Quick Organic and Downright Delicious

November 22, 2017November 22, 2017 ~ youareacanvas ~ Leave a comment

When the good people over at Influenster asked me if I was in to try the new organic seasoning from Club House complimentary for testing purposes, of course I was in because I love to cook and I also love making healthy choices like choosing Organic.

The first seasoning I tried was the Kung-Pao seasoning and my first impression is this is some good seasoning because the first ingredient was a quality one, Cane Sugar, Cane Sugar is expensive and of good quality. I chose to use chicken as my meat and I added Shredded Napa Cabbage, Carrots, Onions and Peppers to my stir fry. Making this dish was easy all I had to do was add water. I love Basmati Rice so I added my Kung-Pao Chicken stir fry over a bed of delicious rice.

The second seasoning I tried was the new Organic Taco seasoning, again I was impressed with the organic ingredients that I could pronounce. The flavor was tex-mex style and coated the ground beef very nicely, I prefer this taco seasoning to the non-organic it was so aromatic and delicious. I got imported from Mexico Corn Tortillas from No- Frills and topped my tacos with Shredded Tomato, Onion, Salsa Verde and Sour Cream. Again preparation was very easy just add a cup of water and cook it on medium until all of the liquid becomes sauce.

Influenster generously sent me these samples to try, all opinions are my own personal opinions

It’s all about Sweater Weather

November 13, 2017November 13, 2017 ~ youareacanvas ~ Leave a comment

It’s all about sweater weather as the cold weather is officially here in Toronto Canada and I will be living in cozy knits from now until April (oh Canadian winters.)

My current favourite sweater was purchased at a recent sale at Urban Planet. I bought one sweater in black for $24.99 and got the second, an orange sweater (my current favorite featured in this post ) for just one cent. Urban Planet always has amazing sales pretty much weekly, you check their website or join the emailing or texting list to get notifications delivered straight to your email or phone.

According to one article from Huffington Post

Orange represents creativity, confidence, joy, sensuality and ambition. It suggests vibrant health and has positive effects on emotional states. Huffington Post suggests you to wear orange when you want to have fun, heighten creativity or heal emotions. Avoid it when you feel restless, dependent, fearful or want to relax.

I definitely feel confident ambitious joyful and sensual in this colour. What’s nice about this sweater, which you can buy in many different colours including this beautiful orange here , is it can be warn long, which looks amazing styled with leather leggings or as I have styled the sweater tucked into these amazing high wasted fringe hemmed jeans also from urban planet here.

Maple Pecan Pumpkin Muffins

November 1, 2017November 2, 2017 ~ youareacanvas ~ Leave a comment

One of my passions since I was a little girl has always been baking, however as an adult with a busy life I have definitely stopped baking as much as I would like too. Starting my blog has gotten me in touch with the many creative sides of baking. I’m excited to share more recipes with you all. I always like to make recipes my very own and substitute ingredients or ratios to existing recipes or family recipes to make them more unique and personal.

Maple Pecan Pumpkin Muffins
* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 1/2 cup of rolled oats
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 3/4 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 2 tsp cinnamon
* 1/4 tsp cloves
* 2tsp ginger
* 1 tsp nutmeg
* 1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin
* 1 tablespoon maple syrup
* 1/2 cup coconut milk, at room temperature
* 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 4 Tbsp coconut oil, melted and slightly cooled
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup of shredded coconut
* 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
Crumble Topping
* 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
* 1/2 cup of rolled oats
* 4 Tbsp flour
* 2 tsp cinnamon
* 3Tbsp of margarine or butter melted
* 1/2 cup of crushed pecans

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F and line a 12-cup muffin pan with baking cups; spray baking cups with cooking spray. For the crumble topping, combine brown sugar, oats, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl; add melted butter and toss mixture with a fork until crumbly. Chill until ready to use.
2. Whisk oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Combine pumpkin, coconut milk, maple syrup, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla, sugar and coconut in a medium bowl; add to flour mixture and stir until combined.
3. Fill each baking cup 3/4 full and sprinkle crumble topping and chopped pecans evenly over batter. Bake for about 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean Let muffins cool in pan on a wire rack before removing to serve. Drizzle muffins with maple syrup to taste.