Month: September 2015

September 16, 2015

Five Ingredient No Bake Granola Bars

I love simple, good for you recipes. When it comes to crunch time, I need something I can make in a big batch, quickly and with little mess. Granola bars fit these requirements to the T but I don’t want granola that is full of extra ingredients. I want something natural and as few ingredients as possible.

These simple to prepare and even simpler to make no bake granola bars are my favourite. I can make these quickly on a Sunday night and have a weeks worth of granola bars ready for us to enjoy on the run or as a healthy snack before dinner. They have quickly become an easy and satisfying snack to consume on the run to work, between practices or even as a sweet tooth craving at night.

Ingredients:

four cups of oatmeal
1 and 1/2 cup of peanut butter
3/4 cup of honey
3 boxes of raisins
1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Directions

Cover a rectangular pain in parchment paper and set aside.

Combine all the ingredients into one bowl. Mix the ingredients together well and until all the dry ingredients are ‘wet’ and sticking together.

Transfer the mixed ingredients into the rectangular container on top of the parchment paper (this will help with easy removal of the granola afterwards). Push down to ensure the ingredients bind together well.

Put the container in the fridge and allow it to remain in there for at least two hours.

When you are ready to eat the granola, cut yourself out a piece and enjoy!

This granola recipe stayed well in our fridge for the entire week.

September 16, 2015

Nature Walk #WW with linky

Hi Friends!

I missed out on last week’s wordless Wednesday because of the first week of school and all of the excitement of our youngest entering Kindergarten. So here is our latest nature walk that we went on over the weekend. I played with some of the photographs, let me know what you think.

Make sure you link up below so that I can visit you too. Have a great afternoon.

September 16, 2015

A Song For Bellafortuna by Vincent “Chip” LoCoco

A Song for Bellafortuna follows a young man and his desire to free his Sicillian village from the domination of one family’s long reign.

About A Song for Bellafortuna

For years, the beautiful and secluded hilltop village of Bellafortuna, Sicily, was a great producer of wine and olive oil and the entire village prospered. After the arrival of the Vasaio family, production dwindles and the villagers soon find themselves in crushing debt to the Vasaios. Only one family in the village remains outside the control of the Vasaios, but the reason haunts Antonio Sanguinetti every day of his life. Antonio is determined to erase this legacy by offering financial and emotional support to his fellow villagers. He introduces them to the choral song from Verdi’s opera, Nabucco, which becomes the rallying cry for the villagers and offers them hope for a better life.

When Antonio’s only son, Giuseppe, discovers his family’s past, he becomes determined to take on the Vasaios and remove them from power. Led by the young Giuseppe, a plan is hatched that could result in either complete freedom for the villagers or will forever solidify the Vasaios’ control.

My Thoughts

A struggle for power, fairness, equality and overcoming poverty. The beautiful village of Bellafortuna was destroyed by one family who wanted to control it all. They used their power to ‘protect’ the people from a bigger threat (the Mafia) but in turn crushed the people in debt. While the villagers were angry and knew this was wrong, they were powerless to stop it. So instead, this vicious circle continued from generation to the next.

It is one young man, Giuseppe, who is willing to lay his heart and everything on the line to protect his people. He can no longer see them suffering as it causes heartache for him to think that his family may have played a role in this.

A Song for Bellafortuna is a beautiful and touching story of hope, grace, forgiveness and strength. I love that the story centres around music because it is music that gives us hope, lifts our spirits and gives our heart freedom. A wonderful story with a truly nail biting ending. You will love it from start to finish.

You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Award winning and bestselling author, Vincent B. “Chip” LoCoco, lives in New Orleans. His first novel, Tempesta’s Dream – A Story of Love, Friendship and Opera, became an Amazon bestselling novel and was awarded the 2014 Pinnacle Achievement Award in Historical Fiction. Amazon also has named his book as a Top Rated Novel in Italian Historical Fiction.

His most recent novel, A Song for Bellafortuna, was shortlisted in the William Faulkner – William Wisdom Competition. He is an estate planning attorney in New Orleans, where he lives with his wife and two children.

The Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

September 16, 2015

Week Five: Still Holding On

We are officially in the second week of school and normal routines are almost back (thank goodness!). My regular fitness routine is slowly returning to normal, with help from my calendar on the fridge – desperate times call for desperate measures! I have started to see a physiotherapist to help with my stretching which has helped a lot with some of the pain I have been experiencing. I have always had lower back pain and this has really helped to improve my range of motion and compression like feeling I have been having. Most of the pain is due to my poor posture and abdominal weight so my fitness goals couldn’t have come at a better time!

So how did I do?

Here is week four:

~~1-2 pound weight loss.~~ Although to be fair this was the weight I gained back from my Dad’s delicious cooking!
~~Weight training five times this week.~~
Yoga three times this week.
~~Daily squat, lunge, push up and crunch challenge.~~
11,000 steps a day. Every day but Friday! I was so close this time!
Two 3km walks.
~~One 4km walk~~ And I chose the hottest day to do so, I was looking lovely in my sweaty clothes.

Week Five Goals:

1 to 2 pound weight loss.
Weight training four times.
Yoga twice this week.
Daily squat, lunge, push up and crunch challenge.
11,000 steps a day.
Two 3km walks.
One 4km walk.

Week five marks one week closer to my walk for Sick Kids coming up on September 26th. For more information on my walk (or if you would like to donate to this great cause) please check out my post on The Great Camp Adventure Walk.

Here is to good things in week five! Have a great week and I will see you here next week.

September 14, 2015

Shhh…..South Street Burger Launches Their Secret Menu!

On August 30th, Canadian chain South Street Burger Co turned ten years old. The South Street Burger celebrated in a big way by not only launching their secret menu but also giving out free coupons, cake and ice cream.

When South Street Burger launched their secret menu, they turned to you their fans for inspiration. These four new items were inspired by fan photos of their favourite orders and includes:

The Cheesy Vegetarian: their veggie burger with brie cheese.
The Naughty Vegetarian: their veggie burger with bacon (!).
The South St Chicken Club: a traditional chicken club with grilled chicken, bacon, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and garlic mayo.
Mac’s Big Burger: two 4 oz burgers, two slices of cheese, lettuce, pickles, onions and signature sauce. This burger was named after the founder Jay Gould’s son Mac who always orders his burgers this way.

South Street Burger wants to know how you like to dress your burger. Head in to any one of their thirty locations in Canada and show South Street Burger on social media how you like to have your burger. Use the hashtag #SouthStSecretMenu and tag them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sharing your photos and the hashtag will give you the chance to win Burger Bucks.

After a long weekend of tryouts, we headed into the Burlington location to celebrate the first tryout hurdle for our son and enjoyed the Cheesy Vegetarian, The True North and two regular 4 oz burgers. The combos also come with New York Fries (always a favourite in our home). Talk about mouth-watering goodness!

What is your favourite way to dress a burger?

Disclosure: I received Burger Bucks to try out the Secret Menu. All opinions expressed are my own.