Simple Pleasures

Hey everybody! How's it going? Here's me today.

And here's what I had for breakfast!

A couple different kinds of gluten-free cereal, some homemade granola (I have a recipe for you!), banana, coconut milk and a few small scoops of Justin's delicious nut butters! Maple Almond Butter, Chocolate Almond and Chocolate Hazelnut. It was simply wonderful!

For lunch today I cooked some brown rice pasta noodles, made a cheezy nutritional yeast sauce and added some tomatoes, black olives, peas, corn, chickpeas and mustard greens. It was pretty good and colorful which always makes me feel good about what I'm eating. Doesn't it make you feel good to eat pretty, colorful food?! :-)

I just got back from a fun time at Whole Foods. It just felt like such a positive place to be! Everybody seemed super smiley and sweet. I ran into an old friend, got hooked up with some free raw chocolate from a guy who worked there, got a compliment on my hair from a stranger and received A LOT of smiles! That type of energy is so contagious and I left feeling totally high on life! Feeling the good vibes!  It makes me realize how life is really all about the simple pleasures. Just a smile from a stranger can really make a difference in your day and the way you're feeling. Not that I was feeling bad or anything, but extra positivity is ALWAYS a good thing.

Groceries:

We were so stocked up with greens from the garden all winter that I haven't had to buy greens from the store in months! But since we just harvested everything and replanted, we're not going to have fresh veggies for a little while, so I'm back to buying the stuff for now.

Speaking of veggies, dinner last night was packed with them!

Soba noodles with green beans, kale, mustard greens and carrot with a coconut, almond butter teriyaki sauce. And nutritional yeast sprinkled on top. I might be a little addicted to that stuff :-)

Breakfast yesterday morning contained no veggies but it was full of 100% pure deliciousness.

I made Chocolate Covered Katie's Breakfast Pizzert.

I changed a few things. I made it gluten-free and used some coconut flour and Pamela's Baking Mix. I got really frustrated when I was baking it, because it wasn't baking properly and was staying super mushy! I was like, DAMN! What the hell? Then I realized, hey I LIKE mushy things. So I embraced the mushiness and just topped it with some homemade granola to add a little texture and crunch. I also put some almond butter on there and a drizzle of maple syrup and it tasted like dessert. :-) That is my favorite thing ever, when something healthy tastes like dessert!

I keep mentioning this granola I made, so I think I better hook you up with the recipe now, yeah?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola

• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 3 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup oats (I used gluten-free)
• 1 cup crispy brown rice cereal (I used gluten-free)
• 2 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 tbsp hemp seeds
• 2 tbsp shredded coconut
• 2 tbsp dark chocolate chips

The process:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium size bowl, mix together the oats, brown rice cereal, salt, cinnamon, flax, chia and hemp seeds, coconut and chocolate chips. Then in a sauce pan over low heat, melt the coconut oil and peanut butter. Once it is all melty and nicely combined add in the vanilla and maple syrup. Then pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and mix together. Spread the mixture over an oiled cookie sheet. I honestly can't remember how long I cooked it for. But I checked it every 3 minutes or so to make sure it wasn't burning. And I stirred it around a few times too. I probably had it in the oven somewhere between 10-20 minutes. You just have to keep checking on it. It's done with it's slightly browned and a little crispy. 

This turned out to be really good granola. It is not overly sweet. It tastes a little earthy and nutty. I love putting flax seeds, chia seeds and hemp seeds in almost everything these days! Next time, I might add some nuts, like walnuts or almonds. 

I have two more recipes I was planning on posting this evening, but you know what? That's crazy. I'm going to do that tomorrow. For now, I'll just leave you with a couple pictures! :-) 

Ok loves, I'm off for now! Thank you to everyone who has given me support and encouragement with this project of mine. I'm having a lot of fun with this blog and it makes my day so sweet when people tell me they are feeling inspired by it. I'm feeling inspired too! Let's keep this inspiration flowing! 

I want to leave you with a beautiful, inspirational song! 

I love MaMuse! I hope you will too :-) 

Love and blessings!