Summer cleanse time!

Ok, before I bore you with the details of yet another one of my cleanses I have to tell a funny story. Shortly after I started dating my now husband, he came over to my house and met Lilly for the first time. So, he came over to my house and when he sat down on the sofa, Lilly promptly hopped on the sofa, climbed to the back of it and got right up next to him and put her ARM on his shoulder and then rested her chin on his shoulder!

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She totally put the moves on my man! She had never done that before in her life and she has never done it since! She was like, ‘thanks for bringing me a boyfriend, mom!’
Anyway, it was too funny and I just came across that picture and had to tell that story.

Ok, if you want to know what I’m eating these days, read on…

When we were in Maui it’s safe to say I overindulged a bit. I don’t regret it even a little by the way. It was a vacation after all! Plus I love trying different foods when I’m in a new place.

We brought our magic bullet with us along with some vanilla vega sport. Once we got to the island we hit up Costco and whole foods (I LOVE going to grocery stores in new places, are you with me on that or is that weird?). It saved us hundreds of dollars making our own breakfast and lunch. But, then we would go out to dinner every night. Date night! I usually just had salad, but restaurant salads can be huge and it’s still easy to over eat. We also got on a French fry kick and I’m pretty sure we had French fries every day. We do love fries. We also found this incredible coffee/gelato place that served vegan chocolate gelato! We probably went there 7 times. Too good! They made this iced macadamia nut, dark chocolate latte…pure heaven in a cup I tell you. And then there were all the chocolate covered macadamia nuts! We felt it was our personal responsibility to try every variety and every brand. Tough job but someone has to do it :). Don’t you love how all my plant-based-ness goes out the window as soon as chocolate arrives on the scene?

Anyway, all that was a long way of saying, by the end of the trip I was feeling really excited about getting home and getting back on track! I just felt like it was time to do a cleanse since its been a while. The cleanse I do isn’t hard core at all. It’s more like being grounded from sugar and wheat for 3 weeks. I started two weeks ago and I feel really good! The first week I was 100% good. This last week I fell off the wagon a few times because I got into the chocolate covered macadamia nuts. :). But I just pick up and move on. The point is, do the cleanse, don’t expect to be 100% perfect. Any improvement is an improvement.

So here’s what I’m eating on this cleanse:
Breakfast: Tropical paradise protein shake
Lunch: Brown rice, tofu, stir fry veggies (from the frozen food section at the grocery store) drizzled in this peanut sauce
Snack: 1 scoop of vega sport but sometimes I’m not hungry and don’t eat it. Or sometimes I eat a Lara Bar.
Dinner: A big salad. Lots of greens, guacamole for a dressing, throw a Dr. Praeggers veggie burger on there or some quinoa salad.

Furthermore, I’m really trying to drink more water these days! I have this 800ml water bottle and my goal is to drink 3 of those a day. Also, I’m not shying away from fat. I’m eating my share of almond butter, peanut sauce and guacamole. Eating fat really makes you feel full and therefore crave less sugar!

Thanks for hanging in through this post! I’ll have more recipes coming next week. Enjoy the hot weather this weekend!

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The Best Peanut Sauce…Ever

Ok, ok. I’ve posed a number of peanut sauces before but this one, THIS one is the best. For real. It’s really easy to make (7 min or so), really delicious, but the best part of all is it’s sugar free but still tastes really decadent. A few weeks ago I ate some peanut sauce at a Thai restaurant and it was so good it bordered on being frosting. You get what I’m saying. Most peanut sauce is loaded with sugar and icky oils!

Have ever wondered what it would look like if you drove around naked with just a pug to cover you up?

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I’m KIDDING! I have clothes on, it’s just strapless, like most of my summer dresses so I end up looking like I’m naked in most summer pictures. Lilly wanted to ride in the car yesterday so I drove her to the mailbox. Honestly, I have no idea how she got so spoiled…

She had a stomach ache over the weekend. Poor girl. I gave her some pepto and she was back up and “running” in no time.

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Lilly up and running.

Alrighty, here’s that recipe.

