Toronto Day One

It was a Steak and French Fries weekend!!!!!!!!! 

Last weekend, I headed on over to Toronto for a girls weekend with Heather. We didn't have anything planned, (or so I thought.......)just a weekend of catching up, eating, and shopping. We stick to what we're good at ;) 

Immediately upon my arrival, Heather asked me the age-old question: are you hungry? 

I replied "no, not really", and then we took a nap. 

......................................

JUST KIDDING! This happened:

LOOK. AT. THAT. SPREAD. 

In my opinion, a TRUE friend gives you snacks when you pop by for a visit.  

Heather had cut up veggies, lunch meat, and Kali Spera Feta Dip all prepped and ready to go, with a bottle of chilled Niagara Riesling to wash it all down. 

If that's not a true friend, then I don't know what is. 

 

We dug right in and chatted away. I opened my belated birthday presents (an art set and 3 beautiful mercury glass bud vases!), while we got caught up and I settled in for the weekend. I haven't seen Heather in months, but every time we get together it feels like she lives right around the corner.

Before we knew it, hours had gone by, and it was time to get ready for dinner! 

But that wasn't all. Little did I know Heather had planned a surprise (I LOVE SURPRISES!!!!!!!!). 

We were doing a painting workshop at Paintlounge!!!!!!!!! HOW EXCITING IS THAT????????!!!! 

I was real excited. 

But more on that later. 

First, dinner, at Prohibition Gastrohouse in Leslieville. 

The waitress literally presented us with a BUCKET of hot sauces to go along with our oysters.  
It was great! 

We had an early-ish dinner which happened to be during "Hooch Hour". It's from 4-7 and 10-midnight every day so our drinks were a bit cheaper. 

Considering how early we were there, the place was pretty full and booming with loud conversation. 

I ordered a couple of Sloppy Joe Tacos and washed it all down with a pint of Cracked Canoe. 

Sloppy those tacos were indeed. 

Happy bellies, happy ladies! 

And then we were off. To the Paintlounge!!! 

Paintlounge is all about the fun, social painting process.

Art shouldn't be boring!! You shouldn't have to whisper in a stiff, snobby art gallery and tip-toe around! It should be relaxed and interactive. It should be fun like how art class used to be in elementary school. Do you remember your eyes lighting up and your imagination running wild at the sight of freshly laid-out craft supplies? I want that feeling back. 

Paintlounge has captured it for me. 

You choose the level of difficulty (easy/moderate/challenge, but all levels are apparently catered to beginners)and they basically do the rest. They supply all of the materials, and the instructor walks you through what you will be painting (we did cherry blossoms) step-by-step. They'll even make you a drink! (Non-alcoholic options only however... something they should look into. I can only imagine how next-level my painting could have been, had I had a glass of sauvignon blanc in hand haha.) 

I can't even tell you how much fun I had. 

Sometimes, ya just gotta let dem creative juices get ta flowing! 

It's good for the soul. 

I am BY NO MEANS an experienced painter, yet SO PLEASED with my final masterpiece. Check it! 

We all painted the same thing with the same instruction, but everyone's piece turned out slightly different. It was neat.

One especially enthusiastic older gentleman went HOG WILD with the blossoms. It was a blossom EXPLOSION on his canvas. Too sweet. 

Here are mine and Heather's canvases side-by-side. 

I cannot wait to hang my bébé up on the wall back home!! 

Blueberry Muffins 4-ever!!

Dear blueberry muffins: I love you. 

What's your favourite kind of muffin? 

If given the choice, I'd choose blueberry 99.9% of the time (unless I was given a carrot muffin with cream cheese icing, but that's basically cake!). 

A few weeks ago, mama bear came down to visit me at school and go to some appointments. I was in class one day, when she went out grocery shopping and filled up my fridge with lots of goodies while I was gone. Sneaky mama! 

I always laugh every time my mom comes home from the grocery store. 

My dad is so regular. He buys the same things every time (I'm a lot the same way). Grapes. Apples. Milk. Bread. 

My mom on the other hand, complete wild card. You never know what that crazy woman is gonna come home with. And I luv it.  

When she went shopping for me, she came back with some good loot! Some interesting salad mixes. Fig Newton cookies (I haven't had these since I was like 6 years old!). Bison steaks. And last but not least: 6 quarts of blueberries. 6 QUARTS!!!! 

So what do you do, when you have 6 quarts of blueberries, and not enough time to eat them all? YA MAKE MUFFINS OBVI!! 

Making any kind of muffin is basically the same protocol every time: 

STEP ONE: Mix the dry ingredients together. 

STEP TWO: Mix the wet ingredients together. 

STEP THREE: Slowly pour the wet into the dry and fold together. 

STEP FOUR: Scoop, and bake! 

You can line the muffin tin with papers, or spray heavily with cooking spray to make sure they don't stick. I like to spray. The crispy golden edges are the best part! 

