Playing with the new #ABeautifulMess app. I love it! Doodlemania! Way to go @emmaredvelvet & @elsiecake!Hello friends, it’s Ayah! How’s life? I just looked back through the archive and saw that I haven’t posted a recipe since JULY! Holy cow, I feel like we have so much to catch up on. I am now the mother of an amazing 6 month old boy. Motherhood is a wonderful, messy and heart expanding business, and I am blogging about that adventure over here if you want to know more.

Let’s talk about what I’ve been eating. I’ll confess that in the early months of having a baby I was in survival mode. There were many wonderful comfort foods brought over by friends, burritos picked up on the fly, and much pasta with sauce from a jar consumed. It was winter. It was dark. What I lacked in sleep, I made up for in cookies. Just when I felt like I was getting the hang of things, I went back to work part time and fell back into a spiral of shells with cheese, and nachos. So it goes.

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I love French food.

The past month has been a celebration of duck confit, steak frites, pungent cheese, and rich desserts.  I have been blissfully content and enjoying every minute of it.

But when my sweet friend left me behind some healthy goodies before heading up to Paris I was elated.  I miss coming up with healthy delicious treats to share with you.

coconut goji bites

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Life has brought on some big changes lately.

While Ayah raises a beautiful baby boy, I have packed my bags and moved to Europe.  I am starting my journey at my home base in the South of France and will see where life leads me next.

Last week my family and I had the joy of welcoming in my friend Aimee and her parents to our little village.  We ate and drank like kings, visited the market, danced at the town fetes, and had a special winery picnic lunch to celebrate Aimee’s dad’s birthday.

Because all celebrations call for something freshly baked, I contributed some of these celebration muffins, packed with zucchini, carrot, apples and lots of love.

apple pumpkin muffins

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Looking for a high protein breakfast or snack that comes in a sweet little package?

coconut cashew protein muffins

I felt like experimenting more with coconut flour this week since it’s such a great high fibre baking ingredient.

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Smokin’ Chipotle Bean Dip

October 28, 2012

Ayah gifted me this wonderful cookbook for my birthday this year. I’m overwhelmed by all of the amazing recipes.  They’re all very approachable, healthy, family friendly, affordable vegan recipes that you can toss into your slow cooker as you go about your day.  

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Almond Butter Stew

October 27, 2012

The weekend started off cold, windy and wet. Last night I was craving a warm comforting stew.  I looked over a list of recommended recipes a lovely nutritionist recently gave me, and immediately knew I had to try the African Nut Butter stew from Julie Daniluk’s book Meals That Heal Inflammation.

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Bison Bolognese

October 9, 2012

Ever since I was a little kid I’ve loved a hearty plate of pasta and meat sauce. Since it’s not always the most nutritionally dense dish, I amped up my version with brown rice pasta and bison and snuck in some healthy greens. Bison is a very lean meat.  It has 1/3 the fat of [...]

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Miso Peanut Dressing

October 8, 2012

I love bringing Asian flavours to my table. They brighten up regular old dishes and give them new life. This miso peanut dressing has the power to do that for various dishes. I highly recommend doubling or tripling the recipe below so that you can use it on a variety of recipes.  Starting with a [...]

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Chipotle Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Soup

October 5, 2012

It’s the time of year when healthy living bloggers go crazy for all things orange. Pumpkin, squash, sweet potato, bring it on! This recipe combines two of my personal favourites, sweet potato and pumpkin, with a spicy chipotle twist.

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Miso Kale Salad

October 2, 2012

With summer over I am still making an effort to eat my greens. But light green salads don’t cut it on a cool fall day.  These days I crave heartier lunches that will get me through until dinner if needed. This miso kale salad is  perfect.  It’s hearty, filling, comforting, and very green.

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Turkey and Sweet Potato Chili

September 28, 2012

The chilly fall breeze outside calls for my favourite cold weather dish: chili! I like to pack my chili full of my favourite things: lean ground turkey, roasted sweet potato, black beans, chipotle, and a big kick of flavour. This is a slightly leaner version of your regular chili thanks to the turkey.  The sweet [...]

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Spicy Green Eggs

September 27, 2012

Before I flew to France back in August I was trying to use up everything in my fridge. At the time I had eggs, cheese, and a bunch of greens that needed to be used.  I knew the second I was gone the Mr. would be ordering a pizza so it was up to me [...]

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