Chocolate Zucchini Muffins, Vegan Gluten Free

Recently I have had the need to bake something, mainly because I have been craving something chocolate. So I was looking around the internet for some chocolateness and came upon this recipe for chocolate muffins. The recipe looked fairly simple and I had most of the ingredients at my house which is usually a deciding factor for me. If the ingredients list has something new that I have to buy I am reluctant to use it. Mainly because if I have to buy a new ingredient that I will only use in this recipe, what happens if it sucks?! Then I have this random container sitting in my cupboard taking up space, and my kitchen is small as it is.

So after I made that amazing hashbrown casserole (found here) I decided to keep the ball rolling and try out this new recipe. I got the recipe from a vegan website but true to form I needed to make some changes to it. I never do things by the book, its not fun that way. I used zucchini to reduce the amount of oil I used, also I used carob power along with the cocoa to, again, reduce the cocoa in the mix, plus I had it in my cupboard and figured I should use it. If you want to look at the original recipe click here.

The muffins turned out really good, especially for gluten free and vegan. They are a dense muffin but still full of chocolaty flavour. The next time I try them I am going to do a regular gluten batch and I am going to put more zucchini in them, just to see how they compare. Once those are done I will let you know how they turn out!

Ingredients - Makes 12

1 cup of fresh orange juice, about 5 oranges

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 cup of rice flour

1 cup of coconut flour

1 tsp of baking powder

½ tsp of baking soda

¼ tsp of salt

¼ cup cocoa powder or carob powder

½ tsp of cinnamon

¼ cup of coconut oil, melted

¼ cup of zucchini, minced

½ cup of vegan chocolate chips

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and get out muffin pan and liners.

- In a medium mixing bowl combine juice and sugar together, whisk together until well combined.

- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour’s, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and carob powder and cinnamon.

- Add oil and zucchini to juice/sugar mixture and whish until well combined

- Add flour to oil mixture and stir until well blended together. Stir in chocolate chips, you can ever save some to top each muffin with.

- Divide batter between muffin cups and bake for 18-20 minutes.

- Let cool for 10 minutes and serve!

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo -N

Hashbrown Casserole, Vegan Gluten Free

Oh yeah this is happening! A vegan hashbrown casserole, something that many people are familiar with at Christmas time or on Mothers and Fathers Day. Devon's mom make this every Christmas morning and it is something I really missed eating. So about a month (I think right after Christmas) I had this idea about making a vegan version but I haven't had time to make a big breakfast. But today was the day to make some magic and Devon and I were super excited. 

I woke up this morning and started to make the Mushroom soup, not your typical breakfast food but it is definitely necessary for this dish. This is something you could make the night before if you have limited time to make breakfast in the morning. It doesn't take too long but its a step you can do before hand.

If you have followed my blog for a while you might recognize this recipe from my vegan poutine recipe (found here). I have altered it slightly to make it a soup instead of a sauce, and the final product turned out amazing. I gave a spoonful to Devon to try and he LOVED it. He came into the kitchen to help me mix the casserole together and when I turned around I saw him eating it out of the blender with a spoon, with a slight guilty look on his face. When ever I make something he likes he automatically says "Do you remember how you made this?" Thats how I know he really liked it because he wants to make sure I can make it again for him. Luckily I did remember and wrote it down! I am for sure going to make this again for lunch one day, probably paired with grilled cheese sandwiches! 



I was also able to share some of this with my sisters, Ashley and Chelsea. I shot them a text after it was done and extended an invitation to them to stop by and try it. Of course they showed up and gave their verdict on what they thought of my newest creation. No surprise, they also loved it, going back to eat out of the pan until it was almost all gone (they left us 3 bites left, thanks guys!) I am always happy to share my food with people, it makes me feel good knowing that other people enjoy my cooking just as much as I enjoy cooking it. I hope you guys enjoy this recipe as much as we did, its something everyone can enjoy, even if you aren't vegan. 



