Making Love in the Kitchen

Last week, we announced some super exciting news about upcoming projects-and that my collection of e-books would be going into the “vault” this week. I promise this is a good thing- but I know a lot of peeps were eager to get their hands on the goods before they go. Since my website was being a bit finicky over the weekend, we are extending the sweet, sweet offer for the next 24 hours so make sure you hop on over to our shop and take advantage while you can. Use the coupon code “byebyebooks” with the purchase of 2 or more e-books and see your awesome savings upon checkout. (Pssst- the discount only applies to single books, not collections).

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What are YOU doing tomorrow!? We are super duper excited to be a part of the Just Beautiful campaign, run by Environmental Defence. The campaign aims to raise awareness about the icky sticky toxins we slather all over our bodies and faces. Yup, you know it…beauty care. Here’s watch Environmental Defence has to say about our makeup and beauty prods in Canada: Before you even make it to the breakfast table, you’ve probably used almost 15 personal care products with over 100 host of toxic ingredients. Chemicals in your face cream, your diaper cream, your shampoo and lipstick have been linked to cancer, birth defects, infertility, and a long list of health concerns. Over 1,700 cancer-causing, hormone disrupting, and allergy-inducing substances have been banned or restricted in European personal care products. But, many of these same harmful substances can still be found in Canadian products. And Health Canada doesn’t even know everything that’s in the cosmetics we use every day.

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Oh Happy Happy Happy Holidaaaaaaaays! Are you having the best ever? Did you eat treats? Did you hug your family? Did you stay in your PJs all day? Did you play outside? Did you go to the movies? Yes, yes. I am not of the Christmas Celebrating variety but it’s a holiday for us too. We also get time off work, get to see friends who are home for the holidays, get to join all our other faith friends at the movies. For me- I am on my last and final days of my sweet, sweet holiday. It has gone far too fast I’m afraid. This place. Wow! It is magic and can’t wait to share all that I learned and that I saw. I am getting off track. Really what I wanted to share is this…AMAZING HOLIDAY + BOXING DAY SPECIAL!! Yep. That’s really the point of this holiday blog. Today (December 25th) and tomorrow (December 26th) only you can get 50% OFF Your choice of Downloadable eBooks + Mp3s! Yes! You could actually buy every single one and you’d save like $80 or something craaazy town like that.

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About a year ago, as the demands on my time grew, and grew and the waiting lists for my classes began to stretch, I realized that I couldn’t do this on my own. There needed to be more people teaching this style of cooking classes- to extend the goodness far and wide. I put out the first notice for the Culinary Nutrition Expert Program last May and within four weeks we were full. After three months of loads of chopping, washing, cooking, reading, writing and delicious eating, these amazing eight people- Odelia, Alexa, Dominic, Vicky, Miranda, Joanne, Kristin and Kim will be the very first to call themselves Certified Culinary Nutrition Experts. And experts they are! After reading their assignments, seeing their presentations, chatting with them, dining with them each week for the last ten weeks, and listening in on their conversations with each other- I have a confidence a thousand times over that these women and man are fully qualified to create the most amazing health promoting recipes, teach AwesomeTown classes, counsel, coach and entice people that fresh, whole, real foods cooking is the VERY BEST way to go to get a kick start on achieving not just our health goals but personal goals as well.

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As many of you- my sweet, lovely, wise and informed readers know, I do my song and dance all the live long day with a smile on my face and a colourful apron on to catch my messes as I strive to educate anyone who wants to learn about living in a state of abundant health.

I make it my mission to welcome people into the world of my blog, to all events in which I participate, and into my kitchen- no matter what their current lifestyle or eating habits are. I assume, if you are coming to me for advice, you are looking to make a few changes. I also stress in every presentation that I do, whether in my own kitchen, at public events or on TV, that people need to simply start from where they are at, and take it one step further towards health. I have believed, for the nearly four years that I have been working in this field, that this has been an effective approach.

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It was a 5 Star event in the mud, a gathering of Ontario’s best chefs, food and volunteers in the name of saving 2300 acres of prime farmland. It is estimated that over 20,000 people gathered in Melancthon Township at the aptly named Foodstock event to protest the proposed limestone mega quarry.

