Hummus a Tune

Since the beginning of forever I've been on a HUGE hummus kick. It is the best snack that can be enjoyed with endless VEGI options//my favs: cucumber, carrot, cherry tomatoes, and broccoli. I have tried almost every brand there is on the market and always end up spending $5+ on my yummy little snack, that is usually devoured in less than 3 days LOL. I yet again hit the World Wide Web to do some recipe research and also to find out what is in this little delicacy. What I found was eye opening!! Hummus, is the by far the easiest recipe that I have come across. After making the good ol' ORIGINAL STYLE a hand full of times, I went searching for something more.....THUS I have found it....a COMBINATION of 2 of my favorite things. I present to you AVOCADO HUMMUS.

This hummus is rich, creamy, and absolutely amazing! Not only does regular hummus help lower cholesterol, maintain your weight, and reduce the risk of cancer, but add avocado to that and you will be boosting your potassium, adding heart healthy fats to your diet, and they are packed with fiber. Without further ado.. heres step by step recipe that is my obsession. :)

WHAT YOU NEED:

1½ cups (1 Can) Chickpeas rinsed and drained from a can or soaked and cooked

1 Avocado

small handful fresh Cilantro

2 tablespoons fresh Lime Juice

5 tablespoons Water

½ teaspoon Salt

1 - 2 Garlic Cloves (optional)

Dash of cumin

Dash of chili powder

WHAT TO DO:

Place all ingredients in either a Blender--I used my vitamix--or food processor and blend until smooth...side note, if you use a food processor, your hummus will be on the "THICKER" side.

Serve with your favorite vegi or some yummy salty pita chips.

ENJOY!!!

For Full Recipe CLICK ME

I'm Rebooching!

I know it has been over a year since I've updated this. So here it goes, my reboot! So I have always wondered why I was spending so much $$$ on buying Kombucha

@ at least $4+ a bottle, when making your own seemed "easy" enough. I did some research and found out that I could make my very own SCOBY from using GTS ORIGINAL KOMBUCHA

CLICK HERE to find out how I made my own scoby!!!

OK now for the actual process of brewing your very own kombucha tea.

SUPPLIES:

1. One Scoby

2. One Glass Jar (I used a quart sized ball jar)

3. A Quarter Cup Organic Plain Sugar Per Quart

4. Three Organic Black Tea Bags Per Quart

(I used

5. A Quarter Cup Left Over Previously Brewed Komucha Tea Per Quart

6. H2O

WHAT TO DO: Bring H2O to a boil--add sugar and make sure it's completely dissolved.

Pour water with dissolved sugar into glass jar

Add your three tea bags to the jar and cover with a coffee filter or a cheese cloth and secure with a rubber band

Set aside and let steep/cool

TEA MUST BE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE BEFORE ADDING SCOBY

Once tea has cooled remove tea bags and add your previously brewed tea. Lastly with CLEAN hands place scoby inside glass jar, cover with coffee filter and secure it with rubber band.

Place in cool place for 8-10 days!!!

Sooooo...that was simple enough!

CLICK ME to get the full visual directions I followed.

Heres to many more posts!!! HAPPY HOTTOBER!!!

love the way you... LIME

I know it's been a whhhiiiilleee…schools been a little hectic, but now mid-terms are over and its back treating myself to a sweet healthy treat! This past weekend my mom flew into town for my birthday and one night I started talking about this recipe that I really wanted to try and of course my mom was down! I give you (mini) GLUTEN FREE.VEGAN.KEY LIME PIES. I came across this recipe on pintrest and you can find the full recipe HERE 7 simple ingredients that'll change your taste buds forever! (haha) So off I go.

note: the measurements provided in parenthesis and are written Bold--italics are half the recipe (except the amount of limes and honey) which made about 5 mini pies.. which is what I did. The full recipe makes 10-12 mini pies.

First grab all your "KEY" ingredients:

Crust:

1 (1/2 cup) 1/4 (2 tblspns) cups graham cracker crumbs which is about 1 (1/2) sleeve of graham crackers(I used these gluten free vegan vanilla cookies and they worked just fine.

1/4 cup (2 tblspns) (4Tbsp) vegan butter, melted (I used earth balance and melted it slowly over the stove)

Filling:

1 (1/2 cup) cup raw cashews, soaked for 4-6 hours (or overnight), then drained

3/4 (1/4 + 1/8 cup) cup light or full fat coconut milk, well shaken

1/4 (2 tblspns) cup coconut oil, melted

3-4 large limes or 6-7 key limes (1 Tbsp zest, 1/2 cup juice) //you might need more depending on how much Tang you prefer!//

1/3 – 1/2 cup agave nectar depending on preferred sweetness (I used honey and I didn't really measure it, just went by taste)

Get It Going:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line a standard muffin tin with 12 (5-6) paper liners. Add graham crackers to a food processor and process until you achieve a fine meal. Then add melted butter and pulse to combine.

Distribute evenly among muffin tins and press down with a glass or spoon to flatten. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and set aside to cool.

Add all filling ingredients to a blender and blend on high (or liquify) until creamy and smooth. Taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more lime zest/juice for more tart, or more agave for added sweetness.

Pour filling into muffin tins and tap on counter to release air bubbles. Top with a bit more lime zest and loosely cover.

Freeze for 2-4 hours or until firm. Remove from the freezer for 10-15 minutes to thaw before serving. Will keep covered in the freezer for up to 2 weeks, though best when fresh.

TAHDAH!

