Birthday Party, Grocery Finds, Vegan Sweet Treats, Gratitude

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Happy Hump Day!  We’re halfway there and I am really looking forward to the weekend!  I’ve got some cool yoga classes lined up, but we are also going to throw Skylar’s 3rd Birthday Party

Large number 3 birthday candle

Birthday Party supplies on countertop

When I say party, I should really define that as an intimate celebrationWhy?  Because we’re new in town and don’t know too many people, so it will just be the three of us, and that’s totally fine by me.  More desserts for us…haha!  Thanks to everyone who chimed in with all your special memories about the parties you had as kids!  The birthday girl has requested cupcakes so that’s what it shall be and other than that, I am in girly-girl birthday party planning mode!  Any more tips??

Up close of young girls face smilingYoung girl leaning toward countertop smiling

I’m glad you enjoyed yesterday’s post about my Yoga Class with the Yoga Master Dharma Mittra & the words of wisdom he had that I shared.
Woman standing with Dharma MittraDharma Mittra addressing crowd

And of course I know you loved the Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls, too!

Overhead of Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough BallsClose up of two Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls
Melts in your Mouth, Not in your Hands!
Stacked Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls in clear container

And Thanks for Giving me your Perspective on PatienceAnd what’s easy and what’s challenging for you to be patient with.  I like hearing everyone’s take on topics like that!

Moving on to a few grocery finds…
I picked up these little crackers that were on sale for $1.99 in the organic section of the regular grocery store.  Michael Season’s Baked Multigrain Chips.

Baked Original Multigrain Chips in bag

They are wheat and gluten free, although Skylar and Scott don’t have to be gluten-free, as I mentioned before, wheat & gluten are inflammatory and harder to digest for everyone, so I try to keep it to a minimum around here.

Chips showing Wheat and Gluten Free
Overhead of chips in hand

And while I was at the grocery, I stocked up Sale-Priced Fruit

Grapes

Red grapesGreen grapes

Cherries!  I love cherries and haven’t had any in about 6 months!  

Hand holding cherry
Cherries in bag

They still weren’t exactly cheap, but they were on sale and that was good enough.  And they were perfectly crunchy & juicy…ewww! to mushy fruit!

Close up of hand holding cherry

Strawberries were on sale for $1.88 for 2 pints!

Sliced strawberries

Skylar Loves Her Berries!  Yay for Strawberries!  
Still sick, but happy nonetheless!

Young girl standing in front of wall with arms up
Close up of sliced strawberries

And Greenery.  Not on sale but essential!
Brock & Sugar Snap Peas

Heads of broccoli in bagBag of sugar snap peas

TJ’s lettuce mix, organic peas, and a yellow pepper

Lettuce mix, peas and yellow pepper

And a red pepper

Diced up red pepper in bag

I also love gum.  I know, classy to be chomping away, but there are worse things, right!  Anyway, these are my newest obsessions.  The Extra Family Fruit Sensations. 

Various packages of Extra Fruit Sensations gum

The lowdown:
The Mango Smoothie tastes like an Orange Creamsicle, more orange than mango, really good
The Island Cooler is faint, pineapple/mango-ish, and is very light in flavor, and is the most subtle of all four
The Watermelon is a big Pop! of Sweet Watermelon flavor
And the Strawberry-Banana tastes more strawberry than banana and is also a pretty “big” flavor like the watermelon.  
Nothing worse than bland gum!  Or gum that loses it’s flavor in 30 seconds!  For the gum chewers and connoisseurs, what’s your fave these days?

Here was a bowl of greenery I savored:
Everything was raw except the Brussles Sprouts which were steamed for 1 minute.  Brock, sugar snap peas, carrots, tomatoes, yellow peppers, romaine, cukes

Mixed salad with Vegan Slaw Dressing

Dressed With a Fresh Batch of Vegan Slaw Dressing that I made yesterday

Overhead of jar of Vegan Slaw Dressing
Side view of lidded jar of Vegan Slaw Dressing
Close up of salad topped with Vegan Slaw Dressing

Oh, Remember the Tempt Ice Cream from my  Grocery & Mailbox Finds Post?

