Warm mushroom salad x2

With the changing of the season once again upon us, the cold starting to settle in I love being in the kitchen cooking up a storm of warm wholesome foods. With school also starting so do the extra curricular activities for the kids which leaves little time some nights to prepare a satisfying home cooked meal. So this Beauty Detox blogging assignment was perfect to take me away from my staple ingredients and cook something satisfying and simple.

kenoki mushrooms

warm mushroom salad with homemade green and red tomato sauce on a bed of fresh spring green mix 

I felt the idea behind this assignment was to keep it simple, so that is what I tried to do. I love throwing a whack of spices and ingredients into a recipe but sometimes simple is better and in this case it was as it helped to highlight the flavors of the mushrooms and keep my schedule on time.

green and red tomato sauce.

My 5 year old daughter actually called this recipe mushroomtastic!

mushroomtastic!

Recipe:

Fresh spring salad mix

portobello mushrooms

kenoki mushrooms

fresh garlic minced

coconut oil

nutritional yeast flakes

Sauce ingredients:

4 green tomatoes

2 large ripe tomatoes chopped

1 sm onion chopped

1 stick of celery chopped

1 clove of garlic minced

fresh oregano

pink himalayan salt and black pepper to taste

In a pot over medium heat put in all tomatoes, onion, garlic, salt and pepper put on a lid and stir occasionally. The juice from the red tomatoes will keep a nice consistency for the sauce. Next in a frying pan on medium heat add coconut oil, then garlic and portobello mushrooms, allow to cook for 5-8 min before adding kenoki mushrooms. Add oregano to tomato sauce and stir. Next add kenoki mushrooms to frying pan and allow to cook for another 10 min or so till mushrooms are soft. On a plate add a big helping of spring salad mix, tomato sauce and then top with mushrooms and sprinkle with nutritional yeast flakes and enjoy!

fresh oregano used in my tomato sauce

For my second recipe I made it because I had fresh left over mushrooms from my first recipe. I always buy in bulk due to having to feed so many mouths. Which in turn inspires many different variations of the ingredients at hand.

warm mushrooms with sauteed greens on a bed of butternut squash

Recipe:

1 butternut squash

1 package of salad greens

brown button mushrooms chopped

portobello mushrooms chopped

1 onion chopped

1 clove of garlic chopped

pink himalayan salt and black pepper to taste

nutritional yeast flakes

coconut oil

In a 400 degree oven place butternut squash cut in half and emptied of seeds, face down on a lightly greased pan for 30-45 min. Meanwhile in a pan over medium heat add coconut oil, when heated add garlic, onion and cook till onions are soft, next add chopped mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Allow to cook for 10 min till mushrooms are soft. Add greens and cook for 5 more minutes till soft. On a plate lay down a bed of butternut squash and top with mushroom mix and sprinkle with nutritional yeast flakes. Enjoy!

butternut squash with mushrooms sauteed with salad greens, on top is fresh parsley

I loved these recipes because they were simple, delicious and the kids really loved them. The first recipe was a take on spaghetti, while the second recipe was to help use up leftover produce. Both recipes are vegan and packed full of nutrition for being  as quick and  as simple as they were.

kenoki and portobello mushrooms ready to cook

Let’s get physical; camping and hiking

Let’s get physical! is this weeks Beauty Detox blog assignment and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Actually since I started blogging with The Beauty Detox community all the assignments seem to come at the perfect time for me. When I contemplated whether I would blog or not I knew that if I did I would always make sure to come from a place of inspiration, since that moment I decided to blog that is exactly what has been happening and I couldn’t be more thankful!

Taking a moment to talk with the trees.

For me getting physical is an everyday thing when you are running around after 3 young children. On this particular weekend when this assignment came out it was my birthday weekend and my husband surprised me with a 2 night stay at a yurt in one of the provincial parks close by.

This is me with our camping gear at the yurt.

We stayed at yurt # 3 on my 33rd birthday, oh did I mention I love numerology and this spoke mountains to me.

The yurt is located in one of the 15 provincial parks here in Manitoba, it has a nice beach and a ton of hiking trails. The one thing I love the most is a getaway into the wild where I can reconnect with nature. To help me remember my journey is alive and important.

The province of Manitoba and the 15 provincial parks, we were at #13 Spruce Woods.

