Creamy Avocado Smoothie

I hadn’t used avocado in a smoothie until recently and I’m glad I tried it because it makes the texture smooth and creamy. I will definitely be using avocado in more recipes. 

I used a pitted date to sweeten this smoothie a little bit, but feel free to add maple syrup or another sweetener if you’d like. You could also make it without this. 

Ingredients

  • 1 banana
  • A handful of spinach
  • ½ of an avocado
  • 1 pitted date or a little bit of maple syrup
  • A scoop of protein powder (optional)
  • ½ cup almond milk
  • About 5 ice cubes

Directions

  1. Blend all the ingredients together.
  2. Pour into a glass and top with anything you’d like (I used hemp seeds).

Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake

This smoothie is like a shake and it’s perfect for breakfast, lunch, or even dessert. It’s also pretty filling because of the oats, protein powder, and peanut butter.

I don’t typically measure out my ingredients when making smoothies. I usually just eyeball it, but I wanted to create some smoothie recipes with concrete measurements for people to recreate. To make this smoothie thicker, add more ice and if the smoothie isn’t blending very well, then add a little more almond milk. You could also add sweetener to this smoothie if you’d like, but I think it’s sweet enough with the banana. 

Ingredients

  • 1 banana
  • ¼ cup gluten-free rolled oats
  • A serving of chocolate protein powder (I used the Nuzest Digestive Support protein)
  • 2 teaspoons cacao powder
  • 1 tablespoon peanut butter
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ cup almond milk
  • Ice (I probably used about 10-12 ice cubes, but you can add as much as you’d like. The more ice, the thicker the smoothie)
  • Cacao nibs to top (optional)

Directions 

  1. Blend together all the ingredients except the cacao nibs.
  2. Pour into a glass and top with cacao nibs and some more peanut butter, if wanted. 

Iced Matcha Latte

Recently I’ve been having matcha in the morning, so I decided to show how I’ve been making it. 

Matcha is a great alternative to coffee because it has caffeine and boosts your energy, but it won’t give you jitters or a crash like coffee. Matcha promotes feelings of relaxation, improves focus, and it’s full of antioxidants. These are only a few of the many benefits of matcha.

I also like to add collagen to this drink because I try to have collagen every day, but this is optional.

Ingredients

  • About 4 ounces of water
  • 1 teaspoon matcha
  • Sweetener to taste (I used date syrup, but you could use honey, maple syrup, etc.)
  • A scoop of collagen (optional)
  • Ice
  • Almond milk (use my easy recipe to make your own!)

Directions

  1. Heat up the water until it’s just under a boil.
  2. Pour the water into your glass and then add the matcha, sweetener, and collagen, if using. Use a hand held frother to mix this all together. 
  3. Add ice to the glass.
  4. Fill the rest of the glass with almond milk.
  5. Stir and enjoy!

Date Caramel

If you’re someone who has a sweet tooth or loves caramel, then this recipe is for you! This caramel is a lot healthier than store bought and is super easy to make. Serve this with apples, pretzels, or whatever else you’d like. This recipe is gluten-free, vegan, dairy free, and can be made nut free if you use Sunbutter. 

Ingredients:

  • 12 pitted medjool dates
  • 1 tablespoon nut or seed butter (I used Sunbutter)
  • ½ cup water (use more to make it thinner or less to make it thicker)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

  1. Add all the ingredients to a food processor.
  2. Blend until smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides as needed. Add more water if needed. 
  3. Scoop out into a dish to serve and enjoy!

3 Things You Should (or Shouldn’t) Do Every Morning

1. Make your bed first thing in the morning

Making your bed is one small and easy task to start your day off on a good note. This helps to set you up for success for the rest of the day. It can help us feel accomplished and set a good tone for the rest of the day.

Making your bed also makes your room seem more clean. Having a tidy space around you can help you to focus and be more productive. More people are doing work or school in their rooms now since many of us are stuck at home, so having a clean room can help you to be more concentrated on your tasks for the day. As someone who is a bit of a neat freak, I always make my bed first thing in the morning, and if I don’t, I can’t focus because my room feels messy and unorganized. 

If you are still aren’t convinced to make your bed everyday just know that it takes little effort to make your bed and it has been proven to help to reduce feelings of stress and make you feel happier. 

2. Don’t check your phone first thing in the morning

I think there’s a lot of people who have fallen into the habit of grabbing their phone and scrolling through social media or text messages first thing in the morning, including me. Recently I’ve made an effort to stop making my phone or social media my first priority of the day. 

