Zumba

Zumba! Zumba!
Who doesn't like to shake their stuff and have some fun?
Zumba class is a great way to do both.

It's fun, it feels great and it's perfect for all ages and stages.

I love to dance and love international beats and those are just some of the reasons I became a Certified Zumba Instructor years back.

My latest class has us taking our passports around the globe for stops in Columbia, Greece, Jamaica, India, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic with our great music and dance styles.

You truly forget you are getting a workout as we dance the time away with fitness incorporated moves to build muscle strength and  flexibility. The cardio is a no brainer, but speaking of the brain it gives your mind a workout to as you learn new dance steps and fitness moves to tempo.

Don't think you have to be a dancer to groove along or gym rat to keep up with the fitness component. You just need to like music and love to have fun.

If you can't make it out to one of my classes you can do Zumba at home. Today's giveaway contest is giving you the chance to win your own Zumba book and DVD!

This book and DVD combo normally sells in most bookstores for $29.99 CAD.
Now a copy can be yours. All you have to do to win yours is  3 things. 1)"follow" our blog (http://www.sonialemoine.blogspot.com/) 2) correctly tell me who the author is of the book ("Zumba  Ditch the workout, Join the Party! The Zumba Weight Loss Program") I'll give you a hint, he's also the founder of Zumba and 3) tell me why you love Zumba.

You can email, text, tweet or post your answer. The contest closes Monday at noon and our winner will be announced by Wednesday morning at the latest.

Till then keep dancing!

Vegan Fitness Workout

Hello Friends!
I have a wonderful fitness program for you!
My dear friend Barry Lovelace has created some amazing workout DVDs for a total body home workout!
Are you looking for a workout that really works!?
Barry Lovelace is an internationally recognized fitness professional. Known for working with Athletes in America, and for his many books on fitness and vegan lifestyle.
No matter how busy your schedule, this workout promises to deliver results and requires less than 30 minutes a day! This is a workout I approve of. It doesn't require a gym or a bunch of equipment you might not own. This really is a workout for everybody! Male, female, beginner or advanced, vegan or omnivore.
If this isn't enough, when you purchase this 2 part series 10% of the funds go to the animal Farm Sanctuary.
Can I mention another bonus? There is no waiting for your DVD to arrive in the mail! Once you purchase this workout you can download it immediately and start your workout today!
...and I forgot to mention! ...by clicking on the link below you will not only get this amazing two part work out series but you will also receive over a $130.00 worth of amazing bonuses that you will get to see when you click the link. So what does this work out cost you? Are you ready for this? Only $29.99!!! When was the last time you got over $160.00 worth of health and fitness videos and books  for just $29.99? !
This is a great gift for yourself and anyone you know who enjoys a good workout and great value! Whether you give this as a gift or keep it for yourself you'll feel good know you are getting expert advice from such a well know fitness professional and in supporting the Farm Sanctuary.
So click on the link below and purchase yours today because I don't know how long this amazing special will last.
For more information on Barry, his workout series and the Farm Sanctuary please click the link below.

http://tinyurl.com/5ue763n

Black History Month

February is Black History Month, a remembrance of events that took place in the history of Black people. It's a great time to read some wonderful novels by Black authors or to read the history of Blacks in Canada or America. I've attached a link for a Black History learning tool.
http://blackhistorycanada.ca/education/LearningTools.pdf

Black history month is also a great time to eat some African, Southern or Caribbean cooking. So to help celebrate I've got a recipe for collard greens!

Vegan Collard Greens:


4 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 carrots, peeled and thinly diced

1 scotch bonnet pepper

1 cup vegetable stock

6-8 cups chopped collard greens

A few drops of Liquid smoke

Sea salt, to taste

Directions:

1.Heat the oil in a stock pot over medium heat. Add the onions, cooking until they are translucent, and soft about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly as not to burn the garlic.