In a nutshell, an American-financed company, Highland Companies, has big plans for our prime potato farmland 85 km north of Toronto. Below the beautiful soil there is approximately 1 billion tonnes of limestone and Highland wants it all.

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Perhaps we’re too extreme? This article was rejected from The Huffington Post.

Is There Something Wrong With Government Regulated Food Guides?

Do you look down at your dinner and see 680 calories? Perhaps a healthy ratio of carbs to proteins to fats? Maybe you see some fibre, vitamin C, beta carotene and just the right amount of Omega 3’s.

This is weird right? Looking at a plate of food without actually seeing the food.

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October is breast cancer awareness month. Slightly redundant really, as I am pretty sure we are all aware it is out there, our options if we are diagnosed with it and so we can wear pink ribbons, use special pink lipstick, eat pink M&Ms, host pink themed bake sales and even drink a little pink Mike’s Hard Lemonade.

I think we’ve been aware for some time now, and it doesn’t seem to be doing all that much. Between being aware, donating money to who knows where, and stressing our poor nervous systems with all these crazy marathons for the “cure”, maybe we should take a different look at things. We’re all aware, now let’s work on prevention.

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What a week it has been. I have been doing my very, very best to abide the rules I wrote myself with my 21 Days To Health, program. My most favourite challenge of course is on day 3 when we must get ourselves to bed early. There are three things I love to bits that help me sleep like a baby.

Sleep mask to block out the light.
Lavender essential oil sprinkled on my pillow
3 capsules of Peaceful Spirit- my most fave bed time supplement in the whole wide world (more on that next week)
I have been loving these things even more as I spent just three nights last weekend on the other side of the country, 3 time zones away in Vancouver and then came back right in the swing of things. And you know what? No jet lag! Not even for one night. It was amazing.
I digress, as today I sit in the audience at TedX Toronto, invited to participate as a delegate, I wanted my brain powered up and ready to rock. And you know what does it? A green juice breakfast and a smoothie brunch.

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Well didn’t we have just the most fun ever at last weekend’s Vegetarian Food Festival? Didn’t we? How can you not have fun when there are grown men running around dressed as giant peas?

I was busy sharing my wares at my booth.

I was most excited about how excited everyone was over our brand new creed, irish moss, tote bags, and sleeping masks (with fabric I designed myself, I might add!)

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This is the part of my demo at the Hot and Spicy Food Festival last week where I held a jar of fresh sesame milk and sang love songs to My Nut Sack after mixing up the most amazing Hot and Spicy Brownies you’ve ever tasted.

Don’t believe that I was singing? Really? Well, then you should have been there because then you would know for sure. Or, you can come by The Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival this weekend and see me live and singing at my cooking demo on Saturday at 4:00pm.

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How are you enjoying your last day off before we go back to school?

Wait a second? Are you going back to school?

I am, my own school and my face will likely still be smudged with chocolate from today’s cooking demo at Toronto Harbourfront’s Hot and Spicy Food Festival.

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What a great week it has been. It started out on Monday when I presented over at The University Of Toronto to their 3rd year Medical Students. They were amazingly receptive, asked great questions and overall- we had loads of fun! I hope they invite me back soon.

Now, moving along. Have been to any of my cooking demos or workshops yet? If you have, you probably saw me giggling like a 14 year old boy about milking the nuts and squeezing the nut sack. It was a natural step for me to get my own custom nut sacks made, which we have appropriately called “My Nut Sack”

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Oh my love sweet lovers! This is exciting. We are coming up on our wildest season of classes yet. So exciting. We have more goods than ever in our shop (soon to be available online), plus you can now come for private shopping experiences with some of our staff nutritionistas. Jen has been busy ordering, stocking and pricing all the goods. That closet above, was once home to my wardrobe- and is now our micro-warehouse.

I love fall time. It means another weekend of Loving at the Veg Fair, another Apple A Day Giveaway and between now and December we’re running nearly 40 classes. That’s a whole lot of love going down in the kitchen.

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What do Italy, Mozambique, Cuba, Fiji, Australia, Jordan, Hong Kong, St. Lucia, Senegal, France, Jamaica, Swaziland, Portugal, Israel and Belize have in common? Well, these are among the many countries I have had the absolute privilege and honour of visiting and dining in. The greatest things I love about travelling is falling in love… sometimes with places, sometimes with men, and most often with food!

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