Dough Boy Smoothie

I love to have a nice cold smoothie in the morning on hot days like today. Its only 9:30am and its already sweltering here! The cool, creamy breakfast hits the spot every time.

 I usually just throw some frozen fruit, spinach, milk and protein powder in the mix, but lately I've been wanting to try Kath's Dough Boy Smoothie, so using what I had around the house, I made my own little version of it.

The night before, I put into the blender:

1/3 cup Oats

1/2 cup Milk

1 scoop Protein Powder

1/2 Banana, sliced

Splash Vanilla Extract

Pinch Salt

Pinch Cinnamon

Don't blend! Just put it in the fridge and walk away!

The next morning, I pulled it out of the fridge and threw the following in the blender too:

1/4 cup milk

Handful of Spinach (optional)

Now all you have to do is give it a whirl!

 Perfect hot weather breakfast. If this weather keeps up, I'll be making these all week!

Another time, I also made it will more milk and lots of spinach. This had a great creamy taste and you could hardly tell that the spinach was in there. I think I could have even let it go a little longer in the blender to break up the spinach a bit more. In the end, it doesn't look very good, but I can tell you it tasted delicious! I savoured every spoonful. I love to eat my smoothies in a bowl with a spoon so that I enjoy the whole thing, instead of slurping it down while I get ready for the day.

Printable Version

Adventures in Kensington Market

With the 100 Miles in May Challenge wrapping up soon (tomorrow!), the boyfriend and I decided to walk over to Kensington Market to increase our mileage on Sunday. It turned out to be a fun trip over there, full of plenty of sights to see.

I tried to get a picture of my two guys together, but Whiskey was more interested in stealing a piece of the scone that we were munching on.

The market is full of many different types of stores, but my favorite part is all the wonderful fruit stands.

They were brimming with fresh produce!

There was music playing around every corner we turned. Its great to see everyone coming out together on a Sunday afternoon.

There were plenty of interesting vendors as we walked through the market, but I knew what I wanted...

Cobs Bread! They are one of the few bakeries downtown that create interesting (and healthy!) breads and pastries.

The boyfriend was just as excited as me to see all the goodies. We grabbed a loaf of my favorite Cape Seed Bread, as well as a Apricot Delight Roll to split as we walked around. We even got a few sample scones that we tucked away to take to some friends we were meeting up with in the evening.

100 Miles In May Update

We're almost there! Only 3 days left!

We've already done 2917.49 miles together so far! Its been a slow month for me and I still have another 29 miles to go, but I know I can do it!

The boyfriend and I are heading out on a long walk through the city to help make up some mileage. It is supposed to storm later this evening, so we want to get out there while its still nice outside and enjoy the great weather!

Hope you're all having a nice weekend!

Date at the Drive-In

Last weekend, the boyfriend, Whiskey and I jumped in the car and headed to one of our favorite places...

 the Drive-In! 

We've both been coming here since we were kids and love it! Now its nice to be able to share that tradition together.

It was Whiskey's first time going there, so we thought we'd take him for a little walk around the place before the show.

There were so many lush green fields around the drive-in. All this rain must be doing something!

There is still a little building in the center of the compound with a great little concession stand.

The whole place smells like this popcorn. So good!

Everyone loves the old arcade games, but I cracked up when I took this photo and saw that it was all adults playing right now. It looks like its just as fun for the "young at heart" as it is for the kiddos.

I love this series of photos that the boyfriend caught. This is the go-to-move Whiskey and me....he does a long run up my knees and I pull him in for a big kiss on the side of his head. He usually returns the favour with one on my nose :)

Enjoying the long weekend

This weekend I headed out of the city to my parents' place for a little R&R. Every time I drive past the rows and rows of fields, I instantly start to feel the tension of the city ease away.

 There was back porch swingin'.

 Squirrel hunting (for Whiskey that is)

 Grilled steak and fresh veggie salads.

 Eating outdoors.

And cake making. Now you may ask why we are making a cake out on the porch? 

We had a big storm and the power was out for almost 3 hours. My sister needed what little natural light was left on the back porch to finish my birthday cake. Poor girl even had to mix the icing by hand.

Turns out that when you combine a crumbly cake, with dark working conditions, its hard to decorate. The whole thing started sliding off the plate!

It may not be the prettiest cake I've seen my talented sis make, but man was it delicious.