Vegan Mushroom Soup - 2 cups
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion, minced
1 small pkg of white mushrooms, minced
1 tbsp of Better than Bouillon, vegetable broth
1 cup water
3 tbsp of coconut milk
1/3 cup quinoa flour, or any other gluten free flour
1 cup water

In a small sauce pan saute the onions and garlic until brown, add mushrooms and saute until soft. Mix the bouillon and water until dissolved and then add to the mushrooms, cook for 5 minutes, then add the coconut milk. Gradually alternate between the flour and water and stir until there are no clumps. Once done pour into a blender and blend until smooth. This should make about 2 cups of mushroom soup.

Hashbrown Casserole

8 cups of frozen hash browns

1 pkg shredded Daiya Cheese, cheddar flavoured

1 medium onion, diced

2 cups of mushroom soup

Grease a glass pan and pre heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl put hashbrowns, 1 cup of the Daiya, onion and 1 cup of the soup and mix until well blended. Pour into the glass pan and level it off with the back of the spoon. Top the casserole with the rest of the soup and the Daiya. Cover with tin foil and bake for 45 min, then bake uncovered for 15 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes and serve!

Thanks for reading!!!
xoxo -N

Mango Blueberry Salad

I often find myself craving salads, especially in the morning. I guess I have eaten so many salads for breakfast that my body now needs its leafy greens bright and early!! And this morning was no exception. I have been meaning to use up the blueberries in my fridge for a couple days because a couple were going moldy so today I made a mango blueberry salad. It was so fresh and delicious it has quickly become one of my favourites! Technically if you really look at the ingredients this salad is a fruit salad, that is if you count tomatoes as a fruit (I don't, to me they will always be a vegetable). It is super simple to throw together and because the fruit is so juicy there is no need for dressing.

I used my vegetable mandolin to slice up the cucumbers, zucchini and mango but if you don't have a mandolin you could make this a chunky salad, it should all taste the same, right?!

Ingredients for Single Serving

1/2 cucumber

1/2 zucchini

1 tomato

1 mango

1 cup blueberries

Pineapple Ginger Stir Fry Revised

When ever I make a stir fry I tend to get carried away with my vegetable proportions. My eyes have always been bigger than my stomach and I chop up way to many veggies which always leads to left overs. Yumm!

Two nights ago was no exception. I had chopped too much that it all couldn't fit into our large cast iron pan. Luckily Devon and I don't mind having the same thing two days in a row, I actually like it because it makes meal planning easier!

So there I was last night chopping up more vegetables and pineapple for another stir fry and I think to myself that I was out of cashews and rice. Crap. Well I just won't have cashews then and I will sub in brown rice vermicelli noodles instead! Then I got to thinking about making a sauce, something similar to last night's but different. I still had ginger and pineapple.... what else. ..? Date caramel sauce?.... Yay I think so!

I acquired this amazing sauce from my sister Ashley who had found it when she went down in the States in January. She had already eaten half of the jar and wanted it out of her house, so I was the lucky recipient. It’s a super thick, sweet, sticky sauce that is made out of just organic dates, organic caramel extract and sea salt. I have used this on top of my bananas, apples and on even on ice cream, it’s that good. This was the magical ingredient that was going to put my sauce over the top.

 

Results? Best sauce ever! Devon and I loved it. I wont lie though, I was tempted to eat the whole stir fry to myself but I am a nice person and saved some for Devon.

.

Ingredients
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 head of broccoli, chopped
1/4 head of cauliflower, chopped
5 stalks of celery, chopped
5-7 mushrooms, chopped
1/2 fresh pineapple, chopped (minus a large handful)
1 small can of baby corn (optional)
1 tbsp Better Than Bouillon broth, vegetable flavor
1/2 cup of water

 

Sauce
Large handful of pineapple
Ginger thumb sized, grated
1 tbsp Date Caramel Sauce
1 tsp soya sauce
1/2 cup of water
Salt and pepper to taste
Chop up all vegetables and fruit. Put aside a large handful of pineapple. Heat up a large frying pan on medium/high, add oil. Once melted add garlic and onions, sauté for 5 mins until browned. Add broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and sauté for 10 mins. Dissolve broth in water and add to pan. Add mushrooms, pineapple, and corn. Continue cooking until vegetables are fork tender.

