DIY Flavoured Water

I try my best to drink close to 8 cups of water per day. Some days I'm really good; other days not so much... As the warm weather approaches, it is very important to stay hydrated. Drinking the recommended amount of water not only helps fight dehydration, but it also helps with removing toxins from your body, regulating your bodily functions, keeping a healthy glow on your skin and keep you feel fit and healthy overall! However, sometimes plain old water can be quite boring... I think I hit that realization about a couple of weeks ago. This is when I started to experiment with making my own naturally flavoured water!

 

You will almost always find me with a slice of lemon in my water. I've been drinking this combo for a long time! While there are a lot of health benefits for using this combo, using it for such a long time had me yearning for something different. So, I thought it would be fun to see what other flavours I could infuse into my water and make it more fun and interesting!

Strawberry, Basil and Lemon
This one sounds really interesting and kind of uncommon (especially with the basil) but I thought I would give it a try! What I like the most about this combo is the sweetness from the strawberry. The sweetness combined with the fresh/earthy taste of basil and the sourness of the lemon makes for a unique combination! I like to add more strawberries as I am a fan of all things sweet.

 

Cucumber and Lemon
The classic but definitely a favourite! I call this combo 'spa water' because every time I go to the spa, they usually have a jug of this ready to indulge in. I really like to drink this combo as there is a a hint of the fresh and cool cucumber with the tart lemon. Aside from just adding lemon to my water, this is currently my next most common combo! There is also a lot of benefits to drinking water infused with cucumber and lemon as it provides extra vitamins and boosts the appearance of your skin (to name a few).

Citrus (Orange, Lemon and Lime)
This combo reminds me of either a tropical punch or Sprite! The tart taste of the lemon and lime is off set by the sweetness of the orange. All three bring a burst of flavour and a unique combo. This combination definitely reminds me of the drink called 'Five Alive'. For something a little more special you could use carbonated water, such as Perrier, to enjoy a 'healthier' version of Sprite .

Do you have a favourite herb/fruit/vegetable water infused combination? Let me know in the comments below!

~RANDOMiss

My Favourite Snacks for Work

I'm one of those people that has to snack consistently all day long... Snacking can be very unhealthy if you stick to the wrong kinds of foods, so I try my very best to snack with healthy options. I also try to have a variety of options available in my pantry. If I'm feeling for something sweet, crunchy, salty or fresh, it's important that I have something readily available... otherwise I'm more than likely to drop a few bucks here or there on something at the store. Needless to say, snacks have a very important part in my weekly grocery list and in my daily work routine!

Some of my favourite snacks for work are:

• Fruits of any sort! I like to take bananas, strawberries, blackberries, pears, apples and peaches. Right now I've been enjoying a lot of watermelon since it is in season. I try to take at least two different kinds of fruit per day. 
• Nuts - My recent craze has been these sweet chili pistachios. I've been really loving this flavour! From time to time, I also like to take almonds or cashews.
• Cheese and crackers - My staple in my snack cupboard. I stick to medium cheddar cheese as it's my favourite! I like to pair it with either Ritz crackers or veggie crackers.
• Green Juice! - Of course!
• Chocolate - I have a love affair with chocolate... no seriously I do! I try to  take little mini round chocolates to limit myself from gorging on them. Usually I will take the Cadbury mini eggs (about 4-5) or one Lindt chocolate. In the picture above I'm snacking on Brookside Crunchy Raspberry fruit snacks, which are super good and somewhat healthy! Somewhat healthy because it has fruit in it, super good because it's covered in chocolate! Above all, they make a really yummy treat!

There you have it! My favourite snacks for work. What kind of snacks do you take to work?

~RANDOMiss

Last Minute DIY St. Patrick's Day Treat!

