Check out my New Fave Dairy Free Sorbet brand, Fiasco Gelato at TD Union Summer

Hi everyone,

Hellooooo to hot & humid summer weather in T.O!!!

Can’t believe it’s July and this means it’s officially summer time for the first few weeks of July we were hit with a heat wave & humidity and so far lots of sunny days, a much needed change of weather after a tough cool Spring weather!! What cool treats do you usually cool down with during these hot summer short months in T.O or where you live?? One of my fave treats are dairy free sorbets because I love the refreshing sweet and fruity flavours especially in the summer time.

**Please Note: Fiasco Gelato has officially launched their re-branded name as Righteous Gelato as of April 20, 2020, look out for their new products with new re-branded name in stores!! Same great taste, just new name!!**

Update

I hope that you guys are excited for another blog post within a few weeks of my recent post as I been working hard & focused with my blog before my quick Vancouver trip end of July. Usually I don’t post this closely together but I couldn’t wait to share with you guys my summer post.

Fiasco Gelato

I’m excited to share with you guys my sweet summer post about my new fave Gelato and Dairy free Sorbet company called: Fiasco Gelato. Fiasco Gelato is Calgary based company which was originally founded as a scoop shop in 2003, James Boettcher then acquired by Fiasco in 2009 where he re-invented the brand and re-launched in August 2015 to a new Headquarters where Fiasco Gelato Factory and Coffee Bar was opened in in Calgary where it is today.  They only have one retail location where all the gelato and sorbetto is hand crafted made with fresh local ingredients to their best quality. They have a great selection of flavours and love that they continue to create new exciting flavours, which is why I love Fiasco Gelato. You can also take a tour of their facilities to see how their gelato & sorbetto is made.

*Credit to Fiasco Gelato for this photo of their new summer flavours on Instagram*

All of their Gelato and Sorbetto pints are made all natural with no artificial flavours or colours. Their Sorbetto is always dairy, gluten and animal-fat free as well as vegan friendly as well none of their products contain soy or egg, but rather a stabilizer that comes from plants. Aside from the natural sugars found in fruit, they use cane sugar to sweeten their Gelato or Sorbetto. That’s why I am recommending Fiasco Gelato because it is perfect for people like me who are dairy free as well as for those who are vegan and gluten free in their diets.

TD Union Summer

So you may be wondering why am I recommending Fiasco Gelato products when they have one retail location in Calgary when I live in Toronto well because they have joined TD Union Summer this summer open from May 31 – August 3, 2019 located just outside Union Station. Union Summer is presented by TD to host their annual summer market to bring together Top Chefs, musicians, film screenings and live performances to union station. The market is an open beautiful lush space to feel like an oasis at the city’s downtown area. Fiasco Gelato is one vendors this summer joining TD Union Summer serving their delicious, sweet and dairy free gelatos and sorbettos. They have rotating flavours along with their pints available for purchase as well.

I was excited to stop by and sample and enjoy their dairy free Sorbettos during one of the weekends in July at TD Union Summer. I tried their Mango Pineapple Sorbetto flavour and loved the fresh and fruity summer mango and combined with pineapple flavour, it felt like I was in the tropics! It wasn’t too sweet either which is great that they have all natural ingredients and no added sugar, which is what I love about it!! If you stop by to sample their delicious and refreshing gelatos or sobrettos, a good info to know is that they do not take cash so you know, only debit and credit. 

I loved the space that TD Union Summer created where they created an oasis type of backyard atmosphere with long wooden tables and chairs as if you were relaxing in your very own backyard, I love it!! In the middle of Toronto’s busy downtown core with amazing views of downtown, Rogers Centre, CN Tower and the city itself, you wouldn’t expect that type of atmosphere and beautiful interior and live music!

My Mango Pineapple sorbetto

If you have a chance to stop by the TD Union Summer, I definitely suggest you stop by and sample some of Fiasco Gelato delicious gelatos and sorbettos and enjoy the beautiful summer atmosphere in downtown Toronto. It was definitely worth it as I made more than one trip to sample their refreshing sweet sorbets as I wanted to sample other flavours before buying their pints in stores!!

Where To Buy

So for those who can’t go to the one retail location in Calgary or stop by the TD Union Summer this summer, you can always buy your very own pint at a local stores like Organic Garage, Metro, Loblaws, Whole Foods, and more near your city. Fiasco Gelato is available across Canada from Vancouver & Victoria, British Columbia to Winnipeg, Manitoba to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Montreal, Quebec & Quebec City to Toronto, Ontario to Edmonton, Alberta. To find more stores, see the banner below and you can also check out their website, which I will provide for you below this post. I found Fiasco Gelato at an Organic Garage grocery store while shopping and excited to get my very own pint…:)

You can also buy one of their pints or single serves or merchandise online through their Shop.

*Credit to Fiasco Gelato for the Banner from their website*

Fiasco Gelato pints at Organic Garage

Stay Connected

As we start this hot & humid summer, I have a busy rest of the summer with my short Vancouver trip end of July for my cousin’s wedding and a few concerts & food festivals & beach & day trips ahead, so please stay connected with me throughout the summer with my next blog updates and foodie & travel adventures by following me through my Social Media networks on,

Twitter @SweetBFoodie24 and on Instagram @SweetBFoodie24.

I am planning to do an account for my own Pinterest page soon so look out for that sometime in the New Year 2020.

Enjoy the heat and sunny days in T.O or where ever you are while it last as in Toronto the hot days only last a few months before we get Fall and cold days ahead.

Don’t forget to get your very own sweet & refreshing frozen fruity pint from Fiasco Gelato this summer to stay cool during these hot & humid days!! For those who do get one, please leave a comment below which flavour you got and what you think of Fiasco Gelato or those who stop by the TD Union Summer, please let me know too as I always love hearing from my readers!!

Have an amazing and fun summer everyone!!! ☀🏖️🌴✈️🍍🍓🍦🍨🍹

Until next time…

xoxo,

-Sweet B.

For more information on Fiasco Gelato now NEW REBRAND NAME Righteous Gelato, please see below:

Official Website – NEW BRAND NAME Change to Righteous Gelato – click here

You can follow them on their social media networks through Facebook @RighteousGelato, Twitter @FiascoGelato and Instagram @RighteousGelato.

For more information on TD Union summer, please see below:

Check out their website here -> click here.

**Updated as of April 23, 2020 – It is now official Fiasco Gelato announced their launch of re-branded name: Righteous Gelato**

 

My Food Travels – Summer Getaway 2018 to Montreal, QC

Hi everyone,

Welcome back to my sweet dairyfree blog!!! It’s been a very hectic & busy but fun summer and I can’t believe it’s already end of September and it’s officially Fall now!!! Where did the summer go? Can’t believe how fast summer went!! There were many events and things happening in August so unfortunately I didn’t even have time to share them with you all some of the amazing moments and times during my fun and busy month of August. From food festivals to watching live tennis to going to the beach (many days) to day trips and lastly to my summer getaway to Montreal at end of the month.

It was one of my busiest summers ever for me and now I’m actually looking forward to be more focused on this blog & working on it before the busy Holidays in December. How was everyone’s summer?? What was your fave part of your summer for 2018?? I hope everyone enjoyed this year really humid summer days even though at times I wish it was cooler lol!! With some warm Fall weather, you can still always enjoy dairy free desserts and here are some of my previous blogs for some suggestions:

• My New Fave Dairy free Tigernut Ice Cream: The Chufa Co.
• My 3 New Fave Summer Sorbet Places
• My Dairy Free Berrylicious Mango Smoothie Recipe

4th Feature – Food Travels in Montreal, Quebec

This is my 4^th Feature for my Food Travels if you haven’t read my previous ones, you should definitely check them out here as some of the food adventures places that I have travelled include Kingston and London, ON.

I love travelling to new cities or towns to explore and discover new bakeries and restaurants along with the sights and attractions in a new city or town whether it is in Ontario or in Canada or USA. I love sharing my discovery with my readers.

The Old Charming City of Montreal, QC

Marche Bonsecours in the Old Port

I travelled to Montreal, QC for my summer getaway as a last minute trip for a personal event so of course while I’m there you know I love my dairyfree and vegan desserts so it is not surprise that I had to check out a few bakeries in Montreal as Montreal is known for delicious and amazing foods and yes even vegan foods and had to share them with you guys while I was on vacation. This is not my 1^st visit to Montreal as I been to Montreal a few times over the last few years but haven’t been since 2015 for the Food Bloggers of Canada conference.

