A Good Halloween Treat Substitute

Happy Halloween everyone!

 

Has anybody been tempted to eat the candy you've been giving out at the door? How about the candy from your kids' treat bags? My downfall is usually the Reese peanut butter cups. This year, however, my goal is not to touch the candy at all. To make sure I don't crave them the plan was to make my own 'healthy' chocolate and nut alternative and have some of that instead. Let me introduce you to my favorite 'treat'!

 

I originally got this recipe from the Seasonal Family blog (www.seasonalfamily.com) and have been making them for a while now. It's an easy recipe to adjust too. Any nuts, seeds, dried fruit can be used.

Dallas' favorite Treat Bars:

• 2.5 cups mixed nuts and seeds (I used pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pecans, and cashews)
• 1 cup dried fruit (I used raisins)
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup almond butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch nutmeg

Place the nuts into a food processor and pulse until they are coarsely chopped. Add the dried fruit and chocolate chips.

In a saucepan, mix together the coconut oil, almond butter, honey, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Heat until combined. Place in a 9x9 inch pan covered with parchment paper. Place in freezer for a couple of hours.

Remove from freezer and cut into bars or squares.

Look yummy? They are!

The best part is that instead of eating junky Halloween crap I'm treating myself with healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, etc.. Plus, I get my chocolate/nut craving out of the way.

See those orange things in the corner? I had some sweet potato slices leftover from dinner so I made some sweet potato chips too.

Stay out of the treat bag!! Sugar depletes your body of vitamins and minerals! Make yourself healthier versions that add nutrients instead. Your body will thank you for it.

City Harvest Halifax 2012

All I can say right now is 'WOW'! Wow because it was the most beautiful fall day today, Wow because we had an amazing day, Wow because of what happened in downtown Halifax today. Just WOW! I'm at a loss for words right now actually.

 

Today (well, this whole weekend) is City Harvest in Halifax. City Harvest was born from Open City that happened in the Spring. Open City was created as a way to encourage folks to visit the downtown and learn about local businesses and restaurants. It was so successful that not only did they decide it would be a yearly event, but they did it again just a few months later in October. Again, it was a huge success.

 

The deal is that businesses participate by offering deals or discounts to shoppers who visit their stores. This weekend, the ever-growing list of businesses involved grew to 95 and it spanned the entire downtown from North to South and from the Waterfront to Quinpool Rd. Here is what our day was like in downtown Halifax today, or rather what we were able to fit into today.

 

Our first stop was to the Halifax Seaport Market. That was an obvious choice since it was Saturday and that's where I go every Saturday morning. There were a few vendors who were participating so we made sure to stop by. First was to Made With Local. They are on the list of regulars that I see each time I visit the market. They create bars made with as many local ingredients as possible, like oats from Speerville Oats, molasses from Crosby's Molasses, cranberries from Terra Beata cranberries, Nutsmith Peanut Butter, etc.. Today, they debuted their new bar - the Totally Autumn Bar with Pumpkin from Noggins Farm, roasted pecans, and white chocolate. Yum!!

 

Here's a link to the Made With Local website to learn more (www.madewithlocal.ca).

 

Our next stop within the market was to Crowbar Real Foods for a taste of their Harvest Moonfire Pear Muffins. Absolutely delicious!

Crowbar is a great company because they try to fill each 'treat' with as much healthy-goodness as possible. Here's what I found about them on their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/crowbarrealfoods#!/crowbarrealfoods)

Mission

We're committed to offering you the most friggin' delicious, nutritious, and satiating energy bar you'll ever eat, as well as other delicious snacks made with as many locally-sourced and organic ingredients as possible.

In short, we want to fill you up with goodness!

 

Company Overview

Crowbar Real Foods is a small Halifax-based business supported by friends. We love each other, real food, the amazing world, and rock n’ roll, and are excited to share the fruits of our labour with you. All products are formulated by our in-house nutritional strategist, an experienced holistic experienced nutritional consultant. We try to pack as much awesome goodness into each product as possible. 

While we were at the market we stumbled up a giant pumpkin, 890lbs of pumpkin, actually. Sheesh!

Once we left the market we walked down the Waterfront and stopped in at Sugah! Halifax for FREE ice cream. Yes! FREE ice cream!! And it was any size, any toppings you wanted.