With your hands squeeze the juice out of the pineapple, place all ingriedients (including the pineapple pulp) in a small sauce pan and put on medium/high heat. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, let simmer until its reduced to a thicker consistancy. Pour into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour over stir fry and serve.

*If you don't have the date caramel sauce, this version wont be as sweet*

Sauce
Large handful of pineapple
Ginger thumb sized, grated
3 large, soaked majool dates, diced
1 tbsp of you favourite sweetener (vanilla, stevia)
1 tsp soya sauce1/2 -1 cup of water
Salt and pepper to taste

In a high speed blender blend the 3 dates with the water, adding a little water, bit by bit until its running smooth then add sweetener. Try to avoid using too much water, you want it to be a paste not a liquid. With your hands squeeze the juice out of the pineapple, place all ingriedients (including the pineapple pulp) in a small sauce pan and put on medium/high heat. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, let simmer until its reduced to a thicker consistancy. Pour into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour over stir fry and serve.
Serve over rice, quinoa, or rice noodles! And Enjoy!!


Thanks for reading!
Xoxo -N

 

Pineapple Cashew Ginger Stir Fry

While walking through the grocery store yesterday, I was completely lost on what to make for supper. Isn't that always the way? You are faced with literally every possibility, and yet I was coming up blank.
That's until I saw the pineapple. They looked really delicious and I even found one that was really ripe. Now what to do with it?... stir fry!? Why not? I am a huge fan of stir fries but unfortunately my husband isn't. If it was just me I was cooking for I would eat one every other day, they are that good.
So my mind got to work on what I was going to mix this with... I had broccoli, cauliflower, celery and mushrooms at home so I didn't need any more veggies from the store but I wanted more flavor. What goes with sweet pineapple? Ginger?!... Perfect! So I picked up a piece the size of my thumb, grabbed the can of baby corn and I was done with supper ingredients!
This was really simple supper to throw together and it didn't take long to prepare or cook. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of my latest creation. It was both sweet and savory and I know it's good when both Devon and I go back for seconds! I hope you enjoy it!
 
Ingredients
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 head of broccoli, chopped
1/4 head of cauliflower, chopped
5 stalks of celery, chopped
5-7 mushrooms, chopped
1/2 fresh pineapple, chopped
1 small can of baby corn (optional)
Ginger thumb sized, grated
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp Better Than Bouillon broth, vegetable flavor
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of cashews, soaked
Salt and pepper to taste

First get your rice (or whatever you choose) cooking, I use a rice cooker for my brown and wild rice and it takes an hour to cook. Then chop up all vegetables and fruit. Put aside a large handful of pineapple. Heat up a large frying pan on medium/high, add oil. Once melted add garlic and onions, sauté for 5 mins until browned. Add broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and sauté for 10 mins. Dissolve broth in water and add to pan with the soya sauce. Add mushrooms, pineapple, corn, and ginger. Continue cooking until vegetables are fork tender. Stir in cashews. With your hands squeeze the juice out of the pineapple and top your dish with it. Serve over rice, quinoa, or rice noodles! Enjoy!!

Thanks for reading!
Xoxo -N

Vegan Chocolate Cherry Raspberry Cream Truffles

I love the way a woman’s mind works. Especially mine.

Like most of my fellow females (I assume), I deal with very conflicting ideas in my head. One minute I think to myself I really should eat more raw fruits and veggies and cut back on my processed foods (chips are the devil) and fats. Ever since I got back from Mexico I have wanted to do a 21 day raw challenge but have been putting it off. I have great intentions but lack the motivation right now. Hopefully one day in the near future I will just get off my ass and do it, until then I get to eat these awesome treats!!