If you haven’t been to Montreal before, it is the largest city in Canada’s Québec province and set on an island in the Saint Lawrence River and named after Mount Royal because of it’s triple peaked hill in the middle of the city. What brings the old charming feel to the city of Montreal is the architecture and cobbled streets in Old Montreal, which has been maintained or restored by the city, it is a historic area southeast of the downtown area with many attractions including the Old Port of Montreal, Place Jacques-Cartier, Montreal City Hall, the Bonsecours Market, Place d’Armes, the Notre-Dame de Montreal Basilica and more!!

Montreal is a big, busy, exhilarating city, with so much to see and do from their entertaining nightlife on popular streets like Saint Catherine and Crescent Street filled with lots of variety of restaurants, bars and clubs to Montreal’s fashionable shopping districts and then of course, Montreal’s amazing food with a large variety of different tastes around the world for everyone! Montreal also offers a diversity of recreational activities from the many parks to explore in Montreal like Mount Royal or going to the Casino de Montréal or going to the Botanical Garden or going to music festivals and more to name just a few activities that Montreal has to offer.

As you can see, Montreal is a big and exciting city to explore with many things to do and see that I always love coming back to do different things that I haven’t done before or explore back to the places I been to that I love seeing again like the Old Port while enjoying their old and charming city feel when I return.

My Experience

My delicious dairy free lunch on the VIA Rail train

I travelled to Montreal by VIA Rail train as I enjoy taking the train as it’s the most comfortable and easiest way for me to travel to another city. Travelling by train is affordable and great low prices too. I usually travel the train under the Business class as I love the comfortable of spacious seating and delicious meals esp for longer journey like to Montreal. It’s a great way to travel as you don’t have to worry about the traffic and you get to rest comfortable to get to your destination. I highly recommend travelling by train within Ontario, Quebec and even further cities, it’s a great way to explore Canada.

I stayed at the new Holiday Inn & Suites Montreal Centre-ville Ouest hotel, which is located in the heart of Montreal’s business district. Within walking distance from CGI and WSP corporate offices, Concordia University, the CIBC Tower, Mary-Queen-of-the-World Cathedral, Place Ville-Marie, Place Bonaventure and more!!

It is one block away from both St-Catherine Street, which is known for it’s street of shops and restaurants and Crescent Street, well known for it’s nightlife, bars and restaurants.

It is a great downtown location as it is close to a Metro station for easy access to get around the city by transit. Some of the amenities include: panoramic indoor salted pool, the state-of-the-art fitness center and Le Restaurant Crossbar.

The lobby beautiful lights

It was my 1^st time staying at the Holiday Inn & Suites Montreal Centre-ville Ouest hotel and loved it!! It is one of the newer hotels located in the heart of downtown. The design and interior of the hotel is modern and beautifully updated along with a spacious size King bedroom that I stayed in with city views. The staff at this hotel was very friendly and helpful to me when I needed directions or restaurant suggestions around the area. Only con I found about this hotel is that at the moment there is a huge construction going on around the area so it was a bit hard to navigate to get to the actual hotel from the Metro as it was also in the under construction area as they are working on a new building and fixing few things. Once completed it would look great and easier to walk around.

Otherwise, I was very impressed with this Holiday Inn & Suites Centre-ville in Montreal definitely a very sophisticated and modern 4-star hotel and most important is that it was a very clean hotel. I also had time to enjoy their beautiful and large pool during my stay. I highly recommend if you are in Montreal to stay at this amazing hotel as it is close to a lot of attractions in Montreal!!

My 3 Fave Dairy Free Dessert Places To Visit in Montreal

When visiting a new city I love discovering new dairy free bakeshops, despite having been to Montreal already this is my 1^st visit to Montreal on my dairy free diet as I haven’t been to Montreal in a few years now. Check out below my 3 Fave Dairy Free Dessert / Bakeshops in Montreal and why I love them.

1) Creperie du Marché

If you love crepes like me, I was so excited to find a crepe place called, Creperie du Marché that makes organic dairy free, gluten free buckwheat crepes that is located in the heart of the Jean Talon Market. Jean Talon Market is a large farmer’s market in Montreal, which is located in the Little Italy district. It is open year-round and yes even in the winter where about 300 vendors mostly farmers from Montreal sell their local produces from meat, fish, cheese, fruits, vegetables and more along with stores offering baked goods and more!

Creperie du Marché offers their French cuisine to their healthy gluten free buckwheat crepes using organic and local products in Montreal to make one of the best dairy free buckwheat crepes I ever had!! They offer a good selection of crepes from savoury to sweet crepes with breakfast types like ham, apple and cheese to vegetarian/vegan crepes like spinach, tomato, egg and cheese to sweet crepes like apples, pears, caramel and whipped cream to name a few from their menu. Besides crepes, they also offer drinks such as coffee, organic tea, juices, sparkling cider and more.

I decided to try their special summer buckwheat crepe, which consists of fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries topped with sugar icing, which was added for my crepe as it was originally with maple syrup. The buckwheat crepe was delicious, moist and tasty, I loved it!!! I love the summer fruits – strawberries, raspberries and blueberries on top making it taste like summer in my mouth!!

Also great and friendly customer service at Creperie du Marché as if you had an allergy that you can let them know and they can accommodate you. If you are looking for a healthy gluten free and dairy free buckwheat crepe with a variety of toppings available from savoury to sweet to vegetarian then I definitely recommend you check out Creperie du Marché.

For more information on Creperie du Marché, please see below:

Check out their website -> click here

You can follow them on their Social Media networks, Facebook @Creperiedumarche and Instagram @Creperiedumarche.

2) Ca Lem

A definitely must visit when in Montreal looking for freshly made ice creams, sorbets and homemade soft serve swirls with vegan options is Ca Lem. Ca Lem is located in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) a residential neighborhood of Montreal in the West end on Sherbrooke Street. It wasn’t too far to travel from the downtown area by Metro to visit Ca Lem as it was definitely worth the trip.

Ca Lem is a cozy, charming and cute shop with bright interior design of benches to sit while the outside of the shop feels like a backyard home with fake grass though with benches and beautiful flowers surrounding the area. Ca Lem has Instagram worthy shots spots inside their cozy shop set up to take photos of your ice cream, if it isn’t melting yet lol…like mines was lol!! I instantly fell in love with their cozy and brightly designed shop!! The staff at the shop are very friendly and very helpful about the types of ice cream, sorbets and soft serve available esp for people like me that is dairy free.

They offer 18 delightful flavours of creamy to fruity, hard to soft, or even a mix of ice cream, sorbets to soft serve along with some exotic flavours. I love the variety of options that they have here for both dairy free and with dairy. They also update on a weekly basis with their flavours and esp the homemade soft-serve duos!! I love that they change it up every week with the soft-serve duos but only wish I could enjoy them as well as they are only one side is dairy free. Would love for them to incorporate more dairy free options. They also offer pints to take home with you so that is great to enjoy at home.

I was happy to have made it to Ca Lem after the rainstorm that day in Montreal and there’s no better way than after the rain to enjoy a sweet treat. I decided on 2 sorbet flavours the Mango and Strawberry Lychee, it was delicious!! I love the light and flavourful of the sorbets!!! It was still hot that day despite the rain so my sorbet was melting a bit so it was hard to get the photos so sorry my photos I am sharing with you guys my sorbet looks like it’s melting lol!!

I highly recommend this cozy and cute ice cream, sorbet and soft serve shop in Montreal!! It is definitely worth the trip with their friendly customer service and a variety of delicious and different flavours available. They are closing for the season end of September and possible few dates open in October I heard so definitely if you can check them out and enjoy a sweet dairy free sorbet before the end of season, I love my sorbets anytime and any season though!! You can check out their Instagram as they do a lot of updates on their IG stories for what flavours they have available each week and they also update about their hours. I look forward to checking them out again on my next Montreal visit!!

For more information on Ca Lem, please see below:

Check out their website -> click here

You can follow them on their Social Media networks, Facebook @Calemmontreal and Instagram @Calemcreamery.

