La Belle Vie Holistic Living

It’s officially fall! How super exciting! I’ve already started wearing layered sweaters and cute ankle boots in celebration. The apples are out, squash in every possible shape, colour, and size abound! Turn on your ovens, pick up some pumpkins, and let’s get our fall food fun on! Here are five deliciously simple, tasty, and healthy autumn inspired recipes for you to enjoy while watching the leaves change colour. Pumpkin pie smoothie Raw pumpkin mousse pie Baked apples Raw apple pie The healthiest carrot cake ever I’m off to jump in piles of leaves!!! xoxoxox Selene p.s. what's your fave fall food??

(note about comment posting since I've been told it's a tad bit confusing...the link to post a comment is under the title of the post) Back in Ecuador, I discovered chocolate making. Ok, no, that's a lie. My history with making chocolate actually dates back to childhood. Since I can remember, I have loved creating culinary yum yums for those that I love. My parents for their wedding were given a chocolate cookbook and as a child I became a voracious reader of this miraculous book and tried numerous of its magical recipes. My favourite one to make and share was for decadent chocolate truffles. But in Ecuador, I bought a 10lb bag of cacao paste, and a 10lb bag of cacao butter, and went to town. Like, literally, I would make a ton of different types of chocolate and then go into town and hand them out to people (while, of course, eating a number myself for Quality Assurance purposes). My specialty was a raw peanut butter chocolate cup variety, which definitely won me many frie...

What an amazingly beautiful day. My Vilcabamba family moved into the insanely gorgeous house I lived in when I first came here, and I have the awesome privilege of being able to crash here - surrounded by stunning panoramas and wonderful people. This morning, two of my most fave people ever (Jocelyn of Warriors of Wellness and Scott of Scott's Outdoor Adventure Tours) and I did a short but invigorating yoga practice. There two insanely amazing people have been such a constant inspiration to me. They are so present and aware. And also caring and generous enough to take the time to help me grow spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Hopefully at one point they will be guest bloggers here so they can share some of their awesomeness with you guys too. To celebrate this amazing beautiful awesome wonderful day, I made a sweet and refreshingly light drink that offers a healthy version of OJ. To make 1 small papaya (save the seeds for later) 8 oranges, juiced on a citrus juice...

It's been a rough little bit. One of the kittens my housemate's cat had got injured (spoiler alert for those who, like myself, can't deal with sad animal stories: the kitty is ok!). Something fell on him and we came in to all the kitties freaking out and little buddy unable to use his back legs. We rushed to the local vet who said we had to get him to Loja (a city about 45min away by taxi) to the animal hospital right away. Still in our pjs, we hoped in the first cab to get there. We found out that little cute muffin had fractured both of his hips. We got him a slew of minerals and meds that will hopefully heal him. He already seems better, though can't yet move his back legs too well. The part that breaks my heart is how sad he is that he can't play with the other kittens!  Anyway. On with a late Day 2 of Love Week post: the Love Potion. It was hard to get a photo of this drink; it kept disappearing before I had a chance. This was the first true juice I've made...

It's officially fall! So so officially. As with any weather change time in Toronto, I am constantly confused about what I should be wearing. On the day these photos were taken, I ended up on one of my fave cafe patios (Moonbean in kensington) lounging in a tank top. The next day I lost feeling in my hands and feet because it was so cold and had to huddle around a cup of tea at said cafe to regain sensation! I'm trying to bike everywhere as well, which adds to the challenge. My hands have aged ten years from the cold! One of the things I love love love about fall are all the amazing fall flavours: spaghetti squash, apple pie, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, butternut squash soup, and pumpkin pie all come to mind! In celebration of the beautiful colours and flavours of the season, and to warm you up on a crisp fall day, here's the Ultimate Fall Smoothie  (spoiler alert: think pumpkin pie meets apple cider). The recipe 1/2c pumpkin puree 3 small carrots (not ...

I have finally signed up for a weekly CSA box and have been getting insanely delicious organic pears. Really, I never ate pears before because there was always such a high liklihood of them being all mealy and not that great. This organic, local food box has changed my life when it comes to fruit, and especially my opinion on pears! Bosc, bartlett, the other random type they've sent me...wow! Insanely juicey and sweet, and with an amazing texture! Looking for more ways to enjoy them, I started to experiment with making a juice. Well, really more of a blended fruit drink as fibre is one of my fave characteristics of fruit and I'm not about to give that away to a juicer!  I also love that you can blend up the skin of the fruit, adding even more of a nutritional punch to this delicious and refreshing drink. Cinnamon-spiked blueberry pear juice 1 large pear (any kind), excluding the core 1 medium apple, excluding the core 1/2c blueberries (I used frozen wild blueberries sin...

