Temph Bacon

Temph, pronounced( tem - pay) is a better for you kind of tofu. It is made from fermented tofu. While it is fermenting with all that good bacteria the estrogenic parts of the soy bean are changed making it better for us to eat.

I recently found maple smoked temph bacon, it has made breakfast a treat this week.

I found it in the tofu section of Fortinos

Fresh Strawberry Syrup

“good thing there wasn't anyone behind me because I hit the brakes when I saw your sign" I joked to the man selling strawberries from his farmhouse market stand. My first Ontario berries of the season, I bought 3 pints.

I washed up about 4 cups of strawberries; put them into a blender cup with 1/2 cup maple syrup. Using an immersion blender I whipped them into syrup.

I topped my waffle with peach soy yogurt, strawberry syrup, fresh mint and my chia cereal mix. Steve went a more classic route with strawberry syrup blended with fresh mint and a fried egg. I dripped my almond milk on the table but Steve didn't spill a drop of his homemade green tea soy latte.

Summer breakfast on the deck, I'm glad your back!

Breakfast at work

My bed is never more comfortable than when I wake up in the morning. The slow awakening to the day is worth all the hurry that comes later. Because of this I eat my breakfast at work. The bus drops me off about 25 mins early so I have a nice enjoyable breakfast. Sometimes I bring a toasted egg sandwich, wrapped in tinfoil, which never disappoints. But my usual is oatmeal with fruit and some chia seed/buckwheat/hemp cereal blend.

I can throw these simple ingredients into my lunch bag and go! I eat Natures Path Flax Plus oatmeal, and Chia Goodness Cranberry Ginger. With this breakfast I manage to eat several kinds of grains, seeds, fruits and a nut milk. All in a little bowl.

These both have a little sweetness and salt so they are perfectly balanced when I add hot water and in-sweetened almond milk. Then the fruit of course. My favorite is frozen pineapple, peach and strawberry.

There is no reason to skip breakfast because it is too early to eat or you just didn't have time.

This is the simplest and best breakfast.

Morning waffles

Slow mornings are my favorite. We seem to come back to bed a few times before we both actually get up. We open our kitchen door so the breeze from the deck blows through our place. The kitties play like wild, I think they can feel the slowness and know that they have us for at least a few hours. We already talked about waffles last night, which ones we would be making for breakfast this morning. The gluten free mix from the box, or Steves homemade waffles.

Steve was up for mixing his own batch while wandered about tidying up and watching the kitties play. A waffle maker is the best breakfast appliance ever! They are lighter than pancakes and have grooves to hold yogurt, fruit and syrup.

This morning I chopped up some frozen peaches, strawberries and pineapple. Steve fried up some eggs in ghee, over easy for me please!

Steve says he prefers brown sugar in this recipe.

Waffles
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tbsp arrowroot starch
1 tsp apple pie spice ( cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice)

- in a medium sized bowl mix all the dry ingredients together. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture. Then mix it up. Steve says you can add more almond milk at this point if u want it more runny. He says it pours into the waffle maker better this way.

my own sweet potatos

There is so much love in my kitchen, that my potato's wanted to give some back.

I keep my spuds in a basket away from the heat of the kitchen, so they sometimes get forgotton. When I came home a few weeks ago, this sweet potato slapped me in the face "Hey look at me!" There was a huge green shoot coming out of the basket. If this was the winter I would have chopped it up, steamed it, and pureed it with garlic for a tasty side dish.

But this time of year........ forget it! I HAVE A GARDEN! (I could shout it from the roof top)

Planting those spuds was better than eating them, why?

LEARNING MOMENT put down the muffin and listen in.
At room temperature a sweet potato is only at its best for about a week. When the potato shoots off a green sprout it us using up the nutritional energy inside the potato to grow. This means less fuel and flavour for you.

These few little potato's might make me a whole potato salad in a few months, but if nothing happens but a few green leaves shooting up from the ground, I will be just as happy.

The journey I take with the garden is just as great as the rewards.

Homemade Deoderant

Recipes are not always for eating, but if you wanted to eat this... There are a few other weird food blogs I could direct you too!

Kicking antiperspirant was the first really great thing I did for my body. Even though I was in the midst of puberty when that little pit-stick was the difference between raising the roof or not, the rash in my armpits spoke louder. From then till now I have tried every brand of natural deodorant on the market, and I've been satisfied. But I still have to reapply about 4 times a day.

This is the first time I have come across a recipe for homemade deodorant. I mean I wasn't looking, I just stumbled on it, but now I'm hooked, I am going to work on this recipe to see if I can change the consistency to something I can mold into a stick, to make it more portable.

Yesterday it was so hot that it was runny like water in my little jar, but today it has solidified into a cream like texture which is way easier to apply. Just a dip of the finger and rub it into my arm pits.

I can;t even joke about how easy this recipe is. Do you have a tablespoon a pot and a spoon? Then you are cooking deodorant my friend!

In a small sauce pan add:

2 TB shea butter
2 TB coconut oil
2TB baking soda
2 TB corn starch (I used arrowroot starch and it worked great)

Heat this mixture over very low heat, about as low as your stove element or flame will go before being off. You just need to melt them together not "cook" them. As soon as the shea butter is melted turn off the heat. At this point you can add some essential oil if you like. I added 4 drops of orange oil and 4 drops peppermint oil. Weird combo eh? A certified aromatherapist mixed this up for me one day and rubbed it on my temples and neck when I was sick, and it was the most uplifting moment. It is my new favourite mix. I poured my creation into a tiny mason jar, I think it was a 1/4 pint.

Let the product cool down and then dip and destinkify yourself!