My little balcony garden

Good afternoon (morning? evening? Wherever you are, I hope you are well!)

It was brought to my attention today (by myself) that I have not written a blog post in FAR too long. So here I am. And I have a very exciting endeavor to share with all of you. This project has been in the works for maybe 6 weeks now and will hopefully go well into next September. I present to you: my garden!

Yes. I have a garden. A very tiny one, but it's there and I love it. 

Me and bestie, Sam, decided forever ago we wanted to plant a garden in her yard in the summer. And anyone who knows us knows that when we get an idea for something, we usually get a BIT overambitious and plan everything all at once and go a bit nuts then kind of forget about it as we've begun obsessing over something new.

Anyway, we went through with the garden idea. Sometime in March, I went and got a window box and some soil and seeds and decided I was going to plant a small herb garden for the balcony. That weekend, I set out on the balcony, read the instructions on the seeds and planted them. In retrospect, it was too early to plant as we were still getting very cold evenings and I was almost certain it was all going to be a bust.



I was wrong. Those suckers grew like weeds. My basil, however, is a different story. It's been a slow start. It is still very, very small but I think it's because I planted the soil to deep into the pot and it's not getting enough sun as the edge of the pot is casting a shadow on the inside of the pot. But there is a tiny seedling and it's been getting plenty of sun now.

A few weeks later, Sam and I decided to plant some starters for her garden and I decided to start two more window boxes, one with kale and one with lettuce. I also accidentally bought three tomato plants. OOPS!

We ended up also planting a window box full of radishes and starting some onions and cukes in little canisters. I also plan on growing some garlic over the winter in the window boxes.

So there's a background on the garden and here is a list of pointers I have put together as a first time gardener.

1: Water your plants in the evening or morning (Sam just told me this). Watering mid day means the plants have had to weather the hot sun of the morning, turning the leaves yellow and possibly burning them. 

2: Eggshell fertilizer! I just smashed a bunch of eggshells with a fork and spread them onto the herb garden. It seems to have worked very well as they are growing out of control.

3: Try to keep the water you're using the water your garden around the same temperature as it is outside (even better, try to keep it outside to let it sit and get to temperature) 

4: Enjoy your garden! I can't tell you how many times I sat out on the balcony and thought there was no way I was going to get any cucumber plants. Then all of a sudden, in a matter of hours, most of them had poked out of the soil. After two weeks of waiting, patiently and daily watering, I was SO happy to see those guys make an appearance.

5: Thin your plants once they are a bit bigger. I tend to oversow because I get paranoid they aren't all going to take. You want to make sure the vegetables (especially root veggies like beets and radishes) get enough space to get to size before you harvest them. I've also heard if you don't thin radishes they get very bitter. I'm not taking any chances.

I've had so many people comment on my instagram and twitter asking me to teach them my green thumb ways, so there's most of it. Honestly, it was basically getting the supplies, reading the seed packets and doing a little bit of research online. 

Share your gardening tips in the comments! Do you have a garden? 

Juicing...an introduction

Yes, I'm still alive!
I've been in Winnipeg since August and feel like I haven't been able to stop and write a blog post in forever. So here I am.

And let me introduce you to what I've been doing for the last few mints: juicing!

Now there is a smoothie/juicing debate going on and here is what I have to say. Why not both? Although I love a good green smoothie, I LAHV a good green juice.

I don't follow a specific recipe but usually when I go grocery shopping I get base ingredients in. Luck and whatever is on sale. Base items are carrots, apple, beets, oranges, kale (or spinach) and pineapple. I love adding strawberries if they're on sale and sometimes watermelon or kiwi.

Once I get home, I rinse all the goodies, peel and chop into pieces that fit in my juicer's feeder.

This lasted me about a week. Apples were stored in lemon juice
Careful with the beets, they tend to make your kitchen look like a crime scene. But look how pretty!

My trademark juice:

Two handfuls leafy greens

Two pineapple spears

Half a beet, sliced

Two carrots, sliced

Half an orange, peeled

Half an apple, sliced

Run through juicer, add water to taste if you think you need it. Enjoy these benefits and sip your concoction.

Repeat whenever you feel bloated, sluggish or after you've had a teen burger with onion rings and a root beer for an instant "see, body, I don't hated you."

Do you juice? What are your favourite ones? Comment and let me know! 

xo,  D. 

Trophy makes almond milk.

I've been buying almond milk for awhile. I'm not sure why, cow milk just freaks me out a little. Hormones in the cows can be passed through their milk and I'm NOT about that life. So, I decided to make my own almond milk. I use it in smoothies and my coffee mostly. I'm sure you could use it in baking as well if needed. Now this is super easy.

You need:
1 cup almonds
4 cups water

The end.

Making the almond milk is fairly simple.
Soak the almonds over night in water (not the water in the ingredients, soak in just enough water to cover them.)
 Once they've soaked overnight, drain them. Them put them in a
blender with 4 cups of water and blend for a few minutes until it looks milky.
Now, the fun part. Secure cheesecloth over a container using elastics.  Pour mixture through cheesecloth into container. You may have to do this twice as quite a bit of pulp is produced and strained out.

You're done!! The almond milk stays for about 4-5 days in the fridge tightly sealed.

-d.

Four ingredient chocolate truffles

These will change your life. They just changed mine. If you're in a pinch and new to impress someone with your culinary prowess, without actually HAVING culinary prowess, these are perfect. They're actually perfect in every way but that's besides the point. These have ingredients MOST everyone probably already has. And they are soooooo delicious.

You need:

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used semi sweet but you can use whatever type suits your taste)
1 tbsp almond or peanut butter
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
A coating mixture. I used coconut but you can use ANYTHING! Like chopped nuts, cocoa powder, graham cracker crumbs, possibilities are endless.