Two containers of Tempt Ice Cream, Mint Chip and Vanilla Bean

Scott, the resident ice cream connoisseur not to be confused with me the gum connoisseur, says that it’s “Amazing!”  I don’t throw that word around lightly.  This is a man who used to enjoy his full-dairy, full-fat, Green & Black’s Organic Dark Chocolate ice cream and tons of specialty high end ice cream before I transformed him into a non-dairy guy, so for him to give this 2 Thumbs Up, that’s really saying something. 

Open containers of Tempt Ice Cream
I am not the best judge of ice cream because I prefer balls, any day.
 Chocolate cookie dough balls
 Close up of cookie dough balls in container
For Dessert, for Scott, because that ice cream is long gone, I got busy with a batch of Raw Vegan Chocolate Coconut Snowballs
Raw Vegan Chocolate Coconut Snowballs in white bowl
I generally make a batch fill up 4 bowls with the chocolate snowballs
Four bowls of Raw Vegan Chocolate Coconut Snowballs
And then he can grab out of the freezer, as needed.
Close up of Raw Vegan Chocolate Coconut Snowballs in bowl
Which is kinda dangerous because these are delish!
For my dessert, I snagged a No-Bake, Gluten-Free Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Bar
 
Overhead of Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Bar
Side view of Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Bar

Shoutout to Danielle who made these and so did Tess and so did…hmmm.  Ok, having major Alzheimer’s Moment here.  There were at least a couple other people who made these…I swear to you, once upon a time I was magna cum laude.  Now I can’t remember everyone who made these.  I apologize!!!!!  My excuse: playing nursemaid with not enough sleep to a sick kiddie!

Close up of end of Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Bar

Yoga Today is Camel (Ustrasana).  Open your heart chakra, let the love in.  And give extra special thanks & gratitude to the Universe this week for all the lovely blessings you DO HAVE in your life today!  Even if life isn’t perfect, there’s always something to be grateful for.  What are you grateful for today? 
Woman doing Ustrasana yoga pose

Tip of the Day:  Be Grateful!  I am grateful that I have an awesome little girl, who still happens to be sick boo-hoo but we’re rockin’ the natural treatments for colds like extra vitamin C, zinc, ginger, and extra antioxidants, I’m grateful for my husband, and all the new friends I have made in the blogosphere since I started blogging!  I am so grateful to all you guys who are always reading, leaving supportive comments, and encouraging words!!!!!  Thank You!!!!

Also if you’re into Vega, here’s a way to Save:

Save 15% on all Vega Sport
products at the Sequel eStore.
Enter promo code VNEWS-SPORT
at checkout. Offer valid through February 14, 2010.
Click here to Shop Now!

Have you tried Vega?  Do you like it?  Do you like their Bars? Or their other products

What’s your Favorite Gum if you’re a gum chewer?  I’d like to get more into mints, tooAny recommendations on mints?  Before I walk into teach a yoga class, which I need to hustle because I have to go teach a 5:30pm heated power flow class, it’s nice to have a mint, ya know?  But, I don’t like anything too strong and overwhelmingly pepperminty though.  I don’t want my eyes watering or anything!

What are you Grateful for Today?

Stay Tuned For Yummy Eats…

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Comments

  1. She looks so cute eyeing that cupcake! I can only imagine the look on my face the first time I ate a cupcake.

    I missed out on the secret valentine giveaway. I really have to read more blogs. However, if I were your secret valentine, I'd be ecstatic with a bunch of raw goodies from you!

  2. wow! Averie..just awesome. I completely adore the white chocolate PB cups! I had no idea that they made a vegan white chocolate and this just totally excites me. For me I think the dark and white combo are my favorite. Put some PB goodness in the center and those are awesome. Oh yum! I cant wait to make these. (where did you find the white chocolate btw?)

    Happy Bday to Skylar! It sounds like such a fun party. You did an awesome job hon!