That’s where the conflicting ideas come in, one minute I am thinking about eating fruit and salads the next minute I am thinking about lasagna and pizza bites. And scrolling through Fragrant Vanilla Cake’s blog doesn’t help my situation either. That’s where I went yesterday and unfortunately/fortunately I came across one of her newest posts: Raw Raspberry Rose Cream Truffels. Cue the angels singing, I have found Holy Grail of desserts. They looked amazing and I couldn’t wait to try them for myself. I quickly made a grocery list and thought about what I was going to do differently than what she had laid out (like no rose water). Forget about wanting to cut back on treats, fats and food that isn’t healthy, I had a mission!!

I didn’t stray too far from what Amy did, but I made some slight changes to fit my tastes. Such as I took out the rose water and added cherries. At first I tasted the cream with just the raspberries and it just seemed a little blah, so thankfully I had frozen cherries in my freezer! Because the raspberries are so tart they had trouble over powering the nutty flavour of the cashews, so by adding the cherries added the perfect amount of sweetness that really evened out the flavour. Also I used dates because I didn’t have any of the nectar she was talking about, and I feel better about using dates because its one less processed thing I am putting in my body! Finally the chocolate sauce. I decided to use just chocolate chips and coconut milk because I am lazy. Its only two ingredients and I really love the taste of the vegan chocolate chips!

I couldn’t have been happier with how they turned out! They are the perfect treat, they are light and creamy, not too dense, not too sweet and they taste similar to ice cream. Devon really liked them, as wel as all the ladies I work with. Not that any of them are picky, but its good to know other people love what I make too!

 

To see Amy’s original post click here.



Some chocolate covered ones with some plain. Remember, please no judging my pictures, it's how they taste that matters!!

 Raspberry Cherry Filling:
9 majool dates, diced + 1/4 cup filtered water
1 1/2 cups raw cashew pieces (soaked for 4 hours or overnight)
1/4 cup filtered water
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup coconut oil (warmed to liquid)
1/2 cup organic frozen cherries
1 cup organic raspberries

Chocoalte
1 1/2 vegan chocoalte chips
1/2 cup coconut milk


Combine dates and water into a high power blender and blend on high until smooth. Add cashews, water, sea salt, vanilla and blend until smooth again. With the processor running, add the coconut oil and process another minute until well incorporated. Add the raspberries and process until smooth. 
 Pour into a flat Tupperware container (it cools off more evenly than a bowl), and place in the freezer until firm, but scoopable.  Like scooping out ice cream, dig into the mixture and form tbsp sized balls, this is going to get really messy so be prepaired if you are letting little ones help roll!  Place on parchment paper, and once they are all rolled, place back in the freezer to harden. 

Meanwhile, make the chocolate. Put chocolate chips and coconut milk into a large glass bowl. Place a large glass bowl over a medium pot of boiling water, so that the steam from the water will melt the chocolate. Dip the filling balls into the chocolate and place on the parchment paper.  Once they are all dipped, place them back in the freezer to set completely.  Enjoy! 
You can store extra in the freezer, if there are any left.... 

Thanks for reading!
xoxo-N

Vegan Chick*n Salad Wraps

I was searching through Pinterest the other day and came across a recipe for tofu salad sandwiches. At first I wasn’t that interested in the recipe, first because it is made with bread (gross) and also made with tofu (double gross). So I kept scrolling through looking at other randomness that is Pinterest and I got to thinking of the hummus I had to make that night for our families TGIF party. That’s when it occurred to me, like two ideas colliding in my head… what if I used chick peas instead of tofu!? It actually sounded really appealing to me and quite simple too.

So after work on Saturday I told Devon I was going to make us something new to eat, he was a little skeptical but willing to try my new idea. I decided to have mine in a lettuce wrap and Devon chose a pita with lettuce. It only took a couple minutes to prepare, which was really helpful because I was starving!