1. Melt chocolate in double boiler or microwave at 30 second intervals
2. Mix in the peanut or almond butter
3. Gently mix in Greek yogurt until completely incorporated
4. Refrigerate 15-30 minutes until firmed up
5. Roll approx 2 tsp mixture with fingertips and roll in coating mixture
6. Refrigerate until serving time

YOU'RE DONE! This takes less time to make than most desserts and is a lot more impressive. if anyone asks for the recipe just send them this way OR you can keep this deliciously simple recipe your dirty little secret. No one has to know how easy it is!


Xo D.

To paleo or not to paleo

Hello!

This blog post isn't a recipe, but more about information.

I have been intrigued by paleo for some time now and after months (years?) of clean eating and pretty regular exercise with no real results, I decided to look more into it.

I've been following @crossfitchemist for a long time and have always looked at her food pictures and though "THAT LOOKS SO GOOD!" or "I WANT BACON TOO!" Maybe mostly the second one...

After a few conversations regarding diet, she suggested I read It Starts With Food.

I immediately fell in love with the concept.

Eating foods that make you feel good.

Eating foods that encourage a healthy physical and psychological response.

Makes sense, right?

The part that has stuck to me the most has been the bit about digestion/knowing when you're full.

10,000 years ago, humans had to hunt/forage for their food. We obviously don't have to do that anymore and a lot of foods and made full of chemicals and artificial ingredients to keep costs low and profits high.

The problem with this, is our system isn't made to digest these chemicals and they honestly do nothing for you. They don't make you feel good, they don't make you look good, they're just not contributing anything to you at all.

The way your gut works is that your nutrition is absorbed through your intestine and once enough nutrition has passed through, your brain gets a signal to stop eating because you have absorbed enough nutrition.

These macronutrients your intestine is looking for are fat, carbohydrates and protein.

Let's say you have one plate of chicken, quinoa and vegetables and another plate with candy.

You eat the balanced meal with vegetables, chicken and quinoa and get a proper response at a proper time since your food is whole and nutritious.

If you're eating candy, you're eating a copious amount of "food" but since you're not absorbing any proper nutrition, your body doesn't get the signals to stop eating and you end up overeating.

I swear, when I read this, it all made sense and it was like a lightbulb went off.

Of course you eat more food if it's not doing anything for your body because it's craving proper nutrition and since you aren't giving it any, it keeps asking for more food, hoping you'll give it something it can use.

Probably my favourite part of the paleo system is that you're given the knowledge of what food are good for you and which are bad. You're obviously encouraged to make wise choices, but there are NO restrictions. If you want to cheat, you cheat. But you know you're not helping your body out.

After I started reading the book, I went gluten free for about four days. A Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

When I went back to work on Monday, I didn't pack a lunch and decided to get subway and got flatbread. As soon as I took bite, I got a big belly ache. My body had already gotten used to using something OTHER than gluten for nutrition. (Gluten is actually useless to our body but that's another blog post. This post is already getting too long.)

Anyway, that was a bit of a rant/ramble but all this to say basically that this is something I'll be writing more about and hopefully providing some paleo recipes and results and encouragement. 

Another concept proposed in the book is something called Whole30. 

This program (I HATE the word diet) is a way to reset your body, get it used to eating real, whole, unprocessed food. No cheats. No sugar. No alcohol. Thirty days.

I'm planning mine for September 2013, so I'm sure some posts will come from that as well.

If you have any questions, so NOT hesitate to send them in the comments, or email budgetfriendlytrophy@gmail.com and I'll do my best to give you a proper and prompt reply.

xo D.

I made a treat for you all

Weekly Planner!

Hello!
I was planning my Whole30 (which I'm doing in September) and was having trouble finding a printable (and free) weekly meal planner that was also cute.

I know. I'm picky, but I figure it'll help me somehow with sticking to the plan. I won't have an excuse to be disorganized.

I'm planning on figuring out all the meals and then posting them here and blogging my whole30 experience.

So I've attached a jpeg of the meal planner, not sure if you'll be able to grab it, but go ahead and use it!

xo D.

Cheesecake bars

At the request of Amy, I am doing a post about these delicious bad boys.

I think I found the original recipe on pinterest and since then have made them a few times, always adding my own twist.

These treats freeze well and travel well. I've cut them into squares and wrapped them in plastic film then frozen them individually to avoid inhaling the whole pan all at once.

ANYWAY!

The recipe is pretty basic:

Yes, I took the time last night to hand write it as I was in a meeting and desperately bored and wanted to share.

As you can see, they're stupid easy. Perfect if you have someone over last minute. Just whip these up and pop them into the oven.

I usually use fairly soft butter (as I leave my butter on my counter so in the summer it gets really soft) and the cream cheese SHOULD be softened but I give it a good whirl in the kitchenaid and it behaves.

The only time that doesn't work is if you've put your cream cheese in the freezer. I did that once and just microwaved it at like 20% at 30 second intervals. I have all sorts of tricks to share loves.

Other than that, the recipe is fairly simple to follow, but if you do have any questions, don't hesitate to ask them in the comments below. I'd be more than happy to answer if I can.

Now as for variations, I've done a few. I've added some lemon zest to the batter before for a fresher bar. I've also baked frozen raspberries into the top.

For Canada Day, I decided to bake frozen cherries into the bar and make the top into a Canadian flag. Since the top bakes like a cheesecake, I had to cover it in whip cream first to create a surface for the strawberries to stick onto. I know this is a pretty pitiful Canadian Flag, but come on, it's not an easy one to replicate.

Hope you enjoy these bars!

xo D.