Juice Cleanse Day One!

I think it might have been me telling my sister I was feeling sick that prompted her to ask me to do a juice cleanse, not that it matters because I said yes. Why, you might ask? Because I am crazy. Just kidding, I am trying to reset my digestive system before I head to Cancun on Saturday, and Ashley thought that this would be a great way to do it. I was so nervous going into this that I really didn't think I would make it past day one, even though Ashley insisted that I could. Well here I am drinking my supper juice thinking, holy shit she was right, I can do this. 

THEN I think about my fruit fast and how day one was SO EASY! I was shocked that it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. Then day two hit and I was all like, ohhhh this is how it's supposed to feel. Like I am detoxing, so basically tired, sluggish, with bits of energy through the day. 

Today I felt normal with no real differences in my day to day routine. I had lots of energy, felt great and at 6:30pm I just started to feel tired. I plan on finishing my juice and this post then winding down to go to bed early. Devon isn't juice cleansing but he is fast asleep beside me, maybe he is secretly doing it too....?!?!

So, this is how my day one went:

I started out my day with a liter of water and 1/2 liter of hot lemon water. I also did 50 mins of walking on the treadmill followed by stretching.

All of my juices were made by my Magic Bullet Juicer.

Breakfast juice - 9am

4 stalks of kale

3 stalks of celery

2 apples

1 lemon

½ cucumber

1 cup of water

Lunch Juice - 12:00 pm

12 oranges 

Snack - 3:00 pm

1/2 liter of coconut water

Supper Juice - 6:00 pm

2 tomatoes

2 carrots

2 stalks of celery

1 red pepper

1 lemon

1/2 cucumber

Handful of cilantro

1 cup of water

I am, again, a little nervous for what tomorrow has in store for me but I just have to keep reminding myself that its only two more days. Also, without Ashley here to help me I know I wouldn't have done this on my own, so thanks Ash for pushing me to do this! To be honest, day one went by quite fast and I like the fact that I only had one appliance to clean! 
I will keep you posted on how day two goes so stay tuned!

Thanks for Reading!
Xoxo, Nikki

The Start of a New Beginning: Becoming Vegan - Post #2

Post #2 – This one is going to be a little long, so I hope you have grabbed some fruit to snack on because I would hate for you to get hungry!

It was in January and February of 2012 that I decided I was going to make another change in my life. I had already cut back on my meat intake to just fish, seafood and occasional bacon but I had remained 150 pounds for 4-5 months and I was sick of it. Ahh to see the 140’s again, that would be awesome. I hadn’t seen that number in about 5 years and I really wanted to reunite with her again. Luckily my mother in law Mary B. was hosting information nights at her house that she called For the Health of It. The topics ranged from reducing meat and dairy intake, body brushing, dental care, to watching a video called Food Matters, which I found to be really informative and inspiring. This was what sparked my interest in becoming vegan but at the time I was not ready to make that big of a life style change. Instead I learned the huge benefits of adding greens to my diet and decided I was going to drastically increase my intake (greens include romaine lettuce, celery, cucumber, kale ect.) They are really high in vitamins, minerals and in dietary fiber which help aid in proper digestion and help reduce your risk of certain health problems.

How was I going to add more leafy greens into my life? By drinking green smoothies! I had first thought that they looked disgusting and was really wary on trying one, but it was so awesome!! I had found a great way to increase my greens intake as well as my fruit intake, plus it tasted good and didn’t take that long to prepare or eat. Through trial and error I came up with my favourite blend of cherries, blackberries, blueberries, bananas, spinach and water. I would drink one for breakfast and lunch almost every other day and did not grow tired of it. I would experiment with other concoctions, like apple, mango, banana, spinach, or blueberry, raspberry, banana, and kale, but the cherry one is by far the best and is something I still make when I need a quick meal. So between January and March I had lost another 5 pounds all, thanks to incorporating the green smoothies and was down to 145. Hello 140’s, it’s very nice to see you.