The verdict? Awesome!! I haven’t had a something like that in a very long time and was it ever good. Devon really enjoyed it as well saying that he would even eat it again! I found that the pickles were the perfect touch to the whole thing, they added crunch and salt and a hint of color in the mix!

I really hope some of you give this a try because it will not disappoint! It is a wonderful substitute that does require any more effort, you buy a can of chick peas instead of a can of chicken or tuna. I know I compared this to a chicken salad but tuna is just as common, if not more. So for the picky eaters in your life that don’t like fish, this would be a good substitute for them to try. Also the nutritional benefits of switching to chick peas from tuna are worth mentioning! Yes there are more grams of protein per cup in tuna, but the fiber, iron, calcium and vitamins in chick peas have tuna beat! Enjoy!

Chick Peas - 1 cup/250 grams

13 grams of protein

7 grams of fiber

340mg of sodium

Iron, calcium, vitamins A and C

Canned Tuna in Water - 1 cup/250 grams

65 grams of protein

0 grams of fiber

760mg of sodium

Iron, but no calcium, or vitamins

Ingredients

6 Romaine Lettuce Leaves

1 cups of Chick Peas

1 tbsp Vegan Mayo

2 tsp Mustard

1 large Pickle, diced

Salt and Pepper

I wont lie to you, I really just dumped in dabs of mayo and zig zags of mustard, but I am pretty sure these are accurate on what I had in my mixing bowl. If you have ever made chicken or tuna salad before you know that you never really measure the mayo or mustard. :)

Basically put all ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Fill romaine lettuce leaves and serve!

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo -N

Family Pizza - Vegan?

I know, I know...two pizza posts in a row!! Funny thing is I never used to love pizza. Back in the day of birthday parties or family fun nights I would eat it but I would never crav it. I am not sure why, maybe because I don’t like crust and most pizza places have thick crust with no toppings, or because we only ordered from Houston’s Pizza and it was always super greasy? I'm not too sure, but what I do know is that I crave pizza now and my favourite is Family Pizza, or as I call it Family Pie.

When first switching to my vegan lifestyle I would order a pizza with just peppers, tomatoes and pineapple, no cheese, no meat and I loved it…it kind of reminded me of bruschetta. Then I was reading online about how some pizza restaurants use chicken and beef broth to flavour their pizza sauce… SHIT! My heart dropped, this was something that I never thought about, and was mad at myself for not thinking of it sooner. So I stopped eating Family Pie and emailed the company asking about the ingredients. It unfortunately took a couple months to get a response but I finally received a reply on Tuesday saying that their dough and sauce were dairy, egg and meat free!! WOO HOO!

So naturally on Thursday (Wednesday was vegan lasagna night!) Devon and I ordered pizza, and I was so excited! I ordered the peppers, tomatoes, and pineapple pizza and when it arrived I turned on the oven to broil and dumped a crap load of Daiya cheese on it! I baked it for about 5 minutes and the final product was pure heaven! I feel like this is a double edged sword type thing, on one hand I get to eat my favourite pizza, on the other hand I get to eat my favourite pizza! Oh well, its not like I am going to eat it everyday….right?



Thanks for reading!!
xoxo-N

Vegan Pizza Rolls

Super Bowl Sunday was hosted by my sister in law Brittany this year which of course means a lot of fricken food. I was undecided on what I was going to bring until I remembered that we had a can of Pillsbury Grand Crescent Rolls in our freezer. I had recently learned that they were vegan and wanted to try them out, I am not a fan of breads but I bought a can anyways just to have on hand for such occasion.

What to do with the crescent rolls? Pizza of course! I have been craving pizza lately and thought that pizza rolls would be the perfect Super Bowl snack. So I took the can out of the freezer to thaw and got the ingredients for our stuffing!