Hi all! Hope your weekend has been going well! With St. Patrick's day right around the corner, I thought I would share a quick post on a last minute DIY treat! I've never been one to hold a grand celebration for this occasion, but there's nothing wrong with getting into the spirit, whether that means wearing the colour green, painting your nails green or making a special, green-themed treat! I came up with this really cute and easy idea for St. Patrick's day that I call Leprechaun Loot!!!

Here's what you need:
-Green molding chocolate
-Gold chocolate loonies
-Pretzels
-Cellophane
-Ribbon

Let's get started!
Melt the green molding chocolate. The easiest way to do this is by filling a pot with water (less than half way) and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, shut off the heat. Place a heat resistant bowl (clear glass bowl is best) on top. Place the green molding chocolate in the bowl and allow to melt by stirring consistently.

Next, add your pretzels into the melted chocolate and coat all of the pretzels evenly.

Spread your covered pretzels onto a flat, waxed surface and allow to harden.

Combine the green chocolate covered pretzels and gold chocolate loonies into cellophane and tie with ribbons (green and gold work the best!). You now have Leprechaun Loot!

It`s quick, easy and an affordable treat! You can make these for your kids classmates, friends, family, co-workers or even have them as a favour at your upcoming St. Patrick`s day party! The green pretzels represent three leaf clovers while the gold chocolate loonies represent a pot of gold - everything that Leprechauns like...! You can even add little labels or tags that say Leprechaun Loot to dress it up even more.

Do you have any plans for St. Patrick's Day?

Enjoy!

~RANDOMiss

Green Juice Recipe

Hope your first full week of 2015 is going well! I think many of us are just trying to get back into routine and trying to keep our new year's resolutions on track! I got a few I'm trying to stay on top of as well. One good habit I developed over 2014 was making my own green juice and drinking it frequently. I think the main reason for this was just to be healthy and feel healthy. I was truly inspired by Judy and Benji over at It's Judys Life on YouTube (one of my favourite vlogging families of all time!). So I decided to give it a try!

Every since I've started drinking green juice I've seen some huge improvements. The biggest one is that my skin feels and looks so much healthier! It's really rare for me to have a major break out or to have reoccurring pimples on my face. I think the second biggest thing for me is that my hair doesn't fall out as often anymore (not sure if this has anything to do with green juice). I also feel that on the days that I skip my green juice, my body misses it. It's almost like it craves it! Overall, it has made me feel and look a lot healthier.

You really can't go wrong with this juice as you are consuming a variety of different fruits and vegetables along with nutrients and vitamins. It's really convenient to be drinking a glass of green juice and consuming your recommended amount of vitamins per day than to eat about 10 different serving of fruit and vegetables to get the same effect - at least in my opinion!

Here's how I make mine!

I almost always include the same ingredients into my green juice recipe - spinach, cucumber, grapes, pineapple (or pineapple juice), banana, apple and kiwi. On the odd occasion I will include lemon or sometimes parsley.

Cut and wash everything - then throw it into a blender! I don't have a BlendTec (but wish I did) so I make sure to cut the fruit and vegetable into a smaller size to blend easier. I got this one from my local department store. They`re pretty easy to find.

I also include about 2 glasses of water to make it more thin and liquidy (if that`s a word!). I don`t like my green juice thick.

Then blend, blend & BLEND!

Once it`s done, I pour it into mason jars for storage. My husband and I like like to make a batch every few days and store them in mason jars. Mason jars help to keep the green juice fresh, its easy storage and very convenient to take anywhere - no excuses as to why you didn't drink it! The maximum amount of time you should be storing your green juice for is about 48 hours. Go over that limit and it won't taste good and start to rot.

And you`re done! Easy- peasy! Definitely try this out and I guarantee you will have no regrets! It`s an easy and small way to stay healthy and fit for the new year!

Do you make green juice? If so, what ingredients do you use?

~RANDOMiss

Easiest Pizza Recipe

Yesterday I made mini pizzas for dinner. Easy, quick and delicious! There's not really much to it other than the ingredients shown below in the picture. I didn't use pizza dough. Instead I use store bought tortilla wraps. You could also use pita bread as well which I might try for next time. The tortilla wrap is good but it does become a little soggy with the pizza sauce.

