Thirsty Thursday

Hey guys! So I'm working on starting What I Ate Wednesday (or possibly Foodie Friday - we shall see!) for next week because this week was crazy but somehow I ended up accumulating tons of interesting beverages this week! Enter Thirsty Thursday. I wanted to share all of the fun things I found with you. I haven't tried any of them yet but I'll make sure to keep you updated on how they are!

It finally made it to my Whole Foods!!!! I was SO EXCITED to find this in my local Whole Foods, especially because they had NOTHING that I actually went there for. I picked one up and I really can't wait to try it. It appears that it is going to be heavy on spices with the promise of fresh pressed ginger and fiery masala spices so hopefully it is as delicious as I imagined it would be!

I found this beauty the last time I went to Trader Joe's. You know I have a major love of watermelon so to find this juice was definitely a treat for me. Of course I find it as the weather is cooling off but I am excited to try it. I'm sure it will be nice and hydrating.

The next two beverages were purchased from the only vegan bakery on Long Island called Sweet To Lick. I saw the drinks on their Instagram page and was there the next day to pick them up! These guys seriously stepped up the fall beverage game, look how amazing these sound!

The first drink is a Pumpkin Horchata!! What?! This sounds so amazing, I am so excited to drink this. I think this would actually be an amazing dessert beverage so I'll drink it when I want something sweet after dinner.

They also had this Cranberry 50/50 drink which is Cranberry Tea mixed with Lemonade. I had to pick this one up as well because it's cranberry iced tea with lemonade. Why wouldn't I pick it up. I'm bringing this to work with me today to have with lunch. I'll let you know how it is!

While I was at Whole Foods this morning (I got there at 7:45 AM, I start work at 10 - that's productivity my friends) I decided I couldn't just walk out with a bottled of iced chai after driving 20 minutes at the crack of dawn to get there so I made this amazing salad for lunch. It is romaine, cucumber, grape tomatoes, carrots, corn, chickpeas and dolmas. When I came home I dressed it with an oil free Tahini Lemon dressing. Lunch will definitely be delicious today :)

As for a little life update I'm really excited because I booked a trip to visit my friend in Florida in October! I wanted to get back down there before Thanksgiving because once Thanksgiving hits I won't be able to get there until the spring and the end of October worked out perfectly! I can't wait to go, I've never been there at the end of October and he told me the weather is going to be amazing and we have a lot of fun things planned. I just need the next month to go quickly!

I hope that you have all been doing well! I'll be back soon with a monthly favorites post and a What I've Been Eating Post. I have a lot of great meals planned for the next week!

Happy almost weekend!

Old Farmer's Market Haul

Hey you guys!! This week has been SOOOOO busy for me - it is our busiest weekend with weddings for the year - so I haven't been able to focus on getting food pics together for a What I Ate Wednesday post. I didn't want to go without a post at all so I am going to share a Farmer's Market haul from a few weeks ago (from when I was house sitting). I found a new Farmer's Market about 5 minutes from my house that is on Saturdays so I was able to head over before going to my brother's house for the week. They had a lot of different vendors from the market that is much further away and I was able to get some great stuff! I figured I'd share that with you!

How beautiful is this haul? In the top corner is a jar of Coconut Cashew Butter and a jar of Apricot Preserves. There are some beautiful peaches, tomatoes, corn and the most amazing loaf of sourdough bread!

Here is a closer picture of the Coconut Cashew Butter and Apricot Preserves. The nut butter is AMAZING as one would expect. I still need to dig into the preserves!

I really enjoyed this market! I'm so glad it's so close to me too. I'll have to try and make sure I can stop by before work on Saturdays and see what kinds of beautiful produce they have. I'll make sure to show you more hauls when I get back there!

I know this is a short post but I did want to get on and show you this beautiful haul. It's a few weeks overdue but better late than never, right? ;)

I hope you are all having a great week!

All The Cute Things

Hey everyone!! Long time no see, I know! I recently was house sitting for my brother and got some really cute pictures of the pups and I couldn't in good conscience not show you guys ;) I also have a few bonus pictures to show you at the end!

You think TJ is comfortable?! ;) I can't with this dog, he's so freaking cute and such a lovebug. He makes me so happy.

My sweet sweet Tyler.

He built a little nook for himself in the pillows.

All cuddled up.

This picture is freaking hilarious! My sister in law gave TJ a bath and wrapped him up in a hooded towel and was cuddling him like a baby. It was so funny, he is wearing his thoughts on his face... You know he is thinking "really mom?!"

My most beautiful picture! Delilah started Kindergarten this year!!! I can't believe it. She is such a big girl now I don't know where the time has gone!

This is a totally random picture but I wanted to show you guys what I recently baked up. I waste ZERO time jumping into fall. On Labor Day I decided to celebrate the unofficial end of summer/start of the fall season by baking Angela's Pumpkin Gingerbread (no spiced buttercream)!! Oh my goodness you guys, you MUST try this recipe! It is delicious. The only change I made was I used Whole Wheat Pastry flour and it is delicious. It is not overly sweet but has a ton of flavor. So perfect and I'm really glad I decided to turn on the oven to make this.