Checking your emails, messages, and other notifications can make you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious, and this isn’t a good way to start your morning. 

You are also wasting your time and attention. Often we intend to check social media for a few minutes, but then it can turn into 15, 20, or even 30 minutes of mindless scrolling. This time could be spent doing something more productive. 

Also, going on your phone to see what other people have posted prioritizes other people’s lives over your own. I like to prioritize myself first, so I make sure not to go onto my phone to check social media until after I have gotten myself ready for the day, eaten breakfast, or journaled. I always try to do something more productive before logging onto social media. 

Again, the way you start your morning sets the tone for the rest of the day. If you start the day of being distracted by your phone, then you are more likely to be less productive for the rest of the day.

3. Practice gratitude, journal, and/or meditate 

Writing down your thoughts, your goals, what you’re grateful for, or meditating are all great ways to start (or even end) your day.

Practicing gratitude has been proven to have so many benefits. It can improve our mood, our well-being, and how satisfied we are with our lives. Try to come up with a couple things to be grateful for every day. Try to choose something different every day. You can be grateful for anything, no matter how big or small. It could even be something like how grateful you are that you woke up today. 

Journaling is also great for writing down any thoughts we need to get out of our head or just taking the time to write down our goals. If you write down your goals, then you’re 42% more likely to achieve them. 

Meditation is relaxing and calming, so it’s a perfect way to start your day level-headed. If you want to read more about gratitude, journaling, or meditating then check out my blog post about the law of attraction. 

There are some days when I realize I don’t have a lot of time to get ready before I have to leave, so on those days, I don’t always sit down and journal or meditate. Instead, I plan out some time for those things later in the day. I also like to think of some things I am grateful for while making my bed right after I wake up. 

Try implementing these practices into each morning, and you may notice that you are less stressed and more productive throughout the day.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

I found a recipe for gluten free zucchini bread, and unlike most zucchini bread recipes, this one involved blending the zucchini up which is different, so I wanted to try it, but I didn’t like a lot of the ingredients or measurements, so I had to change the recipe up quite a bit, and after several tries this is what I came up with. This recipe is pretty easy to make, it just takes a little while to bake because it’s bread. I added fresh blueberries to this, but it’s not necessary. You could also add chocolate chips if you’d like. The zucchini makes the bread super moist, which makes it delicious, but be careful not too add more than two cups of zucchini, otherwise the bread will fall apart when you try to eat it. This recipe is gluten free and dairy free.

Ingredients

  • 1-2 cups chopped zucchini
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup oil (can use coconut, grapeseed, or avocado)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ¾ cup almond flour 
  • ¾ cup cassava flour
  • ½ cup coconut sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • Blueberries or other add-ins (optional)
  • The juice of half a lemon
  • 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Directions

  1. Add the zucchini, eggs, oil, and vanilla to a blender and blend until it’s all mixed together.
  2. In a large bowl mix together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
  3. Pour the zucchini mixture into the bowl and mix with the dry ingredients.
  4. Fold in blueberries, chocolate chips, or anything else you want (optional).
  5. Pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan.
  6. Bake at 325 F for about an hour.
  7. Use a toothpick to check if the bread is ready after an hour. If it’s still not cooked, let it bake about 5-10 more minutes and check again.
  8. Let the bread cool off.
  9. In a small dish, mix the lemon juice and powdered sugar together, then drizzle over the loaf of zucchini bread.

Summer Fruit Crumble

It’s Labor Day, which unfortunately means summer is coming to an end, so I made one last summer dessert that is perfect for Labor Day, or any day really. You can choose whatever fruit you would like for this recipe. Some fruits I would recommend are blueberries, peaches, cherries, blackberries, raspberries, or plums. Feel free to use a mixture of these fruits as well. I used blueberries and nectarines for mine, and it was delicious! This recipe only uses six different ingredients, and it’s super easy to put together. 

Ingredients for filling:

  • 3 ½ cups fruit
  • 3 tablespoons coconut sugar
  • The juice of half a lemon
  • 2 teaspoons tapioca flour

Ingredients for topping:

  • 3 tablespoons butter or coconut oil
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • 3 tablespoons coconut sugar

Directions

  1. Spray an 8×8 inch baking dish with cooking spray, and add in all the ingredients for the filling. Toss to coat the fruit.
  2. Add all the topping ingredients to a bowl and use your hands to mix the ingredients.
  3. Use your hands to crumble the dough over the fruit.
  4. Bake at 375 F for about 30 minutes.
  5. Top with vanilla ice cream (optional) and enjoy!