Just slap all of the ingredients on and bake! I baked it until the cheese was all melted and it was cooked thoroughly. And bam! Dinner is done!

 

The great thing about pizza is that you can basically use any ingredients that you have laying around. It's a great way to get rid of left over veggies. I tried to go for a Mediterranean theme but not really sure if that was the end result....!

Hope you give this idea a try and let me know! What are your favourite ingredients on your pizza?

~RANDOMiss

New McCafe Coffee for Tassimo

Hi Everyone! Hope the week is going well! While doing some grocery shopping over the weekend, I saw a new item in the coffee isle; McCafe coffee for Tassimo! We've had our Tassimo for about 2 years but got tired of always drinking the Nabob brand and not finding another brand of coffee that tasted great. So, I kind of gave up on my Tassimo for the last 5 months. Instead we've been using a coffee press and really enjoy it! We found the quality of taste a lot better with the coffee press than the Tassimo.

Anyways, I saw the McCafe coffee and decided to pick it up and break out the Tassimo machine again. We tried it over the weekend and it was good! I mean it doesn't taste exactly like the McCafe coffee in store but it's pretty damn close to it. It's a mild to medium roast. It's definitely not bold.

All in all, it's worth the try and I will enjoy having the other pods in the package. I'm sure once this pack is done I'll be looking to try another brand. Also, they have the McCafe coffee in K-cups and ground beans as well!

What's your favourite Tassimo drink?

~RANDOMiss

National Coffee Day!

Today is National Coffee Day! Let's give a big cheer to the most wonderful, embracing and warm cup of hot beverage to ever exist! If you haven't guessed already, I'm a HUGE coffee lover. I like my coffee first thing in the morning with a little milk and cream. Depending on the blend of coffee I will add some sugar.

But let's just take a moment to appreciate all the goodness that coffee brings:

• It definitely wakes us up in the morning.
• There is no smell on Earth that compares to the heavenly smell of freshly brewed or ground coffee.
• The first sip just wants to make you melt.
• It goes so well with reading a book, watching the news, reading the newspaper, watching early morning TV shows, working and simple conversation.
• Social time = coffee time!
• There are so many blends and flavours to choose from.
• You can have it hot or cold.

So here`s a little toast (no pun intended!) to coffee and all the wonderfulness it brings me every day! It always makes me smile and cheerful! It`s just one of those simple things that make life so wonderful....

What`s your favourite blend of coffee?

~RANDOMiss

Dinner Idea?

My dinner last night!

Chicken and Rice from the Halal Guys! Although I've never eaten from their food cart, it would be a dream to one day!

Mmmmmm so good and a staple that we make very often. Try it out: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/12/serious-eats-halal-cart-style-chicken-and-rice-white-sauce-recipe.html

~RANDOMiss

My Favourite Movie Snacks!

It's Friday! Friday and the weekends call for... movie night! Whether its with your partner, family, kids, or friends, its bound to be a good time. You really can't go wrong with movie nights. What makes movie nights extra fun and awesome are the movie snacks!

Movie snacks could be anything from yummy leftovers, Chinese take-out, pizza, chicken wings, nachos, popcorn, candy, chocolate or ice cream.... (at least to me!). 

I love having take-out or a piping hot pizza and watching TV or movies. So naturally those are a given with the occasional movie night. However, my ultimate favourite snack for a movie night is hot, buttery, freshly made popcorn! This is my weakness! I will even go as far as drive to the movie theatre to get movie theatre popcorn, if I am having that craving. If not, Orville microwaveable popcorn will do. But it has to be buttery! At the movie theatres, my popcorn always has to have layered butter...otherwise, it's just not perfect. 