That's all I have for you today. I've been thinking recently that I've been missing blogging more regularly. I think I just need to figure out a posting schedule that will work out for me and my schedule. Once I decide what I want to do I will let you know! I'm thinking about making a two post per week goal. What kinds of things are you looking for? Should I maybe do a What I Ate Wednesday type thing and show the food I ate for the week on Wednesdays? And then maybe do another day of non-food related stuff? Let me know what you think!

I hope you are all doing well!

July Favorites - All Snack Edition

Hey everyone! I can't believe how quickly this year is flying by! Another month has gone and I'm back with a monthly favorites list. I noticed that I found some really delicious and (mostly) healthy snacks and figured I would make this months favorites list all snacks. I hope you enjoy!

You all know that I love my Larabars. I don't buy them often because I enjoy making similar recipes myself, but once in a while I like to stock up on some to take as a quick snack on the go. The reason I'm including it in this month's favorites is because I found a new favorite flavor! My three favorites of life up to now have been the lemon, key lime (do they make it anymore? I never see it at the store!), and the coconut cream pie flavor. But then I found the coconut chocolate chip. It has all of the flavors of the Almond Joy candy bar but with none of the guilt and yucky stuff. I freaking love this flavor and I'm totally going to stock up on them for when my sweet tooth acts up. It would probably be amazing broken into pieces over chocolate flavored banana ice cream.... mmm.

Up next is this really yummy powdered peanut butter called Just Great Stuff. It is like PB2 but is organic and is sweetened with coconut sugar instead of whatever crap they put in PB2. I LOVE peanut butter and definitely still eat peanut butter... but sometimes I want the peanut butter flavor without the high calorie and fat count. This stuff is perfect for adding to oatmeal, smoothies and banana ice cream to make it taste like peanut butter without adding tons of calories and fat. That just means you can add even more stuff! ;)

I finally found them!! I found the Choco Chews tucked away in a corner in a Whole Foods that I don't normally go to so naturally I had to pick them up! These are clearly not the healthiest snack option but every once in a while when you want a treat and are craving candy these are perfect. They are supposed to be like a Tootsie Roll but unlike Tootsie Rolls, these actually taste like chocolate! They have a deep cocoa flavor that I really enjoyed. I definitely recommend these if you see them!

This is a given but I've been really enjoying summer fruit in July. This baggie full of mango slices came from the deli next door. They cut up mangoes almost every day and it makes a perfect snack if I'm feeling a bit hungry at work and want something refreshing. And it definitely tastes better when someone else peels and cuts them ;)

Finally we have these World Peas Fava Crisps! I had the Ranch flavor and oh my goodness you guys! These are AMAZING. I don't get the Vegan Cuts Snack Box anymore but I still get emails from them and saw these snacks in one of the boxes and decided to check them out. I decided to splurge and go for it and I didn't regret it. They are amazing. They are a perfect savory, salty, crunchy treat if that is your thing. They are high in protein and high in flavor and I love them. They have tons of flavors and they do green peas and fava beans if I remember correctly.

Ok so there you have it! A little something to satisfy all tastes... whether you like sweet, fruity, salty, crunchy, nutty... you are covered :)

Hope you are all doing well! <3

Inspiration

Hey you guys! I know, I fell off the face of the earth again. I'm not going to claim that I'm back for good because really I'm just hanging on to this blog by a thread but I do think of you guys and take pictures of things I know you will enjoy :)

It has been oppressively hot here so cooking is really not an option at the moment. I've been enjoying foods that can be eaten cold and enjoying every second of it. I'm going to be making a cherry chocolate smoothie for breakfast tomorrow and it's going to be so good. I made blackberry vanilla ice pops and those are awesome too. But once in a while I'll eat something really ordinary and it will inspire some really amazing meals. Which is why I'm here today.

Last week I enjoyed a really simple meal that I grabbed on the go and it turned into meal inspiration for two different meal!  First, the inspiration:

Super simple brown rice veggie sushi rolls. I love these things and rarely ever get them because they tend to be expensive. I decided to use the basic flavors to make new dishes for hot, humid summer days and I think they came out great!

It all started with some Thai Sticky Purple Rice from Alter Eco. I LOVE this rice. Sticky rice is my favorite and make it fair trade and purple and count me in ;) This was the perfect choice. I wasn't super happy that I had to turn the stove on but cooked enough to get a ton of meals out of it.

So first I made tomorrow's lunch and decided to make 2 large spring rolls using brown rice paper wrappers. In addition to the wrappers I used a lettuce leaf, some of the rice (cooled completely), shredded carrots and cucumber and some shredded nori. I also made a super quick peanut sauce using powdered peanut butter, low sodium tamari, a tiny bit of agave and was thinned out with some water. I would have added sriracha but mine was about 3 years past its prime. I added some edamame for the side. Don't these look great?! Aside from the tear you can see I think I did a good job wrapping them.

