La Belle Vie Holistic Living

This year's Thanksgiving was another great gastro success. My mom and I took over the kitchen, each with our own designated areas - key for minimal panic while trying to create a multi course meal for eight in a few hours. I took on three dishes - a raw apple pie in a spiced pecan crust, a pumpkin tiramisu, and a gnocchi as one of the main course entrees. For the gnocchi, I adapted a recipe by Allyson Kramer and whipped up an easy and quick sundried tomato marinara sauce with oregano fresh from the garden. The result was a delicious, light, and fluffy pasta. Gnocchi 2 medium (about 3" length, 2" width) white potatoes 1 medium sweet potato (about 4" length, 2.5" wide) 1 3/4 cup gluten-free flour mix (see below) 1/3 cup nutritional yeast 3 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp salt Peel the potatoes, cut into small pieces and boil until they are soft. Using a potato masher, smoosh them up, adding the other ingredients a bit at a time and continuing to smoosh until everything is w...

As far as I'm concerned, it's always the perfect season, day, week, year, moment for ice cream. If you're looking for a fix of the delicious stuff right now, try this ridiculously easy and super healthy dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free peanut butter banana ice cream . xo Selene

Carrots are amazingly naturally sweet and full of awesome health super powers, like their crazy antioxidant strength and eye-boosting magic. If you're looking for a new and delicious way to enjoy this fall's harvest, try this carrot cake that's not only super healthy, but also raw, vegan, and free of refined sugars and gluten. xo Selene

Ok, confession time...I totally hated carrot cake as a kid. In all fairness though, I never really gave it a chance. Well, accidental chances that obviously led to disappointment due to expectations that could never be met. What do I mean by that? Let me paint a picture for you... As a kid, you see the dessert offerings in the restaurants. ONE of the cakes has icing and a pretty candy carrot on it. So, naturally you assume that this cake will pack the most sugary flavour of them all! You get it, you taste it, you think what the...!??!? Flash forward a couple of decades and that early non-attachment to carrot cake is still alive and kicking! My friend, Shannon, kept mentioning a carrot cake that she swore by. But I just couldn't shake that deep-living memory and kept right on hating the carrot cake without ever trying it again. And then I went to Ecuador and moved to a house on a mountain. And, I'm not even sure what brought it about, but one day I was astoundingly lucky and lik...

As promised, here is the ridiculously easy recipe for this amazingly creamy peanut butter banana ice cream. It's dairy-free, sugar-free, gluten-free, but insanely delicious! The peanut butter can be swapped out for your fave nut butter (almond, macadamia, pecan...the possibilities are endless!) or try a combination. You could use an ice cream maker...personally, I just moved back from South America and am moving again in a couple of weeks so I am not about to start unpacking boxes only to repack them again. It's easy to do without an ice cream maker, there is just one extra simple step. To make 2 bananas (the riper, the sweeter) 1/4cup nut butter (I used chunky so there were yummy nutty pieces in my ice cream) 1/2 can full fat coconut milk (mix it together before using) uhhh that's it! Blend it all together in a food processor and freeze. Every hour or so, mix it about so it freeze evenly. And after a couple of hours, blend it again in a food processor and then return to th...

Raw cucumber rolls stuffed with beets, carrots, cilantro and avocado and drizzled with a tropical fruit coulis My first week in South America, I met a girl named Rebecca. Since then we had been trying to reconnect, but keep missing each other. In May we caught up again in Cusco and had a delicious raw dinner to celebrate. We made cucumber rolls and carrot dumplings both with a maracuya (passionfruit in non-south america speak) and papaya coulis. A great sweet and sour tropical flavour for these refreshing and savoury dishes. After a week of eating not very awesome and definitely not too health food in restaurants in Lima, this and the company of a great friend were just what I needed. The dumplings were incredibly easy to make but had that fancy look to them that excited and impressed onlookers as well as ourselves and our palates. The lighting was poor, so please excuse my pictures... Carrot dumplings drizzled with a tropical fruit coulis Raw feast in Cusco. From bottom left (clockwis...

Made it to Lima yesterday morning after 25 hours of buses. Buses on which I discovered that my stomach was not happy…that was interesting. Been on only water since yesterday and things seem to be clearing up. Hey! My first water fast! I actually am feeling pretty good on it and am going to try and continue it into today. I figure it (along with the massive amounts of purging ha!) will help me process everything that’s happening and that has happened. I’ve been feeling a bit lost lately. I was feeling that way before I left Toronto as well – it was a large part of what spurred my travels. Someone once said to me…”if you don’t have a goal, it’s like not having a destination. You can go out every day and see cool things and do cool things, but at the end of the day you haven’t really gotten anywhere.” I’m a very journey-oriented kind of girl – I like to see where the day takes me. But I am recognizing the need for balance in that and in having a goal – somewhere I am trying to get towa...

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...

This March, my housemate Jocelyn of Warriors of Wellness and I have decided to spring clean our health and commit ourselves to our wellness. We're sprouting, rebounding, hydrating, eating awesome food, and setting up a fermentation station. On our counter is kombucha, coconut yogurt, and sauerkraut all in the making. Our fridge is stocked with fresh, delicious foods, and we're cooking and eating up a storm of nutritious goodies. Yesterday I scored some organic kale fresh from my buddy Raul's garden and today I made it to the market bright and early to score some awesome veggies. With this amazing bounty, I ate wonderfully all day, including this unbelievable salad that was as tasty and easy to make as it was healthy. To make 3 leaves kales, chopped finely 1 medium carrot, peeled and julienned or grated 1/4 cup parsley, packed and finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, derooted and minced 1/2 avocado 1 lime, juiced 2 TBSP ground flax pinch salt chili pepper flakes to taste Combine ...

