Fun Mail finds and Movies…

 

Hey my lovelies! How are you all? I hope you are all having one fabulous Saturday so far. Mine has been pretty jam packed so far!

First up Id so wanted to thanks the amazing peeps at POM Wonderful for sending me this amazing goodie bag full of fresh POM juice. Im so super excited to play around with it! I cracked open a bottle and holy yum is it good. Thank you so much!!

I also received some awesome cream from Emily . Thank you so much girl! I plan on trying this out tonight to see how my knees are.

 

I slept in, well till 8, and thats late for me! Started off my morning with some coffee and my new favorite breakfast.

 

I make one serving of oatmeal, cool it down for a few minutes. Stir in some greek yogurt with vanilla stevia and some cinnamon and top with tons of chopped apples. So good!!! The texture of the oatmeal and yogurt mix is similar to cottage cheese. It is awesome. Im in love. I used to just eat all oats in the morning but I love that I know can combine some good protein and fruit into my morning meal and still have my oatmeal. Love it!

I worked them out HARD this morning. I had a large (and i mean LARGE) cup of coffee this morning with my breakfast and with all that caffeine running rampant in my system I was on fire. I am a coffee addict and Im not going to change that! This morning coffee flavor of the day was Egg-Noggin!

I was hoping to get my cardio in the morning and finally get a trainer at night so I can properly learn to lift but I  just started OT at work. So I’ll think of something because I am determined!

Lunch was my usual salad but I topped it with some canned salmon. Not too bad. I haven't ever had canned salmon, usually just eat fresh salmon but this tasted pretty good on my salad. What are your thoughts on canned salmon?

After lunch it was definitely time to treat myself. I love mani/pedis. They are one of my favorite splurgey things to do. I met up with a friend and we both got some cute pedis!

 

My toes look kinda weird in this picture. haha.

So I was on a major movie spree this weekend. I watched White Out with Kate Beckindale, The Stepfather and Pandorum. Pandorum was by far my favorite. (I love weird sci fi flicks) White Out made no sense to me and had no character depth, I got bored about half way through. The Stepfather wasn't good but it wasn't terrible either. Nothing to rush out and see just a typical mystery/horror movie. Nothing too note worthy. I feel like the last really good movie I've seen was Avatar! Any good movies you all have seen that maybe I could check out? Any ones you are looking forward to seeing?

While watching my movies I snacked on some snap peas and mustard.

Then din was some sauteed veggies with pico and egg whites…

And for dessert..Kaboucha squash with almond butter!

Ahhh I love days where I feel like i get a lot done but I still get a chance to relax in the evenings. Im a huge movie buff (which I guess is good since thats where I work!) But it feels so good to settle in on the couch after a long day and watch a good movie. What are your favorite flicks? Any ones you are really looking forward to?

I hope you all are having an amazing weekend! xooxxo!

P.S..Don’t forget to enter my Chocolate-y giveaway!

Xan Chocolates Giveaway!!

Ive been such a fan of Xan Chocolates for a long time. They offer delicious amazing tasting chocolates that are pretty guilt free. I love keeping a stash of them in the fridge or freezer to help curb my chocolate cravings. Oh and did I mention they offer vegan AND gluten free options?! Oh yes. And at only 30-60 calories each as well! The ingredient list on these chocolates is pretty impressive too…Soo…would you like to win some??? The folks over at Xan Confections have so graciously offered to send one reader their choice of a 5 pc. box set of either the Jewels, Saintly sins or Signature chocolates.
(Note: The jewels and saintly sins are vegan and the signatures are not)

The Jewels collection are vegan , gluten free caramels that come in flavors like Coconut Pecan Caramel, Ancho chili Caramel and Espresso Almond. The Saintly Sins are also vegan come in flavors such as pineapple, raspberry and strawberry. They also offer Signature chocolates as well with such flavors like cappuccino and honey truffle. Delicious!