How to Use the Law of Attraction and Incorporate It into Your Life

There are so many ways to use the law of attraction, so I’m going to outline some of the most common techniques and talk about how you can incorporate the law of attraction into your everyday lives. 

If you haven’t read my first post talking about the law of attraction, click here to check it out. I would recommend reading that first.

Raise your vibration

We must have a high vibrational frequency to attract what we want. To attract the things we desire, we need to vibrate at the same level.

Gratitude

When we feel grateful, we raise our vibration, allowing us to attract more positive things into our lives. You can think about what you are grateful for if you want, or you could write it down. 

Something I’ve been doing almost every morning for the past couple of months is writing down a few things that I am grateful for. There are so many things to choose from, so try to pick something different to focus on each day. You can even express gratitude for little things you take for granted that you don’t often think about and expect to be there. It may be something like electricity, trees, or maybe your eyesight. 

If you are having trouble coming up with something to be thankful for, be appreciative of today. Each day is an opportunity, and we are lucky to be alive. Be grateful that you woke up this morning.

Set your intentions

Set an intention for the day and set yourself up for success. It can be something specific or something more general, like to be happy and spend quality time with family and friends. 

Do something that you enjoy or that you are passionate about

When we do things that we enjoy, we raise our vibration. This can be anything like reading, listening to music, art, cooking, or being outside. Anything that brings you joy or peace. 

Manifest smaller things

Attracting smaller things into your life helps you to build your belief system, and this will help you to attract bigger things into your life. For example, a parking spot. 

Have reminders to look at during the day. You can do this in a few different ways.

You can write down affirmations and hang them up in your room or on your mirror.

You could also create a vision board. You can do this on Pinterest, or you could cut out pictures from magazines and create a physical vision board to keep in your room.

Another place to put affirmations or positive quotes is your phone lock screen, which we all probably look at a lot throughout the day. 

Beliefs

If you don’t believe the law of attraction works, then it probably won’t work. If you have limiting beliefs about yourself and don’t believe that anything good can happen to you, then nothing will.

One practice is to use affirmations. You can either come up with these affirmations on your own 

You can look up videos of affirmations to listen to while getting ready in the morning or while you’re on your way to work or school, or you can write your own and repeat them to yourself every day. Affirmations may include things like “I am happy,” “I am confident,” “I am talented,” or anything else that you want. 

The way you speak to yourself matters

Sometimes we can get in our way because of our beliefs. We may have told ourselves we are ugly or that we are stupid so many times that we start to believe it. Even if you say something about yourself in a joking way, your subconscious mind cannot tell that it is a joke, and once you tell yourself something so many times, you start to believe it. 

Surround yourself with positive people

If you are spending time with people who are saying negative things about you, even as a joke, then again, you will start to believe it. If there is someone in your life who is putting you down and not willing to change the way they speak about you, then I would recommend removing this person from your life, if possible. 

Also, spending time with people you don’t enjoy being around is going to bring your vibration down and ultimately make you more unhappy. 

Meditation

Meditating is something that instantly raises your vibration because it allows your mind to focus. It relaxes your body and mind. Sitting with your eyes closed while focusing on your breath for just 5 minutes every day can be very beneficial.

Meditation can be focused on other things also. It could be focusing on a specific affirmation or sound.

Guided meditations are also a great tool. You can look these up on YouTube or use an app, like Calm or Headspace. These prompt you to focus your attention on specific things and make meditating easy. 

I have recently been using the Calm app, and I love it. I often use this app to meditate soon after I wake up or before I go to bed. 

Visualization

I think this is the easiest method. You imagine what you want and imagine how it feels when you have it. It is almost like another version of meditation. 

Like I said in my last law of attraction post, I remember my mom telling me that she would imagine herself pulling into an empty parking space in the front row of a crowded lot. Say you are trying to attract money into your life. You would close your eyes and visualize getting a check or getting a deposit into your bank account, and try to feel the emotions that go along with that. Imagine what it will feel like when you receive this money, and this will bring up your vibration to attract this thing or event into your life.

Visualize a situation and picture the people there, the smell, the taste, what you’re thinking, what you’re saying, what you’re feeling, and any other details. 

