Brownie Bites

Brownie bites, possibly one of the world's greatest inventions. These are gluten free and dairy free to accommodate all the allergies in my family and would be a great addition to a fourth of July menu. Coming up this week I will have a recipe using these brownie bites to make a festive trifle. But if making a trifle is too much, you can simply dress them up by sticking in some handmade flags and put them on a pretty plate or cake stand. 

Simple Pennant Banner

With the Fourth of July just around the corner, I thought I would show you how to make a few decorations. First up is a simple 4th of July themed pennant banner. This banner is so simple, quick, and easy you could do it on the 4th of July. So lets get started!

June Favorites

This June I fell in love with quite a few products.

First up is this workout top from Gap. I seriously can't stop wearing this... and I even wear it for purposes other than working out. (oops) It is made of synthetic materials which is not my favorite, but it is super light and soft and breezy for hot summer days.

Yosemite National Park Trip

Driving from Oakland to the National Park. 

Stopped off at Whole Foods for roadtrip supplies and lunch.

Admiring natures beauty with all the other tourists. (El Capitan)

Checked out Bridal Veil Falls pre-wedding.

Sipping on water & lemonade in these beautiful mason jars. I have a habit of adding water to all my drinks. 

Oh and pies at a wedding, pretty awesome. I knew they were probably laden with buttery goodness, so I thought it best not to try any and let my brother do the tasting.

Friday the trip began when my mum and I drove three hours to my aunt's house to drop off the beagle. When we got home the house seemed eerily quite, attempting to keep myself occupied I packed and then proceeded to bake banana muffins at 9pm. My excuse was that we needed to use up bananas and they would be nice to have on our trip... Saturday morning we were up early heading off to the airport. Arriving at Oakland International Airport ( not so international ) we made our way slowing to Yosemite. We stopped several places along the way, but the best stop was the veggie fajitas that we had in Mariposa.

Next morning we decided to seize the day and head off to be tourists. Taking the road down to the valley floor, we stopped at every touristy place along the way. Cheezy right? But with only a few hours to spend, we tried our best see as much of the park that we could. Arriving pack at Wawona summer camp, we got ready for the wedding, ( which by the way was amazing ). Their wedding was one of those pictured perfect Pinterest weddings that every girl wants. Once the wedding was over, nothing interesting happened. So that was my beautiful weekend warrior adventure last weekend. Also sorry for the absence here on the ole blog, but school, swimming, and my food instagram occupied all of my time. Summer is just around the corner and hopefully it will give me more time to blog, but I am not promising anything since pilot school is on my mind at the moment.

Green Smoothie Success!

Today's green smoothie is sponsored by a curious beagle. 

After church today I came home and made a delicious green smoothie. These past few weeks my green smoothies have been struggling with their lack of green color, but today I have succeed with making a truely green smoothie!

Serves 1-2 (about 3 cups) 

-spinach

-frozen peaches

-banana

-mango

-oj

Blend in all up until beautifully green. 

Note: If you are new to green smoothies, start out with a little bit of spinach and slowly add more as you taste buds adjust. 

(Sorry for the lack of measurements. I don't use exact measurements when making smoothies, just throw some fruits and veggies in a blender and blend.)

Weekly Photos

Most of the fresh produce from the weekly grocery shop. 

Weekend waffles!

Sunday morning fruit with the beagle. 

 A very sleepy beagle while the rest of us watched the Olympics. 

Sunday hike down to the river. 

The beagle loves laundry fresh out of the dryer. Good thing she was freshly bathed. 

Marlene's Natural Market salad with tahini dressing.

Cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread with peanut butter and banana coins. 

Pre-swim meet practice snack of homemade whole wheat bread rolls. 

I am in love with eating bananas and peanut butter right now, hence my banana stash. 🙊

Sorry for the absence lately, it is just that my life has just changed completely. This past week was Student Week of Prayer at my private school. Student Week of prayer (SWOP) is a week devoted to hearing fellow students talk about their walk with Christ. For those of you who don't know I am a Seventh Day Adventist, and it is a really important part of me. Well, so on one of the last days of SWOP I felt Jesus near me for the first time in my life. And no I'm not crazy, but it was truly an amazing experience. Long story short I was enthralled by all of the students talks and so you guys got set aside for the week. Also tomorrow is my first race day for our school wide swim meet! Have a lovely week everyone!

-Emily 

Grocery Haul

Organic vanilla soy milk, high-pulp oj, 3 bunches of organic bananas, blackberries, 2 packets of raspberries, organic baby spinach, medjool dates, organic 70% dark chocolate, plain hummus, garden herb sunshine burgers, 2 jars of organic peanut butter, organic whole grain blueberry waffles. 

4 organic gala apples, 7 organic kiwis, 3 cucumbers, organic celery, asparagus, organic cauliflower, brussel sprouts, mini red potatoes, 4 blood oranges, organic navel oranges.

Not pictured: One loaf of Dave's Killer Bread Good Seed and one loaf of Franz Gluten-Free Bread.  

This is almost what a usual grocery shop looks like for me, except I never buy chocolate. But I ended up buying it to make homemade peanut butter cups for my family. But other than that I generally eat mainly fruits and vegetables with the occasional bread, sunshine burger, and waffle. As you may have already seen peanut butter is one of my mainstays. My family thinks I'm crazy sometimes due to the amount of it I eat, but it is the best way for me to fill up after a long swim session. Usually a 1/4 cup of peanut butter is accompanied by 2 organic ripe bananas. Hope all of you had a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with love for yourself and others! 

-Emily