Vegan Almond Butter Cookies

Tags

Almond butter, Bake, Budapest, Canada, Cookies, craisins, gluten free, Healthy, Oatmeal, oats, raisins, Snack, Vegan

I haven’t been doing much baking lately (or blogging if you haven’t noticed). I haven’t felt very motivated to do much of anything except keep up with mindless TV shows. I should be working on my college assignments but instead I’m doing this! We are heading home to Canada in exactly one week for Christmas and I can’t wait.

Vegan Almond Butter Cookies

These cookies are healthy, vegan and gluten-free!

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 8-10 min

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of almond butter
• 1/2 cup of oats
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla-flavoured brown rice protein powder (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of stevia
• 2 tablespoons of almond/soy milk
• 2 tablespoons of dried cranberries or raisins

Instructions:

Combine dry ingredients and stir in almond butter. Add milk as necessary to get to desired cookie dough consistency. Stir in cranberries or raisins. Form into balls and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

We put up our Christmas tree!

We also took a recent weekend break to Budapest and had an amazing time. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

The baths were definitely a highlight of our trip. I plan on posting at least one Christmas cookie recipe before the year is out, but for now I’m back to the books.

Back to School

Tags

Canada, canadian thanksgiving, Connemara, County Galway, Donegal, Galway, Holiday, Ireland, Kylemore Abbey, pumpkin pie, Road trip, Roadtrip, slieve league, Thanksgiving, travel, turkey dinner

Today was my first day back to college. I’m doing a placement in neurology at Peamount Hospital (I love the name Peamount, isn’t it funny?) It is a pretty serious trek on the bus – I felt like I was out in the country. On the plus side, the hours are nice (and shorter than usual), and it’s a very small, very laid-back place.

This weekend, Matt and I rented a car and drove around Ireland – we stopped in Galway, Kylemore Abbey, Donegal and the Slieve League Cliffs. We had a great time driving on the other side of the road (actually Matt did all of the driving because we only insured one driver, but he did a great job!). Here are a few pictures – more to come later – must get back to studying tonight.

Galway

Tea at my favourite place!

Kylemore Abbey

Connemara

Double Rainbow

Sheep

The Slieve League Cliffs

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving – unfortunately we didn’t get around to making a turkey dinner in time – so we had chili tonight. We’re planning on making a turkey dinner next weekend with pumpkin pie! Happy Thanksgiving.

A Trip To Toronto

Tags

Canada, maid of honour, Muskoka, Muskoka Woods, Ontario, Rosseau, rosseau ontario, Toronto, travel, vacation, Wedding, Windermere House

I just got back this morning from a quick trip to Ontario to be a part of one of my best friend’s weddings. The wedding was actually outside of Toronto at a camp called Muskoka Woods in Rosseau, Ontario. It was one of the most gorgeous weddings ever. This was my first trip to Ontario and I was surprised by how quintessentially Canadian it felt – it felt somehow more Canadian than BC.

This is called Windermere House – Lindsay (the bride), Steph (the maid of honour), and I had tea here and relaxed on the beautiful front porch a couple of days before the wedding. Steph informed me that you cannot go to Windermere without getting a picture on the chairs!

This is the community hall where Lindsay and Roland had their reception. Isn’t it cute?

This was their ceremony location – it’s called the lookout point at Muskoka Woods. Roland spent the summer clearing the forest and building all of the benches for the wedding.

Getting ready!

We took photos around Rosseau, a very picturesque little town.

Lindsay put so much time into planning the perfect day. All of the decorations inside the hall were amazing.

Bridesmaids! (minus Steph)

The games they played at their reception were so funny.

Lindsay dancing with her grandpa.

It was such a special day and I was so honoured to be a part of it. Lindsay and Roland were the happiest bride and groom I’ve ever seen! Lindsay is a very dear friend to me and I am so excited that her and Roland will be moving to Germany so that we will be closer. They truly had the perfect day.

After the wedding I headed back to Toronto. I had planned to spend one day there before heading home so I would get a chance to see a bit of the city. Matt’s cousin, Becca, and her husband, Gabo, live in Toronto so I got the chance to meet up with them for dinner. They very graciously bought me dinner and drove me around and showed me a bit of the city. I loved what I saw of Toronto! I wish I could have spent a bit more time there.

I skipped my long run this week because I was away so I’m planning to do it tomorrow – wish me luck. A new recipe coming soon too!