The hubby and the kid got some ice cream. Ice cream at 10:30 in the morning? Yes, why not? None for me though...avoiding the dairy since I did the detox last month.

While they ate their ice creams we browsed the Historic Farmers Market in the Alexander Keiths building. This is where the main farmers market used to be before they built the Seaport Market. There are still quite a few vendors located here and I try to visit both when I can (they're just down the street from each other).

Once we made it to Barrington St. we had to visit Uncommon Grounds for $1 coffees. They were offering $1 coffees (any size) and $2 eggnog latte's too. The hubby got a coffee and I got myself a decaf to sip on.

Next door, we stopped in to Carbonstock to browse their really cool stuff. It's one of those places you go to when you've got a gift to buy and want to get something different. This is a good place to start. It got me thinking about Christmas gifts I'll be picking up later.

Further down Barrington we visited Attica Furnishings. I had heard a lot about them since I follow them on Twitter but had never been into the store to see what it was like. Well, there's lots in there that I like. Like this beautiful kitchen table. It wouldn't match the kitchen that I have right now but I can dream about it. Beautiful furniture in this place (and made in Canada).

From that point we went to Argyle St. and checked out Biscuit. Biscuit started in 1996 selling clothing on Spring Garden Rd. and eventually expanded to selling gifts in 2000 and moved to their current Argyle St. location. (check out www.biscuitgeneralstore.com for more info about the store).

They have some really cool stuff in there! What was their deal for the day? Well, people needed to post a photo of an item on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or Facebook, and get 25% off that item. What a great way to promote their business and get people interested in their clothing and gifts! Did I buy anything? Yes, I did. I got a solar-powered charger for my iPhone. Here's a copy of my tweet that got me 25% off!

Our next stop was to the Foggy Goggle (also on Argyle St) for a slice of Sweet Potato Pie and a pint of Propeller Pumpkin Ale. The Foggy Goggle is a popular pub in the city - they have a menu with made-from-scatch meals and you know what? They don't have a deep-fryer. I think that's awesome! (www.thefoggygoggle.ca)

It was perfect patio weather today so we took advantage and sat outside. The kid had a slice for herself, the hubby had the beer (I hate beer) and we shared the other slice of pie. He had the bottom portion with the whipped maple cream (again, no dairy for me).

After having dessert, we thought we'd head up to Pete's Frootique on Dresden Row and have some lunch. Their deal of the day was a bowl of West African Peanut Soup for $2. The soup was damn good!! I would love to have the recipe for this one! Although we did go for the soup we browsed the store too. I love Pete's way too much and could have spent the whole day there buying all kinds of groceries. (www.petesfrootique.com)

 

After our delicious lunch we went to Jennifer's of Nova Scotia on Spring Garden Rd. Jennifer's sells many locally produced items like pottery, jewelry, pewter, glass, jams, candy and more (www.jennifers.ns.ca).

Their special was pretty interesting - for each purchase over $10 customers could bob for an apple and win a prize. My daughter really wanted to bob for an apple so we let her participate. The table was too high for her though so she simply pointed to the apple she wanted. We won a bag of salt-water taffy and maple candy. An extra bonus is the apple we received to snack on too!

Since we were already in the area we thought we'd take a break and walk around the Public Gardens.

The weather was just amazing and taking a walk through the park seemed like the best way to enjoy it. In no time at all I'm sure we'll be missing this weather and our sunny days outside. There's nothing like living life to the fullest I say!

Making our way back toward the waterfront we walked down Grafton St. and came upon The Black Market. This shop wasn't on the list of participating businesses for City Harvest but they were also busy as a result of it. There were lots of people shopping.

If you're looking for cool jewelry this is a good place to go. They had TONS of stuff - rings, bangles, key chains, earrings, etc..

Before we ended the day I wanted to make sure we stopped at the World Tea House for some tea.

These guys were offering $1 teas (pumpkin pie tea or hot sweet cinnamon tea) and $5 tea leaf readings. I didn't get the reading done but did try the pumpkin tea. The tea was a nice relaxing way to end our busy afternoon. We took our cups of tea down to the waterfront and while our daughter played at the park we sat on a bench and relaxed a bit.

