3 in 1

3 recipes in 1 post!

Amazing!

Aren't you excited??

Well... you should be!

I am.

Yesterday I whipped up a batch of Ultra Fudgy Brownies from Angela's Oh She Glows blog that she got from Sweet Freedom.

I swtiched up some of the ingredients though. The recipe calls for spelt flour, sucanat sugar, ground chia seeds or flax, and Himalayan sea salt.

Instead of spelt flour, I used 1 1/4 cup of gluten free All Purpose Baking Flour (Bob Red's Mill), brown sugar instead of sucanat, ground flax and just plain ol' salt.

For the complete recipe go HERE.

One word to describe these brownies--- AMAZING!!

I ate one today along with my lunch which was a bowl of Chia Cherry Pudding.

Yup, fat kid status.

Super delish though! I topped it with a tablespoon of equal parts almond butter to almond milk blended together and a drizzle of pure maple syrup.

Chia Cherry Pudding

Ingredients:

• 5-6 cherries, pitted
• 1 tbs. chia seeds
• 1/4-1/3 cup almond milk
• 1 tbs. blended almond butter (or regular)
• 1/2 tsp. pure maple syrup (optional)

Directions:

In a bowl add the cherries and lightly mash them up. Next add the chia seeds and milk, stir to combine. Cover and let sit overnight (if you are making these the night before) in the refrigerator or for 2-3 hours. Remove from fridge, stir the chia and cherry mixture to loosen up, if it's too thick add just about 1 tbs. worth of milk or water. Top with more cherries and the almond butter. Enjoy!

For the blended almond butter:

3/4 cup almond butter

3/4 cup vanilla almond milk (I used unsweetened)

Combine in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a container or the empty almond butter jar and store in refrigerator. 

**If you have more than a 3/4 of almond butter just make sure it's equal part ratio of almond milk to almond butter. 

I crumbled my brownie on top of my chia cherry pudding. YUM!

Lunch and dessert all in one! Score!

After enjoying my lunch outside, I walked around my backyard and took a few pictures.

It's FINALLY nice and sunny out! It's starting to finally feel and look like summer.

Tomato plant

Jack coming to see me

My baby booboos!

Today is a good friend of mine birthday, so I am saving the rest of my appetite for sushi dinner tonight! I can't wait to see everyone.

Oh and one last recipe!

Last night for dinner I made roasted balsamic eggplant and asparagus with quinoa. It's super easy to throw together and not to mention seriously good eats.

Roasted Balsamic Eggplant and Asparagus with Quinoa

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

• 1 small-medium eggplant 
• 5 stalks of Asparagus 
• 1/2 cup COOKED quinoa 
• Balsmaic 
• 1-2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil 
• salt and pepper to taste 
• garlic powder to taste 
• Small handful of spinach 

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Set aside. Cut the egg plant into 3-4 slices, and 1/4 those slices and cut up the asparagus. Put into a medium bowl, drizzle with the olive oil, add the salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste, mix to combine. Add the eggplant and asparagus to the baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Heat a medium size pan and add the 1/2 cup quinoa and spinach to heat through. Once heated through remove from stove and place the quinoa and spinach either on a plate or bowl. Once veggies are done cooking, remove from oven and add them to the quinoa and spinach mixture. Drizzle some balsamic over the top and garnish with some parmesan cheese (optional). Enjoy!

Mango Chia Pudding

I haven't posted anything up since Tuesday.

I've been in a bit of a slump and stressed over school, among other things.

But I wanted to share with you all this really good eat!

In my opinion, anyways.

Mango Chia Pudding.... The chia seeds form a gel like substance/texture when added to liquid, therefore the "pudding" term.

This is absolutely delicious!

Let this either sit overnight in the refrigerator or for at least 2-3 hours before you eat. I made this in the morning and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours so I could eat it for lunch.

Mango Chia Pudding

Ingredients:

• 3-4 slices of mango
• 1 Tbs. chia seeds
• 1 Tbs. almond butter (or any nut butter)
• 1/4 cup of almond milk
• 1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Directions:
In a bowl, lightly mash up the mango slices so that they are still a bit chunky. Then add in the chia seeds, milk and almond butter. Stir well to combine. Cover and put into the refrigerator either overnight or for at least 2-3 hours. Before you dig in, sprinkle the cinnamon on top.