I decided to roll out the dough instead of using the precut shapes they provide. This way I can have the shape I want (a rectangle) and the dough goes farther seeing as I didn’t want it to be really thick. I got about 12 pizza rolls out of one can and thought I should get another because there was going to be a number of people there. So we did one can of vegan and one can of regular.

In the midst of football madness and the fact that I devoured most of them,I didn’t get a good picture of how they turned out and I apologize for the pitiful picture that I did take. Please don’t judge me!! Trust me, they taste way better than they look in the picture!

Vegan Pizza Rolls

1 can of Pillsbury Grand Crescent Rolls

1 can of pizza sauce

1 cup of Daiya Cheese

1 cup of mushrooms, chopped

Mash the dough into a ball and pull off ½ cup-chunks to roll out. Using a floured rolling pin, or wine bottle (whatevers handy) roll out on a floured counter to desired thickness. Cut into rectangles about 3’x6’, layer pizza sauce, mushrooms and Daiya cheese. Roll up making sure all sides are tucked in and pop in the oven!

You can put anything you want into your pizza rolls, I just had mushrooms handy!

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo-N

Soaking up the Mexican Sun - Vegan Style

I had an absolute blast in Mexico I cannot believe that I am already back home and working again. Gosh, why do I live in Saskatchewan?

I actually don’t know where to begin this post because there is so much to tell… We stayed at the Grand Bahia Principe Coba in the Riviera Maya in Mexico. We were about an hour away from Cancun and 40 mins outside Playa del Carmen, kinda right in the middle of it all. Our resort had 2 other sister resorts on it called Akumal and Talum, which offered more restaurants, buffets and activities that we could use throughout our stay. This made the trip easier and more fun seeing as we could mix it up a bit with food, pool and beach settings. You could go to a different spot everyday if you wanted. I snorkeled a lot, I ate guacamole a lot, and had way to much fun with my friends. It was the best trip I have ever been on (mainly because it was two weeks) and definitely exceeded my expectations. I would do anything to go back there right now!

Since I have been home I have had a lot of people ask me “did you survive down there?” meaning, did I find enough food to eat. The answer is yes, too much. I was initially concerend about being vegan and going to an all inclusive but I shouldn't have been, the selection was great. I had 2 large platefuls of cantaloupe everyday for breakfast and it wasn’t until the last three days that I totally caved and had a peanut butter and banana sandwich. And holy crap was it good, I really miss peanut butter. However I have now developed an addiction to cantaloupe and cannot get enough of it, I have eaten 3 since being home and I need to go get more.  

My lunches and suppers at the buffet usually went like this:

Greens, diced peppers, zucchini, cucumber, mushrooms, guacamole, pico de gallo and any other fresh veggies I could find, all pilled together like a big salad and a side of vegetable sushi. Well actually the sushi didn’t make it to the table most days. I usually went there first put about 6 on my plate and ate them like an appetizer while walking around the buffet searching for other food. Some days I would venture out and eat fries, rice and beans, vegetable stir fry, but I had to put my fears of cross contamination aside because when you are eating at a buffet it is hard to get around it. I would ask the cooks what was in each dish making sure there wasn’t any meat, dairy or eggs in it. But there is the concern of the utensils and method of cooking. If you are SUPER strict vegan its totally possible to avoid all of that, but your options are limited. As the days went by I wanted some variety and did the best I could to avoid consuming any animal products. For snacks I would ask the milkshake-maker lady for 2 or 3 bananas everyday, plus I had vegan granola bars that I got from Costco. I would take those on excursions and to the beach for something to snack on which usually held me over.

I had my first drink, a Mojito, which I stole from Devon on Sunday at 4:00pm.

Some people were surprised that I waited that long!

First day on the beach!

I have always wanted to do one of these pictures!