I can remember looking on Pinterest for recipes at the very beginning of July and coming across a pinner called Regina Vegetarian Society and I immediately clicked on their profile. How cool was this? Out of all of the profiles I could have seen on Pinterest, a vegetarian club from Regina (a city 35 minutes away) comes up on my screen. I instantly started to look through their pins, seeing if I liked any and I started to notice that they also were promoting a vegan lifestyle. That’s when it hit me... I needed to become vegan.... I wanted to become vegan.... I can do this... I WANT to do this! In that moment I realized that being a vegetarian wasn’t enough for me and to be happy I had to make the change. So when Devon got home that night I said to him “I'm going vegan” and his response “okay sounds good, but don’t expect me to, haha”. I was not surprised by his reaction, I knew he would be supportive in my transition but I was not expecting him to change and I still don’t. I just figure I can overload him with every piece of information I come across and let him make his own choices. The way I see it, if you are not informed then how can you make informed decisions?

When people express that they want to lose weight but don’t know what to do, my first suggestion is to cut out all dairy. This is how weighing at 145 pounds, I lost another 14 in just 4 months. The weight seriously fell off of me. By cutting out all dairy products I was so surprised to see just how much dairy I was consuming on a weekly basis. Even though if you would have asked me before I turned (that makes it sounds like a vampire!) I would have said barely ever ate it. I wasn’t just cutting out cheese and milk, I went all the way to not eating anything that contains or even may contains milk (or egg) ingredients. The amount of food I do not consume at our TGIF parties is astounding, which really opened my eyes to how much dairy there is in our snack foods because almost every dish you take to a party contains it. Now I just take vegan dishes (like my Mediterranean Surprise Dip) to every party so I am able to eat snack foods too, and people seem to really like them. Which can be unfortunate because when they don’t, more for me!

When things got difficult for me is when I traveled down in August 2012 to Sturgis, South Dakota for the biker rally. I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy, but I had high hopes that it would all be okay… It wasn’t, full fledge almost starved. Every restaurant I went to didn’t believe in fruit or vegetables, not even a baked potato, and when they did have something it was cooked in animal fat. So I mainly ate peanut butter and dry toast. What was I going to do, I couldn’t live off of bread and peanut butter for 6 days? So I got groceries! I had Devon ride into town to help me get some food to get through the week. My main staples were apples, cherries, celery, bbq chips, and peanut butter. I am surprised that I didn’t develop an allergy to peanut butter because I ate almost half a jar to myself. Next time we go down I am buy a lot more because I now understand just how much they are not vegan friendly.
My favorite food story from Sturgis was about our last night there. We went out to a sit down restaurant and I was pretty excited because I was sure they would have something for me to eat. That day I had eaten only an apple and a small bag of chips and I was F’IN STARVING and getting angrier by the minute. I feel really bad for those who had to endure the wrath of Nikki that night. We finally got to the restaurant and ordered and I quote “a really big salad, with no diary or dressing”. After 20 minutes everyone got their food but me and Sheldon. “Where the F’ is my salad, how hard is it to make one?! If it comes with cheese on it, I am going to throw it at her!” (Yay, that mad) According to the waitress it did have cheese on it so she sent it back. Insert lots of curse words, and finally I got my salad. Or what I would call a horrible mess of ice berg lettuce and shredded carrots (more curse words), but I shouldn’t have been surprised seeing how every other restaurant didn’t even have ice berg lettuce. So I ate the salad and chased it with triple vodka and waters, and needless to say I was a drunken mess that night. This month we are going to Mexico and I am getting really excited for the fruit selection that will be available to eat. I feel my eating habits will be a lot better than Sturgis and this time when we are on vacation I will be way more prepared so I am not put in that position ever again. 

