Wednesday 30 January 2013

Oatmeal Power Balls




These bad boys are awesome. They're no bake, full of fibre, the ingredients are flexible, and they taste really good. They're also sugar free and gluten free. What up?! So I got this recipe off of Pinterest, but like every recipe I get from Pinterest I tweaked it to fit what I wanted. So here is the Oatmeal Power Ball recipe:

1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup flax
1/2 cup ground walnuts
1/2 chocolate chips
1/2 peanut butter
Between 1/3 and 1/2 cup of honey

Combine all the dry ingredients so that they are well mixed.
Add the wet ingredients and combine, you may or may not need to use your hands for this part.
Place the mixture in the fridge for at least an hour.
After an hour take out your mixture and roll it into 1 1/2(ish) balls.
Keep refrigerated. 
Done!












Tuesday 29 January 2013

Vegan Pancakes


This weekend I made some Vegan Pancakes and CHRIS LOVES THEM!!!!!!!!! Haza! They are delicious. They are filling and they are egg and dairy free. They are also really easy to make. I found the recipe and tweaked it a bit so that it has more fibre and healthy oils. So here is my tweaked recipe:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup flax
2 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 cup soy milk
4 tbsp coconut oil 

Combine all the dry ingredients. Mix in wet ingredients. Mix till the batter is smooth. Heat up your griddle to medium high heat. Drop about a half a cup of batter onto the well oiled griddle (I used an ice cream scoop and it made perfect little pancakes, I also used coconut oil to oil the griddle). Once the pancakes start to bubble (about 5 minutes), flip them over and let the other side cook (about 2-3 minutes). 

Thursday 24 January 2013

Baby Fever!

Baby Fever. I've got it... baaaaaaaaaaaaad! It seems like everyone is getting pregnant. But we are not in a good place life-wise to have babies right now so instead I pin. My BBs board on pinterest is overflowing. Here are a few of my favourites thus far...







Wednesday 23 January 2013

Katie's Totally Bogus Review



Every once in a while I see an amazing movie (or an ok, or a kind of ok but mostly lame, or a lame but with a funny part here and there, or a completely awful movie) and feel the need to tell everyone. So from time to time I'm going to do a movie review. I have no credentials besides the fact that I've watched the movie. Enjoy!

Friends with Kids. Good movie. I'm not sure I'd watch it again. I'm not going to give away the plot but basically two friends decide to have a baby together after seeing the way relationships change after kids, and how they navigate those rocky waters. All in all it was OK. There were some funny parts and its got a great cast, but it was kind of boring in parts. Its the kind of movie you watch when you have some time to yourself and there's nothing else to do. Since this is a bogus review and I have no credentials whatsoever I give this movie 8 unicorns out of 17.


Next we have This Is 40. Two words. Frickin Amazing! I love Love LOVED it from start to finish. Warning, there is nudity, adult content and extreme language but if you can get over all of that it is a really well done movie. The actors are phenomenal. It's funny, its relatable, and its real. The movie captures marriage really well. But watchers beware, it's rude, crude and socially unacceptable in many parts so look out. I give this movie 19 unicorns out of 17.

Tuesday 22 January 2013

Nutella Oatmeal

 Sometimes you have cravings for something really chocolatey and delicious. I had that craving the other day. Fortunately for my waist line I have no snacks around the house. Unfortunately for my sanity I have no snacks around the house. So I improvised and came up with Nutella Oatmeal. Let me just say YUM! You get the chocolatey, decadent taste and feeling but you're also getting a tone of fibre and you're full after eating it. Haza! It looks great but it tastes amazing. Here goes...


Put 2/3 cup of quick oats in your bowl


Add 1 1/3 (plus 1 tbsp extra) of water 

Microwave for 3 1/2 minutes, give or take a little until it is cooked


Once you're oatmeal is cooked add 2 tbsp of ground flax and 1 tbsp of ground chia seeds

Then add the Nutella. I added about 2 tbsp. Add as much or as little as you would like. It all depends on taste. 

It looks gross but it tastes amazing! Plus it satisfies that chocolate craving. Enjoy!





Monday 21 January 2013

Date Night Celebrations





Friday we celebrated our anniversary (Chris was working late on our actual anniversary). We had a delicious Italian style feast, complete with homemade pasta and sauce. It was all so good! I haven't had so much meat and dairy in a while, and it was great. But we weren't just celebrating 3 years together. We were celebrating MY NEW JOB! I'm going to be working in an office environment where I get to dress up in cute clothes every day. Haza! I am going to miss going to work in sweats and a messy bun (no pressure there). But lets face it, I love dressing up. We'll see if I'm saying that in 3 months. Anyways, I'm thrilled. This is a foot in the door and could result in a career!