The goal is to bring your vibration to the same frequency of something you want to attract into your life. 

When we desire and wish for something, we are signaling a lack of something, so then we never receive it. It’s important to think and feel as if we already have whatever we want. 

 I would recommend doing this before you fall asleep at night because this is when you switch from your conscious mind to your subconscious mind. This is also a good time because you aren’t doing anything else except lying in bed. You can use this practice at any time of day, though. 

Scripting 

This involves using a pen and paper and writing down what you want as if you already have it.

I like to do this after I write down a few things that I am grateful for. A good way to start is, “I am so happy now that ___,” or “I am so grateful for ___.” Fill in the blank with whatever you want to attract into your life. This way, you are writing as if you already have what you want and putting out into the universe that what you want is yours. 

Again, using the example of attracting money into your life, you could write something like, “I am so happy now that I made $10,000 this month,” or whatever your goal is. Then go on to write down how this makes you feel and any other details. 

Be careful not to use any words or phrases like “don’t” or “I wish.” This is telling the universe that you don’t have anything. For example, writing “I wish I had more money,” or “I don’t want to be in debt anymore” focuses on being in debt and not having money, which is not something you want to attract. 

Scripting can also be done by writing a story about your day in the present tense. Include what you see, who’s there, your thoughts, your feelings, and any other details in this scene. 

Forget about timing and let go

Know that everything is going to happen when it’s supposed to happen. Trust the universe and don’t focus too much on wanting something you don’t have, as this sends out a signal that you are lacking something. Remember, good things take time, and patience is key when it comes to manifesting

Manifesting is something that should be fun. It should be enjoyable to visualize and create your reality. If you start implementing the law of attraction into your life, you will witness it working firsthand and see how your life can improve. 

Gooey Peanut Butter Chickpea Blondies

These chickpea blondies are so delicious and can easily be made vegan! My family devoured these within days, so I’ll have to make more in the future. This is another recipe using a can of chickpeas, so keep the liquid to make my chocolate mousse or another recipe!

Ingredients

  • A can of rinsed and drained chickpeas (keep the liquid to use in other recipes if you want)
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • ⅓ cup peanut butter (or any nut butter)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ¼ cup almond flour
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Desired amount of chocolate chips (use non-dairy chocolate chips for vegan)

Directions 

  1. Add all of the ingredients except the chocolate chips to a food processor and blend until combined.

2. Fold in chocolate chips

3. Pour the dough into an 8×8 inch pan lined with parchment paper and spread evenly with a spatula.

4. Sprinkle more chocolate chips on top, if desired.

5. Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

The Law of Attraction

The law of attraction is something I have become more aware of and started to use over the past couple of years, and it seems to be gaining more popularity now.  

What is it?

For those who don’t know, the law of attraction is when you use your mind to attract things into your life. The energy we put out determines what we receive. If we focus our minds on positive thoughts and have positive feelings, then we attract positive things into our lives. The law of attraction allows us to create our reality.

You probably learned in science class that atoms make up everything and that everything is constantly vibrating. Every single thing has a vibration, but some things have higher vibrations than others.

For example, rap music has a low vibration, while classical music has a high vibration. Even people vibrate at different frequencies.

When we experience joy, love, or peace, we are at a high vibration, but when we are experiencing things like anxiety, shame, grief, fear, or sadness, we are at a lower vibrational frequency. We can change our vibrations through what we think, how we act, and what we feel. 

Like attracts likes. When we are at a high vibration, we attract other high vibration things into our lives, and when we are at a low vibration, we attract low vibration things into our lives.

You may have experienced this when one bad thing after another happens, and you have a terrible day. This happens because we feel those low vibration feelings and put out negative energy into the universe, so we receive back more negative energy, creating a series of lousy events.

You also may have experienced the law of attraction when you’re thinking of someone, and then they call you, or you have a song stuck in your head, and then it plays. 

When I was younger, my mom would always tell me to imagine whatever I wanted to happen and that it would materialize. I remember my mom saying she would do this to get a close parking spot in a crowded lot. I used to be skeptical, but this does work!

The law of attraction can help you to attract anything. You can use it to attract things, money, the way you look, or whatever else you want.

Our thoughts, feelings, and actions determine what we attract into our life. Shifting your mindset can change your life the better and help you to live the life you desire. 

Stay tuned for more information on how to use the law of attraction and incorporate it into your everyday life.