I surprisingly found two restaurants that offered vegan choices, like labeled on the menu vegan option offered. I was so pumped and had to take advantage of their burgers. The first one I had was from Akumal beach and it was a chickpea curry burger that had fried egg plant on top and it was awesome. Egg plant is something I have yet to venture into, but after having it a couple times in Mexico I really need to try cooking with it. The second one was from Tequilaville and was a black bean and corn burger and it was fricken HUGE. I asked them to take off the coleslaw and to replace my bun because there was mayo on it, but that was unnecessary because I didn’t eat the bun. I was way to full from all of the pico de gallo that I could only eat the burger.   

Curry Vegan Burger I found at a restaurant on Akumal Beach

Black Bean Burger from Tequilaville



Garlic Hummus from Tequilaville, I asked for veggies instead of the pita bread.



This is my first and last pina colada of the trip and holy crap was it worth the wait. I didn’t know what was in the premade mixture the resort used so I didn’t take the chance and I stuck with sangria. We met some people at Tequilaville in Akumal and they invited us to their beach house for some drinks the following night. We were a little apprehensive the next day wondering if we should go or not because we were all quite drunk when they invited us. But in the end we were up for an adventure and luckily we did go, they turned out to be super fun people and a blast to hang out with. One of the wives decided to make homemade pina colada’s and I was surprised to learn that there is only 3 ingredients to them: fresh pineapple juice, fresh coconut milk and rum. Which equals vegan! It was the best drink I had all trip and I got to drink out of a fancy cup too!

This is the beach front house that we went to. I love that pool!

This is the view from there roof top deck., and those umbrella huts on the beach is our resort. 

My meal from the Mediterranean A la Carte, sautéed eggplant, tomatoes, onions and peppers.  

One of the A la Cartes we went to was Brazilian and everyone raved about it… me not so much. Basically it was an all you can eat meat-fest. The waiters would come by your tables with swords of different types of meat and you would have a red and green card to let him know if you want any. Green means, meat please, Red means, no meat please. Naturally, mine was always red. Everyone at the table stuffed themselves with massive amounts of meat, hence them all passed out in the picture. However I felt great eating my asparagus, rice and beans, hummus and beats, I was full but not to the point of a meat coma! 

When we weren’t eating tons of awesome food we were exploring all the wonders of Mexico! The first week we were quite active because most people only had a week there, so they wanted to get as much done as possible. We did everything from snorkeling, going to the ruins, playing volleyball, and going to Explor. For those who don’t know what Explor is, it’s an adventure park type thing where you can do zip lining, ride ATV’s, and swim and paddle yourself through caves. It was only around $100 per person and was totally worth it, you could do the activities as many times as you want and their buffet was huge! We kept very active during our time there, which I loved. There were a couple beach and pool days, but we were still walking a lot from resort to resort and those lazy days are what a vacation is all about. I know that by keeping active is what helped me not gain any weight while I was there, I weighed myself as soon as I got home and I was sitting nicely at 130 pounds! I was actually surprised because I was probably eating 6 avocados per day with the amount of guacamole I was eating! 

However the most important thing we got to experience down there was the marriage of our two friends Amber and Aaron. They had given us almost 3 years notice of their wedding, giving all of their friends and family time to plan and save. Well it definitely worked because they ended up with an audience of 74 people! It was the most beautiful day at around 28 degrees with a slight wind and no clouds, they couldn’t have asked for a better day.

Devon and I at the wedding! I loved that everyone was barefoot, even the bride and groom!

Zip-lining at Explor, and no thats not a real croc! 

When going through the zip lines there are two ways you can go. The first way leads you through about 10 zip lines, one of them you have to get to by using a water slide! And 2 others you crash land through a water fall and into a pool of water! The other route you can take only has one waterfall crash landing, but needless to say you get really wet!

 I had so much fun in Mexico, it definitely exceeded my expectations of what I thought it was going to be. I cannot wait to go back and do the things that we didn't get a chance to do. I am super jealous of my mom and sister right now because they flew out this morning to go to the same place we were at, just at a different resort 20 minutes away! I hope they get to have just as much fun we did!