Vegan MoFo day 1

 I met up with a couple of my good friends for lunch, and we went to a little place at the beach called Pajos. They have mostly non-veg stuff on the menu, but I love them for serving veggie burgers and veggie dogs that don't taste like cardboard. And they make a killer lemonade.

I'm happy to support local small businesses who make an effort to provide delicious veg options. Cheers to Pajos!

Can't stop juicing

It's been over a week since I've had coffee. And miraculously, no migraine yet. Probably thanks to all the Earl Grey tea I've been sipping on. And who am I kidding, probably thanks to all the juicing too. There are endless combinations of fruits and vegetables to turn into juice. One that I can't get enough of is this bright red jewel of a juice and it contains just four simple ingredients.

 

• 1 medium beet
• 2-3 carrots
• 2 oranges
• 1/2 cup raspberries 

There's a lot of trial and error going on in my kitchen when it comes to juicing. I've made a few combinations of fruit/veggie juices that were downright awful. What's your favourite juice to make?
 

Goodbye coffee, hello juice

In the spirit of New Years resolutions, at my workplace there is a 30 day challenge that kicked off today. Voluntary participants make a pledge to do (or not do) something for 30 days. Health or hobby, it doesn't matter, just commit to something.

So I'm giving up coffee for a month. I typically drink about 3 cups a day, and by "cup" I mean a venti-sized travel mug from Starbucks. My pocketbook will surely thank me now that I won't be ordering $6.00 lattes all the time. And if I stick with it, maybe, just maybe those migraines I get when I haven't had a drop of coffee in 24 hours will be a thing of the past.

Less coffee means more herbal tea, and delicious juices, like one of my new favourites, Mean Green Juice by Joe Cross. He's really on to something with his juice crusade. Even my 6-year-old is a big fan of this vibrantly coloured juice.

 

 And speaking of my little one, how about a lunchbox pic? This is what I packed for my daughter to eat at school today:

 

Clockwise starting with the package of roasted seaweed - spinach wrap (Daiya cheese, lettuce, Gardein ground "beef") celery & carrot sticks, blackberries, banana tofu, gala apple, and crackers.

B-day bash cupcake

And with the beginning of the school year, here come the birthday party invites for baby girl.

Most moms are accommodating, having veggie dogs to BBQ, or asking ahead of time what they can do about the cake issue. I let them know that I'll send something for my little one to have for dessert, which is what happened today. And now I have 11 leftover vanilla cupcakes with chocolate coconut-cream icing. Make that 10. Err...9? I had to do some quality taste testing.

Strawberry Bento Boxes

Labour Day: the unofficial last day of summer. The rain today is putting a damper on my blackberry picking plans. I hope it clears up by this afternoon. Although I will probably go even if it doesn't stop. After all, there is blackberry jam to be made!

Labour Day also marks the return to school tomorrow - or in my baby girl's case, the first day of school ever. It's very exciting for us, so of course we stocked up on new lunchbox containers. I can't wait to fill these up with delicious and fun lunches for her. Aren't they adorable?!

Tgiv (thank goodness I'm vegan)

@caribbeanjanet: Another reason to be vegan: RT @GlobalBC: Full Story: Four cases of human mad cow disease confirmed in B.C. http://t.co/u1TrXMXvGf

Food for Life

@caribbeanjanet: I love that 9/10 items on this list are vegan: RT@HuffPostCanada: 10 foods to eat for the rest of your life http://t.co/xEPddPY9f6 #goveg