From the monthly archives:

March 2013

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

by Destini on March 19, 2013

I hope everyone had a safe and fun St. Patrick’s Day! I know I sure did!! I saw some of you made my Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes!! Sure made my weekend 🙂 I have been getting a lot of tweet requests for some healthy snacks that you guys can easily make and are super tasty .  Something I am really obsessed with right now is roasted chickpeas. I had pinned a recipe on the other week and knew right away it was something I would have to recreate. It is really something that is super easy to do, and the flavors are endless. So far this is my favorite recipe oh and it’s Vegan too 🙂

Ingredients: Yields 2 cups

Recipe adapted from Steamy Kitchen
  • 2 cups of chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or soaked)
  • 2tbsp evoo
  • 1/2tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4tsp sea salt

Directions: Preheat oven to 400f.  If you used canned chickpeas, rinse with cold water and pat dry, or if you soaked dry chickpeas, also pat dry, remove any skins. Place chickpeas in a bowl, toss in the evoo and spices, shake till all the chickpeas look covered. Place on a baking sheet and roast for 30-40min. Let them stand for about 5-10min that way they won’t be soft from the steam.

Yesterday  I took the day off to spend it with my girl friend from Quebec and her three month old daughter. It was love at first sight. I took HINDEREDS of photos. For those of you that follow me on saw my rapid posting :).  Taking photos of a baby is a little different than taking photos of food. But I think we got some great shots.

Tonight is core day at the gym. It may still be a snowy nightmare here(I am completely done with all this snow! I cannot pretend that I feel any different at this point) but Summer will come and I want to be ready for it.

Question:

What is your favorite go to snack?

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What are you doing to get ready for the Summer?

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What did you make for Vegan Tuesdays?

Tagged as: Chickpeas, healthy snack, Recipes, snacks, Vegan, vegan tuesdays

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Pineapple Sunshine & A little magnesium juice

by Destini on March 13, 2013

Today I woke up, looked outside and shivered. It is March 13th and I still see A LOT of snow and the temperature has not given up on its cold winter front. I know I live in Winnipeg and try not to complain too much about it, but I am ready…bring on the sunshine! If the weather isn’t going to give it to me, why not make something that makes me think of beaches, little drink umbrellas and a whole bunch of sunshine! A little while ago Natural Vitality contacted me wanting to create a drink for them with some of their products. If you are unfamiliar with them, they make delicious magnesium supplements. I have been told to take magnesium before, but never actually did it(I listen very well apparently) so this gave me a great opportunity to try it out. Well the folks at Natural Vitality gave me all sorts of samples to try and I have been taking the Natural Calm magnesium supplement for almost two weeks now and so far so good.

According to the website, symptoms of magnesium deficiency are:

• Stress
• Fatigue & Low Energy
• Inability to Sleep
• Muscle Tension, Spasms & Cramps
• Anxiousness and Nervousness
• Irritability
• Headaches
• Weakness
• PMS and Hormonal Imbalances
• Weakening Bones
• Abnormal Heart Rhythm
• Calcification of Organs

I can sure say I experience several  of those, but I am sure lot’s of us do and never really know why? This package couldn’t have come at a better time..I get pretty bad PMS and was excited to see if this helped(my husband was too). I can sure say that I did notice that I didn’t have as much irrational behavior as per usual. Maybe I was looking for it? Or thinking about it more because of the Natural Calm, but I will think it was because it was helping! And I needed it!

After trying several of the flavours, the one I drank the most was the Raspberry-Lemon, but all of them are great and PERFECT to mix in my daily juice. No strange after taste. They are sweetened with organic stevia, have no GMO, vegetarian, cruelty free, gluten free & vegan.

Ingredients: Yields 2 drinks

  • 3/4th of a whole pineapple, cut into pieces *see below on how to cut a pineapple*
  • 1 orange
  • half banana
  • 2 servings of Orange Natural Calm
  • ice

Directions: Take 2 servings of the Orange Natural Calm & add 2 oz of hot water(this part is fun to watch the magnesium sizzle!) and put to the side to cool down a little bit.  In a juicer, juice the pineapple & orange.  Transfer juice to a blender, add banana and the ice, blend till smooth, stir in the Orange Natural Calm and serve in two glasses.

Note: To slice a pineapple, first cut off the leafy top and the base. Stand the fruit on one end and slice the thick skin off in strips, from top to bottom. Cut into rounds, or quarter the pineapple and cut out the core. The flesh can be chopped or cut into strips or chunks

To have fun with it add piece of pineapple & drink umbrella, because hey it’s -19c and this girl is tricking her mind thinking she is on a beach!

Do you want to try some of Natural Vitality products? Well here is your chance! The lovely folks at Natural Vitality will be giving ONE of my special readers a $35 e-gift card to the online store!!

It is easy to enter; just do the mandatory entries and if you want to enter more than once do the extra options. This giveaway ends Thursday March 21st @ 12:01am.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tagged as: Juice, magnesium, natural calm, natural vitality, orange, pinapple sunshine, pineapple

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