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Happy four day week!

Happy Tuesday everyone, hope you all made it out of bed today after your three day weekend, Canadian/American alike. I had no problem getting out of bed, since I didn't sleep a wink. I'm really not sure what is going up with my sleep cycle but I am in a serious rut. I ended up doing my work out at about 2:45 am, there was nothing else for me to do. I had finished catching up on some shows I hadn't watched in forever, did my blog-searching, went on Skype, and was sick of just laying there with my cat simply staring the ceiling. Needless to say I am incredibly tired right now, and full out feel like a zombie. I can barely keep my eyes open, even my cherry Amaretto tea didn't help me this morning. I hope this doesn't become a pattern for too long. We're already on about a month now, and working 12 hour days is already starting to drain me. Oh well, perhaps I'll read some more "how to sleep the natural way", I've tried sleeping pills before and I become an even bigger zombie, than my tired, sleep-deprived self.

I suppose that's enough about my situation, and I'm going to post what I had today. I started off with a smoothie that was altered so minimally. Honestly, I was incredibly excited to have this for my breakfast, but, I don't know. I mean, it was good, but it was by all means certainly not a WOW smoothie. I mean, I am still in love with the Banana Chai Smoothie, and I think every time I now have a smoothie I compare it to that. As we all know, I have come to enjoy avocados and have even started adding it to my smoothies. This recipe calls for an avocado in it as well, and to be quite blunt I think it ruined the taste. Even just having half of a teeny tiny avocado I found it to be quite overpowering, which really sucks, because if I had of opted the avocado I know this smoothie would of been fantastic, for starters look at all the coconut! Coconut milk, coconut flakes, and coconut oil, holy moly. You were definitely able to taste the coconut though, which I'm happy about, but for some reason the avocado decided it wanted to be the star. Perhaps not even, perhaps I am just so overly tired I'm crazy and haven't a clue what I'm talking about. I'll be attempting this smoothie again, however I will opt the avocado on it next time around.

Strawberry Coconut Love

Recipe slightly adapted from here

Ingredients:
  • 1 1/2 cup strawberries
  • 3/4 cup coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup soy milk
  • 1/4 avocado
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
Directions:

Blend until smooth.

If your strawberries are tart, you may need to add a little sweetness. Try 1 tbsp maple syrup, honey, or 1/2 banana.

Millet Mash

Recipe slightly adapted from here

For lunch I had a really good "mash". A few weeks ago I had bought some millet, and tried it in two different dishes, to be quite honest I thought it was kind of gross, the natural nutty flavour just didn't seem to sit that well with me. However, when I saw this recipe I knew that I wanted to try it. It was so, so, so good, let me tell you. I decided to go a little heavy on the salt, pepper and garlic... why I went heavy on the salt is beyond me since I never seem to like the taste, but heavy salt made this so delicious! It really was like eating mashed potatoes, except I felt a lot better about it because, yes there was starch and carbohydrates, but there were much more vitamins so I thought that was important, and ah, the flavours are just really good. I decided to also throw in a cup of baby carrots for colour, yup, smart move, it was really good. As I was making it for my lunch I couldn't stop nibbling on it, oops, but it really was that good. Also, this definitely helped me to start to develop a liking towards millet!

Ingredients:
  • 1 cup millet
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 cup baby carrots
  • 1 small head cauliflower
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2-3 cloves garlic
  • Unrefined sea salt to taste
  • Pepper
Directions:

Rinse millet well by covering with water and swishing it around, then draining. Do this 2-4 times until the water runs clear. Chop cauliflower into chunks.

Put rinsed millet and water in a large pot and cover with chopped vegetables and salt. Bring to a rapid boil, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and the millet is cooked.

Remove from heat, add the cold pressed oil, and mash with a large fork or potato masher. For an extra smooth consistency, use a hand blender or a food processor. Top with salt and pepper and maybe even some Parmesan :)

Pumpkin Pie Banana Chunk Oatmeal Cookies

Recipe taken from here

I had my millet mash served with some vegetables, for dessert I had a Tangelo Minneola orange, and snacked on these fantastic Vegan Pumpkin Pie Banana Chunk Oatmeal Cookies. I told you guys, I am hooked on pumpkin, I think I may need to check myself in. These are by far some of the best cookies I've ever had before. I love pumpkin cookies because there is an incredible moistness, and pillowy-cakeness that juts makes them so unique. This was an amazing flavour combination. I absolutely love Angela's blog, I have tried numerous recipes from her blog, and have bookmarked so many vegan desserts that I just cannot wait to sink my teeth into. These cookies are stunningly amazing, even my dad who usually doesn't care for my "healthy" baked goods said they were amazing! I will certainly make these again in the future :).

What I really liked about these cookies is that they were healthy, not insanely sweet, had a nice bitterness from the carob chips, and the banana despite not being a huge amount in the recipe you were still able to pick out the flavour and the crunch from the walnuts, perfect cookies!

Ingredients:
  • 1 flax ‘egg’ (1 tsp ground chia seeds or 2 tsp. ground flaxseed + 2 tbsp water)
  • 1 cup regular oats
  • 1 cup whole grain spelt flour (or other flours will work too)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp chopped walnuts
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp carob chips
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 small banana, chopped
  • 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
  • Coconut flakes for garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375F. Mix flax or chia egg in a small bowl and set aside. Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl and set aside. Mix wet ingredients in a small to medium sized bowl and then add flax or chia egg. Stir. Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients. Stir well and shape cookies onto a pan. Topped with coconut.

Makes 12 large cookies.

Cook for 13 minutes.

Fresh Garden Salad

Finally for dinner, I simply through a quick salad together. I don't really need to say how good it was, because it just was. It was refreshing, filling, and incredibly tasty, plus it was a cinch to toss together.

Ingredients:
  • Lettuce
  • Green/yellow beans, sweet potato and carrots roasted at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes with salt, pepper, and extra virgin olive oil
  • Walnuts
Directions:

Toss together. Serve with desired dressing.

What are some ways you fall asleep if you're having trouble sleeping?

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