3) Cookie Stéfanie

I’m happy to share with you a new gluten free, dairy free and egg free bakery in downtown Montreal in the Old Port area called: Cookie Stéfanie. They first opened the bakery in 2012 created by Stéfanie Poulin and continued to grow successfully offering the best gluten-free products and partnered and is now headed by Marie-Claude Huard, a cookie industry veteran and who first created the 1st gluten-free cupcakes in Montreal.

Cookie Stéfanie offers a variety of gluten free baked goods with some baked goods that are also dairy free and egg free from their famous cupcakes to muffins, cookies, cakes, brownies, and grilled cheese sandwiches. As well they offer specialty drinks such as coffee, espresso, latte, chai latte, cappuccino, tea and juices. They also offer light lunch options such as fresh salads and soup bowls.

It was a cozy and modern bakery with a decent area for sitting to enjoy your baked goods. Great customer service from the staff who was knowledgeable and friendly to assist me with what is available of baked goods that they had.

With so many choices, it was hard for me to decide but I decided on 1 Vanilla cupcake with Raspberry frosting and 2 mini cupcakes both Vanilla but one with Raspberry frosting and the other one is caramel frosting as well as a Blueberry Cranberry gluten free muffin. It was nice to have these delicious gluten free and dairy free treats to bring on the train with me home and enjoyed one of the cupcakes on my train ride home. It was delicious as the cake of the cupcake was moist and the frosting wasn’t too sweet.

I would definitely recommend Cookie Stéfanie if you are in the Montreal area of the Old Port if you are looking for delicious, sweet and gluten free cupcakes along with their variety of selection of baked goods is another great reason to stop by yourself to see why I love this bakery! I’m excited to return to this bakery on my next visit to Montreal and happy to know where I can get gluten free and dairy free cupcakes!!

For more information on Cookie Stéfanie, please see below:

Check out their website -> click here

You can follow them on their Social Media networks, Facebook @CookieStefanieSG and Instagram @CookieStefanie.

Exploring Montreal

As I was in Montreal for a short getaway for the summer, I wish I had more time to explore more of Montreal as there are still parts of Montreal I haven’t seen. During my short visit, I got to do some shopping on popular Saint Catherine Street and Montreal Eaton Centre. I also got to enjoy the charming cobberstone streets of the Old Port and rode the La Grande Roue Montreal where I saw the city of Montreal from the highest views. As you can see, I also enjoyed a lot of delicious and dairy free desserts and foods while in Montreal. I can’t wait for my next visit to Montreal already to explore more!!

The Clock Tower

Update

Don’t forget to stay connected with me for the latest updates on my next blog post through Twitter @SweetBFoodie24 and follow along on my foodie adventures with my IG stories on Instagram @SweetBFoodie24.

If you are planning to visit Montreal or live within the area of Montreal, if you are looking for delicious, dairy free, gluten free desserts, check out my 3 Fave Dairy Free Dessert Places/Bakeshops that include: Creperie du Marché in Jean-Talon Market, Ca Lem, and Cookie Stéfanie in the Old Montreal area. I highly recommend these 3 amazing and unique dairy free and gluten free dessert places that you definitely won’t be disappointed. They will satisfy your sweet cravings while in Montreal!!

As we are officially in the Fall season and soon to have colder weather, I’m off on my next foodie adventure on a search for a warmer dairy free dessert place for the colder days ahead!!! Stay warm or cool depending on this Fall season everyone, I’m ready for sweater weather, seeing the beautiful colourful leaves and of course the yummy apple warm desserts and apple ciders!! 🍁🍂🍎🍑🍰☕🚂

-Sweet B.

For more information on Montreal Tourism, please see below:

Montreal Tourism Official Website -> click here

You can follow them on their Social Media networks, Facebook @Montreal, Twitter @Montreal and Instagram @Montreal.

Try My New Fave Dairy free Tigernut Ice Cream: The Chufa Co.

Hi everyone,

How is everyone enjoying these hot & humid summer days in Toronto?? Wow!!! It’s been a very hot and sticky summer so far in Toronto. We had a few relief of cooler days and even rain finally to cool down in the city at least. I love my sunny & warm summer days, but sometimes it’s a bit too humid especially in the city and so I been enjoying my summer days finding ways to cool down with relaxing by the beach or having cold dairy free desserts. How are you guys cooling off this summer in Toronto?

With these scorching hot summer days in Toronto, who wouldn’t love a frozen dessert treat to cool down with?? From my previous blog post, I shared with you about my 3 delicious and dairy free sorbets places to check out. I hope that you guys had a chance to check them out, if so, what do you think?? I would love to hear your opinions and you can comment below!!

As some of you know, July is National Ice Cream Month, what perfect way to celebrate National Ice Cream Month then sharing with you guys about a new dairy free ice cream that I discovered. Ice Creams are the perfect frozen dessert especially during these humid summer days. For people like me who enjoys dairy free products due to allergies, it sometimes is a challenge to find ice cream without dairy in it.

That’s why I’m soooo happy and excited to share with you The Chufa Co who makes their non dairy ice cream with their tigernut milk ice cream. Their vegan ice cream it’s rich and creamy without the hint of coconut. For me, sometimes I’m not a fan of the coconut taste and this ice cream you can’t even taste the coconut taste in it. If you are one of those who don’t prefer the taste of coconut, this is one vegan ice cream you need to try. Plus it’s also soy and nut free made with only organic and real ingredients. It is also high in fibre and protein.

Some of you may be asking, what exactly is Tigernuts? With my research and information from The Chufa Co website, Tigernuts also known as Chufas. They are not nuts but actually little root vegetables with an impressive nutritional profile. They are an ancient superfood that is full of fibre and resistant starch. “Tigernuts are a source of prebiotics that feed and promote the good bacteria in our gut.” -The Chufa Co. Tigernuts are a good source of magnesium and provides a good amount of potassium. They are naturally sweet and a great addition to a healthy and balanced diet to live a healthy life.

Now that I introduced you to The Chufa Co. – the new non dairy ice cream, how excited are you to try this delicious and creamy dairy free ice cream? Well, before buying your own pint, which I highly recommend, why not stop by first to their summer soft serve popup that they opened in the Beaches area to sample yourself this sweet and yummy dairy free ice cream!! It definitely is a must to stop by their summer cute popup by the Beaches and it’s the perfect location as you can stop by the beach at Woodbine Beach and then come by the Chufa Co. popup for a refreshing and cold dessert.

It is located at 1973 Queen Street East in the Beaches area at the corner of Waverley Road and Queen Street East. They are open Tuesday – Sunday from 1-9pm and closed on Mondays. Their soft serve summer popup will be open til late September 2018.

I was so excited to finally stop by their summer soft serve pop up earlier this month on a very hot and humid day, which was perfect for dairy free soft serve ice cream!! It’s a cozy and cute small summer popup stand and perfect for sweet & delicious dairy free soft serve to enjoy. I love the colours and concept of the popup!! Also great and very friendly customer service by the two staff that worked there too. And knowledgeable about the soft serve product of The Chufa Co. ice cream.

I ended up with their Vanilla dairy free soft serve with strawberry sauce and it was simply delicious despite the fact it was melting fast lol…but it tasted like a normal dairy ice cream, but this one is dairy free and there was no hint of the coconut taste and it was soft and creamy just like regular ice cream. I loved it!! I can’t wait to stop by again already!!

Once you stop by their summer popup shop and taste one of their delicious and creamy dairy free soft serve, maybe you want to now buy your own pint of this delicious tigernut dairy free ice cream, right? The Chufa Co. has their tigernut dairy free ice cream in several retailers in Toronto and within the area of Toronto as well and they looking to expand more retailers in 2018. Some of the retailers right now include: The Big Carrot, Sorelle and Co., The Sweet Potato, Organic Garage, YamChops and more to name a few. Please check their website for the full list of retailers and you can find their website below my blog post.

I went to 2 locations to check for The Chufa Co. dairy free ice cream: The Big Carrot and Organic Garage. I found all 3 flavours at The Big Carrot, but only found 2 flavours at the Organic Garage. I was excited to find them thou it is a bit pricey for one pint (it is on the higher end of the dairy free ice creams if you are wondering), but it’s so worth it for dairy free ice cream to have your own pint at home to enjoy anytime. I’m looking forward to trying the Strawberry Cardamom one!!

