How has your Monday been flowing? Mine has flowed quite frantically, actually. I went to yoga this morning, and got my heated power flow going. And I’ve been busy with this and that, phone calls, errands, lots of cooking and kitchen time, and of course taking care of the Birthday Girl (her official birthday date is tomorrow Tuesday, Feb 2) and she will officially be 3!!! What have you been up to? How was your weekend? Anyone get snowed in? Hopefully you’re safe and sound and warm!
Thank you for the overwhelming and awesome feedback regarding the Vegan White Chocolate Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cups!
Some were All White with Chocolate PB Centers
And Some were White and Dark Chocolate Outers with Chocolate PB Centers
Thank you also for the feedback about What You’re Doing For Valentine’s Day and also What Kind of Gift You’d Like to Receive in the Mail. Lots of you said my homemade goodies would be very welcome, so that was really sweet to hear….Muah!!! Thank You for Your Kind Words!!
And thanks for the compliments about my cutie pie and for the Happy Birthday Wishes For Her!
As promised, here are more pictures of the big party we had for the three of us…haha! Sometimes smaller is better. Not often, but it does happen.
I strategically placed decked the house out in pink steamers
Got the Tables Set:
Big Person’s Table
Skylar’s Table
Complete with Kazoo, Hat, and Place Card for all
The Gift Stash included raiding the Target One Dollar Bins. Everything here was a buck each!
First a $1 Dollar Tutu, a $1 bracelet, and beads. Perfect!
And some socks, books, hairbrush, complete with Princess Card & Gift Bag.
A forgotten about Christmas Gift for Bitty Baby. I wonder if these Twins started wearing their baking outfits at a young age?
And I wrapped it all Up in a Princess Bag
And then My Princess Came Home and Was Pleasantly Surprised!
She loved her new books!
She wasted no time organizing & meticulously straightening her loot. Wonder who she gets her compulsive organizational tendencies from?
The Ballerina Tutu Goes On and Dancing Begins!
Is she carrying herself like a natural Ballerina or am I just a primadona stage mother?
Definitely Not a Stage Mother: Just A Grateful & Blessed Mother
And Happy…
…for the mutual adoration this little girl and I have for each other!
The ironic thing that I mentioned yesterday is that she’s never had a cupcake. Maybe Barney tipped her off that they exist!
This is My Favorite Photo of the Day of Her: When we were singing Happy Birthday to Her. I love this picture because she genuninely appears to be blown away with happiness and wonderment that all this Was For Her!
While holding Daddy’s Hand and Grinning Ear to Ear
We laughed and she ate cupcakes. And if I didn’t react to dairy like I do, you better believe that the buttercream frosting looked so stick-your-finger-in-it-and-start-lickin’ good!
And We Mutually Adored some more
And after her cupcakes, she still ate her fresh fruit. And then we ran off to dance ballerina style in her room!
And so did I! I can’t believe she’s 3!!!!!!!! It sounds so cliche but they really do grow up so incredibly fast. Kiss them, hug them, hold them, because in just a few years she may think I’m lame and won’t want to be caught dead next to me.
….tons of Sugar Snap Peas with homemade Vegan Slaw Dressing
Today I was Hard at Work in the Kitchen after yoga. I made Vegan Fudge, which is setting up now and I will post it later this week. But in making the vegan fudge, I had about 3/4th’s of a can of coconut milk leftover, so I made Vegan Coconut Milk Kefir with it. I have posted about this before both Here and Here.
Today I simply took the opened can of coconut milk (I used TJ’s Light), poured it into a glass jar and added about 3/4 cup of water to it.
Added the Starter
Stirred. Don’t use metal utensils, the bacteria don’t like metal.
And am letting nature’s friendly bacteria go to work for me on my countertop for the next 18 hours. I wish something or someone other than bacteria would go to work for me but hey, I’ll take what I can get. Need info on vegan or water kefir grains or starter? Here or Here. I sometimes get mine from this place.
Today after yoga I also made
Raw Vegan Chocolate Coconut Snowballs
Yes, it was time for a fresh batch for Scott.