It has been a very busy summer of activities with the kids but this one was for me and it all couldn’t have come at a better time. My birthday, an almost full moon and summer is officially over and the routine of school has once again commenced, meaning the parks would be empty and so quiet that you could feel like you owned the place.

Sunset walk on Isputinaw trail, 1.4km.

On our drive and for 3 days previous it had been raining and cold. It was an hour and a half drive to the yurt and by the time we arrived the clouds had started to clear and it even slightly warmed up, the weather just got better with each passing day. On our first evening there we went on a sunset hike and cooked our supper over the fire. My husband is completely on board with BDS. We had quinoa and vegetables stuffed in a Japanese pumpkin cooked over the fire.

Quinoa and vegetables stuffed in a Japanese pumpkin and cooked over the fire.

On our second day we went for a hike at Spirit Sands to the Devil’s punch bowl, it is a 7km hike through sand dunes and prairies and forest. It is truly quite amazing to see so many different terrains in one area. We saw many animals on our hike which represent different messages for me. I love following a book by Ted Andrews called Animal Speak. At the start of our walk we saw a garder snake so we picked him up and took a selfie.

Snake selfie!

I love this place, it has such calm energies.

We also saw a rare skink lizard, it is so small and quick it is amazing one even sees them at all. I have been coming to Spruce Woods for over 15 years and it was the first time I had ever seen one of these lizards. Actually we saw 2 and the second one let us spend time with him so I snapped a picture.

The skink lizard. He is about 2″ from mouth to tail. It is amazing to have spent time with him, he was curious and kind.

At one point when we were crossing the prairies these clouds rolled through in front of us and the thunder roared. Boy did it feel electrifying, like the clouds were talking to us.

Clouds passing through on our hike at Spirit Sands.

At the Devil’d punch bowl. My husband takes great photos.

Later that night we went on a 4 km moonlit walk through the woods and it was the highlight of my whole trip. My husband is a long distance truck driver so spending this kind of time wit him is priceless when we have so little time at this moment in our lives.

The moon and on the right is light from the yurt.

The next morning it was my birthday and it was time to pack up and leave, but first we eat cake! I will not divulge what kind teehee. After we finished eating cake I was ready to leave and go home to the 3 little loves and more awaiting my return. At the end of my short journey I felt reconnected, re balanced and relaxed as if I had just come from a spa. After supper with my beautiful family, the house was settled and quiet again and there was one last thing I enjoy doing when I come home from camping. Take a nice shower with a long hot bath with my favorite ingredients to soak in and my favorite mask. This night is organic Hawaiian mud mask. Yum!

I tried to smile for the camera but it doesn’t work well with dried mud on your face.

Harvest season = baked squash

Harvest season is my favorite time of year and for this weeks Beauty Detox blog assignment squash is on the menu! For this Kimberly Snyder CN has a great Baked Kabocha squash with mushroom sauce recipe which you can find on her website kimberlysnyder.net.

On Wednesday last week when our assignment came out I was on my way to the grocery store, so perfect timing. I chose butternut squash and eggplant. 

This recipe is super simple and very delicious.

Recipe:
1 butternut squash

1 eggplant

1/4 of a vegan vegetable bouillon cube

1/4 c. of rice milk

dehydrated parsley flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

Side dishes:

Arugula

homemade sauerkraut

homemade fermented pickles

Turn oven on to 350 degrees, bake squash and eggplant whole for 30 min. Remove and cut eggplant into pieces and put in blender and add the bouillon cube and some salt and pepper, add rice milk and blend till smooth. Remove and place in a pot on the stove to keep lightly heated. Cut up squash and remove seeds.  Plate with salad, kraut and pickles and serve. This recipe served 4 1/2 people, 2 adults and 3 young kids.

Now I couldn’t stop there, it’s harvest and we are bursting with squash so I made a second recipe with acorn squash and a kohlrabi that I had picked up at our local farmers market. I call it baked acorn squash with kohlrabi carrot fritter and arugula salad with white onion and pumpkin spice dressing.

 

Recipe:

1-2 acorn squash

1 kohlrabi

4 small carrots

fresh garlic

chili flakes

nutritional yeast flakes

1/4-1/2 c. chia seeds

Arugula for salad with avocado slices

Salad dressing:

6 small onions

coconut oil

2 TBSP maple syrup #1 grade

vinegar infused with sweet basil and rosemary

pumpkin spice

Turn on oven to 350 degrees. First thing you will want to do is peel and shred the kohlrabi and carrots, add diced garlic and chia seeds and chili flakes and mix well in a bowl, add salt and pepper to taste. Now this will need to sit while you prep the rest of the meal so that the chia seeds can gel and work their magic. Next place squash whole in oven for 30-45 min to bake.