Now to go with my hot, buttery, freshly made popcorn is always a nice ice cold Coke with a straw. Yes, it has to be ice cold and I have to drink it with a straw. I don't know why.....There's just something about buttery popcorn and coke that goes so well together!. Anytime that I'm having popcorn, there has to be Coke around. 

To go with these I like my candy favourites as well. I like to munch on Mike and Ikes, Lemon Heads and Berries. Of course I will never say no to refrigerated Reese Peanut Butter cups as well!

Nevertheless, movie night is also fun but more fun when its accompanied by some delicious snacks to enjoy! During movie night this weekend, maybe try a different snack then your usual to try something new! I'd like to know!

What's your favourite movie snack?

~RANDOMiss

King Size Reese Peanut Butter Cups!

I came home today to a unexpected surprise of King Size Reese Peanut Butter Cups in my fridge! It was a surprise from my husband! He knows that I LOVE refrigerated Reese Peanut Butter Cups! There's just something about it being cool, crisp and crunchy right out of the refrigerator....I mean, I won't turn it down if it's room temperature, but to me it's not as enjoyable... (I know I'm weird...don't judge!). If you've never tried it this way, you have to give it a shot!

I've also never really had the King Size Reese Peanut Butter Cups. I've always had the normal size. Not sure how the King Size will compare to the regular but I can imagine that it would taste just as good (maybe better since there's more to eat!). I haven't eaten them as of yet (trying to stay off of eating a lot of sweets). I like to enjoy them while watching my favourite YouTube series, TV show or movies (Btw, I'm totally into the TV show called Suits now). Just thought I would share since it was definitely one of the highlights of my day!

What's your favourite chocolate/candy?

~RANDOMiss

Jack Astor's Sauced Up Chicken Fingers

For those who are not familiar with Jack Astor's, it’s a restaurant with your normal pickings for North American fast food. Some items they do differently from the traditional dish. One of those dishes is their Sauced Up Chicken Fingers! For those that have been before, you know exactly what I'm referring to! These aren't your normal fried chicken fingers. These are fresh chicken strips, fried and then coated in a hot sauce (mild, medium or hot). Oh yeah! To everyone you're probably saying, okay and what's so special about this?

It's really hard to explain without ever trying it. Maybe it's the atmosphere, the fact that it's prepared fresh and not frozen, the sauce that they put on it. I'm not sure....But this has been my favourite for a very long time! Everytime I go to Jack's, I always get this dish. It's served with a side of fries and ranch dressing. You can get normal cut fries or sweet potato fries. I've had both and I don't really have a stronger preference for either. Lately my go to has been normal cut fries because when you dip it into the ranch dressing, it tastes like ranch potato chips...and it's sooo good! The sweet potato fries are also very good as well. They serve it with a chipotle type of dressing and the combo is really yummy! On top of this I always ask for blue cheese dressing as I really like how it tastes with the sauced up chicken fingers.

And it's not like I haven't tried other sauced up chicken fingers from other restaurants before, because I have. It's nothing like these......Anyways, I thought this dish deserved it's very own post and bragging since it's that good! This is what I had when my co-workers took me out for my birthday this week. I encourage you to try if you haven't already and if you have, comment below on why you think this dish is so unique. 

~RANDOMiss

Taco Tuesday!

For anyone who wants a quick, yummy dinner after a busy day at work....Tacos! I bought the Old El Paso dinner kit and I have to say it's very convenient. I didn't even have to think or stress about making dinner. Here's some pictures from tonight's dinner. Next time you can't decide on what to make for dinner, make Tacos!

~RANDOMiss

Kitchen Hacks - Cutting Fruit

As I finished cutting some fruit for snacks this week, I realized that I'm always fumbling around the kitchen with my chef knife trying to figure out what the best way to cut fruit is. Then I remembered that PureWow sent an email about these helpful cutting hacks for Pomegranate, Grapefruit, Pineapple and Mango (I'm subscribed to their email list)! I'm always cutting Pineapple and Mango and found this to be super useful. Thought that you would find these useful as well!

