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Really want to share this recipe with you all for these vegan Cocoa Pancakes that I made the other day! They were delicious. I put white chocolate peanut butter on them as well. So delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup non-dairy milk
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup light spelt flour (or whole wheat, all purpose etc)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¼ cup + 2 tbsp cacao/cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 3 tbsp maple syrup (or agave nectar) plus extra for serving
• 1/4 cup liquid coconut oil (or other oil)
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Mix the non-dairy milk and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl and set aside to curdle, about 5 minutes.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, cinnamon and salt together in a large bowl until combined. Add the curdled milk, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla. Mix with a wooden spoon until just combined. It should be a tad loose-seeming.
3. Heat a large, non-stick pan over medium-low heat. Drop ¼ cup measures of the batter into the pan (not too many at a time!). When bubbles start to peak through the surface and you see a bit of light browning/crisping up on the underside, flip the pancakes over carefully, about 1-2 minutes. Repeat for the other side, remove from the pan and set aside on a covered plate to keep warm.

Today’s lunch. BLTA - Whole grain, veggie bacon, spinach, tomato, and avocado. With grapes, strawberries, an orange, a kiwi, and orange carrot mango juice. So good.

From a few days ago. Van’s whole grain gf/vegan waffles with dark chocolate and white chocolate peanut butter, organic raw blue agave syrup, fruits, glass of almond milk, and a smoothie made of strawberry orange banana juice, frozen strawberries, frozen mango, and a fresh banana.

My grocery shopping lately has mostly been clif/luna bars, almond milk, bananas, cereal, and… I don’t even know what. So today I decided to stock up on da goods. Lots of strawberries, juice, almond milk, bananas, cantaloupe, zucchini, spinach, bread, lots of tomatoes, grapes, frozen fruits, quinoa, pasta sauce, brownie mix, dairy free chocolate syrup, coconut milk ice cream, and possibly a few other things I can’t remember.

(via lilyskinned)

Mac and Cheese (gluten free, soy free, vegan)

Total Time: 45 minutes. Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1 pound shell pasta (I use a Quinoa & Corn combination)
• 4 tablespoons Earth Balance Soy Free Spread, plus extra for greasing a casserole dish
• 2 cups unflavored coconut milk (not cans)
• 1/2 cup coconut creamer (I like So Delicious Original flavor) 
• 2 cups shredded Daiya cheddar cheese
• 1 cup Daiya mozzarella cheese
• 1 Udi’s hamburger bun, toasted 
• 1 tablespoon millet flour
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons salt, plus a few tablespoons extra for pasta water
• 3 tablespoons organic cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water, room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees F

Grease a 9x12 inch casserole dish

In a large stock pot with boiling water, add few tablespoons of kosher salt to the water, then pasta and stir frequently to prevent clumping.

In a mini food processor pulse the toasted hamburger bun until a breadcrumb consistency.  Set aside.

In a medium heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, melt Earth Balance spread.  Add coconut milk, coconut creamer, salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and let it cook until it’s just about to boil, about 3 minutes.  Stirring occasionally.  

Meanwhile, in a small glass bowl, mix cornstarch and millet flour with room temperature water.  Raise the heat to medium high, pour in the cornstarch mixture, and whisk vigorously for a few minutes until it thickens, about 3-5 minutes.  Once thickened, add both Daiya cheeses, stir to blend.  

Drain the pasta once it’s reached al dente (cooked, yet firm), put the pasta back into the large stockpot, add the sauce and mix well. 

Fill the greased casserole dish with the creamy pasta mixture evenly, add breadcrumbs evenly across the top.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Serve hot. 

Today’s lunch. Multi grain bread, strawberry jelly, maple almond butter, and strawberries!

raindropwinter:

that’s a nice piece of info…

(via fitnessfoodfabulous)

I had a fruit platter for lunch today. All of my favorite fruits, just missing kiwi. I still have one slice of watermelon and a few strawberries left because my stomach got too full. Light and simple.

Vegan tofu scrambled ‘eggs’ with tofurkey slices and daiya cheddar cheese mixed in… and I put ketchup all over them after I took this. I used organic extra firm tofu and Fantastic Whole Foods tofu scrambler from Clark’s. I only made half, used half a packet and half of a thing of tofu. It takes a bit to get used to it. It’s good and quite interesting. Not something I’d made daily, it’s not ‘light’ enough for me but it’s good for when I get a rare craving for eggs. 

Vegan grilled cheese tofurkey sandwich! 