Some of you have written that you’re having issues with them forming into balls…just add more maple syrup and/or coconut oil. Don’t be scared of the liquid, the coconut flakes and the cocoa powder will absorb it. Hope that helps those who have written in! These are Scott’s Dessert Love.
My Dessert Love was a few Vegan White Chocolate Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cups!
Yoga Today is a Side Crane, aka Parsva Bakasana.
For those of you who are regular readers, you know I’m a yoga teacher and have been since 2001. I am frequently asked how to do this pose.
The easiest explanation I can offer is:
Squat down with your feet close together.
Then point your knees all the way to one direction, let’s say the right hand side.
Make a table with your arms, and lean forward and up onto the back of your arms.
The pose is much more about center of gravity and weight distribution than it is about strength. Core strength, in this pose and in all of yoga, is fundamental, but once that’s established, just try to find the Sweet Spot, so you can lift your crane off the ground. Hopefully that explanation helps a bit!
Here’s Another Angle. Just have fun and you’ll get there!
Tip of the Day:
Two Questions:
Well, first is a request. For the bloggers who use word verification on your comment forms, please consider and re-evaluate if this is something you believe is really useful. I don’t use word verification and get a fairly decent number of comments on my posts. I would say I get, maybe 2 spam comments per month, maybe. I really don’t believe word verification does anything other than slow down the commenting process for 99.9% of your commenters. If you are on auto-pilot with that one, like you signed up for it ages ago and never took it off, please consider taking it off. Sometimes I have to re-key words two and three times and it takes up precious time. If you feel it really serves a purpose and you want to keep it, then I can respect that, too!
Next, is there something about me you’d like to know that I haven’t blogged about? I was thinking about creating and “About Me” Tab and am not sure what it is About Me that you’d want to know….haha! I get a lot of private emails asking me all kinds of things, some of which are completely inappropriate, so please, keep it tasteful, clean, and respectful, my friends, but I may do either an About Me Section or a Reader’s Ask and I Answer type of post. And if no one care’s a rat’s bootay “about me”, I can totally & completely understand that too! ha!
Last Question:
At what age do you think celebrating a birthday with a big party and gifts and the whole she-bang is played out and one should tone it down a little? Age 12? 18? 21? 25? 30? 88? Or, You’re never to old to have a huge she-bang! How old were you when you had your last amazing birthday party or celebration? I was 24, living on the beach in NC with Scott, we did sunset yoga on the beach, he had a cake made with hot pink and purple frosting, we stayed up all night drinking wine, swimming in the ocean and laughing and having a ball. So when was your last amazing birthday party or celebration?
Stay Tuned For Oats…
I love roasted veggies! I use coconut oil already for everything because it just makes everything taste better!
(Though this isn't your pancake post, did you cook the coconut flour pancakes in coconut oil?)
I actually would love to do the same and jsut roaste up a ton of veggies with some coconut oil. That just sounds so delicious!
Love coconut oil–I want to use it to make more chocolate! Slightly obsessed…
Huge fan of coconut oil and fat here. :) Love the Garden of Life brand myself.
I'm all for preventative medicine, but when that cold hits hard, I say pass the Nyquil.
Happy Belated Birthday Skylar!!!
Hi Averie!
Oh, I just made your Oatmeal Raisin Cookie balls!! LOVE them <3 <3
Thanks a bunch for this recipe!
Here it is:
https://babyvanilla.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/first-times/
xoxo
Heart painted pottery- did that quite a bit in the 90s. Samantha still has a bowl I painted her. :-)
Knock on wood, not sick in forever (now lightning will strike me!). I usually just muddle through it and let it take its course if it's a virus. Sometimes I'll take a decongestant.
Coconut oil- not yet. Love the taste of the butter though.
Your splits are awe inspiring!
Ohmygosh, I know I say this a lot, but Skylar is downright precious!! Although, I bet you know that already ;)
I love painting pottery!! That's what I did for my christmas gifts this year and it was more of a gift to myself to get to do it :)
As for sickness – I only ever get sick when I'm lacking sleep and feeling run down. Guaranteed, if I get a few nights bad sleep, I'll get a stuffy nose. If I don't rest up then, then it turns into a full-fledged cold or flu (like I just had!!)
