Feeling the Love Inside & Out

You guys....I've had a really, really great birthday week.

I have received so much birthday love, it's been totally overwhelming! I've received cards in the mail, texts, emails, calls, Facebook messages and lots of lunch and dinner invites.

I've been out to eat ALOT, but other than a couple of meals where I strayed a wee bit, I've completely stuck to my clean eating plan. I've been pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to have delicious, clean meals without sacrificing taste & satisfaction!!

Not only have I been conscious about what I eat when out at a restaurant, but I've been playing around in my own kitchen as well. I don't want to completely give up some of my fave foods, so I'm determined to put my personal spin on some old classics to make them clean, healthy and totally delicious!!!

This recipe has been one of my most recent successes. Who doesn't love apple pie this time of year?! I put some of my fave apple pie flavours into a cool and refreshing smoothie and have been enjoying them for breakfast and post-workout snacks all week long. Adding oats to a smoothie, is a great way to give it some 'staying' power, so that you can go a few hours before the hunger beast takes hold. Between the oats and the optional addition of some protein powder, this smoothie is surprisingly filling and will easily tide you over until your next meal.

Clean Apple Pie Smoothie

Serves 1 hungry clean eating machine

1 c unsweetened original almond milk

1/4 c oats

1/4 c water

3/4 c unsweetened applesauce (my recipe works awesome minus the brown sugar)

2 tbsp plain Greek yogourt

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 - 1 tsp stevia

pinch cinnamon

Optional: 1 scoop vanilla protein powder

Soak the oats in the almond milk overnight.

When you're ready to enjoy your smoothie, remove the oat mixture and pour it into your blender. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. I like my smoothies to be silky smooth, so this one needed to be blended and blended because the oats give it a little more texture than your usual fruit smoothie.

  

This is a great breakfast or post-workout snack!

What's your fave fruit to use in a healthy smoothie?

I've definitely had received my share of love this week and now I feel the need to share some love for some great reads from earlier this week. Go check them out and leave some love for some of my fellow bloggers:

~ Jenna got engaged and she has a beautiful  engagement story

~ Kris shares her view on how our choices affect where our lives take us

~ David Kirsch did a great guest post that encourages us to make fitness and wellness a daily ritual

~ Tina had a very special celebration this week

Do you have any great reads I need to see? Link 'em up!  

Enjoy the weekend!

Andrea

xoxo

Peach Vanilla Chai Smoothie Bowl

Mmmm Breakfast.

The most important meal of the day.

It is so important to eat your first meal shortly after waking. I usually eat within the first hour, so that my body is fueled and ready to tackle the day. Eating a healthy breakfast not only gives your bod the kickstart it needs to start performing for the day, but it also gives your metabolism a kick in the butt to get working and we all want that metabolism to be working to its fullest potential, right?! :-)

I've always been a breakfast eater. When I get up in the morning, the first things I think are *get me mah coffee* and *what's for breakfast* --- you may notice that I often speak from the tummy ;-)

Usually I prefer warm savoury breakfasts, but we've had such a warm summer that I've found myself craving foods that are cool and refreshing.

Smoothies fit right into those requirements, but I never feel like a drink is enough to fill me up, so I decided to try my own 'smoothie in a bowl' combo and see if I could add a little bulk to make my smoothie 'stick to my ribs' a little longer. As bulk, I added oats, chia and some Vega One Vanilla Chai shake powder. I ended up make a huge, THICK shake and it was awesome! I ate half before I left for work, half when I arrived at work and was satisfied until noon.

I had some Niagara peaches left that were starting to get too soft, so I used them in my smoothie, but you can certainly use any fruit/veggie combo that suits ya.

Peach Vanilla Chai Smoothie Bowl

Makes one big-ass smoothie bowl for one hungry gal ;-)

1 large peach, chopped into chunks - I froze mine the night before

1/2 - 1 large frozen banana

1 serving Vega One Vanilla Chai nutritional shake powder *optional

1/4 c oats

1 tbsp chia seeds

3/4 c almond milk (or milk of your choice)

1/2 c water

1/2 tsp pure vanilla

*Note: If you do not use a protein powder that is naturally sweetened, you may want to add some sweetener or use vanilla sweetened almond milk - stevia or maple syrup would also be good sweetener options for this smoothie*

Place all your ingredients into your blender and blend until smooth. Pour into your fave cereal bowl, top with your fave toppings (chopped fruit, nuts, coconut, granola) and eat 'er up!

I got this as a free sample in the mail {score!}

This all-in-one shake mix has a great flavour and doesn't leave a chalky taste in your mouth. It is one of the few powders that I really, really like!

Thick enough to eat with a spoon - yummers!

 

Cool - check!

Refreshing - check!

Filling - check!

Healthy - check!

Oh so Delicious - check!

This is a new fave of mine for sure!

What is your favourite summertime breakfast?

Have a great day! TGIF!

Andrea

xoxo

Cure All Creamsicle Smoothie

Good Morning!

How was your weekend? If you follow me on Twitter, you know that last week was a rough one in our house. Derek came down with a stomach flu, which turned into a really bad chest cold, which turned into the sorest throat ever. He was definitely the sickest I  have ever seen and he was pretty much down for the count from Monday night until Saturday. He missed time off work and there were a couple of days, when things went a little like this: 

Ok, well it went something like the first 10 seconds of that clip. No. Joke.

 

Even though there were moments when I wanted to lock him in a room and throw away the key  pull my hair out, I tried to help out as much as I could. We loaded up on lots of meds, OJ, gingerale, popsicles, soup, ice cream and vitamin waters.

I think the worst part of the week was when his throat flared up. He said that it felt like razor blades  - when I was a kid, I used to get strep throat, bronchitis and sore throats alot. One year, I think when I was in about grade 7, I missed almost 40 days of school, so even though I joke about this big sicko of mine, I really did sympathize with the way he was feeling. It got so bad that everytime he tried to fall asleep he would wake himself up as soon as he tried to swallow.

None of the meds we had seemed to help with his throat, and being the stubborn soul that he is, Derek refused to go see a doctor. So, it was up to Nurse Andrea :) to come to the rescue.

Since it hurt to eat anything, I thought that maybe an ice cold smoothie would help - I wanted to get some healthy food into him and I figured it would help put the boots to those razorblades and give him some temporary relief.

Do you remember the orange drink that McDonalds use to serve? School functions and family reunions always had a big jug of the syrupy orange liquid that was free for all who wanted it. {looking back, I think it might have been free for a reason} Derek and his friends used to call it their "cure all" - it would give quick relief to even the worst hangover.  But let's be honest, that orange drink was nasty! It was a thick syrupy mess, but a cure all is what we needed last week, so that's why it was my inspiration for this orange smoothie creation.

I think we made our first creamsicle smoothie on Wednesday and we've had one almost everyday since. They are soooo tasty and they're packed full of Vitamin C - great for getting some good stuff back into my man and for giving my germ-fighters a little extra muscle!

Cure All Creamsicle Smoothie

Serves 2

3 small navel oranges, peeled and sectioned

1 large banana - frozen into chunks

1 1/4 c vanilla unsweetened almond milk (your fave milk would work)

1 c frozen vanilla yogourt

1 tsp pure vanilla extract (do not skip this - it makes the smoothie!)

Place all the ingredients into your blender and blend until smooth.

Pour into 2 glasses and enjoy.

As you know, all things are better when served in a great big wine glass :)

Simple as that! Tastes like a creamsicle. LOVE.

What do you do when you're suffering from a sore throat?

Did you have a favourite 'cure all' when you were young?

Have a great day!

Andrea

xo