• Earth Balance natural spreads butter
• Daiya cheddar cheese
• Organic 12-grain Omega-3 bread (use any kind you want)
• 1/4th an avocado
• 1 tomato
• Fresh Spinach

Butter one side of both pieces of bread, add buttered side of one piece onto hot pan. Add cheese (as much as you’d like) and add tofurkey onto the cheese. As soon as the bottom is cooked, take it off and put the other piece on the pan while you add the tomato, avocado, spinach, and/or any other toppings of your choice to the piece with cheese. Add the piece of bread from the pan onto the sandwich and cut if desired. Add cheese to both sides of bread if you’d like.

     I think encouragement and motivation comes differently from each individual, and feeling good about yourself comes from within your own mindset. It’s really easy for us to see our flaws and what we think we are doing wrong, but when you see how great you are, how far you have come, how hard you are trying (even if it’s only what you see as ever so slightly), that beats every downside that you see. I want you to try and see that. For one, you are trying. That matters. A lot of people say they want to be healthier or say they want to lose weight, and don’t act on that. You have put yourself into action and you can’t stop just because you are feeling down about yourself. Look into the mirror and see how great you are. See how far you have come. If you’ve lost weight since starting your journey, you have to convince your brain that you can see it. It’s hard to see your own change, which is why I suggest taking progress photos to compare your own before and after, and it’s important not to compare yourself with another. Think about how good you’ll feel after a tough work out, think about how tasty your healthy meal will taste afterwards. Think about how much happier you will be, how much more fit and in shape how you will be, how much easier it will be to do things when you’re healthy, like run, ride a bike, climb stairs. Note how I said healthier, and not when you lose more weight. I know that you want to lose weight. There is nothing wrong with that and it will naturally come along with being healthier. But think about how nice being healthy really is. Sure, it’s harder to do things when you weigh more, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy for unhealthy people who are more thin. Being healthy has the advantage. It enables your body to do more, to be stronger, to be happier. I don’t know how anyone can not want and strive for that! It’s an amazing feeling. Again, even if only a little. I have small, weak muscles but I feel strong and great carrying a bunch of heavy bags. I have that mindset that I am strong and will only get stronger, and I want you to have that mindset that you are great and will only get greater, at whatever you want to feel so great at. 

     You just need to put yourself into that mindset. That get ready, get set, go… not, the get ready, get set, I can’t do it. Drag yourself to the gym, force yourself to go outside to take a walk, or a jog, or roller blade, or anything. Take yourself to the super market with a grocery list of your favorite healthy foods, stock up on fresh fruits and veggies, and maybe your favorite thing to treat yourself to. Make smoothies, make juice, melt at how delicious this good food is. Get started. Feel happy and great about yourself and your choices, feel good when you’re doing it. Feel super good. Seriously. This stuff is tough, I know. But you’re mindset is going to go from needing encouragement and feeling low, to feeling fantastic!

     Okay when you read this I want you to get a piece of paper out, get a pen, physically write down the positives, and tack it up on the wall somewhere that you will see it often.  Write how much you love yourself, on the inside and out. Write down how much people, like me, KNOW that you can do it and that we are all proud of how far you have come, and how far you will go. Write a short encouraging quote on your bathroom mirror. And write down your favorite activities. If you’re having fun while staying active, you’ll feel a ton better, as well. 

     When first trying to reply to this, I was kind of stuck. I didn’t know entirely what to say. But I really hope that this helps. For you, and anyone else who’s stuck and reads through this.

This was dinner last night. Tac-o’s! (If you understand that reference, I love you and let’s be friends). Boca ‘meat’, beans, lettuce (sadly not spinach but that’s okay), tomato, avocado, Daiya vegan cheese, and salsa/hot sauce. I was going to have a 4th but I ate vegan jerky and 3 vegan cookies right before dinner, and had downed two big glasses of water by the time I’d finished all that food. And then I ate another cookie right after dinner, lol. I shouldn’t have bought those, eating that many gave me a red spot on my face. 

And for breakfast this morning I had a few slices of cantaloupe, a few strawberries, vanilla soygurt, and a Snickers energy bar (posting those in a minute) because I couldn’t pull myself away from my book last night and got around 6 hours of sleep before my drivers license test (you can read about how well I did on that on my personal blog but it’s not that exciting).

Hickory smoked tofurkey sandwich on organic 12-grain omega-3 bread, with avocado, tomato, spinach, and mustard.