My wonderful readers and friends!

I am still here, I just needed a huge break from blogging my dear friends :) I felt a little burnt out on ideas, recipes, etc... I was starting to feel like I wasn't having as much fun blogging as I had in the past, less inspired and motivated. After a nice break I am feeling so much better and I'm actually going to be putting my efforts towards this blog and another! Here is my other blog, which is dedicated to my fitness goals. At the moment I'm trying out Jillian Michael's 90 day Body revolution. I'm on day 6, so feel free to follow me as I work my butt off to try to get into better shape :) Even though I lost 44-50lbs eating clean, whole foods I still have a bit of weight I want to lose to get into a healthy, happy range. I really like structured workouts, where I know I have to set aside 30mins-1 hour to workout a day :)




We went to Saltspring Island recently where we met some wonderful organic farmers, and veggie lovers at the farmer's market. The market had only been open for it's 2nd Saturday and it was packed! For such a small island they really give local markets a run for their money! The talent, the products, the food and entertainers are amazing!!!


See for yourself, thought I'd share a few photos :)

Awesome entertainer! He did a lot of balancing with spinning bowls, at one point I think he had 8 of them going and he was hanging on to each of them. He balanced one on a tip of an umbrella! Very cool entertainer :)

Here are some sprouted peanuts that I bought from a lovely young couple. They also sold mushrooms, sprouts and rice paper sprout wraps. Their products were amazing and decently priced. The peanuts were such a different texture to regular store bought nuts that we are all used too. Moist, soft, yet crunchy with a much milder flavour. We shared this with friends :)

MMMM my lunch and goodies to take home. I had that really yummy rice paper sprout wrap with a fresh squeezed orange dip vinegrette :) My spicy sprouts are also shown in this pic! I gobbled those up when I got home mostly on salads :)

*sighs* Isn't the harbor gorgeous...loved eating lunch there. Live music playing in the background, the sun's warmth on my skin and the ocean...beautiful day!

Rice Wraps with Orange Vinaigrette Sauce

Tonight's dinner was rice wraps stuffed with a medley of veggies and a homemade vinaigrette. It took me a couple stores to find the rice wraps, but they are becoming more common to purchase in grocery stores. I used to buy mine from a small Asian market, but I've moved away since. If you live near an Asian market I recommend you purchase the rice paper there, because it's usually better priced than the big box grocery stores.

The other thing you're probably wondering is if rice paper is raw. Well it isn't, but it's extremely thin and the basic ingridents are rice, water and salt. I treat it like nori, sometimes my local store is out of unroasted nori sheets, so i do purchase the roasted variety. I think that as long as i'm stuffing either the roasted nori or rice paper wraps full of nutrient dense veggies i'm going to be okay with eating it. It's up to you and what you feel is best for you :)

"Rice Wraps"
1 sheet rice paper
4 thin slices of red pepper
2 thin slices of avocado
A handful of veggies julienne (celery, carrot, broccoli, cabbage, onion)

Soak the rice paper in warm water, once it softens lay it out gently. The paper can rip easily. Place your veggies on the center of the wrap, then fold the bottom edge over the veggies. Next fold each side of the wrap and roll upwards. I wait a few minutes before cutting the wrap in half. This lets the paper dry off giving it less chance to rip or fall apart. Seve with your favorite sauce.

"Orange Vinaigrette Sauce"
1 Orange
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1tsp of red wine vinaigrette
dash of chili powder

Mix all together in a bowl and serve.

Enjoy!
~Maggie