So if you would like to win your own 5 pc. box set of either the Jewel, Saintly Sins or the Signature. Heres how:

1) Head on over to Xan Confections and tell me which collection you would like!
2) Become a follower of my site
3) link this giveaway on your blog and let me know that you did so

Good luck everyone!! I will announce the winner one week from today.

Back from a little vacay…

 

Back from my little weekend getaway. I absolutely love little mini vacas once in awhile. It felt so great just to get away for a bit and just completely reset. Oh yeah and it was in vegas!! woot! Did I win my millions??…sadly no..but I still had a great time. I hit the gym every morning and played alot of Pai Gow. Unfortunately I took my crappy camera with me..(I wasnt about to take a good camera to vegas..!) and I so forgot to charge it. So no pics. Ahh well. I think they frown on that anyways inside the casinos. Despite having a good time I was glad to be back.

Back to my huge wonderful veggie bowls…

A wrap with some laughing cow cheese, radishes and tomatoes..

Yum.

And even an awesome workout to boot too! Ahh good to be back.

I was seriously craving all this stuff while I was gone. Even though it was only a few days its funny the things that you start to miss.

For dinner I really just wanted a huge filling pile of veggies. No real recipe but just kind of what I threw together.

Sweet Potato with Kale and Ancho Chili Cherry Beans

1/2 sweet potato

2 c. kale

1/4 onion, sliced

1/2 c. beans ( I used kidney beans since it was what I had, but black beans would have been awesome too!)

1 Tbsp. garlic

3-4 large cherries, pitted and diced

1 tsp. ancho chili sauce

stevia in the raw ( I used roughly 1/4th packet to taste)

salt and pepper to taste

 

Steam bunch of Kale. Place steamed sweet potato on top. Grill up onions and pile on. Heat beans, cherries, garlic and anchos. Slighty smash and pour on top. Season to taste with stevia, salt and pepper and enjoy.

 

So fast, easy and tasty. Kind of a sweet and spicy combo.

When I got back I had to run to Whole Foods and grab up some of my beloved squash.

Roasting in the oven now and getting ready to be topped with some almond butter.

Right now its cold and rainy again…(cant believe Im saying that! ha!) and Im so rocking the jammies and getting ready to put on a movie. Its just one of those perfect nights for it.

Do you enjoy little mini vacas? If so what are some of the things that you miss the most while you are gone? Do you have any favorite places you like to hit up?

Cookie Dough Hummus and rest days

Oh man, there is nothing worse then bonking out. I woke up Tuesday, hit the gym my usual 6am and about 50 minutes into it my body just totally gave out. Super tired. I can usually push myself if I had to but not that morning. So I just knew something was a’goin on. Listening to my body (most important things I've learned recently) I showered up and just went to work early. I was still sssooooo unnaturally tired. I noticed that I never get sick anymore really, I just get amazingly tired, sleep for hours and then I wake up fine. Its like a fight going on inside my body, I shut down and my body always wins. Yey for healthy eating and exercise! So I did exactly what my body needed. I went home from work early and slept like never before. Ahhh it felt great. I did however  manage to wake up and make myself some delicious tea.

Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, stevia and some almond milk I heated then seeped in some vanilla black tea for a quick mock chai tea. It was really tasty.
Then no kidding, I passed out for like  14 hours. Who does that?! Me I guess. But only once in awhile, when my body is in fight mode. I let myself sleep in and went to work totally refreshed so it was worth it!
I was craving turnips and brussels sprouts. hahaha. Weird food craving!! But I indulged myself.

I also made up some quick oatmeal crackers. The thing I love about these is that there is no recipe. I just dump in some oatmeal, mealy bananers, and spice that up. Roll out and pop in the oven till crispy. So yummy. I like to cut it into strips, throw in the toaster and eat with almond butter.

For dinner I wasn't overly hungry and just made up a quick shrimp salad. I used some mustard, chipotles and thinned it with some water and apple cider for a dressing.

I did however receive an interesting email about a cookie dough hummus. Sounds delish, right?! So I gave it a whirl and adjusted it a bit. This is what I ended up with.

