Makeover time

So Beaglebea got a makeover.  What do you think?  I wanted to leave the header picture, but it just didn’t match the background anymore.  I really do love sunrises and sunsets and this sunrise was taken last summer while I was walking Buster one early morning. 

Finding this picture also made me a little happier today, since this horrible weather is just depressing.  Oh Mr. Sunshine, won ‘t you please come out and play again?

I haven’t been up to too much lately, so I will leave you with a couple of foodie pics.

Cinnamon French toast made with 1 free-range organic egg, So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk and Agave nectar…. served with Liberté Natural Non-fat Greek Yogurt, 1 apple and 1 tsp. maple syrup. 

(Not in the picture)….I had a coffee with my breakfast as well.

Spicy Prawns and Mushrooms with Organic Whole Wheat Orzo…recipe to be posted soon.

Have a great day everyone

Bea

xoxo

Brought to you by the letter “A”

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.  Do anything interesting?

Well since it’s been raining all day again, I had to come up with a creative way to spend my day.  I took a peek through my fridge to find ways to use up the rest of my produce before my grocery shop tomorrow and came across a very lonely avocado.  Lately I’ve been eating a lot of avocados in my smoothies, but wanted to use it up differently. 

A little while back I tried out one of Angela’s recipes that looked oh so temping…her Chocolate Torte.  She uses avocados as her base for the filling and like I said before, you’d never taste it.  So I thought why not recreate something of that sort.  So instead of making an entire torte, I decided to make a simple Silken Chocolate Pudding.  (pictures taken on my Blackberry until I get a new camera – sorry for the low quality)

Ingredients and directions for 4 large servings

Place the following ingredients into you Vitamix or Food processor….

• 2 ripe avocados
• 1/4 cup organic raw cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup raw agave nectar
• 2 Teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 Teaspoons of Navita’s Naturals Protein Twister Blend
• 1 Teaspoon Olive Oil (or coconut oil)

Turn on the mixer and gradually add ….. 1/4 cup So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Beverage (or almond milk if you so desire) until you get the consistency that you desire. 

For all those sceptics, believe you me when I say that the avocados cannot be tasted at all.  The cocoa masks their taste.  I’m not a big fan of guacamole because I’m not a huge fan of avocados.  Just make sure you buy ripe avocados.

But if you really want to taste some decadent, rich, chocolaty goodness that’s good for you, you must try this.  Yes, it does have 250 calories per serving (an the servings are fairly large, so feel free to have less), but it’s a healthy fat and definitely satisfies anybody’s chocolate craving.

Even better…it’s raw, vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, and dairy-free!

Back again soon.

Bea

xoxo

Low-fat Chocolicious Brownie muffins

VEGAN + DAIRY-FREE

What can I say about this post other than …. hmm hmm chocolaty good.  I haven’t consumed any treats in such a long time and then I came across a recipe (I can’t remember where though) that featured So Delicious Coconut milk as one of ingredients.  And guess who happened to have an open carton in the fridge… I just had to use it up before it went bad…how could I not? 

Take a look at these bad boys…and they are relatively healthy too. I customized the recipe to my own preference to make them a little more healthy than the original version. Next time I am also going to attempt a gluten-free version of these muffins, but for now, they will have to do with being vegan + dairy-free. I wish I could remember where the original version came from…doh!

Ingredients

• 2 cups Spelt Flour
• 3/4 cup pure cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder (gluten-free and aluminum free)
• 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup 100% pure pumpkin purée
• 1/4 cup raw agave syrup
• 1/2 cup strong brewed espresso
• 1/2 cup So Delicious Vanilla Cocunut milk
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract ( I put in a tad more since I love the flavour)
• 2 Tbsp.  olive oil
• 1 handful of organic semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

• Yield:  12 muffins
• Preheat the oven to 350F.
• In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
• In a medium bowl, whisk maple syrup, pumpkin purée, agave syrup, coffee, coconut milk and vanilla.
• Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Add the chocolate chips. 
• Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins about 3/4 full. 
• Bake for 28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out nearly clean.

You will notice the batter is quite stiff and the muffins are very dense, just like a brownie. 

 

They definitely have the consistency of a brownie.

Careful to not over bake them as I think they may get too dry.  They taste great and have a slight coffee aroma.  What I loved about these is that they do not contain one ounce of refined sugar or flour and only 2 Tbsp. of olive oil for the entire recipe.  Doesn’t get much better than that.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I did. But remember, eat in moderation!

Bea

xoxo

What I bought Wednesday

In my last post I showed you a picture of what I bought while on my food adventures in Vancouver…so here is more of that…..

This cocoa powder is DA BOMB…it’s something I grew up on… has a perfect sweetness and dissolves amazingly well in cold milk…not like that Nesquick cocoa powder stuff that is all grainy in cold milk. 

I decided to try out a couple of new Truffle infused olive oils… one with Black Truffles and one with White Truffles…so excited to start using them.

These goat cheeses come from a beautiful island here on the West Coast called Salt Spring Island.  I can get these cheeses back home too, but they are quite a bit cheeper over here.  Can you notice a common theme of mine today?  More truffle infused foods..but how could I resist?  The one with the purple flower is just a regular goat’s cheese.

Some fresh mozzarella…hmm.

Vega Chocolate Smoothie mix..can’t wait to try it.  Anybody else enjoy Brendan Brazier’s products?  I love that they are plant based and focus on whole foods.

I thought this product was Gluten-Free, but when I got home I noticed it wasn’t. Oh well… still looks interesting and can’t wait to try this too.

Another truffle product…I bought a couple of these last year when I was visiting and it was AMAZING.

Pecorino and Truffle Sauce….more droooollllssss

Bosa Foods carries a wonderful selection of fresh pastas… I usually buy a couple of flavours when I go there and then freeze them in ziplock bags for when I go home. 

These cute orange Sacchetti’s are filled with a Smoked Gouda…one of my all-time favorites… I love how they look like little bags of money.

Don’t these remind you of pillows?  Striped Porcini Ravioli.

I only ever usually buy sausages when I visit Bosa… these are fresh Honey Garlic Sausages… my mom vacuum sealed them for me when we got home in bags of 2. 

I was so stoked to find this at Whole Foods…. I can’t find it anywhere else.  Any Canadian bloggers know of where we can get this north of the border? 

And Bosa also sells really cool plates and bowls and mugs… I really liked these bowls, so I bought two It’s been a really long time since I’ve bought any thing to do with dishes for the house.

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What do you look forward to buying when you go to Whole Foods Market? 

Anybody know where to buy So Delicious Milk in Canada? 

With Love

Bea

xoxo