I've been on the hunt for delicious snacks that aren't too unhealthy. While back home for Thanksgiving and spending some time with the soon-to-be cousin-in-laws, they had passed on a granola recipe that is DEEELISH and easy to make!

The finished product. uhMAZING!

Ingredients:
1  heaping cup unsweetened coconut flakes
2/3 cup blanched almond flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup flax seeds (optional)
1/4 cup maple syrup/or honey/or other sweetener
3 Tbsp almond butter
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
2/3 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
1/3 cup dried, tart cherries
1/3 cup raw pecans,(or any other nuts you got) coarsely chopped
(Feel free to add your own granola ingredients like dried cranberries, raisins, walnuts,  sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, carob chips and the list goes on….)
Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl mix coconut flakes, almond flour, cinnamon, salt, chocolate chips, dried tart cherries and pecans or other nuts.
• In a small bowl, mix the wet ingredients: flax seeds, almond butter, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla.  Stir until the mix is smooth and creamy.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold until well combined.
• Scoop out the granola mix spreading thin layer into the baking sheet and bake for about 10-12 minutes.  Just watch it and try it for perfect taste.
• Allow the granola to cool for about one minute before moving to plate.
• Enjoy!

The original recipie can be found here: http://marinasprimalcooking.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/1106/

Yikes. Its been DAYS since I've updated! I've been on the move lately. A lame excuse but that's all I have. The Fiancé and I spent the weekend up north visiting family and friends and I attended the  Blogshop video course in San Francisco taught by two lovely ladies, Bri from Designlovefest and Angela of Angela+Ithyle. The course was AMAZING! We spent a few hours on day 1 shooting at a creative workspace called the Makeshift Society and at Patricia's Green, a charming park in Hayes Valley. We were taught the fundamentals of shooting with a DSLR or an iPhone. On the second day, we were taught how to edit the clips in Photoshop. Say whaaaaat? Yes, its true. Version CS6 has the capability to edit video. I had known this fun tidbit about Photoshop CS6 when I bought it but thought I wasn't going to learn anything about video editing...until now!

We were even taught how stop motion video! Here is my first video with media shot at the Makeshift Society in the Hayes Valley area of San Francisco. Way cool, colorful and creative place....

I think the part I like the most about creating video is the stop motion video you can create. The most difficult part in my opinion was picking out songs that are Public Domain songs or songs. Most of those songs are from 1921 and older. Otherwise, you have to pay a licensing/royalty fee to use a song and that price tag could vary. Alas, the ENTIRE process is so much fun from staging the scene, picking out the props and looking for music.

I feel like i'm learning graphic design backwards, starting with video as you can see from the blank canvas that is my blog... Maybe I should consider taking their Blogshop for Bloggers class too.

Blogshop is currently holding a contest for all Blogshop video alum. All we have to do is create a video/edit and post. The winner will receive a FREE copy of Photoshop CS6! I'm in it to win it! And without further adeiu, I give you my video fantastic-ness that is called "An Ode to Coffee."
Coffee from Melissa on Vimeo.

Now that I have you totally mesmerized... Here are some stills from last weekend at Blogshop. (Makes you want to sign up and take their classes right now, doesn't it?)

Waiting for class to start.

The lovely rug at the Makeshift Societ	y

Angela talking about angles.

Stop motion and the dancing cupcakes.

Day 2 of Blogshop

The yearbook portion of the workbook.

My goodies.

The loveliest moleskin notebook.

And the drive home...

Yikes. Its been DAYS since I've updated! I've been on the move lately. A lame excuse but that's all I have. The Fiancé and I spent the weekend up north visiting family and friends and I attended the  Blogshop video course in San Francisco taught by two lovely ladies, Bri from Designlovefest and Angela of Angela+Ithyle. The course was AMAZING! We spent a few hours on day 1 shooting at a creative workspace called the Makeshift Society and at Patricia's Green, a charming park in Hayes Valley. We were taught the fundamentals of shooting with a DSLR or an iPhone. On the second day, we were taught how to edit the clips in Photoshop. Say whaaaaat? Yes, its true. Version CS6 has the capability to edit video. I had known this fun tidbit about Photoshop CS6 when I bought it but thought I wasn't going to learn anything about video editing...until now!

We were even taught how stop motion video! Here is my first video with media shot at the Makeshift Society in the Hayes Valley area of San Francisco. Way cool, colorful and creative place....

I think the part I like the most about creating video is the stop motion video you can create. The most difficult part in my opinion was picking out songs that are Public Domain songs or songs. Most of those songs are from 1921 and older. Otherwise, you have to pay a licensing/royalty fee to use a song and that price tag could vary. Alas, the ENTIRE process is so much fun from staging the scene, picking out the props and looking for music.

I feel like i'm learning graphic design backwards, starting with video as you can see from the blank canvas that is my blog... Maybe I should consider taking their Blogshop for Bloggers class too.