Cookie Dough Hummus

• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup 
• 1 tsp. maple extract
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seed
• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 tablespoon instant oatmeal
• 1 tablespoon shredded coconut
• 2 packets Stevia in the Raw
• pinch of sea salt

Place all ingredients into food processor except for the beans, oatmeal and coconut shreds. Process until smooth. Add in the rest of the ingredients. Season to taste.
I really liked this. I was skeptical at first but dipping into it the maple flavor was really nice against the chickpeas. Yum! It was something different and I think I'm going to be eating this a lot! I have it sitting in the fridge and I think it will be even better tomorrow once the flavors marry up a bit. Would be awesome with some dried fruits or dark chocolate chips pieces maybe.

I've been really loving Stevia in the Raw lately. I don't really use a lot of sugar or like my foods too sweet but once in awhile I really like adding this for a subtle flavor. Although right now I do have a bit of a sweet tooth and I found these chips that are amazing!

OMG! They taste like churros. So good. They are super crunchy, short ingredient list with all recognizable ingredients and only 110 calories for 27 chips. I used to be a huge calorie counter (Im trying to get away from it..) But it had some good stats I think. I already ate a bag this week. So good! It really curbs my crunchy sweet cravings big time.

I gotta say, I'm a bit glad for my rest days. I was charging ahead a bit too hard and when you bonk I think its just your body’s way of slowin down. But now I feel really rested and am ready to get back in action! Did you ever have days where you hit walls? I've been a bit MIA due to my in-laws in town (which was really fun) and my sleep-a-thon. So I was hoping everyone’s week has been going awesome!! Id love to hear about it! Any news? I'm off to Vegas this weekend which will be fun. Its been raining like crazy here, no kidding it even hailed here. I had no idea L.A even got hail! Crazy I tell ya, I hope it lets up soon…its a monsoon out there!!
I hope everyone is having one fantastic week so far!

Fabulous Jewlery giveaway! 
Fun cookware giveaway

Its a Chocolate Covered Day…

How is everyone’s weekend going? Mine is going great! My in-laws are here and we spent the day hanging out and hitting up The Laugh Factory in Hollywood. Great stuff!! I didn't have too much time to take some food photos though but I did however find some time to try out some awesome new recipes. The football game was on with two teams Im neutral on, so this gave me a good 2-3 hours to test out some stuff.
Ive been wanting to try out these wonderful sounding  recipes by Katie for awhile and in spirit of her amazing giveaway I decided to rock it out and have a chocolate covered kind of day!
First up, I made some 24 Carrot Cake Cupcakes. They are super moist and delicious. I added a ton of cinnamon to these muffins which was really tasty. I loved the chunks of carrot in it as it gave the muffin a really nice texture. Some of them I topped with some coconut butter as well. These are a keeper!

Next up, I really wanted to try the Love Muffins. I love this recipe because it’s versatility, although its great on its own too. Fabulous! I made a couple of versions, first up was the Elvis. Lots of peanut buttery banana goodness in these little muffs! Some I even topped with a quick peanut butter icing and some crushed banana and peanuts.

And I also had to try the Jelly doughnut version…

These recipes were all fabulous! And I knew that at the end of my baking extravaganza I would have to end the day with some babies. Peanut butter cup babies to be exact!

Overall Im so happy with all of these recipes! They turned out great and I loved the flavor and texture of them. None of them were overly sweet which was really nice too. So you can definitely eat them any time of the day. Thanks Katie for some great recipes!

How is everyone’s weekend going so far?? I’d love to hear what you all have been up to lately! Tomorrow is my family’s last day here so we are gonna just be hanging out and watching some football in the morning I think. Then after we take them to the airport its massive laundry and grocery shopping time for the week! Have a lovely weekend everyone!!!

Cool bar giveaway! 
Awesome book giveaway..

Coffee Banana Balls!