In September I decided to do a four day mono fruit cleanse where I would only eat one type of fruit per day. I was scared, and now that I think about it I don’t know why because it wasn’t like I would be disappointing someone, just myself. So I talked to my sister Ashley about it because she was doing a banana island at the time (a mono diet of 30 bananas a day for 14 days). She was super thrilled and was my support and coach through it all. She never once complained about my incessant calls, asking question after question. I really couldn’t have done it without her.

Basically this is how the four days went down:

1)     Grapes: This day was really easy, I was happy and excited to do this. I ate 2 pounds of organic grapes per meal and drank about 3 liters of water. I had high energy and felt alert.

2)     This was supposed to be a banana day, but after breakfast my body felt like crap and I couldn’t stomach the thought of eating any more bananas, so I did organic grapes again. This was the hardest day, I felt sluggish, tired, basically like I was detoxifying.

3)     Peaches: I ate around 8-10 peaches per meal and about 3 liters of water. I was really excited about the peaches, so this day went by pretty well. It was around 5 o’clock where I really wanted to give up, but I held strong and didn’t cheat, even though my husband made homemade fries! Now that’s will power.

4)     Grapes: Again 2 pounds of organic grapes per meal and 3 liters of water. I had a rough morning of feeling sluggish and really tired but I felt really good about lasting 4 days. At supper I introduced greens in and had a romaine and cucumber salad. This gave me heartburn for the first time ever in my life and holy crap that hurt! I hope to never go through that again.

I am very proud of myself in what I accomplished in my four day cleanse. I did not experience weight loss but I did notice better digestion and the break I gave my body by only eating raw fresh fruit is awesome! Also not a lot of people can say that they a) ate raw for four days straight b) ate only fruit for four days straight c) ate mono meals for four days straight. This is something that I really would love to do again, but I will have to wait until summer when I can get a better selection and fresher fruit. 

I love my friends, oh so very much. None of them are vegan so I find they are the main ones asking me about being vegan. On New Year’s Eve I was in Saskatoon partying with my university friends, and we got into a discussion about my lifestyle. Spencer started asking a lot of questions (he is kind of a catalyst), mostly the standard like Why did you? How do you? And what about when you have kids? Some people might think that I am offended when they ask me questions but I really love talking about it, so keep on asking because I love answering them. However I am still a newbie so I am not as eloquent in some topics as others but I still like to share my opinion when I can. During our conversation my friend Tara then mentioned that she heard from a nutritionist that eating meat and dairy is really healthy and why would I choose not to eat it if a nutritionist said so. My response is that I know that there are nutritionist and doctors who say that, but you don’t have to believe them. I was that person before, a meat and dairy type of gal, but I looked past the norm and informed myself on both sides and I chose vegan. By me talking to people about this I am NOT trying to convert you to “my side” I am trying to inform you. There is SO much information out there about nutrition that is under played because the meat and dairy companies dominate the media. All you see are pro meat and dairy commercials, never a commercial for the benefits of eating 10 bananas a day. Basically I want people to know is that it’s okay to change your mind on something that you originally thought to be true and to not be afraid to give it a chance. I know I am grateful for taking a chance on doing something different, it has changed my life for the better and I would never go back.

I cannot believe it has almost been three years since I started on this journey, it seems like just last year I was sitting at 171 pounds, unhappy and unfit. Today I am healthier and fitter than I have ever been, but most of all I am happier and I know it can only get better from here. I would like to thank my husband Devon for all of his constant support, and my sisters Ashley and Chelsea for being my biggest cheerleaders. Also, thank you to all of you who are reading this right now, and have been following me from the beginning, I truly appreciate it. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to do so!

Thanks for reading!!!!

Xoxo -Nikki

From April 2010 to December 2012!

Broccoli, Mushroom Coconut Soup

So I just had to share this right away because I love it so much, and it only took me 35 minutes from stove to bowl. Mmmmmmmm. I thought up this recipe last night when I noticed a head of broccoli in the fridge that was close to death and I didn't want to throw it out. Its super easy and few ingredients. Enjoy!