The end result:

Satisfyingly fulfilling deliciousness! 

ABChick Pea's, VOO & Sautéed Balsamic Veggies with Quinoa

First and foremost.... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you mom's, grandma's and mom to be's. AND most importantly to the most important mom ever, to my amazing mom!!

Don't my mom and I look alike?! ::sarcasm::
Product of a mixed race marriage <3

Here are just a few of my weekend eats: A breakfast, a lunch and a dinner.

First up- Breakfast.

One morning I enjoyed a bowl of overnight oats, my absolute favorite breakfast to have in the morning. One reason because it is so delicious and two it keeps me pretty full for at least 4-5 hours.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup oats (Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Oats)
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tbs. chia seeds
1 tbs. almond butter
1/2 tbs. oraganic agave nectar

Directions:
In a bowl add all the ingredients, except for the almond butter and agave nectar, mix well, cover and refrigerate over night. Next morning add the almond butter and agave nectar. Either heat up the VOO in the microwave for a few seconds or eat cold.

Nutritional Information: 255 cals., 8 g. fiber, 9 g. protein


Next up- Lunch

For lunch one day I decided to try out Angela's Peanut Butter Chick Pea's from her website Oh She Glows . I was very unsure on how these were going to taste but decided to give it a go! I adapted her recipe a bit. Instead of peanut butter I used almond butter and agave nectar instead of pure maple syrup.

OMG these were delicious! No joke! If you like chick peas and like almond butter/peanut butter, you'll love this. (I hope)

Almond Butter Chick Peas (ABChick Pea's)

(Adapted from Angela's Chick P's& P.B)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup drained and rinsed chick peas (I used canned ones)
1 tbs. almond butter
1/2 tsp. organic agave nectar

Directions:
Drain and rinse the chick peas. For a single serving take 1/2 cup of the chick peas and add to a deep bowl. Next in another bowl combine the almond butter and agave nectar. Scoop the almond butter and agave nectar mixture and add to the chick peas. Mix well with a spoon. Either eat these alone, add to a salad, a wrap or on top a piece of bread. Quite honestly, the almond butter chick peas are perfect just eaten alone!

Nutritional Information: 240 calories, 11 g fat, 7 g fiber and 11 g protein.

Not too shabby!!



And lastly- Dinner

I just wanted something quick, easy, delicious and healthy. Rummaged through my fridge and came out with some leftover quinoa, a orange  yellow bell pepper, chopped onions, grape red tomatoes, mushrooms and sugar snap peas. Sauted the veggies in a pan then added the quinoa to heat it through and drizzled with some balsamic vinegar. Quick, easy, delicious and healthy. YUUUMMM.

Nutrional Information: 212 cals., 5 g. fiber, 9.5 g. protein.

No real recipe for this, it's pretty straight forward!

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!

XO Jen

TGIF, literally! Snapshot, Flipcard and Cleanse day 5

Happy Friday!! So happy that it's finally here. TGIF, literally.

Yesterday marked day 5 of the cleanse and it was also Cinco de Mayo. A day some people use as an excuse to go out and drink till they pass out. Haha. Not this girl!

I did go out for a bit last night and hung out with one of my best friends and another close girlfriend of mine. I've been feeling in a bit of a slump lately and last nigh was exactly what I needed to get out of it. A night filled with great conversation, laughter and smiles. Sometimes, something so simple as seeing your close friends can do the trick, and it absolutely did last night.

I had an early start to my day yesterday, a 5:30 a.m wake up call to be exact, or I should say alarm blaring wake up call. Got up and did a quick cram session before my midterm at 8 a.m. Had a bowl of overnight oats consisting of:

• 1/3 1/4 cup oats (Gluten free of course)
• ~3/4 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1 tbs. ground flax
• 1/2 tbs. almond butter

Quick and easy and it kept me full all the way through school and the gym. After the gym I whipped up a banana protein shake, went outside and caught some sun.