So that's what our day was like today at City Harvest. We didn't get a chance to visit all 95 businesses (obviously) but it was still a very full day. I would have liked to visit Fid Resto for back door takeout of Pad Thai, or Bikram Yoga for a free yoga class, or Fred on Agricola St. for apple cider, or the Fish Shop for fish tacos, or...god, there are too many that I wanted to see and didn't have a chance to. For a full list of participating locations and their deals for the day (weekend) check out the I Love Local Halifax website - http://www.ilovelocalhfx.ca/v1/

I Love Local Halifax is "a group of Community minded independent businesses that are committed to supporting and strengthening our Community and to making Halifax an exciting and vibrant place to shop, eat and live."

I think they achieved their goal today. The vibe downtown was awesome. Everyone was smiling and there was so much excitement in the air. On Twitter #CityHarvest trended in Canada like crazy. I think they found the trick to revitalizing a downtown - use Twitter!! All day (who am I kidding,..the last few weeks), everyone has been talking about the event and it has promoted the businesses involved and gotten people excited about their city and what there is to offer here. I've never seen anything like it in any of the other cities that I've lived in (and I've lived in a few). Every city has the same problem - nobody spending any time or money in the downtown core. Halifax is different though. There is a very different feel in the downtown here.

I think events like these really help. It encourages people to go downtown and as a side benefit because they are walking around they see other businesses or shops that interest them. It's a learning experience for everyone. With so many restaurants participating too there's no way anybody could visit them all in one day. As a result, people go back at a later time. No matter what it increases traffic. And again, Twitter promotes everything to anybody that didn't make it to the event and gets them interested too. It's a win-win situation for everyone.

I can't wait to see what they'll have going on next year!

Homemade Rose Hip Tea

So in the last 4 months or so I've been able to pick many different 'wild' things; I picked blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc.. More recently, I was able to pick Rose Hips and make my own homemade tea. I love that so much of nature has been left relatively untouched around here. This is what is available when land isn't being plowed and covered in concrete, houses, and buildings.

 

Rose Hips are the fruits of the rose plant. Once the blossoms die on the wild rosebush if they are left a rose hip will form. Although they appear during the summer it's best to leave them until the first frost. Apparently frost makes them just a little bit sweeter (they are typically quite tart, like a cranberry).

Rose Hips are extremely high in Vitamin C and are known to contain more than citrus fruits even. Actually, I read somewhere that one cup of rose hip tea will have Vitamin C equivalent to fifty oranges (sheesh!). Drink up!!

There are quite a few things Rose Hips can be used for; jellies, syrups, sauces, etc.. I chose to make tea, mainly because it was the easiest way to use them and probably the best way to make most use of this nutritional powerhouse.

To make tea, the Rose Hips need to be dried. Once they've been cleaned, place the Rose Hips in a dehydrator and let it run until they become rock-hard. It took mine almost 18 hours or so. Conversely, if you don't have a dehydrator you can simply spread them on a cookie sheet and leave them out to dry for a couple of weeks.

Once dried, place them into a food processor to grind them up.

Once grinded, you'll need to use a sieve and shake out the fine hairs out of the mixture. Within the Rose Hips there are seeds as well as fine hairs. Some people leave the hairs and say they are fine, whereas others suggest removing them. I decided to remove them 'just in case'.

And there you have it - homemade Rose Hip tea!

Perfect for those chilly nights coming up...

Do Artichokes Grow in Nova Scotia? Yes, they do!

Do you ever feel like you're in the twilight zone?  On the same day that I picked up the Arctic Kiwis I also spotted some local artichokes. Really? In Nova Scotia? Really! I asked, and sure enough, there is a farm in The Valley that grows them. You learn something new everyday, eh? I had always assumed that they just grew in California.

 

I had never cooked with artichokes before but figured now was a good a time as any; so I bought 3 of them. Then they sat in my fridge for a few days before I figured out what I would make with them. Stuffing them was out of the question (until I get more experience with them) and I didn't want to make a dip since most of them ask for a ton of cheese 3 artichokes probably wouldn't be quite enough anyways. In the end, I settled on a pasta sauce.

The next challenge was trying to figure out how to clean/chop the darn things. After doing a few Google searches and watching some YouTube videos I felt comfortable and got going.

First, I sliced off the top 1/4.

Then I cut it in half.

I removed the outer leaves and cut out the purple center along with the hairy stuff inside.

What I was left with was the artichoke heart. I placed the hearts in water with lemon juice to prevent browning.

