Easy & Healthy Iced Tea

The weather is really starting to heat up around here - a sure sign summer is finally here! With the increase in the temperature, I've been on the lookout for some refreshing summer drinks that aren't full of calories. I noticed they're hard to find! So I decided to make my own iced tea!

I headed down to my local farmers market and found a booth selling some delicious tea and picked out cream of earl grey and cream of blueberry. Both sounded lovely to me, but you can really use any tea you want! Try to use high quality tea to avoid bitterness in your tea.

To make your iced tea - place 6 tsp of loose tea in a liquid measuring cup. Pour 1 1/2 cups boiling water over top and steep for five minutes. Don't steep for any longer or your tea will get bitter. Meanwhile, fill a pitcher 1/4 full with ice cold water.

 Once your tea is finished steeping, strain the mixture - putting the tea liquid into your prepared pitcher and discarding the tea. Fill the pitcher to the top with cold water. Serve tea over ice and garnish with slices of citrus fruits - I used lemons and oranges, but lime or grapefruit would be good too depending on the type of tea you're serving. I didn't need to sweeten mine, but if you must - sweeten it with honey!

This is such a simple, delicious and healthy alternative to other sugar-laden beverages we associate with summer. Give it a try - you might be surprised how delicious and refreshing it tastes!

 What's your favorite summer beverage that is easy on your waistline while still being refreshing?

Cheers!

Honey Roasted Carrots & Zucchini

This weekend has been a marathon of cooking and baking for my hubby's birthday party. Part of the menu was honey roasted carrots and zucchini. I wasn't going to blog these, but when I posted a picture on instagram, I received so many requests for the recipe, that I am posting now!

I don't have much to say about these other than that they are easy, taste delicious and are super healthy (as long as you keep the amount of oil at a reasonable amount). They're the perfect summer veggie to accompany your meal.

Honey Roasted Carrot and Zucchini
Minimally adapted from Meals in Heels

Ingredients:

• 6 carrots, cut into 3/4 inch batons
• 4 zucchini - I used 1 zucchini, 2 grey zucchini and one yellow zucchini, cut into 3/4 inch batons
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp mustard seeds
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Place carrot and zucchini in a bowl and toss with oil and honey. Sprinkle over the cumin and mustard seeds and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes or until golden and tender.

Pretty simple and very delicious! Hope you enjoy these as much as we did. The cumin and mustard seeds really take this recipe up a notch!

Happy Cooking my Friends!

Mexican Haystacks



Dinner is Served!



I hadn't originally planned on blogging this casual dinner, but due to much demand after I posted this {see above} photo on Facebook, I am now posting the recipe! Unfortunately I don't have any spectacular photos to share with you as there weren't any leftovers. This was such a yummy and healthy dinner idea! I will be making it over and over again as I'm sure you will be once you try it!

I found this recipe on the blog Whole and Free which is a blog about one family's journey to eating healthier. Check out her blog for some amazing photos of these Mexican Haystacks!

Mexican Haystacks

minimally adapted from Whole and Free

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked brown rice

1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
1 onion chopped
3 small cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups fresh salsa (I used fresh is best brand - it took two containers of it)

1 avocado, chopped
1 mango, chopped
1 red pepper chopped
hot sauce for drizzling
fresh cilantro for garnish

Method
1. Start your rice cooking (stovetop or rice cooker is fine). Then brown your turkey and onion until cooked through. Add garlic and stir til fragrant. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add salsa, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, covered for 20 minutes.
2. While your rice and salsa mixture cook, prep your topping ingredients - you can use whatever you like!
3. Once your rice is cooked, stir through almost all of your chopped cilantro, reserving some for garnish. Scoop rice onto your plate, top with turkey-salsa mixture then sprinkle on toppings as desired. Serve immediately.

{Note - you can easily make this vegetarian by omitting the turkey and using veggies and/ or chickpeas}

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did! I love how simple and quick it is to pull together. Your family can have fun thinking of delicious topping ideas and kids will love assembling their haystack the way they like it!

Happy Cooking my Friends!

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy Wednesday peeps! The week is more than half over - you can do it!! These cookies got me revved up about baking again - they're delicious and totally different than any chocolate chip cookie I've ever had. They have a secret ingredient - coconut oil!

 If you're worried about how expensive coconut oil is, let me tell you a little secret! You don't have to pay loads of money for good quality cold pressed coconut oil!! Go down to your local Costco and load up- they had huge jars of really good quality stuff on for around $20! Stop paying the ridiculous prices at grocery stores and health food stores! You absolutely don't need to.

 I found this recipe on the Well Traveled Wife. Head on over there and check out her site - it seems like a good one with lots of yummy recipes. And if this recipe is any testament to the quality of her recipes, her blog is fantastic!

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe adapted from The Well Traveled Wife

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 - 1 cup shredded coconut

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In the bowl of your mixer, cream the coconut oil and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time beating until incorporated after each addition. Add vanilla and beat til fluffy.
3. In another bowl, mix the flour, salt, powder and soda. Gradually add to the coconut mixture until just about incorporated (mixing on a very low speed). Add in chocolate chips and coconut and mix til just combined.
4. Drop by spoonful's onto prepared baking sheets. Bake in pre-heated oven for 8-10 minutes until just lightly browned around the edges and still soft in the middle. Let set on tray for 2-4 minutes after removing from oven, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

The coconut oil adds such an amazing flavour to these cookies! You really need to try them. The beauty of these cookies is how quick and easy they come together - none of this finicky cookie stuff! Simple and delicious is all you'll find here!

Happy Baking my Friends!

