Farmer's Market meals

One of my favourite things about June is the start of the Farmer's Market. I've been helping with our clinic's booth at Fairmount park in Toronto (details HERE) and it has easily become the best day of the week!

The fresh fruit and vegetables are always enticing, especially when the farmers cut the grown sprouts right in front of you. Many vendors have gluten-free and vegan food options ranging from cookies and nanaimo bars to spinach lentil curry with rice. The coordinators and other vendors are some of the nicest people I've met and there's a true sense of community all around.

So how do you make a meal using farm fresh ingredients? Or how do you improvise a meal with very few ingredients? Well, knowing I'd be starving after a long day and a nice evening run, I grabbed a few items totaling $20:

Bag of arugula
Bag of sunflower sprouts
6 Hot Turkey pepperettes
and a bundle of multi-coloured tomatoes

When I got home I rinsed the greens and put them in a bowl. On top I added:
one ripe yellow tomato, chopped
1.5 turkey pepperettes, chopped
Some fresh basil and a few blueberries

The dressing:
About 2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
a splash of orange juice
1 tsp honey
salt and pepper to taste

The salad turned out great! Light enough for the end of the night, but filling enough that my tummy is happy. The only thing I'd change would be blueberries. The other flavours went great together. And the best part is that I still have so much left over. I guess we'll see what next week brings and what new combo I'll put together :)

10 things you should have in your kitchen to make cooking enjoyable

Cooking is like meditation. When in the kitchen I sometimes imagine I'm on my own cooking show. When you have the right tools for the job it makes it that much more enjoyable. I believe that about many things. With the right running shoes, walking and running is awesome! With the right tunes, a long car ride just turned into a sweet playlist marathon. The same is true about cooking.

1) A good cutting board. I love my bamboo board. It was free from a pharmacy convention a few years ago and it has stood up to the task of handling my veggie cutting needs. It's easy to clean, is durable and is a good large size so it stays put on my counter

2) One really great chef's knife. A chef's knife is the broad one used for many chopping needs (well, obviously). Mine is from the Pampered Chef and is my ultimate chopping tool. A dull knife is like a cooking mood killer. You'll work harder than you need to, it'll take longer to make dinner and can be very frustrating. Invest in one really great sharp chopping knife.

3) Speaking of knives, I also really love a good pairing knife. But mostly because of how much I hate eating apple skins, so having a knife that's the perfect size for peeling off apple skins just makes me so happy. Really that's it. I just can't stand the peel of an apple. If there's something you really dislike, get a kitchen tool for that exact purpose and it'll make life much better.

4) Magic Bullet. This thing is so versatile that it should be in every home. The extra blade (the flat one) is so worth it, you'll ground flax seeds and coffee beans as if they are being crushed by the Hulk. Not only can you "bullet" practically anything, but this truly "magical" appliance will give you latte/cappuccino foam WITHOUT A CAPPUCCINO MAKER.
Brewed coffee + 1 tsp coconut oil + magic bullet (and sprinkle with cinnamon) = a foam-topped coffee treat

5) A slow cooker. Not only will this miracle-maker cause even the toughest cuts meats to slide apart like butter, but it only requires you to throw a bunch of stuff in it when you're groggy in the morning and then you come home to a delicious-smelling house and DINNER. It's ready! You don't have to do anything other than put it on a plate, and even that's debatable. A word of caution though - you cannot be so groggy that you forget to turn it on. One of the most disappointing things in the world is to come home anticipating the smell of cooked roast and finding it raw and cold. 

6) A silicone flipper. There's nothing more heartbreaking then trying to flip over an egg in a pan, it getting stuck on some half-melted jagged edge of your plastic flipper and it breaking the egg like a hyena ripping apart its prey. I think that's all I need to say. Get a non-stick silicone flipper... it's like a whole new world of egg-flipping.

7) Parchment paper. You can use it for anything and everything that goes in your oven. I line baking sheets and baking pans with it. Basically anything that I don't want to scrub clean for an hour afterwards. There's no need to worry about ingesting or absorbing aluminum. There's no wax-paper-melting-in-your-oven-because-you-didn't-know-wax-paper-would-melt-in-your-oven. But it works the same way that wax paper would - making everything not stick. Cookies bake nicer, chicken doesn't char to your pan, brownie bits aren't clinging to the walls of your pan. It's a win-win-win: it's compostable, makes cleaning up easier and leaves you with more brownie bits to eat.

8) An immersion blender. You will make soups if you have an immersion blender. And they're really fun to use. And easy to clean. Basically soften your veggies in vegetable or chicken broth (this is great for squash soups) then immersion blend it and you have perfect soup. No need to "transfer half the contents of your pot to a blender and work in batches". This old-school method will lead to the lid blowing off your blender, soup on your ceiling and burn marks on your face. An immersion blender is the easy way out. Blend in the pot, push a button and the blade end comes off for easy cleaning.

