Snacky Night with Mary's Organic Crackers

On Sunday evening Christopher and I had a snacky dinner in the living room, with some new flavours of Mary's Organic Crackers.

We buy Mary's crackers quite often but had only tried the regular ones.  The people at Mary's Gone Crackers sent me some new flavours to try, and I was especially excited about the seaweed and black sesame ones!

I thought these would pair really well with an edamame dip that I've made many times before.

The herb crackers and the thin sea salt ones were great with a cheesy dip, and Christopher also loved them with his stinky blue cheese.

We haven't opened the jalapeno crackers yet, but we're thinking of pairing them with a Monterey jack cheese, and some jalapeno sausage that we found in our corner grocery store.

I really like how crunchy and seedy Mary's Organic Crackers are.  They are gluten-free, vegan, and non-GMO, and made with ingredients I both recognize, and have used before.

Around this time of year, sometimes an easy, snacky dinner is just what the doctor ordered. 

Have you ever had Mary's Organic Crackers?  

What kind of crackers do you usually buy?

Full disclosure: The crackers were provided to me free of charge.  All opinions are my own.

A New Breakfast & Coffee

This morning we tried some new recipes for breakfast.

 
We made a paleo/ gluten-free pancake, which has a bizarre ingredient list, but actually works - trust me on this.

Paleo Gluten-Free Pancake 

- 1 banana, mashed
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 T ground flax seed
- 2 pinches cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice, or whatever)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1-2 tsp coconut oil, or cooking spray, or butter

Mix together the mashed banana and beaten eggs.  Add the flax, vanilla and cinnamon.  Stir.  Spray or grease up a small frying pan, and put it on medium-low heat.  Once hot, pour in the banana/ egg mixture, and let set in the pan for 10 minutes.  Don't touch it during this time.  Once firmed up, carefully flip it and cook about one minute on the other side.  It turns out very pancake-like.

We also made sweet potato shredded hash browns using this recipe.

They got pretty dark on the outside, but didn't taste burnt at all.  They're really delicious.  We dipped them in a bit of sriracha.  We topped the pancake with Greek yogurt, a sprinkle of coconut sugar, and cacao nibs.

To drink we tried some of the exclusive coffee blend that our friends' Bonnie and Warren had made for their new coffee shop, Mocha Grande Brew, which is located in Parksville, British Columbia.

I worked with Bonnie for many years, and she always talked about opening a coffee shop.  She had the wheels turning for a while, and has now made her vision a reality.  Her and Warren completely overhauled an old coffee shop in Parksville, re-branded, re-decorated it, and re-designed it to bring a new flavour to Parksville.  They are across the street from the water, and have a beautiful patio - a perfect place to grab a brew and relax.  They serve up a variety of hot and cold drinks, soups, sandwiches, and many different types of baking/pastries.  They also sell packages of their exclusive coffee blends, Ethiopian, and Valley Girl.

The coffee is fair trade and organic, which made us really happy to see.  It comes in both 1/2 lb and 1 lb bags to take away and brew at home.  We haven't actually got to visit the coffee shop yet, as it's a couple provinces away, so we're happy to be able to have a taste of it at home. 

I'll be honest, we might have squeezed the bag, with our noses up near the vent about a 100 times - smells so good.  Once we ground the beans, the aroma was even more enticing.

We ground the Valley Girl beans fresh this morning, and brewed a big pot to enjoy with our breakfast.

It was excellent!  We drank the whole pot up in no time, and are already looking forward to another pot tomorrow.  It was smooth, and not overly bitter like some coffees are.

If you're ever in the Parksville area, stop by Mocha Grande Brew and say hello to Everyday Foodie pals, Bonnie and Warren.

How's your weekend going so far?  

What did you have for breakfast today?

Thoughts on Whole Living

This evening neither the hubby nor I felt like cooking, so we ordered in Thai food! We rarely order in, but I am not feeling up to going out.

I ordered shrimp and pork fresh roles:

(I only ate one of them).

I also had the chicken Pad Thai (minus MSG)
(I had half the order, and will take the other half for lunch tomorrow):

After dinner I had a bath with Epsom salts, and a drizzle of thyme serum.
I soaked with a cup of tea and a magazine - "Body and Soul."

I would like to share "10 Thoughts on Whole Living" that I read in Body and Soul:

1) Find a few minutes each day to unplug.

2) Giving to others is the most powerful thing we can do for ourselves.

3) See physical fitness as a practice, not a goal.

4) This fall, make it a point to heed your need for solitude.

5) The secret to beautiful skin starts with what you put inside your body.

6) Try doing even the most menial tasks mindfully and with grace.

7) The quality of your connections with other people will carry you further than you think.

8) Just because a no-frills home remedy is simple doesn't mean it won't work.

9) If you want to eat healthier, try giving yourself the benefit of better choices.

10) Home isn't a place. It is a state of mind.

I think I need to work on #1, 3, 4 and 6. What about you?

My own personal whole living philosophy includes the following:

1) The amount of time you spend on doing things you WANT to do should outweigh the time spent on doing things that you HAVE to do. (I really need to work on this).

2) You should not put anything on your body that you can't eat. I am very picky when it comes to putting things on my skin in terms of creams/ lotions/ sunscreen. I have a big problem with putting chemicals and ingredients I don't recognize on my largest organ. Our skin is full of pores, and all things that you put onto yours skin soak into your skin. Where do you think they go? I DO use products, but I choose ones that are 100% organic, paraban, artificial ingredient and completely SLS free.

3) Do not put garbage into your body. As you may have noticed, I don't eat a lot of "junk" including soft drinks, candy, fast food, artificial sweeteners, and highly processed food. I am not saying that I never have these things, but I do my best to avoid them - and I definitely do not miss them at all. I enjoy putting foods that have only 1 ingredient into my body (spinach, nuts, chicken, beans, rice, etc.) I do this as much as I can, but I still enjoy life and will indulge in French fries, or potato chips here and there too :-)

What do you include in your whole living philosophy?