Favourite Cookbooks for Gift-Giving

It seems like every year I consistently have cookbooks on my wish list. Even with all the new ones coming out, there's always the handful that you keep going back to. I've rounded up a few of my favorites that are perfect for gift-giving.

This year's shopping list will be so easy!

For the Italian (at heart): Comforting recipes for the creamy pasta lovers.
Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli

VegFoodFest 2013: Part 2 - Saturday

Day 2 of the Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival was amazing! Haven't read my post about Day 1? Read it here.

The first event of my day was Marni Wasserman's presentation called "Fully Nourished". I have to say she looked absolutely ravishing and glowing, even on that icky rainy day.

The cooking demo was really informative and nutrition-focused. She talked about multiple uses for ingredients like quinoa (the nutritional superstar) and cooking tips for different uses like porridge and salads. The quinoa salad recipe demonstrated was amazing - it really was great for a full meal type of salad. It had quinoa, chickpeas, shredded beets and carrots, kale, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, avocado and a homemade dressing. And we all got to taste it afterwards!

Marni Wasserman's Quinoa Salad

January cleanse: extension week recap

The last little stretch is done! WOW! What an accomplishement for me. Feeling incredibly proud, inspired, and happy! Here's how it went:

Monday night I did some awesome yoga at my local Goodlife Fitness. I felt so great afterwards, it was a really good class! My sister had brought along two of her friends, who were very hesitant to trying yoga. Obviously, they came out of the class loving it! It was so nice to see this positive influence and the happy chatting afterwards (insert warm fuzzy feelings here). And then my sister and I went home and munched on guacamole and roasted red pepper hummus with Gluten-Free crackers, yum! It's actually really embarassing how much hummus we go through... Good thing we buy it at Costco!

So apparently I'm a runner now.... WHAT? I've never been a runner, a jogger, or even a big walker. Cardio has never been my thing. During this cleanse, I found that I have SO much more energy, and I need to do something more than bicep curls and squats to get it out. Since getting bad whiplash this summer, my back and shoulder area have been tense so I didn't want to work out too hard. Cardio it is. I've been doing pretty good, slowly working my way up to longer periods (watching longer Ted Talks videos!). My biggest issue before was the sluggishness (probably just unconscious laziness) and my lack of endurance. Now it's not an issue at all!

January cleanse: week 3 recap

Oh my! Week 3 of my Crazy Sexy Diet cleanse is already done! It has officially been 21 days today that I have been following the cleanse. I have to say it went by really fast! Overall, I'm feeling pretty great physically and emotionally, even with some leftover cold symptoms and a bit of emotional drama in my life. This has become my goal, something to be proud of, something to achieve and to explore. I'm so thankful to have found this!

This week was a little different, staying home with a cold for most of it. I watched alot of movies and tv since I had no internet at home. But, that also means I had time to make a few yummy dishes! I made a great mexican-style rice pilaf consisting of; brown rice, diced tomatoes, corn, black beans, assorted beans, onions, mushrooms, chili powder and other spices. I had served this on a plate topped with sautéed collard greens and garlic, yum! Now my weekend consists of catching up on homework and studying because of missing so much class. Horray....

January cleanse: week 2 recap

Hi everyone! Sorry about the delay for my post, I haven't had a WiFi connection at home for a few days. I have also caught a darn cold so I haven't been outside of my place either, since it's probably not a good idea to go outside in -35 degree weather. Yup, I said -35 degrees, Celcius. Anyway, here's a recap of my week 2 on the Crazy Sexy Diet cleanse.

I'm getting into more of a routine by going to the gym on scheduled times every week, and I'm doing great so far! Here's what HAS changed in my routine; music. Before, I would just focus on my workout because there is no background music at the university gym. But now, TedTalks videos have been my go-to gym "music" lately, I can't get enough of them! Pull them They are all about 20 minutes, so that's perfect for timing. I've been really impressed with the speeches of Kathy Freston (Leaning into your life), Jonathan Foley (The other inconvenient truth), Douglas Lisle (The pleasure trap), Brendan Brazier (Find your athletic edge) and Dr. Campbell (Resolving the health care crisis). Check them out! ....After you read the rest of my post! :)

New year, new resolution!

Hello again! I'm back after a very busy holiday season, and of course after a hangover on January 1st I've made a few resolutions that I'l like to acheive this year. Living with my sister, we influence eachother in ways we don't even notice, including our diets and groceries we buy. She had been telling me about her "detox" plan (from her personal trainer) coming up in the new year, so I thought it would be great to try something like that myself. Since I start classes again on monday, I've decided January 7th would be my start date, as I phase out the forbidden foods out of my fridge (eating them!) and look up recipes until then.

One of my favourite vegan resources is +Eco-Vegan Gal. I love everything she does and I find her channel so inspiring. I had seen Whitney's videos  about her last year's January cleanse using the Crazy Sexy Diet book by Kris Carr and decided to give it a shot. I didn't have the book, so I did some research. After reading this review, I could understand the basic rules and decided to go out and buy the book. The book has a great daily checklist to keep you on track and is also great for documenting your journey during the cleanse. Kris includes some great recipes to get you started, including various green juice recipes to keep it exciting.