Pure Leaf Canada - #tweakyourtea

It seems like everyone I have been talking to lately have been raving about this brand of beverage that they all have been loving. If you haven't heard this yet from your friends or family, the drink so many people have now been converted to is called Pure Leaf. If you have not been exposed to this drink yet, today is your lucky day because thankfully I have had the opportunity to try this delicious drink and am here to share with you the new Pure Leaf Unsweetened Tea launching right here in Canada!

Pure Leaf is brewed from real tea leaves picked at their freshest to deliver a genuine tea experience. The unsweetened portfolio (Green Tea, Black Tea, Lemon) has 0 sugar, 0 artificial sweeteners, 0 calories, which means 0 compromises! The best thing about these drinks is that they are so versatile and can be used and mixed in so many different ways with an endless amount of personalized flavour combinations. Below are 3 of my original variations of these drinks using a combination of different fruits to maximize its flavour potential. Each variation uses one of the three Pure Leaf Unsweetened flavours, and I've standardized each drink by adding some mint and a lime/lemon to spruce it up. Add some ice cubes in it to make it extra cold and refreshing.

Very Berry with Unsweetened Pure Leaf Lemon Tea.

Strawberries + Blackberries mixed with Unsweetened Pure Leaf Lemon Tea

The Tropics with Unsweetened Pure Leaf Black Tea.

Mangoes + Pineapples mixed with Unsweetened Pure Leaf Black Tea

Kiwi Razz with Unsweetened Pure Leaf Green Tea

Kiwis + Raspberries mixed with Unsweetened Pure Leaf Green Tea

No matter the flavour and combination of your favourite elements, Pure Leaf is the perfect beverage to go with lunch, brunch, dinner, cocktails, get-togethers, post workout re-hydration; well just about any occasion you can think of! As summer is quickly approaching, don't forget to grab yourself a few bottles of these Pure Leaf Unsweetened Teas, the drink with zero compromises without sacrificing any flavours. How will you #tweakyourtea? Cheers!

Lick Your Plate!

For home cooks of all skill levels, the Lick Your Plate cookbook is a must have for anyone looking to brush up on their culinary expertise and add some new delicious recipes to their arsenal. The fun loving authors of Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat are sisters and provide us with 160 easy to follow recipes from appetizers, to soups, fish, meats, brunch, desserts and so much more!

My favourite part of this cookbook is going through the pages upon pages of vibrant, colourful pictures of the food itself so you will know exactly what you will be cooking (and hopefully exactly what your finished dish should turn out to look like). If you're not going to take my word on this, Lick Your Plate has also been highly praised by celebrities within and outside of the food industry such as Jon Bon Jovi, Chris Hadfield, Gail Simmons, Jason Alexander, Chef Michael Smith, and Meghan Markle. This cookbook is a must have on everyone's bookshelf at home and as the title suggests, after you go through a few of their delectable recipes, you will no doubt find yourself licking your plate.

Five Great Perks of Having a Foodie Friend

Last month, we talked about the “Five Troubling Signs You Are Eating Out with a Food Blogger”. This time I decided to cut our foodie friends some slack. So, let’s talk about five reasons we love having them around!

1. New Places to Eat

When you are friends with a foodie, you will almost never eat at the same place twice. The only exception is if the restaurant in question happens to be a personal favourite. Every eating experience will be sure to delight your taste buds…well mostly. One thing is for sure, it’s never a dull day when you go out to eat with your foodie friend.

2. Foodie Perks

If your foodie friend’s Instagram account has made it big, chances are they get invited to some pretty cool events. So what happens when they need a plus one? That’s right! It’s you! You get to tag along and have the experience of a lifetime. I’m talking mixers, phone launches and even private dinners with chefs. Cool by association anyone? You bet I milk those experiences!

