My love for avocados and fresh cilantro, is insatiable, any mention of either of these two ingredients  in a dish, and my tastebud’s standing at complete attention! Some nights it’s hard to get something that’s good for you out on the table, like Monday nights will be for me with my evening classes.  These are the nights that I typically praise (insert God of choice here) for  my frozen vegetables, when ever I’m not feeling the idea of a steam facial.

This salad is quick and easy, requires little to no cooking and will keep you satisfied long into the evening. I love a good salad with some soup, so I accompanied my completed salad with a small bowl of butternut squash soup, prepared by me earlier in the week, it was fantastic!

To maximize on limited time I’ve also reached for canned wild sockeyed salmon by Gold Seal (you can find more info on that there here), high in protein and rich in omega-3 fatty acids which are awesome for a whole list of reasons, which is what we want a lot of, in order to build and tone sexy muscles for summer!  That’s right, I’ve done my research, achieving a summer bod boils down to a science!

Salmon Avocado Salad

Serves 2

2 cups romaine lettuce

2 cups frozen California style vegetables (or frozen veggies of your choice)

1/2 cup canned corn

1/2 ripe avocado cubed

10 baby tomatoes halved

1/2 tin of Sockeye Salmon (or any canned fish if you like)

It doesn’t get any simpler then steaming the frozen vegetables before hand, having them cool and placed over top of washed and chooped romain lettice. Throw in your tomatoe, corn and toss with your favourite dressing. I usually add the avocado last to avoid having it turn to mush, but them season with salt and pepper, divide in two and share it with a friend and enjoy!

I picked up this bright emerald green by Revlon called Posh #571 at the Lisa Cosmetics sale this past weekend, which was a trip I will never forget – savings up the wa-zoo in there! I know I haven’t told you yet, but I will share my haul with you guys in an upcoming post! Anyway I’ve been searching for a gem toned green polish for a while now, so I was super happy to run into Posh! Definitely need two or even three coats to achieve the full color, but I toped coated it with China Glaze top coat and am very happy with the end result!

I could so see this color all over the hottest interiors right now, jewel tones are huge at the moment and a great way to punch up any space.

More emerald green interiors when you hit it!

Love this nursery!

Images here

And just like that it’s spring! I’ve been working really hard the past few months in school –  alienating myself in the process – so a lot of things I love to do like blogging or spending time with family and friends, have kinda fallen by the wayside. Since schools over…for about 7 more days, I’m super excited to be back! My morning routine has been hectic, and  I usually prepare a lot of my food myself since I’m not big on eating out, so I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Everyone in my house eats a little different, even though we’re all vegetarians, our taste span an interesting continuum from kid friendly finger foods to carbohydrate dense meals…none of which belong to me, so that means 3x the cooking some nights!  A few mornings a week I make myself a smoothie, it cuts cooking time and my carb intake for the morning in half.

Today I woke up with a sweet tooth, like most mornings, and imagined how incredible it would be, to wake up and throw together this coco monkey chocolate smoothie in anyone of these gorgeous kitchens. I’m sure even the chocolate would taste sweeter if I lived like this! Here’s the recipe and  five kitchens that I wouldn’t mind spending my entire day in – Plus I’m pretty sure I heard at least two of them whisper my name…one day my loves..one day.

 Chocolate Monkey Smoothie Recipe

1 banana

1 tsp flax seed

1 Tbs coco powder

1 cup almond milk (Almond Breeze or Silks True Almond are great)

3 Tbs spoons cooked oats (must be cooked, uncooked has a higher calorie count)

Throw everything in and blend!

Love the masculine feel to this space, especially in the bar stools, the studs give them an edge thats not overpowering. The left photo is a simpler kitchen for those who aren’t fussy about trinkets or fine detail.

Favourite one!

What a weekend! Days off from the mayhem of life, to snuggle up with that special someone on Valentine’s and to cuddle up with on family day. I’ve had my fair share of indulgences over the weekend, Jarratt went above and beyond this year. And I definitely wasn’t going to pass up on all the chocolate! I have an insane sweet tooth, but I always exercise constraint. But now that’s all over with, it’s Tuesday and it’s time to get back into my routine. So for lunch, I was trying to come up with a sandwich that looked like a mondo burger but wouldn’t leave my ass looking the same way. I ended up with this; and Tuna salad and avocado dream!

When I hear the word tuna salad, I instantly think of heaps of mayo, and ask myself, when is it ever really worth it? I like my cholesterol levels right where they are thank you very much! So to substitute I’ve been using yogurt, as well as switching in some mustard at zero calories over traditional mayo which can have about 100 calories per Tbs! I also use reduced fat mayo once in a while in combination with the mustard, cutting even its reduced calories in half as well, but when I came across this stuff, I literally jumped for joy! Walden Farms strikes again, this time with their Chipotle, zero calorie mayo. There’s a bunch of different flavoring, or you can just stick to the regular stuff, which is next on my hit list, but I couldn’t be happier about finding it.