2.Add carrots and pepper and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Turn the heat down to low and add vegetable stock and collard greens. Cover pot and allow to cook just until the greens are cooked and tender. Salt to taste. Serve as a hot side dish.
 
So celebrate this Black History by throwing on some Bob Marley and dance around your living room, maybe watch a Sidney Poitier movie, and have some good eats!


Vegan Peace & Love

Sonia

Happy New Year

It's the end of January.
For those of you who made New Year's Resolutions how are you doing? Still making those positive life changes?
How many of you celebrated Vegan Pizza Day on January 29th by making a delicious vegan pie?
So much seems to be going on in the vegan world and we are still in the first month of the year!
Next month proves to be keeping up the momentum as Oprah and her staff of 378 plan on going vegan for a week. It all begins tomorrow, and how great that someone with such a huge following is bringing this healthy lifestyle mainstream to  millions of viewers.
Seems the world is slowly going vegan or at least providing more services to it's vegan customers!
I was in Jamaica just a few weeks ago and was amazed at how much veganism has exploded on the island. Already known for a strong vegan and vegetarian culture, especially amongst the Rastafarians, and a new health conscience generation. I was thrilled to see that all restaurants from the local fast food (and surprisingly healthy) to the most upscale restaurants were all offering a wide variety of vegan options.
We have a lot of exciting things we'll be sharing with you this year too!
So stay tuned!
Vegan Peace & Love!

Sonia

Better Than Oreos

In a large mixing bowl combine  3/4 cup vegan shortening, 1 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1/2 cup almond milk.

In a separate bowl combine 11/2 cups of flour, 3/4 cocoa (dark is best like the very alkalized black cocoa but Dutch will do they just won't be as dark),  2 teaspoons of cornstarch, 1/4 baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Sift the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix until you have a nice dough.

Chill in the fridge for an hour or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350. On parchment paper (not a floured surface or your oreos will no longer be dark but dusted with white flour) roll out the dough and using a round cookie cutter cut out your circles for the cookies.

Drop the circles on parchment papered cookie sheets make sure you have enough to pair up in the end.. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes.

No I haven't forgotten the white filling.

While your cookies are baking combine the following to make the cookie filling:

I start by melting a handful of vegan marshmallows in a double broiler and then adding 2 teaspoons of vanilla. While this is cooling mix together:

1/4 vegan margarine

1/4 vegan shortening

21/2 cups of icing sugar

Combine all the filling ingredients together until pretty thick. (You may need to refrigerate it or add more powdered sugar.)

Now you are ready to drop the filling on top of a cookie and then lid it with another. Do this until you've created all your little sandwiches.

Better Than Oreos!

Sonia's Snickerdoodles - Winnipeg Free Press

Sonia's Snickerdoodles - Winnipeg Free Press

Macaroon Cookies

If you like macaroons you'll like these macaroon cookies.

Start by toasting in a pan 2 cups of shredded coconut on a low heat so you don't burn them. This will take about five minutes before they brown nicely. Set it off to the side to cool and then preheat your oven to 350.
Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl combine 1/4 cup of coconut oil, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup coconut milk, 1 tablespoon ground flax, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Once you've blended this together get a second bowl for your dry ingredients. In this bowl you will combine the following, 1 cup unbleached flour, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt and the cooled toasted coconut.
Then combine the dry ingredients with the wet.
Form the dough into balls and place on cookie sheets.
Bake these for about 10 minutes.
They will fall flat while baking.
While they cool start on the chocolate drizzle to decorate the cookies with (what I've been doing lately though with this recipe is dipping the bottoms of the cookies in the chocolate coating instead of designing with a drizzle).
For the chocolate drizzle or coating you will need to melt a cup of chocolate chips in a double broiler with 2 tablespoons of coconut oil. Once it has melted set it off to the side to start to cool. This will allow the chocolate dip to start to solidify somewhat and makes it easier (and safer) to dip the cookies in.
Another suggestion if I may is to put the cookies in the fridge right after you do this so that the chocolate really adheres to the cookies if you are dipping the. If you are simply drizzling the chocolate on top then this is not necessary.
I'd love to see your pictures of these cookies, and it will enter you in the draw for the goodies from The Garden of Vegan!
Enjoy!