The banana shake had in it:

• 1/2 a medium frozen banana (Gives it more of a shake like texture)
• 2 scoops Arbonne Protein powder
• 1 cup Vanilla almond milk
• 1 tbs. chia seeds
• 2 ice cubes

At some point in the day yesterday I was greeted by Jack ready to roll out!

My "roll" dog

Dinner time rolled around and I enjoyed a quinoa spinach salad with bell peppers, mushrooms, asparagus, sugar snap peas, chick peas and a handful of slivered almonds. Just what I needed.

Today marks the 6th day in my cleanse and I'll report later on tonight on how it went!

Oh! I almost forgot! There are 2 NEW ways to view my blog: Snapshot or Flipcard. Check out the picture on the sidebar (To the right of this post) and click on it to view!

Enjoy your Friday!

Funky Tuesday

Tuesday has not gone that well.

Nothing bad happened, it was just an off day for me. A really BAD off day for me. A grump all day and in a funk of a mood. I can only think of two things that can factor in all of this:

1.  PMS-ing really bad (TMI; sorry, I know.)
2. My allergies have been really bad the past few days that it has caused my face to break out into a rash of little red bumps.  NOT HAPPY.

I think I may need to invest in a new allergy medicine. The one I am taking is CLEARLY not working. Miserable today.

Even though my day wasn't the best today, I stuck with my cleanse diet. You'd think I would have had a few slip ups due to my mood today, but I just wasn't going to let it happen. Nope, no way.

Cleanse day 3 : Woke up this morning and chugged down some water and had a cup of detox tea. About an hour later I whipped up a banana protein shake for breakfast and took my usual supplements.

This one had:

• 1/2 a medium FROZEN banana
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tbs. almond butter
• 1 scoop Arbonne vanilla protein powder
• 1 tbs. ground flax.

Yes, it's in a Starbucks cup. It's insulated and keeps it cold!

I was hoping that this shake would pull me out of my funk. 

No such luck. Damn.

I got myself ready for the day and ran some errands. By the time I got home it was around lunch time, but I wasn't super hungry. I was, however, just hungry enough for half of an apple cut up with some almond butter drizzled on top. Who could resist that?! Prepared it and took it outside to enjoy.

Lunch came and went, and yup, still in a funky mood. Not even being out in the sun on a beautiful day pulled me out of it. Damn allergies.

Later on when my mom got off work, I went with her to Trader Joe's and picked up a few things. Ran into my buddy Will, ::Hi Will:: but didn't really chat. My grumpiness got the best of me, I felt bad and texted him and apologized. Anyways, got some more bell peppers, lemons, crushed garlic, green apples, zucchini and some sugar snap peas. Yummmms.

Fast forwarding to dinner. 

I threw myself together a delicious salad. That did make me feel a little better, but not much. I cut up a leftover leek, some asparagus and carrots and then sautéed them in a pan for a few minutes until they were tender but still had some crunch to them. 

Seasoned with pepper, sage and thyme

 On a plate I put a handful of spinach and topped it with some herbed quinoa, the sautéed veggies, some mushrooms and sugar snap peas. Drizzled a little extra virgin olive oil and balsamic and dug in.   

Topped with a few pistachios 

That's been my day. Still a grump, but I am more tired than anything. I'm going to spend the rest of my evening reading and studying for my psychology midterm.

Hope everyone else had a better day!

XO Jen

Chocolate Oat Bars and Stuffed Bell Pepper

Hello Ta-ta-Tuesday! (haha)







Went to class today and my campus finally has a Starbucks on site!! This made me very happy today because I absolutely love their Zen green tea. It's pretty much the only thing I get at Starbucks, hot and cold. Yuuuum.

When I got home from class today I put together some Chocolate Oat bars from a recipe I came across on Love Veggies and Yoga  and adapted it a bit. Super simple to put together and oh so yummy! My oat bars consisted of chocolate, almond butter, oats, chia seeds, agave nectar, raw almonds, dried cranberries and dried plums. I don't think I'll be able to eat these once I start my detox cleanse so I might as well now! Haha. (Don't kill me Jenna) I'm pretty sure if I nixed the chocolate out of these, I probably could. Right?? lol. I'll have to run it by Jenna. :)

Oooo wait!! All the ingredients except the chocolate chips are gluten free... bought at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. YEAAY!!

