I’ve been trying to find ways to sneak in more protein, and this is a wonderfully sweet way!  The recipe makes about 24 cookies and you don’t even need to bake them!  I added the goji berries for a fruity nutritional kick but if you prefer, use something else – raisins, dried cranberries, etc.  No need to be precise with the ingredients, since you’re not baking it.

As always, if you can’t find the ingredients, just click on the ingredient you want and you will be taken to the appropriate Amazon.com page.

White Chocolate Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup raw cacao butter, grated or finely chopped
• 2/3 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. To make it the raw vegan way, boil some water and it put in a small bowl or cup.  Place the butter in a bigger bowl and place the bowl over the smaller one so that it covers it entirely, heating up the bottom of the bigger bowl.  Stir butter constantly until it completely melts.  Otherwise, double boil the butter on medium low to low heat until it melts.
2. Add oil until the butter and oil are combined.
3. Whisk in the coconut sugar and vanilla extract.
4. While still warm, place them in small molds and place in freezer for at least half an hour before removing from the molds.  If you don’t have small molds, I just created a large rectangle with aluminum foil on top of a large cookie sheet and folded up the sides, then poured a thin layer inside, and placed the entire cookie sheet in the freezer.
5. Keep refrigerated.

Cookie Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup raw almonds + 1/2 cup filtered water
• 3 cups gluten free oats, ground into flour
• 2 scoops vegan protein powder (I use this one)
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3/4 cup raw creamy almond butter
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• goji berries

1. Blend almonds and water and strain through a cheesecloth or nut milk bag to create almond milk.  If you don’t know where to find a nut milk bag, click here. Set aside.
2. Combine flour, protein powder, sugar, and sea salt.
3. Blend almond butter and maple syrup and then melt it the same way you did for the white chocolate.  Stir into flour mixture until crumbly.
4. Add almond milk, a little at a time, until it forms a dough.  You don’t necessarily need to use all the milk.
5. Stir in white chocolate pieces and goji berries.
6. Roll into balls and press down onto a cookie sheet lined with baking paper or aluminum foil.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set before serving.

Fall weather is approaching and my home was getting cold, so I had to bake something to warm up the place.  Luckily, I always keep a batch of bananas ripening in my home (because you can always freeze them for later use) so it was perfect for some glorious gluten free, vegan banana bread!  The bananas make the bread naturally sweet and moist.  What I love about this bread is that it’s pretty much guilt-free.  I can eat half the loaf and not feel guilty because I’m getting potassium as well as protein (about 39 grams per loaf)!

I also added in some wheatgrass powder for an additional nutritional boost, which is totally masked by the rest of the wonderful flavors in the bread!  Wheatgrass has a TON of benefits, including a ton of minerals, vitamins A, B-complex, C, E, I, and K, protein, 17 amino acids (the building blocks of protein), chlorophyll (a blood builder), and an enzyme to slow down the aging process.  It neutralizes toxins in the body, helps purify the liver, and improves digestion, among so many other benefits!

As with all my recipes, if you click on the links in the ingredients, you’ll be directed to the Amazon page for that ingredient!

Ingredients:

• 4 medium, very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted* (plus extra to grease the pan)
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/8 tsp or a pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups gluten free oats, ground into flour
• pinch sea salt (optional)
• 1 tbsp wheatgrass powder and 1 tbsp maple syrup (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil.
3. Mash the bananas.  You can do it by hand or put it in a blender.
4. Mix in melted oil, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
5. Fold in baking powder, baking soda, oat flour, and salt.
6. Add in wheatgrass powder and maple syrup, if using, and stir until combined.
7. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.
8. Serve warm.  Coconut oil can solidify at cooler temperatures, which would make the bread dense.  Just reheat the bread when serving.  I suggesting wrapping a slice in aluminum foil and placing it in the toaster oven until the slice is heated thoroughly.

* To melt coconut oil, place oil in small bowl.  Set the bowl over a cup of hot water.  The steam from the water will heat the bottom of the bowl, which will melt the coconut oil.

Try not to eat it all at once!

