How it happened was simply having many vegan and vegetarian friends, spending a lot of time with them, enjoying the food we shared, and suddenly realizing it had been about 2 months since I’d eaten meat! I actually tried eating meat again after the 2 months off, and it simply wasn’t appealing anymore. My dairy product consumption decreased also by “accident” – and then while at one of my favourite restaurants (because it’s soo healthy and yummy, and just so happens to be vegan ) Green Cuisine, I picked up the Vegan Starter Guide to see if it had any good recipes. I hadn’t intended to read any more than the recipes because I still loved my cheese…and just didn’t want to know! My son for some reason insisted on my reading it to him…maybe he likes the colourful veggie pictures on the front? Anyway, I read it out loud and after what I learned I am simply not interested in any animal products. I’m more shocked than anyone that I made this change and in what seems like a very short time, but I feel great for it and honestly do not miss the other foods. I think we are especially lucky in Victoria to have so many wonderful vegan options, in many other cities I think it would be significantly more challenging. I’ve always liked experimenting with food (when I can find the time) and now I can share my experiments (most of which I think are pretty good) here!
So…here’s the recipe – please note that nothing will taste just like cheese, certainly don’t expect a KD taste here 
but if you’re looking for a thick cheese like sauce that is totally vegan this is pretty awesome! Please feel free to post any changes you made to improve on it – I’d love to know as this is only my second time making it! Oh – and this recipe made WAY too much sauce, I’ve frozen half of it…I’ll let you know how that works out, but halve this recipe and it should serve 4 people if you add your choice of veggies / protein.
Vegan mac ‘n “cheese”
1 small acorn squash peeled, chopped, boiled until VERY soft, strained and mashed
1/2 cup soy yogourt
3 cups Nutritional yeast (most health food stores sell it, in Victoria Seed of Life has the best price I’ve found)
1.5 Tbsp Tamari (this gives an aged cheddar bite to it)
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 tsp Garlic pressed / powder (optional…I always love garlic in everything!)
Simply keep mashing and mixing until it’s a smooth creamy consistency, add it to some cooked wholegrain macaroni and enjoy!
Again, this is only my second time making it – so you might want to play around with it a bit, I had to post it as is because I have two very dear preggies waiting to get it Enjoy ladies! (and gentlemen)
Posted in Motherhood, Recipes
Also tagged dairy alternatives, food kids enjoy, vegan cheese sauce, vegan mac and cheese, vegan recipe
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Tomato Mango Chicken
The spices don’t have exact measurements in this recipe – just add to your own liking!
3 chicken breasts – cubed, 1 cup brown rice (prepare separately according to directions on packaging), 1 green pepper – chopped, 1 red pepper – chopped, 1 tomato – chopped, 6 large mushrooms – chopped, 2 carrots – chopped, 4 Tbsp a simple tomato based pasta sauce, 1 small onion diced, 1 Tbsp olive oil, some water, one mango, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic powder, curry powder.
Start your rice cooking. Dice the onion, and heat it on medium with the olive oil in a frying pan, once onion is soft add the chicken you have cubed. Add some water if the chicken starts to stick – just enough to stop it sticking. Cook the chicken, leaving it still tender. Add the pasta sauce, and spices to taste, mix well. Add all the vegetables, cover, and allow to cook for about 10 min. Peel the mango and cut off pieces over the frying pan so that the juices are falling into the pan as well. Mix it in, and cover and cook for another 5-7 minutes, remove the cover and cook on high for another 5 minutes or until rice is finished. Serve over the brown rice and enjoy!
Posted in Recipes
Also tagged chicken, left over pasta sauce, mango chicken, tomatoes
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