Back in the New Year

Since everyone has been very busy during the holidays, I'm taking some time away from my computer to spend with my family and friends.

See you in the new year!

Snow, snow, go away!

See you in the new year!

Not a Student's Lunch

This lunch is not your typical lunch-on-a-budget...but actually, it was! I had an organic baby spinach salad with creamy poppyseed dressing (my favourite dressing as of late), with a side of crackers topped with creamed brie cheese and apple slices. Talk about fancy pants! This meal didn't cost near what it usually would. The organic spinach was on sale, the gourmet crackers were leftover from the potluck and the small portion of brie came in a cheese sampler pack that is always cheaper than buying each cheese individually. Eating fancy doesn't always mean you have to break the bank, just look for deals and sales!

My flowers have almost reached the end of their life.



Meal on a budget!



"Brie"Goes Bananas!

Hermit Bee

What have I been doing for the past few days? Well, I've been doing a lot of this...

Exam studying essentials!

Drinking a little of this...

Orange pekoe with milk and Splenda, thank you!

Taking a few of these...

Sip, sip, sip!

All because of this...

Over a foot of snow overnight.

and this...

That was fun to shovel out!

and this...

Snow, snow everywhere!

and this!

Piling up on the window ledges.

And these are the things I'll be doing for the rest of the week. Thanks exams, you're the best!

How do you deal with the stresses of exams?

My First Green Monster

Since I bought a huge bag of spinach on my last grocery shopping trip, I decided to try my very first Green Monster smoothie! I've been a bit nervous to try it because of all the spinach. I didn't want to drink a a mushy-leaf smoothie for breakfast!

Green Monster Smoothie
-1 banana
-1.5 handfuls fresh spinach
-1/4 scoop chocolate protein powder
-1 tbsp peanut butter
-1/2 cup skim milk
-5 large ice cubes

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Enjoy!

The mix!

Half of an old nanner and half a new nanner!

Prepare to blend!

Look at that green goodness!

Starting to separate on the bottom because of the ice.

Don't let the colour fool you!

It's as easy as that and it was even more delicious than I could have ever imagined! You couldn't taste the spinach in the slightest and it made me feel better knowing there were so many vitamins in the mix. Try it for yourself if you've been a little stand-offish like me!



I also snapped a few festive photographs for your personal enjoyment. Have a great day!



Starry night!

   

Jingle bells!

 

Christmas time!



A New Favourite

I have discovered another simple, yet enormously delicious meal! (The first one being yummy Kashi cereal with sliced bananas and warm peanut butter) This time, it's a lunch item! Here it is...

A spinach salad with creamy sesame dressing and cropped almonds! I would have also liked to add dried cranberries if I had them handy.

Spinach salad!

Leafy greans, creamy dressing and crunchy almonds

Yum!

Just another delicious way to pack in those vitamins!

Homemade Marmalade

Homemade Marmalade
-4 medium oranges
-1 cup white sugar

Use a peeler to remove a thin layer of zest from the oranges. Slice the zest thinly and put it aside. Peel the white pith away from the oranges. Remove seeds. Chop the oranges finely and put them in a large bowl along with the zest. Measure out the same volume of sugar and add it to the oranges (1 cup oranges = 1 cup sugar). Microwave on high for 15 minutes, uncovered. Stir every few minutes to prevent boiling over. It will turn out thinner than regular marmalade, but don't fret! It will thicken up as it cools. Let set until room temperature or colder and enjoy!

Supplies and ingredients.

Oranges or clementines.

Slice them thinly.

Load up the bowl.

Add some sugar and stir it up!

Microwave the mixture.

Ooey gooey marmalade!

Enjoy!

Attention Canadian Bloggers

Have you ever been curious to find other Canadian bloggers? There is one place you can go to find other people from the great white north. It's called Beer and Butter Tarts. You can visit this website to find the RSS feeds from participating Canadian food bloggers. Check it out!

Warm Hearts and Full Bellies

Our Christmas potluck was a huge success! So many wonderful people braved the treacherous snowstorm and made it here safely. The company was incredible and the food was fabulous. Enjoy this feast for your eyes!

Brownies, cookies and pretzels OH MY!

The food starts arriving

The creepy gingerbread house

Just a small handful of the delicious dishes!

Who's that weirdo?

I confess, I confess!

It's me, Bee!

Potluck Prep

My housemates and I told a formal Christmas potluck every winter before the craziness of exams begins. It's always a wonderful time! It's a nice change to wear a dress from the usual student sweatpant-Ugg boot combination.

The potluck is happening this evening, but I took some photos while prepping my delicious contributions last night. If you can recall, I couldn't decide what to make. But I've finally made an official decision!

For starters, I was going to make chocolate covered pretzels when lo and behold, one of my all time favourite bloggers, Julie from Peanut Butter Fingers, made a post about these super cool Holiday Pretzels. Eureka! My potluck contribution!

Holiday Pretzels
-small salted pretzels
-white (or milk) chocolate discs
-red and green Smarties

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Lay out all of the pretzels--leaving out the broken ones--and top them all with a chocolate disc. Put them in the oven for 2 or 3 minutes, or until the chocolate discs have just started to melt. Pull them out of the oven and stick a red or green Smartie on top of each melty chocolate disc. Let sit to cool before throwing them into a container. To speed up the cooling process, stick the pretzels into the fridge.

Top off those pretzels!

Using wax paper keeps the mess to a minimum.

Wait until they're nice and melty!

Add some colour!

And voila!

They ended up tasting wonderful, but the discs of chocolate were a little too small for the pretzels I picked out, so they melted through the holes a bit. Oh well, it's the thought (or taste) that counts!


My second recipe was Hershey's Kisses sugar cookies!

Hershey's Kisses Sugar Cookies
-1.5 cups all-purpose flour

-0.5 teaspoon baking powder

-1 pinch salt

-0.5 cup unsalted butter, softened

-0.5 cup sugar

-0.5 egg, beaten

-0.5 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients into a bowl. Use an electric mixer if you have one handy. The cookie dough will be thick, so mix it well. Use your hands to form each sugar cookie into a ball shape. Place on a baking sheet. Once all cookies have been formed, press thumb into the top of each cookie to make a bit of a dip. Put cookies in the oven for 6 to 8 minutes, or until they are just starting to turn golden brown around the edges. Take out of oven and let cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Press a Hershey's kiss onto the top of each cookie. Let cool until chocolate has stopped melting and has turned solid again.

Here is what NOT to do!


My kisses are melting!



Poor melty kisses!

Don't put the kisses onto the cookies straight out of the oven! Duh!! Oh well, I'm sure they'll taste even better this way!

The Weather Outside is Frightful

Holy moly is it ever snowy outside!! I woke up this morning only to be greeted by an extra two and a half feel of snow at my doorstep. It's been snowing heavily all night and all day long. And it isn't supposed to let up for a few days! Check out our forecast...

Snow warnings

Weather forecast

All universities, high schools and public schools are cancelled within a 40 kilometre radius of my city. Crazy!

Two feet of snow on our deck.

Snow piled infront of our back door.

The snowy road out front.

Winter wonderland!