Basil…So Much Basil & Other Yummy Garden Things

Jul20

So despite the drought conditions her in BC this summer is proving to be spectacular for our garden! We’ve been enjoying carrots, spinach, lettuce, sage, thyme, cucumbers, peppers, potatoes, beets, onions, radishes, peas, eggplant, zucchini, beans, mint, and basil so far!

I’m pretty excited our corn is well on it’s way to being ready and I’ve got some little pumpkins and a random giant squash looking good! I’m trying not to eat the green tomatoes but I make no promises!

While everything is doing well the basil is unstoppable! I’ve eaten my fair share raw, in salads, pasta, and bruschetta! Tonight I decided to process some into a paste with garlic and olive oil to freeze for use later when we don’t have all this fresh!

Basically it’s the same process as making pesto minus the nuts and cheese!

Wash and dry your fresh basil leaves and pulse through your food processor with olive oil and fresh garlic! I used one tablespoon of olive oil per packed cup of basil leaves, with two garlic cloves! It smells amazing!! After it was processed I scooped into individual portion cups to freeze! Easy and a great way to avoid wasting your beautiful fresh basil.

You wind up with considerably less then you started with but these little frozen herb pucks will pack big flavor when you decide to use them! They work great in pesto, pasta sauce, on buttered pasta, omelettes, bruschetta, in scrambled eggs and in homemade salad dressing!!

Low Fat Zucchini Muffins!!

Jul16

Good morning old friends! I know it’s been awhile again! I’m very busy being a Mom but I promise I havent forgotten about my blog!

Yesterday my tiny love decided to go back to sleep after breakfast and I took full advantage by getting in the kitchen to bake!! I’ve been baking lots, just not posting about it! Well I managed to snap some photos yesterday so I could share these lovely, healthy zucchini muffins with you!

I rejoined Weigh watchers to get back on track. These little muffins will set you back 150 calories or 3 Weight watchers points but are well worth it in my opinion! They bake up moist and are very low in fat.

Ingredients
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1-1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp melted butter
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1-1/2 cups shredded zucchini not peeled, loosely packed

Method
Combine flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and baking soda. Gently fluff with a fork and add in chocolate chips

In another bowl combine butter, zucchini, vanilla, egg, and apple sauce.

Once mixed add to a well in the dry ingredients and fold to combine.

Divide between 18 standard muffin tins (12 if you aren’t concerned about slightly higher calories) sprayed with non stock spray and bake for 22 minutes at 325 degrees until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

These muffins are perfect for breakfast or as sweet treat with a cup of tea! It’s nice to know these are a sweet treat that won’t derail your healthy living efforts!

It’s Been Awhile…

May21

So my little man is 15 weeks old as of yesterday. I’m not sure where the last four months have gone, but wow. Being a Mom is the most amazing experience ever. Everyday this little boy makes me smile, makes me think, and teaches me something. Some moments are hard and frustrating, I won’t lie to you! But when Jacob looks at me and smiles all the hard goes away. Being a Mom has taught me so much already and has changed the very essence of who I am.

My life is currently nothing like I expected it to be at this point. When I was pregnant and thinking about life with a newborn I had all these ideas of how our days would go! I thought we’d have a schedule, you know… A bed time, bath time, nap time, play time, meal times! That Id have a set time to go to the gym for a little me time. I figured by mid May Id be well on my way with Seawheeze training! I was vastly unprepared for this new life!! I didn’t take my health issues into concern when I day dreamed about my new picture perfect Mommy adventure!! I don’t know why it never crossed my mind that throwing up for nine months straight due to Hypermesiss would leave my body with some fallout and battle wounds. It never hit me my recovery would be the same side effects as that of bulimics. I definitely didn’t think my husband would be in a horrible car accident a month prior to our sons birth leaving him with spine damage and unable to work and more importantly unable to hold his son without pain.

My health has been a constant issue since I gave birth. I was in labor for 36 hours, 16 of those being hard, active labor. I’m told I handled it like a rock star! It was a natural no pain killer sort of showdown. I had my family, Kevin’s parents and my best friend there for the big event. Yes in the room with us, because being pregnant gave me this big emotional feeling of how important family togetherness is!! Fyi that feeling is gone now! It wasn’t until the weeks following birth that I realized something wasn’t right. I quickly realized I needed to see a doctor. I learned I had partially retained the placenta. It was weeks of back and forth with the surgeon, ultrasounds, special medication. I see my doctor again today and I’m guessing another ultrasound. I also quickly realized after giving birth that I wasn’t producing Breastmilk. After two full exhausting months of pills, pumping, supplements, lactation consultants, Brewers yeast, massage, tea, lactation cookies, and tears I gave up. I couldn’t mentally or physically put myself through 7 pumps a day to collect a total of 1 oz of Breastmilk. In the end they chalked the poor production up to the fact I was in starvation mode for 9 months due to the hypermesis. I was extremely malnourished and my body was fighting to keep me alive rendering it unable to produce milk. It was disappointing to be unable to provide my child with nourishment. I cried a lot until I became vocal in the topic. All the sudden I had other women quietly coming to me and confiding they didn’t produce either! This isn’t an uncommon thing! It’s just not talked about and that is sad! No new Mom should be left thinking it’s her fault her body won’t produce milk!