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The Best Peanut Sauce (sugar free)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon tamari or soy sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
2 teaspoons sriracha sauce
crushed red pepper flakes to taste

Place 1 cup of water in a large glass mixing bowl and microwave on high for about 4 minutes until it’s rapidly boiling. Stove top method will work fine as well. I was just lazy and microwaved my water. While you wait for the water to boil assemble the other ingredients. Remove the boiling water from the microwave and add the peanut butter and coconut oil. Stir with a spatula for a couple minutes until the peanut butter is completely emulsified. I know at first it doesn’t seem like it will ever be smooth but it will, it just takes a couple minutes. Then add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Store in the refrigerator. It will be pretty solid when it comes out of the fridge so just scoop out what you want to use and heat it up. Oh and this makes quite a bit of sauce. But I figure if I’m making something I might as well make a weeks worth. If you don’t want that much just 1/2 the recipe.

Happy sauce making and have a great week!

Orange Creamsicle Protein Shake

Want something that will fill you up without slowing you down? Isn’t that a slogan for something? Bud Light maybe? I don’t know. We’ll get to the recipe in a minute.

Have you missed Miss Lilly?

My wonderful Mom and Dad took care of her while we were away. Lilly loooooooves her grandparents. “Grandma” is the only name Lilly knows or cares about.

She’s still the same sleepy dog!

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Passed out, hanging out of her bed. Sure looks comfy…

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I don’t know why, but Lilly looks like a cranky old man to me. She’s not cranky, just extreeeeeeemely tired.

Here are a couple more pictures from Maui. This is at the “7 Sacred Pools” which is part of a national park.

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And last, here is a really simple way to make a plain vanilla protein shake into something worthy of a cocktail umbrella.

Orange Creamsicle Protein Shake
1/3 cup crushed ice
1 scoop vanilla vega sport protein
1 tablespoon flax oil (optional)
3/4 cup unsweetened nondairy beverage of your choice
1 teaspoon orange flavor

Place all ingredients in blender or magic bullet and blend until smooth and creamy!
Whipped Cream vodka optional. Wait, what? That was a joke.

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Just Mauied

Aloha, I’m back from my honeymoon!

Ok, technically we did not get Mauied because we got married in Salt Lake, but we went to Maui the next day so it’s fun to say we got Mauied.

Let me tell you all about it!

We got married on Monday, June 3 at Solitude Ski Resort. It was AMAZING! It was an absolutely perfect day. We had a private ceremony, meaning it was just the two of us (no guests). When I tell people that they either think it’s the smartest idea in the world or the saddest thing they’ve ever heard. For us it was just perfect. We wanted to be able to focus on each other 100% without any distractions or stress. And that is exactly what we got.

Our officiant, Anita was the best. She was so professional and made us feel really comfortable (even when I cried. I’m a crier.) We also had a photographer, Katie there to capture the moment. She takes the most beautiful pictures. I swear, you could be in the most un-scenic place in the world wearing zero makeup and she would make you look fabulous. If you are getting married, look these two up!

After the wedding we picked up our little wedding cake from City Cakes, my favorite vegan bakery and met up with our parents for lunch. We had a really nice time celebrating and it really couldn’t have been any more perfect.

Ok, now I wish I had a photo of us I could post, I really do. But my husband (love saying that!) can’t have photos of himself on the interwebs because of his job and what kind of person crops their husband out of their wedding photo?! I just can’t do it. So sorry, no wedding photo yet 😦

The next morning we headed to Maui! It was my first time to Hawaii and let me tell you, it did not disappoint!

We stayed at the Hyatt, right on the beach!

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They gave us an ocean view room and this place was seriously amazing. There were penguins in the lobby. And talking parrots. I could write a novel about the honeymoon but I will spare you. Here is a bullet list instead of what we did!
-ate tons (and tons) of good food!
-husband went paragliding (I watched)
-lots of snorkeling
-lots of playing in the ocean and pool
-we took a helicopter ride around the island!
-we took a bus tour around the island too!
-we went to a luau and ate more food 🙂
-we worked out

We did so much fun and exciting stuff, but my favorite part was ordering room service and having coffee on the balcony with my new husband. 🙂 I know I’m a cheese ball, but you guys, I love him so much!
Maui is so beautiful! Big hats are a must there 🙂

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Ok, this is long now, so I’ll stop there. Recipes and good stuff to come soon!