The life I have been leading.

So clearly I have been M.I.A in the last little while again, so I feel like I am obligated to tell you what it is that I have been up too (not that it is overly exciting).

School, school, school and a little bit more school is really what took up the majority of my precious time. Then when I was not hunched over a book or my laptop I was likely at work. For whatever reason I felt like working 30 hours a week on top of my pretty intense course load would be an excellent idea. Let me tell you for those of you who are considering doing such a thing, don't! Unless of course you feel like death would be really fun, or you hate sleep. 

Christmas definitely could not have come soon enough for me, after exams and final papers were done I finally had the opportunity to breathe and get a whole 10 hours of sleep one night (I felt like I deserved it after the semester that I had). Along with the copious amount of sleeping I managed to do I also got my Christmas shopping done and gathered the recipes that I was planning to do for my Christmas day feast, which I know some of you have been on the edges of your seat waiting for! So here we go. 

I have to apologize for the lack of photos in this post because I decided a couple of days ago that I should delete them off of my phone! If you want to see what all of this looks like check out my instagram (@missbeckip), they are all entombed on there.

Pico de Gallo ... I really don't know if the spelling is right, but you can also just call it fresh salsa. 

6 medium vine tomatoes (somewhat firm)

1 large red onion

1 orange pepper

1 yellow pepper

a bunch of cilantro

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut everything up into 1cm cubes except for the cilantro, oil and seasoning (you can use a food processor for this as well, which I would have... except it was gifted to me AFTER I made this dish)

2. Combine in a bowl and add shredded cilantro (as much as you would like), I did not add to much because I am apparently genetically abnormal and am one of those people who really do not like, almost hate, cilantro. 

3. Add in the oil and coat the vegetables. 

4. Salt and pepper to taste. 

5. Serve with crackers, tortilla, or pita chips. 

Hint: the longer you let it sit, the more the flavours work together to create delicisouness. 

Spicy Butternut Squash

2 medium squashes (peeled and cut into 1 inch-ish cubes)

1 diced onion

4-5 cloves of garlic (minced/crushed)

chili powder

2 tbsp olive oil (or another cooking oil)

pepper to taste

1. Put the olive oil in the pan to heat for a couple of minutes (medium high heat), then add the onion and garlic. Let those sweat out and unleash their delicious flavour for about 3 minutes. 

2. Throw in the butternut squash and fry on the higher heat for 5 minutes until they have a crispy outside. 

3. Turn the heat down and to low (about 4 on a standard stove) and put the lid on the frying pan.

4. Stir the mixture every 4 minutes or so until they are fork tender and then add in chill powder and pepper. I added quite a lot because I really enjoy spicy foods, but it is really up to you. 

5. Let the flavours meld together on low heat for 2 or 3 more minutes and then remove and enjoy!

Another idea for the flavouring would be a taco seasoning kind of mixture, the flavours would go really well together! 

Sesame Green Beans

2 pounds of green beans (you know those bags of green beans you can get at the grocery store)

3 tbsp of sesame seeds

3 tsp of sesame oil

pepper to taste

1. Cut the gross ends of the beans off and rinse under cold water.

2. Blanch the green beans in boiling water for about 2 mins or until they become a bright beautiful green colour. Promptly remove from the boiling water, drain and run under ice cold water until the beans are cold.

3. Heat up a skillet with 2 tsp of the sesame oil, when hot add in the green beans and sauté for 4 mins or until the beans are warmed through again. Then add in the remaining sesame oil. Remove from heat.

4. In a hot dry frying pan add in sesame seeds. Toast until they turn a light brown and begin to emit a pretty door (DO NOT BURN!)

5. In a serving dish arrange the beans and top with pepper and sesame seeds, then serve.

Other than that my dinner was pretty standard and consisted with mashed potatoes, which I finally convinced my mum to make with vegan margarine and no milk as well as stuffing which my mum does not put into the bird and uses a brand that does not have any animal byproducts! 

So that is how I do Christmas dinner, it was incredibly delicious and I will most definitely be making these recipes again! I loved them. 

I hope you all get a chance to try these recipes out, if they sounded appealing to you. 

As for the rest of my life, I have a couple of announcements that I should make... I'm pregnant! 

Haha, just kidding... I would never considering taking away Arianne's thunder, nor am I ready or willing to have a child that I am responsible for. Speaking of Arianne - please call/text me, I need to speak with you about baby gifts! I want to knit you something, but I need to know what colours I should be focusing on. 

Anyway, in all seriousness this is what is happening in my life: I am no longer in school and just working full time at Startbucks and for those of you who are curious, this is not by choice. If people are concerned or curious as to why this is you are more than welcome to get in contact with me but I do not want to air any dirty laundry about certain people/institutions on the world wide web. I do have every intention of going back to finish my Public Relations degree somewhere at some point in the next year though, don't worry! Until that time I going to focus on cultivating who I am as a person and the things that make me happy and that keep my creative juices flowing. 

The next couple of months have some really exciting things in the works such as:

- A food blog tentatively titled - The Everyday Vegan. With this I plan to experience the food that Edmonton has to offer and hopefully answer some of my friends/family/followers questions about how I eat out at restaurants that do not cater to vegan diets.

- A homemade cookbook, nothing incredibly fancy but it will include some of my favourite recipes that I have previously featured on my blog and instagram... including some secret ones that you guys have not actually seen yet.

- A small (very small) Etsy shop with some of the things I have been working on in my spare time. 

- A new series of art which I plan to sell and showcase at ArtWalk on Whyte ave in Edmonton this summer. 

Hopefully I will come up with some other really interesting ideas that I will be able to share with all of you in the next couple of months. It is something that I am incredibly excited about and have been wanting to do for the last little while and finally been given the time to do so. 

So, this is really all that I have for now! Stay tuned for more great stuff in the next little while. 

Be well, 

Becki