Birthdays, Giveaway

Birthday + a Giveaway

June 5, 2013

x copy 2

x-1 copy 2x-2 x copy 3

Oh hey, today’s my birthday.

Another year older, another year wiser – I’m officially 1/4 of a century, so I’m thinking that’s even more wiser.

25 isn’t necessarily a milestone birthday, unlike 19 (in Canada), 21 (in the US), and 30 (as in how old Adam will be next year 😉 ) You can read about how it’s a ‘milestone’ birthday in our family here. Either way, it still feels pretty special.

My 25th year has brought lots of exciting events with it – Graduating last summer, earning my Teaching Certificate for elementary school, travelling to Europe, and moving into our first house together.

25’s already looking good – Adam and I booked a getaway to Vegas at the end of the summer. I celebrated my 21st, 22nd, and 23rd in vegas. No vegas last year because I went to Europe – I felt we were overdue for a visit. Definitely looking forward to the heat, lounging by the pool & walking the strip.

Tonight I’ll be celebrating with Adam – going to dinner somewhere local, then a no holds barred visit to Menchies for a fully loaded frozen yogurt indulgence. Last night we celebrated with family & lots of cake, and next weekend I’ll celebrate with friends at our place. Adam gave me an early present a couple weeks ago, a shiny new Schwinn bike! We’ve only rode them twice, and both times it started to rain. Hmmm..

Most importantly, today I’ll be celebrating with you! Seeing as how it’s my 25th, I thought I would give away some $25 prizes! Four in total – a $100 giveaway! It’s my first giveaway on the blog too.

I’m happy to say that my friends at iHerb have given me two $25 shopping sprees to give away! I wrote about iHerb here. iHerb has over 35,000 products online including groceries, baby products, health products, and beauty products.

Bonus: If you’re a first time iHerb customer you can use Coupon Code WOW123 to get $10 off your first iHerb order with a minimum $40 purchase (whether you win the giveaway or not.)

x

AND I purchased a couple items myself to give away.

  • A $25 gift certificate to Chapters! You can use it in-store or on-line (they ship to the US, and there is free shipping over orders of $25) They have lots to choose from including home goods, and of course cookbooks (my favourite.)

x-1

  • A copy of the Wheat Belly Cookbook! The popular book Wheat Belly has come out with a second book – a cookbook with wheat-free recipes. After finding out about my wheat allergy last year, I’ve completely cut it out from my diet. This book is awesome – so I picked up one for me, and one for you!

x copy

Enter to win these great prizes and celebrate my 25th birthday with me! Follow the instructions below (this is a Rafflecopter giveaway)

1) Follow @Bakeaholic on Twitter

2) Tweet the following: “Enter the $100 Birthday Giveaway & Contest from @Bakeaholic! ”

3) “Like” the Bakeaholic Facebook page

4) Follow ABakeaholic on Pinterest

5) Leave me a comment on this blog post telling me about a cookbook you’ve bought recently or recommend, or one you would like to buy with the gift certificate! And – what’s your favourite birthday dessert just for fun =)

This is a Rafflecopter giveaway, so each time you enter earns you a point in the raffle. (If for some reason you cannot use the entry method or it’s not working for you, just leave a comment with what you’ve done.) There will be Four winners, one winner per item.

The contest closes at midnight on June 12, and a winner will be announced on the 14th. The contest is open to residence of the Canada and The United States.

The winner of the iHerb Shopping Spree needs to register to iHerb to claim their prize – shipping is included in the shopping spree prize!

Update: The Winners are:

Erin: iHerb Shopping Spree
Britta: iHerb Shopping Spree
Andrea Amy: Chapters Gift Certificate
Coral Ariel S: Wheat Belly Cookbook

Contact me to receive your prize!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meatless Monday, Vegan

Meatless Monday: Sweet Potato & Black Bean Lettuce Wraps

June 3, 2013

beans

Another Meatless Monday post! This time it’s fajitas – and they’re really good.

I’ve made this recipe before a few times for Adam and I, however I used to use tortilla wraps. Since finding out about my wheat allergy I nixed the wraps when we make fajitas. Now we use lettuce wraps instead, which are much healthier, and actually taste way better. Iceberg lettuce is perfect for these because they have a nice crunch to them, and hold their shape well for holding in all the fillings.

I’m excited to do meatless monday each week, because it gets me out of a recipe rut. I try and look for a new meatless recipe to try – and they are usually super delicious. Also, I love sharing them with friends and family looking for alternatives, or readers who are vegetarian/vegan.

This weekend was pretty busy! It seems every weekend now is getting packed because the weather is getting nicer, and summer is around the corner. Everyone is having BBQs, get togethers – and Weddings! I’m really excited to go to our first wedding of the season this weekend! Adams friend is getting married this Sunday, and based on the amazing wedding website they have created I can already tell it’s going to be awesome.