I found and adapted this recipe from Baker Bettie. It was the simplest one I could find, and used ingredients I already had at home. The key to this recipe is the lemon juice, which is supposed to make the blueberry flavour POP. Since I didn't have any fresh lemons kicking around, I used store bought lemon juice instead (2-3 tablespoons). To be completely honest I didn't notice a huge difference, but maybe you will! 

I also used butter instead of oil. My reason for this is obvious. Is butter ever really a bad idea???? I think not. 

INGREDIENTS: yield 12 medium sized muffins

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 TBSP baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• juice of 1 lemon (or 2-3 tbsp lemon juice)
• 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
2. In a large bowl sift together all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. 
3. In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: eggs, milk, oil, vanilla, and lemon juice.
4. Pour all of the wet ingredients into the dry bowl. Fold the mixture together.
5. Add the blueberries.
6. Heavily spray or line muffin tin with paper liners.
7. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full.
8. Bake at 400ºF for 20ih minutes, until a toothpick or fork inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Believe it or not, I still have some blueberries left over. 

Blueberry muffins 4-ever!! 

The Easiest Turkey Chili

Nothing warms up my belly quite like a hot bowl of chili, on a cool fall day. 

It's basically the perfect food. Super easy to make. Healthy (with ground turkey substituted for the traditional ground beef, and lots and lots of veggies). It fills you right up, and did I mention how easy it is to make?? 

After a long day at school, I am hungry like the wolf. When I finally get home, cooking a meal from scratch is not an option. Making a big pot of chili on a Sunday night is fabulous, because it lasts me all week (and tastes even BETTER re-heated), and I can always freeze some for later if I ever get tired of it (I never get tired of it). 

To make your own batch of turkey chili, you will need: 

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 onion, chopped 
• 1 & 1/2 tsp canola oil 
• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes (no salt added if you can!)
• 1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes (ditto with the no salt rule)
• 1 (14oz) can red kidney beans (no salt added... see what I'm doing here??) 
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped 
• 1 cup corn (frozen or canned)
• 1 cup carrots, chopped 
• 3 heaping spoonfuls of chili powder 
• 1 tsp garlic powder 
• A few sprinkles of crushed chili peppers (I like my chili SPICAAAY. If you prefer milder chili, leave these out, or use with caution.) 

Optional toppings: 

• A dollop of sour cream
• Green onion, chopped 
• Cheddar cheese, shredded 
• Tortilla strips 

1. In a medium frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and turkey. Cook until the turkey is browned. 
2. Heat a large pot over medium heat and add the turkey and onion. Mix in the remainder of the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer (simmer for an hour at minimum, I usually let mine simmer for around 4. The longer, the better!) 

And that's all she wrote! How easy is that???

I'll usually put a pot on around lunch time, go about my day, and come home to the most delicious aroma wafting from my apartment. Making chili is great because it's no fuss - you just mix it all up, and let the spices do the work. 

Turkey chili is good for you. Think about it. You're essentially just eating turkey, veggies, and beans. You health nut, you! 

...But if you're feeling rebellious, go ahead and add some sour cream on there.  

Maybe a bit of green onion. 

A little cheddar cheese never hurt anyone. 

And top it all off with some tortilla strips. 

Enjoy! 

Pumpkin Quinoa Yogurt Parfaits

Like it or not, fall is officially here. 

You know what that means. 

PUMPKIN FLAVOURED ERRYTHANG!! 

Pumpkin lattés, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pies... YUS PLEEEZE!! 

So when I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest for Pumpkin Breakfast Quinoa, I knew I had to try it. 

I made a few changes to the original recipe, the biggest ones being: 

1. Cutting out the sugar. Ya don't need it and I don't even miss it!; and 
2. Turning it into a parfait, cause parfaits are so pretty!

At first, the idea of using quinoa in a sweet parfait rather than in a salad or casserole seemed strange, but once I tried it, it wasn't any different than putting yummy granola in my yogurt.

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup raisins (or dried cranberries... or chocolate chips, whatever you like!) 
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon 
• sprinkle of ginger 
• sprinkle of nutmeg
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1 cup yogurt (I used low fat vanilla, greek vanilla yogurt could work too!) 

Instructions: 

1. Prepare the quinoa as directed on the package. 
2. While the quinoa is still warm, mix in the pumpkin, raisins, dried cranberries, whatever! 
3. Mix in the cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Set mixture aside to cool. 
4. Once cool, spoon a layer of the pumpkin quinoa into the bottom of each glass (I used 6 small glasses, depends on how big your glasses are). 
5. Spoon a layer of yogurt, then another layer of quinoa, then a final layer of yogurt. 
6. Top with pecans. 
7. Enjoy! 

These parfaits are packed with protein and sooo so healthy. They make a great breakfast on the go, or could easily be eaten as dessert. Your call. 

All hail pumpkin season!