    Congrats on almost finishing you yoga teaching training program. Im so totally excited for you. I wished that I lived closer to you so you could be my teacher!! I would have loved that. Oh well…maybe in August!=)

    Well I was just thinking about valentines day actually! I signed up for Janetha's secret valentine exchange. It just sounds like so much fun. I think for valentines day me and the hubs are gonna hang around town. We were gonna go out but I have a trailer due a day before valentines day. Could be dicey to go out. So I think we are going to do a fun night in. Maybe hit up the spa for a couples massage and some dinner. A little something like that. I usually dont get too into vday but oh well!

    Anyways sweetie I hope you had an awesome weekend. Take care love!

  3. Those raw peanut butter cups look to die forrr!! I would have BOTH :)

    Great yoga pose! I finally mastered crow :)
    <3 jess
    xoxo

  4. YUM!!! Wow, those definitely look worth trying! I've been wanting to try your Raw PB cups, but can not find nooch ANYWHERE around here, when I do I will have to!

    xo
    K

  5. Always wondered how one made peanut butter cups — neat! I probably should avoid those (self control issues, party of one), but maybe for gifts!

    I'm not a Valentine's Day lady because I don't do "tell me you love me" very well, but I try to be surprisingly romantic at other times.

  6. thank you SOO much for your comment. it was like ONE BIG hug i needed. girl, if you pull the plug on yours…DON"T DO IT, coz the minute you leave i'll leave!! i'll just die because your blog is such a refresher from other blogs that are similar! you're an inspiration to me, and hell, i like to hang it all out here too! don't worry. i will keep on with my little blog! =D SOOO glad you have felt the same way sometimes! us baggy clothing peeps must stick together!

  7. Oh my god…those are BEAUTIFUL! Love the tuxedo colors! No one could say no to those…lucky Valentine! (I just packed up my package today!)

    I did my first tripod headstand today…hadn't been able to do one since gymnastics when I was a kid! I can also do my headstands with no wall now. Yoga just makes me so happy!

  8. Happy birthday to your beautiful daughter!! :D

    You should seriously open up a vegan dessert shop! I drool every time I come over here!

    Sadly my boyfriend and I are in the long distance thing so we won't be together on V-Day :( But I'm coming down there to visit him this weekend!!

  9. omg seriously, i'm jealous of skylar to have such a wonderful chef around! your eats look absolutely fantastic! and i am seriously head over heels for reeses so i'm definitely going to try out that recipe :]
    tell her i say happy birthday!! ahh she's so adorable i want to babysit :]
    hehe.
    love,
    becca

  10. The food has me salivating over here! The peanut butter cups!!!! Ahhh! Just went into the freezer to get some semi-sweet chocolate to get some chocolate in my mouth after seeing those pictures. Your yoga poses continue to impress me.

  11. the pics of that yoga studio are so gorgeous, i would LOVE to practice there! aww skylar looks like she had so much fun at her bday party, you threw a great one!

  12. Skylar REALLY enjoyed that cupcake!! That face of her's is priceless :) Happy Birthday Skylar!!! I'm so excited for you to finish the 500 hour.. what a great accomplishment ;) Congrats! PB cups look amazing!

  13. AVERIE!!
    hey lovely!!
    skylar is SO CUTE w. her gifts! she is one happy little girl!! what a great bday!!
    THOSE PB CUPS.. amazing.. i would loveee a chocolate one!
    i dk about vday! whatd you get for your hubby when yall were dating?

  14. Aww Skylar's so cute!! :) Hope she has a great birthday!

    Congrats on almost making it to the highest level of yoga certification. That's super exciting!

    Vegan white chocolate <3

  15. Oh holy crap! Those cups look to DIE for! My mouth is seriously watering. I want one! Such cute pics of Skylar, as always! :):)

  16. Fabulous recipe.. they look picture perfect.. I LOVED that cookbook!! I still need to return it to the library.. I think Ive reached my renewal limit! lol

    Looks like Miss Skylar had a fabulous girly birthday! You are a good momma!!! She looks so happy.

    Valentines day.. hmm well, it was our first "date' anniversary (so cliche) 6 years ago so we usually just go out to din (again, so cliche). We usually go to a nice Italian place because we usually never do Italian?! I dunno.. nothin crazy. We will prob walk there so Ill be rockin tennis shoes and yoga pants. lol

    Happy Sunday!