Hey there! I’ve been really getting into the Christmas spirit this past week, and embracing the cozy winter vibes. And nothing says cozy winter vibes more than hot chocolate! So today I’m bringing you an amazing Cinnamon Spice Hog Chocolate recipe that is SO delicious and made with actual dark chocolate- not just cocoa powder.
That’s right, I used 3 squares of a Lindt 100% Dark Chocolate Bar in this stuff🥰 You can always sub for a lower cocoa concentration, but I find that the 100% gives the hot chocolate a nice, rich flavour. Plus, it doesn’t contain any sugar or dairy, so that keeps this recipe refined sugar free and vegan! I sweetened it by adding a bit of maple syrup, which is the perfect touch👌👌 It’s not too sweet, and allows the chocolate and the spices to shine through.
This recipe also contains some nice spices, namely cinnamon, ginger, and allspice. Working together, they make for a nice and aromatic cup of hot chocolate🥰 They’re the first thing I added to the pot along with the almond milk, proceeding to stir in the chocolate and maple syrup. Then I brought everything to a low simmer and poured it into my favourite mug. Winter heaven!!
I hope you enjoy this cozy recipe! I can definitely see it becoming a new weekend go-to for me:)
Cinnamon Spice Hot Chocolate
Serves: 2
Total Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
3 squares (about 2.5 grams) Lindt 100% Dark Chocolate
1 tbsp maple syrup
Directions:
Heat the milk, along with the spices, in a small pot over low heat.
Stir in the squares of chocolate and allow them to melt. Add in the maple syrup and continue to stir.
Bring the hot chocolate to a slight simmer, then remove from the heat and pour into your favourite mug:)
Enjoy!
The perfect way to start a Monday! Can’t wait for more great holiday recipes coming soon😍 Also, I have an exciting announcement to make later in the week, so make sure that you stay tuned to my Instagram account- mydayisbooked_blog. See you Wednesday!!
Hello! I’m sure you’ve heard me talk about my love for roasted veggies before- honestly I think that I could eat them all day. They get so tender and caramelized in the oven, making them the perfect addition to bowls, or one of my favourite stand-alone sides. However, when we’re talking about raw, uncooked veggies, I definitely prefer fruit. So I was thinking, what would happen if I roasted fruit?!!??! And, ladies and gentlemen, I can assure you that what happens when you roast fruit is PURE MAGIC.
Seriously. Magic. You get ten times the caramelization that you get with veggies because of the higher sugar content, and everything gets all soft, bubbly, and sweet. I roasted some nice in-season winter fruits that you might not think to roast. We’re talking grapes, mandarins, and apples, all of which release some beautiful juices and get amazingly tender. It all feels so Christmas-y and heartwarming!
There is so little prep that goes into this- just washing some grapes, peeling some mandarins, and roughly chopping an apple. I tossed everything in some allspice before roasting for some extra holiday flavour. Then it all goes in the oven for about forty minutes; this is where the enchantment happens. Halfway through the baking time, I took a fork and smashed some of those mandarins and grapes, just to get the juices flowing. Other than that, you just let those fruits do their thing.
Not gonna lie, I sneaked a few of these fruits right off the pan. They would be amazing over oats, yogurt, ice cream, cake, pancakes, waffles- you name it, these would make it better!! Feel free to add some more spices if you like as well- I know that cinnamon would be a welcome addition to the flavour explosion.
Hope you enjoy these festive fruits!
Roasted Winter Fruits
Serves: 2-3
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
1 Gala apple, chopped
2 mandarin oranges, peeled and split into segments
1 1/4 cup red grapes
1 tsp ground allspice
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add all of the ingredients to a bowl and combine. Spread out the fruits onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Place the baking sheet in the oven and roast for about 20 minutes.
At this point, remove them from the oven and use a fork to lightly smash the mandarins and grapes, just bursting them so that the juices can escape. Place the pan back in the oven and roast for another 20 minutes.
Take the fruits out of the oven, serve warm and enjoy!
