Banana Bread Cookies

I'm SUCH  dessert girl... I will crave something sweet after lunch or dinner until the world ends if I don't have a little something for dessert. I've been searching pretty hard for some healthier alternatives to my go-to's of frozen cookie dough or ice cream!

Sidenote: Check out Chocolate Covered Katie... I'm convinced she's a gift from the heavens.

I'm a member of the Tone It Up community and I love searching through other member's recipes to find Tone It Up approved (so you know it's gonna be healthy!) options. I found a recipe for banana bread cookies and I decided to try them out yesterday! I already had everything in my kitchen, so hopefully it doesn't require a trip to the store for you either.

Banana Bread Cookies
You'll need:
1 1/2 ripe bananas
1 1/2 tbsp. chia seeds (I used flax & chia)
1 tbsp. 100% maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 c. coconut flour
1/2 tbsp. coconut oil (melted)
1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 serving protein powder (I used vanilla hemp protein)

What to do:
Preheat oven to 350. Mix the chia seeds with 1/4 c. water, set aside for about 10 minutes. Mash bananas, and mix with all wet ingredients. Mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix thoroughly-but don't overdo it!

Place small-medium sized dough on a greased cookie sheet. Make sure to flatten them with your hand or a fork! (These don't expand when cooked, so you can put them relatively close together!) Bake for 25-30 minutes. Yields 12-15 cookies.

These are great with a little earth balance melted on top with coffee in the morning. Enjoy!
PS-they're gluten free :)

What to do when...

As you all know I recently went on a trip to Chicago. Before that trip I was working out twice a day, eating great, feeling great and staying semi-motivated. But before that, not even taking into account healthy diet and exercise, I was majorly losing inspiration with all the stress that life has brought me during the last couple of weeks. I need to be better about not losing myself even when life happens.

What do you do when you completely lose not only motivation, which is bad enough, but inspiration? I've been pondering this and here's what I'm going to start slowly incorporating back into my routine so that maybe I can find my happy place again! (Seriously, a few months ago, I was like stupid happy) not that I'm not happy now, just not as I once was. I felt so in tune with my soul. Here it goes.

1. Get back to yoga at least three times a week, not just one or two
2. Take my dog on a morning or evening walk-daily
3. Prep protein and veggies on Sundays to incorporate into meals during the week
4. Start getting out on the water: paddle boarding and kayaking
5. Carve out a little money to take myself to breakfast/coffee once a few times a month
6. Meditate on the days I'm not at yoga (calm.com is great for this)
7. Start paying for Spotify so I can directly play some soul-soothing tunes as needed
8. Entertain at my new digs at least once a month
9. Rent a bike and actually use it
10. Last, but perhaps the most important... smile more. In the aisles of the grocery store, while tagging shirts for work, right before bed... just share a little smile with myself and the world.

PS-for fun, 16 spelling mistakes you should stop making, like, now

Post-Chicago blues (and good pics)

The longer I stayed in Chicago, the more I loved it. The more I saw of it, the more I wanted to see. I'm sad that we didn't have more time (like, unlimited time) but I am so grateful for the experiences we had and the company I went with couldn't have been better.

Things that occured during our three-and-a-half-day-stay in Chi-town:

• Panera Bread trash cans
• Face slaps
• Train rides
• Bus rides
• Uber/taxi rides
• Thunderstorms
• Drag Queens
• Bad drinks
• Good drinks
• Good food
• GREAT FOOD
• Urban Outfitters Surplus Store AKA my own personal heaven
• Visits to old friends
• Architecture
• Accidental jazz music
• Accidental romance
• Ferris wheels and popcorn
• Laughter and love. Lots of it.

Now for the good pics! (for more, visit my vsco)

A really long post

Over the past few weeks I have become aware that I am way too hard on myself. And chances are, you are too.

"Am I really that concerned with my body... or is it just me being overly concerned about what others think about my body?"

I do absolutely believe in living an overall healthy lifestyle-fueling your body with the good stuff, exercising regularly and taking time to honor your mind, body and soul through regular practice of those things.

However, I also wholeheartedly believe in... from time to time... eating cookies for dinner and not regretting one ounce of it.

