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

What I Ate {on my birthday} Wednesday

Good morning! How are ya?!

Yesterday was my birthday and I had an absolutely great day. Derek and I celebrated over the weekend with a special dinner, some shopping and a movie, so yesterday was pretty much an ordinary day except for the fact that I received so many birthday wishes and lots of love from the people who mean the most to me in this world.

Birthday flowers:

I feel extremely blessed to have so many amazing people ~ friends & family ~ in my life!!

We went out to eat several times over the weekend, so all I wanted yesterday was some good, CLEAN homecookin'. You know that I started my 'clean eating' journey on Monday and I really wanted to stick to it! My plan is for clean eats to become my lifestyle, it's not just some temporary diet that I'm going to follow. I need to figure out how to maintain my clean eating habits over holidays and special occasions, so I decided that my birthday was a great way to challenge myself to make a healthy, clean and delicious birthday dinner.

Here's a recap of my meals from the big day!

  Birthday Breakfast   I made one of my faves: Pumpkin Pie Slow Cooked Steel Cut Oats   

   It's a decadent way to start any morning!   In order to clean the recipe up, I submitted honey for the brown sugar. The flavour was just as delish!     Lunch   Being the good girl that I am ;-), I brown bagged it and spent my lunch break walking around the downtown with my good friend, Lisa. Afterwards, I ate my lunch at the office.   Roasted Sweet Potato Salad Clementines Pumpkin Amazeballs  

    Birthday Dinner   Plant Power Pumpkin Alfredo with brown rice pasta and a Greek salad  

  Dessert: An Edible Arrangement that my parents had delivered to me at work!  

{oy, please excuse my very messy office!}

   Thank you, as always, to Miss Jenn for continuing to host our weekly Wednesday party.  

Do you like to go out or eat in on your birthday?

 

Enjoy your day!

 

Andrea

xoxo