The Pilaros Taste of the Danforth kicks off it’s 20th Anniversary this weekend!
Stop by August 9-11 for a sensory overload! The sights, sounds, smells and Taste of Greece will be all over Danforth!
Category: Food
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My Journey the past few months
Over the past few months, I have really learned a lot about myself. If I want something bad enough, I will stick to it and keep the goal.
I began a new nutrition cleanse program on April 1, 2013. The program was for 30 days. Before I started, I stopped drinking coffee and diet coke cold turkey. Never in my life, did I think I could do that! But I did and it was so simple.
I followed the program to a “T” and after 30 days, I had lost 15.5 LBS of weight and 24.5 Inches. I was ecstatic.
I have 4 LBs back and I am not upset. It was because of my food and drink choices and solely my responsible. Will I fret? Absolutely not!
I have finished day 17 today of Shaun T’s Insanity program and only have 50 days to go. I am loving it. I knew it was time in April when I decided to take my health back and do something about it. I wanted to lose weight and get back to being healthy and feeling fit so I went for it.
I am still using my nutrition program from April and quite enjoy it.
I am happy with my health, my weight and continue to work every day to ensure I am moving forward. It won’t happen overnight and you just have to be realistic with your goals. Aim for small attainable goals instead of long-term goals. It is easier to keep them.
It is so worth it and if I can do it, anyone can! If you are looking for a change, just do it! And if you need motivation, email me and I am more than happy to spread the cheer!
Take care!
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Easy Pasta Salad
Yesterday, I was looking for a very easy pasta salad recipe to make to go along with dinner. I found the following recipe online and the link is http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Cold-Pasta-Salad/
Ingredients
- 14 ounces uncooked rotini pasta
- 2 cucumbers, chopped
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 3/4 cup pitted black olives, sliced
- 1 cup Italian-style salad dressing
Directions
- Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, stir in the rotini, and return to a boil. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain and cool by running cold water over the pasta in a colander set in the sink.
- Combine cooked and cooled pasta with the cucumbers, onion, tomatoes, and olives in a large bowl. Pour the Italian dressing over the salad and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.
This was a super easy recipe. I did not put in the olives as my household doesn’t like the but it turned out well. It was very yummy.
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Mmmmm Wine
For those of you who know me, I love wine. I have for a very long time. I like different types of wine from sweet to dry , some white, rose, and red.
I received an email today from Natalie MacLean asking if I was interested in writing some wine reviews for her website.
Natalie has won awards as a “wine writer`. She has also authored a few books about wine.
Well, my answer: Not only will this give me an excuse to drink wine, I am more than happy to write about it. 🙂
If anyone has any particular wines you think I should test and review that are available in the LCBO stores, please send me your recommendations.
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30 Day results are in and I couldn’t be happier! Pictures to be added soon.
I made a decision just over a month ago to accept a 30 day bikini challenge and really try to lose some weight. It was a nutritional program with 4 day s of the 30 days as cleanse. I have always been skeptical about cleanses and had never tried one. (I had always wanted to but never actually did) I didn’t want to be one of those people who were sitting in the washroom all day.
Within a few days on this program, I had already noticed I was feeling happier inside and had more energy. It was incredible. By day 8, I had lost 4 inches and released 7.5 LBS…. again this was phenomenal to me. I was sleeping better and had noticed my mental clarity was better.
When I measured myself again on Day 18 (10 days later than the last time), I had lost an additional 9 inches (now 13 inches) and released another 4.5 LBS. (so at day 18, total inches lost was 13 and total weight released 12 LBS.)
I was wearing pants again that hadn’t fit in years and had lost inches off my abdomen which I had never been able to do in over the 12 years since I began having children. At day 18, I was already at my lowest weight in over 12 plus years. I was very excited!
Day 30 results are in…. I have lost a total of 24.5 inches and released a total of 15.5 LBS.
The BMI chart has showed in the overweight column for years even though I didn’t feel as if I was overweight but after this program, I am happy to report that I am now in the “normal range”. Although I didn’t always base my weight on this chart, it was still a nice feeling to show it change.
As I head into maintenance and continue on my journey with Isagenix and using their products, I am so excited to see where the next few months take me. I intend to continue to incorporate healthy food choices into my family and make a conscious decision every time I fuel in my body.
Thanks to Isagenix, my coach Lynn Pelzer and all the motivating people who were alongside me doing their challenges as well. J I am not done yet!
I have also taken the step and am now a consultant for this product. I love it and think people could benefit from this so if you are looking to gain better sleep, less stress, have more energy and lose weight and inches at the same, please contact me.
Let’s do it!
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Fun Summer BBQ Drink
This picture was displayed from a friend of mine on facebook…. loved it that I wanted to share!
For the kids, please eliminate the vodka.
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Cutting out the coffee
I am beginning a new challenge on Monday, April 1st. I am doing a bikini challenge! Ha! I haven’t worn a bikini since I sunbathed as a teenager.
In order to have better results from this challenge, I am cutting out coffee cold turkey. Day 1 was yesterday and wasn’t very hard at all.
Today is day 2 and the headache hurts and has been going for hours but I am living through it.
Well worth it to be on the way to a healthier lifestyle.
In order for changes to happen, you need to be open and ready to embrace them. I am!