3. Instagram Michelangelo

After having been around your foodie friend for a while, you suddenly realize one day that you are slowly morphing into them. You find yourself constantly searching for new places to eat, worrying about lighting, arranging table settings and dare I say it…taking pictures before you eat! That’s right, you too will become an Instagram Michelangelo.

4. Leftovers

Okay, let’s be real, who doesn’t love leftovers? I’m not talking about your grandma’s five-day-old meatloaf. I’m talking about fresh cupcakes, pizza, chocolate – the good stuff. When companies send your foodie friends items in bulk, it’s inevitable they won’t be able to finish everything. So, are you really going to say no to a dozen cupcakes at 10:00 at night? That’s what I thought!

5. Foodie Gifts

I love receiving presents, especially if they happen to be food. Don’t confuse these with leftovers. When your foodie friend gives you leftovers, you love them for it but you know you only got the food so they wouldn’t have to waste all that goodness. Things are different when your foodie friend gives you food as a present. This tells you that they thought about you, appreciated your support, and knows nothing makes you happier than food. My foodie friend gave me cookies last Christmas. What did yours give you?

Panago Pizza Party #PanagoChallenge

When given an opportunity to host a pizza party, you take it. It’s one of those universal cuisines that is enjoyed all around the world by all age groups and cultures, so as you could imagine trying to find friends to come indulge in my pizza party was a fairly easy task.

The pizza of the hour came courtesy of Panago. Panago is a Canadian pizza company originating from Abbotsford, British Columbia with now over 180 locations spread across 6 provinces. With their 6 featured fall pizzas, my 13 friends and I had the luxury of getting to try each one of them which is all part of their #PanagoChallenge.

So what is this #PanagoChallenge you ask? Well it’s basically an opportunity for you to win free pizza from Panago for an entire year! All you have to do is use the hashtag #PanagoChallenge on your social media and tell them which of the 6 featured fall pizzas is your favourite. It’s that easy!

All my friends, myself included casted our vote after the pizza party to see which pizza came out on top as the favourite. We tallied all the votes up at the end and It turned out that the winning pizza was my favourite as well. You may not have had a chance to taste these pizzas for yourself yet and vote, but hopefully you may get a better picture of what your favourite may be just by looking at them and seeing their description. Check them out!

#BBQCHICKEN

Tomato - based barbecue sauce, topped with grilled chicken, bacon, caramelized onions, red peppers, mozzarella, cheddar

VOTES: 3

#VEGGIEMED

Fresh passata tomato sauce, topped with fire-roasted tomatoes, kalamata olives, red peppers, baby spinach leaves, red onions, feta, mozzarella

VOTES: 1

#CHIPOTLECHICKEN

Creamy chipotle cilantro sauce, grilled chicken, roasted corn medley, seasoned with onion, red & green peppers, mozarella, cheddar

VOTES: 5 *** FAVOURITE ***

#CHICKENCLUB

Creamy ranch style sauce with a jalapeno pepper kick, grilled chicken, Canadian ham, bacon, tomatoes, mozzarella

VOTES: 0

#DLXTROPIVALHAWAIIAN

Smooth, tangy sweet barbecue sauce with notes of clove and oregano, bacon, Canadian ham, pineapple, mozzarella, cheddar

VOTES: 2

#STEAKMUSHROOMMELT

Cheesy cheddar sauce, steak, bacon, sauteed mushrooms, mozzarella, cheddar

VOTES: 3

And our favourite is as you can see, Chipotle Chicken! For some I think roasted corn may seem like an odd choice to put on a pizza as an ingredient, but that was the very reason why I liked it so much actually.

But don’t take my word for it. Go out and try it for yourself and see if you agree with us.

For more details, feel free to visit their website but here is a quick reminder again on how to win free pizza for a year from Panago! You have 3 ways on social media to enter:

1) Posting the name of your favourite featured pizza on our Facebook wall with the hashtag #PanagoChallenge, OR;

2) Following us on Twitter and tweeting the name of your favourite featured pizza with the hashtag #PanagoChallenge, OR;

3) Sharing a pic of your favourite featured pizza on Instagram with the hashtag #PanagoChallenge.