The Chufa Co. dairy free ice cream pints at The Big Carrot

The Chufa Co. ice cream pints at the Organic Garage

Update & Stay Connected With Me

It will be a busy August summer month for me with watching tennis live, attending a few food festivals, and my summer weekend getaway to Montreal at the end of August. I’m attending a personal event as always I love looking for new dairy free bakeshops in new cities so I will be on a look out for dairy free bakeshops to share with you guys!! Can’t wait!! A bit of both of work and play…😉

Don’t forget to stay connected with me for the latest updates on my next blog post and foodie adventures through my Social Media networks,

Twitter @SweetBFoodie24 and on Instagram & IG stories @SweetBFoodie24.

Even though it’s the end of the month for July  meaning National Ice Cream Month is over…😥, for me National Ice Cream Months are every month and any day of the year and any season. Summer is still here in August and what is more perfect on a humid and hot summer day than dairy free ice cream to cool down with, so don’t forget to stop by the Chufa Co. summer popup in the Beaches area before they close in late September or get your very own pint at one of their selected retailers!! I highly recommend their soft and creamy dairy free ice cream!!

For now, let’s relax and enjoy these summer carefree days with our sweet and yummy dairy free ice cream by the Chufa Co. as I continue my search for my next sweet dairy free dessert adventure in Toronto & Montreal.

-Sweet B.  

For more information on The Chufa Co., please see below:

The Chufa Co. – website – click here

You can follow them on their social media networks through Facebook @TheChufaCo and Instagram @TheChufaCo.

 

My 3 New Fave Summer Sorbet Places

Hi everyone,

Hellooooo summer finally!! It definitely feels like summer with these super scorching humid and hot 1st long weekend of the summer! Yes it’s officially summer now as June 21, 2018 marks the first official day of summer. As summer was approaching in Toronto, we were already feeling the heat and sunny days, I am loving every minute of it especially since coming back from my hot and tropical vacation in Jamaica. I am definitely ready for these hot and sunny days in Toronto.

Who’s ready for summer this year?? What are you guys looking forward to this summer?? I can’t wait for more food festivals, music festivals, beach days and day trips & getaways. I always enjoy the warmer and not too hot days here in Toronto. I tend to enjoy the summer days either within the city or to neighbouring cities to enjoy the beaches and quaint towns atmosphere in Ontario. So if you are looking for ways to cool down within Toronto, one of the best ways is of course with cold frozen desserts, right? 

Well with these hot and humid summer months in Toronto, yes there are some days way too humid for me even lol and I love to cool down with cold, sweet and freshly made fruit sorbets desserts. For those like me, who enjoys dairyfree foods, it sometimes is a challenge to find a great tasting frozen dessert to cool down with and I think that sorbets are a great option to refresh your palate and cool down in the sun. Sorbets are made of water, fruit and sugar, which I love that is 100% fruit, which tends to be more healthier.

My Top 3 Fave Sorbet Places

Here are 3 new Sorbet places I discovered that I highly recommend to you my readers where I enjoyed sweet, delicious and freshly made sorbets for you to enjoy this summer. Some of the places you wouldn’t even think of have that will serve this type of dessert are some of the hidden gems for sorbets.

1 – Nadège Patisserie

(Updated Info See Below for Takeout, Pickup & Delivery)

Nadège Patisserie is well known for French modern desserts and most popular dessert, macarons along with their beautiful and delicious variety of pastries from mini cakes to tarts to chocolate bonbons. You wouldn’t think that Nadège Patisserie would have ice cream or sorbet as part of the menu? To my surprise, recently opened by Nadège a cozy and intimate ice cream shop serving gelato and sorbet at their Queen location only. It is located at the corner of Queen and Gore Vale Avenue, a few steps after their outdoor patio is a separate ice cream shop they have set up. There are also helpful signs along the way to help you find the shop. It is surely not to be missed.

I love their intimate and friendly open space ice cream shop especially the pink walls!! There are 16 flavours available. The gelatos are mostly based on Nadège Patisserie cakes and the sorbets are fruit based, which makes them vegan and dairy free. They have a great selection of flavours for even people like me who are dairy free and I love that there are good selection of dairy free flavours to choose from. They also have toppings to add to your gelato or sorbet, which includes sauces such as chocolate, caramel & strawberry, mini macarons, caramel popcorn, whipped cream and more! They also make ice cream sandwiches, wow!! A great selection of frozen dessert for everyone including those who enjoy dairy free desserts!!

The beautiful macaron tower with the ice cream print from their Yorkdale Location

I ended up choosing the Raspberry sorbet with mini macarons toppings, which was simply delicious and full of flavour. I loved the fruity and sweet flavour!!

I can’t wait to come back for another visit to Nadège Patisserie Queen St Ice Cream shop to sample the other delicious and sweet flavours!! For Nadège other locations, they only serve the soft serve ice creams, which has dairy in them. If you are interested for a larger flavour selection and the dairy free sorbets are available only at the Queen St location Ice Cream shop.

I definitely recommend you guys checking out Nadège Patisserie new Ice Cream Shop at their Queen Street location as you definitely will not be disappointed with their variety of selection and sweet fruity taste!! With the Trinity Bellwoods park located right beside the shop, it is the perfect spot to enjoy a refreshing cold frozen dessert for the summer outdoors.

Update as of July 2020:

Nadège Patisserie is currently open for takeout and still available for home delivery and pickup in store at their Queen West and Rosedale locations.

I’m excited to announce that they have a new summer item added this year and it is macaron ice cream sandwiches!! So excited for that! Thou not sure if it is available for the sorbet flavours as well.

They are currently now open for their Ice Cream Shop (the one I went to with photos above) for takeout only like before with rotating flavours and also new flavours. Now you can also take home 16oz pints of ice cream and sorbets, available only for pickup.

Please always check their website for latest details on their store hours, delivery and pickup.

For Nadège Patisserie full details see below,

Website – click here

Direct Link to Their Ice Cream Shop – click here

**NEW Nadège Patisserie Instagram Account for the Ice Cream Shop @NadegeIceCream – click here **

You can follow them through their social media networks on,

Facebook @NadegePatisserie, Twitter @NadegeToronto and Instagram @NadegeToronto

2 – Butter Avenue

**UPDATE: As of May 16, 2020, Butter Avenue has CLOSED their location on Queen & Spadina so sad I will miss it dearly as I love visiting it downtown. They are now currently only open at their Markham HQ location. They are available to order online for delivery or in store pickup, please visit their site for all the details. Website link below**

My 2^nd place that I’m recommending you go to is Butter Avenue. Butter Avenue is known for their high quality French macarons with their Japanese inspired flavours. As well they have a great selection of mini cakes, tarts and more. Butter Avenue is one of my fave macaron shops to go to so I was also surprised that they decided to add ice cream to their menu as well. I was even more excited when I found out that they had a dairy free sorbet as one of their flavours for ice cream.

Butter Avenue offers only 2 delicious flavours per month – Uji Matcha (made with our direct import matcha from Uji, Kyoto) or the Strawberry purée (made with 100% real strawberry, vegan & dairy free) or you could have the swirl and taste the two delicious flavours all at once!

They recently introduced the Lychee Strawberry Sorbet sundae (which is the Strawberry purée the dairy free sorbet), which consists of lychee agar jelly, mini Strawberry macaron, Strawberry sauce and merginue cookies. What a perfect summer cold treat to have right?? Of course, I had to stop by Butter Avenue to try the Lychee Strawberry Sorbet Sundae and wow the strawberry sorbet was light yet creamy texture even with no dairy in it. I love the combination of the Strawberry sorbet with the lychee taste!! The perfect topping was that cute mini Strawberry macaron of course! This is the definitely the perfect summer frozen treat to enjoy on a hot summer day. You can have the sorbet to eat at Butter Avenue or to go option as well!!

Can’t wait to see what new flavours of sorbets to be added to this summer menu as they rotate their flavours every month!!

My delicious macarons 4 takeout

If you are looking for sweet summer sorbet sundae, then look no further than Butter Avenue as I highly recommend you stop by to try their Lychee Strawberry Sorbet sundae and see why I love it soooo much!! Or try one of their new flavours that they release every month! You can also try Butter Avenue other desserts available at their store especially their macarons like I did, couldn’t resist picking up some delicious macarons.