Blogshop is currently holding a contest for all Blogshop video alum. All we have to do is create a video/edit and post. The winner will receive a FREE copy of Photoshop CS6! I'm in it to win it! And without further adeiu, I give you my video fantastic-ness that is called "An Ode to Coffee." 



Here is my first stop motion clip of a dancing cupcake. 




Now that I have you totally mesmerized... Here are some stills from last weekend at Blogshop. (Makes you want to sign up and take their classes right now, doesn't it?)

Waiting for class to start.

The lovely rug at the Makeshift Societ	y

Angela talking about angles.

Stop motion and the dancing cupcakes.

Day 2 of Blogshop

The yearbook portion of the workbook.

My goodies.

The loveliest moleskin notebook.

And the drive home...

My fiance and I have been on the quest to eat "cleaner." I define it as eating foods without refined sugars, processed materials and so on... He recently read a book "It Starts with Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways"by Dallas and Melissa Harwig that discusses a 30 day reset of your eating habits to create a healthier relationship with food - accompanied by stunning improvements in sleep, energy levels, mood and self-esteem. More significantly, many people have reported the "magical" elimination of a variety of symptoms, diseases and conditions - in just 30 days.

Before this process, I don't believe we ate too terribly. Sure, we had to occasional pig out on pizza or ice cream but we didn't really eat too many things that were processed, we used natural ingredients like butter (yes, butter is good for you), coconut oil, fruits, cage-free/grass-fed chicken and beef. The only vice I had was SUGAR. I had a daily "coffee"; an iced vanilla latte and occasionally a raspberry scone from Peets. I'd tried to cut back sugar already by drinking water as opposed to juice and soda, ixnay the candy and I'd stopped baking macarons and sweets (even as I baked, I didn't eat nearly as many as I had thought I would). My sugars came from daily coffees (sometimes twice a day) and desserts. I LOVE dessert. I could eat it 3 times a day and at one point in my life, I had been doing so. My fiancee suggested taking this challenge and I reluctantly accepted. I wasn't sure I could go a whole 30 days without sugar and because I don't drink anything but vanilla lattes (black coffee and coffee with creamer just taste wrong to me) so this would also reduce my caffeine intake. 

So far, its been 1 week and 1 day since we have started. The first three days were ROUGH for me. They say that when you give up sugar you may experience mood swings, become lethargic...yeah, I had all of THAT. I wanted to shank anything that made me upset. So, the paperclip that fell on the floor, my fiance talking, the sky for being blue were not my friends those few days. While processed sugar is not allowed, natural sugar is but only in fruit form. Orange/Apple juice isn't allowed because 1) juice you buy in a box from the store is sugared and 2) it takes a lot of oranges to squeeze just to get juice into a box and that is way more intake that you need. Since its fall, we've been buying apples and i've been eating about 3 a day. I also buy a small coconut juice with pulp every couple days or so. The coconuts are from Thailand and are sweeter than Zico or Vita Coco. And if you look at the ingredients in the Taste Nirvana coconut juice the only ingredients are coconut juice and pulp (if you buy it with the pulp). I also drink Egyptian Licorice Root tea. This tea doesn't contain sugar but the aftertaste is really sweet. So I've been drinking that for my morning routine instead of coffee. I'm still trying to find ways around the no-sugar pledge. Tomorrow's experiment: coconut milk to add into my coffee. I hear that its creamy and sweet and has no processed or additional sugars!

Here is the coconut juice I'm drinking. They have bigger sizes and you can buy it with aloe but I hear you shouldn't drink too much of it as it contains high amounts of potassium and too much potassium can be bad for you. 

www.tastenirvana.com

And here is the licorice root tea I'm drinking. Licorice root in large amounts is not good for you as it may cause high blood pressure. I usually drink 1-3 cups a day. Benefits can be seen here.

Go to www.yogiproducts.com to find more yummy teas!

And here is the book my fiancé is reading that kick started this challenge. You can find it in Amazon here: 



1 week and 1 day down.... 3 more to go!

Do you think you can cut back sugar for 30 days?

Happy Monday! Its currently raining here in San Luis Obispo. And as I sit here typing, the sun is peeking out from the clouds. I'm definitely a summer baby so am sad to have to put away my sun dresses but excited to get out my jackets, scarves and boots for fall and winter. I've been on the hunt for new scarves lately. My favorite fall trend last year was the infinity scarf and I am bringing it back this year. Here are some of my favorites so far. I'm definitely going to pick up the Ann Taylor Loft scarf (see middle). Besides it being plush and absolutely adorable with different shades of pink through it, Ann Taylor is pledging to give 25% of full price purchases of each item toward the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. There are some really cute items in the collection too! And Guiliana Rancic is their designated spokesperson for the campaign. Cute cute and cute all for a great cause!