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Rainbow in a Cup, a yummy St. Patrick’s Day treat
Looking for a yummy but fun treat for your children this St. Patrick’s Day? Like me, are you always looking for fun food to make for the kids?
This recipe was inspired by http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/stpatrick/rainbowjello/
This was an incredibly easy recipe to make.
Ingredients:
Jello ( an assortment of the rainbow colours)- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple
1 cup of hot water (per jello box)
1 cup of cold water(per jello box)
refrigerator ( to set jello)
clear plastic cups ( I used glasses)
Instructions:
1. Make red jello as per box instructions.
2. Layer in cup and let jello settle.
3. Continue with all jello colours in order of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
4. Layer each colour on top of the other.
Make sure each jello sets before you add another colour to the top.
When finished, you will have a Rainbow in a cup to eat.
This is a very easy dessert idea for the kids. Add some whip cream on top to finish it off if you like.
The recipe shows to do one jello per day ( to set in each cup) but I wanted it to be a bit quicker so I made 2 boxes of jello a day.
This made the rainbow cup a three day project as opposed to six days.
So although it would look cleaner pouring the jello in individual cups (as per recipe), because my children wanted to help with the jello, we scooped the jello ourselves into the cups after the jello had settled.
This gave them a way to help out with this activitiy.
This was a definite hit with my children. Let me know how your kids enjoyed it! Mmmmm
Do you have any fun and easy food crafts you would love to share?
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It’s Pancake Tuesday!
It is pancake Tuesday and my kids are so excited for dinner tonight!
I have found a recipe online that I am going to use, see below:
Good Old Fashioned Pancakes
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/ Here is the recipe online from allrecipes.comOriginal recipe makes 8 servings
- 1 1/2 cupsall-purpose flour
- 3 1/2 teaspoonsbaking powder
- 1 teaspoonsalt
- 1 tablespoonwhite sugar
- 1 1/4 cupsmilk
- 1egg
- 3 tablespoonsbutter, melted
Directions- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
- Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.
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I will be serving with bacon. The kids and I also made smoothies with chocolate, mango and strawberries as a fun drink to go with our pancakes. It was messy but they loved it nonetheless.
Mmmmmm, pancakes anyone?
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Aged Cheddar & Parmesan Mac n’ Cheese
As I have mentioned before, I won a year supply from Campbells Canada of their new product Stockfirst. After looking through their website www.cookwithcampbells.ca , I picked a new recipe to try. I used a recipe with the new Cream Stock.
It was called Aged Cheddar & Parmesan Mac n’ Cheese
Here is the recipe below from the Campbells website:
http://www.cookwithcampbells.ca/en-ca/Recipes/agedcheddarparmesanmacncheese.aspx
Ingredients
1 box (500 g) rigatoni 4 strips bacon, cut into ½” (1.5 cm) pieces 1 small onion, diced 2 cups mushrooms, sliced 2 cloves garlic, chopped ½ tsp smoked paprika 1 carton CAMPBELL’S Stock First™ Cream stock 1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped ¼ cup parmesan cheese 2 cups shredded five year old cheddar (1½ cups for the sauce, ½ cup for topping) ¼ cup bread crumbs Directions
1. Cook rigatoni following directions on package and set aside.
2. In a heavy bottom sauce pot or Dutch oven sauté bacon pieces over medium heat until cooked. Add onion and mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes until they are soft. Add garlic and smoked paprika and cook for 1 minute more.
3. Lower heat to medium low, add cream stock and thyme and gently simmer, gradually adding 1 ½ cups of cheddar cheese, until smoothly blended into sauce.
4. Add cooked pasta noodles and stir to completely coat with sauce. If using a pot, transfer to an ovenproof casserole dish otherwise leave Mac & Cheese in Dutch oven. Sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs and top with ½ cup of cheddar cheese and ¼ cup of parmesan cheese. Broil uncovered for 2 minutes or until golden brown.
Recipe Tips
For an even more indulgent version of this recipe use sausage meat instead of bacon.
For a more elegant variation try using a more artisanal cheese like Oka or cave aged Gruyere. Ask your cheese monger for suggestions!
Nutritional Information (Per Serving)
870 Calories, 33g Fat, 1060mg Sodium, 106g Carbohydrate, 6g Dietary Fibre, 37g Protein, 50% Daily Value Calcium
SOURCE OF PROTEINVERY HIGH IN FIBREEXCELLENT SOURCE OF CALCIUMMyNotes……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….I made a few variations to this recipe. I used a combination of cheddar and mozeralla cheese and instead of garlic cloves, I just added a couple sprinkles of garlic powder. I omitted the smoked paprika and everything else was the same.I found that it look me longer to prep than the recipe mentioned but it wasn’t too much more. I let my 5 year old daughter hand me the cheese, thyme and the ingredients I needed to put it all together so definitely easy recipe for your kids to help also. She enjoys helping out in the kitchen.I will show you pictures below of how it turned out.
I had 7 sitting at the table for dinner tonight- 2 adults and 5 children. The adults both liked this recipe while 3 of the 5 children liked it also.We had a vote as to whether it would be made again as a meal in our house and sure enough, it is a WINNER. With the voting of 5 of 7 people enjoying it, it passed by the majority.This is a great change up if you eat macaroni and cheese a lot. It was a great recipe and easy to make!Recommended!We will make it again. Hope you try it and like it as we did!