Spaghetti Squash with Tomato/Artichoke Sauce

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can diced tomatoes or 3 tomatoes, chopped
• artichoke hearts, chopped
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 cup spinach
• 1 cup feta
• salt and pepper

Prepare the spaghetti squash in the oven or steamer.

To make the sauce, heat a pan and the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add the tomatoes, artichoke hearts and the oregano. Cook until heated through. Add the cooked spaghetti squash to the sauce and top with the spinach, feta and salt and pepper.

This was great warmed up the next day too.

When I was at the market this past weekend there weren't any artichokes available. I am going to assume that I either missed the season because I wasn't paying attention or it's a really short season. Either way, I think it's super cool that artichokes are available locally in Nova Scotia. I'll be on the lookout for these next year foresure!

Spaghetti Squash

Who said that spaghetti had to be made of wheat? There are so many great alternatives out there, like rice noodles, buckweat noodles, noodles made from lentils or quinoa, etc.. Another great one is noodles made with spaghetti squash.



 

Spaghetti squash is great; it's so easy to cook and the bonus is all of the good nutritious stuff that goes along with it. Regular wheat pasta doesn't really provide too much other than carbohydrates . Besides, with so many people looking for gluten-free options or who are avoiding wheat this is a great alternative.

So what do you get from the squash? Well, there's folic acid, potassium, vitamin A, and beta-carotene

Most people suggest placing the squash in the oven (either whole or cut in half). I always find that the oven often removes moisture from the squash though and makes it kind of dry. My solution? Using a steamer. I've used it for pumpkin, for other squash, and now the spaghetti squash. I cut the squash in half (well, my husband did - it's really hard!), removed the seeds, and placed both halves into the steamer. It took about 40 minutes or so for it to cook through.

The next step is the fun part - take a fork and scrape out the flesh. There's no trick to it; it'll simply come out in strands that look just like spaghetti.

Toppings can be whatever you want. Whatever you like to put on your pasta regularly will work with spaghetti squash (like the tomato sauce and goat cheese on the picture below).

Three Bloggers, One Island - Fall Foliage Tour on McNabs

Sunday was a bit of an exciting day. I finally visited McNabs Island. McNabs Island is located in the Halifax Harbour along with Devil's Island, George's Island and Lawlor Island. McNabs is the biggest of the 4 though, at 5km long and 1.5 km wide.

Sunday they had their yearly Fall Foliage Tour. Although visitors are welcome on the island year-round, the Fall Foliage Tour is a special day that brings folks over to experience the island in its autumn splendor and to participate in guided history and nature tours.

There were two ferries bringing people over for the tour, one leaving from Halifax and another leaving Eastern Passage. It was a drizzly gloomy morning but most folks were still excited about the day ahead.

When we arrived on the island we were broken up into groups and allowed to join a tour group. There was a choice of the nature tour, the history tour, the cholera tour, the hangman's beach tour and a French-guided tour. I joined the cholera tour.

The tour that I joined was led by history student Oxanna (not sure if this is how her name is spelled - sorry!). We began our tour with a walk up Garrison Road. There was 'some' fall foliage to see. There is still a lot of green out there.

We were brought to Hugonin Battery, which was used until 1993 by the Department of National Defense as an acoustic monitoring station. This area of the island, however, has some history with a cholera outbreak in the late 1800's.

Here is some information about the outbreak taken from the Friends of McNabs website:

In April of 1866, the S.S. England, a steamship from Liverpool, England, bound for New York with 1202 passengers, suffered an outbreak of cholera. With many of its crew stricken, the England found it necessary to seek refuge at Halifax.

Port authorities in Halifax, well aware of the potential devastation which could occur if the disease reached the city, ordered the England to anchor in the shelter of McNabs Cove. Over 400 stricken passengers were transferred to the Pyramus, a surplus naval ship which had been anchored just off Findlays Wharf (Figure 17). Those passengers from the England that appeared healthy were then removed to McNabs Island where they were initially housed in buildings used by workers who were constructing Fort Ives. When all passengers and crew had been removed the Cunard Company, owner of the England, began to clean and fumigate the ship.

Those not stricken by cholera were subjected to extreme hardship due to of the lack of proper shelter, adequate food, and clothing on the island.