Hi, Averie!!! Thanks for another fun post. The roasted veggies are just yummie looking, and I'm trying them tomorrow. Root veggies are so delish.
Your baby is so CUTEEE!!! She looks like she's having fun, too.
When feeling under the weather, I fast and drink alot of water and raw fresh veggie juices. I never get sick anymore since I went high raw vegan. It's the best diet for sickness prevention, I think!! Bye for now!
Great pictures! Ever since I started eatng vegan, I have not had any sickness (besides RSD, of course) in close to three years. The juicing is a BIG help, but also, stress management.
LOOK how FLEXIBLE you are!
WOW!
I don't fear the fat either. We love good healthy fats around here — especially for all my lean little vegan kiddos!
I try natural remedies at the first sign of illness here (lots of rest, extra liquids) but with so many wee ones, the germs spread quickly 'round here and there's no saving me :)
Skylar's birthday mug will be such a treasured little pink keepsake :)
Your girl is super-cute!
If I'm getting sick/cold flu? I IMMEDIATELY run, not walk to my Chiropractor. Sometimes if I'm fevery, I get a few ajustments PER DAY to get my nervous system kicking my immune system into high gear! It really is my failsafe.
The other thing I do is take Oscillococcinum by Boiron (or FluBuster by HomeoCan). I've heard that some folks work well with herbs, others with homeopathy and I'm the latter. One round of those little babies and a great adjustment and the illness is moving on out.
Thanks for all your fabu recipes Averie!
Skylar is looking so much older all of the sudden! It must be the big 3 thing : ) How fun to paint pottery for her birthday, such a good idea!
Mmmm, yummy treats for sure! I've been having to cut down on those a little because I ramped up my workouts which causes me to gain a few pounds. I know it sounds backwards but I start lifting pretty heavy weight which makes the muscles huge! Next week is yoga week, yeah! It all slims right back down : )
You know those pictures of various pb cups are NOT helping my resolve!
Probiotics, on my list! Love coconut oil! If I feel like I'm getting sick, I get some sleep. It really helps!
Miss chatting. In person, soon!
Hugs and love,
Nicole
What fun for you and Skylar! Love the little keepsake you made!
We are eating Tropical Traditions coconut oil these days. As a matter of fact I just received my order of two gallon buckets of it! ;-) We're not going to fear the fat. =)
Love your idea of putting some fresh raw food on your roasted veggies. We're having roasted veggies tonight (I haven't been able to stay 100% raw), and I'm going to do just that. =)
I'll be back to blogging again tonight or Sunday. My photographer has had a rough week at school so I didn't have pics. =(
Everytime I come to your page I am so hungry!!!!!!!!!! Love it though!!!
Oh you need to open up your own vegan bakery, Skylar would be your little helper!!!
Love the pottery creation she made, so sweet! She is a good painter!!
I believe in healing naturally when I am sick as well! I dont get sick often because of being so healthy, I just dont believe in putting meds in my body when Im sick unless it has to go that route!
Love ya girl!!!!!!!!!!!! xoxo
To sum my extreme negative feelings towards some "specialists" and the amount of meds they seem to push, about 5 years ago i was told to take 4 months of anti-biotics for a "parasite" that i was thought to have contracted in Peru. Not only did it ruin my immune system at the time, but it zapped my energy, destroyed white blood cells, and lead me into anemia. Fortunately i have built all of my iron stores, and white blood cells back up, and feel better then ever before! I intend on looking into all of the probiotics you have posted because i believe STRONGLY, like you, that 95% of illness can be properly handled in a natural, nutritional manner! Great post, and i will try and post pics today of my no-bakes i made last night! Didn't turn out quite as planned but will definitely eat them again. I guess i need to jump on this coconut oil bandwagon as well! What is the kind to buy?
Aw, that painting looks SO FUN!!
If you make a Superbowl app, I *highly* suggest this one: https://everydaydishtv.blogspot.com/2008/05/hot-artichoke-dip.html
It is FREAKING AMAZING!!! I made it for Thanksgiving and everyone flipped out (including myself) – and again for a party my parents had in December, and even the die-hard meat-eaters were asking me for the recipe. I add a lot of spinach to mine for Spinach Artichoke Dip. (Great, now my mouth is watering.)