9) A radio or music dock in your kitchen (less practical for cooking, but makes it more fun).

10) A sous-chef. My boyfriend and I take turns being each others' sous chef. One of us will take charge while the other one assists. We start yelling things out like they do on TV like "Yes Chef!", "Five minutes for the mushrooms!" and "BEHIND!" when we're walking behind each other with hot or sharp things. A sous-chef makes cooking more enjoyable because you have help and it's something fun to do together. Then you get to sit and enjoy this amazing dish you both created.

Goal setting with your workout plan

I'm not a fan of the word "exercise" because it sounds like a chore. Instead I call it a workout. Because it's work, but it's something I enjoy doing and it makes me feel awesome :)

You can get out of that "exercise plan" mentality by changing it to a workout goal; a strengthening goal. And goals are freaking amazing!

I ran my first 10km race last weekend and finished at 53:41. For anyone who runs a lot, this may not seem like a very competitive time, but for me, it was my personal best and I'm ecstatic about it! Considering I've only been running for 2 years, a 10k was my marathon. Almost a full hour of running, not tiring, not feeling too sore, controlled breathing... it's a lot of work to get to that point. But I signed up for this race, along with 3 amazing girlfriends and decided that I would not let myself down. I would finish in under an hour.

Setting this goal was important. And the fact that I had to pay for this event meant that this was some serious business! I ran twice per week (adding in strength training and hip work through the week), extending my distances and using "Map my run" to keep track of my pace and distance. I made motivating playlists filled with songs that made me happy and picked beautiful scenic trails to run. The fact that I was happy and my soul felt free made up for my exhausted lungs, my red flushed face and my legs that were sore by kilometer 8, but on auto-pilot.

I also translated my goals to yoga. They call it a "practice" for a reason. Keep practicing and you keep improving. Flexibility gets better the more you stretch a muscle. Balance is more stable the more you use those muscles that keep you in that position. My "Royal dancer" went from wobbly to sturdy and extended. I went from staying in a lunge for a few seconds, to deepening it and wrapping my arms around my legs at the same time.

There's always room for improvement (I'm now working on arm balances and headstands!) but what keeps you going is that goal. Have a goal in mind, dedicate yourself to it and celebrate when you achieve it! My other advice is to keep your goal reasonable. I wasn't about to go straight from running 5km's to doing an actual marathon. It's about steps. Choose your next step, work hard and be proud of yourself.

My view along the waterfront trail

Nurturing your soul

Self-reflection is one of the most valuable concepts and exercises. My last blog post was almost a full year ago to the day and today was the day I chose to read such reflection from about that time. I've taken some time off to work on myself. I've learned many lessons, ones that I will undoubtedly share but for now I wanted to talk about nurturing your soul.

On my journey of self-reflection I learned about nurturing my soul. It was something that I've tried to keep with me, tried to remember, but life gets busy. We put others before ourselves, we put commitments ahead of what we truly want to do with our time and we start to lose ourselves. That's what I felt. My wake up call was when my partner told me that I had been unhappy for quite a while (since starting a new job). I thought I was happy but I stopped doing things that nurtured my soul. You probably already know what these things are - if not, you may want to start a list.

Examples of things that are on my list (if you need some inspiration): running, yoga (especially when you get to lay down at the end!), hiking through the forest, talking to my sister, head massages, reading while drinking the perfect cup of coffee, making a pillow fort and cuddling with our big puppy. 

Think about what makes you happy. What makes you feel like you? My work schedule occupies a lot of my time, so I dedicate those spare minutes and hours to my sanity. I had to stop taking that job so seriously and stop devoting all my energy to it; because at the end of the day, there was nothing left for me.

There are times we need to be selfish - but it's not selfish at all. It's about taking care of ourselves so that we can be well enough to take care of others and serve our purpose in this life.

It's like that safety talk that they give you on an airplane. If the oxygen masks drop, you're instructed to put it on yourself before you help your loved ones put theirs on. If you don't put the mask on yourself first, you won't be conscious long enough to help anyone else. 

Hitting the reset button on your body when you're feeling the effects of stress and anxiety

Sometimes you just need to hit the reset button and there's no better time than now (actually, I was going to say the Spring). Spring clean your body! Every once in a while we just need a reminder. We get stuck in a routine, or things come up in life... maybe you've had a hectic week. That's okay. In real life, shit happens. So take care of business and then get back to taking care of you.

The following are suggestive guidelines that help prime the body for handling stress and decreasing anxiety. 