I found a way to get all the wonderful nutrients of wheatgrass in a yummy dessert, with plenty of protein!  For those who are trying to lose weight, I highly recommend that you incorporate strength training in your diet and increase your consumption of protein – this will help with killing off that fat!  This pudding is awesome because it has the omega-3s from the chia seeds, as well as about 17 grams of protein per serving (makes 4), and all the healthy fats from the coconut milk and chia seeds, ON TOP of the powerhouse punch that wheatgrass provides!  And it’s SO easy to make, too!

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 4-6 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp (or more) wheatgrass powder
• 3/4 cup dehusked mung beans
• 1 cup water or more

1. Add chia seeds to a large container.
2. Shake the can of coconut milk until the liquids and solids mix together and combine milk, syrup, and wheatgrass powder in a container.
3. Rinse mung beans and add to a large pot.  The beans should be a thin layer across the bottom.  Add enough water so that it rises above the layer by about half an inch.  You can add more if you want the beans to become softer and thicker.
4. Heat beans on medium low until they simmer. Reduce heat to low until most of the water is absorbed into the beans and the beans have softened, about 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.  There should be no more water rising above the layer of beans.  You can always adjust the water and amount of mung beans to your taste, or let it heat longer if you want the beans even softer.
5. Add beans and remaining water from the pot into the container and stir until the solid chunks liquefy and blend with the rest of the dessert.
6. Stir in chia seeds.
7. Serve immediately or refrigerate for at least a few hours and serve cold.

Yoga is full of inversions, which basically means where your head is below your heart.  Why does that matter and why should you do them?  Obviously, because it’s fun!  But here are a list of other reasons why you should go upside down.

1. Mentally, it shakes things up.  We are always looking, thinking, and living from a position with our heads above our hearts or parallel to our hearts.  Flip your body around, and your mind starts flipping, too.
2. Mentally, it opens up your mind.  By trying out a new point of view (being upside down), you are stretching your mind’s capabilities, thereby allowing more room in your mind to be open to other experiences, points of view, thoughts, etc.  But spending part of your life upside down, it gives you a new perspective on life.
3. Mentally, it helps you face your fears.  Going upside down can be scary at first for many people.  By addressing this fear and learning how to conquer going (and staying) upside down, you build your character and your confidence.
4. Physically, it strengthens your core, as well as other parts of your body, depending on what pose you do.  For example, forearm stands, like above, also strengthen your shoulders, back, biceps, and triceps.  Handstands, even those against the wall (or the tree like below) also strengthen the same body parts, but to a different degree and in different parts of the same areas.
5. Physically, it helps reduce wrinkles.  The increase in blow flow and oxygen helps rejuvenate your skin, plus the gravity helps reduce the wrinkles.
6. Physically, it can either energize you or relax you.  Energizing inversions are those that require more effort and will get your heart pumping more.  They include headstands, forearm stands, and handstands.  Relaxing inversions help calm the nervous system and produce feelings of balance and calm.  Doing relaxing inversions like shoulder stand and legs-up-the-wall can help you fall asleep if you are having trouble.
7. Mentally and Physically, it helps increase circulation to your brain and provides oxygen to your brain, thus assisting with mental functioning, and improving concentration, memory, and processing abilities.
8. Mentally and Physically, it helps your heart and your blood pressure.  They enable the heart to rest a little bit, because since the blood pressure to the brain is increasing, receptors that regulate blood flow sense the increase and signal the heart rate to lower and blood pressure to reduce.  This will also help your mood.

These are just a few benefits, but there are so many more.  They help relieve sinus congestion, they help boost your immune system, they help you act like a child again by playing around, they’re natural anti-depressants, and they assist in digestion!  So give it a try!  It’ll be worth it!