Panago will also be giving away cool prizes throughout the challenge so just more incentive to enter! Contest ends on November 25th, 2015 at 10AM PST. Good luck!

Disclaimer -  sponsored by Panago Pizza, compensated monetarily and with product.

Village Juicery - Cold Pressed Juices Review

By now you may all have heard about this juicing trend that has really caught on with the masses, especially those who are health conscious and want to live a clean and healthy lifestyle. The concept of juicing has been around for ages so that is nothing new. If not yourself, you probably know a handful of people who owns their very own juicer at home; a fun do-it-yourself kitchen appliance where you throw in your fruits and vegetables into the machine and within minutes out comes a cup of freshly squeezed juice. 

Over the past few years, the concept of “cold pressed” juices has spread like wild fire. Traditionally, juices that are not considered cold pressed (basically the old school way of juicing) utilizes a fast spinning blade within the machine to separate the juice from flesh through what is called centrifugal force (a motion tending to move away from the centre). The problem with utilizing this fast spinning blade is as it spins, it generates heat. This heat destroys some of the enzymes in the fruits and vegetables you are juicing causing some of the nutrients to be destroyed as well. 

So what does “cold pressed” actually mean? Well as the name suggests, the juicing process does not generate any heat to maximize on all the nutrients it can extract from the fruits and vegetables. It extracts juice by using hydraulic pressure crushing, squeezing, and pressing the fruit and vegetables for the highest nutritional yield having very little exposure to oxygen. Since the fruits and vegetables are literally being crushed the living day lights out of them using sheer force, heat does not get generated and more of the fresh ingredient’s nutrients stay in tact. 

One of the companies in Toronto on the forefront of this cold pressed movement is Village Juicery who call their juicing community their “Villagers”. Village Juicery believes in increasing access to raw, plant-based nutrition and a focus on keeping everything local, from their produce suppliers, industry suppliers, and the charitable organizations they support. In fact, it is almost hard not to notice just how local their business is. On every one of their bottles, a sticker is firmly placed on its cap that says “Made in Toronto.” As a loyal admirer of my city I grew up in my entire life, I can truly appreciate how much love and devotion Village Juicery has on this great city. 

Now onto the good stuff, the actual juices! The Village Juicery delivered to my very own door step their line of 100% organic cold pressed juices. I received 7 of their cold pressed juices and 1 of their handmade nut milks in my package. Once you open the cardboard box, you will see that each glass bottle is neatly compartmentalized by dividers to ensure that the glass does not shatter as it gets delivered to your door. 

The one thing I love when I received all the juices is on each of its bottles, it prints out on the front all the ingredients so you know at a quick glance exactly what you will be consuming. On the back of each bottle also comes with a fun description of that specific cold pressed juice which gives you a better understanding of the different nutrients and benefits it has. At the very bottom on the back of the bottle also shares with you a breakdown of “What’s Inside” as each cold pressed juice has 3 types of ingredients, fruit, root, and green. The percentage by weight of each ingredient is shown so some of the cold pressed juices will be more fruit centric, where others will have a higher percentage of vegetables mixed in. 

Here is a breakdown of all the Cold Pressed Juices I tried.

Be Active

60% Fruit; 40% Root; 0% Leaf

Although there is a high concentration of juice in this one, I found this juice to be the toughest for me to drink. The taste of ginger is extremely strong and leaves a burning sensation in your mouth. I’m not a fan of ginger to begin with which makes Be Active my least favourite out of all the cold pressed juices I tried. I know ginger is supposed to be really healthy for you, but I think I’ll move on to the next one…

Be Radiant

20% Fruit; 80% Root; 0% Leaf

Although the ingredients in this one is 80% root, there is no ginger in this one which is fine by me. The vivid orange colour to this juice comes from the carrot and sweet potato. Carrot was the strongest flavour throughout with a settle hint of apple in it. I liked it but didn’t love it. 