Weekend recap: Friday night – sushi date with my friends at a new sushi place close to our house. Verdict? amazing. Now that I know about it I fear it’s going to be our new favourite. Saturday – went to the Torre & Tagus warehouse sale, and got some deals on stuff for the house, then went to a friends birthday/grad/moving beach BBQ party to celebrate. And Sunday – ran some errands, then had a baseball practice. Last week all three of our games got rained out, and tonight we have a double header, but thankfully it’s been super hot the last couple days.

I have to share our amazing sushi – I ordered a dragon roll, which was a dynamite roll with avocado on top. It came out like this:

dragon

um – eyes, ears, fire breath – AND the back had a prawn dragon tail. It was amazing.

tuna

I ordered the spicy tuna endive salad to start – it was also really good and presented so nicely.

Happy monday everyone! And DON’ T FORGET! Look out for my special birthday giveaway post on Wednesday! =) 

sweetpotatoyam

beanss

wrapses

 wrapse

wraps

meatwraps

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

  • 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks
  • chili powder
  • 1 can black beans, washed and rinsed
  • 1 head iceberg lettuce
  • 1-2 avocados
  • 1 tbs. lemon juice or lime juice
  • 2-3 roma tomatoes, diced
  • 1 red onion, diced
  • 1 cup mushrooms, sliced

Directions:

Place pan over medium heat and add a splash of olive oil. Sprinkle with chili powder, as much or as little as you like. Add sweet potato chunks and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for 15-20 minutes or until cooked.

While the sweet potato is cooking, add avocado and lemon or lime juice to food processor. Process until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add some pepper if you like. Scoop into serving bowl.

Turn pan down to medium-low and add drained black beans. Stir together and allow to continue cooking another 5-10 minutes.

Remove sweet potato and black beans from heat, transfer to serving bowl and cover. Add diced mushrooms to same pan and a dash more of olive oil, and turn up to medium heat again – sprinkle with pepper. Sauté mushrooms for about 5 minutes, until cooked. Turn off pan, and remove from stove.

Wash your head of lettuce, removing outside leaves and remove excess water. Cut in half, and them cut stem off both halves at the bottom. Peel away 1-2 leaves at a time, forming lettuce cups.

Gather your fillings and toppings – red onion, mushrooms, sweet potato, guacamole sauce, tomatoes. Fill lettuce wrap with sweet potato and black beans first, then top with rest of veggies. Finish with a dollop of guacamole sauce on top!

Breakfast, Clean Eats

Protein Waffles

May 31, 2013

Protein Waffles // bakeaholic.ca

Protein Waffles // bakeaholic.ca

Happy Friday!

Just a quickie post today! Today was a bit of a crazy day – I had planned on visiting my school where I worked for my practicum in the afternoon for a special event, which got cancelled. I decided to just go in for the morning instead and was planning on staying until lunch to visit and volunteer in my class. However, when I got there it was a bit of crazy situation as there was a track meet, and 4 teachers and the principal was away, then a teacher had to leave for an emergency. So, I ended up staying the entire day in a completely different class to help out and became an impromptu TOC for the day (teacher on call i.e. substitute.) It’s funny how much I miss being in the class, and how quickly I entered ‘teacher’ mode again. It was fun though, especially being in an older class for even just a day. Unfortunately I hadn’t planned on staying all day, so I didn’t bring a lunch. I ended up taking a couple granola bars from the staff room – emergency stash for kids who forgot their lunch/snacks.

This weekend is going to be a busy one – and thankfully it is sunny again. Going out tonight with some friends to try a new sushi place close to our house, and then homework and errands tomorrow during the day, and a beach (hopefully!) party at night for a friends birthday/moving/graduating celebration. And finally a baseball practice on Sunday.

Hope you all have a great weekend! and REMEMBER! Keep an eye out for a special birthday giveaway next Wednesday!

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a big ‘breakfast’ person in this post – however, when I saw these protein waffles online I knew I had to try them. There’s a ton of versions out there, and I based mine off of the TIU protein waffles. I added some almond butter and almond meal. They are AMAZING. They cook like ‘real’ waffles, and are made from just 6 ingredients!! They keep you full, and happy without any flour OR sugar!! Perfect for a weekend breakfast, especially after a workout.

You can top with any type of fruit – no syrup needed! I just microwave some frozen blueberries and they turn into a delicious berry syrup. Or top with a smear of nut butter!

Protein Waffles // bakeaholic.ca

Protein Waffles

Makes 4 (double for 5/6 waffles)

  • 1 banana
  • 2 Tbs almond milk (or milk alternative)
  • 2 – 3 eggs
  • 1 Tbs almond meal
  • 1 big Tbs almond butter
  • dash of cinnamon
  • 1/2 scoop – 1 scoop of protein powder of choice

In a medium mixing bowl using a blender add the banana and egg. Blend completely until banana is mashed and there are no large clumps. Add in the almond meal, almond butter, cinnamon and protein. Blend again until bubbles appear.

batter

Using waffle iron on medium heat (mine is about 3 on the scale) pour into well greased waffle maker and allow to cook 4-5 minutes.

Protein Waffles // bakeaholic.ca

Top with berries! banana, blueberries, strawberry, side of cantaloupe! Anything goes.

Protein Waffles // bakeaholic.ca