Woman in Real Life

We had so much fun hanging out with friends at our cottage rental all last week. And we ate lots. And drank a bit too. Sometimes I get bored of cooking, but it was so nice to get together with others in the kitchen and each make different parts that came together beautifully as a whole meal.

One day we were out and about exploring and somebody suggested we stop for pizzas on the way home. I wasn't going to have any, seeing as I don't eat cheese and vegan pizza is not often available in small towns. But I decided, what the heck, I might as well ask what they could do. And they made me a lovely small pesto pizza topped with spinach, black olives and sundried tomatoes. Others actually ended up jealous of my pizza. I washed it down with a Long Island iced tea. Life was good.



This is one of our cottage meals. We had quesadillas filled with refried beans, rice and green onions and my husband made a delicious guacamole. (As you can see I doused my quesadillas in it.) We also had leftover fried rice, chickpeas, sweet potatoes and roasted potatoes. Our cottage mates also made meat, but we were able to share sides. Both families brought so much food that the fridge, cupboards and counters were overflowing.


One day, after we played mini golf in the rain, my husband's cousin kindly took our kids to lunch while the husband and I snuck away to vegan restaurant The Food Forest in Peterborough, Ontario. Everything at this café is completely gluten free and they also try to use organic and local whenever possible. I always love to find a vegan restaurant on my travels. I had the Friday special - cashew cream lasagna with Daiya cheese on top. It was very flavourful and lovely.


My husband had this amazing black bean and chickpea veggie burger - the server told me it takes many steps and many hours to prepare the patties. And I believe it. Because they are beautifully formed and quite delicious. (I of course sampled hubby's burger.)


We shared (okay he didn't get a lot) this date square, which I believe was raw in addition to being vegan. It was quite nice. I can't give it 10 out of 10, simply because date squares are perhaps my fave treat ever and little compares to my Nana's date squares. I have vegan date square recipes here and here if you are interested in trying to match Nana. (Good luck!)


On the way home from the cottage we stopped in the pretty town of Port Perry. We soon spotted Jinju Sushi and decided we would lunch on veg maki sushi rolls. Our only regret was not ordering enough of them!


Here's a look at a full day of eating, back home from the cottage. I started Monday with a smoothie made with banana, strawberries, a bit of Natural Calm, chia seeds and pumpkin protein.


My mother-in-law had given us some pesto pizza the day before, so I had a couple of slices of that for lunch. That's literally all I had because I kind of forgot to eat more when I got busy with my freelance work and balancing life with kids at home.


My little gal had made chocolate chip bars for a barbecue party we went to the day before. We stashed away just a few from the batch and I ate a couple for a mid-afternoon snack. (That's what happens when you don't eat enough lunch!)


I took my son to Menchie's after dinner. Basically I bribed him to go to basketball camp by offering up Menchie's as a treat. Good parenting, I know. If you aren't a parent yet, you'll soon see that bribes and threats come with the territory, no matter what the experts say.

Anyway, Menchie's was an absolute zoo. I actually felt claustrophobic there were so many people in there at once. I quickly mixed together a couple of sorbets, which are vegan, for myself, and topped them with candy and Oreo cookies and other super healthy stuff. Ha ha. And that was my day.

What do you treat yourself with?


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