Woman in Real Life

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you get a chance to treat yourself or someone else on this day dedicated to love. These vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes With Salted Buttercream Frosting should do the trick. I created the recipe in partnership with the Reducetarian Foundation and you can head over to their blog to get the recipe and all the instructions for making these easy yet delicious cupcakes.

The concept of juicing is pretty simple - throw some fruits and veggies into a good quality juicer and watch as the machine extrudes the fresh, vibrant juices from nature's little antioxidant-rich wonders. But some combinations of fruit and vegetables simply work better than others. I recently made a green juice that turned out to be delicious, so I jotted down the ingredients that I used and snapped a few quick photos. This green juice recipe is so good, it just had to be shared! I'm calling it the best green juice, because it's my new favourite. But tailor the recipe as you see fit. You might like it less sweet, with more greens and less fruit, for example.

Before I share my new favourite green juice recipe, please note you should consult your health care provider prior to consuming green juice, especially if you're taking any medications or have a chronic illness. I'm not a medical or nutrition expert, but I know that concentrated amounts of vitamins (like the vitamin K found in kale) may interact with medications. Fresh juice may also lead to blood sugar spikes, because you get the fruit sugars without fibre. I personally don't juice to "cleanse" my body or to replace meals. I enjoy a fresh green juice now and then for the taste and the boost of vitamins. I also have a diet that's plenty high in fibre, so I'm not worried about occasionally removing the fibre from fruit and veggies while juicing.

In this recent post, I showed you how to caramelize Spanish Sweet Onions and use them in a quick, healthy and delicious lunch or dinner wrap. As I mentioned then, caramelized onions are easy to make and have so many tasty uses. As promised, here is a second recipe that makes an ideal foundation for caramelized Spanish Sweets.

These onions contain more sugar and less water than other onions. Not only are they ideal for caramelizing, but they're great for sautéing and grilling too. If you use onions almost daily (like I do), you'll be happy to know that you can chop or dice them and then freeze them, so they are ready to be used in cooked dishes such as fried rice or butternut squash soup.

*This is a sponsored post. All opinions are authentic and my own. Thank you for supporting the awesome companies that partner with Woman in Real Life.

Each January I put a renewed focus on healthy eating, primarily by increasing my intake of fruit and vegetables. For the most part, though, I try to eat healthy foods all year round, and I don't like to create stress around eating. I believe that nutritious food can go hand in hand with delicious food. Take this easy, yummy sandwich wrap, for example. This recipe makes for a simple-to-prepare, healthy lunch or dinner option.

This easy quinoa wrap requires only a handful of ingredients - the key to its delicious flavour is caramelized onions. Truth be told, I use onions in almost every dinner recipe I make. In fact, my son says my hands always smell like onions. I’m not offended - onions make every meal better. (You can always dip your fingers in lemon juice if the smell bothers you.) This month, I'm bringing you two ideas for simple, healthy meals to make with Idaho-Eastern Oregon Spanish Sweet Onions, beginning with this tortilla sandwich wrap. I'll have another delicious recipe for you soon.

*This is a sponsored post. All opinions are authentic and my own. Thank you for supporting the awesome companies that partner with Woman in Real Life.

I received an unexpected email in my inbox four years back, asking if I'd like to film an Organic Panic Christmas special with my family. It took some thinking and discussion - it was a little outside our comfort zones for all four of us: me, my husband and our two young kids. But we decided to be brave - after all, it could be a lot of fun. And it was.

The special focuses on the divide between decorating and shopping for Christmas the conventional way, and taking a more "organic" approach, with reusable wrapping, a farm-fresh Christmas tree and a bit less consumption. At our house, we are somewhere between the two, but with definitely more consumption than I feel proud to admit.

Now that a few years have passed and my two children have quickly sprouted up into teenagers (with all those highs and lows), it's fun (and more than a bit cringey) to look back at the Organic Panic Christmas special and see how we have all changed since then. I have never officially shared a link to the TV show here because, after we filmed it, the production company found it was too close to Christmas and they decided to put off airing the special until the following year. To be honest, I didn't think it was going to happen.

So, have a watch if you have a few moments. Is there a time when you did something outside your comfort zone? Were you happy you did?

Happy Christmas Eve! I hope you all have a joyous holiday season!

Photo credit: Kennedy Pollard / Ryan Emberley Photography

The Toronto International Film Festival draws big-name stars to the city each fall. In 2019, TIFF welcomed celebrities Jennifer Lopez, Lili Reinhart, Robert Pattinson, Michael B. Jordan and Renee Zellweger, among many others.

We all know that celebrity lounges and swag bags are part of the film fest fun. This year, for the eleventh year, GLO Communications hosted a Bask-It-Style media day, inviting guests to preview and experience their celebrity gift bags at the Thompson Hotel. During the run of TIFF, ​Bask-It-Style hand delivers VIP gift bags to busy celebs. In the past, Bask-It-Style has gifted celebrities (through hotel partners) including Matt Damon, Jennifer Garner, Julianne Moore, Naomi Watts, Colin Farrell, John Legend and Sir Elton John.

If you are a book lover like I am, my fondest wish for you this holiday season is that you get some time to relax and read a book (or two). Nothing is more calming than curling up with a cup of tea and a great book. No doubt you also have friends and family who like to snuggle in with a book in winter.

Whether for you or those on your last-minute Christmas gift shopping list, I have browsed through many a book catalogue to come up with this selection of recommended books to buy for gifts this holiday season. There are book titles here for food lovers and home cooks (a lot of those because I'm obsessed with food!), decor enthusiasts, Anne of Green Gables fans, musicians and more. Of course there are countless other books to enjoy this Christmas. I suspect that many fans of The Handmaid's Tale will have Margaret Atwood's The Testaments: The Sequel to The Handmaid's Tale on their wish lists, for example.

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