Okay, back to the making of the Chocolate Oat Bars:

First I melted the almond butter and chocolate in the microwave 

with 2 tablespoons of vanilla almond milk for about 30 seconds. 

Make sure to watch it so it doesn't burn. 

Then I added all my other dry ingredients in a bowl and poured the 

chocolatey goodness over. Stirred it all together to combine all the ingredients. 

You want this mixture to be fairly dry. If the mixture isn't dry enough add more oats one tablespoon at a time. Press the mixture into bars or into balls.

Pop in the freezer for about 30 mins, or until it has set up, and then enjoy! 

(After it sat in the freezer for a while.)

I wrapped them individually in plastic wrap then put them in a 

plastic zip top bag and back in the fridge.

Rice puffs would also work great with this. I'll have to try it out next time!

Here's the recipe for the Chocolate Oat Bars which I adapted a bit from Love Veggies and Yoga

Chocolate Oat Bars

Ingredients
1/2 cup of oats
2-3 tablespoons chocolate chips
2-3 tablespoons milk
*The ingredients listed below can be switched up and substituted with other items. :)
1 tablspoon chia seeds
~ about a handful of almonds
dried crandberries (eye ball it)
dried pitted plums, cut up.
~ 1 tablespoon agave nectar

Oh yea, and a stuffed bell pepper for dinner tonight. No biggie. ;-) It was a yellow bell pepper cut in half stuffed with quinoa, cut up red and orange bell pepper, spinach, mushrooms, and onions with garlic, salt and pepper (All the ingredients, minus the cut in half bell pepper, were cooked before stuffing the pepper). YUUUuummmmm! Threw it in the oven and baked it at 375 (preheat oven before hand!) for about 25-30 mins, or until the bell pepper is slightly soft but still somewhat firm.

Let's get this week started!

Hello there, Monday!

Didn't get around to posting over the weekend, it was a busy one! Spent the majority of it with friends and family. Friday night was spent celebrating a friend's birthday and a little bar hopping.

Saturday I went wine tasting with my parents, which is always fun! Later on that evening I went and visited my best friend at her work and she surprised me with a cute robot necklace!  And Sunday was my chill day. I relaxed and oh yeah...read for my psychology classes. So, overall a great weekend!



Monday is here and it's time to get this week started!

I started my morning out with a bowl of banana VOO, my supplements and a cup of coffee. You know, the usual. I haven't got tired of it yet! The VOO keeps me full for at least  4-5 hours.

Banana VOO

Ingredients:

1/3 cup oats

3/4 cup Almond milk

1 1/2 tbs. ground flax or chia seeds

1/2 banana cut up

1 tbs. Almond butter

A drizzle of honey

**If you want to know how to put this yummy creation together check out my Easy Vegan Over Night Oats post. I added my bananas in this morning and stirred to combine with the oats and almond butter.

Right now for lunch I am having a Green monster shake consisting of almond milk, half a banana, flax seed,  spinach and Amazing Grass Amazing Chocolate Meal. Then it's off to the gym later on today! 

*Having half now and saving the other half for after my workout!

My workout playlist that gets me pumped and going! (In no particular order, I usually have it on shuffle)

1. Sugar Skulls- Envy on the Coast

2. Given Up- Linkin Park

3. Temper Temper- Envy on the Coast

4. Crawling in the Dark- Hoobastank

5. Let it out- Hoobastank

6. Sunday Morning- No Doubt

7. All Around Me- Flyleaf

8. Spin- Taking Back Sunday

9. Goodbye to You- The Used

10. Past Praying For- VersaEmerge

11. For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic- Paramore

12. I'll Let You Live- Taking Back Sunday

13. You're Never There- Hoobastank

14. Santeria- Sublime

15. Faith- Limp Bizkit

16. Out Of Control- Hoobastank

17. AEnema- TOOL

18. Stinkfist- TOOL

Ooh!! I will also be starting a Detox cleanse soon through my best friend Jenna who is setting it all up through Arbonne.com. I can not wait! Once I get started I'll be blogging about my progress and how I am doing with it.

