Eat: Easy Microwave Granola

Hello all!

It's no easy feat to write about food while fasting and I am sure you can all agree. I did, however, have to share this delicious recipe I tried out last night before Iftaar. For some reason, I just love watching recipes and food videos while fasting, not sure why but I just do!

Usually when I watch these videos, I end up trying a few things out, just because I have the time to. A great thing about that is that I end up with a lot of food for Iftaar and usually end up having it over a few days. This makes prep very easy and gives more time to doing what we're meant to do during the Holy Month of Ramadan - pray.

This year, Ramadan in Toronto has been particularity difficult - with fasts as long as 17 hours! Anyway, I had a lot of fun making some delicious things yesterday, including some beef kebab skewers, a flour-less cake and delicious (and easy) granola! I loved how it turned out. I did swap out some ingredients to use what I already had on hand. I used Agave for my sweetener and a combination of rolled oats, steel cut oats, chopped almonds and unsweetened chocolate (added after it was cool) and a drizzle of honey on top once it was ready and cooled.

 

I got the recipe from Gemma Stafford of Bigger Bolder Baking - one of my fave cooking channels on YouTube. She has popular meals that are really easy to make. This microwave granola was from the video below. I will definitely be trying and sharing results of more things I make in the microwave.

I would love to see what you make in your microwave using these fab recipes. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook to get updates on blog posts and other things I am making/doing!

 Hope you enjoyed!

Halal-on-the-Go to the rescue!

Well, the wedding is officially a week away and I couldn't be more excited (and stressed/nervous and so on! It's been a great experience going through this process and maybe one day wedding planning will excite me again, but right now I'm a teeeensy but exhausted and really just want to move into my new place and start working my decorating project. Yes, I will always need to be on the go and busy to be me! 

The one thing that I have learnt through this process is to always be prepared in advance. If there are things that can be done before, just get them out of the way. Why wait until the 11th hour? You'll be plenty busy and have way too many unexpected things pop up out of nowhere, things you just didn't expect! 

A little over a month ago, a family member sprained their ankle and while it's still healing, AH it's getting much better. I also had lots to work back and forth with my caterer, decorator, planner, venue and everyone in my family - it's been pretty crazy! And with all of that, I was simultaneously moving into a new apartment, setting it up to be ready for next weekend and getting a bunch of paperwork setup for that. So to say I was busy, is just hitting the surface. 

A big thing that I always do is prep in advance for my week (since work isn't really optional!) is to meal plan. When it comes to crazy busy times it's harder to want to spend time making food when you can just buy some. With trying to eat healthy and work out all during wedding season, you've got to really plan everything out. That's where these amazing chicken pies come in! 

Honestly when I was asked to give them a try, I opened my arms with a giant sigh of relief! Getting a filling meal in a one minute microwave pack was a lifesaver in these last few weeks. I kept a few packs at the office and had some at my new apartment and obviously a bunch at home. The best part was that everyone loves them (Including bridesmaids who've been dragged to your house for more DIY projects....). With healthy options and white meat, it really was the best part of this crazy time. 

Eating fast, halal, healthy food isn't always possible and Mortimer's Halal Kitchen made it really easy to do everything I needed to without worrying about food. You can find these delicious Halal-on-the-Go pies at your local FreshCo, Sobeys and Longos in the meat department. If they don't carry them, ask them to order them in! Don't forget to like their Facebook page to keep up with new products and learn more about the current ones! 

Want to try some on me? Just follow the instructions on my Instagram post to enter to win a $50 grocery card from Sobeys. 

Good Luck! 

Eat: 2016 Cookie Swap

I thought really hard about hosting a cookie swap this year as I've been extremely swamped with so much going on at work, with the wedding, I am back in school etc. I decided not to forego it this year because I really do love doing it and so do all of my friends. Compared to last year, this one was pretty small but I am quite happy with the results - especially because it did not take me as much work as it has in the past.

Generally, I send an email out (with a fancy graphic/digital card) to a select group of friends to ask who wants to participate, what dates work etc. After this, I share a google doc with a form for everyone to fill in what they will be making so that we don't have duplicate. I also have them email me their recipes so I can create a book for them to go home with. This year I did none of that, save for the email to ask who would be able to make it. The best way to organize a cookie swap usually involves all these steps but it had to be quick this time! I did not even email everyone until really late in the month and asked if they could attend within two given dates. Although not everyone could make it because of this, I had a great time, ate lots of sweets and still got plenty of cookies to share.

I took lots of photos for some great Cookie Swap inspiration. This year, I got the tags and labels from Confetti Sunshine's  printable and customized them to work with what I needed.

