Hey there friends!

How are ya today? I’m feeling much more well-rested than I did yesterday morning, now that our air conditioning is fixed! My roomies and I tried to switch it on when we got home from work on Monday night because the house was roasting, but sadly we didn’t have any luck. I tossed and turned all night and half-contemplated sleeping in the basement, but now that it’s fixed, life is good again and I slept like a baby last night!

In addition to waiting around for my air conditioning service man yesterday, I also had my car window replaced after the unfortunate rock incident, and tried some great new things for Try Something New Tuesday! Here they are:

1. Recipe of the Week: If you like sweet potatos, Indian food, and hummus, I promise you will love this.

Behold, my most recent epic kitchen creation, Curried Sweet Potato Hummus.

Remember in Monday’s post when I promised you some tasty new recipes from the lunch date I had with one of my besties this weekend? Well, this is another one! It was inspired by:

1) the fact that chickpeas were on sale at Food Basics – and have been for the past 4 weeks so I’ve accumulated about 5 cans

and

2) the decision that there has been far too few Indian dishes coming out of my kitchen lately. From this point, I just threw a bunch of spices into the food processor that I’d usually use for making curries, as well as some steamed sweet potatos, tahini and a few other goodies. The result:

Tastes delicious eaten straight out of the bowl with your finger with veggies, pita wedges, Triscuits, on sandwiches, and with just about anything else you’d put hummus on!

2. A new summer dress! Since the weather was roasty toasty yesterday (31C/88F plus humidity), I figured it was a fantastic opportunity to bust out a summer dress. In the past, I haven’t been much of a dress girl but I couldn’t resist this one on my recent shopping extravaganza.

• Dress: Loft Outlet
• Cardigan: H&M
• Shoes: BCBG
• Necklace: Loft Outlet
• Bangle: No idea – a prezzie from my mum!
  

3. Maple Butter. This was a little prezzie from Angela that she insisted I try because it’s so so so good. Ange knows all about delicious things, so I knew she wouldn’t steer me wrong!

Maple butter doesn’t actually contain butter – the only thing in this jar is pure organic maple syrup. It’s made by a company called Beland Organic Foods, and the maple butter is part of their Canadian Heritage Organics line.I learned a few interesting facts about maple syrup on the company’s website, like…

• One tree produces about 3 liters of pure maple syrup each season
• About 30 to 45 litres of sap is required to produce 1 litre of syrup
• The maple trees produce protective phenolic substances that fight bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc. The sap also contains these substances, and sap is what’s used to make syrup
• Maple syrup is lower in calories than honey and white sugar, and contains tons of minerals (riboflavin, manganese, zinc, calcium, magnesium, potassium)

Cool don’t you think? So how did I use mine? Well, since the weather was hot, there was no way I wanted a warm breakfast. Instead, I made my first overnight oats of the season. The mix:

Apple Cinnamon Maple Overnight Oats

Stirred together the night before:

• 1/3 cup uncooked oats
• 1/4 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 of a Pink Lady apple, grated
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1 tsp maple butter
• generous amounts of cinnamon and cloves

In the morning, I added a little drizzle of maple butter and an extra smattering of cinnamon on top, then enjoyed my overnight oats with a big green monster.

The maple butter gave it just the right amount of sweetness, and a lovely maple-y flavour – far superior to anything a packet of stevia could do, which is what I’d normally add to my oats! A perfect post-workout breakfast for a hot morning!

4. A new gum flavour. Yes, yes. I know that a month ago, my goal was to give up (or greatly reduce) my gum chewing habit. However, after lurking around Julie’s blog for quite some time, I’ve come to learn about Extra’s Dessert Delights, and I had to see what all of the fuss was about. I picked up a couple of flavours when I was in Pennsylvania, and enjoyed sampling both today.

Although both were very tasty, I think I preferred the Key Lime Pie one more. It seemed to keep its flavour a little longer than the mint chocolate chip, and on the whole was more refreshing. Both are perfect if you get those post-meal “I-fancy-something-sweet” cravings!

Alrighty, I suppose I should get to work now! I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

Questions for Today:

• Are you a maple syrup fan? Have you ever tried maple butter?
• What do you wear more of in the summer: Dresses? Capris? Shorts?
• Have you tried Extra Dessert Delights yet? What’s your favourite flavour?