I love a little spice on my food. Ok, I seriously heart a whole lot of hard core heat, if we're being totally honest here. For my first month or so in Ecuador, I was really missing that little bit of kick that adds so much to any meal. The hot sauce ("aji") they have in most restaurants is anything but hot. The curry powder is mostly just there to add some yellow colour to whatever you're eating - I've dumped in a whole container and still no flavour! And then I discovered Ole...specifically maracuya ole - deliciously spicy with a hint of fruit. amazing, but the ingredients and the neon colour of it do freak me out a bit. So I made my own. The sweetness comes from the maracuya (passionfruit) and touch of honey. The heat comes from the 2 varieties of spicy peppers. And the rest of the full-bodied flavour comes from the bell peppers, tree tomatoes, and splash of kombucha that had gone vinegar-y. What I really like about this hot sauce is that the bite only lasts for...

Welcome to my new bloggerific home, La Belle Vie. I moved over my posts so that you can access all of them from here. I've also just launched a website where you can find out all about my holistic nutrition services, such as personal consultations, healthy eating makeovers, private cooking lessons, and personal meal preparation. Thanks for all your support over the past years! I am so excited to keep sharing yummy food and healthy living tips with you, starting with this raw cauliflower tabbouleh I made the other day! I only really discovered my love for cauliflower a few short years ago. So I'm making up for lost time and trying to find as many ways to enjoy it as possible. At the Sunday market last week, among the 20 mangos we bought (yep. note that a week later, they're all gone), we also scored one awesomely huge cauliflower. One of the first things I made was a raw tabbouleh. Cauliflower "couscous" Using cauliflower as a grain replacement is super easy and a...

I've moved! Visit my new blog La Belle Vie for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks. xo I've been meaning to do a detox for a while now. I've been feeling less than awesome - the state of limbo I'm in with waiting to travel and dragging my feet and the season change toward cold cold cold and wet have not been helping. I've been tired, unmotivated, anxious, and a bit down. Add to this a weekend of eating almost nothing but processed soy, and a switch flipped and I was suddenly ready.  I've been on the detox for about a week now and have felt great about the foods I've been eating. It's been about 95% raw, tons of veggies and fruits, with some seeds and nuts for protein and healthy fats. I've steered clear of concentrated sweeteners and anything processed or refined. I've had no cravings, which is great. I was experiencing detox symptoms, but they seem to be on their way out.  ...

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 ...

Terrible picture, I know. I can't find my camera, so this was taken on my cousin's cell phone. This is a super easy fall time dessert I made for thanksgiving dinner with the family and some friends who don't have family in Canada. It tastes just like apple pie! My parents always travel in the fall, and I was in Vancouver with my best friend last year, so we've missed the past three years of Thanksgiving. So this year it was kind of a big deal. And we ended up with ten (!!) people - the four of us, my sister's boyfriend and friend, my couch surfer from France, my cousin who is visiting from India, and his two roommates who are also from India. Overall, it was an amazing Thanksgiving weekend and gave me so much to be thankful for - I spent all my time doing amazing things with amazing people including some very close friends and some new friends.  One negative thing about the whole weekend was around someone who I thought was close to me. I tend to take m...

I made a commitment to myself to not eat out this month, which means having to prepare and pack myself lunch everyday, and dinner on some days too (as I don't have time to go home and eat before my evening activities). I'm also trying to eat a larger variety of foods and food combinations. I love to cook and try new dishes, but when I'm tired or super busy, I tend to rely on the same dishes. Do you find that you do this too? Well, we're not alone! With all the gazillions of foods out there, people tend to rely on the same small selection - on average, only about 15!! So tonight I made my awesomely easy carrot lentil salad, but changed it up a bit. I used a lentil blend instead of just green lentils, and I added shaved asparagus!! Fancy! and super easy to do! You just buy the big asparagus stalks (as opposed to the thin ones, which i prefer for roasting), snap off the tough bottoms, and use a veggie peeler to make thin strips! I'm going to be adding shaved asp...

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...

A while back, the beautiful folks at Namaste Foods sent me some of their products to try. They specialize in allergy-free (no wheat, gluten, corn, soy, potato, dairy, peanuts or tree nuts) mixes for baked goods. They have a mix for everything from breads to brownies to cookies to frosting to pasta meals. They also have recipes for a gazillion ways to use each! And they're vegan (many gluten-free mixes out there have egg and milk in them)! You may not know this about me, but I have a bit of a cookie "problem". I love love love cookies. The chocolate chip cookie was actually one of the first recipes I ever mastered and I did so when I was like seven, so was my need to be in control of my cookie supply. So naturally I chose to sample their cookie mix . I also chose to sample the bread mix , but that will be for another day as I wish to make banana bread and keep using up all my bananas in my breakfast smoothies. I was very excited when the package arrived. But it t...

I've moved! Visit my new home  Make Life Beautiful for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks xoxo Things have been pretty crazy since I got back from Iceland (more about that in a later post), with all types of stress and change being thrown my way. I won't say I've been dealing with it the best that a person could hope to...there has definitely been some ups and downs. And I've broken out and become permanently bloated and haven't been sleeping all that wonderfully. But - a BIG but, and one that I am quite proud of myself about - I have managed to maintain a relatively healthy diet. (Relatively as there were a couple of nights where a bag of daiya and gluten-free bagels and tortilla chips were my dinner.) Normally when I get really stressed, I eat more processed foods and I skip meals or have "salads" made from lettuce and some kidney beans with maybe a tomato thrown in. Now there have been a far a...

In a blender, blend frozen berries, raw cacao nibs and just enough almond milk or water to get things going. Scoop into a bowl or cone and enjoy!