This morning workout was mucho better than yesterday. My legs were unbelievably sore from Core fusion I think. (Which is good! Breaking in some new muscles, awesome!) But finally today all was a-ok. Although I gotta say Im so looking forward to my rest day tomorrow. Woohoo! Ive been rockin’ the cardio pretty hard this week!
Unfortunately this is going to be a bit of a short post. My in-laws are coming tomorrow which means some major cleaning has got to be done! And I've totally procrastinated as usual.
I did however, had a huge craving for something banana-y today and so I whipped up some Coffee Banana Balls! (Anything to keep from cleaning!)


Coffee Banana Balls
30 grams cashews
80 grams dates
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp. Coffee beans
1/3 c. Just Banana chips*
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. Maple syrup
1/2 Tbsp water (if needed for consistency)
pinch of sea salt
I combined all my dry ingredients and blended those up first. Then Added in the dates, maple syrup, vanilla and water if needed. And voila! I also crushed some dehydrated banana chips and rolled a few in them.

*These are the banana chips that I used. Just dehydrated bananas. You could make your own too. Im sure that would work just fine.

Overall these had a really awesome strong coffee flavor with just a hint of banana. Soo tasty! I do love my coffee! And you can never go wrong with bananas that's for sure.

My day also consisted of the usual salads but I did finally try out Averie’s Tahini Cesar dressing and it is awesome!!! Love it. It just added such a wonderful flavor to my veggies.

I ended the day with a big pile of veggies and some egg whites.
 
This has been my go to meal for awhile. Might be a bit boring but I find it tasty and super fast. I love it with a big pile of ketchup on the side. 
So have you ever found a product that has just totally helped you out big time? I just did. Fit Flops! Granted not the most stylish things in the entire world but they are the coziest shoes ever. I used to get these major charlie horses for awhile. I could not for the life of my figure out what was causing them. I kept asking people and got answers ranging from dehydration to Potassium deficiencies. But they were really frequent and hurt! But I started wearing these a few times a week and my feet and leg muscles do feel way better. I don't know if its because they offer more arch support, but wow, what a difference.

Love the Fit Flops! Do you have any products that just totally helped you out in a big way? Would be great to learn about some new items that out there on the market that actually work pretty well.
Anyways I must be off now for some cleaning and packing for the fam. I hope you all are having a wonderful week so far!! (Its almost Friday!!) Any big weekend plans coming up?
Im so sorry if some of you had problems commenting (blogger was acting up!) Should hopefully all be fixed by now but if not just let me know. Thanks so much Ameena for testing this out for me. I totally appreciate it!

xoxoxo!!!

Congrats Bradi on your blog anniversary! Thanks for a great Giveaway! 
Shelley has an awesome giveaway going on.

I have been wanting one of these for such a looong time! Thanks Katie!!!

Ive met my match!

I used to think there was never a fruit or vegetable I didnt like until I picked up this juicy number at the grocery store. It had potential. Melon? Yup…I like melons…..

Looked tasty enough…

Final verdict…hit the trash! Grosssssss! It had a weird flat acidic taste to it. Bleh, funky texture (mealy) and overall nasty. I cant even describe it. Even when things are gross I still have my husband try them.

“Eww this is sssoo disgusting, wanna try?” haha. But not this time. Maybe I just got a bad one at the store or something. But now I can officially say I've met my fruity match.

Moving on though today started out like any other day. Its a gorgeous 75 degrees out and I whipped up myself a big bowl of oats and some eggnoggin’ coffee and then hit the road for the gym for a rocking spin class. After that was a quick swing by Whole Foods for some staples. (I was out of squash and almond butter!) and when I went to put my groceries in the trunk I saw this…

Really?! Not even a note. I'm not a fanatic about my car at all and seriously it would have been way more of a hassle to deal with the insurance companies to just bang out a small dent. So I would have just let it go. But it kind of irked me they didn't say anything or leave a freakin note. Its not even like a small knick either! That's a decent size hit to my car. So not cool.

Ok done now. I'm just more ticked that they didn't say anything is all. Aahh well! I believe in Karma big time so its ok.