Have a great weekend everyone! Can’t wait for more holiday recipes coming next week:))
We’ve arrived at the final stretch of the year so this month I’m going HARD to finish all the books that I need to for my 2020 Reading Challenge. I slacked a little in November. Right now I’m reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea and it’s a little bit painful, not gonna lie. It’s a great concept and story and everything, but it’s pretty dry! My goal is to finish by the end of this week because I need to start my other books:)))
I’m so glad that I branched out into a bunch of different genres this year though! I feel like up until now I’ve mostly just been reading YA fiction stuff, but I’m actually starting to drift away from those kinds of fantasy books. There are so many cool books out there, from mystery novels to historical fiction to more classic stories, and I feel like I’ve just reached the tip of the iceberg, which is exciting. YA Fiction- especially fantasy- is still very near and dear to my heart, but after a while the summaries on the backs of the books all start to look the same. Last year I remember I was kind of stuck in a rut thinking that I’ve discovered all of the good books there were to be read…. I don’t know how I was so naive but there are SO many good ones out there. If you’re stuck in a book rut try reading something outside of your usual genre! You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised.
The books I’m reading this month definitely showcase a lot of variety and I’m really excited to read all of them! I have a shameful confession to make though… I STILL haven’t read the Guinevere deception (insert yikes face emoji here). I think it’s been on my book lists since the summertime, but I actually only bought it about a week ago and was in the midst of Twenty Thousand Leagues already. So I actually need to read it this month. I’m getting it done first.
Otherwise, the two other prompts that I still need to fill in are a book about food, and a book set in Asia. I have two books that both look AMAZING to hit these categories. Let’s get into my list so you can see what I mean!
The Guinevere Deception
I finally got my hands on a copy and I’m reading this first in December! I’ve given a summary like five bajillion times now, but the premise is that Guinevere is called to Camelot to marry King Arthur- only she has a secret identity. She was actually sent by Merlin to be a guardian of the city. It’s up to her to save Camelot from the dangers lurking both outside and within. This should be a nice light, fun read and I’m excited to dig in.
A Cook’s Tour
This is for my book about food and I’m REALLY looking forward to it. It’s by Anthony Bourdain who is absolutely amazing, and basically it chronicles his quest around the globe to find the perfect meal. International cuisine is super interesting to me, and I love trying new things! So this should be a super cool read. Who knows, maybe I’ll get some inspiration for more good blog recipes:)) Next year I’d definitely like to pick up some more books on food, just to learn more about different cuisines and techniques so I can share them with you guys. If you have any interest at all in food I suggest picking up this book, because it looks like a good one.
Shantaram
Ok, this one is a little iffy because it is THICK. And by thick I mean a whopping 933 pages. Which my be the thickest book I’ve ever had my sights on.
This book fills in my “set in Asia” prompt, but if its looking like I’m not going to finish it, I may have to jump ship. Although usually if I really like a book, I zoom through it, so I might not have an issue. We’ll see! Anyways, this book is about an Australian convict who flees in India and begins to live in the slums of Bombay. He eventually joins the mafia, whose leader becomes his mentor. This book encapsulates a huge range of human experiences and seems like it deals with some pretty deep stuff so I’ll have to put my thinking cap on. But I like books that talk about humanity and have a deeper message, so hopefully I like this one so much that I can finish it in a week!
Those are the books that I’m planning on ending off the year with! I now recognize how important it is for me to finish Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea ASAP because I have waaaaayyy more reading to do than I anticipated. Hope you guys have an amazing weekend! Gotta go read:))
It seems too early to be transitioning from fall to winter, but it’s kind of already happening. Why the heck is it so cold? And why is the sun rising at like nine and setting at like six? These are questions we have yet to answer, my friends. But in the meantime, we might as well embrace the freezing darkness that is winter and enjoy these stuffed peppers.
Stuffed peppers are an amazing comfort food🥰 They’re hearty and delicious, perfect for a cold winter night. These ones also happen to be super healthy, as well as vegan and gluten free. I used lentils and quinoa for the meat substitute, and it makes a filling that is INCREDIBLE. My advice is to double or triple the recipe so you can have tasty peppers for lunch all week long.
Also, if you don’t feel like cooking for hours or washing a TON of dishes, these are for you! I used canned lentils and already cooked quinoa for increased simplicity. You just need to fry up some onions and basically mix everything tightest in the pot. Then stuff your peppers, pop em in the oven, and let them get nice and soft on the outside, warm on the inside, and crispy on top😍 (Those crispy bits are the best part). You’re left with a meal that is so flavourful and filling that you’ll be like, take that, stupid winter. So yeah, the season might not be too bad if you’ve got these hanging around!
