Another excuse to eat dessert for breakfast!

So a couple weeks ago, I gained 10 lbs in 5 days. This quickly sent me into panic mode that all my late night cupcaking was finally catching up to me. I made a pact to eat in the best way I know how, and that's raw fooding. Just like when I tried vegetarianism and veganism, I decided to give it a go for one week to see how it went. Now I never committed to full raw- I just have no idea how to do that. Essentially, when you are a raw foodist you don't eat food cooked over 104c to preserve the living status of the food. This shit is hard, but I'm getting there.. After doing this for one week, I have a few observations.
1) Raw fooding makes your body feel amazing. Like "my cells have all banded together and are having a rave" kind of amazing.
2) It's astounding how fast your body can burn through $40 in nuts.
3) Simple vegetables really can taste delicious on their own, but you have to get rid of the other crap that's killing your taste buds.
4) A big salad for dinner actually can be the most filling and yummy part of your day.
5)If you're a sugar junkie like me, you won't actually perish from sugar cravings. In fact, I barely had any!

I realize this dessert isn't made with oranges. And I'm not the world's best dad. Deal with it.

So here is the tastiest thing I've made in the past couple days. It tastes amazing and you can have it for breakfast! Since the beauty of this is it's simplicity, I'm going to force you to cook without measuring. It's awesome and you can do it!

Raw Orange Yum

One orange peeled and cut up

2 handfuls pecans

1 lrg handful dates

salt

ginger

nutmeg

cinnamon

Process all ingredients except oranges in a food processor until crumbly. Peel and cut orange, put it in a bowl and top with fruit/nut mixture. Best enjoyed in sock monkey pajama pants while contemplating the complexities of life.





Stop what you're doing! Make this RIGHT NOW!

This picture has nothing to do with this blog post or Chia Seeds.
But she is pretty much the best thing I've ever made(though not in the kitchen).

Guys, I just made a discovery that rivals chocolate avocado pudding. CHIA SEEDS! I am seriously going bananas. These little things are so insanely good for you-read this link to learn about why Chia seeds are a superfood you need to make friends with!

I have been trying really hard lately to get corresponding pictures of delicious meals, but haven't been terribly effective. Hopefully you'll be able to use your creative little brains to imagine how good it looks. Though this one actually looks a little like barf, so you may have to paint in some mint and raspberries too. This is also my weak apology for the delay in posts. The thing is, this stuff is so flipping amazing that I couldn't stop shovelling it in my mouth long enough to take a picture. And just for the record, real life application of photographing everything before you eat it is both embarrassingly nerdy and painful on the delayed gratification front. So without further delay, here is a recipe for Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding. Please make it today, and then call me so I can come over and make sure there are no leftovers!

Belly flops in the kitchen

Successes and failures in the kitchen can often be metaphors for life. Such as, you need to take risks in order to get out of your comfort zone and try new things. Sometimes it will pay off and you'll make an exciting new discovery. Other times you'll fail epically. That was dinner tonight.

Does it mean I'll never have salad again? Of course not, but tonight's dinner was gross. I think the problem was that I tried to do too  many things at the same time. Tzatiki, corn and roasted green peppers are actually not awesome all mixed together.  Thankfully (baked) fried tofu can save almost anything. The tzatiki was alright, but just not as a salad dressing. I give this dinner a three out of ten and a sad panda face. On the plus side, if you stick it out through dinner-the next course is dessert. Keep calm and have a cupcake.

Chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, life's silver lining.

Pina Colada muffins and other shit that goes down in hotel rooms

Another road trip, another excuse to make muffins. This time it was back to Toronto. I was out of all the basic ingredients for my sweet potato muffins, so I whipped up something new! I'm really trying to pull together a blog for you that is both hilarious and entertaining, but after sitting on it for four days I've got nothing. Read it and shut up. I'll do better next time when I'm not cranky from quitting smoking. Highlights from this trip includes vegan dim sum and hotel yoga/dance parties. First, dim sum. I somehow managed to convince my omnivorous companions that a vegetarian restaurant was a good idea. We choose King's Cafe, as it was the closest to where we were. I went a *little* bit overboard.

Yep, all mine. I took it down like a boss.

Surprisingly, my travel buddies loved it but I was a little underwhelmed. It was good, just not amazing. Just like Thai food, I've got pretty high standards for dim sum. See below for after dinner hotel yoga bomb.

And now for muffins! If you make this recipe, please tell me how it turns out-I'm a non measurer by nature, and would love to know that it's duplicatable.

Goooooood Morning!

Hotel breakfast pina colada muffins

2 cups diced pineapple
2 cups flour (preferable unbleached)
1 cup oats
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 apple and 1 orange blended with water to a consistency that resembles applesauce
3/4 cup maple syrup
2/3 cup coconut oil(melted) or equivalent in canola oil
1 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/8 cup unsalted sunflower seeds

Set oven at 410. Combine flour, oats, baking powder and soda, cinnamon and salt. Add dates, and mix them in so that each piece is coated in flour. Pour in apple/orange mixture, maple syrup and coconut oil. Mix until just combined. Add pineapple and remaining ingredients. Bake in muffin tins for 25-28 minutes. Best enjoyed sitting on a hotel bedspread that may or may not ever be washed, while reading a free Globe and Mail.