We're in double digits people! Double digits!! I know it likely won't last long but it's oh so lovely while it does. And just knowing summer is a hop, skip, jump away is enough to make everyone smile. What are your plans for the summer? I can't wait to go paddling again! The boyface owns a canoe/kayak/stand up paddleboard store called Mudpuppy Marine (you can visit him here ), which means that I get free access to sweet boats, like my precious Scala. Didn't know Toronto was such an awesome location to paddle? Neither did I until I met him! Turns out there are tons of amazing harbours and even a gorgeous lagoon smack in the middle of the islands! In celebration of warmer weather, here's a recipe for a delicious banana chocolate almond breakfast milkshake. 1 banana, frozen (make sure the banana is super ripe before freezing or your milkshake won't be sweet enough; PC brand organic bananas are pretty affordable, and you can normally get the really ripe o...

In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, here's a delicious green smoothie to start your morning off right. This refreshing beverage, stocked full of flavour and nutrients, will leave you feeling satisfied. Awesome affordable organic produce discoveries: President's Choice Celery ($2.99), Loblaws President's Choice baby spinach ($4.99/tub), loblaws  Carrots ($2.99) at loblaws or metro Ontario Greenhouse tomatoes are usually a decent price, are not genetically engineered and are "virtually pesticide free" To make, blend together 1 avocado 1 carrot, medium 2 celery stalks, plus the bits that are all leafy 2 handfuls baby spinach 2 tomatoes 1 clove garlic, derooted 2.5-3c water (4 servings) Add some parsley or cilantro, which in addition to the celery will help support your liver the morning after. Drink up and enjoy!! xo  Selene

I'm reading Victoria Boutenko's new book, Green for Life, right now (stay tuned for a review and some sneak peek recipe fun!) and am getting more and more excited about green smoothies. However, since I'm trying to stay away from sweet fruits, enjoying green smoothies has been a little harder than expected. I tried a grapefruit-orange-spinach combo...unless you like very bitter morning drinks, I do not recommend it. I gave up on the dream for now of enjoying sweet smoothies and have embraced the savoury smoothie. Here's a delicious veggie smoothie I came up with this morning: Happy Monday Green Smoothie 1 handful spinach 2 med tomatoes, quartered 3" long piece of cucumber pinch cayenne pepper blend until smooth. refreshing. spicy. delicious. a great way to wake up. I can't wait to experiment with adding some lemon, or coriander, or avocado!

Here are some other delicious hazelnutty goods I made as well... I really like making nut butters. I think it's just the coolest thing ever. The first one I made was macadamian nut butter and oh my god was it a dream. Not only did it butterize super fast, but it was wonderfully naturally sweet and overall insanely delicious. I bragged about it nonstop even though the boy so kindly reminded me that I didn't actually do anything, as I hadn't added anything to it at all. Details. Hazelnuts I've found are a bit more bitter than the macadamian nuts were or something. Well, not bitter, but not naturally sweet in any way. That said, the hazelnut butter before I added anything else to it was still quite nice, so you might want to try it with just the hazelnuts, or with the hazelnuts and a bit of coconut oil for a creamier butter. But, if you want to be fancy like me: chocolate hazelnut butter (wow, I've gotten so creative with my names...) 1c hazenuts 1 tbsp agave...

I've moved! Visit my new blog La Belle Vie for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks! After my success with almond milk, I was poised to try the same thing with some hazelnuts. I used a little less water, as I felt the almond milk was a tad watery. I'm somewhat ok with the cheesecloth method, but I do find it difficult to clean. After scraping as much nut pulp as I can into a container for later use, I shake it out, then soak it in hot water and rinse it. Still, there are little bits of nuts clearly stuck to it. I figure it's dry, so it's not an issue? But, I'm thinking that that's not the best attitude to have longterm. Friday I had the day off and my friend and I went on a veritable hunt for a nut milk bag. He uses the sewed up shirt sleeve of a button up shirt to strain his milk. I think that that's an awesome idea and absolutely great with regards to reducing our consumption. Well, I think that in theory. I...

Well, not sad for mold affecionados, but sad for mes. My weekend was a mold fest. The mold ruined everything I love at this particular moment in time. And apparently made me incredibly overdramatic...But seriously! 1. My container garden on the back deck. My beautifu little garden, which is being dug up almost nightly by cute little masked mammals looking for grubs. So I covered it with cayenne. Kept the racoons away, sure. But, also taught me this fabulous lesson: cayenne pepper is a mold magnet! Who knew!? All my containers were filled with the stuff! The boy suggested we mix it into the soil. I'm really hoping that doesn't just kill all my plants... 2. My macadamia/cashew nut cheese. I have recently tried my hand at culturing raw cheese. The results were both fascinating AND delicious. Tried it again with a nut blend. Left it 8 hours too long, and I'm PRETTY SURE I made some weird alcoholic nut cheese substance. Ok, not mold, but still ruined! 3. My lemon for my wate...