San Fran adventures! The best breakfast at Mama's

Hello there good friends,

So where has the time gone? Well, to keep you updated I am currently in San Francisco! What? I know, it is so beautiful here and I am thrilled to be somewhere that doesn't have 2 feet of snow outside the window. My hotel is right smack in the middle of Fisherman's wharf, so I am pretty much able to see the Golden Gate bridge and the beautiful ocean front. Today is my 6th full day here and I have been spending my early mornings in Starbucks to catch up on my school work and to do some blogging. I personally enjoy this solitude because even though it's February there are still a lot of tourists here!

For starters on my San Fran adventures my sister and I flew down by ourselves to meet our mom and I am not an easy flyer. We also nearly missed our flight because the security didn't let us in until 30 minutes before our flight boarded, despite the fact that we were there two hours early. To add on to that we also got stopped by airport security for a random bag check cause apparently two teenage girls are suspicious. I actually thought it was quite funny, but enough of that!

The flight over was beautiful especially the landforms and the greenery. I couldn't help but almost cry it was so pretty.

Once we landed we immediately started sweating cause we're so used to the cold Canadian climate. Unfortunately, we were lost in the San Francisco airport for an hour trying to find our way around.



On our first day of touritst-ing I planned a perfect breakfast at Mama's. Which is a staple if you're going to be travelling to San Francisco. It is a cute little restaurant at the corner near Washington square and a line literally wraps around the side. We waited around an hour to get a seat and once we ordered we knew we   had to make it worth it.




I started by ordering the cranberry orange french toast (cranberry orange bread made in-house!) with a side of grilled potatoes, and I had originally planned to order a little crumb square for the next morning but it was warm to resist and I ended up eating it there!

  
My sister ordered the blueberry pancakes with a side of grilled potatoes, and my Mom ordered the eggs florentine with silver dollar pancakes.
  
Everything tastes amazing, the french toast was warm and sweet, especially with the home-made jam! I also really loved the eggs florentine with the grilled potatoes. Overall we concluded that it was definitely worth the one hour wait!

Healthy chocolate avocado pudding! Perfect for Valentine's day

Hello there good friends,

It feels so good to be posting another blog post again! I just have so many recipes that I want to share with you, but I have to pace myself. I realized just yesterday that Valentines day is upon us and I wanted to make a little something special. I believe that Valentines day doesn't have to spent with a significant other, it's like any other holiday. You spend it with the people that you love. But, in the spirit I have for you today a recipe for Chocolate strawberry avocado pudding!

 


So why avocado of all things you may ask? Well avocado's are amazing for adding a great consistency to any recipe, along with all their health benefits! I tend to use avocados with my eggs, pasta, or salads. I never thought to use them in a dessert. That's when I concocted this recipe for a rich and creamy pudding. Oh yeah, did I mention it can also be made vegan! I know it's such a treat.

Ingredients:

These are the base ingredients!

• 1 ripe avocado
• 2 1/2 tbsp  cocoa powder or cacao powder
• 2 tbsp honey (or for a vegan option use maple syrup)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil solid at room temperature 
• a splash of almond or soy milk
• 1-2 large strawberries 
• sliced almonds (optional) 

Directions: 

1. Begin by slicing the avocado in half, and taking out the pit.
2. Scoop out all of the avocado into a food processor
3. Add your honey or maple syrup, coconut oil. Blend for 30 seconds.
4. Using a spoon scrape whatever powder is left on the sides and blend again for another 30 seconds. I added a little almond milk as well.

           

 

     5.   Scoop out into a dish
           

     

  6. Add strawberries and sliced almonds for good measure!

           

       7. Enjoy!

           

Healthy granola two ways!

Hey there good friends

Wow it feels good to be back! I do apologize for not posting in a while but life has been so crazy, it's a good kind of crazy. A crazy that gets you on your feet and determined to start working. Speaking of crazy, here is a recipe for quick serving when life gets busy. It's my recipe for my home made granola recipe, two ways!

I formed this recipe just by experimenting on different recipes that I found on Pinterest, and based just on what flavour combinations that I like. The two combinations (although the possibilities are endless) that I will be sharing are honey almond, and maple cinnamon.

Both recipe's follow the same "base" ingredients and process, the only thing that changes are 2 or 3 ingredients, which makes this recipe so much easier! I took these photos when I was making the honey almond granola but you will get the same idea for the maple cinnamon recipe.

I love making these in huge batches and I sprinkle them on my yogurt, chia pudding, oatmeal, or straight with almond milk. So basically, they're super delicious for any time!

Let's get started!

"Base" Ingredients:

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup sliced almond (or whatever nut you prefer)
• 1/2 cup unsalted pumpkin seeds (or whatever seeds you prefer)
• 1/4-1/2 cup of unrefined sugar (the measurement depends on how sweet you'd like, I used turbinado sugar)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (or whatever dried fruit you prefer)
• 3/4 cup dried apricots

Maple Cinnamon

These are the additional ingredients that are called for the maple cinnamon recipe:

• Liquid sweetener: 1/2 cup of pure maple syrup
• Additional flavour: 1/2 tbsp of pure vanilla extract 
• Spice: 2 tsp cinnamon

Honey Almond

These are the additional ingredients that are called for the honey almond recipe:

In this recipe you will want to use the sliced almonds

• Liquid sweetener: 1/2 cup of pure honey
• Additional flavour: 1/2 tbsp of almond extract (optional)
• Spice: 1 tsp cinnamon 

Instructions 

1. Preheat the oven to 300 ° F
2. Combine the oats, sliced almonds, pumpkin seeds, preferred sugar , and salt in to a bowl. Make sure everything is thoroughly distributed. 


3. In a glass measuring cup, combine the liquid sweetener (based on the recipe you chose) and coconut oil. Microwave for 30-45 seconds and stir in the additional flavour (based on the recipe you chose)

4. Pour the oil mixture over the oats mixture and mix very well until all oats are coated.

5. Transfer granola on to a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. 

6. Then take the baking sheet out and stir around the granola, moving the granola on the edges to the middle, and place back in the oven for another 10 minutes. At the end of those 10 minutes, take out the tray and sprinkle on the cinnamon (amount depending on the recipe you chose) and mix the granola as you did previously. 

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7. Place the baking sheet in for a final 10 minutes. Set to cool.

8. Chop the dried apricots and combine with the cranberries. Mix in to the cooled granola. Store in an air-tight container, it will last for several weeks!

 

Prep time: 5 min    Cook time: 30 min   Total time: 35 min