Food & Coffee Finds, Almond Butter Treats, Goals

Hi Bloggie Friends!  I hope your day has been mellow and chill.  Mine, not so much.  It’s been anything but mellow and chill because I did the Grocery Store Shuffle this morning, then Target, cleaned my house, did tons of laundry, fielded 987887 emails, it’s been a blur!  Not a bad thing, just a bit crazy because shopping and schlepping to multiple stores with a toddler adds that extra dimension to things.  Carseat buckles anyone?  Not to mention, when I set out on errands, with rare exception, I am all business, no dawdling and no “just browsing”.  Get the item, throw it in the cart, turbo-walk up and down the aisles, and get outta there.  No time to linger, I have blogs to read…haha!

Today was the day I had to reload my Produce Stash.  I try to do one major grocery run per week with one, maybe two, fill-in smaller trips.  Do the math, that’s 3 trips per week.  Ahem, every other day.  Sigh.  But we’re plant-based people so we need to constantly replenish the fresh produce!  

Today I picked up red & green pears, bananas, and vine-ripe tomatoes

Apples Carrots, Grapes, Cucumber, Red Pepper…

Remember how I mentioned yesterday that I have been stalking sprouts at multiple grocery stores, but that they’ve all been out?  And lots of you wrote to tell me you’re having issues getting your sprouts that past week or so, too!

Well I’m in business again!  Thank goodness because I was going through cruciferous withdrawals!

And then I hit up Target and Picked up some essentials like toilet paper and coffee.  
Two New Flavors: Kona & Fudge Brownie

But The Fudge Brownie Smells Divine…

I wonder if the Fudge Brownie Coffee will taste like my Raw Vegan Chocolate Brownies?

 Raw Vegan Chocolate Brownies-Slighly Different Recipe than 1st Link

Or if the coffee will taste more like my Vegan Fudge-10 Minute No-Bake Recipe?

I can’t wait to find out in the morning and I’ll be sure to report back!

So I was glad to hear you liked my Nut Butter Stash from Yesterday

And also my Chocolate Goodies

Thanks for telling me about your drink-guzzling ways!  I’m glad to hear I’m not the only person who can down an ice-coffee in 27 seconds flat!  Sounds like you all are some turbo drinkers, too!  Hey, there are worse things.

And it also definitely sounds like I’ve got some ice coffee lovers in the house, too!  Yay for ice coffees in the summer for me!  Once upon a time I used to love a margarita on the rocks on a hot summer day, now I’ve progressed loving iced coffees on the rocks.  Although a really good margarita on a rooftop deck for happy hour on a warm summer evening, that doesn’t sound too shabby!

Since I haven’t discovered any rooftop decks with great happy hour specials lately, I’ll have to settle for this Blueberry Clif Bar.   This is not a flavor I would have ordinarily chosen for myself, I would have gone for chocolate, of course.  But I bought this for Skylar thinking blueberry is somehow healthier than chocolate.   In a bar like this, I really don’t think there’s much of a difference nutritionally speaking between blueberry and chocolate, but hey, I try.

 However, I didn’t count on loving this bar myself!

What I love about it is the Chewy, Dense Texture.  I hate airy and light bars.  I like to chew.  I love raw foods that are crunchy and that work out my jaw, and I prefer the same highly chewy factor in bars.  And I love this one!  

The Texture of the Blueberry Clif Reminds me of a Cross Between My…
No-Bake Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Coconut Oil Protein Bars… 

…And My Vegan Gluten & Soy-Free Homemade Granola, which I underbake so that it’s nice & chewy.   

I also broke into one of my Betty Lou’s High Protein Almond Butter Balls.  Gluten Free, too!

I reviewed Betty Lou’s Products in This Post but the basic info is that Betty Lou’s is known for their Vegan, Gluten-Free, Organic, Dairy-Free, Wheat-Free, Soy-Free or Corn-Free snacks.   

The outside of the almond butter ball had tons of little almond chunks embedded in it.  Actual size is golf-ballish.

I pulled the ball apart so you could see the middle is dense and chewy like a protein bar is.  The inside reminds me of the inside of a Balance Bar or garden-variety protein bar…

….But these don’t taste garden variety!  Really good and although there is a subtle “protein taste”, there is also an almond butter flavor and the little almond chunks gave some crunch.  Good stuff!

If you don’t have Betty Lou’s Almond Butter balls on hand, just make some of my high Raw Vegan Almond Butter Cookie Balls, instead! 

Green Food: Asparagus, Sugar Snap Peas, Mixed Greens, Tomatoes, Cukes

 

Dressed with Homemade Vegan Slaw Dressing

Desserts….
I found a few Vanilla Sunflower Seed Butter Balls in the back of the freezer and was so happy to munch on chilly balls!

You can make These Balls with any kind of nutbutter: Sunflower, PB, Almond, Whatever Works.  

I also had a Chocolate Craving and decided to break into a Chocolate Inspirations Vegan Treat 

Yoga Today is Recovering from the 90 degree hot power flow class I taught last night!  Needless to say, my class was slipping all over their mats and panting and dropping like flies in child’s pose.  Insert devilish laugh when I know I have made believers out of people that yoga is more than “just sitting around breathing.”  Come to my class, you will not wonder if you “got a workout in”.  

 Sirsana (Headstand).  Your shoulders and arms should be absorbing about 90% of your weight, and only 10% is absorbed by your head.  If you’re feeling it too much in your head & neck, you need to really concentrate on building your arm & shoulder strength, ok love?

Tip of the Day:  Did You Check and See Who Won the Lunchbox Set Give Away?

Questions
1. For the coffee drinkers, do you like flavored coffees?
I never used to but lately, I am totally grooving on them!  If you have any flavored coffees you love, do tell!


2. Fitness or Health Goals?  Or just any goals?
I have sort of a crazy idea that I would like to do explore the possibility of doing figure competitions.  Yes, those competitions where you spend insane amounts of time and energy sculpting your body and then prance around in a swimsuit being judged. Yes, those!   

I know, pretty crazy but I have always wanted to do them.  I sort of alluded to it in This Post.  

What’s stopping me?  The fact that I actually don’t enjoy lifting weights, at all!!! 

And, that I am naturally not a bulky person and have no idea how I would be able to transform my lanky yoga body enough into something more like this, while being plant-based?  However many readers have written me behind the scenes and for all of you who have, muah!!! 

(Source Click Here)
I originally found this woman’s site through April’s blog, thanks April!

I don’t know where to begin on this possibly journey, and not saying I am going to pursue it, but it’s a goal and a thought I have rolling around in my head.  Just like spending a couple months in India on a yoga ashram is also a goal!  


What are your goals?  Fitness, dietary, health, relationships, self-care, what are you working on, either short or long-range?

Stay Tuned For Hot Topic Friday…