Hope you enjoy this recipe!:)
Lentil and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Serves: 2
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
2 large bell peppers, any colour
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can of tomato paste (6 oz)
1 cup cooked lentils (I used the brown canned variety)
2/3 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp paprika
1 cup packed spinach
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
In a medium sized pot, heat the olive oil. Add in the diced onions and cook for 6-8 minutes, until translucent.
Add the minced garlic to the pot and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Then dump in the tomato paste, lentils, quinoa, balsamic, soy sauce, herbs and spices, and stir to combine.
Let the mixture cook for about 5 minutes, then add in the spinach and continue to cook until it’s wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then remove from the heat.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut out the tops of your peppers so that a round hole is left. Full each pepper with half of the lentil and quinoa filling, then place in a glass baking dish.
Bake the peppers for about 15 minutes in the oven; then reduce the heat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes, until the peppers are soft and the top of the filling is crispy.
Remove from the oven and enjoy!
Hope you guys are having a great week! I have another great pumpkin recipe for you guys on Friday. We’ve got to milk this pumpkin and apple stuff before fall is over, am I right? See you then!
Last week I finished off my fall reading list- and I enjoyed it SO MUCH! The three books on it were each unique and fun reads. First, I finished the Three Dark Crowns series by reading Five Dark Fates, which I think is a suitable ending to an intriguing story. All loose ends are tied up and all questions are answered. The second book that I read was House of Salt and Sorrows. It was an enjoyable read and is full of twists and turns that will definitely keep you guessing. The story wasn’t like what I expected it would be which was a little disappointing, and I know that sounds weird because usually you want a book full of surprises, but I kind of had it in my head how I wanted it to go and had made some inferences of my own, so that’s why I was let down. Overall though, it’s a great read. The Book Thief was the last novel on my list, and I absolutely loved it! It made me cry, and few other books have had that effect on me. It’s written from a unique perspective and makes you fall in love with it’s characters. I definitely recommend reading it if you haven’t already.
Onto this season’s list! On it are some new releases and some older ones, and they’re from all different genres. This list might help you with what to ask for for Christmas;)) Enjoy your holiday reading!
My Winter Reading List
The Beautiful
First up is The Beautiful. I actually just started this book a few days ago, and am enjoying it so far. It’s about a girl named Celine who comes to New Orleans from France in the late 1800’s to start a new life, and becomes involved with a sort of mysterious society. Murders begin to occur in the city, and Celine begins to suspect the society’s attractive leader. After a third murder, the killer sets their sights on Celine and she tries to discover them herself, only to become further involved in a battle between ancient dark forces. This book has been really hyped up on Instagram lately, so I’m hoping it lives up to all of the praise it’s getting! Also, who doesn’t love to curl up by the fire and read a good book about murder?
Lion
Lion was adapted into a film in 2016, and I remember that it was a big deal and got crazy good reviews. Movies aren’t usually as good as their novel counterparts, so if Lion the movie is good, then Lion the book has to be amazing. I got this novel as a gift recently and am excited to read it after The Beautiful. It’s about a boy living in India who gets lost on a train one day, ends up living in Australia, then finds his way back home twenty-five years later. The story sounds incredible, and I’m sure it will be.
Little Women
I’d like to read Little Women because I feel like it’s just one of those classic must-reads, you know? There’s also a Little Women movie coming out with Emma Watson (who I love), so I’d like to read the book before seeing it. I think this book is sort of like Anne of Green Gables or Little House on the Prairie; it’s a coming of age story about four girls that takes place in the 1860’s.
One of Us Is Next
Unfortunately I couldn’t find a good picture for this one, but it’s Karen McManus’ third murder mystery novel and is the sequel to One of Us Is Lying. It takes place one year after the incidents mentioned in the first novel, and includes a dangerous game of truth or dare which leads to the spilling of dark secrets and crazy taunts. This book doesn’t actually come out until January 7th of the new year, but I’m really excited for the release date! In the meantime you should check out One of Us Is Lying and Two Can Keep a Secret, McManus’ other novels of the same genre.
Those should keep me busy all winter! Be sure to check my instagram for book updates and to let me know of any more novels you think I should read. Have a great week and I’ll see you on Wednesday!
My Day Is Booked 