 

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

 

My hubby and my family have abandoned me this weekend - all off doing their own things, so its just me and the dog all alone all weekend! If you know me, you know that I get bored and lonely pretty fast when I'm all alone! So this morning I was feeling a tad sorry for myself and decided I would make myself a healthy, yet indulgent breakfast. So I surfed the net and came up with Cookie and Kate's blog - about Kate and her dog Cookie. On her blog she had a fantastic sounding recipe for gluten free banana oat pancakes. With a couple modifications due to personal preference, I was on my way! Boy were these delicious! I can't wait to make them again. Hope you enjoy as much as I did!



Banana Oatmeal Pancakes
Minimally adapted from Cookie & Kate

Ingredients:

• 3 small ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 tbsp. coconut oil, melted
• juice of 1/2 a large lemon
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup oats - pulse 1/2 of them in your food processor to make oat flour and keep the other half whole (I like the texture of oats - if you think you won't like the texture, pulse all of the oats in your food processor)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

 Method

1. In a medium bowl, combine mashed bananas and melted coconut oil. Stir well to combine. Then add remaining wet ingredients - lemon juice, honey, vanilla and eggs. Beat until well mixed.
2. In another medium bowl, combine oat flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir until combined.
3. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix until just moistened. Let batter stand for 10 minutes while you heat up your pan or your griddle over medium-low heat.
4. Using a non-stick pan pour 1/4-1/2 cups of batter onto the pan and flatten with your measuring cup until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Allow to cook until edges are set and bottom is a beautiful golden brown. Flip and continue cooking until other side is golden brown and pancake is cooked through.
5. Enjoy right away, topped with a dallop of honey flavoured greek yogurt and some fresh sliced strawberries.

These are super filling pancakes because of the oats in them - so while the batch looks small, it will actually feed 2-3 people quite comfortably. Mine made 3 1/2 cup sized pancakes and one pancake filled me up and kept me going til lunch time!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. Happy Baking my Friends!

Honey Vanilla Beehive Cupcakes

 

Happy Friday! The weekend is finally here and with it some beautiful sunshine and blue skies. The bright cheeriness outside on my way home from work today reminded me of these bright cheery Honey Vanilla Beehive Cupcakes that I had promised to share with you ohhhh about a month ago! Bad me, but I'm doing it now, that's what counts right?

 

I made these for the Winnie the Pooh baby shower I threw for my sister and her new baby Preston. You can read more about the baby shower, the food and the decorations here if you're interested! People at the shower went nuts for these things! I received compliment after compliment about how good they were, so hopefully you like them too.

 

Before you ask, no I didn't make the cute little bees on top of them (though you could do it yourself if you have time, patience and are good with fondant) - I bought these little sugar bees from Scoop n' Save in Langley for a super reasonable price (that's also where I found the adorable cupcake wrappers and the food colouring to make my icing that bright!!!).

 



Honey Vanilla Cupcakes
Minimally adapted from Half Baked - the Cake Blog

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup salted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tsp vanilla

For the frosting:

• 3/4 cup salted butter
• 4 oz island farms cream cheese (or other cream cheese, softened)
• 3 cups icing sugar
• 3 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• yellow food colouring (if desired)
• yellow sanding sugar

see below next picture for method

 

Method

1. For the cupcakes. Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking trays with cupcake liners. In a medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients -  flour, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, mix together wet ingredients - buttermilk, honey and vanilla. Set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time mixing until well incorporated. Gradually add the wet and dry ingredients, alternating, starting with and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until incorporated (don't overmix though).
2. Using a medium sized scoop, scoop batter into cupcake liners until 2/3rds full. Bake in preheated oven for 18 minutes or until tops spring back lightly when pressed. Allow cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting
3. For the frosting - cream butter and cream cheese until combined and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue mixing until fluffy. Mix in honey. Gradually add a few drops of food colouring at a time until you achieve desired colour. Put icing in large piping bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe swirls of icing onto cooled cupcakes.
4. Dust cupcakes with sanding sugar and place sugar bees on artistically right before serving.

And that's how you make these lovely cupcakes. One of the keys to making them taste delicious - not sickly sweet, is to use salted butter - the salt cuts the sweetness and balances the flavour perfectly!

Hope you enjoy these little beauties as much as we did! Happy Baking my Friends!

Coconut Almond Bars

Howdy friends! How are you this fine, rainy Wednesday evening? I figured you might need a sweet chocolaty pick-me-up! I know I could. I made these quite a while ago and to be honest just never got around to blogging them. But I was flipping through pictures and noticed I had these lovely little shots my hubby took and I just had to share them with you!

This recipe is from one of my favorite baking books - Back to Baking by Anna Olson! I hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Coconut Almond Bars
Minimally adapted from Back to Baking by Anna Olson

Ingredients:

Base:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour

Filling:

• 1 1/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 300 ml tin sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt

Topping:

• 5 oz semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp. butter

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper so paper comes up the sides.
2. Melt butter and chocolate in a small pan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Then add egg and vanilla and stir til blended. Add flour and stir. Spread this mixture into the bottom of prepared an and bake for 10 minutes until it loses its shine. Cool while preparing the filling.
3. For the filling, stir the coconut, almonds, condensed milk, vanilla and salt to combine. Spread over cooled base. Bake 25 minutes until light golden brown. Cool to room temperature before adding the topping.
4. For the topping, melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave on low heat, stirring often.  Pour mixture over cooled filling and spread evenly.
5. Chill the pan for about 2 hours to set the chocolate. Cut the squares while chilled, but then store and enjoy at room temp. I used a small round biscuit cutter to cut mine into cute little round shapes for a fun way to present them!

These bars have amazing chocolaty flavour, but they are a little on the sweet side! If you don't like super sweet treats, then these probably aren't the bars for you! If however you love a little sugar hit - get on making these right away to cure your mid-week blues!

Happy Baking Friends!