In a frying pan add oil, once heated add pumpkin spice then onions and allow to cook for 5 min till onions are soft and fully coated with pumpkin spice, add maple syrup and vinegar. Let cook for 1-2 min and be careful not to burn the spice. Set aside to cool. Now come back to the fritters, they should be done setting, fry in coconut oil on low for 10 min on each side.

Once squash is done cut and remove seeds. You can garnish this dish with young parsley and german thyme.

 

After all this there is bound to be left over squash. So what to do with it? Make it into a coconut carrot curry squash soup.

Recipe:

leftover squash

2 carrots 

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 vegan vegetable bouillon cube

4 c. of water

1/2 can of coconut milk

1 cinnamon stick

2 TBSP curry

Heat water to a boil add bouillon cube, shred carrots and add, then diced garlic, diced onion and cinnamon stick. Boil down for 15 min till vegetables are soft and remove cinnamon stick. Add rest of ingredients and blend in the pot with a hand blender and serve with glueten free Artisan black olive bread baked at 350 D with coconut oil for 15 min and young parsley. My one year old loved this soup recipe and devoured it for 3 lunches in a row!

Eat more vegetables and less animal protein

For this Beauty Detox assignment I found it hard to write about only one of Kimberly Snyder’s Detox principles as all of them have revolutionized my health and my diet. The topic I chose to write about is ‘eat more vegetables and less animal protein’.

Fall veggie harvest

Simply delicious salad

For me this was easy as I do not like handling raw meat, it is the least appetizing kitchen prep for me. I find I am more creative and passionate when I am challenging myself to do a deliciously veggie filled salad or meal.

romain lettuce, homemade kraut, sprouts and strawberries

I used to enjoy the art of painting and since having children my ‘me’ time is almost non existent. So I take it where I can. Since discovering BDS I have quite happily added more veggies to my meals or as the whole meal and the time I get in the kitchen is for me.

Lightly sauteed beets leaves with zucchini and beans with fresh dill, garden goodness at it’s finest

I have found through adding more veggies that I thoroughly enjoy making my meals look like art pieces, it just seems to flow out of me making my head spin in joy.

You can use anything to complement a dish aesthetically, this is the lid from my vegetable steamer

A vegan taco butterfly

I always enjoy starting my meals with a huge salad and have gotten the kids in to the habit as well. Seeing the love and knowledge they have acquired since adding this principle in to our diet has done wonders in all areas of our health. Each family member has their own unique issues in health but by sticking to mainly vegetables at each meal it addresses them all.

left over taco salad with humus

Photo Opp: My Growing Beauties

Our Welcome sign from an old shovel handle and barn wood, painted by my daughter and I

Gardening is a huge passion of mine. I have been gardening since I was a little girl growing up on a farm. So for me when Kimberly Snyder announced that this weeks Beauty Detox assignment was a photo opp I knew it would be about my garden.

Coleus and decor at my front door

The completed bed. I used and old steel clothing rack as the trellis.

 I love companion planting, planting with the moon cycles and will grow anything that will sprout. I have even told my husband on numerous occasions that someday we will live in an atrium! 

The compost my husband built from reclaimed wood

My husband and I bought out first home in Oct 2013 in a small rural town across from the local school. It is a well established mature lot. Kinda a blank canvas. How lucky could I get. It is the house of my dreams and I am forever grateful for being so lucky as to own this home.

bursting at the seams

So I set out on a mission to make it even more amazing, but one thing I knew I would never do again was dig up dirt to have a garden. When my husband asked this spring what I wanted for mothers day I said dirt and wood so he could make a raised garden bed for me. 

kale harvested from my garden

parsley growing in a container

my cat Jane loves to follow me around when I work in the yard

When we built the first bed I knew it would be the first of many. Next year I plan on adding a minimum of 3 more raised beds with a walk way and sitting area.

My brother on his boat in British Columbia, he is a huge inspiration to me and is the epitome of this saying

I am fortunate to be a full time stay at home mom of 3 where I can freely teach my children about the importance and love of growing your own food.