My little formula fed baby is growing, developing, learning, and stealing hearts everyday! I no longer feel any shame about him being formula fed, or my choice to accept the fact my body wasn’t going to produce no matter how hard I tried.

As for the other health issues, well it’s a day to day battle. Between the lupus pain returning post pregnancy and the fact my body is still in starvation/survival mode. The stomach issues, weight gain, anemia, extreme body pain, etc are everyday battles and I try my best to stay positive and trudge through them. All of these things are exasperated for me by the stress of Kevin’s injury.

His car accident happened on New Year’s Eve. We spent New Years in the ER and he’s been in pain ever since. I don’t really want to go into detail at this point but watching him grimace in pain trying to hold his son breaks my heart.

I took this photo yesterday when we took Jacob to the river to enjoy the sunshine. I love this picture because it captures Kevin’s happiness being a Father, but it breaks my heart because I know how much pain he’s in and it’s not fair.

Life is constantly changing, thankfully I know to embrace the little moments.

One of my goals is to get back to blogging on a regular basis. I definitely let it fall off the map during my pregnancy. Writing is therapeutic for me. Plus reviewing local places was a lot of fun, and we enjoyed the perks that came with discovering these hidden gems! I’ve had many people tell me they miss my recipe posts as well. I’m going to do my best to get back to it. Yesterday we checked out opening day of The Langley farmers market and visited Derby Reach park! Last week Emma and I got to see the baby animals at the Cloverdale rodeo up close and personal. These things remind me how much I love BC and I hope to get back to sharing my life with you! Our adventures, local reviews, food and wine!!! Until I get knocked up again 😉

Pinterest Fail!!!

Mar27

Pardon The Quietness Around Here!

Jul6

I’m very busy growing a baby!!!

Lemon Pound Cake

Apr29

Hi friends! As many of you know I’ve gone back to work part time! More about that another time. For now I want to share a recipe with you I’ve been making regularly the last couple months. I always seem to have left over Greek yogurt and sour cream in my fridge. This recipe makes good use of those left overs!

This time around I used lemon yogurt and a few additional ingredients but feel free to do the basic sour cream pound cake by trading the yogurt for sour cream and vanilla for the lemon extract. Also omit the lemon juice, zest and poppy-seeds. You will still wind up with a dense, moist loaf that is great as a base for strawberry shortcake!

The lemon pound cake has a great lemon kick and I like to drizzle it with a little glaze made of lemon juice and powdered sugar.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup lemon yogurt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
Zest from one lemon
Juice from 1/2 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons poppy seeds (optional)

Method
Allow butter, eggs, and yogurt to come to room temperature for best results.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease and lightly flour a loaf pan.

In a stand mixer beat sugar and butter on a low/medium speed for ten minutes. Don’t skip this step!

In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.

Zest and juice lemons, set aside.

Once sugar and butter are light and fluffy add lemon extract and one egg at a time beating for 60 seconds on low after each egg.

Add in zest and lemon juice and mix on low for 30 seconds.

Add in half flour mixture and stir to combine, alternate yogurt and flour mixture until all ingredients are combined.

Be sure to scrape sides of mixer as needed. Stir in poppy seeds if desired.

Transfer mixture to loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes or until tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Remove from pan and allow to cool on rack.

Starting Over

Apr2

“You only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low.”

It’s been a while since I posted anything except recipes! I figured today is as good as any to change that. It’s been a long few months. Being off work has not been anything I expected it to be. I have found myself with zero motivation to eat healthy, workout, etc. I have taken giant strides backwards from where I was because running and working out has caused me too much pain. My mental struggles of being unable to get my body to work with me has been a frustrating experience.

On Monday Kevin and I met with Chris, a personal trainer at a new local gym. We spent four hours with him and it was an amazing experience. Having the chance to voice my experiences and frustrations was almost a cleansing experience. I walked away from the session having realized a number of things.

I realized I have spent the last months letting my illness get the best of me both physically and mentally. I have spent all my time focusing on where I’ve been and not where I’m going. I let the past cloud my vision of where I am today and what I need to do to take care of myself.

I realized I have forgotten to pay attention to what my body can do VS what the Lupus says it can’t. I need to be more realistic about my training goals. I need to embrace the good days and accept the bad days with a little more understanding and grace.

Chris reminded me that those bad days are going to be that much worse if I give up all together. Things will be harder if I continue to let my healthy eating slide.

Somedays I won’t be able to do a full workout or run. Somedays I’m going to hurt. Somedays I’m going to make poor food choices but that doesn’t mean I need to give up completely. One slip doesn’t mean I need to fall off the mountain and sit idly by and let it crumble on top of me.