Broccoli, Mushroom Coconut Soup
2 heads of broccoli
3 stalks of celery
5 green onions
1 sm package of mushrooms
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp  of coconut oil
1 cup vegetable broth
2 cups of water
2 young coconuts, or 2.5 cups of canned coconut milk (clearly this is not a low fat soup)
Pepper to taste

Heat up a soup pot and oil on med/high. Chop up all of the veggies into bit sized pieces. I started with the onions and celery and threw those in to the pot to sweat while I chopped up the broccoli and mushrooms. When done chopping, add all of the veggies, the broth and the pepper into pot and cook for 10 minutes. If using young coconuts open them up and scoop out all of the meat and the water from one of the coconuts, drink the rest of the water from the second young coconut while you are cooking! Blend up the meat and water until smooth in a high speed blender. Add the coconut milk and water into the pot and set to simmer. Then your final step is to take half of the soup and puree it in a blender until smooth, add it back into the pot and Viola Done!  I am really impatient so I just let it simmer for 5 minutes, basically making sure all of the veggies are cooked and the coconut milk and broth have blended well. I can only imagine what this will taste like tomorrow, if there is any left. 

Devon suggested I use cooked and blended, cauliflower next time I make this to make the soup thicker. I totally agreed and was actually planning on it, but I guess I was wrong in thinking we had a head of it in our fridge. So next time that is the plan and when I do I will let you know how it goes! 

Hope you enjoy this as much as we did! 

Thanks for reading!
xoxo Nikki

The Start of It All: How I Turned Vegan - Post #1

This is my story… well a part of it.

My sister Ashley suggested that I document my transformation to becoming vegan, but I really suck at keeping track of things like that. So the next best thing is to try and remember it all and write it in a blog post. I have decided I am going to do this in 2 posts so it doesn’t take forever to read. I mean it has been 3 years of my life. So here goes nothing, and lets hope I can remember everything important! 

For those of you who have Pinterest you have most likely seen the before and afters of ladies with the captions underneath stating “THIS IS THE BEST DIET EVER!” “YOU GOTTA TRY THING, ITS SO AMAZE-BALLS” ect. I would love to say this underneath my before and after pictures because I want everyone to feel as great as I do. But I am not to sure if I want to. I don’t think people would take it seriously because I know I don’t take the ones on Pinterest seriously! It’s usually just some herb supplement, or eating cabbage soup, or not eating the top 5 worst foods for you (which include bananas, and I couldn’t live without bananas!).

My weight loss plan didn’t take 30 days, 2 weeks or even 6 months. It took me 3 years to get where I am now today. Sorry to burst your bubble that you might have had about this post, but I know 100% it was the best way I could have done it. By taking it slowly and making decisions that I knew I could live with and WANTED TO LIVE WITH, made my story a success. Because cutting out junk food for just one month might help you lose 5 pounds, but when that month is over and you go back to eating the same way you were, BAM the weight is back. Trust me I know!

The Start of It All - Post #1

I got married August 29^th, 2009. It was the most amazing day of my life and at the time I felt and looked great. I was not super overweight or obese I was just larger at 163 pounds. I am 5’8 and have some curves so I feel I can carry extra weight pretty good. As the months went by after the wedding, I noticed that I was getting bigger and bigger, dun dun dunnnnnnn!!  In April 2010, just 8 months after the wedding I had got up to 171 pounds, and I realized I did not like what I saw in the mirror. Clothes were not fitting properly, I felt sluggish and my asthma was really acting up. So Devon and I decided to do a weight loss challenge, whoever can lose 10 pounds first, wins $100. At the time when I made the bet I had forgotten that men loose weight faster then girls and needless to say he won. But, I came back with a counter offer, whoever can get to their goal weight first gets the $100.

