Christmas Feast

Hi friends!

Happy Tuesday!! Hope you are all loving the sunny skies if you are in the Ottawa region!

I had an awesome low-key night with a friend of mine, who has currently set-up camp in my living room. Loaf her. We spent the night chatting away over a bottle of red wine and ended curled-up watching episodes of 'The Good Wife', our current female powerhouse lawyer inspiration :)

Workout

I did a Bodyrock workout yesterday after work [find it here]. I followed along with the video - for some reason the workout breakdown and the video don't match up...? It was an awesome workout, but it did involve burpees. 50 of them. Consider yourself warned ;)

I finally sucked it up today and went for a run at lunchtime. Loved it! It was nice and sunny outside, a balmy -6C, and the sidewalks were cleared.

Unfortunately my old running trails aren't cleared - I have to stick to the road now

Its amazing how a little movement in the middle of the day can brighten my mood for the rest of the workday - I feel nice and refreshed and ready to get back to work! I am in the middle of reviewing funding proposals, which can be a bit tiring on the mind, so I can appreciate any boost of energy that I can get ;)

Christmas Feast

Kind of poor-quality pics, but bear (bare?) with me. 

My second - yes, second - pre-Christmas feast of the weekend on Sunday night was an amazing 3 course meal prepared by my Step Dad's roomies, who moved in when my Momster and little sister headed off to Egypt.

We started off with a mushroom soup with cretons, followed by a green salad with seared scallops (not pictured - I inhaled it too quickly).

The grand finale was duck confit with sautéed spinach and goat cheese on a potato rosti from Les Fougères in Chelsea, asparagus, turnip and red cabbage.

Seriously, they outdid themselves. It was a taste explosion.

We did an awesome game of present stealing - where each person takes their turn to either open a new present or steal one from someone else who has already opened one. We do 2 rounds, and a present is 'out' after it has been stolen three times. The hot items of the night were: a bacon wallet (not actually made of bacon, but with a bacon pattern); a teddy bear that says lines from the movie 'Ted' (rated R, as in not for children); and TNA leggings (my purchase - you're welcome ladies ;)

After the game, where we worked off a bit of the meal by running around stealing people's gifts (in the nicest way possible, obvi) we had some home-made rice pudding and special coffee. It is the roomie's family tradition to sneak an almond into one of the bowls and whoever finds it in their bowl gets a special present. 

I was the lucky gal, and got a huge box of chocolates. Thank goodness for my own rommates, who have been helping me out to eat them all ;)

Hope this is getting you all in the 'oh-em-gee-I-can't-wait-til-I-can-stuff-my-face-and-get-presents-and-drink-copiuous-amounts-of-wine-with-my-fam' frame of mind. I'll (hopefully) be back tomorrow with a little guide to surviving the holiday feasts without having to buy a bigger pair of pants by the end of it.

Have a great night!

Chocolate Pomegranate Clusters

Morning friends!

Did any of you do a bit of meditation this morning? I started my day off with a wonderful 20 minute pause, where I listened to the soothing voice of Oprah and Deepak Chopra and wildlife...if you have no idea what I'm talking about, read up on my 'Om'-vember challenge here!

Chocolate Pomegranate Clusters

To start off your Friday morning, I thought I would share a quick and delicious recipe that I made the other day.

I'm just going to put it out there: I am a HUGE fan of pomegranates. They are amazing and juicy and delicious and remind me of wonderful Christmas-sy things like sitting with a cup of hot tea by the roaring fire. Even if there is no snow yet and its not even December ;)

I learned a trick from a lady once about cutting off the top of the pomegranate before cutting it in half, since its usually just peel there anyway.

Turns out I bought some sort of monster pomegranate that was jam packed FULL of deliciously delicious seeds, just ripe for the eating.

I actually got a bit of a reputation around my office since I would bring in a half of a pomegranate every once in a while and attempt to eat it at my desk.

 Just an FYI - it is extremely difficult to eat a pomegranate at your desk.

Seeds start flying everywhere, the juice gets all over your desk and hands...its just a mess. Yet, it is still possible, and I think it is totally worth it! Although I decided to de-seed my pomegranates before bringing them into work now, mostly so that I don't get pomegranate juice all over me. It stains.