For Butter Avenue full details see below,

Website – click here

You can follow them through their social media networks on,

Facebook @ButterAvenueCo, Twitter @ButterAvenue and Instagram @ButterAvenue

3 – Touti Café (Previously called Touti Gelati)

My last recommendation for delicious, sweet & authentic made sorbets is Touti Café (formerly known as Touti Gelati). I usually have a few go to spots for gelatos and sorbets places. But I recently discovered a new gelato/sorbet place and I couldn’t believe that I never heard of it before and so excited to share with you guys because some gelato places don’t have a large selection of sorbets maybe 2 or 3 flavours. This is not the case for Touti Café because it offers authentic Italian homemade gelato and sorbets with many flavours to choose from. I love the large selection of gelato and sorbets with classic flavours to new fresh ingredients to make new fun flavours!! That’s why I instantly loved this cozy and friendly gelato/sorbet place!!

I’m happy to be sharing this new gelato/sorbet place with you guys!! They also serve gelato shake and smoothies, which is dairy free, 100% made with crushed fruit and free of artificial ingredients. I was too full from my sorbet to try it, but would love to come back next time to try it. As well they also serve waffles, crepes, croissants, tarts and other pastries along with coffee and tea. I’m not sure if the waffles and crepes are dairy free as I didn’t inquire about that.

With so many flavours of sorbets to choose from, I finally decided on the Mango and Strawberry flavours and I simply loved the mango sorbet flavour!!! It tasted like a real fresh actual mango but in a frozen treat. You can taste the fresh and homemade ingredients to the sorbet!! I can’t wait to come back and try the other flavours!!

Touti Café used to have 2 locations and now they closed down the 2nd newer location at the Beaches location (updated info as of 2020), which is the one I went to in 2018 and only have their original location, which is the Queens Quay one downtown Toronto. I went to the Beaches location (before it closed back in 2018) of Touti Café as it was closer to me and thought it was a great location near Woodbine Beach to stop by after the beach to enjoy a frozen dessert to cool down. Sad to hear that it is now closed! The photos you see here are from the 2nd location before it was closed! I also can’t wait to try the Queens Quay location next time!!! For more information about location and more for Touti Café, please see below my post.

I definitely recommend stopping by Touti Café with their large selection of flavours for sorbets along with their authentic and homemade quality taste at their Queens Quay location by the waterfront.

Update as of July 2020:

Toute Café is available for takeout and delivery as well. They offer delivery through these following delivery apps: Skip the Dishes, DoorDash, UberEats and Foodora.

Please check their website for full details.

For Touti Café full details see below,

NEW Website – click here

You can follow them through their social media networks on,

Facebook @ToutiCafe, Twitter @ToutiCafe and Instagram @ToutiCafe

**Updated on May 3, 2020 for New Information for Name Change for Touti Gelati now called: Touti Café**

Stay Connected

With the busy & fun adventures during the summer months, I will still be sharing more summer dairy free desserts places or summer food festivals to go.

Don’t forget to stay connected with me for the latest updates on my blog & general updates through

Twitter @SweetBFoodie24 and my foodie adventures on Instagram @SweetBFoodie24.

Been busy since my last post with unpacking from my amazing and wonderful Jamaica vacation as seen on Instagram where I posted a few photos and IG stories. Was feeling the vacation blues for a few weeks after my Jamaica vacation and took awhile to get back into work routine and catch up on things I missed. Now I’m back focused and always looking for new opportunities and ideas to share with you guys for delicious and dairy free dessert bakeshops.

I’m excited to be going on a last minute summer getaway to Montreal at the end of August!! It’s more of a personal trip to attend an event, but I always love going to Montreal (It’s been awhile since I been to Montreal maybe 5 years ago) and 1st time going to check out some new vegan and dairy free dessert bakeshops so can’t wait to share with you once my return. Definitely come back to check out that post later in the Fall!! My August is a busy month now with lots of events happening. Hope everyone has some exciting and fun summer activities and trips for 2018!!

For those really humid and hot summer days in Toronto, why not cool down with a dairy free sorbet frozen dessert and check out my Fave 3 New Sorbet Places – Nadège Patisserie, Butter Avenue and Touti Café. You won’t be disappointed with their sweet and frozen delicious selections!!!

As you enjoy these hot summer days cooling down with sweet, icy and light dairy free sorbet cravings, I’m back on the hunt for my next sweet & delicious dairy free dessert adventure to find the next yummy bakeshop to share with you all!!

Until next time…

-Sweet B.

**Updated on July 27, 2020 on delivery, takeout methods for the 3 Gelato, Sorbet and Ice Cream and Bakery Shops Above**

My Highlights of Vegan Food & Drink Festival 2017

Hi everyone!!

As the warm summer days are coming to an end and it is now officially September. I can’t believe how fast our summer went by this year!! Can you?? I took advantage of the last week of August to relax and enjoy the summer days outside when possible with day trips to the beach and more. How did you enjoy your last week of summer??

While summer isn’t quite over yet despite the cooler weather already and feeling like Fall weather. Even though Fall is one of my fave seasons coming up & excited for. One of my fave activities in the summer is attending food festivals. This summer already been to a few food festivals and love sampling new foods to share with you, my readers. As I usually go quite a few food festivals, I will share with you my fave ones (food festivals) and you can always check out my Instagram account @SweetBFoodie24 to see my stories and photos for all the food festivals that I attend. Trying to post a bit more on my Instagram stories when I can. Hope you guys enjoy them!

I love attending food festivals and discovering new foods and learning from vendors!! If you have a suggestion of a food festival that I haven’t attend yet, please let me know. You can leave your comments below! Thanks, I always appreciate any comments and suggestions from you guys!

On Saturday, August 19, 2017 – I attended my 2^nd Vegan festival of the summer and this is also my 2^nd time attending the Vegan Food & Drink Festival with my sis who is also my foodie partner going to food festivals together. I love sharing my food festival experiences and especially with my sis is a great person who I also call my best friend that I’m so happy that we get to share these experiences together. It is becoming a tradition for us now going to this particular food festival sharing our love for vegan foods! As you know or if you didn’t know, I have lactose intolerance so I enjoy non-dairy products now. Almost a year in a few months where I discovered I am lactose, I am still learning and discovering new dairy-free products and vegan lifestyle. This is a great Vegan festival to discover new vegan foods or re-discover your fave vegan foods!!

If you haven’t been to the Vegan Food & Drink Festival before, here are some basic information about it:

• This is the 3^rd Annual Vegan Food & Drink Festival
• Date: Saturday, August 19, 2017 (One Day Festival)
• This event is also hosted in Chicago (June 10, 2017) and New York (October 1, 2017)
• Time: 11am – 7pm
• Location: Fort York Garrison Commons (same as last year)
• What Does the Festival Offer: vegan comfort food, cold drinks, and live entertainment
• Cost: $10 (Early Bird Price) & $20 (At the Door) -> I bought mines in advance during the Early Bird Pricing
  
• Vendors: From local & visiting vendors including some USA vendors this year

I was excited to attend my 2^nd time at this large Vegan Food & Drink Festival this summer with lots of different vendors to choose from. This year, we got lucky with the weather and it ended up being a warm great summer day for a food festival unlike last year where it rained majority of the day. It was a lot easier to enjoy delicious vegan foods without your umbrella lol!

If you haven’t been to this large Vegan Food & Drink Festival before, I suggest planning ahead and checking out the vendors online and research them before going and get an idea which ones you like to visit. For me, it was still tough to choose and narrow down certain vendors to try. I love the large selection of vendors though to choose from just makes it hard to decide lol! I ended up sampling majority of the vendors I wanted to and some I didn’t and hopefully next time I could. 😊

I felt that this year the layout of the festival was better in terms of flow where the vendors were located and making use of the large Fort York Garrison Commons. There was a bit more seating areas this year. I love the signages that they had around the festival grounds this year a bit more than last year and it created a great addition to the festival. Check out below their famous “Vegan” sign that I took with my sister. I been noticing that most events and festivals are doing the huge word signage ever since the Toronto sign at City Hall started it. I love them though!! 😀

Overall, a great summer day sampling and discovering lots of new vegan foods along with some shopping in between eating lol!!  