My goal was 150 pounds, that means I would have to loose 21 pounds all together. So I started to work out more (I work at a circuit gym and actually started to use it) and made a lot more healthier decisions, like eating more chicken and rice instead of going out for burgers and fries. My husband Devon quit smoking the day of the wedding, and it was the best wedding gift he could have ever given me! So when we started to eat healthier I had a hard time cutting out potatoes because they are my all time favourite food. I told him that I couldn’t cut them out, they were my crack, and that’s when he looked me in the eye and said “if I can quit smoking, you can quit potatoes.” So I did... almost. I cut back from eating them everyday to only once or twice a month. That is something I know helped my weight loss, so thank you Devon!

By just being more conscious of what I was eating I had dropped 10 pounds by Christmas and didn’t gain any weight over the holidays. This is quite hard with all of the great food around. I was really excited to be 161 pounds because my goal weight was to get to 150, thus I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

After dropping 10 pounds by December, I then had a hot holiday to think about. My side of the family and Devons side were all going o Mexico and it was coming up faster than I anticipated. I really started to concentrate on my fitness 3 months before we left, turning to Jillian Michaels DVDs. The one that really helped me was the Banish Fat, Boot Metabolism and what I really like about it is you only need a yoga mat. The first time I tried it I only got through 25 minutes of the 50 minute workout, I was so out of breath, and the next day I could barely sit down to pee. Needless to say it kicked my out of shape ass. I started working out in my living room and after I felt comfortable with it I started to do the routine at the gym (I wrote it all down on a piece of paper).  I owe a lot to that DVD, it is a total body work out and really, really makes you sweat without being complicated. By the time we left I was down to 155, that’s 16 pounds lost and only 5 pounds away from my goal weight. 

It was in May 2011 and still around 155 pounds, I decided that I wasn’t going to eat poultry anymore. I had gotten to the point where I couldn’t stomach the thought of eating it and I now as I look back, that was the first time I started to really listen to what my body was telling me. Around the time of the wedding I had started to be really turned off by the smell of cooked meat and was finding it hard to eat. It was something that was always on and off for me, one day I could eat a hamburger the next I couldn't. On top of cutting out poultry I wouldn’t eat any meat off the bone, I would either not eat it or I would get my husband to cut it off before giving it to me. I know I know, that makes me sound like a Princess (actually I am!) but he realized that I wasn’t being a lazy jerk, it was something that truly bothered me. 

By January 2012 I had finally reached my goal of 150 pounds and that illusive bet Devon and I made was forgotten. However I am really thankful for it because it got us on track to a better and healthier life. I had also cut out all meat except for fish, seafood and occasionally bacon. I started to feel better after eating meals, such as less stomach aches, better digestion and I had more energy. Also I just felt better mentally, with the understanding of the treatment of chickens it got me to think about other animals and how I did not want to contribute to their suffering. Fish for some reason I see like bugs and didn't feel bad about eating them. It's a hard feeling to articulate right now, but for some reason I still felt right about eating fish and seafood. Maybe it was the fact that it was still socially acceptable to only eat fish or I just wasn't ready to give up the tradition of being a 'meat eater', who knows? All I know is, it was a step I took to get here and I am grateful. 

Now, I wouldn't say that cutting out meat was the main reason I reached my goal of 150 pounds because it took a number of months to reach it. I probably reached my goal between September and October 2011 and I plateaued for 4 months because my diet and exercise hadn't varied. That was frustrating but I hadn't wanted to make any other changes in my life, so I just remained the same. That's a big lesson I have learned through all of this. If you want change, then you have to make change. It is something I am at constantly trying to incorporate in my life and there are hundreds of ways you can too. It took 19 months to loose 21 pounds, which doesn't sound that impressive but I am proud because I was able to keep it off and not gain any of it back. It was all because I chose to make a life style change, instead of trying the next new diet. 

Well, this is the end of post #1 and I will let you return to your daily life! It was kinda longer than I originally wanted so if you got to the end of this post thank you so much! I will be putting up Post #2 shortly so keep an eye out for it! 

