Link Love – and a Vote for Allison

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Hello! So, apparently it is Saturday and I missed the boat on posting my Friday Links-to-Love…on Friday. *heh* I ended up being quite busy yesterday and was unable to get a post together. Last night, my good friend Kirby came into town to celebrate her belated birthday. We met up with a bunch of friends for dinner and then drinks. It was nice to catch up with lots of different friends I’ve not seen in a while. 


Today, Jesse and I checked out a bike auction in hopes of finally getting bikes for the summer. No such luck! We’ll have to keep trying! After the auction, we went for brunch at Prairie Ink Café. The café is in my favourite book store – McNally Robinson. We both had french toast with caramelized bananas. Yum! And then I bought the new Vegetarian Times Edition – Recipes From Around the Globe. I’m excited to try a number of recipes from it! After brunch, we went for a nice, long walk downtown. It’s finally beautiful, warm and sunny here – and who knows if it will stick around. So, we took advantage of the nice weather and walked. It was so good to be out & about. Canadian winters can be long!


 We are off to dinner tonight to celebrate mother’s day a bit early with Jesse’s family. We are heading to a restaurant I’ve not yet been to. I’m always excited to try new places! 


Hope you are having a great weekend so far!


Oh…and before I forget…

Please also check out my friend Melissa at West Coast Nest’s post on fuelling up properly before a run. I found the post extremely helpful. Make sure to check out Melissa’s posts about preparing for an upcoming marathon. She’s rocking it! Wish I could be as motivated and energetic! One day…one day :)

And please make sure to vote for my friend Allison from Live It. Love It. Blog It. to win the Richmond 365 Days of Dining in Richmond, BC. Help make her dreams reality :) Allison is a fantastic, sweet and inspiring person and I would love to see her win this. If you have the time, please take the opportunity to vote. And be sure to spread the word! Thanks :)

Coconut Ginger Granola with Almonds

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Every single morning, I have a toasted English muffin with peanut butter. You’d think I would get sick of having this same thing every morning, but I never do! I look forward to my morning toast and a large cup of tea. But to avoid be extra boring, I try to keep things a bit more interesting with the yogurt I have with my tea & toast. Some mornings I top my yogurt with fresh organic blueberries & walnuts. Other mornings it’s shredded coconut, pineapple chunks and hemp hearts. And some times, I like to make my own granola to use as a topping for my yogurt. 

Making granola is a lot of fun – there are so many flavours to experiment with and so many additions you can make. One of my very favourite homemade granola mixes is Pumpkin-Spice Granola with Cranberries & Pecans. You can add dried fruit, nuts of any kind, seeds such as chia, quinoa or pumpkin seeds, toasted grains such puffed brown rice and toasted millet, shredded coconut etc. You can bind and sweeten the granola with various types of natural sugars such as honey, maple syrup or agave syrup. And you can use various spices such as cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg or extracts such as vanilla to flavour the mix.

Since preparing homemade granola is so quick, you can easily make a different type each week and keep breakfast interesting every day. Each batch is good for 3 weeks, as long as it’s sealed in an airtight container.

Here are some other granola ideas:

Maple Pecan Granola – Naturally Ella
Millet & Walnut Granola – West Coast Nest
Cherry Pecan Maple Granola – Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes
Peanut Butter Granola – Once Upon a Cutting Board
Honey Almond Granola – A Couple Cooks
Strawberry Hemp Granola – Naturally Ella
Chocolate Almond Granola – Lauren’s Latest

Have a fantastic Wednesday. I’ll be back on Friday with some Link Love :)


Ingredients
  • 2 cups of organic rolled oats (not quick cooking oats)
  • 1 cup of sliced almonds
  • 1/2 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
  • 2 tablespoons of canola oil
  • 4 tablespoons of liquid honey
  • pinch of salt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 300’F.

