Sprouted Qunioa

If you just catching up before the weekend, check out this post on a life changing seminar, and this post on nutritional education! I can't wait to see Bob Proctor!!


After soaking some quinoa and spreading it out overnight, I awoke to quite the sight! The qunioa sprouted, beautifully and plentifully, and gave me the best of best ingredients to get creative with!

This simple step, sprouting the seed, amps up the nutition of any seed or grain. Broccoli sprouts, for example, contains 500% the nutrition of mature broccoli -500%! So naturally, whenever you can substiute the sprouted grain or seed do so - the higher nutritonal and antioxidant powers of the food will have your body singing! Sprouting is very simple [as outlined above, simply soak the seed or grain, and then lay it out over night and you'll see the above picture come to life in your own kitchen] but a neccisary step in a few recipes I have been wanting to share - so this is your little teaser! Get sprouting!

Ready For Change!

This morning I posted about a summit that will expand your nutritional knowledge and  help you rethink what you put on your dinner plate. If you missed it, check it out here. Now, if you're in the Calgary,AB area you absolutely MUST attend a conference that will change your life! Bob Proctor, star of the hit movie 'the Secret' is going to be live in Calgary on Thursday, May 3rd [one week from today!] and tickets are almost sold out!!! Whether you are trying to drive change forward in your business, personal life, or both, Bob is the key to show you how to unlock your potential! Are you ready for the best part - brace yourselves! - tickets are only $20! Seriously unheard of! So, if you think you can spare two hours to completely change your life, give me a shout at katiefisher05@gmail.com and I'll hook you up with some tickets!

Bob Proctor on the cover of 'Succeed' Magazine

Summit

Have you heard of 'the Foods Revolution Summit'? It is going to be awesome! A week long intensive course on nutrition, food production, soy, gmo's, grass fed beef and so much more! 21 sessions with the leaders in the whole foods nutrition field all your for the taking for FREE!!! Yes, FREE! All you have to do is sign up for the summit here, and then you have your very own 'all access pass.' How cool is that?! Don't delay, as the summit runs from April 28th {this Saturday} to May 6th. All interviews can be accessed live via conference call or computer - and if you miss one, there is no back log to enjoy later unless you pay for it, so GET ON THOSE CALLS! Sorry for the all caps, but seriously taking responsibility for what you put into your body starts with educating yourself, and this is the perfect way to gain a heaping dose of education! To become a doctor you receive 14 hours of nutritional training. I dare say you'll have a larger nutritional knowledge base than a doctor after this week long summit. So jump in, get your paradigm shifted, and let me know what you learn this week - I can't wait to learn right along with you!

This past week and a half have been a whirlwind! Between work, home, and family schedules it seems that there has been little downtime...and it has been fabulous! I have achieved goals I set out for myself, partied with my sweet boys, and been fortunate enough to celebrate milestones with family. One such milestone was my little sister turning 20! I still can't believe shes 20, engaged, and moving on to her own adventure. It feels like just yesterday the two of us were in the Bahamas celebrating her high school graduation.

Auntie 'T' being the considerate girl she is, went along with Darius' desire for a play date at the Science Centre for her birthday, and so we met up for some creative learning fun! Darius played away in the Creative Kids Museum, before we ventured out to explore the other exhibits. Darius dove right into the hands on exhibits and enjoyed building, destroying, and inspecting the inner workings of circuits. Mom captured a few moments for me as Darius worked away - he's just so sweet!

Happy belated birthday T - we sure do love you!

Dirty Little Toes

Yesterday we grabbed the buckets and shovels and headed to the beach! The sun was shining, a high of 17*C was on the forecast, and we have been itching to sink our hands into some sand! We dressed in layers, seeing as we live in a wildly unpredictable climate and we didn't want to walk three blocks to the beach only to turn around to change our pants into shorts. As we rounded the corner out of the garage, the wind hit us and I knew we were in for a blustery beach day, but my boys were not deterred, so we pressed on. I'm so glad we did! While we never took off our sweaters or long pants, we got down and dirty in the sand, built a sand pile castle, ran, played, and enjoyed the sun!

Sunny skies need not be wasted - it was a fabulous kick off to our beach days!

Above Grade

I have this theory that there is a blogpost graveyard. Not the type where awful - never should have been written - turn your head and shudder posts go, but the place where posts which have been written and never published go to commiserate one another on their non-published state. For all those who maintain their own blog, whether public or private, you know what I'm talking about. The posts that are utterly too personal, delve too deeply, or are just too special to share. I have a boat load of them. Sometimes I really want to hit the 'PUBLISH POST" button; I inch the cursor over, wanting to click the mouse so badly, but then pull away at the last moment. Today, this happened yet again. So, while there are a few posts that may very well end up in said imaginary graveyard, I have a few tips for you to keep you healthy, happy, and most of all above ground.

Wholefood plant based nutrition is an integral part of my life. Because of this fact, I am often asked questions on why I made this health wise change, how to do it, and if it's hard to do. First off, I made this health change for a multitude of reasons, many of which I outlined in this post here. Making the transition to a wholefood lifestyle is as quick as making the decision to do so. You can of course make a gradual shift, but for others it's easier to commit to a new way of living and eating, and not look back. I for one found it easier to drop the meat and walk away. To be honest, the only time I have a tough time is at family occasions when the meal is centred around a side of cow, or an entire bird [it doesn't sound as appealing when stated like that does it?] Whether you are just kicking off your food/health investigation, or are ready to delve deeper into your study, here are a few resources to feast on.