On Monday I decided to spend the next 30 days embracing the life I have. I decided to go back to square one. The past is done with and where I was 6 months ago, a year ago, 2 years ago no longer has any bearing in where I am today! I’ve decided to embrace what I learned and what I was capable of in the past but to leave it alone and start fresh.

My main goal is to listen to my body. Going back to basics will hopefully reenforce the good healthy habits I know I am capable of embracing. Starting fresh gives me a chance to relearn what works for me right now.

Last night I took the trainers advice and took Muffin for a brisk 30 minute walk to warm up my muscles before jumping on the treadmill and attempting my first “back to basics run” of hopefully many. I walked as I needed and felt strong the whole time! Afterwards again at chris’ advice I spent a good amount of time stretching and foam rolling to avoid aches and hip pain. This morning when I woke up I stretched my legs and was thrilled to feel no post run pain! This was a huge victory for me and reminded me that even though my body isn’t perfect and lupus kicks my ass it can still do some amazing things! I am cautiously optimistic regarding my running. I know I can’t push it and I know that if the Lupus pain flares up I need to reevaluate things. But for today I’m calling it a win!

Today was a gorgeous day and we took Muffin to the park for a 3 km walk. It was nice to be out in the sunshine and fresh air. We came home and made a healthy dinner and then I headed off to the gym for an hour workout.

I keep picturing the little tortoise,from the children’s book The Tortoise and The Hare, not because I feel like I’m racing anyone or myself but because he reminds me that dedication and determination are the stepping stones to my own success.

I’ve spent too much time letting my self perceived failures dictate my current endeavors. I was reminded that nothing is a failure, it’s simply an experience. I realize that despite feeling good the last few days my body will undoubtedly challenge me again in the near future and that is why I realize it’s best for me to take baby steps one day at a time. As cliche as it sounds I really believe baby steps are the answer to my getting back on track. Maybe in a few months I will be strong enough to set more substantial goals, or maybe I won’t. Either way I’m fully committed to starting fresh and embracing myself and all the things my body and mind are capable of doing. It’s a much better option than the self sabotage I’ve grown accustom to the last 6 months!

Chicken Cashew Lettuce Wraps

Mar16

Last summer I ordered something called “Dragon Boats” one night when we went out for dinner and ever since I’ve been meaning to try to make them at home. Tonight I did, with fantastic results! They are fresh and flavorful. I used leaf lettuce as the wraps but you could use whatever kind of lettuce you like.

Ingredients
3 chicken breasts
1 cup dry chow mien noodles
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 cup chopped pepper
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1 can sliced water chestnuts drained
1/2 cashews
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Thai chili paste
4 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon chili sauce (more for spicier)
Handful of cilantro
3 sliced green onions
1 head of lettuce of your choice

Method
Heat a tablespoon olive oil over medium heat and toss chow mien noodles in heated pan for 2 minutes, set aside.

Cook chicken in remain olive oil.

Once the chicken is almost cooked add in peppers, onions, mushrooms, water chestnuts, garlic, thai chili paste, and cook until soft.

In a small bowl mix together soy sauce , brown sugar and vinegar. Add this mixture to pan and cook for 2 minutes.

Add in hoisin sauce, cashews, cilantro, and green onions and cool for 3 minutes over low heat, stirring frequently.

Serve this mixture on lettuce leaf wraps!

Enjoy this fantastic homemade tasty take on a take out classic.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Mar5

I’ve been playing around with my basic muffin recipe lately and I’ve finally tweaked it to perfection! These muffins are quick, easy, soft on the inside with a little crunch on the outside! They can be dressed up with a streusel topping or left as is for a simple treat!

I’ve done these muffins with blueberries, raspberries and chocolate chips, all have turned out great. I’ve also played with the flour ratio (white and whole wheat) but this batch was for hubby so they are just white flour and jumbo!

Ingredients
2 cups flour
3/4 cup white sugar
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter (melted)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk
1 cup chocolate chips

Optional
1/8 teaspoon vanilla bean scrapings

Method
In a large bowl mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, powder, salt)

In separate bowl whisk together milk, egg, vanilla, vanilla bean paste.

Stir melted butter into dry ingredients and then stir in wet ingredients, storing until just combine.

Gently fold in chocolate chips.

Divide evenly into 12 standard muffin tins or 6 jumbo which have been well greased

Bake in 400 degree oven for 18 -20 minutes for standard size and 25 minutes for jumbo. Muffins are done when tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Garnier Fructis Damage Eraser

Feb18

A couple weeks ago I wrote about Influenster’s most recent Voxbox , the #Mysterybrand HERE

Today I received the full size product line unveiling the mystery brand!!

Turns out the amazing scented mystery brand is none other then Fructis Damage Repair by Garnier

I have been very pleased with the results after using the samples provided. I love the scent and would recommend the products on that alone! I’m a sucker for anything that smells good!!

The Fructis products left my hair smooth and shiny as well as healthy looking! So the results are a definite plus in addition to the fabulous scent!

Disclaimer: I received these products complimentary for review and testing purposes. Opinions are my own.

Life With The McGavins

100% Not Sugar Coated

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