I Have Returned!

I got back from Alberta on Wednesday and have been EXHAUSTED ever since. A 7 am flight from Calgary means waking up at 3:30 am in Banff which allowed me only 2 hours of sleep. I have spent the past two days in Waterloo and am back at home now, unpacking, organizing my 970 pictures and video, and trying to get back into my routine.

In case you were itching to find out, the carrot cake disagreement was settled. Jenna agreed that the cake was not delicious, but definitely was not awful. The cake did it's job as mid morning or afternoon snacks.

While I was away I got to try some new restaurants which is always fun. I took some photos of some of the meals and will share them with you today.

The first morning in Calgary we decided to get a hearty breakfast and found a pub on Stephen Ave. which had a great breakfast menu. This sandwich was delicious and had fried egg, bacon, tomato, and greens (can't remember what kind exactly) on a garlicky bun. It was served with a side of onion laced homefries.

This is an egg breakfast sandwich from Wild Flour in Banff. This was such a great bakery that was all organic and also had a lot of vegan options. The sandwich contained egg and cheddar between two slices of freshly baked sourdough bread and then grilled. It was very delicious and perfect to fuel a 4 hour hike at Johnston's canyon later that day.

After visitng Wild Flour for breakfast, Jenna and I knew we wanted to try one of their grilled sandwiches for lunch one day. We decided our shopping day would be a perfect time. I had the veggie and bean baguette grilled sandwich:

Jenna had a grilled chicken pesto sandwich on multigrain bread.

Both were absolutely delicious. The bakery is a little pricey but was a nice treat. For dessert we got a dairy-free brownie which was nice and crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside. I don't have a picture of the chocolaty goodness because, well, photography just wasn't on our mind anymore.

This is a veggie burger that both Jenna and I had at the Rose and Crown in Banff. This place was great! Everything came with two sides which is great when you can't decide between french fries and salad. The rice-based veggie patty was topped with portabello mushrooms and roasted red peppers. I found the burger a bit dry and lacking something, but Jenna loved it! I think a nice slice of pickle would have solved it, haha.

In Banff I also had the best peanut butter and jam sandwich I have ever had. This was at the plains of six glaciers tea house at Lake Louise. After a 5.5 km hike this sandwich definitely hit the spot. This tea house has no electricity or running water, and this bread is baked fresh daily. Supplies are helicoptered in once a year and backpacked or horseback rode in daily. You can appreciate the sheer effort that is put into running this teahouse on a daily basis, and made this sandwich taste even better

Can you tell that I like sandwiches? Some other memorable meals included chicken tacos at Earl's in Calgary, 3 cheese grilled cheese at Rose and Crown in Banff, and a Mediterranean pizza at the Elk in Banff.

I had such a great trip and it was sad to leave my friends, but I am looking forward to doing my own cooking again. I am also excited to finally return to my overnight oats tomorrow morning.

I'll leave you with a sample of the scenery in Banff National Park:

The Ink Pots at Johnston's Canyon

Carrot Cake Disagreement

A while back I made a carrot cake for dessert from 101cookbooks.com (Big surprise. At one point, every meal I ate came from that site, I just love it!). It was hearty, dense, not too sweet, and was fairly healthy. I had it with a light maple cream cheese icing (included in the recipe) and it was delicious! With this success I forwarded the recipe link to my good friend Jenna who also loves a healthy baked good recipe. She tried it out with her Mother one day and thought it was awful! The only way she could eat it was with the icing!!

This surprised me beyond belief. We don't need our muffins very sweet and usually like the same foods. It takes a lot for us to call a baked good awful! I had to find out once and for all whether we did something different, or whether we really do disagree on the deliciousness of this health cake.

I thought today would be a perfect time to rebake the cake. I am leaving for Alberta tonight (with Jenna) and it would make a good snack as well as a quick breakfast tomorrow for my friends and I. I followed the recipe as it is on 101cookbooks but left out the dates. The first time I made it I also left out the dates. I also use regular yogurt instead of Greek yogurt.

The finished product:

I didn't make the icing this time becuase I didn't think it would travel well with icing, haha.

Then I had a piece....

So it wasn't as delicious as I remember, and I could have definitely used some cream cheese icing, but it wasn't awful! I think next time I will include the dates becuase they would definitely sweeten it up. I will still take this cake on my trip with me and will do it's job of providing a hearty and healthy snack.

Now to round out the experiment Jenna just needs to try a piece. We will share a piece on the flight tonight and I will know once and for all if our taste buds are not quite as similar as I thought, or whether Jenna's baking skills are not as fine tuned as mine (joking of course - Jenna is much more careful than I - haha).

I'm off to get ready for my trip to Alberta. I hope to have some great food stories to share from out west while I fuel up for days of hiking!