Sonia's Chocolate Snickerdoodles

So true ladies!
I did promise on the Facebook site to give you BOTH Snickerdoodle recipes!
Thanks for your gentle email reminders and here is the recipe!
This recipe will also qualify for the contest going on at The Garden of Vegan Facebook page!

In a large mixing bowl cream 1/2 cup canola oil with 1 cup of sugar or other sweetener until creamy. Then add in 1/4 cup maple syrup, 2 Tablespoons of almond milk,2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.


In a separate bowl sift 1 2/3 cups unbleached flour, 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix your dry mixture into the large bowl.

When you've created a soft dough chill it for an hour or overnight in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 350

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and then start rolling the dough into little balls.

Then sprinkle each cookie with the cinnamon coating (recipe to follow) and bake for 10 minutes.



Cinnamon Coating:

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Easy, Vegan and Delicious!

Chai Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sipping I warm cup of chai and eating chai cookies. Yum!

Want the recipe?
Sure you do!

Preheat the oven to 350 and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper (you know I love this stuff for great cookies!)

In a large bowl mixe1/2 cup of vegan shortening and 1/2 cup of vegan margarine along with 3/4 cups of powder sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
In a second bowl mix together 1 cup of unbleached flour, 1 cup pastry flour, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 2 teaspoons of cardamom, 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon of ground coriander, 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger, a pinch of all spice and a pinch of ground peppercorns.

Now before you continue here is something I used to do when making this recipe for an extra kick. I used to soak a chai teabag in 1/4 cup of almond milk and mix it in. The extra flavour was great. Then one day the bag burst in the milk and it gave me an idea. What if I just tore open a bag of chai tea and threw it in the mix with all the spices. I did and it was divine! So at this point if you'd like empty the contents of a chai tea leaf bag into the dry mix bowl now. If that idea turns you off don't, but trust me. I always make the recipe with the contents of the tea bag now and it's so much better!  If you find the recipe is getting crumbly and needs more moisture please add the almond milk  just remember to remove the tea bag! Now back to the recipe.

Mix the dry and wet ingredients together to create your dough. Once you have this dough start to mix in 2/3 cups of chocolate chips.
I then roll the dough out into a log and start slicing off my cookies and transferring them to a cookie sheet.

I then bake them for a little longer than my other cookies because of the tea bag contents so bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.

This is another yummy recipe that you can send in a picture for the draw to win an assortment of vegan bars from the Garden of Vegan.
http://www.thegardenofvegan.ca/

Cafe Cocoas

Like Chocolate?
Like Coffee?
You'll LOVE the Cafe Cocoas!

Cookie Mix:

1/2 cup Canola Oil
3/4 Cup Sugar or other sweetener
1/4 Cup  Almond Milk
1 Ttablespoon flax seed powder
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 teaspoons coffee extract
1 1/2 cups unbleachedd flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cookie Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons almond milk
1/2 teaspoon coffee extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl combine the first 5 ingredients.
Then add your extracts.
Finally sift in all your dry ingredients.
Chill for an hour in the fridge (or overnight).
Preheat the oven to 350

Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Roll the dough into balls and place on your cookie sheets.
Once you have all the balls aligned on your sheets gentle press them down slightly with the palm of your had or bottom of a cup.
Bake for 10 minutes.
While they are cooling combine the ingredients for your icing.
Now you can decorate your Cafe Cocoas with happy faces, letters, or zigzag designs across the top.
The first person to make this recipe and send in your picture of your Cafe Cocoa's will have their photo posted on the website with credits of course! Better yet! Send in a picture of you AND your Cafe Cocoa's!

Enjoy!