Friday Fun: Blogger Swap

Marla of Family Fresh Cooking and I decided over our last coffee meetup that it would be fun if we guest-posted on each other’s blogs, and today is the day we chose.   I have a post on her site and without further ado, here’s Marla…

Hi everyone! I am so excited to be visiting all of you here on Love Veggies and Yoga! Averie and I have been planning this fun guest swap for some time. My name is Marla Meridith & I publish the blog Family Fresh Cooking. Averie was one of the first friends I made when I launched my blog in 2009.

 

We hit it off instantly through the comment fields on our blogs and then furthered our friendship through email. We are lucky enough to have face time every so often at a So Cal Starbucks! Last time we met for coffee we planned the swap.

She is on my blog today so be sure to dash over to see her post too. With Valentine’s Day around the corner I will share some of my favorite chocolate recipes with you but before that…

My favorite place to visit are the snowy mountains of Telluride, Colorado. All seasons. On my bucket list is Switzerland so if any of you have contacts with the tourism board over there please let me know. I just researched the airfare and it is prohibitively expensive. So I need some Swiss connections. Imminently.

For now it is wonderful if I end up in Telluride any opportunity I get….

My beautiful Rocky Mountains beckon our arrival in less than 48 hours. We will head over to that cafe shown above when we get there.

I think Averie should own a bakery like that. Just saying.

Averie and I have a whole lot in common. Here are a few things:

• We both have lots of energy.
• We love food + fitness.
• We take a special liking for yoga.
• We love to take pretty pictures of food + life.
• We LOVE to travel.
• We enjoy lots of chocolate & coffee.
• We both have little kids. I have a 5 year old boy & 8 year old girl.
• You can usually find us online. On some device. Or many at one time.
• We both love sweets. Averie bakes more traditionally and I stick with sugar free, whole food recipes.

Here are my kiddos in case you are wondering…

Today I am going to share some delicious chocolate treats that you can share with your lovey dovey Valentine, pack in your lunch box or enjoy on the chairlift or a hike! I have a ever growing recipes page so feel free to poke around there for lots of sweet & savory cravings.

Let’s start with breakfast! how about some crunchy, munchy chocolate cereal?

Truffles are always a treat and I also designed some pretty Valentine’s Day printables that you can use on all of your crafts and gifts. You can get the link for the freebie PDF on my Facebook Page.

These are Citrus Cranberry Chocolate Truffles. They are sugar free, vegan & gluten free. If you care about that stuff.

You would not know it though as the flavor is heavenly.

Here are some more truffles. These have a hint of smoked sea salt. Just to mix things up a bit.

Try some Chocolate Ginger Truffles with Cacao and Smoked Sea Salt…

I love combining all kinds of fruit with chocolate. This Chocolate Bread Pudding Breakfast Cake was never meant to be. It was actually a happy mistake with wrongly measured oat and coconut flours. Thank goodness the results of my mistake turned into this! All covered up with raspberries and whipped cream this cake is dreamy. I have been re-creating my mistake often as it is hard to resist.

Yes, we really do enjoy this for breakfast. It is created with all whole food ingredients. Free from refined sugars. It is again gluten free and vegan. Also it is no bake.

The perfect treat for any time of day. Even great as a real dessert.

Here is my Chocolate Dipped Fruit on a Stick. Again, fruit meets chocolate and this time with sprinkles!

Last but not least I have two pizza recipes in which chocolate plays the super star. Pizza dough and chocolate are crazy good. Have you ever tried this combo before?

Here we have Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Pizzas…

Let’s round off all of this chocolate with even more…

Chocolate Cherry Ricotta Pizzas!

Thanks so much for having me over for a visit Averie. Wishing you all a blissful Valentine’s Day with lots and lots of chocolate! Feel free to substitute your favorite milk or white chocolate in any of my recipes here. Should you wish.

Let’s stay in touch! Visit me at Family Fresh Cooking and I am all over the web: on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon & Instagram too!

All of the images in this post are ©Marla Meridith Photography