At the Vegan Food & Drink Festival, besides all the delicious vegan foods, there are also clothing and accessory vendors. One of the vendors, The Imperative is Toronto’s 1^st 100% all-vegan shop and the creators of the Vegan Food & Drink Festival itself. It was great to see their merchandise at the festival as I haven’t been to the retail store myself. I ended up getting a cute tee and a button (photo below).

Their retail store offer vegan and cruelty-free products and there were quite a few items at the festival showcasing their products from the store. At their retail store, they offer from t-shirts to beauty products to housewares and more. I’m looking forward to checking out their retail shop one day to see myself what they have to offer!

For more information on The Imperative, you can visit their Facebook page @VeganImperative and Instagram @theveganimperative. Their retail store is located on 1332 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ontario.

One of my fave jewelry vendors was there back at the Vegan Food & Drink Festival, Jewels by SJB. If you haven’t checked out Jewels by SJB, you definitely should as I love her unique and beautiful handmade jewelry. Sue is from Toronto, ON and has a collection of hand forged, cruelty free jewels and creating beautiful detailed pieces. She uses genuine gemstones that includes .925 sterling silver and 14K gold fill metal. She is also a vegan who shares her message through her jewelry.

Of course, I couldn’t resist getting one of her beautiful unique pieces and ended up getting a beautiful necklace – her Gem Drop Necklace with the Purple Amethyst.

For more information on Jewels by SJB, you can visit her website at www.jewelsbysjb.com. You can also follow her on Facebook @jewelsbysjb and Instagram @jewelsbysjb.

Finally what my fave foods were at the festival, I know you guys have been waiting for this. Go check out my faves & delicious photos. 😊

My Fave Savoury foods from the Vegan Food & Drink Festival are:

1 – Boon Burger

I was excited to see Boon Burger as one of the vendors at this festival as I discovered Boon Burger a few weeks ago and visited their Burlington location and loved it! Of course, I had to sample one of their delicious vegan burgers as there are no locations in Toronto. If you haven’t heard of Boon Burger, it is Canada’s First All Vegan Burger Café. Boon Burger offers “100% cruelty free food, that tasted delicious and that was ultimately a better choice for our health as well as the environment.” They are opening a new location in the Fall 2017 in Hamilton. Hoping one day for a Toronto location, but for now I can always venture over to Burlington for the best vegan burgers.

I had their Festival Burger made with black bean patty at the festival with their sweet Peach Chutney sauce. It was delicious!! As I’m not a full vegan, you can’t tell that the patty is made from black bean and I love that this is a healthier version of an actual meat burger. I love their vegan burgers!! After trying their burgers a few weeks ago, I’m still impressed with Boon Burger and their high quality food along with their friendly customer service at the booth. I highly recommend checking out Boon Burger if you have a chance in Burlington or Hamilton (opening Fall 2017). You can check their website for other locations (Barrie, Guelph).

For more information on Boon Burger, you can visit their website at www.boonburger.ca.

You can follow them on their social media networks on Facebook Burlington one @BoonBurgerBurlington, Twitter Manitoba location one @BoonBurger and Instagram Burlington one @BoonBurgerBurlington. Check their website for the location social media you are looking for they have different ones.

2 – Champs Diner

My 2^nd fave savoury dish from Champs Diner who is one of the US vendors that came to Toronto. Champs Diner is from Brooklyn, New York serving New York’s fave all-vegan diner with American’s comfort food for about 5 years now. I was excited to also try some of their foods as I heard good review about them.

I had their Tofu Benedict Waffle Fries only as I was getting full by the time I reached their booth and I’m hoping next time I get to try their vegan burger too. But I simply love their Tofu Benedict Waffle Fries with fried tofu, fried ham, cherry tomatoes and homemade Hollandaise sauce. I’m not a fan of Hollandaise sauce too much, but it was light and not overpowering the dish, which I loved about it.

When I visit New York next time, now I know where to go for delicious and comfort American all-vegan diner food. I can’t wait to visit their actual diner!! If you are one of my readers in the USA, then I highly recommend you go visit their diner and try their delicious and homemade vegan foods.

For more information on Champs Diner, you can visit their website www.champsdiner.com.

You can follow them on Instagram @ChampsDiner.

My Fave Desserts from the Vegan Food & Drink Festival are:

1 – Chimp Treats

I love my ice cream, but now that I’m dairy free it’s a bit harder to find dairy free ice cream. I discovered Chimp Treats at the festival and they have their Nice Cream frozen dessert that are 100% made from fruits. I love their booth too – very colourful and cute designs! It is a creamy frozen dessert made entirely from bananas. They have their three flavours: classic Banana, Mango Banana and Strawberry Banana. It is fat free, low calorie and no sugar added.

I tried their Mango Banana sample at the festival and loved it!! It is soft and creamy with the right amount of sugar and I can taste the mango in there. I definitely loved it!! I highly recommend you try it too. I can’t wait to get my own pint of Nice Cream at a grocery store! Will be checking out where they sell them.

For more information on Chimp Treats, you can visit their website at www.chimptreats.com.

You can follow them on their social media networks through Facebook @ChimpTreats, Twitter @ChimpTreats and Instagram @ChimpTreats.

2 – Glory Hole Doughnuts

One of my fave pastry dessert at the show is definitely Glory Hole Doughnuts. Their doughnuts are hand-made and fresh everyday with real and local ingredients! They make 3 different types of doughnuts – yeast, cake and vegan. They rotate their flavours seasonally.

I was lucky enough to sample their Vegan Hibiscus Berry Glazed doughnut – it had a hint of rose tea infused flavour in it and loved how moist, soft and the right amount of sugar in the doughnut. It wasn’t too sweet!!

If you are looking for delicious and fresh Vegan doughnuts, I definitely recommend you guys check out Glory Hole Doughnuts at their bakeshop in Parkdale area of Toronto downtown.

For more information on Glory Hole Doughnuts, you can visit their website at www.gloryholedoughnuts.com.

You can follow them on their Social Media on Facebook @GloryHoleDoughnuts, Twitter @GHoleDoughnuts and Instagram @GHDoughnuts.

Another refreshing and fresh frozen dessert that I didn’t mention is Happy Pops. They are all natural ice pops made from real fruit and low calorie. They are also vegan and dairy free ice pops. I also sampled one of their ice pops, I got the Mango flavour one not surprised since I love anything mango…😊 I loved it! You can taste the actual flavour of the fruit of mango and love how fresh it was with low calorie of sugar. I also recommend Happy Pops as well to try it yourself!

For more information on Happy Pops, you can visit their website at www.happypops.ca.

You can follow them on their Social Media by Facebook @HappyPopsTO, Twitter @HappyPopsTO and Instagram @EatHappyPops.

It has been another successful and delicious vegan summer festival that I attended with my sister. With summer coming to an end, I had enjoyed this summer attending to several foodie festivals by sampling new foods, interacting with vendors, learning about new food products and the outdoor atmosphere.

It will be a busy next few months before end of the year and I’m excited for next month Food Bloggers of Canada food conference in Ottawa where this will be my 3^rd year attending. I’m looking forward to sharing with you my readers my experience at the conference. Also working on something new for 2018 so stay tuned!!

Don’t forget to stay connected with me for the latest updates, next blog post, and my foodie adventures through Twitter @SweetBFoodie 24 and Instagram @SweetBFoodie24

(if you have noticed, I been posting a bit more on my IG stories so go check that out esp when I’m at a food event..😉 )

For now, let’s get ready for Fall weather with delicious warm desserts and beautiful colourful leaves scenery while still enjoying the sunny warm Fall days. In this summery festival blog, remembering what hot summer days are like enjoying delicious vegan foods. Back on my hunt to discover new bakeries or restaurants and new travel ideas to share with you guys!

Until next time….

-Sweet B.

For more information on Vegandale Food & Drink Festival (formally known as Vegan Food & Drink), please see below:

Website: Vegandale Food & Drink Festival Main Site -> click here

Social Media: You can follow Vegandale Food & Drink Festival along with their other festival locations, next year festival & updates through

Facebook @VegandaleFestival and Instagram @Vegandalefestival.

