Category Archives: healthy recipe

Homemade Luna Bars

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Of all the ‘snack’ bars I’ve tried, Lunas are my first pick for a ‘dessert’ type of bar. My husband actually introduced me to them. A couple years ago while we were waiting to board a flight,  I sent him on a mission to find some relatively healthy airport snacks. He came back with a mango smoothie from Jamba Juice, a bag of mixed nuts and two Lemon Zest Luna bars. “I tried to find snacks that didn’t have too much added sugar, dear” he explained.  He’s a good guy.

I took a few sips of the mango smoothie and nearly threw up. I’m a nervous traveller.

Nowadays when travelling, I stash a couple Ativan Luna bars in my carry-on.  As much as I love White Chocolate Macadamia and Peppermint Stick, the ingredient list is kind of sketchy… and long. So, naturally I made a copycat homemade version.

Lightly grease a small baking dish and set aside.

3 cups Nature’s Path Crispy Brown Rice cereal
2 scoops protein powder (I use organic brown rice protein)
1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/3 cup almond butter
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips (Enjoy Life is my go-to brand), set aside

Stir the first three ingredients together (in a glass bowl).

In a saucepan on low heat, thoroughly heat brown rice syrup until it starts to bubble. Stir in nut butters and vanilla. Keep stirring until it’s smooth and creamy. Remove from heat and immediately pour it into the cereal. Mix until combined, then firmly press cereal into the baking dish and smooth the top.

Melt the chocolate chips (either in the microwave or stovetop) ensuring it doesn’t burn. Pour melted chocolate into the cereal, and place the dish into the fridge to set for about an hour.

Seriously. I could live on these.

What’s your favourite snack bar?  Aside from Luna bars, my favourite ‘clean eating’ bar is Francine’s Finest “Super Bars”. They’re raw, vegetarian and only 120 calories per bar.

Grilled Portobello & Eggplant Sandwiches

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A simple summer dinner. For one. Court ate $80 worth of sushi for lunch today and was still full by the time dinnertime arrived, so I was on my own.

I had a craving for bread and grilled veggies so therefore created a grilled portobello/eggplant sandwich on sourdough (my fave bread! *swoon*)

Ingredients
Makes 1 sandwich

2 slices sourdough bread – you can use any bread, but sourdough adds an extra layer of flavour
garlic mayo (1 T light mayo + 1/2 tsp minced garlic)
2 tomato slices
lettuce
2 eggplant slices
1 portobello mushroom cap – gills removed

Lightly brush eggplant and mushroom with olive oil, bbq for approx 7-8 mins on a veggie grilling pan.
After grilling, brush mushroom with sweet balsamic vinegar (balsamic and mushrooms are BFF4E) before layering the sandwich. Season veggies with salt & pepper.

Pair with a glass of merlot and a begging cat.

Dessert: Banana soft serve (1 frozen banana + splash of almond milk + 1 tsp vanilla, food process until smooth) topped with a handful of s’more trail mix

Additional foodie faves of the week:

ww waffles + greek yogurt + strawberry spread + chia seeds
It looks kinda gross but don’t knock it til you try it!

B.C. peaches

homemade iced coffee

ww toast + raspberry jam + eggs
Before you judge it… try it! It’s really good!

I’m off to enjoy my weekend!

Court’s 30th

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We celebrated Court’s first milestone birthday last weekend – the big 3-0!

I’m married to a 30 year old. I’m not far behind, but the fact that I’m leaving my 20s soon is freaking me out a little. 30 seems like the age where you “should” have your life completely together, or at least well on your way.  For the most part I feel like I’m on the right path, but I still don’t have my heart set on a career. When it comes to my professional life, I feel lost. I honestly have no clue what I want or should be doing. I love eating, traveling, drinking margaritas and exercising… so basically I’m aspiring to be a Real Housewife. (I wish! Court is an evil dictator and says I can’t quit my job)

I invited my parents and Courts parents over for a light dinner and cocktails.  I forgot to take pictures of the food, but I made chicken caesar salad skewers, chilled asparagus salad with roasted almonds, roast beef sandwiches and pasta salad. My Dad pounded drank ALL of my SkinnyGirl margaritas (3 bottles! I had two very small glasses!)

We all lounged in our backyard until a late evening thunderstorm forced us in.

Pre party. I HATE STREAMERS

Why are streamers so hard to decorate with?

 I’m sure the highlight of Courts evening was when he opened his gift. A collective contribution from all of us. An iPad2! Luckyyyy.

Obviously this was the highlight of my evening – dessert from my favourite cupcake bakery, Crazy Cakes. I’m obsessed with the mint frosting cakes -”Green Fairy”- rainbow sprinkle vanilla cake + vanilla buttercream) The “Hawaiian Crunch” cupcakes stole the show though… pineapple cake, cream cheese frosting and pretzels! I love sweet’n salty combos.

I somehow lost track of time  and before I knew it I was baking a pizza at 2:30am and breaking dishes. Classy.  I ate half the pie then yelled at Court when he refused to help me eat it. Happy Birthday Court!

On Sunday, I was overly-eager to get back to my healthy eating. One night of poor food and beverage choices really does a number on me!
To help detox, I made sure to drink a ton of water along with eating lots of veggies.  It was too hot to do anything productive so I lazed on the deck with a book and painted my nails a ‘summer theme’ (See? I would make an amazing Real Housewife!)

A few of my current favourite foods:

toasted tomato, sprout, avocado + creamy goat cheese sandwiches

heirloom tomatoes

toasted tomato + hummus + feta sandwiches

Plus this tasty, super simple homemade dessert

Crunchy Cookie Fro-yo

I creamed a large scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt with banana slices, crumbled cinnamon cookies and a handful of dark chocolate quinoa. Sweet, salty, crunchy and creamy. Multiple texture/flavour heaven!