While I had everything out I made my dinner for tonight. I made sushi inspired lettuce wraps with butter lettuce leaves, sticky purple rice, shredded carrot and cucumber, avocado and shredded nori. The only thing I wish I would have done was make more peanut sauce because they were a little dry but otherwise they were delicious!

Later on in the week I'll probably make a simple deconstructed sushi rice bowl with the rice, shredded veggies, avocado and shredded nori and I'll make some peanut sauce to drizzle on top. I love that simple sushi rolls inspired three meals :)

I do have some great meals planned for tomorrow so maybe I'll take some pics if I don't forget. We shall see!

That's all I have for today! I hope you are all doing well, staying cool and enjoying your summer!

Coconut Macadamia Date Bites!

Hey everyone! So clearly I've been slacking on POSTING about my cleanse but I have not been slacking on my cleanse. I have to say the one thing that has really gotten through to me this time around is moderation. I tend to lean too far in either direction (I'm either eating super super clean or processed galore) but I've been transitioning more toward moderation with this cleanse and I feel happier and healthier than I have in a while. I also find that I'm craving the good foods more and I'm more inclined to not be lazy and to actually prepare my meals for work and just create better habits.

As far as happiness I've been doing well for the most part but I've been tested a bit too. I still give in to the anxiety and aggravation/frustration that I'm prone to (lets me real, it may be sunshine and butterflies here but the "New York" comes out quite a bit outside of the blogosphere, ha!) but I'm more conscious of it and I try to balance it out. I'm typing this in a dark room with my candle lit and I'm in meditation mode :)

So onto today's post. I wanted a sweet treat and I had a bunch of macadamia nuts that were a bit on the pricey side so I decided to use them to help satisfy the rich, sweet craving I had. I love the combination of nuts, coconut and chocolate so Coconut Macadamia Date Bites were really a no brainer! Healthy, sweet, decadent and delicious, these bites are definitely worth a try!

Coconut Macadamia Date Bites

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of macadamia nuts (can substitute with almonds or nut of choice)

Heaping 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Heaping 1/4 cup raw cacao nibs

*15-20 soft pitted dates (soak if necessary)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

pinch salt

Directions:

1. Process macadamia nuts in the food processor until finely chopped. They should be chunkier than a powder but not too many large chunks. Put into a medium sized mixing bowl with shredded coconut.

2. Process dates until you make a dough. Process in vanilla and cinnamon.

3. Add date dough to the mixing bowl and mix the dates with nuts and coconuts.

4. Add cacao nibs and mix in. I used my hands to mix the whole mixture.

5. Roll into bite sized balls or press into a pan (to cut into bars after being refrigerated for a bit).

Store in the fridge and enjoy!

*The number of dates depends on the size. If you have giant fresh ones I would go with 15. If you are rehydrating dried ones you may need to use more. I used 18 pitted Medjool Dates from Trader Joe's if that helps!

I hope you try this recipe! If you do, let me know if you like it! If you don't have a food processor you could always just cram the nuts and coconut into the pitted dates and sprinkle with cinnamon ;)

<3

Health & Happiness Cleanse: 4th of July

Hey everyone! Happy 4th of July! I hope you are all doing fun 4th of July type activities. I've decided to lay low today and just kind of be mellow. So far I've eaten very healthy meals but have nothing planned for dinner. I don't know what I want and I don't know what I'll have but I am going to try to make it healthy and cleanse friendly. I don't think it'll be too difficult considering my fridge is packed with gorgeous produce. I have eaten breakfast and lunch so far.... I might do a juice a little later if I get hungry or I'll just enjoy dinner.

I also did a little bit of prep so I have some other quick options to grab since salads and veggie dishes can be time consuming to make from scratch. I'll show you those as well! One of them is a sweet treat that came out SOOOOOOOO GOOD!

For breakfast I was craving some oatmeal so I made some oats with cinnamon and peanut butter mixed in to it and topped it with some banana and coconut. Oh my goodness it was so decadent and delicious but super healthy at the same time!

I *attempted* to make another batch of baked fritters today but decided to get all crazy and change up the recipe. These are broccoli, zucchini and corn fritters and these are the only two that baked up into normal pancakes. I don't think I got all of the water out because the other ones were just gooey and fell apart. I had the two surviving fritters for lunch with a slice of avo toast.

I salvaged the other fritters and made them into a hash. I figured I could eat it on top of rice or in a burrito bowl or in a tofu scramble so I saved the failed fritters to use throughout the week. As I mentioned this batch has broccoli and corn in addition to zucchini and also has green onion and garlic. Super clean and healthy and definitely tasty.

Finally for a sweet treat I made some date bites!! These are a little extra special because they have macadamia nuts in them along with coconut and cacao nibs and they are delicious. If you are interested in the recipe let me know in the comments and I can do a recipe post for this in the future!

I hope you are all enjoying the day! I'm so excited about my three day weekend :) I'll be back tomorrow with some more eats :)