**Note – Updated on Sept 14, 2019 – updated info & name of the Food Festival & links as they changed it in 2018 to a new Festival name**

My Honey Sweet Summer Dairy Free SkinnyPop Popcorn Recipe

Hi everyone,

It is officially summer now and I’m ready for beach days, more food festivals, summer day trips and of course summer foods or for me, summer desserts or snacks. What are you looking forward to this summer?? Is there a summer food you enjoy most at this time of year? Love to hear what you guys enjoy for the summer so please feel free to leave a comment below.

As some of you know, I enjoy dairy free products because of my food sensitivities as I still learn and discover new foods that are dairy free as I always love to share them with my readers. I thought that I always share new vegan bakeries or restaurants that I also share with you new food products.

Now that summer is finally here, I thought what better light fluffy summer food to enjoy than popcorn, right? I recently discovered a dairy free popcorn that is perfect for me that I didn’t know before until now called: SkinnyPop Popcorn. SkinnyPop Popcorn is a premium popcorn kernel that has no GMOs (genetically modified organism), no artificial ingredients, gluten free, dairy free, peanut free, no artificial flavours, zero trans fat, and preservative free. Their motto is using simple ingredients such as whole grain popcorn, natural sunflower oil and perfect amount of salt combine together to give you a “delicious snack that you can feel great about eating everyday” – SkinnyPop Popcorn website.

SkinnyPop Popcorn comes in Popped Popcorn (already popped), Popcorn cakes and mini cakes and their new product is their microwave popcorn. SkinnyPop Popcorn also comes in different flavours from Sea Salt & Pepper to Naturally Sweet to Jalapeño to White Cheddar (Dairy Free).

I recently picked up their Popped Popcorn in the original flavour and I thought it be great to add a healthy and summer twist to it the popcorn. After searching for ideas as I’m not much of a cook or baker, I thought of a simple and easy recipe that I would love to share with you. It’s an easy recipe for the summer and perfect for the upcoming Canada’s Day celebration to share with your family and friends.

My new simple & easy recipe is called: Dairy Free Sweet Honey Popcorn with Dried Fruits. When you think of summer, you think of light and sweet so I thought with a healthy twist to put in dry fruits and with this recipe using dried strawberries and apples as strawberries are known for summer fruits. A great combination with strawberries are apples, but you can also substitute it with other dried fruits that you prefer or have just the dried strawberries on it’s own, which still works out perfectly.

The ingredients for this recipe includes: SkinnyPop Popcorn, dried strawberries & apples, brown sugar, honey, and coconut oil. I’m using coconut oil in this recipe instead of butter as it’s the dairy free alternative to butter. An interesting tip is that I found out that coconut oil is tasteless so if you were worried about making the popcorn tasting like coconut, don’t be as it doesn’t from making this recipe myself.

Instructions:

Once you have all your ingredients, have a large mixing bowl to put the popcorn, dried strawberries and apples ready to mix it with the honey sauce (mixture). To make the honey sauce (mixture), in a medium pot or saucepan – add the brown sugar, coconut oil and honey. Cook it on medium high heat until the mixture is bubbling and well combined. Once it is done, pour the honey mixture over the popcorn & dried fruits in the large mixing bowl that you had prepared. You can pour as little or as much as you want in the bowl. Then mix until the popcorn and dried fruits are covered with the honey sauce (mixture).  You can see below the photos of each step.

So now you are ready to taste and enjoy this sweet and healthy vegan dairy free popcorn treat with a summer twist to it. Yum!! It’s the perfect sweet summer treat to share with your family and friends or a sweet bowl for yourself.

Hope you give my new sweet, summer and healthy SkinnyPop Popcorn recipe a try and let me know what you think of it. Feel free to leave me your comments below as I would love to hear what you think of my recipe.

Don’t forget to stay connected with me on the latest updates on my next blog post or my foodie adventures, please follow me on Twitter @SweetBFoodie24 and Instagram @SweetBFoodie24.

As summer has just started, I’m excited for what the rest of the summer will bring for me including going to more food festivals and my mini summer getaway later in late July!! So I leave you for now with this sweet yet healthy dairy free popcorn treat and continue my search on my next sweet vegan bakery or restaurant hunt. Cheers to a yummy and sweet summer! 🍦 🍧 🍓 🍹 🌞

-Sweet B.

For more information on SkinnyPop Popcorn, please see below:

SkinnyPop Popcorn – website -> click here

You can follow SkinnyPop Popcorn on Facebook @SkinnyPopPopcorn, Twitter @theskinnypop and Instagram @theskinnypop.

My Printable Recipe

Dairy Free Sweet Honey Popcorn with Dried Fruits

• Servings: 3-4 people
• Time: 10 mins
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

A sweet honey popcorn with summer dried fruits perfect for the summer.

Ingredients

• 2-3 cups SkinnyPop Popcorn
• ½ cup Brown Sugar
• ½ cup Coconut Oil (you may put less if preferred)
• ¼ Honey
• ½ cup Dried Strawberries
• ½ cup Dried Apples

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, pour in the SkinnyPop popcorn, put in the dried strawberries and apples. In my case, I sliced the dried apples in smaller pieces as they were in rings to make it easier to eat. If you have other dried fruits, you can prepare them now.
2. For the honey mixture – in a medium pot or saucepan, add the brown sugar, coconut oil and honey. Cook over medium high heat until mixture is bubbling and well combined by mixing it.
3. Then pour honey mixture over the popcorn mixing bowl that you prepared before, you can pour in the amount desired or until all popcorn and dried fruits have been covered. In between pouring the honey mixture, use a wooden spoon or spoon to mix in between as it will get sticky to get an even coat of honey mixture with the popcorn.
4. You can wait 5 – 10 mins before enjoying as letting the honey mixture soak in the popcorn before enjoy the sweetness.

My Highlights of Niagara Vegfest 2017

Hi everyone,

It’s officially the month of June and with the start of the official summer this week, the weather has gone from cold to very humid and hot fast here in Toronto!! Thou I am not enjoying the humidity too much, but loving the warmer and sunnier weather now to enjoy esp the outdoors. Maybe less humid lol!!

With sunny and hot days upon us, this means one thing that festival season is officially here and what a great way to cool down and enjoy delicious foods outdoors. I am excited and love attending food festivals especially during the summer days sampling and discovering new foods to share with you all my readers. I already have a few food festivals planned that I would like to attend from June – September so I’m looking forward to it. If you have any suggestions for a food festival you think I should try out, please don’t hesitate to let me know as I always love attending new food festivals that I haven’t been to. I’m looking out for new food festivals for the Fall too. Feel free to comment below or you can reach me by e-mail at blooi24@hotmail.com

RECAP:

A quick recap since my last blog entry, since leaving my previous work, been busy with a few projects and prepping for the summer months for my blog of course. Enjoyed my mini getaway to London, Ontario where enjoyed lots and lots of delicious foods including some vegan desserts and looking forward to sharing with you all in another blog post next month. If you were following me on Twitter and Instagram, then you would have seen my foodie London getaway..:)  I’m still learning how to use Instagram stories so please bare with me lol…😉

My 1^st food festival for this pre-summer season that I attended was 2 weeks ago during the first weekend of June was to Niagara Vegfest. It was my 1^st time attending the Niagara Vegfest as I always love visiting Niagara Falls so I thought it would be great to also attend this food festival to see, discover and sample the Niagara Region culinary vegan foods. I had the most amazing and fun foodie day as someone of you may already seen from my Instagram and Twitter posts. I’m happy that the weather ended up being sunny and warm as it was supposed to rain and I got lucky and it only rained in the morning. I arrived in St.Catherines by bus that day with a beautiful sunny day and enjoyed every minute of Niagara Vegfest.