I’ll admit when I first tasted it, I really was confused, I think it was a strange mixture of anticipation and expectations, but after having it a few times it really is quite good. Does it taste like mayonnaise, no, but it performs just as well. I added some celery sticks, and voila lunch under 300 calories!

Here’s the recipe!

What you need

2 slices light bread (80 calories or less per slice)

Sliced eggplant (thick slices, they tend to shrink)

60 g canned tuna drained (that’s about half a can)

½ C sliced sweet white onion

½ C chopped cilantro

½ C baby spinach

1 celery stock (cut finely)

¼ of an avocado sliced

Tbs of Walden Farms Pancake Syrup

2 Tbs Walden Farms Chipotle Mayonnaise

Pepper and garlic powder to taste

Cooking spray

1. Preheat the oven to 400° and heat a pan on medium heat, while you chop the onions into semicircular rings.
2. Combine tuna, pepper, garlic, celery, cilantro and mayo in a bowl and mix well.
3. Add sliced onions and syrup to the pan, and stir. Let the onions caramelize for about 5 minutes. Let it cool in the fridge, or zap it in the freezer for a few minutes to cool off.
4. Lightly toast bread and spread tuna mixture over top.
5. Top your mountain off with spinach, eggplant, avocado and onions

Now, sasa kula! (swahili for “Now eat!)

Valentine’s Day only 2 days away! I can’t wait, because not only is it a day to show your special someone how much you love them, its also my birthday! I’ll be turning…well we’ll keep that a secret for now, if you can guess I’d be impressed, but I’m definitely looking forward to what ever my love has in store for me.

And in honor of love, I…as usual…look to Rihanna for style inspiration. Her red Grammy dress blew me away, very simple yet sexy. The long dress is always a winner, so I came up with two options, one high and the other a more affordable option, for those of us who aren’t actually Rihanna, just hoping to steal her style!

Anybody doing anything special for Valentine’s? What ever you do have a good one, single or attached we all have someone in our lives we love, don’t pass up on the opportunity to show them just how much!

I was dreaming about waffles all week, finally I decide to make some for BF yesterday. But the thought of drowning them in refined sugar makes me ill. I’d like to think I’m pretty health conscious, I mean don’t get me wrong I love my sweets, who doesn’t, but for the post part I’m selective, know when to say when, and make substitutions where ever necessary. An excess of sugar, fat or calories to me, is a high price to pay for a moment of satisfaction, so I’m always on the hunt for tasty alternatives. I love eating pancakes and waffles – watching my portions of course – but I haven’t consumed maple syrup in…lets just say ages. It’s been terribly long, so I’ve no idea when I had it last, until now! I stopped by the grocery store, browsed the aisles, determined to find something new to top my waffles and pancakes with, since I was getting a little tired of the 60 calorie snack pudding packs I usually used (they’re delicious but change was definitely overdue) I found this, Walden Farms pancake syrup with…ZERO calories…can we say jackpot! Walden Farms is a Canadian company that specializes in a whole line of calorie free products, including an amazing array of salad dressings, dips, jams dressings and more.

I struggled between this and another brand that contained only 30 calories, but decided I would save that one for another trial run after I was through with this one. So zero calories…does it taste good? YES! it does! I find it a nice subtle alternative to the very high sugar, and in my opinion overly sweet traditional maple syrup. I, by no means, promote this product as equal in taste to maple syrup, please not that, if you like A LOT of sugar this isn’t going to cut it for you. I on the other hand love its subtle taste, and will continue to integrate this product into my Low FCS arsenal (Low fat, calorie, sugar). I gave this syrup its debut to a top the French waffles pictured above (instead of French toast) topped with berries and peaches, a very simple recipe, only requires waffles that ring in at about 180 calories (per 2) for the health conscious, less than 7 grams of fat.

I will continue to share my culinary adventures in the near future; I’ve received a lot of feedback on Facebook about my culinary innovation and think that they’ll make a welcome contribution to the True Queen blog!

Happy Eating!!!

My longgggg journey to capture a pair these suede wedges is finally over! I’ve stalked them for months, went from location to location to find them, only to leave empty handed every time. Which over the years because of my large mules I’ve grown accustomed to. Doesn’t suck any less though, so on a whim I thought I’d try my luck one more time in my small neighborhood mall while out picking up something, what I’ve no idea anymore because the sight of these shoes…in my size…blurs my memory from conjuring up anything before I lay my eyes on these. You all know a girl with big feet has some struggles, finding shoes that not only fit…but look good. These shoes fit both qualifications perfectly and I couldn’t be happier! They were a steal at 39.99 plus 20% off thanks to my subscription to payless’ promotional mailing list, came to $36 after tax!

I haven’t worn them out yet, but the next night out with the girls is probably when they’ll make their debut! Until then I’m on the hunt for a pretty dress or sweater to match!