I even enjoyed a bit the next day on my bday with some wine that I bought 5 years ago during my trip to Cannes.

All in all, I had a fantastic birthday weekend spent with friends and family, enjoying the outdoors as much as I could. I'm truly spoiled by all the great people who I have in my life. They really know how to make a girl feel special on her birthday. Thanks guys!

Disappearing Pork Tenderloin (Its that good!)

This weekend I had access to a BBQ, so I took full advantage of it and dug out the beloved Weber's Big Book of Grilling. This has been a family favourite cookbook for a few years now. Whenever we're looking for a fun BBQ recipe this is the book we reach for. And this recipe I'm sharing with you now is one of my favourite from it. Its a wonderful way to add some spice and flavour to delicious pork tenderloin.

I've wanted to post this for a long time now. I even mentioned it in a post last Summer when I made the Texas Dry Rub from the same cookbook.

What you'll need:

For the marinade:
1/3 cup Orange Juice
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp Molasses
1 tbsp Minced Garlic

2 Pork Tenderloins, about 1 pound each

For the rub:
2 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Cracked Black Pepper
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
Olive Oil

In a small bowl whisk together the marinade ingredients.

Trim any excess fat and silver skin from the tenderloins. Place tenderloins in a large, resealable plastic bag and add the marinade. Press the air out of the bag and seal tightly. Turn the bag to distribute the marinade, place in a bowl, and refrigerate for 1-2 hours, turning occasionally.

Guess who turns 26 today!

Me :)

Thankfully I have the day off and intend to enjoy every moment. Bring on the cake!

Speaking of cake, I found some fun photos from birthday cakes past.

Here I am as a wee little thing at my very first birthday party, getting ready to blow out the candles.

There are a lot more candles than that on my cake now!

I love how my mom is holding my hair back as I blow out the candles in this year. I swear that this isn't a foreshadow of college years to come ;)

I think this series of photos is one of my favourites. Here I am smiling with the cake...

...only to have my adorable little sister blow the candles out on me.

She's made a cake for me this year that is so decadent that after one slice, this is what I look like...

I wish that this "falling asleep at the table" phase ended at 5 years old, but I can say that 21 years later I am still known to crash at inconvenient times :)

Loving the Blooms of Spring

For the long weekend, I decided to pack up some things and head out of the city to enjoy some R&R at my parents' place. Its supposed to be a nice weekend and I'm looking forward to enjoying the break from work and the fast pace of the city.

And of course I want to enjoy all the beautiful blooms emerging from the ground that was frozen only a couple of months ago. I still get excited every Spring when I start to see life come back again.

To see hyacinths growing along the edge of the house.

A pot full of pansies on the from patio.

Daffodils worshiping the sun.

Periwinkle emerging in the backyard.

And a simple little bumble bee making it all happen.

Being around all this colour and growth makes me long for the day when I'll be able to move outside of the city and have my own little quiet garden to dig my hands into and try to make things grow. I've still got to clean up my rough little city garden, but for now it will keep me happy. I'm still trying to figure out what colours I want to pick this year. Yellow and pink? Purple and white? There are just too many options!

Hope that you're all having a wonderful weekend and enjoying the colour and vibrance wherever you are!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Everyone has a favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Maybe its the one their mother or grandmother used to make. Maybe its from a favourite bakery. For me, there is no comparison to the original chocolate chip cookie recipe that my mother has always used and I'm sure that you've all seen it...

Its the one right on the Hershey Chipits bag :)

My mother made them for us all the time when we were growing up. They are a family favourite and still evoke memories of sitting on the old stool in the kitchen after school, waiting for the next patch to come out, while telling my mom about all the trials and tribulations of school life. One bite of that warm, sweet, salty cookie and all the knots of tensions would ease away. Sense memory is an amazing thing and all it takes is walking back into my parents' home to the smell of freshly baked chocolate chop cookies and I'm instantly a 9 year old again.

Source

Using this beloved childhood recipe always makes me recall the episode of Friends when Monica is trying to recreate Phoebe's late grandmother's beloved chocolate chip cookie recipe. The irony is that it turns out that late great grandma Nesele Tolouse turned out to be Nestle Tollhouse! I loved that. [You can see the clip here]

I highly recommend trying these frozen too. My mom would always try to freeze part of the batch for later, but they tasted just as amazing frozen and inevitably everyone would steal them. I still like to pop a small bag in the freezer for late night chocolate cravings.