If you haven’t been to Niagara Vegfest before, here are some quick information about it:

• Niagara Vegfest is a 2 day multi-venue event – Day 1 (June 3, 2017) is the Niagara Vegfest in the Vineyard and Day 2 (June 4, 2017) is the Vegan Festival Main Event
• 6^th Annual Niagara Vegfest
• Location: Market Square, downtown St. Catherines (91 King Street)
• Admission: Free / donation of $2 or canned foods
• It includes 80+ vendors and exhibitors, guest speakers, kids zone and TD Niagara Jazz Festival Music Stage
• “A celebration the many benefits of a healthy, compassionate, plant-based lifestyle, and showcases exhibitors, vendors, and speakers from the Niagara region and beyond” -Niagara Vegfest

Overall, I had an amazing and very foodie day at Niagara Vegfest. I loved the atmosphere at the Market Square in St.Catherines as this festival was some vendors indoors and some outdoors, which to me is good because I liked the flow of the traffic it gives for attendees when they attended this event. It also gives options for weather if it rained or if it was sunny to have the indoors and outdoors available. I loved that they had the TD Niagara Jazz Festival Music Stage outside where I was able to enjoy the beautiful jazz music whether I was inside or outside. It brought a different element to the festival by adding music and creating a fun atmosphere to the Niagara Vegfest. Though I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed with so many vendors to check out, but at the same time it was great to have a variety of vendors and exhibitors to offer to people. I spent half the day at the Niagara Vegfest as there were so many delicious and yummy foods to sample along with checked out a few non-food vendors.

My Top 4 Fave Foods at Niagara Vegfest are:

1) Pizza Rolls by Rise Above Restaurant

• Best pizza sausage roll I ever had, yum, it was crispy the pastry part and the most tastiest sausage inside, loved it!! As someone who is now dairy free, it’s hard to find places with vegan pizzas so happy to have stopped and had the most yummiest is that a word lol…pizza rolls by Rise Above Restaurant.
• Quick information about Rise Above Restaurant – is the Niagara’s 1^st 100% vegan restaurant and bakery. They are located downtown in St. Catherines. They specialize in comfort foods, healthy choices, and fresh baked desserts. Only wish they would open another location in Toronto, I look forward to stopping by the actual restaurant one day.

2) Peach Fritter doughnut by Beechwood Doughnuts

• I was so full from all the delicious vegan foods that I had to still get a doughnut from Beechwood Doughnuts as I heard they had the best vegan doughnuts. So I bought one to bring home to eat and chose the Peach Fritter (peaches are one of my fave fruits) and so glad I did lol…Beechwood Doughnuts hands down the best vegan doughnut I ever had!! Wow, I don’t usually eat doughnuts too often, but I would if it is for the sweetest and soft doughnuts that Beechwood Doughnuts make. The Peach Fritter the best lol!! If you haven’t tried, Beechwood Doughnuts, you are definitely missing out!! I would definitely travel for these doughnuts!!
• Quick information about Beechwood Doughnuts – Niagara’s first and only 100% vegan doughnut shop. Located in the heart of Downtown St. Catharines. They opened in January 2015 and become popular and have a reputation for quality in the Niagara Region and beyond. They also won 3 awards in 2015 at the Toronto Vegetarian Association Veg Awards – best vegan bakery, best vegan doughnut and best vegan dessert.

3) Strawberry Lemonade Cupcake by Dolled Up Desserts

• One of my fave regulars is definitely Dolled Up Desserts who I always enjoy visiting at any vegan food festivals and always love seeing what Katarina (Dolled Up Dessert owner) new delicious desserts she has for that day. She comes up with the most delicious vegan and creative desserts, I love it!! She also has the most beautiful display for her booth I love how creative she is! This time I tried her delicious & sweet Strawberry Lemonade mini cupcake. Loved it!!
• Quick information about Dolled Up Desserts – Her main shop is based in Hamilton, Ontario. Dolled Up Desserts creates and share high quality desserts that are gluten free and vegan, and are made with 25-50% less sugar, ingredients that are organic, locally sourced.

4) Banana Split Cupcake by Fairly Frosted Bakery

• I love cupcakes so it was hard to resist when I saw the delicious vegan cupcakes display at Fairly Frosted Bakery. One of my friends also recommended them so was excited to try them and they had an assortment of different baked goods to choose from. It was hard to choose besides the cupcakes. I ended up choosing their Banana Split Cupcake and it was delicious minus the chocolate topping as some of you might know I don’t eat chocolate I know it’s a shock lol!! The frosting wasn’t too sweet either so it was perfect.
• Quick information about Fairly Frosted Bakery  – A bakery from Guelph, Ontario founded in 2011. Fairly Frosted Bakery serves vegan, gluten free and nut free baked goods.

One of my fave vegan ice cream is food truck – Sweet Teeth, which is not mentioned above, but they always been my fave regulars at any vegan festivals. So it goes without saying that I always visit their food truck of ice cream and waffles, yum and this time is no difference. I got their OG waffle, which consists of fresh strawberries, strawberry sauce and of course the ice cream. If you haven’t tried Sweet Teeth food truck, I highly recommend it!! This year they also added shakes to their menu and love their new flavours added to the menu. They always come up with new flavours, which is great to see.

One of my fave vegan jeweler is Jewels by SJB, I discovered Sue’s beautiful jewelry last year at one of the vegan food festivals and instantly loved her unique and beautiful handmade jewelry. Sue is from Toronto, ON and has a collection of hand forged, cruelty free jewels and creating beautiful detailed pieces. She uses genuine gemstones that includes .925 sterling silver and 14K gold fill metal. She is also a vegan who shares her message through her jewelry.

I was excited to visit Jewels by SJB booth and see what new pieces she had this time. I always love seeing what new pieces that she brings to each festival as she makes the most beautiful unique pieces. I ended up purchasing a beautiful purple amethyst gemstone to go with my Vegan necklace as well bought a new rose/light pink bracelet with the letter “v” on it. The new bracelet matches my other bracelet (purple amethyst one) I bought from her last year to make a stacking bracelet. I am happy with my new jewelry!! It is always great to see Sue again, she is always so kind and amazing to me especially if I needed any customizing to her jewelry. I love how she can custom to each customer needs. I look forward to seeing what new pieces she has in the next festival!!

My collection of bracelets and pendant necklace from Jewels by SJB

What an amazing 1^st visit to Niagara Vegfest filled with delicious vegan foods, desserts, shopping local & unique items, and enjoying amazing jazz music!! If you didn’t have a chance to check out Niagara Vegfest, I highly recommend to see what delicious vegan foods & to experience this festival yourself at Niagara Vegfest next year. Look out for details on their website (information below)! I look forward to joining them again next year after this fun foodie day!! I can’t wait to see what next year they have planned out!

If you managed to read most of this blog post as I know it was a bit long, thank you!! I appreciate you taking your time to read my foodie adventure!! Summer is just around the corner and I’m looking forward to my next foodie summer festival as some of you might already know (from my Twitter and Instagram posts) I have attended my 2^nd one just this past weekend! With the busy summer months ahead, I look forward to not just food summer festivals, but also to my mini getaway in July. Don’t worry I still be posting shortly after I’m back. But this summer along the way, I am still searching for my next sweet vegan dessert place!! Stay tuned!!

As always, for the latest updates or to keep up with me on my foodie adventures, please follow me on Twitter @SweetBFoodie24 or Instagram @SweetBFoodie24.

Until next time, let’s get ready for summer filled with hot weather for foodie summer festivals, cool desserts, travelling and beaches & more!!

-Sweet B.

For more information on Niagara Vegfest and any of the vendors I mentioned, please see below:

Niagara Vegfest – Website -> click here

You can follow them on Facebook @NiagaraVegFest, Twitter @NiagaraVegFest and Instagram @NiagaraVegFest.

Rise Above Restaurant – Website -> click here

You can follow them on Facebook @RiseAboveRestaurant, Twitter @RiseAboveFoods and Instagram @RiseAboveRestaurant.

Beechwood Doughnuts – Website -> click here

You can follow them on Facebook @BeechwoodDoughnuts, Twitter @BeechwoodInfo and Instagram @BeechwoodDoughnuts.

Dolled Up Desserts – Website -> click here

You can follow her on Facebook @DolledUpDessertsBaking, Twitter @DolledUpBaking and Instagram @DolledUpDessertsBaking.

Fairly Frosted Bakery – Website -> click here

You can follow them on Facebook @FairlyFrosted, Twitter @FairlyFrosted and Instagram @FairlyFrosted.

Sweet Teeth Food Truck – Website -> click here

You can follow them on Facebook @SweetTeethVegan, Twitter @SweetTeethVegan and Instagram @SweetTeethVegan.

Jewels by SJB – Website -> click here

You can follow her on Facebook @JewelsbySJB and Instagram @JewelsbySJB.