I don't make muffins that often. Well... never, actually. I guess if I'm going to go through all of the tedious work of making the batter, filling the pans with cups, then filling said cups... I might as well just make cupcakes. I always keep bananas in my freezer, though, and instead of making chocolate banana bread I was craving muffins. I guess there's just something about cutting them in half right out of the oven and smothering them with butter. Or peanut butter. Or nutella.







vegan chocolate chip banana muffins

1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 T baking powder
1 t. baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 cup pure cane sugar
2 ripe bananas
1/4 cup almond milk
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
vanilla
chocolate chips


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with muffin cups or grease with oil. 2. In a bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, soda, sugar, and salt. 3. In another bowl mix bananas, almond milk, coconut oil, and vanilla. 4. Add to dry ingredients and stir until combined. 5. Stir in chocolate chips (I used carob for these). Scoop into muffin pans, about half full, and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Happy 50th post to me! Wow, 50. That seems like a lot. Maybe not. Well, it's at least an accomplishment for me. I love having this blog and taking pictures for it. My next project is to fix the layout and make it a teeny bit more appealing to the eye.

That being said, lets talk about this mess right here. They're goopy. And soggy. And deeeelicious. I'm talking about... overnight oats. Why have I never tried these before? Is it the anticipation? The restlessness while trying to go to sleep, dozing off dreaming about the peanut butter goodness in the fridge....



These are packed with protein, so they make a great post-workout meal. Or dessert. I use steel cut oats in mine, but you can use rolled oats if you prefer. I like steel cut oats mostly because it takes longer for your body to digest them versus rolled oats, and the longer it takes to digest, the longer it takes to convert to sugar. Plus I swear that they taste yummier. I also used Califia Farms almond milk which is literally the greatest almond milk of all time. I found it at whole foods months ago and would buy it as a 'treat', seeing as how its a dollar and some change more than the brand I usually buy. It's so much richer, and flavorful than, say, Silk or other non-dairy brands. They just came out with a line of iced coffees that I really do have dreams about (salted caramel mmm). I haven't tried their juices yet but I'm greatly anticipating the warm summer night I get to kick back with some limeade.







vegan peanut butter chocolate overnight oats

1 cup steel cut oats
1 cup almond milk
4 T chunky peanut butter
2 T cocoa powder
1/4 t vanilla
pinch of salt

1. In a small saucepan, melt peanut butter over low heat and stir in vanilla, salt, and cocoa. 2. Remove from heat and add almond milk and oats. Stir until smooth. 3. Drop into a mason jar and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until oats are soaked. Top with bananas!

I love succulents. I love succulents more than regular plants because if I forget to water them for a few days, you wouldn't even know. I have a plant that I keep on the top of my fridge that's gorgeous, with vines trailing down the front and reaching longingly towards the window. If it doesnt get water, it shows, which reminds me of how bad of a plant-mom I am, which makes me a bad person, and who needs all that negativity anyway. Succulents are much better, happier plants. Needless to say I am still growing chamomile and lavender on my windowsill and have plans for all kind of porch veggies this summer.
I grabbed one of these pots from work, as well as the panda plant. But I'm not a huge fan of that peachy-orange color so I wanted to give it a mini-makeover. I searched to see if there was anything special I needed to do to prep it... or mod podge it.. or something but, nope. Just plain ol' acrylic paints will do.

All you will need is a couple of different sized paintbrushes, acrylic paint, and your pot. If you would like, you can finish with a coat of clear acrylic spray paint. You can spray the inside of your pot with it also to help protect the pot from moisture.






1. I used a dry brush and lightly brushed white paint over my entire pot, leaving some brush strokes light enough to see the terra cotta underneath. The white was just... regular and turned out matte. For the colors I used semi-gloss. If you want, wet your brush and apply paint heavily and in layers, letting each layer dry before adding the new one. You could even paint one layer of another color (ooh.. like kobalt blue) and then dry brush white over the top of it.
2. I chose a southwestern design. As you can see... I'm no artist, and no perfectionist at that. I was uh... keeping with the messy look of it all. The hardest part is keeping your design symmetrical.



