new sneakers!

I decided that it was time to invest in a new pair of sneakers. I bought my previous sneakers last June and decided it was time for something new. One thing I have to say about my sneakers is that because they were grey they really haven't shown much wear, even though I have worn them in all types of weather. Something to keep in mind!

I purchased these Nikes:

 I'm hoping the black will maintain as well as the grey did. I bought them for $59.99 at Winners. One con I have about them is that the tongue is attached to the inside of the shoe. I guess this would prevent it from moving around while running; however it makes it really hard to pull the shoe on. One major pro is the insole is something called 'Comfort Footbed'. It's basically like memory foam for your foot:

I actually haven't worn them running yet. I have a hard time committing  to a new shoe!! I went for a run today (miracle!) and wore my old sneakers. Do you have a hard time deciding on a new shoe?


Following on my homemade vs pre-made trend I ended up making granola bar this evening. I used this recipe from Peanut Butter Runner (one of my favorite blogs). I left out the coconut because I'm not really a fan. For dried fruit I used raisins and also added in some dry roasted almonds. Prior  to putting it in the freezer it smelled AMAZING:

I actually ended up licking the remnants out of the bowl. Can't wait to try them!

an adventure in hummus making

As I mentioned in my last post I decided to try to make my own hummus. This was partly due to the fact that it's insanely overpriced, and also because I'm trying to choose cleaner foods with less processing.

I decided to use dry chick peas rather than canned (again to decrease preservatives) so it was difficult to find an exact recipe. Most recipes called for one can of chickpeas, or a specific amount of ounces. And being Canadian I was like 'ounces?!? what!??' so I ended up looking at a bunch of recipes and just kind of winging it. Will it taste good, will it be bad... who knows!!

For my recipe I used dry chick peas, tahini, juice from a lemon, fresh garlic, salt, cumin, olive oil and water.

Nuts to You Nut Butter - made in Canada! cost, aprox $6.50 for  500g

I started by soaking 1 cup of dry chick peas over night. I then cooked the chick peas on the stove, by boiling  chick peas in water, then letting them simmer for an hour, then letting them cool. Some recipes said that by removing the skins of the chickpeas will lead to a smoother end product. I thought this would decrease the amount of fiber and who really wants to peel chick peas?!

I then used a magic bullet blender to mash the chick peas. I had originally thought I'd be able to mash them with a fork... definitely not. It would have been really difficult and would have taken forever. Most recipes call for a food processor but some type of blender would definitely work!

After this was definitely a bit of a guessing game. In the end I ended up adding approx 1 cup of water, 2 tbsp of cumin, 1/8-1/4 cup of olive oil, the juice from one lemon, three cloves of garlic and 1 tsp of salt. I ended up putting it back in the magic bullet with the liquids added in order to get it as smooth as possible.

It tastes great but... different. I am just so used to the taste of canned chick peas that even the plain, cooked chick peas tasted pretty different to me. I will definitely make it again... especially since I have an entire bag of chick peas left haha. AND 1 cup of dried peas made about 3 cups of hummus! WAY cheaper than the store made version.  So cheaper and healthy gets two thumbs up from me.

Have you ever tried to make anything from scratch that you usually purchase?