Bread, Focaccia, Pizza

Whole Wheat, Pumpkin & Sesame Seed Bread

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Ingredients

– 4 cups whole wheat flour
– 2 cups warm water
– 1 Tbsp instant yeast
– 1/2 Tbsp of sea salt
– 1 Tbsp olive oil
– 1 Tbsp of agave
– 1 Tbsp grounded flaxseeds
– 1 Tbsp of sunflower seeds
– 1 Tbsp of pumpkin seeds
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Instructions

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You can use your mixer by using the dough attachment or you can mix by hand

1. In a large bowl combine: whole wheat flour, instant yeast, salt, olive oil, agave, grounded flaxseeds, sunflower & pumpkin seeds.
2. Add a bit of the water at a time to get the right consistency. You can always add extra flour if you feel that the dough is too wet. It should not stick to the sides of the bowl. Shape into a ball.
3. Grease your Dutch oven pot with olive oil with a brush, making sure you put enough oil on the sides as well so it does not stick. and transfer the dough ball into it.

4. Cover and let rise for 60 minutes.
5. In the meantime, preheat the oven at 390°
6. When the oven is preheated, slash the bread with a knife, making a cut about 1 ½-inch deep or 3 diagonals are also pretty, as you wish !
7. Bake in the oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes, or until deep golden brown and risen. You can use a toothpick or cake tester to double check if it is properly cooked in the inside.
8. Remove bread from the oven and let it rest in the Dutch oven pot for 10 minutes.
9. Remove from the pot and let it cool down before slicing.

Enjoy this healthy delicious bread, dip it in olive oil or as a sandwich ! 🙂

Cristina for Peas and Peace

Desserts, RECIPES

Raw Chocolate Chip Cookies

Perfect when hosting or perfect as a gift when invited to someone’s home !

*Makes 12 cookies

1 cup oat flour (or gluten free oat flour)

1 cup ground cashews (grind cashews by pulsing them in a high speed blender until fine)

4  tbsp coconut oil (melted)

1 tsp  vanilla extract

1 tsp pink Himalayan salt

1/2 cup maple syrup

3 tbsp of chocolate chips + 12 for topping

1. In a large mixing bowl mix together oat flour and ground cashews 

2. Next add coconut oil + vanilla extract + Himalayan salt + maple syrup.

3. Combine these into a dough and add chocolate chips.

4. Mix and form into 12 equal size balls (I used a 1 1/2 inch scooper), then flatten and shape into cookies.

5. Set a chocolate chip on each cookie.

6.  Put them on a tray or plate and into the refrigerator to set for at least two hours.

6. Keeps in the fridge  max 7 days or freeze 

Enjoy !!!

Cristina for Peas and Peace

BEAUTY

Cocooning Love makeup remover

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Back in December 2018 I wrote an article introducing Cocooning Love, a Montreal based company and their deodorant.

I now wish to highlight their makeup remover as well, it is natural, refreshing, gentle and non dehydrating. Having extremely sensitive skin, these elements are essential ! The added bonus is that it is not tested on animals and is eco-friendly.

Need to share that I received my on-line order the day after ! (Free shipping if over $ 50.00).

Support small entrepreneurs and local businesses when possible

 

Cristina for Peas and Peace

TRAVELS

Radis

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Radis (restaurantradis.com) is another Vegan restaurant I discovered, it is located at 361 Rue Bernard West in Montreal. A must ! We were warmly greeted and the service was excellent. As a main course we had a Calzone stuffed with mushrooms, beyond delicious. The portions were quite generous but I could not possibly pass on dessert. If you are to look at the top Picture I absolutely had to taste the Lemon pie, and while savouring our main course the pastry chef…….. proceeds to the Cannoli filling…… , Well ! we could not possibly not taste those as well, so we decided to order one Moka & Hazelnut and one Vanilla & Pistachio !

Cristina for Peas & Peace

HEALTH

Some can get away without

Many can get away with not wearing a deodorant, I for one can not, not blessed in that aspect  and stink from a mile away.  I certainly tried going without…… but simply the fact that I could not bare my own scent was not a good sign .

That being established, then the question was what deodorant to use ?. Remember in one of my previous articles on how skin absorbs all that we apply on it. Well I surely didn’t want my body absorbing anything toxic. I gear towards natural, vegan and cruelty free.

I can suggest the one I use, but do shop around as everyone has their preferences in scents  and other.

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I love the light scent of the grapefruit and lavender !

I use a few of Cocooning Love’s products: www.cocooninglove.com  They are a local Company,  this way I am also supporting and giving a small local business a chance.

Cristina for Peas and Peace

 

 

TRAVELS

Montreal Vegan Festival October 2018

Hello everyone! I had the pleasure of attending the Montreal Vegan Festival.  I was actually told that attendence has tripled since the event first started 5 years back! From this fact, one can draw the conclusion that more and more individuals are becoming curious about veganism and want to know/understand more about all of the wonderful benefits it has to offer. One can also ascertain that there has been an increase in people leading a plant-based lifestyle, for whom the festival is a great opportunity to see what new products, food items, etc. are currently out there!

Interesting data supporting this idea of an incline in plant-based diets comes from recent research conducted by Dalhousie University as conveyed by an article on ctvnews.ca, which asserts that “there are 2.3 million vegetarians in Canada, up from 900,000 15 years ago. Another 850,000 people consider themselves vegan. Those two numbers add up to 9.4 per cent of the Canadian population”.

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More about the festival now… There were many new and not so new companies (of the beauty, shoe, apparel variety), as well as bakeries, food item producers, etc. selling/displaying their wonderful offerings. I remember 20 years ago there weren’t nearly as many options!

Speaking of bakeries at the festival… special shoutout to Audacieuse Vanille, a Montreal-based bakery from which I bought the BEST pumpkin muffin ever!  And my husband couldn’t resist trying the banana bread with chocolate chips, which he says was divine.

Also, while at the festival, I discovered a new company that I truly believe to be my “coup de coeur,” or my newfound love. I plan on featuring it in an upcoming blog post! I’m not going into further detail right now, as I was only able to order some of their products online, as opposed to purchasing them at the festival (they had their complete line on display, however no stock to sell) and I’m 100% committed to ALWAYS testing items personally before writing about them. Stay tuned for that!

To conclude, in exiting the festival, I was left with this wonderful feeling that a collective interest in protecting animals and the environment is alive and growing here in Canada, which is great news!

Bye for now,

-Cristina