That's all you gotta do! These have been my favorite treat so far! These will be perfect to make during those hot California summer days. The creaminess of the cashews and coconut milk paired with the tangy limes and crunchy graham crusts are a match made in heaven!! I hope you love these just as much as my mom and I did!!! Happy EASTER <3

Almond Joy

Spring break? Someone needs to remind me what that even means since both of my teachers scheduled exams the first week classes resume. So you can find me sitting at my desk rotating study guides and staring out my window. I know this sounds sad but on the bright side it also means I can make delicious munchies! I've got the perfect spring break snack break recipe!! Almond Butter Cookies with absolutely NO FLOUR. All you need is:

1 Cup of Almond butter(you can either make your own HERE or buy a jar) @ room temperature. I left mine out a couple of hours and gave it a stir.

1 Large Egg

1/2 Cup Brown sugar (I used the sugar in the photo and the cookies turned out great)

1 Teaspoon Baking soda

1 Cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark-chocolate chips (I used "everything free" semi-sweet chocolate chips [as pictured] and they were a little tinier than other chips I've used before so I only put in 1/2 a cup)

Preheat oven to 350F degrees and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg. Add the almond butter, baking soda, and brown sugar. Mix everything together very well. Depending how thick and/or cold your almond butter is, you'll have to use some arm muscles.

Fold in the chocolate chips until combined.

Proceed to scoop the dough, about 1 tablespoons each, onto prepared baking sheet. Bake two batches - 6 cookies on each baking sheet each. Gently press down on the dough mounds with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies will look very soft and under-baked, but that's ok. For crispy cookies, bake for up to 12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

FIND THE COMPLETE RECIPE @: Sally's Baking Addiction

With only 5 ingredients these cookies came out airy, crunchy, full of flavor and simply irresistible. After making this recipe using store bought almond butter--in the future I would like to make my own with my food processor using the recipe I linked above. You can also use this recipe with peanuts.. I'd like to try that!! Let's talk about the health qualities of ALMONDS

Brain Food

Cholesterol regulator

Healthy for your bones

Good for your heart

Boosts your energy

and the list goes on!!

SO all in all I'd say that this is a pretty healthy alternative to your CHIPS AHOY cookie :) and a great inbetween studying

TREAT

.

Jelly Fishing

Here's a little something about me, I absolutely love breakfast! I usually eat the same thing for breakfast everyday… as I am one who easily gets into routines. Today I decided to make something and change it up a bit. A nice little parfait w/ my chia seed jelly was going to be just perfect. The main focus of this post is this "chia seed jelly." Blueberries, sweetener, and chia seeds. I know what your thinking… three ingredients? Yes, T H R E E and all together it is amazing! The all american jelly you purchase from the store is packed with an overload of sugar and that can really hinder its health qualities.

I had to find an alternative that was simple to make and taste delicious. In my search I discovered this recipe on a wonderful blog called:EATING BIRD FOOD and decided to give it a try. The first time I made it I used fresh strawberries, honey, and chia seeds. WOW it blew my mind. I put it on toast, pancakes, yogurt, and the list goes on. Apparently it is said that the jelly/jam can stay fresh up to 2 weeks I think, but mine barely made it to a week and a half--it was that delicious. This time I chose to make it with blueberries that were frozen and maple syrup to sweeten it.

So I took 1 cup of thawed blueberries and mashed them up until they were like a jam consistency (when I made the strawberry jam I added water, but since the blueberries were previously frozen they had a lot more liquid… you can also throw it in a blender if you want more of a "jelly" feel possibly you might have to add more chia seeds though). I then added a tiny bit of the maple syrup and basically sweetened the mixture to taste. After all of that I added 1 tablespoon of chia seeds and stirred the mixture up. Lastly, I poured the mixture in an airtight jar and put it in the fridge to set for at least 60 mins. During that 60 mins the chia seeds magically cause it to thicken… amazing. and viola.. thats it! So now instead of eating something that's packed with SUGAR and who knows what else--you can rest assure that what you're putting on your daily piece of toast is packed with: fiber, omega-3, magnesium, protein, and just an overall good vibes.

ps. ill probably add more chia seeds to my next jelly experience.. going to try it with mixed fruit and a blender.

Coconut Virgin

As I was getting ready to head to class yesterday, I was in the middle of my morning routine and thought I'd share with you a tiny little miracle I discovered + or - six months ago. Way back possibly during the summer of '13 I ran out of both my MAKEUP REMOVER and my SPF DAILY MOISTURIZER. Since recently going back to school and jumping on the "healthy" train-- one, I had limited funds and two, I was really into checking ingredients... especially on products that I was putting on my face. After doing many google searches I stumbled across some very useful information! Apparently there are tons of uses for COCONUT OIL and not only was it a great makeup remover but it was also a great moisturizer and had SPF properties! At this point I wasted no time into adapting coconut oil into my daily morning routine and nighty ritual. In the morning I splash my face with water, put a chunk of coconut oil between my palms, and rub it all over my face. After that I proceed to the normal application of makeup if i choose to wear it that day. During the night before I head to bed, again place some coconut oil in-between my fingers and smooth it over my eyes (while closed) and wash it off with face wash. So simple. The oil makes my face feel smooth, smell like im on vacation,and have a natural glow. I am and will forever be in love <3 (ps. im pretty sure I wrote cocobut somewhere in this post:D )

To read more about the uses of COCONUT OILCLICK HERE

What am I doing here?

--This will be a blog dedicated to healthy living with recipes, advice about stuff, my weird routines, and probably photos of my dog. Since I live in an area where there are not a lot of gluten free or vegan products readily available to eat, I started experimenting in creating some of my own from home which I will be posting frequently. Also i have recently dedicated myself to be GMO (genetically modified organism) FREE! This means I try really hard to stay away from processed non-oraganic foods and strive to be as "simple" ingredient minded as possible. Basically my goal is to try and stay simple when it comes to food, beauty, and whatever else there is :) .