Previous Yoga Post – Crow – The Gateway Arm Balance

I have a sweet tooth.  And I’ve been trying to add more protein into my diet.  This was a wonderful way to combined the two.  I had other people try it and they found it to be delicious.  The recipe makes a dozen cookies, but I need to make bigger batches, because these babies are not lasting very long!  They are so easy to make, too!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup gluten free oats
• 1/4 cup raw walnuts
• 1 scoop vegan protein powder
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 ripe bananas

1. Preheat oven to 350º F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
2. In a small and strong blender or food processor, blend the oats and walnuts until they form a flour-like consistency.  Add protein, almond flour, cinnamon, and extracts.
3. In a medium-to-large bowl, mash the bananas.
4. Stir the remaining ingredients to combine.
5. Scoop up the dough and place onto baking sheet into round balls, with each cookie placed about an inch apart from the other.
6. Bake for about 13 minutes, and then let sit for 10 minutes before removing from sheet and serving.

Try to tell me this does not look delectable.  This is a great, refreshing dessert.  I like to have it after a workout, due to the potassium from the banana.  If you want it to feel more like a sorbet, feel free to add more strawberries.  I find that using those single-serve blender containers is easiest when it comes to blending the fruit together.  It is so easy and fast to make!  And the cleanup is easy, as well – just put a little dish soap into the container, fill it up with water, and then blend the soapy water for 5-10 seconds.  Rinse away and you’re done!

Ingredients:

• 4-5 frozen strawberries
• 1 frozen ripe banana

1. Let fruit sit out at room temperature for 10-20 minutes.
2. Add fruit into blender and blend until mixed thoroughly.

Do you realize how much money you’re wasting buying exfoliating products for your face?  On top of that, most of those products use ingredients that are actually damaging to your skin!  Let’s take it to the basics and make your own, using products from your own kitchen.  Obviously you’ll need a small container to hold the scrub, and probably a tiny spoon or something of the sort to scoop out the scrub whenever you want to use it on your face.

As for the rest – only 5 ingredients.  Here’s why:

Raw Turbinado Sugar – Turbinado sugar basically means raw cane sugar.  Sugar is a natural source of glycolic acid, which boosts new cell production and breaks down the protein that keeps the dead cells hanging onto your skin. In other words, it breaks down the “glue” that bonds skin cells, encouraging cell turnover and generating fresher, younger-looking skin.  Sugar is also a natural humectant, meaning it draws moisture from the environment into the skin, so it’ll actually help hydrate your skin and keep moisture within.

Sea Salt – Sea salt is full of trace minerals that rejuvenate your skin, stimulate cell growth, and help your skin retain moisture.  Sea salt is a natural detoxifier, absorbing the toxins from the skin. It contains bromide (a mineral known for soothing the skin), potassium (aids in the reduction of water retention), and iodine (regulates metabolic processes on a cellular level).

Raw Honey – Raw honey is anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal, which you may have read in my section about the benefits of raw honey and cinnamon. It kills skin infections, including acne, reduces inflammation, and hydrates your skin.  It helps to both quell existing inflammation and prevent future infections, and the sugars in honey act as natural humectants and emollients, which increase the water content and reduce dryness in the skin even after they have been washed off.  The slight acidity of honey creates a healthy environment on the skin that promotes tissue healing and regeneration, and it also contains proteins, amino acids, vitamins, enzymes, minerals, probiotics and other components that it delivers to skin cells.  Finally, the high antioxidant activity neutralizes blemish- and wrinkle-causing free radicals deep within the skin as well as on the surface, before they cause damage.

Olive Oil – Olive oil contains three major antioxidants: vitamin E, polyphenols, and phytosterols, which means it can protect the skin from premature aging, restore skin smoothness and help protect against UV rays, and helps prevent free radical damage to the skin.  It enhances the exfoliation because as the crystals slough away dead skin, the olive oil deeply penetrates your skin to leave you glowing.

Tea Tree Oil – Tea tree oil has a ton of anti-fungal and anti-viral benefits, and it is an excellent treatment for acne.  It can help neutralize or diminish the scar marks and after spots left by eruptions, boils, pox, and acne.

Here’s how to make it:

Ingredients (click ingredients to purchase through Amazon):

• 1 tbsp raw turbinado sugar
• 1 tbsp fine ground sea salt
• 1 tsp raw honey
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 drops tea tree oil

Stir all ingredients together in a small container and put it in your medicine cabinet.