Have a great Monday everyone! <3

XO Jen

Apple Cinnamon Overnight Oats

Good morning Wednesday! And what a beautiful Wednesday it is. The weather is absolutely gorgeous! The sun is shining and nothing but blue skies. Puts a huge smile on my face!

I started my morning off with a bowl of apple cinnamon VOO (vegan overnight oats). OMG it was so yummy! The first time I've had it! I have a bunch of apples in my fridge, so last night, while I was putting together my VOO, I thought I'd put one to good use. I didn't add it to my VOO until this morning.

Instead of my usual honey and almond butter oats, I did cinnamon with apples aaaand just a small spoonful of almond butter. (I love the stuff, so I couldn't help myself.) Last night I prepared my VOO by adding the oats, almond milk, ground flax and cinnamon to a bowl. Whisked together, covered with saran wrap and popped it into the fridge. This morning I added the cut up apple and a small spoonful of almond butter. But first I popped it in the mircrowave for about 40 seconds to warm it up. Stirred it all together and ate! It was sooo delish!

Apple Cinnamon VOO

Ingredients:
1/4 cup oats
3/4 cup almond milk
1/2 tbs. cinnamon
1 tbs. ground flax or chia seeds
1 tbs. almond butter (optional)
1 apple cut up in bite sized pieces (I didn't use the whole apple, probably just half of it.)

Method:
The night before in a bowl, add the oats, almond milk, ground flax or chia seeds and cinnamon. Whisk together, cover and put in the refrigerator to sit over night. In the morning, remove from the refrigerator and pop into the microwave for about 40 seconds to heat up. This part is optional. I like mine just a tad bit warmed up. Next add the cut up apple to the VOO and a small spoonful of almond butter (optional). And viola! Apple cinnamon VOO.

*I added a little more cinnamon to mine, which is why it looks so dark in the picture. I love cinnamon.

I stirred mine all together once everything was added. Apple cinnamon VOO along with a cup of coffee and supplements. (Multi vitamin, fish oil, and B-12)

Love this mug! The penguin is too cute!

Beautiful Wednesday morning

Enjoy your Wednesday! I'm off to get ready for the day, run some errands then hit up the gym. Looking forward to happy hour later this evening with three of my best girlfriends. Can not wait!

xo Jen

Yummy *Chocolate* Green Monster

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the "Green Monster" over the weekend, but I was able to this morning. And let me tell you... IT IS SO GOOOD!! Don't let the color of it discourage you from making it. You can't taste the spinach at all. It's delicious and filling. I added a 1/2 scoop of Amazing Grass Amazing Chocolate Meal to it for a little extra protein and it has a light chocolate taste. Yuuummm! It perked me right up this morning! Exactly what I needed. =)














Here's the Green Monster recipe as depicted from Angela's Oh She Glows blog.
**(In bold is what I added to the Green Monster, really not much of a difference.)

Classic Green Monster

Yield: 1 serving/2 cups

Ingredients:
1 cup almond milk, or milk of choice
1 ripe banana, preferably peeled + frozen
2 handfuls organic spinach
1 tbsp chia seeds OR 1 tbsp ground flax
1 tbsp nut butter (I used creamy unsalted almond butter)
1-3 Ice cubes

1/2 scoop of Amazing Grass Amazing Meal Chocolate

Directions: Starting with the liquid, add in 1 cup of milk of your choice. Now add in the chia or flax and nut butter. Next, add in the spinach followed by the banana on top. Blend until smooth. Add in your ice cubes and blend some more. Serves 1- about 2 cups.

*In my Green Monster I used Almond milk, creamy unsalted almond butter, chocolate Amazing Meal, ground flax, spinach, and a banana. (I forgot the ice, oops!)

*Added the powders and the almond butter first.

*Then the spinach, banana and vanilla almond milk. (Milk not shown, oh and I forgot to add the ice cubes, but it still came out fine!)

*Blended all up and it looks like this!

YUMMY!

 I then headed to campus feeling awake and energized! This kept me full till lunchtime around 12:30, which consisted of a small bowl of quinoa with raw almonds and a light drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. I got my 40 minute elliptical cardio workout in today along with some core and strength training.

It's been an overall great Monday!