Thanks for reading,
xoxo - N

New Year, New Possibilities feat. Mediterranean Surprise Dip

With the ever exciting New Year upon us, a lot of us are thinking about what we might do different in the year 2013. Some may even call these New Years Resolutions. I am personally not a fan of making them because I find it very hard to stick with them. Instead I just give myself a list of things that I would like to see change in the new year. Mostly its things like see my family more, clean the house more, put away the laundry after I'm done it, actually DO laundry, ect. My newest addition to the list is eat fewer chips, they are my weakness and I should really try to cut back. I am not going to kid myself and say I am going to quit altogether because who am I kidding, I don’t want too. I feel like the decision has to come on its own, and I can't force it.

This is how I cut out peanut butter from my diet. When I became vegan I was addicted, it was one of foods that helped me transition into veganism. In the beginning I wasn’t going to give it up (no matter how many times Ashley suggested it), but just this past month I began to really recognize that it was making me feel very ill every time I would eat it. I couldn’t concentrate at work, my stomach hurt and I felt really tired. That’s when the light bulb went came on, PING! No more peanuts. It took me a while to get there, but the decision was my own and I wanted to do it!

Of course there are some of you out there who also want to make health changes but might not know where to start. I would suggest watching the Vegucated documentary, its about 3 ‘normal’ New Yorkers who go vegan for 6 weeks. The movie isn’t that long and I found it quite funny at times. I will warn you that there is some graphic footage (I covered my eyes and my husband let me know when it was okay to re-open them, so I will now suggest a buddy system when you watch it, if you are sensitive like me!). You can find it on Netflix and probably on the internet too.

While watching, I heard one of the woman say something that has really stuck with me:

"A lot of people think veganism as a religion, which is totally wrong, its not that you have to live by certain rules. Its about minimizing suffering, it’s not about being perfect”

She is right, it’s about being happy and comfortable with the way you live your life. Furthermore, it is a total different experience for each person. If you want to make a change to vegetarian/vegan and not sure where to start, why not just minimize the suffering? Gradually eliminate things from your diet at a pace you are comfortable with. For me chicken was the first to go, it was something that always bothered me so that made it easier to cut out. Another easy way to minimize suffering in you house hold is buying wild game. My husbands family are now wanting to eat more wild game such as deer, moose or wild boar, for environmental and ethical reasons. We can all share it as a family which makes it more affordable and by eating wild you are not contributing to the slaughter houses. 

My recipe today is inspired by a conversation I had with my friend Rebecca the other day. She transitioned into vegetarianism in July and she expressed that she wanted to go vegan in the new year. This got me excited! Another person to share recipes with, Woo Hoo!

She then asked me “how do you deal with going to family functions and being vegan?” This is something I get asked a lot because its one of the main hurdles people have when going vegan.  My solution is to bring your favourite dish and share with everyone. If they like it, then great you are giving them a chance to try something new! If they don’t like it, then more for you!
One of my favorite dishes to take to family functions is my Mediterranean Surprise Dip, its very simple to make and is really tasty! 

Mediterranean Surprise Dip 

Humus - store bought or you can use my recipe below
1 tomato, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 cucumber, diced
2 green onions, diced
1/2 cup of kalamata olives, diced and de-seeded
Balsamic Vinegar

Humus
1 can of chick peas
1 clove of garlic
3 tbsp of tahini 
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup of water

Put all of the humus ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until smooth. 

Spread all of the humus onto a flat serving tray, then evenly sprinkle the veggies on top. The last thing is to drizzle balsamic vinegar all over. This is a trick I stole from the restaurant Original Joes, it adds a sweet and tangy taste to the dish, and you can use ANY flavor of balsamic vinegar! Serve with pita bread, or my favorite choice, fresh zucchini and cucumber slices. 

Thanks for reading!
xoxo -N

Christmas Quilt Projects!