Be Calm

20% Fruit; 0% Root; 80% Leaf

Being that I have rarely juiced before, especially with using vegetables, I was a little bit hesitant to try this just because I was afraid that with the majority of the drink being composed of leaf type ingredients it may be too overpowering to drink. I was completely wrong and it became one of my favourites. The pineapple counteracted the taste of just pure vegetables perfectly. The combination of pineapple, fennel, and mint really created a soothing effect within my body as I drank it. 

Be Nourished

50% Fruit; 0% Root; 50% Leaf

The perfect balance between fruits and vegetables giving you an even nourishment on both sides. This is a gentle introduction to anyone who is not a fan of green juices as the two types of apples prevalent in this juice gives it a sweet and fruity flavour, while you are still consuming equal amounts of vegetables with every sip. I would definitely recommend this one. 

Be Strong

30% Fruit; 10% Root; 60% Leaf

The most unique tasting juice of the bunch for me. The red cabbage is definitely the star of the show in this juice with its dominant flavour profile. You would think that the taste of cabbage may be unpleasant, but it wasn’t hard to drink at all. The familiarity of apple juice is present as well which makes this juice just as easy to stomach as the others. 

Be Clean

10% Fruit; 0% Root; 90% Leaf

My favourite cold pressed juice of them all which surprised me since the majority of the ingredients in this one is vegetables with very little fruit. The vegetables chosen in this juice is not overpowering as the likes of celery, kale, and lettuce all have a very subtle taste to begin with. The splash of apple mixed in made this juice very pleasant to drink and the fact that I enjoyed a juice dominated by vegetables makes this one a home run for me. 

Apple Cider

The classic apple juice, cold pressed edition. Nothing hard at all about drinking this one if you’re a fan of just good ole’ apple juice. With the apples being cold pressed, you get even more nutrients in this one, not to mention its also unfiltered with no added sugars. 

The Handmade Nut Milk which I treated it like a dessert. 

Be Happy

What a perfect name to this drink. It truly was a joy to drink because it tasted so damn good. It’s a sweet, creamy, decadent drink with the primary flavour of this being cashews and a hint of maple syrup. The only thing bad about this drink was that the bottle was so small! If I could drink this everyday for the rest of my life I totally would. 

Many other cold pressed juice companies use a technique called HPP (High Pressure Processing) which is a cold pasteurization technique where products are subjected to a high level of isostatic pressure. This pressure will extend the shelf life by 10 times, but in doing so killing bad and good bacteria along the way. As seen on every bottle, Village Juicery firmly believes this is not a viable solution for our well-being as bacteria plays a critical role in digestion and are needed to support proper nutrition. That is why they will never use HPP and their cold pressed juices are best consumed within 3 to 5 days of pressing to ensure maximum nutrition. 

Also keep in mind that if you keep the glass bottles after you finish the juice, you can return the rinsed bottle to a Village Juicery store for a discount at your next purchase! Myself, I’m keeping several of them at home for future use. My only qualm with it was that the fonts used on the bottles are all stickers so with a little water on it, sometimes the stickers would start to peel off leaving a slightly sticky residue on the bottle. 

All in all I’ve had a wonderful experience with the cold pressed juices from Village Juicery. As a food blogger, often times I am eating tons of fatty, greasy foods for the sake of a picture so being given the opportunity to cleanse my body and re-fuel it with organic, nutritious ingredients was certainly welcomed with open arms. 

If you think you are ready to go outside of your comfort zone and try some of these cold pressed juices, you can visit their flagship store in Toronto in the heart of Little Italy (540 College Street). Many other retailers across this city also carries their cold pressed juices which you can find their locations here. Thanks to Village Juicery I’m feeling rejuvenated, healthy, and ready to take on anything that comes my way. I am definitely proud to be considered now as one of their Villagers.