Came home and unpacked the groceries then time for lunch. I ended up with a salad. Big shock! I made a quick dressing using some strawberry jelly, balsamic Vinegar, mustard and black pepper.

and lots of apple and yogurt action!

I was so excited since I finally got to try out the Core Fusion DVD that I had!

I was a little sore from spin this morning but I still wanted to try it out. So I moved the coffee table and set up my little mat.

The dvd requires you to have a chair available, some small weights and a belt. Its divided up into 5-10 minutes sections which are: arms and upper body, legs, glutes, abs and then some stretching. This is such a fantastic workout. Whew. Ive tried other workout dvds and never felt like I got too great of a workout from them but this one hurt! You basically use all your own body weight in order to do different lifts and strengthening exercises. I LOVED it. Very sore now but sooo worth it! Im doing the 30 day challenge with Dori and cant wait to see my results. Its was about $12 bucks at Best Buy. Totally worth the cash in my opinion!

After that I made myself a huge glass of hibiscus tea.

I added a little vanilla stevia and it tasted like fruit punch. Completely delicious and refreshing!

Then I embarked on massive amounts of cleaning. It was such a productive Sunday. Not just beauty cleaning but like ripping stuff out of cabinets and rearranging stuff type cleaning. Glad that's over with though! I got some great looking shrimp and made up a little seafood zucchini pasta toss.

I flavored it all up with some parsley, basil, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, black pepper and a bit of parmesan. Really hit the spot.

So over all despite the fact that someone smooshed my car I still had an excellent day. Have you ever had anything like this happen to you? Im also on a huge make your own sauces and dressings kick. Any favorite go too mixtures you have created lately?

Workout song for today - “Fever” by Cascada

I hope you all have a wonderful and fabulous start to your week.

xoxox!!

Waterpik toothbrush giveaway!

Soup-er giveaway from Missy!

Keurig giveaway!

Vegan Thursdays!

 

Yesterday I was sssoo unnaturally tired. Usually when this happens my body is fighting something so I decided to rest up! I spent the night relaxing and hanging out with the couch and now Im feeling much better! But late to post… I did however rock out to Vegan Thursdays thanks to the lovely and talented Miss Katie! Awesome idea!! Vegan or not I think incorporating more fruits and veggies into our diets is a great thing!  So for last nights meal I decided to make one ginormous amazing salad. There's no real measurements here. I just eyeballed everything. Would have been killer with some lentils too but I was out=)

Roasted Veggie Salad with Tahini dressing and Romaine

Handful of Romaine

cilantro

basil

eggplant

broccoli

butternut squash

garlic

ginger

cinnamon

Tahini

1/2 lemon

pepper

water

Chop your broccoli, eggplant and butternut squash and sauté up in a small pan. Season with garlic, ginger and cinnamon. Meanwhile chop some romaine and toss with cilantro and basil. Place onto plate. Pour roasted veggie onto Romaine mixture.

Dressing:

I took  about 1 Tbsp. of tahini and watered it down a bit with some water and lemon juice.

Pour dressing all over salad and top with lots of cracked black pepper and enjoy!

I gotta say I loved the warm veggies over the crispness of the romaine and fresh herbs. The dressing just seemed to marry everything together a bit more. Delish and super fast! This whole salad made a HUGE plate, filled me up and was less than 200 calories to boot! (Dont worry there was plenty of squash and almond butter action happenin later on)

Today, since Im feeling mucho better I decided to make this tasty amazing vegan breakfast cake. This recipe takes 5 minutes to prepare and is awesome. I grew up eating this and always look forward to it. Its still a favorite even after many years. The recipe has been passed down in our family for generations. My mom took the original recipe and veganized it. It can be found here:

But in case you dont have the book Im going to post the recipe anyways!

Vegan Crumb Cake:

1 1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 c. flour

1/2 c. vegetable shortening (preferably non-hydrogenated like Spectrum)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp. Ener-G egg replacer

1/4 c. water

3/4 c. vanilla soy milk

-Preheat oven to 350 coat an 8x8-inch square baking pan with non stick cooking spray

-In bowl, combine sugar, flour and baking powder. Cut shortening into flour mixture with 2 knives until shortening is smaller than pea sized. Remove 1 c. of dry ingredients and set aside.