I think the body image conversation is too prevalent in our country and I hate that it's discussed on a daily basis. At the same time, I understand why. Honestly, as I'm writing this, I'm realizing life is nothing short of one very large contradiction.

I want my abs to show through my skin, but I want to have french toast for every meal. I want my hard work to show but I just honestly, I do... I love food. I consider myself a total foodie. AND GOOD LAWD I JUST CAN'T KEEP TELLING MYSELF IT'S SO WRONG!

(Please be advised that I'm not saying it's okay to go have Mickey D's for every meal because YOLO but I mean if you haven't had one since last month and want a nice big cheeseburger hit up your local cheeseburger place and go for it. Don't forget the fries.)

When are we going to stop thinking so much and just start living? Because it's true... we only have one life. Live healthily, but also make time to live a little unhealthily. Find YOUR balance. Find YOUR happiness. And rock it out.

PS-Another view on this topic from World of Wanderlust's Brooke Saward-a blogger who gets my soul. If I knew her in real life we would definitely be friends.

Four (really easy) ways to healthify your diet

For some time now, I've been making small changes to my diet to make it a little more natural, easier on my stomach and overall better for my body. Here are four, super easy changes to what you're already consuming if you're looking to do the same thing.

1//Coconut milk creamer

If you're like me, and like a dash or two of creamer in your coffee, coconut milk is an awesome alternative. It's dairy-free, gluten-free, certified Non-GMO and coconut has a lot of health benefits (you should be cooking with coconut oil, too, in place of butter!)

2//Ezekiel Bread

It may not be #1 on this list, but it's #1 in my heart. Ezekiel bread is by far the best discovery I've made in my health journey so far! The name and philosophy comes from a Holy Scripture verse that says "Take also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils and millet, and spelt and put them into one vessel..." Ezekial 4:9

Have you ever heard of something being "sprouted"? This means it's completely free of flours and utilizes ingredients like the ones in the verse to make the product. I highly recommend buying any bread product you can find that's sprouted (i.e. pasta, tortilla chips, cereal, english muffins, etc.) as it's a complete protein and helps aid in digestion among A TON of other benefits.

3//Stevia

Contrary to what you may think, stevia is not the same thing as an artificial sweetener like Equal or Sweet'N Low. It's a completely natural source of sweetener (from the stevia plant) and has zero calories. Although it's neighbor Splenda also has zero calories... it's not at all natural. In fact, it contains traces of chlorine. Uhhh... no thanks.

Baking with stevia is a great way to go sugar-free in recipes if you're not ready to try it on fruit, cereal or in your morning coffee just yet. Hit up your local health foods store and make sure to read your labels! Stevia is great, but if a certain brand adds all kinds of other stuff, it kind of defeats the purpose.

4//Lemon water

I didn't realize until just recently just how good lemon water is for your body. It helps clear up your skin, clean out your system, fight off colds by boosting your immune system, cleanses the liver and even helps boost brain and nerve function. So next time you have some lemons lying around, throw a few slices in your water and reap all the benefits!

Good reads

Have time to kill at work? Sick of Pinterest? Just wanna stare at a computer screen and maybe learn a couple things about the world? Here are some links I love!

In your 20's? About to be in your 20's? Read this.

Get the perfect water-hair-flip shot.

Test your yoga knowledge/skills with these common poses.

I wanna make this fabric chandelier for my new house.

This interview with Rachel Zoe is fun to read in her voice.

Simplicity

For a while now, I have been dreaming about my life outside of college and what the possibilities are.

I have to keep reminding myself that money is not everything and when you're young like I am, the possibilities are endless. You just have to reach out and grab them while you can.

I've been considering taking a solo trip to Colorado in the fall to continue exploring my hopes, dreams, fears and everything in-between as I'm making the transition into my adult life. These may or may not include living in a tree house.

Also, I've been doing a lot of searches about tiny houses... I am in LOVE with the idea of such simple living. This article-10 tiny houses you can rent on Airbnb has me dreaming of taking a tiny house trip.

Have you ever thought about living in a tiny house? Or a tree house? Tell me I'm not the only one!