Forks Over Knives

Food Matters

Food Inc

There is so much information on how to feed your body properly - all you need to do is a little research! And as always, I am more than happy to help you along the way - all you need to do is ask.

Chocolate Pancakes

Pancakes are a hot commodity in our home. As in, "eat it while its hot before Darius does!" That boy is a pancake destroyer! With pancakes being on our regular breakfast menu I find myself reinventing the wheel a bit, simply to shake up the mundane. We have a wide variety of recipes now ranging from pumpkin, coconut, vanilla, and now chocolate. If you reach for the big blue bag of pancake mix at grocery stores you may reconsider when you see how easy and super inexpensive! it is to make your own from scratch; homemade pancakes taste about a bagillion times better! Oh, and did I mention that you can make these in your free time [or just a double batch at breakfast,] freeze them, and then have toaster pancakes another day? Pure laziness genius at its best!

 

Chocolate Pancakes

and original recipe by me!

1/3 c. unprocessed cocoa powder

1/2 c. hemp protein powder

1/2 c. old fashioned rolled oats

2 c. fresh ground whole wheat flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp baking soda

1 tbsp cinnamon

pinch of sea salt

1 tbsp vanilla

1/3 c. naturally creamed honey

2tbsp coconut oil, melted

2 c. coconut milk [in a carton, not a can]

1 c. water

Mix all of the ingredients together it's really that simple! while heating up a pancake griddle [I heat mine to about 300-350*F]. Once griddle is hot, and ingredients are combined, use 1/4c scoop to ladle batter onto the grill. Cook until bubbles start to form on surface [about three minutes,] then flip pancakes and cook for an additional one to two minutes. Serve hot and enjoy!

I like to enjoy my pancakes with natural peanut butter [meaning, when you look at the ingredients list all it says is 'peanuts'], hemp hearts, and a touch of 100% pure maple syrup with apple slices on the side. Sooo good!

 



Finger-Licking Good!

We read books in our house. A lot of books. If I sit down, it's as if I've signalled to my boys that I am craving a good long reading session, and so they oblige by bringing grabbing all the books off the shelf and hauling them over to my empty lap. We sit and devour each and every story, sometime reading the same book several times before moving on, until the boys are tired and needing to move to re-energise their sweet little bodies. While reading our 'Magic School Bus' collection [I have to say, they are brilliant books! Darius can tell you all about ants, bees, bullfrogs and more simply because of the Magic School Bus!] we grew tired at the end of our beehive exploration adventure. At the end of that particular story, the class makes honey buns and Darius thought that was a fabulous way to cap off our reading adventure as well! The only problem with his plan was I had just finished baking bread right before our marathon reading session, and I had no desire to bake buns sorry kiddo!  A friend of mine was going through a bit of a challenge, so I suggested we still head to the kitchen, but that we create something new and delicious! My sweet boy met my proposition with enthusiasm, and we skipped off to the kitchen! I felt like a mad scientist creative genius as we measured, crushed, and added more to the bowl. What resulted is a sweet and salty, creamy and crunchy, mostly healthy bit of heaven. My sweet friend gave them high praise and approval, so I thought it only fair to share the recipe and see what you think!

Pretzel Crunch Cookie Bars

an original recipe created by me!

6 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 c. all natural crunchy peanut butter*
1 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 c. dark chocolate chips
3/4 c. broken pretzel pieces

3/4 c. dark chocolate, melted

4 tbsp raw peanuts, chopped
4 tbsp pretzel pieces, chopped

For the Base: mix the first batch of ingredients listed in a big bowl. Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, then pour into a foil lined, and greased, 8x8 pan.

For the Chocolate Layer: Next, melt the chocolate in 10-20 second increments in the microwave, making sure to stir the chocolate often. Do not melt the chocolate past the creamy stage as the chocolate will 'seize,' becoming a thick, grainy like consistency. Pour the creamy melted chocolate over the base, spreading the chocolate evenly.**

For the Topping: sprinkle the chopped pretzels and peanuts over the melted chocolate, then put in the fridge for at least 3 hours to set.

Once it is all set up, cut into bars [I cut 28 squares out of the batch] and store in an airtight container in the fridge. Enjoy!

*natural crunchy peanut butter is a must! The crunchiness adds to the texture of the bars, and the purely peanut buttery goodness is out of this world good!

**if you want a clear division of layers, put the base layer in the fridge for a few hours before pouring melted chocolate over it. When both layers are creamy, they blend together a bit, but the blurring of lines is something that doesn't bother me one bit in this dessert!



Joy

Everyday moments hold so much joy and light; a fabulous work out, moan worthy meal, or sunset melting into the horizon are all favourites of mine. However, the everyday moments that bring pure joy brimming to the surface for me include a couple of little boys, and one Hottie Husband! This past week has been a bright sun-shiny time of life -

Eli triumphantly marching around the living room! What a sweet little trooper!

Brotherly cuddles - my boys love to read, and Eli will often grab a book off the shelf, and march himself over to an empty lap, sit down and offer his book up for mutual enjoyment. When he took Darius a book I had to grab the camera - this sweet big brother read to 'his baby' and I got all misty eyed. How sweet are they?!?

No make up. No problem. Darius told me," Mommy, you're so beautiful! Can we take a picture?" Why yes we can! Even if this is a plot to delay bedtime ha ha!

Looking for the silver lining often produces golden memories - moments of time that you mentally capture and hold onto. Keep your eyes open - you'll be surprised how easily these moments can slip by if you're not ready to grab them and savor them for all they're worth.