Let me know what you think!

Eat: The bottomless pit of Foodie videos

You know that moment where you get onto YouTube to watch one tutorial on how to do just one quick thing but end up in the black hole of video-watching? Well that's me, all. the. time. I can't stop watching videos or going through an entire channel if I come across awesome food videos.

Watching food videos mesmerizes me, I get all these ideas of all the possibilities of what I can make, what amazing dinners I could have and I just automatically imagine myself calmly chopping away in the kitchen with a beautiful dinner setup, awaiting my guests as I plate immaculate looking dishes. I almost immediately I start making a list of every ingredient and utensil used in the video and take note the garnishes and plating style. Even as I read this, I feel like Becky Bloomwood from Shopaholic - like that time she went all nuts buying dishes, utensils, sauces and spices to make a fab dinner to save money but ended up being unable to cook and spent more money than she would have if she just continued to buy food instead! Call me crazy, but I am still aiming to do this pretty often as soon as I move into my new place. I hope I can cook alright!

So back to where I was - Back on YouTube, I was browsing away until I saw an ad on my page for the PC (President's Choice) Insider's Collection videos. I love PC products - especially the black label of higher end products. They only further my imagination of cooking extravagant meals for dinner parties. I almost instantly wanted drive down the street to my local Loblaw store, hit up the shelves and come home with potential in a shopping bag. 

It's not like I can't cook - I just don't know if I tend to go overboard on my planning phase and realize too late that I have aimed too high....(most of the time that's the case). But if you know me well enough, then you know I love throwing dinner parties, hosting friends and entertaining. This stuff was made for me and I don't think I'll ever get out of that habit!

My next thing is to attempt some of the dishes I saw on the PC YouTube channel. You are also welcome to pretend that my dinners will look exactly like these! Here are some of my favorite ones that I hope to recreate!

 Let me know what you think you would try making from these videos.

Paper, Plants and Provisions

Just as we hit the halfway point of Ramadan, I finally found some time to write a blog post, host a dinner and make it my kinda fancy.

I called my friends over for a small iftaar and realized that I enjoy hosting smaller groups of people now in comparison to when I was much younger and called everyone I even kind of knew to come over to my place. That was also when I was completely okay with a messy bed and tons of people cramped in a room — glad that phase is long gone.

Here's a look at how I served up a delicious meal, made a beautiful table scape and it took less than two hours to put it all together.

The Tablescape: I used scrapbook paper as placemats. This helped keep them all a little different, yet match in terms of colour scheme at the same time. I used the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan collection from American Crafts - one of my favourite lines of paper.

I cut out mason jars from another sheet of the same collection and used that as simple place cards. These stood up with clothing pegs and I hand-stamped names for each person. They were a definite hit. Everyone loved them!

I added to the mason jar love by putting candles into mini jars across the table, incorporated my mason jar potted mint into the centrepiece and used my 1920's Ball Mason jar as a vase for my flowers. I clustered my succulents onto a lazy Susan with the other elements and it looked great!

On the Menu: For the main, I made a delicious and easy baked spaghetti dish with whole grain pasta, ground beef, low fat ricotta, skim mozzarella and parmesan. I will include the recipe after the break.

For the apps, we had spicy hummus with pita and home made lavash (followed this recipe), whole grain bread & butter and puffed chicken pastries. Everyone drank San Pellegrino Limonata (my fave!) and some Bamboozled ice tea from David's Tea. We finished off with some delicious mousse desserts.

 

Baked Spaghetti:

8oz cooked whole wheat spaghetti

2 tablespoons of butter OR margarine1 cup grated Parmesan cheese - divided1 tub of low fat ricotta cheese 1 lb ground beef - browned1 can spaghetti sauce250g skim mozzarella cheese — shredded for top layer
Spices and/or herbs of choice. I used dried basil, salt and chilli flakes 


Directions:1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking tray with foil.2.  Add butter to hot cooked spaghetti and stir until butter melts and coats spaghetti.  Add 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; stir to coat.  
3. Add spaghetti to a foil-lined pan in an even layer.  
4. Spread ricotta cheese over spaghetti and sprinkle it with half of the remaining Parmesan cheese.  
5. Brown ground beef and burn away any water. Add pasta sauce, spices, salt and herbs. Mix well and let it cook for a bit on Medium. 
6. Evenly spoon it as the next layer on top of the cheese.  
7. Top with mozzarella cheese and remaining Parmesan cheese.
8.  Cover with foil — try to leave some space so the cheese does not stick and bake for 30 minutes. 
9. Remove foil cover and continue baking 15 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!