Check it out here: http://www.purewow.com/agenda_detail/national/292/Final-Cut-Pro.htm?utm_medium=email&utm_source=national&utm_campaign=Final_Cut_Pro_2014_08_13&utm_content=List_Article_editorial

What's your favourite cutting hack for fruit?

~RANDOMiss

Appetizers for Dinner

Ever thought about having appetizers for dinner? I LOVE having appetizers for dinner. Whether it's at a restaurant or at home. I think it's different, unique, keeps things interesting and allows you to try different foods instead of having the same old boring dinner, week after week. My favourite day of the week to have this is on Fridays! I'm not sure why....maybe because I'm excited for the weekend and love the idea of something new and fresh. Of course, this can be done on any day.

Here's a recent pic of my hubby and I's appetizer choices on a recent date night. This is our fav combo! We went out to small little restaurant in our town. I also love to make fresh salsa with our tomatoes from our garden in the summer months.

So if you're stuck about what to have for dinner tonight or what to do this weekend, try this idea!

What are your favourite appetizers for dinner?

~RANDOMiss

Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's. Have you heard of the name or visited a location before? If you haven’t…..Google It.Right.Now. Or go to a location if you are ever near one. Where I live we don’t have Trader Joe's but people seem to vlog and talk about it all the time. So I decided that the next time I’m near one, it’s on my places to visit list (I know it’s really weird to have that be a part of one such list).  But what can I say…I love everything food related!  In short Trader Joe's is a grocery store with some pretty unique and random items. I’m going to highlight two items that are my absolute favourite (out of everything that I bought). 

Number 1 is the all too famous Trader Joe's Cookie Butter! I’ve heard so many people talk about this often that I had to try it out myself. Like seriously cookie butter? What is so great about it? And does it taste like raw cookie batter that you would make at home? And how can a cookie turn into butter??? Well  the verdict is…….so yummy! It’s the most divine, satisfying, scrumptious, mouth-watering replica of actual homemade cookie batter. If you are a diehard cookie addict with no cookie supply (in times of desperate need), then this would definitely do the trick (and I know this because my husband is one and can speak to the fact that it definitely fulfills a cookie craving when no cookies are to be found…).  It’s actually a really neat and cool product. I don’t think there is much out there like it and if there is I wouldn’t know how they would compare. Also what’s really cool is that Trader Joe's has it in different varieties.  For example, they have the regular cookie butter, the crunchy kind and the cocoa and cookie butter kind (below)….It’s so good!  I bought the cocoa and cookie butter for myself and the regular one for my sister. I’ve tried both and they are super good! However, I think I prefer the cocoa one because it tastes exactly like a chocolate chip cookie! Cookie butter itself is quite random too in the sense that you can put it on waffles, on your banana, on ice cream…or just eat a spoonful like I do. I suggest you take a try the next time you're close by to a Trader Joe's.

The other item that I really like from their store is the Trader Joe’s Movie Theater Popcorn! It’s sooooo good! Now I guess I’m kind of biased here because I absolutely love movie theater popcorn. I will totally just drive to the movie theater to get movie popcorn without seeing a movie….yup…I am one of those! Anyways, the Trader Joe's kind is pretty close to the real deal you get at the movies theater. It comes in a pretty sizeable bag as well. They also have other flavored popcorn as well if you want to try something new and with really cool varieties like olive oil, or cracked black pepper. For me, movie theater is the ultimate flavour. I loved it so much that I only have a little bit left and I’m trying to savour it….as the closest Trader Joe's to me is about a 2.5 hour drive away. 

Both these two items are definitely going to be a staple in my Trader Joe's haul the next time I am around the store! Hope you all enjoyed this post as much as you will enjoy these items.What's your favourite Trader Joe's item?

 Until my next post, take care everyone!

~RANDOMiss