1. Eliminate stimulants: caffeine, nicotine and preservatives (like MSG). Although you may feel like your 4 coffees per day keeps you going, in some situations (anxiety being the big one) it can actually be more taxing on your system and cause you to be more anxious! After the first few days of "coffee withdrawal" you'll start feeling a lot better and you'll stop craving it. If you're not as anxious, stick to no more than one cuppa joe per day.  

2. Eliminate consumption of refined sugar, sucrose, dextrose and other sweeteners such as corn syrup. This is another substance that can be very addictive and puts more stress on your body and your immune system.  

3. Reduce or eliminate refined and processed foods from the diet as much as possible. Replace with whole and fresh foods which will work with your body to provide proper nutrition without added fillers that do nothing for you but weigh you down (figuratively and literally).
 
4. Avoid foods that you have an allergy or sensitivity to. Easier said than done, as many of us are sensitive to gluten and dairy, but it'll make a huge difference in multiple areas of your well-being (including but not limited to memory, concentration, gut health and function, healthy bowel movements, clearer skin, energy, and so on).  

5. Reduce consumption of red meat as well as poultry containing steroid hormones and other chemicals. Replace with organically fed and free-range lean meats and seafood. But remember to avoid big game fish like swordfish, and tuna which have higher levels of mercury.  

6. Increase intake of dietary fiber. It'll help clear out your gut and remove anything old that's been lingering. Regular bowel movements make for happy bodies. No one wants to hang onto a bunch of crap. Your body feels the same way.  

7. Drink water throughout the day - At least 1L per day, but up to 2L is optimal. Hydration is key. It can help prevent headaches, dry skin and moodiness.  

8. Increase vegetables. Okay, so this one is kind of redundant, but I can't stress it enough. Think of veggies are your natural vitamins. At least 1/2 to 2/3 of your plate should be veggies. You'll fill up faster than you would eating something like a bowl of pasta, and the nutrient content is so much higher. Natural vitamins can help correct deficiencies which = happy people.  

9. Reduce "bad" fats and increase intake of the "good"/helpful ones. Toss away the corn oil, canola oil, fatty cuts of red meat, and replace them with fish, avocados, olive oil, walnuts, flax and coconut oil. Overall, you should have more omega-3's in your diet than omega-6s. Keep the scale balanced towards omega-3's and your mood will improve, your skin will look better, and inflammation goes down.  

10. Do at least one thing per day that brings you joy. Sounds simple, but most of us spend so much time taking care of everyone else, or worrying about different things that we forget to live in the moment and think about what we need. Laugh at something, do something fun, no matter how small. If it makes you smile, laugh or feel warm and fuzzy, it's worth it. 

Is organic really worth it? What are you getting for your extra monies?

Hello Fox Friends,

So my partner knows I can be a bit quirky, but a recent discussion had him thinking I was downright insane until I performed an experiment to show him what on earth I was talking about.

Many of you know how much I'm in love with organic celery. It's the best effing celery I've ever had! When I see that my grocery store has organic celery in stock, I go crazy like a kid in Wonka's factory (not that I turn into a blueberry, or a stalk of celery for that fact, but that I want to take home all the organic celery that I can and eat it!).

My partner let this one slide because he knows I can be a little crazy. But then I tried organic cabbage and my world was turned upside down (in the best way possible).

I originally bought the organic one because it's a bit smaller, and for 1-2 people, I don't need a 10lb cabbage head. So the organic variety was the perfect size! Then I cut into it and was amazed...
This didn't look like the cabbage I was used to. The cabbage leaves looked like this intricate pattern of vegetable beauty.

So the other night while making dinner, I start telling him how incredible organic cabbage is and he wouldn't believe the difference! He looked at me like I was crazy, but cute, and I vowed to show him the ways of organic cabbage.

I went to the giant Loblaws in my neck of the woods (north Toronto) and got 2 cabbages: organic (left) and regular (right), and did a side-by-side comparison:

Okay, so my iPhone doesn't take the greatest quality pictures, but you can see the differences. Look at the colours, the pattern, the shape. Those are firm outer cabbage "leaves" on the left.. thick and crisp!

I showed my roommate and she agreed. And then we began to discuss how much better the one on the left probably tastes (and we were right).

So the big question: Is organic worth it?

When you buy produce it's a matter of quality. Looking at the two cabbages above, it probably wouldn't matter which one was organic and not... I would pick the cabbage on the left because it looks better, it looks more natural, it tastes better and the size is more proportionate to my kitchen/cooking needs.

If you can taste and see absolutely no difference between organic carrots and regular carrots, buy whichever is cheaper. But if you look at the two side-by-side and one obviously looks like the "healthier"/better carrot, than get that one.