Dr. Slayter himself contracted cholera on April 16, and succumbed to its effects the following day. He was the last new case of cholera to die on McNabs Island. Two days later the England sailed for New York with its healthy passengers and crew. Fifty-five from the ship remained on the island for several more days. Although reliable statistics were not kept, an estimated 200 cholera victims are believed to have been buried on McNabs Island. The graves at Little Thrum Cap have since washed into the sea while the remaining burial site on Hugonin Point lies hidden beneath the underbrush.

This is a picture of Hugonin Point. There is nothing to show that it is a graveyard or that there are people buried under there. It's a bit creepy.

Near Hugonin Battery there is this small little home/cottage. Apparently the person who lives in it is one of two people that actually live on the island. He's an artist.

After the tour we were left on our own to explore the island as we wish (and have lunch). My picnic lunch was some leftover shepherd's pie in a princess thermos, an apple, and a couple of no-bake pumpkin cookies (http://www.eatrealberealns.com/2012/09/no-bake-pumpkin-cookies.html)

On my hike, I made my way back down Garrison Road and found Fort McNab. Just outside the Fort, however, is the McNabs cemetery, which was the McNab family graveyard.

Here is Fort McNab; it was the first fortification in Halifax to use breech-loading guns, making it the most powerful form to guard Halifax. Apparently, it was the only fort in Halifax to fire 'shots in anger' when a local boat tried to skip inspection.

I'm getting used to seeing canons all over the place around here. Sheesh...they still fire the canon at Citadel Hill every day at noon. Where else can you walk around the city and randomly hear canons firing? Well,...in Halifax it's normal.

After visiting the fort I walked down a short trail called Wambolt Trail, which led to Wreck Cove.

Can you guess why they call it Wreck Cove? There are quite a few 'wrecks' laying around the beach. During the summer months it's a popular place for boats to land and picnic on the beach.

Going back to the trail I came upon some freaky looking orange mushrooms growing off this tree. Anybody know anything about this type of mushroom?

When I got back on the main road I went down Colin Stewart Trail and then walked along a long, long beach of big rocks and pebbles. It was a difficult walk, but I was able to walk out to Hangman's Beach and to the Maugers Beach Lighthouse. Hangman's Beach got its name from the fact that in the early 1800's men were hanged there if they chose to leave the military.

I really wish I hadn't gone there though. To get back to the trail I had to walk along the rocks and pebbles again. They are so hard to walk through since you're constantly trying to balance and trying not to trip on the rocks (hard especially when I tend to trip on my own two feet more often than I'd like to admit). So, trying to be smart I climbed up a steep hill to the Strawberry Battery and take a shortcut. Bad idea!!

Although I did get a chance to view the Strawberry Battery, which was pretty cool, I had a really, really hard time finding my way back to the trail. I'll admit...I got lost...and walked around in circles for quite a while. I was scared.

But, I did manage to get back. Sort of... I ended up back where I started near the lighthouse (which was on the wrong side of the river). Luckily it was low tide at the time so the river ran pretty low. I made an executive decision, took my shoes and socks off, and simply walked through the water (filled with sharp shells). Made it!!

Anyways, after my little adventure I thought I'd stick to the area closer to the pier since it was almost time to catch the ferry back to the mainland. Besides, I wanted to check out the Tea House. The Tea House, which was built in the 1980's sits on the camping grounds. I don't know when it closed, but it is no longer in use.

So that was my excursion on McNabs for the day. I saw a lot but also missed seeing other things that would have been interesting, like Ives Point (which gives a panoramic views of Halifax Harbour), Conrad House (a summer home for A.J. Davis that operated a soda pop factory on the island), the soda pop factory itself, and more.

There were quite a few people who took part in the tour. Many were native Haligonians and admitted to have never been to the island. Although the day started out wet and gloomy we did not get too much rain and it was quite pleasant, a good day for a long hike.

There were a couple of other people on the tour that I should mention. For one, there was my friend Sybil, who has her own blog called Eastern Passage Passage, and another one of her friends named Lynn who also has her own blog called LynneKovan. We thought it would be fun if the three of us posted our blog posts about the island tour on the same day at the same time. So now that you've seen my take on the tour, let's see what they experienced that day:

Sybil's Blog: http://crittersnus.blogspot.ca/2012/10/three-bloggers-one-island.html?showComment=1350475195069
Lynn's Blog: http://lynnekovan.com/2012/10/16/three-bloggers-one-island/