Have I ever mentioned that I love quilting?! Cause I really do. This Christmas I had 3 sewing projects to finish before the 25^th and each of them turned out fantastic. They were all really fun to make and I was really proud of myself because I didn’t leave it till the very last minute to get them done.

The baby quilt was for my friend Kara, her boyfriend’s sister just had a baby boy named Rhone and she wanted to give him a quilt for Christmas. She found the awesome baby motorcycle fabric on Spoonflower and texted me the link so I could buy it. After seeing the fabric I knew what I wanted to make, the fabric is so busy and I really didn’t want to cut it up so I went for something basic that would show off the great print.

With a lot of parents naming their children different and unique names that are hard to spell and sometimes even pronounce, I sympathize with these kids. My name isn’t different or unique but I could NEVER EVER find anything with my name on it when I was younger. No Nikki Pencils, no Nikki Stickers, no Nikki Erasers. Nothing. Oh there was Nicole (barf, no offense) or Nick (I'M NOT A GUY!)

So I feel like I could help this little guy out by giving him something with his name on it. I know I would have really appreciated it when I was younger, to have something with my name on it. Who knows, maybe my quilt will help him spell his name... I could be helping this little boy learn! Woo Hoo!

I was super happy with this quilt and so was Kara, it’s really adorable and I put a plush backing on it to make it even better. This was the first project I finished, a whole 10 days before Christmas which is really good timing for me!

 

The second project I made was this amazing yet time consuming wall hanging for my friend Spencer. He wanted to give his family friends something for Christmas but wasn’t sure what since they are one of those families that have everything. Then he came up with the idea of a wall hanging to commemorate their farm turning 100. He sent me 9 pictures and gave me artistic freedom to make whatever I want.

 I chose the picture of the original homestead because I felt it would mean more to the family to see the original homestead on the wall.

I printed the picture off onto transparent paper for my overhead projector. I then projected the image onto the wall and individually traced out all of the images onto heat and bond, which I then pieced together to bring the wall hanging to life. Picking out the fabric was a challenge yet fun, because I wanted it all to look as much as the picture as possible but I also wanted to add some more vibrancy that the picture lacked. I had never done a wall hanging before, so it was also my first time doing hand stitching (other than binding), so I think I did a pretty great job. It was so worth all of the needles going through my fingers.... note to self, get a thimble.

The finished project turned out great, I am really happy with it, which doesn’t happen often. And the cherry on the vegan cake was that Spencer texted me on Christmas Eve quoting the woman he gave it to saying “Tell her she did an absolutely fabulous bitchin job” Gotta love it when you can make a 63 year old woman say Bitchin!

The third and final project I made for Christmas was two pillow beds for my nephews Brody and Carson. After seeing these on Pinterest, I knew I had to make them and they looked so comfy and pretty simple to make. I luckily found matching pillow cases at Winners, 2 for $4.99, which was a steal of a deal, especially since they were super cute patterns with cars, stripes and sports balls on them.

All I had to do was zig zag each of the pillow cases together insert the pillows and VIOLA DONE! Probably one of the easiest gifts I ever made. And the icing on the vegan cake here was that my nephews put down their new remote control cars because they were so pumped about them. When opening them Brody yelled ‘WOW PILLOWS!!’ and instantly wanted to play on them. I couldn’t have been happier with their reaction. So next time you are stumped on a gift for your young relatives, think about making them these pillow beds, they are totally worth it!

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo -N

My Mama's Cabbage Rolls Veganized!

One of my families’ favourite things to eat growing up was my mom’s cabbage rolls. On our birthdays we would get to pick what meal we would like her to make and I always picked cabbage rolls. I would even get upset if there weren’t any at Christmas or Easter, that’s how good they are. My mother learned from my amazing Grandma Violet (she is Swedish) who is also a great cook, so no wonder they tasted great. I find that your grandparents/parents heritage determined what type of cabbage rolls you grew up with, ours were covered in tomato juice and had a hamburger and rice filling. When I would try other families cabbage rolls often they would taste weird and sometimes even gross. It was hard to measure up to my moms!!