The possibilities really are endless, and the whole painting process took maybe 30 minutes. I can easily seeing it done in 10 if there wasn't a specific design involved. I'm already dreaming of the next pots I could paint.. like metallic gold on gray, or red and white stripes. I just might have to get a large one to put on the porch :)

I know. You're probably over kale chips by now. You've had them spicy, sweet, plain, lemony, and salty. Well... I haven't. I've seen them in the store but they never seemed appealing because it made me think of those 'veggie chips' which is really just... batter that's baked/fried into the shape of vegetables. No thanks. I tried to make kale chips a couple of years ago, but tossed them in far too much lemon and oil, which resulted in a wilted and chewy... chip. The other day I had a hankering for something sweet and salty and since we've been (kind of) detoxing, I also had an overabundance of kale in the fridge that I had been using for salads. These turned out light and crispy with notes of sweet brown sugar and a spicy kick. I'm using curly kale but any variety will work!






sweet and spicy kale chips

one bunch of kale
olive oil
1 1/2 T brown sugar
salt to taste
1/2 t. lemon juice
cumin
smoked paprika
cayenne flakes/powder

1. Preheat oven to 300. 2. Separate kale leaves from ribs. 2. Toss in a bowl with lemon juice, salt, and brown sugar. Add in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. You want the leaves to be lightly coated, but not drenched. Add more if necessary. 4. Toss with spices. The amount is up to you, did about 1/4 a teaspoon of cumin, a shake of smoked paprika, and a scant teaspoon of cayenne powder. You can use flakes if you want but, I prefer powdered here. 5. Arrange on baking sheet and bake for 12-16 minutes. They can burn easily so keep an eye on them. You can lightly dust with a little more smoked paprika here if you'd like. Enjoy!

These. Are. Delicious.

I've had a jar of matcha powder sitting in my cupboard for... oh, maybe 6 months. Other than putting it in smoothies (and maybe milkshakes), I haven't had much use for it. Rick and I went to the Sacramento flea market over the summer, and there is a woman there who has a booth set up with jars and jars of herbs and spices. I don't remember if she grows most of them herself, but she has strange spices and her tea blends are amazing. Matcha is a powerful antioxidant, as well as a weight loss supplement. It also detoxifies, which is helpful while Rick and I are on our 'diet'. He has quit smoking so we are on a whole-foods, liver and kidney healthy, lots of fruit and veggies diet. It's been challenging, to say the least. I've already comprised a long list of healthy desserts to help curb my sweet tooth cravings when I have them. There's also a dark chocolate stash somewhere. It's comforting, you know. To know it's there if I need it. Anyway.

The bars. They're chewy. Sweet and just a little salty. Rick says they're healthy versions of almond joys but pft, please. These are way more decadent. And they take maybe 20 minutes to make!


raw vegan matcha coconut bars with dark chocolate drizzle

3/4 c. rolled oats OR almond flour
3 t. matcha powder (iherb.com)
1 T. flax seed meal
1/4 t. salt
14 oz. shredded coconut
3 T. coconut oil, divided
5 T. agave (or honey for non vegan), divided
dark chocolate


1. You can either use a loaf or tart pan, or you can use an 8x8 for thinner bars. I've done it both ways but prefer the 8x8 pan. Line pan of your choice with plastic wrap.
2. In a food processor, pulse oats into a fine meal. Transfer oats (or almond flour) to bowl and stir in matcha powder, flaxseed meal, and salt. Add 1 tablespoon of soft coconut oil and stir until combined. Add 3 tablespoons of honey and stir.
3. Transfer to prepared pan and stick in freezer to harden.
4. In a food processor, pulse coconut into small flakes. Stir in 2 tablespoons of coconut oil and 2 tablespoons of agave. Spread over frozen oat mixture and place back in freezer.
5. Melt dark chocolate in a double boiler. I melted about 1/2 a cup's worth. It helps to add a tiny amount of coconut oil so it drizzles a little bit easier. You can also melt coconut oil, then add honey and cocoa to taste if you'd like to keep this entirely raw. Drizzle (or completely cover like I did) over coconut mixture and place back in freezer.

I take mine out and let sit for 10 minutes before cutting into bars. You can also cut them into bars first, and then keep them in the fridge, they will just be a little soft.