Food in my belly, Sunshine in my heart!

Hey bright beautiful beings! What's happenin'? It is another dreary rainy day today and I am longing for sunshine. I was looking at my skin today noticing how white it is! I want some golden sun-kissed skin! I'm ready for summer. We were having some very spring like days for a minute but now it's back to rain, rain, rain! It's beautiful because it makes things lush and green but after so many days, it starts to wear on you. Sunshine in the sky makes for sunshine in my heart!

Speaking of sunshine in my heart, I went to an AMAZING yoga class today at my favorite studio, Thrive. It was such a good class that I had tears in my eyes at the end. There's nothing like a heart-felt emotional release from a good yoga class. I love being that opened up! I'm not always consistent with my yoga practice, but I've realized that I'm okay with that. I can appreciate those periods of inconsistency, because when I go back to my practice, it's a beautiful process of returning and remembering and my heart is like, Welcome home! 


Just a reminder in case you need it...

After yoga, I swung by Whole Foods and picked up a juice. Carrots, celery, beets, spinach and ginger. Oh, and some spirulina for an added boost. It was GOOOOD. Want to see how big of a dork I am? I took about a million pictures of me and my juice. ;-)

Yep, uber dorky. But for some reason, people still seem to love me!

I want to tell you what I had for breakfast today because it was delicious. :-)

It was oats, almond butter, banana, dates, walnuts, cocoa nibs, chia seeds, vanilla and cinnamon in a bowl, drowned in coconut milk. It was a prefect pre-yoga breakfast. It filled me up a bit but still left enough space to move, twist and breathe comfortably. 

Lunch was also tasty, filling and comforting. Perfect for this gloomy rainy day!

Once upon a time there was a baked sweet potato. It was lonely and needed some company. So, some steamed Kale came to visit, followed by some black beans. Then, some salt, pepper, garlic gold and nutritional yeast joined the party! After that, a perfectly fried egg made itself at home with the gang. To top it all off, some chopped cilantro stopped by. And to really get the party rockin' and spice things up, a fatty drizzle of siracha broke down the door and took over! Then it was a true party...in my mouth. It all happened exactly like that. :-)

For dessert, I had one of these.

You're probably wondering, what the heck IS that? Ok, I'll tell you. I made them last night and they rock my world. It was one of those things where I knew what flavor I wanted and what ingredients I wanted to use. It was just a matter of intuitively throwing things together and hoping for the best.

I think I'll call these Almond Butter Energy Nuggets.


Ingredients:

• 1 flax egg
• 2 tbsp almond butter
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 6 dates
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 tbsp shredded coconut 
• 8 tbsp oats
• 2 tbsp chocolate chips
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Dash of cinnamon
• Dash of sea salt

The Process:

So, first I preheated the oven to 375 degrees. Then I made the flax egg. It's just 1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons of water, left to sit for a few moments so it can thicken and become "eggy." While that was doing it's thang, I melted the almond butter and coconut oil in a sauce pan over low heat. When that was all melty, I put it in my blender along with the flax egg, dates and vanilla extract. I blended it all up until everything was mooshed together. Then I poured that into a bowl and added the oats, chia seeds, shredded coconut, chocolate chips, cinnamon and sea salt. I mixed it all together and then formed it into little balls. I put them on a lightly greased baking sheet and baked them for 5 minutes. I totally could have just left them raw, but I felt like toasting them in the oven for a bit. I think it was a good decision. These turned out pretty awesome!

I love these because they are sweet enough to be a treat but have enough healthy, nutritious ingredients to be considered a healthy snack! The best of both worlds! I'm stoked!

Ok, that's about enough pictures of my face for now! Thanks for putting up with me ;-) 

Wishing you a gorgeous happy day with lots of sunshine in your heart! <3 xoxo