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??

It's no secret I get a serious heart on for tortilla chips...mainly as a way to eat dip and salsa. But, an ick-flavoured chip, or one loaded with GMOs and other not so great stuff, can really ruin the whole experience, non? I was lucky enough to get to do a super top secret (ie I didn't tell any of my friends so I could have more for me!) taste test of a gourmet, GMO free, gluten-free tortilla chip courtesy of the beautiful people of RW Garcia. Here's what I thought...

Totally into yoso vanilla soy yogurt right now. My fave ways to enjoy it? chocolate chia goji mousse madness mix vanilla soy yogurt with raw cacao powder and 1tbsp chia seeds. Mix well and let sit in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. When you take it out of the fridge, the texture will be more like a mousse. add in goji berries, mix and enjoy!! cookies and goji goodness break off pieces of raw cookie dough into vanilla soy yogurt. Mix in goji berries and enjoy!

For September’s Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger I get a total heart-on for cornbread. But all the recipes out there are always made with very gluten-full flour. Lucky me, while I was checking out the Gluten-Free Goddess for Book of Yum's Adopt a gluten free blogger, I found a gluten-free recipe for blue corn muffins with green chiles! Mine didn't turn out quite as wonderfully as in their internet debut and were very crumbly, but they sure were tasty! Would taste super amazing slathered with tapenade or soy "cream cheese." side note: Cutting the jalapenos went terribly, and, in a related matter, my lips, tongue, nose and left eye and BURNING.

My guest-blog post for The Daily Dietribe's Gluten-Free Fall Specials is now up! When I think fall, I think warm, oven-fresh baked goods. In celebration, I whipped up some gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free, oil-free, incredibly flavour-full blueberry explosion muffins. Wanting to make a muffin that was light and fluffy with a natural sweetness and lots of flavour, I swapped out the oil for applesauce and the sugar for bananas and added in one of my fave tastes of fall: cinnamon. The Daily Dietribe is a great gluten-free, sometimes vegan blog. Iris, the gluten-free genius behind the blog, shares her journey through gluten-freedom along with the tasty recipes she creates and encounters along the way. Basically that's a long way of saying "yum". She also has tons of fun blogging events, like the Adopt-a-Blogger event I somewhat recently participated in. Here are some poser artsy muffin glamour shots for a little sneak preview (taste?) of the deliciousness this reci...

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 Broccoli smothered in cheesy tahini sauce I already toted the many amazing benefits of sesame seeds here so we'll skip that part in this post and go straight to the awesomeness that is tahini. Raw tahini is delightfully easy, and inexpensive, to make. And you can do such awesome things with it! I personally love using tahini as salad dressing. And when I discovered you could make a delicious cheese sauce with it...!! You can't really tell from the photo, but this makes a deliciously creamy and cheesy sauce that you can use on zucchini linguine, or for kale chips, or really just about anywhere that cheesy goodness could go (which is pretty much anywhere). The cheesy tahini broccoli is my version of Julie Morris 's awesome recipe. While you're there check out her other recipes, yum they sure do look good! How 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 Ok so clearly at this point my mango obsession is not a secret. And to be honest, I'm not actively looking for things to do with mangoes, as I love mangoes in their natural element. But I had some that were starting to turn and I was feeling creative, so I whipped up a mango cheesecake (recipe to come later) and mango ice cream. Get the recipe now!

I've moved! Visit my new blog La Belle Vie for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks! I am currently trying out going completely raw for the week. Well, mostly raw since I'm still using my existing oils and since I have an unnatural dependency on olives. And I am anticipating a glitch in the plan this weekend as I am heading to montreal for family easter with my grandparents. Which means no access to food processor, blender, my kitchen or my food items. It also means being with grandparents that give me enough of a hassle about not eating meat and seem to fear vegetables, so why really throw an extra thing in the mix. Seriously, one time I was eating breakfast with them and had tofu, a kiwi and oatmeal, and while eating dessert cannellonis and cake for breakfast they were yelling at me for being so unhealthy and trying to make me eat JAM because it was more fruit than a kiwi. True story. Well, anyway, back to the raw thing. I...

I've moved! Visit my new blog La Belle Vie for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks! My "go to" dinner when I'm feeling particularly not like cooking is tortilla chips and salsa. Personally, I've always felt that this was a great meal choice because it's got veggies! However, my friend Shannon has informed me that salsa and chips does not actually qualify as a meal, lacking as it is in protein and full as it is in fats and empty calories from the chips. My argument is: well, it's healthier than when I eat popcorn for dinner! Her response to that is often along the lines of "oh my god! that's NOT okay!" or "popcorn's not a meal either!" Well, I think, Ms. Shannon, I have found a loophole! I have created a healthy tortilla chip, that with salsa and cashew sour cream or walnut meat, DOES qualify as not only a delicious, but also a nutritious meal! And assuming that the chips are made...

If you're ever in Kensington, make sure you go to Essence of Life Natural Foods. They're an amazing store with a wide range of healthy, vegan and gluten-free items and excellent prices. While there, if you get nothing else, get the hemp granola that's in the bulk tubs. Not the one made with oats, but the one that has delicious chunks of sweet granola-y goodness. This granola alone started my granola obsession. And this granola is one of the things I miss most about eating gluten-free. Unfortunately few other foods can feel the void of granola and soygurt or granola with nut milk. And a good gluten-free granola is very hard to find. I've only found one gluten-free granola at all, and, though I do sometimes eat it when having a granola craving, it's not the tastiest granola around. This recipe is super easy to make and is unbelievably delicious. The granola is wonderfully spiced and sweet, the buckwheat is crispy, the almonds add a pleasant crunch, and the bluebe...

I've moved! Visit my new home  Make Life Beautiful for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks! I made my banana bread bites recipe, though accidentally put in almost 3x as many cacao nibs as I meant to...a very tasty mistake indeed...chocolate-y... Spread into thin layers with a spatula. Yum!!! Perfect for nutbutter and banana sandwiches!

So I am a little obsessed with muffins. By a little I mean seriously so. I crave them constantly and make them frequently. I've adapted this recipe from the Children's Baking Cookbook. A baking recipe book I've had since I was a kid and that has served me well. Ingredients: 3/4c gluten free flour blend 1/2c soy milk 1/4c sugar 1/2tbsp baking powder 1/2 ripe banana (it's easier to mash up if it's starting to brown. and an easy and delicious way to use those gross mushtastic nanners) 1/6c oil 1/2c vegan chocolate chips 1c frozen or fresh blueberries bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes ENJOY!!!

I've been eating a boatload of hummus. I really want jalapeno hummus but apparently the stores by me don't sell any jalaps (grrr!). But yes here's the recipe I've been using: 1 can chickpeas 4 cloves garlic (we really really like garlic) cayenne pepper (to taste - i like it spicy, i like everything spicy) 3 tbsp tahini lemon juice (about 2 tbsp) 1/4c water (sometimes up to 1/3c, start with less and add a bit at a time till you get the ideal consistency) food process the sucker up and serve with carrots, celery and cucs