So with the holiday coming up and with a lot of traveling ahead of us I started to think about what my sisters and I were going to eat. We come from a family of farmers so we were certain that the food was not going to be vegan friendly. But no problem there because we are used to taking our own food to parties anyways! I had already decided to take my Quinoa stuffing but I didn’t think that it would be enough because we are really big eaters. That’s when cabbage rolls popped into my head. I haven’t had them in over a year and I really missed them. I wasn’t going to ask my mom to make them, so I ventured into the long process myself hoping and praying that they tasted at least half as good as my moms.

I had bumped into my friend Karen at the grocery store the day I was picking up my groceries and she told me that Whitney from Grounded Nutrition had an amazing vegan recipe and I should look it up. I knew my sister had been talking with her this past year so I asked her if she had the recipe and luckily she did!

I had already formed a plan of attack in my head and when I looked at Whitney’s recipe it was similar to what I was going to do except for one big difference. She layered sweet potatoes in hers! WOW that was a game changer! I was really excited to add those to my recipe because I knew that they would really add some great flavour to the mix!

I couldn’t wait for my sisters and mom to try them, I was really hoping they enjoyed them as much as I did (I got to try them the day before and nearly ate the entire roaster!) Good thing I didn’t because they were all really impressed with my efforts, and they even said that they tasted like my moms! WOO HOO!



Photography by Ashley Clark

After we got home from Christmas all I could think about was how delicious they were so…… I made 3 more batches! I went to Superstore on Boxing Day and got a whole bunch of groceries and 3 tin foil disposable pans and got to work!

The good thing about making 3 batches all at once is that there is only one mess and it doesn’t take that much time (probably 2 hours of work, but I took my time) The weird thing is I forgot at least one ingredient per batch! The first one, had no parsley or oregano, the second one had no parsley, and the third had no garlic. So they are all going to taste slightly different but I am not worried about it!

Vegan Cabbage Rolls – 1 Large Roaster Full

1 large head of cabbage

1.36 liter can of tomato juice,

1 cup of quinoa, uncooked

1 tbsp coconut oil

2 cups of mushrooms, diced finely

2 cups of celery, diced finely

4 green onions, diced finely

3 carrots, diced finely

2 large sweet potatoes, sliced thin

1 clove of garlic, minced

½ cup of fresh parsley, chopped up finely

4 sprigs of fresh oregano, de-stemmed chopped up finely

Cook your quinoa in 2 cups of water in a medium sauce pan for 20 minutes, and chop up your veggies, garlic and herbs. For the cabbage, remove as much of the stem as possible so you are able to peel the leaves off easily. Place cabbage in large sauce pan and fill it half with water, and set to boil. Check the pot every 5-7 min, removing any leaves that are soft and that peel away from the head easily. BUT BE CAREFUL BECAUSE THEY ARE HOT!  I dunk the hot hot leaves in a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process because I don’t want them to get too soft and mushy. While you are waiting for all of the leaves to fall off I throw the cooked ones in a strainer to drain the excess water. And I then cook the veggies, garlic and herbs and oil in large frying pan until the veggies are almost fully cooked. Stir in quinoa and set aside.

Once all the leaves are cooked, cut off the hard stem at the bottom in the shape of a V. Next take the sliced sweet potatoes and cover the bottom of the roaster, then fill each leaf with a spoonful of filling and roll like a burrito. Place the cabbage rolls on top of the sweet potatoes until the roaster is full. Layer another layer of sweet potatoes and if you have any cabbage left layer that on the very top. Pour the entire can of tomato juice into the roaster and you are done! Cook at 350 degrees for 2.5 hours and serve!



Photograpghy by Ashley Clark

Thanks for reading!

xoxo - N