Thursday 17 January 2013

3 Years!

Katie and Chris: The Early Days
 It's our Three Year (dating [yes we still count that]) Anniversary! 3 Years. 1,095 Days. 26,280 hours. 1,576,800 minutes. 94,608,000 seconds.  Ah! Three years ago today I kissed (yes I kissed him first) the man of my dreams. It was great / scary and the best thing I've ever done. From that moment on we've pretty much been inseparable (except for those two weeks that we broke up and I went to Florida and didn't have my phone on me). Even when we were doing the whole long distance relationship thing. He was in Oakville going to teacher's college and I was taking a year off working in Timmins. But we were constantly on the phone with each other and visited each other almost every two weeks. We got engaged 11 months after dating. We were married almost a year and a half after we started dating. I'm with the perfect guy for me. He loves me for who I am and I'm totally comfortable being myself around him and that my friends is how you know you're meant to be. 

I've included a few pictures from the early days of Katie and Chris. Enjoy!





My favourite! 

Wednesday 16 January 2013

People are Rude and Katie is Old

So happy and hopeful right before THEY sat behind us

It was half price night at the movies last night so Chris and I went to watch The Hobbit. Unfortunately the most of the people sitting in that theatre in that with us didn't know that, like a library, you're not supposed to have conversations in the theatre. When kindly asked if they could keep their voices down, the people behind us bit my head off. A bit later the two girls in front of us had a full blown conversation abut what perfume they were wearing and then another one all based on "stop looking at me." Great. I'm a pretty easy going person when it comes to a lot of things. But excessive noise in spaces where it should not be drives me up the wall. That and rude people. I think I'm getting old. Moral of the story is: 

Cheap movie night. Never again.

Also, they took a lot of liberties with The Hobbit. A lot. I'm not sure this should be a movie series. And I don't think they've improved on the book. Not impressed Peter Jackson. Not impressed.

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Quinoa Burrito Bowls


Last night I made Quinoa Burrito Bowls for dinner. Amazing. Its a fantastic idea for a meal because you can use whatever you have in your fridge and do what works for you. I got the idea from Pinterest (here's the original recipe http://theshiksa.com/2012/05/01/quinoa-black-bean-burrito-bowls/) and adapted the recipe so it worked for Chris and I.

Ingredients
2 cups quinoa, cooked
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 lime
2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup water
1 can mixed beans, drained and rinsed
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
dash of red chili flakes

Set an element on medium heat and heat up 1 tsp of olive oil in a frying pan. Cook down the onion for about 4 minutes then add the garlic. Cook for another minute. Add 1/2 cup of water, the beans, 1/4 cup parsley, and the spices. Add the juice of half the lime. Bring to a slow boil and then simmer the mixture until its thick. 

In another frying pan heat up your remaining tsp of olive oil over medium heat and then add the quinoa.  When the quinoa is heated through add the remaining 1/4 cup of parsley and the juice of the remaining lime half.  

While everything is cooking assemble you're toppings. They can be anything you want:

plain greek yogurt
salsa
hot sauce
lettuce / cabbage
peppers
tomato
avocado
peanuts
lime
guacamole
cheese


Basically anything you put on a burrito you can put in your bowl; last night we used red cabbage, red and yellow peppers, tomato, salsa, and avocado to top our bowls. To assemble start with quinoa, add the beans on top and then layer your topping as you like. The order of ingredients in the bowl doesn't really matter because you end up mixing it up in the end anyway. This is a quick and tasty meal that is healthy and filling. Score. Oh, and Chris loved it, so DOUBLE SCORE!


Friday 11 January 2013

Happy Friday people!

Resolutions Complete(ish)


Guess who walked to work yesterday? This girl. One resolution partially completed! Also on the way to work I commented on the total lack of coat one guy was wearing and he asked me for my number. What up?!

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Kitties!

Lately my Instagram has been full of cat pictures, so for those who don't follow me (I'm sorry for those that do) here are a few recent pictures of Ross and Lois.






I think I need to take some pictures of Chris and I together...

Tuesday 8 January 2013

Our Holidays in the South

We headed down to Toronto, through a snowstorm (it took us 9 1/2 hours to get down south, ah!) this year. We spent some quality time with Chris's family, Chris hip checked a 14 year old in a family hockey game, we ate a lot of stuffing, I slept a lot, Crystal had her baby (Titus Willem) on boxing day so we went to visit them, we saw a Bulldogs game, Chris turned 26, and we watched The Village. It was fantastic!