Before you roll your eyes at me and say “not another healthy ball recipe” and silently think I’m one basic betch (which, I do admit myself than I am in fact, 100% a #basicbetch) I have to let you know that I originally had no intention of sharing this recipe with the world.
It’s Monday so I got a little coconut crazy to start the week right. Story of my life.
I hope you haven’t gotten tired of me boasting about all things spring-y around here…the spring produce love is REAL. I’m digging my daily greens (as usual) and the warmer weather definitely help sets the spring time mood – can’t wait for berry season soon!
Post-workout. A 2% mango and jalapeno Siggi’s with coconut chips.
Iced coffee via Kudu’s and a blueberry Bai5.
I also had some raw carrots for a snack with hummus…which I never got a picture of. But I am giving you this picture, which shows a little bit of what I prepared for the week – including the carrots! I guess the theme of the week is orange…oh wait that’s every week. (Go Tigers! And Vitamin A!)
Made a batch of this cucumber. radish, and mango mix for the week – with a squeeze of lime and drizzle of honey.
Which got mixed into this salad – with a bed of arugula + avocado + smoked salmon and a little bit of goat cheese.
Which you can see in action here…work lunch.
An minneola orange. Hauled last week
An everything but the kitchen sink salad – my favorite! A base of kale and arugula + shrimp + sweet potatoes + roasted tricolor carrots + peas + sundried tomatoes + peas all tossed in lemon juice and tahini.
A piece of this kick ass chocolate I got in the mail from the Easter bunny. They sure do know me well – coconut and dark chocolate and all!
Head on over to Jenn’s linkup for more food inspirations – she’s talking all about her CHARLESTON eat’s today – yay!
I mean, Valentine’s Day or whatever.
(Parks and Recreation is still one of my favorite shows. Leslie Knope for President. Insert praise hand emoji here.)
The theme lately in my life involves a whole lotta “C’s.”
Which is fine, because some of the best things in life start with the letter C. In addition to the three mentioned above, coconut, Chris Pine, and Christmas are included. Which in my most humble opinion, are indeed some of the best things in life.
Newsflash: My caffeine coffee IV drip is nonetheless still injected into my veins, but since it’s summer time, it’s mainly through iced cold brew.
You can very easily make your own cold brew, but the Whole Foods cold brew coffee is actually one of my favorites. Not only do they make you feel sort of cool by giving you a refillable growler for only $3.99, but the fact of the matter is, it’s really the sweet nectar of the coffee prodigies.
Plus, it combines fabulously with the So Delicious dairy-free coconut hazelnut creamer.
Another caffeinated item I’ve really been into: the “brew over ice” K-Cups. Easy, iced coffee to go! Repeat after me guys, I will save money this summer by making my own coffee. I will save money this summer by making my own coffee…repeat repeat repeat.
For these brew over ice K-Cups, if I’m not adding the So Delicious coconut creamers, I like to add Trader Joe’s soy creamer. I like the soy creamer mainly because it adds creaminess to the coffee without the sweetness of added sugars – I like to be able to taste some the natural bitterness of the coffee! I keep these creamers on rotation depending on what I feel like drinking different days.
And if I feel like more of an iced latte (aka almond [or coconut] milk, splash of coffee) I freeze the coffee into cubes and add unsweetened almond milk + 4 stevia drops + splash of vanilla extract for a great afternoon pick me up!
I also tried the Trader Joe’s cold brew —
And while I prefer the bitter tones of the Whole Foods brew more, the Trader Joe’s cold brew comes at a great price — $7.99 for a quart – which is around 12 cups of coffee concentrate! Keep in mind that the coffee concentrate is pretty strong – so diluting it with milk or water is recommended, even for the most seasoned coffee drinkers!
Recipe for success: 1/2 cup cold brew + 1 cup almond milk + 2 tbsp creamer + ice.
Extra K-Cup Lovin’: This pomegranate raspberry black tea is pretty good too and a great alternative to coffee – very summery! Anything that says “brew over ice” immediately catches my eye…especially in this heat!
Oh my goodness for the love of PLAINTAIN CHIPS. It’s another one of those Trader Joe’s impulse buys that you don’t regret. Such a great alternative for those of you looking for a potato chip alternative – I promise you won’t miss them after having these bad boys!
Ingredients: Plaintains, sunfloweroil, salt.
I love it with the spicy edamame-guacomole dip from Trader Joes. How do you guys rethink the classic chip and dip?
Also, have you checked out those Buzzfeed articles about Trader Joes? You can find them here and here. Nailed it! Worth those hours I spend surfing Buzzfeed, just to read these. So guilty – but c’mon – tell me you’ve at least taken all a handful of the quizzes they post? Are they not the most accurate things in the world?
I don’t know of another place where you can find hummus tubs the size of mini soccer balls (or where you can feed yourself an entire meal out of samples) but I really don’t question things when chickpeas are involved. Not going to lie when I say at first, I wasn’t sure whether I was completely in awe of the hummus tubs I saw or in shock that I could feed a family of 7 with just one tub. By family of seven I mean me, me, me, myself, May, and I.
But clearly, as you can see, my family and I had no problem finishing off the tub. I even saved a dish to wash in the process by eating a meal straight from an almost empty tub. Efficient, I know!
Can we also talk hummus toppers for a minute? So on the bottom is just plain ol’ hummus, but attached to the tank is various toppings to add on, like garlic or roasted red pepper. Great concept and even though I am a fan of toppings (over anything) – I felt like hummus is better left alone, in this case!
Non-food related, but also at Costco, I can find 5 pack boxes of my favorite makeup remover. It’s the little things. Or Costco’s case, the big things. Either way, this is my favorite makeup remover and I get a ton of it. Win-win!
Remember my post with the Paleo English Muffins?
Well, I loved it so much [aka breakfast was the same for a week straight] that I thought it was finally time for me to actually bake up a entire loaf of Paleo Bread this week to change things up [although the English muffins were the most adorable things!].
I’ve seen a lot of different variations when it comes to the decadent Paleo sandwich bread, but the ones that always stick out to me is the ones with the fewest ingredients possible. For a health nut / foodie that loves experimenting in the kitchen, I am actually pretty lazy 85% of the time. I blame my crazy student schedule!