There's another video out on YouTube with a little girl who shows the difference in sweet potatoes grown traditionally (with pesticides) and organic... the organic one sprouted and the regular one stayed in a type of "stasis" and did nothing. I also tried this... just keeping 2 kinds of sweet potatoes in my pantry, and low-and-behold! the organic one did in fact start sprouting roots while the regular one stayed a boring potato and eventually got soft and went bad.

The moral of the story: Something is worth the extra money if you decide it has that extra value. Stop worrying about what everyone else says... stop listening to the news and the fear that's associated with our food. Try it for yourself. Look at it, feel it, taste it. What is honestly the better quality product to you? Can you afford to buy the better quality?

Don't buy organic for organic's sake. Buy it because you think the product is awesome! because it tastes better, looks better and is more like a real plant. Pick and choose which produce items are worth it, and for everything else, just buy regular (like avocados... the organic vs. regular look and taste the same to me).

Remember that each time you buy something, you're voting for it! You're telling the supplier what you want to buy. And vote for WHERE you want to buy it. If you're super pissed off that a huge Wal-Mart just took over your town, then don't shop there... support your local businesses. Spring is almost here - buy from your local farmer's market!

What to expect with winter running

I've been in super lazy mode since back from vacation and now with the holiday's coming up. Blogging has definitely taken the backseat and I apologize, but sometimes it's nice to step away from the computer.

I've realized how hard it is to keep up with technology and that sometimes, I just don't want to. I mean, think about it, your cell/smart phone is outdated after having it for 2 years. There have been about 4-5 operating systems that have come out since I bought my MacBook.

Our society is so reliant on technology that sometimes - although I do love Netflix - I have to take a break from it; not look at my computer screen for a while. Or if I do, it's to play a game.. on my own time. I signed up for Twitter about a month or two ago and have barely used it. I don't get the point of it. It's so much work! And there's so much information out there that it's overwhelming.

So instead, I went running out in the snow. I'm starting a "Toronto-winter-can-suck-my-lady-balls" movement. I'm rebelling against the -15 degree weather, the windchills, and the fact that the city doesn't like to clear all sidewalks/roads of snow, by still running.

Of course it has it's ups and downs. I tried running in my hometown which isn't far from here, but on that day, the -15 windchill really did kick my ass and after 10 minutes out on the snowy streets I had had enough.

Yesterday was a fairly good success. Here's my list of things you should know before running on the snow:

1) Do not get confused... you're not running THROUGH the snow like a kid on a snow-day in their winter boots and snow pants who's ecstatic. That kid doesn't need to go very far... I needed to run 6.5km. So I was running ON snow; Slippery packed snow that is.

2) Try to stay on a level surface and don't get off your trail. One minor sideways slope paired with a mis-step and you're falling over - guaranteed. The only positive thing is that you're likely to fall over into a snow bank which is great for breaking your fall.

3) Running on slippery snow is like running in a dream. You're putting in much more effort and not going as far. It can be super frustrating, but hang in there... remember how pretty the snow is, and leave extra time for your run.

4) Most people don't like running or hiking on snowy trails, so they'll be less people to get into your way. This is a bonus. However, watch out for cross-country skiiers. Tripping over one will leave you tangled and bruised.

5) Bundle up appropriately. Good idea: a few thin layers with long socks, running hat and mits/gloves. Long socks are the greatest thing in the world... next to actual leg warmers.

6) You know that feeling after you've jumped on a trampoline and then you try to jump on the regular ground and you feel so much heavier? Well, expect a similar but opposite feeling when you go from running on slippery snow to the pavement. It's like all of a sudden your feet have traction. Like you're running faster and with less effort! But don't be fooled; it doesn't last long and Toronto apparently doesn't like to have all of their sidewalks cleared of snow or salted.

7) Bring Kleenex.

8) Have a great playlist. It'll distract you from the cold.

9) Know when to give up to save yourself from frostbite. I might be a little crazy, but I'm not stupid. If it's truly too cold out, it's best to opt for an indoor workout and save your nose and fingers from going necrotic and falling off.

10) Don't try to switch songs on your phone/player while you're in motion. Taking your eyes off the trail/road will leave you vulnerable to the slippery and uneven ground; making it 80% more likely that you will slip and fall (The 80% is an estimate... that's what it felt like).

I'm going to keep going as long as possible into the winter. I know it's going to get worse here and there are days I really won't be able to go out. But running outside is still so much more superior to running on a treadmill. Get outside even if you don't run. Be that kid in snow-pants running through snow, making snow angels, having snowball fights. Go skiing or sledding! Don't let snow be the pain the ass that it is when it's covering your car and your driveway and causing accidents all over the highway. This weekend, get out and have some fun :)