2. In a bowl, toss together the rolled oats, almonds and coconut.

3. In a small saucepan, warm the oil, honey, vanilla and salt over medium-high heat until runny (about 3 minutes). Mix in the ground ginger. Pour honey mixture over the oats & toss to coat.

4. Evenly spread the mixture onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

5. Bake granola in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until nicely golden. Note: you may want to toss/flip the granola after 15 minutes to allow even baking. Be sure to pay attention to the coconut, as it will darken a bit quicker than the oats & almonds.

6. Once nicely golden, let the pan cool on a rack. Crumble the granola with your fingers into small clusters.

Granola can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Source: slightly adapted from Canadian Living Magazine (May 2012) 

Ancho Chili Hummus Quesadillas with Zucchini & Goat Cheese

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Hello! Hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was quite nice! Friday, I made homemade tortillas and then these delicious, unique quesadillas for dinner. Jesse and I then proceeded to watch Discovery Channel the rest of the evening. I know, I know…we’re officially “those people”. *hah* 

We made up for it on Saturday though! Saturday, we went to a local burger joint called UnBurger and we tried their vegetarian falafel burgers. They were great! I’m going to have to try and re-create them at home. They topped the burgers off with a homemade banana pepper relish. It was unreal! After dinner, we checked out a fantastic film called Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Schulman. It’s a fantastic documentary about a famous architectural photographer that captured the Modernist movement in the USA and brought modernism into mainstream culture. He photographed works by Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright and many other design greats. I enjoyed the movie, as Julius Schulman’s spirit was truly inspiring. And as a photographer, I really appreciated his discussion of light & shadow in architectural photos. I loved how his composition was so well-thought-out and deliberate. After the movie, we met some friends at a local dessert place called Baked Expectations. We celebrated our friends’ Suzie and Bill’s birthday. It was good times. And alas, here we are, back to Monday.

Hope you all have a fantastic week. I’ll be back on Wednesday with a delicious granola recipe. Homemade granola is so easy to throw together and has a lot less sugar & additives than store-bought versions. It’s also fun coming up with unique flavour combinations. I love adding homemade granola to my morning yogurt.

So, with that, I shall “see” you on Wednesday! :)


Quesadilla Ingredients
  • 12 whole wheat flour tortillas
  • Ancho Chile & Roasted Garlic hummus (or hummus of your choice)
  • 1 large zucchini; cut into matchsticks or julienned 
  • 6 ounces of light goat cheese
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • condiments such as lime crema, salsa or guacamole

Ancho Chili & Roasted Garlic Hummus
  • 1-15 ounce can of chickpeas; rinsed and drained
  • 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and roasted
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of ancho chili powder 
  • 2 tablespoons of tahini
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh cilantro
  • salt & pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375’F. Remove the skins from 6 cloves of garlic. Place cloves on a small piece of tinfoil. Drizzle garlic with some olive oil or canola oil. Loosely wrap the garlic with foil and roast garlic in over for 25 minutes.

2. Once garlic is nicely roasted and caramelized, remove it from oven and add to the bowl of a food processor. Add the chickpeas and pulse to combine. Add the lemon juice, tahini and ancho chill powder. Pulse again to combine. 

3. With food processor running, slowly add the olive oil in a steady stream. This will allow your hummus to become smooth and velvety. Remove hummus from the food processor. Add the freshly chopped cilantro, salt and pepper and mix well to combine. 

4. Preheat oven to 400’F. Place six tortillas on a non-stick baking sheet. Spread 1 to 2 tablespoons of hummus onto each tortilla. Sprinkle zucchini matchsticks onto each tortilla followed by crumbled goat cheese. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Top each tortilla with a second tortilla.

Note: you may also add a sprinkle of cheddar cheese into each tortilla before baking if you’d like a more classic quesadilla.

5. Bake tortillas for 10 minutes or until the tortillas are lightly golden brown and the cheese has melted. Cut into quarters. Serve with lime crema, a fresh salsa or guacamole.

Yield: 6 large quesadillas or 24 wedges

Source: loosely adapted from Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill Cookbook