How to Use:

1. Wet face.
2. Take a small scoop and rub it throughout the face until most of the crystals have dissolved.
3. Rinse off.

Previous Detox Post – Easy Morning Detox – Warm Lemon Water (With Cayenne)

I hope to update this with better pictures because it tastes so much better than it looks!  This is my first foray into incorporating more protein into my diet, since I’ve been working out more, and I wanted ways to include it, other than by throwing protein powder into green smoothies, so here we go!  This is delicious and I can easily eat half the batch in one sitting – it makes about 8 pancakes, total.  AND it’s gluten free!  I learned that it’s easier to flip the pancakes if you make smaller pancakes.  So try this super easy recipe for breakfast (or any other time)!

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp flax seeds + 3 tbsp warm water *
• 3/4 cup raw hazelnuts (or other nuts of choice) + 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups gluten free oats, ground into flour
• 1 scoop vegan protein powder (click here for the one I used)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2-3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp melted coconut oil, plus more for greasing the pan **

1. Grind flax seeds and combined with water to create a flax egg.  This works best when the flax is freshly ground.
2. Blend hazelnuts and water, then strain through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth to create nut milk.  It should make about 1 3/4 cup of milk.  Set aside.
3. Whisk together oat flour, protein powder, baking powder, cinnamon, and sea salt.
4. Add flax egg, nut milk, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and 1 tbsp oil, and stir to combine.
5. Grease the pan with a little oil and pour some batter into the pan (probably a few tablespoons), cooking it on each side for a few minutes on medium-low heat.  The pancake should be ready to flip when the bubbles stop or decrease significantly.
6. Serve with your favorite toppings.

* This is what will bind the batter.

** Coconut oil has a melting point of only 76º, so it doesn’t take much to melt.  I suggest putting the oil in a container, holding it over a container of steaming water until the oil melts.

Looking for something cold, fruity, and sweet?  Why not some ice cream?  Oh, you’re worried because it’s not healthy?  Easy – throw some frozen bananas in a blender!  It’s yummy and healthy!  I find that the blenders with the single-serve containers for smoothies work the best with blending the bananas, and are SO easy to clean!  Afterwards, all you have to do is squeeze a little soap in the container, add water, blend, and then rinse off the residue!

Also, with the bananas – I let them sit until they’re super-ripe.  Then, I peel the bananas and break them up into 2 or 3 pieces, then wrap each banana individually with plastic wrap and throw them in the freezer.  When I want to use them, I let them sit out at room temperature for up to 10 minutes before blending.

So here are a couple super easy variations:

Raspberry Swirl

1. Blend 1 frozen banana.
2. Take a couple tablespoons (or more, if desired), of the raw vegan raspberry jam (click for recipe) and swirl it in.

Mango Ice Cream

1. Blend about 1/2 cup frozen mangoes (or more if desired).
2. Add frozen banana and blend until mixed thoroughly.

When I tried this, I thought it was so good that I just want to go smack someone!  It’s delicious and SO easy to make!  It took me about 10 minutes, and that was really just because I was waiting for the noodles to boil.  Now, you can make this raw vegan by replacing the noodles with kelp or zucchini noodles, and you can make it gluten free by using tamari instead of nama shoyu.  I could not stop eating this stuff, even when I wasn’t hungry!

If you don’t know where to get some of these ingredients, just click the ingredient and you’ll be brought to the product on Amazon.com.

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 inch fresh ginger root
• 2 medium garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup raw creamy almond butter
• 1/4 cup nama shoyu (tamari for gluten free version)
• 3 tbsp brown rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp coconut sugar
• crushed red pepper flakes, as desired

Noodle Ingredients

• 1 package buckwheat noodles
• 1 package frozen Thai mixed vegetables, thawed

1. Throw ginger and garlic into strong food processor or blender to mince.
2. Add remaining sauce ingredients and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, boil noodles as indicated in the package.
4. Mix all ingredients together and let sit in the refrigerator for at least a few hours.
5. Feel free to garnish with cilantro, sesame seeds, and chopped scallions if desired.

So simple!