The recipe that I was following suggested that you dry out the pomegranate seeds before making the chocolate clusters. Which meant that I sat with the pan full of delicious pomegranate seeds and snacked on about a third of them before stopping myself. They are just too dang good!

I didn't have any dark chocolate or chocolate chips hanging around - it never lasts long in my cupboard - so I decided to make some coconut oil and cocoa chocolate, the so-called 'metabolism-revving chocolate'

 I used maple syrup to sweeten it, but I would recommend using agave or stevia - this is the second time I tried making this chocolate, and I find that the maple syrup always separates. Which is find when you want to eat it with a spoon (I mean, why not?!) but it also takes away the convenience of being able to take this goody places with you

Because, trust me, they are tasty enough to want to take them as a snack. Everywhere. Every day.  

I made these in muffin tins so that I could keep the serving sizes smaller, but you could also use a bowl or a serving tray so that you can have a thinner sheet when it cools.

As I mentioned, I ended up eating these with a spoon (so good) but you could also use melted chocolate chips and it would be more like a chocolate bar.

Let me know if you try them out!

 

Chocolate Pomegranate Clusters

Chocolate inspired by Butter Beliver's recipe 

Clusters inspired by Lexie's Kitchen's recipe

Ingredients

¾ cup coconut oil

¾ cup cocoa powder

¾ cup maple syrup

1 pomegranate

Directions

De-seed the pomegranate and lay out flat on a surface (I used a baking sheet) and dab dry with paper towels. Leave out for about half an hour to dry.

Melt coconut oil in a saucepan on medium heat. Once melted, add the cocoa powder and maple syrup and stir until fully mixed together.  [Note: can also melt chocolate chips or a solid chocolate bar]

Add melted chocolate to muffin tin to about ½ the height of each tin [Note: it might be better to use removable muffin tins so that the chocolate holds its shape better and you don’t have to eat it with a spoon like myself]

Add a scoop of pomegranate seeds to each tin.

Put in freezer for about 30 minutes or in fridge for an hour.

Enjoy!

NOTE: I just found this AMAZING video on a better way to de-seed pomegranates. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks pretty convincing. Let me know if you give it a go!

Have a wunderbar Friday :)

Chocolate Millet Crisp Bark with Peanut Butter Drizzle

Hello friends!

Hope you are all having an awesome afternoon :)

I am stopping by again today to deliver an amazingly awesome and quick recipe, inspired by Oh She Glows.

Chocolate Millet Crisp Bark with Peanut Butter Drizzle

A long name for a delicious and quick treat!

But, before sharing the recipe, I have to admit the real reason why I made these delicious chocolate and peanut butter bars. I kind of destroyed one of our chairs. 

I had a bag full of onions and potatoes hanging out in the cupboard, and while cooking a couple of days ago, I placed it on the chair in our kitchen and didn't notice the gross wet spot that was left behind on it. My poor roommate sat down on the chair and sat up almost instantly and was like 'What is that SMELL?!'

Turns out rotten potatoes is the worst smell. Of all time. 

So, in return for making our chair smell like the bottom of a forgotten dumpster, I doused the chair in baking soda (it worked!!!) and made these treats :)

All fixed now!!

This recipe was honestly so quick and easy that I forgot to take pictures along the way until I had already added the puffed millet cereal to the mix

Melty goodness 

Frozen and ready for pb drizzle

The one to the top right was kind of like the first pancake. I had to try it for quality control ;)

Not too sweet, and a perfect little snack!

Chocolate Millet Crisp Bark with Peanut Butter Drizzle

Inspired by Oh She Glows recipe

Ingredients

½ cup coconut oil

½ cup cocoa powder

6 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ cups puffed millet cereal

2 tbsp peanut butter

Directions

Warm up coconut oil in a pot on medium heat until liquefied.

Add cocoa powder, maple syrup (can also use agave syrup), and vanilla extract. Remove from heat.

Add puffed millet cereal (or puffed rice cereal) and mix until fully coated.

Cover the bottom of a pan with parchment paper. (Note: I used a bit of a bigger pan for thin pieces, but can use a smaller one for thicker bark pieces)

Pour mixture into pan and smooth out.

Place in freezer for 15 minutes, or until frozen.

Warm up peanut butter.

When bark is frozen, remove from freezer and drizzle/spread peanut butter onto the top.

Keep these in the freezer or in the fridge (the coconut oil will melt very quickly otherwise) and enjoy!!

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