-In measuring cup mix egg replacer with 1/4 c. water and stir. Add vanilla. Fill the cup the rest of the way with the soymilk. (Should be about 3/4 c) Add liquid to dry ingredients and stir to combine.

-Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle with reserved dry ingredients. Bake for 45 minutes or until tooth pick insertered into center comes out clean.

-Allow to cool before serving

Variations: This is amazing with all kinds of fresh fruit topped or added into to the batter.

Enjoy!!! This is my quick go to cake too when people are over. Turns out great everytime and is always a winner! The crust is nice and crunchy and the cake is super moist.

Not only did this huge salad and cake make my day but Morgan also passed on this awesome award to me! Thank you ssoo much!!

And now 10 things that make my day!

1) my family, friends and bloggie friends. You all make me smile so much!

2) Coffee…is there anything better than a big cup of fresh coffee?

3) Working out! I love my sweat seshs

4) Red Wine…I am in love with a glass of good quality red wine..ssoo good! (What are some of your favs?)

5) Being outdoors..I LOVE being outside even if its just laying out and reading. I love the feel of the sun on my face

6) Cooking!

7) My health..Its something I used to take for granted but no more! I really appreciate the ability to be able to do all the things Ive always wanted

8) Massages…There is nothing like a good massage!

9) My sense of humor. Its gotten me through some rough times=)

10) Entertainment…anything from movies to music and everything in between.

Thank you so much Morgan! You rock!!

 

And now Im off for the night. I hope you all have a wonderful start to your weekend!

xoxoox!!

Back to work!

Hey my sweet bloggies!! How is everyone doing? I hope you are all having a fantastic week so far. Getting closer to the weekend ;) I started getting up and doing the morning workout thing again. 6am! not too bad compared to my 4:45am workouts from before. (Now that was tough for me!) but 6 is waay more reasonable. My body likes this as I found I have the best workouts in the morning. Nice and fresh and no food in the tummy yet. So makes for a fab workout sesh!

Just a quick note but do you ever notice that when January rolls around there are a TON of ads stating claims like “Eat this and lose weight!” “Lose 10 lbs in 3 weeks!” etc etc…They are always around I just notice they are really kicking come January. I think its weird since I don't think there's any “miracle” weight loss plan. Do you ever notice all these ads too? Crazy I tell ya!

But I digress…my workouts always leave me hungry. So of course I had my oats for breakfast (no pic since I ate these at work) and for lunch and big salad complete with vegan slaw dressing! Does this ever get old? Apparently not cause I eat it every single day!

Always a winner in my book. Moving on though, I spiralized my little heart out for dinner tonight.

I was using up veggies in the fridge so sauteed up some leftover turnips and cauliflower and then tossed in the zucchini noodles. Added in tons of garlic, onion powder, some Braggs and hot sauce. Then once on the plate I topped it with tomatoes and some eggplant hummus. Sounds like a weird combo with the braggs, hot sauce and hummus but it turned out super good! Kinda salty, spicy and smokey all in one bite.

And again Im in the squash and almond butter. I just ate my way through my second Kaboucha this week so far. And now I have to make an emergency run to the market for more..

I sat down with my big steamin bowl of squash and watched Tabitha's Salon Takeover. I needed to turn the brain off for a little tonight and just veg. It amused me for a bit!

Later on I indulged in some chocolate raw balls right out of the freezer. Dark chocolate with an almond piece inside and rolled in coconut. Sooo good.

Im kinda get on food kicks at times. Where I just crave the same thing all the time! Do you ever get food cravings? If so what food kicks are you on? I think right now mine are pretty much all the foods listed. Ha! Although since Im running out of those staples Im gonna get a bit more creative tomorrow!

xoxoxox!!

Greek Yogurt giveaway!
awesome Chobani Giveaway!